November 2018 reading thread

[anno]

So an overdue clear out in the man shed has brought to my attention these 1st editions in my collection and prompted me to read the newer edition of New Nature of the Catastrophe a Jerryfest!!!

 

[soulsinging]

Well, I abandoned my Tiptree novel. It was a little too out there for me, and I say that as a guy that's no stranger to psychedelia. Some interesting concepts, but the manatee parts bored me to tears (and weirdly reminded me of the glider scene that ended my attempt at Pandora's Star... maybe I just find riding wind currents boring?). I hear she's known best for her short stories, so I'm definitely going to get my hands on some of those.

I then read a bit of Sometimes a Great Notion by Ken Kesey, another Great American Novel (on the heels of East of Eden a few weeks ago). It was gripping and vivid, but as some of you know my wife gave birth to our first child last Thursday and it was a bit too dense for hospital/newborn-feeding-sleep-deprivation reading so I put a pause on that for a week or two.

My answer was Time of the Twins, by Weis and Hickman. I must have been a teenager when I last read this. Call it nostalgia, but the main Dragonlance saga by those two just hits every guilty pleasure sweet spot I have for some reason. The pages are flying and I am loving it. Raistlin is sooooo much better as a flat-out villain.

 

[Anthoney]

I just finished up Past Tense a new Jack Reacher book. It's number 23. The pacing was off. That's a shame because pacing is normally a strong point. Our time was split between Reacher and a couple at a motel. They spent way to much time on the motel. All in all it was inferior to the previous book.

Now I've started Skyward by Brandon Sanderson. Sanderson is my current favorite writer and this book does not seem like it will disappoint.

 

[Randy M.]

... as some of you know my wife gave birth to our first child last Thursday ...

Congratulations. I hope you have as wonderful an experience as we had with our daughter. We recently became proud grand-parents for the first time.

Still reading The Invisible Eye: Tales of Terror by Erckmann-Chatrian which is a fine collection, when I find time and energy to read.


Randy M.

 

[Stephen Palmer]

Finished The Cyber Effect by Dr Mary Aiken.
Scary and fascinating in equal measure. If you have children, check it out.
Review to follow on Sunday, on my blog.

 

[hitmouse]

So an overdue clear out in the man shed has brought to my attention these 1st editions in my collection and prompted me to read the newer edition of New Nature of the Catastrophe a Jerryfest!!!

If I am not mistaken, the cover on the right is the Mal Dean illustration used on the cover of the final New Worlds.

 

[Extollager]

[QUOTE="soulsinging, post: 2287185, member: 22433]"as some of you know my wife gave birth to our first child last Thursday and it was a bit too dense for hospital/newborn-feeding-sleep-deprivation reading so I put a pause on that for a week or two.
[/QUOTE]

Congratulations! : )

 

[biodroid]

I finished The Outsider by Stephen King last night, it was good but not great, I think I don't like it that he is fairing into writing police procedural stories, but that's just me. I would rather then read Michael Connelly or David Baldacci. Now to find something more fun to read, I am hoping for a more traditional fantasy type novel but not sure what.

 

[Hugh]

Jack Vance "The Dark Side of the Moon": fourteen story collection, including one novella, with a brief introduction by Vance himself.
Some of these are a tad dated, but there are points of interest for those interested in Vance:
*The second and third Vance stories to be published
*Two stories are among his personal favourites: "First Star I See Tonight" and “Alfred’s Ark” (only seven pages long, but he says it “tells you all you need to know in regard to the human condition”: you get a good sense from this of how he viewed the world).
* The novella "Parapsyche" is, as far as I'm aware, his only attempt to explore the "spirit world" of mediums etc. He does this thoughtfully and makes a good fist of it using the paradigm of Jung's Collective Unconscious. Only problem: I found it a bit long-winded.
*There’s another story, “The Temple of Han” which apparently is a re-worked part of an epic novel that was rejected by all publishers before Vance made his first sale.

