February 2020 Reading Thread

[Extollager]

Margery Allingham’s The Tiger in the Smoke — didn’t someone recommend that not too long ago? I’m enjoying it.

 

[biodroid]

Red Sister - Mark Lawrence. First book of his I am reading and so far so good, liking the style.

 

[Randy M.]

Margery Allingham’s The Tiger in the Smoke — didn’t someone recommend that not too long ago? I’m enjoying it.

That was me, Extollager. I thought you might and I'm glad to know you are.

Randy M.

 

[Extollager]

That was me, Extollager. I thought you might and I'm glad to know you are.

Randy M.

Thanks for putting me on to it. I did little but read it yesterday.

 

[Ian Fortytwo]

I'm currently reading Slow Horses, by Mick Herron. And also a short story by Raymond Chandler, Smart - Alec Kill.

 

[Parson]

I've now finished Delphi Nation by Bob Blanton and have Delphi Alliance queued and ready. I'm going to read it. But I must admit that I am running out of gas on these. I'm not completely sure why. On the good side, the opposition/world scramble because of something like a Delphi Nation (a tiny (think Vatican City) highly successful country with tech at least a generation or two ahead of the rest of the world) is now starting to look more like what it really would look like, but still to my mind less than what would be probable. And internal dissent is starting to bubble up in a tiny way, which seems right to me. But I think what's wearing on me is the author's style. I wanted to say that the characters were not developing, but that would be wrong. They are, maybe slowly, but they are most certainly developing. I believe it's the narrative style. EVERYTHING is done by dialogue. I long for some narration which looks at the internal motives and that takes some time to explain things. These books might be the perfect response to those who believe that the only good info dump is no info dump. And something I mentioned earlier, everything technical seems so easy its getting harder to suspend cynicism.

 

[Hugh]

Bill Porter "The Silk Road, Taking the Bus to Pakistan"
Another volume of travels in China from the remarkable Bill Porter. This is an account of his 1992 journey from Sian/Xi'an along the Silk Road to Islamabad on a variety of local buses, trains and aircraft. Given the date, much will already have changed since this journey. I always enjoy his books due to his easy writing style and deep knowledge of Chinese history/culture/poetry. His ability to speak Chinese fluently from years of living in Taiwan and Hong Kong helps.
I was tickled by this particular Tajik Creation Myth: somewhat abbreviated....
An-La, the creator of the universe, decided he would like to have some people living on Earth, so he asked the angels to make some people, telling them "Go to the lake of Paradise and look into the water and make my people in the image you see there". The angels, seeing their own reflections, made figures in their own image, and these newly created people wandered around Paradise very happily. Of course, being human they were curious as to whether there were any better options. One day they came across a field of wheat and wondered what would happen if they ate it. Naturally they did, and after a few hours this caused them to move their bowels, something that they had never needed to do before. These first ever bowel movements caused the most awful stench to spread all over Paradise. When An'la smelled it, he was so angry, he ordered the people to leave Paradise and never return.

 

[Danny McG]

Having a re-read of the David Morrel 'mortalis' trilogy:

The Brotherhood of the Rose.
The Fraternity of the Stone.
The League of Night and Fog.

Also, to finish, (somewhere in my ebook files!) I've got the short story 'The Abelard Sanction', this is set in the same mortalis spy universe and features one of the main characters from the trilogy.

 

[williamjm]

I finished Ian McDonald's The Menace From Farside. It's a much more straightforward story than the Luna novels in the same setting, it's got more of a YA adventure feel to it rather than the political manoeuvring of the Luna books. It was a fun read, particularly once the characters embarked on their expedition on the lunar surface and things start to go not entirely to plan. It was also interesting to see Lunar society a few decades before the novels when some of the key aspects of the setting are still being developed.

I've started Ben Aaronvitch's False Value, the latest book in his Rivers of London series (I went to a book signing a couple of days ago when Aaronvitch admitted that the series had the working title Magic Cops up until very near to the release date when his friend suggested Rivers of London). The main focus this time is a tech company who are presumably up to no good. I hadn't previously considered that there could be such a thing as too much Douglas Adams influence, but aspect of the company is a Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy reference (the security department are the Vogon Enforcement Arm, for example). I like the way the cover art has a more cyberpunk feel to it while still fitting in to the traditional map design of the covers in the series (also, the cover glows in the dark).

