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

[CRussel]

They'd have to be. I tried the TV series. Was not impressed. I think we watched 5 or 6 episodes and finally decided it just wasn't working.

I've got the first book in my Calibre. I might read it someday. Though it's currently in the "Not Read" pile, not the "TBR" pile.

[Lusitanic]

'Creativity: Flow and the Psychology of Discovery and Invention'

'Espresso love' (reading on wattpad)

'Never let me go'

[Rev. Bob]

I just received a dead-tree Kickstarter book: the complete Snarfquest. Big graphic novel hardback (signed and numbered, limited to 500 copies) containing the original B&W story plus the just-completed color sequel, for a total of 300 pages.

Now to agonize over whether to jump into that immediately, or finish Ancillary Justice and Ancillary Sword first. Oh, and then there's the big Spider-Verse hardback that should get here in the next week or so...

[Dngrsone]

Originally Posted by Rev. Bob

I just received a dead-tree Kickstarter book: the complete Snarfquest. Big graphic novel hardback (signed and numbered, limited to 500 copies) containing the original B&W story plus the just-completed color sequel, for a total of 300 pages.

Now to agonize over whether to jump into that immediately, or finish Ancillary Justice and Ancillary Sword first. Oh, and then there's the big Spider-Verse hardback that should get here in the next week or so...

Oh, man! Decisions... I wouldn't mind paging through that spiderverse book myself (me already having read Leckie)

[CRussel]

Originally Posted by CRussel

Next up, Shogun. I read this some 40 years ago, and was enthralled then, but will be curious to read it now after having worked for a Japanese automaker for 12 years. Then, I knew absolutely nothing about Japan except that we'd dropped a couple of atomic bombs on them, but now I have at least a limited understanding and appreciation for their culture and society.

Meanwhile, for an audiobook, as soon as I finish Sharpe's Trafalgar (nearly done), I'll start the second in the Last of the Herald Mages series from Mercedes Lackey.

I got totally sucked in to Shogun, and I'm both reading it and listening to the Audible version, even though it isn't a WhisperSync book. This is a huge book (1,600 pages!), so it's taking a while and destroying my reading goals, but still, a superb read.

[alansplace]

Originally Posted by alansplace

I just completed reading Another Me which I enjoyed ot a lot! Now on to my May selection of a freebie from the Amazon lending library, The Living Bomb (Ed Noon #12) by Michael Avallone.

Finished reading The Living Bomb and now am starting to read Tough Cookie (Maggie Sullivan Mystery #2) by M. Ruth Myers.

When Depression-era private eye Maggie Sullivan is invited to dine with a millionaire, she doesn’t expect the first course to be a gun in her face. It draws her into a gold-plated web of theft, revenge, double crosses and murder.

A big-time swindle has made fools of some of the city’s wealthiest businessmen. The man behind it has vanished. When Maggie begins asking questions, he reappears – dead in the river. But she’s already learned too much. Someone’s out to silence her too.

Armed with her .38 and a nip of gin, Maggie closes in on a killer as a mobster offers a hint, a cop unsettles her with his chemistry, and a woman with deadly potential plays a game by her own rules.

[Rev. Bob]

Originally Posted by Dngrsone

Oh, man! Decisions... I wouldn't mind paging through that spiderverse book myself (me already having read Leckie)

I preordered it when it was available at about half-off, and I just ordered the Edge of Spider-Verse introduction that's also due to release the same day (Tuesday). I anticipate getting some solid reading out of the pair.

(I didn't order "Edge" originally because, at the time, the description for the big book was vague about its contents. Once I waited, it became clear that "Edge" would not be included there, so my decision was clear.)

[KyBunnies]

I do not know why I did it but I saw this book about alcoholism for free. Granted the title was catchy and I thought why not. I figured the author would go on and on about AA (Alcoholic Anonymous). Boy oh Boy was I wrong.

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Sadly this book is nothing but a joke for the true alcoholic. It actually stated in the book for the person to write down on paper that they will be quitting on a specific day. Yeah right. I have never know an alcoholic to write something down and stick with the plan.

It really pisses me off when someone thinks they can take a topic this serious and make it look so easy. Moving from being an active alcoholic into a recovering alcoholic is not easy. I honestly believe it is one of the hardest things an alcoholic will do, besides steps 5 and 6.

Disclaimer: I am not and have never been an alcoholic. However, I lived with an active alcoholic for 10+ years. I attended more AA meetings during that time than my husband. Yes I do know what I am talking about. I may not know the troubles, trials or the feelings or cravings but I know this book is nothing but a joke.

[treadlightly]

Originally Posted by CRussel

I got totally sucked in to Shogun, and I'm both reading it and listening to the Audible version, even though it isn't a WhisperSync book. This is a huge book (1,600 pages!), so it's taking a while and destroying my reading goals, but still, a superb read.

I've started Shogun and it's sucked me in too! And no, not healthy for my book total. But it did inspire me to go out for sushi.

[HarryT]

Originally Posted by treadlightly

I've started Shogun and it's sucked me in too! And no, not healthy for my book total. But it did inspire me to go out for sushi.

"Shogun" is a great book, but one thing about it mildly annoys me: why on Earth did the author change the name of real historical people?

[pdurrant]

Originally Posted by pdurrant

And it was an enjoyable collection of his posts, eccentrically but enjoyably arranged in (near) alphabetical order or title.

Next I started on Lightspeed Magazine #60 for May 2015, which has a good selection of stories, and I'm still reading.

