May 2022: Beginnings

Everything has a beginning - it may not always be clear when it is and scientists may be having a heated discussion on the topic but noone ever argued the fact that everything must have started somehow.

It can be a short process: someone's life for example (that multi-volume biography that you had been eyeing for 10 years and never really started will fit here). Or the beginning of a family. Or go a bit bigger - the birth of a country. Or of a dynasty.

Or do you have a series you always wanted to read and never found a way to start? That is also a beginning. The first novel of an author can also be a beginning. The first novel in a period. The first author of a certain category. The first book to win an award.

Or maybe find something which you can finish this year: in November, I will be back with a "Ends and Endings" topic. So how about planning something with matches both topics (not mandatory of course).

So... what do you plan to read?

Well, since May is my birthday/beginning month, I thought I'd read a book published or on the best-seller list in the year of my birth. I have a couple of titles in mind--depends on what the library has.

>2 kac522: You and me both (which is why I snagged May for this topic) :)

I'm going for the origin of Hinduism with the Rig Veda. I read the very abridged Penguin edition edited by Wendy Doniger a few years ago. Not bad, but not really entirely satisfactory. I've got the Ralph T. H. Griffith translation, which runs to 476 pages, so I don't know if I'll get it finished in just one month because it's something that should be read slowly and carefully. But at least I'll make a beginning of it.

The Griffith translation is from the Victorian era, so it's a bit dated, but I'm not sure that there's a better one readily available that includes the full text and isn't some "quick read" abridgement.

>2 kac522:
>3 AnnieMod:

Oh, that's a very good idea. I may steal it!

Gosh I have no idea. Keep thinking in the beginning and remember I a have a book about genises (first book of the Bible) with
commentary. Ill see if I can find it

Do you have a link for suggested titles?

If you are thinking about beginning a new series:

Goodreads has a list of 50 books that are the first in a series here: https://www.goodreads.com/shelf/show/first-in-series

I can recommend Jeffrey Archer's Only Time Will Tell, which is the first book in the series, The Clifton Chronicles.

If you've not read the Gabaldon series, this would be a great time to start with Outlander.

I can also recommend Sara Donati's series that begins with Into the Wilderness.

Maurice Druon has a great series, The Accursed Kings, and the first book is The Iron King. This is about the Plantagenets. Sharon Kay Penman also has a series about the Plantagenets and the first book is When Christ and His Saints Slept.

One of my favorite authors first book

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/22055262-a-darker-shade-of-magic

Cynthia Harrod-Eagles has a series that follows a family through World War I so I will be reading the first one entitled, Goodbye Piccadilly. There are six books in the series, so I probably won't be reading the last one later this year, but I am sure I will come up with the last of one of my many historical series!

I'm stacking Henry VI, Part I (by William Shakespeare) for this one (planning to read Part II & III later).

There are so many series that I want to read, and I plan to make a start on one of them for this thread. Some possibilities are The Jewel in the Crown by Paul Scott, Look Homeward, Angel by Thomas Wolfe and I, Robot by Isaac Asimov.

>11 Tanya-dogearedcopy: Great idea! I may go with that!

I chose "The Garden of Small Beginnings" by Abbi Waxman. Lilian Girvan struggled with the grief of her husband's death for four years before her job as an illustrator pushed her into taking the first step on the journey to healing.
The story was well written with clearly developed characters. This one's for those who love the 'happy ever after' ending.

>8 Tess_W: Loved Penmans books! first one I read was here be dragons and I ws hooked. Read everyone of them

I still need to figure out what I'll read for this one. I do want the focus to be history, but I may do the first book in a historical series. I'll have to check...

Ok, if I can find it at the library, I might give this a try:
The Wilderness Warrior / Douglas Brinkley

The description says this:
"Evaluates Theodore Roosevelt's role in launching modern conservationsim, identifying the contributions of such influences as James Audubon and John Muir while describing how Roosevelt's exposure to natural wonders in his early life shaped his environmental values."

So, I'm thinking the beginning (or maybe close to it) of environmental conservation?

My original plan (>2 kac522: ) was to read a book published in the year I was born, but nothing has caught my fancy.

