July 2020 Reading Thread

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Vince W said:
I've started rereading Isaac Asimov's Foundation trilogy for the first time in nearly forty years. Asimov gets criticised for poor characterisation but I am finding the stories just as engaging as I first did. They are hard for me to put down in fact.
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Despite multiple attempts over the last 40 years I havent made it past the first book.
 
Elckerlyc said:
Started reading Charlie Jane Anders' The City in the Middle of the Night yesterday and am now, after having read 200 pages, about to give up.
It started out interesting. But it never really took off, the plot remained unfocused and even (after the MC's moved to another city) lost in a swamp of uninteresting side mini-plots. But what I found the most disappointing were the frequently occurrence of unrealistic, unclear, even illogical scenes. Of topics which should be foremost in people's mind that remain not talked or asked about.
How did Sophie escape (or better, survive) her execution? Bianca never asked. Really???
Mouth is seeing her travelling group being attacked by something unclear and runs to help, still carrying a tub full with water. Really??? Besides, how did she survive alone in the wild?
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It was one of those books where it feels like things would be a lot simpler if the characters would just sit down and have a conversation with each other. I did finish the book, there some interesting plot developments towards the end but I doubt it would drastically change your opinion of the book.
 
Read and enjoyed Arnold Schwarzenegger's autobiography Total Recall - the man appears to have always been incredibly driven to succeed in whatever he was doing.
 
Finally finished reading Earth Science by Tarbuck et al, a 750 page textbook I've been reading on-and-off over the past 18 months just to immerse myself in the subject. Though not written as a popular science book, it's still very accessible and focused on covering concepts rather than maths problems for students. Wonderfully illustrated, though some of the diagram and page references in the text haven't been updated since the last revision so were wrong. Definitely recommended for anyone who wants a comprehensive introduction to Earth System Science.
 
I just finished my first James Baldwin work and man have I been missing out my whole life. I generally don't go for short fiction, but every story in Going to Meet the Man was gripping and practically a clinic on writing. Some of them hit particularly hard on a personal level, like a protagonist trying to balance frustration and supportiveness for a loved one battling heroin addiction. Great stuff.

Following it up with The Fire Next Time, also by Baldwin.

Vince W said:
I've started rereading Isaac Asimov's Foundation trilogy for the first time in nearly forty years. Asimov gets criticised for poor characterisation but I am finding the stories just as engaging as I first did. They are hard for me to put down in fact.
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I used to see recommendations along the lines of "if you can get through the first book..." but I always thought it the best of the trilogy. I also liked I, Robot better than the Elijah duology. I think I always found his ideas fascinating, and thus enjoyed the shorter vignette approaches of I, Robot and Foundation far more than The Mule plotline or Baley the bumbling detective.
 
dannymcg said:
I'm continuing with a mil SF I started last week,
Ruins of the Galaxy by JN Chaney, the first in a new sci fi series.
@Parson
As I mentioned last Thursday, I was going to read a few chapters to get a 'feel' for the book and then give you my opinion.
Here we go:
It's gripping, fast moving and I'm enjoying it very much, well worth getting. Get it! Proper sci fi with evil and bloodthirsty aliens

(I'm looking around the interweb now because a sequel is out and I'm hoping someone puts a special offer
on it)
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Hm,,

Is this the book? The title fits and one of the authors is Chaney. But there are already 8 books in the series? As it's a KU, I've nabbed it.

Ruins.jpg
 
I've read the Rivers of London novella The October Man by Ben Aaronvitch which is set within the Peter Grant universe without actually featuring Peter Grant. Instead a German police investigator/magic practitioner called Tobias Winter is the protagonist and Vanessa Sommer as his sidekick. It is just out as a paperback this month.

Interesting story concerning wine and the Mosel River catchment Goddesses, some light thrown on the international aspects of the recent rise in Magic, and hints about Nightingale's exploits during the Second World War.

I have question for fans of this series. Nightingale has been very tight-lipped about the disastrous WWII raid on Etteldorf in which most Wizards were killed, and Peter never asks him about it. This book reveals that Nightingale only just survived himself, helped by Kelly, Goddess of the River Kyll. I wish to know more. There are now some graphic novels in this series that I haven't read. One of them seems to be about the WWII raid. Does it tell the whole story? Or, should I wait until Nightingale addresses it within the book series.

Not sure what to read next. There is a new Jasper Fforde book published soon, The Constant Rabbit.
 
I've finished Dead Lions, the second of Mick Herron's Slough House novels about a group of disgraced spies. Like the last book, Slow Horses, it's good. Both books are probably better for the journey than the conclusion, as the dialogue is better than the plot (which is still perfectly good). People who like this sort of thing will find it to be the sort of thing that they like.
 
Parson said:
Hm,,

Is this the book? The title fits and one of the authors is Chaney. But there are already 8 books in the series? As it's a KU, I've nabbed it.

View attachment 66415
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Whoa!
I didn't realise. I found the first online and a blurb about the second one forthcoming. This was from less than 10 months ago, he must have had almost an entire series ready to go.
 
I'm running out of novels on my TBR list, but the ones remaining don't appeal, so I'm gone back to re-reading Byzantium by Stephen Lawhead, which is probably my favourite novel. Celts, Vikings, Byzantines, Arabs - what more could anyone ask for? :)
 
Toby Frost said:
I've finished Dead Lions, the second of Mick Herron's Slough House novels about a group of disgraced spies. Like the last book, Slow Horses, it's good. Both books are probably better for the journey than the conclusion, as the dialogue is better than the plot (which is still perfectly good). People who like this sort of thing will find it to be the sort of thing that they like.
Click to expand...

A friend recommended these books just a couple of days ago. Maybe I should give one a go.
 
Having finished the mil-SF Ruins of the galaxy by J Chaney (it'll be a while before I read any more by him - it set off brill but seemed to fizzle out) I've now gone for a crime thriller.
The Bone Jar by SW Kane
 
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