Which book are you reading now? Volume XIV

[SS-18 ICBM]

Cost-Benefit Analysis: Concepts and Practice (5th ed) by Boardman et al. is a detailed introduction to the titular form of analysis of the net benefits of projects. Using minimal math, simple explanations, and case studies, it begins with some primary economics principles such as supply curves. Positions taken by the authors (e.g. keeping risk and discounting separate) are indicated. As with your typical business/economics textbook, it is written with the assumption of equilibrium and has the usual neoliberal biases like a categorical aversion to government intervention. The latter is alleviated by some sections such as the one on distributionally-weighted CBA, where transfers to the less-fortunate are considered to add to net social benefit, and coverage of market failures.

 

[Valka D'Ur]

I've now started working my way through Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix.

 

[Kyriakos]

Nothing much, only the (very slowly progressing) reading of the Newton biography.
And various math/"math" papers.

 

[tjs282]

I've now started working my way through Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix.

aka Harry Potter and the Shouty Teenage Tantrums

Have fun

 

[Valka D'Ur]

aka Harry Potter and the Shouty Teenage Tantrums

Have fun

If you watch the Harry Potter holiday marathons they show on the science fiction channel here in Canada, you could make a drinking game of all the times people yell "EXPECTO PATRONUM!!!!!!" (each movie is shown 3 times)

Honestly, though, Sirius Black did not deserve to die.

 

[Arakhor]

Gasp! Spoilers!

 

[Smellincoffee]

I've now started working my way through Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix.

First time, or are you re-reading? OOTP is probably my least favorite, though it has its moments -- mostly involving Gred and Forge. I so hate hate hate Umbridge.

I'm reading Silent Night, a history of the WW1 Christmas Truce (Stanley Weintraub), and a book on animal emotions by Peter Wohlleben.

 

[Valka D'Ur]

Gasp! Spoilers!

I've been having an ongoing argumentdiscussion with warpus about it being okay for adults to read books marketed for children, specifically the HP books.

My take on it is that people should read whatever they want to read, and to hell with what the marketing division or booksellers or reviewers say.

I still re-read my Archie comics and Alfred Hitchcock and The Three Investigators novels (the latter were marketed to teenage boys; I got hooked on them around age 10 or so, and I've belonged to a Yahoo! group for this particular mystery series for many years - most of the members of said group are easily at least 40-50 years old). The Fighting Fantasy gamebook series was likewise marketed to male teenage gamers, yet I daresay that it's likely that the majority of the members of the FF forum I belong to are well out of our teens.

In school, I always read several grades above where I was, and it was maddening to have to wait until I was 13 and could take books out of the adult section of the library (bigger selection of science fiction books than the kids' section).


About spoilers: I stopped giving a damn about spoiling stuff for other people when "they" stopped giving a damn that I didn't run out and watch the latest Star Wars movie within the first 3 days after its release, and so blabbed about Han Solo's death. When I read that, I figured, what's the point of watching the movie? And is it really a spoiler if the book came out 17 years ago and the characters are (some, anyway) basically mainstream knowledge?

First time, or are you re-reading? OOTP is probably my least favorite, though it has its moments -- mostly involving Gred and Forge. I so hate hate hate Umbridge.

Scary true story: The current Minister of Education in my province, Adriana LaGrange, has the attitude of Betsy DeVos and the personality of Umbridge. She even physically resembles Umbridge to the extent that there are memes posted on her FB page of her face 'shopped onto Umbridge's body... and if you didn't know the body belonged to a movie character, you'd almost think it was a real picture.

 

[Takhisis]

Given her recent comments on Sirius Black, it's safe to say that Valka has read them.

If you watch the Harry Potter holiday marathons they show on the science fiction channel here in Canada, you could make a drinking game of all the times people yell "EXPECTO PATRONUM!!!!!!" (each movie is shown 3 times)

They do? The book doesn't focus that much on the Patronus, thankfully.

 

[Arakhor]

About spoilers: I stopped giving a damn about spoiling stuff for other people when "they" stopped giving a damn that I didn't run out and watch the latest Star Wars movie within the first 3 days after its release, and so blabbed about Han Solo's death. When I read that, I figured, what's the point of watching the movie? And is it really a spoiler if the book came out 17 years ago and the characters are (some, anyway) basically mainstream knowledge?

Hence my short response and wink emote.

 

[Valka D'Ur]

Given her recent comments on Sirius Black, it's safe to say that Valka has read them.

They do? The book doesn't focus that much on the Patronus, thankfully.

I meant collectively, not just during OOTP. Harry actually learns the spell during Prisoner of Azkaban and uses it in that movie and in Goblet of Fire.

First time, or are you re-reading?

Sorry, I forgot to answer this question.

It's my first time reading the books. I've seen the movies several times, though never from #1-8. The science fiction channel here shows them in chunks on long weekends: #1-3 (three times), then #4-6 (three times), then #7-8 (three times). Some day I plan to actually watch everything in the right order.

And I will still cry at Dobby's death.

For a first-time viewer who hasn't read the books and only has a vague idea of what the story is about and who the main characters are, it's very confusing... especially when someone dies and the movies cycle back and you see a particular character and think, "hey waitaminute, I thought that person was dead!".

I've been remedying my lack of knowledge with a couple of YT channels that break down the movies and novels, explaining and analyzing the events and characters. There are a couple of decent fan films set in the Marauders' era, and I've been reading copious amounts of fanfiction (just got caught up with one that's 159 chapters long - even longer than the longest Star Trek fanfic I've gotten involved in).