So I've switched to Plan B: I share a birthday (May 22) with Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. At age 20 he was a ship's surgeon on an Arctic whaler, and kept a diary of his experience. It's recently been published as Dangerous Work: Diary of an Arctic Adventure, with the diary facsimile and transcription, plus several of his short works that drew on this experience. I think this will fit nicely with both beginnings and history.

what a great idea! I share a birthday with Elvis, David Bowie, Stephen Hawkings. lots of good possibilties there!

>18 kac522: Sounds fascinating!

>19 cindydavid4:, >20 MissWatson: Thanks; I hope it's as interesting as it sounds. Conan Doyle also wrote several historical fiction novels, but they didn't look as interesting to me as this did. My other birthday choice would be Richard Wagner--no thank you.

hee, yeah, Ann Rand was on my list, and no thank you

I will be reading So Many Beginnings a retelling of Little Women. This is the monthly pick for my online reading club. It is YA which is not my jam. I will give it a go and hope it doesn't disappoint. The premise is very appealing.

I’d like to read the Raj Quartet by Paul Scott, so am beginning The Jewel in the Crown for this topic.

Casino Royale (Ian Fleming) 3***, first of the James Bond series. More a novella than a novel and a bit plodding. Believe it or not, in all these years I've never read a James Bond book nor seen a movie, so I'm going to give them a shot.

>25 CurrerBell: I’m a big James Bond fan of both the books and movies! Most recently, during the pandemic, my husband, daughter and I watched each of the movies. My DH & I broke them down for her, explaining cold war history/current international news as reflected in the films, attitudes towards women and, general trivia…

There’s always something to cringe at— in fact, I think Fleming deliberately put something offensive in every book to be provocative! Is it great literature? IMO, no; but it is highly entertaining and accessible. (If I want to engage more of my brain, there’s John le Carré who(m) I absolutely adore!)

I’ve always thought Casino Royale was one of the strongest entries in the series so, while I hope you have fun, if it’s only a three-star title for you, I can totally understand if the series is a “No Go” after a bit. It’s sort of like fast food: It has a certain appeal every once in awhile, but you don’t want to eat it every day!

>26 Tanya-dogearedcopy: I'm planning on reading at least the first six Bond books, because I have the two omnibus volumes gilt-edged bonds and more gilt-edged bonds. For the time being, though, I'm switching series and starting on Shelby Foote's The Civil War: A Narrative: Volume 1: Fort Sumter to Perryville, which will also cover this quarter's RTT read and at 840pp will also meet the Big Fat Book challenge.

And the only Wizard of Oz I've ever read is the well-known first volume, which I've read more than once. I think I may give a reread to this first volume in The Annotated Wizard of Oz (Centennial Edition), which I've read years ago, and then go on to the next nine installments, which I've got in two omnibus volumes (again, two Big Fat Books).

I’ve just received a new (2019) biography of Geoffrey Chaucer, which is inspiring me to reread as much as I can of his poetry. I’ve begun with The Book of the Duchess, his first major poem, and as Chaucer is known as the father of English poetry, I think I will make that my choice for “Beginnings.” (I’ve waited a bit late to start on The Raj Quartet this month.)

I finished reading Henry VI, Part 1 (by William Shakespeare and I realized it's doubly qualified for the "Beginnings" prompt! First, it's Part 1 of three and; secondly, it's arguably the earliest play in the First Folio! Wait, being in the "First Folio, makes it trebly qualified! OK, enough...

This is the play noted for a couple of things: It lacks "dramatic unity" (lots of scenes and very episodic) and has an abundance of anachronisms— and the worse off for it all— so much so that its authorship has been questioned since 1735! Nonetheless, it's still Canon and in the play itself there are a few highlights: the scene set in the Inns of Court wherein red and white roses are picked to denote sides in "The War of the Roses"; the scene in which Talbot and his son are surrounded and fight together and; the incredible slander against Joan of Arc. While of course she would be the villain from the English point-of-view, I was still a bit surprised at the viciousness of the attacks against her. She is basically reduced to a lying witch and whore in the play, reflecting contemporary thought. True, she would not be made a saint until 1920, but still...
The timelines have been telescoped so much that long-dead people are fighting on the court and on the battlefield, people not of age are speaking as adults and; just a general jumble of events out of order. And too, that aforementioned slander against Joan of Arc now seems so transparently propaganda, it's pretty cringeworthy. I used to think those Shakespeare directors who took the liberty of rearranging the three plays to make two plays were a bit too hubristic; but now I see why.

