What Else Are You Reading - November 2019

[Tassie Dave, S&L Historian]

Trike wrote: "Ten years before it was published?."

Cheeky ;-)

Though it is scary to think I left High School only a few weeks after Star Wars was released :-?

[Trike]

Tassie Dave wrote: "Trike wrote: "Ten years before it was published?."

Cheeky ;-)

Though it is scary to think I left High School only a few weeks after Star Wars was released :-?"

That is weird.

I was talking to my doctor yesterday as she apologized for the wait as they’d just updated their OS. I said I’d just noodle with my phone and wondered aloud, “How did we ever survive the 70s without smartphones?” She replied, “Being alone with our thoughts. Also books.” 😆

[Iain]

Trike wrote: "Yeah, I’d pick Midwich over Triffids any day of the week."

I also feel it has tropes that are less problematic for a modern audience (that said I haven't read these books in 20 years....)

I thought he was hunting Thylacines back then.... ;-)

[Tassie Dave, S&L Historian]

Iain wrote: "I also feel it has tropes that are less problematic for a modern audience (that said I haven't read these books in 20 years....)"

I need to go back and read them both to see if they hold up to my memories :-?

Iain wrote: "I thought he was hunting Thylacines back then.... ;-)"

I did too good a job of that :-?

At least I still have my other Tigers :-P

[Richard]

I'm still working on my Halloween pick, a grossly creepy the Troop by Nick Cutter, which is the kind of Steven King-esque thing I like with gross genetically modified worms and kids being mean to each other.
I'm also trying to get back to reading In the Ocean of Night by Gregory Benfor which is some very good hard science fiction. I actually started on the second book of the series, and liked it a lot to start from the beginning book. I've been busy with the Sword and Laser picks and I'm a slow reader.

[John (Taloni)]

Finished up Salvation Lost, the second book in an anticipated trilogy from Peter Hamilton. It's...okay.

(Spoiler protecting by request. Spoilers inside are slight to modest.)
(view spoiler)[
There's a lengthy alien invasion storyline with a twist: They consider it their religious duty to capture and store humanity to take them to the end of the universe. So they're not trying to kill, but they're still invading.

This entire trilogy takes place in two timelines, the 2200s and some indeterminate time about 10K years in the future. Slow reveals roll across both timelines.

Because Hamilton did so well with the Commonwealth books I had a lot of anticipation for this series. The first one was okay, and the second one really not any better. It's serviceable SF but not up to his best.

Thinking about it a bit, the Commonwealth appealed so much because it was a society I'd want to live in. Yes, Hamilton can be tedious, but it came together well in those book. His silly followup with the Dreaming Void books still had the Commonwealth, so okay. But as for this future, I don't have any desire to visit. And the plot isn't enough to hold it together. The books are shorter than the usual Hamilton tomes, and in the abstract the plot moves faster, but it just didn't grab me.

There are some really well thought out bits concerning how to fight a space war when you have wormholes that can connect to some pretty extreme environments, like a sun or a gas giant. It's an outgrowth of the wormholes in the Commonwealth with a twist. While I enjoyed the thought that went into this, the action sequences just left me...well, not cold, but lukewarm.

I'll show up for the third book, but I kinda hope his next series is better. (hide spoiler)]

Am now reading Blindsight by Peter Watts. The opening is fantastic. I'm hoping it can keep up the quality, because there is a chance of detouring onto well worn territory. They're visiting a mysterious object in the outer solar system in a ship with an onboard AI and, well, if there's any problem with opening the pod bay doors I may scream.

[John (Nevets)]

John (Taloni) wrote: "Am now reading Blindsight by Peter Watts. The opening is fantastic. I'm hoping it can keep up the quality, because there is a chance of detouring onto well worn territory. They're visiting a mysterious object in the outer solar system in a ship with an onboard AI and, well, if there's any problem with opening the pod bay doors I may scream."

Were you around when this was a monthly pick? If not, you may want to look up the discussion around it, after you get into the book. I will say, that from my viewpoint it was very unique, and not particularly well worn territory. Although it is firmly in the space horror genre as a whole, and iIrc does use some of those tropes/ techniques.

