October 2019 reading thread

[Hugh]

I finished Phillip Pullman's The Secret Commonwealth. Overall, I liked it a lot, although not without a few reservations. It is a long book, I think significantly longer than any of the previous books in the world but it does move at a good pace. However, it is almost the least stand-alone of the books since it ends abruptly without any plot resolution. The book picks up about 6-7 years after the end of The Amber Spyglass, which is a long time for a young person and Lyra has definitely changed a lot in the intervening years, throughout the events of His Dark Materials I think she managed to keep a sense of optimism despite all the terrible things happening around her, but here she is much less sure of herself. She is often a less likeable character, but probably a more interesting one. I've always thought the daemons are the most fascinating part of Pullman's world and it feels like we learn a lot more about them here, in particular about how the mental turmoil of their humans might reflect in their relationship. It's also good to see a grown-up Malcolm a couple of decades after the events of La Belle Sauvage, and although plenty of things have changed over the years he does still feel like the same character.

Although the early portion of the book mostly takes place again in Oxford over the course of the book we do get to see a lot more of the world than we did before. The book does feel quite episodic with a lot of subplots as Lyra and Malcolm journey across Europe, but although the subplots sometimes don't have much to do with each other I think they do fit together thematically. Pullman includes his usual themes of fighting against authoritarianism, and includes some fairly clear (possibly slightly heavy-handed) parallels to current problems in our world, most obviously a refugee crisis caused by turmoil in the Middle East.

The thing I liked least about was a potential romantic relationship, which felt a bit creepy from one character's perspective and I hope doesn't come to anything.

I thought it was a good book, although it's so incomplete that it's a bit difficult to really judge it properly without seeing the conclusion.

I've now moved on to starting a series that I feel I should probably have read many years ago but never got round to - Neil Gaiman's Sandman. It's got a big reputation and it's been good so far.

Many thanks for giving us your thoughts. I can't see myself reading this (so far, anyway) as I was disappointed with the pace of La Belle S, and prefer to hold onto the magic of the first book, but it's very interesting to hear others' perspective.

 

[M. S. Ari]

My first post in this forum. Aurora by Kim Stanley Robinson.

I finished Aurora and I should say it was quite well specially the realistic kind of alien type I saw in this book (I'm tired of humanoid alien form). Also the stellar travel with great details was something that I have never read about it before so it was quite interesting. These days I'm reading Asimov's "the cave of steel". The concepts in it are a little old but it is still readable.

 

[soulsinging]

I opted to take a break from Tad Williams after all and went with a reread of Pride and Prejudice. Then I bailed about 25% in and decided my first impression of the book was good enough and I don't like it. I get the satire but I think there's a problem where 1) humor doesn't always travel well and that makes this not any funnier than the average rom-com movie and certainly not as hilarious as Community, Parks and Recreation, Monty Python or dozens of other more subversive tv comedies and 2) (this may offend many here) Victorian England has to be the worst, most dreadfully boring time and place to be alive, ever. Describing two people deciding to stand up and talk a short walk around the room after they've talked about what an interesting way to break up their day that might be... please let my head be crushed in an industrial accident in one of the dreadful factories you were building. There's a reason nearly every discussion of this book ends up as a debate over which film version had the best cast, because as with all rom-coms the chemistry of the leads is the only interesting part of this story.

Now currently reading the Poppy War by RF Kuang. So far it's pretty entertaining and moving at a nice pace, which helps with the fact that the plot is not terribly original (poor orphan develops amazing talents at elite training center).

 

[Extollager]

Current reading includes:

Strittmatter's We Have Been Harmonised: Life in China's Surveillance State
*Wedgwood's The Thirty Years War
de la Mare's anthology Behold, This Dreamer!
Chemnitz and Gerhard's The Doctrine of Man
Bowers's Tolkien's Lost Chaucer
*Hall's Heaven vpon Earth (1606)

*Part of my retirement project to dig into the 17th century

 

[Bick]

Victorian England has to be the worst, most dreadfully boring time and place to be alive, ever. Describing two people deciding to stand up and talk a short walk around the room after they've talked about what an interesting way to break up their day that might be...

That's Austen, not Victorian England, I wouldn't conflate the two. Dickens, for example, describes a more active, vibrant, hostile and interesting England, full of rich caricatures. I like some Austen, but its a specific sort of beast not necessarily representative of actual England for most folk of the time.

Second (pedantic) point to note: Pride and Prejudice isn't actually Victorian, it's Georgian; written in 1813; Victorian era began 1837.

 

[Danny McG]

Comfort reading to unwind, I've read it many times before but once again I'm chilling with The Mote in God's Eye

Finished it, still a great story.
Now into the somewhat inferior sequel The Gripping Hand

 

[Bick]

I finished the Magnus Mills, and am now starting the second of Moorcock’s Elric novels, The Sailor on the Seas of Fate.

 

[elvet]

Gardens of the Moon, my 4th time.
Here’s my post from a different thread:
Gardens of the Moon almost feels like a different story now . The first time I read it, I almost gave up, just like many others who experience the confusion of being dropped into the middle of an ongoing story. What kept me going was the world building, the uniqueness of the magic, the characters and intrigue, and the curiosity of where the heck this was going.
Now that I have a solid background, and I don’t have all those questions (who, what, why?) buzzing in my head, I can sit back and enjoy the fine details of what is going on and make connections I never new existed before. So many layers are here, sometimes just a sentence, sometimes a long disappeared character.

