February 2022 Reading Thread

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The Judge said:
But the good news is, for anyone coming new to the history, it's really easy to find out how it ended and what happened to everyone!
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Henry VIII was the one who abdicated and his wife Anne Bowling gave her name to the sport because the first ball they used was her head. (That's why Cromwell was in charge of the Round Heads.)
 
Still making my way through a bunch of issues of Short Story International. I am up to the September 1964 issue.

Some science fiction stories spotted along the way:

"Puppet Show" by Fredric Brown (from Playboy)

"Birth of a Gardener" by Doris Pitkin Buck (from The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction)

"It Could Be You" by Frank Roberts (from The Bulletin, an Australian weekly, and reprinted in Judith Merrill's !0th Annual Edition: The Year's Best SF)
 
I enjoyed Mantel's volume three far more than The Judge. I thought that it was a lengthy, but not needlessly overdone, conclusion to the series.
Something that I enjoyed about the entire set was it's answer to the (literal) sanctification of Thomas More. I had read about him after seeing A Man For All Seasons and learned that he was a torturer and executioner of religious dissenters.
Mantel does not slight the political expediency of Cromwell. By our standards he was not that much better than More. But his focus was politics, political stability and religious reform, not persecution. And survival and success, which in those times meant being the toady of Henry VIII.
 
Just finished Sapkowski's 'The Last Wish'

Thoroughly enjoyed it.

I already own 'The Sword Of Destiny' collection (a Christmas gift), which I will get to in a couple of weeks' time and will now almost certainly look to acquire the novels.

Any thoughts on the Netflix adaptation? Is the series worth watching?

David
 
HareBrain said:
Coal Black Mornings, the autobiography of Suede front man Brett Anderson. Wow! The guy can write. I predict this will be a quick read.
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It was a quick read, but I think he must have polished the first couple of chapters more than the rest. Interesting and engaging, but I wish he didn't reference the book's title so much in the text. Once would have been neat ("that's the title of the movie book!"), but more than once is annoying.
 
Just finished 'A Closed And Common Orbit' by Becky Chambers

Glad I read it but didn't enjoy it as much as ALWTASAP.

It didn't feel as confident a book as the first one - I felt the structure of alternating narratives hampered the flow of ideas. I can't see myself ever returning to this one, as I have done with its predecessor but certainly enjoyable enough to take a risk on the next one.

David
 
saulfan said:
Just finished 'A Closed And Common Orbit' by Becky Chambers

Glad I read it but didn't enjoy it as much as ALWTASAP.

It didn't feel as confident a book as the first one - I felt the structure of alternating narratives hampered the flow of ideas. I can't see myself ever returning to this one, as I have done with its predecessor but certainly enjoyable enough to take a risk on the next one.

David
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Did it have a plot? The lack of one was the principle reason the first was a DNF for me.
 
It seemed to exist solely to showcase the value and richness of mature and caring relationships between people and aliens with diverse backgrounds and their various life choices. Yep, we get it Becky, very good. And she can write quite well, but please, a story arc would be nice. :)
 
Finished Salvations Reach.

As you’d expect, it was a superb action-packed war story, there are a couple of short stories at the end. I just finished Family, which was a nice story and now on to You Never Know.
 
Bick said:
Did it have a plot? The lack of one was the principle reason the first was a DNF for me.
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Not a plot as such. That didn't particularly worry me. More of a 'story arc' with two parallel narratives which converged for the last couple of chapters.
Don't get me wrong - I enjoyed it (just not as much as the first one) - the structure didn't quite work for me though.

David
 
I finished For Honor We Stand by H. Paul Honsinger. It is the second in a series of 3. I found it a "good enough" military S.F. But the embarrassing thing is when I look through my library I find I've read it before. There was a time or two in reading it, I thought hmm, that seems a little familiar, but it was only when I read the last chapter and especially the last few words that I was fairly sure I had. --- In my defense, I'm sure that it has had an extensive re-write, one of the signs is that the original had two authors and this one has only one of the two listed as an author.

I've begun Streamrider by Mark Huntley-James. So far it seems to have a very imaginative setting? Perhaps too imaginative?
 
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