February Reading Thread

[Parson]

I finished Meru (The Alloy Era Book 1) by S. B. Divya both Publisher's Weekly and Kirrkus Reviews rate this book highly and it's easy to see why. This is a SF book that's clearly on the literary side of the equation. The setting is strange for a S.F. book and it is clearly S.F. and not fantasy. It is set in human space after the world of our near future has nearly obliterated itself after decades of unconstrained consumption. The space of time between the near obliteration and the time of the novel is unclear. I would make it at least 500 years, perhaps a good deal more than that. Over the course of time humans have redesigned themselves and added other genetic material and these redesigned humans are named "Alloy." Over the course of time the Alloy have figured out a FTL drive. I understand it as a kind of "Instant Elsewhere" drive that the "pilot" Alloys can will into being if they are far enough from a gravity well. At the time of the story the Alloy consider themselves the "protectors" of the humans and because of the terrible things that humans have done to earth they largely believe that it's the right thing to do, but this thinking is changing and with the discovery of a planet on which humans could survive without any other "higher" life to bother some are lobbying that the humans be given a second chance.

I would call the set up very interesting. I felt the story was reasonable if you accept the setting. Although there is a kind of love story which plays an important role in the story I would in no sense call it a Romance. I would call this similar to an Heinlein Juvenile Novel in that a large social endeavor is mostly spearheaded by a young person. (In this case 22, so not quite juvenile) I loved a lot of the social commentary and given the situation in which it was developed, it made a good deal of sense.

Avoid --- Not Recommended --- Flawed --- Okay --- Good --- Recommended --- Shouldn’t be Missed

Moving onto what I would call a lighter kind of book Human for Hire by T.R. Harris. Humans are a small species in the galaxy, but they are stronger, tougher, and more dangerous on an individual level than pretty much anyone else. So some? most? surviving humans are bounty hunters and the like. So far light and fun in a kind of Wild, Wild, West fashion.

 

[Elentarri]

Finished: The Brilliant Abyss: True Tales of Exploring the Deep Sea, Discovering Hidden Life and Selling the Seabed by Helen Scales

Helen Scales always manages to write interesting, educational and accessible science books. This one is no different, and has the benefit of including information new to me. The book starts off with weird and wonderful creatures found at the bottom of the ocean, living under high pressure, on hydrothermal vents or seamounts: worms dissolving whale bones, vampire squid, glowing jelly-creatures, amphipods (giant underwater pillbug-looking creatures), furry yeti-crabs, scale-footed snails with iron shells, corals and glass sponges, animals that get their food from symbiotic chemical eating bacteria etc. Helen Scales tells the reader a bit about how these fascinating creatures were discovered and something about how they live. The book includes a few pages of full colour photographs of these creatures.

The next section of the book discusses the importance of the deep oceans as a global climate control, and also as a source of medicinal compounds. Pollution, toxic waste dumping at sea, and the effects of trawling and over fishing are also covered. The most interesting and terrifying (to me) section of this book covers seabed mining. This is a topic I've rarely (i.e. almost never) seen covered in any other book. Helen Scales takes a look at how seabed mining would work (something like trawl fishing, only with robot tractors and scoops to scoop mineral nodules off the seabed or scoop the tops and sides off seamounts and hydrothermal vents), the possible impacts of seabed mining (disastrous), the feasibility of extracting precious metals from the ocean, existing regulations (the same organisation that hands out mining exploration permits is supposed to protect the marine environment) and other pertinent matters.

All in all, a fascinating and well written book about the deep sea.

As per Parson's rating system: Avoid --- Not Recommended --- Flawed --- Okay --- Good --- Recommended --- Shouldn’t be Missed

 

[HareBrain]

Finished Treacle Walker (not hard, it's only 15k words). Enjoyed it much more the second time, since I wasn't concerned where the story was going. Was it going anywhere? I'm not sure. Worth it for the use of language, a few haunting elements and its overall sense of earthy strangeness.

 

[The Judge]

I've also finished Treacle Walker and after a good deal of cogitating I've managed a kind of review of it, which I've put up. Treacle Walker by Alan Garner

I'd welcome other thoughts on it, not least as to the meaning of the bog man and the scene with the cuckoo at the end!

 

[AE35Unit]

Ffffff, I just can't find an engaging book at the moment. That's 3 DNFs so far and its not even march yet...

 

[Victoria Silverwolf]

Still in the Library of America collection of Shirley Jackson, I have started rereading The Haunting of Hill House (1959).

 

[hitmouse]

Ffffff, I just can't find an engaging book at the moment. That's 3 DNFs so far and its not even march yet...

What sort of thing are you looking for?

