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

[HomeInMyShoes]

^He was a master puppeteer and built an army around him. I have interests in planning and urban development. New York a little, but more any urban form. I'm not sure I'll ever read it, but it is certainly on my radar. My general thought on overly long books is I'd rather read three books instead of one like this one and get a more rounded view of life in general.

I am both pragmatic and indolent.

[Hampshire Nanny]

Originally Posted by din155

I started reading Shift (Wool Trilogy book 2) by Hugh Howey. Hoping it is as exciting as Wool.

I didn't think it was. But I read it any way. And I have Dust loaded onto my Kindle. I also selected Molly Fyde and the Parsona Rescue, Howey's first novel, as my Kindle Lending Library book this month.

[bfisher]

Originally Posted by issybird

Hah! I gave up waiting for it as an ebook and am listening to the audiobook, all 66+ hours of it, as you know. But I decided I'd like the hard copy to see the pictures and notes, so yesterday (when I could park near the university library instead of packing that back-breaker out to the perimeter of campus) I borrowed it.

Just as an FYI, this is far from hagiography, as I know you feared. Early days and Moses was already portrayed as mendacious and corrupt. He learned the lesson of how to get things done a tad too well.

I'm on part four of ten. My tactic is to break it up with other listens, but while I think it could and should be shorter, at the same time it's endlessly fascinating. Perhaps not so much to someone who didn't have an interest in urban development (I don't) or the politics of New York, city and state (I do).

There were about 350,000-400,000 words cut from the first draft. Apparently, whole chapters were removed.

[issybird]

Originally Posted by bfisher

There were about 350,000-400,000 words cut from the first draft. Apparently, whole chapters were removed.

That is outright amazing. As it is, I think it would have benefited from pruning, most especially of the instances where a theme or conclusion is described, restated, and then rephrased a third time, just in case you were too dim too get it the first two times. It adds up to a somewhat patronizing tone, although I admit that listening might make me more sensitive to it.

In general, I think Caro's one who loses sight of the forest for the trees. Moses' problem, of course, was the opposite. Among others.

I'm not saying it isn't a great biography nor enthralling, because it's both. But the length is ridiculous.

One note on the audiobook: the narrator, Robertson Dean, has a pleasant voice and cadences and reads well for sense. The number of mispronunciations, though, especially of proper nouns, is entirely unacceptable.

[bfisher]

It took 7 years of his life; I suppose he resisted dropping too much of his work - but it does make it less accessible.

There's a nice article here on the making of the book
http://www.thedailybeast.com/article...sterpiece.html

[Fbone]

Originally Posted by issybird

Hah! I gave up waiting for it as an ebook and am listening to the audiobook, all 66+ hours of it, as you know. But I decided I'd like the hard copy to see the pictures and notes, so yesterday (when I could park near the university library instead of packing that back-breaker out to the perimeter of campus) I borrowed it.

Instead of looking at picture books, shouldn't you be searching for your emu?

http://boston.cbslocal.com/2015/09/1...new-hampshire/

[issybird]

Originally Posted by Fbone

Instead of looking at picture books, shouldn't you be searching for your emu?

Not my emu! My emu never wanders off.

It seems to me it gets a might chilly in these parts for antipodean avians.

[CRussel]

Originally Posted by CRussel

And finished Cocaine Blues. Excellent. I enjoyed it even more this second read, as I picked up pieces that I'd missed the first time through.

Moving on to Flying Too High, the second in the series. This one introduces Mr. and Mrs. Butler as Phryne starts to build her Melbourne circle of associates.

Finished Flying Too High, and enjoyed it as much as I'd hoped. Also finished Murder on the Ballarat Train, where we're introduced to two new members of Phryne's household. (One of whom is dropped from the TV Series, unfortunately.)

Now reading Death at Victoria Dock. Another new character, and lots of action.

[Quelch]

Reading an historical novel, around the early ninth century, set around the area I hail from
I was born in a private house about half a kilometre from the banks of the Kennet river in Reading, near where the Kennet flows into the Thames
The novel is about King Arthur's Wessex forces fighting with the Vikings, Danes from Mercia and East Anglia
Most of the action is around London and the Thames
The author uses place names from that period, it's fun trying to link modern names to the period place names
Author: Bernard Cornwell
Title: Sword Song, fourth book in the series, I haven't read the first three !

[JamieEvan]

My Sister's Secret
This is a deeply poignant story. I feel like I am watching a movie.

[HarryT]

Originally Posted by Quelch

Reading an historical novel, around the early ninth century, set around the area I hail from
I was born in a private house about half a kilometre from the banks of the Kennet river in Reading, near where the Kennet flows into the Thames
The novel is about King Arthur's Wessex forces fighting with the Vikings, Danes from Mercia and East Anglia
Most of the action is around London and the Thames
The author uses place names from that period, it's fun trying to link modern names to the period place names
Author: Bernard Cornwell
Title: Sword Song, fourth book in the series, I haven't read the first three !

I've enjoyed every book of Bernard Cornwell's that I've read. I think he's one of the best authors of historical fiction around.

Permit me to thank you, by the way, for correctly writing "an historical novel", BTW. So few people bother with this kind of thing these days .

[Hampshire Nanny]

Originally Posted by CRussel

Finished Flying Too High, and enjoyed it as much as I'd hoped. Also finished Murder on the Ballarat Train, where we're introduced to two new members of Phryne's household. (One of whom is dropped from the TV Series, unfortunately.)

Now reading Death at Victoria Dock. Another new character, and lots of action.

I had picked up Cocaine Blues as a freebie at Amazon, and when I discovered that my library was offering the eBooks of the rest of them via Freading, I read right through the entire series. (Well, except for the most recently published which I had to read in dead tree format.)

[DrNefario]

Originally Posted by HarryT

I've enjoyed every book of Bernard Cornwell's that I've read. I think he's one of the best authors of historical fiction around.

Permit me to thank you, by the way, for correctly writing "an historical novel", BTW. So few people bother with this kind of thing these days .

Some would say it's only correct if you don't pronounce the H, otherwise it's a foolish affectation. An foolish affection.

I've enjoyed most of the Cornwell I've read, too, particularly the Sharpe and Starbuck series. I'm not sure I like them as much when they're further back in time. I didn't get on quite as well with the Grail Quest books.

I've just finished Tooth and Claw by Jo Walton, which I enjoyed a lot, after a slowish start, and I'm now into the recent Hugo winner, The Three-Body Problem by Cixin Liu, which I'm not sure about so far.

[WT Sharpe]

Nothing.

Spoiler:

Nothing: Surprising Insights Everywhere from Zero to Oblivion by New Scientist magazine (edited by Jeremy Webb)

[Apache]

Originally Posted by HarryT

I've enjoyed every book of Bernard Cornwell's that I've read. I think he's one of the best authors of historical fiction around.

I too have enjoyed all of Bernard Cornwell's books.
Apache