February 2019: Reading thread

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Peter Coyote: "Sleeping Where I Fall".
Remarkable account of the actor's life from @1964 to @1976 with an emphasis on the late sixties and early seventies, San Francisco and California. Alternative Theatre, Commune life, Counterculture, it's all there, all stuff that others have written about, but this is seriously gritty and edgy and all of it is personal experience. Seriously gritty. There's idealism in there, and amazing creativity, but also lots and lots of chaos and (horrifying) darkness. I was, by turns, awed, aghast, envious, terrified.
 
I finished Kristin Hannah's The Nightingale and was really pleased. The book just kept getting better and better. It is certainly one of the best historical novels I've ever read. There has been a long delay in the movie adaptation but it is to come out this year (2019) and I think it could well be worth the price of admission.

Against my better judgement, I've picked up book 2 of Orion Fleet by B.V. Larson. Book 1 was quite forgettable, but I like a lot of B.V. Larson's stuff, so as the song says "Here we go again..." I've started listening to True Places by Sonja Yoerg. So far I love one of the characters and can't wait to see where it goes.
 
picklematrix said:
About halfway through Dragons of Autumn Twilight. It has its flaws, but I expected some clunkiness in the writing going in. The characters are likeable enough, so I'll probably continue with the Dragonlance books and see if Weiss and Hickman improved their prose.
I just finished A Fire Upon the Deep by Virner Vinge. Scifi classic, I would say. Brilliant ideas, executed well.
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The Vinge is excellent, I agree; the Dragons book is quite different, but has a lot of charm and certainly has its merits. I read it last year and will proceed with the sequels soon.
 
The charm and nostalgia of DOAT is probably quite vital to the enjoyment of it, since on a technical level, the writing leaves a lot to be desired.
I definitely need to sample the Warhammer fantasy fiction once I've gone through the D&D literature. Lots of nostalgia there for me also.
 
I'm currently reading Ten Year Stretch, a collection of twenty short stories by various authors, among them is Lee Child, Ann Cleeves, Jeffrey Deaver, Sophie Hannah, Mick Herron, Ian Rankin and others. I somehow enjoy reading short stories at the moment.
 
Finished The Dark River by John Twleve Hawks. Much of the story seemed to be just treading water, sending characters on journeys that had little real purpose, and the book certainly didn't address some of the big issues raised previously. Very much an okay novel than a particularly good or bad one.
 
I finished The Diploids, which turned out to be short stories rather than a novel (I deliberately avoid learning too much about a book before I start reading, so there's always a chance of this sort of thing happening) and while I mostly enjoyed it, it does read like a book published in 1962.

I don't have anything against books published in 1962, but some do feel more dated than others, and this felt just a little too dated.

Next up is Recursion - Tony Ballantyne.
 
Inspired somewhat by @HareBrain, I picked up 'Call for the Dead' for the third time. Still very enjoyable.

I'd forgotten just how much Smiley treads the ground of the case again and again and its not the smartest storytelling; but to a certain extent that reveals his obsessive, wounded nature - he has nothing else to think about and it is in his nature to go again and again over the same subject.

That aside, its very minimalist in a good way. There's the usual Le Carre pen portraits of various characters and place, but other than that its just straight mystery, unfolding step by step.

anno said:
Best review ever!:giggle:
Superb stuff...
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I was going to do a longer one but maybe I should leave it in its current form!
 
Taking a break from Vietnam war literature and back into horror fiction with The Suicide Motor Club by Christopher Buehlman. This writer is fast becoming one of my favourite authors.
 
I picked up the Time of the Twins by Hickman/Weiss, which follows on from the Dragonlance Chronicles trilogy. It's a bit slow to start - and did you know Tika's hair is red? Yep, Tika has red hair. Did I tell you that Tika has red hair? Oh, and by the way, TIKA HAS RED HAIR!

It looks like Chapter 5 is going to move things forward a bit, but it's about time. Literally, I guess. :)

I'm also going to need to spend more time reading textbooks than novels for the foreseeable future, in order to keep on top of my degree - not least because I want to read through recommended reading for future options to make sure I'm comfortable with the choices.
 
Gave up on Orion Fleet by B.V. Larson .... I just didn't like the "I'm too smart... too tough .... too tuned in for anyone to compare" vibe put out by the main character. I should have listened to my better judgement.

I'm listening to True Places by Sonja Yoerg. Interesting but it's the kind of book which might cause me to throw it across the room. It's a psychological story and often those anger me because people should be helping other people much more than gazing at their navel.

I'm also reading another D.I. Ryan mystery/police procedural entitled Longstone, written by L.J. Ross.
 
Today's sci fi book is proper space opera (so far!)..

Fool's war by Sarah Zettel

Is an AI secretly taking over the systems of the starship Pasadena?
What is the secret of the shipowners brother-in-law?

I like how the chief engineer's title on every starship is 'The Houston'....as in "we have a problem" :sneaky:
 
Just started The Twilight Pariah by Jeffrey Ford. I enjoyed The Shadow Year quite a bit last year, so I was ready for another from him.

Randy M.
 
dannymcg said:
Today's sci fi book is proper space opera (so far!)..

Fool's war by Sarah Zettel
Click to expand...

Please update us on this. I went and had a look. I liked that it was a New York Times Notable Book. I did not care for the fact that it was only rated 3.5 stars and with less than 50 ratings. I liked the idea about a human and A.I. in a struggle. I was appalled at the idea of every ship having something like a "Court Jester." I would have given it a go as a Kindle Unlimited, but I need a bit more incentive for $6 +. If you rate it highly its in my Kindle Fire soon after.
 
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