February Reading Thread

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Oh yes! It's pretty much a cycle lane door to door. All 24 miles. A bit noisy, but very enjoyable.
 
So I finished both Death's Master by Tanith Lee and A Storm of Wings by M John Harrison.

To round things out nicely, I also decided to chow down The House of the Borderlands by William Hope Hodgson.

The result is I'm still high on weird, lyrical prose.

I also didn't understand squat diddly about the latter two past the halfway mark. I did so quite enjoyably but I was just lost in a sea of words. Vital transition scenes must have just slipped past my eyes.

The Tanith Lee book, despite read under the exact same conditions, didn't lose a thing. By strange coincidence, I'm also grading it a good deal higher...
 
I read a prose-poem thing called Ness by Robert Macfarlane (illustrated by Stanley Donwood). Based on the disused military station at Orford Ness in Suffolk, it features human characters who seem to be wanting to set off a nuclear bomb, but they might be ghosts. It also features powerful figures that are made of natural elements. It might be post-apocalyptic and the whole thing about nature reclaiming human works. Anyway, despite being obscure (I'm not sure any number of re-readings would make it clearer) it's rather powerful, and very dense.

Also started Easy Riders, Raging Bulls by Peter Biskind, about 70s Hollywood.
 
Night Watch ended quite well, despite what I've heard about Pratchett's endings being weak - in fact, the ending has a surprisingly dark edge, as I was expecting a talk about the sanctity of life. Of course, it's risky to extrapolate a writer from their writings, but Pratchett comes across as decent and sane in this book - almost too sane to get the chaotic, violent impulses that drive something like a revolution. It wasn't hilarious, but it was amusing and made me smile. Good stuff.

Now I'm on to Reconstruction, a spy novel by Mick Herron. It's very well written, although some might not warm to Herron's style. Like the Slough House books, it's got the problem of having a massive tosser as a lead character - he's meant to be obnoxious, but perhaps not quite as repellent as he comes across. But the story is gripping. I do find that some SFF feels quite weakly plotted compared to crime and spy stories.
 
Bill Morgan "Beat Atlas: a State by State Guide to the Beat Generation in America"
For the obsessive. Exactly what it says - all the various places that the Beat Generation, and those associated with them, lived, worked, got arrested, made sandwiches etc etc
 
I'm currently reading a short story about a private moon rocket launch.....

Alan Bean Plus Four​


By Tom Hanks (the actor)
 
I recently read A Princess of Mars by Edgar Rice Burroughs, and The Sirens of Titan by Kurt Vonnegut.
I’ve briefly reviewed both of these important SF books on my website, here. Both enjoyable in quite different ways.

I’ve now started Cryptozoic, by Brian Aldiss, which I’m really enjoying thus far.
 
I've finished recently:

Below the Edge of Darkness by Edith Widder - nicely written, interesting memoir/science book about discovering bioluminescent creatures in the deep oceans. Lots of deep sea diving in submersibles and figuring out how to capture something on camera in the dark, many leagues under the sea. Giant squid feature.

A Distant Mirror: The Calamitous 14th Century by Barbara W. Tuchman - interesting and engaging history book that covers more than just the kings of England and France, and what eventually became knows as the Hundred Years' War.

The Golden Pot and Other Tales by E.T.A Hoffman - mixed bag. One of the stories has what is essentially laser telescopes.

Twelfth Night by William Shakespeare - unmemorable... something about twins, silly people and shipwrecks.

The Tempest by William Shakespeare - I liked this one. It did not have twins!!

Undercover by Tamsyn Muir - short story involving gangsters, zombies and an undercover cop (sort of) with interesting world building.

The Jennifer Morgue by Charles Stross - better than the first novel in the series. This installment seems to have been a spoof of the James Bond franchise.

Busy with: Magnificent Rebels: The First Romantics and the Invention of the Self by Andrea Wulf. History book examining the development of some philosophical concepts. Nice writing style, but probably a bit too much (very) personal information about all the characters involved. I really liked this author's book The Invention of Nature.
 
