Read Along: Thoughts About Books
The Histories | Celtic Gods, Celtic Goddesses | A Hero Born | #001
You’ve found the Read Along! This is the occasional Books section of the Thursday Things newsletter. If you enjoy this edition, please click the heart icon in the header or at the end of the post to let me know!
Livraria Lello, Porto, Portugal. Photo by Ivo Rainha on Unsplash
Join the Read Along!
Welcome to the Read Along, a new companion section of Thursday Things focused on books I’m reading, have read, or may read in the future!
Are you a Happy Subscriber to my free weekly newsletter Thursday Things?1 Then the Read Along is now included in your subscription. That means when I post a new Read Along edition you’ll get an email copy in you inbox, just like you already get the weekly edition of Thursday Things.
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Whether you take the emails or not, you can view all future Read Along posts at the Thursday Things home page: https://thursdaythings.substack.com/. You’ll see a Read Along tab at the top of the page. Click that and read away!
What is Read Along?
And what does this have to do with Thursday Things anyway?
You might think of Read Along as the offline version of Thursday Things. Most of the items I feature in ThTh each week come from my roaming around the Internet. As I stumble across interesting articles, blog posts, online resources, etc. I bookmark them for possible inclusion in the newsletter. When it’s time to write the weekly edition, I select a few to link and comment on. While I occasionally mention books I’m reading or have read, Thursday Things is heavily oriented toward my online browsing.
But I read a lot of books, and I’d like to talk about those too. Hence the Read Along!
Why is Read Along?
I love reading in general, but I especially love reading books. What more explanation is needed?
I’m usually reading half a dozen or more books at any one time. By which I mean I’ve got several books on my nightstand, a couple on the coffee table, and a few queued up in my Kindle that I’m actively reading. There are also at any given moment a few books on my shelves that I’ve started but not finished, so you could count those too.
I’m an omnivorous reader. But I don’t get much chance to discuss the books I’m reading. I’ve never been one for book clubs. I haven’t intentionally read the same book as other people at the same time since my English or Classics classes in college. It’s just not how I roll. Or read.
So the Read Along is my self-directed book club where I pick all the books and invite you, Happy Reader, to read along! Or not. It’s entirely up to you. Read with me at your own pace and in your own time. Or read it later. Or never. I hope you’ll discover some new reads and new ideas here, but there’s no pressure!
Mostly, I want to talk about the interesting books I’m reading (or have read, or want to read) in the same way I use Thursday Things to share interesting items I read online. So that’s why I’m considering the Read Along a companion to Thursday Things.
When is Read Along?
As we get started, I expect to send out a Read Along no less frequently than once a month and no more frequently than once a week. I’ll have to experiment with what day it goes out. Probably not Thursday, since that’s spoken for! I welcome your feedback and suggestions on the publishing schedule, Happy Readers! Let me know in the comments or by replying to this email.
How is Read Along?
At any moment I’m reading multiple books. I’ll be experimenting with the format of the Read Along, but the basic idea is to share what I find interesting about the books I’m reading — quotes, ideas, inspirations, connections to other books, obscure facts, cool things I learned, points to ponder, and so forth. Again, similar to what I do with Thursday Things.
I will also talk about books I’ve already read and books in my TBR pile. I might occasionally muse about book-related topics — libraries, publishing, particular authors, the history of books, favorite books, bookstores, and anything else related to my love of books and reading. I’m hopeful that Happy Readers like you will use the comments section to do the same!
What isn’t Read Along?
What I won’t be doing is “book reviews” as such. This isn’t a book review newsletter. It’s about books I’m reading or have read. Books that interest me and that may interest you. But I have no interest in being a book reviewer. I’m a voracious reader who wants to talk about books. That’s completely different!
I will also only rarely be discussing new releases or current books. Most of the books I read are old books. I lean toward non-fiction — mostly history, biography, science, classics, mythology, and political philosophy. I also read business books, self-help or personal development titles, and assorted how-to guides too. In fiction, I like fantasy, science fiction, thrillers, adventure, and the pulps. I especially like late 19th century and early 20th century adventure novels. Jules Verne, H. Rider Haggard, Edgar Rice Burroughs, Robert E. Howard, Arthur Conan Doyle, Talbot Mundy, etc. are likely to turn up on my reading list.
For a glimpse at some of the books I’ve read in recent years, that may appear in Read Along retrospectives, see the annual Reading Challenge lists on my Goodreads profile: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/650835.Dan_McGirt.
And if you’re on Goodreads, follow or friend me there! That’s where I log most of the books I read as I finish them. But I rarely note books I haven’t finished. You’ll have to come to the Read Along for that!
So Let’s Read Along Already!
