Tag Archives: currently reading

Reading Together #19

As I told you on Twitter will my entry for this weeks #LoveWritingChallenge be published on Thursday. It’s just easier for me to do it that way…
Instead I give you this post, as I want to talk about my newest read. 😉
You can obviously participate in these questions by either using my translated or the original German version.

What is Reading Together?

“Gemeinsam Lesen” as it is originally called, is a project by German book bloggers Schlunzenbuecher. Each Tuesday you have to answer four questions regarding your current read.
For more information and my old participations take a look at this page: Reading Together.
Without any further ado, let’s take a look at today’s, obviously translated, questions:

1. Which Book are you currently reading and which page are you on?

As I saw the package on Sunday I knew I had to put away Irving’s essay collection and start with this: PWNED by Matt Vancil.
PWNED is part of the Gamers universe by Dead Gentlemen Productions (DGP) and Zombie Orpheus Entertainment (ZOE) and Matt Vancil is one of the masterminds behind it and JourneyQuest (and more). It tells the story of a young man that tries to win back his girlfriend from the clutches of the MMORPG Fatherall Online by entering the world himself. But as one knows from The Gamers: Nothing is as it seems.
As it’s hard to put down and easy to read am I already on page: 105

2. What is the first sentence on your current page?

English:

TIP: Grouping with other players is a great way to earn experience points!

German:

TIP: Sich mit anderen Spielern zu verbinden, ist ein guter Weg Erfahrungspunkte zu sammeln!

3. What do you desperately need to tell about your current book? (Thoughts, Feelings, a Quote, whatever you want!)

For those that don’t want to read the Gamers post a short summary:

The respective stories [of the three Gamers movies] follow[s] a group of table top gamers (one in the first one, one for part two and three) and their campaigns, but instead of just talking the audience through what the characters are doing, the actors also take up the roles of their characters and show what is happening during the game, sometimes narrating or commenting it with gaming terms (Attack names, “Critical Hit”, etc.).

PWNED tells a Gamers story that never made it on screen. It takes place alongside the third movie, but before the upcoming series. The characters from the „2nd generation“ (Lodge, Cass and Leo) are the side characters in this one. When I saw it amongst the add-ons after the Orcish Dictionary campaign I just thought it sounded interesting to read this story rather than seeing it.
The more you get into the Gamers universe, the larger it becomes and with the upcoming Hopjockey-novels (also by Vancil) it’ll be clear HOW MUCH, everything DGP and ZOE created over the years is connected. I’m quite excited for this, but for now I’m thoroughly enjoying this one.
It’s a bit strange to read the switch between gamer and character, but it’s well done and you still know when the perspective is no longer the one looking at it from the outside. As in all of his (their) work you really know that it’s done by a gamer who loves what he’s doing. It reflects in the chosen words, the descriptions, the little things added to the story (like tips for new gamers at the start of every chapter). It’s just great to have something like this, combined with great characters.
I’m really curious how this story will play into the overall story arc and if there will be a connection to The Shadow! The Shadow? The Shadow… 😉

4. Is it important for you to inspire other people (e.g. your children, friends, colleagues, family, etc.) to read?

Uhm….good question…I think it is. At least it always feels great when someone reads something I enjoyed and even better if they enjoy it as well. But I wouldn’t push others into reading. When I gush about something and they decide to check it out, well, that’s definitely a win. 😉

Additional thoughts

As it’s sunny today I went to get some ice cream after work, but they also served waffles, which made for the more appropriate dish for continued reading. 😀
As far as I know is this story only available in English and it is pretty much a gaming-genre read, but maybe there is someone out there who hasn’t heard of it yet and thinks it sounds interesting enough to check out?
By the way: If you like stuff by DGP (& ZOE): They have a Kickstarter running for a new series of Demon Hunter’s.
PoiSonPaiNter
© For the cover, the quote and the banner belong to their rightful owners.

Reading Together #18

Another Tuesday, another Reading Together.
You can obviously participate in these questions by either using my translated or the original German version.

As a reminder:

“Gemeinsam Lesen” as it is originally called, is a project by German book bloggers Schlunzenbuecher. Each Tuesday you have to answer four questions regarding your current read.

For more information and my old participations take a look at this page: Reading Together.

