June Reading Thread

[Bowler1]

I've had internet problems with a very new house move so I have had time to take a large volume off my book shelf for a while and reread. Shogun - as good as ever despite breaking most of the writing rules. I polished the book off in days and a great way to spend time unplugged, even if I didn't want to be unplugged.

New houses should come with warnings because it's surprising how hit and miss services can be with a brand new post code.

 

[Dave]

New houses should come with warnings because it's surprising how hit and miss services can be with a brand new post code.

Even though you are physically there, deliveries and cab drivers will tell you that your address doesn't exist - "No such number, no such zone..." - because the sat nav/computer says so. My daughter had that for the first two years.

 

[Danny McG]

No such number, no such zone

I remember watching Crackerjack way back in the Leslie Crowther and Peter Glaze days.
They were doing a parody play of The Prisoner of Zenda and the prisoner went on the run.
The rest of the cast lined up, the music started and they all sang "Return to Zenda" - it's funny how a line from a song brings back a memory from a lifetime ago!

 

[Stephen Palmer]

Winters In The World by Eleanor Parker.
The Anglo-Saxon year. Great so far.

 

[Bowler1]

Even though you are physically there, deliveries and cab drivers will tell you that your address doesn't exist - "No such number, no such zone..." - because the sat nav/computer says so. My daughter had that for the first two years.

TWO YEARS!!!

Bowler1 poops yellow poop.

 

[Dave]

I've had a cab driver personally tell me that the address doesn't exist. I asked him if he could find the house number before, which he could, and told him, "well it's the house after that!" Also frustrating when drop down boxes don't have the number and there is no other way to insert it into the form.

 

[Hugh]

“Nature’s Warnings. Classic Stories of Eco-Science Fiction. Edited by Mike Ashley (2020)

Eleven short stories ranging in date from1903 to 1963, selected by Mike Ashley. I'd only read one of these previously.
The pick of the bunch for me is "Hunter Come Home" by Richard McKenna. McKenna, sadly, died in 1964, aged just 51, having only published six short stories, though a few more came out after his death. I've read seven of these now in various anthologies, always original, always different. I must try to track down the others. I see Project Gutenberg has three stories by him, only one of which I've read.

One Surprise: I see this book was published by the British Library - I hadn't realised that they regular publish SF selections from their collection.

 

[Dave Vicks]

Comic book,HARLEY QUINN:NO GOOD
DEED Vol.1.
Stephanie Philips.
2022.

 

[HareBrain]

Finished The Woodlanders by Thomas Hardy. The weakest of his books that I've read, mostly because the characters, though well-described and well-examined, were a bit, well, characterless. And yet again Hardy pulls out his trademark move of causing misfortune by a combination of character (which is good) and bad luck (which isn't).

I doubt I'll read any new (to me) ones by him, but I might go back to The Mayor of Casterbridge, which I put aside for this one.

 

[Dave]

I might go back to The Mayor of Casterbridge, which I put aside for this one.

I had to read that at school and being made to repeatedly read something, and analyse in detail, the narrative, each of the characters, and the social context, has probably put me off Hardy for life. It isn't a bad book, though as you say:

And yet again Hardy pulls out his trademark move of causing misfortune by a combination of character (which is good) and bad luck (which isn't).

So, which other Thomas Hardy would you recommend? Tess of the d'Urbervilles, perhaps? I believe it begins with the character's misfortune, so the only way is up, presumably?

 

[The Judge]

Tess of the d'Urbervilles, perhaps? I believe it begins with the character's misfortune, so the only way is up, presumably?

Well...

Spoiler: What happens next

If you count all the following -- Tess being seduced, losing a baby, marrying a man with a past who can't forgive her own so he deserts her, her mother dying, being poverty-stricken, the seducer turning up again and putting pressure on her, her husband returning having decided he can forgive her, so she kills the seducer, runs off with husband to Stonehenge, gets picked up by the police and executed -- as being "up" then yes. Otherwise...

 

[Danny McG]

Thomas Hardy. The weakest of his books that I've read, mostly because the characters, though well-described and well-examined, were a bit, well, characterless

He was ok in Fury Road though.

