sendos
Immortal
Many thanks for sharing. I will check it out.
Which book are you reading now? Volume XIV
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Many thanks for sharing. I will check it out.
Ferocitus
Deity
Phillip Adams is an Australian national treasure. Watson's earlier work, Weasel Words" was terrific and very well received here.
800+ pages of non stop, space opera, action can be enjoyed in Sleep in a Sea of Stars by Chris Paolini. The twists and turns keep the story going without let up. “One more turn...” becomes “one more page....” way past your bedtime.
Synobun
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added to my tbr
Chicken Pizza
Warlord
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I didn't have a smartphone during the summer, and tried to stay sober, so I decided to go through all the famous Swedish crime writers' series (Guillo, GW Persson, Lapidus, Mankell, Marklund, Sjöwall/Wahlöö, Svedelid), at a pace of about 1/2 book a day.
Generally, the first three books in each series was the best, as you would expect, interesting and innovative in some new way, and some others worth reading too.
Which I can't say about The Ladies' Detective Agency, where healthy feminism eventually turns into nothing but contempt for men. I didn't finish the fifth book.
I've had a crisp copy of the Neuromancer trilogy (more William Gibson) laying in the window for a couple of months, but the phone takes too much of my time.
I miss those days.
Generally, the first three books in each series was the best, as you would expect, interesting and innovative in some new way, and some others worth reading too.
Which I can't say about The Ladies' Detective Agency, where healthy feminism eventually turns into nothing but contempt for men. I didn't finish the fifth book.
I've had a crisp copy of the Neuromancer trilogy (more William Gibson) laying in the window for a couple of months, but the phone takes too much of my time.
I miss those days.
Synobun
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you're not missing anything
Up to now it's not particularly depressing.
When compared to, say, Flowers for Algernon
EnglishEdward
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Ferocitus
Deity
Same here. Except a hint, "The best laid schemes o' mice an' men, Gang aft a-gley."
That one's on my Amazon wish list, so I'll just pop over and order it (hadn't realized it was out, since it's been on my list since it was in pre-order status).
The Grand Tour books, at their best, will have you on the edge of your seat. At their worst, you'll wonder WTH Bova was thinking, churning out characters so aggravating that you just want to shake them and tell them to quit whining and get on with the damn job. Or their lives. Or something.
I highly recommend Moonrise and Moonwar. These comprise a duology chronicling Masterson Corporation's efforts to explore the Moon, find water, and figure out how to build and maintain a sustainable colony and become independent from Earth control. This hinges on nanotechnology and there's considerable conflict over its use, since it's beneficial in medical therapies, but it's also hideously effective as a weapon for terrorists.
There are three books about Mars, and the first one is the best - Bova's take on what would be necessary for a multinational effort to send a group of astronauts to Mars to conduct a variety of scientific experiments, exploration, and other tasks, as well as set up a preliminary base for further expeditions. The novel delves into the politics and financing of such a project, and I can easily imagine a RL effort being similar. A couple of characters from this trilogy cross over into other areas of the Grand Tour novels (Moonwar and Venus).
There are four novels in the Asteroid Wars arc, and this is where the space opera aspect of this series takes off. Big corporations vs. private miners vs. people like Lars Fuchs, who just wants to make a decent living and hopefully strike it rich... but Martin Humphries has other plans. Lars Fuchs is my favorite character in this whole sprawling series of novels and short stories (there's an anthology called Tales of the Grand Tour).
I enjoyed the duologies about Jupiter and Saturn, was creeped-out by Venus (it's scary), and at some point while reading Mercury, I realized that it was basically a retelling of The Count of Monte Cristo, Grand Tour-style.
The later novels that take place outside the solar system aren't very good in my opinion. I dunno if Bova was just doing them for the money or if he had a contract to fill, or if they might have been ghost-written (since he was well past the age when many writers retire), but they're not up to the usual standards.
I'll have to reserve judgment on the ones I haven't read, of course. I just wish he'd done one about Pluto. Unfortunately by the time we learned all that interesting stuff about Pluto/Charon, Bova had long had his mind made up that he couldn't see anything compelling enough to merit a novel.
As for my Harry Potter reading... I'm finally done the last novel. Not sure what I'll read next that isn't fanfiction. Since I read in bed and don't have a lamp, it'll have to be something on the Kindle... Cadfael, maybe. I've got most of that series downloaded. Medieval murder mysteries could be good research for my own writing, though my story takes place a few centuries earlier than Ellis Peters' stories.
Ferocitus
Deity
And you read the version with the non-depressing title!I think I know the general idea of the ending (due to having watched part of that movie scene).
Flowers for Algernon will be hard to beat, though
Ferocitus
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I meant No Flowers for Algernon.
I meant No Flowers for Algernon.
That doesn't make sense as a title, though - iirc the human protagonist did plant some flowers on the mouse's grave.
I think I have seen the movie too, in the past, but probably the newer (90s?) one, where the title probably was Charlie or Charlie Gordon. Or... "Flowers for Algernon"
Ferocitus
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That doesn't make sense as a title, though - iirc the human protagonist did plant some flowers on the mouse's grave.
I think I have seen the movie too, in the past, but probably the newer (90s?) one, where the title probably was Charlie or Charlie Gordon. Or... "Flowers for Algernon"
IIRC publishers asked Keyes to change the title from "No flowers..." because the title seemed too gloomy.
In terms of gloom though, it doesn't even come close to The Golovlyov Family. The Russian author, Saltykov-Shchedrin, is not well-known in the West, but IIRC Nabokov rated him much higher than Dostoyevky in his list of best Russian authors. I'm not sure how he rates as an author in Russia today. Perhaps @red_elk knows.
Saltykov's novel is considered by many as the gloomiest novel ever written. OTOH, it can be read as a satire/comedy.
IMO the American novel that's closest to its combination of gloom and comedic satire is Vonnegut's Mother Night.
I can only say that he is well known, considered classic writer and his works are part of school program.
Cadfael's always recommendable.
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