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

[pdurrant]

Originally Posted by pdurrant

Next up: Spellbound by Larry Correia. The second in his Hard Magic series.

Excellent fun in a magical alternate Earth. One just has to go with it. A very similar feel to his Monster Hunter series, which I also liked.


Next up: Deeds of the Disturber by Elizabeth Peters. Another in her Amelia Peabody series. I am glad I got these when they were on special offer.

[HomeInMyShoes]

Just started Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn. I feel so weird reading a NY Times bestseller list book. It's so, foreign (haha) to me.

I'm also finishing up a book from The Gambia just to stay in character.

[Dazrin]

Originally Posted by Dazrin

Next up: Crocodile on the Sandbank, Amelia Peabody #1, by Elizabeth Peters from my library.

I really like Ms. Peabody and Emerson. Both great characters and their interactions is a hoot. I will certainly continue in this series although I will take my time doing so.

Next up: Moving Pictures by Terry Pratchett, Discworld 10.

[pdurrant]

Originally Posted by Dazrin

I really like Ms. Peabody and Emerson. Both great characters and their interactions is a hoot. I will certainly continue in this series although I will take my time doing so.

I'm also reading my way through the series slowly. They are good fun.

[orlok]

Reading The House of Hunger by Dambudzo Marechera.

"The novella and nine short stories, most of them set in Zimbabwe, symbolise both home and country as the 'house of hunger', the place of madness and violence and despair."

Amazing command of the English language, considering it was his second language, full of startling imagery, extreme violence and sex, and ultimately supremely disturbing and sad.

[samhy]

I just finished 11.22.63 by Stephen King. It was such a great read! I was so into the story, that evertything seemed plausible to me and I was rooting for the main character.
Now I'm reading Les délices de Tokyo by Durian Sukegawa. The movie Sweet Red Bean Paste is from this book.
Really different books.

[CRussel]

Originally Posted by Dazrin

I really like Ms. Peabody and Emerson. Both great characters and their interactions is a hoot. I will certainly continue in this series although I will take my time doing so.

Originally Posted by pdurrant

I'm also reading my way through the series slowly. They are good fun.

As am I, though it's been a while since I read one. Need to change that! Thanks for the reminder.

Currently still reading Phoenix Rising. I'm a bit bogged down in the early part, but that is somewhat expected. Others have warned that it starts slow with lots of characters being introduced. Plus I've just had a plethora of interrupts at work, cutting into my spare time.

[timebug]

I have just finished reading 'The Watcher' by Charles MacLean.
I first read this one in 1983 when it arrived as a 'bonus book'
from a postal book club I belonged to. I passed it on to friends
and it was lost in the ether. I always meant to re-read it.
Last year I saw that it had been re-published, so I asked my son
who is in the book trade, to order a copy for me.
I remembered being impressed by the sheer power of the book on
my first reading; that feeling has not diminished, indeed, it has been
intensified by this second reading!
A strong narrative,about a man who (apparently), has suffered from
a nervous breakdown,and begun to commit atrocities against those
closest to him. Or has he?
Is he, in fact the victim of a set of circumstances, that historically
pit him against an elder foe, in the half-real world of myth?
The reader has to decide, if he is indeed a disturbed man, with a
violent and sadistic streak, or an innocent victim of a conspiracy to
put him in that position,with a view to gain some object of arcane
power, for unspeakable ends?
Thoughtful stuff, labelled (by the publisher) as 'Horror' I think it goes
way beyond the conventional 'horror' tag.
I will keep this copy, because I certainly will read it yet again,in the
not too distant future!

[charlyee]

Paw Print in Oman
By
Charlotte Smith.

Together with an old favorite

Murder On The Orient Express.

[cromag]

Originally Posted by cromag

...
And now, back to some selected shorts.

I'm still filling odd moments in my schedule with short(er) works. I read several more pieces, including some stories in the most recent Analog and Asimov's issues.

Two of the titles that I think deserve special mention are My Terminal Moraine, by Frank R. Stockton, and Repairing the Sky, Tales of Myth and Magic from Old China, by Dorothy Trench Bonett.

I first encountered Frank R. Stockton when I was a teen. He wrote a collection of "historical" stories about New Jersey that I enjoyed. My Terminal Moraine is available here at Mobileread. It's classified as a Romance, but I don't think it would qualify in contemporary terms. It's a fun story about a likable underachiever who changes his ways to win the girl next door. But, I suspect the Geology at the heart of the story is ... unreliable.

Repairing the Sky, Tales of Myth and Magic from Old China, by Dorothy Trench Bonett, is brand new at Smashwords. I'm a fan of mythologies of various cultures and don't know too many from China. Ms. Bonett is apparently a translator and poet, and did a good job. (NOTE: There are a few typos. No worse than I used to encounter in mass market paperbacks back in the early 60s, but be aware.)


I'll be reading more short stories for a while, but things may (finally!) be approaching "manageable."

