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What Else Are You Reading?
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What else are you reading - March 2020
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Rob, Roberator
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Mar 01, 2020 06:44AM
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This month I'm planning on reading some K.J. Parker books I own and some anthologies as a break from Parker.
One of my favorite Scandinavian Mystery series has a new book Victim 2117: A Department Q Novel coming out March 3. Love the characters. Finish up my SPFBO#5 books. Only two left, The Sword of Kaigen and A Tale of Stars and Shadow. I have been pleasantly surprised by the quality of the 10 books chosen for this years contest. False Value in audio because it is the best way to experience the Rivers of London series. And catch up on the final Dresden books in preparation of Peace Talks which lands in the summer.
Getting back into the flow of reading. Just finished the March pick (TLB), finished strong after what appeared to be start the bordered on pastiche.
I have been listening to the Sally Lockhart books by Philip Pullman. Great ripping yarns (but cannot be classed as fantasy) with baddies that could easily fit in in a present day book (in the second book, The Shadow in the North, the baddy is essentially a corporate raider.
Started reading Bone Silence.
I read Agency last month which I thoroughly enjoyed so that has sparked a bit of a William Gibson reread. Started out with Neuromancer, I read the Sprawl books as a teenager back in the nineties and I'm interested to see how I find them as an (alleged) adult.
I am reading A Dance with Dragons - after I finish this one the next book in the series will be available, right??
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It's only been 9 years. Don't rush the man ;-)
I'm sure he'll be finished the series by 2050 :-?
Well after about 2 hours of listening to Gideon the Ninth I gave up on it. The deluge of unexplained jargon and total lack of world building made for a book that I just could find any interest in whatsoever. Next I’m listening to Age of Legend by Michael J. Sullivan.
OK, it's been seven years, so time for a Tolkien reread, starting, of course, with The Silmarillion.
^You are a better man than I. On my one attempt to read The Silmarillion I dropped it, puzzled, after perhaps 50 pages. I don't read encyclopedias for fun.I understand it's a great source for backstory, but for me The Hobbit and LOTR covered it just fine.
Finished with the Locus recommended Current Futures: A Sci-Fi Ocean Anthology which was one of the best story collections I read in years, all by female writers coming from diverse background. (PS: also available for free).Since March is when we celebrate the International Women's Day, I also plan to read Le Guin's Dancing at the Edge of the World: Thoughts on Words, Women, Places.
Finishing off Helliconia Trilogy by Brian W. Aldiss (book 1 was a S&L pick many moons ago). Also nearly done with Perdido Street Station on audio.Next up will be The Many-Coloured Land in book form and False Value in audio.
I just finished Golden in Death by J.D. Robb. I have enjoyed the In Death series and they are an easy read and something different.
I’m reading some non-fiction in the form of Warnings: Finding Cassandras to Stop Catastrophes which is so far very interesting and also frustrating because it’s all stories of people who warned of impending catastrophe and were ignored.
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I'm now reading Autonomous by Annalee Newitz which is a book I've been meaning to read since they were interviewed on the show a few years ago.
It's fun so far. How could it not be with pirates and robots ;-)
I finished: 
The Girl in the Tower by Katherine Arden
Rating: 2 stars
Review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
and I started reading:
Arm of the Sphinx by Josiah Bancroft
Have read about five books since I last checked in. In no particular order, first up the last book I read, Come Tumbling Down. This is book 5 in the "Wayward Children" novella series by Seanan McGuire.I don't know if I like these so much as find them compelling. They're well out of my usual wheelhouse. Read the first book on a recommendation and found it a poignant take on childhood. The idea is, some children's fantasies are real. The enter a door - invariably a door - to one of many fantasy realms that suits their personality. Then at some point they are kicked back to the real world to mourn their life, desperately hoping for a Door to appear again. Many of these kids turn up at the school for Wayward Children, run by an aging educator hoping against hope that her own Door will appear again before she dies. It's a mashup of teen angst against a multitude of fantasy worlds.
I found the first so poignantly done that I considered it in one sense irresponsible. Not long before I read it there was a suicide miniseries, and over a dozen kids committed suicide naming the miniseries in their decision. The book so brilliantly showed the despair of children now trapped back in the real world, that I thought perhaps some might decide carrying on wasn't worth it.
Fortunately that doesn't seem to have been the case. The series continues on, none as good as the first but each one having its own charm. This one is the second set in the Moors, a horror film brought to life. There must always be a mad scientist opposing a vampire, and each have taken one of the twin sisters as protege.
