What Else Are You Reading - October 2023

[Tamahome]

The Neutron Star

[Trike]

Tamahome wrote: "The Neutron Star"

The classic collections are best. Short and sweet, not over-staying their welcome.

[Jerimy]

It is spooky season, but I don't celebrate the spooks, but I do like to read a horror novel on occasion. This month I have been reading other books, such as "The Animal Dialogues," "The Wasp Factory," "The Hunjin Murders," "the Jewish Bible," "The Adventures of Roderick Random," "The Psychology of Judgement and Decision Making," and "The Unfettered Mind."

[Phil]

Tamahome wrote: "The Neutron Star"

All the Myriad Ways is my favorite collection of his. Besides the title story it's Inconstant Moon, Not Long Before the End, and Man of Steel, Woman of Kleenex, among others.

[Steve]

Phil wrote: "Truthfully I've been reading them more or less randomly, one or two every year. I've probably enjoyed the books in the Watch mini-series a little more than the others on average. If I had to pick s..."

Have you read Monstrous Regiment? This is one of my favourites, despite it being a late entry in the series (at a point where I was starting to worry TP was beginning to tread water). It is Watch-adjacent (they make a cameo, which is always a good thing) and I remember it being a lot grittier than the rest of the series (despite the usual humour). I think TP was probably angrier than normal when he wrote it.

[Phil]

Steve, it's on my shelf so I'll get to it fairly soon. I'm looking forward to it.

[John (Taloni)]

Finished the last 5th and 6th books of the Lost Fleet series. This concludes the first storyline. (The title of the 6th book, "Victorious," kiiiinda gives away the book's theme.)

Pretty solid MilSF fare. There are the usual battle scenes, some tedious, and a description of tactics for each one worthy of a Risk manual. The "Syndics" are obvious stand-ins for Soviet Russia, despite the "CEO" name for leaders as window dressing. I took that to be sly commentary on how the most oppressive regimes routinely have included "Democratic" in their names.

The fifth book ends fairly well but is a cliffhanger with major plot elements unresolved. Well, that's really true for the whole series. Anyhoo, lots of plotlines resolved in book 6 and just enough left untouched to justify the next series.

There's a romance subplot that was done well in and of itself, but I just didn't see it. It sounds like the author was confessing to having fallen in love with a subordinate and worked it out in fiction. For me the Babylon 5 parallels are just too close, and I don't see Sheridan giving up Delenn for Ivanova.

A goodly part of the second half of the book has no stakes. The characters see a problem and walk up to it, then poof, it falls over. I can't hate on the book for that, there was a lot to resolve. But I did notice the lack of stakes. Or really, the big stakes set up and then nothing even close occurs. A good enough finish; I'll probably move on to the sequel series fairly soon.

I do have a little trouble with the battle scenes tho. The MC describes in some detail the deaths from battle. That's all true and is a part of military life. It's just that as I get older and have seen war after war in a never ending sequence, I start to wonder if we have it in ourselves to be at peace. Perhaps Haldeman had it right and we are in a forever war.

[John (Nevets)]

So, what series are you going to continue with? The sequel, the prequel, or the enemy's point of view? He has built the universe out fairly extensively.

[John (Taloni)]

^ First up will be Gail Carriger's Dome 6, which came in off library hold yesterday. (Quite a change!) Then Winter's Gifts which we bought. After that I may or may not read the November pick once we know what it is.

And then...definitely the sequel series. It's an easy grab on LAPL Overdrive. If that's good, and after a few other books, the Syndic one. Probably never the prequel, I just didn't like the description. Depends on how much I like the others.

[Geoff]

I just finished He Who Drowned the World, the sequel to She Who Became the Sun. Fantasy based on Chinese mythology/history. I mostly enjoyed it, but boy there was a lot of sexual misconduct/abuse. I'm not super sensitive to that or anything, but probably too much for my taste.

Next up I'm reading The Terraformers.

[Iain]

Phil wrote: "Truthfully I've been reading them more or less randomly, one or two every year. I've probably enjoyed the books in the Watch mini-series a little more than the others on average. If I had to pick s..."

Small Gods is a work of genius. It was the book that turned me into a Discworld completist.

[Trike]

I read Quantum Space by Douglas Phillips, which was really good. It’s nice to dig into an old school Hard Science Fiction novel after so much Fantasy and goofy Space Opera. Turns out there’s a whole series of these Quantum books, so I shall be continuing.