Without much further ado, let’s take a look at today’s, obviously translated, questions:

1. Which Book are you currently reading and which page are you on?

I’m still reading Washington Irving’s The Sketch Book of Geoffrey Crayon, Gent or Sleepy Hollow: Schaurige Erzählungen (Ghastly Tales) a book that I started reading back in 2014. It’s a collection of different essays and stories by Irving.

After a few days of reading I’m now on page 111.

2. What is the first sentence on your current page?

Alles dieß lasse ich als eine reiche Fundgrube hinter mir, welche spätere Erläuterer bearbeiten mögen; auch zweifele ich nicht, daß die Tabaksdose und der »halbvergoldete Becher,« welche ich jetzt an das Tageslicht gebracht habe, später Gegenstände zu Kupferstichen hergeben, und beinahe eben so viele bändereiche Abhandlungen und Streitschriften erzeugen werden, als der Schild des Achilles, oder die weitberühmte Portland-Vase.

or in English:

All this I leave, as a rich mine, to be worked by future commentators, nor do I despair of seeing the tobacco-box, and the “parcel-gilt goblet” which I have thus brought to light the subject of future engravings, and almost as fruitful of voluminous dissertations and disputes as the shield of Achilles or the far-famed Portland Vase.

Thanks internet for providing online reading material…I really wouldn’t have wanted to type and translate that…

3. What do you desperately need to tell about your current book? (Thoughts, Feelings, a Quote, whatever you want!)

Since last week I’ve come across some very interesting essays, one being English Writers on America, another being The Art of Book-Making and the last one being The Boar’s Head Tavern, Eastcheap. All of them have quite interesting points that even seem valid today.

In the first one he talks about English media relying on unreliable sources telling them about the New World (aka America) and this quote stood out to me in regards to the way modern media portrays certain things:

Knowledge is power, and truth is knowledge; whoever, therefore, knowingly propagates a prejudice, wilfully saps the foundation of his country’s strength.
– W. Irving: English Writers on America

In The Art of Book-Making he describes a dream sequence were authors act like beggars and put together their own garments by using the works of those that came before them, essentially implying that no work of fiction – or even non-fiction – is new and just made up off thoughts and writings of authors of previous generations.
It’s a fascinating picture of something every writer came across at some point.

The last one deals with being a fan – in this case of Shakespeare – and what fans are willing to do to re-live what their heroes have written or to explore their writings differently. In Irving’s case he recalls a journey to Eastcheap where he wants to visit the tavern described in Henry IV. Things like that are still done today and not just for books, but also movies and TV shows. It’s even encouraged through provided tours or guides to explore those places yourself. While we were in Bath, e.g. we followed an audio guide to take us to the places of Jane Austen’s life and books in the town – during my commute days I then listened to Northanger Abbey that partly took place in there. We did the same in London, where we followed – amongst others – a Sherlock Holmes audio tour, even if it was more in regards to the first Robert Downey Jr. movie than the actual books. I believe it can be quite interesting to see where the inspiration for a story or movie was taken from and then see how it was changed through the authors eyes.
And I’m pretty sure I read a post about this the other day, but I can’t remember where it was…

If anyone has a clue, let me know!
It wasn’t this one by the Schreibmeer (Writing Ocean, though probably also a pun on schreib mehr/write more, as it’s a page giving you writing advice), but it’s still an interesting (German) read: From Cosplay to self-research the hard way – When authors slip into the roles of their characters.

Another essay that might be interesting to some might be The Broken Heart, about the very true effect of women actually dying from heartbreak.

Seeing as there is quite a lot of stuff for these four available online, I’m pretty sure a lot of people seem to consider them similarly interesting. And I’m pretty sure I have to re-read the early pages to not miss out on other potentially interesting essays.

I also came across the Rip Van Winkle story, which seems to be rather famous, but I can’t say I ever actually heard about it… It does remind me of Schandmaul’s „Reich der Träume“ (Realm of Dreams) though, which I kind of put into a story here: Back from a Dream.
Though I do believe the story of someone disappearing into a dream land for years and returning to find their old life in ruins is quite a common and old concept. Which probably is the reason, why I didn’t care that much for the story itself…

On a different note: I’m pretty sure I can enjoy the essays about life in England/London more, now that I’ve actually visited it. Just like I appreciated the nods to the Gothic culture in Kinder des Judas more, after being more involved in it.

