November 2021 Reading Thread

[tobl]

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

actually is quite entertaining. at least i liked it and the sarcasm content is great

 

[Vertigo]

Kafka on the Shore by Haruki Murakami - Probably my favourite book of 2021, a brilliant piece of magical realism that deals with some disturbing themes and yet achieves an incredible feel-good atmosphere. More here.

 

[HareBrain]

Kafka on the Shore by Haruki Murakami - Probably my favourite book of 2021, a brilliant piece of magical realism that deals with some disturbing themes and yet achieves an incredible feel-good atmosphere. More here.

Maybe I should give it another go. I didn't get very far last time, but I can't remember why.

I fear the same might be the case for the two books I've recently started. The Parasites by Daphne du Maurier was recommended me by my sister. Well-written, but so far it seems to be a character study of not particularly interesting people, so I'm not sure how much more rope I'm going to give it.

Then Elidor by Alan Garner, which I've never read before. A children's portal fantasy from 1965, it definitely shows as an early work compared to e.g. The Owl Service. There are some flashes of the writing magic, but characterisation is weirdly almost absent, and the four kids indistinguishable. So, again, not sure if I'll finish.

 

[Vertigo]

Maybe I should give it another go. I didn't get very far last time, but I can't remember why.

I fear the same might be the case for the two books I've recently started. The Parasites by Daphne du Maurier was recommended me by my sister. Well-written, but so far it seems to be a character study of not particularly interesting people, so I'm not sure how much more rope I'm going to give it.

Then Elidor by Alan Garner, which I've never read before. A children's portal fantasy from 1965, it definitely shows as an early work compared to e.g. The Owl Service. There are some flashes of the writing magic, but characterisation is weirdly almost absent, and the four kids indistinguishable. So, again, not sure if I'll finish.

I'd recommend giving it another go; it did take a little while to get into its stride. But if you're not keen on magical realism and just plain weirdness then you'll probably not get on it with it.

 

[Victoria Silverwolf]

I have started Alistair Cooke's America (1973), associated with that noted journalist's BBC documentary series America: A Personal History of the United States (1972).

 

[hitmouse]

I have started Alistair Cooke's America (1973), associated with that noted journalist's BBC documentary series America: A Personal History of the United States (1972).

When I was a kid, we listened to Letter Form America most weeks on BBC Radio 4. Cook was great. Lovely voice and delivery, and an amazing ability to produce an essay of quality and interest every week, for decades.

 

[Ian Fortytwo]

I'm currently reading The Moon's a Balloon, by David Niven.
I wish I had read this before, it's a brilliant classic. Plenty of humour.

 

[Vertigo]

I'm currently reading The Moon's a Balloon, by David Niven.
I wish I had read this before, it's a brilliant classic. Plenty of humour.

It's a long long time since I read that but I do remember loving it. And, trust me, everything about Sandhurst is (was) absolutely true!

 

[Hugh]

Robert Sheckley: “Can You Feel Anything When I Do This?” (1971)

A collection of sixteen Sheckley short stories, first published between 1968 and 1971, mostly 1971.

I didn't think these were particularly good. They give me the impression of a writer resting on his laurels knowing that at this stage of his career, whatever he writes will be published, and not being bothered too much about the quality.
He moved to Ibiza around this time, so maybe that had something to do with it.

 

[AE35Unit]

^another author I've yet to discover

 

[Rodders]

Now on to Heaven's River by Dennis E.Taylor. The final part of the Bobiverse series.

 

[Danny McG]

Tonight I've started on the Apocalypse books by Gary Gibson.

 

[tobl]

Tonight I've started on the Apocalypse books by Gary Gibson.

View attachment 83916

so, it seems you want to remain with current affairs...

 

[The Big Peat]

Giving Finch by VanderMeer a go, although I'm more taken by the Asterix comics I'm reading tbh.

 

[Extollager]

Moving right along with a rereading of Dickens's Little Dorrit. Just started Carole Angier's Speak, Silence, a biography of W. G. Sebald that may be more detailed than I want, about the author of The Rings of Saturn, Austerlitz, The Emigrants, and Vertigo. Here are some of Sebald's books.

 

[AE35Unit]

I want to read some Conan Doyle next. I have a couple on my shelf as well as a ginormous anthology (it is huge, so big it has satelites orbiting it)

 

[AE35Unit]

Next up The Future Makers an anthology of stories by Peter Haining, each story being an early example of their work (includes an early story by Arthur C. Clarke called Castaway, and a Theodore Sturgeon story called Abreaction, about a bulldozer, similar theme to Killdozer I guess.
Got this from Ian Sales via bookmooch a few years ago.

 

[Extollager]

I want to read some Conan Doyle next. I have a couple on my shelf as well as a ginormous anthology (it is huge, so big it has satelites orbiting it)

One can hardly go wrong with Doyle!

 

[Elckerlyc]

Reread of Too Like The Lightning by Ada Palmer, first book of the tetralogy Terra Ignota. I need to refresh my memory before starting on the recently published 4th and final book, Perhaps the Stars.

 

[AE35Unit]

One can hardly go wrong with Doyle!

Yea. He even wrote the original Lost World (uncredited by Crichton in Jurassic Park 2)