December 2017: Reading thread

[nixie]

Another month and the year is nearly gone, tell us what reading delights you are losing yourself in.

 

[Danny McG]

Last couple of chapters of Footfall by Larry Niven.
Then am going straight on to an ebook, McClennons Syndrome by Robert Frezza - I know nothing about this story yet, I got it cos I liked the cover.

 

[Vince W]

Starting my 2018 reading list early with The Napoleon of Notting Hill by G. K. Chesterton.

 

[Foxbat]

Whew! Finally finished Simon Sebag Montefiore's book on Jerusalem and whilst it was very interesting and I learned a huge amount that helps put into perspective the situation there today, the sheer volume of information means that I'm not sure how much of it will stick in my brain. I wonder if he might have been better off writing it in two volumes?

Anyway, I'm now reading Primo Levi's Periodic Table for the umpteenth time. It's always a fascinating read

 

[Extollager]

Among other things, I'm reading...

Sullivan's Listening for Coyote, about backpacking in Oregon's wilderness; he's just been in the region where I used to live, mentioning Mt. Ashland, Pilot Rock, etc. I should soon receive a copy of Atwood's Illahe, about pioneers in rugged southwestern Oregon.

a book of Swedish folktales; just received Folktales of Mexico, #9 in the University of Chicago's old Folktales of the World series, but probably won't get into it for a while

Kinney's The Dylanologists, about Bob Dylan obsessives -- like most current nonfiction that I read, too slack in style to be worth reading word for word, but mildly interesting

Roberts' Creation and Covenant: The Significance of Sexual Difference in the Moral Theology of Marriage

Johnson's A History of the Jews

I recently reread several genre classics, including Budrys's "Rogue Moon," MacLean's "Contagion," Moore and Kuttner's "Vintage Season," Lovecraft's "Colour Out of Space," etc.

My bookmark has stalled in the collected letters of Gary Snyder and Wendell Berry. I anticipate rereading Madison Jones's Season of the Strangler soon, and, soon after it arrives, reading Avram Davidson's Masters of the Maze -- science fiction!

For Christmas I'll receive the second edition (now three volumes) of Scull and Hammond's J. R. R. Tolkien: Companion and Guide.

 

[Extollager]

And I forgot to say I'm reading ERB's Land That Time Forgot, maybe just a few pages before lights out. I read this once or twice in my teens, long ago. I'm reading a coverless Doubleday hardcover with the other two Caspak books in one volume now, but when I was a youngster would have read it in one of those little Ace reprints.

 

[BigBadBob141]

Have just read two books by Joe Abercombie.
The 1st was a novel "Red Country" & the 2nd a short story collection "Sharp Ends".
Both highly recommended, Abercrombie is an excellent writer.
However having said that be warned, these are not in the same school as Tolkien.
They are very gritty, bloody & with some very salty language.

 

[LordOfWizards]

Has anyone else read (or listened to) Peter F. Hamilton? I'm reading (listening to) Pandora's Star right now, and it seems like a prequel to an earlier one I read. Yep. I just looked it up. I read Judas Unchained prior to this one. (Wrong order) He is a prolific writer, somewhat to a fault. A little too much information about future politics, and lifestyles. But his science is quite good.

 

[Fedos]

Has anyone else read (or listened to) Peter F. Hamilton? I'm reading (listening to) Pandora's Star right now, and it seems like a prequel to an earlier one I read. Yep. I just looked it up. I read Judas Unchained prior to this one. (Wrong order) He is a prolific writer, somewhat to a fault. A little too much information about future politics, and lifestyles. But his science is quite good.

I'm reading Peter F. Hamilton right now, the second book in his Night's Dawn Trilogy, The Neutronium Alchemist. I've got a little over three hundred pages left. He's definitely catapulted himself to one of my favorite modern science fiction authors, though to be fair I haven't read that exhaustively in the genre.

 

[Danny McG]

Has anyone else read (or listened to) Peter F. Hamilton? I'm reading (listening to) Pandora's Star right now, and it seems like a prequel to an earlier one I read. Yep. I just looked it up. I read Judas Unchained prior to this one. (Wrong order) He is a prolific writer, somewhat to a fault. A little too much information about future politics, and lifestyles. But his science is quite good.

I think I would have found that really confusing to start with Judas Unchained first. I could never have got the concept of Ozzie walking the gate paths etc.

 

[LordOfWizards]

I think I would have found that really confusing to start with Judas Unchained first. I could never have got the concept of Ozzie walking the gate paths etc.

Well, I know that concept quite well now; being half way through. I may end up skimming back through "Judas Unchained" after this just to get it all straight in my head. Thanks people!!!

 

[AE35Unit]

Up next, Dracula by Bram Stoker.
It'll be interesting to finally read this classic which has inspired so many works including Stephen King's Salem's Lot

 

[williamjm]

Has anyone else read (or listened to) Peter F. Hamilton? I'm reading (listening to) Pandora's Star right now, and it seems like a prequel to an earlier one I read. Yep. I just looked it up. I read Judas Unchained prior to this one. (Wrong order) He is a prolific writer, somewhat to a fault. A little too much information about future politics, and lifestyles. But his science is quite good.

I've read all but one of his novels. Having a huge amount of extraneous information that isn't directly related to the main plot is usually one of his trademarks (although he has written some short fiction which is more focused), I remember some other SF authors used to joke about a 'Hamilton' as being a unit of length equal to one thousand pages.

 

[Extollager]

And I'm rereading Season of the Strangler by Madison Jones, fiction about townspeople being affected in various way by the presence of a serial killer, from about 1982. Jones was one of my best discoveries of the past 15 years.

 

[Randy M.]

Dead Cold by Louise Penny (U.S. title, A Fatal Grace). About 70 pages into this, the second book in the mystery series featuring Inspector Armand Gamache though you could argue the main characters are really Peter and Clara Morrow and the small town of Three Pines. The first novel, Still Life, and this one so far butt up against sentimentality but the snarky, sometimes sarcastic humor and prickly personalities of the townspeople so far save the stories from that. And I find Penny's writing insightful, compassionate and very entertaining, and since the novel's events occur around Christmas time, perfect reading for this time of year.


Randy M.

 

[Talysia]

It might be a bit early for me to be rereading Terry Pratchett's Hogfather, but 'tis the season and I needed something to lift my spirits a bit.

 

[Thomas Storm]

Still in the process of rereading the wheel of time series by Robert Jordan. Any avid readers out there have any suggestions for a good fantasy series/author?

 

[Danny McG]

Jones was one of my best discoveries of the past 15 years.

Until I read this I'd never heard of him. From the odd snippets I've now found about his dozen books he looks kinda interesting.
Thanks for the tip

 

[Fedos]

Still in the process of rereading the wheel of time series by Robert Jordan. Any avid readers out there have any suggestions for a good fantasy series/author?

I would recommend Steven Erikson's epic military fantasy series Malazan Book of the Fallen starting with Gardens of the Moon. Be aware that some people find it a difficult read because of the way Erikson thrusts you into the middle of things without any real explanation, but as you persist in your reading the answers will come. I personally had no trouble with this technique and Eriskon is currently right now unrivaled in my reading heart. It's a ten book series so that gives you plenty of reading with several sub series (Tales of Bauchlain and Korbal Brouch and his co-writer Ian Cameron Esselmont's Novels of the Malazan Empire which is six books). In whatever direction you decide to go, happy reading!

 

[Harpo]

Today I found a copy of Jules Verne's The Mysterious Island