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

[Rev. Bob]

Originally Posted by Luffy

Toothaches are the worst, also.

I've got an appointment in about 24 hours to have it pulled. In the meantime, it seems that whatever I managed to do the other day (when I failed at pulling it myself) has at least shifted the tooth enough to make it bearable - with help from a couple of good meds - until then. I'll spare everyone the details and simply say that I finished Star Wars V1 and dove right into volume two. The series is doing an excellent job of gap-filling, telling stories that take place between New Hope and Empire and shedding new light on both without contradicting either. Very well done.

[CRussel]

Originally Posted by Luffy

I'm trying not to get hyped with your praising of book 7. I'm really curious as to why this one is so particular. One of your all time favorites, is it? We'll see! Hope I'm not disappointed.

I hope so as well, though I know that humour is a tricky business. Though part of why I love this book is the subject -- spring break-up is crazy time when you're coming out of months of freezing and dark. But even before I lived where the winter's short, short days and gray were never ending, I appreciated Break Up. I remember reading in the car, headed to an early morning Azzi Camp with my DW, listening to this book and both of us laughing out loud. Yes, there's a mystery. But the book is less about that than all the things that happen.

[Luffy]

Originally Posted by CRussel

I hope so as well, though I know that humour is a tricky business. Though part of why I love this book is the subject -- spring break-up is crazy time when you're coming out of months of freezing and dark. But even before I lived where the winter's short, short days and gray were never ending, I appreciated Break Up. I remember reading in the car, headed to an early morning Azzi Camp with my DW, listening to this book and both of us laughing out loud. Yes, there's a mystery. But the book is less about that than all the things that happen.

Ah, I can't understand most of the humor of the English language. I haven't been talking the language, or making any efforts to learn the double entendres and wordplay. Quite a pity. I can understand some of the stand up humor of Seinfeld, Carlin, Hicks, but I'm lost as soon as 'obscure' humor is on.
I'll probably enjoy Break Up on the same basis as the others. The jokes will fly over my head, so to speak.

[mewmartigan]

I just finished Brian Staveley's Chronicles of the Unhewn Throne. They were quite good but books 2 and 3 did get pretty dark.

Think I am going to jump into the Liaden universe now, starting with Local Custom. Should be a lighter read.

[Luffy]

Originally Posted by mewmartigan

I just finished Brian Staveley's Chronicles of the Unhewn Throne. They were quite good but books 2 and 3 did get pretty dark.

I couldn't finish the first one. Too much sadism present in the story.

[Dngrsone]

Finished the third Scarlett Bernard book, Hunter's Trail by Melissa F. Olson. Good world-building, and this third book is the best of the trilogy. Now starting Engaging the Enemy by Elizabeth Moon, the third Vatta's War book.

[CRussel]

Originally Posted by Luffy

Ah, I can't understand most of the humor of the English language. I haven't been talking the language, or making any efforts to learn the double entendres and wordplay. Quite a pity. I can understand some of the stand up humor of Seinfeld, Carlin, Hicks, but I'm lost as soon as 'obscure' humor is on.
I'll probably enjoy Break Up on the same basis as the others. The jokes will fly over my head, so to speak.

I'm hopeful this will work for you, since most of it is situational humour -- something happens that's funny, not something said that's funny. IAC, they're good books regardless.

[HudsonSpike]

Finished Hiaasen's book, tried Hidden Figures, but the book was like a documentary, so I moved on to A Midsummer's Night Dream and a Compedium of Philip K. Dick short stories.

Nothing better than reading in the A/C.

[Luffy]

Originally Posted by CRussel

I'm hopeful this will work for you, since most of it is situational humour -- something happens that's funny, not something said that's funny. IAC, they're good books regardless.

Agreed, they have been good books so far. Apart from Dead In The Water, which I didn't finish because I'd just read Moby Dick and couldn't follow it with another nautical book. Thanks for the encouragement. I'm juggling several books now. I'll probably read Break Up in a week or so.

If Break Up is one of the best books you've read, can you tell me what is the absolute best book you've read?

