October 2017: Reading thread.

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Today I'm setting off with two more for the weekend.
The 18th Quiller book Salamander and also I'm tackling another of the Aberystwyth series by Malcolm Pryce - The unbearable lightness of being in Aberystwyth
 
The Empty City - Berit Ellingsen was interesting, but not thrilling - a bit like some of the quieter bits of a Murukami book.

Next up is The Zen Gun - Barrington J Bayley.
 
dask said:
Read it [Ray Bradbury's The October Country] last year for Halloween. Only one story bogged me down, all the rest were pretty good.
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I read through the book and commented on the October Country stories a few years ago, with others commenting too. The comments begin here:

October's Obdurate Observations Of Outstanding Ouevres

(I "excused myself" from commenting on "The Watchful Poker chip of H. Matisse." --Was that perhaps the one that bogged you down, Dask? ...But I think all the other stories get at least a brief remark.)
 
I finished listening to Shadow Shepherd by Chad Zunker. Like the first book in the series The Tracker. It was a cracker jack of an action story. Reminded me a lot of the non-stop action of an Indiana Jones novel. BUT unlike the first novel, this one has an ending that absolutely frustrated me. It was not logical in that the actions by the head of the CIA are completely beyond the pale, and the MC's reaction to it regarding his friends and fiance also are not believable. I was so angry at the ending. ---- Ironically, I might read a third book to see if there's something that makes the actions understandable. Up until this ending I was thinking this is the best series I'd read in a while.
 
Extollager said:
I read through the book and commented on the October Country stories a few years ago, with others commenting too. The comments begin here:

October's Obdurate Observations Of Outstanding Ouevres

(I "excused myself" from commenting on "The Watchful Poker chip of H. Matisse." --Was that perhaps the one that bogged you down, Dask? ...But I think all the other stories get at least a brief remark.)
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Think it's "The Next In Line ", the one that takes place in Mexico. For some reason it turned me off and I stopped reading the book. Gave it a second chance later and fortunately it got better.
 
Interesting; back in Oct. 2011, I said here of "Next in Line," "I don't really like stories like this, but it is very well done"
 
Paul_C said:
The Empty City - Berit Ellingsen was interesting, but not thrilling - a bit like some of the quieter bits of a Murukami book.

Next up is The Zen Gun - Barrington J Bayley.
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I'll be interested to see what you think of that one. Having recently read a couple of his books I was wondering about this one; it looks a bit weird!

Budayeen Nights by George Alec Effinger - a bit of a mixed bag collection of stories and I'd probably only recommend it to Marid Audran completeists. However the first story Schrödinger’s Kitten does stand out as an excellent take on the multiple realities style of story. More here.
Wolf Moon by Ian McDonald - not sure about this series; I like the overall story arc but find the actual books poorly written and edited. More here.
 
Currently reading Orphan X by Gregg Hurwitz. Reads as a kind of cross between the Equalizer and Jason Bourne. It took a few chapters to really get into, but there's a really nice attention to detail that helps bring it alive.
 
Brian G Turner said:
Currently reading Orphan X by Gregg Hurwitz. Reads as a kind of cross between the Equalizer and Jason Bourne. It took a few chapters to really get into, but there's a really nice attention to detail that helps bring it alive.
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I read that last year, will be interested in your take on it.
I thought very remiscent of David Morrel's "Brotherhood of the Rose" and "Fraternity of the Stone"
 
Being on holiday gives me a little bit more time to read so I can say I have read:

Aliens The Truth is Coming: Various Writers Review Here

Aria: Left Luggage by Geoff Nelder Review Here

Odd and the Frost Giants by Neil Gaiman Review Here

Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban by J K Rowling Review Here

Next up I will be finishing the pile of comics I started before the Hols, then start a re-read of Necroscope by Brian Lumley
 
I finished Hell House by Richard Matheson. It was pretty solid, if not a little more demented than I expected, but I do like Matheson's style.

Also read The Naturalist by Andrew Mayne. It was just okay. Didn't think it was amazing, and the professor sure did some out there things I didn't think were necessary.

I'm reading Genesis by Ken Lozito now. About 20% into it.

Also listening to the audio book A Winter Haunting by Dan Simmons. Not fantastic so far, and I'm halfway in. But it's a hometown horror, and that's what I'm writing now, so wanted to see how he handled it.
 
I finished the 18th Quiller novel and went directly into the 19th and final one 'Balalaika' by Adam Hall (Elleston Trevor)

This set off as a standard Quiller book but seemed to lose it's way about two thirds of the way through. Then it got back on track for the finale chapters.

An afterword by the author's son reveals that Mr Trevor was on his deathbed and dictating in faint whispers how he wanted his final Quiller to pan out. :(

Continuing now with the third of the Aberystwyth books by Malcolm Pryce. I read a couple pages yesterday but the urge to read the final Quiller forced me to close it temporarily.
 
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I'm currently reading The Passage by Justin Cronin. I've had it for ages but held off reading it because a lot of comments I'd read about it put me off a bit. I'm 250 pages in and enjoying it a lot so far, but I've not yet reached the point a lot of the complaints stemmed from.
 
This afternoon I found myself with nothing to read so I scrolled through my ever growing collection of unread ebooks - some of them I've had for a long, long time until I get to them.

I've started reading one called Memory Seed by Stephen Palmer. Getting my attention so far.

Note: There's another by him I faintly remember buying months ago, Flower Crash, I might give that a go soon as well. :)
 
I just finished up reading for the third time A Game of Thrones by George R. R. Martin in my quest to read all of the books available in this series for the first time. The furthest I've ever gotten was A Clash of Kings some years ago. I thoroughly enjoyed this book, particularly all of the explosive events that unfolded as the book winded down. Now I'm on to the next book in the series.

I've also started reading The Complete Chronicles of Narnia in an attempt to read through the fantasy of this beloved author. The books are set up with The Magician's Nephew as the first book to be read and at three chapters in I am having a blast. I was even moved to purchase a collection of essays on literature by Lewis as one is included in this collection and I wanted to delve deeper into the man's literary ideas.
 
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I'm nearly finished Max Gladstone's fourth Craft Cycle book, Last First Snow. It's good but I'd say not my favourite in the series. I think being a prequel hurts it a bit because we already know from Two Serpents Rise how many things turn out, and the plot itself isn't as interesting as in the other books, although I do like the characters - it's particularly nice to see more from Temoc's perspective who was an intriguing character in Two Serpents Rise and gets more depth here. It's also interesting to see things from Elayne Kevarian's perspective, even if I don't think we learn quite as much new about her.
 
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