August Reading Thread

[Dave Vicks]

GREAT IDEAS OF PSYCHOLOGY, Daniel N.
Robinson.

 

[saulfan]

Finished the following:

Total Eclipse by John Brunner. My first Brunner and enjoyed it. Any suggestions as to which one next please?

Needed a change, so went with 'From Bumpkin To Broadway' the autobiography of the Musical Theatre performer and Brian May collaborator Kerry Ellis. Not particularly well written but thoroughly enjoyable nonetheless. What emerges is a picture of a very engaging and likeable lady.

'No Man's Land' a short piece by Graham Greene, that was provisionally going to be the basis for a film script but didn't get that far. A reasonably interesting cold-war spy tale.

Garth Nix: 'The Left-Handed Booksellers of London' Thoroughly enjoyed this one - looking forward to 'The Sinister Booksellers of Bath' (probably next week)

Next up was something completely different again: 'Dr. Thorndyke Intervenes' by R. Austin Freeman (1933) in a battered old 1940s edition. I will endeavour to pick up more of this quite prolific author as and when I can find them. Very skilfully written - I even learned a new word: 'myrmidon'

Started a re-read of the Murderbot eries this morning with 'All Systems Red' - still as enjoyable as ever.

Next up is my first venture into Stampunk with 'Ghosts of Engines Past' by Sean McMullen

 

[Parson]

Started a re-read of the Murderbot eries this morning with 'All Systems Red' - still as enjoyable as ever.

Have you read further in the series? I would rate All Systems Red as the best but I've throughly enjoyed all the rest of them as well.

 

[kythe]

Over the last few months, I have read:

The Last Unicorn - Peter S. Beagle. I remember reading this story in Junior High, and I grew up with the movie. I have always liked this story, but re-reading it in middle age brings different meanings. I do not believe this was ever meant to be a children's story. Many adventure stories are coming-of-age, but this is a book about aging and what it means to age or to be immortal. We see immortality from the perspective of the unicorn herself, forever young and innocent. There is also the harpy, more cruel but also ageless. Mommy Fortuna recreates "old age" as a greatest fear as part of her act. Schmendrick was granted a temporary stopping of aging until he discovered his magic. This was treated as neither good nor bad, though not many of us can put aging on hold while we "find ourselves". Molly feels washed up. King Haggard is ever seeking what he can't have. This whole story is full of metaphors for concepts we encounter in our lives, and is very philosophical in its approach to understanding what is real and what is illusion - and why it is important to know who we are. I get something different out of this story every time I read it.

Beyond the Blue Event Horizon - Frederik Pohl This is an excellent sequel to Gateway, following a different set of prospectors in a different direction, culminating in a new discovery about Heechee technology and origins. Although it tells a new story, there are repeated ties with the original Gateway storyline and the ending leaves enough information about the Heechee that I want to keep reading this series. The Gateway series is not a possible future Earth I would want, and I don't find the main characters to have desirable traits. I think it was written this way intentionally to show the end effects of runaway capitalism, but if that is the case, there could be more emphasis on some of the minor characters who make decisions in the best interests of their communities rather than just of themselves. There is something about this series which I do think taps into human nature as it is, not just as we might want it to be.

Parable of the Sower - Octavia E. Butler. This is my first read for this author and I am impressed. The story follows a similar pattern to The Death of Grass by John Christopher, but the modern themes hit closer to home. This story shows the breakdown of modern America through the eyes of a black teenage girl as she sees multiple factors such as climate change, social class disparities, racial tension, weak politicians and untrustworthy government agencies. She is able to band together a community and take leadership into creating a new world for herself and her followers, and faces problems head-on so they can survive. She believes she can create change in the world through conscious effort to fit her needs, with the ultimate goals that humanity is destined for the stars, not mere survival. I really like the depth of the characters and how they show the problems of the world around them. I have mixed feelings about the "Earthseed" religion Lauren tries to found as it does make her look a little more fanatical than she should. But she is a good leader, adaptable, and capable of creating needed changes.

 

[saulfan]

Have you read further in the series? I would rate All Systems Red as the best but I've throughly enjoyed all the rest of them as well.

Yes, I've read the whole published series thus far. I would concur with your view; I've enjoyed them all very much but All Systems Red is my favourite.

