vivdunstan

Just caught up with Homer translator Emily Wilson chatting yesterday at the Edinburgh Book Festival. I studied both the Iliad and Odyssey as part of my Open University history/classical studies BA(Hons) degree 1998-2000. A very part time degree, but one that was greatly shortened thanks to credit transfer from my St Andrews BSc(Hons). Which meant I could leapfrog the first year's courses. Though that made it a much harder transition from studying hard science to studying humanities at degree level!

I was using Richmond Lattimore's translations of the Homer poems in my OU degree. I have a vivid memory of one night we'd driven over to Dundee, and Martin was nipping into supermarket Asda, with me waiting in the car. And reading the Iliad, full of hefty anatomical descriptions of battle injuries. And desperately wanting to read out some of them to him when we came back! I haven't read Emily's new translations yet, but hope to, health permitting. I did have her hardback Odyssey book for some time, but struggled too much with it due to my neurological illness. I may yet get the Kindle versions to read, with a gigantic font I need now.

The book festival chat was interesting. Emily was a very good speaker. Though the lady interviewing her talked far, far too long between Emily's bits. At one point Emily was repeatedly struggling to get a word in. And also, very frustratingly for the online audience, the interviewer totally ignored the many questions that had been typed up online to be asked to the speaker.

I was just clearing out some more space around my computer/desk in the study, to help when we switch soon to fibre. Has to make it easier to physically access the router and swap to the new one!

In the process I found a whole bunch more of Jago & Litefoot audio boxsets that I have, a spin off series from Big Finish telling more stories with those memorable characters from Doctor Who's story The Talons of Weng-Chiang. I've enjoyed listening to the Jago & Litefoot stories on my iPad, using the Big Finish download option. But can now sell on the CDs. Most are still as new and sealed. Oxfam sell these well on their shop website.

I have sold some Jago & Litefoot boxes myself on eBay in the past, but in this case would rather donate them to charity. Oxfam sell them secondhand by mail order for more money than I would get (based on past experience, and their use of fixed price offers they can hold until sold), and given how ill I am now I really don't want to deal with these chunky packaging tasks.

I also have some more Doctor Who DVDs to donate to them, after getting more of the season-long "Collection" Blu-Ray boxes (I am getting all of the Tom Baker era ones through to Sylvester McCoy). And as always we keep having books to pass on. Oxfam recently sold a hardback copy of Emily Wilson's translation of The Odyssey that I donated for £19.99. That's grand.

In the clearing out I also rediscovered my boxset of The Sarah Jane Adventures audio stories. I need to prioritise listening to those! Definitely not selling on that box though.

Compared to last year's 60 books finished reading this year has not got off to a good start. We're approaching the end of January, and I've just finished my second book of the year. However I anticipated problems, as my reading slumped dramatically in late 2023 after Covid vaccine number 8 and yet another long neurological illness flare. Plus there is ongoing disease progression. So I set my 2024 Goodreads reading goal as just 25 books. I wonder if I will make it!

So far I've finished illustrated poem Wenceslas by Carol Ann Duffy, which was nice, especially the illustrations, but unbalanced in retelling the traditional Christmas carol story. And today I finished The Children of Hurin by JRR Tolkien, collecting the various strands of their story in a single version. That was um something. I don't think I will reread it, but glad that I did read it if just once. Even if I skipped the Silmarillion-esque intro. Rating 3/5. Ditto for the poem.

Current reading (for review). At over 700 pages it's a very hefty book. Luckily I don't need to read everything! Some fascinating content though.



EDIT: and that's nearly 1000 words of review now bashed out, some still in note form. I've been allowed 1000-1500 words by the academic journal. Will finish over the coming weeks.

Inspired by posts elsewhere by some fellow book readers I thought it might be nice to look back on what I read this month. I probably won't manage this every month.

Here are the 10 books I finished in May:

• Lord of Chaos (The Wheel of Time, #6) by Robert Jordan
• Stardust by Neil Gaiman
• Messy Roots: A Graphic Memoir of a Wuhanese American by Laura Gao
• Doctor Who The Return of Robin Hood by Paul Magrs
• Percy Jackson and the Lightning Thief by Rick Riordain
• Donald Duck, Duck in the Iron Mask by Disney (short comic)
• I am Oliver the Otter by Pam Ayres (picture book)
• The Black Tulip by Alexandre Dumas
• Raw Spirit: In Search of the Perfect Dram by Iain Banks
• Bowie on Bowie: Interviews and Encounters edited by Sean Egan (interviews collection)

It was honestly a relief to finish the first book, another long Wheel of Time one. But it's the best in the series for me so far, and really shakes things up. So looking ahead hopefully.

Stardust by Neil Gaiman was this month's book club choice for me, a lovely fairy tale book, albeit somewhat different from the movie. I have reread this several times over the years.

Messy Roots graphic novel was a recommendation from the paid TBR service I treated myself to a subscription of. It's really interesting, showing how a family adapted moving from China to the US. And then there's the spectre of Covid as well - they had come from Wuhan many years earlier. Recommended, though I think it was maybe a bit more light in places than it might be.

Paul Magrs' latest Doctor Who book is lovely, a melancholy tale of an older Robin Hood and outlaws, with a clever timey wimey plot. A little too many different character points of view in places for me, but overall it was a strong read.

Percy Jackson book 1 was a quick fun read. I'm not sure I'll read any more in the series, but this was breezy stuff. It reminded me in many ways of Neil Gaiman's American Gods, but aimed at a younger audience.

The Donald Duck comic book was a quick read in the Comixology app on my iPad. Very funny retelling of the Man in the Iron Mask.

We love watching Pam Ayres on the telly so when we chanced on a signed copy of her latest rhyming poem picture book in our local bookshop we snapped it up, even if we are way over the target age range! It's really sweet though, and educational. And gorgeous otter pictures!

The Black Tulip by Alexandre Dumas was a surprise. Given its very short length by his standards I didn't expect the depth and twists in store. A gripping historical novel set in late 17th century Holland at the time of Tulipmania. An absolute gem.

I'm Scottish but haven't tried too many whiskies over the years. I have my favourites, especially Balvenie Caribbean Cask. Iain Banks's book Raw Spirit is a sprawling travelogue around Scotland, going to lots of whisky distilleries with stories of history, the places and tasting notes about the drinks. I now have a very long list of whiskies I want to try! It was a bit too rambling in places, very political as well which even though I share his politics got somewhat exasperating. Probably also a bit long. But still a good read.

Alongside the Dumas book my other standout highlight of the month was the book of David Bowie interview transcripts edited by Sean Egan. I read this on my Kindle and it's very long, but a fascinating insight into his life and career. The interviews span the 1960s to the early 2000s, and seeing how things evolved for him was intriguing. I did not expect to be so gripped by this. And I now want to explore more of his back catalogue of music.

Current main reading as of mid March 2022.

Wheel of Time book 3, a Tokyo memoir/guide, a reread of Simon Armitage’s translation of Sir Gawain, Japanese magical realism/bookshop combo, exploring many of the world’s museums and galleries, and continuing Loren Wiseman’s marvellous Traveller RPG editorials.

So that’s three fiction books and three non fiction, albeit that last including a book of RPG editorials. The Japanese fiction book will be a short read, but unsurprisingly the Wheel of Time one will take a lot longer. My Kindle estimates that it will take me nearly 15 hours to read that one alone, and it’s just 1/14 of the whole series.