September Reading Thread

[mosaix]

We found Sissinghurst disappointing. We visited for the gardens (little interest in Vita). National Trust venue and a popular destination for coach parties en masse looking for tea rooms as much as anything else. End result was a shuffle round what we felt were overhyped flower beds.

Visited Sissinghurst a few years back. Visit was made memorable by the notice outside the tea room 'Unsupervised children will be given a free puppy and a drum set.'

 

[Dave Vicks]

A STUPID AND FUTILE GESTURE, by Josh Karp.2001.

About 'National Lampoon ' magazine.

1970-1998

 

[Randy M.]

Visited Sissinghurst a few years back. Visit was made memorable by the notice outside the tea room 'Unsupervised children will be given a free puppy and a drum set.'

Our veterinarian has a similar sign: "Unattended children will be given a puppy and an espresso."

 

[Elentarri]

Assassins Anonymous by Rob Hart [mystery, thriller]

One of the most lethal and notorious assassins in the business, Mark leaves the world of killing behind, and joins Assassins Anonymous, a 12-step group for recovering killers (based on Alcoholics Anonymous). Only, leaving this business is not as simple as it seems and someone is after Mark. Mad dashes (with cat) between locations, some sleuthing to find out what is going on and who is after him, along with some background flashbacks, ensures. Mark finds that being an assassin who has promised not to kill is really inconvenient, especially when everyone else is out to kill you. This is a fast paced and entertaining novel, with a complicated and pithy protagonist. Loads of fun. The narrator is fairly decent, though he does have some odd ways of pronouncing the occasional word.​

 

[Dave]

Is that in paperback?

The Secret Hours is in paperback. So, I've bought that to read after Wizard and Glass. Cheers for that!

Sissinghurst

I agree about coach parties and NT members meeting friends for lunch, but that is much the same with all the NT places in London and the South East (in the wilds of the North it may be different because of the adverse weather) but Sissinghurst does have quite a nice long circular walk through the Weald in the fields that surround it, and the walled garden is something worth seeing. Knoll is also good for the walks around it too, as is Chartwell, and also Polesden Lacey, but in all of them the houses themselves are very busy.

 

[Danny McG]

Is that in paperback? It is advertised at the end of the last book I read, but that was printed in 2021. Also, Nobody Walks uses "Slow Horses" characters so some of the other standalone books possibly do too.

Dunno, I only got the ebook

 

[Dave Vicks]

'LUDES. By Benjamin Stein.1982

Basis for the film THE BOOST.

 

[Ian Fortytwo]

I'm currently reading The Big Sleep, by Raymond Chandler.

 

[Elentarri]

The Caliban Shore: The Fate of the Grosvenor Castaways by Stephen Taylor [history]

Eighteenth century travel between India and Britain, going around the Cape of Storms (i.e. the Cape of Good Hope) can be rather hazardous, more so, if the Captain of the ship you are on bought his commission, is better at being a merchant and accountant than any type of leader, and it rather clueless about sailing and navigation in particular. This is the story of one such ship, the Grosvenor, its crew, and its passengers.

What should have been a moderately fast paced story of survival and endurance ended up being something of a long-winded, dense slog, with run-one sentences filled with commas, that would have made Charles Dickens proud. The book is well researched, but really could have used an editor. Taylor starts off with background information, the people involved, voyages at the time, and extra (and to me irrelevant information) about political intrigues and floods of names that had nothing to do with the narrative that followed. The good stuff only starts at around Chapter 5, when the Grosvenor runs aground somewhere off the Wild Coast of South Africa in 1782. Instead of being a tale of ship wreck survivors coming together to make the best of a horrible situation, this is a story of serial abandonment. Taylor follows each group as they make their way down the coast to where they hope they will find salvation at a Dutch settlement (or with any local tribe that will take them, in as the case may be). This sort of narrative structure ended up being very disjointed, especially when it was all repeated in the last portion of the book that discussed belated rescue attempts. At the end, on 13 out of the 140 on board survived to return home - those that were young and strong. A fair portion of the book is given to speculation (sometimes too much) on what happened to the women and children passengers that had been abandoned by the crew.​

This is an interesting story that was marred by too much irrelevant information and a long-winded writing style.

 

[Dave Vicks]

THE BEST OF R.A. Lafferty.2019.

 

[Dave Vicks]

Try again THE BOAT OF A MILLION YEARS. POUL ANDERSON. 1989.

Science Fiction novel.

 

[AE35Unit]

But how is that different to a series of shorter books that are all one story (as so many are nowadays) and that in total have as big a page count?

Its a LOT different!

 

[AE35Unit]

I find that if reading a big book I get so far in and I get bored, or forget who is who. I much prefer shorter books or collections of stories.

 

[Elentarri]

A Haunting in the Arctic by C.J. Cooke [Horror novel]

This is not a perfect book - I had problems with some of it. But, the atmosphere is deliciously creepy, the characters are people you can get behind (or wish to shove overboard), and the plot strangely compelling. The majority of the story alternates between two timelines: The 1901 timeline involves a kidnapped woman on board the whaling ship Ormen, somewhere in the Arctic Ocean. The 2024 timeline deals with Dominique who has travelled alone to a remote and desolate Icelandic village to record (for TikTok likes of all things!) the demolition of the wreck of the Ormen run aground on the coast. Only, Dominique finds she is not alone and there is someone or something else out there. Something/one possibly involved in murder, mayhem and revenge.

