October 2022 Reading Thread

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Finished the audiobook: The Lady and the Octopus: How Jeanne Villepreux-Power Invented Aquariums and Revolutionized Marine Biology by Danna Staaf. An interesting and fairly decent, if short, biography of the woman. I suspect it was written specifically with teenagers in mind, but manages to do this without infantalizing the subject. Now I need to find a copy of the paper book to see if there are any illustrations and extras.

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AE35Unit said:
First story, rather dull
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Interestingly it was included in some big name anthologies, like Merrill's year's best. A lot of those selected stories, I find, do not age well. (If you're registered with ISFdb you should rate it; it has no rating yet & it makes for good recommending.)
 
Firewall by Andrew Watts was a DNF for me. I can't say it was a bad book. It had a clever idea and I think the spy-craft was much more realistic than the James Bond style books but it never hooked me. Part of the problem was that the leading character really turned me off. He was (as I suppose you would have to be) really manipulative and his job was more important than any and all relationships. I suppose that could have changed later in the story, but I just couldn't get there. It's a highly regarded series, so the problem is likely mine. I'm on to All for All by Christopher G. Nutall. It is book 3 in the Cast Adrift series.
 
CasualDebris said:
Interestingly it was included in some big name anthologies, like Merrill's year's best. A lot of those selected stories, I find, do not age well. (If you're registered with ISFdb you should rate it; it has no rating yet & it makes for good recommending.)
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I started it again from the top. Much better the second time. Its funny how our mood affects our perception of a story
 
I have started Star Trek Cookbook (1999) by Ethan Phillips and William J. Birnes. Phillips plays the alien chef Neelix on Star Trek: Voyager and it's written in that persona. (Birnes appears to be a nonfiction writer, mostly about UFO's and such.) I'm not reading every word, since much of it consists of recipes ("adapted" to Earth ingredients, of course) favored by the crews of the various Federation starships in all the series. Rather I'm reading the surrounding material, dealing with the characters and such. There's an interesting section on how they make "alien" food for the television series.
 
The Big Peat said:
At the moment I'm currently flitting between

The Dragonbone Chair by Tad Williams - I've tried getting into it a couple of times, but this time I'm really liking Simon's voice, really getting into it

Death's Master by Tanith Lee - Not sure Lee's made for flitting, but not getting into it otherwise

Moving Pictures by Sir Pterry - Better than I recalled. The picture of Victor as focused slacker is actually quite intriguing.

Paladin's Strength by T Kingfisher - Tum ti tum. Not sure how long this will stay on a very crowded pile.

Queen's Assassin by James Barclay - Ehhh it's an ARC (from forever ago) or I'd have quit, and probabyl will

The Pastel City by M John Harrison - Very garish, very mannered, intrigued to see it goes

Second Spear by Kerstin Hall - I need this to get weird soon, I'm not reading weird funky adventures for personal soap opera

Hyperborea by Clark Ashton Smith - Very fun, weird, grotesque S&S

The Shape of Fantasy: Investigating the Structure of American Heroic Epic Fantasy by Dr C Palmer-Patel - Dr Palmer-Patel is my new hero

Wise Gals by Nathalia Holt - I've no idea how you make the story of some of the CIA's most influential early female agents boring but it's been managed, top banana

There's probably a few others (including a beta read) but that's my life right now
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Update

Finished:

Moving Pictures by Sir Pterry - First half is quite good, but the more we get into the Dugneon Dimensions the more the book loses it

The Pastel City by M John Harrison - I don't think I've ever struggled to see what I've thought of a book in my entire life; at once generic and very different

Hyperborea by Clark Ashton Smith - Was indeed fun, weird, grotesque S&S

The Shape of Fantasy: Investigating the Structure of American Heroic Epic Fantasy by Dr C Palmer-Patel - Very much my jam

Sharpe's Sword by Bernard Cornwell - Good clean fun for a book about war, adultery and spying

Smiley's People by John le Carre - Masterwork

The Return of the Sorceress by Silvia Moreno-Garcia - Very mediocre then it turned into weird unconnected preaching

Spy Spy Again by Mercedes Lackey - Even worse

In The Realm of the Wolf by David Gemmell - A much needed palate cleanser

The Drawing of the Dark by Tim Powers - A big bucket of interesting ideas with little fleshing out.

Mazi: Modern Greek Food - I forget the authors, but do have memories of recipes I want to try

Yeeted Overboard:

Paladin's Strength by T Kingfisher - I'm just not in the mood to take seriously the idea a serious fantasy warrior would use the word 'stabby'.

The Current Roster:

The Dragonbone Chair by Tad Williams - Simon's voice has got less enticing and more annoying

Death's Master by Tanith Lee - Not made for flitting

Queen's Assassin by James Barclay - Will probably quit this the next I open it up

Second Spear by Kerstin Hall - Need to find my kindle and finish this

Wise Gals by Nathalia Holt - Still dull

Tigana by GGK - I assume it will be as immense as ever

Venice's Secret Service by Iordanou Ioanna - So far just overview

Irenicon by Aidan Harte - Not sure it's going to stick. I've loaded too much renaissance fantasy onto my plate and this is the dullest I've encountered so far (at least at the start)

Jurgen by James Branch Cabell - Amusing in small doses


And probably a few other bits and pieces
 
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