There's wry fun, as when Vincent Price is casually identified as a cultural ambassador for the Moors. Horror tropes fly fast and furious, but all done in McGuire's signature style. It's an unusual plotline as much more time is spent assembling the team than normal for a novel, but with unexpected effects.
I found myself sliding towards the finale while eating breakfast at a local diner. I stopped so that I could finish the book in the quiet of home, in order to properly savor it.
Just finished Children of Virtue and Vengeance (sequel, just published, by Tomi Adeyemi) after a quick re-read of Children of Blood and Bone, the first in the series. I love the first book and felt that it only improved on the second read, but I'm feeling that the second doesn't hold up to the standard set by the first. These are Afro-futurist fantasy novels, and the first subverts trope after trope in a refreshing fashion, and sets up a nuanced take on the concept of oppression and power, following the perspective of one person of the oppressed class who suddenly finds herself with powerful magic and potentially the ability to give that to all of the oppressed class; one person who is from the privileged class but who is also in some ways oppressed and struggles with her privilege and desired allyship; and one person who is of the privileged class and wants to use his power for the greatest good of everyone but struggles to understand the oppression that's part of the history and current culture of his nation....
And there's amazing, cool magic; a quest that's running out of time; some romance that doesn't take over the story but bolsters it; people struggling with big concepts and huge decisions; and even a scene-stealing, sassy pirate. Did I mention the elegant subversion of any number of annoying fantasy tropes? That's in there. Multiple, different portrayals of masulinity and femininity without reverting to stereotypes? Oh yeah. Deep friendships? Yep. Found family? You bet! Climactic battles? Yes! Innovative worldbuilding? It's got that too!
I mean, Children of Blood and Bone has so much to love.
The sequel... I was so excited, I kind of rushed through it, and the first improved on a re-read so perhaps that's true of the Children of Virtue and Vengeance as well, but my initial impression was that this one lacked the nuance of the first, and the characters didn't have
the complex development arcs of the first and the moral issues also lacked the complexity of the first book. There was a lot of indecision and flip-flopping in what the characters wanted to do, but I didn't feel there was sufficient explanation for what each character was deciding and why, so it got a little annoying. Some tropes subverted in the first novel reared their ugly heads in this one. Romance felt wedged in and unrelated to the narrative as a whole. One character that could've had a very unique and interesting perspective is totally sidelined and every time he appears, it's jarring, irrelevant to the plot, and mostly just a reminder that he still existed...
Definitely read the first book, though. Satisfying and refreshing!
Next up: Well, I lied. Was going to stay away from the Polesotechnic League books, but one came in off library purchase. Not even hold, they bought it on my recommendation and a few others and it came in. So I read it.This is the third book of seven, The Rise of the Terran Empire. It includes the book I remember most from younger days, "The People of the Wind." That's a colony that includes both humans and an avian race, the Ythril.
At the start of the collection we have "Mirkheim" which describes the pending fall of the League and the free lifestyle that went along with it. Bureaucratic stupidity curtails the efforts of the people who would keep the League vibrant, and it decays. Inevitably Earth falls to alien invasion, only to be reborn as an Empire along the lines of Rome.
This empire seeks to dominate its neighbors as a means of protection, and the colony of Avalon is among its targets. The Ythril homeworld falls but Avalon decides to continue to resist, its unique human / avian culture providing the backbone and ingenuity to do so.
The struggle is between two decent groups: One that fears invasion, and the other that doesn't want to be a vassal state. The Terran Empire contains many soldiers trying to limit carnage, who truly believe their Empire is the best way out of chaos and death. The Avalonians similarly work to defeat the enemy but not needlessly kill.
I enjoyed the last story (novel length) quite a bit on reread. So far the collection has been on the dreary side but this one was as exciting as I recalled it to be. Perhaps it served well because Nicholas Van Rijn was well in the past of this storyline.
As for Nicholas, his end is not told, but it is well implied that he headed off in a ship with loved ones to a pomp filled retirement. I'm fine to not know his end. Let it be a mystery.
Over the weekend I read Meat Cute: The Hedgehog Incident, Gail Carriger’s short-story prequel to Soulless. I thought it was a fun little romp.
