April Reading Thread

[Vertigo]

I've heard Jasmine in Artemis being described as "Mark Watney with boobs".

Yes quite a similar snarky voice and also similar to the protagonist in Project Hail Mary. However I found her less believable than Mark Watney; she's quite young, certainly much younger than Watney, and with very little formal education but seems to be able to science-the-sh*t out of things at least as well him. And she does just seem to dive into stuff with, apparently, lots of thought about how to fix the varies problems she's faced with but with remarkably little thought about what might go wrong. The Martian is definitely better. Though like The Martian, it is a well paced page turner. Just less believable.

 

[williamjm]

I'm not reading as much this month too many family things to attend and whatever. The book that might be of the most interest that I've read is The Peace War by Vernor Vinge. It's one of those books that I've heard of a lot but for some reason had never read, although I had read and enjoyed A fire on the Deep and A Deepness in the Sky. So when I learned here that he'd recently died I decided that now was the time.

It's important to say that this book has aged pretty well. This is a pretty realistic post-apocalyptic story. At the time of the Apocalypse the world looks a lot like what we would expect our world to look like in maybe 25 years or so, except there is nothing which would even nod at climate change. I liked the story and the characters very well at the beginning of the book. The story was engaging, and although it is sometimes portrayed as hard Science Fiction both of the key innovations that drive the story are only named and described with no hint at all of the possibile science involved. It could just as well be magic in a war between governmental mages and rag tag group of independent wizards. I'm sorry to report that as the story closed in on its conclusion I found myself less and less caught by it. I'm not completely sure why, maybe it just seemed too unlikely or maybe because the result seemed to be such a foregone conclusion. I must in honesty admit that the ending was not so neat as I expected, but it did seem to leave room for a sequel, which did come about, which I have no desire to read.

It's been a long time since I read it but I had a similar reaction. It was good but not really comparable to his best works. I think the other book in the setting, Marooned in Realtime was superior, and although some of the characters from The Peace War have a minor role in it, it's not a direct sequel.

 

[Extollager]

I think I mentioned in here that I found it quite heavy going.
All the characters seem very cold and self interested.
I've still only read a few chapters and I keep returning for about twenty pages at a time.
Update : my earlier comment is #117 in this thread

Thanks for these thoughts on Phyllis Paul's Twice Lost. I hope you'll post more.

 

[Victoria Silverwolf]

I am about to start The Year's Best Science Fiction: Sixth Annual Collection (1989) edited by Gardner Dozois, containing stories from 1988. I'm sure I've read some of them before, particularly if they were published in The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction.

The spine of this hardcover book, under the dust jacket, labels it as the Third Annual Collection. Did they have some covers from three years ago, recycled them, and hoped nobody would notice?

 

[Rodders]

I finished listening to the Audiobook if Iain M. Bank's State of the Art. A small collection of Science Fiction stories, some of which are set within the Culture. I remember reading this when it first came out and being quite underwhelmed by it. (To be fair, I had just read The Use of Weapons.) This time around, i found it very enjoyable, but there were a couple of stand out stories.

Odd Attachment - a rather amusing, if horrific story about a lovesick alien.
Piece - a jarring story on religious extremism written in the form of a diary discovered in the wreckage of the Lockerbie disaster.
State of the Art - a Culture operative goes native when Earth is discovered.

I was pleased that Peter Kenny remembered the voices of Diziet Sma and Skaffen-Amtiskaw from Use of Weapons.

A really good read? listen?

On to Feersom Endjinn now.



This was another DNF for me when it was released. I really struggled with the phonetic spelling on some chapters of the book.

 

[Danny McG]

On to Feersom Endjinn now.



This was another DNF for me when it was released. I really struggled with the phonetic spelling on some chapters of the book

I tried with it but eventually I DNF for the same reason

 

[Dave]

I finished reading Dead Lions, the second in Mick Herron's Slough House series. It was even better than the first, so I'm definitely reading the rest of the series, and already have bought the next two.

