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What Else Are You Reading?
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What else are you reading - April 2021
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Harlan Ellison voiced: Giant, Snake, Teacher & Tower
Richard McGonagle was Mazer Rackham
Full list of voices here:
https://english-voice-over.fandom.com...
^^^^ Mike Baron is on Twitter as @BloodyRedBaron. Worth a follow, and if you are looking for either of the two books I think he has a few copies left. He also has about half a dozen books on Kindle, but not those two yet. Not sure if he is selling ebooks of Nexus or Badger.
Just started reading Planetfall by Emma Newman. It’s one I’ve had in the ol’ TBR kindle bucket for a while now, so I thought it was about time I got round to it!
Finally finished A Desolation Called Peace which is an apt name since I felt desolation from enjoyment when reading it. Nothing worked for me. Starting The Old Drift and just from the first chapter I can tell I'm going to like it.
Ruth wrote: "Just started reading Planetfall by Emma Newman. It’s one I’ve had in the ol’ TBR kindle bucket for a while now, so I thought it was about time I got round to it!"I enjoyed a lot about that book (although with some reservations). On book two After Atlas just now, which I'm enjoying but is so far only tangentially related to the first.
I finished In an Absent Dream. Next I'll read the sequel novella Come Tumbling Down, the last of the novellas that TOR gave away free a few months ago. I'll probably stop there, rather than going on with the series. I've enjoyed them well enough but I think I've got the point by now.
I started reading: 
Old Venus edited by George R.R. Martin and Gardner Dozois, a follow-up of sorts to their anthology Old Mars
Read and liked Tiamat's Wrath and now onto something shorter, maybe Sun-Daughters, Sea-Daughters which came in from the library.
So.... Not a ton of progress since the beginning of the month. I haven't picked up The Queen's Weapons up again since I posted. I did finish both audio books. A Desolation Called Peace was fine, but I didn't enjoy it nearly as much as the first book.I'm going to give The Ruthless Lady's Guide to Wizardry a whirl in text, and I should be getting a copy of Becky Chamber's latest, The Galaxy, and the Ground Within, from the library when it releases later this week (They claim I've got the 1st reservation!) I will listen to that in Audio since that's the format I read the other books in, and I really enjoyed each of them.
Sheila Jean wrote: "Currently I'm reading The Queen's Weapons by Anne Bishop and listening to the audio for Blood of the Earth by Faith Hunter.
I should be getting A Desolation Called Peace from the library within a couple weeks and will listen to that as soon as I can."
Ian (RebelGeek) wrote: "Trike wrote: "Currently reading The Hollow Places, which is good so far (30%)."Loved that book!"
I’m nearly done, will finish tonight, and it’s staying strong. It’s basically a bigger version of the 1980s horror movie House II: The Second Story, and I keep waiting for the Cliff Clavin character to show up.
Currently catching up on the Daniel Faust and Harmony Black series by Craig Schaefer. It’s been a great ride!
Caroline wrote: "Currently, I am reading Fool Moon and working through the Dresden Files series by Jim Butcher. I am also reading The Hero of Ages, by Brandon Sanderson, and am afraid to..."That’s the series that made me fall in love with urban fantasy. While some installments are better than others, I’ve read every single novel and short story in the series. I recently finished the latest 2 books: Peace Talks and Battle Ground which are basically 2 halves of the same story and are a pair of his best in the series.
I envy you that you’re just starting that journey lol! I hope you enjoy them as much as I did.
Ruth wrote: "Just started reading Planetfall by Emma Newman. It’s one I’ve had in the ol’ TBR kindle bucket for a while now, so I thought it was about time I got round to it!"Enjoyed Planetfall a lot!
Seth wrote: "Read and liked Tiamat's Wrath and now onto something shorter, maybe Sun-Daughters, Sea-Daughters which came in from the library."I literally couldn’t put Tiamat’s Wrath down.
Finally getting around to This Is How You Lose the Time War after just not finding time for it. Currently reading We Could Be Heroes which I'm enjoying so far. I relate to Jaime too much.Finished up Black Sun and The City We Became last week and both are very good works. Hugo awards will be a tough call!
Oh and my copy of Victories Greater Than Death just came in the mail. Phew!!
Finished the audiobook of A Desolation Called Peace which I enjoyed a lot. As a book I think it’s not quite as good as A Memory Called Empire but I found the audio experience much better than the dead tree edition because I didn’t have to read all those annoying random italics all over the place.In a break from SFF, I’m moving on to a new full-cast audiobook recording of all of Jane Austen’s novels, starting with Sense and Sensibility.
I working through four Jules Verne classics. I just finished 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea by Jules Verne. Three more to go in this omnibus.
