November 2017; Reading Thread

Status
Not open for further replies.
I'm about 150 pages into Simon Sebag Montifiore's Jerusalem: The Biography. An utterly fascinating and well written history of the city and its importance for three of the world's great religions. I'm nowhere near finished yet but I already consider this the best book I've read all year.

If you have the slightest interest in history and even if you are a cynical atheist like myself, I think you'll find this book well worth reading.
 
Last night I finished The Zen Gun - Barrington Bayley.

It wasn't awful, but it jumped all over the place without a whole lot of detail about anything, and as such wasn't particularly satisfying.

Next up is Ninefox Gambit - Yoon Ha Lee.
 
I've got me a big thick old one.
Started reading it today, last read in the late eighties.
L Ron Hubbard "Battlefield Earth"

I can't remember too much of the plot, what I do remember has been overridden by the John Travolta film
 
Finished listening to The Dollmaker by Mary Burton one of the hybrid Thriller/Romance genre that seems to be a bit of a trend. I liked this one because both the thriller and the romance were handled well and believable. The only thing that irritated a bit was that the romantic scenes once and maybe twice started to feel a bit on the porno side. Did we really need to have a description of each indicator of arousal? Started listening to Justice Redeemed by Scott Pratt. I am about half done reading Angel's Knight by our own A.J. Grimmelhaus.
 
Just finished the new Philip Pullman, La Belle Sauvage. Excellent YA fantasy.
 
hitmouse said:
Just finished the new Philip Pullman, La Belle Sauvage. Excellent YA fantasy.
Click to expand...

Ah, good. I don't know anyone else who's read it yet. Did you think it compared with the HDM trilogy? For me, though deftly written, it doesn't have the adventure-romp imagination-packed charm of Northern Lights, nor the other-worlds interest of The Subtle Knife.
 
HareBrain said:
Ah, good. I don't know anyone else who's read it yet. Did you think it compared with the HDM trilogy? For me, though deftly written, it doesn't have the adventure-romp imagination-packed charm of Northern Lights, nor the other-worlds interest of The Subtle Knife.
Click to expand...
it is much more like a fantastical Boys Own adventure-spy thriller set around a river, and is relatively less profligate with all the awesomeness found in NL. Very nice character development and some properly creepy bits. I liked it for what it is, and I suspect it will build into something fine.
 
The Swords of Night and Day - David Gemmell. Hope it's better than White Wolf as that was one of the rare Gemmell books that was dissappointing.
 
Yesterday, got hold of an interlibrary loan copy of Phyllis Paul's third novel (of an eventual 11), Camilla, from 1949. I'll probably write about it for the Phyllis Paul thread under Literary Fiction. I suspect it will deserve mention also on the Gothics thread. I began reading it in the late evening, and will just say that it is off to a good start.
 
Last year, Sebastian Haffner's Defying Hitler was perhaps my nonfiction book of the year. Now I am reading his The Meaning of Hitler and it, too, seems superlative to me -- splendidly concise and insightful. Of course, I'm not an historian.

Both of those books were relatively short, contrasting nicely with the tendency towards thick books on war topics.

I was moved to order a copy of his book on Churchill just now.
 
Just finished Justice Redeemed by Scott Pratt --- like all of Scott Pratt's books I've read this is fine thriller. Surprisingly a lot of the action takes place inside prisons. I wasn't expecting that, but it was quite interesting and I wonder how much research he'd done into prisons and the prison system in the US. Next up The Hang Man by Mary Burton --- I'm assuming that this will be what the Brits call a "police procedural" with a sub plot in the romantic sphere. I love the first and will tolerate the second as long as the sub plot does not become too important. Still working through Angel's Knight to be followed by something different for me The Warmth of Other Suns: The Epic Story Story of America's Great Migration by Isabel Wilkerson. I understand that chronicles the move of the African Americans from the south to the north from 1915-1970. She's a Pulitzer Prize winner, the first African
American woman journalist to win it. ---- If it's half as good as people say (and some mighty significant people sing its praise) it should be awesome. ---- We'll see.
 
dannymcg said:
I've got me a big thick old one.
Started reading it today, last read in the late eighties.
L Ron Hubbard "Battlefield Earth"

I can't remember too much of the plot, what I do remember has been overridden by the John Travolta film
Click to expand...
I seem to remember enjoying this thirty years ago but now I can't get past the intentionally 'pulpy' style.
Got maybe a fifth of the way in but I've gave up and shelved it for "some day".

Now instead I'm reading Hero by Dave Duncan. This was one I read years ago from the library and then couldn't remember anything until online searching for a long while.
I need help finding a book
Really enjoyable hokum so far :)
 
I found Battlefield Earth to be at the best mediocre. The only thing I really liked about it was the teleportation of goods across interstellar distances and what that meant for trade. ---- Obviously the science behind that was hand-wavem at it's most ridiculous.
 
Really haven't been reading much for the last year which is most unlike me - well other than the challenges on here. Just started Finders Keepers by Stephen King - part two of his Bill Hodges trilogy. Not classic King but if its on a par with Mr Mercedes it will be worth reading.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Thread starter Similar threads Forum Replies Date
Victoria Silverwolf Poll for the November 2017 100 Word Anonymous Writing Challenge Workshop 0
Ursa major POLL -- November 2017 75-word Writing Challenge -- MOSAIX WINS! Writing Challenges 0
Victoria Silverwolf November 2017 100 Word Anonymous Challenge Workshop 21
farntfar Discussions for the 100 word Anonymous Challenge for November 2017. Workshop 105
Teresa Edgerton Discussion -- November 2017 -- 75 Word Challenge Writing Challenges 312

Similar threads


Back
Top