King Arthur

Has anyone read John Steinbeck's retelling of Mallory's King Arthur stories? He never finished the retelling of these tales. However, what he did was mostly really good even though they were only first and second drafts. Steinbeck said that he translated Mallory into modern english before writing his version. I think some of this book was his translation only of Mallory, and some was his re-telling of these stories. He seemed to understand the original stories, which Mallory re-told hundreds of years after they were originally told and written.

A large part of the book was Steinbeck's letters to his editor and publisher. These letters were as interesting as his stories. He discussed mythology and story telling.

I'd love to hear from others who read this book, and know if there are any other good translations of Mallory and other Arthurian stories.

Not Dead Yet

I had given up on this blog, and thought perhaps it was time to retire it.

I changed my mind.

I'm not ready to write this one off just yet. It's true that my Goodreads obsession has sort of filled the void, but my cousin said she had taken a lot of pictures of books that she would be willing to post. I too have some ideas for posts, such as "Pulitzers You can Take to the Beach."

Killing the White Man's Indian

By Fergus M. Bordewich...
a recent find at, of all places, the Peace River Center Thrift Shoppe.
I really enjoyed this one and learned some Native American history that I was unaware of. The author explored a variety of issues, including history, racial identity, reparations, tribal sovereignty.Of these I have always been intrigued most by the concept of tribal sovereignty. There are so many shades to how it can work. The work was well researched with lots of examples of how different tribes have lived and survived. There are heartbreaking stories as well. It is a topic that I wish more people would read about.

Reading About Reading

In my quest to talk about books, I have ended up reading about what other people are saying about them. This new hobby takes so much time I don't seem to have any left for reading books. I added a new link in "more things i read." I like her reviews and also Books 4 Breakfast has a long list of literary links that could keep a person blog hopping for days.

Moving Into the Book Club World

I've joined a couple of book clubs from goodreads.com. I've ordered one book, but think I'll go back to One Million Books at the Gadsden Mall to see if I can pick up the Delillo one. I've never read him before, so I might as well. Maybe having a couple of books going will keep me from turning on the TV. Last night I watched parts of 4 movies flicking through channels and woke up feeling gross.

Oh Where Have All My Favorite Blogs Gone?

I recently added Elyse Sewell's Live Journal to my list "more things I read." She takes great pictures of food. I found her through Sassmaster and used to visit occassionally.

I feel the need to beef up my list, because it has gotten shorter due to the discontinuation of some and to the new trend of making blogs private. My Tango Year and Superblogmuch were old favorites of mine, but I missed the invitation list. Joe had a good explanation for making his Appalachian Trail adventure private, but I have not heard any reasons from the others. I hope it's not because of annoying spammers. Anybody know what's up with this unsettling trend? Synonym Master, got any for "trend?"

Talking With Ghosts in Mexico

Pedro Paramo by Juan Rulfo is an odd little book that I liked a lot. It begins with a son travelling to the village of his birth to meet his father to fulfill his dying mother's request. You think it's going to go one direction, and then it goes somewhere else. Even after you get used to most of the characters being ghosts and you start to get a hang of the time jumping, you have to pay close attention in order to keep up.

The book came out in Mexico in 1955 and was not particularly well received. While he'd written a book of short stories prior to Pedro Paramo, Rulfo never wrote another book. He did live to see it gain popularity and be credited with beginning the movement of Magical Realism. (I would credit that source, but I've already lost track of it.) I was kind of suprised by this because I think everything I ever read by a latin american author had surreal qualities. Maybe they were all later than 1955. I find myself wondering what Rulfo did for a living since he wasn't writing books. Looks like a trip to Wikepedia.

According to reviews, the later translation is far superior to the one I read which was translated by Lysander Kemp. I still liked the book a lot. I would even consider reading it again, but only because it is so short besides being good.