[Phil]

Finished The Light of Other Days by Arthur C. Clarke and Stephen Baxter. I have slightly mixed feelings about this.
The good: The premise is really intriguing to me. Someone invents an undetectable method to view anyplace or time in the present or past and the book explores the ramifications of that. I love books that make me stop and think about possibilities like that.
The bad: The book is one of the most exposition filled things I've ever read. Sometimes it's one character telling another ("as you know, Bobby...''), sometimes it's a character talking to himself ("I shouldn't be so nervous since I'm a 37 year old astrophysicist with a PhD from Oxford..."), and sometimes it's just the book talking to the reader ("As time went on people got used to..."). Sometimes the exposition went on for a whole chapter. I don't mind a little but this was too much.
The kind of ugly: Almost all the characters were unlikeable. There turns out to be a story based reason (different in each case) for most of them so that is kind of mitigated.
Overall I gave it 4 stars because of the super intriguing premise but was a little disappointed in the prose.
Next up is another collaboration with Fleet of Worlds by Larry Niven and Edward M. Lerner.

[John (Taloni)]

I think Asimov did this premise in the 50s story 'The Dead Past." Kinda puzzling why Clarke/Baxter would give it a full novel treatment.

[Phil]

I don't don't remember that story but this one is pretty comprehensive in exploring the societal ramifications.
Pastwatch: The Redemption of Christopher Columbus by Orson Scott Card also had a similar device but really only used it to watch one thing whereas in Clarke/Baxter's book they examine many different times including political, criminal, religious and scientific subjects.
Isn't that like saying "Why do a story about going to Mars since Edgar Rice Burroughs has already done it?"

[Stephen]

The newest novella in Anthony Ryan's Seven Swords series was released, Across the Sorrow Sea. The series starts with A Pilgrimage of Swords if you need a bump in your Sword Challenge.

[Ruth]

Finished Lessons in Chemistry which was a lot more steeped in tragedy than I expected, but a good read nonetheless. Now I’m starting A Restless Truth by Freya Marske, the sequel to A Marvellous Light.

[RJ - Slayer of Trolls]

I finished the classic Science-Fiction fix-up novel about a generation ship where the crew has forgotten they are on a ship


Orphans of the Sky by Robert A. Heinlein
Rating: 3 stars
Review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

[John (Taloni)]

I read that in junior high and have not been motivated to go back since. Adequate story, but that deus ex machina ending...bleah.

[Ruth]

Finished the audiobook of Doppelganger: A Trip into the Mirror World by Naomi Klein which was an incredibly interesting if also somewhat worrying/depressing look at how people can get sucked into the world of conspiracy theories.

About to start the audiobook of King of Scars by Leigh Bardugo.

[Trike]

RJ - Slayer of Trolls wrote: "I finished the classic Science-Fiction fix-up novel about a generation ship where the crew has forgotten they are on a ship


Orphans of the Sky..."

I think I have that here somewhere as part of an Ace Double. I don’t recall a single detail about the story.

[John (Taloni)]

*opens 45 year old memory box* IIRC it's a generation ship, civilization fallen, people are burning books which are not just books but are important scientific texts, the four MCs escape and just happen to be (view spoiler)[ near a solar system with a habitable planet (hide spoiler)]

[Chris K.]

I started MCU: The Reign of Marvel Studios.

[Trike]

Chris K. wrote: "I started MCU: The Reign of Marvel Studios."

I just bought that, too. Really big book!

[Trike]

Currently listening to the 3rd Quantum book by Douglas Phillips, Quantum Time. He’s really doing deep dives into the various permutations of quantum technology with each book.

Also eyeball reading The Blighted Stars by Megan O’Keefe, which has an interesting world set-up where human bodies can be printed on demand and recordings of a mind can be inserted.

[Phil]

RJ - Slayer of Trolls wrote: "I finished the classic Science-Fiction fix-up novel about a generation ship where the crew has forgotten they are on a ship


Orphans of the Sky..."

It's been decades since I've read this but my main memory is of a character that reminded me of The Beast from the X-Men opening a hatch. Wow, that's random.

[RJ - Slayer of Trolls]

John (Taloni) wrote: "I read that in junior high and have not been motivated to go back since. Adequate story, but that deus ex machina ending...bleah."

Trike wrote: "I think I have that here somewhere as part of an Ace Double. I don’t recall a single detail about the story."

John (Taloni) wrote: "*opens 45 year old memory box* IIRC it's a generation ship, civilization fallen, people are burning books which are not just books but are important scientific texts, the four MCs escape and just h..."

