January 2020 Reading Thread

[Paul_C]

I finished Lirael last night, which I thoroughly enjoyed, despite it being only half a story. I'm going to read the conclusion Abhorsen after I read Borne - Jeff Vandermeer, which I picked up along with The Strange Bird for Christmas. If those are as good as people say then I'll carry on alternating Garth Nix by reading Goldenhand and Jeff Vandermeer with Dead Astronauts.

 

[Hugh]

Graham Greene "Journey Without Maps"
Account of a four week, 350 mile, walk through the interior of Liberia, made by Graham Greene in 1935. This was truly the back of beyond at the time and it doesn't seem to have been that pleasant an experience, though with hindsight he felt nostalgic for "the complete simplicity on the edge of subsistence" . It gives interesting insights into both the Liberia of that time and Graham Greene.
He was accompanied by his cousin Barbara Greene and around thirty local men ("carriers"). Strangely, he barely mentions her, and never by name. She wrote her own account of the journey "Too Late to Turn Back" which I may get round to reading one day.
Thank you @Extollager for the recommendation.

 

[Rodders]

On to “Strange Dogs”. (A short story set within the Expanse universe.)

 

[Extollager]

Hugh, I think a while ago I reread Graham’s and Barbara’s Liberian books concurrently, and overall enjoyed her version more.

 

[Hugh]

Hugh, I think a while ago I reread Graham’s and Barbara’s Liberian books concurrently, and overall enjoyed her version more.

That's interesting. I'll keep my eye out for a cheap copy.

 

[Randy M.]

About 2/3s through The Ghost of the Mary Celeste by Valerie Martin. This is beautifully written, using the title tragedy -- the Mary Celeste was an actual ship found derelict at sea, no traces of violence, just abandoned -- as a wedge into a portion of 18th century American society and also to a degree an examination of Arthur Conan Doyle, his ideas and beliefs. Spiritualism was in its heyday, Conan Doyle was a believer and one of Martin's main characters is a medium; Martin is sympathetic to both believers and disbelievers, and the medium may well be the real thing, though she never entirely commits to that.

I thought I'd be done by now but was distracted by other things over the holidays, including a few times when it was more convenient to read something else, a couple of short stories, and around half of H. R. F. Keating's Crime & Mystery: The Hundred Best Books. Keating was a well-known writer of mystery novels, and well-read in the field. Like any sensible person committing a "best" list, he admits to biases and that for some authors he could have picked from several other works.

I should finish one or both this week and then on to ... something. There is a stack of likely suspects awaiting ...


Randy M.

 

[Ian Fortytwo]

Just started reading The Mystery of Edwin Drood, by Charles Dickens. Wonder how it will end.

I didn't finish it. I have read quite a few of his books and this one was just awful. I'm reading some of my Interzone magazines for a while.

 

[Extollager]

That's interesting. I'll keep my eye out for a cheap copy.

Good luck to you about that. I used to indulge a weakness for the Penguin Travel Library, and at last paid about $25 for a copy of Barbara’s book in that series. The PTL release seemed to be one of the scarcer, or more collectible, ones. Actually, I could have had a copy of (I think) the original hardcover edition for less. If you’ll settle for a first edition hardcover, you might not have to pay much!

 

[Extollager]

I didn't finish it. I have read quite a few of his books and this one was just awful. I'm reading some of my Interzone magazines for a while.

You’re referring to Dickens’s Edwin Drood.

I think of myself as being a Dickens fan and have read all of his novels — some more than once. But a few months ago I took up this one for a retreading and.....Certainly it didn’t seem “awful” to me; but it didn’t hold my interest. He may have been showing fatigue at the end of an amazing career.

 

[tobl]

You’re referring to Dickens’s Edwin Drood.

I think of myself as being a Dickens fan and have read all of his novels — some more than once. But a few months ago I took up this one for a retreading and.....Certainly it didn’t seem “awful” to me; but it didn’t hold my interest. He may have been showing fatigue at the end of an amazing career.

you're both wrong lololo try the doctor who episode with dickens to understand lollol

 

[Elckerlyc]

You’re referring to Dickens’s Edwin Drood.