This first edition of Read Along has been long on housekeeping and short on actual books. So I’ll close by listing three books I am currently reading. Then we will dive in deeper next time!
Currently reading: The Histories | Celtic Gods, Celtic Goddesses | A Hero Born. Image: Read Along
The Histories, Herodotus, Translation by George Rawlinson (Everyman’s Library, 1992) (Paperback | Kindle | Audible)
From the back cover of my paperback edition:
The earliest surviving work of Greek prose literature, The Histories of Herodotus is also one of the most readable.
The central theme of The Histories is the epic clash between the Persian Empire of King Xerxes and a handful of Greek city states in which the Greeks were, against all odds, victorious. In telling this startling story, Herodotus takes his audience into the ancient Mediterranean and Near Eastern world from Spain to India, and from Ethiopia to central Russia, in a magisterial narrative full of fabulous cities and the strange customs of distant peoples.
This is one my nightstand books that I read when I go to bed. The main text is 723 pages. I’m currently on page 146. This is a book that I’ve had on my shelf for years and a book I’ve read about, but not yet read.
I can already see why Herodotus’s book has endured through the ages — the story is both gripping and rambling. I like the way Herodotus goes off on extended tangents about the life of Cyrus or the source of the Nile (or the annual attack on Egypt of flying snakes from Arabia that are repelled by flocks of black ibises!) while slowly putting the pieces on the board for the epic clash to come between the Persians and the Greeks. I know how it all ends, but I’m still drawn in!
Celtic Gods, Celtic Goddesses, R.J. Stewart (Blandford, 1990) (Paperback)
Many of the beliefs and customs of the ancient Celts persist even today in Western culture. They survive in curious and often surprising ways within folk tradition. In Celtic Gods, Celtic Goddesses, Bob Stewart takes a penetrating and detailed look at the mythology, magic and religion of the Celts and examines their enduring strengths and their continued relevance.
This is another book I’ve had on the shelf since the mid-1990s but only ever flipped through. I read massive amounts of Greek mythology growing up — my hand me down copy of Edith Hamilton’s Mythology (Kindle | Paperback | Audible) is falling apart — but I’ve never delved too deeply into the Celtic mythos.
Back in July, I read Four Thousand Years Ago: A World Panorama of Life in the Second Millenium BC by Geoffrey Bibby. That book discussed, among many other Bronze Age peoples, the early Celts, or what was known of them in 1961 when Four Thousand Years Ago was published. So I had Celts on the brain and decided to finally read this.
It’s a short book, 153 pages. I’m on page 82. This is another nightstand book, competing with Herodotus for eyeball time.
A Hero Born, Legends of the Condor Heroes 1, Jin Yong, Translation by Anna Holmwood (St. Martin’s Griffin, 2020) (Paperback | Kindle | Audible)
In a world where kung fu is magic, kingdoms vie for power, and the battle to become the ultimate kung fu master unfolds, an unlikely hero is born…
After his father — a devoted Song patriot — is murdered by the Jin empire, Guo Jing and his mother flee to the plains of Genghis Khan and his people for refuge. For one day he must fast his mortal enemy in battle in the Garden of the Drunken Immortals. Under the tutelage of Genghis Khan and the Seven Heroes of the South, Guo Jing hones his kung fu skills. Humble, loyal, and perhaps not always wise, Guo Jing faces a destiny both great and terrible.
However, in a land divided — and with a future largely unknown — Guo Jing must navigate love and war, honor and betrayal, before he can face his own fate and become the hero he’s meant to be.
Jin Yong was the pen name of Hong Kong writer Louis Cha, born in 1924. Per the translator’s introduction: “…his fictional universe has captured the imagination of generations of Chinese reader ever since his first novel appeared in serialized form in the Hong Kong newspaper New Evening Post in 1955. He went on to write fourteen novels … These epics, of which Legends of the Condor Heroes is considered one of his best, quickly cemented Yong’s reputation as a master of the wuxia genre, which can roughly be translated as “martial heroes” literature.”
This novel (along with the wuxia genre it represents) is the prose equivalent, and progenitor, of Chinese martial arts films, which I love. A Hero Born is 413 pages long. I’m on page 58. At this point the main character, Guo Jing hasn’t even been born yet! But the story is amazing so far. I can already see why Jin Yong has so many devoted readers. This one is at the top of the coffee table stack.
Thank you for reading along!
Which of these books most interests you, if any?
We’ll take a closer look in the next Read Along. Until then, if you enjoyed this edition, please click the heart icon in the header or at the end of the post to let me know. And please leave comments!
As always, thank you for reading!
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Legends of the Condor Heroes is very interesting!
Just today, my wife and I were pondering what books/series other cultures consider staples in the genres we read.