March 2021 Reading Thread

[Spade]

I read Piranesi by Susanna Clarke. I don't think I liked it at all. The narrator is very annoying and the entire book is deliberately confounding with an insufficient resolution.

 

[Victoria Silverwolf]

Whilst continuing my usual practice of reading old SF paperbacks, I have taken on a lengthy project, with which I will alternate. I am diving deep into Orwelliana, with all four thick volumes of The Collected Essays, Journalism, and Letters of George Orwell (1968; the books are An Age Like This: 1920-1940, My Country Right or Left: 1940-1943, As I Please: 1943-1945, and In Front of Your Nose: 1945-1950.) I will then tackle Orwell: The Authorised Biography (1991) by Michael Shelden.

 

[Bick]

Whilst continuing my usual practice of reading old SF paperbacks, I have taken on a lengthy project, with which I will alternate. I am diving deep into Orwelliana, with all four thick volumes of The Collected Essays, Journalism, and Letters of George Orwell (1968; the books are An Age Like This: 1920-1940, My Country Right or Left: 1940-1943, As I Please: 1943-1945, and In Front of Your Nose: 1945-1950.) I will then tackle Orwell: The Authorised Biography (1991) by Michael Shelden.

I approve of the Orwelliana. I've taken to alternating reading, and having a couple of things on the go myself. I never used to do this, but now I have to read loads of short stories for Tangent, and also have a book on the go, I figured I may as well have a longer term read going, short term SF and the Tangent stuff. So, I'm still reading Gormenghast (about half-way through), and I'm reading Riverworld, and reading through Analog Mar/Apr. There's not enough hours in each day!

Will your Orwellian sojourn include Down and Out? T'riffic.

 

[Victoria Silverwolf]

Will your Orwellian sojourn include Down and Out? T'riffic.

Not specifically. The four volumes collect all his nonfiction, I believe, that is not book-length. However, much of the first volume deals with the same experiences as Down and Out in Paris and London (and Homage to Catalonia, for that matter.) I had read both those books (and, if memory serves, a couple of the early novels) quite some time ago.

 

[Garfunkel]

I've been in a reading slump for some time, so have returned to Stephen King to try and get things going again. I'm currently reading Hearts in Atlantis, which I'm enjoying, and I have his new book, Later, ordered. I'm also hoping to get reading A Memory Called Empire when I'm in a sci-fi mood again, although I'm not sure when that'll be.

 

[Toby Frost]

I am diving deep into Orwelliana, with all four thick volumes of The Collected Essays, Journalism, and Letters of George Orwell

There's some very good stuff in those. Shelden's biography is good as well. Probably time I read Gormenghast again, too.

I've been reading two crime novels by Kate Atkinson, Case Histories and One Good Turn. They're really odd. For one thing, many of the characters are cartoony and feel as if they should be in a farce, even though they're in serious detective novels. Atkinson has a habit of telling you what a character is doing for one paragraph and then giving you three pages about their backstory. I'm not sure how annoying I'm going to find it.

 

[Ed Lake]

I recently obtained the audio book version of "Exhalation" by Ted Chiang from my local library. It's in my MP3 player just waiting for me to find the time to listen to it. It appears to be a collection of 9 short stories, it's gotten rave reviews, and it was a "national bestseller." Anyone here familiar with it?

I tend to read non-fiction books on my Kindle. And I listen to non-fiction books while driving. It's easier to turn off a non-fiction book than a fiction book when it's time to park my car.

 

[williamjm]

I recently obtained the audio book version of "Exhalation" by Ted Chiang from my local library. It's in my MP3 player just waiting for me to find the time to listen to it. It appears to be a collection of 9 short stories, it's gotten rave reviews, and it was a "national bestseller." Anyone here familiar with it?

I read it last year. I thought it was a good collection, The Merchant and the Alchemist's Gate was probably my favourite of them.

 

[Victoria Silverwolf]

The next old SF paperback to alternate with Orwell is The World Menders (1971) by Lloyd Biggle, Jr.

