February 2022 Reading Thread

[psikeyhackr]

The Crystal Cave by Mary Stewart Just started read it . So far Terrific !

That was great. I read it so long ago I don't remember when it was.

 

[Cat's Cradle]

That one looks very interesting. I'll be curious about your view of it.

Hi Randy M... so, about Reprieve, by James Han Mattson...

I wasn't in love with this. I thought it fell down on several of its aspirations. First, it was a book told from a number of POVs. Sometimes that's great... you fall in love with each of the characters, and as you're finishing a Character A chapter, you're so enamored of the story that you don't want this character to go away. But then you see the next chapter is Character C, and you're thinking, 'Oh that's so cool we're back with C! Can't wait to see what happens next!'
I never got that with this book. There was a Character A I really liked, and maybe a Character A-1 (a relative of A), and then the rest of the POV characters were either annoying, or bad people, or both. Long wait between the characters I liked, and the ones I didn't; and when I didn't like the POV character, I really lost my train of interest in the developing plot-lines.

The book is being touted as a literary novel of social horror... first, I thought the writing was good enough, but not of a particularly high literary standard. And while there were many moments with the scent of social commentary, I never really thought it was particularly biting, or astute commentary. It's not great to compare a book with movies, but the social commentary in Jordan Peele's Get Out or Us seemed a lot more relevant, and significant to me.

Finally, this really wasn't a horror novel, at least in the sense that interests me. There are scenes throughout the book that occur in one particular place that is a classic horror trope, and the denouement happens in this setting, but it seemed just a set for the social commentary that didn't really interest me. I will say that I thought the final third of the book was the best part of novel. The ending itself is a surprise, and was well done. But geesh, that looong set-up.

I'd give this 3 stars out of 5, CC

 

[tobl]

A time to kill by John Grisham.
This is from 1989.

I've only read the first dozen or so pages so far and I'm finding it very disturbing - it might well become a DNF

well there's a movie... but ... i'm sorry, danny you stop reading a book because it was very disturbing?! you!?wtf? since when is that a criteria to not read a book? in fact those should be the ones to be read first. or you didn't saw mississipi in flames ( movie) because it was disturbing?

 

[pogopossum]

Finished Wireless, nine stories by Charles Stross. Shows he is a master. Oddly, I liked the non-prize winners better than the two that won the Hugo or Locus. One story has a character speak with the speech of Stross' adopted Scotland home.
Currently half way through his Quantum of Nightmares, the second of his "New Management" series set in The Laundry Files universe.
Elsewhere I commented that I generally did not like works that jumped around among first person narrators, but that Stross handled that with skill in his Invisible Sun, from last year. Well here he goes again. Multiple POVs from multiple narrators handled with skill.
If you liked the Laundry Files, this spinoff seies is even creepier, with almost as much humour.

 

[tobl]

Finished Wireless, nine stories by Charles Stross. Shows he is a master. Oddly, I liked the non-prize winners better than the two that won the Hugo or Locus. One story has a character speak with the speech of Stross' adopted Scotland home.
Currently half way through his Quantum of Nightmares, the second of his "New Management" series set in The Laundry Files universe.
Elsewhere I commented that I generally did not like works that jumped around among first person narrators, but that Stross handled that with skill in his Invisible Sun, from last year. Well here he goes again. Multiple POVs from multiple narrators handled with skill.
If you liked the Laundry Files, this spinoff seies is even creepier, with almost as much humour.

i did like his laundry series but i'm not in the mood now i guess

 

[Danny McG]

Currently half way through his Quantum of Nightmares, the second of his "New Management" series set in The Laundry Files universe

I read it recently, I enjoyed it a lot

 

[psikeyhackr]

Just discovered this:

The Psychology of Money by Morgan Housel
4.4 on Goodreads with 40,000 ratings

Added to TBR short list. Bunch of YouTube videos on it.

 

[Danny McG]

This mornings reading...

 

[Rodders]

Give us a review when you've finished it Danny. It looks like something i'd enjoy.

 

[Danny McG]

Give us a review when you've finished it Danny. It looks like something i'd enjoy.

Will do

 

[HareBrain]

Currently about 20% through Powers and Thrones by Dan Jones** (hey, it rhymes!), and just started Ka: Dar Oakley in the Ruin of Ymr by John Crowley. The book the UK tried to ban!!! Or at least, there doesn't seem to ever have been a UK edition, which is odd.

