It's November. What are you reading?

[Vertigo]

OMW is fun and also has some interesting things to say. I think the series gets better as it goes along, actually, so there's more fun in store for you! (Well, through the first three...Zoe's Tale is not that good.)

That's interesting; I've not read Zoe's Tale yet but I think I probably still will for completeness.

@ratsy it's worth noting, if you haven't already heard, that a tv series is planned.

 

[ratsy]

@Vertigo No I didn't know that and since I never see a tv show that lives up to the books it doesn't really excite me. I would probably check it out though...I suppose it depends on what network it is on

I finished it this morning before work and really enjoyed it.

 

[Randy M.]

When reading time didn't dry up in October, my attention span atrophied. I'm hoping November is better but so far, not really. Currently reading, Thing Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe, and I am enjoying it. The cover blurbs mention myth, legend, the feel of some Greek tragedy, and I can see that.

Randy M.

 

[Vertigo]

@Vertigo No I didn't know that and since I never see a tv show that lives up to the books it doesn't really excite me. I would probably check it out though...I suppose it depends on what network it is on

I finished it this morning before work and really enjoyed it.

I know exactly what you mean! However Scalzi is apparently to be an executive producer and will have input into the production so might be okay...

 

[Parson]

Just finished listening to "The Fire Starters" by Richard Farr. This book is very good and very unusual. It is very good in that it is a cracking good yarn. It is hard to locate genre wise. It is a sort of combination mystery, sff, and philosophical read. Some people call it Y.A. but it qualifies as Y.A. only in that the main character is 17 in most of the novel. It deals with some very deep thoughts about death, life, language, and history. It is unusual among sf* in that it takes religion seriously and it was written by someone who clearly leans or is a thorough going atheist. If you know me it should be needless to say that this book really suits my taste.

*The series, this was book 1, might go either to sf or f. I can't wait to find out .

 

[Dinosaur]

All has been dropped in favour of Foxglove Summer by Ben Aaronovitch.

 

[Jo Zebedee]

I'm reading Space Captain Smith by Toby Frost and sniggering my way through it. I have The Slow Regard of silent Things to read on my weekend off. But, here now - is that the new Peter Grant, Dinosaur? Could be a raid on the library, too. (i like him lots but not sure it's a must buy. But it's a must-read....)

 

[willwallace]

Finished The Slow Regard of Silent Things, Mile 81, and All Quiet on the Western Front. Next up is Fire(Alan Rodgers).

 

[Bugg]

Finished Cornwell's Death of Kings and have made a start on Clavell's Shogun.

 

[ratsy]

I have the Slow Regard of Silent Things but can't help feeling like I've been ripped off. Why did I buy it?? I have no idea..haha

I would have preferred it to be paperback...it just seems odd to be so small and hardcovered. I was going to read it just to get it off the TBR pile but I elected to go with Sworn in Steel by Douglas Hulick. It's taking me a while to remember what happened in the first book but I do like his writing.

 

[tobl]

read the trilogy antares by michael mccollum.not bad but i really prefer the trilogy Gibraltar earth. Reading the janissaires by chris Kennedy. like it so far. a bit like John ringo

 

[Bick]

I finished David Weber's "The Short Victorious War". It was okay, I wouldn't praise it more than that. A bit so-so. Honor H books depend mostly on the space battles I think, as they are shallow, popcorn stuff really. Quite enjoyable whilst you're reading though.

I've now started Brian Stableford's "Cradle of the Sun", which I can instantly appreciate is much better.

 

[hitmouse]

Re-read The City and the Stars by Arthur C Clarke after a gap of 30+ years. This was originally one of those random reads as a teenager, having picked the book up as a chance purchase in a jumble sale, and at the time it was one of those wonderful, transporting and transformative magical surprises of a story, which I felt was totally different from anything else I had read and quite special. I think I wrote my "O" level English long essay on the book.
It is still good, but not quite as stunning as on that first read. Perhaps I am a bit older and more cynical. Perhaps I have read and seen a lot of other stuff in the interrim, and consequently do not ever get quite the same reaction as I once did.

 

[Jo Zebedee]

I have the Slow Regard of Silent Things but can't help feeling like I've been ripped off. Why did I buy it?? I have no idea..haha

I would have preferred it to be paperback...it just seems odd to be so small and hardcovered. I was going to read it just to get it off the TBR pile but I elected to go with Sworn in Steel by Douglas Hulick. It's taking me a while to remember what happened in the first book but I do like his writing.

If I'd paid full price it would have stung (my hubby gets books at half price ) but I got the signed edition and love that it's such a dinky little thing that will look lovely in the cabinet (after I've read it, I don't treat my books as untouchable.) i have someone else I want to get another for but signed copies are proving very hard to get. So it might accrue as well.

 

[Toby Frost]

I'm re-reading The Gun Seller by Hugh Laurie. It's not bad. I'd forgotten how much Laurie disliked Americans - although he might have moderated his views by now...

 

[ratsy]

@springs You must have quite the collection of signed books these days!

I received my Brent Weeks signed bookplate in the mail from my Broken Eye presale the other day...Am i really supposed to stick it inside my book? I've never done it

 

[Jo Zebedee]

@springs You must have quite the collection of signed books these days!

I received my Brent Weeks signed bookplate in the mail from my Broken Eye presale the other day...Am i really supposed to stick it inside my book? I've never done it

I have a very lovely collection built over many years, most of which I've to thank Mr Springs for (although I've added a few and given a couple of nice gifts to him.) most of it is Irish poetry and literature, though, so limited interest to people here.

Book plates - yes stick them into the book. But in future, if I were you, I'd avoid them as they are less collectible than signed books. Why not start with some Canadian authors who you might be able to get and make the rest of us all jealous. I wouldn't like to tell you what I'd give for a signed Robertson Davies...

 

[ratsy]

I don't really go anywhere with signings so that doesn't help. This was just a promo on Orbits site if you had preordered a book so I figured I may as well get one of the bookplates for free. I really just want them for the coolness factor and less for the collectible factor at this time.

So far I have signed

The Rithmatist - Brandon Sanderson
Mistborn - Brandon Sanderson
Before the Fall - Francis Knight (thanks KMQ!)
Half a King - Joe Ambercrombie (thanks mysterious procurer of books from across the pond..that one put on some miles!)

And now the bookplate for The Broken Eye- Brent Weeks

I want to get a King signed something one day, and Robin Hobb 1st edition Assassin's Apprentice would be nice

Then of course I'm looking forward to getting my very own signed Abendau's Child by this new, upcoming author Jo Zebedee and I am going to try to find a way to get a Queen's Necklace from the one and only, @Teresa Edgerton once I can figure out how to do this...Might try to get @Stephen Palmer 's next one signed too. That would be cool. I will try to get the vast SFFchrons collection.

 

[Jo Zebedee]

Blush. We'll sort that out okay, Ratsy. It might even get to you before you're fifty...

 

[Victoria Silverwolf]

I recently finished Golden Arches East: McDonald's in East Asia (1997), edited by James L. Watson.

This is a collection of essays which studies the cultural impact of McDonald's in Beijing, Hong Kong, Taipei, Seoul, and Japan. It's actually quite interesting how that fast food chain has led to different kinds of cultural changes in each of the places studied.

I'm starting Fiasco by Stanislaw Lem (1986), translated from the Polish by Michael Kandel. The first chapter reads something like a hard SF yarn in the tradition of Gregory Benford or Greg Bear. An astronaut investigates the disappearance of other astronauts in a mysterious natural (?) formation on Titan, transporting himself there inside a gigantic robot body via waldoes. From the book's blurb, however, I think this is only a prelude to the main plot.