[Dngrsone]

Finished Reckless by Chrissie Hynde. I liked this book... Chrissie, of course, is the founder, lead singer, rhythm guitarist and writer for the rock band The Pretenders. This autobiography gives a vivid picture of the '60s counterculture in America and tells the story of a (extremely lucky) slacker who only wants to play rhythm guitar in a band. On the way, she manages to not destroy herself with drugs and alcohol (not through lack of trying), survives at ground zero during the riot at Kent State University and once she gets to London, is perfectly placed to participate in the birth in the Punk movement. She finally gets her own band in 1978, and she documents their progress until the death of two of the original members in 1982.

If you are interested in the music and characters of the Punk era, this book dovetails nicely with a book I previously read called Punk Rock: an Oral History by John Robb.

Meanwhile, I have begun the third Brilliance novel, Written in Fire by Marcus Sakey.

[Cinisajoy]

Originally Posted by Dngrsone

Finished Reckless by Chrissie Hynde. I liked this book... Chrissie, of course, is the founder, lead singer, rhythm guitarist and writer for the rock band The Pretenders. This autobiography gives a vivid picture of the '60s counterculture in America and tells the story of a (extremely lucky) slacker who only wants to play rhythm guitar in a band. On the way, she manages to not destroy herself with drugs and alcohol (not through lack of trying), survives at ground zero during the riot at Kent State University and once she gets to London, is perfectly placed to participate in the birth in the Punk movement. She finally gets her own band in 1978, and she documents their progress until the death of two of the original members in 1982.

If you are interested in the music and characters of the Punk era, this book dovetails nicely with a book I previously read called Punk Rock: an Oral History by John Robb.

Meanwhile, I have begun the third Brilliance novel, Written in Fire by Marcus Sakey.

I was going to say you might like Pat Benatar's "Between a rock and a hard place."
Though it is now $12.49.

[fantasyfan]

I have just finished reading the two entries from Defoe in Vol 27 of "The Harvard Classics".

The first is Defoe's pamphlet published in 1702, "The Shortest Way With Dissenters, or Proposals For The Establishment of the Church." This extraordinary document puts forward the argument that "the shortest way" is simply to exterminate them. It was a hoax rather on the lines of Swift's "A Modest Proposal" but amazingly it was taken by some as a serious solution! In it Defoe uses arguments in the style of Anglican sermons and piles one absurdity on another. The fury it aroused caused Defoe to be convicted of sedition and made to stand in the pillory for three days. It has been asserted that so popular was Defoe that flowers were thrown at him rather than the nauseous missiles usually reserved for those in the stocks.

The other essay is "The Education of Women" (1719). Here we meet a Defoe who had a very advanced and humane attitude towards women's education by the standard of the time.

He points out the serious and shameful deficiencies that existed then.

" I have often thought of it as one of the most barbarous customs in the world, considering us as a civilized and a Christian country, that we deny the advantages of learning to women."

Further, he emphasises the exceptional graces and beauty of the mind of a woman who has been allowed to develop her native intelligence:

"And, without partiality, a woman of sense and manners is the finest and most delicate part of God's Creation, the glory of Her Maker, and the great instance of His singular regard to man, His darling creature: to whom He gave the best gift either God could bestow or man receive. And 'tis the sordidest piece of folly and ingratitude in the world, to withhold from the sex the due lustre which the advantages of education gives to the natural beauty of their minds.

" A woman well bred and well taught, furnished with the additional accomplishments of knowledge and behaviour, is a creature without comparison. Her society is the emblem of sublimer enjoyments, her person is angelic, and her conversation heavenly. She is all softness and sweetness, peace, love, wit, and delight. She is every way suitable to the sublimest wish, and the man that has such a one to his portion, has nothing to do but to rejoice in her, and be thankful."

Now, some have dismissed this essay on the grounds that Defoe wants women educated because men will enjoy their company more.

Well, so what?

It is true that Defoe draws back from the idea of equality is modern terms:

"Not that I am for exalting the female government in the least:"

But he was writing in 1719 and he excoriated the way women were regarded then:

"And herein it is that I take upon me to make such a bold assertion, That all the world are mistaken in their practice about women. For I cannot think that God Almighty ever made them so delicate, so glorious creatures; and furnished them with such charms, so agreeable and so delightful to mankind; with souls capable of the same accomplishments with men: and all, to be only Stewards of our Houses, Cooks, and Slaves."

It might well be going too far to regard Defoe as a proto-feminist but he certainly had a deeper and far more compassionate view of the lot of women than was usual at the time.

[Dazrin]

Originally Posted by Dazrin

Next up: Moving Pictures by Terry Pratchett, Discworld 10.

Not as good as some Discworld novels but still very good.

Next up: Reaper Man by Terry Pratchett, Discworld 11. It was available and I am still waiting on the other books on my hold list. I look forward to another Death novel.

[Dngrsone]

Originally Posted by Cinisajoy

I was going to say you might like Pat Benatar's "Between a rock and a hard place."
Though it is now $12.49.

I'll see if my library has it, thanks!