December Reading Thread

[Elentarri]

That's when I DNF them, there's lots of unread books out there, I don't want to waste limited reading time on dull stuff

It was something like 30 pages to go. I did semi-skim the bits that didn't interest me. But I agree that there are lots of unread books and wasting time on boring books is silly.

 

[Elentarri]

You'd have to be very long-lived! (This is the letters, not the Father Christmas letters.)

Oops! I mis-read. If it's just The Letters, you can read one every day instead? Or maybe a few everyday. Some of them tend to be compelling.

 

[Hugh]

The Letters of J.R.R. Tolkien

What a wonderful book this is. It takes youbinto the mind of a literary genius. It also (amongst many other things) answers the question of why 'dwarfs' not 'dwarves'. Not a book (in my opinion) to read from cover to cover, but rather to dip in to a particular year and enjoy.

Highly recommended.

AHa! I was given this for Xmas.

 

[Hugh]

Moon Unit Zappa "Earth to Moon"
Growing up in the Zappa household. The focus is almost entirely on her relationships with her parents and very little on the weird scene that revolved around them . Much loved father Frank is obsessively occupied with his music in the basement or away promiscuously touring, while mother Gail takes out her frustrations on those around her.
Although Moon is central to the story, she feels peripheral (as she did in her family), and her adult life is dealt with fairly briefly. I'm left wishing I knew more about her.

 

[feralreason]

Wife & I (read to each other) wrapped up Don Quixote & just barely started Tristam Shandy. I'm skipping around on short stories. Reading Jack Williamson's "Breakdown" and listening to a few Ray Bradbury stories.

 

[Ubergeek]

I just finished Killing Thatcher by Rory Carroll, detailing the IRA plot to kill Margaret Thatcher in the Brighton bombing of 1984 and the subsequent manhunt for the perpetrators. It's a fascinating tale and well worth reading, particularly if you have also read the excellent Say Nothing by Patrick Radden Keefe, another book (and now a TV series) on the 'Troubles.'

Change of pace now and I've started Love and Let Die: James Bond, The Beatles, and the British Psyche by John Higgs.

I loved that John Higgs book . Listened to the audio book all through summer 2023 . Being a Beatles and Bond fan I was predisposed to enjoying it !

 

[Ubergeek]

Wife & I (read to each other) wrapped up Don Quixote & just barely started Tristam Shandy. I'm skipping around on short stories. Reading Jack Williamson's "Breakdown" and listening to a few Ray Bradbury stories.

That's really sweet and loving !

 

[hitmouse]

The Library at Night by Alberto Manguel [non-fiction]

This is a somewhat meandering and hodgepodge tour of libraries, inspired by the author's process of creating a library for his fifteenth-century home near the Loire, in France. The book is essentially the musings of the author on a variety of historical libraries, historical anecdotes and what libraries mean to him (with a heavy dose of personal prejudice - I suppose this is expected in a memoir-like book?). The writing style is flowery and superfluous, making it a bit of a chore to excavate the interesting stories out of the gratuitous and repetitive remnants. I found reading the last few chapters of this book tedious. Interesting, but probably aimed at a niche audience (which isn't me - I've never even heard of the majority of people mentioned in this book and have no idea why Manguel thinks they are important or relevant, other than that they owned a lot of books).​

I noted my read of this at the beginning of March. I thought it was mostly really good, and gave copies to some bibliophile friends. Manguel is quite idiosyncratic and I can completely understand why some people do not get on with him.

 

[Elentarri]

I noted my read of this at the beginning of March. I thought it was mostly really good, and gave copies to some bibliophile friends. Manguel is quite idiosyncratic and I can completely understand why some people do not get on with him.

