July Reading Thread

I've started this by Haylock Jobson, amusing so far

Heretical Fishing: A Cozy Guide to Annoying the Cults, Outsmarting the Fish, and Alienating Oneself.​

 
Today I'm reading The Stardust Grail by Yime Kisainte.
So far it's an enjoyable space opera about an art thief who gets involved in a plot to save the galaxy
 
I've recently read The Mermaid, by Christina Henry. When I started to write a summary of the book, it turned out that (not for the first time) I had more to say than I thought I would. So it's posted in the Reviews and Interviews section.

Review: The Mermaid, by Christina Henry

The Mermaid, by Christina Henry. This story starts out like a fairy tale. A lonely fisherman catches a mermaid in his net. Out of pity, he lets her go. But she is drawn by his loneliness, and later seeks him out, taking on human form and living with him on land as his wife. But human life...
www.sffchronicles.com www.sffchronicles.com
 
Ostland - David Thomas

A book so unsettling I had to put it down various times. Shoot or be shot: which would you choose? Decency or cruelty is contingent on circumstance and I, too, human all-too-human, have the inherent potentiality for both. If someone allows you to do a kindness, that is a considerable favour.
 
Audiobook of Make it So, written and narrated by Sir Patrick Stewart. I am someone who would never even think about readibg an autobiography. But since joining Audible, have now read three: Brian Blessed, Ade Edmondson and here Sir Patrick.

What an amazing book this is, and what a fascinating life the man has lead. Full of interesting facts, it takes him through his hard life growing up in a small Yorkshire town, to getting into acting and making it onto the tv and cinema; much like Brian Blessed, who also features prominently.

This book is well worth reading for anyone interested in the life of a Shakesperian actor, and of course there are several chapters devoted to his time in Star Trek.

This book appears to be a full, frank and honest account of Stewart's life, and cones highly recommended. There are so many interesting facts and anecdotes.
 
Too early to be sure but I have a feeling I may have hit the jackpot with this one.
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~Ride of the Second Horseman by Robert L. O'Connell [History]
Interesting. Provides food for thought. Making use of archaeology and anthropology, O'Connell examines our distant past in an attempt to determine how and why war arose. O'Connell defines war as "a specific institution - premeditated and directed by some form of governmental structure; concerned with societal, not individual, issues; featuring the willing (though perhaps not enthusiastic) participation of the combatants; and intended to achieve lasting, not ephemeral, results". He found that the rise of war occurred sometime after the human transition from nomadic hunting/gathering to agriculture, when society split between farmers and pastoralists. Various civilizations in the Middle-East, Egypt, China, India, Crete, Phoenicia, and the New World were examined as examples of the different manner and reasons for warfare. O'Connell also has an interesting hypothesis that since the industrial revolution, war no longer serves the demographic purposes it once did, and warfare should be on its way to extinction. This book was published in 1995, I wonder if the author still thinks this now?

~ Labyrinth by Kate Moss [Historical Fiction, Fantasy, Mystery]
This is an entertaining, moderately fast-paced novel set in the Languedoc region of France, featuring the Albigensian or Cathar Crusade in the "past" timeline, a secret society mystery in the "present" timeline, and the link between them. In July 1209, 17 year old Alaïs is given a mysterious book by her father which he claims contains the secret of the true Grail. In July 2005, Alice Tanner discovers two skeletons in a forgotten cave in the French Pyrenees... followed by being harassed by strangers, friends vanishing and people being murdered. The story starts simply and slowly, but gets more complex. I did find Alice Tanner to be somewhat annoying, but Alaïs made the book for me. A fine romp through France and Cathar history, with some Grail legends thrown in, so long as you don't expect anything too deep, or terribly well written.
PS: Archeologist would not approve of the way this dig was run! It's almost as bad as what happened when Otzi the Iceman was found.
 
Finished The Mayor of Casterbridge by Thomas Hardy. This has a better set-up than conclusion, and its characterisation is better than its plotting: especially in the much weaker second half, you occasionally get glimpses of the author prodding people in certain directions lest things stall. Nevertheless, one of Hardy's best novels, with Michael Henchard a frustrating, inconsistent (but perhaps bipolar) and fascinating protagonist. I might read Far From the Madding Crowd soon to see how they compare.

Now, almost randomly, I've started a reread of The Wounded Land by Steven Donaldson, the first book in the Second Chronicles of Thomas Covenant. I jumped ship early on attempted rereads of the first two books of the First Chronicles, but I remember this being more interesting, and the change in protagonist doesn't hurt. Donaldson hasn't eased up in his use of obscure words, though: there were four on the first page I couldn't define except through context.
 
I finished Joe Country by Mick Herron. Two more in that series, but I need a change before he runs out of characters to kill off, so have started the second of Stephen King's, The Dark Tower books, The Drawing of the Three.
 
Elentarri said:
Origins: How the Earth Made Us by Lewis Dartnell
This is a broad and general overview of how human history has been shaped by our environment - by the evolution and extinction of plant and animals species, to the geography and geology of region. Dartnell covers things like plate tectonics, rift valleys, mountains, rivers, islands, plains, ocean currents, wind circulation, mineral and clay deposits, coal and oil, changing climate and how these all influenced human history in terms of what we eat, what materials we used for tools and shelter, trade and trade routes, migrations and war, the industrial revolution, and various states of politics from the various Ancient Greek city states to the current U.K and USA voting blocks being influenced by what lies under their feet. The book is interesting and concise, but I do wish Dartnell had gone into more detail and included more examples. This is, after all, a fascinating subject.​
Click to expand...
Yes, that's a great book.
 
HareBrain said:
Donaldson hasn't eased up in his use of obscure words, though: there were four on the first page I couldn't define except through context.
Click to expand...
Dictionary?

That's one of the things that annoys me about my Kobo. The dictionary on there doesn't have the obscure or old words (never mind any sort of vaguely technical terms like bits of armour or biology) in it, just the normal, common words for which I don't need a dictionary.
 
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