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

[nekokami]

For some reason, I read "Tarzan and the Jewels of Opera" and I had this image of Tarzan at a production of Sigfried or something....

[zelda_pinwheel]

that's how it happens in my copy. not yours ? what, you think it's a fake ???

[nekokami]

I have no idea, I just meant I read the title in the previous post. As Lord Graystoke, I'm sure Tarzan was well acquainted with the opera.

[pshrynk]

If you're going for jewels of the Opera, you really need to go with Mozart. Wagner is far too complete ensemble with a purse that just screams of the opera.

[nekokami]

Ok, ok, The Marriage of Figaro, then!

[Lobolover]

The Purple Cloud by M.P.Shiel .

[montsnmags]

Originally Posted by nekokami

Finished Thief of Time last night. Might be my favorite of the Discworld novels so far, after A Hat Full of Sky.

I recall you saying further back that it didn't "grab" you at first. When did it grab you? (I ask out of curiosity only...I have vague recollections of the same reaction).

Cheers,
Marc

[DMcCunney]

Originally Posted by nekokami

Stranger is one of the few Heinlein books I've not re-read. (I've re-read Friday, but it's not a favorite.) I suppose I should re-read Stranger at some point, just to see if I get more out of it on a second read. I liked the premise well enough, but didn't engage with any of the characters.

I've often thought Podkayne was probably set in the same universe as Red Planet, and possibly also The Rolling Stones, though perhaps not, as the flat cats would surely have been in more evidence in Red Planet, and would have distracted from the character of Willis. Sometimes it's a bit hard to tell, though, as Heinlein would re-use some ideas, but shift others for the needs of the story. Stones would appear to be set in the same universe as The Moon is a Harsh Mistress, however.

I don't believe Podkayne is set in the same universe as Red Planet, but I think Red Planet is set in the same universe as Stranger. (See the portrayl of adult Martians, and assume Willis is a Martian nymph.)

And as mentioned, the Hazel in Rolling Stoes and the younger Hazel in Moon Is A Harsh Mistress are the same person.

Poddy turns up (though not by name) in _The Number of the Beast_ I don't consider that RAH's most successful novel, but he did have fun with it. The trend at the time was for authors to go back and try to ret-con their work into series, even if not necessarily written that way, such as Michael Moorcock's "eternal champion" efforts. RAH managed to tie all books ever written by anybody into the same universe. And I had to appreciate a book whose climax occurred at an SF convention.
______
Dennis

[JSWolf]

I just finished The Concrete Blonde by Micheal Connelly and it is a really good read. So are the other two book in the Harry Bosch series. I have all the eBooks except the one that's forthcoming in February 2009. I'm going to have the also get a hold of The Lincoln Lawyer as the main character there is also in the new Harry Bosch book.

[Lobolover]

"The red flower" by Vsevolod Michailovich Garshin .

[astra]

Originally Posted by Lobolover

"The red flower" by Vsevolod Michailovich Garshin .

I am curious what you are going to think about this one.

[nekokami]

Originally Posted by DMcCunney

I don't believe Podkayne is set in the same universe as Red Planet, but I think Red Planet is set in the same universe as Stranger. (See the portrayl of adult Martians, and assume Willis is a Martian nymph.)

And as mentioned, the Hazel in Rolling Stoes and the younger Hazel in Moon Is A Harsh Mistress are the same person.

Poddy turns up (though not by name) in _The Number of the Beast_ I don't consider that RAH's most successful novel, but he did have fun with it. The trend at the time was for authors to go back and try to ret-con their work into series, even if not necessarily written that way, such as Michael Moorcock's "eternal champion" efforts. RAH managed to tie all books ever written by anybody into the same universe. And I had to appreciate a book whose climax occurred at an SF convention.

I read Number, particularly the ending, as a sort of parody, and found it entertaining enough that I've re-read it a couple of times. (I particularly like the bit where Hazel's grandsons lose their legal freedom in a card game with Laz and Lor on their wedding night.) Certainly not his strongest book, especially from a plot point of view, but he gets extra marks for having introduced me to ERB and Doc Smith in the process.

Sometimes it's hard to tell if Heinlein intends two stories to be set in the same universe or not. In some cases we get directly contradicting descriptions, as in the Martians in Stranger and Red Planet vs. those in Double Star. In other cases, the stories don't have enough overlap in locale or time to be able to judge. I don't think we get any details about Venus in either Stranger or Red Planet to compare to those in Podkayne. The descriptions of Mars and Martians don't conflict, but there's very little about Martians, though Poddy comes from there. But the Venerians in Podkayne are certainly not those in Space Cadet, which are again different from those in Between Planets, so not everything Heinlein wrote was in the same universe, even though I think he did more with his Future History than many other authors, even before it became trendy.

My reasoning about Rolling Stones being set in possibly the same universe as Red Planet was based entirely on two comments while the family is on Mars -- Lowell asks a human if he's a Martian, and if so, where his third leg is, and later is allowed (through strings pulled by Hazel) to actually meet some Martians, though this is considered highly unusual and he won't discuss the experience. This is certainly consistent with the sort of policy I could imagine in post-revolutionary Mars following Red Planet. The matter of flatcats might be overlooked if they are primarily an equatorial species, I suppose-- the colonists in Red Planet spend most of their time in the latitudes (though I've always doubted that Heinlein really meant the poles).

I suppose all this has been discussed endlessly in r.a.sf or wherever....

[nekokami]

Originally Posted by montsnmags

I recall you saying further back that it didn't "grab" you at first. When did it grab you? (I ask out of curiosity only...I have vague recollections of the same reaction).

I think the bits with the History Monks started out a bit slow for me, and had the feel of more "stupid people doing stupid things." I stuck around because I knew Susan was going to show up, and I wanted to see what that was like. Since I'm in the field of education, I found the descriptions of Susan's conflict with her headmistress highly entertaining (even though there was a bit of stupid-people-stupid-things), so I kept reading. Shortly after that, the characters in the rest started to gel and I felt the whole story picked up.

Many of the Discworld books seem either a bit obvious (especially those that rely heavily on parody, e.g. Maskerade) or more than a bit rambling, e.g. The Color of Magic. I thought Thief of Time was better plotted and actually had a few twists I didn't see coming until at least halfway through the book.

Spoiler:

E.g. the identity of Time's son(s).

[pshrynk]

I'm reading "WHat Happened" by Scott McClelland. Have to stop every twenty minutes or so to keep from throwing the Kindle against a wall and swearing.

[nekokami]

Currently re-reading Star Surgeon by James White. (Second Sector General book.) I needed something to cheer me up.