February 2022 Reading Thread

[tobl]

I've abandoned all book reading for now.
I saw a mention on another site of a series of web post stories called They Are Smol and went to have a look, I'm now onto chapter 15.

The basic plot is four or five alien species have their version of a galactic council and work together, they've now discovered humans.

The aliens are, on average, 4 times the size and strength and speed of people, in a first contact meeting one accidentally bumped a human over, it was then horrified to unintentionally rip both of the humans arms off when it casually leant down to help the person back up.

Every one of the various alien species finds humans adorably cute and endearing and would do anything to protect them.

The series concentrates on the misunderstandings that occur during human/alien interactions

Quite funny IMO

so you are pets? honestly is not the worst idea... but do they read our history ? maybe we are more lunatic in mates than pets?

 

[Danny McG]

so you are pets? honestly is not the worst idea... but do they read our history ? maybe we are more lunatic in mates than pets?

They tend to think of humans as "the little cute one" if they have one as a crew member on a star ship.

It is slowly revealed that they have a software patch in the universal translators so (for example) where people hear "will you please assist me in this task human?" then what the aliens are actually saying is
"aw, you're so nice, do you want to play at helping me fix this, little smiley face?"

Then the aliens learn that all the media they've made available to humans has been made into funny memes, they don't get offended, they somehow feel guilty

 

[Pyan]

Just bought (on Kindle) The Misfit Soldier, by Michael Mammay, based on his post in John Scalzi's Big Idea blog feature.

Ocean's Eleven meets John Scalzi in this funny, action-filled, stand-alone sci-fi adventure from the author of Planetside, in which a small team of misfit soldiers takes on a mission that could change the entire galaxy.

 

[The Big Peat]

Read Marie Brennan's Lightning in the Blood. It's alright, but nowhere as good as the preceding novella, and starts quite slowly which I find hugely annoying in a novella.

 

[worldofmutes]

This month I read 5 scifi books. No fantasy yet, but maybe I’ll read Patrick Rothfuss soon.

I read:

Lester Del Rey - The Runaway Robot (1965) - 3

A renegade boy steals a renegade robot on Ganymede, and together, the boy, Paul, and the robot, Rex, stow away on an Earth-bound spaceship to Earth. While Paul hides on the ship, Rex attends to the duties of Captain Becker. Rex is in a bit of a dilemma, programmed with knowledge of chess, and even some morality it would seem. The robot narrates the story. I read an article that in the future AI will write bestsellers, and I can’t really imagine how formulaic they would be. The moral question for Rex is saving his kid, or risk being deprogrammed for kidnapping. A clever little coup for a simple bot to comprehend.

Avram Davidson - The Phoenix and the Mirror (1969) - 2.5

Tin comes, of course, from Tinland. Where do mirrors come from?

Reflecting on it, is Laura. In the mirror, and Vergil, a white wizard of considerable distinction in Sumeria- needs to find her, for he is in love with her reflection. Not to mention, she is the queen’s daughter. Full of philosophy, astrology, or alchemy… I was impressed by this author’s witty perspective and the unique flavor of this book.

“To alchemy there was no distinction between organic and inorganic life, that the ore which came from the earth and the seed which came from the earth were but brother and sister.”

Vergil needs to form a star mirror, a mirror to see into the stars, of course. And he discerns about Laura, Scorpio. North node- Sagittarius… and even as to her location. Following his heart, he tracks her down in Libya, where a Cyclops who also loves and protects her, from Troglodytes, etc., will gambit for her fealty. But for her fealty, everyone has an ace up her sleeve. The Phoenician, and Ser Vergil, even the Queen herself. Will the white wizard fulfill his love quest with the impeccable girl in the mirror? Well, naturally, he will… for he is the hero!

Tim Powers - The Anubis Gates (1983) - 3

This was indeed an extravaganza of a book. I was so confused! So much happening, chaos, unbridled confusion and chaos. Needless to say, it was fun as hell.

