What Book Are You Reading XV - The Pile Keeps Growing!

[Takhisis]

Ended The Song of Troy by Colleen McCullough

Nice, but I'd give it a 4/5 rather than 5/5, myself.

 

[El_Machinae]

The War of the World by H. G. Wells. Picked from the Project Gutenberg library on a whim during a slow work day. It's surprisingly modern in its style, in that it reads like a very twentieth century book; if it wasn't for the technology described (lots of horse-drawn carts, very little electricity, etc.) you might assume it was written in the 1930s or '40s. Possibly I'm just falling from an unfair stereotype of nineteenth century literature as universally florid and stuffy. It's also very engaging- a classic for a reason, I suppose- and it's depiction of panic in the face of crisis feels very resonant in the current historical moment.

It's also amusing that Wells has to stop and, for instance, explain to the reader what a ray-gun is, because he had just made it up and so couldn't assume, like later science-fiction writers could, that the reader would be familiar. You forget that tropes as ubiquitous as that had to originate somewhere, and that it therefore follows there was a time when people didn't know about them.

This book was one of my favorite surprises. I though that being super-sophisticated in my sci-fi fandom would have me yawning. I found it extremely engaging.

 

[Synobun]

March 2022

Thrawn: Alliances by Timothy Zahn (1/5)

Spoiler :

This wasn't a good book. The two divergent storylines constantly splitting between flashback and the present weren't very compelling and did not need the back-and-forth. Additionally, Vader is totally invalidated in this story. He possesses none of his presence and is just a pushover. Thrawn, as well, is nothing like his character. Timothy Zahn is capable of better (much better), and this book reads more like off-the-cuff fanfic than anything resembling a coherent and compelling plot.

Another glaring issue with this book is that two separate scenes were repeated wholesale, as though both the author and editors couldn't be bothered fixing it during the editing process and left them in. This was just a messy novel with no redeeming qualities.

Gridlinked by Neal Asher (1/5)

Spoiler :

This was a quick DNF at only 10%. The descriptions are incredibly and overly verbose, characterizations are stiff, and the narrative is sex obsessed. This is modus operandi for cyberpunk, so it's not surprising, but nevertheless it is disappointing.

I just don't think it's necessary to introduce your home Alexa/Siri as having a "sexy voice." Or to open the story with a recounting of intercourse. Or to focus weirdly on "catadapts," which are just your average depiction of sexualized "catgirls." I don't understand why books of this era and genre all have these tropes; perhaps I am just missing their appeal. Either way, I'm still on the hunt for cyberpunk I enjoy.

Thrawn: Treason by Timothy Zahn (5/5)

Spoiler :

This is a far superior book than the second in the series, and a return to what I expect of Zahn and also Thrawn. The beginning is a little iffy and made me worried that it would be more of what the second novel was, but it quickly redeems itself and progressively ramps up in appeal. This book had positive focus on the Chiss Ascendency, presumably in anticipation of the prequel series, and I am now less cautious about reading that.

 

[Takhisis]

So you've read the Disney!Star Wars version of Atlanta Nights.

For my part, I am reading a book about sport in cinema literally called Sport in Cinema.

 

[Arakhor]

I’ve kind of lost the ability to read at length as I once relished, so have been trying to get through The Eye of the World; over 10 months, I’ve done maybe 200 pages, which I would once do in half an hour.

I used to read at 100 pages an hour, but even then I noticed that perhaps I was reading too quickly. Robert Jordan is also not the most readable author to ease yourself back in!

 

[Birdjaguar]

Last Stop On a Planetary ‘Grand Tour’

NO ONE has done more to keep the dream of space alive in science fiction than Ben Bova ( 1932-2020). In a career spanning 60 years, as author, editor and anthologist, he kept his eyes firmly focused on the future of development in the solar system. His later years were devoted to a “ Grand Tour” cycle of more than 20 novels, imagining the future of the planets from Mercury to Neptune to Uranus....

Bova’s “Sam Gunn Jr.” (Blackstone, 352 pages, $29.99) , published posthumously, relates an individual “Grand Tour.” Sam Gunn Jr. is the son of one of Bova’s earlier heroes... This is probably the last novel from Ben Bova we are going to see, and it’s only fitting that it ends inconclusively— Sam never gets out to the Kuiper Belt. That seems appropriate, because in space there is no “ final frontier.” There’s always a new horizon, always another dream to be realized.

 

[Josu]

Ended Never, by Ken Follet
There is no doubt that Follet masters building stories around characters, but in this book IMHO fails to create a consistent story around the main plot.
"President of the free world", the "evil china" are not credible points for this kind of novel.
I have to stop comparing all Follet's books with Fall of Giants.

Started El Hereje (The heretic) by Miguel Delibes

 

[Valka D'Ur]

I've got three Highlander books on the go, simultaneously, depending on which room I'm in when I decide to read them, and if I'm in the mood for an anthology or novel. One novel has Duncan, Fitz, and a young Immortal going off to the Klondike to prospect for gold, and the other is about Methos when he accidentally gets caught up in trying to drive the Hyksos out of Egypt. The anthology is still the same one I mentioned before - short stories written by some of the actors, tech crew, and production team who worked on the TV series.

