June 2021 Reading Discussion

Status
Not open for further replies.
Finished Song of Solomon by Toni Morrison. It was pretty good, but I think I'm just not a big Morrison fan.

Now on to Shakespeare for Squirrels by Christopher Moore. Wanted something lighter for the first time in a while.
 
soulsinging said:
Now on to Shakespeare for Squirrels by Christopher Moore. Wanted something lighter for the first time in a while.
Click to expand...
did you payed in nuts? kingkiller chronicles 3 seems to come out in july
 
soulsinging said:
Finished Song of Solomon by Toni Morrison. It was pretty good, but I think I'm just not a big Morrison fan.

Now on to Shakespeare for Squirrels by Christopher Moore. Wanted something lighter for the first time in a while.
Click to expand...
Have you read Beloved or Jazz?

I'm reading Moore's Fluke for the same reason.
 
Ray Bradbury "The Illustrated Man"
Bradbury can write beautiful sentences and these can sometimes turn into wonderful paragraphs and occasionally these result in truly lovely stories. This collection does not contain any of my favourites, but it's still very much better than many of its contemporaries.
 
Currently reading The Gone World, by Tom Sweterlitsch. Not a huge fan of the writing style, which strikes me as a little too "I'm writing literature," but the story itself is intriguing and fascinating, so I'm enjoying it anyway.
 
I've just finished a short story by Neal Asher, Proctors, it's mainly about a far future interaction between the last remnants of the Polity and The Owner.

Thus inspired I went through my old files and Yes! I still have the Owner trilogy.

I've started a re-read of book one, The Departure, it's been so long ago that most of the details have been forgotten so it's like a brand new story :)
 
Danny McG said:
I've just finished a short story by Neal Asher, Proctors, it's mainly about a far future interaction between the last remnants of the Polity and The Owner.

Thus inspired I went through my old files and Yes! I still have the Owner trilogy.

I've started a re-read of book one, The Departure, it's been so long ago that most of the details have been forgotten so it's like a brand new story :)
Click to expand...
I read a stack of Neal Asher about 10 years ago. No idea where I got to in his stuff, and even less clue where I might start again.
 
I got Hari Kunzru's Gods Without Men from the library (libraries are open!) and it was very good, very weird, but I need to reread it to understand it more. I really want to read Kunzru's latest which is about incels, Red Pill summat, but it doesn't seem to be in libraries or out in paperback.
 
Danny McG said:
I got a bit out of sorts when I was reading the intro.....
"Wait, this guy's just doing an abridged version of some old book?"
I then went online trying to find the original by S. Morgenstern - I feel a bit silly now!
Click to expand...


Many years ago, when I read the novel -- long before it became a film, and when the paperback called it a "hot fairy tale," which is misleading -- I got to the part where the "editor" tells you where to write in to get a copy of a scene they left out of the "original" and actually wrote to it, since I appreciated the joke. I got a very funny form letter back, explaining why they still couldn't supply the missing scene. I don't know if the publisher will still respond that way.
 
Victoria Silverwolf said:
Many years ago, when I read the novel -- long before it became a film, and when the paperback called it a "hot fairy tale," which is misleading -- I got to the part where the "editor" tells you where to write in to get a copy of a scene they left out of the "original" and actually wrote to it, since I appreciated the joke. I got a very funny form letter back, explaining why they still couldn't supply the missing scene. I don't know if the publisher will still respond that way.
Click to expand...

You should have used this for your 75 word story! What a nasty trick it was. --- Of course your 75 has an even worse trick, so you probably made the right choice.
 
