March Reading Thread

[AE35Unit]

Time for some serious literature
Equal Rites by Terry Pratchett
Serious sillyness

 

[Foxbat]

I finished Rhapsody In Black (Hooded Swan Book 2) and, whilst I enjoyed it, didn’t think it quite as good as the first Hooded Swan book.

A change of pace now. I’m about to start Angels In Iron by Nicholas C. Prata. It’s a historical novel based around the siege of Malta circa 1565. The island was defended by the Knights Of St. John (a.k.a. The Knights Hospitaller) against the Ottoman Turks. The defences being led by Jean Parisot de Valette (the Maltese capital of Valletta being named after him).

I don’t often read historical fiction so kind of a step into the unknown for me.

 

[Danny McG]

Girl Zero by Mike Grist...a crime thriller.

The blurb from Amazon:-

THEY SOLD HER LITTLE SISTER. NOW THEY'LL PAY.

At 7 years old, the girl known only as 'Zero' was locked away in an Idaho dungeon. Her torments didn't end for 9 years, until she broke free and executed her captors.

But her vengeance couldn't end there.

When Zero was locked away, she had a little sister, Hope. She never saw her again, but she's been searching ever since.

Now she may finally be getting close. In the underground drug and club scene, there's a man 'breaking' girls with a hammer and nails. But something is different this time. This man is tied to something bigger. This man may be the key to setting Hope free…

Zero just has to break him first

 

[Far Stranger]

Listening to the first of Patrick Rothfuss’ Kingkiller Chronicle, The Name Of The Wind, and enjoying it very much. Ashamed to say I find myself very occasionally rooting for little-bit-smug protagonist Kote/Kvothe to fail. But what incredible words, what a storyteller (and Rupert Degas’ narration is superb).

 

[Danny McG]

Girl Zero by Mike Grist...a crime thriller

Once again I've been hoodwinked by an author.... yes it's the 1st book in a series, but too many references to a backstory caused me to do a bit of googling.
There's another series by the same tired hack, the Saint Justice books featuring Chris Wren, this character and his exploits feature a lot in this book....why couldn't this be explained in the blurbs?

Another author added to my sh*t list! I'll ever buy anything by him again.

 

[Elentarri]

Finally finished the Canterbury Classics collection of Edgar Allan Poe Stories and Poems. It's an interesting, but also ultimately, a mixed bag of comedy, satirical, adventure, mystery and horror stories. Poe seems to have had a tendency to become obsessed with ideas and themes, which he explored in numerous stories (e.g. life after death, being buried alive, balloon rides). Poe excels at writing atmosphere, so the stories involving supernatural, gothic and suspenseful narratives were generally the best. The adventure stories were usually pretty exciting (except in those cases where Poe waffled too much with his descriptions), but the comedy stories I found just plain silly. As for the poems. I preferred the longer poems that told a story. The Raven remains my favourite.

Recently read:
Summer in Orcus by T. Kingfisher. A fun and charming young teenager portal fantasy/adventure/quest story.
Written in Red by Anne Bishop. First in a series. An interesting fantasy with different-than-usual paranormal critters. Pretty enjoyable.
Children of God by Mary Doria Russell. Sequel to The Sparrow [First contact with Jesuit priests and friends] Something else. Really compelling writing and concept.

 

[Parson]

Hm. I discover I haven't been keeping up with my reading.

Finished Sea Castle by Andrew Mayne. This continues to be a great series and an author I really love. He writes murder mysteries and in this series murder mysteries related to water/the sea. I love the main character and will definitely read the next book in this series when it comes to Kindle Unlimited.

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

Finished Slip Runner by J.N. Chaney and M. R. Lerma. This is a solid SF book that seems headed for a series which could best be described as Space Opera. The set up is interesting. The action scenes are well done. But more important I find the characters to be intriguing and I want to know more about their adventures. I have the next volume on my kindle Slip Runner: Dark Peace on my Kindle and will get to it soon.

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

Presently I'm reading The Lay of Sargon by Nick M Lloyd otherwise known as @FibonacciEddie around here. This is a highly original piece of SF. I'm 13% into the book and the jury is still out, but this book has a very high ceiling, so I am anticipating each page.

 

[Dave Vicks]

Up next Psychologist Julian Jaynes.

