November Reading Thread

[Dave Vicks]

AND THE HIPPOS WERE BOILED IN THERE TANKS.Jack Kerouac and William S Burroughs, 1945,2008. Discovered novel.

 

[Hugh]

AND THE HIPPOS WERE BOILED IN THERE TANKS.Jack Kerouac and William S Burroughs, 1945,2008. Discovered novel.

What do you think of it?
And any thoughts as to what really happened?

 

[Danny McG]

System Collapse by Martha Wells - I haven't much enjoyed the murderbot short stories but there was a full length one that was more to my liking.
This is also a full length one so here's hoping

 

[Vertigo]

System Collapse by Martha Wells - I haven't much enjoyed the murderbot short stories but there was a full length one that was more to my liking.
This is also a full length one so here's hoping

I didn't and still don't know what all the fuss is about. I think they're really basic stories with simplistic plots and an anthropomorphised robot. I just don't think they're worth the money and certainly not the money she (or her publisher) is charging for them, I won't be buying more. Admittedly I only read the first couple but that was enough for me.

Actually I think they rate for me as low as I rate the Becky Chambers books, which I know many people also think are great but I think are again just really simplistic plots.

 

[Elentarri]

I didn't and still don't know what all the fuss is about. I think they're really basic stories with simplistic plots and an anthropomorphised robot. I just don't think they're worth the money and certainly not the money she (or her publisher) is charging for them, I won't be buying more. Admittedly I only read the first couple but that was enough for me.

Actually I think they rate for me as low as I rate the Becky Chambers books, which I know many people also think are great but I think are again just really simplistic plots.

I think it has to do with anti-social/introvert people that don't generally read science-fiction, relating very well to the "anthropomorphised robot", and the soft-science-fiction setting. As for price - agreed. Very expensive for what you are getting.

I think Becky Chambers books are bland. Most of the people who like Becky Chambers novels (from my experience) seem to be those who don't generally read science fiction. They are nice and fluffy and "cozy" science fiction novels for people who generally read fluffy fiction and cozy mysteries. Just my 2 cents opinion.​

 

[Elentarri]

Finished a short Great Courses audiobook while baking cookies:
Zombified: Real-World Lessons from Fictional Apocalypses by Athena Aktipis

The author uses a very broad definition of zombification, provides examples of biological, social and psychological "zombification", and then examines what can be gained from fictional zombie apocalypse scenarios. Interesting, but too repetitive. I might have got more out it if I actually watched any of the zombie movies/series used as examples.​

 

[Vertigo]

I think it has to do with anti-social/introvert people that don't generally read science-fiction, relating very well to the "anthropomorphised robot", and the soft-science-fiction setting. As for price - agreed. Very expensive for what you are getting.

​

I think that's the cheat bit, I mean I am that person, but she's basically just taken an anti-social/introvert/autistic person and put them inside a tin box. If they weren't inside the tin box they'd be annoying but in the box they become cute. I guess it just doesn't work for me.

 

[Parson]

I just finished reading Femmes Fae-Tales. It's a book of short stories which finds its origins with some of the female members of Chrons. This is not my genre and not my favorite format, but I actually found myself enjoying the stories. My favorite story was The Frog Prince by E. J. Tett (@Mouse) but several others caught my fancy as well.

If you like Fantasy:

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

Right now I am reading System Collapse by Martha Wells. It is the seventh story in the Murderbot Diaries. This is a full length novel so its price is slightly less aggravating. But as always I have to really think if I want to pay a severe premium for a series that is great, but it is 4 to 10 times better than the books I get as part of Kindle Unlimited? Obviously I bit the bullet this time.

So far it is more frustrating than the earlier books because It appears that a lot of story is being assumed.***

***Okay, just to admit my age I went back to reacquaint myself a bit with story number six Fugitive Telemetry and my Kindle seems to think that for some reason I stopped reading at page 40?! Why did I stop? I don't remember being so frustrated I stopped reading. Maybe something wonderful came my way at the time? I'm not sure. So, okay, I am now reading Fugitive Telemetry maybe that will change my frustration.

 

[Rodders]

I'm reading The Secret Magistrate.

Essentially a series of short stories from the blog. It's pretty interesting and an interesting look into the Magistrate section of our justice system. I'm enjoying it quite a lot, actually.

 

[dask]

AND THE HIPPOS WERE BOILED IN THERE TANKS.Jack Kerouac and William S Burroughs, 1945,2008. Discovered novel.

Wow, sounds bizarre before its time.

