November Reading Thread

[Dave Vicks]

THE STRANGER BESIDE ME.1980.
Ann Rule.
True Crime .

 

[Lady of Winterfell]

Still reading Act Like a Lady, Think Like a Lord by Celeste Connally. I'm just not making my way through books as quickly as I would like...

 

[hitmouse]

My son had to read this for school aged about 14-15, so it's still on a bookcase in the house somewhere though I've never read it myself. I didn't realise that it was "quite rude" "with a lot of drug use and sexual gags." It's a little late to tell me this now! He didn't think much of it. However, he didn't like Of Mice and Men either, another school book. He is still not much of a reader.

A flatmate of mine at university in the late 1980s was very keen on these books. I think I read the first couple of stories at her insistence and was not enthused, probably due to the lack of spaceships and rayguns, rather than from any lack of literary merit. They were very popular in the 80s. I seem to remember the TV series, with Olympia Dukakis, was quite good from what I remember.

 

[Dave]

I didn't mean that reading those books put my son off reading. He reads crime and war stories, I think. He just didn't think much of those two. I guess there is a bigger issue here, that in this age when it is very difficult to get young boys (especially) and girls to read, that the books they are forced to read at school should be something they will enjoy, but then everyone has different tastes and getting something that an entire class will like must be almost impossible.

 

[alexvss]

The Last Kingdom - book 1 of the Saxon Chronicles. Pretty good book, but it just doesn’t feel that new to me. I’ve consumed a lot of content about the same topic recently, so what I’m learning with this book is more about combat. That’s where Cornwell excels.

 

[Victoria Silverwolf]

I have just started From the Dust Returned (2001) by Ray Bradbury. It incorporates stories going back as far as 1946, all about a family of supernatural beings.

 

[Toby Frost]

I tried to read that a couple of years ago, partly inspired by the brilliant artwork, and really couldn't get into it. Each to his own of course, but I found Bradbury's prose very purple and sentimental.

 

[Danny McG]

A C Wise - out of the drowning deep.
The blurb says it's a SF murder mystery, we shall see, I'm only on the first page

 

[Elentarri]

I didn't mean that reading those books put my son off reading. He reads crime and war stories, I think. He just didn't think much of those two. I guess there is a bigger issue here, that in this age when it is very difficult to get young boys (especially) and girls to read, that the books they are forced to read at school should be something they will enjoy, but then everyone has different tastes and getting something that an entire class will like must be almost impossible.

I suspect the whole thing of nitpicking and dissecting any book and then having to be tested on it, kills whatever joy anyone might have got out of the book (whatever it is) and makes reading a chore (especially if the kids aren't really good at reading yet due to lack of practice)?

 

[Danny McG]

I suspect the whole thing of nitpicking and dissecting any book and then having to be tested on it, kills whatever joy anyone might have got out of the book (whatever it is) and makes reading a chore (especially if the kids aren't really good at reading yet due to lack of practice)?

My oldest daughter got her joint degree in English literature and teacher training.
She was, as a school kid, very fond of reading and was often sitting with her nose in a book.
That joy of reading is gone now, for that very reason, as soon as she sets off with a book she can't help starting the analysis of the story structure and looking for the meaning of each sentence.

 

[Elentarri]

My oldest daughter got her joint degree in English literature and teacher training.
She was, as a school kid, very fond of reading and was often sitting with her nose in a book.
That joy of reading is gone now, for that very reason, as soon as she sets off with a book she can't help starting the analysis of the story structure and looking for the meaning of each sentence.

That is so very, very sad. Novels are meant to be enjoyed. If you can get something else than just entertainment out of a novel, than great. Or if the novel makes you think. But destroying the joy of reading by dissecting novels is probably why most kids just don't pick up a book if they don't have to.

 

[Rodders]

I finished listening to The Algebraist. It was the first time i'd read it and it was pretty good. I preferred his Culture novels.

I'm not sure what to listen to next. I'm thinking of House of Suns, or Terminal World by Alistair Reynolds.

 

[Vertigo]

I finished listening to The Algebraist. It was the first time i'd read it and it was pretty good. I preferred his Culture novels.

I'm not sure what to listen to next. I'm thinking of House of Suns, or Terminal World by Alistair Reynolds.

The algebraist was either my first or second Banks book, I might possibly have read The Player of Games first, but regardless I didn't really have an awareness of how big the Culture was in Banks' work and certainly didn't have it to compare with The Algebraist. I do remember that I don't think I'd ever read anything that had such a complex plot and, for me, rewarding depth packed into a single book (certainly way more than TPoG) and I was forever sold on his writing. That book in particular and all his books in general seem to be written on such a large scale with frequently expertly interwoven threads. I love that in a book and always feel quite disappointed now when I read a book with just one single thread running through it.

 

[Rodders]

It certainly warrants a re-listen. There were a lot of character introductions at the beginning, which i struggled to keep track of, and i'm sure i missed some key detail as i couldn't quite reconcile why that Navy Pilot (i forget her name) wanted Sal dead.

I would've enjoyed a sequel to follow up on the AI plot.

 

[Vertigo]

It certainly warrants a re-listen. There were a lot of character introductions at the beginning, which i struggled to keep track of, and i'm sure i missed some key detail as i couldn't quite reconcile why that Navy Pilot (i forget her name) wanted Sal dead.

I would've enjoyed a sequel to follow up on the AI plot.

Spoiler

It's been a while since my second read but wasn't it all to do with blame for the death of one of their group when they were young and 'investigating' the forbidden crashed and ruined alien ship?

Even though it was a good few years later that I did my second read (after Banks' death) I think some vague memory helped me keep track of all the people and events better than my first time through. I think I enjoyed the re-read a lot more. As I think I did most of his books (I've reread all his SF stuff now).

And yes I always thought there was a lot more he could have done with that universe. I guess he just preferred the Culture universe!

 

[Dave Vicks]

Comic book BATGIRL.2014,2015.
Written by Cameron Stewart,Brenden
Fletcher.

OT:I miss Heath Ledger.

 

[Stephen Palmer]

David Hepworth: A Fabulous Creation: How the LP saved our lives.

 

[Stephen Palmer]

That is so very, very sad. Novels are meant to be enjoyed. If you can get something else than just entertainment out of a novel, than great. Or if the novel makes you think. But destroying the joy of reading by dissecting novels is probably why most kids just don't pick up a book if they don't have to.

It's the same for making music

 

[Parson]

My oldest daughter got her joint degree in English literature and teacher training.
She was, as a school kid, very fond of reading and was often sitting with her nose in a book.
That joy of reading is gone now, for that very reason, as soon as she sets off with a book she can't help starting the analysis of the story structure and looking for the meaning of each sentence.

This is an occupational hazard. When I listen to a sermon I often find myself thinking "Would I have said that, that way?" or "Hm, that's a pretty sketchy insight." But there are times when I am blown away, and I hope that happens to your daughter too from time to time.

 

[Beszel]

Just started Jeff Vandermeer's new book. High expectations to say the least.