 

[biodroid]

Since I have pretty much given up on Fantasy books, I am continuing the Amos Decker series with The Fallen by David Baldacci. Maybe I will try some SF in future, not sure what though as I have only ever read 1 SF book in my life almost 30 years ago.

 

[Hugh]

Fritz Leiber "Ghost Light" (1984)
A selection of nine of Leiber's best-known stories together with an autobiographical memoir (113 pages with some photos).
My reason for reading it was purely for the autobiography as I find the lives of this generation of writers so interesting, but the story selection isn't too bad:“The Ghost Light” “Coming Attraction” “A Deskful of Girls” “Space-Time for Springers” “Four Ghosts in Hamlet” “Gonna Roll the Bones” “Bazaar of the Bizarre” “Midnight by the Morphy Watch” “Black Glass”. If you're into Leiber at all you'll probably have read most of these.

“Not Much Disorder, and Not So Early Sex: An Autobiographic Essay” is worth reading. A main focus is his ignorance of, and naivety concerning, sex: "And I wouldn't be telling you all this and making myself out to have been such an incredible dummy except I'm convinced that such cases of protracted weird ignorance in the sex area still occur from time to time in this age of sex education, and wanting to let such individuals know another has shared what they're going through. (And in a way I'm looking for company, companions in my bizarre deficiency.)

 

[tobl]

Since I have pretty much given up on Fantasy books, I am continuing the Amos Decker series with The Fallen by David Baldacci. Maybe I will try some SF in future, not sure what though as I have only ever read 1 SF book in my life almost 30 years ago.

i do liked amos decker a lot. but i'm curious now. what book kept you interest in syfy off for 30 years?

 

[Allegra]

Started reading The Queen's Gambit by Walter Tevis. However good it is, I wouldn't say 'book is always better' in this case because I simply love the TV series too much.

 

[Ed Lake]

I read it last year. I thought it was a good collection, The Merchant and the Alchemist's Gate was probably my favourite of them.

Thanks. It's also the first one in the book, so it's the easiest to listen to when listening to an audio book.

 

[mistri]

Reading One Day All This Will Be Yours by Adrian Tchaikovsky at the moment (thank you Netgalley). It's absolutely brilliant (so far) as I've come to expect from Tchaikovsky - rapidly becoming one of my favourite SF authors.

 

[Danny McG]

i do liked amos decker a lot. but i'm curious now. what book kept you interest in syfy off for 30 years?

Yeah, I'd like to know as well

 

[HareBrain]

Finished The Fellowship of the Ring. It's the first time I've read it in ages, and what surprised me was how intrusive my memory of the films have become on my reading. Boromir "was" Sean Bean, Legolas "was" Orlando Bloom (which annoyed me, as I think he was terrible casting and didn't fit the book character at all). Same with Aragorn and Gimli. But oddly, Frodo and Sam were only ever played by Ian Holm and Bill Nighy from the BBC radio series. Elijah Wood, you clearly made no impression on me at all!!

Anyway, now started The Pursuit of Glory, 1648-1815 by Tim Blanning. So far mercifully free of Hollywood actors, and much more a social history than I'd expected. I'm hoping he will at some point go into the two wars that prompted me to read it.

 

[Foxbat]

I’ve slipped into full blown geek mode and am now reading English Electric Lightning: Genesis And Projects.

 

[hitmouse]

I’ve slipped into full blown geek mode and am now reading English Electric Lightning: Genesis And Projects.

Is that about prog rock, or interior design?

 

[Ian Fortytwo]

I'm reading Sense and Sensibility, by Jane Austen. I'm reading on average two chapters a day. I'm enjoying the pleasant experience that it permeates. Of course almost finished another book The Year of Reading Dangerously, by Andy Miller. This was our book group choice for this month. I joined them via Zoom, which was my first experience using video link. I felt quite comfortable, after hearing so many disaster stories.