November 2019 reading thread

[Parson]

Finished The Last Dance by Martin L Shoemaker. This was a satisfying read on a number of fronts. One, it was well written and the story was captivating. I had an inkling how the ending would go, but I was not completely right and the ending was perfect for the story. The characters were believable and in a switch from the kind of story that I really like; it was told from multiple points of view. On a hard science continuum this story ranks pretty high. There were some interesting new bits to me, like the Mars Recycler which makes a continual trip to Mars and back using gravity assist as the chief means of propulsion. Everything in it is easily conceivable with a few major advances in technology.

The story revolved around a mutiny investigation. And each of the characters tells a part of the story from their perspective to give the Inspector General who must judge this case insight. I would give the book a strong 4 stars. Martin Shoemaker is not someone I've heard of, but he seems to have been pretty prolific and has won a few awards. But as this is his only (as far as I know) book on Kindle Unlimited it may be a while before I read another.

I've now started Her Mother's Grave by Lisa Regan. I've read a number of her detective mysteries and so far I've always liked them very well. This one looks to be no exception to that rule. On deck is something I've not read in 50+ years. A Western: Lonesome Dove by Larry McMurtry.

 

[Cat's Cradle]

Thanks for the review of The Last Dance, @Parson! I read a little about the book, and it sounded so good that I've just picked it up. This was the first book in a new series of mystery novels set in space, by this author ... the series is named The Near-Earth Mysteries, but sadly the second book won't be published till October 2020. Could hopefully be a series to look forward to for many years.

Also, I've recently finished Lonesome Dove. It's an amazing book, with really fine writing, great storylines, and amazing characterizations. If you liked the TV series, you'll love the book (if you haven't seen the TV series, I'd still bet you'll love the book). Had me crying a number of places. It's very long though, of course.

edit - I think Shoemaker has a short story collection too, at Amazon's Kindle site.

 

[Av Demeisen]

The hardcover of The Last Dance is really beautiful. Embossed dustjacket. The hardcover itself is also completely covered in artwork in the style of the dustjacket. Looks fabulous! I will pick it up in the near future.

 

[Parson]

Thanks for the review of The Last Dance, @Parson! I read a little about the book, and it sounded so good that I've just picked it up. This was the first book in a new series of mystery novels set in space, by this author ... the series is named The Near-Earth Mysteries, but sadly the second book won't be published till October 2020. Could hopefully be a series to look forward to for many years.

Also, I've recently finished Lonesome Dove. It's an amazing book, with really fine writing, great storylines, and amazing characterizations. If you liked the TV series, you'll love the book (if you haven't seen the TV series, I'd still bet you'll love the book). Had me crying a number of places. It's very long though, of course.

edit - I think Shoemaker has a short story collection too, at Amazon's Kindle site.

Good grief! Great minds do think alike. I haven't seen the TV series Lonesome Dove. A Parson's work includes a lot of what would be called "shift work" in the trades. So I will look forward to Lonesome Dove. --- I don't mind a good cry now and then. --- Errr, men don't cry. Obviously.

 

[althea]

I have just finished Made Things by Adrian Tchaikovsky. It is a short book and a very pleasant diversion. I thoroughly enjoyed this book.
I love it when I learn a new word and one appeared in this book. He uses the word "shevelled"as a term for straightening one's clothes.
I've obviously heard of dishevelled,but never shevelled before.
The other day,I came across this poem by Julia Donaldson,the Scottish poet. It aptly describes how I feel about reading,so I'm adding it here.

“I opened a book and in I strode.
Now nobody can find me.
I've left my chair, my house, my road,
My town and my world behind me.
I'm wearing the cloak, I've slipped on the ring,
I've swallowed the magic potion.
I've fought with a dragon, dined with a king
And dived in a bottomless ocean.
I opened a book and made some friends.
I shared their tears and laughter
And followed their road with its bumps and bends
To the happily ever after.
I finished my book and out I came.
The cloak can no longer hide me.
My chair and my house are just the same,
But I have a book inside me.”

 

[Vince W]

Reaching deep in my TBR pile I've drawn In Conquest Born by C. S. Friedman. It's her first-ever published novel and I've been meaning to read it for years.

 

[williamjm]

I have just finished Made Things by Adrian Tchaikovsky. It is a short book and a very pleasant diversion. I thoroughly enjoyed this book.
I love it when I learn a new word and one appeared in this book. He uses the word "shevelled"as a term for straightening one's clothes.
I've obviously heard of dishevelled,but never shevelled before.

That is a word I don't think I've heard before. It is hard to keep up with the volume of books Tchaikovsky publishes.