How about the first epic long poem as a beginning? If you are thinking of the Iliad, you are a few centuries too late. While there are a few epic poems which are older than this one, this qualifies as the first epic (although stand by - I may be back with the poems as well) :)


89. The Epic of Gilgamesh, translated by N. K. Sandars

Type: Poem/Poetical Cycle
Original Language: Akkadian, Sumerian and a few other languages from the area
Original Publication: 1200-900 BC for the final versions; 1700 BC (Akkadian version) and 2250-2000 BC (Sumerian poems)
Publisher: Penguin Classics

In December 1872, George Smith attended a meeting of the newly created Society of Biblical Archeology. For the previous few decades archeologists had been finding more and more of the tablets which had cuneiform writing on them and the specialists were starting to decipher them - finding both the expected household records but also the lines of poetry and myths and all kinds of other things noone expected. And George Smith was about to change the state of the known world overnight - because what he announced at this meeting was nothing less than a record of the Flood, with a man being told how to build a boat and how to save his family and everything else living. That record was at least a few centuries older than even the oldest known records that made up the Bible. And that already very old and unexpected copy was itself a copy of a much older record.

Thus began the uncovering of a literary mystery which proved that the Greeks did not invent literature (as everyone believed at that point). Because that story of the Flood was part of the Akkadian version of Gilgamesh - which was itself based on a series of Sumerian poems about Bilgames (the Akkadian name remained the one in use even when the older sources were found). That initial story was incomplete so everyone kept looking for more parts of the story (just to get the scale, on a single dig, they would often find 40K or more tablets) and pieces started showing up. But not all of them matched - there were the best copies from the buried library of Ashurbanipal (everyone had heard about the Alexandria library and the tragedy of its destruction in 48 BC; the same happened at the end of the Assyrian rule in 612 BC in Nineveh - except that the fires that destroyed Alexandria acrtually helped preserve the tablets here) but there were also versions of a different sequence which somewhat matched but were obviously different. And then there were versions showing up in tablets in all known languages in the area - mainly Sumerian, Akkadian (mainly Babylonian versions) and Hittite but a few of the smaller languages also helped preserve versions. The poem was popular - its 12 tablets were copied and recopied, sometimes parts of the story were moved around (as most of these were essentially passages on the same tablet, one may wonder if this was not a 'printing' error - someone started copying the wrong part first and decided to leave it like that).

Soon the scholars started to see the patterns and realize that they are dealing with two really different versions - so they started to group these different versions producing the what is now known as the Standard version (the best preserved copy is the Ashurbanipal's one (specifically assembled for his library with new translations where needed) but with a lot of additions from elsewhere) and the old Babylonian version. Add to this the set of Sumerian early poems which gave the start of the whole thing and a few tablets in various languages which seem like retellings and you get mist of what we have. Even with all the fitting and all the pieces and jigsaw puzzles being solved, we have only ~2/3rd of the full poem (and for awhile the work was especially tedious because the fragments are all over the world, in different museums and universities and it could take years before someone in Berlin realized that they have a piece which adds 40 lines to an existing known US fragment for example.

But even the best preserved tablets (incidentally the Flood one) are fragmentary - there are missing parts and not all of them can be filled by other tablets. So parts of the story are still somewhat of a puzzle. And then there is the problem of the 12th tablet which simply does not fit - it is a direct translation of one of the existing Sumerian poems and one wonders briefly if maybe there were more of these translated or if they grabbed the wrong tablet to translate (as there is a better fitting poem which does not make it into the Akkadian versions - the one with the death of Gilgamesh). Of course the scholars will probably explain why this is unlikely but as I am not one, I just wonder.