 

[pogopossum]

Finished:

A festschrift to Grandmaster Jack Williamson, I bumped into it as I look up everything with a Zelazny byline. One can tell that the contributors were more than enthralled by Williamson and remembered him as an influence on their careers. It's a rogues gallery of great authors. Each gives a short memory of Williamson's effect on them.
A couple of tales imagine Jack's life as it might have been. Fred Pohl has him as an astronaut and the mayor of the first settlement on Mars. Connie Willis has him visited by fans from ???.
Specific stories (4) take off from his creation the Humanoids. Fred Saberhagen puts humans between them and his mechanical exterminators, the Berserkers. A particular tribute, Rock and a hard place. Others carry human resistance into a variety of forms.
Three (Poul Anderson, Mike Resnick, Jane Lindskold) come from Darker Than You Think, the epochal Williamson take on shape change mythology. I read that one when I was 13.
Giles Habibula, Williamson's talented, fat anti-hero take off on Sir Toby Belch/Falstaff, is the origin of a couple of stories (Paul Dellinger and David Weber) I remember my 23 year old brother (i was 13) asking my dad "Do you think that he's old enough for space operas? and handing me a copy of Habibula's The Legion of Space.
The Legion of Time is the origin of the last story, by John J. Miller. He found the original when he was 13 and said it as had "more potent ideas, colorful characters, and exotic locales than most novels five times its length." I read it at about the same age but found the 1952 swashbuckle language overdone. I certainly remember it.
Other authors, including John Brunner and Ben Bova, take Williamson's spirit of human achievement into original creations.
The stories are okay, but are particularly fun if you remember Williamson from an early age, as I do.
The book took me a long way back.

 

[Ravensquawk]

And having watched the movie, I have just started on The Road. I'm only about 20 pages in, but I'm finding the style of writing really difficult to put up with. If the movie hadn't been so good, I may well have put the book down and moved on to something else. I can only only assume that the way the book is written is intentional; I wonder if at some point later in the story there is a reason given for this. For now I will persevere, as it is a relatively short novel.

Kerouac's?
30 years figuring I really needed to read him, he was iconic, idolized, started an entire Beat movement without even trying to, I should read him, it would probably be inspiring and life-changing, etc.

And I read it all!

My memory of it is him staying at people's houses; trashing them with booze bottles and cigarette butts and ashes and trash; and a few people joined up with him along the way; and if they were chicks it was just the way the universe operates that they cooked and cleaned for the group; moving on and trashing other people's houses so bad they'd probably need a professional cleaning crew and post-fire restoration.

I still watch documentaries on him, Ken Kesey's road trip, and the iconic others, and read about him, some of his words when I come across them. . . figuring I will still get some inspiration, learn more about fascinating people, and add to my wisdom, something in addition to wondering "He started a nationwide movement of the times by trashing people's houses?? And writing about it??"

 

[hitmouse]

Kerouac's?
30 years figuring I really needed to read him, he was iconic, idolized, started an entire Beat movement without even trying to, I should read him, it would probably be inspiring and life-changing, etc.

And I read it all!

My memory of it is him staying at people's houses; trashing them with booze bottles and cigarette butts and ashes and trash; and a few people joined up with him along the way; and if they were chicks it was just the way the universe operates that they cooked and cleaned for the group; moving on and trashing other people's houses so bad they'd probably need a professional cleaning crew and post-fire restoration.

I still watch documentaries on him, Ken Kesey's road trip, and the iconic others, and read about him, some of his words when I come across them. . . figuring I will still get some inspiration, learn more about fascinating people, and add to my wisdom, something in addition to wondering "He started a nationwide movement of the times by trashing people's houses?? And writing about it??"

I have read this a few times. Some of it is good, and there is a certain romantic appeal to aspects of the beat lifestyle. I find the book starts out well but it starts to pall by the end.
Kerouac’s writing style was deliberate.

 

[williamjm]

I read Neil Gaiman's The Kindly Ones. Since it is the longest volume in the series there was a lot going on in it, particularly since it seemed determined to bring together most of the major and minor characters from earlier stories. I think it usually did this effectively with some welcome returns for some characters I wasn't necessarily expecting to see again, although sometimes it was a challenge to remember all of them - I think I might have struggled to remember Lyta without the TV series having recently reminded me of her existence, which could have been a problem given how crucial she is to the plot. The climax to the story is heavily foreshadowed, but still powerful despite that and I think wisely does not try to tie up everything neatly. I think the weakest part of it is that some of the artwork was in a different style to the earlier volumes and I really disliked some of it.

I've now moved on to trying to finish off Brandon Sanderson's Mistborn books after the recent publication of the final book in the second series. Before starting that I read the novella A Secret History, which I didn't read when it first came out. I think it was useful for reminding me about some of the events in previous books since it is retelling the events from a different perspective. As a story it felt a bit clunky with a lot of exposition (a lot of which seemed to be trying to tie the series into Sanderson's non-Mistborn books), and the attempts at humour by the protagonist fell flat.

 

[paranoid marvin]

Kerouac's?
30 years figuring I really needed to read him, he was iconic, idolized, started an entire Beat movement without even trying to, I should read him, it would probably be inspiring and life-changing, etc.

And I read it all!

My memory of it is him staying at people's houses; trashing them with booze bottles and cigarette butts and ashes and trash; and a few people joined up with him along the way; and if they were chicks it was just the way the universe operates that they cooked and cleaned for the group; moving on and trashing other people's houses so bad they'd probably need a professional cleaning crew and post-fire restoration.

I still watch documentaries on him, Ken Kesey's road trip, and the iconic others, and read about him, some of his words when I come across them. . . figuring I will still get some inspiration, learn more about fascinating people, and add to my wisdom, something in addition to wondering "He started a nationwide movement of the times by trashing people's houses?? And writing about it??"