I finished Preludes and Nocturnes, the first volume of Neil Gaiman's The Sandman. This is a series that comes with a huge reputation and I thought it mostly lived up to it. In the afterword in this edition Gaiman comments that reading them again he finds these early issues to be a bit awkward and ungainly, I think he's perhaps being a bit too critical of his own work because I think the storytelling does feel assured throughout but I think I can sometimes see what he is referring to - the final confrontation between Morpheus and John Dee fell slightly flat and it maybe felt a bit too conventional for this story to have such a showdown between the hero and villain. There were a lot of fascinating side stories, which were often more interesting than the main plotline. To begin with Morpheus was a fairly enigmatic protagonist for whom his quest was all-consuming but the final issue does start to shed some light on his character. I think I'll read the next volume soon.

I then read This Is How You Lose the Time War by Amal El-Mohtar and Max Gladstone. There were a lot of things I liked about this novella but also some aspects that didn't quite work for me. I think there's some great writing in here, particularly in the letters exchanged between the two protagonists and how their tone changes over the course of the story and reflects the change in how Red and Blue feel about each other. The plot is also cleverly constructed with things that initially seem minor coming to have a huge significance by the end. It's a great premise for a story and I like the playfulness of the jumping between different timelines and places, with some fairly standard time travel destinations mixed in with places like Atlantis. However, I did have an issue with the novella which kept me from being fully invested in it, although the relationship between them may be interesting I did feel that Red and Blue were a bit too alien in their outlooks for me to really connect with them as characters.

 

[Overread]

Finished Zombieslayer by Nathan Long. 12th book of the Gotrek and Felix series and the last major book before the End Times selection begins. Sadly I've got to hold off on reading those last ones for a bit since GW has been publishing the books in omnibus editions (often with a few short stories thrown in as well) so I'm eager to wait and see if there's going to be a fifth omnibus with those books in it.
An enjoyable adventuring read, Zombieslayer picks right up after Shamanslayer (the previous book) with a vast (and growing) army of the dead hounding the heels of the adventuring pair as they retreat with the army toward a fortified castle. Thus begins a weeks long siege against he unstoppable undead. A good solid adventure story in its own right, though it builds well off the previous books in the series and you'd certainly have want to have read Shamonslayer before picking up Zombieslayer.

 

[Randy M.]

Finished The Last Seance by Agatha Christie, a story collection of her supernatural stories. Good fun. Being primarily a crime/mystery writer, the majority of these stories have that feel to them (including appearances by her recurring characters, Hercule Poirot and Mrs. Marple) and some are rationalized supernatural stories, but there are some gems; in particular, I'm surprised "The Dressmaker's Doll" hasn't been more widely anthologized.

Looking for a tonal change, I've pulled out Craig Johnson's story collection, Wait for Signs, short stories featuring his main character, Sheriff Walt Longmire. Johnson's humor works for me.

Randy M.

 

[Paul_C]

Interesting and readable, but ultimately a little unsatisfying. Next up Darkwood by Gabby Hutchinson Crouch (creator of Portentous Perils in the 23rd Century, which is a lot of fun).

Darkwood finished - I liked it

No idea what I'm going to read next (I had a think before posting this and decided to try Neptune's Brood - Charles Stross).

 

[Danny McG]

I'm mebbe halfway through Up to the throne by Toby Frost.
It's been a while since I've read any fantasy, I've done a lot of sci fi of late, but this might be the one that gets me back into the fantasy sub-genre.

Most enjoyable so far.

 

[Av Demeisen]

Now rereading a favourite: Ken MacLeod's Newton's Wake.

 

[Parson]

Started Lonesome Dove by Larry McMurtry and if it's possible to turn off a reader with the first sentence this book's got it in spades! "When Augustus came out on the porch the blue pigs were eating a rattlesnake - not a very big one." ----- Did he do any research? Pigs are not blue unless someone has dyed them. And pigs don't kill snakes as a rule. There are two possibilities where a pig could kill and eat a snake, if it were a wild pig as they are not susceptible to the poison or if the snake were dormant because of the cold and in the first page the book talks about the unbearable heat. Pigs are not hunters. Even a wild one would not chase a snake. Sigh! I was excited when I read it had won a Pulitzer Prize but ... For now I've quit and picked up one of my favorite authors Laurence E. Dahners his new offering Hood (A Hyllis family story #7).

 

[Ian Fortytwo]

I'm reading my second book group book The Hunting Party, by Lucy Foley, a murder mystery set in the Scottish wilderness, it has an Agatha Christie feel, however as I have read over a hundred pages it feels different from anything that I've ever read before.