I finished: 
The Edge of Running Water by William Sloane
Rating: 4 stars
Review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
Edge of Running Water is the second book in this collection:
The Rim of Morning: Two Tales of Cosmic Horror by William Sloane
Rating: 4 stars
Review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
Just read Black Leopard, Red Wolf by Marlon James. I knew to expect a literary book, and that's part of why I picked it up, since I was in the mood to try something in that vein. Turns out, the writing style isn't the difficult part. It did sometimes seem deliberately obfuscatory, but after a fairly confusing 50 pages is settles into a straight-forward quest narrative. Tracker, the main character, has a nose like a bloodhound, and with a party of other mercenaries (including a were-leopard, his former lover) they set off to find a missing boy. The scenery, a mythic, pre-Colonial east Africa, is amazing, but each new setting becomes the site of ever-more excruciating violence. I know the author is an excellent writer because I've given up on books for senseless violence before but the story compelled me to go on even when it was apparent things wouldn't end well. An even more difficult feat, each new rape and murder was just as wrenching as the one before even after they became frequent enough that I could easily have become desensitized. So, I guess that means the book was good. But it wasn't enjoyable. Now I'm off to pick up something to make me feel better.
Seth wrote: "Just read Black Leopard, Red Wolf by Marlon James. I knew to expect a literary book, and that's part of why I picked it up, since I was in the mood to try something in that vein. Tu..."I had a similar experience. I had to finish it for an award committee but it was pretty brutal. I was left feeling like the author would probably have enjoyed my torture as well. The one scene with the child who was kept alive by magic was the absolute worst.
Along with my current fiction read, I am also reading WOLFPACK: How to Come Together, Unleash Our Power, and Change the Game as my current non fiction.
Joseph wrote: "Now I'm up to J.R.R. Tolkien's Unfinished Tales of Númenor and Middle-Earth."Tolkien is one of my all time faves. I have read thru the series 4 times. It is probably about time for a reread for me too.
Finished with Ballistic, which is another solid mil SF from Kloos.Soon to start Skyward in audio. Has been a while since my last YA, so I hope this to be good.
I paused it while I was listening to The Light Brigade, but went back and finished Nemesis Games. Best of the Expanse series so far! Really will try not to wait a year this time before doing the next in the series.Next audio pick for me is Use of Weapons which I started today, continuing my Iain M. Banks re-read which also seems to be going at a rate of about one book a year. Started unusually, with an explanation of the chapter numbering, so you didn't think you were hearing them in the wrong order. Haven't come across that in an audio book before!
I just finished binging on the Three Mages and a Margarita Guild Codex books by Annette Marie. I loved the current cultural references in these urban fantasies and the fun sassy spirit of the main character. Anyone have any suggestions as to books that are similar?
Still listening to The Neverending Story, just past the part where the movie ends.I just finished The Last Unicorn. I wound up buying it after it became a monthly pick, but only recently got around to starting it. It was basically a 3 star read for me, but then I decided to give it a fourth for all the wonderful quotes I had to choose from when putting my review together.
And I think King Haggard is a seriously underrated character! Also kind of a proto-Quentin Coldwater. I mean:
"I have known them all, and they have not made me happy. I will keep nothing near me that does not make me happy" and "Buy I always knew that nothing was worth the investment of my heart, because nothing lasts, and I was right, and so I was always old."
Bit of a cheat this, but between reading 2 solid Laser books Fall, or Dodge in Hell and This Immortal, I read A Choice of Enemies by Ted Allbeury.This is mostly a Cold War spy thriller but has some interesting techno-thriller elements. The tech described and the way that spies use it, is believable and feels up-to-the-minute for when it was written,
We're talking early 70s technology though, Fortran, COBOL, Terminals and Hard disks bigger than LP records.
TRP wrote: "Bit of a cheat this, but between reading 2 solid Laser books Fall, or Dodge in Hell and This Immortal, I read A Choice of Enemies "I’m currently reading Fall, or Dodge in Hell as well, but going about it at a slow pace. After reading a few books that were not as well written, I’m loving the prose in this. I know it is just contemporary, but it just seems to flow so well. And it shouldn’t be a surprise that I’m enjoying this, since Cryptonomicon is one of my all time favorites.
Got an advanced reader of Network Effect at the library, so I was able to visit with Murderbot a bit early. If you liked the novellas, this will prove an entirely enjoyable experience. I did see it described as a standalone, but I'd recommend reading the novellas first. Since it's novel-length, Wells is able to provide a bit of a wider glimpse of the universe Murderbot inhabits, but the action is still front and center with Murderbot doing a whole lot of what it does best.Moving on to Gods of Jade and Shadow.
Wrapping up the last season of The Magicians, so I felt it was time to finally read The Magicians. And so far, I'm really loving the story.
