January 2021 Reading Thread.

[BigHappy]

I haven't read the voyage series but I loved the Xeelee series and Proxima/Ultima, also the Manifold series is decent - but the Xeelee books are by far his best (imo).

 

[AE35Unit]

Anyone read Stephen Baxter? I really like his stuff and thought he was fairly well known but I haven't seen much mention of him on this site...

Oh yes I've read a few of his (recently Voyage and Titan). I also used to read his stories in Interzone, and when I wrote to the magazine praising his stories he sent me a signed photograph of himself.

 

[Randy M.]

Just started The Thirteenth Tale by Diane Setterfield. After seeing it in numerous lists of favorite books, usually in the company of titles I've already read and enjoyed, I thought I'd take a chance. Only 40 pages into its 400+ pages, but Setterfield presents a thoughtful, introverted narrator and evocative writing. Basic plot so far, our narrator works with her father in his bookstore and her main pleasure in life is reading pre-20th century fiction from which experience she has written short, concise biographies of the less than famous authors. Vida Winters, described as the 20th century's Dickens, invites her to her estate where they can begin an interview. Decidedly Gothic, this set-up suggests many secrets and twists to come, not least what the 13th tale is.

Randy M.

 

[Hugh]

Craig Brown "Ma'am Darling: 99 Glimpses of Princess Margaret".
Sigh! Why did I purchase this?!? The reason was I'd enjoyed the author's recent book about the Beatles and thought this might be more of the same. Mistake. I'm interested in the early Beatles, but in contrast have absolutely no interest whatsoever in Princess Margaret or in those who sought her company. Unsurprising then that I found it dull and tedious tedious tedious. That said, I did finish it, it didn't take long to read, and, if you're interested in this kind of thing, I'm sure Craig Brown constructs a good tongue-in-cheek window into his subject's life.

 

[Danny McG]

I've finished my SF binge and now I'm re-reading a much loved yarn... Most probably I'll do the entire trilogy again.
Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy
(My inspiration is drawn from page 1 of this thread)

 

[HareBrain]

I'm interested in the early Beatles, but in contrast have absolutely no interest whatsoever in Princess Margaret or in those who sought her company. Unsurprising then that I found it dull and tedious tedious tedious.

She also appears a lot in the first volume of Roy Strong's diaries, which I'm dipping into as bedtime reading, and which are also for the most part pretty tedious (but which contain just enough of interest to keep me coming back for another five minutes). Maybe she had that effect on people.

 

[Bick]

Skin by Liam Brown.
Yet another pandemic novel, however this came out in May 2019, long before we'd heard of Wuhan.

It's eerily prescient, we have most of the population quarantined at home, communication with school and work is online etc.

Doesn’t reading pandemic SF turn escapism on its head? I wouldn’t want to immerse myself further in the problem, myself. Likewise if I get cancer, I’m unlikely to pick up Solzhenitsyn’s Cancer Ward. Horses for courses I guess, and to mix my animal metaphors I suppose I’m a bit of an ostrich. I admire your fortitude Danny.

 

[Hugh]

Jacqueline Simpson "Icelandic Folktales & Legends"
Many thanks for this recommendation @Extollager . I didn't think I'd enjoy it when it first arrived as most of the tales are around a page long and I thought it looked a little dry, but I've savoured reading a few pages at a time on dark evenings. Perhaps because these tales are so bare and unembroidered, something of their original oral quality remains, as I can imagine people telling these stories to each other (and me) around the fire.

 

[Allegra]

Just started The Thirteenth Tale by Diane Setterfield. After seeing it in numerous lists of favorite books, usually in the company of titles I've already read and enjoyed, I thought I'd take a chance. Only 40 pages into its 400+ pages, but Setterfield presents a thoughtful, introverted narrator and evocative writing. Basic plot so far, our narrator works with her father in his bookstore and her main pleasure in life is reading pre-20th century fiction from which experience she has written short, concise biographies of the less than famous authors. Vida Winters, described as the 20th century's Dickens, invites her to her estate where they can begin an interview. Decidedly Gothic, this set-up suggests many secrets and twists to come, not least what the 13th tale is.