 

[Dave Vicks]

THE COUNSELOR, Screenplay, Cormac McCarthy.

 

[Dave]

Sole Survivor by Dean Koontz

"Joe Carpenter's wife and two daughters perished with more than three hundred others in the crash of airlines Flight 353. But one year later, haunted by the loss of his family and desperate to find progress in life, he discovers that the official story of Flight 353 is a treacherous lie..."

This begins as a tight thriller, and Koontz is superbly good at writing these. Joe, an ex-reporter, pieces together the real story by interviewing key people, and by meeting a mysterious woman who claims she was actually on Flight 353. Many of interviewees commit suicide straight after he speaks with them. While the world-wide conspiracy is not very plausible, this is all very intriguing and page turning until Koontz adds his usual take on creationism and intelligent design into the mix. I've realised now that all his books are probably like this, and so maybe they just aren't for me.

Then, quite suddenly, it all turned into a season of Stranger Things, but having been written in 1979, clearly it is Stranger Things that has reproduced the same idea. Anyhow, I never saw that coming, even if the clues were all there. You can tell it was written in 1979, because the internet would have made his research easier, as well as his remaining incognito and evading capture harder. Also, if written today, both the secret cabals and the multinational conglomerate would all have been run by Lizard people.

 

[Danny McG]

System Collapse by Martha Wells - I haven't much enjoyed the murderbot short stories but there was a full length one that was more to my liking.
This is also a full length one so here's hoping

Got bored with it, started skimming to find anything interesting, failed so DNF

 

[Danny McG]

Sole Survivor by Dean Koontz

Is there a doggie in it?

 

[AE35Unit]

Sole Survivor by Dean Koontz

"Joe Carpenter's wife and two daughters perished with more than three hundred others in the crash of airlines Flight 353. But one year later, haunted by the loss of his family and desperate to find progress in life, he discovers that the official story of Flight 353 is a treacherous lie..."

Interestingly the Koontz book I finished last night, Mr Murder from 1993 mentions near the end a character called Laura Shane.
Looking through his back catalogue on Fantastic Fiction I see that name being a main character in a book from 1988! (Lightning)

 

[Elentarri]

I just finished reading Femmes Fae-Tales. It's a book of short stories which finds its origins with some of the female members of Chrons. This is not my genre and not my favorite format, but I actually found myself enjoying the stories. My favorite story was The Frog Prince by E. J. Tett (@Mouse) but several others caught my fancy as well.

If you like Fantasy:

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

Right now I am reading System Collapse by Martha Wells. It is the seventh story in the Murderbot Diaries. This is a full length novel so its price is slightly less aggravating. But as always I have to really think if I want to pay a severe premium for a series that is great, but it is 4 to 10 times better than the books I get as part of Kindle Unlimited? Obviously I bit the bullet this time.

So far it is more frustrating than the earlier books because It appears that a lot of story is being assumed.***

***Okay, just to admit my age I went back to reacquaint myself a bit with story number six Fugitive Telemetry and my Kindle seems to think that for some reason I stopped reading at page 40?! Why did I stop? I don't remember being so frustrated I stopped reading. Maybe something wonderful came my way at the time? I'm not sure. So, okay, I am now reading Fugitive Telemetry maybe that will change my frustration.

System Collapse is the tail end of Network Effect. Fugitive Telemetry takes place before Network Effect. I would really recommend refreshing yourself on Network Effect before reading System Collapse. Just my opinion.

 

[Dave]

Interestingly the Koontz book I finished last night, Mr Murder from 1993 mentions near the end a character called Laura Shane.
Looking through his back catalogue on Fantastic Fiction I see that name being a main character in a book from 1988! (Lightning)

One of the characters in Sole Survivor is called Barbara Christman. She was a bookseller who won the use of her name in a competition.

Interestingly, Sole Survivor was made into a film in 2000. I've never seen it, but looking at the plot it goes much further than the book did, to free psychic child experiments from the government facility in which they are being held. So, even more like the plot of the later TV series, Stranger Things.

 

[Dave]

Is there a doggie in it?

No, but there should have been. Frank seems like a very lonely man in the first 3/4 of the book.

 

[Danny McG]

I'm trying something different from my usual "space battles" class of reading

Joseph Campbell The hero with a thousand faces, it's quite literary so far but very interesting.

The Hero with a Thousand Faces - Wikipedia

en.m.wikipedia.org

 

[Teresa Edgerton]

I enjoyed all of Campbell's books. They were a huge influence on my thinking on mythology and storytelling in general. I hope you continue to find this one interesting.