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

[DrNefario]

By a quirk of timing, I finished two books yesterday. It would have been a good day for my TBR had I not also bought 3.

I had started Spin by Robert Charles Wilson about two weeks ago, and it was going quite slowly, so I decided to start A Cold Day for Murder by Dana Stabenow as a change of pace a couple of days ago. It just worked out that Spin picked up speed towards the end, and the Stabenow was fairly short, so I ended up finishing both of them yesterday.

Spin was the 2006 Hugo winner, and is a "proper" SF novel, exploring a big idea. Essentially, Earth is encapsulated in some kind of bubble by an unknown outside agency, and the book follows the reactions of the population and the attempts to find out what's happening. I liked it a lot. It didn't change my life, or anything like that, but it is a good solid piece of SF with believable characters and decent writing. I understand it's the first in a trilogy, but I don't know if the sequels were bolted on after the fact or if it was always conceived that way. It seems self-contained enough.

It has just belatedly occurred to me that it has a similar structure to Oryx and Crake, which I read a couple of months ago.

I have just two more Hugo winners left to read to complete the set: Lord of Light by Roger Zelazny and Where Late the Sweet Birds Sang by Kate Wilhelm. I'm looking forward to both, but need to read something else next.

A Cold Day for Murder is the first Kate Shugak mystery from Dana Stabenow. It's perfectly readable and enjoyable, and an interesting insight into the Alaskan way of life. I associate Stabenow very much with ebooks - probably because I got three of her books for free on the kindle store - so I did do a bit of a mental double-take when I found out one of the characters was wounded in Vietnam. It was originally published in 1992, which makes the ages work out a bit more sensibly. I'd be happy to read more, although my TBR is seriously overcrowded.

I haven't actually decided what to read next, but I really need to give my new Nook a run out.

[Dr. Drib]

I'm reading "Deadfall Hotel," a very creepy sort of novel, written by Steve Rasnic Tem.

I'm 100 pages into it, with about 130 to go.

It's a very stylishly written novel, something I love in writing, regardless of genre.



Don

[Stephjk]

Well, I've finally finished reading the Samuel Butler translation of Homer's Iliad, thank God!

To be honest I found it bloodthirsty, descriptive, repetitive and very, very boring! I persevered though and managed to get through it in three weeks by interspersing it with some chick lit. Maybe it was my choice of translation that made it so boring, I'd love to be able to read the original version but my smattering of modern Greek won't stretch to that.

I will try the Odyssey some time but I think I deserve a rest from classics for a while!

[HarryT]

Originally Posted by Stephjk

I will try the Odyssey some time but I think I deserve a rest from classics for a while!

The Odyssey is a much, MUCH more interesting story - a really fun adventure story. As I've said before, I would recommend Richard Lattimore's translation.

[Stephjk]

Originally Posted by HarryT

The Odyssey is a much, MUCH more interesting story - a really fun adventure story. As I've said before, I would recommend Richard Lattimore's translation.

I'm not dreading the Odyssey as much as I was the Iliad as we've been to so many of the places that are mentioned in the book so it will have some realism for me. Thanks for the recommendation, I'll definitely look at it.

[HarryT]

"The Apocalypse Troll" by David Weber. A very enjoyable standalone military SF novel which I bought from Baen in January 2000. In the 25th century, humanity is slowly winning a war against the xenophobic and genocidal Kangas. In an attempt to change history and destroy the human race before it develops spaceflight, a Kanga batllefleet makes a desperate attempt to travel backwards in time, hotly pursued by a human fleet. They end up in the early 21st century where the sole survivor of the human fleet must attempt to cooperate with the primitive military forces of 2007 to destroy the surviving Kanga Cyborg (the "Troll" of the title) before it can destroy humanity.

Very good. I recommend this one to anyone who likes military SF or thrillers.