 

[Parson]

She's Not There was a DNF for me. Jennifer Finney Boyle is a very good writer and the last half of the book is likely wonderful, but I lost interest in the story after Richard decides he is wrongly gendered, and the long uphill decision making that went into that.

I finished Monroe Doctrin -- Vol. 5 -- by James Rosone & Alex Aaronson. I find this series oddly addicting. I don't think its wonderfully written or particularly gripping, but I find I keep wanting to know what happens next. I'm going to read something else now, but I'll bet I'll get to Volume six before too long.

Avoid --- Not Recommended --- Flawed --- Okay --- Good --- Recommended --- Shouldn’t be Missed

 

[AE35Unit]

Seeing as Abebooks didnt send me the next book in the 87th Precinct series, I'm going sideways, reading Fluke by James Herbert (1978), a book about a dog who thinks he was once a man...

 

[Elentarri]

3 novellas:

The Ghost Line by Andrew Neil Gray & J.S. Herbison

A "salvage" mission on a luxury star-ship between Earth and Mars goes sideways. The ship is not as empty as it's supposed to be. I really enjoyed this story. The characters are three dimensional, the atmosphere eerie, some interesting concepts, and an unexpected twist at the end. Too bad this wasn't a full length novel.​

The Bird at the End of Time by Scott Neil

The Earth is doomed! After a world war involving rogue AIs determined to exterminate humans, an global evacuation and quarantine has been ordered. Commander Anna has been tasked with a last minute sweep to round up the stragglers. Events don't go as planned when she stumbles on an old man who refuses to leave and his sparrows. Then gets side-tracked with a cruise liner that needs inspection. The writing shows the bleakness of the world very well. While the plot isn't particularly new, the story is certainly interesting and raises a compelling question.​

Vlad – Carlos Fuentes

Jonathan Harker and Co. apparently didn't do a very good job at permanently killing Count Dracula. What is a vampire dispossessed of his war torn Eastern European estates and his necessary "blood sausages" to do? Move to Mexico City, vibrant city of ten million plus "blood sausages", of course! And he will need a lawyer and an estate agent. Enter Yves Navarro (lawyer) and his wife Asuncion (estate agent). Count Dracula, "call me Vlad", is hard on his lawyers/estate agents and their family lives' (as usual). This is a delightfully dark, creepy and twisty vampire novella. Feuntes writes beautifully.​

 

[dask]

There is an alien race in Jack Vance's Space Opera called the authochthones. Chthones is most likely derived from chthonic adding a sense of menace to what's coming up in the next chapter, but I can't figure out what the prefix autho is hinting at. Anyone have an idea or is this just another cool name Vance came up with?

 

[Yozh]

I read The Fellowship of the Ring which I had started but not finished when I was young. I had 50th Anniversary edition.

Almost DNF again because the prologue just felt like such a chore. But a persevered and really enjoyed the book itself. Tolkein's narrative writing is just a pleasure to read, but then I am a person who likes a rambling walk in the wild.

The plot I already mostly knew from movies and such, and I was actually not so much interested in that. Also not so impressed with or the endless reactionary hand-wringing about how the old days were better and men were better then and now it's about to go all hell-in-a-handbasket because...well, not really sure why just the world is getting evil.

But the prose was enough for me, its been a while since I really just enjoyed the act of reading so much.

 

[Victoria Silverwolf]

Finished the following:

Total Eclipse by John Brunner. My first Brunner and enjoyed it. Any suggestions as to which one next please?

Stand on Zanzibar is his masterpiece, and my favorite science fiction novel.

 

[Elentarri]

I read The Fellowship of the Ring which I had started but not finished when I was young. I had 50th Anniversary edition.

Almost DNF again because the prologue just felt like such a chore. But a persevered and really enjoyed the book itself. Tolkein's narrative writing is just a pleasure to read, but then I am a person who likes a rambling walk in the wild.

The plot I already mostly knew from movies and such, and I was actually not so much interested in that. Also not so impressed with or the endless reactionary hand-wringing about how the old days were better and men were better then and now it's about to go all hell-in-a-handbasket because...well, not really sure why just the world is getting evil.

But the prose was enough for me, its been a while since I really just enjoyed the act of reading so much.

First time, and on several re-reads, I skipped the prologue, and gone directly to Bilbo planning his birthday party.

