What else are you reading - April 2020

[AndrewP]

A year late but I just finished Theft of Swords:) At last.. an author who knows how to tell a story.

[Minsta]

Trike wrote: "Mark wrote: "Found an ARC of Network Effect by Martha Wells. \(^-^)/"

{grabby hands} Gimme!"

Hi Trike - how are you and your family doing today? I just caught up on Sword and Laser today and saw your posts from this month. Sorry to hear that you are sick and hope you are feeling better soon!

[Silvana]

Finished with Shadows of Self. I liked it, though I felt it was slightly overwritten.

Starting Rosewater.

[Trike]

Minsta wrote: "Hi Trike - how are you and your family doing today? I just caught up on Sword and Laser today and saw your posts from this month. Sorry to hear that you are sick and hope you are feeling better soon!"

Thanks for asking — I’m mostly fine right now but my wife is very ill. Unfortunately we can’t go to the hospital due to the lockdown, so we have to basically cross our fingers and hope for the best. Our friends and neighbors are taking really good care of us, though, so that takes the pressure off.

[RJ - Slayer of Trolls]

Trike wrote: "Mark wrote: "Found an ARC of Network Effect by Martha Wells. \(^-^)/"

{grabby hands} Gimme!"

I noticed this posting recently:
https://www.amazon.com/Murderbot-Diar...

I assume it is a collection of the first four novellas? It looks like it is scheduled for a September release.

[Trike]

70 bucks! I like Murderbot, but I don’t want to marry Murderbot.

[Kev]

The Last Odyssey, The Warsaw Protocol, The Rise of Skywalker, The Library at Mount Char.

[Trike]

Currently listening to Cinder, a sci-fi reimagining of Cinderella. It’s a bit too simplistic (obvious twists are obvious), but the fact that it concerns an incurable plague taking place in New Beijing feels timely.

[Seth]

elizabeth • paper ghosts wrote: "Viola wrote: "The Winter of the Witch the third book in the Winternight Trilogy. A beautiful written fantasy set in medieval Russia and uses a lot of Russian folk lore."

That series is one of my absolute favorites. The writing is so beautiful and heartbreaking at the same time."

Yeah, I had hoped that The Bear and the Nightingale would win March Madness because about a year after finishing the last in the trilogy I was ready to start over. I thought all three were great.

I'm just finishing The City We Became and enjoying it. I am not a New York person, or city person at all, so some of the reverence for the city itself left me cold. But the premise is interesting and the action really picks up so I'm quite enjoying it with 50 pages or so to go.

[Donna]

John (Nevets) wrote: "I've never read the Andromeda Strain, but I remember enjoying the movie adaptation. If I remember correctly, the couple of times I've tried reading Crichton I've bumped on his style. It's not the s..."

That's a winning idea, John (Nevets). The Andromeda Strain movie sounds like great weekend entertainment in April. I did finish the book, and I recommend it to any science fiction fan who enjoys space and biology. If you are interested in plopping down on the couch with a tense thriller, check out my review. https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/7...

Trike, you are so fortunate to have such caring neighbors and friends looking after you and your wife. Those are the best stories. It makes me smile. I hope you both recover quick.

[elizabeth • paper ghosts]

Seth wrote: "Yeah, I had hoped that The Bear and the Nightingale would win March Madness because about a year after finishing the last in the trilogy I was ready to start over. I thought all three were great."

I've been itching for a re-read myself. I'm hoping it'll maybe get picked for a future monthly pick.

I didn't bother to cancel my library hold on The City of Brass from March Madness, and it finally came in. TW is so short, I'm just going to go ahead and read it first, since we're only halfway through April.

[Geoff]

I finished Hexarchate Stories, a collection of stories in the Ninefox Gambit universe. I enjoyed it well enough, but not as much as Ninefox Gambit and the two sequels. I usually feel that way about short stories set in a world based on novels that I like.

Currently reading Quillifer. I came at this the other way; I read a Quillifer story in a collection, and thought I might enjoy a full story. The Book of Swords, I think. It's a bit like The Lies of Locke Lamora; is "scoundrel fantasy" a genre? It should be.

[Misti]

I put Animal Crossing aside yesterday and forced myself to finish this month's pick. Then I picked up A Song for a New Day, which I bought at the bookstore back in December. It seems to be a rather timely read.

[Robert]

This week I read two short stories by Dan Moren. They’re free ebooks, part of his Galactic Cold War series, and released to promote the third novel in the series (due soon). The stories are “Showdown” and “Pilot Error,” and I liked them both.

