Lena's bookshelf: all en-US Fri, 06 Sep 2024 14:20:28 -0700 60 Lena's bookshelf: all 144 41 /images/layout/goodreads_logo_144.jpg The Egyptian Book of the Dead 790550 The Egyptian Books of the Dead is unquestionably one of the most influential books in all of history. Embodying a ritual to be performed for the dead, with detailed instructions for the behavior of the disembodied spirit in the Land of the Gods, it served as the most important repository of religious authority for some three thousand years. Chapters were carved on the pyramids of the ancient 5th Dynasty, texts were written in papyrus, and selections were painted on mummy cases well into the Christian Era. In a certain sense it stood behind all Egyptian civilization.

In the year 1888 Dr. E. Wallis Budge, then purchasing agent for the British Museum, followed rumors he heard of a spectacular archaeological find in Upper Egypt, and found in an 18th Dynasty tomb near Luxor "the largest roll of papyrus I had ever seen, tied with a thick band of papyrus, and in a perfect state of preservation." It was a copy of the Egyptian Book of the Dead, written around 1500 B.C. for Ani, Royal Scribe of Thebes, Overseer of the Granaries of the Lords of Abydos, and Scribe of the Offerings of the Lords of Thebes.

The Papyrus of Ani, a full version of the Theban recension, is presented here by Dr. Budge, who later became perhaps the world's most renowned Egyptologist. Reproduced in full are a clear copy of the Egyptian hieroglyphs, and interlinear transliteration of their sounds (as reconstructed), a word-for-word translation, and separately a complete smooth translation. All this is preceded by an introduction of more than 150 pages. As a result of this multiple apparatus the reader has a unique opportunity to savor all aspects of the Book of the Dead, or as it is otherwise known, the Book of the Great Awakening.]]> 377 Anonymous 048621866X Lena 0 will-read-at-some-point 3.94 -1500 The Egyptian Book of the Dead
author: Anonymous
name: Lena
average rating: 3.94
book published: -1500
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/09/06
shelves: will-read-at-some-point
review:

]]> <![CDATA[The Blazing World and Other Writings]]> 354620
For more than seventy years, Penguin has been the leading publisher of classic literature in the English-speaking world. With more than 1,700 titles, Penguin Classics represents a global bookshelf of the best works throughout history and across genres and disciplines. Readers trust the series to provide authoritative texts enhanced by introductions and notes by distinguished scholars and contemporary authors, as well as up-to-date translations by award-winning translators.]]> 272 Margaret Cavendish 0140433724 Lena 0 consider 3.25 The Blazing World and Other Writings
author: Margaret Cavendish
name: Lena
average rating: 3.25
book published:
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/08/07
shelves: consider
review:

]]> <![CDATA[The Ramayana: A Modern Retelling of the Great Indian Epic]]> 141153 The great Indian epic rendered in modern prose

India's most beloved and enduring legend, the Ramayana is widely acknowledged to be one of the world's great literary masterpieces. Still an integral part of India's cultural and religious expression, the Ramayana was originally composed by the Sanskrit poet Valmiki around 300 b.c. The epic of Prince Rama's betrayal, exile, and struggle to rescue his faithful wife, Sita, from the clutches of a demon and to reclaim his throne has profoundly affected the literature, art, and culture of South and Southeast Asia-an influence most likely unparalleled in the history of world literature, except, possibly, for the Bible. Throughout the centuries, countless versions of the epic have been produced in numerous formats and languages. But previous English versions have been either too short to capture the magnitude of the original; too secular in presenting what is, in effect, scripture; or dry, line-by-line translations. Now novelist Ramesh Menon has rendered the tale in lyrical prose that conveys all the beauty and excitement of the original, while making this spiritual and literary classic accessible to a new generation of readers.
]]> 697 Ramesh Menon 0865476950 Lena 0 to-read 4.29 1957 The Ramayana: A Modern Retelling of the Great Indian Epic
author: Ramesh Menon
name: Lena
average rating: 4.29
book published: 1957
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/06/08
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Monstress, Volume 1: Awakening]]> 55883882
Collects MONSTRESS #1-6

About the Creators:

New York Times bestselling and award-winning writer Marjorie Liu is best known for her fiction and comic books. She teaches comic book writing at MIT, and leads a class on Popular Fiction at the Voices of Our Nation (VONA) workshop. Ms. Liu's extensive work includes the bestselling "Astonishing X-Men" for Marvel Comics, which featured the gay wedding of X-Man Northstar and was subsequently nominated for a GLAAD Media Award for outstanding media images of the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community. Prior to writing full-time, Liu was a lawyer. She currently resides in Boston.

Sana Takeda is an illustrator and comic book artist who was born in Niigata, and now resides in Tokyo, Japan. At age 20 she started out as a 3D CGI designer for SEGA, a Japanese video game company, and became a freelance artist when she was 25. She is still an artist, and has worked on titles such as "X-23" and "Ms. Marvel" for Marvel Comics, and is an illustrator for trading card games in Japan.]]> 192 Marjorie M. Liu 1632157098 Lena 0 to-read 3.96 2016 Monstress, Volume 1: Awakening
author: Marjorie M. Liu
name: Lena
average rating: 3.96
book published: 2016
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2023/08/28
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[The Wreath (Kristin Lavransdatter, #1)]]> 6220

From the Trade Paperback edition.]]> 305 Sigrid Undset 0141180412 Lena 0 consider 4.09 1920 The Wreath (Kristin Lavransdatter, #1)
author: Sigrid Undset
name: Lena
average rating: 4.09
book published: 1920
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2023/08/02
shelves: consider
review:

]]> Egil's Saga 23698893
Sometimes considered the greatest of the Icelandic sagas, Egil’s Saga is the 10th-century Nordic equivalent of The Iliad and The Odyssey. Eddison’s acclaimed translation, published in 1930, has been long unavailable, and demonstrates the author’s amazing capacity for evocative and erudite language. It reflects the swift dramatic terseness and vivid character-drawing which made the saga style in prose narrative such an enduring model for modern historical and fantasy literature, and his meticulous translation includes elaborate notes and annotations.]]> 392 Anonymous 0007578091 Lena 0 consider 4.00 1240 Egil's Saga
author: Anonymous
name: Lena
average rating: 4.00
book published: 1240
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2023/07/14
shelves: consider
review:
Hey, for sale on Amazon, for $20 or so. It would make me happy to own a first edition of anything by Eddison. :)
]]> Daily Life in Medieval Serbia 36454525 298 Danica Popović 867102525X Lena 0 currently-reading 5.00 Daily Life in Medieval Serbia
author: Danica Popović
name: Lena
average rating: 5.00
book published:
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2023/06/16
shelves: currently-reading
review:

]]> Hazarski Rečnik 6105639 334 Milorad Pavić 8673464560 Lena 0 4.23 1983 Hazarski Rečnik
author: Milorad Pavić
name: Lena
average rating: 4.23
book published: 1983
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2023/06/16
shelves: historical-fiction, currently-reading
review:
Moželi? Kažu mi da je ovo kultna knjiga...
]]> House of Leaves 24800
Of course, neither Pulitzer Prize-winning photojournalist Will Navidson nor his companion Karen Green was prepared to face the consequences of that impossibility, until the day their two little children wandered off and their voices eerily began to return another story—of creature darkness, of an ever-growing abyss behind a closet door, and of that unholy growl which soon enough would tear through their walls and consume all their dreams.]]> 710 Mark Z. Danielewski Lena 0 to-read 4.11 2000 House of Leaves
author: Mark Z. Danielewski
name: Lena
average rating: 4.11
book published: 2000
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2023/05/24
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> Mother of Kings 1527434
Blending characters both historical and mythological, Mother of Kings is the tale of Gunnhild, Queen of England and Norway, who loomed so large in the tenth century--at the end of the Age of the Vikings--that she became a figure of legend, even of myth.

As a child of just seven summers, Gunnhild finds herself fascinated with the powers of a witch-woman who is a concubine of her father's, a powerful Norse chieftain. She also finds another fascination in handsome and lordly Eirik, son of their king. When her mother dies, Gunnhild promises "I will never yield," and that, "through me, our blood shall flow greatly."

Gunnhild has learned from her cheiftain father the way the powerful use the weak. But there are other lessons and other powers she seeks. Sent away to learn the magic of a pair of shamans, Gunnhild becomes a Spaewife--a knower of the Gods, a master in the ways of witchcraft and sorcery. Aided by her new abilities, Gunnhild marries Eirik. She is destined to become queen, and her magic is a fearsome complement to Eirik's strength. But Eirik's enemies are cunning, and Gunnhild is soon without his might.

If Gunnhild can keep the promise she made as a child to never yield, her family's blood will flow greatly, and she sons she bore Eirik will each become a king.

Her own struggles, though, are far from over...]]> 640 Poul Anderson 0765345021 Lena 0 hmmm 3.50 2001 Mother of Kings
author: Poul Anderson
name: Lena
average rating: 3.50
book published: 2001
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2023/04/13
shelves: hmmm
review:

]]> The Broken Sword 715287 274 Poul Anderson 0575074256 Lena 4 3.87 1954 The Broken Sword
author: Poul Anderson
name: Lena
average rating: 3.87
book published: 1954
rating: 4
read at: 2023/04/13
date added: 2023/04/13
shelves:
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Dreams of Gods & Monsters (Daughter of Smoke & Bone, #3)]]> 13618440 What power can bruise the sky?

Two worlds are poised on the brink of a vicious war. By way of a staggering deception, Karou has taken control of the chimaera's rebellion and is intent on steering its course away from dead-end vengeance. The future rests on her.

When the brutal angel emperor brings his army to the human world, Karou and Akiva are finally reunited—not in love, but in a tentative alliance against their common enemy. It is a twisted version of their long-ago dream, and they begin to hope that it might forge a way forward for their people. And, perhaps, for themselves.

But with even bigger threats on the horizon, are Karou and Akiva strong enough to stand among the gods and monsters?

The New York Times bestselling Daughter of Smoke & Bone trilogy comes to a stunning conclusion as—from the streets of Rome to the caves of the Kirin and beyond—humans, chimaera, and seraphim strive, love, and die in an epic theater that transcends good and evil, right and wrong, friend and enemy.]]> 613 Laini Taylor 0316134074 Lena 4 4.12 2014 Dreams of Gods & Monsters (Daughter of Smoke & Bone, #3)
author: Laini Taylor
name: Lena
average rating: 4.12
book published: 2014
rating: 4
read at: 2020/12/13
date added: 2023/04/13
shelves:
review:

]]> Zahrah the Windseeker 1257586
In this exciting debut novel by Nnedi Okorafor-Mbachu, things aren't always what they seem -- monkeys tell fortunes, plants offer wisdom, and a teenage girl is the only one who stands a chance at saving her best friend's life.

-from the Hardcover edition]]> 308 Nnedi Okorafor Lena 4 4.14 2005 Zahrah the Windseeker
author: Nnedi Okorafor
name: Lena
average rating: 4.14
book published: 2005
rating: 4
read at: 2011/01/10
date added: 2023/04/13
shelves:
review:
Blew my mind back in middle school
]]> <![CDATA[Gloriana, or The Unfulfill'd Queen]]> 30095 496 Michael Moorcock 0446691402 Lena 0 to-read 3.65 1978 Gloriana, or The Unfulfill'd Queen
author: Michael Moorcock
name: Lena
average rating: 3.65
book published: 1978
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2023/04/11
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> Kingdoms of Elfin 970443
The Kingdoms of Elfin are more diverse and widely scattered than is often thought; from the Welsh Elfins who, though constitutionally incapable of faith, remove mountains, and the elegant and witty French Court of Brocéliande where castration almost becomes a vogue, to the Kingdom of Zuy in the Low Countries, trafficking suppositories and religious pictures.