I'm going to be reading some historical journals first though. Unusually for me, I also have a stack of books I want to read now, bought second hand, so finding something to read isn't a problem, finding time is but I will have lots of time for reading next month, when I'll be out of action for a while.

 

[Chris von shannow]

The Empire Corps byChris Nuttall

 

[Elentarri]

Catching Cold: 1918's Forgotten Tragedy and the Scientific Hunt for the Virus That Caused It by Pete Davies

This book was published in 1999, so a bit outdated 20+ years later. However, it does provide an interesting, if somewhat muddled, account of the hunt for the 1918 "Spanish" flu virus and how scientists determined which strain of flu it was. Davies begins with the 1997 Hong Kong bird flu outbreak and bounces back and forth between this, the 1918 flu pandemic, with passing mentions of the Asian flu pandemic (1957-58) and Hong Kong flu pandemic (1968-69).

I did feel that the narrative of searching for the flu virus and its analysis was buried under all the mini-obituary examples of all the dead that were included all over the place, not to mention the bouncing around between pandemics, and the somewhat repetitive interviews with various people. On the other hand, reading about the two very different expeditions to exhume the (hopefully) intact and frozen remains of 1918 flu victims was fascinating: one very expensive (approximately half a million Pounds), not terribly successful and lengthy expedition with many members (+media) to Spitzbergen; compared to the successful and relatively cheap ($3000) one man (with a spade) expedition to Alaska. Also interesting, was the use of old stored and preserved samples, and the development of techniques to isolate tiny, fragmented DNA/RNA particles.

The author keeps mentioning that the 1918 flu pandemic has been forgotten. I suppose this depends on where you live because that pandemic is part of World War I history and is mentioned whenever WWI comes up, so hardly forgotten.

Interesting, but flawed. And really needs an update to include the 2009 Swine flu pandemic, and whatever else comes after.​

 

[Vertigo]

I finished listening to the Audiobook if Iain M. Bank's State of the Art. A small collection of Science Fiction stories, some of which are set within the Culture. I remember reading this when it first came out and being quite underwhelmed by it. (To be fair, I had just read The Use of Weapons.) This time around, i found it very enjoyable, but there were a couple of stand out stories.

Odd Attachment - a rather amusing, if horrific story about a lovesick alien.
Piece - a jarring story on religious extremism written in the form of a diary discovered in the wreckage of the Lockerbie disaster.
State of the Art - a Culture operative goes native when Earth is discovered.

I was pleased that Peter Kenny remembered the voices of Diziet Sma and Skaffen-Amtiskaw from Use of Weapons.

A really good read? listen?

On to Feersom Endjinn now.

View attachment 117825

This was another DNF for me when it was released. I really struggled with the phonetic spelling on some chapters of the book.

I found Feersum Endjinn difficult at first but it became easier as I read more. Also I found it much easier when I did my Banks SF reread a little while ago (actually not quite finished as I have Transistion coming up shortly but that one never quite decided if it should be an 'M' or not). The trick is to almost read it aloud.

Interesting thought; would it spoil or enhance it to hear it as an audio book?

 

[Dave]

I suppose this depends on where you live because that pandemic is part of World War I history and is mentioned whenever WWI comes up, so hardly forgotten.

It might have been forgotten by some people in Europe - the deaths among soldiers lost among those killed in action - and I think that it is better known about now than it was in 1999. It isn't forgotten at all in many parts of the world; places such as Greenland where no one had any immunity and it had a similar effect on their population to that Smallpox had from the Conquistadors in the Americas.

It was deliberately hidden from the UK population "to keep up morale". That's why it is still known as "Spanish Flu" rather than something such as 'Trench Flu'. So, for quite a lot of the early 20th Century I think it was forgotten.

Interesting that the book mentions RNA studies since that was a research backwater at the time. I remember a BBC Horizon programme around about then or earlier on HIV resistance among people who were descendants of Plague survivors using such research. Of course, during the COVID-19 pandemic that research became key to producing a vaccine. A family member of some Danish friends we have, works within that area, and suddenly, their previously difficult to fund research, became highly sought after.

Interesting thought; would it spoil or enhance it to hear it as an audio book?

