February Reading Thread

[Dan Jones]

Just finished reading Adrian Tchaikovsky's The Dogs Of War, which I thought a fantastic piece of speculative/science-fiction that rattled along at a great piece. I am re-reading volume 3 of Sandman for fun. I'm almost finished a re-read of Titus Groan for the poddy, and am just about to start RJ Barker's The Bone Ships.

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 thought Klara was a great piece of work. It worked as a sort of meta-text, and I thought the dystopian stuff was only skin-deep; there was real beauty and love for humanity beneath the surface. Did you listen to our interview with @Jo Zebedee about it on Chronscast?

 

[Stephen Palmer]

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?

His novel The Empire Of Fear is an all time favourite of mine.

 

[Toby Frost]

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.

I remember thinking when I read the last Foundation books that SF was better before they told Golden Age writers that they could include sex.

 

[Rodders]

Interesting observation. I must confess that i've never seen the appeal, or even the point of sex scenes in books or movies.

 

[The Judge]

I thought Klara was a great piece of work. It worked as a sort of meta-text, and I thought the dystopian stuff was only skin-deep; there was real beauty and love for humanity beneath the surface. Did you listen to our interview with @Jo Zebedee about it on Chronscast?

I read in a different way from you, I suspect. I want a story and I want to be entertained, preferably with congenial, intelligent characters doing interesting things. The novel scored zero on all counts as far as I'm concerned. I did make it all the way to the end, which isn't a given nowadays when I'm not getting on with a book, but by golly my slapping hand was itching all the way through. If there was beauty there, then it went over my head, and as for the love for humanity aspect, it reminds me of the quip "I love humanity. It's people I can't stand."

I actually bought the novel because of the Chronscast, even though I suspected it wouldn't be one for me.

 

[Vince W]

Interesting observation. I must confess that i've never seen the appeal, or even the point of sex scenes in books or movies.

I prefer sex scenes to be implied rather than explicit. Not because I'm a prude, but because they just tend to slow the plot down.

 

[Foxbat]

His novel The Empire Of Fear is an all time favourite of mine.

I've never read it but I'll look out for it.
So far I'm enjoying Halcyon Drift and don't think it has dated too much

 

[Parson]

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 think you're just casting shade.

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Seriously, I found it interesting in quirky kind of way. I might even consider it important fiction because unlike a lot of books I read, some of the scenes stay with me.

 

[Danny McG]

I think you're just casting shade.

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Seriously, I found it interesting in quirky kind of way. I might even consider it important fiction because unlike a lot of books I read, some of the scenes stay with me.

Parson
I remember discussing this book in the reading thread with you a couple of years ago, as I recall it was one of my DNFs, I really struggled with the simplistic tone and dragged out plot

 

[Stephen Palmer]

I've never read it but I'll look out for it.
So far I'm enjoying Halcyon Drift and don't think it has dated too much

It's a fantastic take on the vampire myth.