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What Else Are You Reading?
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What else are you reading - September 2021
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Rob, Roberator
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Sep 01, 2021 01:59PM
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I'm almost done with Highly Irregular: Why Tough, Through, and Dough Don't Rhyme and Other Oddities of the English Language by Arika Okrent. It's very good. A light-hearted approach rather than academic. But that said, the author knows her stuff.For my other book club, I'm reading The Last Hurrah by Edwin O'Connor.
Currently reading A Desolation Called Peace by Arkady Martine. Enjoying it so far, but I'm going to have to hustle to finish it before it's due back at the library.
Molly wrote: "Currently reading A Desolation Called Peace by Arkady Martine. Enjoying it so far, but I'm going to have to hustle to finish it before it's due back at the library."So.....the techie trick: If you have a device where you can turn off Wireless, you can get the Kindle app going on it, download the book, and then turn off Wireless until you're done. The book won't return on that device until you're connected again.
A couple days ago I finished Aurora Rising. It's the start of a SF trilogy. It's fast-paced, the characters are a diverse group of humans and aliens, and they're snarky and funny until the end, which gets really serious. I'm going to get the other two books when the third comes out, as I have a couple more books to read from my iPhone trade-in haul, and there's two books coming soon I just have to get.
I'm reading the sequel to The Golem and the Djinni, The Hidden Palace. It picks up where the first novel ended and follows the same characters so far, plus one unruly young woman who is escaping her family and society.
I finished The Thief Of Time; I enjoyed it, but... At one point I wanted to read _all_ of the Discworld books, but after reading about half of them, I'm starting to feel like I've gotten the point. Kudos to those who made it all the way through!Next up: Return of the Thief. The last one (currently) in the YA Thief series. They've been great!
Finished four books today (finished, not started!) including The Once and Future Witches by Alix E. Harrow which I’d highly recommend for anyone who enjoyed our previous pick The Ten Thousand Doors of January.Just downloaded on my kindle an old childhood favourite - The Wolves of Willoughby Chase by Joan Aiken. Hoping it stands up to an adult re-read!
Ruth wrote: "Finished four books today (finished, not started!) including The Once and Future Witches by Alix E. Harrow which I’d highly recommend for anyone who enjoyed our pre..."I second this.
Just finished The Thursday Murder Club. No swords or lasers in sight, but a surprisingly competent debut novel from TV-celeb-turned-author, Richard Osman. I'm a little late to the party on this one, since the next in the series is out later this month.Now embarking on Claire North's latest release, Notes from the Burning Age. Not clear yet if this is sword, laser or a bit of both.
Got two new pre-orders coming in this month.Joe Abercrombie's The Wisdom of Crowds, the 3rd book in the new series. The Free Bastards by Jonathan French is the 3rd book in the series about half orcs patrolling the borderlands between humans and orc. The first book The Grey Bastards was the SPFBO 2's winner from 2016. Then a start on Lois McMaster Bujold's Vorkosigan Saga.
Just finished:Blind Spot in the Mind by Manly P Hall
Currently reading:
Demons by Michael Heisler
The Ghost Riders of Ordebec by Fred Vargas
Planning to read:
Tarzan the Triumphant by Edgar Rice Burroughs
One Damn Island After Another by Clive Howard
Joseph wrote: "I'm still powering through the Horatio Hornblower series, currently in Hornblower and the Atropos."'Books with sailing ships on the cover' is my actual favorite genre. I'm about halfway through the Aubrey/Maturin series now for the third time.
Seth wrote: "Joseph wrote: "I'm still powering through the Horatio Hornblower series, currently in Hornblower and the Atropos."'Books with sailing ships on the cover' is my actual favorite genre...."
How about sailing ships + WWII destroyer + dinosaurs?
I mean, in theory, those are a few of my favorite things.(Having said which, I'd probably be more interested if it was one of Michael Moorcock's Oswald Bastable novels or something.)
Dresden Files 3 - Grave Peril, my review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...Going to try Alastair Reynolds's Pushing Ice next.
Geoff wrote: "I finished The Thief Of Time; I enjoyed it, but... At one point I wanted to read _all_ of the Discworld books, but after reading about half of them, I'm starting to feel like I've g..."I read them all. But as they came out, which means one or two a year. Then the main characters didn’t repeat too often.