Randy M.

I LOVED that book, may get it out to reread sometime soon. I haven't heard much about her later books if there are any. In my opinion, if you only write one book in a lifetime, write one like that.

 

[The Scribbling Man]

I just finished A Clockwork Orange. Review below (spoiler free):

Spoiler

Real horrorshow?

3.9/5

A classic that has sat on my shelf much too long, and one that I think in some ways I had built up in my mind as being something detestable and likely unpleasant to read. However, while the subject matter and goings-on are shocking, dirty deeds are not nearly as prominent as I was expecting and are in some ways lightly veiled by our "humble narrator"'s adopted whimsical language: a near futuristic-slang that derives its terms from a mix of Russian and Cockney-rhyming. Initially disorientating, it becomes considerably easier to read as you go, many phrases having light shed by context. Some are harder to "viddy" than others, but regardless it's all part of the experience and gives the book an oddly poetic charm that may not have been quite so present (or stomachable) had the gross acts of sexual violence been described with sole use of the English dictionary.

A Clockwork Orange sometimes gets dangerously close to being preachy but never dives nose deep into such territory. Its commentary on youth culture, violence and freedom of choice is relatively blatant, without being too explicit.

The fact that for two decades this remained published only in truncated form in the US (where it saw most success) is a sad thing, and the fruit of this is most interesting. The novel has 21 chapters divided into three parts with seven chapters each. The very last chapter was what was excluded, messing with the clearly intentional numeracy and providing the novella with an entirely different outlook; the difference is pessimism vs. optimism - the latter of which Burgess was shooting for, the former being what Kubrick emphasised in his film, being based on the truncated version of the book (although, even Burgess' more "positive" ending is bittersweet).

I am yet to watch the film, but I will have to now for curiosity and comparison. I am not sure whether or not I prefer a version of A Clockwork Orange with or without its original closing sentiment, but I feel it's important to preserve an author's original intent (not to discount other versions being made available). Reading the introduction to this edition, it seems Burgess got a very poor deal financially when giving the rights for Kubrick's adaptation, and it must have been a hard thing to not only receive practically nothing, but to witness an inaccurate portrayal of his vision gain such widespread acclaim (both in terms of the film's long-term success, and the lack of availability in the US of the "right" version of his novella until 1986).

 

[Parson]

Well I've been working my way through Mackey Chandler's Family Law Series: I finished Family Law, The Long Voyage of the Little Fleet, and Secrets in the Stars. (Two more to read in the series) My stated goal was to see how he managed to merge the April series with it. The April series comes from a time about 100 years before the Family Law series. It turned out not to be as difficult as I thought. --- He conveniently leaves out 100 years of development and by means of Life Extension therapy, which was a feature in the April series, he has the two plot line comingle. But that doesn't mean it worked well for me. He assumes that the advances made by the off earth humans of the April Series are limited to a couple of habitats and the moon, but not even known elsewhere off earth and almost completely unknown on earth. As usual in this series, he has completely missed human nature. History proves that any information known by more than a couple score of people will become, slowly perhaps, common knowledge. Even closely held conspiracies, think Watergate, can't be contained by a larger group of powerful people very invested in the information staying secret.

Since the Family Law series was first, and likely better edited because of that, I didn't notice any obvious (and for me it has to be obvious) typos, grammar, or continuity problems. I still enjoy his tech and story telling so I'll continue to read in spite of his psychological and sociological weaknesses. But I am taking a break. I am now reading Childers by Richard F. Weyand. I like it. It was recommended to me by Amazon. And in a way it reminds me of Mackey Chandler's work. Strong story and very interesting main character. But in need of further editing. In this case not so much for typos, grammar, and the like. But his writing could use some serious revamping. He tends to write in a bit of wooden style, but his science and action are first rate.

