August Reading Thread

[AE35Unit]

I am two thirds through the second book in that series right now, and would broadly agree with your general comments. One thing I've noticed is that, for the most part, he has kept his politics a bit more reined in than is sometimes the case with his books.

Is this the same series of The Star Faction?

 

[Hugh]

Christopher Ondaatje "The Man-Eater of Punanai. A journey of discovery to the jungles of Old Ceylon"
I enjoyed this very much. Well produced, largish hardback, large print, lots of photos @200pages long.
The Man-Eater of Punanai was the name attached to a leopard said to have killed at least 20 people near the village of Punanai before it was shot dead by an English tea-planter in 1924. The author had a fascination with the story in his Ceylon childhood, and his return to Sri Lanka is largely driven by his obsession with seeing leopards in the wild (leopards are the big cats of Sri Lanka), and with finding out more about the Punanai 'man-eater'.
The subtitle 'journey of discovery' refers to this being the author's return to Sri Lanka @1991 for the first time since he was sent away to Public School in England @1947 and subsequently made his fortune in Canada, so there is a fair bit of cutting back to his childhood in the text.
A sad but very scary complication is that he chose a time to return when Sri Lanka was racked by trigger happy civil wars on all fronts, and he takes genuine, even foolhardy (he is a tad obsessive), risks in venturing into areas controlled by either various subgroups of the Tamil Tigers, or the outlawed Sinhalese JVP.
I stayed in some of the sites in the happier times of the1970s, and even ate in a hotel where he has a particularly frightening experience (someone trying to get into his room in the night in a JVP area).
Christopher Ondaatje is the brother of Michael Ondaatje, author of "The English Patient".

 

[Vertigo]

Is this the same series of The Star Faction?

No totally different, this is the Lightspeed trilogy written some 20 years later. The third book that @williamjm read was only published this year.

I gave up on the Star Faction when I tried to read it some years ago due to its rather more overtly political proselytising air. That's the problem with Ken Macleod for me; his frequent pushing of politics. Fine for some people but puts me off.

 

[Elentarri]

Midnight at the Bright Ideas Bookstore by Matthew Sullivan. A mystery novel, semi-family drama. I quite liked it.

 

[Orcadian]

August has been a bit of a smorgasbord for me. Sorry to report that although I managed to finish Nightside the Long Sun, that was more than enough mediaeval fantasy for me and I had to abandon the series. After a short book on the Lewis and Clark expedition, and some of Jack London's short stories, I was ready to return to (hopefully) hard SF! So last night I started Eon, book one of Greg Bear's The Way trilogy. I'm a sucker for mysterious spacecraft and in this novel a rotating, sausage-shaped asteroid has entered Earth orbit. It turns out to be hollow, with an entrance port in the centre of one end, a la Rama. Of course, we have to explore. Once inside, everything appears more-or-less familiar - but it's like the Marie Celeste...

 

[Elentarri]

The Stardust Grail by Yume Kitasei [Science fiction]

This was entertaining and fast paced romp through intergalactic space as Maya Hoshimoto (sometime artifact thief, currently anthropology student) helps her alien friend search for a relic of an almost extinct alien species. The friend is convinced it will help save them from extinction. This artifact may also help humanity build it's own intergalactic nodes. So there are a variety of competing interests to find the artifact, dubbed the "stardust Grail", first. This is almost like an Indian Jones quest for the lost grail, only in space - blundering scholars, adventurers, museums, tunnels, booby-traps, and ruins of ancient civilizations abound. I love the detailed and complex world building in this novel. The aliens are alien enough to make this interesting, with motivations of their own that don't match what the humans expect. There were also some nice twists and unexpected events/actions that made the story compelling and enjoyable. Of course, some humans have to muck up things, but that's basically our default setting, right? ​

 

[Dave Vicks]

RATIONALITY.By Steven Pinker,2021
Nonfiction.

COUNT ZERO, by William Gibson, 1986.

Science Fiction novel.

