November 2019 reading thread

[Foxbat]

They are really great books. Specially new scientist instant expert series.

I think this one is indeed one of the instant expert series

 

[tobl]

I finished Le Carre’s Call for the Dead - his first novel and starring Smiley - a terrific short spy/detective novel. I’m quickly becoming a Le Carre fan - rather late in life but better late than never.

I’m sticking with things criminal, and now turning my attention to The Tremor of Forgery, by Patricia Highsmith. I’ve heard good things about this. Greene said it was her finest book, and The Times named her the greatest crime writer of all time, back in the day.

she wrote the ripley books. i liked them

 

[Vince W]

I picked up Battlefield Earth by L. Ron Hubbard at a charity shop. I'm about 150 pages in and while it isn't what I'd call great literature it is certainly entertaining in a light operatic sort of way. I can see why it gets such mixed reviews. It's very much like fizzy pop for the brain.

 

[Danny McG]

I picked up Battlefield Earth by L. Ron Hubbard at a charity shop. I'm about 150 pages in and while it isn't what I'd call great literature it is certainly entertaining in a light operatic sort of way. I can see why it gets such mixed reviews. It's very much like fizzy pop for the brain.

I remember buying it when it was first published and thinking it was terrif.
I did a reread not too long ago and found it a bit clunky and stilted.

TBH the film that I'd watched between the two readings probably altered my views a bit.

 

[elvet]

Started Star Fire (Stars End. Book One) by M.R. Forbes about 50 perscent done and I'm finding it so interesting and exciting that I don't want to put it down.

I don’t read as much SF as fantasy, but when I do I lean towards space opera, so your ‘exciting’ description caught my eye. I looked up the book on Amazon. It sounds like it would be something I’d like, but it is only available as a digital release. Is there a paperback available?

 

[AE35Unit]

Finally onto book 6 of LOtR. Be so glad when its finished...

 

[Danny McG]

Finally onto book 6 of LOtR. Be so glad when its finished...

Then start all over again from The Hobbit, that's what I did way back in the 1970's!

 

[williamjm]

I read Leigh Bardugo's Ninth House, which reminded me a bit of Tim Powers' books, since it involved the occult secret history behind genuine history, although Bardugo is a bit more comfortable in a contemporary setting than Powers tends to be. I liked the way the story was constructed. The chapters switch back and forth between different points in the story with the first chapter being one of the chronologically latest and I think this is used to good effect to gradually reveal details about the characters and setting. The murder mystery that is central to the plot also works well, there's plenty of foreshadowing about the culprit but also enough misdirection that it wasn't predictable. There's a secondary plot that was perhaps less convincing because there is a plot twist that seems to come almost out of nowhere near the end of the book. I thought Alex was an interesting protagonist, in the early chapters she might feel a bit passive because she's trying to hide who she really is, but the book's pace definitely picks up once she decides she's had enough of hiding and is going to be more proactive. I also liked Darlington and Dawes out of the supporting cast, both of whom make a good contrast to Alex.

Next up I'm going to read Peter F. Hamilton's Salvation Lost. I liked the first book in the series, so I'm interested in seeing where the sequel goes.

 

[Danny McG]

Next up I'm going to read Peter F. Hamilton's Salvation Lost. I liked the first book in the series, so I'm interested in seeing where the sequel goes

I bought books one and two as ebooks. I'm patiently waiting for the final part of the trilogy and then it's a sci fi reading binge for me.

(That was my original plan but I might well 'sneaky peek' at them long before then)

 

[Ian Fortytwo]

I'm currently reading I, Robot: How to be a Footballer 2, by Peter Crouch. It is just as good as the first book, if not better.

 

[Extollager]

After 48 years I'm reading Lin Carter's Lovecraft: A Look Behind the "Cthulhu Mythos" -- which was a bit of a treat when I was a kid in the mid-teens. It's just the thing for you if you want to learn when the Necronomicon, Ubbo-Sathla, and Justin Geoffrey first appeared and who it was who invented them. The organization so far is chronological, and it's remarkable how little Carter had to go on, compared to what's been published since about Lovecraft's life. It's pretty clear that Carter is more in his element in this book than in his book on Tolkien, which I maintain was a good one for the purpose and the time (1969).

