April Reading Thread

[Elentarri]

Another history book, a charity shop find: Witches: James I and the English Witch Hunts by Tracy Borman

This book provides an overview of the English witchcraft persecutions under James I/VI, using as a narrative thread the trials of the Belvoir witches (Joan, Margaret and Phillipa Flower) accused of bewitching the Duke of Rutland’s sons. The book also examines the cultural, religious, legal circumstances, as well as royal influence, of the times as pertaining to the witchcraft in mainly England and to a lesser degree, continental Europe and Scotland. Due to lack of surviving documentation, a fair bit of the Belvoir witches’ trial is speculation. The topic is interesting, but the writing style is uninspiring, and the organisation of the material is erratic and meandering.​

 

[Dave Vicks]

VIXEN-03,by Clive Cussler, 1978.audio.
Dirk Pitt action novel.

 

[williamjm]

I finished Daniel Abraham's Blade of Dream, the second book in his Kithamar trilogy. I think that the trilogy's unusual structure, where each book is telling the story of the same year in the city of Kithamar, does have some strengths and some drawbacks. It does mean that for the first part of the book we know more than the characters do about some of the city's secrets, so some of the things they discover that are revelations to them are anticlimactic to the reader. On the other hand, seeing the events from a different perspective does add extra depth as we find out more about some of the events and also some things that were unknown in the first book. Seeing some of the conversations again from a different perspective also makes it clear that sometimes characters can take completely different conclusions from a conversation. The conclusion of the book is particularly strong, partly because the characters in the first book were ignorant about what happens at the end of this one.

While I thought the first book was interesting, I did struggle a bit with some of the characters, particularly Ash's storyline where it was hard to care too much about whether she succeeded or not since what she was trying to do was clearly a bad idea. I did like the characters more in this one, while Elaine and Garreth can be naive or foolish at times they can also be a lot more determined and capable than they appeared in their brief appearances in the first book. I thought there were also a number of good minor characters in this.

I've now started Neil Gaiman's Anansi Boys, which I am enjoying so far and I definitely already feel sorry for Fat Charles.

I do remember The Owl Service by Garner it was well odd

I really liked The Weirdstone of Bringsamen when I read it as a child, but I think I didn't really understand The Owl Service.

 

[HareBrain]

I really liked The Weirdstone of Bringsamen when I read it as a child

I'm reading it now, about 40% through (coming up to the famous tunnel bit), and appreciating it more than the last time I tried a couple of decades ago, when (strangely, given I was younger) I found it a bit young for me. I think it's much better than The Moon of Gomrath. (But not as good as The Owl Service, one of my favourite books.)

 

[The Big Peat]

I tried Richard Swann's The Justice of Kings but have consigned it to the great DNF pile in the sky after not caring about the characters.

So I'm now trying KJ Bishop's The Etched City. But I sense a massive rereading spree coming...

 

[Chris von shannow]

Finished the Ruby Knight not sure what’s next

 

[Teresa Edgerton]

So I'm now trying KJ Bishop's The Etched City.

I read it many years ago. I found it an unusual and fascinating book, but also hard-going at times.

 

[Elentarri]

Finished the Ruby Knight not sure what’s next

The Sapphire Rose?

 

[Chris von shannow]

The Sapphire Rose?

Think I need something with a bit more pace before I retackle that one

 

[The Big Peat]

I read it many years ago. I found it an unusual and fascinating book, but also hard-going at times.

Uncannily like what another friend said about the book when I mentioned I was reading it.

 

[Extollager]

White Out by Danielle Girard this is a thriller set in a small town in North Dakota. This is a realistic story about a young woman Lily who finds herself in a car wreck with a man she recognizes but doesn't remember who she is or what she's doing and it slowly becomes clear that this is also tied to a murder in the small town. In one way this was a very frustrating book. Lily's amnesia felt like a plot device made to make detective Kylie Millard's life more frustrating. And that feeling was only multiplied because one of the other people who looks to be somehow involved cannot remember the night either because he was drunk out of his mind. But that aside, the detective work and the interplay between the town "detective," the sheriff, and the state bureau of Investigation all ring very true. It was clear that Danielle Girard knows a bit about small towns. Having grown up in small towns I could almost name corresponding characters in my youth. However, I'm not so sure that she spent any time in North Dakota, reading the story I always felt, unless reminded, that the story was set in a small town in the south. I have book two Far Gone queued in my Kindle, but I'm a bit worried that if the setting is the same it's going to seem too unlikely. Small towns almost never have murders, let alone multiple serial killers. But I'll likely give it a shot sooner or later.

