October 2017: Reading thread.

[Vince W]

Vince, I'll be interested in hearing your take on The Centauri Device. It's been near the bottom of my TBR pile a lot of years, and as I recall it was controversial when first published. I'm curious how a reader views it now and whether I should push it nearer the top.

Randy M.

I let you know what I think. So far I'm enjoying it. The controversy is still there IMO.

 

[Cat's Cradle]

Hope it's okay to post this here: for anyone who uses Audible, Richard Matheson's Hell House is on sale today-only for $2.95. It's a perfect October read!

(That's Audible U.S.; not sure if it's on sale at other Audibles.)

 

[dask]

Finished this. Four stories, one dud and three gems, one sparkling brighter than ought to be allowed by law.

Started this for my Halloween novel:

 

[Gonk the Insane]

I haven't read anything for what seems like a long time - I've been snowed under with publishing stuff and the day job, but I'll be starting a reading binge in the next week or two, and I've got a quite a long list to read.

Finished Smiley's People. Now trying to decide if I should buy Legacy of Spies

I loved the Smiley books (I'll be starting them from the beginning again shortly) and I can't remember if Legacy of Spies is part of that, but I've found that Le Carre's work outside of the Smiley books has been a bit hit and miss over the years. Some are every bit as good, I think, while others don't quite match the brilliance of those books - still very good, but not as good.

Also am about halfway through Adam Hall's "Quiller's Run", book twelve in the series.

I remember bits and pieces from the series (mostly the ending of the final book) but I'll be going back to Memorandum to read through them all again - it's about 20+ years since I read them as a teen.

Started reading (actually nearly finished with) Angel's Deceit by our own A.J. Grimmelhaus. (This is a first for me. I'm reading book 2 of what is largely a Fantasy, but has some S.F. in the mix.)

I finished Angel's Deceit by A.J. Grimmelhaus. This is the second in book in the Angel War Trilogy. This is another good fantasy/S.F. book. It really is hard to tell. What magic there is, is in actuality high science. But the tone and the action of the book leave decidedly in the Fantasy realm

That's a great way of describing the series, Parson - much better than my clumsy attempts to explain it thus far. I might borrow your explanation next time someone asks me about it.

But the writing was top notch, and I'm left still wondering how it's all going to work out, so book three is likely in my future. I am hopeful that it will be more to my liking.

I hope you like the third one too, Parson - it's a different type of story again and feedback so far has been that it's the best of the trilogy - I'd be interested to know what you think after reading it, and how it compares to books 1 and 2 in terms of how heroes win in terms of honesty etc.
The kindle's out on Monday 16th, and from the 17th it'll be free for a few days.
I hope you enjoy it.

Currently on Angel's Truth by some fellow called Grimmelhaus

I've heard he's a cad and a bounder. Very shady chap.

About three-quarters into Angel's Truth. It's really rather good.

Glad you're enjoying it, Thad.

 

[HareBrain]

I loved the Smiley books (I'll be starting them from the beginning again shortly) and I can't remember if Legacy of Spies is part of that, but I've found that Le Carre's work outside of the Smiley books has been a bit hit and miss over the years.

Others have said the same. I decided not to go ahead with Legacy of Spies, as it turned out not to be related to the Karla trilogy, and not really a Smiley book either.

Just finished The Great British Dream Factory by Dominic Sandbrook, a very readable and engaging popular cultural history, and slowly getting through Confessions of a Mask by Yukio Mishima, which is taking me forever to read despite being only 150 pages. Very intense, with passages of rare beauty and/or insight interspersed with rather boring ones. Astonishingly frank, sexually, for something published in the late 1940s.

 

[Victoria Silverwolf]

I have just started the collection On a Planet Alien (2002) by Barry N. Malzberg. It brings together the three novels Scop (1976), In the Enclosure (1973), and, confusingly, On a Planet Alien (1974.) Should be an enjoyable dive into New Wave SF.

 

[The Big Peat]

Flitting from book to book but right now, giving Heart Blade a try. Because I'm a super mature and sensible person, I want to see if anyone refers to it as a fart spade.

 

[Stephen Palmer]

Paul Morley, The Age Of Bowie.

 

[Danny McG]

I've finished a book about Iranian terrorists hi-jacking a passenger jet and doing a suicide run by crashing it into the White House.
Quiller Solitaire by Adam Hall 1992.

Now starting Aberystwyth Mon Amour by Malcolm Pryce. (Urban fantasy private detective, so I understand)

 

[tobl]

just read Joshua dazelle revolution and the new dan Brown origin ... they pass the time. honestly the first two from robert langdon series are great. since then...

 

[Parson]

I've finished listening to Poison Feather by Matthew Fitzsimmons. This was a first rate mystery/spy novel. I liked the characters, the action, and the realism of the book a lot and will check out some more by this author. I am now listening to The Tracker by Chad Zunker, and have to say this might be the first book I've read in a long while where I find the religion side of the story utterly believable and more positive than almost anything I've read in secular fiction in a long while. The story is riveting and the action while believable is almost non-stop. I will most definitely listen to Chan Zunker's other book Shadow Shepherd. I am reading Star Shroud by Ken Loz. This is a nice read. I would compare it to a can of Pringles. Not wonderful, but you just can't stop yourself from plowing on until the can is empty.

