January 2019 Reading Thread

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I have finished Ancient Rome on Five Denarii a Day and, as well as After the Ice by Steven Mithen, have finally begun the third Stormlight Archive book, by Brandon Sanderson.

Exciting questions arise. How many character names will I remember? Will I have forgotten the plot? Will I finish the book before the Autumn Equinox?

[As an aside, the prologue, a sort of flashback, was a bit of a handy reminder].
 
so, i'm re-listening dale musser. i need some help. did anyone read the ring of fire series by eric flint? is it worth it?
 
Parson said:
I am also puzzled. I can't find a Kindle Edition I only find this See all 2 formats and editions which of course is hard cover and paperback. There is not an option for a Kindle version.

?Suppose it could be because you are located in the UK?
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I am sorry that my recommendation ended in a wild goose chase for you. Maybe you‘ll run across a kindle deal someday. The internet is a treasure trove, yet all too often frustrating in its perplexing unwillingness to give up its treasure.

The other one that I read recently (Rejoice. A knife to the heart by Steven Ericson) is much harder to recommend (and to like). I love his fantasy, but found his SF full of tired tropes and current politics. Still, an easy read, only somewhat disappointing.
 
Finished The Killer Collective by Barry Eisler. Pretty fair read. It is a adventure story about 5 paid assassins and a Seattle cop. --- Actually the story is more coherent than that description makes it seem. I discovered about half way through that this is a book which is in a whole series of books each of them emphasizing one or two or so of this "collective." But the book stood well on it's on and despite the hit man heroes I am a bit intrigued. ---- I must be getting warped in my old age!

Now reading L.J. Ross' The Hermitage. It another D.C.I. Ryan book. The first I've read rather than listened to via audio book. It's another good detective novel and I hear the voice of the narrator of the other books when I read now. --- shouldn't have been surprising but it is.
 
I'm starting the 'Gates' trilogy (Hell on Earth) by Iain Rob Wright.
A few months ago I carefully avoided these kind of stories, also zombie books and Grimdark.
Now i think my mindset has got darker 'cos I quite enjoy them all. :devilish:
 
Ian Fortytwo said:
I'm reading Gathering (Chronicles of Empire Book 1), by Brian G Turner. I have only just started, yet it is building up nicely, hopefully it keeps me enthralled. Thanks Brian.
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Well I gave this book a good try reading 50 per cent, and then gave it up, I couldn't cope with the religious issues it raised. Sorry @Brian G Turner .
 
Ian Fortytwo said:
Well I gave this book a good try reading 50 per cent, and then gave it up, I couldn't cope with the religious issues it raised. Sorry @Brian G Turner .
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That's absolutely fine - you're more than welcome to post any criticisms, either in public or to me via private message - I'm always genuinely interested in feedback, positive or negative. :)
 
Brian G Turner said:
That's absolutely fine - you're more than welcome to post any criticisms, either in public or to me via private message - I'm always genuinely interested in feedback, positive or negative. :)
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I struggle with religion in life, so as I read your book it made it for me a bit on the difficult side. I always try and persevere, yet whenever a book starts messing with my mind I have to give it up.
 
Ian Fortytwo said:
I struggle with religion in life, so as I read your book it made it for me a bit on the difficult side. I always try and persevere, yet whenever a book starts messing with my mind I have to give it up.
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That's fair enough - if it's any consolation, there's none in my science fiction, the first of which should be coming very soon. :)
 
saulfan said:
Very much so. Thankyou for posting them.

This is an author and work I was completely unaware of.

Best Wishes,
David
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I expect to finish The Rector of Maliseet by Leslie Reid today. Readers who read for fast-moving plot and inventive horrors would be wasting their time with this one, but my guess is that there are enough readers with other priorities that this might be worth reviving by some small press.
 
"The Red Fairy Book" edited by Andrew Lang

I read this because of the influence it had on the young Tolkien. I will try to write in more detail on the Andrew Lang thread:

Andrew Lang and His Fairy Books: Red, Yellow, Blue, Grey, etc.

But for now, here's the Humphrey Carpenter biography on the young Tolkien:
"But most of all he found delight in the Fairy Books of Andrew Lang, especially the Red Fairy Book, for tucked away in its closing pages was the best story he had ever read. This was the tale of Sigurd who slew the dragon Fafnir: a strange and powerful tale set in the nameless North. Whenever he read it Ronald found it absorbing. 'I desired dragons with a profound desire,' he said long afterwards. 'Of course I in my timid body did not wish to have them in the neighbourhood. But the world that contained even the imagination of Fafnir was richer and more beautiful, at whatever cost of peril.' "

And here's the illustration of Fafnir in the Red Fairy Book that must have enthused the young Tolkien so much:

1548951334109.png
 
I've given up for now on the Iain Rob Wright book - too many interesting characters keep getting killed just when I feel I'm getting to know them.

I'm instead having a go at one by Joe Haldeman .. 1968… a so far intriguing look at a young recruit in the Viet Nam war
 
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