August 2021 Reading Discussion

[Bick]

The Book of Skulls by Robert Silverberg. A GoodReads book club was reading it and I've had a copy for years. But right now my head just wasn't into it.

I enjoyed it, but I would say its quite atypical of Silverberg's work, in some ways. I can see you might need to be in the mood for it.
Have you read A Time of Changes? I read that recently and really appreciated it.

 

[Extollager]

Early August finds me reading, among other things, The Far Side of the World (the tenth Aubrey & Maturin novel), a book about Plato and Platonism by Louis Markos, the first volume of a projected three-volume biography of C. S. Lewis by R. L. Poe, Powers' Why Dylan Matters, and a critique of "antiracism" by Voddie Baucham, Fault Lines. I lately reread Robert Louis Stevenson's novella "Olalla" and the section on Stevenson in Richard Holmes's Footsteps.

 

[Bick]

Early August finds me reading, among other things, The Far Side of the World (the tenth Aubrey & Maturin novel), a book about Plato and Platonism by Louis Markos, the first volume of a projected three-volume biography of C. S. Lewis by R. L. Poe, Powers' Why Dylan Matters, and a critique of "antiracism" by Voddie Baucham, Fault Lines. I lately reread Robert Louis Stevenson's novella "Olalla" and the section on Stevenson in Richard Holmes's Footsteps.

6 things on the go? Wow. I think I'd struggle with that, and also it would take me about a month to finish each one. I tend to have only 1 or 2 on the go concurrently and if it's 2 books, I like to ensure they are quite dissimilar. Like Dickens and Alan Dean Foster, which I just read side by side, so to speak. Hard to mix them up!

 

[Extollager]

Bick, do you read blogs, newspapers, magazines? I try to keep my reading of current events etc pretty minimal. Most of the reading I do in a day is books, and I want even more of it to be books. I regret so much of my life wasted reading magazines and newspapers. Anyway, though, reading minimal periodicals etc. makes reading several books concurrently more feasible. The ones I’m reading are different from each other...not much likelihood of mixing things up. Also I don’t read equal amounts daily. Today I read mostly the Lewis biography. I didn’t read any of the Dylan book. I’ll read a little of the O’Brian before lights out.

 

[Extollager]

Early August finds me reading, among other things, The Far Side of the World (the tenth Aubrey & Maturin novel), a book about Plato and Platonism by Louis Markos, the first volume of a projected three-volume biography of C. S. Lewis by R. L. Poe, Powers' Why Dylan Matters, and a critique of "antiracism" by Voddie Baucham, Fault Lines. I lately reread Robert Louis Stevenson's novella "Olalla" and the section on Stevenson in Richard Holmes's Footsteps.

The Lewis biography is actually by Harry Lee Poe, and, yes, I think he is a distant descendant of EAP. He looks a little like him in the author photograph, I thought.

 

[Bick]

Bick, do you read blogs, newspapers, magazines? I try to keep my reading of current events etc pretty minimal. Most of the reading I do in a day is books, and I want even more of it to be books. I regret so much of my life wasted reading magazines and newspapers. Anyway, though, reading minimal periodicals etc. makes reading several books concurrently more feasible. The ones I’m reading are different from each other...not much likelihood of mixing things up. Also I don’t read equal amounts daily. Today I read mostly the Lewis biography. I didn’t read any of the Dylan book. I’ll read a little of the O’Brian before lights out.

I don’t read newspapers or periodicals, but I do have SF magazine reading commitments, as I review for Tangent. So today I read a few short stories from the latest issue of Clarkesworld. I guess that does make another thing I have on the go. But I’m a slow reader, and each novel/book takes me a while to read, and I’m still a member of the working world (albeit a consultant who works from a home office), so I don’t find I can stack too much.

 

[Randy M.]

I enjoyed it, but I would say its quite atypical of Silverberg's work, in some ways. I can see you might need to be in the mood for it.
Have you read A Time of Changes? I read that recently and really appreciated it.

The first two (short) chapters felt very '70s, a bit like a Woody Allen movie minus any humor. I'd have been fine with that in the '70s, but essentially need to adjust my perspective to fall into it now.

Except for a couple of short stories -- "Passengers" is a favorite of mine -- I haven't read any Silverberg in probably 40 years. He's one of those, like Ellison, that I think I'll dip into a bit more deeply just before I pick up something else.

 

[tachyon]

I finally finished Harrow the Ninth by Tamsyn Muir. It was an effort. This is the sequel to Gideon the Ninth, a science-fantasy gothic space opera locked room mystery, which I adored, but the sequel was a slog for me.

The parts of Gideon which I loved (the voice of Gideon, the self-deprecating genre-aware humor, the overwrought gothic setting, the action) were much less present in Harrow, and the parts of of Gideon that I had trouble with (confusing plot, giant cast of characters and their tangled web of relationships) were much more present. Harrow is a very confusing book - intentionally - but I'm not sure the author pulled it together in the end. I'm still not quite sure what happend or why, though the final chapters do try to untangle the mystery for the reader. I may not be the audience for this type of book.

I also read a debut urban fantasy/magical realist YA Summer in the City of Roses by Michelle Ruiz Keil. Set in Portland, Oregon, US in the 1990s, the plot follows a brother and sister who are pulled away from their home and family and into the underground street scene of 90's grunge culture.

The story shimmers with a sense of hidden magic, a teasing uncanny fairy-tale shiver that slips away when you try to examine it straight on. The plausible but boring mundane explanation is always within reach, the magic just out of sight. It's a lovely story with mythic resonance and I gobbled it up. Ten stars would recommend.