I finished: 
Apex by Ramez Naam
Rating: 3 stars
Review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
and I started reading:
All These Worlds by Dennis E. Taylor
Robert wrote: "Yesterday morning I read The Lady Astronaut of Mars. Good, but also a little sad."I disagree with this assessment. I cried like a f&£king fountain when I read this. (Even better- I was on a bus at the time)
I am about 30 pages from finishing Howl's Moving Castle. Need to re-watch the Ghibli film now, for comparison.
Robert wrote: "Yesterday morning I read The Lady Astronaut of Mars. Good, but also a little sad."Thats like saying Covid-19 is a little bit infectious
Two more recent reads. First up, The Omega Objection by Gail Carriger. This is another one of her rather explicit gay shifter romances in the "San Andreas Shifter" line. She publishes these as "G.L. Carriger" and makes it clear that the stories are a departure from her more mainstream works. I appreciated the warning and read these last. The first one was very heavy into the gay sex, but I wanted to know what "the Saturation" was so picked it up. Eyes open though, and Gail wasn't lying. Along with the stuff that left me squeamish she created a compelling world of Shifters, living much more freely after the Saturation changed supernatural life at about the end of the Victorian era. I decided to read the second one to see what exactly was an Omega.
Well, after reading the book I'm really not so sure. (view spoiler) The MC is (barely a spoiler)(view spoiler)
This is nominally the story of Tank, a big beefy werewolf of the San Andreas pack. It's also a story of coming to terms with yourself, on both sides of the romance. Yep, and lots of sex along the way, integrated into the story so it's not gratuitous, but not skippable either.
The main story is actually fairly weak and vague. It's the shifter universe that makes this book. There's a bar where shifters congregate that is worth the read by itself. I'll probably read the next book once it comes out. I can wish Gail put this shifter universe in a more mainstream format, but it's hers to do with as she wishes. The story has Gail's trademark charm and wit in large quantities, and plenty of crossover characters from the first book.
Next up, Bridging Infinity, a collection of shorts. I found it an adequate read, loosely organized around the concept of big objects. There' a pretty good one about an ancient extragalactic AI reminiscing about trying to build a warship that could conquer a galaxy. A Niven/Benford short that was less a story than an excerpt from a novel except there's no novel, it just ends. Two stories in which humanity gets overwhelmed by events and stops having children so the species fails. I see this concept regularly and wonder how it persists. Any portion of humanity that stops breeding will be supplanted by those with fewer hangups.There's a Dyson Sphere with visiting humans and a storyline that doesn't really go anywhere. A subtle time-travel story which is part Sundiver and part Kurt Vonnegut. And the best of them, a vast time scale story by Ken Liu incorporating seven "birthdays."
There's nothing here to make me rave with joy, but it was an adequate insomnia read.
Oh, and how could I forget! "Of Mice and Men." It's barely novella length, yet is a deserved classic of American literature. Compelling, depressing, great characterization and interweaving of storylines. As the book wended its way to the inevitable ending, I think I spotted about four literary techniques well worth emulating and a knack for characterization that has rung through the decades. Depressing, but well worth the read.
Finally started reading Saga, Vol. 1 after my wife, who typically doesn't read comics or graphic novels, liked it so much she bought a lying cat Funko Pop and enamel pin. I just finished vol. 4. I'm enjoying it, but I don't know if I'm enjoying it enough to stick with it to catch up.
Kev wrote: "Finally started reading Saga, Vol. 1 after my wife, who typically doesn't read comics or graphic novels, liked it so much she bought a lying cat Funko Pop and enamel pin."Well you are almost 1/2 way through what is done so far, and I haven't heard any word on when it will continue. The stated "at least 1 year" hiatus is getting close to 2 now. Vaughan stated that they plan to double the series up to 108 issues, or about 18 volumes when it is done. But, it took them 6 years, at about 9 issues a year, to get to this point, so I think you do have some time if you choose to continue.
Kev wrote: "Finally started reading Saga, Vol. 1 after my wife, who typically doesn't read comics or graphic novels, liked it so much she bought a lying cat Funko Pop and enamel pin. I just f..."
The longer you go the better it gets.
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The Sword and Laser
Books mentioned in this topic
The Hobbit, or There and Back Again (other topics)The Fall of Gondolin (other topics)
The Tiger in the Well (other topics)
The Bone Ships (other topics)
This Is How You Lose the Time War (other topics)
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Authors mentioned in this topic
Philip Pullman (other topics)Jenn Lyons (other topics)
Theodora Goss (other topics)
Jenn Lyons (other topics)
Fiona Staples (other topics)
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