August Reading Thread

[Dave Vicks]

Comic Book Harlan Ellison DC COMICS.
7 AGAINST CHAOS. 2013.
SCIENCE FICTION.

 

[Elentarri]

Recently I've read:

Thornhedge by T. Kingfisher - a twisted and charming retelling of Sleeping Beauty which fell a bit flat for me.

The Bathysphere Book by Brad Fox
Fox has come up with an odd style for "The Bathysphere Book". Instead of the usual narrative style common to biography/history/natural science books, Fox has produced something that is more like a scrap book: the chapters are short, some running only to one or two pages; events are "disjointed"; the writing style is somewhat simplistic, almost journalistic in style, but lyrical and evocative; the observations made by Beebe as he descended the ocean in the Bathysphere is given as a list per depth (this was neat); and copies of the original drawings, notes, letters and photos are included throughout like a scrap book (but it would really have been more useful for the illustrations to have their descriptions on the same page, rather than at the end of the book). For a book titled "The Bathysphere Book", I found there wasn't enough detailed information about the Bathysphere or its dives - I wanted more!

I'm not sure this sort of style particularly agrees with me. I think if Fox had wanted to do something like this, he should have gone further and turned it into a coffee table book with the inclusion of more colour photographs, especially of the deep sea creatures (which are mostly described, and only a few illustrated); more pages of the original notes/letters; and more photographs/illustrations of the people involved. Despite the unusual writing style, I found the book interesting look at the first man to descend the ocean depth in a Bathysphere and the cultural context of this field experiment.

 

[Danny McG]

In the lives of puppets by TJ Klune
So far this is a very odd story about a boy who's been raised by some scrap robots in the middle of a large forest - I'm not sure that I'll finish this as it's a bit too YA for me (it reminds me a lot of The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman)

 

[AE35Unit]

Next up The Heckler by Ed McBain. 87th precinct book number 12, first appearance of The Deaf Man

 

[Vince W]

Reading Special Deliverance by Clifford D. Simak.

 

[Dave Vicks]

The Atrocity Exhibition. 1972 & 1990.
JG Ballard.

 

[Orcadian]

I'm now on to The Boat of a Million Years by Poul Anderson. (Librarything link.) This might be the most extraordinary book I have ever read. Astonishingly, although it was nominated for three major awards, it did not win. Perhaps this was because it is not really science fiction, nor is it historical fiction in the usual sense, so it didn't fall comfortably into any genre. Anderson displays a depth and breadth of knowledge of ancient cultures and prehistory that I find quite breathtaking, along with a 'smell the sweat' sense of authenticity. So, without giving too much away, the premise is that there have been rare 'immortals' amongst us, living incognito, who have witnessed thousands of years of history - at considerable personal cost. 5*/5.

 

[Rodders]

Rico Dredd: The Titan Years by Michael Carroll.

 

[Dave Vicks]

A GRAVEYARD FOR LUNATICS. By Ray Bradbury 1990.

 

[Elentarri]

Finished

Emily Wilde's Encyclopaedia of Faery by Heather Fawcett

This is a delightful and entertaining urban village fantasy. We are introduced to Emily Wilde, Professor of Dryadology (aka Faery stuff), who is really not good with people, has a large black dog, and is writing an Encyclopaedia of Faeries. The last section she needs for the encyclopaedia is about the Arctic Fae, hence the journey to a remote village of Hrafnsvik, in the far north. The arrival of her academic rival and (only) friend Wendell Bambleby, throws a spanner in the works. Bambleby is at times infuriatingly amusing. I really liked the world building and the attempt to provide an encyclopaedia flavour to some of the sections. I also liked how Emily thawed out and became friends with the villagers. Fawcett's depiction of the various Faery folk (some cute and some terrible), and their interactions with humans, was also nicely done. I'm looking forward to the sequel.​

America Before by Graham Hancock

I like Hancock's books because they provide interesting places and ideas for further research. I appreciate his efforts to highlight these archaic places, ruins and artifacts. I found the sections on the Great Serpent Mound in Ohio; the sections on the Amazonian civilization, genetics and terra preta (anthropologically created extra fertile black earth); and the section on the Younger Dryas Impact Hypothesis especially interesting (the middle bit on Egyptian metaphysics/life after death was a tad tedious). However, I don't much care for his wild logic-jumps; or his unsubstantiated assumptions; or his wild "statements of fact" at what the ancient people knew or didn't know (did he get in his time machine to ask them or just making things up?); or the wild speculations without anything substantial to support it (he especially falls off the deep end in the last chapter). Hancock also tends to cherry-pick the data that fits his narrative. There is a great deal of speculation in this book, which is entertaining in a way. The book is good for data mining, but read with caution and a bucket of salt.​

