September 2018: Reading Thread

[Extollager]

Vertigo, I wonder if one thing about the Rogue Moon characters is that they're Americans. (Said the present author, an American.)

 

[Vince W]

Just started Player Piano by Kurt Vonnegut. I've read a few Vonnegut, but not this one, his first.

 

[Hugh]

I’m enjoying the LOTR very much: currently en route to Cirith Ungol. At the end of each book, I catch up on the entries in the Hammod/Scull “Companion”, while also using Karen Wynn Foster’s “Atlas” and Robert Foster’s “Tolkien’s World A-Z” for helpful reference: many thanks @Extollager for the recommendations.

As my copy is the recently purcased 60th anniversary hardback edition, there are a number of places I prefer not to read it – as a result I’ve also got through these somewhat dated Jack Vance romps:
“Galactic Effectuator” (1976/77): a Galactic Effectuator is an interplanetary freelance private eye and general trouble-shooter.
“The Five Gold Bands” (1950): only for the Vance completist. Paddy Blackthorn is from Skibbereen, County Cork, and prone to such comments as “they’ll have us bottled up like the Green Imp of Ballycastle”, “I went and picked out a shipmate, one like the Hag of Muckish Mountains”, “If old Father O’Toole would hear you, how he’d tut-tut-tut”.
“Son of the Tree” (1951): life on the planet Kyril revolves around a vast tree that is several miles high and protected by Druids.
“Big Planet” (1952): the best of the bunch, as a crash-landed group from Earth try to reach the one place of safety on the planet while dodging all manner of perils.

As said above, these Vance are all a tad dated (though still Vance): in contrast the LOTR is a fine wine indeed.

 

[soulsinging]

Just started Player Piano by Kurt Vonnegut. I've read a few Vonnegut, but not this one, his first.

Very curious what you think if it. It's one of his I remember fondly from years ago and seems rather poignant today.

 

[Vertigo]

Vertigo, I wonder if one thing about the Rogue Moon characters is that they're Americans. (Said the present author, an American.)

Hah, that is possible I guess, maybe that's where I sometimes seem to struggle more with Heinlein's over the top characters more than some others do.

 

[The Big Peat]

Currently reading

The Eagle's Flight by DE Olsen - Very old fashioned and political, but intriguing
The House of Shattered Wings by Aliette de Bodard - Slow, intricate, intriguing. Reminds me a little of GGK.

 

[Parson]

Finished my run through of the Ell Donsaii series with book 14 Bioterror. Perhaps the best thing about this series is that although they are not pretentious, they also do not deteriorate over the series. IMO the first one is not that much better than #14. There aren't many series that can say that.

Started The Eons-Lost Orphan by Laer Carroll --- a truly dreadful book which I promptly chucked. I picked it up because it sounded like an interesting concept with a dreadful cover. The idea isn't bad but the writing matches the cover.

Started Girl Fights Back by Jacques Antoine. The jury is still out on this one. it has an interesting main character and a very mysterious back story which I've yet to discover. More later.

 

[Extollager]

Hugh, around 1972-1973 I read The Lord of the Rings for the fifth time, and that was about when I had my brief but fairly intense Vance phase. It petered out before I read all the Vance paperbacks I'd collected, including Big Planet. My copy looked like this:

I'm also pretty sure I had The Blue World in this edition --

but didn't read it.

I did read The Languages of Pao in time:

The main thing was reading The Dying Earth and The Eyes of the Overworld (and rereading that latter one). Eventually I read The Last Castle and Cugel's Saga, but I don't think they did a lot for me.

I wrote a story called "A Sojourn in Pasgue" that was very much a Vance imitation (especially of Overworld) -- and that might have had something to do with my losing much of my interest in his work. "A Sojourn in Pasgue" had a couple of short sequels and I think the lot was published in an undergraduate "literary magazine" by my college's English department. A long time ago!

 

[tobl]

going through the legacy of the aldenata by john ringo. not as bad as i feared, not as good as i hoped.. so far.

 

[Hugh]

Hugh, around 1972-1973 I read The Lord of the Rings for the fifth time, and that was about when I had my brief but fairly intense Vance phase. It petered out before I read all the Vance paperbacks I'd collected, including Big Planet. My copy looked like this:

I'm also pretty sure I had The Blue World in this edition --

but didn't read it.

