What Else Are You Reading - November 2019

[Silvana]

Rick wrote: "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"

I lemmed it after 50%. The writing is so frustrating to read. I don't mind the bleakness and all, but I just could not read another 230 pages of it.

Now turning to Exhalation: Stories. I am excited for this one.

[terpkristin]

Huh I really liked The Sheep Look Up, though it’s been ages since I read it and I read it when I was much more idealistic.

I’m listening to Starsight as I drive around for the holiday.

[Joseph]

I think the only Brunner I've actually read was The Compleat Traveller in Black, which was great but I think also kind of atypical. (It's a fantasy short story collection about people who meet the Traveller in Black, who always gives them what they ask for, usually to deleterious effect.)

[Rick]

Silvana - it's very... idiosyncratic. I've not re-read it in something like 30 years but yeah, it's not an easy style.

[Stephen]

I finished Dispel Illusion, a fine ending to Mark Lawrence's Time Travel Trilogy . Started the newly released Penric & Desdemona novella The Orphans of Raspay. If you are behind in your Sword count this novella series may bail you out, beside being very good. And a re-read ofThe Shadow of What Was Lost by James Islington whose final book in the series will be released in mid December.

[Gary]

I finished reading Blood of Cayn (Book 3 of the Cayn Trilogy) by Jason McDonald and The Reckoning by John Grisham. I am reading The Ghost Brigades by John Scalzi. I plan to read Artificial Condition by Martha Wells next.

[Rick]

Finished both Memory and Silver by Linda Nagata which were very satisfying. You can read Memory as a standalone but Silver, while kind of a sequel, pulls in the rest of her Nanotech Succession books and is also a conclusion to the story begun in Edges. Great SF though.

Also bought and read The Orphans of Raspay the new Penric novella. Fun, great characters and a nice visit back to that world.

[John (Taloni)]

Finished up Summer Queen, the followup to Snow Queen. Interesting elements but moved much too slowly for my taste. My trademark lengthy writeup in the folder for Snow Queen if anyone is interested.

Moved on to Hogfather. Was thinking it might be hard to read again as this is the third after one read and one watch. Nope, it's still a load of fun. I'm picking up detail bits I glossed over the first two times. Pratchett is great, and Hogfather is one his best.

[Iain]

Flew through Hogfather.... Delightful as always.

[Silvana]

Finished with Herland - Interesting worldbuilding but quite problematic if seen with modern standards. Overall, my November reads were not satisfying.

I hope Auberon: An Expanse Novella can break the cycle.

[Trike]

My last book of November was the excellent collection Exhalation: Stories by Ted Chiang, which is every bit as good as his previous one. A full-on 5-star read from start to finish.

Non-spoiler breakdown of the nine stories: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...