November 2021 Reading Thread

[Dave Vicks]

Listened to the short story DEVIL,CAR by Roger Zelazny. Very good.Next a Fritz Leiber story.

 

[Dan Jones]

Ooh, Fritz Leiber. Which one?

Ok I deferred starting Mythago Wood, because I couldn't help but read The Remains Of The Day by Kazuo Ishiguro. Not SFF in any sense, but my word, what a marvellous, devastating book it is. No wonder it's held in such high esteem.

I've started Mythago Wood now, and am about 40 pages in.

 

[Vertigo]

Ooh, Fritz Leiber. Which one?

Ok I deferred starting Mythago Wood, because I couldn't help but read The Remains Of The Day by Kazuo Ishiguro. Not SFF in any sense, but my word, what a marvellous, devastating book it is. No wonder it's held in such high esteem.

I've started Mythago Wood now, and am about 40 pages in.

I noticed you recently read and liked Klara and the Sun; was this what took you to The Remains of the Day? I've not yet tried Ishiguro but have KatS on my wish list.

 

[Dan Jones]

I noticed you recently read and liked Klara and the Sun; was this what took you to The Remains of the Day? I've not yet tried Ishiguro but have KatS on my wish list.

Yes that was it - I've long had The Remains Of The Day on my reading list. I read the free sample on Amazon and couldn't stop, so I bought it immediately and devoured it. A lot of themes between Klara and Remains are actually very similar despite the huge differences in setting. I've very quickly become a huge admirer of Ishiguro. He wends his way between SFF settings and non-SFF settings very fluidly, which I find admirable, as I aspire to that sort of adaptability in my own writing.

 

[Vertigo]

Yes that was it - I've long had The Remains Of The Day on my reading list. I read the free sample on Amazon and couldn't stop, so I bought it immediately and devoured it. A lot of themes between Klara and Remains are actually very similar despite the huge differences in setting. I've very quickly become a huge admirer of Ishiguro. He wends his way between SFF settings and non-SFF settings very fluidly, which I find admirable, as I aspire to that sort of adaptability in my own writing.

I've another dozen books before I have my next buying spree but I think Klara will be on that one. Then see if I follow a similar trajectory to yourself!

 

[Dragonlady]

Just near the end of Holly Trinity and the Ghosts of York, an urban fantasy written by a friend, which I'm thoroughly enjoying.

 

[Tanith]

Right now I'm on a "Dark Tower" reading binge. This came about because I was browsing around the old Stephen King message board and ran across a link to a blog post listing the "extended" reading order for the series. This is all the DT books plus novels and stories that are connected with it.

And yes, this is a blatant excuse to re-read some favorite old King books. But I have no problem with re-reading favorite books of any kind; you always get something more out of the good ones. Right now I'm approaching the end of The Talisman, and I think Eyes of the Dragon is next on the list.

For those interested, here's the blog post with "The Essentials, Expanded Version" appearing about halfway down the post:

Suggested reading order for the Dark Tower series, expanded edition

 

[Randy M.]

Finally finished, or almost finished, The Circus Of Dr. Lao by Charles G. Finney. Well written but mildly interesting novel about a circus coming to a small town with actual mythological creatures. For whatever reason I felt I was pushing myself to get through this. A long time ago George Scithers rejected a story I had written on the grounds it fell into the "revelation of wonders" catagory. That's how this struck me. Well crafted but not really going anywhere that I was interested in. There was some cast of characters material at the end that the author suggested should be read but after a couple of pages I put it to rest.

Sorry to hear this, Dask. Lao is one of my favorite books, a pointed satire on mid-west provincialism.

Set aside an anthology, English Country House Murders, which I was dipping into, when Jo Walton's Informal History of the Hugo Awards reminded me of a book that's sat on my shelves since the 1980s, Murder and Magic by Randall Garrett. Part way into "The Eyes Have It" and enjoying is so far. Mystery plus fantasy, seemed appealing.

 

[Parson]

Finished Iron & Blood by Joshua Dalzelle. It is book 2 of the Expansion Wars Trilogy. Like every other Dalzelle book I've read, it's pretty good Military S.F. Usually his books have been set entirely in space but this one has serious planet side action as well. Like his other books, I find the space battles well thought out and reasonable. He's right near the top in sculpting realistic ship encounters --- Hours of waiting; seconds (or less) of action. Ave. 4 stars

I have book 3 Destroyer queued, but I'm not sure I'm going there next.

 

[Danny McG]

Finished Iron & Blood by Joshua Dalzelle. It is book 2 of the Expansion Wars Trilogy. Like every other Dalzelle book I've read, it's pretty good Military S.F. Usually his books have been set entirely in space but this one has serious planet side action as well. Like his other books, I find the space battles well thought out and reasonable. He's right near the top in sculpting realistic ship encounters --- Hours of waiting; seconds (or less) of action. Ave. 4 stars

I have book 3 Destroyer queued, but I'm not sure I'm going there next.

