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

[astrangerhere]

Originally Posted by astrangerhere

Just started Becky Chambers The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet, which is my first Sci-Fi of the year. I got through 50 pages this morning while I was on the elliptical at the gym. I can definitely feel the Firefly vibe that many folks told me it would have.

I just finished this yesterday, along with Jeff VanderMeer's Authority.

I enjoyed the Chamber's book, but I would only give it 3.5/5. I felt so much of the material was in some way paying homage to something else. I wanted more depth than I got for each of the characters. Each one of the individual stories could have been a book in its own right. Instead, I got snatches and felt a little unsatisfied with the overall whole.

Authority was an intriguing continuation to VanderMeer's Southern Reach series. I enjoyed it less than Annihilation, but I think that is because I preferred the narrator in the first book.

[PurpleStar]

I finished Mistborn by Brandon Sanderson. It was great, but took a long time to read. Will get to the rest, but for now I'm reading Star Trek: Face of the Unknown by Christopher L. Bennett.

[pdurrant]

Originally Posted by pdurrant

Next up: Triple Crown by Felix Francis. I've read all the novels by Dick Francis, so it's time to see how his son gets on.

Sadly, not up to his father's standard. The form is just about there, but the details are a little lacking, and the main character is more in the dark than the reader.

The first thing that really made me aware that the research was not sufficient was our hero being in a furnished apartment in the US and needing to open a sealed envelope.

So, he decided to steam it open, and did so by use of an electric kettle.

I suppose it's just possible that a US apartment might have an electric kettle, but I don't see it happening myself. No-one in the US seems to know what a kettle is. Coffee makers, yes. Kettles, no.

Oh well, at least I can skip his other solo efforts.

Next up: Asimov's SF magazine for Mar/Apr 2017.

[CRussel]

I just started a re-read from the very beginning of the Kate Shugak series from Dana Stabenow, A Cold Day for Murder. This is an excellent mystery series set in Alaska, and the series is now 20 novels long, with a 21st due out this spring. A highly recommended series if you haven't tried it before. And, for those who enjoy audio books, there's an excellent Audible version read by Marguerite Gavin. (And it's a great WhisperSync deal at only $1.99 if you buy the Kindle book for $2.99!)

[CRussel]

Originally Posted by pdurrant

Sadly, not up to his father's standard. The form is just about there, but the details are a little lacking, and the main character is more in the dark than the reader.

The first thing that really made me aware that the research was not sufficient was our hero being in a furnished apartment in the US and needing to open a sealed envelope.

So, he decided to steam it open, and did so by use of an electric kettle.

I suppose it's just possible that a US apartment might have an electric kettle, but I don't see it happening myself. No-one in the US seems to know what a kettle is. Coffee makers, yes. Kettles, no.

Oh well, at least I can skip his other solo efforts.

Next up: Asimov's SF magazine for Mar/Apr 2017.

Well, there are those in the US who have a kettle, but they're not all that common, I'd agree. But I also agree that the son's efforts are not up to the father's. I suppose he might grow into it, but somehow, I doubt it.

[Cinisajoy]

Originally Posted by pdurrant

Sadly, not up to his father's standard. The form is just about there, but the details are a little lacking, and the main character is more in the dark than the reader.

The first thing that really made me aware that the research was not sufficient was our hero being in a furnished apartment in the US and needing to open a sealed envelope.

So, he decided to steam it open, and did so by use of an electric kettle.

I suppose it's just possible that a US apartment might have an electric kettle, but I don't see it happening myself. No-one in the US seems to know what a kettle is. Coffee makers, yes. Kettles, no.

Oh well, at least I can skip his other solo efforts.

Next up: Asimov's SF magazine for Mar/Apr 2017.

Paul,
Yes we have tea kettles. Both electric and stovetop. So the tea kettle is not out of the realm of possibilities. As far as hot teas go, our grocery stores sell at least 20 different varieties and at least a half a dozen different manufactures. So people in the US do know what tea kettles are. And they are not cheap. See: https://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_n...ds=Tea+kettles
Do not make assumptions. Oh and in the summer in the south, the most popular drink is iced tea.
Just because Sam Adams dumped your tea in the Boston Harbor it doesn't mean we don't drink tea. Many homes have both coffee makers and tea kettles. Or the new Keurig which have teas, coffees, hot chocolate and soups.

[DiapDealer]

We've all been indoctrinated to the old steam-the-letter-open-over-the-teakettle trick regardless. I don't see including the reference to an electric teakettle in US apartment as much of a stretch at all. Not to readers of books anyway.

[Strether]

Originally Posted by CRussel

Well, there are those in the US who have a kettle, but they're not all that common, I'd agree. But I also agree that the son's efforts are not up to the father's. I suppose he might grow into it, but somehow, I doubt it.

Dick Francis supposedly wrote his books in collaboration with his wife, Mary. She died in 2000 and IMO none of his books after that were anything like as good as those she was able to help him with. I think 10 Lb Penalty was the last good Francis, but everything before then was excellent and well worth reading. Too bad we can't get the novels published by his first publisher as ebooks in this country.

Jim

[kansaskyle]

We have a kettle that sees daily use for hot tea. Although I don't recall ever seeing an electric one.

[Apache]

I originally bought my kettle for making risotto.
Apache

[Rev. Bob]

Originally Posted by pdurrant

I suppose it's just possible that a US apartment might have an electric kettle, but I don't see it happening myself. No-one in the US seems to know what a kettle is. Coffee makers, yes. Kettles, no.

Of course I know what a kettle is! That's the black thing you use to pop corn!

[issybird]

I have to agree with Paul; electric kettles are rare in the US. And just because they do exist, someone could have one, does not justify its use as a plot point in a mystery novel, where its existence takes you out of the story. Why not just put the kettle on the burner?

[Cinisajoy]

Originally Posted by issybird

I have to agree with Paul; electric kettles are rare in the US. And just because they do exist, someone could have one, does not justify its use as a plot point in a mystery novel, where its existence takes you out of the story. Why not just put the kettle on the burner?

I think a stove top one would work better.
My problem was Paul's assumption that US people do not know what a tea kettle is. He specifically said no one. Well I am in the US and it took me less than 2 seconds to find electric tea kettles for sale in the US. Numerous ones, therefore they are not that rare and it wouldn't take me out of a book. My great-grandmother owned an electric one. I owned one but I didn't like it because of the design and that particular model literally boiled the water. So it evaporated too quickly.

[DiapDealer]

Absolutely criminal.

On other fronts ... I'm really enjoying Jen Williams' The Iron Ghost (a little over halfway through). I'm not certain why her two books aren't more popular among fantasy fans.

[pdurrant]

Perhaps I exaggerated. And, of course, MobileRead members are widely read and cosmopolitan, so obviously I wasn't including our US members in my comments.

But an electric kettle is certainly not something one would expect to find in a furnished apartment in the US. While it would be astonishing to not find one in a furnished flat in the UK.