Hi, no I meant Cormac McCarthy's novel. I'm abut halfway through now. I don't think that it's a book I would ever recommend and unlikely to be one I would return to again. So far its unremittingly bleak with little purpose behind it. I may be an optimist, but I think that the story takes an unrealistically negative outlook of how mankind would survive in a world where a lack of easily accessible food seems to be the prevalent hardship that people are facing.

 

[Ravensquawk]

Hi, no I meant Cormac McCarthy's novel. I'm abut halfway through now. I don't think that it's a book I would ever recommend and unlikely to be one I would return to again. So far its unremittingly bleak with little purpose behind it. I may be an optimist, but I think that the story takes an unrealistically negative outlook of how mankind would survive in a world where a lack of easily accessible food seems to be the prevalent hardship that people are facing.

Oh, thanks! (for the warning too.)

There was a movie made sorta "about" Kerouac's on the Road too, DNF, so didn't know.
MCarthy's sounds like it would leave me emotionally flayed with the kind of trauma that doesn't show externally.
That's me: some of the best SF is social-warning "If this goes on...." stories. (e.g. Sturgeon's early "Memorial".) Sometimes for me it's preaching to the converted until they're cringing in a corner, or beating a dead horse until it's flayed strips of bloody meat. Or reading about the kind of thing that already disturbs or affect me without anyone helping, etc.

 

[FibonacciEddie]

Hm. I discover I haven't been keeping up with my reading.

Finished Sea Castle by Andrew Mayne. This continues to be a great series and an author I really love. He writes murder mysteries and in this series murder mysteries related to water/the sea. I love the main character and will definitely read the next book in this series when it comes to Kindle Unlimited.

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

Finished Slip Runner by J.N. Chaney and M. R. Lerma. This is a solid SF book that seems headed for a series which could best be described as Space Opera. The set up is interesting. The action scenes are well done. But more important I find the characters to be intriguing and I want to know more about their adventures. I have the next volume on my kindle Slip Runner: Dark Peace on my Kindle and will get to it soon.

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

Presently I'm reading The Lay of Sargon by Nick M Lloyd otherwise known as @FibonacciEddie around here. This is a highly original piece of SF. I'm 13% into the book and the jury is still out, but this book has a very high ceiling, so I am anticipating each page.

Many thanks for taking the chance on my book
I am always keen to receive feedback ... if you have the time/energy/inclination.

 

[Danny McG]

Many thanks for taking the chance on my book
I am always keen to receive feedback ... if you have the time/energy/inclination.

I didn't realise you had done so many books - I'll probably look into one or two now

Andrew Mayne

Author Andrew Mayne's complete list of books and series in order, with the latest releases, covers, descriptions and availability.

www.fantasticfiction.com

 

[Stephen Palmer]

The Patriarchs: How Men Came To Rule, Angela Saini. Excellent first chapter.

 

[Victoria Silverwolf]

I am about to start The Place Setting (2009) by Fred W. Sauceman, which consists of a bunch of little pieces about food in the Appalachian region.

 

[Randy M.]

I have less than 200 pages left in Martin Edwards' The Life of Crime. (622 pages of text plus ~100 in indices.) It's fascinating how the lives of writers and their writings intersect with the lives of other writers and their writings, often in terms of Y, who wrote the screenplay for X's novel adaptation. This is, essentially, a lifetime project. Edwards as reader of mysteries pulling together all he's learned with further study and research and compiling a bulky compendium of mystery/crime story facts. I'm impressed how he keeps it flowing through introducing a particular writer who stands for the subject of the chapter and then moving out from that writer to others as well as the works that somehow epitomize the subject. I'm intrigued that throughout he is in conversation with a ~50 year-old book on the history of mystery, Bloody Murder by Julian Symons. And I'm amused that here is another example of a genre writer infuriated with Edmund Wilson, who the mainstream reader and critic may not even know much about anymore, but genre readers are still bruised over his 70+ year-old rebukes of the mystery genre, Lovecraft and Tolkein.

Finished this massive and very satisfying book. Really excellent and I'm sure it'll be a go-to reference for years for anyone beginning research on the genre or even looking for a reading list.

I'll now concentrate on finishing Last Seen Wearing by Hillary Waugh, one of the titles mentioned in Edwards' book, an early example of the police procedural preceding Ed McBain's 87th Precinct novels.

 

[Sirius Publishing Company]

I'm starting March with a second attempt at Burning Bright by Tracy Chevalier. As the title suggests, William Blake is the inspiration, but as I'm somewhat ambivalent about his work, that's no recommendation. The most interesting thing about it for me is that a village family who move up to London come from Piddletrenthide, which I wouldn't have thought was known by anyone far outside the Dorset area!

What are you reading this month?

We are looking forward to Dr. Justin Bullock's "Conversations with a Machine Oracle" which is an in-depth look at the limitations and possibilities of AI and chatGPT.