[John (Taloni)]

^Apparently not! Probably would have dived right in. I got a referral to this one on the monthly Niven chat on IRC. The hard SF is right there and so far the horror is about the level of Niven's early dystopias. I'm not a particular fan of horror SF, but it only reduces the enjoyment rather than killing it. So for instance Chasm City isn't my fave Reynolds, but I don't hate it. And my only real problem with Adrian Tchaikovsky's novella "Walking to Aldebaran" is the ending.

[John (Nevets)]

^I see you joined in 2013, and we read this in 2011. For some reason I had it my head that you had been here since nearer the beginning, but I guess after 6 years it all blends together. ;-) In trying to find where the posts for this were, I funny enough came across one from you from back in 2014, saying it was next on your list.

I did find the topics in the year 2011 folder, but you might have to do some searching in there. I hadn't gone back that far in a while, and I had forgotten the folder limitations in GoodReads caused Rob to have to roll up all the topics from a given year. At least the info is still there, but it does make it a bit harder to look through.

[Rob, Roberator]

I did try to label each thread with a matching prefix and set the book as the topic.

That should help your searching at least.

[John (Nevets)]

Rob wrote: "I did try to label each thread with a matching prefix and set the book as the topic.

That should help your searching at least."

You did, and that is appreciated, and I’m sure it took a decent amount of time to do. I truly do thank you for putting in a solution that kept everything around.

Oh, and I just had an idea. I believe the folder by default was sorting by date, if I sorted by title, all the books should group together, because you did put in the time to prefix them all. It just looked much more random when I looked at it sorted by the default. And with it being 10+ pages of that it was a bit daunting.

[Rob, Roberator]

Yeah, each year's cleanup has taken me a few hours to do, especially for the older threads. I did 2008-2011 over the course of a weekend iirc. And now I do a year's worth of books at the start of each year. So in early 2020 I'll consolidate down the 2014 threads.

I forget when we started the prefix thing over here. I want to say it was late 2014. And since I've been moderator (also late 2014 I think?) I've been making it a point update all the book threads as people have created them.

That will make archiving those threads go a bit faster. It's still slow to move all of them into a single group though.

I never tried the sorting thing. Good tip.

Doing that it looks like the Blindsight threads are on pages 3/4: https://www.goodreads.com/topic/group...

[Trike]

Rob wrote: "Yeah, each year's cleanup has taken me a few hours to do, especially for the older threads. I did 2008-2011 over the course of a weekend iirc. And now I do a year's worth of books at the start of e..."

You definitely get the MVP award, Rob. 🥇 🏆 🎖

[John (Taloni)]

Thanks John Nevets and Rob! Kinda funny that I mentioned it in 2014. I obviously didn't read it then and completely forgot about it until I saw a recommendation recently.

I've just finished Blindsight. Yep, it does deliver the hard SF, including an engine based on fairly recent theory. There's an object well into the Kuiper belt that could be what we're now calling "Planet Nine."

But really, the science is a framework for a discussion of consciousness: What it is, how it came about, and what are the costs and benefits. In that it reminds me much more of a non-SF book, Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance: An Inquiry Into Values. Read that book about 40 years ago but it's stuck with me. Seems relevant in the dig well past the words describing something into the underlying meaning, into the basis of our connection to reality itself.

Yep, there's some light horror, but it's all science based. Some good explanations for that horror as well. And yeah, the book approaches some tropes: The Big Dumb Object (Ringworld, Rendezvous with Rama), the outer solar system signal (2001), the first-contact communication difficulties. This book is a fresh take though.

It's a good book, nice to reflect on, but there's no question it's a cerebral book. There's action, but nothing like a space opera plotline. In that it reminds me of Ringworld, which is about the Ringworld itself but also a lengthy conversation about the history of Known Space and how the Puppeteers manipulated Humans, Kzin, and probably Outsiders.

Perhaps the best example is the commander, a technologically explained Vampire, who (view spoiler)[abuses the main character to force him to an insight that he's already had. But the commander needs the MC to explain it to the rest of humanity. He knows the rest of the crew will, must die in taking out the other ship. And even this brutal, altruistic moment is left open. Did the Vampire do it for all of Humanity, or only Vampires? (hide spoiler)]

Anyhoo, I enjoyed the book at the conclusion, although I was certainly puzzled at times along the way. One of those was when a new character shows up and starts smoking. Smoking in a spaceship? Seemed like that was a blatant clue that the narrator is unreliable. Which made me wonder what else was unreliable. Well, I think that's kinda the point.