 

[tobl]

I picked up Battlefield Earth by L. Ron Hubbard at a charity shop. I'm about 150 pages in and while it isn't what I'd call great literature it is certainly entertaining in a light operatic sort of way. I can see why it gets such mixed reviews. It's very much like fizzy pop for the brain.

i liked the book. the movie not so much

 

[tobl]

Finally onto book 6 of LOtR. Be so glad when its finished...

i'm sorry book 6? there's only in the lord of rings?

 

[williamjm]

i'm sorry book 6? there's only in the lord of rings?

Tolkien thought of the story as being split into 6 parts, although of course it's more commonly published as a trilogy. "Book 6" would be the second half of Return of the King.

 

[vanye]

I bought books one and two as ebooks. I'm patiently waiting for the final part of the trilogy and then it's a sci fi reading binge for me.

(That was my original plan but I might well 'sneaky peek' at them long before then)

I have had the same thoughts. Just bought printed editions.

Learned the lesson from the Malazan series. After four or five books I hit that writing hiatus and now I‘ll have to start from scratch again to really enjoy it. Couldn‘t work myself up to it yet, although they were among the best fantasy I‘ve ever read. Oh, and Wheel of Time or Kingkiller Chronicle or ... I reckon I‘m just a sucker for unfinished stories.

 

[Bick]

I'm currently reading I, Robot: How to be a Footballer 2, by Peter Crouch. It is just as good as the first book, if not better.

Excellent. Crouchy's first one was terrific.
On and off, I've been reading something similar in between chapters of novels mentioned elsewhere: Behind Closed Doors, the book of the podcast by Gary Lineker and Danny Baker. I really like the podcast it sprang from, and this is similar but less random and chatty - more a chapter by Danny, then one by Gary, and so on. Fun and interesting though, with insights a bit like Crouch, from Gary.

 

[AndrewT]

I have continued with Lonesome Dove. I am now about 7% into the book and although I'm no longer angry, I am becoming more and more frustrated with it. So far this has been one long drawn out introduction. To quote the Bard "Much ado about nothing." But I will persevere for a time longer, because the book seems to have many fans. --- You do worry me about "allegorical pigs." Maybe this novel will be entirely too pretentious for a country Parson like myself.

We don't all like the same books. That's normal. I absolutely loved Lonesome Dove, finding it to be superbly written and both humorous and emotionally moving. But if it's not your cup 'o tea then you might try something else. Many people have raved about books I disliked also.

I also wanted to mention this took place in the shadow of the Alamo so the attitude between the ranchers and the Mexicans was often adversarial and competitive. The few caustic comments that could be taken as racist by super PC types were not that offensive I thought. And my mother did not find the book sexist. She actually turned me on to it in the first place.

 

[Stephen Palmer]

Busy reading a New Scientist publication called: Why the Universe Exists: how particle physics unlocks the secrets of everything. I've had to read the chapters on the Higgs Boson and how mass is applied to particles several times - and several associated headaches later, I think I'm (just) beginning to grasp it. I'm reading it on my kindle but that's turned out to be a bad idea. You really need this in book form because of the constant hopping I'm doing between chapters as I try to wrap my brain around this quantum conundrum.

I can recommend this if you're interested.

 

[Amelia Faulkner]

I've got a week to read an ARC for a friend so I can blurb it for him.

 

[Foxbat]

I can recommend this if you're interested.

Thanks for that recommendtion. I don't like to hang about so I've just tracked down and ordered a used hardback copy for just over £6 including postage. Normally I'd buy on my kindle just to save space but I'm finding with these types of books I do a lot of flicking back and forth trying to recall things already mentioned. Much easier with paper.