**Not that one.

 

[Ellizze]

I'm reading Murakami's Men Without Women. I watched this film Drive My Car (2021) recently - it was adopted from one of the short stories of Men Without Women. It has been a great read so far.
Also, I'm re-reading The Great Gatsby. Norwegian Wood had many references to Fitzgerald's work, and it has been a good 10-15 years since the first time I read it. So, great revisiting.

 

[HareBrain]

just started Ka: Dar Oakley in the Ruin of Ymr by John Crowley.

After a decent prologue I'm already struggling to maintain interest, so I've picked up a library book which has been knocking about in the house through several loan renewals and never even looked at -- Coal Black Mornings, the autobiography of Suede front man Brett Anderson. Wow! The guy can write. I predict this will be a quick read.

 

[saulfan]

So far this month I've finished Rebel by Jenny Schwartz. book 3 of The Adventures of a Xeno-archaeologist. It's a fairly strong series for Space Fantasy but for me it's beginning to wind down. There are two books left. I'll likely get to them another time. I liked the series better when Nora was a struggling Xeno-archaeologist. Now, she's rich, fabulously rich, and is a player on an inter-stellar scale. The story is moving as I predicted to a complete 180 of what the situation was in the beginning, but for me this is less interesting.

-----

A stand alone (or at least so far) murder mystery Not One of Us by Debbie Herbert. This was excellent story set in small town Alabama, and as I live in a small town it felt very true to life. The lead characters, a single divorced mom, deputy sheriff and a never married city daughter who has to return to small town Alabama to look after her brother and grandmother, are both well developed, true-to-life. Their struggles are real. But they take each day and do the best they can with them. Recommended, I gave it one of my rare 5 star reviews.

Here is my brief review:

This is a first class police mystery. I loved the characters. I felt connected to the two central characters and I was surprised at the ending. Not that the ending was impossible, but the people responsible were not the people I expected. The epilogue was heart rendering.

@Danny McG --- No romance!
-------

Now reading For Honor We Stand by H. Paul Honsinger, the second Man of War book. This is a series I started years ago and somehow forgot about it. This book continues the story, which I remember was OK. This book, however, has often been funny, while being serious. So far I'd call this one very good and book three Brothers in Valor is definitely on my radar.

Based on your review, I purchased 'Not One Of Us' as an e-book from Amazon UK, at the very reasonable price of £1.00 and finished it in 2 sittings.

My verdict? A well-written and thoroughly enjoyable crime/thriller. Unlike some reviewers on Amazon, I thought the structure of the book worked well. The two protagonists were well-drawn. A couple of plot-points stretched credulity a little and I did guess the culprit fairly early. However, this did not detract from my overall enjoyment. As you observed, the - unexpected - epilogue was outstanding. Four and a half stars from me.

 

[Danny McG]

This mornings reading...
View attachment 86392

I got so far and then realised I was skimming because the story was dragging on tediously.
I skimmed faster and faster but eventually gave up DNF.

+Not recommended unless you have trouble getting to sleep)

 

[Danny McG]

I'm trying this one tonight ...

 

[Serendipity]

I'm currently reading The This by Adam Roberts, which was published last week.

I'm about a fifth of the way through, and all I'm going to say is Wow, this is science fiction taken to another level of excellence. The only slightly downside is the wide range of vocabulary Roberts uses, though on most occasions the meaning is clear from the context. But if the rest of the novel is anything like the first part, it's going to be one of the science fiction novels of this year.

 

[Parson]

I did guess the culprit fairly early.

You must be a lot more insightful than

Spoiler: Reveals the villian

I was dead sure it was his hired man.

 

[svalbard]

The Long War for Britannia 367-644 by Edwin Pace.

An engrossing read. Familiar material however he has some interesting theories.

 

[svalbard]

I first read the original trilogy in the Jr. High and have re-read it many times. I was introduced to "The Wicked Day" while in the Army in 1989. Despite the publication in 1995 of "The Prince and the Pilgrim," I hadn't heard of it until a couple years ago and haven't managed to get to it yet.

There is some significant fall off between "The Last Enchantment" and "The Wicked Day," but I've never felt it was as bad as many I've heard have claimed. I'm hoping "The Prince and the Pilgrim" is a return to form.

I am in the minority and think The Wicked Day was the best book in the series.