So when you look to read the poem in the 21st century and you read a language with more than one translation, you need to decide which one to read. They seem to be in three broad categories:
- The scholarly ones - where the text is as it was found, translated directly from the languages they existed in, with the normal Akkadian way of expression and with the lacunae unfilled and marked.
- The middle ground ones - where the poem is smoothed over so that it reads better but it is still a fresh translation (sometimes with a bit of help from older ones)
- The pure literary ones - most of these done based on older translations and not based on the actual stories; some of them so far removed from the material that the are more interpretations than they are translations in any meaningful way (but then the modern idea of a translation being exact reproduction into another language is really a modern one).

I fully expected to fall into a translation of one of the first two types but the scholar ones are entertaining if you know the story and the second type seem to be the rarest ones (and for the most part the older ones). And age is somewhat important here because the older the translation, the less of the missing parts that had been found later it contains. So how do you decide what to read? You get a few copies and see which one you like the best of course. So here I was sitting one weekend with 7 different versions of the poem and deciding which one to start with - as it seems like reading all of them will be fun (then I realized I have a few more versions in various anthologies). And the one I decided was the best to start with was the least likely of them all - the prose compilation of N. K. Sandars (also known as the shorter or the older Penguin Classics edition - it got superseded but the scholarly edition by Andrew George in 1999) - not only it is from the third type but it is also in prose. But it is a perfect way to read the story.

So what is the story about? Meet Gilgamesh - a king of Uruk (who as it turned out existed and at least some of this epic appears to be true). Unlike the usual later heroes, he ends up on a journey after his people call to the Gods to stop his oppression - so the Gods create him a companion, Enkidu, and the two friends go have some adventures - walk a lot, kill something's guardian, annoy a God or three, you know - the usual heroic stuff. The poem is all about searching for immortality - first of one's name, later, after Enkidu dies, of one's actual body. Along the way Gilgamesh meets the man who survived the Flood, manages to get close to immortality (some of the funnier parts of the poem are about how he is close but every time he manages not to get it) and to find peace at the end. And this is where the 11th tablet ends. Sandars choses to ignore the 12th and instead to add the old Sumerian poem about the death of Gilgamesh as the end of her story (and this is my minor issue with this version: the religions of the area were not like later religion which insist that it is their ways or the highway (or hell) - instead when two different groups of people with different gods met, they just merged the pantheons. When there were repetitions, they just merged two different gods; when there were none, they just renamed them to match their languages (that's how Sumerian Inanna became Ishtar in the Akkadian/Babylonian pantheon for example). As a result, the stories of most gods and heroes got a bit confused in the retellings and mergings but as a whole, the pantheon held as a unity - and sometimes the clues of where the story originated was in which gods were around. Take for example Marduk. The versions we have from the poem are mostly Babylonian but Marduk is nowhere to be seen. Instead it is the Akkadian gods and heroes which are in play here - thus the dating to earlier days (later confirmed archeologically and so on). But back to the problem with that last chapter - it is a translation from Sumerian. Everything else is from Akkadian. So a few Sumerian versions of people we had heard of show up - the glossary at the end connects them but as this is supposed to be a unified text, it is a bit weird (the one that got me was Tammuz/Dumuzi - I may not even had realized that these are names we had seen before if I did not know about this particular name). But that is a minor gripe).

Early on, the belief was that the Bible stories were copied in some ways from these. But the current scholarship holds that they were all based on even older stories, coming from the pre-literate days of the Mesopotamian civilization - and all later stories in the area drew from them and made them their own (and that's why they are slightly different).

The introduction in this edition is very useful but as usual, if you had not read the story/poem before, it will spoil all the surprises. I actually read the story twice - with the introduction read in the middle - I missed things in the first reading but then I probably missed things in the second one as well. And I still plan to read other versions of this poem.

I heard of this but didn't know the details, fascinating, thats for that

>30 AnnieMod: One of my all-time favs. When I teach World Civilization I, this is required reading for my students.

