September Reading Thread

[Yozh]

Reporting back. I finished I, Robot by Isaac Asimov. Thoroughly enjoyed it and highly recommend. Quite a fun road to rule by our infallible Machine Overlords. Will probably go check out more of the Robot series.

Someone on another forum here compared Susan Calvin to Sherlock Holmes, and I think this was a great comparison. Each story is a mystery/thought exercise that the reader is solving alongside the main characters. Asimov set out his "laws of robotics," then sets out to test what the results of the laws would be in various edge cases.

These are workplace stories and don't delve into the lives of the MCs, other than a bit of background on Susan Calvin in the framing segments. Even so, the main five characters are unique in voice and consistent across stories.

 

[Steve Harrison]

I'm reading The Fourth Turning: An American Prophecy by Neil Howe and William Strauss

Written in 1997, this book is a fascinating and alarming book about the major crisis at the end of each four generation cycle through history, an occurrence due around about now!

 

[kythe]

I just finished a reread of The Chrysalids by John Wyndham. This book has always hit home for me since I was raised in a dogmatic religious environment. This book is about oppression of those who do not fit into narrow ideals, culminating in a look at a broader evolutionary future of humanity.

 

[Steve Harrison]

I just finished a reread of The Chrysalids by John Wyndham. This book has always hit home for me since I was raised in a dogmatic religious environment. This book is about oppression of those who do not fit into narrow ideals, culminating in a look at a broader evolutionary future of humanity.

It's a terrific novel. I hated reading at high school (early 1970s) but that was the one book we had to read that really resonated with me. I read it again with my daughter about 15 years ago and it hasn't dated.

 

[dask]

Starting this next:

Not my favorite sf cover.

 

[Danny McG]

I just finished a reread of The Chrysalids by John Wyndham. This book has always hit home for me since I was raised in a dogmatic religious environment. This book is about oppression of those who do not fit into narrow ideals, culminating in a look at a broader evolutionary future of humanity.

I remember reading a YA book in the mid seventies and it was plagiarism of the highest order!
A post apocalypse community where some kids developed telepathy, the religious leaders were closing in on them so they went on the run to meet "The Distants" who also had the powers.

 

[Parson]

I just finished book 1 The Legion and the Lioness of the series A World Apart by our own @RDArmstrong. This is a Mil. S.F. set in the "middle future." (Let's call it about 100-200 years.) Humanity has maintained its science and is now able to travel to the planets of our system regularly but all of the political stuff deriving from our ancient tribalistic bent has continued unabated. There are now androids who are able to hack their programming and they begin a war with the humans and this series explores the ramifications of this development.

The books are seen through the eyes of Captain Belic. She is the best fighter pilot of her generation and through twists and turns in her life situation she finds herself fighting for the continuation of the human race. It is written in first person, not my favorite style, but it works well here. It is filled with interesting tech, personal, and political insights. I am well pleased with this book and have started on book 2 The Legend and the Lioness.

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

 

[Danny McG]

just finished book 1 The Legion and the Lioness of the series A World Apart by our own @RDArmstrong. This is a Mil. S.F. set in the "middle future.

You recommended it so I've now got myself a copy.
Starting it tonight so I'll be busy.

(what became of my life? It's a Friday night and I'm settling down with a book!)

 

[Teresa Edgerton]

Another novel-length dark fairy tale by the author of The Path of Thorns.


All the Murmuring Bones, by A. G. Slatter

For centuries the O’Malleys grew ever more wealthy and more powerful. It was known in the family that their ships did not sink, their trading voyages always prospered, because they sacrificed a child in each generation to the sea. And though dark rumors surrounded them, they bought the favor of the clergy—or at least immunity from persecution—by also dedicating one child in each generation to the church.

But, as the novel opens, for many years their wealth and luck have been declining, along with their bloodline. Miren is the closest thing to a pure-blooded O’Malley child that now exists. When her grandfather dies, her grandmother promises the young woman to a wealthy distant cousin, in hopes of re-establishing the bloodline and the family’s prosperity. But Miren doesn’t like the idea of an arranged marriage, or the duty to produce at least three children—"one for the house, one for the church, and one for the sea"—and most of all she doesn’t like her cousin Aidan, who displays a possessive streak of sadism. She determines to run away.

I never entirely warmed to Miren, who was sympathetic only in contrast to family members who appeared so much colder and more selfish. However, her journey did give the author many opportunities to reveal the sinister wonders of her fantastical world. And the nearer Miren came to the end of her journey, the closer to uncovering the family secrets, the more darkly compelling the plot became.

As with TPoT, Slatter’s prose is excellent: by turns clever and poetical. Also like the other book, much of the history (in this case the history of the O'Malley family) is told in the form of fairy tales, each reminiscent of traditional tales from our own world, but each with its own twists and turns.