 

[Danny McG]

Started Lonesome Dove by Larry McMurtry and if it's possible to turn off a reader with the first sentence this book's got it in spades! "When Augustus came out on the porch the blue pigs were eating a rattlesnake - not a very big one." ----- Did he do any research? Pigs are not blue unless someone has dyed them. And pigs don't kill snakes as a rule. There are two possibilities where a pig could kill and eat a snake, if it were a wild pig as they are not susceptible to the poison or if the snake were dormant because of the cold and in the first page the book talks about the unbearable heat. Pigs are not hunters. Even a wild one would not chase a snake. Sigh! I was excited when I read it had won a Pulitzer Prize but ... For now I've quit and picked up one of my favorite authors Laurence E. Dahners his new offering Hood (A Hyllis family story #7).

https://www.rarebreeds.co.nz/canterburyblue.html

 

[Parson]

Okay, Danny, I now know that there are wild "blue" pigs. Very rare and not known in the American West, nor is it domesticated as far as I can read. My frustration still stands. Especially, after the author made a point of having had the first line for years before he found a book to write it into.

 

[soulsinging]

Finished Timothy Zahn's SW novel Scoundrels. It was mindlessly entertaining, which is exactly what I'd hoped for, but I feel like several of his standalone novels set in that time frame (concurrent with the original trilogy) are rather same-y. Still, he can really craft a tight plot, manages some surprises in a pretty predictable story type, and has a way with creating SW characters of interest. Disney made a huge mistake throwing this EU out.

Now back to the Poppy War, which is really picking up steam.

 

[Bick]

Started Lonesome Dove by Larry McMurtry and if it's possible to turn off a reader with the first sentence this book's got it in spades! "When Augustus came out on the porch the blue pigs were eating a rattlesnake - not a very big one." ----- Did he do any research? Pigs are not blue unless someone has dyed them. And pigs don't kill snakes as a rule. There are two possibilities where a pig could kill and eat a snake, if it were a wild pig as they are not susceptible to the poison or if the snake were dormant because of the cold and in the first page the book talks about the unbearable heat. Pigs are not hunters. Even a wild one would not chase a snake.

Err, no and no. McMurty doesn't say the pig killed the snake, only that it was eating it. Pigs will eat anything, including dead snakes. And they can be quite ornery, so it could well have killed a small snake if it got in its way. This has to be the silliest reason to stop reading a great book I've ever heard of Parson! Also, a blue pig is a name sometimes given to any cross between a black pig and a white pig - they are not actually blue, but can be a blue/grey colour. Try sentence two, I'm sure you'll find it picks up...

 

[Vince W]

It's quite possible that the pigs hunted a snake. I've watched the pigs on my uncle's farm go after errant frogs with seeming glee. They don't even take the time to kill the frogs but snaffle them whole. A small unsuspecting snake would probably be a treat for a pig.

 

[Parson]

Err, no and no. McMurty doesn't say the pig killed the snake, only that it was eating it. Pigs will eat anything, including dead snakes. And they can be quite ornery, so it could well have killed a small snake if it got in its way. This has to be the silliest reason to stop reading a great book I've ever heard of Parson! Also, a blue pig is a name sometimes given to any cross between a black pig and a white pig - they are not actually blue, but can be a blue/grey colour. Try sentence two, I'm sure you'll find it picks up...

True, the pigs were eating the snake and I made the assumption, which I think was intended, that they had killed the snake. I didn't stop reading the book at that sentence but it did keep resonating around my head. I am also put off by the first several pages which seem to drag and the characters I'm being introduced to I don't find interesting in the least. But ..... I have already decided to give it a bit more of a go before I chuck the thing. Mostly because so many people loved the T.V. series. --- I never saw any of it on television. --- I've already finished Hood by Laurence E. Dahners and while not a great read it had discernable heroes, selfless service, and moral rumination. All things I love in a book. I rated it a 4.

It's quite possible that the pigs hunted a snake. I've watched the pigs on my uncle's farm go after errant frogs with seeming glee. They don't even take the time to kill the frogs but snaffle them whole. A small unsuspecting snake would probably be a treat for a pig.

I grew up on a farm and pigs will certainly eat everything or as close to that as to not make a discernible difference. On occasion we fed our pigs carp. But that's a story to itself. I don't recall ever seeing any of our pigs hunt. In the wild pigs scavenger almost everything; so perhaps. I'm guessing that the pigs you remember were fairly young, as they get older they get cranky and don't really care to move for anything.