Wednesday Reading Meme

[osprey_archer]

What I’ve Just Finished Reading

I finished The Time Traveler’s Guide to Restoration Britain, which I found a bit of a slog to get through. Is it because I’m just not that interested in the Restoration period, or is it really not quite as interesting as The Time Traveler’s Guide to Medieval England?

And I finished Gabor Mate’s In the Realm of Hungry Ghosts: Close Encounters with Addiction, which I wanted to write about at more length - I selected a bunch of quotes and everything! - but I’ve run out of time, so for now I’m just going to share this one: “A therapist once said to me, ‘When it comes to a choice between feeling guilt or resentment, choose the guilt every time.’” (401)

What I’m Reading Now

I’ve begun A. A. Milne’s Once on a Time, a pleasingly arch fairy tale parody, which is also a parody of history books (Milne has invented a historian of this imaginary country, with whom he often politely disagrees). It’s fun but it’s also very clear why Milne achieved immortality for the Winnie the Pooh books instead.

I’ve also begun listening to the Iliad! Which has an entire benighted chapter just listing all the captains who fought at Troy and their lineages and hometowns, good lord, and then all the captains on the Trojan side, just for parity, although thank God there are not nearly as many of them.

Now Paris and Menelaus have attempted to end the war through single combat, only for Aphrodite to spirit Paris away to Helen’s bedchamber at the crucial moment. Oh, Aphrodite. That seems short-sighted - which I suppose love often is.

And I am continuing onward with Sara Jeannette Duncan’s A Social Departure! This week, Duncan has shared a number of dry observations about travel cliches, including this gem: “somebody had told us that the proper and usual thing for strangers with a couple of hours in Hong Kong to do was to go up the Peak. Although Orthodocia reminded me that we had not come to China in search of hackneyed commonplaces, we also went up the Peak. It was one of the things that we did which convinced us that the travelling public quite understands what it is about, and that the hackneyed commonplace exists only in the minds of people who stay at home.” (186)

What I Plan to Read Next

I have hopes that the library will soon hook me up with the next Edward Eager book, The Well-Wishers.

Comments

[sovay]

Which has an entire benighted chapter just listing all the captains who fought at Troy and their lineages and hometowns, good lord, and then all the captains on the Trojan side, just for parity, although thank God there are not nearly as many of them.

I am incredibly fond of the Catalogue of Ships.

[osprey_archer]

Well, it's good to know that Homer didn't labor on that Catalogue of Ships entirely in vain.

[evelyn_b]

You are not alone in loving the never-ending ship shout-outs. <3

[thisbluespirit]

Is it because I’m just not that interested in the Restoration period, or is it really not quite as interesting as The Time Traveler’s Guide to Medieval England?

I found it more enjoyable, but then I was much more ill when I tried to read the medieval one, and the Restoration one was relevant to family history things for note-taking as well.

You'll have to read the Elizabethan one to make a conclusive decision, as will I! ;-)

[osprey_archer]

Someday! Certainly I shall read it if I ever decide to write something set in Elizabethan times.

[skygiants]

I grew up on Once On a Time! It is vastly arch but tremendously dear to my heart. The army of Woggs!

[osprey_archer]

Poor Woggs must be so tired after all that marching! But perhaps she will get her revenge later on.

[asakiyume]

I concur with that quote from A Social Departure: when I've been places that have Standard Sights (or Sites), those have always turned out to be deservedly interesting and wonderful.

... I guess sometimes a Standard Sight can get overwhelmed by gift-shop-itis, or be very crowded, or just not a person's particular cup of tea, but so far that's never been my experience.

[osprey_archer]

I too have found that Standard Sights are usually worth seeing. You may have seen a thousand pictures of the Leaning Tower of Pisa, and it may be absolutely surrounded by tourists at all times, but nonetheless it's so worth the visit.

However, it is not always worth following the guidebook to sights that may be Standard but don't quite rise to the level of Iconic. The Leaning Tower of Pisa is worth it, but the cathedral of Pisa is... well, one cathedral is much like any other, really.