 

[Dave Vicks]

HEADS WILL ROLL Kate McKinnon and Emily Lynne. Full cast.

 

[Ian Fortytwo]

I'm currently reading The Thirty-nine Steps, by John Buchan.

 

[Elentarri]

Read:

Buried: An alternative history of the first millennium in Britain by Alice Roberts. Bones, ceramics, graves and ancient DNA. Very interesting.

The Curious Affair of the Witch at Wayside Cross by Lisa Tuttle. Historical fiction with a smidgen of fantasy. The paranormal answer to Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson. Light entertainment.

Mexican Gothic by Silvia Moreno-Garcia. Historical-paranormal fiction that is "inspired by", and also a "continuation" of The Fall of the House of Usher by E.A. Poe. What if the Usher's fungus was transported to Mexico. A bit slow but I liked it.

 

[HareBrain]

A combination of puzzling over the lyrics of a Steeleye Span song (Cam Ye O'er Frae France) and talking about a friend's writing project have made me want to know more about the Stuart cause, so I've started The King Over the Water: a Complete History of the Jacobites by Desmond Seward. A bit of an eye-opener so far, especially about the shoddiness of the "Glorious Revolution". I guess the name was a salesman's trick.

Finished this. Gripping all through. It certainly persuaded me of the justice of the Stuart cause, though since James II's current successor is Duke Francis of Bavaria, it looks like we're stuck with Germans either way.

Have now started The Dragon Waiting by John M Ford. I plucked this off a library shelf because I liked the cover and thought I remembered it being praised by someone whose opinion I respected (maybe The Big Peat). Whoever that was, the first few pages lead me to think they know whereof they speak.

 

[Dave Vicks]

Short biography s on Confucius and Dostoyevsky.

 

[Dave Vicks]

THE PRINCE Niccolo Machiavelli.
Acquiring and holding on to power.

 

[williamjm]

I read Shannon Chakraborty's The River of Silver, a short story collection in the world of her Daevabad trilogy. I thought this was a bit different to some other spin-off short story collections I've read. Earlier this year I read James S.A. Corey's Expanse spin-off Memory's Legion, and although the target audience was clearly fans of the main series I think the stories would also stand on their own. The stories here on the other hand feel more like vignettes, many of them apparently originating as material cut out of the trilogy. I think fans of the trilogy should enjoy these, there are a lot of good character moments in them that perhaps wouldn't have fit in the main narrative but which do provide a bit of extra depth. Getting to meet a couple of characters who died before the books began but who had a big influence on the plot is particularly welcome.

The Curious Affair of the Witch at Wayside Cross by Lisa Tuttle. Historical fiction with a smidgen of fantasy. The paranormal answer to Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson. Light entertainment.

I thought these books were fun mysteries, I see there has just been a third book The Missing Mummies published.

Have now started The Dragon Waiting by John M Ford. I plucked this off a library shelf because I liked the cover and thought I remembered it being praised by someone whose opinion I respected (maybe The Big Peat). Whoever that was, the first few pages lead me to think they know whereof they speak.

I thought that was a great book.

 

[HareBrain]

Have now started The Dragon Waiting by John M Ford. I plucked this off a library shelf because I liked the cover and thought I remembered it being praised by someone whose opinion I respected (maybe The Big Peat). Whoever that was, the first few pages lead me to think they know whereof they speak.

Well, that didn't last long. I think this points up a danger with multi-POV books: if your first POV section ends before the reader is fully invested in the overall story, then the POV that follows, especially if it seems unrelated, effectively starts the story again. In this book's case, it wasn't as engaging as the first (which I really liked), and flicking ahead showed the first didn't come back for ages, so the book lost me. (This almost happened to me with A Game of Thrones.) I might come back to it, but in the meantime I'm starting a reread of Paul Kearney's early novel, A Different Kingdom.

 

[svalbard]

The Heroes by Joe Abercrombie

I read the First Law Trilogy about 10 years ago, maybe longer. It was only this year that I picked up Best Served Cold and now I am on to The Heroes.

I love the way that the stories just interact. In away Joe reminds me of Hugh Cook and A Chronicles of an Age of Darkness. A non linear series with characters who are major in one book and minor in the next. It is quite a talent to make that work.

Anyway this is a testament to who I believe is the original great Grimdark writer, Hugh Cook, to the brilliance of Joe's writings.

 

[Dave Vicks]

THE HUNTER AND OTHER STORIES ,by
Dashiell Hammett ,2013.
[/QUOTE]

 

[kythe]

I'm making my way through Pillars of the Earth by Ken Follett. This is a long, slow moving historical fiction taking place in the 1100's, but the characters are fascinating people and I am completely engrossed in their world.