I also finished off three shorts by Darrell Bain that I bought long ago from Fictionwise: Cure for the Morning After, Unforseen Reward and Samantha. OK, but not worth what I paid for them, as they were around £1 each(!).

I finished the magazine, and it was a good issue.

Then I started an omnibus "The Pet Plague Trilogy" by Darrell Bain. I can't recommend it, although I'm going to skim to the end in a sort of dreadful fascination.

I'm also in the middle of reading "The Owl Service" by Alan Garner. A rather good children's supernatural story set in Wales. I know some of my friends read this when we were children, but somehow I never got around to it, although the name stuck in my head, so when it was on special offer at Amazon recently I couldn't resist seeing what I'd missed.

[CRussel]

Originally Posted by treadlightly

I've started Shogun and it's sucked me in too! And no, not healthy for my book total. But it did inspire me to go out for sushi.

For the first time in the 11 years I've been on the Coast, we actually have a local Japanese restaurant. But not really a sushi restaurant, though they do include some basic rolls on the menu and in the bento boxes.

I read this book when it first released, back in the 70's, and enjoyed it then, but only started reading it again because it was on the nomination list for the MobileRead Book Club. Grabbed a copy from the BC Library, and an Audible version with 1 credit (53 1/2 hours!). Mostly I'm listening to it, even though the narrator is only acceptable, because my only "free" time right now is when I'm in the car or working around the house.

Originally Posted by HarryT

"Shogun" is a great book, but one thing about it mildly annoys me: why on Earth did the author change the name of real historical people?

I've wondered about that too, but it hasn't really interfered with my enjoyment.

[MickeyC]

Originally Posted by HarryT

"Shogun" is a great book, but one thing about it mildly annoys me: why on Earth did the author change the name of real historical people?

Could that have been for legal reasons? For example, in a recent Lee Child book, he had to refer to Fort Meyer as Fort Dyer for, I was told, legal reasons.

[ATDrake]

Originally Posted by HarryT

"Shogun" is a great book, but one thing about it mildly annoys me: why on Earth did the author change the name of real historical people?

Possibly because he wanted to do riffs on their backstories and themes for dramatic reasons rather than "pure" historical novels which would have to have stuck reasonably close to real-life events, if they were to remain plausibly "accurate" (or otherwise catch flack from critics and historically knowledgeable Gentle Readers for taking fairly significant liberties).

Much of Clavell's Asian Saga is based on similarly thinly-veiled historical figures and events taken in a somewhat AU fashion than what actually occurred*, and the books do tie into each other in a shared universe sense where the personages and their relations keep intersecting with each other that doesn't usually happen IRL outside of Illuminati conspiracy theories.

* I.e., the historical João de Rodrigues† whom Father Martin Alvito was based upon was in reality a much more enlightened (and hygienic!) man in a much greater position of trust with Tokugawa Ieyasu and less conflict with Will Adams, Hosokawa Gracia who was the basis of Lady Mariko probably never even met Will Adams in real life, much less carried on a secret affair with him, and a whole bunch of other stuff was changed in a way not particularly compatible with actual events‡, even before accounting for the tie-ins to the rest of Clavell's books.

† There's a really good biography of him by Michael S. Cooper of the Society of Jesuits, if anyone's interested.

‡ Heian-to-early-Tokugawa Japan used to be one of my hobbies, many, many years ago, in part sparked by having read nearly all the Asian Saga from my dad's collection growing up (still haven't done Whirlwind, which appears to be severely out of print, although maybe one day my dad will find his paperback copy) and realizing it was (mostly) Based On A True Story.

[Stitchawl]

Originally Posted by treadlightly

I've started Shogun and it's sucked me in too! And no, not healthy for my book total. But it did inspire me to go out for sushi.

It inspired me to live in Japan for fifteen years. (The sushi was great...)

Originally Posted by HarryT

"Shogun" is a great book, but one thing about it mildly annoys me: why on Earth did the author change the name of real historical people?

Clevell changes the names of most of the people in his books, but leaves no question about who the real model is. In "Noble House" he even goes so far as to mention the slightly off-set front doorway into "Jardines" building in Central, facing the water, the real Hong Kong trading concern that is THE noble house, leaving no doubt as to players in the story.

Originally Posted by ATDrake

Possibly because he wanted to do riffs on their backstories and themes for dramatic reasons rather than "pure" historical novels which would have to have stuck reasonably close to real-life events, if they were to remain plausibly "accurate" (or otherwise catch flack from critics and historically knowledgeable Gentle Readers for taking fairly significant liberties).

There were several other differences in the book that one would only be familiar with if you'd lived in Osaka or Kyoto. References to Osaka Jo (Osaka Castle,) references to the bridges over the Yodogawa, etc. that when you read them and know the area make you wonder if he got lost somewhere. But at the same time, if you walk from the Kyobashi train station to the Donjon at Osaka Castle, you can clearly 'see' the procession where the characters walked through winding stone 'canyons,' passing through massive wooden gates under the eyes of samurai guards. Great place for a picnic!

But it's a fiction book. It's not a history or a geography school book, and these differences didn't change my view of the series... a wonderful read! And Japan is still 'Old Japan,' despite the modern age. I shot this three years ago in Kyoto...

still haven't done Whirlwind, which appears to be severely out of print,

There is good reason that it's out of print. It was HORRIBLE! It was as bad as the rest of the series was good. Absolutely boring!


Stitchawl