Comments on: Sunday Salon: Two, unusual

By: Julie

Julie — Mon, 26 May 2008 12:28:18 +0000

Libraryscat, I hope you enjoy it. I highly recommend P.G. Wodehouse. :)

Myrthe, oh yes I agree. Curled up on the couch (preferably with a kitty purring at your feet or on your chest) is definitely the best way to go. But email is better than nothing, I suppose.

Shauna, I picked Wodehouse because you don’t really need to read him in a continuous flow. You can appreciate him a paragraph at a time just as much as reading him in one sitting. I don’t know if I’d be able to keep track of a more challenging book if I read it this way. Worth trying, though.

Fred, newspaper counts, but only if you read the same sections. :)

Hubby, I forgot about Birmingham! He’s the guy who left a nice comment on this blog.

By: bw-hubby

bw-hubby — Tue, 20 May 2008 21:45:06 +0000

Just wanted to mention — Turtledove gets credit for popularizing the genre, but I think his strengths are in the ‘history’ dept., not the ‘literature’ dept.

Not sure Eric Flint’s any better, but if you’ve got a a significant other who’s into alter. hist. and they havne’t yet found Flint, he’s fun.

But I have a special affection for John Birmingham. His Axis of Time series had me eagerly turning pages, and waiting for the next book and so on: a U.S. Navy fleet of 2021 (with the ship U.S.S. Hilary Clinton — named after the president in his future world) is shot back to WW II — scientific experiment gone awry — and finds the WW II folks love the 2021 technology, but have a hard time accepting a black admiral, or gay, female captain.

Anyone have other alt. hist. titles to recommend? (besides Philip Roth’s about Lindberg becoming president instead of FDR — that’s got to be the one that people know if they don’t know any other alt. hist. titles).

By: Fred

Fred — Mon, 19 May 2008 15:11:03 +0000

The Missus and I rarely, if ever, read the same thing. She loves the romance stuff while I gravitate towards historical themes.

We do read the same newspaper. Does that count?

By: Shauna

Shauna — Mon, 19 May 2008 06:39:31 +0000

I’ve been reading Anthony Trollope’s Barchester Towers via Daily Lit, and it’s an interesting experience. I agree witha previous commenter that the best way to read them is when you have the completed chapter, rather than trying to read it in the increments they send you. It’s a great way to be exposed to new literature as well. I never even thought to look for Wodehouse on there…

By: Myrthe

Myrthe — Mon, 19 May 2008 04:14:22 +0000

Julie, I actually found a way that works. I wait until I have all the installments for one chapter and then I read them. Reading one chapter at a time works better than reading each installment separately. And I am finding that reading them at work, makes my day a bit brighter, because it is such a feelgood book!. But still curled up on the couch is sooooo much better! But that goes for any book, not just Anne. ;-)