 

[chlorine]

I' currently reading The Girl with all the Gifts, by M. R. Carey. It's a fun and fast read, but it doesn't hold my interest very much. It's not a good sign when I realise I don't care much about what will happen to the characters in the end. It has its good sides though.

 

[Paul_C]

I'm just about to finish The Fifth Head Of Cerberus - Gene Wolfe, which I've enjoyed - next up I'm going to try The Empty City - Berit Ellingsen.

 

[Bick]

I'm currently reading a detective 'whodunnit', by Robert Galbraith, The Cuckoo's Calling. Its very well done, and the characters are well observed. For those who don't know, Robert Galbraith is a pseudonym of J.K. Rowling. I understand she was miffed when Galbraith was first 'outed' as being herself, as she wanted to keep reputation and bias away from critical appraisal. Recommended though, if you like the genre. I understand the stories have been on TV (with Rowling as exec producer), but I've not seen them at all (I live in NZ, where time runs slower and they haven't made it over here yet).

I just realised there is probably a whole thread on these books on the Rowling author page, but never mind. (I'm not a Potter fan so did not think to look there).

 

[Danny McG]

I'm currently reading a detective 'whodunnit', by Robert Galbraith, The Cuckoo's Calling. Its very well done, and the characters are well observed. For those who don't know, Robert Galbraith is a pseudonym of J.K. Rowling. I understand she was miffed when Galbraith was first 'outed' as being herself, as she wanted to keep reputation and bias away from critical appraisal. Recommended though, if you like the genre. I understand the stories have been on TV (with Rowling as exec producer), but I've not seen them at all (I live in NZ, where time runs slower and they haven't made it over here yet).

I just realised there is probably a whole thread on these books on the Rowling author page, but never mind. (I'm not a Potter fan so did not think to look there).

I've got the three books by Galbraith/Rowling but, as yet, not made a start on them.
Do you reckon they're OK then? (They were got for me as a gift)

 

[Bick]

I've got the three books by Galbraith/Rowling but, as yet, not made a start on them.
Do you reckon they're OK then? (They were got for me as a gift)

Yes, the first one that I'm reading is really good. Its like a cross between a modern Rebus or Wallander procedural and a Golden Age whodunnit with the protagonist a PI. Philip Marlowe in modern London might be another way to describe it. I gave it a go out of curiosity, but its got me hooked.

 

[Jo Zebedee]

I've got the three books by Galbraith/Rowling but, as yet, not made a start on them.
Do you reckon they're OK then? (They were got for me as a gift)

Book one is great, two dips a little and three is superb.

 

[Bugg]

I'm just over 400 pages into Neal Asher's Line of Polity and I realised this morning that I had started to skim-read it and wasn't taking it in or caring about the so-called 'characters'. Think it's time to put it down and read something else.

 

[soulsinging]

Think my last update was the Naked Sun, which I enjoyed greatly. Having now finished the original Foundation series and the original Robot books, I'm going to take a break from Asimov, as he did from these works himself, not writing another addition for 30-odd years. I think I slightly prefer the robot books, but not by much. I'm a sucker for a detective novel and have lately been trying to imagine what things will be like here in 10-20 years when AI takes off, so it was pretty timely. That said, the exploration of macro-sociology in Foundation is fascinating. I might be the only person reading this series that liked the first book best and found the Mule a rather dull character.

I also finished off Broken Glass by Alain Mabanckou and the Sand Child by Tahar Ben Jelloun. Both were originally written in French and were part of my French lit kick prior to our vacation there at the end of summer. I preferred the latter, a fascinating and psychedelic tale of a young girl raised as a man in Morocco's conservative Islamic society that also touches on the notion of stories and how we tell them. Very interesting. I was less impressed with the former, which had its moments and a colorful cast of characters, but was a juvenile in its humor I thought. Not quite the Canterbury Tales.

I'm now tackling the Autobiography of Malcolm X. Given the state of affairs here in the US currently, it seemed like a good time to start hearing some voices that have often been ignored. It's way more engaging than I might have guessed so far, though admittedly parts are pretty depressing in terms of how how far we HAVEN'T come in dealing with these issues.

 

[Parson]

I might be the only person reading this series that liked the first book best and found the Mule a rather dull character.

You are not. I didn't find the Mule character all that dull, but I most definitely preferred the first book, and I thought macro-sociology was brilliant. Of course I was only about 15 at the time I read it. So it might not hook me so securely these days, but back then.... well hook, line, and sinker.

I'm now tackling the Autobiography of Malcolm X. Given the state of affairs here in the US currently, it seemed like a good time to start hearing some voices that have often been ignored. It's way more engaging than I might have guessed so far, though admittedly parts are pretty depressing in terms of how how far we HAVEN'T come in dealing with these issues.

Another book I read decades ago. I did a paper on the Americanization of Islam in 1981. A fascinating read.