What are you reading?

[SeanF]

I'm reading "That Which Divides," the "Star Trek" novel by Dayton Ward. I'm actually enjoying it, it really captures the feel of the original series quite well.

But it kind of bugs me that the author's used the word "comprised" four times, and all four times it's been used as if it's a synonym for "composed."

[Gillianren]

Um . . . The Secret History of Elizabeth Tudor, Vampire Slayer, "as told by Lucy Weston." Who claims to really be the Lucy Westenra killed in Dracula. Which, among other things, proves to me that the author has not actually read Dracula. This may be enjoyable anyway, but I doubt it will be anywhere near as enjoyable as Joe Golem and the Drowning City, by Mike Mignola and Christopher Golden, which I finished yesterday.

[HenrikOlsen]

You might like Saberhagen's Dracula Tapes, they're Stoker's Dracula, as told by Dracula. Done without ever going against the original except when people described something they misinterpreted or they were outright lying and in that case the reason for the lie is told.
Example: According to Dracula he didn't drink enough blood from Lucy to cause permanent harm, she was really killed by the four blood transfusions performed before blood-typing had been discovered and he transformed her in extremis to save her from permanent death at the hands of the dangerously incompetent van Helsing.

[Gillianren]

I must admit, the reason I picked this one up has a lot to do with the words "Elizabeth Tudor" in the title.

[Paul Beardsley]

Currently reading - or rather listening to - Patricia Cornwell's The Front, mainly because it (and the previous book in the series, At Risk) were on CD going cheap in a remainered bookshop* in Gunwharf Quay in Old Portsmouth.

It's rather less unengaging than the previous book (although both got terrible reviews on Amazon). The fact that I'm doing an Open University short course in forensics also adds to the appeal - it's nice to hear technical terms used that I recently learnt.


*My father refers to any given remaindered bookshop as "a not-a-proper-bookshop" on the grounds that "they don't sell proper books", which I consider endearingly absurd enough to adopt the phrase, and one which work colleagues have occasionally used: "Look at this amazing Unix book! I got it cheap at a not-a-proper-bookshop!"

[Tinaa]

Library just told me it's holding John Scalzi's Redshirts for me. I'll let you know what I think of it.

I like most of his stuff. Do let us know.

[slang]

The Wheel of Time series by Robert Jordan. More fantasy.

[ShinAce]

But it kind of bugs me that the author's used the word "comprised" four times, and all four times it's been used as if it's a synonym for "composed."

I'm reading Moby Dick, which has no end to new words.

Being english and french, I always see weird things going on between the two languages. Everyone tells me that french is latin and english is germanic, but they really aren't totally distinct.

In french, compris means "understood" or "included". Past tense of comprend, or "understand" / "includes". I find it uncommon for english speakers to use comprehend.

Therefore, I see comprised more as a french word being used in english to mean includes, which very well is synonymous with composed of. With composition also meaning the writing of text and music, I would personally enjoy seeing comprised being used more.

I would try to use composed for something that is obviously a bunch of pieces, and comprised to artificially break down a large entity. So.... "The United States of America was originally composed of 13 colonies, but today, is comprised of 50 states."

[Gillianren]

For why English and French aren't totally distinct, see also 1066 and its aftermath.

[Extravoice]

Reading Moby Dick was one of my bucket-list items.
I have to admit it took three starts before I was successful in completing the book.

[HenrikOlsen]

I'm reading Moby Dick, which has no end to new words.

Being english and french, I always see weird things going on between the two languages. Everyone tells me that french is latin and english is germanic, but they really aren't totally distinct. <snip>

To expand on Gillianren's answer, a lot of Middle English vocabulary was introduced from French in the period where England was under Norman rule.

[Solfe]

My wife stole my Kobo to read Two Hearts again. She has a Kindle and could have used her own ereader instead of using mine.

So, now I am reading Two Hearts on a Kindle. Weirdness.

[SeanF]

I would try to use composed for something that is obviously a bunch of pieces, and comprised to artificially break down a large entity. So.... "The United States of America was originally composed of 13 colonies, but today, is comprised of 50 states."

That's a fair distinction, but your example sentence is a perfect example of how Ward used it incorrectly. The correct grammar would be, "The United States of America was originally composed of 13 colonies, but today, it comprises 50 states."

The whole is composed of the parts, whereas the whole comprises the parts.