 

[Chris von shannow]

I’m reading through the Musket Men by Gilbert Stack
They are very good

 

[AE35Unit]

Next up The Mask by Dean Koontz as Owen West

 

[Elentarri]

The Ruins by Scott Smith [horror (supposedly)]

Well, this was fun. I absolutely love it when too-stupid-to-live characters end up on the wrong side of the local beasty. In this novel, we have four immature and almost totally useless tourists from the USA; their recent acquaintance (also a tourist) from Germany (not quite so useless); and a random Greek tourist who has a fondness for alcohol and doesn't speak any language understood by the other five; all traipsing off to find the German tourist's missing brother in the middle of the Mexican Jungle. The only guide they have is a hand drawn map with a big X indicating a probably archaeological dig near a mine, somewhere in the middle of nowhere, provided by the brother's possible girlfriend. So, off they go - one in sandals, one hung-over, one with three bottles of tequila, and almost no other preparation what so ever. The women spend a lot of time whining, crying, wringing hands, standing around and generally being useless, along with a ridiculous number of delusions they insist on believing even through the contrary is pointed out repeatedly. Only two of the men are even vaguely practical minded and realistic. Lets just say, I spent most of the novel rooting for the local beasty, and some of it hoping the local beasty doesn't acquire "stupidity" via osmosis.

I was less thrilled with the complete lack of background about the local beasty. It's the most interesting thing in the whole story and there isn't that much information about it. You have a semi-sentient, carnivorous vine that can mimic voices and play with its prey, but the reader gets to learn nothing else about it - where it came from, why it's there, why the locals don't kill it since they seem to be able to contain it??? Too many questions!

Another annoying thing about this novel: the title is The Ruins. There is a vague reference to ruins twice (that I recall) in the novel. All the action takes place on a pretty, flower-bedecked hill, no-where near ruins - unless you consider a mine shaft (essentially a hole in the ground with a rope to lower people down) a "ruin". This is a missed opportunity! If you stick RUINS in the title and on the front of the book, I expect RUINS in the story!

The writing was flat and repetitive. There was no "atmosphere" or build up toward anticipation or creeping dread or anything like that. The plot was simplistic. The characters annoying. There were some gory scenes, but nothing was truly terrifying.​

 

[Dave]

If you stick RUINS in the title and on the front of the book, I expect RUINS in the story!

Maybe, it referred to the writing itself, or his career as an author?

 

[Elentarri]

Maybe, it referred to the writing itself, or his career as an author?

Maybe. Looks like Scott Smith has 2 books and a handful of short stories in anthologies as his "resume" in terms of writing career.

 

[Vertigo]

The Ruins by Scott Smith [horror (supposedly)]

Well, this was fun. I absolutely love it when too-stupid-to-live characters end up on the wrong side of the local beasty. In this novel, we have four immature and almost totally useless tourists from the USA; their recent acquaintance (also a tourist) from Germany (not quite so useless); and a random Greek tourist who has a fondness for alcohol and doesn't speak any language understood by the other five; all traipsing off to find the German tourist's missing brother in the middle of the Mexican Jungle. The only guide they have is a hand drawn map with a big X indicating a probably archaeological dig near a mine, somewhere in the middle of nowhere, provided by the brother's possible girlfriend. So, off they go - one in sandals, one hung-over, one with three bottles of tequila, and almost no other preparation what so ever. The women spend a lot of time whining, crying, wringing hands, standing around and generally being useless, along with a ridiculous number of delusions they insist on believing even through the contrary is pointed out repeatedly. Only two of the men are even vaguely practical minded and realistic. Lets just say, I spent most of the novel rooting for the local beasty, and some of it hoping the local beasty doesn't acquire "stupidity" via osmosis.

I was less thrilled with the complete lack of background about the local beasty. It's the most interesting thing in the whole story and there isn't that much information about it. You have a semi-sentient, carnivorous vine that can mimic voices and play with its prey, but the reader gets to learn nothing else about it - where it came from, why it's there, why the locals don't kill it since they seem to be able to contain it??? Too many questions!

Another annoying thing about this novel: the title is The Ruins. There is a vague reference to ruins twice (that I recall) in the novel. All the action takes place on a pretty, flower-bedecked hill, no-where near ruins - unless you consider a mine shaft (essentially a hole in the ground with a rope to lower people down) a "ruin". This is a missed opportunity! If you stick RUINS in the title and on the front of the book, I expect RUINS in the story!

The writing was flat and repetitive. There was no "atmosphere" or build up toward anticipation or creeping dread or anything like that. The plot was simplistic. The characters annoying. There were some gory scenes, but nothing was truly terrifying.​

So you clearly loved it then!

 

[paranoid marvin]

I'm Sorry, Prime Minister, I Can't Quite Remember

Written by one half of the team who devised the original books/tv series (the other having passed away) this is written as a play; indeed it is (or at least was) a play. And that's fine, because this is just how it should be.