>32 Tess_W: Which translation do you usually use? Just out of curiosity :)

I was taught (in the 90s so not so far back in time and in Bulgaria) that the first literature came from Greece and Iliad is where it starts (we used to have a 2 years survey of World literature in school which starts from the Iliad and rolls up from there ending with the WWII authors (it used to stop a bit later but post 1989, the modern ones from the Communist side were removed and not replaced with the ones from the West yet so it stopped at the war); looking back, it was mostly Western World Lit and not World Lit really -- but still Gilgamesh should have qualified). I am not sure I even had heard the name Gilgamesh until much later (or if I had, it was in the history classes, possibly mentioned as part of the mythology... although there was never much of it in the history textbook). Not sure what/how they teach all that now - I probably should check one of these days.

>32 Tess_W: >33 AnnieMod: I got around to it not too long ago, using Benjamin Foster's translation (but that wasn't a preference for a particular translator but because it was the Norton Critical Edition and I'm a sucker for NCEs for their supplementary material).

>34 CurrerBell: Yeah, I like the NCEs as well :)

I have that one as well - I usually like the Norton's but I really needed the simple text as a start. I plan through more versions though and the Norton is high on my list because of all the extra material.

I have completed Goodbye, Piccadilly by Cynthia Harrod-Eagles. This is the first group in a series about a couple of English families during WW I. I believe each book deals with a different year in the war. This one started just before the war and ended at Christmas 1914 when the English people are beginning to realize that this war isn't going to be over soon and that there are going to be many casualties and wounded to care for. I am looking forward to continuing on with the series.

I’ve just finished Geoffrey Chaucer’s “Book of the Duchess” and thoroughly enjoyed reacquainting myself with a poem I’ve not reread in over 50 years. Spending some time in a long ago world and reading Chaucer’s tribute to a good and beautiful woman who had died and to her devastated husband made for a wonderful reading experience. (I used both the Riverside Chaucer and Brian Stone’s modernization in the collection “Love Visions.”) This poem was presented to John of Gaunt after the death of his first wife, Blanche, the “goode, faire White.”

This could be considered the first major poem written in English.

I’ve also been listening to the audiobook of Kristen Lavransdatter by Sigrid Undset. I’ve finished Book 1, “The Wreath” and I think it also fits this thread. This first volume deals with Kristen’s early life and her relationships with her father and other family members and with the two men who want to marry her. By the end of the first part, the strength of Kristen’s character has been establlished and also the deep conflict between her wilful passion and her respect for the fundamental values of community and church. I’ve been in a medieval mood lately, and am loving this story set in 14th century Norway.

For this theme I read God’s Smuggler by Brother Andrew, a Dutch man who began taking Bibles into the countries behind the Iron Curtain and distributing them to pastors and churches. This work ultimately led to the creation of Open Doors International, which serves persecuted Christians in over 50 countries by distributing Bibles, giving financial aid to the needy, advocating for the unjustly imprisoned, rebuilding destroyed churches, medical aid, literacy and employment training and micro-loans to start small businesses, training church leaders and other believers to stand firm in persecution, and mobilizing the Church in prayer, giving, and speaking out. It is a thrilling story of a man who with no money stepped out in faith, achieving marvelous things and giving hope to people who thought they were all alone in the world.

I've read the first book in the Ian Rutledge series by Charles Todd, A Test of Wills.

I'm rereading the Imager's Portfolio by L.E. Modesitt, Jr. The series was not written in order: The first 3 novels written are actually the last 3 of the series. The book I'm reading now, Scholar, is the first in the series as well as the first of five in this grouping. The final 4 written are the group in the middle of the series.
Quaeryt, a hidden imager, acts as the scholar assistant to his friend Lord Bhayar. He is sent to the province of Tilbor to discover why the land conquered 10 years before, still requires far too many troopers to keep it pacified. Quaeryt uncovers betrayal hidden within the ranks of Bhayar's governor and his regiment.

I've been working on my book since the beginning of the month! Almost 1000 pages of nonfiction takes a long time to get through! I hope to finish this week - especially if there is a bunch of Notes and References at the end. I'm sure there will be some, but not sure how many pages.

I got an ebook, so I didn't realize it was so long until I started it. Good thing I started early in the month!

>37 dianelouise100: I have a beautiful letter press replica of the Kelmscott edition of Chaucer's works, sdfrom the mid nineteenth century https://www.bl.uk/collection-items/the-kelmscott-chaucer.
It is huge, in every dimension, size and weight.
It is in Chaucer's original Middle English, which can be tricky at first, but if you can read Shakespeare, writing 250 years later, you can figure it out.
So maybe I should take a look at the Book of the Duchess.

