November Reading Thread

Status
Not open for further replies.
Rodders said:
I finished the audiobook of Inversions by Iain M. Banks. The pre industrial setting made this my least liked Culture book when I read it, but listening to it has made me appreciate it a lot more. It’s actually quite a lovely and a subtle book.

I’m not sure what to get next. I think it’ll be Banks’s The Algebraist. By all accounts, quite a complex book.
Click to expand...
Your experience echoes mine! It was my least favourite Culture book precisely because of the setting making it feel more like fantasy. But when I reread all Bank's work I also found I appreciated it more second time around. It's still not in contention for favourite but I definitely enjoyed it more.
 
This past week I've read:

Locked in Time: Animal Behaviour Unearthed in 50 Extraordinary Fossils by Dean R. Lomax (was ok, not detailed enough for my liking)

The Giza Death Star Revisited by Joseph P Farrell (hypothesizes that the Great Pyramid is the shell of an ancient engine of war - interesting)

Network Effect by Martha Wells (science fiction novel, waiting for the sequel)

How Innovation Works by Matt Ridley (I feel Ridley is overly optimistic, but half this book is a nice overview of historical innovations)

Kindred: Neanderthal Life, Love, Death and Art by Rebecca Wragg Sykes (interesting, detailed overview of neanderthals)
 
Patricia A. McKillip "The Forgotten Beasts of Eld"
I've only come across this author recently, through Chrons (many thanks again @Teresa Edgerton ). A really pleasant surprise as I don't usually read fantasy. This one has surprising depth and in some ways is more myth than fantasy. It's one of those books that leaves me musing on it for a while before starting another. For me, it's comparable to LeGuin's Earthsea in its ability to touch inner depths. I must find out more about her.
 
City of Bones (2023 published revised and updated, author's preferred text edition) by Martha Wells.
A nice post-apocalyptic semi-steam punk fantasy novel.
 
The Foundation Trilogy
Finally finished this set.
Asimov envisoned a few more uses for atomic energy than have emerged in the 70-plus years since the books were published. When last I checked, none my household appliances were nuclear-powered.
Other than a few character names and scenes, Apple's Foundation series seems to have taken very little from the source material. Still an excellent read.
 
REBerg said:
The Foundation Trilogy
Finally finished this set.
Asimov envisoned a few more uses for atomic energy than have emerged in the 70-plus years since the books were published. When last I checked, none my household appliances were nuclear-powered.
Other than a few character names and scenes, Apple's Foundation series seems to have taken very little from the source material. Still an excellent read.
Click to expand...
Yep, it might be worth re-reading this now. I read it aged 18-20 with dogged persistence but found it boring beyond belief. Most of the characters, concerns, corporate shenanigans and machinations were beyond me then - late developer. :rolleyes: What age were people when they read & enjoyed TFT?
 
Orcadian said:
Yep, it might be worth re-reading this now. I read it aged 18-20 with dogged persistence but found it boring beyond belief. Most of the characters, concerns, corporate shenanigans and machinations were beyond me then - late developer. :rolleyes: What age were people when they read & enjoyed TFT?
Click to expand...
I actually enjoyed when I was a teenager but not so much as a late middle age adult (ten years or so ago).
 
I finished Black Rednecks & White Liberals by Thomas Sowell; which I very highly recommend, and started Why the West Rules - For Now by historian Ian Morris. It was written in 2010 when ‘for now’ was funny. Very good so far.
 
Greensmith by Aliya Whiteley
Interesting concept, but the writing style (especially when it gets to the silly parts) and execution didn't really work for me.
 
I finished This Sweet Sickness by Patricia Highsmith. Very good, as always. Not perhaps my favourite of hers, but a wonderful study of unhinged, unreciprocated, delusional attraction.

I’ve now started two books: Mark Twain’s A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court, which is super and needs no recommendation from me, and also a slightly intimidating history book, An Imperial Possession: Britain in the Roman Empire, by David Mattingly, which is the first volume in the Penguin History of Britain series. It’s a tome, but I have an increasing interest in British history and what it means to be British - possibly fostered by the distance I am from my home shores, living as I do in New Zealand.
 
Lloyd Biggle Jr "The Still Small Voice of Trumpets"
Classic 60s fare. Cultural Survey Officer Jef Forzon is tasked with surreptitiously bringing about democracy in Kurr, something the Interplanetary Relations Bureau hasn't managed in 400 years. Key here is Forzon's appreciation of art and music, and this is what makes the book stand out from its various peers.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Thread starter Similar threads Forum Replies Date
The Judge November Reading Thread Book Discussion 186
The Judge November 2022 Reading Thread Book Discussion 173
The Judge November 2021 Reading Thread Book Discussion 299
The Judge November 2020 Reading Thread Book Discussion 198
T November 2019 reading thread Book Discussion 202

Similar threads


Back
Top