Monday, August 8, 2011

It's Monday! What Are You Reading? - August 8th

It's Monday! What Are You Reading? is hosted by Sheila over at One Person's Journey Through A World Of Books each week. It's a great way to keep your reading on track (or not, as the case may be some weeks).

This past week was a good one for starting books, but only average for finishing them.

I finished reading:
Living Wild: The Ultimate Guide To Scouting And Fieldcraft by Bear Grylls. Non Fiction. A very interesting book on camping and useful outdoors techniques, including tying knots, building a camp fire, building camp furniture, cooking, navigation and so much more. I found a whole lot in there that I want to try out some day.

I'm currently reading (and this is where the list got long):
The Two Towers by J.R.R. Tolkien. Fiction. The second part of the Lord of the Rings. I'm into Ithilien, so another good day or so's read should finish this one off.

The Annotated Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkien. Edited by Douglas A. Anderson. Fiction. An incredible edition of The Hobbit, illustrated, and with notes about the various editions, changes and tidbits of possible inspiration etc in the annotations. For any fan of Tolkien, this is a book to read.

A Choice of Anglo-Saxon Verse edited by Richard Hammer. Non Fiction. Facing page translations of Anglo-Saxon and Old English verses. I was inspired to take this one out by comments in the introduction to The Annotated Hobbit. Discovered that I can't remember a thing from the semester of Old English I took, which is why I dug out the next book.

A Guide To Old English, Seventh Edition by Bruce Mitchell and Fred C. Robinson. Non Fiction. The textbook from that aforementioned semester of Old English. I'm hoping to jog my memory from that semester, and maybe manage to teach myself a bit more of it. Not that it's likely to happen. I just have so much trouble with the grammar. Can you really call this reading a book?

Brave New World by Aldous Huxley. Fiction. To be honest, this book is slipping onto the back burner.

Books I want to read:
The Return of the King by J.R.R. Tolkien. The third part of the Lord of the Rings.

Catalyst by Anne McCaffrey and Elizabeth Anne Scarborough. Fiction, science fiction. I borrowed this one from the library, so it does have a time-limit on it. The description reminded me of some of Andre Norton's titles, such as the Solar Queen series.

8 comments:

redhead said...

I just started THe Hobbit, as I'm co-hosting a LOTR read-along with Geeky Daddy. We sure could use some more LOTR veterans, so join in anytime!

I also picked up the first Jim Butcher Dresden novel, it's fun so far.

Jennifer said...

You list is brilliant and i am added The Guide to Old English to my list. Happy reading.
My Monday: http://www.rundpinne.com/2011/08/its-monday-what-are-you-reading-51.html

Elena said...

I've dropped in to check it out, redhead. Thanks for letting me know, and thanks for commenting.

Thanks Jennifer. I hope you find the Guide to Old English useful if you do get it. Have a great week.

Nise' said...

Have a great reading week. I enjoyed Brave New World.

Anne@HeadFullofBooks said...

I read Brave New World this year ofr the firs time and wondered "what is all the fuss about". I guess it shows a fairly sick Dystopian society and there would be a lot to talk about in a classroom but I certainly didn't care for it.

Elena said...

Interesting, Nise and Anne. I enjoyed reading Brave New World when I first read it, years ago, but now, I'm having more trouble with the book. There are whole sections that are too disjointed for my tastes, and now I keep thinking things like "how can they live like that?" Not to mention, cringing at the destruction of all the museums etc.

redhead said...

Elena, I know where to go if I have LOTR questions! you're gonna be one of our resident experts. :)

Elena said...

Thanks, redhead. :)

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