What Else Are You Reading - August 2018

[Brendan]

(view spoiler)[John (Taloni) wrote: "My concern with TMIAHM has more to do with character viewpoint than author's intent. The MC is a fairly limited person who regularly says racist things. Note the regular use of "Chinee" and the MC'..."

Definitely true, it can't be assumed that characters echo the viewpoint of the author. Speaking to your point, I think its really to Heinlein's credit that he regularly uses mixed race and non-white protagonists long before most other SF authors, and in TMIAHM it definitely seems like he views the multiculturalism (forced by circumstance) on the moon as a good thing.

However, a lot of the issues i mentioned crop up repeatedly in his books throughout his career, so it isnt particularly difficult to deduce some of his opinions on underage sex, etc. It's not like this is my first time reading Heinlein. (hide spoiler)]

[Ruth]

About 3/4 of the way through Record of a Spaceborn Few by Becky Chambers. It’s a bit of a slog tbh - too many characters, not enough actually happening. A disappointment after how good A Closed and Common Orbit was.

Slowly working my way through The Expanse series - on Abaddon's Gate atm.

[Rekka]

Just finished The Poppy War (DAMN!!), and deciding what to delight my ears with next. (I really should listen to my own book next because it’s time to revise the sequel... but I really wanna listen to Pride it Chanur again... listen to me, acting like I have the luxury of rereading when there’s a list of awards nom titles I haven’t read yet...!)

[Clyde]

Rekka wrote: "Just finished The Poppy War (DAMN!!), and deciding what to delight my ears with next. (I really should listen to my own book next because it’s time to revise the sequel... but I really wanna listen..."

Oh, I feel your pain. So much new stuff to read, so much older stuff calling for a reread. Right now my complete matched publisher set of Patrick O'Brian's Aubrey and Maturin books is setting on my bookshelves daring me to read them again. And ... really ... just how long has it been since I last read Dune?
Oh the pain of decision.

And BTW, Currently reading Helmet for My Pillow: From Parris Island to the Pacific, Jade City, and Lock In.

[Robert]

Earlier this week I finished European Travel for the Monstrous Gentlewoman. What a fun read! There was adventure, intrigue, and action. We got more answers about the Athena Club, and (of course) more classic fictional characters enter the story. I look forward to seeing what happens in book 3.

[Rick]

Brendan... nice goalpost move there. Don't strain yourself.

"I'm not claiming Heinlein isn't problematic, he definitely explored all sorts of kink."

It intrigues me that our community keeps saying it wants to celebrate differences, that we should embrace alternate takes on things like gender identity, sexuality etc... but when someone steps out of a fairly narrow range in their fiction it's negative for many of us. We supposedly are open to all kinds of weird possibilities - aliens, etc. - but when things aren't conforming to a relatively narrow, Western late 20th/early 21st century norm, there is, if not outright revulsion, marginalization.

Is Heinlein problematic? Sure, in some place and even more in others (Farnham's Freehold is... very problematic). However, I *guarantee* that authors you like today will, in 50 years be seen as 'problematic'. One of the side effects of being relatively short-lived beings is that we reflect a pretty narrow set of values. RAH was born and came of age in the early 20th and that era, while only a century ago, is completely and utterly alien to 2018.

Finally, I don't think many of the younger readers here (under 35 or so), realize how radical some of his fiction was for the time. This book (Moon is a Harsh Mistress) for example has group marriages etc. Now... go look at the original publication date. It's 1966. Imagine how that looks when set against middle American attitudes.

[Amy]

Guys, I don’t know what’s going on. I bought The Core months and months ago, started reading it and just COULD NOT get into it.

I figured I’d pick it up again for the sale of the reading challenge and... it’s not even the book I remember hating. Not a single even in chapter one is registering in my memory. I love the opening chapters! And I KNOW I’d have loved them the first time. Which begs the question... what story bodysnatched my book the first time?

Currently reading:
The Core (33 pages, dead tree version)
Pride and Prejudice (46%, Kindle, I had no money and this was free)
Oathbringer (33% Audible)

[Rick]

What WERE in those brownies, Amy?? :)

I'm in a dilemma. The new Sandman Slim, Hollywood Dead, is out in the UK but not for 5 days in the US. Do I buy the UK version? Or read one of the other 48 books in the TBR list...?