 

[HareBrain]

I had to read that at school and being made to repeatedly read something, and analyse in detail, the narrative, each of the characters, and the social context, has probably put me off Hardy for life. It isn't a bad book, though as you say:

I must be one of the few people who got much more out of the books we did at school. We studied both Mayor of Casterbridge and Tess, and I might go back to read some of the others we did (Wuthering Heights, Sons and Lovers).

So, which other Thomas Hardy would you recommend? Tess of the d'Urbervilles, perhaps? I believe it begins with the character's misfortune, so the only way is up, presumably?

As TJ said, no. It also contains one of the most frustrating bits of contrived misfortune (if I remember it right) where a vital letter is slipped under someone's door, but goes under the mat and is therefore missed, and the sender takes a lack of response as a negative. Just bloody talk to each other, people!

If I had to recommend one at all, I'd give Mayor another go (surely enough time has passed by now?). Otherwise Far From the Madding Crowd at least has a positive ending (for the survivors).

 

[AE35Unit]

Also reading Jigsaw by Ed Mcbain

 

[Ubergeek]

I've finished The Ferryman by Justin Cronin. Andy Weir says that it's "a rollercoaster's worth of twists and turns" and that's about the best description of it I would think. I won't spoil, it contains various big SF themes, but the big reveal halfway through, turns it into a subject I have been looking for more examples of.

Really interested in that one . Possibly library loan , or ebook / paperback depending on disposable pounds sterling .

 

[Dave Vicks]

OToesn't A BOY AND HIS DOG, film
Suppose to take place in 2024?

 

[Rodders]

My re-read of Dan Abnett's Gaunt's Ghosts series with Sabbatt Martr.

 

[ablackenedrose]

On the subject of tie-in novels, I'll be starting Yndrasta, the Celestial Spear when I next get the chance to read.

The internet tells me this book is less than a year old, but I have no memory of ever purchasing this novel and I couldn't begin to guess why I purchased it. I'm not a fan of Games Workshop's tabletop games, nor do I have any particular attachment to the background fiction/lore of such. (And for what it's worth, I did give both Warhammer 40,000 and Age of Sigmar a couple of games apiece; I just found myself wanting to play more Conquest: The Last Argument of Kings and Battletech instead.)

But hey, I have the novel now, so screw it. Let's see if they've published something worth reading here.

 

[Danny McG]

This morning I'm starting a re-read of Richard Morgan's Altered Carbon

 

[The Judge]

What with guests coming to stay (and the concomitant panic to get the house cleaned and tidied), a garden much in need of work, and a full prgramme of National Garden Scheme visits, I've not had much free time for reading in June, so I've only managed to finish four novels, one of which has been hanging around half-read since March.

The finally-finished book was The Honourable Thief by Douglas Skelton, set in 1715 in which a former soldier is sent to recover the supposed Will written by Queen Anne in which she left the crown to her half-brother, the Old Pretender, which threatens to destablise the realm as the first Jacobite rebellion gathers pace -- not bad, but I'd have preferred rather more politicking and interesting characters and rather less angsting as the soldier reaches Edinburgh and meets his family, friends and former lover for the first time in years. I also finished off Blood & Sugar by Laura Shepherd-Robinson which I started last month, another historical novel, this time set at the other end of the C18th, in which an abolitionist's death is investigated by his former friend who discovers that the murder of slaves (based on the real life horror of the Zong massacre) is deemed less important than the insurance fraud behind it -- convincing as to time and place, and characterisation good, but rather confusing as to actual plot.

Of the two novels read from scratch, the first was another historical murder mystery, this one set in ancient Rome (or rather, Baiae) Arms of Nemesis by Steven Saylor, in which Spartacus's revolt is both the background to and wellspring of the plot -- as usual with Saylor a good deal of unnecessary repetition and info-dumping, but a likeable main character and interesting twists made for an easy read. The other was a re-read of The Owl Service by Alan Garner, which I greatly praised when I first read it back in 2012, but this time round I was left more unsettled by the prose which seemed to give no quarter, no concession to easy readability, and seemed as much an indictment of class as an exploration of myth. (But this time I finally managed to see the owl in the pattern of the china!)