[Apache]

Originally Posted by HarryT

"The Apocalypse Troll" by David Weber. A very enjoyable standalone military SF novel which I bought from Baen in January 2000. In the 25th century, humanity is slowly winning a war against the xenophobic and genocidal Kangas. In an attempt to change history and destroy the human race before it develops spaceflight, a Kanga batllefleet makes a desperate attempt to travel backwards in time, hotly pursued by a human fleet. They end up in the early 21st century where the sole survivor of the human fleet must attempt to cooperate with the primitive military forces of 2007 to destroy the surviving Kanga Cyborg (the "Troll" of the title) before it can destroy humanity.

Very good. I recommend this one to anyone who likes military SF or thrillers.

I will have to read that one again. I remember enjoying it very much.
APache

[HarryT]

Originally Posted by Apache

I will have to read that one again. I remember enjoying it very much.
APache

Yes, I remembered about half way through that I'd read it before, but it stands up to a re-read very well.

[pdurrant]

Originally Posted by pdurrant

Next: Seer's Blood by Doranna Durgin. Originally bought back in April 2002.

Good. There are four or five made-up words that are used it weird ways, but on the whole, it's a satisfying fantasy adventure. Another good book I somehow missed reading at the time I bought it.

Next: The King’s Peace by Jo Walton. First book in a trilogy I recently bought when it was the (UK) Kindle Deal of the Day.

It seems to be a near-arthurian story, but explicitly not set in England and not about King Arthur, despite similarities. (Which means, of course, that the plot can be new.) It's looking interesting.

[mediax]

Originally Posted by Stephjk

I will try the Odyssey some time but I think I deserve a rest from classics for a while!

I can recommend Madeline Miller's The Song of Achilles and Margaret Atwood's The Penelopeiad as related reading in a more modern style.

The Penelopeiad is probably best appreciated after reading the Odyssey itself, but it was reading The Song of Achilles that finally persuaded me to tackle the Odyssey (after many, many years of Classicsophobia).

I thoroughly enjoyed all thre, and The Song of Achilles is one of my very favourite books of recent years.

[Gazella]

Originally Posted by mediax

The Song of Achilles is one of my very favourite books of recent years.

Really?! It's one of my worst.

[Polly7]

Rynn's World by Steve Parker, part of the Space Marine Battles series, published by Black Library.

[CRussel]

Originally Posted by CRussel

Reading an OLD classic. Andre Norton's Witch World. I haven't read any of her books in years, but came across this original in the series and thought it might be a hoot.

Well, and that was really quite enjoyable. And stood the test of time rather well, all things considered. I think I'm going to have to hunt up some later ones. At least most of them appear to be in eBook format. (This was an ancient and yellowed paperback I found hidden in the back of one of my shelves.)

Next up, a re-read of Balance of Trade, a standalone book in the Liaden Universe by Sharon Lee and Steve Miller. A sequel to this book has been submitted to Baen, so the eArc can't be far away. A good time to re-read this one.

[alansplace]

Originally Posted by alansplace

The versions of the Nancy Drew Mysteries that are available in the 21st century have all been updated back in 1971. The updated material is pretty easy to identify and usually I find these updates to be mostly unobtrusive. But Mystery of the Moss-Covered Mansion seemed to be almost all an updated/rewritten story. I think this is a shame. I read them to experience nostalga about the 40's and 50's, not the 70's! Oh well, the next one may be better.

I found a used hardback copy of the 1941 edition of The Mystery At The Moss-Covered Mansion (Nancy Drew #18) by Carolyn Keene (Mildred Wirt Benson). Boy-oh-boy was I ever correct in saying that the one I read a few weeks ago "seemed to be almost all an updated/rewritten story". I really enjoyed reading this one!

[HarryT]

Originally Posted by alansplace

I found a used hardback copy of the 1941 edition of The Mystery At The Moss-Covered Mansion (Nancy Drew #18) by Carolyn Keene (Mildred Wirt Benson). Boy-oh-boy was I ever correct in saying that the one I read a few weeks ago "seemed to be almost all an updated/rewritten story". I really enjoyed reading this one!

They were rewritten, of course - both the "Hardy Boys" and "Nancy Drew" series were re-written in the 1950, to remove the rather unpleasant racial stereotyping of the originals, and also (in many cases) to make the books shorter and easier to read. In some cases the re-write retained the original plot, while in others only the title was retained and the book itself was a completely different story.