Just finished After Atlas. The plot seriously ramps up in the final quarter or so and I rather binged the ending. Don't think I'll leave it long to get started on book 3.Gonna skip May's book because it's not that long since I read it. Think I'm finally going to read Binti while I wait impatiently for the next Murderbot book.
I read all three volumes of the Moonstruck graphic novel series by Grace Ellis, which I honestly think I would've stopped after the first one if I hadn't already had the next two checked out from the library. The art is stunning, but the story is lacking. I also finished up Under the Pendulum Sun last night and, whoah buddy, was that a wild ride. It was a true gothic novel in a fantasy setting, and it was a wholly unique reading experience for me. Aside from some pacing issues in the beginning, I absolutely loved it. Beautiful, mysterious, and definitely not for the faint of heart.
I'm starting up a couple of classics now. Finally dipping my toe into Earthsea with A Wizard of Earthsea, and tackling Dune for the first time with a friend from my online D&D podcast group. I'm definitely excited for both! Also thinking of starting All Systems Red as an audiobook to maybe try and catch up in time to read the next monthly selection.
Phillip wrote: "I working through four Jules Verne classics. I just finished 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea by Jules Verne. Three more to go in this omnibus."I listened to a bunch of Jules Verne from LibriVox podcasts. It was a bit rough, but free. The worst part is that each chapter is read by a different narrator, so that's kind of jarring.
I am working my way through the Nebula (and now Hugo) novel nominees as best as I can. Since I started with Nebula, I only have Mexican Gothic left that I finally got my hands on through the library. I've read all of the Hugo novel nominees in combination with the Nebula awards and my own interests. I would love to see The Relentless Moon win but would be happy with any of them. Piranesi is my front-runner favorite but I really loved Black Sun as well, and cant wait for the sequel.
Ruth wrote: "Just today I went to my local library which is now fully open again! You can go inside and just wander around browsing and then pluck things from the shelves! (Last time I went, you were only allow..."I'll be interested in your thoughts on that one. I read it because it was on the shortlist for the Tournament of Books, but did not enjoy it very much. I've started, abandoned, donated, and repurchased Jonathan Strange - it's not really my kind of book but then Neil Gaiman put it in his top ten and I felt I should try again. I probably never will.
I started The Galaxy, and the Ground Within by Becky Chambers and I'm enjoying it, although I kinda wish there were illustrations... she's so creative in her alien species but one in particular I'm having a hard time picturing. There was a conversation about this strange food habit of humans called cheese and it had me laughing and reading it to my husband so look for that!
I have been working my way through a bunch of holds and audiobooks I have collected over the past year. Lots of walking and chores has led to more listening time when I have struggled to read words on paper/screen. Finished off Planet of Exile which while being lesser LE Guin is still a good book. It is still hard to believe the same author went from this to Left Hand of Darkness in just a few years. talk about turning it up to 11. The themes are buried in the early books which come to dominate her writing.
I have listeners to a bunch of audio books. Chosen Ones was OK but I was nearly driven mad by the number of times “said” was used to denote speech. While intended to be a book for adults it felt like YA with bloat. Glutting. A third of the book would have improved it.
And Now For Something Completely Different was a short and sweet return to time line shenanigans from St Mary’s. Definitely for those who enjoy light hearted English SFF. Similar in tone to the Parasol books.
The Doors of Eden was an overly long entry into Adrian Tchaikovsky alternative evolution themes. Not a part of the “Children” series it has similar themes but is bloated and decoheres in the last section. Not his best work....
In dead tree format I enjoyed Gods of Jade and Shadow. Pathetic pacing could have been quicker, a rather cool book that makes it hard to really feel the stakes.
Now listening to A Deadly Education and reading some 1920s lady detective books....
Picked up A Voyage to Arcturus on recommendation of a Christian SF author. It's a capsule history and critique of Christian thought, expressed as, well, a voyage to a planet that revolves around Arcturus.I found it surprisingly readable. I'd struggled through the last two books of C.S. Lewis' Space trilogy and thought this would be more of the same. There's actually a fair amount of action and the book flows fairly well. Keeps you guessing right up to the end.
It's a bit abrupt in construction tho. The MC pretty much just walks from one situation to the next. He does awful things with almost no prompting, blaming circumstances for his own choices. There's a lot of destruction along the way. Attitudes reflect the day so there are some depressing stereotypes. It doesn't kill the book, but needs to be taken as a period piece.
