September Reading Thread

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Bridge, the new one by Lauren Beukes.
Some people have the misfortune to occasionally find themselves in alternative worlds through body swapping with their counterparts.
There are others who regard this as an abomination and are determined to hunt them down and kill them.
Reminiscent of Dean Koontz stories crossed with Jumper.

Good so far

Update: The main protagonist is marvelling at one of the alt worlds that she's stumbled into....they have YouTube instead of (as used on many worlds) YouVid, and they've recently had a worldwide pandemic with a lockdown!
 
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Read most of Terra Incognita. Three novellas by Connie Willis.
Bumped Into it on a library shelf.
As I dearly love Willis I had high hopes and grabbed it. Unfortunately my reaction to the first two stories was that while perfectly okay they were at the level of standard fare that you might find in an issue of Asimov's a decade or two ago. Got through Uncharted Territory, an exploration team wandering around a new planet, & Remake, a slightly satiric take on Hollywood, of the if this goes on type. Skipped the third.
Perhaps I have been spoiled by epic treatments of exploratory teams and of entertainment culture - and works by Willis that deservedly won Hugos.
Went back to reading Michael Connelly Bosch novels and re-reading some old Raymond Feist,, eagerly awaiting new works by Martha Wells and John Scalzi that I have on order at the library.
 
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Rebecca Lowe "The Slow Road to Tehran"
Account of a truly remarkable solo bike ride by the author in 2015/2016 from the UK through France - Italy- the Balkans - Turkey - Lebanon - Jordan - Egypt - Sudan - Oman - Dubai - Iran.
I'd bought the book on impulse having travelled through Turkey and Iran several times in the 1970s, and was hoping to vicariously re-experience that warmth and hospitality, so was disappointed to find that the budget traveller of today can simply sofa-surf courtesy of various local internet sites. As a result I found the first half rather dull but it came alive for me once she entered Sudan - once she gets away from internet accommodation and political discussion, I found myself captivated.
An incredible achievement. And in all that time there was just one occasion when she had to resort to waving a penknife (successfully) in self-defence.
 
Sci-Fi/Horror cross now.
Nightstalkers the Extinction Event by Jasper T Scott.

Following a catastrophic asteroid impact a lot of the Earth's population is instantly wiped out.
The survivors band together to try rebuilding communities, but then deadly predator creatures start attacking

Edit:
Adam, the protagonist, wears Crocs. So it's highly likely this'll be DNF for me.
 
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Danny McG said:
Sci-Fi/Horror cross now.
Nightstalkers the Extinction Event by Jasper T Scott.

Following a catastrophic asteroid impact a lot of the Earth's population is instantly wiped out.
The survivors band together to try rebuilding communities, but then deadly predator creatures start attacking

Edit:
Adam, the protagonist, wears Crocs. So it's highly likely this'll be DNF for me.
Click to expand...
It was poor so I gave up
 
Halfway through Aparna Venma's The Phoenix King. I'm having to read it in spurts as it rackets up its tensions faster than I can reach answers. Lot of nice touches, few I'm not so sure on, interested to see what I'll make of it come the end.
 
I recently finished Jade War, the second book in the Green Bone Saga trilogy. While I did like it, I did feel it was a little slow and only really picked up properly towards the end of the book. I'd say so far I give the series a 3/5.

Given the online press this book series seems to get on places like Reddit, personally I have found it pretty overrated. I'm going to read some other books before I give the third a read, but I am determined to finish the series in the future.
 
Read:

Fractured Oak by Dannie Boyd (Mystical realism? Murder mystery)
I don't generally read murder mysteries. They don't appeal to me. However, Fractured Oak is different. A portion of the story is told from the perspective of a freshly minted, murdered, physician that has spent the last 170 years as a tree... and now finds she has a murderer in her "backyard". The other POV is that of almost-retired, grumpy, police detective Lani. I especially enjoyed the relationship between Lani and her younger partner. And that poor beagle (the dog is fine, but he shouldn't have had to see things like that!). I really enjoyed this novel.

Into Thin Air: A Personal Account of the Everest Disaster by Jon Krakauer
Interesting.

Tales of Witchcraft and Wonder: The Venomous Maiden and Other Stories of the Supernatural by Claude Lecouteux & Corinne Lecouteux
A collection of tales from the Middle Ages focused on otherworldly powers, magical animals, miracles, demonic apparitions, and supernatural events. A bit like Grimm's fairytales only not.​
 
HareBrain said:
in the meantime I'm starting a reread of Paul Kearney's early novel, A Different Kingdom.
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Has anyone else read this? It came out in 1993 (which is when I last read it), which means Kearney wrote it before he was 25. Which makes him a near genius. His evocation of growing up in rural Antrim in the 1950s feels note-perfect, and is so well written, often lyrical without getting anywhere near purple. And he has a real talent for picking out details and finding fresh ways to describe the everyday. (Or what would have been the everyday in that setting -- it's another world to me.)

What might be seen as a fault is his including a lot of material that isn't strictly necessary for the fantasy plot, which involves the character going across the border between the human world and the even darker faery one. I think that's what marks it as the product of a young writer, the reluctance to cull the darlings. But in my case they're the reader's darlings too, and this real-world stuff has the best writing. It's the vague memory of it that got me to reread it thirty years on. In fact it's even better than I remembered.

@Jo Zebedee , I think this would be right up your street if you don't already know it.
 
HareBrain said:
Has anyone else read this? It came out in 1993 (which is when I last read it), which means Kearney wrote it before he was 25. Which makes him a near genius. His evocation of growing up in rural Antrim in the 1950s feels note-perfect, and is so well written, often lyrical without getting anywhere near purple. And he has a real talent for picking out details and finding fresh ways to describe the everyday. (Or what would have been the everyday in that setting -- it's another world to me.)

What might be seen as a fault is his including a lot of material that isn't strictly necessary for the fantasy plot, which involves the character going across the border between the human world and the even darker faery one. I think that's what marks it as the product of a young writer, the reluctance to cull the darlings. But in my case they're the reader's darlings too, and this real-world stuff has the best writing. It's the vague memory of it that got me to reread it thirty years on. In fact it's even better than I remembered.

@Jo Zebedee , I think this would be right up your street if you don't already know it.
Click to expand...
Will keep an eye for it. Second hand are eye watering with postage and it's no longer available new, but it's the sort of thing that sometimes turns up. :) Cheers
 
BRAIN DROPPINGS, by George Carlin, 1997.Abridged.
Hates groups,clubs, organizations.
Likes Individuals.
 
Short story 'Pandoras Box' by Kristine Kathryn Rush.
Very short biography on James Joyce.
 
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