[Trike]

Currently listening to Pale Rider: The Spanish Flu of 1918 and How It Changed the World, published in 2017, and Laura Spinney’s research has everything we’re now familiar with: social distancing (specifically called that), unproven medicines pushed by leaders resulting in poisonings, quack doctors, media trying to not panic the public by understating the dire situation, as well as people wanting to let the disease rage through the populace.

If you crossed out “1918” and wrote in “2020”, you wouldn’t blink an eye. We’ve learned nothing.

[Jessica]

Corey wrote: "I lived the Library at Mount Chat.

I Finally got around to starting Joe Abercrombie's First Law trilogy. It's hard to put down."

Very much hoping you meant to say you LOVED The Library at Mount Char ;)

[Silvana]

Finished with Rosewater. Fantastic SF, deserves all its accolades, can't wait to read the sequels.

Starting Avatar: The Rise of Kyoshi. Hoping for some earthbending awesomeness.

[RJ - Slayer of Trolls]

Jessica wrote: "Corey wrote: "I lived the Library at Mount Chat..."

Very much hoping you meant to say you LOVED The Library at Mount Char ;)"

I agree. I loved the Library at Mount Char. Would not want to live it though.

And for some reason, I flash back to LaMC when I watch Tiger King.

[Calvey]

Just started listening to The City We Became. I'm not doing my commute right now but felt like still doing an audible book.

[Julie]

Calvey wrote: "Just started listening to The City We Became. I'm not doing my commute right now but felt like still doing an audible book."

The audiobook of that is really, really good.

[John (Taloni)]

It's a journo-copia! Got Time War off library hold, followed a day later by Scalzi's latest.

Time War was pretty good, more on that in the month's section. Just starting The Last Emperox. Thank you, public libraries!

[Molly]

Oddly, I haven't been reading much SFF this month, with the exception of All Systems Red. It was a fun and quick read; would recommend. I also read two literary fiction novels I've been meaning to get around to: Disappearing Earth and Drive Your Plow Over the Bones of the Dead. Both very good. Finally, I just finished off a nonfiction read, The Poisoner's Handbook: Murder and the Birth of Forensic Medicine in Jazz Age New York. I found it fascinating, and would definitely recommend to anyone interested in the history of science. Next, I'm diving into Spares on a recommendation from a friend.

Happy reading, all! Stay safe out there.

[Geoff]

I finished Quillifer, and enjoyed it. I'll read the sequel after it comes out (Quillifer the Knight).

Taking a little break from SFF to read Upheaval: Turning Points for Nations in Crisis by Jared Diamond (of Guns, Germs, and Steel: The Fates of Human Societies fame). After that I'll start in on the Hugo nominees.

[AndrewP]

Finished Theft of Swords and now I'm 75% through Rise of Empire

[Joseph]

Geoff wrote: "I finished Quillifer, and enjoyed it. I'll read the sequel after it comes out (Quillifer the Knight).."

It's out already, at least in the US. I do need to read both of those sooner rather than later.

[Colin]

Because I can't kick the habit of reading too many books concurrently (and it appeared automatically on my Kindle), I've started on Scalzi's The Last Emperox: The Interdependency Book 3.

[Geoff]

Joseph wrote: It's out already, at least in the US. I do nee..."

Hey good catch! I'll have to get on that. After reading the Hugo nominees, though.

[Joseph]

And after finishing The Lord of the Rings (every poem, every song, every Bombadil, every appendix; and it remains my favorite book of all time, full stop), I'm starting Clark Ashton Smith's Poseidonis.

[Richard]

I just finished Across the Sea of Suns by Gregory Benford. It was a lot of good and deep hard science fiction, but the protagonists and their personal issues got in the way of enjoying it, as they were the know-it-alls who were always right, but annoyed everyone so much that most would rarely listen.

Now, I'm biting off a large chunk of epic by reading Brandon Sanderson's series the Stormlight Archive starting with The Way of Kings. Funny enough, I think I will finish this book a bit faster than the previous one.

[John (Taloni)]

^Are you going to read the rest of the "Galactic Center" books? I read the other four and they are quite a departure from the first two. Bit of a slog but rewarding.

[Silvana]

Finished with The Rise of Kyoshi. Surprisingly very good, and recommended for all Avatar fans.

Starting Shorefall. I hope this is better than the previous one.

[Joseph]

John (Taloni) wrote: "^Are you going to read the rest of the "Galactic Center" books? I read the other four and they are quite a departure from the first two. Bit of a slog but rewarding."