Sylvia Townsend Warner's richly exuberant imagination combined with the calm precision of her language conjures up a sublunary realm that is entirely convincing.]]> 222 Sylvia Townsend Warner 0385285248 Lena 0 to-read 3.98 1977 Kingdoms of Elfin
author: Sylvia Townsend Warner
name: Lena
average rating: 3.98
book published: 1977
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2023/04/11
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell 14201
Proceeding to London, he raises a beautiful woman from the dead and summons an army of ghostly ships to terrify the French. Yet the cautious, fussy Norrell is challenged by the emergence of another magician: the brilliant novice Jonathan Strange.

Young, handsome and daring, Strange is the very antithesis of Norrell. So begins a dangerous battle between these two great men which overwhelms that between England and France. And their own obsessions and secret dabblings with the dark arts are going to cause more trouble than they can imagine.]]> 1006 Susanna Clarke Lena 4 3.84 2004 Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell
author: Susanna Clarke
name: Lena
average rating: 3.84
book published: 2004
rating: 4
read at: 2023/04/08
date added: 2023/04/11
shelves:
review:
Gaslight, Gatekeep, Gilbert Norrell
]]> <![CDATA[The Three-Body Problem (Remembrance of Earth’s Past, #1)]]> 20518872 472 Liu Cixin Lena 0 to-read 4.08 2006 The Three-Body Problem (Remembrance of Earth’s Past, #1)
author: Liu Cixin
name: Lena
average rating: 4.08
book published: 2006
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2023/04/10
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[My Year of Rest and Relaxation]]> 44279110
Our narrator should be happy, shouldn’t she? She’s young, thin, pretty, a recent Columbia graduate, works an easy job at a hip art gallery, lives in an apartment on the Upper East Side of Manhattan paid for, like the rest of her needs, by her inheritance. But there is a dark and vacuous hole in her heart, and it isn’t just the loss of her parents, or the way her Wall Street boyfriend treats her, or her sadomasochistic relationship with her best friend, Reva. It’s the year 2000 in a city aglitter with wealth and possibility; what could be so terribly wrong?

My Year of Rest and Relaxation is a powerful answer to that question. Through the story of a year spent under the influence of a truly mad combination of drugs designed to heal our heroine from her alienation from this world, Moshfegh shows us how reasonable, even necessary, alienation can be. Both tender and blackly funny, merciless and compassionate, it is a showcase for the gifts of one of our major writers working at the height of her powers.]]> 289 Ottessa Moshfegh 0525522131 Lena 5 3.62 2018 My Year of Rest and Relaxation
author: Ottessa Moshfegh
name: Lena
average rating: 3.62
book published: 2018
rating: 5
read at:
date added: 2023/03/21
shelves:
review:

]]> What Jamie Saw 958173 128 Carolyn Coman 0140383352 Lena 5 3.60 1991 What Jamie Saw
author: Carolyn Coman
name: Lena
average rating: 3.60
book published: 1991
rating: 5
read at:
date added: 2023/03/21
shelves:
review:

]]> Many Stones 1121894 158 Carolyn Coman 0142301485 Lena 5 ya 3.44 2000 Many Stones
author: Carolyn Coman
name: Lena
average rating: 3.44
book published: 2000
rating: 5
read at:
date added: 2023/03/21
shelves: ya
review:

]]> Imaginary Girls 8603765
But Ruby will do anything to get her sister back, and when Chloe returns to town two years later, deadly surprises await. As Chloe flirts with the truth that Ruby has hidden deeply away, the fragile line between life and death is redrawn by the complex bonds of sisterhood.

With palpable drama and delicious craft, Nova Ren Suma bursts onto the YA scene with the story that everyone will be talking about.]]> 348 Nova Ren Suma 0525423389 Lena 4 3.44 2011 Imaginary Girls
author: Nova Ren Suma
name: Lena
average rating: 3.44
book published: 2011
rating: 4
read at:
date added: 2023/03/21
shelves:
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Cuentos del Pobre Diablo (Mirasol, Libros Juveniles) (Spanish Edition)]]> 2445237 105 Natalie Babbitt 0374317690 Lena 0 dropped 3.36 1974 Cuentos del Pobre Diablo (Mirasol, Libros Juveniles) (Spanish Edition)
author: Natalie Babbitt
name: Lena
average rating: 3.36
book published: 1974
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2023/03/21
shelves: dropped
review:

]]> Wings of Fire 7416873
Introduction - Jonathan Strahan and Marianne S. Jablon
Stable of Dragons - Peter S. Beagle
The Rules of Names - Ursula K. Le Guin
The Ice Dragon - George R. R. Martin
Sobek - Holly Black
King Dragon - Michael Swanwick
The Laily Worm - Nina Kiriki Hoffman
The Harrowing of the Dragon of Hoarsbreath - Patricia A. McKillip
The Bully and the Beast - Orson Scott Card
Concerto Accademico - Barry N. Malzberg
The Dragon's Boy - Jane Yolen
The Miracle Aquilina - Margo Lanagan
Orm the Beautiful - Elizabeth Bear
Weyr Search - Anne McCaffrey
Paper Dragons - James P. Blaylock
Dragon's Gate - Pat Murphy
In Autumn, A White Dragon Looks Over the Wide River - Naomi Novik
St. Dragon and the George - Gordon R. Dickson
The Silver Dragon - Elizabeth A. Lynn
The Dragons of Summer Gulch - Robert Reed
Berlin - Charles de Lint
Draco, Draco - Tanith Lee
The Dragon on the Bookshelf - Harlan Ellison and Robert Silverberg
Gwydion and the Dragon - C. J. Cherryh
The George Business - Roger Zelazny
Dragon's Fin Soup - S. P. Somtow
The Man Who Painted the Dragon Griaule - Lucius Shepard]]> 499 Jonathan Strahan 1597801879 Lena 0 short-story, fantasy
The Harrowing of the Dragon of Hoarsbreath by Patricia A. McKillip
Verdict: ****

Harrowing is as much about atmosphere as it is about story, and McKillip's language -- heightened and timeless -- unfolds vistas of frozen plains and jagged crags. She understands rhythm. The timing of each word is perfect: sentences roll of the tongue, word after word. Her imagery is universal, elemental (ice, mountains, warmth) but also precise in delineation. "They descended hillocks of frozen jewels. The stream they followed fanned into a wide, skeletal filigree of ice and rock."

The tale itself beauteous, and unafraid to pose questions about home and transformation. It's also the sort of fantasy whose wondrous details evoke the other, the unknown: in a battle with a dragon, a Harrower releases rays of light and chants strange songs; dragon-fire is caught in crystals. It evokes awe, it rouses the senses... excepting the ending (which was a little flat for me) this is one of the most fascinating fantasy stories I've read in a while.


The Miracle Aquilina by Margo Lanagan
Verdict:

Like most of Lanagan's short fiction, Aquilina focuses on sketching a character's specific personal struggle and transformation in the context of a broader, fantastical occurrence. Aquilina, I think, takes cues from ancient martyrology -- it reminds me in particular of St. Catherine of Alexandria, allegedly martyred at the hands of the 'pagan' Emperor Maxentius. After Catherine spurned Maxentius' marriage proposal (so the story goes), she was subject to a series of brutal tortures, miraculously overcoming each; [spoilers removed]

There is a martyr in this story, but of course martyrs are above mere humanity. The focus is therefore not on the joyful sufferings of a supernatural lady. Instead, our protagonist is a nervous, angry, defiant young woman who wishes to choose her future for herself, but cannot because of her father's plans. The story's emotional core is the transformative and despairing effect the martyr's trials have on our central character. [spoilers removed]

Written in the peculiar rhythms typical of Lanagan's prose, Aquilina makes divine conflicts the fulcrum of an ordinary character's self-understanding. Easily my favorite story of all three that I've read.


Orm the Beautiful by Elizabeth Bear

[REVIEW TO COME]]]> 3.85 2010 Wings of Fire
author: Jonathan Strahan
name: Lena
average rating: 3.85
book published: 2010
rating: 0
read at: 2016/05/31
date added: 2023/03/21
shelves: short-story, fantasy
review:
Rating & reviews reflect the three stories that interested me:

The Harrowing of the Dragon of Hoarsbreath by Patricia A. McKillip
Verdict: ****

Harrowing is as much about atmosphere as it is about story, and McKillip's language -- heightened and timeless -- unfolds vistas of frozen plains and jagged crags. She understands rhythm. The timing of each word is perfect: sentences roll of the tongue, word after word. Her imagery is universal, elemental (ice, mountains, warmth) but also precise in delineation. "They descended hillocks of frozen jewels. The stream they followed fanned into a wide, skeletal filigree of ice and rock."

The tale itself beauteous, and unafraid to pose questions about home and transformation. It's also the sort of fantasy whose wondrous details evoke the other, the unknown: in a battle with a dragon, a Harrower releases rays of light and chants strange songs; dragon-fire is caught in crystals. It evokes awe, it rouses the senses... excepting the ending (which was a little flat for me) this is one of the most fascinating fantasy stories I've read in a while.


The Miracle Aquilina by Margo Lanagan
Verdict:

Like most of Lanagan's short fiction, Aquilina focuses on sketching a character's specific personal struggle and transformation in the context of a broader, fantastical occurrence. Aquilina, I think, takes cues from ancient martyrology -- it reminds me in particular of St. Catherine of Alexandria, allegedly martyred at the hands of the 'pagan' Emperor Maxentius. After Catherine spurned Maxentius' marriage proposal (so the story goes), she was subject to a series of brutal tortures, miraculously overcoming each; [spoilers removed]

There is a martyr in this story, but of course martyrs are above mere humanity. The focus is therefore not on the joyful sufferings of a supernatural lady. Instead, our protagonist is a nervous, angry, defiant young woman who wishes to choose her future for herself, but cannot because of her father's plans. The story's emotional core is the transformative and despairing effect the martyr's trials have on our central character. [spoilers removed]

Written in the peculiar rhythms typical of Lanagan's prose, Aquilina makes divine conflicts the fulcrum of an ordinary character's self-understanding. Easily my favorite story of all three that I've read.


Orm the Beautiful by Elizabeth Bear

[REVIEW TO COME]
]]> Lavinia 2214574 In a richly imagined, beautiful new novel, an acclaimed writer gives an epic heroine her voice.

In The Aeneid, Virgil's hero fights to claim the king’s daughter, Lavinia, with whom he is destined to found an empire. Lavinia herself never speaks a word. Now, Ursula K. Le Guin gives Lavinia a voice in a novel that takes us to the half-wild world of ancient Italy, when Rome was a muddy village near seven hills.

Lavinia grows up knowing nothing but peace and freedom, until suitors come. Her mother wants her to marry handsome, ambitious Turnus. But omens and prophecies spoken by the sacred springs say she must marry a foreigner--that she will be the cause of a bitter war--and that her husband will not live long. When a fleet of Trojan ships sails up the Tiber, Lavinia decides to take her destiny into her own hands. And so she tells us what Virgil did not: the story of her life, and of the love of her life.