 

[SS-18 ICBM]

Plasma Physics by the renowned Kip Thorne and Roger Blandford covers the fourth fundamental state of matter in a classical manner with quantum references. Like the main series Modern Classical Physics it is part of, it is aimed at advanced undergraduates with its derivation using integral calculus. Cross-references to other parts of the series are included, and the book comes with appendices that are excerpts of key chapters from previous books. Advanced material is marked as skippable, and exercise questions are an important part of the experience. The principles covered are related to natural phenomena such as the solar wind and artificial applications such as controlled nuclear fusion.

 

[Josu]

Ended El Hereje (The heretic) by Miguel Delibes
Acceptable historical novel about a procces against luterans in Valladolid lead by the Spanish Inquisition during XVI century.
Not best Delibes' book, but not a bad book

Starting The Many-Coloured Land by Julian May

 

[tjs282]

Starting The Many-Coloured Land by Julian May

First time reading that one? I really liked it.

There are also 3 sequels, 1 bridging novel, and 3 prequels (which were written later, so you can read them afterwards as well), all roughly the same length as TMCL.

I occasionally dream about these books being made into an epic TV-series á la GoT or The Expanse.

 

[Josu]

First time reading that one? I really liked it.

There are also 3 sequels, 1 bridging novel, and 3 prequels (which were written later, so you can read them afterwards as well), all roughly the same length as TMCL.

I occasionally dream about these books being made into an epic TV-series á la GoT or The Expanse.

Yes. First time. Since I have an eBook reader, I rarely re-read books.

 

[Takhisis]

Just started with Ser una diosa: una mujer divina en la tierra by Ricardo Coler (2006). It's the account of the author's visit to Kathmandu where he visited a temple where a local woman is elected the living incarnation of a divinity.

Found another book by the same author, titled ‘Corazón abierto’ (Open heart). Let's see how it goes. So far so good.

You can't fool me, young Takh. I know that's a Tintin book!

I am just a man of taste.

 

[João III]

Recently picked up a collection of short stories, The King in Yellow. I've heard it was an influence for Lovecraft and the "weird horror" genre in general, has anyone here read these stories? Any thoughts?

 

[Josu]

I have also started The Ugly Ducklings by Boris Cyrulnik.
Reading some books in parallel

 

[Birdjaguar]

I just started Dead Silence by SA Barnes. Sci Fi plus horror! The first 80 pages grabbed me and I am pushing along.

 

[Synobun]

I just started Dead Silence by SA Barnes. Sci Fi plus horror! The first 80 pages grabbed me and I am pushing along.

Thanks, adding this to my holds.

 

[Arakhor]

I've been reading The Loop and The Vault by Jon Ingold, a prose retelling of the video game Heaven's Vault. This is the blurb, in case it interests anyone else:

When a researcher from the University of Iox goes missing and the only clue is a brooch carved in Ancient, translator Aliya Elasra and her robot Six are sent out into the Nebula to bring him back, only to stumble upon a deeper secret concerning the fall of a once-great Empire.

But history in the Nebula is a Loop, and all that has happened before will happen again. And what is buried can always be brought back into the light...

What will be found? What will be lost? Is the Loop real? And what lies in Heaven's Vault?

 

[Ajidica]

Laughing Shall I Die: Lives and Deaths of the Great Vikings by Tom Shippey. Probably better known for his academic books on JRR Tolkien, Shippey dives into Norse saga and poetry to look at the 'Viking' view of life and how one should die. Shippey is a good writer and keeps things moving along nicely, and even managed to keep things (relatively) clear when comparing the multiple different accounts of notoriously convoluted sagas, such as the Nibelungens. The first half of the book is all about the Viking/Norse view of 'how to die well', with the second half technically looking at how the idea of a 'good death' shows up in various sagas and stories, but (and this is no slight against the book or Shippey!) it ends up turning into to Shippey giving you a tour of a bunch of sagas, Germanic linguistics, historical context, some slight diatribes against modern academic scholarship for staying away from uncomfortable areas*, and 'stuff he found interesting'. The book does start to flag a bit at the very end, when Shippey moves away from the heroic and kingly sagas, toward the Icelandic sagas; which are characterized not by the clash of kings and the machinations of gods, but the lives of Icelandic farmers and their feuds and struggles. He specifically looks at how the themes of the 'heroic' sagas are woven into the Icelandic sagas, and how looking at the heroic and Icelandic sagas help us to flesh out a worldview given the sagas arguably deliberate effort to not show any characters internal monologue. I found that section a bit weak, though that is arguably due to my complete unfamiliarity with the Icelandic sagas than any problems with Shippey.

If you interested in the Vikings, Germanic/Norse myths and sagas, how people from other times think, or just some interesting stuff, I solidly recommend the book.

*Shippey specifically refers to the Norse (and frankly, European) engagement in the slave trade. He notes how many modern exhibits and books talk about Vikings as great traders, but leave hanging "what were they trading?". Their trade in gold, silver, and furs was less them producing it, and more them looting it from others and selling it on. Based on some analysis of prices from Byzantine and Arab slave markets from other historians, Shippey reminds us that most of the wealth flowing into Norse society came from selling slaves.

 

[Takhisis]

^Nice recommendation!

I've just finished Seán Ó Faoláin's The Irish (revised edition, 1980) which is a creative way of telling the history of a people.