So What Are you Reading?: Generations

[hbquikcomjamesl]

Cover-to-cover through the KJV has been one of my many Lenten disciplines for several years now. And for the past few years, it's been including the Apocrypha. In continuity. (That makes Esther a bit of an adventure in bouncing back and forth between volumes; Post-It notes make it somewhat manageable.)

Why the KJV? I'm not one of those twits who believe the ancient Hebrews spoke Jacobean English; rather, it is because (1) the somewhat archaic (even in the Jacobean era) language and usage forces the reader to think, and (2) the translators had somewhat less of an "agenda" than those in most late-20th-century English translations. And there's something to be said about the juxtaposition of "and he knew her not" circumlocution with "pisseth against the wall" earthiness.

And the language and usage isn't all that archaic: you want archaic, read the Canterbury Tales in the original Middle English. Or take at least a semester of Old English, so you can get through Beowulf in the original Anglo-Saxon.

 

[Laura Cynthia Chambers]

I read the ESV. But I like having a variety of versions to look through. I even have an English/French Gideon New Testament that I bought from the library book sale. English in one column, French right beside it. (I took French from grade 4-12 in school, though I only had to take it until grade 9. I'm by no means fluent, but I can understand some.)

 

[Christopher]

Why the KJV? I'm not one of those twits who believe the ancient Hebrews spoke Jacobean English; rather, it is because (1) the somewhat archaic (even in the Jacobean era) language and usage forces the reader to think, and (2) the translators had somewhat less of an "agenda" than those in most late-20th-century English translations.

I'm surprised to hear that. What I recall reading in a college text about the Bible as literature, I think, is that the KJV was actually a pretty sloppy translation based on flawed sources, and that it definitely had some biases in how it translated things to gloss over unapproved ideas (for instance, expunging an oral sex reference from the Song of Solomon). Although my memory on that point is pretty faded.

 

[Idran]

Also, I'm not sure there's actually anything behind the idea that forcing a reader to parse a difficult-to-read sentence would therefore force them to think more about the content of that sentence. The two are different mental processes that don't actually involve much of the same thought patterns; parsing and evaluating aren't really fundamentally connected, they just feel like it because they happen close in time. If anything, I would think the former would reduce the latter among most people, because it's redirecting mental effort towards the former. It might force them to think in a general sense in that you're forcing more total mental effort expended, but I don't see that it would necessarily force them to think on what you specifically want them to think about.

And that's at least somewhat from personal experience as well. In grad school, the material I comprehended and retained the most was the material that was the most clearly and understandably written, not the material that was the least.

 

[Mr Pointy Ears]

currently reading Kirsten beyer"s voyager a pocket full of lies and the updated star trek encyclopedia

 

[Riverside2233]

Before I start on Vanguard series, I'm gonna get into a few Christopher Pike stories starting today, namely: Vulcan's Glory, The Children of Kings, and Child of Two Worlds...in that order. Then onto the Foundations trilogy and VAN.

 

[Idran]

Before I start on Vanguard series, I'm gonna get into a few Christopher Pike stories starting today, namely: Vulcan's Glory, The Children of Kings, and Child of Two Worlds...in that order. Then onto the Foundations trilogy and VAN.

It sounds like you might be doing a chronological thing based on that? If that's the case, I should give you a heads up: only the first book in the Foundations trilogy is pre-TOS. The second one is during-TOS (shortly after Return of the Archons) and the third is post-TOS (between TMP and TWoK). And there's also another Lovell book set immediately prior to (and leading into) Vanguard; "Distant Early Warning", another SCE installment.

 

[Riverside2233]

It sounds like you might be doing a chronological thing based on that? If that's the case, I should give you a heads up: only the first book in the Foundations trilogy is pre-TOS. The second one is during-TOS (shortly after Return of the Archons) and the third is post-TOS (between TMP and TWoK). And there's also another Lovell book set immediately prior to (and leading into) Vanguard; "Distant Early Warning", another SCE installment.

That's the general idea. I know I won't make everything in exact order. Going somewhat chronological and also using @Thrawn and @8of5's Flow Chart. Thanks for the heads up.

 

[Jinn]

Before I start on Vanguard series, I'm gonna get into a few Christopher Pike stories starting today, namely: Vulcan's Glory, The Children of Kings, and Child of Two Worlds...in that order. Then onto the Foundations trilogy and VAN.

If you're reading Pike novels I'd also suggest Burning Dreams which is IMO the best Pike novel. It is a chronological nightmare, though.

 

[Riverside2233]

If you're reading Pike novels I'd also suggest Burning Dreams which is IMO the best Pike novel. It is a chronological nightmare, though.

Any suggestions on when I should read within these other 3 Pike novels I mentioned? Or does it really matter? It looks to span his entire career in a sense. I see the timespan listed on Memory Alpha, but if it's a standalone novel, I will just read at the end.

 

[Idran]

I'd say that'd fit best, yeah. It's not just entire career, it spans childhood up to death for Pike.

 

[Jinn]

Any suggestions on when I should read within these other 3 Pike novels I mentioned? Or does it really matter? It looks to span his entire career in a sense. I see the timespan listed on Memory Alpha, but if it's a standalone novel, I will just read at the end.

Yeah, I think that makes the most sense. If you want to wait really really long you can go with the framing story, that is in 2320 I believe.

 

[Laura Cynthia Chambers]

Serpents In The Garden

 

[Lonemagpie]

I've been at Redemption 17 since Thursday, but before that finished The Chronicles Of Conan 1: Tower Of The Elephant And Other Stories. This is a collection (by Dark Horse) of the first 8 issues of Marvel's Conan The Barbarian from back in the day ( written by Roy Thomas, with Barry Smith's art nicely upgraded for smooth modern paper by Digital Chameleon). It was good fun, apart from Conan's silly two-horned helmet. The writing takes a strange tone of telling us what's happening in the panels, as if we couldn't see, and is filled with REH-style florid voerbosity - and somehow it works, even though we an see what's happening. So, good fun.

 

[Cap'n Crunch]

I finished Star Trek: SCE: No Surrender by Jeff Mariotte.
I then read Star Trek: The Next Generation: Headlong Flight by Dayton Ward.
I'm currently reading Star Trek: The Next Generation: Slings and Arrows, Book I: A Sea of Troubles by J. Steven York & Christina F. York.

 

[Greg Cox]

Just picked up ANGELS OF MUSIC by Kim Newman, which is a sequel of sorts to THE PHANTOM OF THE OPERA.

 

[Cap'n Crunch]

I finished Star Trek: The Next Generation: Slings and Arrows, Book I: A Sea of Troubles by J. Steven York & Christina F. York.
I'm now reading Star Trek: The Next Generation: Slings and Arrows, Book II: The Oppressor's Wrong by Phaedra M. Weldon.

 

[John Clark]

Reading The Long Mirage by DRG3 at the moment

I've just finished Aztec Gold by David Leadbetter

 

[Jbarney]

I read one of the Tokyo Pop books last night and it was much better than I thought. Continuing my mission to catch up on all of the treklit out there, I am heading back into the realm of the SCE. I read Ring Around the Sky this morning. Starting Orphans ASAP. It feels like I am crawling at this point, but slowly catching up.

 

[Reanok]

Star Trek Tng A Hard rain by Dean Weasley Smith.