I did read The Languages of Pao in time:

The main thing was reading The Dying Earth and The Eyes of the Overworld (and rereading that latter one). Eventually I read The Last Castle and Cugel's Saga, but I don't think they did a lot for me.

I wrote a story called "A Sojourn in Pasgue" that was very much a Vance imitation (especially of Overworld) -- and that might have had something to do with my losing much of my interest in his work. "A Sojourn in Pasgue" had a couple of short sequels and I think the lot was published in an undergraduate "literary magazine" by my college's English department. A long time ago!

Curiously I also stopped reading Vance in the early 70s. I rated him highly then lost all interest in reading further with "Star King" (re-read a few months ago), but I'd only read several before then. I probably began reading him again fairly recently and must be around three quarters through his wikipedia bibliography of novels/novellas. I get interested in reading through the works of one author at a time and it helps that old Vance paperbacks are available very cheaply (sadly with less interesting covers than the ones you've shown). I find it difficult to identify SF to read (hence focusing on one author at a time), but Vance is always dependable, and there are several I've really liked.

I've just googled "Sojourn in Pasgue" without success.

 

[airsophia]

does anyone know dean koontz? I'm reading everything from him right now

 

[Jo Zebedee]

does anyone know dean koontz? I'm reading everything from him right now

I read quite a bit by him in the past - less now. I like him a lot but started to find the books blended into each other a bit after a while

 

[Jo Zebedee]

I've yet to reach that overview
are you reading cyberpunk literature too? if so, what are your recommendations, Jo?

Sadly not big into cyberpunk - but others will be!

 

[Danny McG]

I read quite a bit by him in the past - less now. I like him a lot but started to find the books blended into each other a bit after a while

I lost interest in his books once he started putting a friendly and intelligent pet in every ****ing story

 

[Danny McG]

Right now I'm starting to read Death Freak by Herbert Burkholz and Clifford Irving. A spy thriller with weird weapons.
I'd read the sequel The Sleeping Spy way back around 1990 but until now I'd never read the first one.
- Spy Guys And Gals

 

[tobl]

did anyone ever read the book by james white the escape orbit / open prison? it's brilliant

 

[williamjm]

I read The Book of Swords, edited by Gardner Dozois. I thought it was a decent collection of short stories, it was consistent throughout but without any of them really excelling. I would say there is a bad story among them (the Lavie Tidhar story was probably the weakest but even that wasn't bad), but while there are a lot of authors I really like in it (Abraham, Lynch, GRRM), I wouldn't say this was necessarily their best work.

After that I read Leigh Bardugo's The Language of Thorns short story collection. It's a bit different in tone to her novels, despite being in the same setting as her Grisha novels these are fables that feel like the sort of faerie tales that exist in such a setting. The original Grisha trilogy could be a bit hit-and-miss with long stretches where nothing much of interest happened, the shorter stories have the advantage that this doens't happen. I thought it was a good collection, The Duva With and When Water Sang Fire were the highlights. I also thought the illustrations added a lot to the book, I liked the way they build up and gradually become more complex on each page of a story.

Next up I think I'll start Naomi Novik's Spinning Silver. I really enjoyed Uprooted so hopefully this will be as good.

 

[Vertigo]

Consider Phlebas by Iain M Banks - First of my Banks SF reread, which I enjoyed every bit as much as first time around. More here.
Chronicle of a Death Foretold by Gabriel Garcia Marquez - Not so much of Marquez's signature magical realism but a brilliant and magically told story of a grim murder. More here.

Started the next volume of Patrick O'Brian's Aubrey Maturin series, The Surgeon's Mate.

 

[Danny McG]

Yesterday afternoon I picked up a bit of 'light reading', Tomorrow's Ghost by Anthony Price, the 9th in his David Audley espionage series. This was from the late seventies.

I ended up totally gripped and finished it in the small hours. There was a bit in it that scared the sh*t out of me.
A fairie story related by the main protagonist, called The Death Story or, later, The Summoning Story.

I'll never sleep again

 

[tobl]

given up on the legacy of the aldenata. one or two books are okay but it never really engaged me like some of the other john ringo's books