The Border Book Club

[glenneaglesfan]

Julie. it's good to hear that you are still reading the classics. One of my favourite old authors is Rudyard Kipling. I reread 'Kim' a couple of years ago, and I have a collection of short stories that I revisit from time to time.

I also enjoy reading children's fiction. Has anyone here read 'Holes' by Louis Sachar? If you haven't, I suggest you give it a try - it's funny and develops into quite an unexpected ending.

I still have some of the classic children's books. I suppose I'm reaching the age where it's ok to keep them back for the grandchildren.

[Randy's Girl]

This is my ideal topic!! I love books and I work in a bookshop and I read constantly.

I read The Notebook a couple of years ago too, and enjoyed it. I've read all the Bill Bryson books too, and loved them all. Although his biog The Life and Times of the Thunderbolt Kid actually made me laugh out loud - so so funny. I would strongly recommend it.

Currently, I have discovered Sharpe, and I totally love them. I am now on the second to last one, and I don't want them to end. I just love the character, and I don't know what I'll do when I've read the last one. I've started watching the films too, and they're really good (Sean Bean is sooo good as Sharpe).

I started reading Sharpe at the end of January, and before that I read Resurrectionist by James McGee (sequel to Ratcatcher). Set in Regency London, the main character is Matthew Hawkwood, a Bow Street Runner. They are fantastic stories and normally I hate historical fiction, but these I love.

I could be here for hours talking about books!

[Lisa]

Sounds funny, but I've been re-reading and blocking through (setting into disparate blocks of lines) stanzaic segments of John Keats' "Endymion," "Hyperion," and "The Fall of Hyperion." I'm piecing at the thematic unifying devices from the first theme through the three books, and I'm thinking about other types of syntactical elements.

Seems less funny: I think I might look at the new "Washington's Spies."

[sodascouts]

Interesting! I'm teaching Keats in my English Literature II course. Do you want to share some of your insights?

[Lisa]

I'll have too look at my notes. I wrote a little outline with a few thoughts on Keats, but I don't have it with me--the outline has a few of my own ideas about the two lyric Romantic Poets, who are traditionally John Keats and Percy Bysshe Shelley.

I've noticed a number of couplets organized by in "Endymion" that seem intended for muse, Fanny.

Theme one of "Endymion," "A thing of beauty is a joy forever,...--to period is derived from the (King James) Bible's psalms, paraphrased and newly worded. Its exposition draws from mostly John Milton and William Shakespeare to paint the words. Most of the big blocks of writing are derived from Milton's "Paradise Lost." The changes in usage into the triplet and sextuplet within the stanza often are segments that paraphrase and rewrite ideas and lines from William Shakespeare.

Endymion is a lesser god, a minor figure out of the Greek myths. He is literal in his prior existence. Ditto; Hyperion; who is also a minor god in the Greek pantheon.

I hope this is helpful. I'll think about this.









For fun Inspiration: PBShelley, Prometheus Unbound: Act III, Scene iv, line 190--The Spirit of the Hour: "The painted veil, by those who were, called life," (Idea of life as we know it veiling the platonic ideal of the concrete world around us.)

[sodascouts]

I see! Regarding this:

Theme one of "Endymion," "A thing of beauty is a joy forever,...--to period is derived from the (King James) Bible's psalms, paraphrased and newly worded. Its exposition draws from mostly John Milton and William Shakespeare to paint the words. Most of the big blocks of writing are derived from Milton's "Paradise Lost."

If you're trying to tie in more Romantic poets, Blake was obsessed with Milton. He even did some engravings for a version of Paradise Lost. Then again, I suppose adding too many authors might dilute your analysis. I've always loved Milton so it interests me very much when people talk about his influence on the poets of the Romantic era.

[VAisForEagleLovers]

Just finished reading "Welcome to My Jungle: An Unauthorized Account of How a Regular Guy Like Me Survived Years of Touring With Guns N' Roses, Pet Wallabies, Crazed Groupies, ...One of the Greatest Rock Bands of All Time" by Craig Duswalt.

Craig was Axl's assistant and the book doesn't get into the personalities or interactions between band members at all. It was still interesting, but now I must read Duff and Slash's books as well.

[Toonlass]

Well...I finished Blott, so my boyfriend (Chris) and I went out and bought a couple of new (old) books from the local charity shops to keep at his house. I got "The Bible The Old Testament According to Spike Milligan", which is great. I also got a Tony Parsons book, but I can't remember the title (I've not started reading it yet) and Chris got The Essential Spike Milligan.

Otherwise I'm still reading A Short History of Nearly Everything....not much more to go in there.

[Randy's Girl]

I read Neil Gaiman's Neverwhere last night and really enjoyed it, and the night before that I read Predator by Patricia Cornwell (not as good as her earlier ones). The day before that, I read The 5th Horseman (James Patterson). I've started Mary Mary (also by James Patterson). Oh and I read a book on Monday called Horse's Arse (the title appealed to me). Very funny book, similar to Christopher Brookmyre but not Scottish.

As you may notice, I love reading!

[AzEaglesFan]

I just started reading Rosanne Cash's new book "Composed" I was surprised to see Steuart Smith mentioned in her book. She was recording an album in 1987. She was married to Rodney Crowell at the time and he hired Steuart to play on her record. She writes "I didn't understand Steuart's working style at first and made fun of him a bit to Rodney. He seemed extremely obsessive and overly meticulous, and I sensed a self-consciousness in his demeanor that made me feel awkward, I slowly realized, over the course of the first few weeks of work, that Steuart was one if the most deeply sensitive musicians I had ever encountered, and that the depth of his soul came right out of the ends of his fingers when he played. Living in mundane reality was often almost excruciating for Steuart. He is not the first artist I have known with so few defenses against the world, and certainly there have been many, many times I have felt that vulnerable and exposed myself. He became a collaborator and such an inspiration to me that when I produced Interiors a few years later I sought him out for help with the arrangements and he proved invaluable."