4. Do you have a booky project of the heart or a favourite book where you don’t waste any chances to make it known, because you think everyone should hear about it? Tell us about it!

Uhm…not really…There are books that I occasionally recommend to people, but I wouldn’t call them projects of the heart…that’s more likely to happen with shows, series and comics these days…
Though I did go to my local library to support/advertise the Märchenspinnerei yesterday…

Additional thoughts

Last weekend I send off a translated and lengthened version of the first part of the Neubrandenwolf for a writing contest. I also wrote down a story for the latest Bücherstadtkurier contest, the one where my story got chosen a couple of years ago, but I haven’t send it to them yet. I’ll probably read through it a couple more times, before daring to do that.

opefully I’ll get some other writing done for The Queen’s Wish or even some of the old stuff lying around … we’ll see…

PoiSonPaiNter

Reading Together #17

Remember when I last told you about the stuff I was reading at the time?
Really? Wow, great memory! That was more than two years ago!
Anyway, since I’m not really happy with the post-count recently I decided to start participating in this activity again, so you’d get at least a post on Tuesdays – I might participate in another one on Fridays as well, we’ll see.

As a reminder:

“Gemeinsam Lesen” as it is originally called, is a project by German book bloggers Schlunzenbuecher. It was created by Asaviel and later adopted by Schlunzenbuecher.
Each Tuesday you have to answer four questions regarding your current read.

For more information and my old participations take a look at this page: Reading Together.
Without much further ado, let’s take a look at today’s, obviously translated, questions:

1. Which Book are you currently reading and which page are you on?

Today I decided to pick up Washington Irving’s The Sketch Book of Geoffrey Crayon, Gent or Sleepy Hollow: Schaurige Erzählungen (Ghastly Tales) a book that I started reading back in 2014.
It’s a collection of different essays and stories by Irving and I basically only bought it originally to read Sleepy Hollow and decided to actually do so after starting with the Sleepy Hollow TV Show. The story itself is located somewhere in the back of the book, so it’s still a long way to go for me, as I’m still on page 46.

2. What is the first sentence on your current page?

Mit dem Gefühle tiefen Bedauerns beobachte ich, wie die literarische Animosität zwischen England und Amerika von Tag zu Tag wächst.

or in English:

It is with feelings of deep regret that I observe the literary

animosity daily growing up between England and America.

Technically I cheated with this one, as the page starts with the title (English Writers on America) and a quote from Milton about Freedom of Speech (the „Methinks“ one), but this one seemed more interesting.

3. What do you desperately need to tell about your current book? (Thoughts, Feelings, a Quote, whatever you want!)

Seeing as it took me years to pick up the book again and my relatively slow progress with it, I wouldn’t be surprised if I put it away again after reading a few stories.
It’s not that they’re not interesting, but they’re a bit complicated and long and – what probably bugs me most – in a horribly small font. It’s exhausting to read, so I don’t get far when I actually do.
I can’t quite remember the previous stories, but I don’t feel like starting from the get go again, so maybe I’ll just skim through them to refresh my memory…

4. Are you planning the Reading Together beforehand or are you answering the questions spontaneously on the day?

Well…as I haven’t participated in two years this one was quite spontaneously done…
Still, if I had the chance to know the fourth question beforehand, I’d use it.
I remember preparing the first three questions more or less beforehand, when I knew which book I’d be reading, so that I only had to add the page number and quote when I’ve done the reading on my way back from work.
Though, I do not plan what I’m going to read on a Tuesday so it could be featured on a Reading Together. Even if I had a few books where I hoped they’d last until Tuesday so I could talk about them. 😀

Additional thoughts

I really hope this’ll get me back into Blogging, but I’m still busy with those pesky stories and life-stuff, so we’ll see if it’ll work.
You can obviously participate in these questions by either using my translated or the original German version.
PoiSonPaiNter
© For the cover, the quote and the banner belong to their rightful owners.

Reading Together #16

I present to you my sixteenth instalment of Weltenwanderers and Schlunzenbüchers „Gemeinsam Lesen“ (Reading Together).