I have the same volume, love it. Let me know what page thats on, and I'll read it too.

I chose to begin another series for this month’s theme, although I have enough series on the go and I don’t really need another one. Fall of Angels was the first book in a mystery series set in Cambridge in 1923. Detective John Redfyre of Cambridge CID has a foot in both worlds, that of the town as well as more rarified academic circles. Of course, that means he wasn’t quite accepted by either but it did help when he investigated a murder that also crossed boundaries. I’m looking forward to the next in the series.

Cover shows Arthur Conan Doyle's sketch of the S. S. Hope, 1880

I read Dangerous Work: Diary of an Arctic Adventure, by Arthur Conan Doyle, published in 2012. I chose this work because Conan Doyle and I share a May birthday.

In 1880 during his 3rd year of medical school, Arthur Conan Doyle had the opportunity to join an arctic whaling expedition as the ship's medical officer. His diary of this experience on the S. S. Hope has been held privately by the Conan Doyle family. This 2012 oversize hardcover book provides a facsimile of the diary, a printed transcription, an introduction, afterword and four selections of Conan Doyle's later works showing the influence of his whaling experience. I found this a fascinating book, which I read slowly over the month of May. Included are Conan Doyle's numerous sketches that he made during the trip. As medical officer, he was able to treat some patients, but was unable to save others, given the limitations on a whaling ship. He eagerly participated in the whaling work, and was affectionately dubbed the "northern diver" by his fellow seamen, for his several falls into the icy waters. The writings include 2 articles about his whaling experience and 2 short stories that involve whalers.

The "beginnings" of conservation in the U.S.

The Wilderness Warrior / Douglas Brinkley
3.25 stars

President Theodore Roosevelt was a bird lover, a lover of nature in general, and also a hunter. As president from 1901- 1909, he created numerous national parks and monuments and expanded more; he brought in laws protecting birds, as well as created hunting seasons and licensing. He admired Darwin and his theories. He did a lot for conservation in the United States in the early 20th century.

Sadly, I also felt he was very contradictory due to his joy of hunting (including trophy hunting!) Yes, he did a LOT for conservation, but that was dimmed (in my opinion) by his love of hunting, particularly big game, in many cases just to put the animal’s head on his wall. Even in some of his parks, he still allowed hunting, but only of predators, not prey. This was a very long book at just under 1000 pages, so there were times I lost interest. I did learn some interesting things, too – I didn’t know “teddy bears” were named after him (but he didn’t like being called “Teddy”, either).

I have read So Many Beginnings
I didn't expect to like this book club book for many reasons. It was advertised as a remix on Little Women and it is categorized as YA. I was happy to discover it was well worth the read.
Find my comments here.
https://www.librarything.com/topic/338552#7850144

>46 kac522: A small piece of Trivia: The Great Northern Diver is the proper noun for the bird which in North America is called a Loon.

>49 scunliffe: Ha! Thanks!

>33 AnnieMod: Not trying to ignore you........but those books are packed away in storage, haven't taught Western Civ I for 2 years......so to be honest, really can't remember which translation!

>51 Tess_W: I was just curious. If you remember when you see them, post back (or if you remember the publisher?). If not, no worries.

I've been reading Shelby Foote's The Civil War: A Narrative - Fort Sumter to Perryville, the first of his three-volume military history, but it got a little much for me so I've turned to James McPherson's single-volume Battle Cry of Freedom, which is as much social and politial history as it is military history.

I also just this afternoon stumbled across The Civil War at B&N, and it only seems to be available there (based on an online search) and doesn't appear here on LT. It looks interesting, was only $15, and is heavily illustrated, which might make it a better introductory read.

I'm hoping, though, to finish up both McPherson and at least the first volume of Foote after I've gone through the illustrated B&N book, and to do so for June so that they can all be used for this Second Quarter. (McPherson and each volume of Foote also qualify as Big Fat Books.) For now, I'll just settle for having read Casino Royale fpr this month's "Beginnings" topics.