Tim Powers’ The Anubis Gates follows the time traveling wonder Brendan Doyle. Not to Sumeria, but to more modern times- 1811. Maybe so that he can invent things, and become rich- but he goes there with the intention to meet William Ashbless, and inadvertently BECOMES Ashbless. Should he follow out his destiny, even translating Goethe? Meanwhile, wizard doctors, Romanelli, and a body snatching spirit, Dog-Face Joe, with Hypertrichosis is assuming people’s identities, and switching people around. Samuel Taylor Coleridge is also one of the heroes in this book, and Lord Byron. Phew. What the f*ck did I just read?

Vernor Vinge - A Fire Upon the Deep (1992) - 5

Deep within the Straumli realm, a planetary system in the High Beyond, a deadly tsunami, called the Blight, is surging across the cosmos. Ravna Bergnsdot is a self-proclaimed “Dilettante” and surrounded by books, expecting she will be a librarian, but the stars have different plans for her. She meets Pham Nuwen, who crash landed on her planets aboard his ‘wild witless bird’, he is the possessor of the Godshatter, the only thing that can stop the blight. Together, they embark on a quest, aboard the OOB, to save two children, Jefri and Johanna- Jefri is a boy genius in custody of the villain, Steel, and Tyrathect Flenser. Steel killed his parents, and now he’s waging war on the mantis creatures of Hidden Island. On Hidden Island, Johanna thinks her brother is dead along with the rest of her family. She despises the Flensers, who want to “Kill All Vermin”, including her friends, Woodcarver and Peregrine Wickwrackscar, the Pilgrim. These creatures reproduce by cloning themselves, and their offspring share their matriarch or patriarch’s memories, insights, ideas, everything. Woodcarver is birthing the last of her line, for she is 600 years old. Meanwhile, Steel is maneuvering to annihilate the mantis creatures of Hidden Island, along with Jefri’s sister, Johanna.

Ravna and Pham find themselves entangled in battle with the Harmonious Repose, and evading them deep within the Slow Zone, where they can only travel about 1.7 lightyears per hour, and all seems lost, where they cannot reach a planet. They have been in communication with Jefri and Amdijefry over radio, and are very slowly on their way. The blight tsunami is gaining on them, and has already wiped out the whole of the Sjandra Kei Galaxy. Pham will need to learn the secrets of the Godshatter within him, and destroy the blight. This book had a lot going on.

“Intelligence is the handmaiden of flexibility and change. Dumb animals can only change as fast as natural evolution.”


Daniel Keyes - Flowers for Algernon (1967) - 5
Wowee. This book was a trip. I saw a little bit of myself, my past traumas, my romances. My intellectual strivings. I’m not a really smart guy, perhaps above average, but most people on chrons are a lot smarter than I will ever be. You have degrees, and know things I don’t know. When I review a book I don’t have any groundbreaking insights, but maybe some shallow observations about how I think about the world.

That said, I like learning languages (this is very popular these days) and reading books (this is also very popular these days). What I know about the world as I see it is cynical. Charlie, on ‘getting smart’, became cynical as his intelligence developed, it seems that it’s almost proportional, but not really. A lot of scientists tend to be almost optimistic, and worry about the environment, or the human equation, etc.

I used to be a regular patient in mental asylums, I really was. Flowers for Algernon is a lot like Ken Kesey’s book. I seem to be reading a lot of books lately about prodigal children, and experimenting on mice. Weird. Coming to this horizon of my life, where my mother and I might not need eachother anymore, and facing the world again, alone, intelligent, and feeling (at least feeling) ambitious, I never want to go back to the way I was before I picked up my first books. Society spits people like that out. In one of my books over the years I read that schizophrenics (was it Lem’s Transfiguration Hospital) often get that way by not having something to occupy their time. I found reading, and everything else was put behind me. I didn’t make any progress with juggling, or linguistics, anything. I just read, I traveled, and I learned. Now it’s time to live again.

It’s very rare for a book to make me stop and talk about my own life. So, because of that, this was a 5️ read for me.

Other books I read this month:

Ukamaka Olisakwe - Ogadinma, or Everything Will Be Alright (2021) - 3
Gao Xingjian - Soul Mountain (1990) - 5
F. Scott Fitzgerald - Tender is the Night (1934) - 4
Sulaiman Addonia - The Consequences of Love (2008) - 4
Ludmila Ulitskaya - Jacob’s Ladder (2015) - 5
Irène Némirovsky - All Our Worldly Goods (1947) - 4
Mario Puzo - Six Graves to Munich (1967) - 1
Mo Yan - Red Sorghum (1993) - 3

And right now I’m reading
James Baldwin - Another Country
And
Rohinton Mistry - Family Matters.


