April 2021 Reading discussion

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I'm currently reading The Beekeeper o Aleppo, by Christy Lefteri.

It is an extraordinary novel, written with courage and compassion at its heart. It is our book group choice. That's why I like a book group, because it challenges you to read something you wouldn't usually read.
 

Brian G Turner​

Fantasist & Futurist​


Stumbled onto Prisoners of Geography on Amazon, written by the political editor of Sky News, and was hooked by the preview.

Basically, it's an simple guide to geopolitics, explaining why Russia was so upset over Crimea, and why China is getting aggressive about islands in the South China Sea. Very illuminating, yet a very easy read.

The ebook is currently on offer for only £1.69, as the sequel on future geopolitics is out in a few weeks.


Thanks Brian. Sounds worth checking out. Put the paperback in my cart at Amazon.
 
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I read Neil Gaiman's A Game of You which I thought did a good job of building a narrative based on childhood dreams. There are only relatively brief appearances by Morpheus and other major characters in the rest of the series but I thought the characters in this were interesting both in the real world and in the dream world.

I'm now reading Lois McMaster Bujold's The Hallowed Hunt. I've read all the other stories set in the world but haven't read this one before, out of the novels it does seem to get mentioned a lot less than The Curse of Chalion or The Paladin of Souls but it's been good so far.
 
Brian G Turner said:
Stumbled onto Prisoners of Geography on Amazon, written by the political editor of Sky News, and was hooked by the preview.
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I'm assuming that this is a book by Tim Marshall, but when I look up "political editor of Sky News" the answer I get is Beth Rigby. Yet the summary seems to indicate the book you point out. Anyway that's a good deal. Here in the USA its cost is $13.99 and it has available at least 3 of the 4 books in print. Prisoners of Geography (US Amazon)
 
Parson said:
I'm assuming that this is a book by Tim Marshall, but when I look up "political editor of Sky News" the answer I get is Beth Rigby. Yet the summary seems to indicate the book you point out. Anyway that's a good deal. Here in the USA its cost is $13.99 and it has available at least 3 of the 4 books in print. Prisoners of Geography (US Amazon)
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Sorry, yes, I may have got my titles mixed up - this is what his UK page says on Amazon:

Tim Marshall was Diplomatic Editor and foreign correspondent for Sky News. After thirty years' experience in news reporting and presenting, he left full time news journalism to concentrate on writing and analysis.
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dask said:

Brian G Turner​

Fantasist & Futurist​


Stumbled onto Prisoners of Geography on Amazon, written by the political editor of Sky News, and was hooked by the preview.

Basically, it's an simple guide to geopolitics, explaining why Russia was so upset over Crimea, and why China is getting aggressive about islands in the South China Sea. Very illuminating, yet a very easy read.

The ebook is currently on offer for only £1.69, as the sequel on future geopolitics is out in a few weeks.


Thanks Brian. Sounds worth checking out. Put the paperback in my cart at Amazon.
Click to expand...
This was a Christmas present last year. My son (who is reading geography at university) promptly pinched it before I could read it.
I have disinherited him.
 
Finished Brandon Sanderson’s Well Of Ascension (finally) and tonight going to pick up a recommendation from @BAYLOR in The Star Rover by Jack London.
 
Eric Frank Russell "Men, Martians & Machines" (1955)
Mixed crew of Terrestrials and Martians (ten-tentacled with an obsessive interest in chess) make first contact on three different planets, getting themselves into all sorts of trouble before shooting/slaughtering their way out. Very pulp 1950s.
Not really worth the read unless you have an interest in Eric Frank Russell.
 
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Hugh said:
Eric Frank Russell "Men, Martians & Machines" (1955)
Mixed crew of Terrestrials and Martians (ten-tentacled with an obsessive interest in chess) make first contact on three different planets, getting themselves into all sorts of trouble before shooting/slaughtering their way out. Very pulp 1950s.
Not really worth the read unless you have an interest in Eric Frank Russell.
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Actually, a favorite of mine from my early s.f. reading. A line a friend of mine quoted prompted me to read these stories, "He fell at the appalling rate of two vulgar epithets per foot." (That's pretty close if not exact.) Can't recall which of the stories that came from.

Currently rereading "Carmilla" by J. S. LeFanu. It's been long enough since I last read it that part of the beginning is a surprise; the narrator relates an early incident in her life that I did not recall at all.
 
Randy M. said:
Actually, a favorite of mine from my early s.f. reading. A line a friend of mine quoted prompted me to read these stories, "He fell at the appalling rate of two vulgar epithets per foot." (That's pretty close if not exact.) Can't recall which of the stories that came from.
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That's good to hear. It does contain other examples of his wry humour. It's likely that if it had featured in my early sf reading I'd have remembered it.
 
Randy M. said:
Actually, a favorite of mine from my early s.f. reading. A line a friend of mine quoted prompted me to read these stories, "He fell at the appalling rate of two vulgar epithets per foot." (That's pretty close if not exact.) Can't recall which of the stories that came from.

Currently rereading "Carmilla" by J. S. LeFanu. It's been long enough since I last read it that part of the beginning is a surprise; the narrator relates an early incident in her life that I did not recall at all.
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love it. that book pre-dates dracula if i'm not mistaken and is quite envolving for such a small story. i wonder what would happen if vampires were real... :) and please no glittering vampires or suave vampires either. it would be more like that tv series fresh blood
 
I might give Carmilla a go soon -- I quite enjoyed le Fanu's Uncle Silas a couple of years back. Perhaps I'm going through a gothic phase, as I've just felt compelled to start a reread (after thirty-odd years) of Burying the Shadow by Storm Constantine.
 
HareBrain said:
I might give Carmilla a go soon -- I quite enjoyed le Fanu's Uncle Silas a couple of years back. Perhaps I'm going through a gothic phase, as I've just felt compelled to start a reread (after thirty-odd years) of Burying the Shadow by Storm Constantine.
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Ostensibly, I'm reading In a Glass Darkly with a GoodReads book club, but I'm reading the five stories in that collection from other collections: Best Ghost Stories of J. S. LeFanu and Ghost Stories and Mysteries, two Dover books edited by E. F. Bleiler back in the '60s and '70s. Terrific books, if you can find them. Otherwise, In a Glass Darkly is a good alternative since it includes four other stories as well as "Carmilla." (Of course, if you have one of the many anthologies "Carmilla" is included in, then save yourself some money.)
 
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