What 📔book are you reading right now?

[Nova4029]

Wodehouse could convey a vivid image of someone in a few words-- like his aunt's husband, who looked like "a pterodactyl with a secret sorrow".

Or his aunt's silver cow creamer: " Merely looking at it took one into a different, and horrible world".

"Had the air of a man who was looking for the leak in life's gas pipe with a lighted candle"..........ok that's enough, I'll stop now before I get carried away with Plum quotes lol

 

[Erestor Arcamen]

“And she's got brains enough for two, which is the exact quantity the girl who marries you will need.”

 

[Nova4029]

“And she's got brains enough for two, which is the exact quantity the girl who marries you will need.”

Haha, please no more, you'll just get me going again 😄

 

[Deimos]

First! I've read a few others but not this one.

It's one of his "adult" novels*** that I liked. Not my favorite one, but still pretty good.
Puppet Masters I enjoyed, Double Star is pretty high up there, Door Into Summer was good, there are more, I'm sure, I just can't recall the titles.

*** Most of his later "adult" stuff that he wrote toward the end of his life could be tossed into the fireplace with little regret, beginning with SIASL (imo).

 

[Deimos]

@Erestor Arcamen
Have you read his [juvenile] novel "The Rolling Stones"?
If you have, watch for the tie-in to it in MIAHM which in the Heinlein universe predates The Rolling Stones.

 

[Erestor Arcamen]

@Erestor Arcamen
Have you read his [juvenile] novel "The Rolling Stones"?
If you have, watch for the tie-in to it in MIAHM which in the Heinlein universe predates The Rolling Stones.

No I haven't but I'll have to check it out.

 

[Deimos]

No I haven't but I'll have to check it out.

It's not his best Juvie stuff but I liked it enough to reread it several times (and it's on my shelves which means I consider it a "keeper" and not something destined for the thrift store... or the fireplace😉 ).

 

[Erestor Arcamen]

It's not his best Juvie stuff but I liked it enough to reread it several times (and it's on my shelves which means I consider it a "keeper" and not something destined for the thrift store... or the fireplace😉 ).

Thanks, I'll check it out for sure, it sounds like an interesting book.

 

[Amon Rudh]

Just started Tales from the Perilous Realm. One of my Christmas books. Really enjoying it. I can see this being another rather nice palette cleanser after more complex tomes. 🙂

 

[Deimos]

Just started Tales from the Perilous Realm. One of my Christmas books. Really enjoying it. I can see this being another rather nice palette cleanser after more complex tomes. 🙂

I read it. I really liked all of the stories except for Roverandom. That one is definitley a children's story, much more so than The Hobbit.
I found the last third of it tedious. But I thoroughly enjoyed the other stories.
Also included is the essay On Fairy Stories...that one may slow you down a bit...Tolkien at his most scholarly! 🙂

 

[Amon Rudh]

I read it. I really liked all of the stories except for Roverandom. That one is definitley a children's story, much more so than The Hobbit.
I found the last third of it tedious. But I thoroughly enjoyed the other stories.
Also included is the essay On Fairy Stories...that one may slow you down a bit...Tolkien at his most scholarly! 🙂

Agreed, although it's nice to read something lighter every now and again. Makes a change from History of Middle-earth, astrophysics and evolutionary books for sure. I am finding Tolkien reading a very deep but very rewarding dive 😀

 

[Keva]

Is anybody reading those e-books at all?

 

[Amon Rudh]

I read it. I really liked all of the stories except for Roverandom. That one is definitley a children's story, much more so than The Hobbit.
I found the last third of it tedious. But I thoroughly enjoyed the other stories.
Also included is the essay On Fairy Stories...that one may slow you down a bit...Tolkien at his most scholarly! 🙂

Just finished Roverandom and I actually enjoyed it. Agreed it's certainly a children's story but a nice read nonetheless. It reminded me of a number of old children's TV programmes such as e.g. The Clangers.

 

[Squint-eyed Southerner]

As I already had everything in other editions, I didn't buy Tales -- though I'd be interested in reading Shippey's introduction. Was any context given for the origin of Roverandom?

 

[Amon Rudh]

Indeed. Hope it's OK to copy this here. Quite cute really. The smaller text relays an interesting link to the Middle-earth lore.

 

[Squint-eyed Southerner]

Thanks. Yes, it was typical for Tolkien to respond to loss and sadness with a story.

 

[Deimos]

Just finished Roverandom and I actually enjoyed it. Agreed it's certainly a children's story but a nice read nonetheless. It reminded me of a number of old children's TV programmes such as e.g. The Clangers.

I liked the premise, it just dragged on too long in the last third. If it were shorter I probably would have no objections to it.
Now, being a children's story, and one that you would tell a child a little bit of which every night, the dragging on wouldn't matter.
In fact, it would probably delight a very young child.
It just doesn't work very well (imo) for "adult reading".
The style, suitable for holding a child's attention night after night, didn't hold mine (toward the end) reading it in only one sitting.**
And bear in mind, this is from a person who has no trouble reading (and even re-reading) the three volume LOTR, or the Sil, or Middlemarch, or The Once and Future King for that matter; the latter two being quite lengthy.

** It did, in fact, hold my attention in so far as I wanted to learn the dog's fate; it's just that the reading of it became a bit of a slog.

 

[Deimos]

Tolkien, philologist that he was, could not resist the occasional word-play.
You all caught his little jest in the dog's name, yes? (and not just the "Rover" part... a common enough dog's name)

 

[Amon Rudh]

I didn't but googling suggests it's a nod to The Adventures of Roderick Random?

 

[Deimos]

I didn't but googling suggests it's a nod to The Adventures of Roderick Random?

Possibly that. I was unaware of the story until you mentioned it. Considering when it was written JRRT likely was aware of it.
But regardless Tolkien' source(s) for it you caught the "random" part 🙂; the dog was a haphazard wanderer.