 

[HareBrain]

Started:

Mystery Cults in the Ancient World by High Bowden. An impulse purchase. I've always been vaguely excited by the idea of mystery cults, based on the assumption that the initiates were given secret knowledge, and however batshit crazy and false that knowledge was, I wanted it. So I was more than a little disappointed to read in the first few pages of this book that the initiates were not given any supposed secret knowledge at all. Nevertheless, it's interesting so far.

Ordinary Monsters by J M Miro. Another impulse buy, a Victorian-set doorstop about kids with weird powers. This is apparently an international bestseller, but I've neither heard or it nor its author. It's really well done though, feels authentic to the time period, and is so far an utterly compelling read. Looks to be a lucky find.

I don't much care for his wild logic-jumps; or his unsubstantiated assumptions; or his wild "statements of fact" at what the ancient people knew or didn't know (did he get in his time machine to ask them or just making things up?); or the wild speculations without anything substantial to support it

Ah, good to know he hasn't changed. ;o). I was really into his kind of shtick in my mid-twenties, and I don't know now whether to feel bad that he took advantage of my gullibility, or grateful for the exciting ride he took me on before I wised up.

 

[Danny McG]

Another impulse buy

 

[Teresa Edgerton]

Emily Wilde's Encyclopaedia of Faery by Heather Fawcett

I have been tempted by this book for quite some time. Since our tastes often align, and since you liked it, I may just buy and read it one of these days.

Ordinary Monsters by J M Miro.

I read this a few months ago and mentioned it in the monthly thread, but didn't have a lot to say about it, which is probably why you don't remember hearing of it. Like you, I found it compelling. Darker than I prefer my reading to be, but very compelling. (It seems like so much of what is otherwise very appealing to me is dark these days, so my reading these days is darker than it used to be.) I admired the book and look forward to the sequel but will probably never reread it. I'd be interested in what you think when you have finished it.

 

[HareBrain]

I admired the book and look forward to the sequel but will probably never reread it

I can see why. It's written well, but there's nothing about it so far (about 1/5 through) that I think I would be drawn to revisit.

 

[Hugh]

Larry Niven "Convergent Series" (1980) Orbit/Futura paperback.
Pleasant enough reading, but nothing particularly memorable. I'll probably forget these completely in a few days or so.
Twenty one short stories, seven of which had already been published in the earlier collection “The Shape of Space”. There’s an introduction by Niven in which he explains this re-publication, also a number of introductory notes to the stories. Most of the later stories are just a few pages long, so despite the number of stories, the collection is just 227 pages.

 

[Toby Frost]

I just read I Am Legend by Richard Matheson.

I agree with your comments. It's a great book, written with admirable brevity and without unnecessary padding. I Am Legend and Day of the Triffids have always felt to me like zombie stories without zombies. It makes a good companion to The Shrinking Man, as they both cover themes of loneliness and survival in a strange new world.

I've nearly finished the Kevin Anderson/Neal Peart collaboration Clockwork Angels, which is strange without being especially memorable, and could probably do with being either a short story with a narrower scope or a larger, more fleshed-out novel.

 

[Bick]

I'm now on to The Boat of a Million Years by Poul Anderson. (Librarything link.) This might be the most extraordinary book I have ever read. Astonishingly, although it was nominated for three major awards, it did not win. Perhaps this was because it is not really science fiction, nor is it historical fiction in the usual sense, so it didn't fall comfortably into any genre. Anderson displays a depth and breadth of knowledge of ancient cultures and prehistory that I find quite breathtaking, along with a 'smell the sweat' sense of authenticity. So, without giving too much away, the premise is that there have been rare 'immortals' amongst us, living incognito, who have witnessed thousands of years of history - at considerable personal cost. 5*/5.

One of my favourite SF novels too. I may have to re-read it soon.

 

[Dave Vicks]

I like Richard Matheson s TWILIGHT ZONE episodes.
Very good writer. A-List.

 

[Dave Vicks]

Time for some Non-fiction.

 

[Dave Vicks]

Having trouble getting into Ray Badbury and Fredrick Pohl.