Taking place at Hacker College (yes, really) it mainly features three characters: Hacker, his carer... err... care worker and Sir Humphrey who comes to visit.

It's just as funny, inciteful and sharp witted as the originals from slmost 40 years ago (is it really that long ago?). But it's also poignant, and in many places quite sad. Jim and Humphrey have grown old, and not in a good way. All their past glories in the dim and distant past and all of their achievements forgotten.

I can still see Paul and Nigel playing the roles, and I can still hear their voices in my head.

One small excerpt:

Sophie (Jim's care worker): "Wasn't austerity because you were frightened of inflation?"

Humphrey : "Yes. I was hypnotised by the deficit. I was a deer caught in the headlights."

Jim: "I was because you were. My relationship with you was like a rabbit with a snake."

Humphrey: "Which were you?"

Jim: "You were the snake."

Humphrey: "That's the first time I've heard a prime minister refer to himself as a rabbit."

 

[The Judge]

I'm Sorry, Prime Minister, I Can't Quite Remember

Written by one half of the team who devised the original books/tv series (the other having passed away) this is written as a play; indeed it is (or at least was) a play. And that's fine, because this is just how it should be.

Taking place at Hacker College (yes, really) it mainly features three characters: Hacker, his carer... err... care worker and Sir Humphrey who comes to visit.

It's just as funny, inciteful and sharp witted as the originals from slmost 40 years ago (is it really that long ago?). But it's also poignant, and in many places quite sad. Jim and Humphrey have grown old, and not in a good way. All their past glories in the dim and distant past and all of their achievements forgotten.

As a performed play, we found it very disappointing and I can't help thinking that it suffered from not having Antony Jay as a co-writer. There were some good lines, but for us the razor-sharp satire was missing, with too much of the comedy actually not very funny (not sure if it was the fault of the lines or the actors' timing) the plot really needed a boost, any pathos was lost as too much of it felt out-of-character, and to my mind the laughs were all down to the memories of what was, with the brilliant Eddington, Hawthorne and Fowlds, rather than what was there on the stage. (Having said that, we were probably in a minority in not enjoying it, as well as being among the youngest in the theatre...)

 

[Danny McG]

A non genre this time:-
Dead Ends by Jeffery Deaver - I'm not much into short story crime anthologies, but there was one in here that I read a review about recently and it piqued my curiosity.

 

[paranoid marvin]

As a performed play, we found it very disappointing and I can't help thinking that it suffered from not having Antony Jay as a co-writer. There were some good lines, but for us the razor-sharp satire was missing, with too much of the comedy actually not very funny (not sure if it was the fault of the lines or the actors' timing) the plot really needed a boost, any pathos was lost as too much of it felt out-of-character, and to my mind the laughs were all down to the memories of what was, with the brilliant Eddington, Hawthorne and Fowlds, rather than what was there on the stage. (Having said that, we were probably in a minority in not enjoying it, as well as being among the youngest in the theatre...)

I don't think I would like to have seen it performed live. There was a 'reboot' of the show with different actors, and it simply wasn't the same.

There isn't the same humour or razor wit, but I put that down in part to them being old, bitter and (to some extent) senile. But I agree, it was certainly missing the input of Jay. It does have its moments with commentary on the rise of social media. David is quite believable when he suggests Hacker have everything he says to anyone authorised in advance, and the ex PM's eesponse is priceless.

Then again, there has been a 30+ year gap since the series was drafted, and as we've seen with George Lucas (and as we may also see with G R R Martin) that time lapse takes its toll.

I'm glad to have read this piece of literature, but I'm not sure I'll be returning to it. I don't like to think of these wily political operators becoming old, and I don't think they do either.

 

[Elentarri]

So you clearly loved it then!

I loved reading about the too-stupid-to-live characters get turned into fertilizer. So, in a way, yes.

 

[Victoria Silverwolf]

I have just started Science Fiction: The Best of 2001 edited by Robert Silverberg and Karen Haber.

 

[Stephen Palmer]

I'm reading Bittersweet by Susan Cain. It's a nonfiction book about 'how sorrow and longing make us whole.' My daughter wants to know why I enjoy listening to sad music, so hopefully I'll have some answers for her. I'm a little over 100 pages in and it's been interesting so far. I enjoyed Cain's previous book Quiet (about introverts) as well.

Quiet was an absolute game-changer for so many introverts around the world, me included, but I thought Bittersweet was terrible. DNF and sold it. No heart and far too much woo-woo (to use the author's own description).