I thought most of it was good or at least interesting... and I learned things. It wasn't a bad book by any means. But the last few chapters were tedious. And there were lots of references to people I had never heard of, don't give a fig about and have no clue why they are important in general, hence a lot of the tediousness. I don't take my laptop to bed and didn't feel inclined to look up those people either... so.* shrugs*

 

[Elentarri]

~Gone with the Penguins by Hazel Prior
The adventures of feisty 87-year-old Veronica McCreedy, newly appointed Penguin Ambassador continue in this third tale of penguins and determination. When Veronica discovers that the local Sea Life Centre is going to be closed, she is determined to save it, and the penguins that live there, with the help of 10-year old Daisy and her housekeeper/assistant/carer Eileen... and a community sponsored fundraising walk. This fundraising walk takes the trio from Scotland, to the penguin habitats of the Galapagos Islands, then the Falkland Islands and eventually the Antarctic. I enjoyed this book. A charming, but not overly saccharine, finale to the Veronica McCreedy Penguin trilogy.

 

[Hugh]

Elliott Mintz "We All Shine On"
Account of the author's friendship with Yoko Ono and John Lennon, from first meeting in 1971 to John's death in 1980. I think he continues to be good friends with both Yoko Ono and Sean Lennon.
Although touching in his description of the hours/days after John's death, overall I experience this book as distinctly bland and airbrushed, particularly where Yoko is concerned. It doesn't seem to add anything new to the narrative that is already "out there" and well documented. I don't understand why it needed to be written.

 

[AE35Unit]

Last book of December, and therefore of 2024 is...
Equal Rites by Terry Pratchett, the witches book number 1, in which a female wizard is...enwizarded.

 

[Vertigo]

Finished Dance Dance Dance last night so that'll be my last book of 2024 (and a great book to finish with!)

Lords of Uncreation (The Final Architecture 3) by Adrian Tchaikovsky
An excellent and satisfying conclusion to Tchaikovsky’s Final Architecture trilogy. This provided everything I love in good space opera: deep, complex plot; a large cast of varied and interesting players; galactic spanning themes and intricate world building. I’ve thoroughly enjoyed reading this series which has again confirmed Tchaikovsky as one of my favourite contemporary SF authors. 5/5 stars

The Golden Ocean by Patrick O'Brian
Having finally finished O’Brian’s Aubrey and Maturin books I came across two precursors to them in the form of The Golden Ocean and The Unknown Shore both based on a genuine historical circumnavigation of the world around 1740 made by a squadron of six ships led by Commodore George Anson. The Golden Ocean is a good book but not on a par with his much more mature Aubrey Maturin books but interesting in that you can easily see the seeds of what was to come. However it was rather episodic, which I suppose is inevitable when choosing to right about a very well documented and well-known mission, and for me that rather detracted from my enjoyment of the book. 3/5 stars

Dance Dance Dance by Haruki Murakami
Continuing my slow progress through Murakami’s books, Dance Dance Dance is the fourth Rat book, although the Rat does not appear himself, it is the same narrator in the same world set after the events of the previous books. The first three books were Murakami’s first books and whilst they naturally give a sense of where Murakami’s writing is going, they are very much him finding his writing mojo. Dance Dance Dance, written six years later and shortly after he achieved fame with Norwegian Wood, is a much more mature offering. There are many of his familiar themes in there; slightly lost and bewildered main protagonist, also a little naïve, lots of music, elements of magical realism alongside prosaic everyday life, where extraordinary and very un-prosaic things keep happening, convoluted connections that must be unravelled. But there is also a sense of pathos that is not quite such a common theme. Regardless, the whole story comes together to create a memorable, slightly sad but completely sympathetic story of a man finding his way in a modern world and trying to stay true to his morals and beliefs.

He does have a little fun though, when he introduces a novelist of questionable ability by the name of Hiraku Makimura!

5/5 stars.

 

[Ian Fortytwo]

I'm currently reading The Making of Oliver Cromwell, by Ronald Hutton.

 

[Randy M.]

Looking to finish Raymond Chandler's The High Window today. Tomorrow, I should start Peter Straub's Ghost Story, a second read after 40+ years.

 

[Rodders]

Finished listening to the audiobook of Elysium Fire by Alistair Reynolds. Not as good as The Prefect, but still enjoyable.

Now on to Machine Vendetta which is the final volume of the Prefect Dreyfus books. I haven't read this one before.