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

Since I live, happily, in a small town in North Dakota, I took note of this, but it sounds like it wouldn't ring true.

 

[Extollager]

Reading a Phyllis Paul novel that I haven't read before, Constancy, from 1951. So far it seems to be a social comedy except that someone has disappeared in the woods near the house a variety of characters is renting. As far as I know this novel was never reprinted -- perhaps that was true of mostof her otehr novels as well.

Phyllis Paul: Twice Lost, Pulled Down, Invisible Darkness, A Little Treachery, more

Phyllis Paul (1903-1973) is, at this time, necessarily a "cult novelist" in that nearly all of her books are so hard to get hold of that those who have read more than one of them and want to talk about their reading will find few others who have read more than one. One or two of her novels...

www.sffchronicles.com

 

[williamjm]

I'm reading it now, about 40% through (coming up to the famous tunnel bit), and appreciating it more than the last time I tried a couple of decades ago, when (strangely, given I was younger) I found it a bit young for me. I think it's much better than The Moon of Gomrath. (But not as good as The Owl Service, one of my favourite books.)

Maybe I should try reading The Owl Service again sometimes and see if I understand it better than before.

 

[Extollager]

Maybe I should try reading The Owl Service again sometimes and see if I understand it better than before.

I think everything the reader needs is there in the novel -- which I don't assume is the case with later books by Garner. I think of Owl Service and Weirdstone as my favorites by Garner, which isn't saying a great deal since at least two of his later books, Thursbitch and Boneland, seemed unreadable.

 

[Danny McG]

Reading a Phyllis Paul novel that I haven't read before, Constancy, from 1951. So far it seems to be a social comedy except that someone has disappeared in the woods near the house a variety of characters is renting. As far as I know this novel was never reprinted -- perhaps that was true of mostof her otehr novels as well.

View attachment 117289

Phyllis Paul: Twice Lost, Pulled Down, Invisible Darkness, A Little Treachery, more

Phyllis Paul (1903-1973) is, at this time, necessarily a "cult novelist" in that nearly all of her books are so hard to get hold of that those who have read more than one of them and want to talk about their reading will find few others who have read more than one. One or two of her novels...

www.sffchronicles.com

I'm trying one of hers right now .... An ebook of Twice Lost

 

[Extollager]

Danny, be sure and say what you think of it. She does make the reader pay attention more than some authors do. I've found it helpful to keep brief notes. But in the case of this one, my notes are posted here if you don't want to keep notes yourself but might find them useful.

Dale

 

[Dave Vicks]

A STITCH IN TIME, by Andrew J. Robinson, 2000,a Star TrekS9 Novel.

 

[Teresa Edgerton]

I think it's much better than The Moon of Gomrath. (But not as good as The Owl Service, one of my favourite books.)

I seem to be in the minority here, since I like Weirdstone, Moon of Gomrath, and Owl Service pretty much equally. They are not among my very favorite books, but I have read all three multiple times, and may well read each of them again at some point, so I do think highly of them all.

As for appreciating The Owl Service, I think some familiarity with the stories in The Mabinogion helps. But it could be the opposite with the other two, because familiarity with the underlying mythologies might make one impatient with the ways he interpreted them.

I've started some of Garner's other books, and for some reason they didn't work for me at all.

 

[The Big Peat]

Since I'm in chaos mode, I started a reread of the Silmarillion too.

I also DNFed a book called Seven Masked Saints by MK Lobb. I liked the first two chapters, then it switched PoV to a character who had no personality other than political statements and I decided I didn't have the patience for that.

 

[Foxbat]

I’m busy working my way through C. Dennis Moore’s It’s Over trilogy. They are fairly short books based on the cult horror movie trilogy of the same name (created by Caleb Straus and Dustin Johnson…..I can’t seem to get my hands on copies but I continue to search for them).

The story chronicles the struggle between heaven and hell after the Apocalypse. It’s interesting and somewhat compelling even to a dyed-in-the-wool atheist such as myself. The writing style does contain a bit of head hopping which can make it a bit confusing sometimes but, despite its flaws, I’m liking it.