Myself, the middle two books (Great Sky River and Tides of Light) were the first ones I read -- at the time, I don't think they made it super clear that they were connected to Ocean of Night/Sea of Suns, and TBH the connection is pretty tenuous regardless. I liked them a lot -- large-scale, far future relativistic (no FTL, etc.) hard SF space opera. The final two books came quite a bit later and were … weird. I should revisit them at some point.

[Richard]

Maybe later on down the road, but I'm a bit burned out on space and want to head back to the familiar fantasy epic for a while. Looks like I will be getting double with The Way of Kings and the next pick.

[Ruth]

Finished The Ten Thousand Doors of January which was delightful.
Currently struggling with A Brief History of Seven Killings. It’s just so relentlessly, casually violent and I don’t know if I can really deal with that right now. It’s also partly written in Jamaican patois which doesn’t help.

[Iain]

Read The Jennifer Morgue which was a fun romp with a James Bond in an urban fantasy setting. Nice twist raised it above average....

Finished Children of Virtue and Vengeance which finished well after far too much moaning from the characters. had to jump from audio to ebook to cope with the endless whining (anyone would think the kids were English)...

Listening to Orlando and about to startArtificial Condition

[Ruth]

Decided to can A Brief History of Seven Killings and moving on to Children of Ruin.

[Silvana]

Finished and disappointed with Shorefall. Too many telling, not showing. Dropping the trilogy.

Starting something lighter, Dragon Pearl. My first Lodestar Award nominee read!

[Kev]

I waited to hear V&T's take on Gideon the Ninth before starting it (I often do that with the club books).

I'm currently hate-reading Gideon the Ninth right now. I hate both main characters; they're both jerks. The mystery that finally popped up about 30% in is making me stick it out.

[RJ - Slayer of Trolls]

I finished:


The Vampire Lestat by Anne Rice
Rating: 3 stars
Review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

and I started reading:


The Ocean at the End of the Lane by Neil Gaiman

[RJ - Slayer of Trolls]

I finished suffering through


Barrayar by Lois McMaster Bujold
Rating: a very generous 2 stars
Review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

and I started reading


Head On by His Grand Snarkiness John Scalzi

[Trike]

Listening to Feed by M.T. Anderson and it is INCREDIBLE how prescient it is. Published in 2004 before Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, etc., or even smartphones, existed, yet it feels like he’s talking about next year, when we’re all hooked on the churn of memes and fads and reality shows and mobile games, piped directly into our heads, using AR.

The audiobook even has full commercials and newscasts which are hilarious yet terrifyingly accurate.

A full 12 years before Donald Trump was elected, with his moron-level thuggish behavior and his constant “fake news” BS there is this news item:

“…what the President meant in the intercepted chat. This was, uh, nothing but a routine translation problem. It has to be understood, that…It has to be understood that when the President referred to the Prime Minister of the Global Alliance as a ‘big shithead,’ what he was trying to convey was, uh—this is an American idiom used to praise people, by referring to the sheer fertilizing power of their thoughts. The President meant to say that the Prime Minister’s head was fertile, just full of these nutrients where ideas can grow. It really was a compliment…”

Scary.

[Joseph]

Finished Hunting the White Witch and, for reasons, started Alan Dean Foster's novelization of the movie Krull.

[Geoff]

Taking a break from SF/F, I just finished Upheaval: Turning Points for Nations in Crisis by Jared Diamond, author of Guns, Germs, and Steel: The Fates of Human Societies. I enjoyed it, especially the historical parts (most of the book, luckily). But definitely read "Guns, Germs, and Steel" first.

Dead Astronauts just came in on digital library loan, so I'm reading that next, putting on hold the "read the Hugo nominees" project. I liked Borne and I'm looking forward to some more VanderMeer weirdness.

[Joseph]

Finished Krull (it was short) and am starting Louise Cooper's The Initiate for the first time in probably 25 years.

Since I'm now having to do all of my reading at home, I might as well break out some of my old paperbacks.

[Poonam]

Reading A Memory Called Empire currently. It's pretty good. I thought it would be faster than it is. Also I'm struggling to keep track of peoples names.

[Viola]

Inching my way through Frankenstein.

[Silvana]

Finished with Dragon Pearl - really enjoyed it. Now reading The Robots of Dawn

[Iain]

Finished Magician just before May started. It is a ripping yarn but does not sit as well as it did when I was a you teen back when it came out...