 

[AE35Unit]

What sort of thing are you looking for?

No idea. Something interesting lol
I've got tons of books on my shelf, all different genres and subjects.

 

[Danny McG]

I'm interested in your thoughts on this one as it caught my eye recently but I haven't yet bought a copy.

I'm maybe halfway through it and I'm enjoying it a lot.
We've got enhanced soldiers (they can go very fast for a few seconds - known as blurware) we've got malevolent AIs who are controlling people, we've got antimatter bombs, we've got massive arcologies and the trope augs of cyber assistants used by the high level operatives, we've got cloaked soldiers so nobody knows they're there until the bullets hit you.
Throw in a couple of conspiracies and semi mutants from the radioactive wastelands and it's my kind of story!

 

[Bick]

I also read Treacle Walker yesterday, and my thoughts are also posted on The Judge's review page, Treacle Walker by Alan Garner.

I'm now starting Inside Straight, edited by George R. R. Martin. This is the start of the 'Committee Triad', in his Wild Cards series.

 

[The Big Peat]

Maybe I should read Treacle Walker since we're all reading it.

I certainly need something to spark excitement. I blasted through Michael Moorcock's Wizardry and Wild Romance last night it was equal measures educational, entertaining, and exasperating, it mainly reminded me that I know what I want to read - old style romances of mythic power and bittersweet taste, and the current book scene doesn't want to publish these. A plague upon everyone's houses.

 

[Extollager]

I'm between novels now, having finished a third reading (after about 45 years since the last) of Lord Dunsany's The Charwoman's Shadow, which I liked. I read The [Paul] McCartney Legacy 1969-1973, which was fun, and now am reading a biography of C. S. Lewis's brother Warren, who was an author in his own right (seven books on French history, etc.). He's an interesting man. His fondness for excursions in his canal boat sound appealing. I read Dunsany's Tales of Three Hemispheres, the Owlswick edition with Tim Kirk illustrations, which were the best thing about this book. Pogopossum's thread about sf anthologies has me hankering to get into some of my copies on hand.

 

[Randy M.]

now am reading a biography of C. S. Lewis's brother Warren, who was an author in his own right (seven books on French history, etc.). He's an interesting man. His fondness for excursions in his canal boat sound appealing.

Any indication he knew L.T.C. Rolt or Robert Aickman? As I recall, both were infatuated with the canal system.

 

[Extollager]

I haven’t run across references to WHL encountering Rolt or Aickman, but it’s an appealing idea.

 

[JunkMonkey]

Currently reading The Thirty-Nine Steps by John Buchan - which (so far) is displaying (now uncomfortable) amounts of (standard for the day) overt anti-Semitism and veiled homophobia. Crap story too with one improbable coincidence and lucky encounter after another failing to make up for the lack any discernable plot. One of those cases where any of the film adaptations is far better than the original.

 

[Danny McG]

. One of those cases where any of the film adaptations is far better than the original

The Robert Donat version was the best of them all

 

[Vince W]

Witch Hunter by C. L. Werner. Could easily be a Solomon Kane pastiche.

 

[williamjm]

I finished reading through the second (and final) volume of Ursula Le Guin's Hainish Stories. I thought it was a good collection throughout, although The Word For World Is Forest is still the highlight. The Five Ways To Forgiveness story suite with its loosely-connected stories showing the times after, before and during revolutions on two planets against a slave-owning society had a wide variety of perspectives on the events and was at various times both harrowing and hopeful. The Telling was a quieter story but although the society on Aka might not have some of the horrific excesses of Werel it was dystopian in its own way with the world's traditional culture being almost completely erased by the government. Sutty's efforts to slowly puzzle out what has been lost and what fragments of it might still be preserved did become an increasingly compelling story as it progressed.

 

[JunkMonkey]

The Robert Donat version was the best of them all

I agree and I think I would go so far as to say that if Hitchcock hadn't made that film version the book would be totally forgotten today. Our hero has just, after being chased hither and yon round the Sottish moors, ( after taking a train at random when fleeing London) just happened to land at the front door of the isolated home of the leader of the international conspiracy out to get him...

...who then locks him in a cellar, in the corner of which is an easily opened cupboard containing high explosives and detonators. What are the chances eh? (Our hero just happens to be a mining engineer...) This book is bollocks.

 

[Foxbat]

Finally finshed The Monks Of War and learned a lot from it. Particularly interesting was how a number of these orders have evolved and still exist today.

Now starting The Plurality Of Worlds: A Sixteenth Century Space Opera by Brian Stableford. This is a real blast from the past for me because I recall reading Stableford's Hooded Swan and Daedalus books in the seventies. I have no idea what I will think of his writing now.