It's March -- what are you reading?

I'm reading The Hidden Planet by fellow Chronster @Steersman

And Save The Cat.

Somebody here mentioned ERB's Fighting Man of Mars a few weeks ago. That was, I'm pretty sure, my first Burroughs -- within weeks of reading my first I'd read sixteen of 'em, all at age 14. I decided to go back to this one after decades since I'd read it. I'd say it's pretty decent relax-before-bed reading, the old-times'-sake element being a factor.

I'm reading a bunch of other things too, but that's the most sfnal at the moment.

February's all-too little reading was 75% Charles - I read Sheffield's The Complete McAndrew (collection of connected SF stories) and The Borderlands of Science (non-fiction for SF writers (and readers)) and Stross' Neptune's Brood (SF novel, sequel to Saturn's Children). The weird non-Charles author was Joseph Green's Conscience Interplanetary (SF fixup). Next up is Stephen Tall's The Stardust Voyages, another connected SF collection (like the Sheffield) of interstellar exploration (like the Green).

I've discussed McAndrew on the Short Story Thread and will presumably eventually discuss the Green and Tall there, too. I loved The Borderlands of Science and recommend it to all, even if it's no longer new (1999) and give a mixed review to the Stross - if you want your story's hero to be a robot five thousand years from now who's a historian of economics with a specialization in "FTL" scams and you think economics is the most important subject in the world (without any apparent concept of economies of scale and the payback and paydown of original R&D) and like a sort of snide undercutting of SF and of humanity (including an attitude that would have never gotten us out of the trees, much less to the New World) then it's the thing for you as it's relatively well done (though he does slow up the action repeatedly for economic and robotic infodumps among other imperfections). If you aren't in this demographic then you'll probably come away as I did, which is to say half entertained and half annoyed and wondering if maybe you've read enough Stross. No question that he puts some effort into things, though, and can be thought-provoking. And the descent through the waterworld was captivating and memorable.

now i'm Reading the safehold series by david weber. i must say it surprised me a bit. it reminds me a lot of the honor series which is a good thing

by the way SPRINGS : tried the lost Fleet series but it didn't engage me. Seriously? i don't doubt you but seriuosly? that series is one of the best things i read in the last years. Have you tried the starship series by mick resnick?

didn't liked those prequels to the rho agenda series PARSONS liked the rho agenda a lot

D'oh, I 've just been looking back thru the Feb reading thread and realise that @hitmouse replied to my post on To Say Nothing Of The Dog -which I totally missed the alert for, for some reason, and therefore quite rudely ignored - and now the thread's closed

So - I haven't finished yet (time...lack of) but it is a lovely story. Not a word I generally use but it's gentle, clever, humorous - and it has dogs! As you said, very Wodehouse in places. I don't remember the tone of Doomsday Book, much too long ago, but I do like this - and it's a complete change of pace from what I usually read.

Hopefully I will get to the end of the book before the end of the month!

I'm reading Heart Beast by Tanith Lee, which is my favourite writer, as well, in French, something about Symbols in the Middle Ages.
I'll be reading Alan Dean Foster's Voyage to the City of the Dead, and William Dalrymple: Xanadu, A quest.

tobl said:

by the way SPRINGS : tried the lost Fleet series but it didn't engage me. Seriously? i don't doubt you but seriuosly? that series is one of the best things i read in the last years. Have you tried the starship series by mick resnick?

didn't liked those prequels to the rho agenda series PARSONS liked the rho agenda a lot

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Seriously. Very, very seriously. i explained my views a little further in the thread started about it, but basically I found little in the characterisation of Geary to draw me to him. But I am a deep character lover. But when the writer uses lines like: Geary felt anger and grief (I may be paraphrasing but it was close to that) they will, generally, lose me as a reader. I want to be in his anger and grief, I want to experience it, not just be told about it. So, whilst the writing was smooth and the sf slick - and I can see why many like the books - it didn't have the depth I need.

I haven't tried Resnick. Based on the above - where does his focus lie? With the sf or the characters? That might be the killer for me. Often, in sf, it is sadly.

Finally started Ancillary Justice,intriguing so far...