In my opinion these books show the strength and the weakness of the ability to self publish. The strength is that strong stories get written and read which otherwise wouldn't have. The weakness is that the authors sometimes can't read their writings critically enough and some things get published which needed more work.

 

[Victoria Silverwolf]

I have just started The Power (1956) by Frank M. Robinson, basis for the 1968 film of the same name.

 

[dask]

Starting this in a few minutes:

Generally I don't like special movie tie-in editions and avoid them whenever I can but I make an exception here. Without indulging in a whole lot of research I'm fairly certain this is the first novel in the series and this is the same cover Bantam has been using for this series before the movie was made. If my hopes for this book are realized I'll finally learn how the Man of Bronze became just that.

 

[Victoria Silverwolf]

Yes, this is definitely the first novel in the series. I recall when they first started reprinting this series in paperback way back when.

 

[Galactic Bus Driver]

I've been re-reading the first three books of An Ember in the Ashes by Sabaa Tahir since there was a delay of over two years between book three and the final volume. I started the fourth book "A Sky Beyond the Storm" today and am enjoying it quite a bit. It's a sword and sorcery fantasy with a very mid-eastern flavor, much like The Song of the Shattered Sands series by Bradley P. Beaulieu which I was reading concurrently, but had to put on hold. Switching back and forth between to fantasy setting so similar was... interesting, but ultimately untenable. Whichever series I was currently reading, I would be expecting characters from the other series to make an appearance, perhaps in the next chapter.

 

[Hugh]

Robert Silverberg "The Second Trip" (1972)
For me this was OKish. Silverberg writes well, but I struggled with the basic premise as I found it just so unlikely - the year is 2011 and instead of execution a multiple rapist has his personality completely removed, then a new personality is constructed and after some months of rehab the new person is enabled to return to society complete with new name, new memories and occupation. All standard procedure at that time, only on this occasion the old personality reawakens (on page five) and inner conflict ensues.
However, I'd like to plug "The Edge of Light": this is a five-book-in-one volume of Silverberg stories of the late 60s/ early 70s. It contains two of my favourite reads: "Nightwings" and "Downward to the Earth". The other three are "Dying Inside" (good), and "A Time of Changes" (for me sadly dull but others like it very much) and "The Second Trip"(see above). If you're into secondhand paperbacks it's very good value.

 

[williamjm]

I read Ursula Le Guin's The Tombs of Atuan. I liked it more than the first book in the series, Tenar is a more engaging protagonist than young Ged was and it's a more focused story. The setting is very different, rather than all the island hopping of the first book it's much more claustrophobic this time with the majority of the book taking place in the underground labyrinth which makes for a very atmospheric setting. I did like the contrast between some of the moments of discovery where Tenar does manage to find some wonder in her domain and the slowly creeping sense of dread that starts to build as the book goes on.

Next up I'll continue on and start The Farthest Shore.

 

[The Scribbling Man]

I started reading In a Lonely Place by Dorothy Hughes last night. I saw the film years ago and liked it. So far I'm loving how the book is written. It feels like it's giving Chandler a run for his money.

 

[Danny McG]

Doesn’t reading pandemic SF turn escapism on its head? I wouldn’t want to immerse myself further in the problem, myself. Likewise if I get cancer, I’m unlikely to pick up Solzhenitsyn’s Cancer Ward. Horses for courses I guess, and to mix my animal metaphors I suppose I’m a bit of an ostrich. I admire your fortitude Danny.

The book sort of fizzled out about two thirds of the way through.
It was boring and very predictable after that

 

[Teresa Edgerton]

I read Ursula Le Guin's The Tombs of Atuan. I liked it more than the first book in the series, Tenar is a more engaging protagonist than young Ged was and it's a more focused story.

I felt much the same, although there was a gap of years between reading AWOE and TTOA the first time which might have partly accounted for it, and years more before I read TFS (although if that is the reason, I should have liked the third one best and Tombs was still my favorite).

However, years later, having read the whole trilogy one after the other a number of times, I appreciate the way they all work together and love them all pretty much equally (although maybe TTOA still has a bit of an edge).