Hey!! Let's get some action going! What are we reading?

[Rumpelteazer]

I finished my third long book (700+ pages) of the year. I chose a book that has been on my TBR list for a couple of years; Great North Road by Peter F. Hamilton. Which is a mixture of crime and sci-fi. I always hesitated to read it because I'm not a huge fan of sci-fi and it's a very long book. But I loved it, it was the best book I've read so far this year. For me it felt more of a crime book set in the future (with all the new technology) than a sci-fi novel with a mystery thrown in.

In Newcastle-upon-Tyne, AD 2142, Detective Sidney Hurst attends a brutal murder scene. The victim is one of the wealthy North family clones – but none have been reported missing. And the crime’s most disturbing aspect is how the victim was killed. Twenty years ago, a North clone billionaire and his household were horrifically murdered in exactly the same manner, on the tropical planet of St Libra. But if the murderer is still at large, was Angela Tramelo wrongly convicted? Tough and confident, she never waivered under interrogation – claiming she alone survived an alien attack. But there is no animal life on St Libra. Investigating this alien threat becomes the Human Defence Agency’s top priority. The bio-fuel flowing from St Libra is the lifeblood of Earth’s economy and must be secured. So a vast expedition is mounted via the Newcastle gateway, and teams of engineers, support personnel and xenobiologists are dispatched to the planet. Along with their technical advisor, grudgingly released from prison, Angela Tramelo. But the expedition is cut off, deep within St Libra’s rainforests. Then the murders begin. Someone or something is picking off the team one by one. Angela insists it’s the alien, but her new colleagues aren’t so sure. Maybe she did see an alien, or maybe she has other reasons for being on St Libra ...

I can definitely recommend it.

[Dazrin]

Originally Posted by Dazrin

I am about 40% into Seveneves and am really enjoying it so far. Hard science fiction and riveting. I almost missed my train stop this afternoon because I was so immersed. And then spent almost 1/2 hour reading in my car before I decided I should actually get home. Hopefully this keeps up but I expect a significant change will come soon that may have a harsh transition.

Well, I was right about the harsh transition; the second half of the book feels almost like sequel. Very different than the first part but overall an excellent book.

Some thoughts in the spoiler.

Spoiler:

The first part feels a bit like The Martian, survival against horrendous odds, the second part is reminiscent of Greg Bear's Darwin's Radio set in the future. For the second half of the book I was surprised by the lack of progression in their technology, everything had grown better but it seemed like only evolutionary changes and over 5000, nothing major. He described part of that but it still doesn't seem like they did enough. Certainly they could do tremendous things (catching and retrieving hundreds of comets is not a minor accomplishment) but everything they did was based on what they already were doing at Zero. It didn't seem like there were any new leaps in technology. I still liked it but the second half was less engaging than the first.

[Rev. Bob]

Originally Posted by Hampshire Nanny

I'm now reading Saving Mars, a freebie I picked up at Amazon -- probably based on a recommendation I saw here at MobileRead. I've read the first 6.5 chapters and I'm enjoying it very much.

I just can't figure out how the covers are pertinent. 6 books in the series and everyone of them has a lovely woman in an elegant gown. So far (first 6.5 chapters, remember) they're living on Mars and wearing "walk-out suits" -- environmental suits with helmets. Quite a long way from an evening gown.

That was probably my recommendation; I read all six books back-to-back and was quite happy with the whole set.

As for the covers... The new ones are quite pretty, but I prefer the old ones that are plainer yet more thematically accurate. If you go to Amazon's page for the first book, the Kindle edition has the new cover and the Paperback has the old one. (Also, there's some stuff about Earth's high society, and after a closer look at the new cover, I'm reasonably sure what scene it represents. The new cover for book two, not so much. I'm rather sure Jessamyn never wore that getup. Pretty, though.)

Meanwhile, I've started Tom Holt's fourth "YouSpace" book, The Good, the Bad and the Smug, and I am quite happy with it. No surprise there, though.

[Hampshire Nanny]

I'm listening to another fascinating book by Simon Winchester. Krakatoa: Krakatoa: The Day the World Exploded: August 27, 1883. In his usual way, he takes over 2/3 of the book leading up to 10am on August 27 when Krakatoa erupted/exploded. Along the way you learn about Portuguese exploration and trade in the East Indies, differentiation of species and the theory of evolution, continental drift and plate tectonics, and more subjects related to this significant event. Winchester reads his own books and I find him fascinating to listen to. I'm about 1/4 of the way into the book and not only am I enjoying the story, but I'm learning a lot. I'm going to feel so smart when I reach the end of this book!

[HarryT]

Just finished "Emperor of Dawn" by Steve White, originally purchased from Baen in 2002. Baen description: "The Empire is in danger, with a weak sybarite on the throne and rebellion rising in outlying regions of the Galaxy and on Earth itself. Then the Emperor is assassinated, and General Ivar Brady-Schiovana is forced to declare himself Emperor. But hope appears in the persons of two men and a woman who are rumored to be legendary heroes."

Excellent space opera / military SF. Highly recommended.

[Dngrsone]

Finished The Mother Tongue: English and How It Got That Way by Bill Bryson. Now reading After the Golden Age by Carrie Vaughn... might pick up the sequel, though it'll cost me. Dngrswife is almost done with this book as well.