 

[hitmouse]

There is an alien race in Jack Vance's Space Opera called the authochthones. Chthones is most likely derived from chthonic adding a sense of menace to what's coming up in the next chapter, but I can't figure out what the prefix autho is hinting at. Anyone have an idea or is this just another cool name Vance came up with?

 

[Victoria Silverwolf]

I have just started Dictionary of Gestures: Expressive Comportments and Movements in Use around the World by Francois Caradec (2005; translated from French by Chris Clarke, 2018.) It's a listing of gestures and their meaning -- about 850, according to the author -- with an illustration for each one. So far, I'm just making my way through the thirty page introduction "On the Beauty of Gestures."

 

[Parson]

I was enticed to read something whose title would never have pulled me in Bob's Saucer Repair by Jerry Boyd. But countering that really bad title was the fact that it had 4500+ ratings averaging 4.4, the blurb sounded interesting and it was part of a 37 book series (Bob and Nikki, book 1). I was also looking for some lighter reading so I dove in. It's a short book at only 167 pages so only a little better than 2 hours later it was read. But was it enjoyed? Well, not so much. It sounds like a perfect fantasy for a modern "hillbilly." The science was essentially non-existant. The things that were really necessary for moving into a very advanced culture was the ability to improvise repairs from what's available, and to hunt and grow your own food. This will make you irresitable to the "hot" human/alien pilot and invaluable to the people who are policing the galaxy. All of which will make rich and (I'm guessing here) galaxy wide famous.

On a certain kind of whim I might read another of these. The older ones (less than 4 years old) all have thousands of ratings so I'm guess satisfying to a fair amount of people and therefore might be worth the read. But mostly I won't bother.

Avoid --- Not Recommended --- Flawed --- Okay --- Good --- Recommended --- Shouldn’t be Missed

I'm now on to a much different kind of book; Androne by Dwain Worrell. This is a mil S.F. from the relatively near future. The main character a man named Paxton is in the army and he is assigned to run an Androne (Android + Drone). The earth has been attacked and there is widespread conscription. The hook is that no one knows who the enemy is. They are sure that it is not another country or human or A.I. or alien, no one has seen (or remembers seeing) the enemy. The only thing clear is the results of an attack that wiped out major cities and military bases of the major human governments all at once.

The idea is intriguing. I like mysteries. And there is interesting science. But my greatest fear is that we will once again have a story which there is some sort of planet wide conspiracy of the "elites" vs. the "commons." Sigh! I hope not.

 

[dask]

View attachment 109216

Thank you. Jack Vance spelled it “autho” rather than “auto” which is why I thought there might be a difference. The word as he spells it does not appear in the dictionary I use. Since the aliens lived beneath the surface I thought the “chthon” part of the word referred to this:

Hence the sense of menace I mentioned. I apologize for any misunderstanding.

 

[HareBrain]

Jack Vance spelled it “autho” rather than “auto” which is why I thought there might be a difference.

The similarity to "author" suggests either the aliens being created from the underworld/earth, or creating it. No idea if either of those makes sense in the context of the story.

 

[dask]

Makes sense. They really like living underground. The worst punishment that can be inflicted on an authochthone is banishment to the surface for life.

 

[williamjm]

I read Chris Wooding's The Shadow Casket. I think I could probably have done with a summary of the previous book at the start since it has been five years since The Ember Blade came out and it took me a while to remember the details of it. The sequel picks up the story after a three year gap, it still mostly focuses on the same characters although there are also several new additions to the cast. I remember Wooding saying when the first book was released that he wanted to write something reminiscent of some of the epic fantasy series of the 80s and 90s. There are definitely plenty of familiar epic fantasy elements, although it does also question some of the traditional tropes - there's a running theme about what it means to be a hero (or to be someone seen by others as a hero). Some of the characters also worry a lot about what happens next if their revolution does succeed and the imperial forces are overthrown, which is not something that I remember characters in older series like the Belgariad worrying about.

The book is very long at over 800 pages, and although a lot does happen during the book the length did seem a bit excessive. At times the plot does feel a bit unfocused, the quest for the titular Shadow Casket does feel a bit unconnected to the other parts of the plot, although presumably it will important consequences for the final book. The final section of the book is probably the best, with some interesting and sometimes surprising plot developments and Wooding's willingness to kill off characters means that there is some tension about what will happen to them. Overall, I think the first book was probably better paced but this was still an entertaining read.