I see there's a sequel, which I'll get to as soon as I'm done with the two Snow Queen followups.

[John (Taloni)]

I've now read the archived posts on Blindsight and have two more things to add. Looking at the above *squints* it's plenty long already, so a separate post.

First, vampires. I found it weird, but then, no weirder than the sciency vampires of Ringworld. A quick eyeroll then back to business. If anything, I wonder if the unreliable narrator made it all up, or used vampire to represent enhanced humans well beyond his comprehension. They're a puzzle in any event. If they died out before recorded history, then why do we remember them so distinctly, and so well fitting only to Stoker's work? Perhaps they existed as recessive genes and one popped up from time to time? I found the explanations feasible on the surface, but ultimately as unreliable as the narrator himself.

Second, the alien life. (view spoiler)[I've seen the idea of intelligent but unconscious life precisely one place before - the Old Man's War series, with the Obin appearing in the Ghost Brigades, published 2007. Since Blindsight came out about the same time, I'm wondering if the two of them might have chatted about the idea at conventions, then used it in two entirely different ways. (hide spoiler)]

[Silvana]

Finished with The Mirror Empire reread and looking forward to the last book next January.

Starting An Unkindness of Ghosts. So far so good.

[Jenny (Reading Envy)]

I tried out the audio for Carry On by Rainbow Rowell which I understand is supposed to be some kind of fan fiction type thing for Harry Potter but I would say it's so not my thing. It's a good thing my husband was driving because I kept falling asleep and went back to the Hadestown soundtrack instead. ;)

[RJ - Slayer of Trolls]

I finished:


A Clockwork Orange by Anthony Burgess
Rating: 4 stars
Review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

And I started reading:


Alas, Babylon by Pat Frank

[Brad]

John (Taloni) wrote: "Finished up Salvation Lost, the second book in an anticipated trilogy from Peter Hamilton. It's...okay. There's a lengthy alien invasion storyline with a twist: They consider it the..."

I appreciate your reviews but can we please avoid major spoilers in these threads? I was really looking forward to reading this book.

[John (Taloni)]

^Sure. FWIW the majority of what I have referenced is seen pretty early on in the book, and most of that was in the first book. Other events I refer to obliquely. Sometimes I spoiler hide the whole thing on principle. I'll do that going forward.

[Brad]

John (Taloni) wrote: "^Sure. FWIW the majority of what I have referenced is seen pretty early on in the book, and most of that was in the first book. Other events I refer to obliquely. Sometimes I spoiler hide the whole..."

Thanks! While I have read the first book I could also see that spoiling things for somebody that hasn’t yet read the first one.

[Tamahome]

I'm 26% in Salvation Lost. I didn't know how the first skater boy chapter was relevatant, but stuff is happening now.

[John (Nevets)]

So I'm catching up on some books I stopped reading part way though last year, with every intention of finishing.

The most recent is Jade City. I had some stuff going on last year when we read it, and I stopped after only reading like 20%. I started reading it again a week or so ago. Then Last night I couldn't fall asleep, picked it up again and read for about 6 hours while I was supposed to be getting some rest. I'm now about 60% in. I'm not sure why, but I just never got tired, and even today hasn't been too bad yet.

I see why this gets so much love, it really is a nicely written story so far. Yes some twists so far you could see coming, but it still is intriguing story telling, so it all works.

[Joseph]

Finished (and adored) The Starless Sea and am moving on to Howard Andrew Jones' For the Killing of Kings.

[Jessica]

I've finished Rhett and Link's The Lost Causes of Bleak Creek and am now reading This Is How You Lose the Time War, which is really great so far!

Before that was The Angel's Game, Silver in the Wood (a lovely little novella based on the green man myth, featuring a bit of a M/M romance), Nevernight, and Magic for Liars (this last one was pretty fun).

[Robert]

Yesterday I finished Competence, the third Custard Protocol book. What a delightful read! It had laugh-out-loud moments and good character bits. It also ramped up the cast diversity. I plan to start on the fourth book soon.

[Joel]

Finished The Tropic of Serpents. Thought it was a step down from the first.

Currently listening to Unsouled by Will Wight, which has been really good so far.

And started reading Shadow Captain.

[Jenny (Reading Envy)]

I started The Priory of the Orange Tree today. I'm 75 pages in! It's over 800 pages. Wah wahhhhh.