Thanks to @BAYLOR for the SF recs.

 

[Danny McG]

I'm starting this book, the blurb says it's about an 'expendable' clone who doesn't think he should be so designated.

 

[stevejk]

HMS Surprise by Patrick O'Brian. Taking a break from sci-fi while I work on my 2 novels. Not normal I know, but Viva Dyslexia!

 

[stevejk]

I'm starting this book, the blurb says it's about an 'expendable' clone who doesn't think he should be so designated.

View attachment 86967

I read a short story many years ago that had a sub-character that was an organic clone named 'Johnny 7' that was able to link with computers and data banks. Don't remember the name of the story or the author.

 

[stevejk]

This month I read 5 scifi books. No fantasy yet, but maybe I’ll read Patrick Rothfuss soon.

I read:

Lester Del Rey - The Runaway Robot (1965) - 3

A renegade boy steals a renegade robot on Ganymede, and together, the boy, Paul, and the robot, Rex, stow away on an Earth-bound spaceship to Earth. While Paul hides on the ship, Rex attends to the duties of Captain Becker. Rex is in a bit of a dilemma, programmed with knowledge of chess, and even some morality it would seem. The robot narrates the story. I read an article that in the future AI will write bestsellers, and I can’t really imagine how formulaic they would be. The moral question for Rex is saving his kid, or risk being deprogrammed for kidnapping. A clever little coup for a simple bot to comprehend.

Avram Davidson - The Phoenix and the Mirror (1969) - 2.5

Tin comes, of course, from Tinland. Where do mirrors come from?

Reflecting on it, is Laura. In the mirror, and Vergil, a white wizard of considerable distinction in Sumeria- needs to find her, for he is in love with her reflection. Not to mention, she is the queen’s daughter. Full of philosophy, astrology, or alchemy… I was impressed by this author’s witty perspective and the unique flavor of this book.

“To alchemy there was no distinction between organic and inorganic life, that the ore which came from the earth and the seed which came from the earth were but brother and sister.”

Vergil needs to form a star mirror, a mirror to see into the stars, of course. And he discerns about Laura, Scorpio. North node- Sagittarius… and even as to her location. Following his heart, he tracks her down in Libya, where a Cyclops who also loves and protects her, from Troglodytes, etc., will gambit for her fealty. But for her fealty, everyone has an ace up her sleeve. The Phoenician, and Ser Vergil, even the Queen herself. Will the white wizard fulfill his love quest with the impeccable girl in the mirror? Well, naturally, he will… for he is the hero!

Tim Powers - The Anubis Gates (1983) - 3

This was indeed an extravaganza of a book. I was so confused! So much happening, chaos, unbridled confusion and chaos. Needless to say, it was fun as hell.

Tim Powers’ The Anubis Gates follows the time traveling wonder Brendan Doyle. Not to Sumeria, but to more modern times- 1811. Maybe so that he can invent things, and become rich- but he goes there with the intention to meet William Ashbless, and inadvertently BECOMES Ashbless. Should he follow out his destiny, even translating Goethe? Meanwhile, wizard doctors, Romanelli, and a body snatching spirit, Dog-Face Joe, with Hypertrichosis is assuming people’s identities, and switching people around. Samuel Taylor Coleridge is also one of the heroes in this book, and Lord Byron. Phew. What the f*ck did I just read?

Vernor Vinge - A Fire Upon the Deep (1992) - 5

Deep within the Straumli realm, a planetary system in the High Beyond, a deadly tsunami, called the Blight, is surging across the cosmos. Ravna Bergnsdot is a self-proclaimed “Dilettante” and surrounded by books, expecting she will be a librarian, but the stars have different plans for her. She meets Pham Nuwen, who crash landed on her planets aboard his ‘wild witless bird’, he is the possessor of the Godshatter, the only thing that can stop the blight. Together, they embark on a quest, aboard the OOB, to save two children, Jefri and Johanna- Jefri is a boy genius in custody of the villain, Steel, and Tyrathect Flenser. Steel killed his parents, and now he’s waging war on the mantis creatures of Hidden Island. On Hidden Island, Johanna thinks her brother is dead along with the rest of her family. She despises the Flensers, who want to “Kill All Vermin”, including her friends, Woodcarver and Peregrine Wickwrackscar, the Pilgrim. These creatures reproduce by cloning themselves, and their offspring share their matriarch or patriarch’s memories, insights, ideas, everything. Woodcarver is birthing the last of her line, for she is 600 years old. Meanwhile, Steel is maneuvering to annihilate the mantis creatures of Hidden Island, along with Jefri’s sister, Johanna.