Run out of time to write up my recent reads properly :( So here's a few quick notes:
The Light Brigade - By Kameron Hurley. An interesting premise for military SF that for me ran off the rails with some painfully implausible science (Beam-me-up-Scotty style transportation that somehow manages to mess up time) and that was compounded by gratuitously gory violence. I really didn't enjoy it. 2/5 stars
Teranesia by Greg Egan - This was okay but more of a speculative techno thriller than SF. The main protagonist's angst ridden issues became a little wearing by the end. 3/5 stars
This Alien Shore by C S Friedman - This was much better than expected. Having recently read A Memory Called Empire which, in my view, failed to create a Byzantine Dune style space empire, it was nice to find this one succeeding. It's nothing like Dune but the guild that controls all space travel had distinct echoes of it. In my opinion there were some rather glaring science holes in the basic world setup but once I got myself past them I thoroughly enjoyed the well balanced world building, plot and characters. A healthy dose of cyberpunk but not so much of the punk with its associated frenetic pace and language. I shall go on to read This Virtual Night which I believe is a separate story but in the same world. 4/5 stars [my thanks to @Werthead and @Danny McG for pointing me towards this one!]
1Q84 by Murakami Haruki - I was somewhat intimidated by the huge page count but read as three books it wasn't a problem and, for me, this was an excellent book; my first but definitely not last Murakami. This is not a book for a speed reader or lover of fast paced action. It is slow and measured throughout with some wonderful figurative language; all due respect to the translators! It's hard to sum up what the book is about but there's a touch of fantasy, a touch of parallel worlds, a touch of surrealism, but mostly, I'd say, Murakami's take on magical realism. An extraordinary book that takes the reader on a dreamy other-worldly, urban ride. Very impressed but I can see how some would totally hate it! 5/5 stars
Cold Welcome by Elizabeth Moon - this is a fun action romp that, like the first Vatta's War series, is probably closer to YA than A in my view. I enjoyed it but find I struggle a bit with this sort of military SF nowadays. So much of it is desperately improbable, as tends to be the case with most hero-saves-all style books. I may yet read others in the Vatta's Peace series should I find myself wanting a light read requiring little thought. 3/5 stars
The Penultimate Truth by Philip K Dick. I should have hated this; Dick bombards the reader with a scatter gun of Deus ex Machinas, and massively fanciful, implausible and inconsistent science. All things I normally hate but Dick carries it all off with a exuberant disregard for such minor inconveniences whilst focusing on his main moral themes. Brilliant and possibly one of my favourite PKD books so far, even if I can't figure out how he got me to suspend my disbelief at levels I'm not usually prepared to do! 5/6 stars
 
Last edited:
I finished Small Bones by our own @Kerrybuchanan. This is a very solid police procedural, a bit more of a normal one then Knife Edge, but just as engaging.

Here's my Amazon Review:

Kerry Buchanan Is an author to watch. Small Bones is the sequel to Knife Edge, and in this one we get to know the police officers, Harvey and Birch. And if you were like me you will quickly count them as your friends, and as people who are dedicated and very good at their job, while possibly being better people. Although this is a more common sort of police procedural novel than Knife Edge, I enjoyed it a lot. It is very well written and has more than one surprise. In fact, Kerry has done it again, at the end of the book she has left me surprised at the ending. I'm looking forward to book #3, and I expect you will too.

I have moved from there back to S.F. and my favorite sort, military S.F. and one written partially by my favorite author David Webber. Governor is co-authored by David Weber and Richard Fox. I've only made a start yet 50 pages (10%) and so far it is a bit slow. A lot of stage setting, and so far how this is "A companion novel to In Fury Born" as it is promoted is completely unseen. The thing I am most frustrated by so far is that I bought a hard cover book. I don't believe it was available as an ebook. I spent a half hour waiting for the barber yesterday and I didn't have the book on my phone to read. --- I'll let you know more as I read more.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Thread starter Similar threads Forum Replies Date
Ursa major POLL -- JUNE 2024 75-word Writing Challenge -- DACRAZYKAT29 WINS! Writing Challenges 0
elvet May / June 100 Word Anonymous Challenge 2024 Poll Workshop 0
Ursa major POLL -- June 2021 75-word Writing Challenge -- CAT'S CRADLE WINS! Writing Challenges 0
Daysman DISCUSSION THREAD -- JUNE 2021 75-WORD WRITING CHALLENGE Writing Challenges 139
Daysman JUNE 2021 75-WORD WRITING CHALLENGE --VICTORY TO CAT'S CRADLE Writing Challenges 40

Similar threads


Back
Top