Regarding your spoiler, this book was published as two novellas in Astounding SF in 1941 and I think the ending was influenced by Campbell who was Editor at the time. This book has his fingerprints all over it.

Phil wrote: "It's been decades since I've read this but my main memory is of a character that reminded me of The Beast from the X-Men opening a hatch. Wow, that's random."

Hahaha he's a mutant dwarf but yeah that's a memorable scene.

Of all the SF books I've read, I didn't think this would be the one to inspire multiple comments in this thread.

[Eric]

This year I decided that I would catch up with whatever series I've started in the past few years. I was ending up with too much time between books and kept forgetting what was going on. So earlier this month I finished The Dresden Files. (Well, I'm caught up to whatever Butcher has put out) I'm currently working my way through Naomi Novik's Temeriare series and just finished book 4. At least that series is completed so when I'm done, I'm done.

I also listened to The Daughter of Doctor Moreau and, in my opinion, the book earned all its praises. (Don't know if it's better or worse for the fact that I was not familiar with the source material)

Also reading and cooking from lots of cookbooks including Reinhart's Whole Wheat Breads, Reinhart's Pizza book, Ken Forkish's Pizza book, Cook's Illustrated 2022, and Cook's Country 2021. Recipes this month include popovers, raspberry pound cake, whole wheat loaf, pizza, burger buns, and English Muffins.

[Trike]

Eric wrote: "I also listened to The Daughter of Doctor Moreau and, in my opinion, the book earned all its praises. (Don't know if it's better or worse for the fact that I was not familiar with the source material)"

I highly recommend The Island of Dr. Moreau. It’s good, it’s short, and it has moments of sly levity.

[Eric]

cool, I'll have to check it out

[John (Taloni)]

I'm a big fan of free, and gutenberg press has soooo many public domain books. I read all the classic Wells books there, the Burroughs Barsoom / Tarzan / Pellucidar / Venus novels, several Verne including the weird "Off on a Comet"...yeah. Public domain stuff can be great.

[Oaken]

Eric wrote: "Ken Forkish's Pizza book..."

He has a pizza book? Is it any different than his bread book? I mean, of course it is different, but pizza dough and bread dough have a lot of parallels. Is it a lot different? I use his poolish bread recipe for pizza, just swapping in 00 flour for regular bread flour.

[Tassie Dave, S&L Historian]

Trike wrote: "I highly recommend The Island of Dr. Moreau. It’s good, it’s short, and it has moments of sly levity."

The daughter of Dr. Moreau (This time named Catherine) is also a central character in "The Extraordinary Adventures of the Athena Club Series" by Theodora Goss.

This includes former S&L pick The Strange Case of the Alchemist's Daughter and its sequels European Travel for the Monstrous Gentlewoman and The Sinister Mystery of the Mesmerizing Girl

It is a fun series.

[Eric]

Oaken wrote: "Eric wrote: "Ken Forkish's Pizza book..."

He has a pizza book? Is it any different than his bread book? I mean, of course it is different, but pizza dough and bread dough have a lot of parallels. ..."

The Elements of Pizza: Unlocking the Secrets to World-Class Pies at Home A Cookbook

According to the intro to his book - he went to Italy (naples, specifically) and was told that pizza is NOT like bread and he was wrong to try and make pizza in a bread way. Reinhart has a similar intro to his pizza book. Is there a huge difference? I'm not sure - I haven't made Forkish's pizzas yet. So far I've made Reinhart's pizzas and America's Test Kitchen's pizzas. The thing I'm looking forward to with Forkish's book is that he presents a different dough recipe depending on whether you're making neopolitan, NY style, Roman style, etc

[RJ - Slayer of Trolls]

Trike wrote: "I highly recommend The Island of Dr. Moreau. It’s good, it’s short, and it has moments of sly levity."

Also, that's where the 90s rap group House of Pain took their name. Their song "Jump Around" may be familiar to anyone who enjoys sporting events of any kind, or who has been outside of their house in the last 30 years.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xhzpx...

[John (Taloni)]

In random order, four books read recently...

Last up first: Two books in the Lost Fleet series. This is the followup to the first series, the direct sequel where they face (view spoiler)[the enigmatic aliens on the border of Syndic space. (hide spoiler)] It's a bunch of setup at first, so kinda like the first series. Then a bunch of, well, keeping to the formula, space battles as the fleet traverses systems from one wormhole to another. Plenty enjoyable for what it is, which is straight up MilSF. Mostly new material, some retreads to keep the same characters in play. Some very silly setup to get to that but eh, no worse than Kirk / Spock / McCoy always going back to the same regardless of what happens within the episode.