[Tassie Dave, S&L Historian]

Jenny (Reading Envy) wrote: "I started The Priory of the Orange Tree today. I'm 75 pages in! It's over 800 pages. Wah wahhhhh."

That's 1 days reading for you :-D

[Maria]

I've been plowing through the Lost Fleet -series this autumn. Finished the original 6 books earlier, now reading Leviathan, 5th book of the Beyond the Frontier spin-off series. I have to say, I've been enjoying these suprinsingly lot! Like I've said before, these books are like popcorn... addictive, even if there's not much substance. Fortunately Beyond the Frontier added the interesting element of aliens into the mix. There's actually been some fresh ideas here I haven't yet encountered in other scifi books.

I can't wait to see how this ends, but I'm a little worried... Leviathan is only the 5th book and there's no release date for the 6th book yet. I don't know if I should read The Lost Stars and The Genesis Fleet spin-offs as well... But oh well, onto the Leviathan now! Let's enjoy this while it lasts.

[David H.]

Maria, Jack Campbell said at a convention last month that he's been signed for a further 3 Beyond the Frontier books.

I do recommend reading the Lost Stars books, as parts those interact with the Beyond the Frontier books.

The Genesis Fleet prequel trilogy was nice, and you'll probably appreciate that, too.

[Jonathan]

Recently finished Soulsmith, Blackflame, and Skysworn by Will Wight. This is a very entertaining, quick reading series! I also finished listening to Skyward for the second time. The second book is this series will be released on November 26th.

[Jen]

Jenny (Reading Envy) wrote: "I started The Priory of the Orange Tree today. I'm 75 pages in! It's over 800 pages. Wah wahhhhh."

Yay! Great choice!

[Erik]

Started reading Merriam-Webster's Vocabulary Builder since I've been interested in getting into writing and this book is actually very readable. I thought there was a good chance I would never actually open this book and just leave it in a pile of other books that I'd like to read in theory but I started it last night and it genuinely delivers imo. Kind of random as far as arrangement but by teaching root words it really makes it easier to remember the ones that I previously was familiar with but wouldn't have been able to provide a definition. It's a big honking book at close to 800 pages but filled with quizzes and recaps it goes very quickly.

Also almost finished with The Solace of Open Spaces and this is one of my favorites this year. Beautifully written, impactful and a great deep dive into living an almost anachronistic life. (And no I did not just learn anachronistic out of the vocab builder lol)

[Brad]

I finished The Time of Contempt (Witcher book 2) by Andrzej Sapkowski. I wasn’t as into this one as the 3 previous books, there was a lot of really dry politics. At times I felt like I was reading War and Peace. That said there was still plenty of good stuff here. I think I’m going to read some other things right now, since I’ve found out the Netflix series will only be adapting books .5 and .75 for season 1.

That said, I’m moving on to The Subtle Knife by Philip Pullman. I want to reread this and then read The Amber Spyglass (which I never read) before the His Dark Materials series on HBO gets too far. From the few episodes I’ve seen it looks like they’re folding elements from the whole trilogy together right from the start.

[Brad]

I forgot to add, I finished listening to The Lost World by Michael Crichton and I liked this less than the first one. He really doubled down on the scientific explanations and philosophizing in this one, to the detriment of the plot.

Now I’m listening to A Darker Shade of Magic by V.E. Schwab and so far this seems great.

[Maria]

David H. wrote: "Maria, Jack Campbell said at a convention last month that he's been signed for a further 3 Beyond the Frontier books.

I do recommend reading the Lost Stars books, as parts those interact with the ..."

Really? That's great news then! I imagined there was only going to be the 6th book, but 3 more sounds even better.

And yeah, I'm still contemplating about reading the spin-offs. I'm actually more interested about Genesis Fleet, because the early days and founding of the Alliance sound promising. Lost Stars sounds a bit meh, because I'm not that into the Syndicate perspetive... Oh well, let's see how bad my withdrawal symptoms get once I'm finished with Leviathan :D

[David H.]

Lost Stars is more interesting than you think--since it's tackling that post-war "how do we build faith in the government?" thing.

Plus, there's a couple Easter eggs in Genesis Fleet that will fly over your head if you skip Lost Stars. :) I've been reading most of these books when they come out, though, so I wasn't spoiled for choice like you.

[Silvana]

Finished The Menace from Farside which was okay. Luna novels are more fun.

