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Oh, hey, it's the last Wednesday of the year. Let's see if I can get back into the swing of posting these again.
What I Finished Reading This Week
King Arthur: History and Legend – Dorsey Armstrong
Being a Great Course that I hybrid watched/listened to. I really dug this one. Armstrong is an engaging lecturer on top of being a leading Arthurian scholar. The course does an excellent job of covering all the major points in the development of the Arthurian story (think the Mabinogion, Bede, de Troyes, von Eschenbach, Mallory, Wagner, Tennyson, White, Boorman, Bradley, Stewart and so on), as well as others I’d never heard of before (Dutch Arthurian sagas! Scandinavian ones! Minor German authors!). Armstrong’s treatment is thorough and thoughtful, and only rarely did it strike me as amiss (e.g., I happen to think von Eschenbach’s commentary on his audience was tongue-in-cheek; she takes it very much at face value) and I wish she could have covered additional contributors (Furlong, Paxson, Wein). Armstrong frequently bemoans that she can’t spend more time on any given topic, and I heartily sympathize: I would have happily listened to her expound on each for three or four times as long. This was an excellent series and one I will certainly watch/listen to again.
Poorly Drawn Lines – Reza Farazmand
Some of these made me chuckle, but overall Farazmand’s sensibility is far too Web 2.0 non sequitor for this reader, having cut my cartoon teeth on Watterson, Kelly, and vintage Trudeau. That said, you can read the entire collection in under an hour, the bare bones illustrations are cute, and I’ll probably proceed to the second volume.
The Two Towers – J.R.R. Tolkien
Faramir is hands down my favorite character in the trilogy, and Ithilien my favorite setting (Moria and the Barrow Downs being close seconds). Add in Treebeard, and you have all the reason I need to read this book.
The Best Christmas Pageant Ever – Barbara Robinson
At its heart, this is a book about how many people’s standard interpretation of said holiday gets it very much wrong. I first read it in 1989 (I wasn't able to pronounce half the words correctly), and I’ve read it pretty much yearly since then.
What I Am Currently Reading
Paladin’s Grace – T. Kingfisher
I’m ten percent in and enjoying it so far, but as with most Kingfisher, I suspect I’d enjoy it that much more if it were written in a slightly less modern vernacular.
The Return of the King – J.R.R. Tolkien
I’d meant to finish this by the 25th; hopefully I can wrap it up by the 31st.
What I’m Reading Next
Hey, it was Thingsgiving this week! I acquired The Three Billy Goats Gruff by Mac Barnett and Jon Klassen, The Women Could Fly by Megan Giddings, Orlam by P.J. Harvey, The Fall of Numemor by J.R.R. Tolkien, The Highland Bagpipe Tutor Book by Roddy McLeod, and The Scum Villain’s Self-Saving System vol. 2, The Scum Villain’s Self-Saving System vol. 3, and Heaven Official’s Blessing vol. 4, all by Mo Xiang Tong Xiu. To these we can add The Cathar Tarot, the Dungeons & Dragons Tarot, the Ethereal Visions Tarot, and the Prisma Visions Tarot.
これで以上です。
What I Finished Reading This Week
King Arthur: History and Legend – Dorsey Armstrong
Being a Great Course that I hybrid watched/listened to. I really dug this one. Armstrong is an engaging lecturer on top of being a leading Arthurian scholar. The course does an excellent job of covering all the major points in the development of the Arthurian story (think the Mabinogion, Bede, de Troyes, von Eschenbach, Mallory, Wagner, Tennyson, White, Boorman, Bradley, Stewart and so on), as well as others I’d never heard of before (Dutch Arthurian sagas! Scandinavian ones! Minor German authors!). Armstrong’s treatment is thorough and thoughtful, and only rarely did it strike me as amiss (e.g., I happen to think von Eschenbach’s commentary on his audience was tongue-in-cheek; she takes it very much at face value) and I wish she could have covered additional contributors (Furlong, Paxson, Wein). Armstrong frequently bemoans that she can’t spend more time on any given topic, and I heartily sympathize: I would have happily listened to her expound on each for three or four times as long. This was an excellent series and one I will certainly watch/listen to again.
Poorly Drawn Lines – Reza Farazmand
Some of these made me chuckle, but overall Farazmand’s sensibility is far too Web 2.0 non sequitor for this reader, having cut my cartoon teeth on Watterson, Kelly, and vintage Trudeau. That said, you can read the entire collection in under an hour, the bare bones illustrations are cute, and I’ll probably proceed to the second volume.
The Two Towers – J.R.R. Tolkien
Faramir is hands down my favorite character in the trilogy, and Ithilien my favorite setting (Moria and the Barrow Downs being close seconds). Add in Treebeard, and you have all the reason I need to read this book.
The Best Christmas Pageant Ever – Barbara Robinson
At its heart, this is a book about how many people’s standard interpretation of said holiday gets it very much wrong. I first read it in 1989 (I wasn't able to pronounce half the words correctly), and I’ve read it pretty much yearly since then.
What I Am Currently Reading
Paladin’s Grace – T. Kingfisher
I’m ten percent in and enjoying it so far, but as with most Kingfisher, I suspect I’d enjoy it that much more if it were written in a slightly less modern vernacular.
The Return of the King – J.R.R. Tolkien
I’d meant to finish this by the 25th; hopefully I can wrap it up by the 31st.
What I’m Reading Next
Hey, it was Thingsgiving this week! I acquired The Three Billy Goats Gruff by Mac Barnett and Jon Klassen, The Women Could Fly by Megan Giddings, Orlam by P.J. Harvey, The Fall of Numemor by J.R.R. Tolkien, The Highland Bagpipe Tutor Book by Roddy McLeod, and The Scum Villain’s Self-Saving System vol. 2, The Scum Villain’s Self-Saving System vol. 3, and Heaven Official’s Blessing vol. 4, all by Mo Xiang Tong Xiu. To these we can add The Cathar Tarot, the Dungeons & Dragons Tarot, the Ethereal Visions Tarot, and the Prisma Visions Tarot.
これで以上です。
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I think Chris really liked the Armstrong book when they were doing their big Arthuriana kick earlier this year. Unless I'm thinking of another one, in which case I'll have to let them know about it if it's as good as you say.
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Yes, to all of this! The interactions between the main characters' parents amused me because they mirrored mes parents' interactions (at least when they were speaking to each other). And the adults, like Mrs. Armstrong, Mrs. Wendelken, and the librarian were also familiar personalities to me. It wasn't until I hit adulthood that I realized how poisonous Alice and her mother were, and what an implicit contrast Robinson was setting up between them and the Herdmans.
Ooh, did Chris read her one on gender in Mallory? I actually have yet to read any of Armstrong's books; what I did was alternately watch or listen to her Great Course (ignore the shitty reviews, which I suspect were written by academic rivals). I've also enjoyed what I've watched of another of her Great Courses on the black death, but for obvious reasons, that one's been on pause since 2019.
A lot of libraries have free access to Great Courses through Kanopy, if you guys are ever in the mood for long-form geek documentaries. XD