I found the bouncing around between timelines was a tad choppy and happened too often. I was just getting into the rhythm of one set of characters to have the rug pulled out from under me. This was somewhat annoying. The dark, creepy atmosphere of the desolate wreck and abandoned village were vividly described. The pacing starts off slow and builds up, but some bits were a bit repetitive. The book really could have used an editor. I do wish that more page space had been dedicated to the conclusion, which seemed somewhat abrupt to me. The ending was rather a surprise, but was just not dealt with adequately or properly (I'm not a fan of endings like this!). However, despite these annoyances (and terrible ending), I wanted to find out what really happened in 1901 and why it affected anyone in 2024. This book isn't for everyone - some parts are dark, brutal and not easy to consume.

Note: The author researched whaling ships, but evidently didn't bother to research what animals a whaling ship would catch. Penguins aren't on the menu. There are no penguins in the Arctic Circle. The only penguins in the northern hemisphere are found in the Galapagos, near the equator, nowhere near the location of this whaling ship in this novel.

Trigger warning: rape... repeatedly. Amongst other things - the setting is a whaling ship.

 

[Rodders]

I finished listening to Iain M. Banks’s Matter read by Toby Longworth. I’d been working out a couple of issues at work and ended up zoning out and having to re listen to quite a lot of it. This is the first time that I’ve read this and found it to be customarily excellent. Although not my favourite Culture novel, it was still very enjoyable and worth listening to. I’ll go back to it, for sure. I missed Peter Kenny’s narration, but Toby Longworth was pretty good.

Next I’ll go on to The Algebraist next read by `Geoff Annis.



I’ve also been quite fortunate enough to travel and have been able to read a few hundred pages of Dan Abnett’s Gaunts Ghosts series and have finished His Last Command. Again, just excellent. On to The Armour of Contempt now.

 

[Pyan]

I tried an audiobook, as people seemed to be enthusiastic about them, and found it to be extremely frustrating. It was a crime classic, (Quick Curtain, by Alan Melville), which was probably not the best book to try out listening to instead of reading, as it's almost impossible to go back through.
I'm used to thinking with murder novels "Aha! XX was mentioned earlier, and that might mean...", and with a proper book you can turn back the pages and check: not so with an audiobook. I may try again with a more suitable subject.

 

[Danny McG]

I tried an audiobook, as people seemed to be enthusiastic about them, and found it to be extremely frustrating.

I don't like them, I've tried a handful over several years.
The reader never seems to go at my pace, either way slow or frantic jabbering.
I've tried the usual fiddling with speed settings but no joy.

I think it's because sometimes my brain's in near manic mode and my mind races ahead.
TBH even at school I used to get frustrated while my classmates were reading aloud because they seemed so slow to my speeding thoughts

 

[Chris von shannow]

Just received Conquistador by Chris Nuttall

 

[Vertigo]

I’ll go on to The Algebraist next read by `Geoff Annis.

I love that book there are so many ideas packed into its pages!

 

[Hugh]

Re Virginia Woolf: I'm glad it's not only me! I have managed to read two of her books -- To the Lighthouse and Mrs Dalloway -- but more through fixed determination not to let them defeat me than from any enjoyment (though the middle part of TTL wasn't bad). I can't help thinking that if the characters** had to work for a living, there might have been considerably less navel-gazing all round.
I'd enjoy hearing about your visit to Monk's House as it's not somewhere I've been.

Here you go...
Leonard & Virginia Woolf bought Monk's House in 1919. He was 39, she 37. It was seriously primitive then by modern standards, but Leonard always had something of an ascetic bent, and, as their finances improved they were able to upgrade significantly - Virginia's bedroom was added onto the side (pic 2) in 1929, then her writing hut in 1934 (pic 3), the large conservatory, loos that flushed, electricity. Virginia died in 1941 and Leonard continued to live there until his death in 1969. Of course, particularly in the early days, they lived much of the time in London.
It was an unexpectedly pleasant visit. Rodmell is a sleepy little village off the beaten track, and there's still very much a village feel despite some signs of serious wealth.The number of visitors is rationed, booking in advance, so not many people about. No tea rooms (excellent). No access upstairs. Four rooms can be walked through downstairs - living room, dining room, kitchen, and Viriginia's bedroom. Virginia's bedroom was added onto the side of the house with no entrance from the house itself, and though it has windows on two sides, we both thought it had the potential to feel bleak, particularly in winter. The first three rooms are small and dark and there's relatively little to see, but interesting nonetheless. What made the visit so nice was the surprisingly large garden out the back, much loved and worked on by Leonard, which is well looked after by the National Trust. There's also his old bowling green lawn that has a good view towards the Downs on the other side of the Ouse, and there is even a set of old bowls there for visitors to use, so we were able to play a game of bowls ourselves in much the same vein as L & V in their daily routine, & with their various visitors. There was no queue or demand to do this, so no sense of hurry.