What are you reading?

[Zoon van Ijs]

  I'm reading The Dark River, the second volume of The Fourth Realm trilogy, by J.T. Hawks. Good so far; I like dystopian plots!! 

[Hueglow]

I'm reading Oliver Twist, by Charles Dickens.

[nom]

Ice: I've never heard of J.T Hawks. Sounds like a fantasy novel title. Is it? If you like dystopian novels, have you read To say nothing of the dog by Connie Wilks? I won't recommend it (I didn't like it), but some of my friends consider it a masterpiece and almost disowned me for not liking it - I have to reread it to appease them.
Hugo: Oliver Twist is a great book. On a personal note, I played the part of Oliver in a school play of Oliver Twist. Did you know that Charles Dickens had a childhood friend called Fagin?

[Zoon van Ijs]

Ice: I've never heard of J.T Hawks. Sounds like a fantasy novel title. Is it? If you like dystopian novels, have you read To say nothing of the dog by Connie Wilks? I won't recommend it (I didn't like it), but some of my friends consider it a masterpiece and almost disowned me for not liking it - I have to reread it to appease them.

  J.T. Hawks is the pen name of an unknown author who didn't reveal himself yet. That suits the theme of the trilogy itself, since the main characters themselves have to live "off the grid", lest they get caught by the tentacles of an International organization which, in that universe, controls pretty much the whole world. It's a very depressing story, and if the heroes stay alive at the end, that would be a great achievement in itself!!
  The world as depicted there resembles ours very much, but seems slightly advanced in technology. So it's a bit of science fiction but no fantasy.

  I've never read Connie Wilks. I'll see if I can get that here, once I'm done with this one.

[Hueglow]

Hugo: Oliver Twist is a great book. On a personal note, I played the part of Oliver in a school play of Oliver Twist. Did you know that Charles Dickens had a childhood friend called Fagin?

I did know that; my copy comes with a foreword that explains why people call this book "autobiographical".
Was the play you took part in a musical?

[nom]

Hugo: Oliver Twist is a great book. On a personal note, I played the part of Oliver in a school play of Oliver Twist. Did you know that Charles Dickens had a childhood friend called Fagin?

I did know that; my copy comes with a foreword that explains why people call this book "autobiographical".
Was the play you took part in a musical?

It seems your copy has much more information than mine. I first read Oliver Twist around 1981, but only learnt about Fagin a few weeks ago! And yes, the play was a musical. Somewhere, my parents still have a cassette tape of me singing "Where is love".   

[nom]

Ice: Have you read any Isaac Asimov books? He was arguably the most prolific and respected science fiction writer of the 20th century (with all due respect to the genius of both Carl Sagan and Arthur C. Clarke). If not, I recommend the Foundation series (beginning with Foundation) and the Elijah Baily(? I might have the name of the series wrong) books beginning with The Caves of Steel.
I'd be very interested to know what you think of the Caves of Steel and it's sequels if you ever do read them. It is many many years since I read them, and they were old then, but from memory they deal with what it means to be human and how inhuman we can be. All wrapped up in a futuristic detective story.

[Hueglow]

Is it a tradition for schoolchildren in English-speaking countries to play musicals?

[nom]

Is it a tradition for schoolchildren in English-speaking countries to play musicals?

I wouldn't say it is a tradition, but it is very common for schools to promote musical theatre. It makes sense: since musicals usually have a large cast, plus a band, plus sets design and construction, costumes, lighting, etc they involve a wide cross-section of the school. Naturally, this also guarantees an audience (parents want to see what their children have done) and this in turn helps pay for the production while simultaneously building a positive school community.

[nom]

Back on topic: I am currently reading Character strengths and virtues: A handbook and classification by Christopher Peterson and Martin Seligman (can you tell it's for my thesis?).
For pleasure I'm rereading This Freedom, a book of short stories by Australian writer John Morrison. Most of the stories were written in the mid-20th century, before I was born, and they are local and detailed enough to provide a glimpse into the world that my parents grew up in.