July 2022 Reading Thread

[Hugh]

C.M. Kornbluth "The Marching Morons and other famous science fiction stories" (1959)
Nine short stories first published 1949 - 1957. It turns out I'd read most of these before, but this is the first collection I've picked up - until now it's been an occasional story every now and then, in one anthology or another. Reading the stories together makes me appreciate his original talent, and leaves me wondering what he might have written if he hadn't died so young.

 

[Dave Vicks]

Up next or On Deck. Ray Bradbury & Mervyn Peake.

 

[Parson]

I have been reading through the series Grimm's War by Jeffery H. Haskell. Book One: Against the Odds is an excellent Military S.F. book. It has few flaws. I found the action believable and gripping. I found the set up (a point where a lot of today's S.F. falls) to be well done and believable. I found the main character, Jacob Grimm, to be believable and interesting. In fact in thinking about this first book I thought the nearest opening series book in style and excellence was On Basilisk Station, the brilliant opening novel to the Honor Harrington series which I dearly love. Unfortunately, the following novel With Grimm Resolve took a step back. It does not rise to the level of The Honor of the Queen, but it is still several cuts above average. I'm onto the third One Decisive Victory and the retreat from excellence continues. For me it is less believable and more pedestrian still. I might read the upcoming A Grimm Sacrifice in September, but I'm not sure. It's certainly nothing like how I waited year by year for the next Honor Harrington, as David Weber's work rolled out about one a year.

 

[Danny McG]

I'm onto the third One Decisive Victory and the retreat from excellence continues

I had the same experience and I DNF about halfway through it, the writer lost his mojo

 

[Guttersnipe]

Tales of Gooseflesh and Laughter by John Wyndham

 

[Elentarri]

The Music Shop by Rachel Joyce

 

[Bick]

I’m now reading Drowning World by Alan Dean Foster. Good start. I often think Foster’s books would make good movies - the settings often seem ‘cinematic’.

 

[AE35Unit]

I’m now reading Drowning World by Alan Dean Foster. Good start. I often think Foster’s books would make good movies - the settings often seem ‘cinematic’.

Not heard of that one

 

[Danny McG]

For a change from SF I've started reading the Lee Goldberg books about Mr Monk, the OCD detective from the TV series.

Fast paced and mildly amusing light reading, I'm already onto book 2 "Mr Monk goes to Hawaii"

I'll probably hammer through a couple more of these before looking for some space opera

 

[Ian Fortytwo]

I'm currently reading The Spy and the Traitor, by Ben MacIntyre. This is on our recent book group choices.

 

[Dave Vicks]

Currently Ursula K. Le Guin Essays.

Robert e Howard horror stories.

 

[Garfunkel]

The Lamplighters by Emma Stonex. I was looking forward to reading this, but it's not really doing it for me, unfortunately. The pacing is glacial and I think it has too many different POV characters for the size of the book, which doesn't help with the pacing issues. There are aspects I like about it, including some of the character work, the exploration of ambiguous loss, and the evocative lighthouse setting, but on the whole it's a bit of a struggle to get through.

 

[Bick]

Not heard of that one

It’s a ‘Commonwealth’ book from 2003, but a standalone, not Pip & Flinx.

 

[Dave Vicks]

Joseph Conrad and Mark Twain short stories.

 

[hitmouse]

Joseph Conrad and Mark Twain short stories.

Crikey, you seem to be getting through an eclectic mix of quite heavyweight stuff in short order.
Conrad
Peake
LeGuin
Bradbury
Twain

All in the last 24h. Kudos.

 

[Dave Vicks]

@ HITMOUSE Good Coffee helps.Tea too

 

[HareBrain]

Finished Q by "Luther Blisset", though I skimmed large chunks of the second half to focus on the battle of wits between the revolutionary Protestant MC and the Catholic agent who dogs him for almost thirty years. The rest I found interesting on first read twenty years ago, but I didn't need to go through it all again, and I found the style -- which managed to be both breathless and over-detailed -- a bit wearing this time. I would, though, recommend it to anyone interested in a thriller about the beginnings of Protestantism and the religious turmoil in Holland/Germany in the first half of the sixteenth century. (I appreciate this might not amount to a great many people.)

 

[Danny McG]

This morning I'm having a look at Tracking by David R Palmer, the sequel to Emergence.
I'd almost forgotten the abbreviated style of story telling, I'm not sure I'll be finishing this book, the style is starting to annoy me

 

[tachyon]

I just finished The Blacktongue Thief by Christopher Buehlman.

Second-world fantasy with a highly entertaining MC, a thief on the outs with the thieves guild, sent on a mysterious journey with a dangerous companion. I recommend it highly but with the warning it's quite crass and rude in parts. Swords and sorcery, thieving and betrayal.

Will definitely be keeping an eye out for the rest of the series.

 

[dask]

Finished this:

There's little doubt this is an Ace Science Fiction Special edited by the redoubtable Terry Carr, but is it SF? SF has a category for it, post-holocaust, or in this case, after-the-neutron-bomb. After that it becomes a story of survival and retaliation in the On The Beach and Alas, Babylon mode. Nothing wrong with that of course. Robinson does a sterling job zeroing in on a community in California struggling to survive after a decimating attack of neutron bombs from unknown assailants. Thus ends the SF. There is a cobbling together and jerry rigging of abodes and wrecked tech but other than that it's rebuilding some sort of working society and fighting back in the mainstream manner. Intriguing with moments of excitement. Recommended.

Now it's Ace Double time: