November 2018 reading thread

Bick said:
I’ve been wondering about whether to give this a go, I’ll be interested to hear your thoughts. Of course I have too many other things on the go, but still...
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I am not a fantasy reader, so best not to take my opinion on this too seriously.
 
Parson, it looks like there are some varying versions within the book, as well as one continuous version including patches from alternative sources.

So far, I've discovered men like naked women who want to have sex, and a man without a friend can act like a dick. #Gilgameshlessons
 
Jack Vance: "Golden Girl and Other Stories". A collection of nine Vance short stories, one of the Spatterlight Press Series derived from the Vance Integral Edition.
This collection seems to be an attempt to highlight the very few Vance heroines that appear in his short stories (and elsewhere for that matter). Pride of place must go to sixteen year old Jean Parlier of “Abercrombie Station” and “Cholwell’s Chickens”: abandoned by her mother soon after birth, brought up in abusive surroundings, until at the age of ten she killed four adult men, following which she then survived successfully on her wits through all manner of scrapes, with little sign of the complex PTSD, D.I.D., or severe self-harm that might result from such a background.
 
Enjoyed Iron and Magic, although the solitary sex scene wasn't up to much. Then read Vonnegut Sirens of Titan which was enjoyably odd. Now reading Liane Moriarty Big Little Lies which is very good.
 
Well, so much for my reading plans this month - I've found myself dipping back into Black and British by David Olusoga. I had put it down once in the Georgian period, but ended up picking it up in an idle moment and found myself faced with a gripping account of Granville Sharp at the leading edge of 1700's abolition.

I also found myself going back to A History of Ancient Britain by Neil Oliver. Sometimes his comments are ridiculous and stupid, but his exploration of the archaeology itself is rich and lively.

I held back on reading fiction while doing a ton of editing, but now that's passed I'm focusing on finishing The Eagle and the Raven by Pauline Gedge. I'm about 2/3's through and it's a superb piece of writing.

At work, I've started reading The Traveller by John Twelve Hawks. The open pages could have done with some major cutting so there was less telling and more story - I nearly put it down because of it - but once we were through the infudumping it's really picked up pace and is finding its feet nicely.
 
Vince W said:
The Posthumous Papers of the Pickwick Club or The Pickwick Papers by Charles Dickens. Dickens' first 'novel', but I'm not sure it should be classified as such.
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I'd be very interested to hear your thoughts on this. It's a difficult book, in the opinion of many (I've not read it), but it was hugely popular at the time, and it is Chuck, so its can;t be awful. You might want to set some thoughts down in the Ranking the Novels of Dickens thread.
 
Liked Big Little Lies a lot, it's a predictable and not particularly original story, but she told it in a clever, entertaining way. Now reading The Cruel Prince by Holly Black.
 
This afternoon I'm starting The Burial Hour by Jeffrey Deaver - I think number 12 (or 13!) In the Lincoln Rhyme series.
 
janeoreilly said:
Liked Big Little Lies a lot, it's a predictable and not particularly original story, but she told it in a clever, entertaining way.
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I've not read the book, but I thought something similar about the TV adaptation, the basic premise of the thriller plot isn't anything special but it's so well made that it was very compelling to watch. Some of the scenes with Kidman's character and her therapist were incredibly tense.
 
I finished Rogue Moon, by Algis Budrys. I’ll comment on that elsewhere I expect - pretty good though.

Now I’m returning to the Book of the New Sun, starting the second volume, Claw of the Conciliator, by Gene Wolfe, of course.
 
Finished Night Blade by Juliana Spink Mills, which I very much enjoyed. I've copied my Goodreads review into Perp's thread reviewing the first book here.

Now started Catastrophe by Max Hastings. 600+ pages just on the opening few months of WWI. So far, it looks to be a great read.
 
Finished Stephen Palmer's Tommy Catkins. I enjoyed it very much and I think since Beautiful Intelligence onwards, his writing has become more focussed and precise. However, there were a few bits that left me frowning (and thinking) so must ponder more over this one.

Now reading Kari Hotakainen's biography of Kimi Raikkonen (try saying that lot when you're drunk).
 
Finished The Shotgun Lawyer by Victor Methos. Another solid story. This one boarded on preachy. It contained some very serious anti assault rife arguments and more than a little questionable behavior by the lawyers, but on the whole I enjoyed it.

Related I think: I am listening to the podcast Serial which this year is taking a year long (last year) look at the justice system in Cleveland, Ohio. The podcast is known for not pulling any punches and telling the real story of what is happening. I find that I am having a very hard time listening. I now have two chapters I have not listened to because I have a hard time thinking about not only people who refuse to make good choices in life, but even more troubling, a legal system which is little better than the people that they are prosecuting and defending. So I recommend it, and loathe it in equal measures.

I am about half way through The Lines We Leave Behind by Eliza Graham. This is a inward looking spy story of WW II. Not sure about it so far. It fees a bit contrived, but there's something about it that keeps me reading.
I may move to a classic SF next, C.S. Lewis' The Space Trilogy.
 
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