 

[soulsinging]

That's Austen, not Victorian England, I wouldn't conflate the two. Dickens, for example, describes a more active, vibrant, hostile and interesting England, full of rich caricatures. I like some Austen, but its a specific sort of beast not necessarily representative of actual England for most folk of the time.

Second (pedantic) point to note: Pride and Prejudice isn't actually Victorian, it's Georgian; written in 1813; Victorian era began 1837.

I do like Dickens better, but even Sherlock Holmes to me has always been a better character than story many times.

I stand corrected, that’s the American high school “half asleep for that class” terminology at work!. Should have just said 19th century... steam punk era minus the punk, machines but not electronics.

 

[Victoria Silverwolf]

I have started Wanda Hickey's Night of Golden Memories and Other Disasters (1971) by Jean Shepherd, a collection of humorous stories from Playboy about the author's childhood in northern Indiana in the FDR years. Fictionalized and exaggerated, I'm sure, with a cynical, earthy wit.

 

[Extollager]

Starting a fourth reading of Phyllis Paul's eerie novel Twice Lost.

 

[Hugh]

"Now Then" John Brunner
A collection of three Brunner stories, each very readable. The main reason for reading was the novella "Thou Good and Faithful" (1953), discussed recently in the Book Search threads. This is interesting for me, in part because it was his first sale in the USA, age just 17 and to Astounding, in part because it is so obviously a derivative Simak pastiche and I enjoy all things Simak.

 

[Parson]

just finished the Quantum Magician by Derek Kunsken. The book I was rereading because "it was not memorable." On the plus side it is extremely original and might be worth the trouble on that regard. But I found it very difficult to keep the several threads of the story straight. And so much of the story was based upon things that are not common SF tropes but instead exist solely in Kunsken's head that I found the conclusion which should have been the best part of the story, the worst because I just couldn't understand what was happening. I did not rate it on Amazon because quite frankly I couldn't rate it above a 3, but some people might find it a very fine novel indeed and I don't want to discourage anyone.

 

[Paul_C]

I finished The Girl Who Circumnavigated Fairyland In A Ship Of Her Own Making by Catherynne M Valente this morning, I thought it was pretty good despite being a little beyond the age range it's aiming for.

I left Senlin Ascends hanging for a while as it was dragging a bit, but picked it up again a few days ago. I'm now quite near the end, but it looks like it's going to turn out to be the first in a series as I doubt there's time left to bring it to a satisfactory conclusion, which will be annoying if so.

 

[Brian G Turner]

Finished reading a few of the Oxford Very Short Introduction books, with more to come - very enjoyable and succint reading:

Brian Turner's review of Byzantium

5/5: An excellent little book that somehow manages to squeeze in the span of the Byzantine Empire, and major issues affecting it, without making you feel that you've missed anything out. As a general overview it works exactly as intended, and manages to avoid dull lists of emperors to get to...

www.goodreads.com

Brian Turner's review of Astrobiology

5/5: This is a great little book that touches on most of the main issues relating to the study of how life may have developed on Earth, and how it may also develop on other worlds both within and outside of the solar system. As such is indeed both a short introduction but also a very good one...

www.goodreads.com

Brian Turner's review of Climate

5/5: Found this to be an excellent little book describing main trends and mechanisms for how Earth's climate has developed throughout the planet's history. It was fascinating to read about how dramatically plate tectonics has affected global weather patterns. Overall, a good general overview...

www.goodreads.com

 

[Ian Fortytwo]

Currently I am reading How to be Good, by Nick Hornby.

 

[Danny McG]

Tonight I begin The Eternity Artefact by L.E. Modesitt

 

[Dragonlady]

@soulsinging in austen's day the better of were not short of time, so wrote and read books slowly, reading them aloud and savouring them, whereas now we like faster paced stuff to race through, so it's a bit of a cultural difference.

I'm rereading Abhorsen. I started with Sabriel, and it's not a trilogy you can just stop part way through. Still plodding through time travellers' guide to mediaeval england in the evenings.

 

[tachyon]

My October reading:

Finished:

Un Mago de Terramar by Ursula K. Le Guin (A Wizard of Earthsea, Spanish translation) - I did OK...
Fool's Errant by Matthew Hughes - Vancian Dying Earth science fantasy - excellent (re-read)
Lord Valentine's Castle by Robert Silverberg - fantasy in a SFnal setting - good, classic (re-read but it's been decades)
Children of Ruin by Adrian Tchaikovsky - hard SF first contact - excellent
A Big Ship at the Edge of the Universe by Alex White - science fantasy space opera heist - meh
The Rage of Dragons by Evan Winter - epic fantasy - excellent

In progress:

Devices and Desires by K.J. Parker - Kingdoms and princes but no magic, and iron/steam tech & industry elements. Fantasy? Science Fiction? I'm about halfway through, enjoyable read so far.

Fool me Twice by Matthew Hughes - Dying Earth science fantasy, sequel to Fool's Errant (above), 3/4 finished.

 

[AndrewT]

I finished Aurora and I should say it was quite well specially the realistic kind of alien type I saw in this book (I'm tired of humanoid alien form). Also the stellar travel with great details was something that I have never read about it before so it was quite interesting. These days I'm reading Asimov's "the cave of steel". The concepts in it are a little old but it is still readable.

I read it. KSR gives us a dose of reality about what is involved with interstellar travel. It made me realize how far in the future that is, if ever. A lot of sci fi writers talk about the 22nd century. Fat chance! No warp drive, no star questing.