September 2019: Reading Thread

[Bick]

Started The Spy Who Came in from the Cold, by John Le Carre.

 

[williamjm]

I finished N.K. Jemisin's The Killing Moon. There were a lot of things to like about the book, but overall I didn't find it as compelling as her Broken Earth series. The Egyptian-inspired setting was unusual and interesting but I didn't feel the world-building had the same depth as in the Broken Earth books. I think the most interesting aspect of it was the 'nacromancy', magic based around using the power of dreams, which did feel like an original concept and the book did show how it shaped how the society worked. Like the world-building, I thought there was some good character development, as the three protagonists are forced to examine the assumptions that underpin their societies, but the characters still weren't quite as compelling as in Jemisin's other books. Although this is the first in a duology I thought it came to a conclusive enough ending that it would have worked as a standalone, and the ending is satisfying although perhaps a bit rushed in places. Overall, I'd say this is a good book but one that maybe falls a bit short of greatness.

I've now started Claire North's 84k. The way the narrative jumps abruptly between time periods was initially a bit disconcerting but it does start to fit together after a while. I think it isn't too hard to guess how North was inspired to write about a dystopian Britain where corporations have to provide 'stable leadership' to protect the country from 'saboteurs and enemies of the people'.

I have read 'Too like the Lighting' and I loved it. But it may be one of those books you either love or hate. If you love it, than several rereads are required to appreciate all the levels, knowing the narrator is unreliable and the Hives probably have redacted, before the narration got published in what would then be a new world-order. All this can be deduced from the very first page, and this is how you should read it.
The problem with this book is that no-one knows how to pitch it properly (and by her own admission, nor can Ada Palmer herself.)
I joined a meeting at Dublin Worldcon were she did a reading from book 4 and led a discussion about the Terra Ignota books. It only deepened my love for the books.

I've read the first two books in Palmer's series and I do admire the ambition of it but I'm not sure I find the story compelling enough to continue with the series, and some parts of it did feel a bit too far-fetched.

 

[Extollager]

Read Heinlein's story "Water Is for Washing," which would have made an excellent basis for a radio play on the old Suspense series. I finished C. V. Wedgwood's very readable A Coffin for King Charles and have just began the Pepys Diary, in an old two-volume Everyman's Library edition, which I'm sure omitted the indecent parts. Robert Louis Stevenson got a great deal of enjoyment from such edition of the Diary as was available to him & that will suffice for me, except I might need more notes than those provided with this 1925 reprint of a 1906 edition.

 

[Elckerlyc]

Weekend has arrived. Time for a fresh read: The Song of Achilles by Madeline Miller. I have read Circe, which in fact is her second book, and found that one well written, entertaining and moving.
Next to that I continue reading a (Dutch) book about the Burgundians and the making of what would later become The Low Countries (15th century.)

 

[Parson]

I've made a solid beginning in Dogs of War by Adrain Tchaikovsky. I've begun Part 3 "The Hand that Feeds" and right now I'm angry with A. T. It looks like he's killed off one of my favorite 2 characters, and the #1 interesting character has been shunted to the sidelines. All we seem to have left is the conflicted and confused main character. Hoping for some better results for the characters I want to read about later on.

 

[Vince W]

Read Heinlein's story "Water Is for Washing," which would have made an excellent basis for a radio play on the old Suspense series. I finished C. V. Wedgwood's very readable A Coffin for King Charles and have just began the Pepys Diary, in an old two-volume Everyman's Library edition, which I'm sure omitted the indecent parts. Robert Louis Stevenson got a great deal of enjoyment from such edition of the Diary as was available to him & that will suffice for me, except I might need more notes than those provided with this 1925 reprint of a 1906 edition.

It's hard to believe that Pepys essentially created the modern Royal Navy and was a massive lech. On second thought, maybe it isn't so surprising.