Starting tomorrow with The Sheep Look Up. Funny, intriguing title.

[Rick]

Ah, Brunner. I'll be intrigued to see what you think. A lot of the stuff he did was riffing on things that were concerns in the 60s... overpopulation, etc

[Iain]

Just finished listening to Black Leopard, Red Wolf read by Dion Graham who is stupid good. This has to be some of the best narration I have ever listened to and really brings the book to life.

Marlon James writes lyrically and brutally at the same time. This book is epic in scope with a fascinating cast of characters (including our narrator, the Red Wolf or Tracker) as they go on a quest to rescue a boy who may be the rightful king. While using many of the standard tropes of fantasy quests James use of African history and mythology to create a unique tale.

What is particularly effective is giving Tracker a family of sorts to ground the fantastical and the epic. An African Shire.

I also like the use of outsider heroes and characters as the core of the book. Many of the main characters are gay or are outcasts from society.

Warning: If you are sensitive to violence his book is not for you. It is very visceral and the violence permeates most of the book. It probably has a smaller death toll than Seven Blades in Black but each death is far more real and effective. One of the best books I have read in the recent past.

[Trike]

Iain wrote: "Just finished listening to Black Leopard, Red Wolf read by Dion Graham who is stupid good. This has to be some of the best narration I have ever listened to and really brings the bo..."

That’s a ringing endorsement. I got this from the library earlier this year, but by that time my cataracts had progressed to the point where I couldn’t read books so I had to send it back unread. By the time I’d had surgery the queue was super long.

[Iain]

Trike wrote: "Iain wrote: "Just finished listening to Black Leopard, Red Wolf read by Dion Graham who is stupid good. This has to be some of the best narration I have ever listened to and really ..."

It is so nice getting something that is original (and good) in fantasy...

[Robert]

Last night I finished book 4 of Gail Carriger’s Custard Protocol series, Reticence. Quite witty and great fun! There was world-building right up to the end. It featured a rather awkward romance between Victorian geeks. Also got into the head of one of the Custard’s crew. Also action and a wedding full of cameos to start the book.

[Joseph]

Finished For the Killing of Kings and immediately started the second book in the series, Upon the Flight of the Queen.

[Ruth]

After Lemming the audiobook of Snow Queen I’ve moved onto the audiobook of The Hanging Tree. I’m a big fan of Kobna Holdbrook-Smith’s narration of the Rivers of London series.

[Keith]

I'm going all pulp and winter ghosts for the rest of the year. About halfway through Kim, a properly sleazy, fast-moving private detective novel, and keeping it company with Indiana Jones and the Dance of the Giants.

[Sheila Jean]

I decided not to finish Mirror Gate and returned it to Audible. Too much young-ideals-vs-the-entitled-ruling-class morality lesson vibe for me to enjoy the story. It's pretty YA to begin with, and I haven't been doing well with those lately. (A while back I returned Skyward and I know a lot of folks love the Sanderson story, but I just couldn't deal with the protagonist's attitude...)

I've also made terrible progress on The Witchwood Crown despite the excuse of poor weather to just sit and read all day. I think I've finished one more chapter since the beginning of the month.

I did finish TSQ (audio) and the first follow-up World's End (print).

I'm now listening to Six of Crows in Audio, which I'm enjoying so far. Not sure I really needed a half dozen narrators, but it's not bad. I was thinking I'd do another Honor Harrington book when this is done, but I might do Hogfather instead - for the holiday vibe and all.

[John (Nevets)]

Finished Jade City. I really did enjoy it through to the end. I will be following up with the series. I did dig the mob story of it all, as others have said, it has a lot of similarities to The Godfather. And for me that is a very good thing. I do think though, I'll wait a bit before continuing. It will make savoring the story better.

[Jenny (Reading Envy)]

I've been doing a project this year that I call TBR Explode, where every month I test 10 books on my TBR list to decide if I think I really still want to read them. I can either read them, keep them, or delete them from the TBR. Since I joined GR in 2009, this has been helpful as I'm a slightly different reader now.

Anyway... one of them for this month is Mockingbird by Walter Tevis, in a landscape where humans are illiterate and high on drugs, yet not living in community or having babies, and half the narrative comes from the perspective of robots of different generations, including one who will live forever and can't self-harm but really wants to.... I bet it'd be a great sword read!