I binged Discworld over the course of two years. Had to ration them so I wouldn't blow through them all even faster. The only ones I didn't love were the first two and the Tiffany Aching books towards the end, and those I still liked. They build on each other, as for instance Thud! makes more sense if you already know the characters.
Tamahome wrote: "Dresden Files 3 - Grave Peril, my review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...Going to try Alastair Reynolds's Pushing Ice next."
I think the Dresden books start to hit their stride in book 4, Summer Knight
RJ - Slayer of Trolls wrote: "I started reading the story of an expectant mother-to-be:
Rosemary's Baby by Ira Levin"
What To Expect When You’re Expecting… The Devil’s Child
Trike wrote: "What To Expect When You’re Expecting… The Devil’s Child"They all seem like the Devil's Child when they're screaming at 3:00 am.
I finished the post-apocalyptic Science-Fiction novel:
Wool by Hugh Howey
Rating: 3 stars
Review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
Just finished listening to Tom's Project V.E.R.A.. Enjoyed it! A nicely put together audio novella with multiple readers. Not SF or Fantasy, which seems like a departure, but I've not read his entire back catalogue.
Colin wrote: "Just finished listening to Tom's Project V.E.R.A.. Enjoyed it! A nicely put together audio novella with multiple readers. Not SF or Fantasy, which seems like a departure, but I've n..."I just listened to it too! My 1st Tom book as well. I loved it! I thought it was a Laser, but maybe it's not.
Ian (RebelGeek) wrote: "Colin wrote: "Just finished listening to Tom's Project V.E.R.A.. Enjoyed it! A nicely put together audio novella with multiple readers. Not SF or Fantasy, which seems like a departu..."I think I'd call it a techno thriller written by a Sci-FI author. Similar to when Gibson or Stephenson have worked in that genre. I believe those genre's can have a lot of similarities, especially when they are used to convey broader themes, and mirrors on society, while still telling a very good story.
By the way I also really enjoyed the story. I think Tom did an excellent job with it. I really need to add more of Tom's works to my reading pile.
Mod
Read The Probability Broach by Libertarian author L. Neil Smith. I wanted to reread all six of the books in the series together, but they are not all available on ebook version. I asked Smith about it on his FB page and he said they were working on it. With Smith's recent death I decided on a memorial read of what I could obtain.The aforementioned Broach brings a detective from a world based on our own into one that lives on personal freedoms and a total lack of government. Per the author the mere implementation of Libertarian ideas brings about a utopia. It's an unlikely idea, but I'm fine with granting the author his premise. It's no more ridiculous than the military veteran based democracy of Starship Troopers, the post-scarcity communitarianism of Star Trek, the Swedish based world government from the crosstime Worlds of the Imperium, or the apologia for the Soviet Georgian famine in The Dispossessed.
The book is as refreshingly gleeful in Libertarian principles as it was when I first read it decades ago. The book came out in 1979 and so was written during the Stagflation and moribund economy of the Carter years. It's set in 1987 which for me on first read was the near future. There's reference to massive inflation and government interference in all aspects of your life, topics which may seem quite current today.
There's quite a bit I didn't get even on my last readthrough sometime after college. Can't say I understood much about deficit spending, which comes up as an underlying issue for the "source" universe. The overreach by FBI agents feels depressingly like today. Perhaps Smith was simply off by a few decades. (Where oh where is my Broach?)
There is a lengthy plot point about a question no one asked: If the second amendment allows ownership of weapons, why can't a person own tactical nukes? Somehow this world, which organized volunteers to defeat the Czar, doesn't move quickly on that. Nope, we're left with a core of four people to foil the plot, which was conveniently revealed by a cackling Red Baron who tells them why he is superior. The only thing missing is an oiled mustache, or perhaps the villain petting a cat while explaining his plot. (People live a long time on the other side of the Broach, courtesy of technology brought about by, of course, Libertarians working without government interference.) Silly, but still fun.
Had you asked me in college I would have told you I was a Libertarian, without much understanding of what it meant. Being raised in heavily progressive Boston that meant I still voted Democrat when it mattered. I recall traveling back to the homestead from my Boston University dorm, a whopping three miles that nevertheless took a half hour on the slow as molasses trolley, to vote in some election or other. After picking the Democrat at the top two slots or so I voted the straight Libertarian ticket. We went down in flames with 0.6% of the vote. Ah, youth. Likely this book affected my viewpoint. Across the span of decades it's hard to remember.