 

[Victoria Silverwolf]

Taking a break from SF/fantasy and starting Bob and Ray, Keener Than Most Persons (2013) by David Pollock, an account of the career of that comedy duo. (The odd title comes from one of their skits. They parodied the popular radio program "Mr. Keen, Tracer of Lost Persons" as "Mr. Trace, Keener Than Most Persons.")

 

[Extollager]

Victoria, do you know if the scripts (or recordings) of the hilarious Bob and Ray "Tales well calculated to keep you in...anxiety" are available? I want to read or hear again the one about the prospector dying of thirst in the desert, etc.

 

[Victoria Silverwolf]

That's a tough question. We have at home a large number of CDs collecting a ton of their stuff. (Since they worked together for more than forty years, and sometimes did radio programs several times a week, this is still only the tip of the iceberg.)

Here's their official site.

BobandRay.com | Official Site of Bob & Ray

Note that you can purchase 90 hours of their routines on a flash drive (whatever the heck that is) instead of CDs. Also note the link to more than 1800 skits you can buy from Amazon. The "Anxiety" sketch you mention appears to be this one, for ninety-nine cents:

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B001HDHZR0/?tag=id2100-20


Here's a bunch of Bob and Ray (and unrelated stuff; you know how Amazon searches work) on CD:

https://www.amazon.com/s/ref=SOS?rh...ob+&+Ray&ie=UTF8&qid=1542511629&tag=id2100-20

We have the ones that say things like "Classic" or "Vintage" or "Lost" or "Soap Operas" or "Wally Ballou."

 

[Bick]

Now reading Rogue Moon by Algis Budrys. Good so far...

 

[hitmouse]

Reading Economics: The Users Guide by Ha-Joon Chang. Pretty good so far.

 

[Pedro Del Mar]

I'm starting it right now.
18.47 on November 13th.
Let's see how it goes

I’ve just finished it. Fabulous!

 

[soulsinging]

I then read a bit of Sometimes a Great Notion by Ken Kesey, another Great American Novel (on the heels of East of Eden a few weeks ago). It was gripping and vivid, but as some of you know my wife gave birth to our first child last Thursday and it was a bit too dense for hospital/newborn-feeding-sleep-deprivation reading so I put a pause on that for a week or two.

My answer was Time of the Twins, by Weis and Hickman. I must have been a teenager when I last read this. Call it nostalgia, but the main Dragonlance saga by those two just hits every guilty pleasure sweet spot I have for some reason. The pages are flying and I am loving it. Raistlin is sooooo much better as a flat-out villain.

Wrapped my skim-read of the Legends trilogy and it was wonderful. Far more original than the Chronicles, and WAY darker. There are some scenes here that are outright horror (the prospective fate of Par-Salian is truly sadistic). Time travel (shockingly well done for once) invokes notions of predestination versus determinism, and underlying it all is the idea of redemption and meaning in life. Really enjoyed it!

So now back to Sometimes a Great Notion!

 

[thaddeus6th]

I have begun the Epic of Gilgamesh.

You can tell a book's old when it's ordered by tablets rather than chapters

 

[Parson]

I have begun the Epic of Gilgamesh.

You can tell a book's old when it's ordered by tablets rather than chapters

Is there a definitive Epic of Gilgamesh? I thought it was pieced together from several sources.

I have finished Shipwrecked by Mark Wayne Mcginnis. Decent S.F. story but nothing exceptional. It had a kinda campy feel. I mean, getting on a alien ship with your run down pickup? ..... Yea, nothing more unlikely than getting on board an alien ship at all .... But somehow feels worse.

Now reading The Shotgun Lawyer by Victor Methos. He's an author I've read a lot before and I like him, but only in small doses. It seems to me that likes to write morbidly depressed main characters. I prefer not read about main characters like that.

 

[Pedro Del Mar]

Starting The Mote in God’s Eye by Niven and Pournelle

 

[Av Demeisen]

Started The Fifth Season by N.K. Jemisin.