One part stuck out as particularly annoying tho. There's a riff where the MC refers to engineers as lacking social skills. Hey, eff you, buddy! I know, it's a standard riff. But without the Aspie crowd and their shepherding of technology we wouldn't have the modern world. And I rather like living in it. For me it's not that engineers "lack social skills" but rather than Normies are just too given to irrelevant posturing. Anyway, I'm overthinking a throwaway line, but I found it annoying to have an SF author do that. Niven handles it so much better.

[John (Taloni)]

Actually first in the four, Gail Carriger's "Dome 6." This is the final book in the "Tinkered Starsong" trilogy.

Gail has been so consistently good with the Parasol Protectorate books that I went into this trilogy with high hopes. It's a riff on Kpop and music competition shows. I didn't see her trademark wit and charm and kept wondering when it would show. Answer: It doesn't. The book isn't bad so much as it doesn't feel like Gail.

There's a lot of tedious space travel and explanations of shows that leave me cold. Maybe you have to be into Kpop to get it, in which case, I'm well off the target audience. But then I'm nowhere near the target audience for the Parasol Protectorate and liked them fine.

There is a whole lot of exposition and action packed into the final third of this book. It's probably a four star by itself. However, that doesn't make up for the slow pace and tedious scenes that come before.

Some of it I really wonder if it is a confessional. A character has parents that are academics, distant and unloving. They're cultural anthropologists. Gail studied anthropology. The parents make uncharitable comments about their son being an entertainer and not being smart enough to be an academic. Gail is an entertainer. Jumping off point or actual revelation?

Overall I found the trilogy a bridge too far for me. TBH after this I'll have to rethink my "read anything Gail Carriger writes soon after release" policy and let the books marinate a bit before making a decision.

[John (Taloni)]

Aaaand in the middle but last here, the Rivers of London novella Winter's Gifts. It's FBI agent Kimberley Reynolds, the side character from several ROL books, now on her own adventure. She's sent to investigate some Very Strange Events in Wisconsin (say it with me, WisCAHNsin) and some freaky cold weather events. The cold itself is a palpable force here.

Anyway, lots of freaky ROL style things happen. Plenty of action but actually, I had trouble following the plot. It's long enough to show some promise, but not long enough to let those events develop out into the many-layered reveals of a main ROL book. Probably on the level of the short stories; perhaps a bit better.

I'm still not quite sure what the MacGuffin is from the end, but Aaronovitch is clear enough on what has to happen. A decent look into some very specific events in American history. I feel like Aaronovitch got the particular details right, but he still doesn't have a feel for US history as a whole. A good enough read, but left me wanting more.

[Chris K.]

John (Taloni) wrote: "Actually first in the four, Gail Carriger's "Dome 6." This is the final book in the "Tinkered Starsong" trilogy.

Gail has been so consistently good with the Parasol Protectorate books that I went ..."

I'm afraid I have to agree. I've so enjoyed her Parasol Protectorate books that I was surprised by how meh I found this series.

There seemed to be so much world building. It felt like any time a couple of characters would start bantering and I would be engaged the flow would stop dead for more explanations of the music, domes, etc.

I will still check out her future books, but sadly this was mostly a miss for me.

[John (Taloni)]

There was a fairly decent discussion of free will vs violence that reminded me of Neal Asher's AI "soft takeover" in the Polity books. Not sure Gail would have read those or even know what I'm talking about. That got dropped. The ending was too easy, events popped up too easily to keep anyone from having to make a hard decision.

But, nothing will beat the first part of the fourth Custard Protocol book, where Gail wove together the Parasol Protectorate, Finishing School, the Custard Protocol itself, various side books and even the short story Meat Cute into a whopper of a wedding scene. Ah well. That won't be beat so I'll just enjoy the memory.

[Trike]

Just started Starter Villain. Read 3 chapters in an hour, so it’s going down smooth.

[Tamahome]

Smooth as a kitten's bottom?

[Seth]

Read Mammoths at the Gates the fourth novella in the Singing Hills series that S+L read the first volume of. Finished it 1 sitting, really liked it.

[Jonathan]

Reading Terminal World by Alistair Reynolds. I am a big fan of his. This book is a break from his normal sci-fi but it has been really engaging and interesting.

[John (Taloni)]

^ It's freaky but good. Sciencesque but not really science. Weird, fun levels. I enjoyed it. Would have read a sequel if there had been one.