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

[Rev. Bob]

Originally Posted by pdurrant

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.

Maybe the landlord immigrated from the UK, or it was left behind by a previous tenant. (Perhaps it was even left by a previous Tennant!)

[JSWolf]

I finished The Eye of Zoltar by Jasper Fforde. While I did enjoy it, I found the ending to be rather annoying because it was not a proper ending and I now have to wait for the next book to be written and then released. The first two books in the series had proper endings.

Now to finish Star Trek: TNG: Headlong Flight by Dayton Ward.

[KyBunnies]

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.

Now Paul I am in the US and I know what a kettle is. I have several. None are electric but I know what they are. I even have my grandmothers kettle.

[Dngrsone]

My daughter has two electric kettles and between her and Dngrswife there has to be at least six stovetop ones.

... there's also a whole cabinet shelf dedicated to tea.

Meanwhile, I am reading a book about aliens... who drink tea.

[BenG]

I recently finished The Devil Wives of Li-Fong by E. Hoffmann Price. It was a fun read for less than $4.
The book was published in 1979 near the end of Price's long career which started in 1924 in the pulps.

[astrangerhere]

Read the Hugo Winner "Folding Beijing" by Hao Jingfang (translated by Ken Liu) this morning in the coffee shop. I was a tiny bit dissatisfied with the story, but only because I think it would have made a spectacular novel. It had inklings of Eastern philosophy and Neil Gaiman - never a bad thing. You can read the story for free here at Uncanny Magazine.

[Cinisajoy]

Read the AARP Magazine last night. I didn't realize I had been watching Morgan Freeman since I was 5. He was Easy Reader on "Electric Company".

[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,
A furnished apartment in the US typically consists of a bed, dresser, living room and dining room furniture, on small appliances maybe a microwave. The person would have bought their own kettle, kitchen stuff, bedding etc.
The term for everything provided is fully equipped.

[BenG]

I have an electric kettle in my apartment in the U.S.
I use it to heat water for my French press coffee maker and the occasional cup of tea. Most department stores carry them.

[Dngrsone]

Finished Conspirator by C. J. Cherryh. Starting on a biography of Elvis Costello, but not sure whether I will finish it.

[Ravensknight]

Children of Time
Adrian Tchaikovsky
4 Stars

Spiders. Giant [ie 1 meter] Uplifted Spiders competing with the last of humanity for the only inhabitable world they both know of. Good book but my goodness Tchaikovsky is obsessed with bugs...

[pdurrant]

Originally Posted by Cinisajoy

Paul,
A furnished apartment in the US typically consists of a bed, dresser, living room and dining room furniture, on small appliances maybe a microwave. The person would have bought their own kettle, kitchen stuff, bedding etc.
The term for everything provided is fully equipped.

Your proposed solution to the error in the book is ingenious, but wrong.

[Cinisajoy]

Originally Posted by pdurrant

Your proposed solution to the error in the book is ingenious, but wrong.

It is? I have lived in many furnished apartments and none even came with a coffee maker.
Furnished here typically means furniture not dishes and not small appliances. And I have lived all over the US. So don't tell me I am wrong. I know what furnished means in 90% of the US. The landlords typically do not provide easily stolen stuff.

Now many hotel/motels do provide suites with full kitchens and nearly all these days do provide a small refrigerator, microwave and coffee maker but not apartments. But you are right a tea kettle being provided would be odd. So maybe he was calling a motel room a furnished apartment.

Now I did once live in a furnished apartment where the landlord did give us all anything we needed. He had a tenant skip out on him. Rather than take all the stuff to the trash or charity, he brought out some playpens (for the babies) and then started knocking on doors. All of us that were home, got our choice of what we wanted or needed if we would clean out the apartment. He watched the dozen or so babies and toddlers.

[pdurrant]

Originally Posted by Cinisajoy

It is?

Yes, it is. I don't really want to go into it further here, but perhaps since I've read the book and I don't think you have, you'll take my word for it.

[Fbone]

Decided to read The Amber Project (The Variant Saga #1) by JN Chaney. A self-published book I received free back in April 2016.

<sigh>

I enjoyed the blurb more than the book. Slow pacing with no real surprises. Predictable outcome. Not much there to keep me reading. An underground city has been done before and the author added nothing new. Also, 7 year old boys don't act this mature. Teenage boys don't either. Still, the writing was passable and looking at all the 5-star reviews, I'm glad to see many others enjoyed this. However, I gave it a D+ [2 stars].