Each Tuesday one of them asks four questions, with the first three always being the same about the book one is currently reading and the fourth a new one by either of them. All questions below are obviously translated from today’s German post.

1. Which Book are you currently reading and which page are you on?

This week I’m kind of reading two books.
On the one hand did I start with The Fellowship of the Ring, Part One of Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings, which I chose as part of BiblioSmile’s Summer Book Challenge as a book I always meant to get around to.
With this one I’m on page 69.
On the other hand did I start with The Magician’s Nephew by C.S. Lewis, which is the first part of the Chronicles of Narnia, even though it was published last.
Here I’m currently on page 146.
I kind of switch between them on occasion and today I explored Narnia.

2. What is the first sentence on your current page?

„What’s the Thing talking about, Horse?“

or in German:

„Wovon redet das Ding, Pferd?“

3. What do you desperately need to tell about your current book? (Thoughts, Feelings, a Quote, whatever you want!)

One of the reasons I switch is because it is exhausting to read the long and carefully structured sentences in the Fellowship. I have to read some of them several times before I fully grasp what they mean and that means I can’t follow the story as easily as I had hoped. The Narnia book is a nice alternative here, as the phrasing is fit for children, though sometimes just as confusing.
While reading I remembered bits of the first LotR movie already and I think, I also already saw a few differences between the written and the movie-version. But it’s still nice to get a different angle on the whole thing.
And there weren’t as many pages describing the Shire (I had to think for a moment what it was called in English as I’m too used to the German version: Auenland – meadowsland) as I had anticipated from others‘ tales.
The only thing that actually bugged me was that it was never said which dwarves visited Bilbo on his 111th Birthday. I wanted to know if there were some we knew from the Hobbit. >_<
And I was surprised that Frodo turned 50 before the whole story actually began…the movies give you a totally different impression here…
Narnia has a completely different narration and it’s odd when the narrator addresses the audience, but it is still quite interesting to read about the discovery and birth of Narnia.

4. Do you put the books you are going to read into an order early on or do you decide spontaneously which one will be the next after you finished a book?

Like so many things this depends.
Most of the times I just pick a book I feel like reading, but there are also times – especially now in regards to the challenges – where I think which would be best to read next in order to finally finish them.

Additional thoughts

You can obviously participate in these questions by either using my translated or the original German version.
PoiSonPaiNter
© For the cover, the quote and the banner belong to their rightful owners.

Reading Together #15

I present to you my fifteenth instalment of Weltenwanderers and Schlunzenbüchers „Gemeinsam Lesen“ (Reading Together).

Each Tuesday one of them asks four questions, with the first three always being the same about the book one is currently reading and the fourth a new one by either of them. All questions below are obviously translated from today’s German post.

1. Which Book are you currently reading and which page are you on?

I couldn’t resist finishing Die Seiten der Welt (The Pages of the World) by Kai Meyer yesterday, but I didn’t feel like tackling the next book yet. Though I know what it will be: The Fellowship of the Ring, Part One of Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings.
As part of BiblioSmile’s Summer Book Challenge I chose it as a book I always meant to get around to.
I’m currently on page 1, if I actually skip the forewords and the ring-poem at the beginning. I’m impressed that this version really starts with page one after all the ones before that and not with a numbering according to the empty pages again.

2. What is the first sentence on your current page?

This book is largely concerned with Hobbits, and from its pages a reader may discover much of their character and a little of their history.

or in German from this edition:

Dieses Buch handelt zum großen Teil von Hobbits, und der Leser erfährt daraus viel über ihre Wesensart und ein wenig auch über ihre Geschichte.

3. What do you desperately need to tell about your current book? (Thoughts, Feelings, a Quote, whatever you want!)

For the longest time I meant to get around to read LotR, but never really felt like it, though I thought that if I read the books I would finally be able to understand the movies better. I’m curious how that’ll turn out.
Even though we have a German version at home – which is the weird translation where Sam refers to Frodo as Hey Boss – I chose the English version, as it was recommended to me and because of the fact that I managed to read the Song of Ice and Fire series so far without any understanding problems.

4. With whom (aside from the Internet) are you exchanging thoughts on your reading passion? Do you have like-minded people in your circle of friends or family?