[Iain]

Michele wrote: "@ Brendan - is that misogyny though? Plenty of girls do become sexually active at puberty whether our society thinks that's a good thing or not.

On the moon (in the book) women are less than 50% ..."

Heinlein is definitely a lech.. Books aimed at teenage males, all the girls are gorgeous and love sex...

[Iain]

Just finished The Rig which for some reasons is several pages in on the book selector (after books that don’t even have the sam ename). It is a disturbing multi threaded book with an interesting take on trends in social communication and has a protaganist who is on the spectrum.

While on 2 week holiday I also finished Assassin's Fate which is an appropriate end to Fitz’s tale.

Started reading Gnomon and have Record of a Spaceborn Few and Timeless waiting to be picked up from the library. A fun couple of weeks coming up.

[Silvana]

Man, I need to start The Moon book asap so I could read those spoilers...Instead I still have to finish Kraken (so far so good - reminds me of Peter Grant series, actually) and now adding The Armageddon Rag (early Martin, so I have less expectation). I have The Moon in audio but when I tried listening, the narrator sounded weird for me. I think I'll find a Kindle copy instead.

Anyway, today I read my first Shirley Jackson book We Have Always Lived in the Castle. Fantastic psychological horror, highly recommended. Finished it in one sitting.

[Brendan]

Silvana wrote: "Anyway, today I read my first Shirley Jackson book We Have Always Lived in the Castle. Fantastic psychological horror, highly recommended. Finished it in one sitting."

YES that book was so good.

I finished Foundryside in two days. Possibly my favourite fantasy I've read this year, at least as good as City of Stairs.

[Silvana]

Brendan wrote: "I finished Foundryside in two days. Possibly my favourite fantasy I've read this year, at least as good as City of Stairs. "

Nice! Hopefully can start next week, of course with high expectations considering the excellent Divine Cities. RJB agreed to do a Q&A in my buddy read group so color me (even more) excited.

[John (Taloni)]

Almost done with Neal Asher's The Soldier. It's chock full of science related actiony goodness and characters from previous Polity books, and yet I'm still unsatisfied with this one. Despite the many good scenes and strong characterization, there just isn't a plot. "We have to fight Jain tech." Yeah, got that from many other Polity books. Now we know where the Jain came from. Okay...great. So where's the plot? Lots of science stunting, loving the hard SF, but...plot? Something besides scattered scenes which, well done as they are, don't make a whole?

I suppose Asher will eventually get to the point, but it won't be in this book. And the next one isn't even due out until May 2019, with the third likely a year after that. Le sigh.

[Iain]

John (Taloni) wrote: "Almost done with Neal Asher's The Soldier. It's chock full of science related actiony goodness and characters from previous Polity books, and yet I'm still unsatisfied with this one..."

Definitely coasting n this one..

[Rick]

Yeah, The Soldier was comparatively disappointing. It felt a little too much like a first book in a trilogy pace-wise, by which I mean there's a LOT of setup and relatively little plot movement.

I'm also a bit annoyed at the comparative dumbness of the Polity AIs. In one of the earlier Polity books they explain that the AIs chose not to accelerate their intelligence exponentially because they simply didn't want to, but knowing the threat of Jain tech and other things out there (the resurrection of the Atheter, etc) I find it implausible that almost none of them would take this leap except, arguably, Penny Royal.

[John (Taloni)]

Some overall thoughts on Asher:

The first few Polity books I read had some rough spots, but made up for it with a sly take on their own contents. In the first Agent Cormac book he has "plot armor" and the villain does some downright silly things, which were commented on within the book. The first Prador book talks about how ridiculous it would be for first contact to be followed by the aliens eating and enslaving humans, which then happens right away. There is a self-aware use and sendup of tropes in the early work.

Later Polity books show more polish in writing, but the humorous side is gone. I like the use of technology and the bombastic large concepts. It's just less fun overall.

[Rick]

Asher has changed. IIRC he lost his wife (and they're only middle-aged) and while it's always risky to extrapolate from real life to fiction, it sounds like he was in a dark place for a bit which might explain the loss of humor. Of course, it could just be a shift in style too as he moves from introducing things to developing them.

On topic - read Hollywood Dead which is excellent.

[John (Taloni)]

At the halfway mark of the third Culture book, Use of Weapons . Am really, REALLY ready for something to start happening.