I think of myself as being a Dickens fan and have read all of his novels — some more than once. But a few months ago I took up this one for a retreading and.....Certainly it didn’t seem “awful” to me; but it didn’t hold my interest. He may have been showing fatigue at the end of an amazing career.

This may be because Dickens never finished it himself. To quote Wikipedia:
"With Dickens' death on 9 June 1870 the novel was left unfinished, only six of a planned twelve installments having been published. He left no detailed plan for the remaining installments, or solution to the novel's mystery, and many later adaptations and continuations by other writers have attempted to complete the story."

Dan Simmons' Drood is playing with this fact.

 

[Extollager]

This may be because Dickens never finished it himself.

No, I think there's more to it than that. I love Dickens, but it felt to me, when I revisited it, like he was kind of imitating himself, I guess I could say; like he really was tired. I approached it with favorable expectations, but was disappointed. I might try it again someday, though.

 

[The Big Peat]

Currently reading Kingston Noir. Feels like the Jamaican standard for story resolution is a lot different to my own. Fun though.

 

[Bick]

I just finished Healer, by F. Paul Wilson. Cracking old-school SF novel. It’s fairly clear it’s a fix up or extension if the opening novella, but it’s great stuff nonetheless and could have been by Silverberg for its central idea or Anderson for its time-span and sense of scale. Recommended if you’ve not read it.

Now onto another SF novel (I’m camping with the family so I’m getting through my books quicker than usual, though I have only the limited choice I brought with) - I’m going to give Agent of Change a go, authored by Sharon Lee & Steve Miller. It’s a Baen stable book, so I’m not necessarily expecting great art, but I’ve read its popular and well done, so fingers crossed; I’ve enjoyed a fair few current Baen authors lately (Weber, Flint, Drake) so I figured I ought to test the waters of the Liaden Universe.

 

[Danny McG]

Tonight I'm starting Radiomen by Eleanor Lerman

It's a somewhat weird alien encounter story so far

This book is seriously freaking me out!
I'm getting afraid to try and see the corners of the room with the edge of my vision.... And I'm very pleased I've only got a DAB radio - no tuning in on strange random bleeping

 

[Randy M.]

I just finished Healer, by F. Paul Wilson. Cracking old-school SF novel. It’s fairly clear it’s a fix up or extension if the opening novella, but it’s great stuff nonetheless and could have been by Silverberg for its central idea or Anderson for its time-span and sense of scale. Recommended if you’ve not read it.

I read it years ago after reading a review that likened it to earlier Heinlein. I recall liking it, enough so that I read Wilson's The Keep shortly thereafter.

Randy M.

 

[Rodders]

I ordered the Hardback of Iain M. Bank's Hydrogen Sonata as I neglected to get it when it was initially released. (He is still missed.)

Unfortunately, the seller decided that an envelope would be ok to ship a book and it took some extensive damage to the front bottom right of the cover. Gutted!!



I've sent them an email and I await a response. Hopefully they'll have a replacement.

I need to see if I can find a hardback of Consider Phlebas and I'll have all of Banks's SF works in hardback.

 

[Bick]

Damaged book from shipping is very annoying. I like your goal of getting all Banks SF in hardback though, nice idea.

 

[The Judge]

Despite having a number of part-read books hanging over from last year -- sorry, HB! -- I decided to start the new year with something fresh, and I chose one of the books I received for Christmas, Lud-in-the-Mist by Hope Mirrlees, written in 1926. I'm something over a quarter of the way through its 264 pages but I'm still not yet sure what I think of it -- part-fantasy, part-fairy-tale, it's intricate and elaborate, playful, bewitching, puzzling and obscure and sometimes downright unintelligible thanks to convoluted paragraph-long sentences.

 

[tobl]

just found the memory man series by david baldacci. first time in a long time that i find a character i can admire and relate and a writer which actually uses a brain like it's supposed to. those deductions are better than sherlock holmes