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TheNinthWord

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About TheNinthWord

  • Birthday 05/01/1990

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  • Reading now?
    Lucky Break, Esther Freud; The Crystal Cave, Mary Stewart; The Well of Ascension, Brandon Sanderson
  • Gender
    Not Telling
  • Location:
    Birmingham, UK
  • Interests
    Reading, Writing, Photography, Piano, Lord of the Rings Online, Musicals

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  1. Read Timon of Athens, which I really didn't enjoy. Started Mary Stewart's Merlin Trilogy today though, and I'm already very interested in it.
  2. My dad reads a bit, mostly in the bath and it takes him weeks to get through a book. My sister has her moments when she's really into reading, but they come and go. My mum reads mostly non-fiction business/marketing/self-improvement books. My friends have always been into reading. It just happened to be something we all enjoyed doing, and didn't make a big fuss of it. Naturally, being a literature student, most of my friends at uni are avid readers, and I still love to catch up and talk about books with some of my sixth form friends. Not sure if any of these influenced my love of books, or whether it was just my own exploration and me not being put off by family or friends who refuse to pick up a book. It might have been different if my friends through life have seen books as geeky/uncool (which they totally aren't!)
  3. Read The Sword in the Stone. I'll get around to reading the entire series soon, but I only need to read the first book for my seminar next week, and I have so much other reading to get done I don't have time for the whole book now. Moving on to Mary Stewart's The Merlin Trilogy now. Again, I'll probably only read the first book, The Crystal Cave. I'll make time to read the rest soon.
  4. Yes! A chance to convert someone to the amazing realms of fantasy fiction! Harry Potter is rightly very popular, and is easy to get into. It's really not just for kids. If you wanted to get into Tolkien, I'd start with The Hobbit. The Lord of the Rings is amazing, but it can be a bit daunting for a first fantasy. Neil Gaiman is also a great fantasy writer. Stardust and Neverwhere are brilliantly written, and have a dark humour to them. I can also recommend The Sword in the Stone/The Once and Future King, by T.H. White, for the some classic King Arthur, knights, and Merlin. And if you fancy something entirely light-hearted, Terry Pratchett's Discworld series is fantastic. Each novel in the series stands on its own, and there are laughs on every page. I'd recommend The Colour of Magic (because it's the first one), and Thief of Time (because it's my favourite). Just a selection of my favourites which I think anybody will enjoy. Good luck with your fantasy reading!
  5. Updated with my new Waterstones review book, Lucky Break, and I finished The Seeing Stone on the train on the way home.
  6. I'll be honest and say that I haven't read any Holmes stories; I tried Hound of the Baskervilles when I was younger. I was just going by what I (fuzzily) remember from the programme. I apologise for the mistake.
  7. I should mention that this post may contain a few spoilers. I disagree that the literary hero is dead. I just think it's evolved. Whilst it might be true to say that writers focus on a character's flaws more often nowadays, it still takes an extraordinary amount of strength to overcome these "ordinary" flaws and succeed. I'd even be tempted to say an "heroic" amount of strength and courage. A modern hero is an ordinary person in an extraordinary situation, yet still comes through against all the odds. Of course, there are tragic heroes, where they don't make it, but there is usually some cathartic moment they have just before they die; a moment of enlightenment. Compare Beowulf, one of English literature's earliest heroes (around 1000 years old), with, say, Pamela from Richardson's Pamela, then on to your example of Sherlock Holmes. (I apologise for the length of this post already). Beowulf is the typical "hero". He exhibits great strength, great bravery, great nobility. He overcomes monsters, though he eventually meets his downfall at the hands of the dragon. The poet doesn't seem to mention his weaknesses at all (though some can still be interpreted from the text, such as his constant need to fight, even when he perhaps shouldn't). Then jump forwards 700 years to one of the earliest novels, Pamela. This is a somewhat different case, since the hero is in fact a heroine, but she still exhibits strength (of will), bravery (against a man she is afraid of), and nobility (through her indomitable virtue). She is still a hero, though more normal than most. She is a servant, who happens to catch the eye of her master who then attempts to seduce her. Her resistance is commendable, but though she eventually succumbs to his advances, she does so with grace. She accepts the