Finished Piranesi last night. I really enjoyed 90% of it - the descriptions of the house were so evocative (it reminded me of Gormenghast) and the gradually unfolding mystery was intriguing. The ending was a bit too abrupt for my taste- it wrapped up the main story very quickly while still leaving a lot of questions unanswered. But overall I would rate it highly.I struggled a bit with Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell*- there’s some good stuff but it’s a very long book I have no desire to re-read. @Jenny I found Piranesi much easier to get into (and it’s about a third of the length!) so I’d say give it a try.
*so many footnotes everywhere! They got really annoying
It took me a bit to get into Piranesi, but once I got the world in my head better and started to get what was going on I really enjoyed it. I haven't read the Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell yet. I actually hate captions in fiction books and only barely tolerate them in nonfiction books so I seriously doubt I will read it now.
Finished in April:1. Conan the Valliant (Fantasy)
2. Of Bone and Steel (Post Apocalyptic Sci-Fi)
3. The Qaballah, the Secret Doctrine of Israel (Occult Theology)
4. The Forest of Allund (Fantasy)
5. Welcome to Paradise, Now Go to Hell (Memoir)
6. Nature, Human Nature, and God (Science and religion)
7. The Master of Ballantrae (Historical Fiction)
8. 13 Days (Military, Non-Fiction)
9. Day of the Triffids (Science FIction)
10. The Swiss Family Robinson (Adventure)
Currently Reading
1. The Trial by Frank Kafka (General Literature)
2. Slaughterhouse-Five by Kurt Vonnegut (Science Fiction)
I had not expected to read this many books in one month, but I'm not complaining. Reading is the one true passion I have left. Since the world has become crazy as hell, I would much rather delve into a plethora of other worlds I find far more interesting than my own. Strangely enough, many of these worlds are just as screwy as our own.
I'm reading Master of the Revels by Nicole Galland. It's the sequel to The Rise and Fall of D.O.D.O.. by Neal Stephenson and Galland. Very good so far.I'm also working my way slowly through the Malazan series. I'm on book three, Memories of Ice.
In addition to reading this month's pick, I also read Boneyards, the third "Diving Universe" book. It follows two storylines, one of searching for more Dignity Vessels and an attempt at sabotage, with the latter having some flashbacks to fill out the present. I liked it, though maybe not as much as the first two books in the series. I do plan to continue with the series.
Cody wrote: "I am working my way through the Nebula (and now Hugo) novel nominees as best as I can. Since I started with Nebula, I only have Mexican Gothic left that I finally got my hands on through the librar..."Nice! I love this project. I decided not to do the Nebulas this year, but I'm reading all the Hugos. I still have to read Black Sun and The City We Became, but in the meantime Piranesi is my favorite. They are all good, though.
Ruth wrote: "@Jenny I found Piranesi much easier to get into (and it’s about a third of the length!) so I’d say give it a try..."I did read Piranesi. I feel like I'm not properly schooled in what it was harkening back to so I didn't take the meaning I was supposed to. What did seem to resonate with people regardless of training/lack of classical education was that feeling of alone, stretched out time, the strangeness of your surroundings... it was accidentally a very pandemic book.
The Hollow Places - a well-written version of House II: The Second Story. Lots of humor. 3 stars.⭐️⭐️⭐️
Star Wars: Light of the Jedi - added some spaceship names to my list of spaceship names, which gets it an extra star. 2 stars.
⭐️⭐️
The Original - Brandon Sanderson and Mary Robinette Kowal channeling 1970s John Varley’s clone stories. More Kowal than Sanderson. Audio only, apparently. 5 stars.
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Klara and the Sun - melancholy story about an android chosen to be the companion for a sickly genetically enhanced girl. Decent if unoriginal. 3 stars.
⭐️ ⭐️⭐️
Currently reading A Desolation Called Peace, which is good so far, but I’m only in chapter 2.
Robert wrote: "In addition to reading this month's pick, I also read Boneyards, the third "Diving Universe" book. It follows two storylines, one of searching for more Dignity Vessels and an attemp..."Black Sun is really good. The world is really interesting to me, but I am really excited to see the consequences of the first book play out in the second.
Just finished Senlin Ascends by Josiah Bancroft. One of the most well-written books I've enjoyed in quite a while.
Finished A Wizard of Earthsea last night, and I'm sad to say I was a little underwhelmed. I think if I'd read it as a kid, I'd have been crazy about it. I'm still continuing the series most likely. The writing is lovely and it's an interesting enough fantasy world, and I have to somehow justify having the ridiculously gorgeous illustrated bind-up I got a few Christmases ago. Read the first six chapters of Dune and discussed them with my friend's mini-bookclub. It's so hard to stop at the designated chapters! Which is always a good sign.
