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

[pdurrant]

Originally Posted by pdurrant

Next up: Dragon's Eye by Christopher Stasheff from the February 2014 Baen Monthly bundle. One of three left of my 2014 purchases (neglecting large series purchases).

An OK collection of dragon short stories by a wide variety of authors.

Next up: The Rackham Files by Dean Ing. Bought in January 2004.

[Yapyap]

I just finished Keeping Up with the Joneses by Nick Harkaway, the most recent story under the Doctor Who: Time Trips umbrella.

It was certainly imaginative and I felt the Tenth Doctor was very much in character - in fact, the entire story felt very much like a Ten episode. So I think it'd be very good for people who love Ten and his era. Unfortunately I'm not really one of those people, so some of the same things (mainly the hectic pace and the rapid-fire speech, half of it random nonsense) that I didn't care for in the show, I also didn't warm to here.

Still, I do think it was, objectively, a very good short story - the best in the Time Trips series so far, certainly. Self-contained, with a nice enough little plot, and a very in-character Doctor, just not really for me. (That said, it's not that I didn't enjoy it at all - I did, to an extent.)

[CRussel]

Originally Posted by CRussel

Finished The Steerswoman, and eager for the next to be available in eBook format.

Started the second in the Tinker series, but got sidetracked by a new Bill Slider.

Finished Blood Never Dies, #15 in the Bill Slider series by Cynthia Harrod-Eagles. Excellent. I've never understood why these haven't been made into a TV series - they would work really well. Especially because it's the cast of characters that make up Sliders team that make the whole thing work. And who wouldn't want to play Porson, his boss!

(This book was still overpriced at Amazon and Kobo, but succumbed to a Kobo 50% coupon to get it into budget range. And give that it's being read by two people, I figure it's good value.)

Next up - #2 in the Tinker series from Wen Spencer -- Wolf Who Rules

[alansplace]

Originally Posted by leanansidhe

Just finishing up Monster Hunter International, and will begin Monster Hunter Vendetta sometime today. I really enjoyed the book, it's fast paced and full of action, and of course killing monsters .

Originally Posted by alansplace

!! Now back to one of the 4 others I have begun. I think maybe I'll finish Ruddy Gore next.

Originally Posted by alansplace

I just finished reading Ruddy Gore and next I'll finish reading Indemnity Only.

Originally Posted by alansplace

I've finished Ruddy Gore and Indemnity Only and enjoyed them both a lot! Next I'll finish reading Dance of the Winnebagos!

I completed reading Dance of the Winnebagos and enjoyed reading it a lot! I've just gotten a new Amazon freebie named Origins (Origins #1) by Mark Henrikson and I've begun reading it. It appears that it should be quite interesting!

[pdurrant]

Originally Posted by pdurrant

Next up: The Rackham Files by Dean Ing. Bought in January 2004.

Three different stories about one character. Would have been better re-worked as a cohesive novel.

Spoiler:

The first story is post-9/11 story about a mysterious ship in San Francisco. The second is an encounter with an alien, and the third is post-nuclear survival. About the only connection is the central character.

I'm sure I've read the middle one fairly recently in some other collection.

Next up: Carousel Sun by Sharon Lee. From the January 2014 Baen Monthly Bundle.

[Dr. Drib]

I'm currently reading a very nice re-issue of an older fantasy trilogy by T.C. Rypel, about a half-white Samurai, titled Gonji: Red Blade from the East.

Here's the link from Amazon:

http://www.amazon.com/Gonji-Blade-T-...ypel+in+kindle

[DrNefario]

I a three-book weekend, finishing:

So You Want to Be a Wizard? - Diane Duane. This was okay. I had a long break in the middle of reading it - I started it in 2012 - and it was never my "main" book, so I probably didn't get the best experience, but it seemed competent. It was probably written for a younger target audience than anything I've read for a while, too.

The Drowned World - JG Ballard. Somewhat apt, given that quite a bit of the UK is underwater at the moment. If only the bit about the tropical heat was also appropriate. Maybe I should try The Drought next? Or maybe not. I don't think he wrote a book called The Temperate World. Anyway, this was kind of oddball, but I think fairly tame for Ballard. It's actually the first book of his that I've read. It's about a world where the temperature has risen and the sea levels have followed, and humanity is reduced to enclaves near the poles. (Nothing to do with modern global-warming theories, it all seems to stem from something going wrong with the sun.) It's the story Ballard chooses to tell in this setting that's kind of offbeat and psychological, with a small scientific party in the ruins of (we later discover) London. Still, it was evocative and interesting.

What a Good Do! - James Whitham and Mac MacDiarmid. Probably not of much interest to anyone else here, this is the (assisted) autobiography of the British motorcycle racer and commentator James Whitham. I found it in a charity shop on Saturday morning, and had finished it by Sunday evening. I really enjoyed it, but I like my bike racing. I've had my eye on the ebook for a while, but as far as I can tell it's only available direct from Haynes, and at a higher price than I really want to pay, so getting it for a sixth of that price was a great bargain.

[orlok]

Originally Posted by DrNefario

...but I think fairly tame for Ballard...

Try Crash if you want something a bit less tame .

[Tarana]

My Mom loves the Bill Slider series. I used the feb50 coupon to pick up the last book. I got all of them through discount coupons through Kobo, some about 80% off. I haven't started them yet.

Just started Blood Rites (Dresden Files) which is book 6. Yay! 8 more books to go before May! My morning short story/novella stories in audiobook for this week are An Autobiography by Agatha Christie and The Myth of the Garage. Freebees that I've 'avoided' for quite a while. I'm more than halfway done with Agatha and despite the poor recording, it is very interesting since her focus is on her writing.