Reconstruction by Mick Herron was pretty good - I can't quite work out if it was too far-fetched, but it was entertaining. There's only a certain amount of Herron's very sour world-view that I can put up with. That said, he is quite prescient: choosing a certain politician as his arch-villain in other books, and discussing corruption in public contracts in this one.

Now onto Lost Souls by Noah Chinn, a self-published space opera, which promises to be a good deal less bleak.
 
I've finished Space Fever by Tony Neighbors. This is a light S.F. story. For me it is a perfect example of why new authors should use Kindle Unlimited. I would never have read this book without that. I hate to say this, but that's because the cover pictures a space ship that makes me go "You gotta be kidding!" It has a front end that looks like it was pulled off something like a 38 Chevy. I understand why, because that is pretty much how the ship is described. The story itself is actually quite good for a Space Fantasy. The main story revolves around 4 middle aged brothers who decide to go after their late father's dream. The action is non-stop. It reminds me of an Indiana Jones story. Bad guys and good times coming together in rapid fire succession. Tony Neighbors is prolific to say the least. He has at least 77 books in print. --- But I'd never run across one before. If you are up for some light fun reading, this might just fit the bill.

I am reading book 2 in this series Staying Alive.

Avoid --- Not Recommended --- Flawed --- Okay --- Good --- Recommended --- Shouldn’t be Missed
 
I've been going through the hundreds of TBR eBooks on my browser.
I've finally settled on an oldie by Arthur C Clarke:-
The lion of Comarre
 
Finished The Plurality Of Worlds: A Sixteenth Century Space Opera by Brian Stableford.
It was an enjoyable yarn of etherships, religion, intolerance, a journey to the centre of the galaxy and an alien invasion. A number of historical characters including Walter Raleigh, Francis Bacon and Francis Drake play significant parts in the proceedings.

More significantly, it got me to thinking....when I first started reading SF in the nineteen seventies, Stableford's Hooded Swan and Daedalus books were some of the earliest space stories I devoured. Oddly enough, I haven't read any Stableford since then and I'm not sure how or why that came about. So, with that in mind, I've decided to go right back to my roots by re-reading Halcyon Drift (Hooded Swan book 1).

I wonder what my older self will think of it now? :unsure:
 
This morning I'm on book one of the Breaking Gods trilogy by DJ Molles.

It's like a post apocalyptic future where high tech 'demi gods' rule over humanity.

They regularly force large numbers into brutal battles and direct these fights from hover platforms.

They use mortars and machine guns etc in these battles, our story (so far) concerns a deserter from one of the armies who now makes a living by scavenging (with a small crew) from the battlefield dead after a day's fight.

Good so far
 
THE EAGLE SPEAKS by Dianne L. Hagan (this is the review I just put up on GoodReads -- honestly, thought I done that months ago but, nope)

My standard disclaimer: I’ve know Dianne Liuzzi-Hagan and her husband Ron for over 45 years. Further, I was an early reader for her first novel, THE RIGHTFUL FUTURE, as well as for this one, so there may be some bias in this review.

Across the U.S. there has been an epidemic of nervous white people calling the police on Black people. Too often the encounter of white police and Black man goes sideways, and even the inclusive, Utopian community of Cadence is not proof against it. Titus Mann, soon to become a guidance counselor at the Six Nations Public High School, is shot by a sheriff as he goes to visit his aunt. Immediately questions arise: Why did a sheriff respond to a call for the Cadence police? Why did the sheriff shoot Mann in the back? Who called Mann into the police? Is this simply what it appears to be or is it the harbinger of something larger? Are outside forces coming once again to threaten the community of Cadence?

Dianne’s first novel was a strong debut, yet this one feels to me like a quantum leap forward not only in her choice of plot but in her handling of her characters and the assurance with which the story unfolds. Having a seat close to the creation of the novel, reviewing chapters as she completed and revised them, I found myself having fewer comments than for THE RIGHTFUL FUTURE. Dianne had learned from writing her first novel and it showed in the construction of her tale and the confidence implicit in her prose.

While it would be best to read the novels in order, if you’re at all intrigued by the synopsis or the reviews, I’d encourage you to give THE EAGLE SPEAKS a try. I don’t think you’ll be disappointed.
 