 

[Ajidica]

Huh, I found Order of the Phoenix the high point of the series, with Rowlings writing abilities probably at their best. Half Blood Prince just felt like a lot of fluff with all the good bits jammed at the end, while Deathly Hallows I despised.


Reading Poul Anderson's Mother of Kings. One of his last novels, it is an epic set in slightly fictionalized Scandinavia with more characters, maps, and places than you can shake a stick at. I think the story is a bit too bloated for its own good, but Anderson does as usual an outstanding job at creating the right feel for the Viking age.

 

[Valka D'Ur]

Reading Poul Anderson's Mother of Kings. One of his last novels, it is an epic set in slightly fictionalized Scandinavia with more characters, maps, and places than you can shake a stick at. I think the story is a bit too bloated for its own good, but Anderson does as usual an outstanding job at creating the right feel for the Viking age.

Poul and Karen Anderson were among the original members of the Society for Creative Anachronism. I met them at a convention in Calgary in the early '80s. She joined the Saturday night filking session and taught us some songs we hadn't heard (a lot of filksongs tend to be regional).

I just checked one of my filk books (The Westerfilk Collection) and found a song Poul Anderson wrote (he wrote the lyrics; Gordon Dickson composed the melody). The song is "The Ballad of the Three Kings". The version in this recording differs slightly from what was published in the song book.

The singer in this recording is Leslie Fish - who is one of the premiere filkers in her own right:

For anyone who might be curious about Gordon Dickson, he's most famous for the Dorsai series - a series that's a combination of military SF, space opera, and the later novels are more philosophical, exploring the nature of humankind in space, both in terms of culture and psychology. I can't recommend it enough.

Dickson was also in the SCA, and one story I heard about him is that when he wrote medieval-setting stories (he also wrote historical fantasy), he believed in "method writing" - if he was going to describe what a character did while wearing armor, he acquired armor, learned how to wear and move in it, and perform the actions he wanted his characters to perform. His inspiration for the planet where the Dorsai settled was the Canadian Rockies.

 

[Ajidica]

@Valka D'Ur you ever read Poul Anderson's essay, On Thud and Blunder, about the importance of realism in swords and sorcery?
https://www.sfwa.org/2005/01/04/on-thud-and-blunder/

 

[Valka D'Ur]

@Valka D'Ur you ever read Poul Anderson's essay, On Thud and Blunder, about the importance of realism in swords and sorcery?
https://www.sfwa.org/2005/01/04/on-thud-and-blunder/

It seems familiar, and I may have read it in one of Anderson's anthologies. I'll check once I get my books unpacked (I have several dozen of his books, both novels and anthologies).

The part about correct usage of the shield is something I've seen SCA heavy fighters do. There's a definite skill to it, even considering that SCA fighters use weapons made of rattan, not metal (for obvious safety reasons; real metal swords are for ceremonial use only, and may not be worn when approaching the monarch or prince at court).

 

[Arakhor]

Huh, I found Order of the Phoenix the high point of the series, with Rowlings writing abilities probably at their best. Half Blood Prince just felt like a lot of fluff with all the good bits jammed at the end, while Deathly Hallows I despised.

I thought that OotP was the longest and slowest book and could have done with being at least 100 pages shorter. Why did you despise TDH so much?

 

[Kyriakos]

I really doubt the HP series will be around (as in read by relatively many) 100 years from now.
Probably even a few decades is a stretch.

 

[EgonSpengler]

Finished After the Flood (2019) by Kassandra Montag. Good post-apocalypse, if you're into that sort of thing. Reminded me a little bit of Station Eleven, with a little bit of Road Warrior-style violence, if Road Warrior was on the ocean instead of in a desert. Well-written, pages flew by, characters decently-rendered. At times it felt like the conflict between some of the characters was just there for the sake of drama, and the big fight scene made the protagonists out to be too superheroic. When the scene was being set, I was thinking, "Crikey, how're they going to get out of this?" And then, "Oh. She's going to turn into 'Xena'. I see."

Started The Glass Hotel (2020) by Emily St. John Mandel (speaking of Station Eleven). Just started it, but golly, she's a good writer. I do highly recommend Station Eleven if you're not too worn out on post-apocalyptic fiction, and I wouldn't blame you if you were.

 

[Ajidica]

I thought that OotP was the longest and slowest book and could have done with being at least 100 pages shorter. Why did you despise TDH so much?

I felt DH was characterized by Rowling not knowing how she wanted to get from A to B. Hence we have the 3 main characters moping around in a forest for months before Rowling decides she needs to kickstart the plot by having Harry go "I guess we should see where my parents died, because I've never done it and what better time than when we are being hunted by wizard nazis?". Insert some poorly written chase scenes, overly sentimental deaths, and a cutesy epilogue.
One of the things I enjoyed most about Harry Potter was the school scenes and her efforts, however underwhelming in retrospect, to make the world seem alive. Deathly Hallows had none of that - just Ron, Harry, and Hermione moping around in a forest taking turns acting out of character and all wangsty because of the horcrux.
If I am remembering the book right, Nevile would have been an excellent focus in the novel as he was actually running around fighting the wizard nazis instead of moping in a forest.

 

[warpus]

I've picked up this excellent so far book about the evils of my ancestors and why white people should not be allowed to even write books anymore. Bit eye opening