March's Marvellous Missals, Mammoth Manuals and Miniscule Monographs

[AE35Unit]

The Time Patrol: Poul Anderson

A collection of 10 short stories about an organisation that polices the timelines, making sure that history is not altered by renegade time-travellers.

The good: vivid evocation of far-flung time and places, a great sense of how history works, an interesting take on time-travel paradoxes and Anderson's usual large-scale vision of past, present and future, as well as unobtrusively vivid prose and instinct for heroic pathos.

The bad: Basic plots are repetitive, so you can't read too many at one go. Too many firm-jawed manly men and winsome wenches waiting to be won; deeply antediluvian gender politics, in other words. But still not as bad as Heinlein's sexy sexism.

I like the sound of this!

 

[elvet]

After getting bogged down In Neal Stephenson's Diamond Age, I finally put it away and went back to fantasy with Michelle West's The City of Night.
She is one of my favorite authors, and the this book is the second in a series based on her Sunsword books. This new series is called House Wars, and it focuses on Jewel Markess. I read it in one day, even trying to savor it. Adding to the experience was the fact that I had got a signed copy. I was thrilled to add it to my collection.
Then, late last night I stated Hominids, by Robert Sawyer. Interesting premise, and based in Canada, so the environmental references are familiar.

 

[J-WO]

I love this book, but I agree that it requires too many visits to the appendices. I have no quarrel with the alien words -- because all have shades of meaning that have no exact equivalents in English (or, I assume, any other human language), and I think those shades of meaning add richness to the story -- but why do so many of them look alike? If they didn't, it would be easier to remember what each word means, and it wouldn't be necessary to consult the glossaries nearly so often.

I'm struggling with it still, so that says something about the quality. I think you've hit the nail on the head with the 'sameyness' of the alien words. Then again, it could just be my akitomekhe viewpoint.

Maybe this book could have a new lease of life in the E-reader age, where these words could be highlighted and linked. A simple press of a button and back again.

 

[Fried Egg]

I'm struggling with it still, so that says something about the quality. I think you've hit the nail on the head with the 'sameyness' of the alien words. Then again, it could just be my akitomekhe viewpoint.

Maybe this book could have a new lease of life in the E-reader age, where these words could be highlighted and linked. A simple press of a button and back again.

That's the kind of indepth world building I can do without. The next time I read one of her books again, I'll want to avoid this one...

 

[Taltos]

Finisged Simon Green The Spy Who Haunted Me - while reading I had a great urge to find the person responsible for the back-cover and do nasty things to him/her - it's partly detective/mystery story and to give that info to the reader beforehand ... not really nice you know Because of that, or for some other reason, the first two books seem to be better - but it was fun (although a bit short) read anyways.
Started and finished Mean Streets over the weekend - 4 stories by Butcher, Green, Richardson and Sniegoski, which were superb. Two problems - this book ended way too fast and now I want to read more from these authors and there are no new books by them in the TBR pile

 

[Lobolover]

Just finished Chamisso's "Peter Shlemihl" . A few interesting points : I realise this was more satirical then not , but I stil found it strange how people only treated Shlemihl's lack of shadow as some gross obscenity , rather then a sign of supernatural or infernal doings , as I think would be the case in early 19th century rural Germany and France .

 

[Talysia]

Phew. I'm taking a break from my Feist reread to read through a book of short stories my Mum leant to me, some based on television sci-fi (Doctor Who, Superman etc) and some completely original. I'm starting with a Terry Pratchett short story I hadn't even heard of, called Final Reward, and it looks good so far.

 

[Lady of Winterfell]

Lady of Winterfell are you a regular reading of military,epic Historical fiction ? Which is most of the famous modern historical fiction.

Not really a regular reader, no. This is probably the first one I have tried to read. Perhaps it just isn't my particular cup of tea, but it got such good reviews around here I wanted to give it a shot.

 

[Hypnos164]

I've been trying to make an effort to read some of the stuff that has been on my TBR pile/shelves for years and years recently - latest is J R Dunn's 1998 novel* Full Tide of Night

*(in hardcover to give some indication of how long its been in the TBR queue)

Billed as a take on "John Webster's classic post-Shakespearean drama, The Duchess of Malfi" - it turned out to be one of those books where I knew I was missing most of the reference and homage that is rather the point of such a work...

Sometimes I have to accept the fact that the reason a book has spent 10+ years on the TBR pile is that having had a second look at the blurb when it arrived I just knew I wasn't going to enjoy it.

Next up, another long term TBR resident Glass Houses by Rachel Caine - this one is certainly hasn't been left on the shelf for being "too intellectual" ...

 

[Lobolover]

Can you be more specific on the later , Hypnos ? I've certainly never heard of it .

 

[Connavar]

Not really a regular reader, no. This is probably the first one I have tried to read. Perhaps it just isn't my particular cup of tea, but it got such good reviews around here I wanted to give it a shot.

You dont have to like it but i think if you had interest in military HF reader you would forgive the slow build,the epic scope of the story.

Personally i adore that kind of historical fiction but i can understand why it wouldnt be some readers cup of tea. Like i would never read a Diana Gabaldon novel no matter the reviews was great.

This is why i never listen to rave reviews on books i have no personal interest in.

 

[Hypnos164]

Can you be more specific on the later , Hypnos ? I've certainly never heard of it .

If you mean:

Next up, another long term TBR resident Glass Houses by Rachel Caine - this one is certainly hasn't been left on the shelf for being "too intellectual" ...

Then its a teen-vampire / urban fantasy piece for a YA audience by the author of the Weather Warden series of urban fantasies.

 

[Talysia]

Next up in my anthology is Ray Bradbury's I'll Not Look For Wine, and Isaac Asimov's Liar!

 

[ktabic]

Lavinia by Ursula K Le Guin. This is the first of the four novels for this years BSFA awards I've read. I read it first to get the fantaasy book out of the way, and on to the SF books, and wasn't expecting much. Boy was I wrong. It's great.

 

[purple_kathryn]

Probably my last book for this month

The thousandfold Thought by R Scott Bakker, part 3 in the Prince of Nothing trilogy.

I actually find him pretty hard to get through but I like to finish a series once I've started it

 

[gully_foyle]

After the intensity of China Mieville's The Scar I'm letting my brain relax with Bill Bryson's A Short History of Nearly Everything.

 

[Jayaprakash Satyamurthy]

Currently reading HADRIAN THE SEVENTH by Frederick Rolfe, as well as AFTER THE ICE by Steven Mithen and LIVES OF THE GREAT COMPOSERS by Harold C. Schonberg.

 

[Fried Egg]

Just finished Jack Finney's "Time and Again" and back to dipping into short stories by Bierce and Sturgeon.

 

[Talysia]

Still working my way through this anthology. Next up is S.A. Lombino's What Price Venus? and John Wyndham's Dumb Martian.

 

[Taltos]

1/3 throught a translation of Banks The Player of Games - so far only one question - why has this been in my TBR pile for so long ?