What else are you reading - June 2024

[Rob, Roberator]

It's already June. That means the start of Summer for those of us north of the Equator and winter for our friends in the southern hemisphere. Got any fun summer/cozy winter reads planned?

[Phil]

Just finished The Glass Magician by Charlie Holmberg. This is book 2 of a trilogy and hard for me to rate because I'm not really it's target audience. They're all constantly listed as Kindle Daily Deals and I picked up all 3 a couple years ago.
On the one hand it was a nice quick fantasy adventure set in an alternate early 1900's London with a really interesting magic system. On the other hand, if you took out all the teen angst and face flushing and heart pounding every time the main character thinks about her handsome mentor you'd probably be left with less than 100 pages. Oh well, I'll get around to reading the third book a couple more years.
Next is Strength of Stones by Greg Bear.

[Chris K.]

I finished listening to Heroes: Mortals and Monsters, Quests and Adventures. Such a good series.

While I'm waiting for the third in the series to come in, I've decided to listen to Emily Wilde’s Map of the Otherlands.

I enjoyed Emily Wilde's Encyclopaedia of Faeries enough to give the sequel a go.

[Seth]

Read and really liked A Children's Bible, a short novel about a group of children who band together to survive the onset of the worst effects of climate change. Probably would be on the literary fiction shelf, but it's near future sci-fi with magical realist elements so I think it counts.

Then, got thinking about how it's sort of the same setting as All the Birds in the Sky, which I picked up an reread - on audio this time around. I somehow remember almost all of the first 25% of that book, and almost nothing of the latter 75%. Still felt like it was good, but most enjoyable in the first quarter where they're surviving childhood and discovering their powers.

Now I need to read a few books that won't trigger any more climate anxiety.

[Trike]

Seth wrote: "Now I need to read a few books that won't trigger any more climate anxiety."

I don’t need books for that. Today in Nashua, New Hampshire:

[Quinton]

Bitter Twins by Jen Williams
Solaris by Stanislem
Shadow and Bone by Leigh Bardugo

[Trike]

I read the story collection Your Utopia by South Korean author Bora Chung. Solid, 3 stars.

Finished the nonfiction audiobook The Six: The Untold Story of America's First Women Astronauts. 5 stars,

[Tamahome]

Seth wrote: "Now I need to read a few books that won't trigger any more climate anxiety...."

I donno, The Deluge might be good, like the beginning of The Stand. It's a doorstopper though.

Dedication: "For my mom. All this began when I was a child and you sat me on your lap in front of an MS-DOS computer and asked me what story I wanted to tell."

[Jerimy]

So far this month I have read:

Beric the Briton: A Story of the Roman Invasion
Native American Wisdom

I am working on:
Ranger Up!: True Stories of National Park Service Protection Rangers
The Spartans: The World of the Warrior-Heroes of Ancient Greece

Yep, these are the types of books I think are fun. I might try to get through a couple more this month. I am thinking about:

Shutter Island
Jaws
So You Want To Be A Hotshot?: How One Hotshot's Escape Into America's Burning Wildlands Will Ignite Transformation In Your Life
The Smoke Dragon

[Chris K.]

I've started To Ride Hell’s Chasm. This is my first time reading Janny Wurts.

[[deleted user]]

Picked up Chlorine by Jade Song from the library so I'm reading that and What Feasts at Night by T. Kingfisher which I got as a gift and couldn't wait to get into. Enjoying both so far at about 20% in.

[Benji]

My grandfather gave me a copy of a book a friend of his wrote “On Scimitars and Scalpels” - Timothy Gerrard. Fast paced, loveable characters and an interesting plot. From Amazon’s description:


DURING THE TWELFTH CENTURY CRUSADES A DEADLY JOURNEY MUST BE MADE FOR SALVATION TO HAPPEN...

When the king of Jerusalem is diagnosed with life-threatening leprosy, his physician and two apprentices - Ippolito and Ruth - will travel to India in search of a cure that has only ever been rumoured to exist.