There is a probably whole thread there, although I don't know the answer.

 

[Rodders]

I think that the audio book would make it easier to to absorb than reading. Peter Kenny is doing the hard work so that i don't have to. The phonetic spelling can be quite laborious and difficult. although i do think you are reading it at a more conscious level, if that makes any sense.

Did Banks ever comment on whether those chapters were difficult to write?

Vertigo, i never knew Transitions was one of his SF books. I might check that out, (after i've read your review, of course).

 

[Randy M.]

It was deliberately hidden from the UK population "to keep up morale". That's why it is still known as "Spanish Flu" rather than something such as 'Trench Flu'. So, for quite a lot of the early 20th Century I think it was forgotten.

In the U.S. in the 1970s, I either heard about it from a child's history of WWI, a brief line near the end; or in Dorothy L. Sayers' The Nine Tailors. I'm not sure which came first. A friend and I talked about it once in the '90s (I think) and the only other fictional example my friend knew of was Katherine Anne Porter's "Pale Horse, Pale Rider."

 

[Dave]

I meant that it was hidden from the UK population during the war itself. Afterwards I doubt that was possible. Like all epidemics there were several waves, with the second wave in 1919 being more widespread, if less potent, than the first, so it continued long after the end of the war. As regards to the USA, the cramped conditions of the soldiers aboard troop ships returning from the war meant that if they hadn't already got it, they would.

 

[Chris von shannow]

Catching Cold: 1918's Forgotten Tragedy and the Scientific Hunt for the Virus That Caused It by Pete Davies

This book was published in 1999, so a bit outdated 20+ years later. However, it does provide an interesting, if somewhat muddled, account of the hunt for the 1918 "Spanish" flu virus and how scientists determined which strain of flu it was. Davies begins with the 1997 Hong Kong bird flu outbreak and bounces back and forth between this, the 1918 flu pandemic, with passing mentions of the Asian flu pandemic (1957-58) and Hong Kong flu pandemic (1968-69).

I did feel that the narrative of searching for the flu virus and its analysis was buried under all the mini-obituary examples of all the dead that were included all over the place, not to mention the bouncing around between pandemics, and the somewhat repetitive interviews with various people. On the other hand, reading about the two very different expeditions to exhume the (hopefully) intact and frozen remains of 1918 flu victims was fascinating: one very expensive (approximately half a million Pounds), not terribly successful and lengthy expedition with many members (+media) to Spitzbergen; compared to the successful and relatively cheap ($3000) one man (with a spade) expedition to Alaska. Also interesting, was the use of old stored and preserved samples, and the development of techniques to isolate tiny, fragmented DNA/RNA particles.

The author keeps mentioning that the 1918 flu pandemic has been forgotten. I suppose this depends on where you live because that pandemic is part of World War I history and is mentioned whenever WWI comes up, so hardly forgotten.

Interesting, but flawed. And really needs an update to include the 2009 Swine flu pandemic, and whatever else comes after.​

I saw a documentry on this they found it originated in the US Louisianna swamps where thwe american troops where training and they brought it over to Europe

 

[Dave]

I couldn't say about that, but it certainly began among soldiers in the later years of the war and the US troop ships carried it (but they could have carried it both ways - out and back again.) Spain was neutral and didn't have any restrictions on reporting during the war. It was therefore first reported in Spain and so is known as "Spanish Flu" but it had already been rife long before then.

 

[smellincoffee]

Just read the first Lower Decks comic. Good adaptation of the art and energy to printed form: I could absolutely hear the characters.

 

[Rodders]

I finished Adrian Tchaikovsky “Some Day All Of This Will Be Yours” it want his best work, but it was entertaining enough.

Back to my third read through of the Gaunts Ghosts series with Honour Guard.

 

[Elentarri]

I saw a documentary on this they found it originated in the US Louisianna swamps where the American troops where training and they brought it over to Europe

I've come across something similar. It's not in the book. Might be something that they discovered after the book was published.

 

[BAYLOR]

Planet of Exile by Ursula K. Le Guin