The book has sly digs at a large variety of people. There's a barely competent second-story man (burglar) name of Tricky Dick Milhous. Looks like that world's Nixon might have had a Watergate altho he never got near the Presidency. "Buckley F. Williams" brings up unworkable suggestions in highly erudite, silly language, and gets voted down quickly.
I recall reading this book and it sequel eagerly, and the rest of the "North American Confederacy" books with somewhat less joy, but still fun. It's not the Confederacy of the Civil War, but rather the Articles of Confederation. The Constitution never took effect after Washington failed to put down the Whiskey Rebellion, and government taxation never took hold.
Enjoyable crosstime fun. It goes after sacred cows with gleeful abandon and may offend some. For me, it was a blast to read again.
Also read Light Chaser. Whipped through this short novel in about two days. It starts off with a Niven / Reynolds feel. The MC travels a circuit of worlds picking up memory devices that function as entertainment for the client funding her spaceship. That premise is slowly subverted as she reviews the memories herself.I don't want to say much more as it might spoil what is a great story. Definite recommend. The book is listed as 177 pages so "novel" length by technical definition, but likely considered "novella" by today's readers. It's fast and fun. It's also a little odd to NOT have Hamilton go on and on and on the way he usually does, and there really is about as much story here as he usually does in 800 pages. Great read, blazes through concepts quickly and gets right to the point.
Tom's books are not available on Audible.com!I totally got Project V.E.R.A. there, so that's really weird.
Rick wrote: "Tamahome wrote: "Dresden Files 3 - Grave Peril, my review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...Going to try Alastair Reynolds's Pushing Ice next."
I think the Dresden books start to hit their stride in book 4, Summer Knight"
Tempting, Rick. Pushing Ice is annoying me.
Ooo Light Chaser too.
I found Pushing Ice only lukewarm good. It made for adequate filler fiction but little more. Very derivative of Niven and another writer I won't mention for spoiler's sake.
Light Chaser was a fun read. Now reading Cassandra Khaw's The All-Consuming World which is spectacular. The sentence and paragraph level writing just is gorgeous. “The fuck am I doing here, Rita?” Her voice is the boreal wash of moonlight upon the bulwark of their ship-in-orbit: a reduction of the fantastic, tepid when it could have been of a devouring temperature. It is modulated, disinterested. But like fuck Maya is going to complain. Any contact with Rita is superior to the absence of such."
or
"Cross her dollar-store heart, there’s nothing Maya loathes more than this shoulder of rock she’s ascending, which is saying a lot given her sentiments about the asteroid itself. She recalls when this place was moondust and noxious ice-melt, inhospitable by every interpretation of the adjective. But no one cares when it’s just clones on ground zero. Work, die, mulch the corpses, brine the proteins in the appropriate solution, bring them back. Rinse, repeat in the name of capitalism, amen and all that crap."
The story's good too :)
Finally got 14 by Peter Clines, after about six months of library hold. First thing I notice is that it's not available on Kindle format so I have to read in browser. That's always a crapshhoot as the font never comes over right. The bottom line or two on each page gets cut off. In the past I've been able to deal with that by messing with the font type and size. Doesn't work this time. There is no way I'm reading a 350 page book by changing the font size every page to get at the bottom text and then changing again. As I close the browser I remember that sometimes it goes away on its own. I leave it overnight and yep, it's resolved itself. No idea why.
As for the book itself, at first it's subversively relatable. The MC is down on his luck in LA and looking for cheap housing. Been there, done that, lived in a studio in a downtrodden building for a year.
It doesn't even feel like SF for the first third as nothing particularly weird happens. It's a slow build tho and by the halfway point things are distinctly strange. By the end they're VERY strange. It's not like say a Niven Known Space story where you start off in a teleport booth or facing a neutron star. This is a more real-world kind of SFF, or at least it starts that way.
Overall the book felt like an Escape Room mystery. Core group solves mystery, etc. There's deliberate references to the Scooby gang. All in all I wasn't engaged all that much after the opener until about the halfway mark. That seems to be how Clines writes tho, a slow build to really weird stuff that makes total sense given the setup.
All in all fairly satisfying. There's two other "sidequels" to The Fold which was the S&L pick that got me interested in this book. I'll check them out. Over time, not urgently. Clines is an unusual taste and I've had enough for the moment.