They face many trials and tribulations along their journey to India and each will be more traumatic and devastating than the last. Against all odds they must continue as they hold the legacy of humanity in their hands alone.

With daring adventures having deadly consequences at each junction of the quest, it is their love and fortitude that drive them forward with nothing but a hope in their hearts of succeeding. To lose would be too devastating to contemplate.

[Stephen]

My first June pre-order have come in, The Last Song of Penelope, the final book in Claire North's fabulous retelling of The Odyssey. Then towards the end of the month, June 25th to be exact, Echo of Worlds M.R. Carey's second book in the Pandominion Series. Bit sad we have not picked M.R. Carey as a Book of the Month author. The Girl with All the Gifts and The Book of Koli are both first in their series and dystopian tales in nature. Been a while since we read some dystopia.

[Clyde]

Now reading:
Rag and Bone by James R. Benn (ebook)
The Wright Brothers by David McCullough (hardback)
System Collapse by Martha Wells (audio)

[Joseph]

After spending almost a month on The Pillars of the Earth, I'm preparing to ... spend almost a month on World Without End.

[Silvana]

Hugo reading and now tackling Thornhedge by T. Kingfisher. Maybe after this I'll read The Saint of Bright Doors by Vajra Chandrasekera

[Silvana]

Matthew wrote: "Picked up Chlorine by Jade Song from the library so I'm reading that and What Feasts at Night by T. Kingfisher which I got as a gift and couldn't wait to get into. ..."

Chlorine is crazy and I loved it. One of my faves this year.

[Tamahome]

Finished Pillars of the Earth. Long but an easy read. Much more happens than in the tv show. I should watch a youtube video about the cathedral architecture. I guess there was no justice back then. The bad people cause a lot of mischief. I want to marry wildwoman Ellen.

I started 30% of the cli-fi doorstop The Deluge. Parts of it are like a science textbook, like The Swarm I hear. One pov has these boxed sidebars. I hope the earth starts to fall apart soon. What kind of a masochist is Matthew for getting with Kate? I've only see two people on booktube talk about it.

[Joseph]

Tamahome wrote: "Finished Pillars of the Earth. Long but an easy read. Much more happens than in the tv show. I should watch a youtube video about the cathedral architecture. I guess there was no justic..."

Might I suggest:

https://youtu.be/MZpOd2pHiI0?si=r-n2a...

Also, if you haven't, go to the children's nonfiction section at the library and snag a copy of Cathedral: A Caldecott Honor Award Winner, the David Macaulay book that the PBS special was adapted from.

[Clyde]

Just finished System Collapse. Good continuation of the previous story.
Started Trading in Danger (audio version).

[Tamahome]

Hoopla has the GraphicAudio dramatized version of Trading in Danger.

[Clyde]

Tamahome wrote: "Hoopla has the GraphicAudio dramatized version of Trading in Danger."

Hoopla is great for those who can use it. Unfortunately, I live in Japan and the Yokohama City Library isn't a participant. 🙁

[Trike]

Clyde wrote: "Tamahome wrote: "Hoopla has the GraphicAudio dramatized version of Trading in Danger."

Hoopla is great for those who can use it. Unfortunately, I live in Japan and the Yokohama City Library isn't ..."

On the plus side you get to live in Japan.

[Trike]

I read Hollow Kingdom a book that’s purportedly about the zombie apocalypse as narrated by a talking crow but is actually an excuse by this s**t-stain of an author to repeatedly and gruesomely murder dogs. Seriously, like 90% of the deaths on-page are dogs being eaten, most of them by their owners. IN A TALKING ANIMAL STORY.

I haven’t been this angry at an author in a very long while.

[Clyde]

Trike wrote: "Clyde wrote: "Tamahome wrote: " …On the plus side you get to live in Japan."

Yup. That is one big plus. ➕😊

[Ruth]

I’ve just started the audiobook of City of Last Chances by Adrian Tchaikovsky. There are a lot of characters to keep track of! I’m hoping I’ll get used to them all soon. Audio can be harder for this sort of thing because you can’t flick back to check who someone is.