About to start The Complete Short Stories of Ernest Hemingway: The Finca Vigia Edition (1987), which I bought because we were at a small independent book store in Athens, Alabama, and I wanted to buy something. A little research reveals that there are later collections that are more "complete" than this one. According to Wikipedia:

The collection is not, despite the title, complete. After Hemingway's suicide, Scribner put out a collection called The Nick Adams Stories (1972) which contains many old stories already collected in The First Forty-Nine as well as some previously unpublished pieces (much of it material that Hemingway clearly rejected). From the new material, only "The Last Good Country" (part of an unfinished novella) and "Summer People" are included in this volume.

For the Hemingway short fiction completist, some readers may turn to the Everyman's Library The Collected Stories (1995), published in the UK only, and introduced by James Fenton. Eschewing the pieces collected in The Garden of Eden and To Have and Have Not, Fenton's collection includes all the pieces from The Nick Adams Stories as well as a number of pieces of juvenilia and pre-Paris stories.

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Well, I'm not a Hemingway fanatic. I've only read The Old Man and the Sea and some of the more famous short stories, such as "The Killers" and "The Short Happy Life of Francis Macomber," which I liked well enough.

By the way, "Finca Vigia" ("Lookout Farm") was the name of Hemingway's home in Cuba.

Britain AD by Francis Pryor: An Archeology based study into Anglo-Saxon Britain (That controversially challenges the mass migration theories)

The Midwich Cuckoos by John Wyndham. I'm going to have read all his major published stories soon. It will be a shame because I love his style.

Hello, anno. I like your avatar, its makes you look like you might be a Regul, or similarly portly alien

Just wept my way through the closing chapters of Clockwork Princess. Brings me back to what I said about heightened emotion. It was too much. Think I might have a bit of a break from Cassandra Clare.

Victoria Silverwolf said:

Well, I'm not a Hemingway fanatic.

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I am, having read all his novels, but I've actually read a shockingly small number of his short stories. I have a copy of "The First Forty-Nine" on a shelf. Its staring at me now. Stoppit. Hmm, might have to read some now, I wilt under such pressure.

I'm part way through Guy Gavriel Kay's 3rd part of the Fionavar Tapestry: The Darkest Road

Finding it similar in style/substance to Tolkien

Just finished (yesterday) Goblin Moon. I really rather liked it, Thornburg was very nicely realised (almost like an extra character).

springs said:

Seriously. Very, very seriously. i explained my views a little further in the thread started about it, but basically I found little in the characterisation of Geary to draw me to him. But I am a deep character lover. But when the writer uses lines like: Geary felt anger and grief (I may be paraphrasing but it was close to that) they will, generally, lose me as a reader. I want to be in his anger and grief, I want to experience it, not just be told about it. So, whilst the writing was smooth and the sf slick - and I can see why many like the books - it didn't have the depth I need.

I haven't tried Resnick. Based on the above - where does his focus lie? With the sf or the characters? That might be the killer for me. Often, in sf, it is sadly.

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the characters. as for the lost fleet may i suggest you béguin to reed again? the character of geary and others evovle along the series.

tobl said:

the characters. as for the lost fleet may i suggest you béguin to reed again? the character of geary and others evovle along the series.

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The one I was reading (Invincible) was from well into the series - the first of a spin off series, I believe, so the characters were developed. But you miss my point - the way the character was written didn't work for me, not that the character himself didn't necessarily appeal. I don't know how much of writers like Zafon or Bujold you've read - but that's the sort of character depth I like - written almost in the head of the characters. So, no, I think I'll give the rest of the books a miss.

Back to the thread topic. I'm rereading an old favourite - Miles in Love. Bug butter anyone?

Currently reading Michael Moorcock's long awaited opener of his new Whitefriars trilogy, The Whispering Swarm. Only 50 or so pages in but enjoying it tremendously despite the fact that it's autobiography and fantasy fiction combined!

I think we should allow Springs to mislike the Lost Fleet books and stop badgering her to change her mind. I've never read them myself but I plan on tackling Dauntless sometime soon.

I've just started The Day of the Triffids. I really like the writing so far. I mostly remember this from the 1980-ish TV series, starring John Duttine (I think).