Yesterday I finished The Ten Thousand Doors of January. It was part of the summer haul of ebooks I got when I disposed of my old iPhone. I doubt I can add much to the discussion except to say that I really enjoyed it. I liked January, and how it took her time to become a heroine.I have one more book to read from that haul, but another book is coming out Wednesday I want to read. I'll get to that before I get that last book haul book.
Finish Alastair Reynolds's Pushing Ice. I could live without the middle 100 pages in it. https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
I don't know the Stapledon book. I liked the flashy tech well enough. I had totally forgotten the prologue and reread it afterwards. But I don't understand something. Did Bella (view spoiler) I read Clarke's Rendezvous with Rama a long time ago and remember liking that better.
Regarding the spoiler item, memory is dim but IIRC (view spoiler)As for Olaf Stapledon, his works are free to read on gutenberg press and probably other places. Star Maker is his best, but remember how long ago it was written. I found it slow when I first read it as a teen, and that was 40+ years ago. Last and First Men is also good.
Rendezvous with Rama is pretty great. Stop there if you haven't read the Gentry Lee "collaboration" followups. More like exploitation books based on a cocktail napkin from Clarke. *sigh* I'm fine with authors getting paid but those followed a long trend of classic books getting updates they didn't need.
Read The Vanished Birds; it was… fine. No review because I have nothing to say about it.Terra Nullius was pretty weak, I thought.
Currently reading A Psalm for the Wild-Built, which I didn’t realize was a novella. Started it this evening at dinner, already 1/3 of the way through. Pleasant so far, might be a utopia, which is a refreshing change.
Next up, either We Are Satellites or The Last Watch.
Just finished my annual Heinlein reread. This year it was Grumbles from the Grave which was a selection of his letters published after his death, edited by his wife. I last read this 30-odd years ago when it was first published.I wouldn't really recommend this one unless you're a completionist like me as it is mostly Heinlein being a grumpy old man (even when he was young), complaining about everything (publishers, editors, fan mail, etc.) to his agent.
One thing I noticed this time was that he referred to his juveniles as his "boys' books". It reminds me that people didn't think, in the 40's to 60's, science fiction would be of interest to girls. He did write a few stories for some girls' magazines but I think they weren't SF.
Well I finally got around to finishing a book this year. I read Salvation Lost by Peter F Hamilton. This was the only book I’ve started and finished this year. I really enjoyed this one a lot more than the first book of the trilogy. This is where the **** really shits the fan and Hamilton is so good at writing the **** hitting the fan. He’s taking a lot of ideas from his previous work and putting it together in a fun new way. There are a lot of interesting ideas about interstellar travel and interstellar civilization that I haven’t seen from him or anyone else really too.
Anyways I was so into it that I continued straight on into book 3, The Saints of Salvation.
John (Taloni) wrote: "...Rendezvous with Rama is pretty great. Stop there if you haven't read the Gentry Lee "collaboration" followups."Amen on the Gentry Lee books. Awful.
Peter F. Hamilton is an architect, not a gardener. He outlines everything, so his endings tend to be good. Those salvation books are only half as long as his previous series. He has a new novella out too with Gareth Powell called Light Chaser.
Agreed, I don’t think I’ve ever been disappointed by any of his books or endings. He really seems to be a lot like Brandon Sanderson in the way that he plans everything out. I guess that’s why Hamilton is my favorite sci-fi author and Sanderson my favorite fantasy author. Anyways, thanks for the tip on the novella I’ll have to check it out.
I just finished Harrow the Ninth. It was a very confusing book and had a long slog in the middle. The ending was great with fights and some nice surprises, but Harrow and another character get left hanging for the sequal. Still not entirely sure what was happening.
Richard wrote: "I just finished Harrow the Ninth. It was a very confusing book and had a long slog in the middle. The ending was great with fights and some nice surprises, but Harrow and another ch..."I felt the same way about both books. If she’d cut out the middle 300 pages they’d both be pure awesome.
I tried Terra Nullius but it just didn't hold my interest. So I'm moving on to Paper & Blood. I'm also listening to Sherlock Holmes, read by Stephen Fry on Audible.
Just started a new non-fiction audiobook: Never Say You Can't Survive: How to Get Through Hard Times by Making Up Stories by Charlie Jane Anders. And in hardcover: A Conspiracy of Truths by Alexandra Rowland.
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