Lavinia is a book of passion and war, generous and austerely beautiful, from a writer working at the height of her powers.]]> 279 Ursula K. Le Guin 0151014248 Lena 0 currently-reading 3.82 2008 Lavinia
author: Ursula K. Le Guin
name: Lena
average rating: 3.82
book published: 2008
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2023/03/21
shelves: currently-reading
review:

]]> <![CDATA[The King of Elfland's Daughter]]> 14686 240 Lord Dunsany 034543191X Lena 5 to-read 3.82 1924 The King of Elfland's Daughter
author: Lord Dunsany
name: Lena
average rating: 3.82
book published: 1924
rating: 5
read at:
date added: 2023/03/21
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> Leyendas 61441
Contiene las siguientes leyendas:
- «La promesa» (12-2-1863)
- «La Rosa de Pasión» (24-3-1864)
- «El beso»
- «Tres flechas»
- «Los ojos verdes»
- «El rayo de luna»
- «El Monte de las Ánimas» (7-11-1861)
- «La corza blanca»
- «El gnomo»
- «La cueva de la mora»
- «El Miserere»
- «La cruz del diablo»
- «Creed en Dios»
- «Maese Pérez el organista»
- «La Venta de los Gatos»
- «¡Es raro!»
- «La creación»]]> 360 Gustavo Adolfo Bécquer 842391836X Lena 0 to-read 4.01 1864 Leyendas
author: Gustavo Adolfo Bécquer
name: Lena
average rating: 4.01
book published: 1864
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2020/12/13
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> Essays in Idleness and Hōjōki 18043812 188 Yoshida Kenkō 0141192100 Lena 0 to-read 3.87 1332 Essays in Idleness and Hōjōki
author: Yoshida Kenkō
name: Lena
average rating: 3.87
book published: 1332
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2020/07/25
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[The Cambridge History of Philosophy in Late Antiquity (2 Volumes)]]> 26535267 1302 Lloyd P. Gerson 1107558808 Lena 0 to-read 4.50 2010 The Cambridge History of Philosophy in Late Antiquity (2 Volumes)
author: Lloyd P. Gerson
name: Lena
average rating: 4.50
book published: 2010
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2020/07/12
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[The Hymns of Orpheus: Translated from the Original Greek With a Preliminary Dissertation on the Life and Theology of Orpheus to Which Is Added the E]]> 205139 306 Orpheus 0893144150 Lena 0 consider 4.26 300 The Hymns of Orpheus: Translated from the Original Greek With a Preliminary Dissertation on the Life and Theology of Orpheus to Which Is Added the E
author: Orpheus
name: Lena
average rating: 4.26
book published: 300
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2020/04/13
shelves: consider
review:

]]> Castle of Dreams 29097046
Growing up together in a mysterious castle in northern Queensland, Rose and Vivien Blake are both sisters and close friends. But during the Second World War their relationship becomes strained when they each fall in love with the same dashing but enigmatic American soldier.

Rose’s daughter, Linda, has long sensed a secret in her mother’s past, but Rose has always resisted Linda’s questions, preferring to focus on the present.

Years later Rose’s granddaughter, Stella, also becomes fascinated by the shroud of secrecy surrounding her grandmother’s life. Intent on unravelling the truth, she visits the now-ruined castle Rose and Vivien grew up in to see if it she can find out more.

Captivating and compelling, Castle of Dreams is about love, secrets, lies � and the perils of delving into the past . . .]]> 368 Elise McCune 1760291846 Lena 0 4.01 Castle of Dreams
author: Elise McCune
name: Lena
average rating: 4.01
book published:
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2019/12/30
shelves:
review:
Wait that girl on the cover is @iddavanmunster (from IG), right??
]]> Nimona 38898402
Nemeses! Dragons! Science! Symbolism! All these and more await in this brilliantly subversive, sharply irreverent epic from N.D. Stevenson. Featuring an exclusive epilogue not seen in the web comic, along with bonus conceptual sketches and revised pages throughout, this gorgeous full-color graphic novel is perfect for the legions of fans of the web comic and is sure to win Noelle many new ones.

Nimona is an impulsive young shapeshifter with a knack for villainy. Lord Ballister Blackheart is a villain with a vendetta. As sidekick and supervillain, Nimona and Lord Blackheart are about to wreak some serious havoc. Their mission: prove to the kingdom that Sir Ambrosius Goldenloin and his buddies at the Institution of Law Enforcement and Heroics aren't the heroes everyone thinks they are.

But as small acts of mischief escalate into a vicious battle, Lord Blackheart realizes that Nimona's powers are as murky and mysterious as her past. And her unpredictable wild side might be more dangerous than he is willing to admit.]]> 272 N.D. Stevenson Lena 4 fantasy, graphic-novel, ya 4.44 2015 Nimona
author: N.D. Stevenson
name: Lena
average rating: 4.44
book published: 2015
rating: 4
read at: 2015/06/18
date added: 2019/10/21
shelves: fantasy, graphic-novel, ya
review:
Between 3 and 4 stars. Rounded up because of really clever writing.
]]> <![CDATA[The Hero and the Crown (Damar, #1)]]> 1124884
Aerin is an outcast in her own father’s court, daughter of the foreign woman who, it was rumored, was a witch, and enchanted the king to marry her.

She makes friends with her father’s lame, retired warhorse, Talat, and discovers an old, overlooked, and dangerously imprecise recipe for dragon-fire-proof ointment in a dusty corner of her father’s library. Two years, many canter circles to the left to strengthen Talat’s weak leg, and many burnt twigs (and a few fingers) secretly experimenting with the ointment recipe later, Aerin is present when someone comes from an outlying village to report a marauding dragon to the king. Aerin slips off alone to fetch her horse, her sword, and her fireproof ointment . . .

But modern dragons, while formidable opponents fully capable of killing a human being, are small and accounted vermin. There is no honor in killing dragons. The great dragons are a tale out of ancient history.

That is, until the day that the king is riding out at the head of an army. A weary man on an exhausted horse staggers into the courtyard where the king’s troop is assembled: “The Black Dragon has come . . . Maur, who has not been seen for generations, the last of the great dragons, great as a mountain. Maur has awakened.”]]> 246 Robin McKinley 0141309814 Lena 3 fantasy, ya Standard story of a girl fighting the patriarchy and becoming a warrior. Skillful writing and a well-drawn setting lift it to a higher place.]]> 4.14 1984 The Hero and the Crown (Damar, #1)
author: Robin McKinley
name: Lena
average rating: 4.14
book published: 1984
rating: 3
read at:
date added: 2019/07/12
shelves: fantasy, ya
review:

Standard story of a girl fighting the patriarchy and becoming a warrior. Skillful writing and a well-drawn setting lift it to a higher place.
]]> <![CDATA[Personal Recollections of Joan of Arc]]> 7487475 72 Tony DiGerolamo 8190732625 Lena 0 hmmm 4.02 2009 Personal Recollections of Joan of Arc
author: Tony DiGerolamo
name: Lena
average rating: 4.02
book published: 2009
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2019/02/27
shelves: hmmm
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Dead Beautiful (Dead Beautiful, #1)]]> 7875327
After the funeral Renée’s wealthy grandfather sends her to Gottfried Academy, a remote and mysterious boarding school in Maine, where she finds herself studying subjects like Philosophy, Latin, and the “Crude Sciences.�

It’s there that she meets Dante Berlin, a handsome and elusive boy to whom she feels inexplicably drawn. As they grow closer, unexplainable things begin to happen, but Renée can’t stop herself from falling in love. It’s only when she discovers a dark tragedy in Gottfried’s past that she begins to wonder if the Academy is everything it seems.

Little does she know, Dante is the one hiding a dangerous secret, one that has him fearing for her life.

Dead Beautiful is both a compelling romance and thought-provoking read, bringing shocking new meaning to life, death, love, and the nature of the soul.]]> 464 Yvonne Woon 1423119568 Lena 1 3.97 2010 Dead Beautiful (Dead Beautiful, #1)
author: Yvonne Woon
name: Lena
average rating: 3.97
book published: 2010
rating: 1
read at:
date added: 2018/10/19
shelves:
review:

]]> <![CDATA[The Arabian Nights: Tales of 1001 Nights, Volume 1]]> 7123161 'The bride then came surrounded by her slave girls like the moon among stars or a matchless pearl set among others on a string.'

When the beautiful Shahrazad gives herself to the bloody-handed King Shahriyar, she is not expected to survive beyond dawn. But using her wit and guile, she begins a sequence of stories that will last 1001 nights: stories of 'ifrits and money-changers, prices and slave girls, fishermen and queens, and magical gardens of paradise. This volume also includes the well-known tale of 'Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves'.

Along with this landmark new translation, Robert Irwin's introduction discusses the many cultures The Arabian Nights has drawn on and the elaborate structure of the story-within-a-story that defines the collection, as well as the importance to the Nights of locked doors, sex, and the recurring themes of money, merchants and debts. This edition also contains suggestions for further reading, a glossary, maps and a chronology.]]> 982 Anonymous 0140449388 Lena 0 to-read 4.02 800 The Arabian Nights: Tales of 1001 Nights, Volume 1
author: Anonymous
name: Lena
average rating: 4.02
book published: 800
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2018/06/11
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Asimov's Science Fiction, February 2011]]> 17289292 CONTENTS

Novella
"The Choice" by Paul McAuley

Novelette
"Out of the Dream Closet" by David Ira Cleary

Short Stories
"Waster Mercy" by Sara Genge
"Planet of the Sealies" by Jeff Carlson
"Shipbirth" by Aliette de Bodard
"Brother Sleep" by Tim McDaniel
"Eve of Beyond" by Barry N. Malzberg and Bill Pronzini

Poetry
"Entanglement, Valentines and Einstein" by W. Gregory Stewart
"Flicker" by Uncle River
"Tower" by Jane Yolen

Departments
"Editorial: ¡Ay, Caramba!" by Sheila Williams
"Reflections: A Relic of Antiquity" by Robert Silverberg
"On Books" by Peter Heck
"SF Conventional Calendar" by Erwin S. Strauss

Asimov's Science Fiction, February 2011, Vol. 35, No. 2 (Whole No. 421)
Sheila Williams, editor
Cover art by Paul Youll]]> 116 Sheila Williams Lena 0 consider 3.60 2011 Asimov's Science Fiction, February 2011
author: Sheila Williams
name: Lena
average rating: 3.60
book published: 2011
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2018/04/10
shelves: consider
review:

]]> <![CDATA[The Haft Paykar: A Medieval Persian Romance (The ^AWorld's Classics)]]> 67396 362 Nizami Ganjavi 0192831844 Lena 0 consider 4.21 1197 The Haft Paykar: A Medieval Persian Romance (The ^AWorld's Classics)
author: Nizami Ganjavi
name: Lena
average rating: 4.21
book published: 1197
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2018/04/02
shelves: consider
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Congo: The Epic History of a People]]> 21112533
The Democratic Republic of Congo currently ranks among the world's most failed nation-states, second only to war-torn Somalia. David Van Reybrouck's Congo: The Epic History of a People traces the history of this devastated nation from the beginnings of the slave trade through the arrival of Sir Henry Morton Stanley, the ivory and rubber booms, colonization, the struggle for independence, and the three decades of Mobutu's brutal rule. Van Reybrouck also examines the civil war—the world's deadliest conflict since the Second World War. Still raging today after seventeen years, the Congolese war is driven, in part, by the demand for the rare-earth minerals required to make cell phones.