Struggling a bit with All Systems Red on audio. I can just tell from the writing that I would adore this if I was reading it with my eyeballs, but the audiobook narrator is just not jiving with my brain. I keep having to re-listen to things over and over, which is making this otherwise very short audiobook very long. But alas, the audio versions are all I have access to at the moment, and I can't justify the price for all the Murderbot novellas right now. I might just have to DNF it and wait until my library gets copies of the ebooks. :(
Planning on starting Arabella of Mars this evening to lift my spirits!
elizabeth • paper ghosts wrote: "Read the first six chapters of Dune and discussed them with my friend's mini-bookclub. It's so hard to stop at the designated chapters! Which is always a good sign."Dune is great! Too bad there were never any sequels.
THERE WERE NEVER ANY SEQUELS.
Jenny (Reading Envy) wrote: "Ruth wrote: "@Jenny I found Piranesi much easier to get into (and it’s about a third of the length!) so I’d say give it a try..."I did read Piranesi. I feel like I'm not properly schooled in what..."
Interesting. I didn’t find it pandemic-y at all while I was reading it, although now you say it, I can totally see how it could feel that way.
For me, it was very reminiscent of the Gormenghast books by Mervyn Peake and, to a lesser extent, House of Leaves and the books of Diana Wynne Jones.
I have put Planetfall on hold for the moment while I try to read the Murderbot novellas before starting on our next book of the month. (Re) reading All Systems Red which is a lot of fun.
Trike wrote: "The Hollow Places - a well-written version of House II: The Second Story. Lots of humor. 3 stars.⭐️⭐️⭐️
Star Wars: Light of the Jedi - added some spaceship names t..."
Hi Trke,
I Had a question about "The Hollow Places." You said it was a well-written version of House II? Is this the House that was made into a movie where a guy lives in an old house belonging to his deceased grandmother, and strange events start happening like monsters stealing his son, and him revisiting Vietnam?
Jerimy wrote: "Hi Trke, I Had a question about "The Hollow Places." You said it was a well-written version of House II? Is this the House that was made into a movie where a guy lives in an old house belonging to his deceased grandmother, and strange events start happening like monsters stealing his son, and him revisiting Vietnam? "
That’s the first one, just called House, with William Katt and George Wendt (Norm from Cheers).
https://youtu.be/O-f6Hfwk5u8
The semi-sequel that’s unrelated is House II: The Second Story which was goofier, as I recall. It stars Arye Gross and John Ratzenberger (Cliff from Cheers, and every Pixar movie).
https://youtu.be/uF70pbMatKc
I have tried and bailed on a few more swordesque and laserish books.The Ruthless Lady's Guide to Wizardry - well I think I'm glad this one didn't win our tournament. Some books just try too hard, and I was particularly bothered by one characters constant need to end sentences with "what," what, and since I was listening to audio it was like:
I think I'm glad this one didn't win our tournament, wot.
Ughhhh. I tried three times, only got 25%, bailed.
I started in on Skyward Inn, which has been languishing in my NetGalley backlog. I was having that "do I continue" feeling at 10% so went to read the reviews by those who'd finished:
-"sci-fi retelling"
-"retelling"
-"Jamaica Inn through Jeff VanderMeer" (aka retelling)
Nooooo I hate retellings. *bail*
Trike wrote: "Jerimy wrote: "Hi Trke, I Had a question about "The Hollow Places." You said it was a well-written version of House II? Is this the House that was made into a movie where a guy lives in an old ho..."
I'm going to have to check those books out. I used to love watching House.
Jenny (Reading Envy) wrote: "Nooooo I hate retellings. *bail*"I just did the same thing with Sun-Daughters, Sea-Daughters which isn't bad, and is at least short, but after not really liking 30 pages or so, I turned to the back to see it blurbed as a little mermaid retelling. There were only another 50 pages to go, so I finished, but wouldn't have if it was novel length.
I did like What Abigail Did That Summer, the new Rivers of London novella, however (not a retelling).
Next is The Galaxy, and the Ground Within since I've already read the May pick.
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The Sword and Laser
Books mentioned in this topic
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Authors mentioned in this topic
Naomi Novik (other topics)Kate Tempest (other topics)
Mervyn Peake (other topics)
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I want to remake the movie so it can be as gritty as the book. I think climate change instead of nuclear war would be a good update. The almost-worst-case scenario renders most of the planet uninhabitable, which achieves the same effect as the nuclear apocalypse of the novel.
As much as I love the Landmaster, and I do think it’s one of the top 5 coolest movie vehicles of all time, I think a more book-accurate truck would be awesome.
For those who don’t know the Landmaster: https://youtu.be/ZZYT2nYd46o
That’s a real truck built for the film. The book version is equally as badass but totally different look.