August 2019: Reading Thread

Finally made it through outstanding books (they were ebooks on loan from my local library so prioritised) to start on Relic by Alan Dean Foster.
Hope you like it, Danny

(By the way, I think its a shame we can't like posts in the playroom forum, as I enjoyed your Emily Bronte guess)
 
Waking Hell by Al Robertson - Another great read proving that his debut was not a one off. This is a very promising author. More here.
When the English Fall by David Williams - I want to thank @Extollager for recommending this book. It is without a doubt one of my best reads this year. A truly mesmerising book which may seem like an odd description for a pre- and post-apocalyptic book, but trust me it fits. Highly recommended (@Parson I'm pretty sure you'd love this). More here.
Moving Mars by Greg Bear - the first quarter is dreadful but if you can get past that the remainder is excellent. More here.
 
Just finished Welcome to Night Vale by Joseph Fink and Jeffrey Cranor. Dullsville, honestly. And I'm sorry to say that because I like the podcast that it's based on. There just isn't much of a story. The book is mostly padding in the form of fan service. Characters from the podcast pop in, have no impact on the plot, and pop back out consuming entire chapters in the process. (While I like these characters in the podcast, they had no role to play in this story and shouldn't have been there.) The rest of the book consists of a contrived yet meandering plot that moves slower than continent's drift. Add in a lot of awkwardly worded sentences, a head-hopping POV, scenes that did not feel fleshed out, continuity errors, a lack of foreshadowing of certain plot elements, and no actual climactic scene, and it just falls flat. The only reason I can see to read this book is if you're a fan of the podcast and really want to know the identity of the Man in the Tan Jacket, because it does reveal that (although not his name). You could spare yourself the read and just Google it, though. That sounded a bit harsh, but I wanted to be honest.
 
I finished Harbingers (A Repairman Jack Novel) and loved it. This one moved along at a brisk pace and revealed a bit about the conflict between the Otherness and the Ally.

Now on to Neal Asher's Brass Man.
 
About three-quarters into On the Psychology of Military Incompetence by Norman F Dixon. Finding it very interesting, although I did cast my eye over some reviews which suggest some of his historical sources might be inaccurate. Mostly focused on the 19th and first half of the 20th centuries.
 
Francis Pryor "Home" (2014)
Many thanks for the recommendation @Brian G Turner and @Simbelmynë
When young I was very much into archaeology, and was even a volunteer for three summers on a Mesolithic dig (@7500-8500 BC) on Portland Bill, but have read very little since. I found this account of the British Isles from the end of the last Ice Age (@9600 BC) into the Iron Age very interesting, the more so as it must show much of current thinking @2012. My attention did waver at times, but that may well be a reflection of my attention span rather than the readability of the book. The parts that particularly interested me were the sections discussing the immediate aftermath of the last Ice Age, and the (much later) Iron Age hill forts. I was very struck by the discussion of the Starr Carr Mesolithic site (@9300 BC - 8500BC) and the evident richness of the culture and diet there, including those remarkable red deer skull headdresses.
 
I am re-reading Azure Bonds, a Forgotten Realms novel by Kate Novak and Jeff Grubb that I first read back in the late 1980s. Before starting, I remembered some of the details and the main plot, and recalled enjoying it. It's still a decent read, but my tastes have changed a little.
 
Finished The Architecture of Happiness by Alain de Botton. An interesting meditation on what makes good architecture.

Architecture is a bit like typography for me: everywhere all the time. I can recognise and name different styles, and although I can say if I like something, I don't really feel I have a grasp of the subject, in particular how architects think and articulate their ideas. This book was a good start.
 
I've finished Relic by Alan Dean Foster, reminiscent in some ways of Earthblood by Keith Laumer .

Now I'm starting on Commando by Jon Evans and James Evans. This is book one of the (4 books so far) series Royal Marines Space Commandos.
 
Started Toyland by Mark Smith. Not real happy with it. Not bad enough to stop altogether but not good enough to get excited about spending an hour with it in Starbucks. So I started this:
51PYmRIFQEL._SY346_.jpg


so I can bounce back and forth. If I have something really good to look forward to I figure I can read it for a while and still have enough fuel left over to get through a few pages of the other before pooping out. If the Smith doesn't improve by, say, page 50, I'll give it the big toss.
 
Reading Lord of Shadow by Cassandra Clare. Very more-ish in the way quality YA is - full of action and surprises, and very clear writing and human emotions. Can only process so much at a go because it's very heavy on the emotion and drama, but keep coming back to it very quickly.
 
Finally finished Donna Tartt's The Goldfinch, I haven't read a great novel like this for I don't know how long. Truly a modern classic masterpiece, Pulitzer prize well deserved. At times it seems in need of some trimming but it is so, so well written. I haven't got much reading time lately but I was so longing to return to the book everyday just to savour every word of it. I'm looking forward to seeing the film which will be released in September.

Hopefully I'll start her debut The Secret History (1992) soon. She published only 3 novels, taking about 10 years to write a book!
 
Did you like it? Scores on the doors, out of 10?
I would give it maybe an 8. He got a bit too wordy trying to pad it out I thought, it would have trimmed down to a nice novella.
Enjoyable, if a bit old school, plus the aliens seemed to talk a bit 'Star Trekky'
 
I would give it maybe an 8. He got a bit too wordy trying to pad it out I thought, it would have trimmed down to a nice novella.
Enjoyable, if a bit old school, plus the aliens seemed to talk a bit 'Star Trekky'
Bipedal aliens with vaguely human features? That's one thing the books remedied. Or tried to at least. They introduced some very unique aliens and cultures they didn't have the technology to show on screen.
 

Back
Top