What 📔book are you reading right now?

Erurávennë said:

I attended a free online writing summit (The Young Writer Summit, Brett Harris) the last few days. Have you heard of it or the Young Writer's Workshop? I should have shared about it with you and others on the forum. I took lots of notes and screenshots. It was fantastic!!! 🔥
I also got so many EXCELLENT book recommendations. I will share them with you if you want.

Click to expand...

You attended the Young Writer's Summit with Brett Harris?! I wanted to tune in, but I didn't have the time to. I knew about it because I receive emails from author S.D. Smith, who wrote the Green Ember series. I'm glad you were able to enjoy it!

Fingon_Findekáno said:

You attended the Young Writer's Summit with Brett Harris?! I wanted to tune in, but I didn't have the time to. I knew about it because I receive emails from author S.D. Smith, who wrote the Green Ember series. I'm glad you were able to enjoy it!

Click to expand...

I had a feeling you knew about it @Fingon_Findekáno ! 😆 It was sooo good; I'm sorry you missed it. Almost every presenter mentioned Tolkien's work at some point! And one - Wayne Thomas Batson - was dressed as, and occasionally talked as Gandalf; he was cool 😂 Brett Harris's opening talk was 🔥 Everyone wove The Lord into their advice; the last speaker prayed before and after his talk. I will be back next year, and I pray you can too. But... I took lots of detailed notes and screenshots of all the presenters who did slideshows. I would be so happy to send you notes and slideshows; I don't mind one bit. I want to share all the good advice. If you really want them please, please do say so!
P. S. Don't worry, I take good notes. Not the same as experiencing it yourself, of course but there were so many good ideas and even just book recommendations.

The Hobbit: A Graphic Novel, illustrated by David Wenzel and adapted by Chuck Dixon.

Radaghast said:

The Hobbit: A Graphic Novel, illustrated by David Wenzel and adapted by Chuck Dixon.

Click to expand...

I found that in the school library when I was a kid. I had already read LOTR and The Hobbit, but I liked graphic novels and comics, so I was surprised and pleased to discover this.

The cover looked like this one:



From what I remember of it, they adapted the story very well.

Yes, the comic stuck to the words in the text, IIRC. There have been at least a couple of later editions, with extra pages

I've been reading A History of the Middle Ages by Sidney Painter, for the last week or so. Very interesting to see how knights and feudalism and that sort of thing developed.

Erurávennë said:

I finished The Seven Pillars of Wisdom: quite slow, but good and interesting as you said. I took notes on interesting phrases, points, quotes, and new vocabulary. But I could certainly feel Lawrence's journey - once I got to the end with the chapter in Damascus I felt the joy, relief, even tears of joy because 1) of the slow building of the whole book to it and 2) some of the descriptions were so moving. I would share some but I don't want to spoil your read!

What is Arabian Sands by Thesiger about? Sounds very intriguing.
Lawrence translated the Odyssey? Did not know that.

Your reading list sounds like mine... always vast and ever growing, filled with incredible books. 😂

I attended a free online writing summit (The Young Writer Summit, Brett Harris) the last few days. Have you heard of it or the Young Writer's Workshop? I should have shared about it with you and others on the forum. I took lots of notes and screenshots. It was fantastic!!! 🔥
I also got so many EXCELLENT book recommendations. I will share them with you if you want.

Click to expand...

Oh, awesome! I'll let you know once I finish too, then we can exchange more of our thoughts

I believe Wilfred Thesiger was an explorer in Arabia some time after Lawrence captured Damascus, or possibly at the same time. I think he mentioned Lawrence a few times in Arabian Sands. It's a very good book, it captures a very different perspective than Seven Pillars (not saying Seven Pillars is bad or anything, it's just different from AS). Thesiger is very fascinated by the desert and Bedu culture.

Yes, I think the Collins Classics version of the Odyssey is by Lawrence. It's not in poetic form, though, which is why I didn't finish it and switched to Fagles.

The Young Writers Summit sounds really interesting! I don't think I've heard of it before, but I'll look it up.