[Fredrik]

I'm reading Some Desperate Glory, about a super-soldier forced to ask herself uncomfortable questions about the righteousness of the cause she's been raised to serve.

[Trike]

Fredrik wrote: "I'm reading Some Desperate Glory, about a super-soldier forced to ask herself uncomfortable questions about the righteousness of the cause she's been raised to serve."

I read that earlier this year and liked it.

[Trike]

Clyde wrote: "Trike wrote: "Clyde wrote: "Tamahome wrote: " …On the plus side you get to live in Japan."

Yup. That is one big plus. ➕😊"

The YouTube algorithm sent me down the “living in Japan” rabbit hole a couple weeks ago and I was quite impressed with how quiet, clean and safe it was. Quite a bit of racism, apparently, but that’s kind of a human problem, not specific to any particular country.

[Jerimy]

Benji wrote: "My grandfather gave me a copy of a book a friend of his wrote “On Scimitars and Scalpels” - Timothy Gerrard. Fast paced, loveable characters and an interesting plot. From Amazon’s description:


DU..."

Hello Benji,

That sounds like an amazing book. I am fond of historical fictions. I might check it out. Thanks for sharing.

[John (Taloni)]

Trike wrote: "I read Hollow Kingdom a book that’s purportedly about the zombie apocalypse as narrated by a talking crow but is actually an excuse by this s**t-stain of an author to repeatedly and..."

I distinctly recall Narnia showing the idea of eating talking animals as a horrific thing only an unredeemable villain would do.

If we are to go with the half-dark-humor that many zombie stories do, the obvious role for dogs wouldn't be as food. It would be as hunters...hunting other humans. Perhaps for food. Long pig for dinner!

[Ruth]

I have started reading a new book I got from my local library: The Silence Factory by Bridget Collins, an historical fantasy book about a magical silk that can block sounds - or create them.

[Trike]

Ruth wrote: "I have started reading a new book I got from my local library: The Silence Factory by Bridget Collins, an historical fantasy book about a magical silk that can bl..."

Intriguing! And a spectacular cover, too.

Apparently it will be published late August in the States.

[Nicholas]

I’m about half way through System Collapse

[terpkristin]

Last night I finished A Court of Wings and Ruin. I really liked the arc in the first 3 books and there was a scene that definitely made me cry.

Now I’m reading Survival of the Fritters. It’s…fine. I wanted a palette cleanser before I jump into The Way of Kings Prime. And whatever books I bring to the beach next week…

[Chris K.]

I finished listening to Emily Wilde’s Map of the Otherlands. Quite enjoyable. I'll read the third when it comes out next year.

[John (Taloni)]

Currently going through The Imposition of Unnecessary Obstacles by Malka Older, which is about what you'd expect from the first book, The Mimicking of Known Successes. But anyway. One of the unexpected joys of this book is the language play. Two examples:

"We arrived at last at a fairly prepossessing gate..."
This term is used overwhelming in the negative (unprepossessing) so it was a bit of witty wordplay that I enjoyed.

"Rail-of-consciousness chatter."
They live on a gas giant and travel of any distance is by rail. So of course they wouldn't have streams. Any discussion of flow would default to the rails. Nice bit of worldbuilding.

Anyway, that's at the 45% mark. It's a good enough, not great, book so far. But the wordplay is fun.

[Ruth]

I’m working my way through the Hugo voters’ packet. I’ve read the short fiction, now I’m onto the novella nominees, starting with Thornhedge by T. Kingfisher

[Stephen]

I started to read Five Broken Blades by Mai Corland

[Gary]

I finished reading Half a War by Joe Abercrombie (Shattered Seas #3). This is the concluding novel of the series. It brings the characters from the first two novels to a satisfying conclusion. I also finished reading The End of All Things (Old Man’s War #6) by John Scalzi. It is a series of novellas that interlock and conclude the series well. I am reading Royal Assassin (Book #2 of the Farseer Trilogy) by Robin Hobb and Komarr by Lois McMaster Bujold. I plan to read Thinner by Stephen King next.