 

[Extollager]

I gave up on my old Everyman edition of Pepys, though I love that series. But this one was printed on paper with a bit too much show-through for comfort especially given the small print. If I were going to read the whole thing (a thousand pages or more in two volumes), I should have read these books when I bought them many years ago. I guess a selection from the diary, from the library, will do.

 

[Danny McG]

I finished The Institute by Stephen King.
Now I'm reading a crime thriller, Last Gasp by Robert F Parker

 

[Vertigo]

I've made a solid beginning in Dogs of War by Adrain Tchaikovsky. I've begun Part 3 "The Hand that Feeds" and right now I'm angry with A. T. It looks like he's killed off one of my favorite 2 characters, and the #1 interesting character has been shunted to the sidelines. All we seem to have left is the conflicted and confused main character. Hoping for some better results for the characters I want to read about later on.

Don't make too many assumptions about this one Parson!

 

[Rodders]

Now on to Ground Zero (Book 13 in the Repairman Jack Series). The series is rapidly approaching the end now and I didn't want to start a different book and lose momentum.

I desperately want to get to Dogs of War though.

 

[Elckerlyc]

This is getting dull and repetitive now, too much padding out the story.
I'll give it another chapter and if it doesn't pick up a bit then I'll save this book on my bedside table.

I finished The Institute by Stephen King.

So, what's your final opinion. Did the story go anywhere?

 

[Danny McG]

So, what's your final opinion. Did the story go anywhere?

It sort of fizzled out really, the plot seems very familiar and typical "kids with powers held in a special school"

If I'd read it with the author's name blanked out I'd have said, due to the characters dialogue and a liddle rom stuff ... 'Dean Koontz'

 

[Elckerlyc]

Thanks.
Just being curious. I am not a fan of Stephen King. The last thing I read from him was 11.22.63 which I found... disappointing.

 

[tobl]

If I'd read it with the author's name blanked out I'd have said, due to the characters dialogue and a liddle rom stuff ... 'Dean Koontz'

rom stuff? in koontz? not in the books i read...

 

[Danny McG]

rom stuff? in koontz? not in the books i read...

In a Koontz book there's often a man meets a woman and they bond by rescuing the kid or the animal

 

[Ian Fortytwo]

I'm currently reading Reconstruction, by Mick Herron. This one is a thriller about a group hostage set in a Nursery School. It is not a Jackson Lamb story.

 

[Danny McG]

I'm currently reading Reconstruction, by Mick Herron. This one is a thriller about a group hostage set in a Nursery School. It is not a Jackson Lamb story.

Wow!
I read that about six or seven years ago, I didn't realise until now (Google) who the author was

 

[Galactic Bus Driver]

I have read 'Too like the Lighting' and I loved it. But it may be one of those books you either love or hate. If you love it, than several rereads are required to appreciate all the levels, knowing the narrator is unreliable and the Hives probably have redacted, before the narration got published in what would then be a new world-order. All this can be deduced from the very first page, and this is how you should read it.
The problem with this book is that no-one knows how to pitch it properly (and by her own admission, nor can Ada Palmer herself.)
I joined a meeting at Dublin Worldcon were she did a reading from book 4 and led a discussion about the Terra Ignota books. It only deepened my love for the books.

Had to add this one to the DNF list. This book was too much work and reading fiction should never feel like work. That being said, I may come back to it in the future, with a different mind set, and find it enjoyable, especially knowing it's not what my pre-conceptions had me thinking it was.

 

[Galactic Bus Driver]

Currently I am finishing up book 5 of the Gideon Crew books by Lincoln & Child. Bit of an odd series, starting out as thrillers, morphing into sci-fi thrillers and, apparently, returning to a more traditional thriller for the final book.

 

[Danny McG]

Trying another crime thriller now.
Silent Scream by Angela Marsons

Update... Haha! It turns out I've already read it, oh well, time to scroll through my ebooks instead ...a few hundred choices in my tbr pile