Yes please, I can always use book recommendations

Edit: : and D together as a smiley face automatically get replaced as . Whyyyyyyyy

Idril Celebrindal said:

I recently read The Illustrated Man. It was quite good. I think I prefer The Martian Chronicles, though.

...

Click to expand...

Tossup for me. I like both and re-read both books quite often

The MC has the overarching "colonization of Mars" theme, whereas in IM Bradbury strings together thematically disparate short stories with the "framing device" of the wandering tattooed man and with little "bridge comments".
There are also bridge comments in MC, but they aren't necessary to grasp the theme.
In both books the individual tales (or chapters ) were actually short stories written at different times and probably saw initial and separate publication in the pulps (e.g. Amazing, Astounding, etc) and also magazies like Esquire and Playboy.

Idril Celebrindal said:

Oh, awesome! I'll let you know once I finish too, then we can exchange more of our thoughts

I believe Wilfred Thesiger was an explorer in Arabia some time after Lawrence captured Damascus, or possibly at the same time. I think he mentioned Lawrence a few times in Arabian Sands. It's a very good book, it captures a very different perspective than Seven Pillars (not saying Seven Pillars is bad or anything, it's just different from AS). Thesiger is very fascinated by the desert and Bedu culture.

Yes, I think the Collins Classics version of the Odyssey is by Lawrence. It's not in poetic form, though, which is why I didn't finish it and switched to Fagles.

The Young Writers Summit sounds really interesting! I don't think I've heard of it before, but I'll look it up.

Yes please, I can always use book recommendations

Edit: : and D together as a smiley face automatically get replaced as . Whyyyyyyyy

Click to expand...

I will certainly check out Arabian Sands soon! Thanks.

For the Recommendations
Brett Harris gave the incredible opening talk on mindset, deliberate practice, and passion -
He recommended:
- Do Hard Things by Brett Harris and Alex Harris
- Grit: The power of passion and perseverance by Angela Duckworth
He also mentioned these books in his talk; not necessarily as reading:
Peak: secrets of the science of expertise
The Cambridge Handbook of Expertise and Expert Performance
by K. Anders Ericsson, Robert R. Hoffman
Developing talent in young people by Benjamin bloom

Betsie Farquhar of the Redeemed Reader did her presentation on reading and recommended many books to illustrate her points. These stood out to me:
- The Mabinogion (I had heard of this before. She said a professor recommended it to her but she did not read it until many years later; she wished she had read it sooner.)
She recommended a few Middle Eastern/Arabian books which you are interested in:
- Everything Sad is Untrue
and to read deeper in this recommended:
- Family edition of the Arabian nights
- Teacher of Nomad Land
I personally do not know much about these myself though.

Andrew Pudewa actually did his talk based on this book (which he recommended to be read many times over):
- How to think like Shakespeare: Lessons from a Renaissance Education by Dr. Scott Newstok
He was currently reading and recommended
- Theo of Golden by Allan Levi
as well.

You may want to check out the various speakers at the Summit (as many write books):
- S. D. Smith
- Millie Florence
- Betsy Farquhar
- Wayne Thomas Batson
- Kimberley Woodhouse
- Andrew Pudewa
- Candace Kade
- Erin Phillips
- Chuck Black

You should attend the summit next year if you can - there are so many other recommendations that you have to hear yourself to pick out ones that interest you; besides everything else shared! I personally have an every growing list of books; they seem to be scattered all over the place though... I need to do some organization. Maybe if you are interested in a certain topic I could share particular books.

On the emojis - Yes, I get you! I wish you could just use symbols sometimes instead of a smiley face - it often fits better.

P.S. I cannot help but share these takeaways from Brett:
I. He emphasized this definition of passion which is so helpful:
It is not an emotion but, "an abiding interest and a willingness to suffer for it."