[Dngrsone]

Finished After the Golden Age and did pick up Dreams of the Golden Age but taking a little breather between by reading Terry Jones' Medieval Lives the book, by (you guessed it) Terry Jones.

While I have maintained that people--even scientists--tend to underestimate the intellectual capacities of people in the past, this book is providing a good reminder to myself of how much even I buy into the past-talking rhetoric. And I haven't even finished the first chapter yet!

[kalwisti]

I've been sidelined this week with a knee injury, so I've had time to do some extra reading. I'm halfway through Donald McCrory's No Ordinary Man, a biography of Cervantes. It is nicely done; although it has scholarly apparatus (footnotes, etc.), it is accessible to the layperson and is probably the best English-language biography of Cervantes currently available.

There are significant periods of Cervantes' life about which almost nothing is known. That has not stopped literary critics from making wild conjectures, so I particularly like McCrory's statement that "In the study of Cervantes the dispersion of error is the first step in the discovery of truth."

McCrory, Donald P. No ordinary man : the life and times of Miguel de Cervantes. Peter Owen Publishers, 2005. (eBook ed., 2014). ISBN 9780720612479

The last English-language biography I remember reading was Melveena McKendrick's Cervantes (Little, Brown & Co., 1980) which has gone out of print.

A bit off-topic, but thanks to Froide, I was pointed to a recent NPR story on the discovery of Cervantes' burial site inside the walls of a Madrid convent:

http://www.wnyc.org/story/the-reason...-in-a-convent/
Frayer, Lauren. "The reason Cervantes asked to be buried under a convent." 24 June 2015.

[elaysee]

I've been binging on Barbara Hambly's short stories, newly available at Scribd following their publication at Smashwords. Last I checked there are 20 up, including most of her major universes and four Sherlock Holmes stories. Ranged from "fun for fans" to "a whole lot of fun for fans." I think all of them fit middle to late in their series, so I wouldn't start with any of them - no major spoilerage, but general presumption of knowing the backstory. The Holmes stories might be good reads if you'd like to get a sense of whether her style is for you.

I also plowed through T. Kingfisher's works via Scribd. One short story collection, a novella, and two short novels, many of them fairy-tale influenced. One story and one of the novels jumped off from Bluebeard's Wife in very different and enjoyable directions. Kingfisher is a pen name for Ursula Vernon, who also writes children's works and graphic novels, one of which won a Hugo.

[HarryT]

Just finished "Armada" by Ernest Cline. Gamers help to fend off an alien invasion.

After reading his excellent previous book, "Ready, Player One" I had high hopes for this, but it was a big disappointment. The storyline was, I felt, weak, and the plot (which is basically the idea that the government has secretly been using video games for the last 40 years to train people for combat against a coming alien invasion) a cliched idea that's been done a lot better elsewhere (eg in Orson Scott Card's "Ender's Game"). The novel ends with a "deus ex machina" plot device which is very disappointing. Not recommended.

[HarryT]

Just finished "Storm Over Warlock", by Andre Norton. This is the first third of the "Warlock" omnibus, which I bought from Baen in 2002. Two humans have to try to survive on an alien planet after their exploration base is destroyed by the beetle-like "Throgs". Typical Andre Norton - OK but nothing exceptional. Moderately recommended.

[Fbone]

From the library I read Jasper Fforde's The Big Over Easy and it was great. Fforde has to be one of the brightest and most ingenious authors alive. This book like all his others is unique and fresh. How does he think these things up? A book of nursery characters written for mystery-loving adults. Who else could pull that off? Well written with developed characters (?!). A comical alternate England. Don't read it too fast or you'll miss some of its subtlety. Basically, I thought this was a hoot. Rated B+ [4 stars].

Next, a recent purchase, Harrison Squared by Darryl Gregory.

[pdurrant]

Originally Posted by pdurrant

Next up: Anathem by Neal Stephenson. Just got this one, after recommendations from lots of people and it was on special offer yesterday.

Wow. That's a long book. Very good, but long!

I jumped straight in rather than reading the explanation of the world setup. I enjoy working things out as I go along, but I think I've rarely read a book that has so many invented words.

Well worth reading, if you enjoy world-building and philosophy.

[Wow - I see it took me a week to get through this tome. Well, it is 800+ pages. Probably the longest I spent on a book this year!]


Next up: Poldark by Winston Graham. Having enjoyed the recent TV series, and since the books were on special offer, I thought I'd give it a go.

[thinkpad]

Originally Posted by pdurrant

Next up: Anathem by Neal Stephenson. Just got this one, after recommendations from lots of people and it was on special offer yesterday.

Speaking of Neal Stephenson I just started on his book Cryptonomicon

[Dngrsone]

Dngrswife just expressed an interest in reading the Poldark series... I wish I had known about a sale on them...

Finished Dreams of the Golden Age, very good. Started The Good Neighbor by A. J. Banner... I had to give up 25% of the way through... the "he's cheating on you" vibe was about as subtle as an incontinent skunk and I couldn't care less about the story any more.

So then I switched over to a post-apocalyptic series I recently picked up; Forager by Peter R. Stone.