Van Reybrouck has balanced hundreds of interviews with meticulous historical research to construct a many-dimensional portrait of the rich and convoluted history of Congo. Taking pains to seek out the Congolese perspective on the country's history, Van Reybrouck creates a panoramic canvas wherein the child soldiers whom he encounters in the eastern rebel territories talk candidly about their choices and misfortunes, and where elderly Congolese—some of them more than one hundred years old—reminisce about their lives in a country where the average life expectancy has dropped to forty-five.

Vast in scope yet eminently readable, both penetrating and deeply moving, Congo does for Africa what Robert Hughes's masterful and novelistic The Fatal Shore did for Australia. Van Reybrouck takes a deeply humane approach to political history, focusing squarely on the Congolese perspective and returning a nation's history to its people. Published to rave reviews in Belgium and the Netherlands in 2010, Congo has now been gracefully translated by the exceptional Sam Garrett, most recently the translator of Herman Koch's bestselling The Dinner.]]> 656 David Van Reybrouck 0062200119 Lena 0 to-read 4.37 2010 Congo: The Epic History of a People
author: David Van Reybrouck
name: Lena
average rating: 4.37
book published: 2010
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2018/04/01
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[The Slow Regard of Silent Things (The Kingkiller Chronicle, #2.5)]]> 21535271
Her name is Auri, and she is full of mysteries.

The Slow Regard of Silent Things is a brief, bittersweet glimpse of Auri’s life, a small adventure all her own. At once joyous and haunting, this story offers a chance to see the world through Auri’s eyes. And it gives the reader a chance to learn things that only Auri knows...

In this book, Patrick Rothfuss brings us into the world of one of The Kingkiller Chronicle’s most enigmatic characters. Full of secrets and mysteries, The Slow Regard of Silent Things is the story of a broken girl trying to live in a broken world.


AUTHOR’S FOREWORD

You might not want to buy this book.

I know, that’s not the sort of thing an author is supposed to say. The marketing people aren’t going to like this. My editor is going to have a fit. But I’d rather be honest with you right out of the gate.

First, if you haven’t read my other books, you don’t want to start here.

My first two books are The Name of the Wind and The Wise Man’s Fear. If you’re curious to try my writing, start there. They’re the best introduction to my world. This book deals with Auri, one of the characters from that series. Without the context of those books, you’re probably going to feel pretty lost.

Second, even if you have read my other books, I think it’s only fair to warn you that this is a bit of a strange story. I don’t go in for spoilers, but suffice to say that this one is ... different. It doesn’t do a lot of the things a classic story is supposed to do. And if you’re looking for a continuation of Kvothe’s storyline, you’re not going to find it here.

On the other hand, if you’d like to learn more about Auri, this story has a lot to offer. If you love words and mysteries and secrets. If you’re curious about the Underthing and alchemy. If you want to know more about the hidden turnings of my world...

Well, then this book might be for you.

]]> 159 Patrick Rothfuss 0756410436 Lena 3 3.88 2014 The Slow Regard of Silent Things (The Kingkiller Chronicle, #2.5)
author: Patrick Rothfuss
name: Lena
average rating: 3.88
book published: 2014
rating: 3
read at:
date added: 2018/03/17
shelves:
review:

]]> Wonder Tales 14689 These 33 tales by one of the grand masters of fantasy contain all of the stories from two of Dunsany's finest collections � The Book of Wonder and Tales of Wonder � including the famous "The Three Sailors' Gambit," possibly the best chess story ever written; "The House of the Sphinx," "The Wonderful Window," "The Bad Old Woman in Black," "The Watch-Tower," "The Three Infernal Jokes," "The Secret of the Sea," and 26 other literary gems.]]> 158 Lord Dunsany 0486432017 Lena 0 to-read 4.13 2003 Wonder Tales
author: Lord Dunsany
name: Lena
average rating: 4.13
book published: 2003
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2017/10/31
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Strange the Dreamer (Strange the Dreamer, #1)]]> 28449207 The dream chooses the dreamer, not the other way around�and Lazlo Strange, war orphan and junior librarian, has always feared that his dream chose poorly. Since he was five years old he’s been obsessed with the mythic lost city of Weep, but it would take someone bolder than he to cross half the world in search of it. Then a stunning opportunity presents itself, in the person of a hero called the Godslayer and a band of legendary warriors, and he has to seize his chance or lose his dream forever.

What happened in Weep two hundred years ago to cut it off from the rest of the world? What exactly did the Godslayer slay that went by the name of god? And what is the mysterious problem he now seeks help in solving?

The answers await in Weep, but so do more mysteries—including the blue-skinned goddess who appears in Lazlo’s dreams. How did he dream her before he knew she existed? And if all the gods are dead, why does she seem so real?

Welcome to Weep.]]> 532 Laini Taylor 0316341681 Lena 0 to-read 4.27 2017 Strange the Dreamer (Strange the Dreamer, #1)
author: Laini Taylor
name: Lena
average rating: 4.27
book published: 2017
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2017/10/08
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> The Ghost Bride 16248223 A startlingly original voice makes her literary debut with this wondrous coming-of-age story infused with Chinese folklore, romantic intrigue, adventure, and fascinating, dreamlike twists.

'One evening, my father asked me whether I would like to become a ghost bride...'

Though ruled by British overlords, the Chinese of colonial Malaya still cling to ancient customs. And in the sleepy port town of Malacca, ghosts and superstitions abound.

Li Lan, the daughter of a genteel but bankrupt family, has few prospects. But fate intervenes when she receives an unusual proposal from the wealthy and powerful Lim family. They want her to become a ghost bride for the family's only son, who recently died under mysterious circumstances. Rarely practiced, traditional ghost marriages are used to placate restless spirits. Such a union would guarantee Li Lan a home for the rest of her days, but at a terrible price.

After an ominous visit to the opulent Lim mansion, Li Lan finds herself haunted not only by her ghostly would-be suitor, but also by her desire for the Lims' handsome new heir, Tian Bai. Night after night, she is drawn into the shadowy parallel world of the Chinese afterlife, with its ghost cities, paper funeral offerings, vengeful spirits, and monstrous bureaucracy—including the mysterious Er Lang, a charming but unpredictable guardian spirit. Li Lan must uncover the Lim family's darkest secrets—and the truth about her own family—before she is trapped in this ghostly world forever.]]> 368 Yangsze Choo 0062227327 Lena 0 hmmm 3.79 2013 The Ghost Bride
author: Yangsze Choo
name: Lena
average rating: 3.79
book published: 2013
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2017/07/15
shelves: hmmm
review:

]]> <![CDATA[From Gibbon to Auden: Essays on the Classical Tradition]]> 13690249
The great Enlightenment historian Edward Gibbon is in large part the unifying force of this collection as he appears prominently in the first four essays, beginning with Bowersock's engaging introduction to the methods and genius behind The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire. Gibbon's profound influence is revealed in subsequent essays on Jacob Burckhardt, the nineteenth-century scholar famous for his history of the Italian Renaissance but whose work on late antiquity is only now being fully appreciated; the modern Greek poet Constantine Cavafy, whose annotations on Gibbon's Decline and Fall tell us much about his own historical poems; and finally W. H. Auden, whose poem and little known essay "The Fall of Rome" were, in quirky ways, tributes to Gibbon. The collection reprints Auden's poem and essay in full.

The result is a rich survey of the early modern and modern uses of the classical past by one of its most important contemporary commentators.]]> 256 Glen W. Bowersock 019985694X Lena 0 to-read 4.00 2009 From Gibbon to Auden: Essays on the Classical Tradition
author: Glen W. Bowersock
name: Lena
average rating: 4.00
book published: 2009
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2017/07/12
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[The Crisis of the Twelfth Century: Power, Lordship, and the Origins of European Government]]> 8504261
Bisson traces the origins of European government to a crisis of lordship and its resolution. King John of England was only the latest and most conspicuous in a gallery of bad lords who dominated the populace instead of ruling it. Yet, it was not so much the oppressed people as their tormentors who were in crisis. "The Crisis of the Twelfth Century" suggests what these violent people--and the outcries they provoked--contributed to the making of governments in kingdoms, principalities, and towns.]]> 720 Thomas N. Bisson 0691147957 Lena 0 consider 4.20 2008 The Crisis of the Twelfth Century: Power, Lordship, and the Origins of European Government
author: Thomas N. Bisson
name: Lena
average rating: 4.20
book published: 2008
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2017/05/18
shelves: consider
review:

]]> The Highland Lute 2766597 The Highland Lute became enormously popular in the 1920s and 30s, with its vivid, archetypal characters and panoramic descriptions: the backdrop to Albania's historical battles for freedom and independence from the Turks and Montenegrins. It propelled its author, Gjergj Fishta, to universal recognition as the national poet of Albania until the Communists took power in 1944. On its first public recital in post-Communist Albania, 45 years later, many in the audience still knew parts by heart. Robert Elsie's masterful new translation, the first to appear in English, captures the spirit of the original and, accompanied by a new critical introduction, will introduce the poem to a new generation of admirers.
]]> 256 Gjergj Fishta 1845111184 Lena 0 will-read-at-some-point
Seems very interesting!

LATER NOTE: ooooh, damn. This is translated by the notorious Elsie. Avoid, then.

Elsie has made the grave mistake of Taking Sides on Balkan conflicts, which destroys any hope of a detached, objective kind of scholarship on this messy, convoluted region. In other words, it's a huge DON'T. Looks like I'll stick with Njegos. (WINK)
]]> 4.48 1937 The Highland Lute
author: Gjergj Fishta
name: Lena
average rating: 4.48
book published: 1937
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2017/04/17
shelves: will-read-at-some-point
review:
Page on Google Books:

Seems very interesting!

LATER NOTE: ooooh, damn. This is translated by the notorious Elsie. Avoid, then.

Elsie has made the grave mistake of Taking Sides on Balkan conflicts, which destroys any hope of a detached, objective kind of scholarship on this messy, convoluted region. In other words, it's a huge DON'T. Looks like I'll stick with Njegos. (WINK)

]]> <![CDATA[A History of the Byzantine State and Society]]> 86745 1044 Warren Treadgold 0804724210 Lena 0 consider 4.23 1997 A History of the Byzantine State and Society
author: Warren Treadgold
name: Lena
average rating: 4.23
book published: 1997
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2016/12/11
shelves: consider
review:

]]> Julian 8719 This is an alternate cover ed. for ISBN 037572706X.

The remarkable bestseller about the fourth-century Roman emperor who famously tried to halt the spread of Christianity, Julian is widely regarded as one of Gore Vidal’s finest historical novels.