 

[tegeus-Cromis]

Bill Porter "The Silk Road, Taking the Bus to Pakistan"
Another volume of travels in China from the remarkable Bill Porter. This is an account of his 1992 journey from Sian/Xi'an along the Silk Road to Islamabad on a variety of local buses, trains and aircraft. Given the date, much will already have changed since this journey. I always enjoy his books due to his easy writing style and deep knowledge of Chinese history/culture/poetry. His ability to speak Chinese fluently from years of living in Taiwan and Hong Kong helps.
I was tickled by this particular Tajik Creation Myth: somewhat abbreviated....
An-La, the creator of the universe, decided he would like to have some people living on Earth, so he asked the angels to make some people, telling them "Go to the lake of Paradise and look into the water and make my people in the image you see there". The angels, seeing their own reflections, made figures in their own image, and these newly created people wandered around Paradise very happily. Of course, being human they were curious as to whether there were any better options. One day they came across a field of wheat and wondered what would happen if they ate it. Naturally they did, and after a few hours this caused them to move their bowels, something that they had never needed to do before. These first ever bowel movements caused the most awful stench to spread all over Paradise. When An'la smelled it, he was so angry, he ordered the people to leave Paradise and never return.

Is this Bill Porter aka Red Pine? I love his translations of Chinese poetry.

 

[Hugh]

Is this Bill Porter aka Red Pine? I love his translations of Chinese poetry.

It is indeed. If you haven't already read it, I found "Finding them gone. Visiting China's poets of the past" (2016) a wonderful introduction to both their poetry and their personalities/life stories, as he toasted them with whisky at their various graves.

 

[biodroid]

Stopped Red Sister about 20 pages in, do not like the writing style overall. Felt very clunky and I felt myself drifting thinking of other things while reading, nothing really grabbed me, almost no world building. Maybe I gave up too early but it just wasn't working for me, the flashbacks were intrusive that I wasn't sure what was happening because the tension got broken up so much.

 

[Paul_C]

Next up is another I've seen mentioned on Twitter, The Monster Of Elendhaven by Jennifer Giesbrecht.

I know nothing about this one, so I'll report back once read.

I liked it, though it felt a little undercooked somehow.

Next up is The Toll by Cherie Priest.

 

[Rodders]

Reading Shift by Hugh Howey.

 

[Brian G Turner]

I needed a break from academic reading so picked up The Three Body Problem. Only a few chapters in, but so far, very interesting.

 

[Parson]

Finished Delphi Alliance by Bob Blanton surprisingly, it is better than its immediate predecessors. There is a lot more action. It also gives a much more realistic conflict and the story benefits I am now looking forward to the sixth installment of the series.

 

[Danny McG]

I needed a break from academic reading so picked up The Three Body Problem. Only a few chapters in, but so far, very interesting.

That was one they all raved about.
Personally I DNF cos I thought it was dump

 

[AndrewT]

I dumped Blood of an Exile by Naslund after chapter 1. It was recommended on Goodreads but I did not care for it. I'll excuse vulgarity if the plot is good but not otherwise. I am now reading The Long Price Quartet by Daniel Abraham. It is very unique and interesting. He is a quite good writer. It moves a little slow in the first of the quartet I am told. I am only at about page 50. Any comments by readers of Long Price or other works by Abraham?

 

[AndrewT]

Just finished J.L. Carr's A Month in the Country. Lovely little book in which nothing happens. It's about a time and a place and some people and the narrator's reminiscences of them. I want more books in which nothing happens. Plots are overrated.

That's been on my reading list for some time. Your statement reminds me of a book I read in the 80's, The River Why by David James Duncan. I remember loving that book for it's plotless nostalgic quality at the time. It's hard to say whether I would like it as much now but I have been thinking of going back and re-reading it since they made a movie of it in 2010, or trying his other well-know work Brothers K.

The River Why - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

 

[tegeus-Cromis]

That's been on my reading list for some time. Your statement reminds me of a book I read in the 80's, The River Why by David James Duncan. I remember loving that book for it's plotless nostalgic quality at the time. It's hard to say whether I would like it as much now but I have been thinking of going back and re-reading it since they made a movie of it in 2010, or trying his other well-know work Brothers K.

The River Why - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

I'm almost done with a third book by him now. I'll post about it when I finish it.

Finished yesterday James Gaines' Evening in the Palace of Reason, a non-fiction book about the time in 1747 when Bach met Frederick the Great, meeting that resulted in one of Bach's greatest works, the Musical Offering. The book starts off really well, proceeds as a parallel double biography of the two building up to that day in 1747 (unfortunately, this was a bit boring, as most of the Bach material I already knew, and the Frederick material I wasn't all that interested in), but once it gets to the actual encounter -- it's a bit anticlimactic. I really thought there would be significantly more analysis of the music, some more profound conclusions drawn, but, nah. It just kind of ends. Oh well.

Oh, I'm also currently reading a biography of J.L. Carr, The Last Englishman by Byron Rogers. So far I can tell you it's really, really well written. I find myself reading it not just for the facts, but for the prose. I never expected that in a biography.