May 2021 Reading Discussion.

[Ian Fortytwo]

Well I've started reading Pride and Prejudice, by Jane Austen.

So far so good, wish that I had read it years ago.

So what are you reading?

 

[dask]

Still reading and enjoying Isaac Asimov’s The Gods Themselves.

 

[BigBadBob141]

If you want a nice sample of his short stories try to get "The Best Of Henry Kuttner" from the Ballantine paperbacks Best Of ..... series.
Alas both Henry and C.M.Kornbluth both died young leaving a big gap in the ranks of SF writers.

 

[AE35Unit]

Piano by James Barron.
Chronicling the making of a Steinway grand, from log to finished piano, over a period of 11 months.

 

[Randy M.]

If you want a nice sample of his short stories try to get "The Best Of Henry Kuttner" from the Ballantine paperbacks Best Of ..... series.
Alas both Henry and C.M.Kornbluth both died young leaving a big gap in the ranks of SF writers.

I don't know how easy it is to find anymore, but Two-Handed Engine is a good collection of Kuttner-Moore stories. Also, The Best of C. L. Moore is good, too.

 

[Parson]

Just finished (okay, almost finished) Into the Battle by James Rosone book two of Rise of the Republic. I found myself becoming more and more disappointed with it. First, my aggravation with the first book in the series Into the Stars was that it seemed to be more of an introduction to the series, rather than much of a story to get the series off. But I liked the setting and I thought that the characters would be filled out more as the story went on. And, although there was a bit more of a story in Into the Stars it wasn't all that gripping (strike one). And then (Strike two) in the final 15% of the book, everything changes. You have another set up for the third story in the series without any real ending for the first story line. Everything you know about the way the story and the universe becomes wrong or horribly incomplete. And then (Strike three) it seems to shift genres from a military S.F. to an Altered History Military S.F. Three strikes and you're out, and so was the book and so was the series.

 

[Hugh]

I don't know how easy it is to find anymore, but Two-Handed Engine is a good collection of Kuttner-Moore stories. Also, The Best of C. L. Moore is good, too.

Many thanks @BigBadBob141 and @Randy M. I've made a note of these and will get round to them in time, prices permitting.

 

[Cypress]

Started on Duma Key by Stephen King this morning.
Haven't read King in a long while, but this book caught my attention as something a little different from what I'm used to reading from him. The constant onslaught of teetering on the edge of pain and despair is quite captivating to read.

 

[williamjm]

I read Ben Aaronovitch's What Abigail Did That Summer novella. Unlike the novels in the series this one focuses on Peter Grant's teenage cousin and as such definitely has a Young Adult feel to it. The stakes are also a bit lower than they tend to be in the Rivers of London series, although still potentially very significant for some of the characters. I thought the different perspective did bring something new to the series, although one thing it has in common is that Abigail seems just as keen to share facts about London with the reader as Peter is. I'm not sure the plot could have sustained a novel but it seemed appropriate for the length. I think the most entertaining part of it was the talking foxes who have shown up in previous books but play a bigger role in this and who all seem to act as if they are characters in a John Le Carre-style espionage story.

I'm now reading S.A. Chakraborty's second Daevabad book, The Kingdom of Copper.

 

[biodroid]

Redemption by David Baldacci. Liking this author a lot lately, are there any other authors similar to his style?

 

[Extollager]

Did Lee Killough write good books? I was given a bunch of books including a few by this author.

 

[BigBadBob141]

If you can get any of The Best Of......... series of Ballantine paperbacks they are worth getting, I think they were published in the seventies and eighties so only available on the second hand market.
Apart from the good cover art they usually have a good selection of the authors work.
Not sure how many there are, think I've got them all, there must be eighteen or more in the series:
Paul Anderson, Henry Kuttner, C.L.Moore, C.M.Kornbluth, Phillip K. Dick, Cordwainer Smith, Frederic Brown, Edmund Hamilton, Fritz Lieber, Eric Frank Russell, Murray Lienster, Robert Bloch, to name but a few off the top of my old and balding head!

 

[dask]

Some (if not all) were also available in hard back from Nelson Doubleday through the Science Fiction Book Club around the same time.

 

[thaddeus6th]

Just finished Rhythm of War by Brandon Sanderson. Really do like the Stormlight Archives.

 

[Danny McG]

Zero Day Code by John Birmingham.

So far it's like an apocalyptic tech thriller

 

[Danny McG]

Did Lee Killough write good books? I was given a bunch of books including a few by this author.

I've just had a look at some of hers and I don't think I've ever read anything by her

Lee Killough

Author Lee Killough's list of books and series in order, with the latest releases, covers, descriptions and availability.

www.fantasticfiction.com

 

[Ian Fortytwo]

Well I've started reading Pride and Prejudice, by Jane Austen.

So far so good, wish that I had read it years ago.

So what are you reading?

Well I finally finished it, it was okay, however I doubt very much that I'll read it again. 6/10.

 

[Paul_C]

I've just finished the first section of Vagabonds by Hao Jingfang which I'm enjoying, though it is quite gently paced.

To break it up a bit I've wooshed through the first quarter of The House That Walked Between Worlds by Jenny Schwartz.

 

[Randy M.]

If you can get any of The Best Of......... series of Ballantine paperbacks they are worth getting, I think they were published in the seventies and eighties so only available on the second hand market.
Apart from the good cover art they usually have a good selection of the authors work.
Not sure how many there are, think I've got them all, there must be eighteen or more in the series:
Paul Anderson, Henry Kuttner, C.L.Moore, C.M.Kornbluth, Phillip K. Dick, Cordwainer Smith, Frederic Brown, Edmund Hamilton, Fritz Lieber, Eric Frank Russell, Murray Lienster, Robert Bloch, to name but a few off the top of my old and balding head!

About the Kuttner, it was reissued in 2007 as The Last Mimsy when a film of "Mimsy Were the Borogoves" was released.

 

[luriantimetraveler]

Last weekend I wrapped up Leaving Mother Lake: A Girlhood at the Edge of the World, which, upon some Googling, seems to be less memoir and more self-mythologizing — but was enjoyable either way. The world-building (matrilineal ethnic group in the mountains along the China/Tibet border) is rich and immersive, and the slow unfolding was just what I was in the mood for.

Also finished rereading Emma Donoghue's Kissing The Witch, which I read for the first time when I was a teenager and haven't reread in nearly 20 years. I've been dipping in and out of a collection of classic Jewish tales (fairy, folk, supernatural, and mystical) so I think I am just sinking into a folktale phase — I appreciate the loose poetry of that kind of storytelling, although it's very different than what is popular now (more scene-based, specific, and grounding language/storytelling). I'm even trying my hand at an "original" Jewish folktale in my writing practice time!

Next up will be Angeline Boulley's Firekeeper's Daughter, which I'm reading for a presentation I'm giving at the high school next week. It's done well in the review journals, so I'm hoping it's good!