 

[HareBrain]

I finally finished Harrow the Ninth by Tamsyn Muir. It was an effort. This is the sequel to Gideon the Ninth, a science-fantasy gothic space opera locked room mystery, which I adored, but the sequel was a slog for me.

The parts of Gideon which I loved (the voice of Gideon, the self-deprecating genre-aware humor, the overwrought gothic setting, the action) were much less present in Harrow, and the parts of of Gideon that I had trouble with (confusing plot, giant cast of characters and their tangled web of relationships) were much more present. Harrow is a very confusing book - intentionally - but I'm not sure the author pulled it together in the end. I'm still not quite sure what happend or why, though the final chapters do try to untangle the mystery for the reader. I may not be the audience for this type of book.

Although I only looked at Harrow rather than read it, I got the same impression.

 

[Garfunkel]

I'm currently reading The Nameless Ones by John Connolly. As expected, a great read so far. I love Connolly's prose and he has a real flair for creating nasty characters.

My reading this year has been very frustrating. Some days, I've found myself going at a decent pace, while a lot of the time it's an effort to even read a few pages (eg, today). I suppose it's probably the ongoing stresses of the current times we're living in. Last year, I was doing great with audiobooks; this year, my concentration for them is shot to pieces.

 

[soulsinging]

I'm starting a re-read of The Death Gate Cycle....not sure if I'll complete it all

Is that Weis/Hickman? I’m curious what you think. I enjoyed it when I read it over 20 years ago but I’m a bit afraid to try it again in case it hasn’t aged well.

 

[Danny McG]

Is that Weis/Hickman? I’m curious what you think. I enjoyed it when I read it over 20 years ago but I’m a bit afraid to try it again in case it hasn’t aged well.

I liked it when it first came out but not so much now, it seems a bit bland and YA(ish) and I'm losing interest in the plot.
I'm into book 3 but about ready to give up on it.

Now I gotta find something else to read

 

[DeltaV]

Marque and Reprisal 2004 Elizabeth Moon

Second volume of the Vatta's War series.

Napoleon said that he preferred lucky generals over good ones. And yet, having some small knowledge of the Napoleonic wars, I've noticed how his generals seemed to make their own luck by spotting opportunities and acting on them, rather than waiting around for "luck" to give them victory.

The Vatta's War series is very popular and certainly has some good things going on... but I'm finding that it is not working for me. And here's why: Ky is continuously handed stuff on a silver platter ... fortuitous circumstances lead to her story moving ahead, rather than her own talent and determination (and that of her existing crew members, many of whom are still only a name and a role).

I realize that these events make the plot of Marque and Reprisal jump ahead a lot faster and, I imagine, sets the scene for Ky to take the initiative against her enemies in the following books. And I understand that chance plays a role in any story, and in real life too ... but I don't care for it when it dominates a plot and/or the characters. Having said that, I can see why a lot of SF fans like this series and, who knows, I might return to it one day.

 

[biodroid]

Dean Koontz - Elsewhere

 

[tobl]

Dean Koontz - Elsewhere

do you need a gps perhaps?

 

[alexvss]

The Book of Skulls by Robert Silverberg. A GoodReads book club was reading it and I've had a copy for years. But right now my head just wasn't into it.

I read Enter a soldier. Later: enter another. It's amazing! I wonder if his novels are as good as the short material.

 

[psikeyhackr]

I just started the Belisarius series
by David Drake and Eric Flint

An Oblique Approach (Belisarius #1) by David Drake

An Oblique Approach (Belisarius, #1)

Only three things stand between the Malwa of northern I…

www.goodreads.com

It is fundamentally the same concept as
The General series
The Forge (The General #1) by S.M. Stirling

The Forge (The General, #1)

Long after interstellar civilization collapsed, Battle …

www.goodreads.com

Belisarius becomes an alternate timeline of Earth starting around 500 A.D. while the General series if a couple of thousand years in the future
on a planet colonized by humans that has undergone a technological collapse due to revolt and war. Both generals get some high technology AI advisor to alter their futures.

I don't know what the relationship is between
Flint, Drake and Stirling is to create such similar
storylines.

 

[Victoria Silverwolf]

I have just started The Revolutionary Genius of Plants: A New Understanding of Plant Intelligence and Behavior (2018) by Stefano Mancuso, translated from the Italian by Vanessa Di Stefano. The original Italian title is La piante hanno gia inventato il nostro futuro ("Plants have already invented our future") which seems to be more relevant to one of the book's major points, as to how some aspects of plant life might be adapted into technology. The English title emphasizes the way in which plants react to the environment can be metaphorically considered memory, communication, etc., but that's somewhat over dramatic. Anyway, there are lots of pretty photographs.

 

[Hugh]

Colin Kapp "The Wizard of Anharitte"
Pleasant Jack-Vance-influenced derring do on feudal-type planet.
This is the panther paperback so it has the same suggestive Peter Jones cover art that I remember from my previous read some fifty years ago. I remembered absolutely nothing about the book except the cover.

 

[hitmouse]

Colin Kapp "The Wizard of Anharitte"
Pleasant Jack-Vance-influenced derring do on feudal-type planet.
This is the panther paperback so it has the same suggestive Peter Jones cover art that I remember from my previous read some fifty years ago. I remembered absolutely nothing about the book except the cover.

I haven’t heard of Colin Kapp. Interested in Vance-flavoured SF and I really like Panthers. He seems to have been quite prolific. Worth checking out?