Julian the Apostate, nephew of Constantine the Great, was one of the brightest yet briefest lights in the history of the Roman Empire. A military genius on the level of Julius Caesar and Alexander the Great, a graceful and persuasive essayist, and a philosopher devoted to worshiping the gods of Hellenism, he became embroiled in a fierce intellectual war with Christianity that provoked his murder at the age of thirty-two, only four years into his brilliantly humane and compassionate reign. A marvelously imaginative and insightful novel of classical antiquity, Julian captures the religious and political ferment of a desperate age and restores with blazing wit and vigor the legacy of an impassioned ruler.]]> 528 Gore Vidal Lena 0 hmmm 4.21 1964 Julian
author: Gore Vidal
name: Lena
average rating: 4.21
book published: 1964
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2016/11/09
shelves: hmmm
review:

]]> Ӭξάντα 6215512 Ӭξάντα δεν είναι απλώς βιογραφία, ούτε απλώς μυθιστόρημα. Στο συναρπαστικό αυτό κείμενο, που έγινε ανάρπαστο από την πρώτη του ήδη κυκλοφορία, οι πραγματικοί και οι φανταστικοί χαρακτήρες συγχωνεύονται για να αναπλάσουν την εικόνα της Πόλης πριν από τον Πρώτο Παγκόσμιο Πόλεμο.
Η Μαρία Ιορδανίδου έγραψε το βιβλίο το 1963, όταν ήταν ήδη εξήντα έξι χρόνων, επειδή -όπως έλεγε- δεν ήθελε αυτά τα λίγα πράγματα που ήξερε να τα πάρει μαζί της. Η Ӭξάντα είναι η ιστορία της γιαγιάς της: μέσα από αυτήν, η Μαρία Ιορδανίδου ξαναζωντανεύει μιαν ολόκληρη εποχή, ακόμα και 'τώρα, που όλα αυτά πέρασαν και το χορτάρι της λησμονιάς αρχίζει κιόλας να φυτρώνει'."]]> 247 Μαρία Ιορδανίδου 9600514518 Lena 0 hmmm 4.16 1963 Ӭξάντα
author: Μαρία Ιορδανίδου
name: Lena
average rating: 4.16
book published: 1963
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2016/11/08
shelves: hmmm
review:

]]> <![CDATA[God, Philosophy, Universities: A Selective History of the Catholic Philosophical Tradition]]> 6495682 200 Alasdair MacIntyre 074254429X Lena 0 hmmm 4.15 2009 God, Philosophy, Universities: A Selective History of the Catholic Philosophical Tradition
author: Alasdair MacIntyre
name: Lena
average rating: 4.15
book published: 2009
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2016/10/21
shelves: hmmm
review:

]]> El mundo alucinante 768427 320 Reinaldo Arenas 8483107759 Lena 0 consider 4.15 1966 El mundo alucinante
author: Reinaldo Arenas
name: Lena
average rating: 4.15
book published: 1966
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2016/10/12
shelves: consider
review:

]]> A History of Russia 9306820 international, military, economic, social, and cultural--with a commitment to objectivity, fairness, and balance, and to reflecting recent research and new trends in scholarly interpretation. New chapters on politics, society, and culture since 1991 explore Russia's complex experience after
communism and discuss its chances of becoming a more stable and prosperous country in the future.

Widely acclaimed as the best one-volume history available, A History of Russia is also available in two split volumes--the first covers early Russia through the nineteenth century and the second ranges from 1855 to the present. Volume II features an additional introductory chapter that links
Russia's modern history to the events that preceded it.]]> 816 Nicholas V. Riasanovsky 019534197X Lena 0 to-read 3.89 1962 A History of Russia
author: Nicholas V. Riasanovsky
name: Lena
average rating: 3.89
book published: 1962
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2016/10/11
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> Antes que anochezca 36550
Arenas, en efecto, reunía las tres condiciones más idóneas para convertirse en uno de los mucho parias engendrados por el infierno carcelario de la Cuba castrista: ser escritor, homosexual y disidente. Y en esta autobiografía narra su peripecia vital e intelectual, desde los bajos fondos de La Habana, donde malviven los excluidos del sistema, hasta las dificultades del exilio, pues se negó a plegarse a la discreta neutralidad que la izquierda bien pensante esperaba de él.

Esta obra inspiró la película del mismo título, ganadora del Gran Premio del Jurado del Festival de Venecia, dirigida por Julian Schnabel y protagonizada por Javier Bardem, merecedor del Globo de Oro al Mejor Actor Dramático.]]> 343 Reinaldo Arenas 8483105020 Lena 0 hmmm 4.37 1992 Antes que anochezca
author: Reinaldo Arenas
name: Lena
average rating: 4.37
book published: 1992
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2016/10/09
shelves: hmmm
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Monkey: The Journey to the West]]> 100237 306 Wu Cheng'en 0802130860 Lena 0 consider 4.06 1592 Monkey: The Journey to the West
author: Wu Cheng'en
name: Lena
average rating: 4.06
book published: 1592
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2016/10/05
shelves: consider
review:

]]> Measure for Measure 91571 Measure for Measure is among the most passionately discussed of Shakespeare’s plays. In it, a duke temporarily removes himself from governing his city-state, deputizing a member of his administration, Angelo, to enforce the laws more rigorously. Angelo chooses as his first victim Claudio, condemning him to death because he impregnated Juliet before their marriage.

Claudio’s sister Isabella, who is entering a convent, pleads for her brother’s life. Angelo attempts to extort sex from her, but Isabella preserves her chastity. The duke, in disguise, eavesdrops as she tells her brother about Angelo’s behavior, then offers to ally himself with her against Angelo.]]> 278 William Shakespeare 0743484908 Lena 0 will-read-at-some-point 3.66 1604 Measure for Measure
author: William Shakespeare
name: Lena
average rating: 3.66
book published: 1604
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2016/09/24
shelves: will-read-at-some-point
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]]> The Song of Roland 103390 The Song of Roland, written by an unknown poet, tells of Charlemagne’s warrior nephew, Lord of the Breton Marches, who valiantly leads his men into battle against the Saracens, but dies in the massacre, defiant to the end. In majestic verses, the battle becomes a symbolic struggle between Christianity and Islam, while Roland’s last stand is the ultimate expression of honour and feudal values of twelfth-century France.]]> 208 Unknown 0140440755 Lena 0 consider The Song of Roland mostly discuss the history of the text (perhaps with a sentence or two where they note the simplicity of plot and lack of moral complexity). This book would get far less attention if it wasn't French.

Using the .]]> 3.57 1115 The Song of Roland
author: Unknown
name: Lena
average rating: 3.57
book published: 1115
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2016/09/22
shelves: consider
review:
It's funny how the reviews of The Song of Roland mostly discuss the history of the text (perhaps with a sentence or two where they note the simplicity of plot and lack of moral complexity). This book would get far less attention if it wasn't French.

Using the .
]]> <![CDATA[The Final Pagan Generation: Rome's Unexpected Path to Christianity (Volume 53) (Transformation of the Classical Heritage)]]> 21944976 356 Edward J. Watts 0520283708 Lena 0 consider 3.95 2015 The Final Pagan Generation: Rome's Unexpected Path to Christianity (Volume 53) (Transformation of the Classical Heritage)
author: Edward J. Watts
name: Lena
average rating: 3.95
book published: 2015
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2016/09/22
shelves: consider
review:

]]> <![CDATA[The Penguin History of Latin America]]> 269734 631 Edwin Williamson 0140125590 Lena 0 to-read 3.73 1992 The Penguin History of Latin America
author: Edwin Williamson
name: Lena
average rating: 3.73
book published: 1992
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2016/09/21
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> Infinite Jest 6759
Set in an addicts' halfway house and a tennis academy, and featuring the most endearingly screwed-up family to come along in recent fiction, Infinite Jest explores essential questions about what entertainment is and why it has come to so dominate our lives; about how our desire for entertainment affects our need to connect with other people; and about what the pleasures we choose say about who we are.

Equal parts philosophical quest and screwball comedy, Infinite Jest bends every rule of fiction without sacrificing for a moment its own entertainment value. It is an exuberant, uniquely American exploration of the passions that make us human—and one of those rare books that renew the idea of what a novel can do.]]> 1088 David Foster Wallace Lena 0 hmmm 4.26 1996 Infinite Jest
author: David Foster Wallace
name: Lena
average rating: 4.26
book published: 1996
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2016/09/21
shelves: hmmm
review:

]]> Borges: A Life 80478 592 Edwin Williamson 0143035568 Lena 0 consider 3.82 2004 Borges: A Life
author: Edwin Williamson
name: Lena
average rating: 3.82
book published: 2004
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2016/09/21
shelves: consider
review:

]]> The Machine Stops 4711854 The Machine Stops is a science fiction short story (12,300 words) by E. M. Forster. After initial publication in The Oxford and Cambridge Review (November 1909), the story was republished in Forster's The Eternal Moment and Other Stories in 1928.

After being voted one of the best novellas up to 1965, it was included that same year in the populist anthology Modern Short Stories. In 1973 it was also included in The Science Fiction Hall of Fame, Volume Two.

The book is particularly notable for predicting new technologies such as instant messaging and the internet.]]> 35 E.M. Forster 140990329X Lena 0 will-read-at-some-point 4.06 1909 The Machine Stops
author: E.M. Forster
name: Lena
average rating: 4.06
book published: 1909
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2016/09/19
shelves: will-read-at-some-point
review:

]]> The Odyssey 1381 Sing to me of the man, Muse, the man of twists and turns
driven time and again off course, once he had plundered
the hallowed heights of Troy.

So begins Robert Fagles' magnificent translation of the Odyssey.

If the Iliad is the world's greatest war epic, then the Odyssey is literature's grandest evocation of everyman's journey though life. Odysseus' reliance on his wit and wiliness for survival in his encounters with divine and natural forces, during his ten-year voyage home to Ithaca after the Trojan War, is at once a timeless human story and an individual test of moral endurance.

In the myths and legends that are retold here, Fagles has captured the energy and poetry of Homer's original in a bold, contemporary idiom, and given us an Odyssey to read aloud, to savor, and to treasure for its sheer lyrical mastery.

Renowned classicist Bernard Knox's superb Introduction and textual commentary provide new insights and background information for the general reader and scholar alike, intensifying the strength of Fagles' translation.

This is an Odyssey to delight both the classicist and the public at large, and to captivate a new generation of Homer's students.

--

Robert Fagles, winner of the PEN/Ralph Manheim Medal for Translation and a 1996 Academy Award in Literature from the American Academy of Arts and Letters, presents us with Homer's best-loved and most accessible poem in a stunning new modern-verse translation.]]> 541 Homer 0143039954 Lena 0 will-read-at-some-point
[spoilers removed]
-------------------------------------------

On choosing translations:

On translating Homer:

Or I could just learn Homeric Greek. :)]]> 3.79 -700 The Odyssey
author: Homer
name: Lena
average rating: 3.79
book published: -700
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2016/09/18
shelves: will-read-at-some-point
review:
Should I go with Fagles? He is much lauded, apparently very readable. I found a used copy for $2. But I just can't get into the text -- the scansion is inconsistent (is this the same in Homer? I have no experience) and the language is too modern. Even the introduction admits that Homeric Greek is an artificial language, developed for epic poetry. So why not keep the directness but elevate the language?