I get the whole character study idea, and the idea that the MC both uses weapons and is a weapon who is himself used. It's just gone on a little long without moving forward.

Player of Games had a slow burn with a truly impressive payoff. I'm hoping for that here. And hoping for it to start soon!

[Rick]

So... something to understand about Use of Weapons is that it's two novels, interlaced. One is told front to back and forward in time. The other is told back to front and moves back through time. Both are stories about, well, Zakalwe.

[Trike]

John (Taloni) wrote: "At the halfway mark of the third Culture book, Use of Weapons . Am really, REALLY ready for something to start happening.

I get the whole character study idea, and the idea that the ..."

I think this is the book that has the line, “The shortest way to a man’s heart is through his sternum.”😆

[Joseph]

Trike wrote: "John (Taloni) wrote: "At the halfway mark of the third Culture book, Use of Weapons . Am really, REALLY ready for something to start happening.

I get the whole character study idea, ..."

My favorite variation on that line is from K.J. Parker's Devices and Desires:

"The quickest way to a man's heart," said the instructor, "is proverbially through his stomach. But if you want to get into his brain, I recommend the eye-socket."

Finished The Poppy War, which was excellent but hoo boy, not a cheery book, and started Hard in Hightown, which I expect will ultimately be much lighter.

[Stephen]

I am half way done with Words of Radiance which means I still have 700 pages left!

[Sheila Jean]

Stephen wrote: "I am half way done with Words of Radiance which means I still have 700 pages left!"

Is that how long it is? I knew the audio book was many, many hours....

On the opposite end of the spectrum, I've devoured the Binti novellas, Midnight Riot, The Lost Plot, and Slan. I've had a ridiculous amount of time for audio books lately.

Those were all audio books except The Lost Plot which I practically read in a single day in ebook form. Resurrected the read-walking habit so I wouldn't be too stiff when I finished reading an entire book in one 'sitting'.

[Stephen]

1306 pages all told., I have the time to waste as I am 5 books ahead in the Fantasy challenge. Laser challenge just got one book harder as the next Expanse book is delayed until March of 2019.

[Misti]

Ended up putting Kill The Farm Boy on hold for a bit, as my library card was up for renewal. I ended up checking out Happy Hour in Hell. I enjoyed the first third of the book then it literally went to Hell. The library has the third book in the series. I'm not sure I will continue it.

Finished listening to Competence on Audible last night. Moira Quirk is such a delight to listen to. Started Sufficiently Advanced Magic this morning. So far so good. Nick Podehl, who read The Kingkiller Chronicles, narrates it.

[Phil]

Finished Too Many Ghosts by Paul Gallico. What a disappointingly poorly written book. It was another book I inherited from my parents and so was physically difficult to read because of the several decades in cigarette smoke infused into the pages which made my throat sore. Be that as it may I was looking forward to the premise of the hero, named Alexander Hero, investigating a supposedly haunted English manor. It turned out to be very melodramatic and written in a clunky style. I'm afraid it wasn't very compelling.
Starting The Black Prism.

[Joseph]

Finished Hard in Hightown and Allan's Wife (the latter an 1880s Allan Quatermain story by H. Rider Haggard) -- they were both quite short -- and started Darkness Weaves, the first of Karl Edward Wagner's novels of Kane -- classic 1970s Molly Hatchet album cover airbrushed on the side of a panel van sword & sorcery.

[John (Taloni)]

Finished Use of Weapons, Culture series #3. It was...okay. We see more of the Culture and its motivations, but it didn't really feel like an SF book. This could have been any mercenary set in any time period.

I get the artistry of the "two stories in one" concept, I just found it hard to follow. There's a pretty major twist (definitely spoilers) (view spoiler)[where he's not himself, he's his rival. That didn't work well for me, partly because it's been done to death and partly because his story as Zakalwe was so widely followed in the book.

Just off the top of my head, saw that twist in Angel Heart and Chasm City. Chasm City was published after this, but Angel Heart predates Use of Weapons by some years. I'm sure there's many more examples. Anyway, it felt trite. (hide spoiler)]

I'm also roundly sick of the trope "sex positive woman has sex with everybody and is a mary sue." I can forgive Heinlein for doing this in Glory Road as it was unusual to even have major female characters in the 1950s/1960s, but not by the 1980s when this book was written. Neal Asher has moments of this as well. Although, I should be glad this doesn't approach the all time stupid plot point of "it's okay to mind control a girl since she was turned from a nerd into an expressive cheerleader" as revealed at the end of Second Foundation. Dear Mr. Asimov, WHAT IN GOD'S NAME WERE YOU YOU THINKING?!?