Ravna and Pham find themselves entangled in battle with the Harmonious Repose, and evading them deep within the Slow Zone, where they can only travel about 1.7 lightyears per hour, and all seems lost, where they cannot reach a planet. They have been in communication with Jefri and Amdijefry over radio, and are very slowly on their way. The blight tsunami is gaining on them, and has already wiped out the whole of the Sjandra Kei Galaxy. Pham will need to learn the secrets of the Godshatter within him, and destroy the blight. This book had a lot going on.

“Intelligence is the handmaiden of flexibility and change. Dumb animals can only change as fast as natural evolution.”


Daniel Keyes - Flowers for Algernon (1967) - 5
Wowee. This book was a trip. I saw a little bit of myself, my past traumas, my romances. My intellectual strivings. I’m not a really smart guy, perhaps above average, but most people on chrons are a lot smarter than I will ever be. You have degrees, and know things I don’t know. When I review a book I don’t have any groundbreaking insights, but maybe some shallow observations about how I think about the world.

That said, I like learning languages (this is very popular these days) and reading books (this is also very popular these days). What I know about the world as I see it is cynical. Charlie, on ‘getting smart’, became cynical as his intelligence developed, it seems that it’s almost proportional, but not really. A lot of scientists tend to be almost optimistic, and worry about the environment, or the human equation, etc.

I used to be a regular patient in mental asylums, I really was. Flowers for Algernon is a lot like Ken Kesey’s book. I seem to be reading a lot of books lately about prodigal children, and experimenting on mice. Weird. Coming to this horizon of my life, where my mother and I might not need eachother anymore, and facing the world again, alone, intelligent, and feeling (at least feeling) ambitious, I never want to go back to the way I was before I picked up my first books. Society spits people like that out. In one of my books over the years I read that schizophrenics (was it Lem’s Transfiguration Hospital) often get that way by not having something to occupy their time. I found reading, and everything else was put behind me. I didn’t make any progress with juggling, or linguistics, anything. I just read, I traveled, and I learned. Now it’s time to live again.

It’s very rare for a book to make me stop and talk about my own life. So, because of that, this was a 5️ read for me.

Other books I read this month:

Ukamaka Olisakwe - Ogadinma, or Everything Will Be Alright (2021) - 3
Gao Xingjian - Soul Mountain (1990) - 5
F. Scott Fitzgerald - Tender is the Night (1934) - 4
Sulaiman Addonia - The Consequences of Love (2008) - 4
Ludmila Ulitskaya - Jacob’s Ladder (2015) - 5
Irène Némirovsky - All Our Worldly Goods (1947) - 4
Mario Puzo - Six Graves to Munich (1967) - 1
Mo Yan - Red Sorghum (1993) - 3

And right now I’m reading
James Baldwin - Another Country
And
Rohinton Mistry - Family Matters.


Thanks to @BAYLOR for the SF recs.

I was born with one ear and went through a dozen surgeries; 1 reconstructive and 11 experimental/exploratory, all for the parents wellbeing and not mine (This was in the late 60's to early 80's). Non of them worked and I am left with permanent nerve damage and all. Including two types of severe chronic dyslexia's to boot. And my step-daughter has a severe disability too. So yes my good friend, the world is full of us mutants. Cheers and PAX.

 

[worldofmutes]

I was born with one ear and went through a dozen surgeries; 1 reconstructive and 11 experimental/exploratory, all for the parents wellbeing and not mine (This was in the late 60's to early 80's). Non of them worked and I am left with permanent nerve damage and all. Including two types of severe chronic dyslexia's to boot. And my step-daughter has a severe disability too. So yes my good friend, the world is full of us mutants. Cheers and PAX.