I too like his mil sci Fi but I wish he'd write some unrelated trilogies, they all link in to his main 'Omega' series and it's off putting IMO, I'm always thinking....
"should I know this character?"
"Is that the ship from blah blah battle?"
Etc etc

 

[Bick]

I'm currently reading Haruka Murakami's Kafka on the Shore (which is brilliant so far) and I came across these lines that made me chuckle out loud, especially finding them in a Japanese book, and felt I should share. Couldn't think where else to put them so figured this was as good a place as any:

"A shabby, miserable sort of building. The kind where shabby people spent one shabby day after another doing their shabby work. The kind of fallen-from-grace sort of building you find in any city, the kind which Charles Dickens could spend ten pages describing."

I should add that the book is anything but gloomy as this quote might have suggested!

Good book.

 

[hitmouse]

Just finished The Calcutta Chromosome by Amitav Ghosh, which I really enjoyed.
Sort of SF in that the main protagonist is sitting in his flat somewhere in North America at some point in the indeterminate near future, educating a slightly irascible AI system for a large global organisation/NGO. The AI is going through historic files and turns up a damaged ID card from an old colleague who vanished years before. This colleague had become interested in the history of research into malaria, and had become convinced that a British army doctor who discovered the mosquito vector in Calcutta at the end of the 19th century ( this bit is true) could not have done so without sophisticated, organised help of which he was unaware.

What was this mysterious organisation, and what was its purpose? Did it really exist or was it just the imagination of a history obsessive?

We are in Foucault’s Pendulum territory here, but this is much better.

Certainly an unusual and interesting premise. It develops into a decent mystery/conspiracy thriller with great characters, good pace, steadily rising tension, and an unexpected ending.

Recommended.

 

[Dan Jones]

Good book.

It's a magnificent book. With an ending that's as out there and weird as WATCHMEN.

 

[Hugh]

Theodore Sturgeon "A Touch of Strange" (1958)

Seven 1950s Sturgeon stories including "Mr Costello, Hero" (discussed recently in Booksearch). All uniquely Sturgeon.

 

[tobl]

I too like his mil sci Fi but I wish he'd write some unrelated trilogies, they all link in to his main 'Omega' series and it's off putting IMO, I'm always thinking....
"should I know this character?"
"Is that the ship from blah blah battle?"
Etc etc

they don´t, you're mistaken.

 

[Danny McG]

they don´t, you're mistaken.

Tell me one that doesn't

 

[tobl]

none of the mil sci fi fron joshua is conected to omegaa force
From Joshua Dalzelle, author of the bestselling "Omega Force” series, comes an all new vision of humanity's future.
black fleet trilogy, expansion wars and unification wars are conected with each other.
terra scout fleet is also diferent from those 2.

Joshua Dalzelle

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

www.fantasticfiction.com

 

[Danny McG]

none of the mil sci fi fron joshua is conected to omegaa force
From Joshua Dalzelle, author of the bestselling "Omega Force” series, comes an all new vision of humanity's future.
black fleet trilogy, expansion wars and unification wars are conected with each other.
terra scout fleet is also diferent from those 2.

Joshua Dalzelle

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

www.fantasticfiction.com

Yep, you're correct.

For some reason my memory thought Jason Burke and Jackson Wolfe (the main protagonists from the different series) were the same person....that explains my confusion

 

[Ian Fortytwo]

Currently reading Rabbit, Run, by John Updike.

 

[Parson]

Finished Katie Kincaid, Candidate by Andrew Van Aardvark this book is a pretty solid coming of age/military S.F. book. This is the first of 4 published novels in the series. The setting is mid-24th century. Humanity has not moved outside of the solar system, but there is a thriving "belter" society. A group of aliens have moved into the solar system, but in this book they play only a small roll. I suspect more of this in later books. I found the main character Katie Kincaid, who was born and raised in the belt, to be believable, likable, talented, and far from perfect. (A nice change from so many "hero' books where the hero is almost completely perfect.) This is a self-published work and show us both the strengths and the weaknesses of self publishing. On the plus side a pretty good Mil. S.F. book got published by an unknown author. On the negative side, unknown author did not put enough effort into editing. I noted more than once that the wrong word was used or that a word had been dropped out of the sentence. And when I notice it, it must be bad because I don't as a rule pick these things up.* I give it an average 4 stars without the editing faux pas probably a strong 4 stars. I have picked up and immediately started Katie Kincaid, Space Cadet. that name makes me shake my head because of the normal negative idea behind being a "space cadet." So far, though so good.


*I am getting better at picking those things up. I attribute it to the grammar police which drive through this forum from time to times.