November 2021 Reading Thread

[AE35Unit]

Remember liking this story when I read it a long time ago in J. W. Campbell’s The Astounding Science Fiction Anthology, so much so I sought out his collection, First Person, Peculiar. Can‘t remember what it was about however.

From what I've read about it, it seems to be about a device that allows the inventor to film events from the past. The protagonist presents the ideas to Hollywood

 

[AE35Unit]

I’m into a second reading of Dickens’s Little Dorrit, which is more somber than some might expect from this author, but really good.

One of the saddest reads for me is The Old Curiosity Shop

 

[Simbelmynë]

I’m into a second reading of Dickens’s Little Dorrit, which is more somber than some might expect from this author, but really good.

Picked up a lovely old leather bound edition of this in a charity shop recently. Having greatly enjoyed most of the seven Dickens novels I've read so far I look forward to getting to it - I know nothing about this one actually, which is good because I'd already seen adaptations of a couple before I read the book and wish I'd more freshly been able to enjoy the plots. I think his books can often feel sombre at times, this is definitely true of Oliver Twist and A Tale of Two Cities, even if he does usually tend towards the melodramatic or comedic in style.

 

[williamjm]

Thanks for the info and thoughts @The Judge and @williamjm on City of Illusions. I will give it a read at some point if only for completionist purposes. The Lathe of Heaven is the Le Guin novel I plan to read next, but I also have The Farthest Shore on my shelf. I originally read the first two Earthsea books as a teen and I’m sure I’ll enjoy revisiting that world.

@Victoria Silverwolf I had heard of the variation on Omelas, will have to track that down. Le Guin is a masterful short story writer. The original is unforgettable.

There was a great documentary on the BBC a couple of years ago, think I mentioned it on here already and I expect enthusiasts on this forum will already have seen it - think it was called The Worlds of Ursula K Le Guin. Was it Margaret Atwood who asked Le Guin just where the ones who walk away from Omelas go?

The Lathe of Heaven was very good. I read through a collection of all six of the Earthsea books earlier this year, it was definitely interesting to see how the series evolved over time.

I have heard of the documentary but not watched it, I should rectify that at some point.

 

[Extollager]

One of the saddest reads for me is The Old Curiosity Shop

Though there are elements to offset that quality, too, such as Quilp's sheer bizarre energy!

 

[Extollager]

Picked up a lovely old leather bound edition of this in a charity shop recently.

I'm reading it in a Penguin Classic paperback I bought around 1980, but the small print is only barely tolerable for my eyes, which have aged since then. I think I'll try to finish it in this edition -- from a series I have a special fondness for. But this might be the last time I'll read a Dickens novel in those orange-spine Penguins. However, I'll probably keep the ones I have -- a dozen or so of them -- partly for sentimental reasons.

 

[dask]

Finished The Black Roads by J.L. Hensley. Okay when something was happening but too much time spent wandering around.
Now reading this:

Gonna get caught up now.

 

[Simbelmynë]

One of the saddest reads for me is The Old Curiosity Shop

This was the first Dickens I read. I just loved the language.

I'm reading it in a Penguin Classic paperback I bought around 1980, but the small print is only barely tolerable for my eyes, which have aged since then. I think I'll try to finish it in this edition -- from a series I have a special fondness for. But this might be the last time I'll read a Dickens novel in those orange-spine Penguins. However, I'll probably keep the ones I have -- a dozen or so of them -- partly for sentimental reasons.

Penguin Classics are nice. Funny how which edition you read/buy is important to a lot of us, I know it is to me, although obviously the text is what’s important.

I have sentimental attachments to some of my copies of books too, and it’s forever a sting to know one or two have been lost!

 

[AE35Unit]

I once had a complete set of Dickens, in green faux leather bound, from a partwork back in the 90s. I had to leave them behind when I moved. I since found one of the editions elsewhere (A Christmas Carol) and that sits on my shelf.

 

[AE35Unit]

Last story to read in the Mammoth Book of Golden Age SF , With Folded Hands by Jack Williamson. Now there's a name!
One of his Humanoids stories.

 

[Elckerlyc]

Dune by one Frank Herbert.* Anyone read it?



* Actually my 3th reread, but I had to check my new hardcover edition for printing errors, right?

 

[Ian Fortytwo]

I'm currently reading Never, by Ken Follett.
It is his first contemporary thriller in a decade.

 

[AE35Unit]

Dune by one Frank Herbert.* Anyone read it?



* Actually my 3th reread, but I had to check my new hardcover edition for printing errors, right?

Tried to but failed

 

[Randy M.]

Last story to read in the Mammoth Book of Golden Age SF , With Folded Hands by Jack Williamson. Now there's a name!
One of his Humanoids stories.

One of the stories I point to when someone says you can't have a s.f./horror hybrid. Phooey on that.

 

[Spade]

Just finished: Aurora by Kim Stanly Robinson. There's a really good plot and message here. The blurb doesn't do it justice.
Now reading: A Memory Called Empire by Arkady Martine. Enjoying it so far. It's kind of cozy and light on plot, but very descriptive and engaging.
Next up: Abaddon's Gate by James S.A. Corey.

 

[AE35Unit]

One of the stories I point to when someone says you can't have a s.f./horror hybrid. Phooey on that.

Well, the film Alien is that very thing

 

[Randy M.]

Well, the film Alien is that very thing

Yup. The arguments discussions I've had usually center around written fiction as opposed to films, and often degrade into percentages -- well, it's more s.f. than horror -- which is about when I face-palm and walk away.

 

[Victoria Silverwolf]

I am partway into The National Democratic Party: Its History, Principles, Achievements, and Aims, With Special Treatment of the Position of the Party on the Living Issues of To-Day (1888) by Hon. William L. Wilson, LL. D., Member of Congress, Late President West Virginia University.

Despite the credit given to Wilson, which I have quoted in full, there are also a whole bunch of other authors listed on the title page. This is a big, thick volume (639 pages) with many illustrations of Presidents and such, in pretty good shape for something a century and a third old. It's about one-third history, written by Wilson, from the point of view of the Democratic Party, from the beginning of the United States to the administration of Grover Cleveland. (I suspect the volume came out, at least in part, as a sort of celebration of the party reclaiming the White House for the first time since the Civil War, not counting the accession to the office by Democrat Andrew Johnson by an assassin's bullet, Johnson having been Lincoln's Vice-President under the National Union ticket.) The other two-thirds of the book consists of fourteen articles by the other authors, covering various issues. It is, of course, propaganda intended to praise the noble Democrats and condemn the wicked Republicans. (A random quote, from the article about "The South," likely to be one of the most bitter: "From its ignoble beginning to the present time that Republican party has been a revolutionary one, overriding the Constitution, trampling its most sacred guarantees under foot, and acting only under that 'higher call' which has governed outlaws and brigands from time immemorial.") I won't read every word of this thing, but flipping through it should reveal how times have changed.

 

[Danny McG]

Last night I started the 'Planetside' trilogy by Michael Mammay.

It seems ok so far, a military Sci Fi with the main protagonist (a grizzled near-retirement Colonel) carrying out an investigative role

 

[AE35Unit]

Next up, a second attempt at Iceworld by Hal Clement. I tried to read it before but gave up and listed it on bookmooch. Then I had a second thought...