Ward used it, all four times, as "the whole is comprised of the parts."

[SeanF]

My wife stole my Kobo to read Two Hearts again. She has a Kindle and could have used her own ereader instead of using mine.

So, now I am reading Two Hearts on a Kindle. Weirdness.

Has anybody read "War and Peace" on the Nook? Apparently, somebody at Barnes & Noble got a little careless with their Search & Replace, and the several times Tolstoy used the word "kindled," it says "nookd" in their version.

[Gillianren]

Because it came up in my other reading, I have started Murder and the First Lady, by Elliott Roosevelt. It's a novel wherein his mother's secretary is murdered, and Eleanor solves the crime. Apparently, he wrote a half-dozen mystery novels starring his mother. This one comes with a cover blurb from Margaret Truman.

[Solfe]

Has anybody read "War and Peace" on the Nook? Apparently, somebody at Barnes & Noble got a little careless with their Search & Replace, and the several times Tolstoy used the word "kindled," it says "nookd" in their version.

That is too funny. I will have to check that out.

Tomorrow the weatherman promised rain, so I may be reading to the kids. I finished Two Hearts (A link to Peter S. Beagle's webpage with the story). I might see if they will sit through a reading of The Last Unicorn.

[Githyanki]

Salman Rushdie: Satanic Verses. No, it's not what you think; it's rather a collection of short-story fables.

[aquitaine]

Almost finishing Titan: The Life of John D. Rockefeller, Sr., rather interesting read.

[ToSeek]

Read Redshirts yesterday. I didn't find it as funny as many other reviewers did but really liked it. It's actually more touching than humorous, particularly toward the end. It's also kind of surreal. Hard to say more without spoiling it.

[Cougar]

Finished T.C. Boyle's Water Music. One of his best, I think.

Now on to Dick Teresi's Lost Discoveries, the ancient roots of modern science - from the Babylonians to the Maya. Seems to be a bit over-attributive, to coin a word, but apparently well researched and pretty interesting.

[Gillianren]

The American Home Front: 1941-1942, by Alistair Cooke. He got it ready for publication right about as the war was ending, so he didn't publish it. His secretary found it in his office just a few weeks before he died. He's traveling around the US in the very early days of the war. And, yes, that includes a brief stop in Manzanar, and he has some interesting things to say about it.

[tusenfem]

Reading the whole Malazan book of the fallen series by Steven Erikson, now in book 3, only 7 more to go after that, and then the ones by Ian Esslemont, that will set me back a couple of thousand pages on my ebook reader.

[ToSeek]

Just started Stephen Mitchell's translation of The Iliad because the Burroughs John Carter books reminded me of it. The translation is a lot more vernacular than the Lattimore I'm used to, but perhaps that's a fair reflection of the original. And the story is as gripping as it ever was.

[HenrikOlsen]

Jack London's White Fang.
Don't really know why it's taken me this long to try him.

[baskerbosse]

Christopher Hitchens Missonary Position
and
Philip K Dick VALIS

An odd combination..

[Paul Beardsley]

VALIS is really very good, albeit hard going at first - at least it was when I read it in my teens.

Reading The Secret of the Old Clock, the first of the original Nancy Drew books, because of an old thread of Kai Yeves' that was recently linked to. It is what it is, and I'm enjoying it.

[HenrikOlsen]

Reading The Secret of the Old Clock, the first of the original Nancy Drew books, because of an old thread of Kai Yeves' that was recently linked to. It is what it is, and I'm enjoying it.

The 1930 or the 1959 version?

[profloater]

Here is a good one, just finished: Forgotton Footprints by John Harrison ISBN 978-1-906998-21-9 2012
It is about the history of the exploration of Antarctica especially, as the name suggests, some of the lesser known expeditions.
Well researched and with a nice light touch enlivened by the author's extensive experience down South

[Paul Beardsley]

The 1930 or the 1959 version?

1930, of course - the original! I have no intention of reading any of the "remakes" except possibly the Apollo one that Kai mentioned.

[schlaugh]

Just finished Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy and just started The Honourable Schoolboy, which make up books one and two in the Quest for Karla trilogy.
Read 'em all before but at least 15 years ago. Since then layered maturity, multiple trips to Europe and Asia and viewing the most recent film with Gary Oldman have altered my mental images. Or better to say, applied a better context.