[spoilers removed]
-------------------------------------------

On choosing translations:

On translating Homer:

Or I could just learn Homeric Greek. :)
]]> The Saga of the Volsungs 593109 145 Anonymous 0140447385 Lena 0 will-read-at-some-point 4.01 1000 The Saga of the Volsungs
author: Anonymous
name: Lena
average rating: 4.01
book published: 1000
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2016/09/18
shelves: will-read-at-some-point
review:

]]> The Book of Disquiet 45974 The Book of Disquiet, an astonishing work that, in George Steiner's words, "gives to Lisbon the haunting spell of Joyce's Dublin or Kafka's Prague." Published for the first time some fifty years after his death, this unique collection of short, aphoristic paragraphs comprises the "autobiography" of Bernardo Soares, one of Pessoa's alternate selves. Part intimate diary, part prose poetry, part descriptive narrative, captivatingly translated by Richard Zenith, The Book of Disquiet is one of the greatest works of the twentieth century.]]> 544 Fernando Pessoa 0141183047 Lena 0 will-read-at-some-point 4.46 1982 The Book of Disquiet
author: Fernando Pessoa
name: Lena
average rating: 4.46
book published: 1982
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2016/09/17
shelves: will-read-at-some-point
review:

]]> She (She, #1) 682681 317 H. Rider Haggard 0192835505 Lena 0 hmmm 3.56 1887 She (She, #1)
author: H. Rider Haggard
name: Lena
average rating: 3.56
book published: 1887
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2016/09/17
shelves: hmmm
review:

]]> <![CDATA[The Temptation of Saint Anthony]]> 789432 The Temptation of Saint Anthony was Flaubert's lifelong work, thirty years in the making. Based on the story of the third-century saint who lived on an isolated mountaintop in the Egyptian desert, it is a fantastical rendering of one night during which Anthony is besieged by carnal temptations and philosophical doubt.

This Modern Library Paperback Classic reproduces the distinguished Lafcadio Hearn translation, which translator Richard Sieburth calls "a splendid period piece from one of America's premier translators of nineteenth-century French prose. In Lafcadio Hearn's Latinate rendering, Flaubert's experimental drama of the modern consciousness reads as weirdly as its oneiric original."]]> 288 Gustave Flaubert 0375759123 Lena 0 hmmm 4.00 1874 The Temptation of Saint Anthony
author: Gustave Flaubert
name: Lena
average rating: 4.00
book published: 1874
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2016/09/17
shelves: hmmm
review:

]]> Remembering Babylon 827326 207 David Malouf 0679749519 Lena 4 Review incoming... :) 3.50 1993 Remembering Babylon
author: David Malouf
name: Lena
average rating: 3.50
book published: 1993
rating: 4
read at: 2016/09/16
date added: 2016/09/16
shelves:
review:
Review incoming... :)
]]> Rosalynd 1542316 128 Thomas Lodge 1853311065 Lena 3 3.18 1592 Rosalynd
author: Thomas Lodge
name: Lena
average rating: 3.18
book published: 1592
rating: 3
read at: 2016/09/16
date added: 2016/09/16
shelves:
review:

]]> Medieval Views of the Cosmos 1599226 Medieval Views of the Cosmos investigates this worldview shared by medieval societies, revealing how their modes of thought affect us even today.

In the medieval world system—inherited by Christians and Muslims from the Greeks and Romans, and modified by their own religious tenets—spheres bearing the planets and stars wheeled around the earth, and at every level there was a moral lesson for humanity and a satisfying metaphor for the nature of God. The authors of this volume explain how the medieval view of the universe was harmonious on theological and practical levels, providing answers to the most puzzling of questions.

Medieval Views of the Cosmos is an engaging and beautifully illustrated introduction to a world where every moment was a theater of human drama directed by the hand of God.
]]> 128 Evelyn Edson 1851241841 Lena 0 consider 3.50 2004 Medieval Views of the Cosmos
author: Evelyn Edson
name: Lena
average rating: 3.50
book published: 2004
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2016/09/16
shelves: consider
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Popular Culture in Early Modern Europe]]> 201592 424 Peter Burke 1859281028 Lena 0 hmmm file:///home/chronos/u-56b5d5812fc1e7...]]> 4.00 1978 Popular Culture in Early Modern Europe
author: Peter Burke
name: Lena
average rating: 4.00
book published: 1978
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2016/09/14
shelves: hmmm
review:
A review: file:///home/chronos/u-56b5d5812fc1e7...
]]> Confessions 361947 346 Augustine of Hippo 014044114X Lena 4
I find the young, personal, neoplatonizing Augustine far more charming than the older, hard-line, fundamentalist Augustine. Therefore, I also read and enjoyed the Soliloquies, , and his . He comes off vividly in all these writings.

For a quick and helpful resource, Stanford's Encyclopedia of Philosophy .]]> 3.98 400 Confessions
author: Augustine of Hippo
name: Lena
average rating: 3.98
book published: 400
rating: 4
read at: 2016/04/01
date added: 2016/09/13
shelves:
review:
Chadwick's translation is elegant and the footnotes immensely helpful.

I find the young, personal, neoplatonizing Augustine far more charming than the older, hard-line, fundamentalist Augustine. Therefore, I also read and enjoyed the Soliloquies, , and his . He comes off vividly in all these writings.

For a quick and helpful resource, Stanford's Encyclopedia of Philosophy .
]]> <![CDATA[Graceling (Graceling Realm, #1)]]> 3236307
She never expects to fall in love with beautiful Prince Po.

She never expects to learn the truth behind her Grace—or the terrible secret that lies hidden far away . . . a secret that could destroy all seven kingdoms with words alone.

With elegant, evocative prose and a cast of unforgettable characters, debut author Kristin Cashore creates a mesmerizing world, a death-defying adventure, and a heart-racing romance that will consume you, hold you captive, and leave you wanting more.]]> 471 Kristin Cashore 015206396X Lena 2 fantasy, ya
At heart, the Graceling is a bildungsroman. In this world, there are certain people called the Graced, who are endowed with exceptional abilities. But this comes with a catch: the Graced are (for an unnamed reason) feared and distrusted by most people. Our heroine is Katsa, whose Grace is an exceptional ability to kill people. Her uncle, the King of Middluns, exploits this and transforms her into his personal assassin. Her morbid gift, coupled with the already-reviled status of being Graced, keep Katsa locked in constant shame and self-imposed loneliness. But the plot thickens: a horrifying plot brews in a nearby kingdom, and her self-driven mission to uncover it, coupled with a budding friendship with a young prince, take her on a journey which allows her to transcend her isolation and understand herself beyond the descriptor of monster. This aspect of self-discovery was the loveliest part of the novel.

But the actual fantastical aspects left much to be desired. The culture of Graceling's fantasy world is our own culture, thinly veiled beneath archaicizing speech and a setting full of taverns, horses, and castles. We get a pseudo-medieval setting, but any history, ideology, or cultural peculiarities the world might have is neglected.

So we get two stories: (1) the well-delineated story of Katsa's integration with human society after years of being emotionally stunted and (2) the unconvincing story of Katsa's travels and adventures around a vague fantasy map. The two do not mesh. Our culture deeply affects our worldview; I needed a richer setting, and ultimately I could not take the story seriously.

Any heavier ideas felt superficial. Consider this 'feminist' social commentary, which steps in later in the novel:

"How absurd it was that in all seven kingdoms, the weakest and most vulnerable of people - girls, women - went unarmed and were taught nothing of fighting, while the strong were trained to the highest reaches of their skill."

The society is so weakly drawn, it becomes a strawman in points like these. There is no consideration that in historical pre-modern societies, martial training was expensive and that only group trained was the military. Men were taught fighting precisely because they were the strongest -- and among them, only those in the military were taught to fight. These observations are idealistic, stemming from some egalitarian ideal and not considering realities in a hierarchical social structure. I am a feminist myself, but I don't believe such ideas can arise anywhere with so little thought and development.

Overall, Graceling was a thoughtful book, but the lack of harmony between setting and story continually jarred.

2 stars -- it was OK. For a YA fantasy which gives a richer exploration of prejudice, isolation, and self-discovery, try the magisterial Seraphina.]]> 4.07 2008 Graceling (Graceling Realm, #1)
author: Kristin Cashore
name: Lena
average rating: 4.07
book published: 2008
rating: 2
read at: 2011/01/01
date added: 2016/09/13
shelves: fantasy, ya
review:
This book is set A Long Time Ago in a Kingdom Far, Far Away. Yet it deals with modern concerns (emotional abuse, gender inequality, prejudice and isolation) in a decidedly modern way. This isn't good news in a book set in pseudo-medieval times.

At heart, the Graceling is a bildungsroman. In this world, there are certain people called the Graced, who are endowed with exceptional abilities. But this comes with a catch: the Graced are (for an unnamed reason) feared and distrusted by most people. Our heroine is Katsa, whose Grace is an exceptional ability to kill people. Her uncle, the King of Middluns, exploits this and transforms her into his personal assassin. Her morbid gift, coupled with the already-reviled status of being Graced, keep Katsa locked in constant shame and self-imposed loneliness. But the plot thickens: a horrifying plot brews in a nearby kingdom, and her self-driven mission to uncover it, coupled with a budding friendship with a young prince, take her on a journey which allows her to transcend her isolation and understand herself beyond the descriptor of monster. This aspect of self-discovery was the loveliest part of the novel.

But the actual fantastical aspects left much to be desired. The culture of Graceling's fantasy world is our own culture, thinly veiled beneath archaicizing speech and a setting full of taverns, horses, and castles. We get a pseudo-medieval setting, but any history, ideology, or cultural peculiarities the world might have is neglected.

So we get two stories: (1) the well-delineated story of Katsa's integration with human society after years of being emotionally stunted and (2) the unconvincing story of Katsa's travels and adventures around a vague fantasy map. The two do not mesh. Our culture deeply affects our worldview; I needed a richer setting, and ultimately I could not take the story seriously.

Any heavier ideas felt superficial. Consider this 'feminist' social commentary, which steps in later in the novel:

"How absurd it was that in all seven kingdoms, the weakest and most vulnerable of people - girls, women - went unarmed and were taught nothing of fighting, while the strong were trained to the highest reaches of their skill."

The society is so weakly drawn, it becomes a strawman in points like these. There is no consideration that in historical pre-modern societies, martial training was expensive and that only group trained was the military. Men were taught fighting precisely because they were the strongest -- and among them, only those in the military were taught to fight. These observations are idealistic, stemming from some egalitarian ideal and not considering realities in a hierarchical social structure. I am a feminist myself, but I don't believe such ideas can arise anywhere with so little thought and development.

Overall, Graceling was a thoughtful book, but the lack of harmony between setting and story continually jarred.

2 stars -- it was OK. For a YA fantasy which gives a richer exploration of prejudice, isolation, and self-discovery, try the magisterial Seraphina.
]]> <![CDATA[The History of Central Asia: The Age of the Silk Roads]]> 22560874 408 Christoph Baumer 178076832X Lena 0 consider 4.28 2014 The History of Central Asia: The Age of the Silk Roads
author: Christoph Baumer
name: Lena
average rating: 4.28
book published: 2014
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2016/09/08
shelves: consider
review:

]]> Aeneid Book VI 27158845 A masterpiece from one of the greatest poets of the century

In a momentous publication, Seamus Heaney's translation of Book VI of the Aeneid, Virgil's epic poem composed sometime between 29 and 19 BC, follows the hero, Aeneas, on his descent into the underworld. In Stepping Stones, a book of interviews conducted by Dennis O'Driscoll, Heaney acknowledged the significance of the poem to his writing, noting that "there's one Virgilian journey that has indeed been a constant presence, and that is Aeneas's venture into the underworld. The motifs in Book VI have been in my head for years--the golden bough, Charon's barge, the quest to meet the shade of the father."

