March 2022 Reading Thread

[Rodders]

Necropolis. Book three of the Gaunts Ghosts series by Dan Abnett.

This one is my favourite of the series and the one that starts the series proper in my opinion.

 

[williamjm]

I read Pat Cadigan's Fools. It was an unusual reading experience, it's a cyberpunk novel where it is possible for people to buy the memories of others and even artificial personalities. The protagonist starts off the story with a major identity crisis with multiple personalities fighting for dominance and as a result it's a disconcerting book to read with frequent (and often abrupt) changes in perspective between different points of view all of which are confused to some extent about what is going on. It's a bit hard to follow the story at first due to this, as the book goes along it does start to make more sense although it's definitely a story where each answer just leads to more questions. It's an impressive and unique story, although I'm not sure how much I really enjoyed reading it and since none of the characters are particularly likeable it was hard to care too much about what was happening to them. There's always a bit of a risk for a cyberpunk novel from the early 90s that it might end up feeling dated, but I think it mostly doesn't aside from characters still using public landlines since it may have technologies to manipulate minds and memories and flying taxis but apparently no mobile computing devices.

Now I've started Leigh Bardugo's King of Scars.

 

[Parson]

I read that recently, not one of his best TBH.

That's good to hear. I barely got started with it (10%), before I discarded it. So maybe I'll try another Koontz some day. Started Flock by Kate Stewart Amazon listed this as "Hope Punk," a genre suggested to me by @Jo Zebedee. I'm hanging in there, but so far I don't see the "Hope Punk" part. It reads like a late coming of age novel. Heroine has just turned 19 and decides to change her life and live on the wild side. My hopes are not high, but we'll see.

 

[Bick]

I finished my re-reading of Hardy’s The Mayor of Casterbridge, and I’ve not enjoyed a novel more in quite a long time. Super.

I’m now reading The Children of Hurin, by Tolkien. Enjoying it thus far. Some of it seems very familiar from my multiple readings of The Silmarillion, but some of it doesn’t. I guess it’s quite expanded from that book.

Oh, and I’m also tonight going to start The History of Mr Polly by HG Wells. This isn’t SF, it’s one of his well regarded non-genre novels.

 

[Stephen Palmer]

Richard Holmes, This Long Pursuit.

 

[Hugh]

Lucullus Virgil McWhorter "Yellow Wolf - His Own Story"
I've been reading this over several weeks. Truly remarkable personal account told with such immense dignity of the Nez Perce War of 1877 in which @250 warriors, 500 women and children. and 2000 horses and livestock staged a retreat over some 1170 miles through unfamiliar hostile territory in a bid to reach Canada, for the most part outwitting and outfighting vastly superior numbers of pursuers. They were eventually trapped (through complacency, thinking they were safe) just forty miles from the border and forced to surrender.
Yellow Wolf was a young warrior @21 years old at the time. This account was taken by McWhorter in annual interviews with him between 1909 and 1935 when Yellow Wolf and other members of the tribe camped on his ranch for seasonal hop-picking.
What I found particularly fascinating is the occasional glimpses into the cultural/religious practices of the Nez Perce, for instance the adolescent rites of being sent into the wilds with no food in order to have certain visions (a significantly more intense practice than today's neo-shamanic "vision quests") and the Wyakin powers that gave protection in battle.
Here's what General Sherman had to say about the war:
It was "one of the most extraordinary Indian wars of which there is any record," reported William Tecumseh Sherman, commanding general of the U. S. Army, about the war waged by the government against Nez Perce Indians in 1877. "The Indians throughout," said Sherman, "displayed a courage and skill that elicited universal praise. They abstained from scalping; let captive women go free; did not commit indiscriminate murder of peaceful families, which is usual, and fought with almost scientific skill, using advance and rear guards, skirmish lines, and field fortifications."

 

[worldofmutes]

Finished with The Ill-Made Mute last night.
Today I picked up Michael Flynn’s Lodestar. I can tell it’s going to be very good. Has anyone read this one?

 

[Parson]

I finished (with considerable skimming) Flock by Kate Stewart. I never did see anything in it that I would characterize as Hope Punk. It is mainly a lusty story about a young woman's dive into the wild side of life, with an occasional reflection on the state of the world, and regular reflection about being an authentic individual. Authentic, as far as I could see, was defined as not caring what anyone thought of you, or following any rules that you yourself found illogical or too confining. It was very loosely designed to be a modern day Robin Hood story - (or I suspect that's where it was going via a hint in the text). I'm guessing because it ended in the middle of a scene. Not something that's going to make me happy!). There is a group/gang/something of people who share a tattoo of a Raven and some other undefined connection. The story revolves around the young 19 year old woman as she becomes physically involved with 2 of the group, once both at the same time, as she "frees herself." She starts calling the group "The Ravenhood." Because a flock of ravens is a conspiracy, she wonders if that is what is being hinted at with the shared tattoos. The mystery of what is going on is still nearly full blown at the end of the book. I don't think I'll waste another 3 hours or so of gratuitous sex scenes trying to understand the mystery or to see if something about the second book is identifiable as Hope Punk.

A generous 3 stars, and not recommended unless you want to get your motor running.

 

[Parson]

Finished with The Ill-Made Mute last night.
Today I picked up Michael Flynn’s Lodestar. I can tell it’s going to be very good. Has anyone read this one?
View attachment 88094

It sounds fairly interesting. I hope you'll put your feelings about it here when you've finished.

 

[Danny McG]

. I don't think I'll waste another 3 hours or so of gratuitous sex scenes

Waste?
I fail to see any waste of time

 

[Ian Fortytwo]

I've just finished Fifth Avenue, 5 A. M. Hepburn, Breakfast at Tiffany's, and the Dawn of the Modern Woman, by Sam Wasson.
It was an intriguing look at how Audrey Hepburn brought women into the 60s. Did you know that Marilyn Monroe was first choice to play Holly Golightly. I don't think it would have been the same.

Now just started reading The King's Painter. The Life and Times of Hans Holbein, by Franny Moyle.

 

[Hugh]

Frederik Pohl "A Plague of Pythons" (1962/5)
I have great respect for Fred Pohl, but after a few pages I thought "This is complete drivel". The world was in chaos as people committed terrible crimes of rape/ murder/ mass destruction while temporarily "possessed", unable to prevent their actions but compelled to witness them, and the main character was on trial for the rape of a sixteen year old. Fortunately this was first published in 1960s Galaxy so the descriptions are not as vivid as they might be today and it's only 150 pages long. While a plotline does develop that held my attention, it's essentially a novel of sadistic psychopaths that left me feeling dirty inside. Not one for me then.....
Nerd Watch: I assume the Pythons in the title is a reference to the Pythia (Pythoness), the Priestess of the Oracle of Delphi.