[Strether]

I’m going to give up on Fantasy as a genre, I think. Even when written by authors whose other work I enjoy, I can’t get interested. I’ve read Nathan Lowell’s Trader sci-fi series, and really enjoyed the books, but Ravenwood by the same author seemed very humdrum. I got through it, but have no desire to read the others in the series. Wen Spenser’s Tinker I abandoned halfway through. Just couldn’t suspend my disbelief long enough to get through it.

In a week or so, I’ll have David Weber’s new Safehold novel, and maybe that’ll satisfy. Though from reading the snippets he’s released beforehand, it sounds like this is going to be another battle-laden tome. I struggled with the last one trying to keep track of the new characters and also the new settings. I’ve got a lot of time invested in the series, though, and I need to know what happens to Clyntahn (political significance in the choice of that name, I wonder?) and how. Supposedly there are only going to be 8 books in the series, so there has to be a lot of plot movement soon.

In the meantime, I’ve been immersed in the 19th century London musical scene, reading some of Bernard Shaw’s music criticism. Shaw was music critic for The World from 1890 to 1894, and I think anyone interested in classical music would be both amused and informed from reading these columns if they can find the books, maybe in their libraries. I bought the 3-volume set in a used book store, but I see there are a couple of sets available from Amazon for $20, which is good value for the right person. Shaw brings his good humor and breadth of knowledge to these reviews.

Reading his column dealing with the Mozart centenary in 1891, it’s clear that Mozart was a tougher sell than he is today, even. Shaw says his consummate achievement consisted of the operas Don Juan and Le Nozze di Figaro, and his 3 or 4 perfect symphonies. I doubt any Mozart music lover today would agree with such a restricted list, but using the index to the volumes and looking through all the Mozart entries, he only heard one piano concerto during the four years he was a critic, and his other Mozart experiences, except for some of the operas, were likewise pretty rare. Then, as now, the audiences were mostly interested in Romantic composers’ music, and anyway, from Shaw’s criticisms, you see that the performers, orchestras and soloists alike, were not prepared to perform his music to advantage.

Anyhow, the centenary was commemorated in London when “...the Crystal Palace committed itself to the Jupiter Symphony and the Requiem; and the Albert Hall, by way of varying the entertainment, announced the Requiem and the Jupiter Symphony.” I’m sure it was a very different celebration in London in 1991.

Jim

[bfisher]

Wow, he never heard a performance of "The Magic Flute" or the Clarinet Concerto in A? It was in the era just before recorded performances were available, so perhaps that was a factor in what was in demand.

[Strether]

Originally Posted by bfisher

Wow, he never heard a performance of "The Magic Flute" or the Clarinet Concerto in A? It was in the era just before recorded performances were available, so perhaps that was a factor in what was in demand.

I was struck by the omission of "The Magic Flute" too, and though he mentions the opera quite a number of times over the years, there's no review of any performance, so maybe he just knew it from the score. And the only Concerto in A he mentions is one played by the violinist Joachim--Mozart's Violin Concerto No. 5, presumably.

Shaw has this to say about the demand:

"I know of more than one concert-giver who asks every singer he engages for some song by Mozart, and is invariably met with the plea of excessive difficulty. You cannot 'make an effect' with Mozart, or work your audience up by playing on their hysterical susceptibilities.

"Nothing but the finest execution--beautiful, expressive, and intelligent--will serve; and the worst of it is, that the phrases are so perfectly clear and straightforward, that you are found out the moment you swerve by a hair's breadth from perfection, whilst, at the same time, your work is so obvious, that everyone thinks it must be easy, and puts you down remorselessly as a duffer for botching it. Naturally, then, we do not hear much of Mozart; and what we do hear goes far to destroy his reputation."

Jim

[Strether]

I think I've discovered a book to get me out of my reading slump and also out of 19th century musical London. Someone on this thread awhile ago recommended The Martian, by Andy Weir and it's just been released as an ebook. About an astronaut on a mission to Mars who is injured and assumed dead and his body left on the planet by his fellow astronauts who leave to come home. Except, of course, he's not. I'm six chapters in and enjoying it a lot. The humor in it makes for a very different (and very welcome) sci-fi reading experience.

Jim

[Dazrin]

Originally Posted by Dazrin

That was a very quick read, but very fun. I will need to get the next one when it is available (Fall 2014 supposedly). Another on-going series by Brandon Sanderson, I am not sure how he keeps up with all of these. At least WoT is finished now.

Still nothing from the library, so I am not sure what will be next.

Next was The Girl in the Steel Corset by Kady Cross, book 1 of the Steampunk Chronicles. I had been watching this one for a while and felt like some steampunk. It is a YA novel with very straightforward plot, but it was fun. Interesting set of mechanics for this flavor of steampunk.

Next is now Sourcery by Terry Pratchett, another in the long list of Discworld backlog that I have been muddling my way through.

[HarryT]

Just finished "Bull God" by Roberta Gellis, which I bought from Baen in May 2000.

A very interesting fantasy novel - a retelling of the story of King Minos of Crete and the Minotaur, told from the viewpoint of Ariadne, the daughter of King Minos who becomes the priestess of Dionysus in Knossos. In this version of the story, the Olympian Gods are real, but magicians, rather than gods, although considered to be gods by the ordinary people.

Very good indeed, especially for anyone with an interest in Greek Mythology.