II. Deliberate practice ("key to improving any complex skill")
has 6 characteristics. the more you have, the more successful you will be:
- it takes place outside your comfort zone
- designed/overseen by an expert
- specific goals (not vague improvement)
- regular feedback
- effective mental models/organizations for learning
- fundamentals first

The Commanders: The Leadership Journeys of George Patton, Bernard Montgomery, and Erwin Rommel by Lloyd Clark

The Things We Cherished by Pam Jenoff

@Idril Celebrindal I started reading Arabian Sands today. 😉
By the way, They Came to Bagdad by Agatha Christie is an incredible desert adventure-mystery; I have read many of her mysteries and consider it one of the best. It takes place mostly in Bagdad.

Erurávennë said:

@Idril Celebrindal I started reading Arabian Sands today. 😉
By the way, They Came to Bagdad by Agatha Christie is an incredible desert adventure-mystery; I have read many of her mysteries and consider it one of the best.

Click to expand...

If you were asked (like I'm asking you now 😄) to recommend (in your opinion) her 10 best mysteries (or maybe 15 of them) what would you list?

Deimos said:

If you were asked (like I'm asking you now 😄) to recommend (in your opinion) her 10 best mysteries (or maybe 15 of them) what would you list?

Click to expand...

Woah! Lets see... It has been a few years.
These are all the ones I read. Did not realize it was this many! There may be others?, but vaguely in order from most to least favorite. (The end of the list is somewhat 🤷‍♀️ hard to say):
- they came to bagdad
- death on the nile
- peril at end house
- murder on the orient express
- what mrs. mcgillicuddy saw
- the mirror crack'd
- easy to kill
- murder in mesopotamia
- cards on the table
- a carribean mystery
- nemesis
- thirteen at dinner
- the abc murders
- the body in the library
- the mystery of the blue train
- the murder at hazelmoor

A lot, I know but it was easiest to sort out in my brain that way. Plus, you could ask about a specific one.
Note: Some of these have two names (one for in the U.S. and a different one in England).

These two are really quite strange/outlandish. Very good (they should probably be high on the list) but I hardly know what to think about them - not in a bad way. You will see what I mean if you read them! :
- So many steps to death
- Passenger to frankfurt

I would categorize her mysteries by 1) Hercule Poirot 2) Miss Marple 3) Other main characters (often just ordinary people as opposed to detectives)
And clearly there are many I have not read. The only one I never finished was Ten Little Indians; I lost interest/had something better to read. Did not really like it very much, but maybe that's just me; it wasn't bad as far as I got.

1491: New Revelations of the Americas Before Columbus by Charles C. Mann

For some time now I regularly watch the fantastic documentaries of pre-Columbian America on Ancient Americas over on YouTube and I decided that I needed to start reading into the subject instead of only watching and that seemed a good start. I am only some 60 pages in as of right now but its already to my liking. Since in about two weeks I have to start teaching colonialism in the 8th grade history class, which starts with indigenous societies of Mesoamerica and Columbus, I hope it will help me to do the topic more justice than is usually done in the German education system - albeit far from perfection as this subject isn't part of university education for aspiring history teachers.

An independent bookstore recently opened in my neighborhood. I picked up The Tatami Time Machine Blues. I hope it is as interesting as its title.

Eldacar said:

1491: New Revelations of the Americas Before Columbus by Charles C. Mann

For some time now I regularly watch the fantastic documentaries of pre-Columbian America on Ancient Americas over on YouTube and I decided that I needed to start reading into the subject instead of only watching and that seemed a good start. I am only some 60 pages in as of right now but its already to my liking. Since in about two weeks I have to start teaching colonialism in the 8th grade history class, which starts with indigenous societies of Mesoamerica and Columbus, I hope it will help me to do the topic more justice than is usually done in the German education system - albeit far from perfection as this subject isn't part of university education for aspiring history teachers.

Click to expand...

This book is very good! As is the 1493 one. I myself plan to read the journals of Christopher Columbus soon as well. Few seem to understand Columbus, his purpose in sailing, and the truth of what was and what followed, today.

Gathering Blue by Lois Lowry

The Lord of the Rings(for the twelfth time; this time I am listening to the Andy Serkis audiobook while I read), The Round House, A Tale of Two Cities, and A Wrinkle In Time.

The Golden Compass by Philip Pullman