[pdurrant]

Originally Posted by pdurrant

Still reading the Asimov's SF Magazine

Finsihed the Asimov's. A bit of a disappointment this time.

Two Novellas, "How Sere Picked Up Her Laundry" and "The Girl Who Stole Herself". Both far-future tales, but the societies and characters didn't really work for me. Three Novelettes, "Other Words and This One", a tale about the Many Worlds interpretation of Quantum Mechanics that just didn't go anywhere, "@Lantis", a weird near-ish future which also just didn't work for me and "Gale Strang", looking at transgender issues through the unexplained consciousness of a bird cage. Not really SF to my mind. And six short stories, "Annabelle, Annie", a look at an environmental generation gap, "An Evening with Severyn Grimes", a near-future crime story, "Transcendental Mission: Riley's Story", "Weighty Matters: Tordor's Story", two snippets from what will probably be a novel by James Gunn, "The Patient Dragon", a medium future crime novel, and "Field Studies", a near future look at homelessness with a hint of time travel.

The two James Gunn stories were good, but cried out for the rest of the novel. "An Evening with Severyn Grimes" showed how poor the other crime-releated stories in the issue were.

On the whole, it scrapes a 3/5.

Next up: Analog SF, July/August 2017, edited by Trevor Quachri. Also still reading Odd Hours, the 4th Odd Thomas book.

[CRussel]

Originally Posted by Luffy

Agreed, they have been good books so far. Apart from Dead In The Water, which I didn't finish because I'd just read Moby Dick and couldn't follow it with another nautical book. Thanks for the encouragement. I'm juggling several books now. I'll probably read Break Up in a week or so.

If Break Up is one of the best books you've read, can you tell me what is the absolute best book you've read?

Oh, gosh. I don't even know where to go with an answer to that. In some ways, it's situational -- what do I feel like reading right now? I have favourite authors, and favourite series, and sometimes within those a favourite book. But what's telling for me is whether I want to re-read the series or book, especially more than once.

Favourites by genre:

• Science Fiction -- Lee&Miller's Liaden Universe, Cherryh's Foreigner series, Kirstein's Steerswoman series, Bujold's Vorkosigan series, Lowell's Solar Clipper series
• Fantasy -- Elizabeth Moon's Deed of Parksenarrion, Wen Spencer's stuff in general, Bujold's The Sharing Knife, Sharon Lee's Archer's Beach
• MilSF -- Weber&Ringo's Prince Roger series
• Romance -- Georgette Heyer's Regencies
• Historical -- Patrick O'Brian's Aubrey/Maturin series
• Mystery -- Stabenow's Kate Shugak, Greenwood's Miss Fischer, Sayer's Lord Peter Wimsey, Hamilton's Ava Lee, Aaronovich's Peter Grant (or is this fantasy?)
• Alternate History -- Flint's 1632 (but not the whole series)
  

I'm no doubt leaving out books and series, but all of these are books and/or series that I found worthy of more than a single re-read. In some of those series, I have favourites; in others, I have 'not-favourites' of an otherwise favourite series.

[CRussel]

I just finished a re-read of the original Valdemar Arrows trilogy from Mercedes Lackey. This really has not stood up well for me. I am sick and tired of whiny, self-doubting, self-flagellating heroines. At best, a 3 for the series overall, I'm afraid.

Next up, The Furthest Station, a novella in the Peter Grant series from Ben Aaronovich. And then Hidden Figures, the book that the movie was based on.

[DMcCunney]

Mine is the usual mixed bag, with more non fiction than fiction.

Non Fiction Book Just Read is Robert L. Heilbroner's The Worldly Philosophers. Heilbroner is an economist and writer on economics. I have his The Making of Economic Society here in paper and read it previously. The Worldly Philosophers covers the same ground by presenting the history of economic thought through the lives and works of noted figures, beginning with Adam Smith (who was writing on what was called "political economy" when he did it) through folks like Parson Malthus, David Ricardo, John Stuart Mill, Robert Owen, Karl Marx, John Maynard Keynes and Joseph Schumpeter. As time progressed, Political Economy became simply Economics, and Heilbroner traces the transition.

