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larryhammerWednesday, the now-traditional day for reporting on what we've been reading.
In poetry, various anthology things mentioned before, plus Tales of a Wayside Inn to about 2/3.
In fiction, finished Dead Heat by Patricia Briggs. Decent character arcing, not so much on the political arc (or maybe I mean the meta-series arc?). A bit thin, overall, was my general impression.
In nonfiction, I finally admitted to a limitation of learning English history from 1066 and All That: that my understanding of what happened between Henry I and Henry II really was too vague.* Turns out there's only a single reign in the gap, but since it was disputed, there's enough confusion to go around. All by way of prefacing that I did some scattered readings on King Stephen and Empress Matilda/Maude.**
One of which was Holinshed's account in Chronicles of England, Scotland, and Ireland, which prose got me jonesing for something a wee bit better in the thinky style department. I failed to find it in Montaigne (who I otherwise like), but succeeded with Sir Thomas Browne: am nearly finished with Hydriotaphia: Urne-Burial and have more lined up after that till I run out of steam. (There's a lot of Browne available, all with those rolling baroque sentences building to a specific effect.)
* Filling in the gap between the first two Richards is for another time, as I already have a little better handle on that, thanks in part to Drayton.
** Alternate forms of the same name: in Anglo-Norman she splits the difference as Mahaut.
---L.
Subject quote from "Mencheres," Roden Berkeley Wriothesley Noel.
In poetry, various anthology things mentioned before, plus Tales of a Wayside Inn to about 2/3.
In fiction, finished Dead Heat by Patricia Briggs. Decent character arcing, not so much on the political arc (or maybe I mean the meta-series arc?). A bit thin, overall, was my general impression.
In nonfiction, I finally admitted to a limitation of learning English history from 1066 and All That: that my understanding of what happened between Henry I and Henry II really was too vague.* Turns out there's only a single reign in the gap, but since it was disputed, there's enough confusion to go around. All by way of prefacing that I did some scattered readings on King Stephen and Empress Matilda/Maude.**
One of which was Holinshed's account in Chronicles of England, Scotland, and Ireland, which prose got me jonesing for something a wee bit better in the thinky style department. I failed to find it in Montaigne (who I otherwise like), but succeeded with Sir Thomas Browne: am nearly finished with Hydriotaphia: Urne-Burial and have more lined up after that till I run out of steam. (There's a lot of Browne available, all with those rolling baroque sentences building to a specific effect.)
* Filling in the gap between the first two Richards is for another time, as I already have a little better handle on that, thanks in part to Drayton.
** Alternate forms of the same name: in Anglo-Norman she splits the difference as Mahaut.
---L.
Subject quote from "Mencheres," Roden Berkeley Wriothesley Noel.