In the High Peaks
















Monday, March 18, 2019

A Brief Note about Lots of Books

March is proving to be a wonderful reading month after a dismal month of reading in February.
Perhaps because I am still wobbly and am still hacking away from the remnants of this cold, I find myself in between shirking my household jobs and half doing them,  feeding the birds, doing my exercises, and then gladly retreating to the loft bed to read the following:

The Woman in White by Wilkie Collins--such enjoyable reading! Wow! I'm just loving it. I'm in at 200 pages with 400 pages to go. What I appreciate most is that there is never a dull moment in this Victorian grand-scale ultra-mystery. It's perfectly thrilling, with fascinating characters. Oh, gosh--so great. If only there were more books just like this one. I keep thinking--maybe I should slow down, savor it more. But I can't stop myself from moving forward. I heartily recommend this classic!

The Radetsky March by Joseph Roth  continues--I'm almost at the end of Part One, which I need to have read by April 1st for the Readalong. I'm continuing to enjoy it, and better yet, I'll be finished with Part One in plenty of time.

As a side read, I've been fascinated by a puzzling work of recent history The Fate of Rome: Climate, Disease, and the End of an Empire by Kyle Harper (2017) Princeton U. Press, yet another book that reconstructs the past through the lens of rapid climate change and its effects on societies. Harper (no relation) has not convinced me yet that climactic upheaval occurred during the Roman Era. Without that  fact  in place, the rest of his premise caves. But I haven't read enough to form a judgment.

Certainly, there is absolutely no doubt whatsoever that climatic change in the 17th century changed societies and cultures the world over, due to what  has been called,  in the  past, "The  Little Ice Age." I love this kind of stuff!
So Ken just brought home for me the book Nature's Mutiny: How the Little Ice Age of the Long Seventeenth Century Transformed the West and Shaped the Present  by Philipp Blom. Glancing through this one, I see it is not as well developed as other, much more deeply-researched books on this topic, which is of enormous fascination for me.

I bought another book for my Nook as a rest from these more demanding tomes. More later!

8 comments:

  1. Glad to get your update on A Woman in White; I need to read that on perhaps this fall.

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    1. Hi Diane,
      I can assure you, you won't be sorry if you're able to get to A Woman in White.

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  2. I am sorry you are still affected by that terrible cold. I hate it when a cold hangs on and on.

    How do you read so many books at once? Sometimes I can handle two at a time and then maybe a non-fiction book that I linger over. But usually just one at a time. Especially fiction.

    I guess I am just going to have to read A Woman in White.

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    1. I think it's a matter of having time, and certainly this month my reading has been prolific because I've been so knocked out by the darn cold I've had.
      I also find that I like to be reading somewhat of a variety at any given time. If I have a cozy mystery, then I want something harder, more complicated, different. That kind of thing.
      For one thing, I don't have lots of time to read all the time. It comes and goes!

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  3. Such an interesting mix of books! I'm so glad you're enjoying The Woman in White... Victorian sensation novels are so much fun.

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    1. JoAnn,
      I'll be so sorry when I've finished The Woman in White. It is certainly one that I'd like to read again in the future, and more slowly the second time.

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  4. I loved the Woman in White too.

    I received the two comments you made on my Top Ten post but was unable to approve the short one you made from this blog, but could approve the one from Seeing the Forest for the Trees - but for some unknown reason it hasn't appeared on my blog!! I see that you have no entries on the Seeing the Forest blog. Sorry, I can't explain why.

    What you said about Capote and Harper Lee is very interesting - such a shame about their friendship ending like that.

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    1. Hi Margaret,
      I'm finding so many people who have loved The Woman in White. How I wish there were many more like it. I tried The Moonstone about 20-25 years ago, and it didn't grab me at the time. I will try again at some point.
      It's a WordPress problem that's the cause of the difficulties. I had a WordPress account, because of a website I once had. And somehow or other, it's difficult to sometimes to leave a "signature" on bloggers who have WordPress that links to my blog using Blogger.com. If I don't figure it out, I will call them, because I still have a website acct. with WordPress.
      About Capote and Harper Lee: There's a wonderful book that discusses the particulars of this rift--it may very well be one of Harper Lee's bios. I'll try to look it up and let you know. Just can't recall at the moment. It was an excellent book.

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