July 2020 Reading Thread
- Thread starter The Judge
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Ian Fortytwo
A Poet, Writer and eclectic Reader.
Currently reading The War of the World's, by H. G. Wells. A classic science fiction novel of the highest quality.
Danny McG
Lid closed, monkey dead.
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jim butcher peace talks. next is battleground
Finished Ninefox Gambit by Yoon Ha Lee. It's one those that grow on you. Slowly.
The first few pages were just confusing, because the author just throws you into his world and lets you learn by experience. Which I like best, usually. But this one felt so strange that it took me quite some time to get used to it. And then it went from jarring to fascinating.
Great characters, too, and they as well are unfathomable at first but in the end, familiarity reigns. So all in all, great stuff!
The first few pages were just confusing, because the author just throws you into his world and lets you learn by experience. Which I like best, usually. But this one felt so strange that it took me quite some time to get used to it. And then it went from jarring to fascinating.
Great characters, too, and they as well are unfathomable at first but in the end, familiarity reigns. So all in all, great stuff!
I enjoyed it, but the sequels look like they feature different characters, which has made it hard for me to pick them up.
I did finish this but never really warmed to it. I just found I hated all that numerolgy/calendrical stuff and the 'magic' that seemed to come out of it. But that's just my prejudice; as I've mentioned before I can take fantasy with elements of SF but I can't take SF with elements of fantasy. It just doesn't work for me.
Ah, but it’s mathematics, not magic! (Although at my level of expertise, it might as well be). You know, all technology sufficiently advanced etc. And it has AI. Always a saving grace in SF.
One author put it together rather neatly: mathmagician. Poetry.
One author put it together rather neatly: mathmagician. Poetry.
Danny McG
Lid closed, monkey dead.
Every star a grave by Jay Posey.
Starting it now , also eating toast and drinking coffee.
Can life get any better than this?
Starting it now , also eating toast and drinking coffee.
Can life get any better than this?
Danny McG
Lid closed, monkey dead.
Sky! Sky dammit! Not star...(sigh)Every star a grave by Jay Posey.
Starting it now , also eating toast and drinking coffee.
Can life get any better than this?
you know you shouldn't write things before you have your coffee
Danny McG
Lid closed, monkey dead.
Anyways the new book, after starting with an assassin infiltration of a high tech stronghold, is now introducing the mystic force of 'The Path' so my interest is fading rapidly
Ian Fortytwo
A Poet, Writer and eclectic Reader.
Didn't take me long to get through this, it wasn't as enjoyable as the first time I read it.
I'm now reading Pawn of Prophecy, by David Eddings. A great read as I have already reached 100 pages. He's a master storyteller.
williamjm
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Having read as many of the Hugo nominees in the voters packet as I'm going to for the moment I'm going through the other stories in Ted Chiang's Exhalation since the entire collection was included not just the two stories nominated this year.
I really liked The Merchant and the Alchemist's Gate, in some ways part of the concept behind the story is reminiscent of Chiang's The Stories of Your Life but in a completely different setting, Arabian Nights-inspire fantasy rather than the first contact SF of the earlier story.
I do think Chiang is one of the best current writers of short SF, he does consistently come up with thought-provoking premises.
I really liked it, it definitely throws you in the middle of the story without explaining anything but I found it was possible to figure things out.
They do introduce new characters but several characters from the first book do play prominent roles in the sequels.
I really liked The Merchant and the Alchemist's Gate, in some ways part of the concept behind the story is reminiscent of Chiang's The Stories of Your Life but in a completely different setting, Arabian Nights-inspire fantasy rather than the first contact SF of the earlier story.
I do think Chiang is one of the best current writers of short SF, he does consistently come up with thought-provoking premises.
I really liked it, it definitely throws you in the middle of the story without explaining anything but I found it was possible to figure things out.
They do introduce new characters but several characters from the first book do play prominent roles in the sequels.
Currently begun the third and final story contained in The Book of Jhereg by Steven Brust. I last read this maybe a decade and a half ago and had forgotten almost everything. I do quite like it. fast paced, small cast, twisting plot. Very dialogue heavy (and I just got a nice little Monty Pythin reference). Fun book.
Not sure if others do this, but I always have a book on my desk, so that when I'm running a scan or have a tiny bit of time to kill, or have to wait for an e-mail so have an unspecified quantity of free time, I have something to occupy me. been reading this pretty rapidly on that basis.
Not sure if others do this, but I always have a book on my desk, so that when I'm running a scan or have a tiny bit of time to kill, or have to wait for an e-mail so have an unspecified quantity of free time, I have something to occupy me. been reading this pretty rapidly on that basis.
Finally finished Go Set A Watchman. Not as good as To Kill A Mockingbird but not bad. It felt a bit clunky in places but I didn't realise (until I did a bit of research) that this was written before To Kill A Mocking Bird and it feels like it has the awkwardness of a first novel because it is a first novel.
What next, I wonder.....
What next, I wonder.....
It's not really a first novel. It has now been shown that it was in fact simply the first draft of To Kill a Mockingbird. There are many who say it should never have been published and that it was really little more than a cynical piece of money making on behalf of the publisher. I believe there are even significant passages that appear in both 'books.'
That explains a lot of the contradictions but I never noticed any passages from Mockingbird (admittedly, it’s a long time since I’ve read it).
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