September 2017: reading thread

[hitmouse]

Lol! How on Earth does one unsubscribe from this website?
I have been looking for over half an hour now but, to no avail.

Hmmm!

Whyever do you want to unsubscribe? You came here a few days ago full of enthusiasm. Surely you haven't already exhausted the riches of the Chrons archives, or tired of the wit and wisdom of the members?

 

[soulsinging]

To get a little caught up, I polished off Asimov's Caves of Steel and really enjoyed it. Very different from Foundation as it is a much tighter and more focused plot. Offers a nice blend of mystery, sci-fi, and buddy movie. I'm currently tearing through the follow-up, the Naked Sun and loving this one as well. That will bring me up to speed on all his early work (original Foundation trilogy, I, Robot and the two Lije/Daneel robot books). Apparently Asimov took a 30-odd year break from these universes after these books, and I may do the same and then re-read them before diving into the later books and seeing how he ties robot to foundation.

In between, I read the Plague by Camus while on vacation in France. Not terribly impressed, but I didn't much care for the Stranger either. Something about his writing leaves me cold.

I also read Canticle for Leibowitz by Walter Miller on vacation, which was FASCINATING. Parts of it I loved, parts of it baffled me, but overall it has been churning in my mind since I finished it. Might have to make a separate thread about that one to organize my thoughts.

 

[Parson]

I also read Canticle for Leibowitz by Walter Miller on vacation, which was FASCINATING. Parts of it I loved, parts of it baffled me, but overall it has been churning in my mind since I finished it. Might have to make a separate thread about that one to organize my thoughts.

You might be interested in this. A Canticle for Leibowitz?

This link goes to the thread a few posts in but the whole thread talks about Miller's book.

 

[Vertigo]

You might be interested in this. A Canticle for Leibowitz?

This link goes to the thread a few posts in but the whole thread talks about Miller's book.

It's really strange but I'd swear I discussed ACfL on here at some time but I have no posts in that thread or the one in the Reviews sub forum - A Canticle for Leibowitz by Walter M. Miller, Jr - and I can't find any other where I've posted on it. I must be losing/lost it!

 

[Danny McG]

Today's fat book - I'm now in the opening paragraphs of Children of Time by Adrian Tchaikovsky

 

[Randy M.]

Brian has given good advice unless you are looking for the door out. It's been rumored that there is one, but I've never found it.

"You can check out any time you like. But you can never leave."


More on topic: Currently reading from The Traveling Grave and Other Stories by L. P. Hartley, The View from the Cheap Seats by Neil Gaiman and Beware of the Trains by Edmund Crispin after a novel didn't work out.


Randy M.

 

[anno]

Topical,finger on the pulse as usual, I'm reading Brandon Sanderson's Mistborn Final Empire - good too!

 

[thaddeus6th]

I've finished Tacitus' Annals, and am now on The History. Also reading Angel's Truth, by AJ Grimmelhaus, and really rather liking it.

 

[Perpetual Man]

I've just flown through (by my standards) The Riddle-Master of Hed by Patricia McPhillip. Review Here

Unsurprising I will be reading a few more in the never ending comic catch up

 

[Bick]

I read Out of the Silent Planet, by Lewis. It's certainly of its time (1930's) and is an old solar system adventure. What it really is though, is Lewis using the background of planetary adventure to spin his brand of 'aren't we a deplorable species' concerns, along with clunky Christian philosophy. It may well have been fine when written, and of course Lewis writes very well, but its message is rather childishly presented in my opinion. Not sure I would recommend it particularly, unless you have an essay to write on early Christian SF. I like the cover very much though, and while it's not essential reading, it's neither long nor boring so for those interested, I suppose it's a C+ effort, no worse.

 

[Randy M.]

I read Out of the Silent Planet, by Lewis. It's certainly of its time (1930's) and is an old solar system adventure. What it really is though, is Lewis using the background of planetary adventure to spin his brand of 'aren't we a deplorable species' concerns, along with clunky Christian philosophy. It may well have been fine when written, and of course Lewis writes very well, but its message is rather childishly presented in my opinion. Not sure I would recommend it particularly, unless you have an essay to write on early Christian SF. I like the cover very much though, and while it's not essential reading, it's neither long nor boring so for those interested, I suppose it's a C+ effort, no worse.

One of the few Lewis works that didn't bore me to tears, I would still agree with your take on it. In the next book of the trilogy, Perelandra, Lewis returned to form, regaining his grip on boring to tears. The third book I recall as somewhat better except that I don't think Lewis felt the need to dramatize a point when he could simply club you with it over and over again.

I can read and even enjoy fiction with a point of view, an axe to grind or a need to illustrate some important belief, but only when the fiction does that without the author steering it. Or maybe its more, without the author obviously steering it, mucking about with events or forcing some character to give a moral. I have similar complaints about some Heinlein and haven't read any more Michael Swanwick after reading Cuckoo's Egg because I had the same impression of that book.


Randy M.

 

[HareBrain]

The third book I recall as somewhat better

That Hideous Strength. I thought it was the strongest of the three, and the only one I've felt worth re-reading.

 

[Bick]

Thanks interesting feedback on these books. It will be a while until I give them a go I suspect.

 

[Brian G Turner]

Finished Golden Son by Pierce Brown - more here: Red Rising - Pierce Brown

 

[tobl]

That Hideous Strength. I thought it was the strongest of the three, and the only one I've felt worth re-reading.

i read them once. not a big fan. actually from what i can remember it was quite preposterous

 

[Bick]

i read them once. not a big fan. actually from what i can remember it was quite preposterous

Well, yes, all the 'science' is preposterous, and indeed that must have known at the time it was written. It's space fantasy of an old style, with no attempt at SF, to be honest. It is what it is though, so the lack of scientific rigour is not what bothered me.

 

[Extollager]

I love the Lewis space trilogy, which has grown with me for over 45 years, but I'm too tired to go into it now.

 

[Bick]

I'd be interested in your thoughts at some point Extollager. I may have read too little into it or been too quickly dismissive. Or maybe it's just not my cup of tea; horses for courses. I didn't think it was bad, just not especially good either, I guess.

I have an unusual itch (for me) to read some lengthy fantasy now, so to scratch it I'm starting Tad Williams' The Dragonbone Chair. Should keep me out of mischief for a while...

 

[tobl]

I'd be interested in your thoughts at some point Extollager. I may have read too little into it or been too quickly dismissive. Or maybe it's just not my cup of tea; horses for courses. I didn't think it was bad, just not especially good either, I guess.

I have an unusual itch (for me) to read some lengthy fantasy now, so to scratch it I'm starting Tad Williams' The Dragonbone Chair. Should keep me out of mischief for a while...

if you want long try the name of the wind or the painted man

 

[Danny McG]

Today I'm on an ebook re-read.

Terry Pratchett 'The dark side of the sun'