In this new translation, Heaney employs the same deft handling of the original combined with the immediacy of language and sophisticated poetic voice as was on show in his translation of Beowulf, a reimagining which, in the words of James Wood, "created something imperishable and great that is stainless--stainless, because its force as poetry makes it untouchable by the claw of literalism: it lives singly, as an English language poem."]]> 97 Virgil 0374104190 Lena 0 to-read 4.32 -19 Aeneid Book VI
author: Virgil
name: Lena
average rating: 4.32
book published: -19
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2016/09/08
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> The Gods Will Have Blood 346023 The Gods Will Have Blood is the story of Gamelin, an idealistic young artist appointed as a magistrate during the French Revolution. Gamelin's ideals lead him to the most monstrous mass murder of his countrymen, and the links between Gamelin and his family, his mistress and the humanist Brotteaux are catastrophically severed. This book recreates the violence and devastation of the Terror with breathtaking power, and weaves into it a tale which grips, convinces and profoundly moves. The perfection of Anatole France's prose style, with its myriad subtle ironies, is here translated by Frederick Davies with admirable skill and sensitivity. That The Gods Will Have Blood is Anatole France's masterpiece is beyond doubt. It is also one of the most brilliantly polished novels in French literature.

Anatole France was awarded the Nobel Prize in 1921.]]> 279 Anatole France 0140184570 Lena 0 hmmm 3.78 1912 The Gods Will Have Blood
author: Anatole France
name: Lena
average rating: 3.78
book published: 1912
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2016/09/07
shelves: hmmm
review:

]]> <![CDATA[A Dance to the Music of Time: 1st Movement (A Dance to the Music of Time, #1-3)]]> 16113 Time as "brilliant literary comedy as well as a brilliant sketch of the times," A Dance to the Music of Time opens just after World War I. Amid the fever of the 1920s and the first chill of the 1930s, Nick Jenkins and his friends confront sex, society, business, and art. In the second volume they move to London in a whirl of marriage and adulteries, fashions and frivolities, personal triumphs and failures. These books "provide an unsurpassed picture, at once gay and melancholy, of social and artistic life in Britain between the wars" (Arthur Schlesinger, Jr.). The third volume follows Nick into army life and evokes London during the blitz. In the climactic final volume, England has won the war and must now count the losses.

Four very different young men on the threshold of manhood dominate this opening volume of A Dance to the Music of Time. The narrator, Jenkins—a budding writer—shares a room with Templer, already a passionate womanizer, and Stringham, aristocratic and reckless. Widermerpool, as hopelessly awkward as he is intensely ambitious, lurks on the periphery of their world. Amid the fever of the 1920s and the first chill of the 1930s, these four gain their initiations into sex, society, business, and art. Considered a masterpiece of modern fiction, Powell's epic creates a rich panorama of life in England between the wars.

Includes these novels:
A Question of Upbringing
A Buyer's Market
The Acceptance World]]> 718 Anthony Powell 0226677141 Lena 0 hmmm 3.94 1955 A Dance to the Music of Time: 1st Movement (A Dance to the Music of Time, #1-3)
author: Anthony Powell
name: Lena
average rating: 3.94
book published: 1955
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2016/09/07
shelves: hmmm
review:

]]> A Passage to India 45195 A Passage to India compellingly depicts the fate of individuals caught between the great political and cultural conflicts of the modern world.

In his introduction, Pankaj Mishra outlines Forster's complex engagement with Indian society and culture. This edition reproduces the Abinger text and notes, and also includes four of Forster's essays on India, a chronology and further reading.]]> 376 E.M. Forster 014144116X Lena 0 will-read-at-some-point 3.69 1924 A Passage to India
author: E.M. Forster
name: Lena
average rating: 3.69
book published: 1924
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2016/09/05
shelves: will-read-at-some-point
review:

]]> Ransom 6460814 A novel of suffering, sorrow, and redemption, "Ransom "tells the story of the relationship between two grieving men at war: fierce Achilles, who has lost his beloved Patroclus in the siege of Troy; and Priam, king of Troy, whose son Hector killed Patroclus and was in turn savaged by Achilles. Each man's grief demands a confrontation with the other's if it is to be resolved: a resolution more compelling to both than the demands of war. And when the aged father and the murderer of his son meet, "the past and present blend, enemies exchange places, hatred turns to understanding, youth pities age mourning youth."]]> 224 David Malouf 1741668379 Lena 0 hmmm 3.69 2009 Ransom
author: David Malouf
name: Lena
average rating: 3.69
book published: 2009
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2016/09/04
shelves: hmmm
review:

]]> The Story of Mankind 1113797 280 Hendrik Willem van Loon 1406838160 Lena 0 dropped
Plus, the racism is nauseating:

Charlemagne and Otto the Great were called "Roman Emperors," but they had as little resemblance to a real Roman Emperor (say Augustus or Marcus Aurelius) as "King" Wumba Wumba of the upper Congo has to the highly educated rulers of Sweden or Denmark.

Double yuck. A pass for me.]]> 3.32 1921 The Story of Mankind
author: Hendrik Willem van Loon
name: Lena
average rating: 3.32
book published: 1921
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2016/09/04
shelves: dropped
review:
Out of curiosity, I took a quick glance at parts of this book; even by quick skimming I spotted plentiful errors, such as the annoying myth that the Medieval church oppressed scientists.

Plus, the racism is nauseating:

Charlemagne and Otto the Great were called "Roman Emperors," but they had as little resemblance to a real Roman Emperor (say Augustus or Marcus Aurelius) as "King" Wumba Wumba of the upper Congo has to the highly educated rulers of Sweden or Denmark.

Double yuck. A pass for me.
]]> <![CDATA[Život i običaji naroda srpskoga]]> 18680147 330 Vuk Stefanović Karadžić 8633119463 Lena 0 to-read-soon 4.17 1867 Život i običaji naroda srpskoga
author: Vuk Stefanović Karadžić
name: Lena
average rating: 4.17
book published: 1867
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2016/09/04
shelves: to-read-soon
review:
This is a marvelous reference. I have his Serbian-German-Latin dictionary, but not this. Here's a scanned version:
]]> Srpske narodne pjesme I 11679366 Knjiga prva, u kojoj su različne ženske pjesme.

Prva knjiga Srpskih narodnih pjesama objavljuje se ovde po bečkom izdanju od 1841. godine. Kao dodatak, preštampan je Predgovor lajpciškom izdanju prve knjige Narodnih srpskih pjesama od 1824. Priređivač nije činio u tekstu nikakve izmene, ni pravopisne. Ispravio je samo štamparske greške i dodao Sadržaj, koji nije postojao u knjizi.]]> 560 Vuk Stefanović Karadžić Lena 0 to-read 4.32 1824 Srpske narodne pjesme I
author: Vuk Stefanović Karadžić
name: Lena
average rating: 4.32
book published: 1824
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2016/09/04
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[The Ultimate Ambition in the Arts of Erudition: A Compendium of Knowledge from the Classical Islamic World]]> 28110062
An astonishing record of the knowledge of a civilization, The Ultimate Ambition in the Arts of Erudition catalogs everything known to exist from the perspective of a fourteenth-century Egyptian scholar and litterateur. More than 9,000 pages and thirty volumes—here abridged to one volume, and translated into English for the first time—it contains entries on everything from medieval moon-worshipping cults, sexual aphrodisiacs, and the substance of clouds, to how to get the smell of alcohol off one’s breath, the deliciousness of cheese made from buffalo milk, and the nesting habits of flamingos.

Similar works by Western authors, including Pliny’s Natural History and Diderot’s Encyclopédie, have been available in English for centuries. This groundbreaking translation of a remarkable Arabic text—expertly abridged and annotated—offers a look at the world through the highly literary and impressively knowledgeable societies of the classical Islamic world. Meticulously arranged and delightfully eclectic, it is a compendium to be treasured—a true monument of erudition.

For more than seventy years, Penguin has been the leading publisher of classic literature in the English-speaking world. With more than 1,700 titles, Penguin Classics represents a global bookshelf of the best works throughout history and across genres and disciplines. Readers trust the series to provide authoritative texts enhanced by introductions and notes by distinguished scholars and contemporary authors, as well as up-to-date translations by award-winning translators.]]> 352 Shihab al-Din al-Nuwayri 0143107488 Lena 0 hmmm 3.82 1329 The Ultimate Ambition in the Arts of Erudition: A Compendium of Knowledge from the Classical Islamic World
author: Shihab al-Din al-Nuwayri
name: Lena
average rating: 3.82
book published: 1329
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2016/09/02
shelves: hmmm
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Medieval Foundations of the Western Intellectual Tradition, 400-1400]]> 272803
Marcia Colish argues that the foundations of the Western intellectual tradition were laid in the Middle Ages and not, as is commonly held, in the Judeo-Christian or classical periods. She contends that Western medieval thinkers produced a set of tolerances, tastes, concerns, and sensibilities that made the Middle Ages unlike other chapters of the Western intellectual experience. She provides astute descriptions of the vernacular and oral culture of each country of Europe; explores the nature of medieval culture and its transmission; profiles seminal thinkers (Augustine, Anselm, Gregory the Great, Aquinas, Ockham); studies heresy from Manichaeism to Huss and Wycliffe; and investigates the influence of Arab and Jewish writing on scholasticism and the resurrection of Greek studies. Colish concludes with an assessment of the modes of medieval thought that ended with the period and those that remained as bases for later ages of European intellectual history.]]> 448 Marcia L. Colish 0300078528 Lena 0 to-read 4.24 1997 Medieval Foundations of the Western Intellectual Tradition, 400-1400
author: Marcia L. Colish
name: Lena
average rating: 4.24
book published: 1997
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2016/09/02
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> The Character of Physical Law 703517 The Character of Physical Law is a statement of what is most remarkable in nature. Feynman's enlightened approach, his wit, and his enthusiasm make this a memorable exposition of the scientist's craft. The Law of Gravitation is the author's principal example. Relating the details of its discovery and stressing its mathematical character, he uses it to demonstrate the essential interaction of mathematics and physics. He views mathematics as the key to any system of scientific laws, suggesting that if it were possible to fill out the structure of scientific theory completely, the result would be an integrated set of mathematical axioms. The principles of conservation, symmetry, and time-irreversibility are then considered in relation to developments in classical and modern physics, and in his final lecture Feynman develops his own analysis of the process and future of scientific discovery.]]> 174 Richard P. Feynman 0262560038 Lena 0 to-read 4.18 1964 The Character of Physical Law
author: Richard P. Feynman
name: Lena
average rating: 4.18
book published: 1964
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2016/09/02
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> The Iliad 1371
Combining the skills of a poet and scholar, Robert Fagles, winner of the PEN/Ralph Manheim Medal for Translation and a 1996 Academy Award in Literature from the American Academy of Arts and Letters, brings the energy of contemporary language to this enduring heroic epic. He maintains the drive and metric music of Homer’s poetry, and evokes the impact and nuance of the Iliad’s mesmerizing repeated phrases in what Peter Levi calls “an astonishing performance.”]]> 614 Homer 0140275363 Lena 0
A pretty interesting source of information:

EDIT: This translation looks like tremedous fun --

[spoilers removed]]]> 3.88 -800 The Iliad
author: Homer
name: Lena
average rating: 3.88
book published: -800
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2016/09/01
shelves: will-read-at-some-point, 01-bc-and-older
review:
Helpful article on choosing a translation:

A pretty interesting source of information:

EDIT: This translation looks like tremedous fun --

[spoilers removed]
]]> Beowulf 52357 259 Unknown 0393320979 Lena 0 to-read-soon ]]> 3.46 1000 Beowulf
author: Unknown
name: Lena
average rating: 3.46
book published: 1000
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2016/08/30
shelves: to-read-soon
review:
Is Heaney any good?

