November 2021 Reading Thread

[Elckerlyc]

Neither fairy, nor porn are to be found in Mythago Wood. Love, yes.
Besides that, I haven't read anything that is similar to MW. If it did create a new genre it is until now the only example of it (except for the sequel.)

 

[Parson]

Golf is almost completely done for the year, so my reading habit gets fed a lot more.

Finished Angel Killer, A Jessica Blackwood Novel by Andrew Mayne. Solid detective mystery stuff. Andrew Mayne is becoming a favorite author of mine. If I'm not mistaken this was his first novel and I think it showed. His crimes are always a bit intricate/over the top, but in this book they are almost too much to be believed. I give him a pass here though, because the villain (calls himself "the Warlock") is a magician and he is putting on a show with his crimes. The hero, Jessica Blackwood (the press calls her "the witch"), is also a magician so they remain "just" credible enough. Average 4 stars.

Finished Iron & Blood book 2 in The Expansion Wars trilogy by Joshua Dalzelle. It's a solid Mil. S.F. The thing I liked the best about it was the fleet battle strategy and the realistic time involved even at high thrust capacities a space battle would take to set up; balanced by the few seconds of actual fighting. Average 4 stars

Started The Never Hero (Chronicles of Jonathan Tibbs, Book 1) by T. Ellery Hodges. So far I am a little unsure about this. Reading it makes me think it has a plot like a graphic novel. Only a quarter of the way through it but there is a memory trick which reminds me of "Ghost Busters" and a hero which reminds me of "The Incredible Hulk." Great literature it is not, but there might be enough action and story to keep me reading. Stay tuned.

 

[AE35Unit]

@Parson Golf never ends. There's always some match on somewhere

 

[tobl]

@Parson Golf never ends. There's always some match on somewhere

yep, and it's always 18h somewhere

 

[Randy M.]

Re Mythago Wood

I've been looking at reviews before adding this to my reading list (realistic list, kept short) and one person referred it to as having created a new genre of 'fairy porn'. Is that right?

That's ... odd. I'd call it closer to folk horror, but it's not really horror though there are some tense moments. It's closer in some ways to Arthur Machen or Algernon Blackwood, one or both of whom may have been influences. (Or may not for all I know.)

Well, that's really helpful ...

Anyway, I don't recall any fairy porn and I'm pretty sure I'd remember that.

 

[AE35Unit]

About to read Giant Killer by A. Bertram Chandler, the next story in the Mammoth Book or Golden Age SF. Funny for some reason I thought he was a writer of detective fiction! I found out too he's the father in law of Ramsey Campbell!

 

[Vertigo]

Surface Detail by Iain Banks - a reread reminding me just how good this one is. A little more here.
Rome’s Executioner by Robert Fabbri - I'm still a little uncomfortable with the casual brutality in Fabbri's books. More here.
Rejoice: A knife to the Heart by Steven Erikson - a DNF I found it a dreadful and self-indulgent book. More here.
This Virtual Night by C S Friedman - A very good SF thriller following on from These Alien Shores. More here.
Childhood’s End by Arthur C Clarke - Very good first contact novel. Can't believe I've never got around to it before! More here.

And now I'm onto something a little different - Kafka on the Shore by Murakami Haruki - which, 100 pages in, I'm loving so far!

 

[Hugh]

That's ... odd. I'd call it closer to folk horror, but it's not really horror though there are some tense moments. It's closer in some ways to Arthur Machen or Algernon Blackwood, one or both of whom may have been influences. (Or may not for all I know.)

Well, that's really helpful ...

Anyway, I don't recall any fairy porn and I'm pretty sure I'd remember that.

Many thanks indeed @Randy M. and @Elckerlyc for clarifying the porn issue.

It was an Amazon review so the reviewer could be referring to a completely different book, or just be plain mischievous.
Here it is: re Mythago Wood by Robert Holdstock
2.0 out of 5 stars not for children
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 21 March 2016
with this book the author creates a whole new subgenre : Fairy Porn. altogether, a mess.

 

[Vertigo]

Many thanks indeed @Randy M. and @Elckerlyc for clarifying the porn issue.

It was an Amazon review so the reviewer could be referring to a completely different book, or just be plain mischievous.
Here it is: re Mythago Wood by Robert Holdstock
2.0 out of 5 stars not for children
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 21 March 2016
with this book the author creates a whole new subgenre : Fairy Porn. altogether, a mess.

Don't forget this common use of 'porn' is not referencing sex but rather this is a book for people who get excited (not necessarily sexually) by anything to do with fairies or whatever else the 'porn' is happening to be referred to I've often seen it referring to military porn. Again nothing to do with sex.

 

[Hugh]

Don't forget this common use of 'porn' is not referencing sex but rather this is a book for people who get excited (not necessarily sexually) by anything to do with fairies or whatever else the 'porn' is happening to be referred to I've often seen it referring to military porn. Again nothing to do with sex.

Ahhh!
I understand...

 

[tobl]

Childhood’s End by Arthur C Clarke - Very good first contact novel. Can't believe I've never got around to it before! More here.

nice tv show also

 

[Ian Fortytwo]

I'm reading some of Tennessee Williams plays. Quite a challenging read.

 

[Randy M.]

I recall reading aloud from The Glass Menagerie in a high school English class. Powerful stuff.

 

[Danny McG]

I'm reading Merlin Sheldrake's book on fungi. Excellent so far.

I've read two or three books on fungi but I had to read them again once I was straight headed

 

[AE35Unit]

I've read two or three books on fungi but I had to read them again once I was straight headed

I wish there were more fungi around here. Hardly ever see any but they fascinate me (lichens too)

 

[Danny McG]

I wish there were more fungi around here. Hardly ever see any but they fascinate me (lichens too)

Maybe there isn't 'mushroom' for them

 

[Randy M.]

Maybe there isn't 'mushroom' for them

Reminds me of a menu item in an old MAD magazine parody, "Shermlock Shomes and The Hound of the Basketballs": "Turkey with much-room on Toast"; also, "Barely Soup".

 

[HareBrain]

I wish there were more fungi around here.

Maybe there isn't 'mushroom' for them

And they say music hall is dead.

 

[Danny McG]

 

[The Big Peat]

Danny have you no sha- actually forget I asked, we all know the answer

Re Mythago Wood

I've been looking at reviews before adding this to my reading list (realistic list, kept short) and one person referred it to as having created a new genre of 'fairy porn'. Is that right?

I am quite bewildered by that review, and even taking is as a genre for people who really like reading about fairies, it's pretty bewildering as it's not really about fairies. If you squint you can see mythagos as being like the fair folk. But even then, most fae-centric fantasy books are pretty different to Mythago Wood. I would discount that review as an honest take that only works if you stand at one exact angle at full moon while squinting through your left eye.