July Reading Thread

Ray Zdybrow said:
After reading Monica Byrne's "The Actual Star", quite a long book (600ish pages) earlier this month (well worth a read), I felt confident to restart Alasdair Gray's"Lanark" which I abandoned several years ago. It is very good and also very interesting for the quite obvious influence it must have had on Iain Banks ("The Bridge", "Walking On Glass") and also maybe on Murakami?
The illustrations and design/layout are beautiful, as they are in all of Gray's books.
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I found it hard going but ultimately rewarding. An acknowledged influence on Iain Banks' work, not so sure about Murakami who I would describe as Japanese magical realism whilst I view Lanark as surreal fantasy, possibly early urban fantasy.
 
I've been mostly read some short fiction recently but I did finish a couple of novels.

Starter Villain by John Scalzi was fun, but without much in the way of depth. The premise of an ordinary down-on-his-luck man whose unexpected inheritance from his rich and eccentric uncle is leadership of a multinational criminal organisation is entertaining. It does have funny scenes in it, I particularly liked the foul-mouthed Marxist dolphins and the rival elderly supervillains trying to navigate a Zoom call. However, I think it could have done more with the premise and the human characters were a bit bland, they all seemed to talk like they were in one of those superhero TV shows where everyone has a quip for every situation.

I then read The Saint of Bright Doors by Vajra Chandrasekara, which was definitely a contrast. It's a very ambitious book, I thought the Sri Lankan-inspired setting with its mixture of contemporary technology and fantastical elements was fascinating. I liked the mystery of the Bright Doors of the title where doors in the city that are closed for long enough might be suddenly replaced with colourful doors that are impossible to open - although I was a bit worried when half an hour after finishing the book I went to leave my flat and found that the lock had jammed and I couldn't open my door. There are a lot of ideas thrown in here, many of which were intriguing, although I am sure I missing some of the nuances (reading other reviews suggests I would probably need to know more about Buddhist theology to really understand some of what it is trying to convey). I also thought it had some interesting characters, although there are times when the protagonist Fetter can be frustratingly passive (he sometimes reminded me a bit of Shadow in American Gods). I think the main weakness of the book is that I don't feel that all the disparate plot strands managed to come together in a satisfying way. Some interesting character vanish from the narrative partway through and by the ending even Fetter was starting to be less of a focus. There is a twist relatively near the end which is does put a new perspective on the story, it's an interesting development in its own right but it did feel like too big a change from the way the book had been for 90% of its length. Although I have a few misgivings, I think this is a very impressive debut novel and I'll be interested to see what the author does in future.

I'm now reading Lois McMaster Bujold's latest novella, Penric and the Bandit.
 
Finished listening to Redemption Ark by Alistair Reynolds, which i enjoyed a lot and i liked the soft ending. Now on to Absolution Gap, also read by John Lee.

Absolution Gap.jpg

When i eye-read the series, i really enjoyed the characters and felt more in touch with them. Hearing someone else read out the story removes some of the intimacy and as a result, i felt that i liked the characters less. Still, it was a great listen. Just wish that they'd removed "this CD has finished" every hour, or so. :LOL:
 
It Can't Happen Here by Sinclair Lewis was pretty good. It's like a cross between 1984 (in that it's about surviving under a brutal tyranny) and one of those Stephen King-style horror novels where evil comes to a small American town and kills and/or corrupts the citizens. The writing is both quite simple and slightly dated, but the question of who would survive and how was pretty gripping. The slow, slightly twee opening contrasts strongly with the murder and torture that follows. Not a literary classic, but a powerful warning.
 
I've got my paws on an original copy of the two-part 1910 translation (by Margaret Armour) of Wagner's Ring Cycle, with illustrations by Arthur Rackham. So far, a dwarf is trying it on with some water-nymphs who are way above his level. I'm hoping things will get more exciting when the gods and dragons show up.
 
William Tenn "The Square Root of Man"
Nine short stories first published between 1946 and 1967.
Fairly second-rate and dated but with a certain charm.
 
williamjm said:
I've been mostly read some short fiction recently but I did finish a couple of novels.

Starter Villain by John Scalzi was fun, but without much in the way of depth. The premise of an ordinary down-on-his-luck man whose unexpected inheritance from his rich and eccentric uncle is leadership of a multinational criminal organisation is entertaining. It does have funny scenes in it, I particularly liked the foul-mouthed Marxist dolphins and the rival elderly supervillains trying to navigate a Zoom call. However, I think it could have done more with the premise and the human characters were a bit bland, they all seemed to talk like they were in one of those superhero TV shows where everyone has a quip for every situation.
Click to expand...

I had a similar complaint about his Kaiju Preservation Society: the main character was completely undeveloped and used only to provide quips.
 
Danny McG said:
I couldn't resist such a premise - downloaded and I'm currently reading it!
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I hope you enjoy it. There is a movie planned which should be interesting if they use live sheep
thecinemaholic.com

Hugh Jackman’s Three Bags Full: Plot and Filming Details, Revealed

New plot and filming details regarding Hugh Jackman’s upcoming offbeat detective film have come to light! The Marc Webb-directed ‘Three Bags Full’ is slated to begin shooting in summer 2024. Based on Leonie Swann’s 2005 German novel of the same name, the movie is set against the backdrop of the...
thecinemaholic.com thecinemaholic.com
 
HareBrain said:
I've got my paws on an original copy of the two-part 1910 translation (by Margaret Armour) of Wagner's Ring Cycle, with illustrations by Arthur Rackham. So far, a dwarf is trying it on with some water-nymphs who are way above his level. I'm hoping things will get more exciting when the gods and dragons show up.
Click to expand...
Finished this. The first three parts, The Rhinegold, The Valkyrie, and Siegfried, I knew the bare bones of before, but it was good to have them fleshed out, considering the tale is part of the rootstock of modern fantasy. The translated libretto is an enjoyable read, the story feels truly mythic, and its influence on Tolkien is obvious. The last part, Twilight of the Gods, is by far the weakest for me, relying as it does on tawdry magical machinations and everyone losing their temper. Though I guess that might be the point: the epic primal forces give way to soap opera and a fire at the Queen Vic.
 
Audio,TWO TALES FROM LORD DUNSANY, 2023.
I believe he influenced a lot of
Writers.
 
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