Back to Use of Weapons. Why is Diziet in the background? Is this a commentary on the more backward, sexist societies the Culture seeks to influence? In any event it seemed awkward.

Well, I didn't hate it, and I can understand the artistry in construction. I more appreciated it than enjoyed it. I didn't have an "ahah, isn't that great" moment at the twist. More like a "really? Oh, okay."

[Trike]

Finished Record of a Spaceborn Few — loved it. Full five star fiction.

Now on to the new Murderbot, Rogue Protocol. First chapter is good. :)

[Jonathan]

Finished Revenger. Enjoyed it a lot. It is kind of a space/steam punk story. Reading The Name of the Wind and The Creeping Shadow

[Silvana]

Still struggling through The Moon is a Harsh Mistress. Sexism or whatever aside, the characters are really boring. I might actually lem this one, dunno. I think Ian McDonald and John Kessel made better moon books.

Finished with the delightful Kraken. Mieville is bloody nuts and brilliant at the same time. Fastpaced, full with awesome magicky actions, and likely require less brain power than his other adult books like Embassytown or even Perdido Street Station.

Starting The Armageddon Rag at last, soon to be followed with Brian McClellan's novella The Mad Lancers.

S&L challenge tally:
Sword 31
Laser 26 - just increased my target to 30.

[Silvana]

Jonathan wrote: "Reading The Creeping Shadow"

OMG a fellow Stroud fan! Lockwood and co are fantastic series, aren't they....

[John (Taloni)]

^Do tell on the Armageddon Rag. I loved that book in a way that was unholy back in the 80s,

True story, I once wrote in to the Marvel comic New Mutants as if I were the lead singer, to thank them for promoting the band. There were a lot of references to the band in the comic around that time. Marvel printed the letter, but since I didn't provide my actual name, I can't prove it was me. Shoulda signed it as his secretary or something.

[Silvana]

John (Taloni) wrote: "^Do tell on the Armageddon Rag. I loved that book in a way that was unholy back in the 80s,

True story, I once wrote in to the Marvel comic New Mutants as if I were the lead singer, to thank them ..."

"In a way that was unholy"? :D
Sorry about the whole Marvel thing though.

I have the whole weekend to read it and will post my thoughts after. Also, since this is a music-related book, I plan to make a playlist. If you have more suggestion, just shoot.

Edit: Apparently Martin included lyrics of songs in front of each chapter. Currently listening to CCR's Bad Moon Rising. Here's the link to the playlist: https://open.spotify.com/user/silvaub...

[Jonathan]

Silvana wrote: "Jonathan wrote: "Reading The Creeping Shadow"

OMG a fellow Stroud fan! Lockwood and co are fantastic series, aren't they...."

Yes they are! 3 of my kids have read them as well and love them!

[Rekka]

Reading novellas lately: Never, Now, Always by Deserina Biskovich, The Expert System’s Brother by Adrian Tchaikovsky, and will likely revisit All System’s Red by Martha Wells in audio.

[Laura]

I´ve read The Wise Man's Fear and am starting Cathedral of the Sea and The Universe in Your Hand: A Journey Through Space, Time, and Beyond.
So far veeeery happy with this month´s choices!

[Silvana]

Jonathan wrote: "Silvana wrote: "Jonathan wrote: "Reading The Creeping Shadow"

OMG a fellow Stroud fan! Lockwood and co are fantastic series, aren't they...."

Yes they are! 3 of my kids have read ..."

So cool. Did you and your kids also read The Bartimaeus Trilogy? I seriously think Stroud is a much better middle-grade writer than Riordan, but he does not have similar hype.

[Joel]

^
Agree about Stroud. He's awesome! Sad that Lockwood is over though.

[Jonathan]

Silvana wrote: "Jonathan wrote: "Silvana wrote: "Jonathan wrote: "Reading The Creeping Shadow"

OMG a fellow Stroud fan! Lockwood and co are fantastic series, aren't they...."

Yes they are! 3 of m..."

One of my kids has read the Bartimaeus Trilogy. it is on my to read list.