[Clyde]

Finished The Wright Brothers and Trading in Danger. Both very good.
Started Marque and Reprisal by Elizabeth Moon. (Audio)

[Steve]

I've just finished The Liveship Traders Trilogy, which was great; far more satisfying than the The Farseer Trilogy. A very well-structured trilogy (setup > evolution > conclusion), with some great character development.

[John (Taloni)]

Read the Ancillary Justice trilogy plus the related book Translation State. Approached the first book with some trepidation since I had heard it was heavy on pronoun confusion and gendering / misgendering. Anyway, it included that but was so much more. The language of the book assumes "she" as the default. And as the MC is a small segment of an AI running on a human brain, there's quite a bit she (or he, we never really know) doesn't understand.

There's some really great stuff about distributed consciousness and AI vs human modes of thought. A fairly big galactic civilization is implied. I was at a raving five stars for most of the book. Lack of a satisfying ending took it down a smidge, but not too far.

Then the followups. They each continue on the same theme. Both were solid books but not as inspired as the original. The scale shrinks from galactic to a single station and mostly stays there. There's a decent enough finale in the third book but it feels quickly tacked on after Leckie had made all her points. Anyway. Definitely far better than I had thought it would be. I just feel like Leckie could do even more. We need someone to rival Heinlein's skill in the current market and she's close.

[John (Taloni)]

The side book, Translation State, follows a different character some ten years later. Some familiar characters show up but it's mostly new. This one was the pronoun profusion I was concerned about for the first one. There were so many I lost track and just kind of glazed over them. It's sold as a deep dive into one of the enigmatic alien races of the trilogy. Instead we only see their mostly human translators. Not a deep enough dive for me. Was an okay insomnia read, the chapters flowed well. It was ultimately not as satisfying as I had hoped.

[Joseph]

John (Taloni) wrote: "The side book, Translation State, follows a different character some ten years later. Some familiar characters show up but it's mostly new. This one was the pronoun profusion I was concerned about ..."

There's another book in the series, Provenance, although it's really not connected to the Ancillary books at all except through the setting and a few off-handed references to major events happening elsewhere. I've enjoyed all of them -- I get more than a whiff of C.J. Cherryh from Leckie.

[Chris K.]

I finished To Ride Hell’s Chasm. Excellent stand-alone fantasy.

[Clyde]

Steve wrote: "I've just finished The Liveship Traders Trilogy, which was great …"

Thanks for reminding me. I have intended for a while to start that trilogy, and digging into my ebook library, I find that I already bought the first book (Ship of Magic)! Bout time to getroundtoit I reckon.

[Clyde]

Finished my reread of Marque and Reprisal. Still good nearly two decades later.
Started The Game of Kings by Dorothy Dunnett.

[Phil]

Just finished Strength of Stones by Greg Bear. This was actually a mashup of 3 novellas, all set on the same planet. I believe the first 2 were previously published in magazines and then the third was written to tie it all together.
God-Does-Battle was settled, about 1200 years previous to the start of the story, by a coalition of Jews, Christians and Moslems who tried to live together in peace in cities run by AI. After a couple hundred years the AI decided that all humans were sinful by their own criteria and kicked all the people out into the wilderness to fend for themselves. By the start of the story the cities have all decayed and most are "dead". The book involves the exploration and reclamation of some of the cities and the return of the original "builder".
It's an interesting premise and setting but I'm afraid I didn't find the writing all that compelling. It was kind of the same way I felt when I read Bear's most famous book, Blood Music, a few years ago. It was fine but nothing to get excited about. I got a couple more of his on my shelves that I'll get to some day.
Next is Mythos: The Greek Myths Retold by Stephen Fry.

[Chris K.]

Mythos is fantastic. I hope you enjoy it.