I’m sorry to hear that. Parents can sometimes be selfish, I wonder if my mom was selfish to put me on COT for 3 years against my will- and I don’t think that she was. It was all very traumatizing for me, but turned out for the best. Without my treatment, I might have been even worse off. But the surgical treatments for your missing ear, that doesn’t sound fair.

My name isn’t so much about mutants as it is about my dealings with people, heh… but now I’ve reconciled my differences with being a solitary extrovert. Not that I don’t like being holed up in my room for 8 years without a soul to physically talk to, it’s been fun and all, but I don’t mind my place in the world anymore. I’m more fortunate than most. I might have to include a one earred guy in my book now…

 

[Danny McG]

Not that I don’t like being holed up in my room

Bliss

 

[worldofmutes]

Bliss

Yeah man. Read books the whole time. Never caught Covid. Got real lazy. Hate picking up groceries. Worked briefly at McDonalds. Went to Europe once, hopefully Putin doesn’t invade Poland next, I’ll freak out.

 

[tobl]

Yeah man. Read books the whole time. Never caught Covid. Got real lazy. Hate picking up groceries. Worked briefly at McDonalds. Went to Europe once, hopefully Putin doesn’t invade Poland next, I’ll freak out.

yeo, spend most of the time reading books and watching manga, never caught covid that i know of, fully vaccinated and have a nato base 5 kms away from my house,so if there's a world war everything will be over in 30 mns, so ihope they don't awakeme from my sleep and just explode the nuclear bomb

 

[Erythr]

I am currently reading "Hellhole" by Gina Damico which in my opinion is seriously underrated. I don't really know why lots of stand alone books get less attention than huge trilogy, quadrilogy, etc. Just a single good book which you can read, enjoy and put down without having to worry about cliffhangers and "the series getting bad" syndrome. It hasn't got an A class plot exactly but I can promise it is has killer comedy and an amazing cast of characters. Totally recommend it.

 

[stevejk]

I’m sorry to hear that. Parents can sometimes be selfish, I wonder if my mom was selfish to put me on COT for 3 years against my will- and I don’t think that she was. It was all very traumatizing for me, but turned out for the best. Without my treatment, I might have been even worse off. But the surgical treatments for your missing ear, that doesn’t sound fair.

My name isn’t so much about mutants as it is about my dealings with people, heh… but now I’ve reconciled my differences with being a solitary extrovert. Not that I don’t like being holed up in my room for 8 years without a soul to physically talk to, it’s been fun and all, but I don’t mind my place in the world anymore. I’m more fortunate than most. I might have to include a one earred guy in my book now…

I live in a world of mono tones. Can't tell directions by sound.

 

[Parson]

I finished Brothers in Valor book three of the Man of War series by H. Paul Honsinger, nothing too great and it ended with a never-to-be-cursed- enough cliff hanger. I'm not likely to read book 4.

Started Black Salvage by J.M. Anjewiaerden book 4 in The Black Chronicles series. It's a pretty fair book but it had been some time since I read the original three and I'm struggling to remember the back story, which turns out to be very important.

 

[tobl]

I finished Brothers in Valor book three of the Man of War series by H. Paul Honsinger, nothing too great and it ended with a never-to-be-cursed- enough cliff hanger. I'm not likely to read book 4.

relax there's no number 4 and never will be. By the way about this war... isn't this a tom clancy plot? i mean we already had the pandemic/bio weapon and now this? what's next? invasion of russia by china?

 

[Parson]

relax there's no number 4 and never will be. By the way about this war... isn't this a tom clancy plot? i mean we already had the pandemic/bio weapon and now this? what's next? invasion of russia by china?

I like that idea better for a book by Tom Clancy than anything that means real death and oppression.

*This is very close to the edge of a political discussion.

 

[tobl]

I like that idea better for a book by Tom Clancy than anything that means real death and oppression.

*This is very close to the edge of a political discussion.

he already wrote about those two ideas, the bio and the actual i think so i was wondering which plot he wrote his going to happen next.

 

[Dave Vicks]

Currently Ellie Kemper Auto-bio.
Next The Great courses DANTE:THE DIVINE COMEDY.