I’ve got my passion for reading from my Mum, so when she finished a book I asked her what it was like, just like I tell her things about the books I’m about to read or currently reading.
Aside from her I can discuss books with pretty much every person I know. Recently mostly with Anice or Unmei, but I also had face-to-face discussion with the people from The Forum, the Black Pack and colleagues.
So, technically I don’t have a shortage of discussion partners.

Additional thoughts

Reading Together #14

I present to you my fourteenth instalment of Weltenwanderers and Schlunzenbüchers „Gemeinsam Lesen“ (Reading Together).

Each Tuesday one of them asks four questions, with the first three always being the same about the book one is currently reading and the fourth a new one by either of them. All questions below are obviously translated from today’s German post.

1. Which Book are you currently reading and which page are you on?

As I finished A Clash of Kings by George R.R. Martin last Friday I now am reading Die Seiten der Welt (The Pages of the World) by Kai Meyer.
I’m currently on page 233, which is about half way through.

2. What is the first sentence on your current page?

As the actual first sentence isn’t a complete sentence I’ll cheat and take the next one:

Furia hob die Spitze der Glasfeder.

or in English:

Furia raised the tip of the glass feather.

3. What do you desperately need to tell about your current book? (Thoughts, Feelings, a Quote, whatever you want!)

It’s been a while since I read a book that was originally written in German; namely Kinder des Judas was the last one in 2013. But I didn’t read that much the last few years, so the possibility that I read a German book wasn’t that high to begin with…
Anyway, I learned about this book through Weltenwanderer, I think, and it just sounded interesting. So I had to take it with me when I saw it on display in the library. (Though that time, a few weeks ago, I picked up 4 books and a comic even though I just wanted to renew the rental for one book…libraries are evil…just like comic book stores)
Anyway, for a Young Adults novel I really like it.
Though which Bibliophile wouldn’t like a book about people being capable of using the magic of words to do sorcery-like things (the aptly called Bibliomanten – Bibliomancer, I’d say, judging from the translation of Nekromant to Necromancer)? Especially if there are such things as living letters and Origami and most of all a cranky arm chair and a sassy reading lamp? 😀 Oh and you can jump from one place to the other through two books of the same edition! This destroys the book you used, but it’s still a great idea.
The world Meyer creates in this book is just so fascinating that you just want to continue to learn more about it. That there are also some murders, intrigues and dark secrets in it makes it even better. Though the characters themselves are quite superficially constructed. I don’t really have that much of a connection with the main character (I rarely do, but that’s beside the point), but I do think I can add a yet. There aren’t that many pages left, so I’m curious how the end of the book will be pulled off…

4. The 100th time „Gemeinsam Lesen“! Let us take a look back and tell us since when you participate, what you like about Reading Together, or do you have suggestions for improvement? Is there anything that you miss, that you would like to change? Or something you like most about it, that makes this project unique and perfect?

This is my fourteenth participation, so I’m still quite new to this, but I already can say that I am grateful that those two picked up the project from its original creator and continued it up till now – and hopefully many more weeks to come.
It is an incredible motivation to continue with a book, simply because you don’t want to present the same book each week over and over again.
It’s also a great way to keep track of your own thoughts or at least put your own thoughts together throughout the reading.
And you can rant about something within the book before you write the review afterwards. 😀
The fourth questions is always something you usually don’t think about that much (Like last weeks tomes or the dislikeable character from the week before that or the the perspective a book is written in).
So it’s always interesting to see what you’ll have to think about next.
Even though it’s a good way to learn about other Blogs and others‘ current reads, I do have to admit that I only browse through the other entries, as by now there are really a lot of participating Blogs.
So as a suggestion I think it would be nice if every participant had to add the name of the book they are reading in their comment on the current Question-Post, so the browsing becomes easier.
Last but not least: A huge thank you to Schlunzenbuecher and Weltenwanderer who keep this project going and to Asaviel for creating it in the first place!
Here’s to many more weeks spent Reading Together!

Additional thoughts

Don’t forget to check out my raffle for posting two hundred posts on this Blog!
You can obviously participate in these questions by either using my translated or the original German version.
PoiSonPaiNter
© For the cover, the quote and the banner belong to their rightful owners.