events, and flourishes. Her heroism comes not from her stubbornness, but from her ability to adapt to the new life that terrified her at the start of the novel. Then jump forward another few hundred years to Sherlock Holmes. Faulks mentioned that he is one of the first "superheroes"; his almost inhuman ability of deduction is unmatched. But Faulks goes on to mention that Holmes still has his vices. He is addicted to solving crimes. When there are no crimes to solve, he turns to drugs to fill the gap. This is an example of a character whose nobility, strength, and bravery are compromised by morality, but he is still heroic. I'm trying to think of a modern example, but I'm struggling. The modern stuff I read is mostly fantasy, where the epic hero is still very much alive, though much changed from older examples. I'll take the example of Griet from Tracy Chevalier's Girl with a Pearl Earring. Her stance as a heroine is unusually passive. Whilst her presence in the Vermeer household causes lots of problems, it is because of other characters' reactions to her, not because of anything she does. She is the perfect servant, doing what she is told, even when she must sit for Vermeer's painting. She is torn between loyalty to her master, and loyalty to his wife. It is a case of the ordinary person in an extraordinary circumstance. Despite her limitations as a maid, despite her inability to resist Vermeer, she is still heroic. She maintains her virtue, though it is a great struggle to do so. She remains likeable. Throughout it all, through strength of will, great bravery, and great nobility (she knows the consequences of her actions, and is prepared to meet them) she maintains her status, what she sees as her "proper place" in life. She has her flaws, but she comes through and keeps what is most important to her. No. The literary hero is still around. Edit: made the change pointed out by Vladd.
  8. Your fairy is Ash Goblinnest He brings riches and wealth. He lives in forests of oak and lime trees. He is only seen when the sun sets on the day of a completed harvest. He wears autumnal leaf colours and had gentle green wings like a butterfly. Tempted to write a short story about him.
  9. Finished Lud-in-the-Mist today. It's only taken me a few weeks... Really need to speed up the reading if I'm going to get it all done in time. Starting on Book One of the Arthur trilogy by Kevin Crossley-Holland now.
  10. Finished Lud-in-the-Mist just a few minutes ago. Very good book. I'll review it later, then post a link to it. Edit: Post a review on my blog. Link is hereand also in the list above.
  11. Black Swan yesterday. Such an odd, yet fantastic film. Thoroughly enjoyed it. And now I can't get Tchaikovsky out of my head... Dum, de-de-de-de-dum, de-dum, de-dum, de-de-de-de-de-dum.
  12. Added the Shakespeare I've been reading. Forgot about them. I feel like it's cheating, adding plays as books, but I think they're individual enough to include.
  13. The Fellowship of the Ring My partner hadn't seen any of the Lord of the Rings films yet, so I've initiated him. He says he enjoyed it. I'm not so sure.
  14. It might be Mistborn that influenced the decision for him to write the Wheel of Time books, but now I think about it, it might actually have been Elantris. Ah well. It was still him being chosen to write the remaining WoT books that made me read his books. It's not the length of the book that bothers me; just the physical size. I like to take books with me when I go out, especially if I'm travelling anywhere on public transport. The edition I saw in the shop would be too bulky to take out with me. I'm not quite sure what you mean be "one general sort of reality". If you mean that his books all take place in the same world, I'm afraid I can't answer that since Mistborn is the only Brandon Sanderson I've read.
  15. I'm currently reading the Mistborn trilogy (about half way through the second book). I absolutely love it. I might go so far to say that Brandon Sanderson is one of my new favourite authors. I can definitely recommend the first book, The Final Empire. The characters are so likeable and realistic, and there is a lot of action. The magic system is definitely very interesting; it's unique and complex, but easy to understand. I chose Mistborn because apparently that's the book that made Robert Jordan's wife select Sanderson as the author of the final books in the Wheel of Time series. I, too, have been struggling with the Wheel of Time. I started Book 10 last year, but didn't get around to finishing it. I really want to get to Sanderson's books in the series though. I saw The Way of Kings on the bookshelf, and it's a HUGE book. Not just in width, but in height as well. It looks like the size of a chunky hard-back, but it's a paperback. I think I'll wait until the produce a slightly smaller version. I think I'd struggle to fit it in my bag at the moment. But, more importantly, are you enjoying The Way of Kings?
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