May 2022 Reading Thread.

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Plugging away at William Faulkner's As I Lay Dying. When I have time to read, it's really enjoyable. I'd forgotten how passages read almost like Mark Twain. Here's Vernon Tull thinking about his wife's devout Christian belief.

"... Now and then a fellow gets to thinking. About all the sorrow and afflictions in this world, how it's liable to strike anywhere, like lightning. I reckon it does take a powerful trust in the Lord to guard a fellow, though sometimes I think Cora's a mite over-cautious, like she was trying to crowd the other folks away and get in closer than anybody else. ... "

Later,
"I reckon if there's ere a man or woman anywhere that He could turn it all over to and go away with His mind at rest, it would be Cora. And I reckon she would make a few changes, no matter how He was running it. And I reckon they would be for man's good. Leastways, we would have to like them. Leastways, we might as well go on and make like we did."
 
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Well I ordered this after reading the reviews and extracts in the papers, and was really looking forward to enjoying 150 - 200 pages of Bennett's unique wit - only to find on delivery that the size/format of the book is much the same as a Ladybird book with only 44 pages of text and maybe just 200 words a page. And most of the best bits were in the previously published extracts.

Why print this? If he'd needed the money I'd have been happy to send him the £5.00.

It's still a good read though.
 
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Skeletons by Al Sarrantonio

A totally daft plot, very like a zombie apocalypse story.
The Earth has passed through a galactic cloud and now all the skeletons have dug themselves out of graves and are attacking the living.
Their purpose is to free their bone brothers from the evil flesh that enslaves them.

An insane story so far, but it's also fun and I'm enjoying it.

(This once again confirms the theory that's been proposed by a few different Chronners that I'll read any pulp crap apart from romance)
 
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...now all the skeletons have dug themselves out of graves and are attacking the living.
Their purpose is to free their bone brothers from the evil flesh that enslaves them.
This is why you cremate corpses. That way they can't come back and bite you in the butt.
 
Skeletons by Al Sarrantonio

A totally daft plot, very like a zombie apocalypse story.
The Earth has passed through a galactic cloud and now all the skeletons have dug themselves out of graves and are attacking the living.
Their purpose is to free their bone brothers from the evil flesh that enslaves them.

An insane story so far, but it's also fun and I'm enjoying it.

(This once again confirms the theory that's been proposed by a few different Chronners that I'll read any pulp crap apart from romance)
Funny enough, I find a lot of SF and Fantasy does involve a fair bit of romance. Look at ERB with his Mars, Tarzan, Pellucidar etc. Although very tame compared to today’s climate, they nearly almost involved a hero saving his hearts’ desire from danger. Understated romance but still there....admittedly not Mills and Boon though :love:
 
I finished To Kill A Mockingbird, which was very good. It was funnier and less of a tract than I'd anticipated. It focused on the moral corruption of the white characters more than the tough lives of the black characters, which was fine but not what I'd expected and ended with a surprise that, while entirely reasonable, I didn't see coming. Very good.

I'm currently reading This House of Grief by Helen Garner, an Australian book about a murder trial. It's one of those non-fiction books where the author has a prominent role in the story, which is a technique I don't usually like, but the writing is very good and the case is grimly compelling. Some of the Australian slang is slightly surprising - a man is described as "losing his thong" in a brawl, which threw me until I discovered that a thong is a sandal.
 
They're currently prevailing over the flesh humans because they are being led by the skeleton of Lenin!
If the flesh humans are anything like today's humans, they are probably glued to their phones and haven't noticed the skeletons running around with sharp pointy objects and things that go boom! because the zombie apocalypse has been and gone, and there are no more brains left...

P.S: Hmmm - this actually sounds like a frivolous, fun book to read when the brain cells need a break. :)
 
I finished To Kill A Mockingbird, which was very good. It was funnier and less of a tract than I'd anticipated. It focused on the moral corruption of the white characters more than the tough lives of the black characters, which was fine but not what I'd expected and ended with a surprise that, while entirely reasonable, I didn't see coming. Very good.
If you haven't seen the movie, it's one of those that does right by the book.
 
And we now have the skeleton army bearing arms and using mortars etc.
They're currently prevailing over the flesh humans because they are being led by the skeleton of Lenin!
As Lenin's body remains embalmed in full public view in Red Square (with skeleton still inside the 'evil flesh') is that part of the plot, or is this an alternate reality?
Just nerdily curious...
 
As Lenin's body remains embalmed in full public view in Red Square (with skeleton still inside the 'evil flesh') is that part of the plot, or is this an alternate reality?
Just nerdily curious...
The skeleton escaped from the wax flesh and (did I mention they could talk?) used it's authoritarian personality to take command of a platoon of Red Army skeletons, probably his own tomb guards. Now he's assuming command of the skeleton assault on Greater Moscow to free the other skeletons from their people hosts.

Meanwhile, over in America, the skeleton of Abraham Lincoln has just woken...that's as far as I've got so far
 
The skeleton escaped from the wax flesh and (did I mention they could talk?) used it's authoritarian personality to take command of a platoon of Red Army skeletons, probably his own tomb guards. Now he's assuming command of the skeleton assault on Greater Moscow to free the other skeletons from their people hosts.

Meanwhile, over in America, the skeleton of Abraham Lincoln has just woken...that's as far as I've got so far
I don't want to anticipate too much of the plot, but it looks like Rameses II and Tutankhamen will sort out Africa then invade Europe via Gibraltar.
 
Ah, turns out he wrote The Changes, which was dramatised as a near-mythical (and never repeated) early-seventies children's TV series.
Beginning with one of my all-time favourite children's novels The Weathermonger, his debut book inspired by a vivid dream he had. Highly recommended.
 
I am celebrating the glorious 25th of May by rereading Night Watch, while ignoring the other ten or so books on the go
 
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