]]> The Hildebrandslied 7256793 24 Francis Asbury Wood 1113273283 Lena 0 to-read-soon
This translation is literary:


This translation is literal:


And here is a helpful site:
]]> 3.42 1914 The Hildebrandslied
author: Francis Asbury Wood
name: Lena
average rating: 3.42
book published: 1914
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2016/08/30
shelves: to-read-soon
review:
This is a fragmented Old High German heroic song, redacted around the early 9th century at Fulda.

This translation is literary:


This translation is literal:


And here is a helpful site:

]]> Writings from Ancient Egypt 29776959
The fascination that Ancient Egypt holds in our minds has many sources, but at the heart of it lie hieroglyphics. This extraordinary writing system was for many years seen as the ultimate puzzle, before finally being cracked in the 1820s. Preserved carved in stone or inked on papyri, hieroglyphic writings give a unique insight into an awe-inspiring but also deeply mysterious culture.

For this collection, Toby Wilkinson has translated a rich selection of pieces, ranging from accounts of battles to hymns to stories to royal proclamations. Entertaining and revelatory, this is an essential resource for studying one of humankind’s great civilizations.

For more than seventy years, Penguin has been the leading publisher of classic literature in the English-speaking world. With more than 1,700 titles, Penguin Classics represents a global bookshelf of the best works throughout history and across genres and disciplines. Readers trust the series to provide authoritative texts enhanced by introductions and notes by distinguished scholars and contemporary authors, as well as up-to-date translations by award-winning translators.]]> 372 Anonymous 0141395958 Lena 0 to-read 4.06 2010 Writings from Ancient Egypt
author: Anonymous
name: Lena
average rating: 4.06
book published: 2010
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2016/08/29
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> The Elements of Style 33514 105 William Strunk Jr. Lena 4 4.15 1918 The Elements of Style
author: William Strunk Jr.
name: Lena
average rating: 4.15
book published: 1918
rating: 4
read at:
date added: 2016/08/28
shelves:
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Cloud & Ashes: Three Winter's Tales]]> 23129890 Cloud & Ashes is a slow whirlwind of language, a button box of words, a mythic fable that invites revisitation.
Greer Gilman is the author of Moonwise. A graduate of Wellesley and the University of Cambridge, she lives in Cambridge, Massachusetts. She likes to quip that she does everything James Joyce ever did, only backward and in high heels.]]> 448 Greer Gilman 161873105X Lena 0 to-read 3.83 2009 Cloud & Ashes: Three Winter's Tales
author: Greer Gilman
name: Lena
average rating: 3.83
book published: 2009
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]]> <![CDATA[The Exact Sciences in Antiquity]]> 1175282
After a discussion of the number systems used in the ancient Near East (contrasting the Egyptian method of additive computations with unit fractions and Babylonian place values), Dr. Neugebauer covers Babylonian tables for numerical computation, approximations of the square root of 2 (with implications that the Pythagorean Theorem was known more than a thousand years before Pythagoras), Pythagorean numbers, quadratic equations with two unknowns, special cases of logarithms and various other algebraic and geometric cases. Babylonian strength in algebraic and numerical work reveals a level of mathematical development in many aspects comparable to the mathematics of the early Renaissance in Europe. This is in contrast to the relatively primitive Egyptian mathematics. In the realm of astronomy, too, Dr. Ncugebauer describes an unexpected sophistication, which is interpreted less as the result of millennia of observations (as used to be the interpretation) than as a competent mathematical apparatus. The transmission of this early science and its further development in Hellenistic times is also described. An Appendix discusses certain aspects of Greek astronomy and the indebtedness of the Copernican system to Ptolemaic and Islamic methods.

Dr. Neugebauer has long enjoyed an international reputation as one of the foremost workers ill the area of premodern science. Many of his discoveries have revolutionized earlier understandings. In this volume he presents a non-technical survey, with much material unique on this level, which can be read with great profit by all interested in the history of science or history of culture.

Unabridged, slightly corrected reprint of the 2nd, 1957 edition. 14 plates, 52 figures. xvi + 240pp. Paperbound.]]> 288 Otto Neugebauer 0486223329 Lena 0 consider 4.16 1957 The Exact Sciences in Antiquity
author: Otto Neugebauer
name: Lena
average rating: 4.16
book published: 1957
rating: 0
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date added: 2016/08/26
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]]> Pesme 11684864 236 Branko Radičević 8671281299 Lena 0 4.50 1989 Pesme
author: Branko Radičević
name: Lena
average rating: 4.50
book published: 1989
rating: 0
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]]> Pesme 12544929 152 Branko Radičević 8609000532 Lena 0 to-read-soon 3.76 1989 Pesme
author: Branko Radičević
name: Lena
average rating: 3.76
book published: 1989
rating: 0
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date added: 2016/08/21
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]]> <![CDATA[The Complete Grimm's Fairy Tales]]> 22917 Children’s and Household Tales, The Complete Grimm’s Fairy Tales contains the essential bedtime stories for children worldwide for the better part of two centuries.The Brothers Grimm, Jacob and Wilhelm, were German linguists and cultural researchers who gathered legendary folklore and aimed to collect the stories exactly as they heard them.2012 marked the 200th anniversary of Grimm’s Fairy Tales, and what better way to celebrate than to include all 211 stories into the Knickerbocker Classic Series?

Featuring all your favorite classics, including “Hansel and Gretel,� “Cinderella,� “The Frog Prince,� “Rapunzel,� “Snow White,� “Rumpelstiltskin,� and dozens more, The Complete Grimm’s Fairy Tales is also accompanied by 40 color plates and 60 black and white illustrations from award-winning English illustrator Arthur Rackham, whose books and prints are now highly sought-after collectibles.

The third title in the Knickerbocker Classic series has 800 pages of classic fairy tales to enjoy and will also feature a full-cloth binding, ribbon marker, and will fit neatly in an elegant slipcase for your personal library collection.

Also includes a selection of stunning color reproductions by the famous illustrator, Arthur Rackham.
]]> 880 Jacob Grimm Lena 0 consider Some resources

1. , which includes translations from the Grimm's final edition of Children's and Household Tales. [The final edition is more literary, further from the oral tradition than the first.]

2. from NEH magazine. An excerpt I found illuminating:
The tales in the first edition were collected not from peasants, as is commonly believed, but mainly from literate people whom the Grimms came to know quite well. Evidence shows that these people often obtained their tales from illiterate or anonymous informants. Even if they did not know their informants, the Grimms came to trust almost everyone who contributed to their collection

3. from The Guardian

]]> 4.30 1812 The Complete Grimm's Fairy Tales
author: Jacob Grimm
name: Lena
average rating: 4.30
book published: 1812
rating: 0
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date added: 2016/08/21
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Some resources

1. , which includes translations from the Grimm's final edition of Children's and Household Tales. [The final edition is more literary, further from the oral tradition than the first.]

2. from NEH magazine. An excerpt I found illuminating:
The tales in the first edition were collected not from peasants, as is commonly believed, but mainly from literate people whom the Grimms came to know quite well. Evidence shows that these people often obtained their tales from illiterate or anonymous informants. Even if they did not know their informants, the Grimms came to trust almost everyone who contributed to their collection

3. from The Guardian


]]> <![CDATA[The Collected Lyrics of Hafiz of Shiraz (Classics of Sufi Poetry series)]]> 547843 604 Hafez 1901383261 Lena 0 consider 4.57 1390 The Collected Lyrics of Hafiz of Shiraz (Classics of Sufi Poetry series)
author: Hafez
name: Lena
average rating: 4.57
book published: 1390
rating: 0
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]]> <![CDATA[Hafiz and the Religion of Love in Classical Persian Poetry (International Library of Iranian Studies)]]> 8265154 432 Leonard Lewisohn 1848853394 Lena 0 to-read 4.58 2010 Hafiz and the Religion of Love in Classical Persian Poetry (International Library of Iranian Studies)
author: Leonard Lewisohn
name: Lena
average rating: 4.58
book published: 2010
rating: 0
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date added: 2016/08/20
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]]> Za i protiv Vuka 5243727 129 Meša Selimović 867748051X Lena 0 to-read 3.91 1967 Za i protiv Vuka
author: Meša Selimović
name: Lena
average rating: 3.91
book published: 1967
rating: 0
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date added: 2016/08/19
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]]> <![CDATA[Epicureanism (Volume 7) (Ancient Philosophies)]]> 7127818 Epicureanism wears its knowledge lightly while offering a wealth of stimulating and humorous examples.]]> 224 Tim O'Keefe 0520264711 Lena 0 to-read 3.88 2009 Epicureanism (Volume 7) (Ancient Philosophies)
author: Tim O'Keefe
name: Lena
average rating: 3.88
book published: 2009
rating: 0
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date added: 2016/08/17
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]]> A Christmas Carol 5326
Introduction and Afterword by Joe Wheeler
To bitter, miserly Ebenezer Scrooge, Christmas is just another day. But all that changes when the ghost of his long-dead business partner appears, warning Scrooge to change his ways before it's too late.

Part of the Focus on the Family Great Stories collection, this abridged edition features an in-depth introduction and discussion questions by Joe Wheeler to provide greater understanding for today's reader. "A Christmas Carol" captures the heart of the holidays like no other novel.]]> 184 Charles Dickens 1561797464 Lena 4 4.06 1843 A Christmas Carol
author: Charles Dickens
name: Lena
average rating: 4.06
book published: 1843
rating: 4
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date added: 2016/08/14
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]]> <![CDATA[The Destruction of the Medieval Chinese Aristocracy (Harvard-Yenching Institute Monograph Series)]]> 18788618
Tackett systematically mines thousands of funerary biographies excavated in recent decades―most of them never before examined by scholars―while taking full advantage of the explanatory power of Geographic Information System (GIS) methods and social network analysis. Tackett supplements these analyses with extensive anecdotes culled from epitaphs, prose literature, and poetry, bringing to life women and men who lived a millennium in the past. The Destruction of the Medieval Chinese Aristocracy demonstrates that the great Tang aristocratic families adapted to the social, economic, and institutional transformations of the seventh and eighth centuries far more successfully than previously believed. Their political influence collapsed only after a large number were killed during three decades of extreme violence following Huang Chao’s sack of the capital cities in 880 CE.]]> 298 Nicolas Tackett 0674492056 Lena 0 to-read 4.22 2014 The Destruction of the Medieval Chinese Aristocracy (Harvard-Yenching Institute Monograph Series)
author: Nicolas Tackett
name: Lena
average rating: 4.22
book published: 2014
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]]> Julian the Apostate 637778 152 Glen W. Bowersock 0674488822 Lena 0 to-read 3.76 1978 Julian the Apostate
author: Glen W. Bowersock
name: Lena
average rating: 3.76
book published: 1978
rating: 0
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date added: 2016/08/11
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]]>