March 2022 Reading Thread

[dask]

Just finished the Jules Verne account. Now it's time to find out what really happened:

 

[Teresa Edgerton]

Ah, I read that one a long time ago (the original at some point as well). It was so long ago I have only the very vaguest recollections of it, but seem to remember that I liked it.

 

[worldofmutes]

Do people here like Patrick Rothfuss? Or is he overrated? Haha.

I’m about 200 pages into The Name of the Wind and really enjoying it. After the news from Brandon Sanderson, I needed to break out a great fantasy epic… I’m rather enjoying it, myself.

 

[Danny McG]

A few minutes later: Not so hot reviews at Amazon. Be interesting to know what you think

It started ok but got very dull very rapidly.... DNF

 

[dask]

Good to know. Think I‘ll let this one slide.

 

[Stephen Palmer]

Jo Marchant, The Human Cosmos.
- excellent so far.

 

[Hugh]

Just finished the Jules Verne account. Now it's time to find out what really happened:
View attachment 87141

I don't remember reading that one: I'd be very interested to hear your thoughts on it.

 

[Hugh]

Tony Hillerman "The Ghostway"

Sixth in the popular crime fiction series concerning the Navajo Tribal Police. I find the interface of Navajo culture with detective work intensely gripping, so much so that although I really like them I make a point of reading just one a year.

 

[HareBrain]

At 38% in of Gideon the Ninth. I just can't do this book in large chunks. There's always something I like every few pages, but the rest of it's just kinda meh.

After not gelling with the opening couple of chapters and skipping them, I blasted through it. But looking back on it afterwards, in many respects I also found it kinda meh. Over a few days my desire to read the sequels dropped from about 95% to 5%, and I'm not really sure why. Hoping your final review will tell me. ;o)

I'm still going with Medieval history tome Powers and Thrones (by Dan-Jones-not-that-one), which is proving a great read. I've also read a Daphne du Maurier short, The Breakthrough, published as one of those little standalone Penguin booklets a few years back. Atmospheric and very well-written, but slight, and without a strong enough twist.

 

[tobl]

Do people here like Patrick Rothfuss? Or is he overrated? Haha.

I’m about 200 pages into The Name of the Wind and really enjoying it. After the news from Brandon Sanderson, I needed to break out a great fantasy epic… I’m rather enjoying it, myself.

i like him a lot.

 

[Victoria Silverwolf]

The 17th issue of Short Story International (March 1965) with at least two tales of fantasy; "The Death of the Sea" by Spanish author José Maria Gironella, which deals with the unexplained petrification of the ocean, almost like one of J. G. Ballard's early disaster novels, and "The Dark Music" by American writer Charles Beaumont, of Twilight Zone fame, from that well-known journal of speculative fiction, Playboy.

 

[Danny McG]

This one tonight, I got it as an ebook about ten minutes ago

 

[tobl]

This one tonight, I got it as an ebook about ten minutes ago
View attachment 87189

what, you finished with ukrain?

 

[Danny McG]

what, you finished with ukrain?

Yeah, I posted in here about it.
The book got really dull and repetitive so I abandoned it

 

[Danny McG]

This one tonight, I got it as an ebook about ten minutes ago
View attachment 87189

I'm about three quarters through it now.
Six bad typing/spelling errors, two messed up sentences and two uses of really bad grammar that jars when you read them.
Still, the story itself is okay

 

[Dave Vicks]

A David Lynch film study from Audible.

 

[Ian Fortytwo]

I'm currently reading The Complete Short Stories, by Evelyn Waugh.

 

[Hugh]

T. Kingfisher "The Raven and the Reindeer
A truly original and creative reworking of Andersen's "Snow Queen". I appreciated it very much but at times found it frustrating, though I'm not entirely sure why. It may be just a little too 'young adult' for me - while I thought the shamanic elements were very well done, they hinted at greater depths and something in me yearned for those to be explored more fully. There's the potential for this story to be something remarkable.

 

[Montero]

T. Kingfisher "The Raven and the Reindeer
A truly original and creative reworking of Andersen's "Snow Queen". I appreciated it very much but at times found it frustrating, though I'm not entirely sure why. It may be just a little too 'young adult' for me - while I thought the shamanic elements were very well done, they hinted at greater depths and something in me yearned for those to be explored more fully. There's the potential for this story to be something remarkable.

Was it you I was recommending it to last year? I found it very different and inventive. I now have every T Kingfisher and have to wait for the next to come out...

Currently reading Victoria Goddard's Hand of the Emperor - not sure where I came across it. Tried a sample and had to get the rest. Her website describes her writing as:

"Tales of friendship, fealty, adventure, and occasionally good government. For those who like a little philosophy with their swashbuckling, but care for characters most of all."

And that is an excellent description. Hand of the Emporer is from the viewpoint of the Emperor's head of civil service and private secretary. It starts in the very grand palace and then follows him on his holiday home to visit his family who are basically south sea islanders with cities - but quite egalitarian, very distant from the capital. On a sailing trip with a cousin, passing another island, he sees a gorgeous bay behind a coral reef with just one house there, and on making enquiries find it is a holiday villa for rent and books it for the next quiet time in the year. When he gets back, he asks his emperor - who is not "just" an emporer but also a powerful mage and the representative of the Sun on Earth - so surrounded by ritual and grandeur - whether he'd like to have a holiday at the villa he has booked. And that triggers all sorts of interesting things. Nothing violent (so far - I've not yet reached half way - it is a BIG book.) I think I will be reading more Victoria Goddard. I particularly like it that one of her upcoming titles is called "Derring Do for Beginners".

 

[Hugh]

Was it you I was recommending it to last year? I found it very different and inventive. I now have every T Kingfisher and have to wait for the next to come out...

You did indeed: back in January 2021 you wrote:
Her take on The Snow Queen - The Raven and the Reindeer - is impressive, chilling, imaginative - and amusing in a dark way. She really does think about all the implications of the original story - and then varies it her way. That is very characteristic of T Kingfisher - does things her way. The Raven and the Reindeer is not my favourite because of the dark side of it, but is possibly nearer to the tone of Jackalope Wives.

And I did enjoy it/ appreciate it. Many thanks. She has a truly unique voice and it's great to have found her. I look forward to reading another in a few months time....