Wednesday Reading Meme
Aug. 17th, 2022 07:40 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
osprey_archerWhat I’ve Just Finished Reading
Bruce Catton’s Terrible Swift Sword, in which McClellan spends a year failing to do much of anything with the Army of the Potomac because he is convinced to the bottom of his heart that (1) the Confederate Army outnumbers him two to one (in fact he outnumbered the available Confederate troops at almost all times), and (2) the government in Washington was plotting his downfall (which became true because of his unwillingness to use his army).
Much against my will I feel a certain sympathy for him, because if someone handed me an army, clapped a hand on my shoulder, and intoned “The fate of the nation rides on you, son,” I’m fairly sure that I, too, would instantly become convinced that I was outnumbered two to one, and therefore could do nothing with my army but crouch in a defensive posture while wittering about Dark Forces in Washington trying to undermine my command. But unlike McClellan I was sensible enough not to pursue a military career.
(Generally speaking, the road to political or military success seems to be the ability to accept the existence of opposition on your own side without obsessing over it or seeing said opponents as conspiratorial Dark Forces. Eyes on the prize! Remember that your true enemies are the Confederates and not those annoying dudes in Congress who understand military strategy about as well as an aardvark.)
Also, I zoomed through Enid Blyton’s second St Clare’s book, The O’Sullivan Twins at St Clare’s. The St Clare’s books have not captured my heart quite the way that Malory Towers did (maybe because the twins already have a built-in best friend and so the books don’t go as hard on Friendship?), but they are nice popcorn entertainment.
What I’m Reading Now
I’ve started Elizabeth Wein’s The Lion Hunters (already read A Coalition of Lions and The Sunbird; wrote so much about them it became its own post), and the book kicks off with Telemakos losing an arm? He is chilling with his tame lion pals when he hears his baby sister has been born, and he’s SO excited that he runs to get out of the lion pit… inadvertently turning his back on the lions… and one of the lions mauls him! And he loses an arm! Amazing.
In Dracula, Lucy has sleep-walked down to the graveyard in the middle of the night wearing nothing but her nightgown! Absolutely scandalous. Also, we’ve heard from Jonathan Harker! He has spent the last few weeks in the hospital with brain fever, poor lad, and the hospital staff thinks he’s mad because he keeps nattering on about this vampire stuff, but he’s a very sweet boy and they hope for the best for him.
What I Plan to Read Next
skygiants and I agreed that it would be great if there was a book that gave an entertaining yet erudite discussion of the various surviving medieval Arthurian sagas, because there are clearly many, and they all seem to be bonkers. Thought I’d throw this out there in case anyone knows of such a book!
Bruce Catton’s Terrible Swift Sword, in which McClellan spends a year failing to do much of anything with the Army of the Potomac because he is convinced to the bottom of his heart that (1) the Confederate Army outnumbers him two to one (in fact he outnumbered the available Confederate troops at almost all times), and (2) the government in Washington was plotting his downfall (which became true because of his unwillingness to use his army).
Much against my will I feel a certain sympathy for him, because if someone handed me an army, clapped a hand on my shoulder, and intoned “The fate of the nation rides on you, son,” I’m fairly sure that I, too, would instantly become convinced that I was outnumbered two to one, and therefore could do nothing with my army but crouch in a defensive posture while wittering about Dark Forces in Washington trying to undermine my command. But unlike McClellan I was sensible enough not to pursue a military career.
(Generally speaking, the road to political or military success seems to be the ability to accept the existence of opposition on your own side without obsessing over it or seeing said opponents as conspiratorial Dark Forces. Eyes on the prize! Remember that your true enemies are the Confederates and not those annoying dudes in Congress who understand military strategy about as well as an aardvark.)
Also, I zoomed through Enid Blyton’s second St Clare’s book, The O’Sullivan Twins at St Clare’s. The St Clare’s books have not captured my heart quite the way that Malory Towers did (maybe because the twins already have a built-in best friend and so the books don’t go as hard on Friendship?), but they are nice popcorn entertainment.
What I’m Reading Now
I’ve started Elizabeth Wein’s The Lion Hunters (already read A Coalition of Lions and The Sunbird; wrote so much about them it became its own post), and the book kicks off with Telemakos losing an arm? He is chilling with his tame lion pals when he hears his baby sister has been born, and he’s SO excited that he runs to get out of the lion pit… inadvertently turning his back on the lions… and one of the lions mauls him! And he loses an arm! Amazing.
In Dracula, Lucy has sleep-walked down to the graveyard in the middle of the night wearing nothing but her nightgown! Absolutely scandalous. Also, we’ve heard from Jonathan Harker! He has spent the last few weeks in the hospital with brain fever, poor lad, and the hospital staff thinks he’s mad because he keeps nattering on about this vampire stuff, but he’s a very sweet boy and they hope for the best for him.
What I Plan to Read Next
skygiants and I agreed that it would be great if there was a book that gave an entertaining yet erudite discussion of the various surviving medieval Arthurian sagas, because there are clearly many, and they all seem to be bonkers. Thought I’d throw this out there in case anyone knows of such a book!
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Date: 2022-08-17 01:49 pm (UTC)I saw a great post the other day about how if, as some have theorized, Jonathan was beginning to be turned by the time he escaped Dracula's castle, he immediately ended up at a hospital RUN BY NUNS and therefore CHOCKA WITH CRUCIFIXES, so like— did he accidentally stumble on a vampirism detox process??
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Date: 2022-08-17 02:53 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2022-08-17 03:55 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2022-08-17 08:43 pm (UTC)That is great.
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Date: 2022-08-17 11:49 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2022-08-18 12:55 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2022-08-18 02:59 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2022-08-17 09:12 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2022-08-18 01:28 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2022-08-17 11:48 pm (UTC)--this is so, so... identifiable? I can just imagine people like him in a hospital Right Now, and hospital staff talking about him Just Like This.
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Date: 2022-08-18 01:28 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2022-08-20 05:33 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2022-08-21 01:05 pm (UTC)However, this is nothing to the fact that the Confederate President was Jefferson Davis, while there was a Union commander named Jefferson C. Davis.
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Date: 2022-08-21 01:25 pm (UTC)Ha ha, wow!