SCIENTIFIC AMERICAN Tomorrows Medicine. 2020. A collection of articles.

Up next Nero Wolfe mysteries.
 
Bick said:
I finished Inside Straight, the 2008 Wild Cards mosaic novel edited by GRRM. Terrific in all sorts of ways. I’m now moving straight on to the next book in the Committee sequence, Busted Flush. Most of the same authors wrote this one, including Carrie Vaughn, Victor Milan, Melinda Snodgrass, Ian Tregillis and Caroline Spector.
Click to expand...
Picked up and read a stray story collection. Wild Cards: Deuces Down.
I've read almost all of the Cards, somehow, I missed this volume.
Each was a straightforward story, not having to carry the weight of the precursors. I was struck with their relative quality. Simple characters, well developed, from over the wide swath of Cards. Although they referred and even included characters from vols 1-15, the ideas/plots were not dependent.
 
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I read the absurdly prolific Adrian Tchaikovsky's latest novel City of Last Chances. I thought it was very good. There are a lot of fantasy novels set in cities where the city is arguably as much of a character as any of the cast and I thought Ilmar was an interesting setting for the book. There are tensions between different parts of the population - the aristocracy, the workers, the criminal gangs, the students and immigrant communities - while all of those have a mutual dislike of the totalitarian regime which recently conquered their city. It does make for some interesting interactions from different walks of life have to decide whether or not to work together against a mutual enemy despite their own differing self-interests. Their are also some more unusual aspects to Ilmar, including the Wood which periodically becomes a portal to other worlds for those who have the wherewithal to survive the dangers within it and The Reproach, a neighbourhood whose macabre nature terrifies the rest of the city. The chapters tend to be short, switching frequently between a large cast of characters, some of whom are only seen once while other recur throughout the book. This does mean it takes some time for the shape of the overall story to become apparent but it builds nicely through the book and has an ending that is satisfying but leaves space for possible sequels. I liked the variety of characters, some of whom develop a lot as characters through the book while others seem determined not to learn anything. The interactions between Yasnic and God were probably my favourite.
 
A few books read this month, mostly genre novels, and two DNFs.

Rocannon’s World and Planet of Exile by Ursula Le Guin, the first two novels of her Hainish series, brought together in an SF Masterworks anthology, Worlds of Exile and Illusion which also includes City of Illusion which I read separately a couple of years ago. RW OK, but rather more a fantasy adventure than SF, and PoE had some interesting ideas but the love-interest aspect was excruciating. Not ones I’d bother reading again.

The October Man by Ben Aaronovitch, a novella in the Rivers of London series, but set in Germany with a Peter Grant substitute. I loved the first two or three books of the series, but I’m not so enamoured of the later ones, and despite the new locale this added nothing and was pretty forgettable.

King’s Dragon by Kate Elliott. DNF. Interesting prologue, bearable first chapter or so, but then went downhill – got to p40 and gave up.

Foundation’s Edge by Isaac Asimov, the penultimate novel in the Foundation series. Machiavellian scheming, interesting characters and characterisation, let down only by Bliss, part of Gaia, little more than an adolescent boy’s wish-fulfilment.

The Ladies of Grace Adieu, a collection of short stories dealing with magic and the fae/fairies, by Susanna Clarke, with a few nods to Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell. Some clever tales, with only one real dud, a long-winded retelling of Tom Tit Tot in C17th convoluted prose and anarchic spelling.

Klara and the Sun by Kazuo Ishiguro. To my mind, a complete solar eclipse would have improved the plot no end, particularly if it had led to the immediate deaths of all the human characters, only one of whom was likeable and sympathetic.


I also had a quick re-read of Silas Marner: The Weaver of Ravehoe, my favourite George Eliot novel; a long, lingering read of The Bayeux Tapestry Embroiderers’ Story by Jan Messent which considered where in England the embroidery was made and the techniques used, with lovely illustrations; and a rapid dismissal and DNF of an historical novel and supposed murder-mystery which was self-published by a local woman with (allegedly) an MA in creative writing, but which contained banal dialogue, anaemic characterisation and narrative, and little evidence of any kind of historical research.
 
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