January 2022 Reading Thread.

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Shards of Earth. Loving it so far. Then I'm finishing up Abaddon's Gate.
 
A crime thriller tonight, about a homeless Falklands vet who sees something suspicious one dark night in Newcastle.

The man in the street by Trevor Wood.
 
I am well into How to Create the Perfect Wife: Britain's Most Ineligible Bachelor and His Enlightened Quest to Train the Ideal Mate (2013) by Wendy Moore, the weird true story of an 18th century fellow who took two foundling girls under his care and raised them in such a way that one of them would be the obedient spouse he sought. (I'm at the point where he has selected one of them, and sends the other to be an apprentice, with quite a generous parting gift of money. They are in their early teens at this time.)
 
Victoria Silverwolf said:
I am well into How to Create the Perfect Wife: Britain's Most Ineligible Bachelor and His Enlightened Quest to Train the Ideal Mate (2013) by Wendy Moore, the weird true story of an 18th century fellow who took two foundling girls under his care and raised them in such a way that one of them would be the obedient spouse he sought. (I'm at the point where he has selected one of them, and sends the other to be an apprentice, with quite a generous parting gift of money. They are in their early teens at this time.)
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He sounds a right nonce
 
I've been reading Ghost Signs which I got for Christmas. The last fiction book that I read was The Institute by Stephen King.
The 1921 Census is released today, so I'm researching that and I won't have time for reading books.
 
Robert A. Heinlein: “Assignment in Eternity” (1953)
A collection of two Heinlein novellas “Gulf” (1949) and “Lost Legacy” (1941), and two short stories “Elsewhen” (1941) and “Jerry Was a Man” (1947).
At the risk of incurring the wrath of any Heinlein fanatics hiding in the Chrons recesses, I’m afraid I don’t think this collection is that good - the two short stories are OK, but the novellas are distinctly poor - unless you're one of those interested in the evolution of Heinlein's ideas.
I note only two of the stories “Gulf” and “Elsewhen” first appeared in Astounding Science Fiction (and one of these was commissioned), suggesting that John W. Campbell did not consider the other two good enough. Likewise the two earlier stories were both first published under pseudonyms, something Heinlein tended to do with stories he thought weaker.
 
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I haven't read it: I'll be interested to hear your thoughts when you're done.
 
It's ok.Kind of a time waster.

Up next Erle Stanley Gardner's story COME
AND GET IT. Pulp fiction. I read that Gardner sold 300 + million books.WoW.
 
Hugh said:
Robert A. Heinlein: “Assignment in Eternity” (1953)
A collection of two Heinlein novellas “Gulf” (1949) and “Lost Legacy” (1941), and two short stories “Elsewhen” (1941) and “Jerry Was a Man” (1947).
At the risk of incurring the wrath of any Heinlein fanatics hiding in the Chrons recesses, I’m afraid I don’t think this collection is that good - the two short stories are OK, but the novellas are distinctly poor - unless you're one of those interested in the evolution of Heinlein's ideas.
I note only two of the stories “Gulf” and “Elsewhen” first appeared in Astounding Science Fiction (and one of these was commissioned), suggesting that John W. Campbell did not consider the other two good enough. Likewise the two earlier stories were both first published under pseudonyms, something Heinlein tended to do with stories he thought weaker.
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That's true of some stories and some of his pseudonyms as a tendency as you mention but, just to be clear for those who might not know, that's not always the case and definitely not with the Anson MacDonald stories. Magazines frequently published more than one story by an author but generally only allowed an author's name to appear once per table of contents, so the author selected an alternate name for the other stor(y|ies) and some (like Campbell himself, as Don A. Stuart), used a pseudonym even for superior stories to create a new "brand name" and not confuse their already-established brand.
 
I've finished Spinning Silver by Naomi Novik. This is a first rate Fantasy, at least as far person who seldom reads Fantasy can see. The story was interesting. The plot was engaging. And it had some sections and story lines that will hang with me. At its basis this book is a kind of feminist fantasy. Every female in the story is more than they think they are and every male is less than they think they are. And I seriously doubt that this is "just the way the story unfolded." It is a story with 3 main protagonists, Miriam, Wanda, and Irina. Each of these young women come from a different layer of society, basically Miriam is a middleclass, but falling, daughter of a too kind moneylender, Wanda is the daughter of drunken, abusive, and dirt poor farmer, and Irina is the daughter of an important, wealthy, and powerful Duke. Each of them will find their lives intertwined by circumstances, fate, and family. The story at its root is a retelling, and an excellent one, of the story of Rumplestiltskin. But it is in no way a clone of it. It is a very original tale.

I was not a fan of the magic in the book. It all seemed to be a kind of shared knowledge that the author and the readers knew by heart. After finishing the book I read a review Spinning Silver which would have helped me immensely to understand what was going on. It would have helped to understand a bit more that fey magic was at play. And I probably needed to read something about fey magic before I'd read the story. One of the things I hadn't learned/remembered? but was pointed out in the review was that it is in some ways a sequel. Everyone I read says it works completely as a stand alone, and I would agree, but I suspect I would have understood it more clearly if I had read the first book Uprooted first. For one thing there is a tree that was in a small way central to the story which never made much sense to me, but I suspect would have if I had read Uprooted

My biggest complaint is the form it was written Novik jumps between the three main characters and a couple (by memory 3) other characters and all are written in the first person and can be identified only by context. I often found it difficult to discern who was the "I" right now. There was at least one section where it took until the next "I" section before I realized who had actually been speaking. (Up thread I made the comment and still believe it true, that she should have named the main character each time a new section started.)

Rating: Weak 4 of 5 stars for a wonderful story with an awful choice in formatting of the printing of the book.
 
Dave Vicks said:
It's ok.Kind of a time waster.

Up next Erle Stanley Gardner's story COME
AND GET IT. Pulp fiction. I read that Gardner sold 300 + million books.WoW.
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specially his perry mason novels
 
Listened to ALIENS III by William Gibson
full cast. And the pulp story Pigeon Blood .

Both good.
 
Danny McG said:
One I've never read until tonight, but I've watched the film several times

HG Wells The first men in the moon
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Not enjoying it DNF I'm afraid.

Today I got the new book by John Birmingham The Shattered Skies, however I've decided to do a re-read of the first book (The Cruel Stars) of the trilogy before plunging into it, just because it's been almost two years since I read it
 
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