The germ of the idea behind The Worldly Philosophers came from a lunch with his publisher discussing what he might write next. He recalled a seminar he had attended on Adam Smith given by Alfred Lowe, and decided he would try to write a history of economic thought. He sought out Professor Lowe to tell him his plan, and Lowe said "This you cannot do!", thinking it impossible. When he later showed his first chapters to Professor Lowe, it changed to "This you must do!", as Heilbroner's work so far convinced him it could be done, and badly needed to be done. Professor Lowe remained an active reader and advisor on the project till his death at 102.

Non Fiction Book In Progress is R. H. Tawney's Religion and the Rise of Capitalism. I was pointed at this by a Further Reading section in Heilbroner's book. He highly recommended it, and the recommendation was deserved.

I'd previously read Max Weber's The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism, which dealt with the notion. Professor Tawney's focus is England, and broader and deeper. His topic is the gradual change in religious thought from the period of the Schoolmen to something where capitalism could exist. The early church was interested in maintaining social stability ruled by tradition: every member of society has his appointed place from King to lowly peasant, and each was expected to know his place and behave appropriately so society would function. Time passed, things changed, and the traditional society mandated by the church was no longer viable. Change had to happen, and it's the progress of that change that is Tawney's focus.

Current Fiction Book Just Finished is Tad William's War of the Flowers, which I've had for a while and finally got to. It's a stand alone fantasy, not a series (There there is room for a sequel should Williams feel inspired.) Protagonist Theo Vilmos is an aspiring musician with a wonderful voice who has just never been able to make it in the music business. His life hits bottom when his pregnant girlfriend loses the baby in a miscarriage, and decides to lose Theo as well. The death of his mother, and the proceeds from selling the house he inherited, gives Theo breathing space to decide what he should do. He's fascinated by a journal he inherited from a deceased relative which appears to describe a journey to Faery. In the process of learning more, Theo finds himself brought to Faery by a sprite sent to fetch him.

He discovers he's of interest to various parties in Faery, some of whom seem to want him dead, and others who want him under their control, and he has no idea why. War is coming. A war with the Giants well before the book takes place defended Faery, but the King and Queen, Oberon and Titania, appeared to perish in the process. Faery is now ruled by a consortium of noble houses called Flowers, each with a flower as their symbol, who are striving with each other for power.

That can be taken literally - Faery has developed technology, including railroads, telephones, and television, powered by a form of magic the way we use electricity, and the Flowers control the generators. The increasing growth of the City demands ever more power, and the systems are failing under the strain with increasingly frequent blackouts. (The source of the power is horrific when revealed.)

And Theo is subjected to scientific tests when he gets to Faery, and told he's not a mortal, but has Faery blood. He sees no way that could be possible, but his hosts are adamant. He must discover who and what her really is and what part he has to play, and deal with a developing romance with the daughter of a major Flower lord. He's trying to keep her at arms length because he doesn't know the rules and simply being around him is dangerous to bystanders, but she has other ideas.

It's a fun read with a different take on Faery than the usual one and engaging characters.

Next up is likely finishing Marshall McLuhan's The Gutenberg Galaxy, and at least starting Neal Asher's Polity SF series.
______
Dennis

[Fbone]

Originally Posted by Fbone

Next, is another self-pub freebie, Duel in the Dark by Jay Allan. I'm trying to clear out some of the free ebooks from my reader.

Military sci-fi with a trio of system-wide participants battling each other or planning to. Each has their own ideology similar to different empires on Earth. The writing skill was good and it's apparent the author put a great deal of work into this. However, there were too many coincidences and plot holes for me to give this more than two stars. Some of the tactics used doesn't seem to fit what an experienced captain would do. Also, there were no surprises, everything telegraphed early on. Rated D+ [2 stars].

Next read TBD.

[Luffy]

Originally Posted by CRussel

Oh, gosh. I don't even know where to go with an answer to that. In some ways, it's situational -- what do I feel like reading right now? I have favourite authors, and favourite series, and sometimes within those a favourite book. But what's telling for me is whether I want to re-read the series or book, especially more than once.

Favourites by genre:

• Science Fiction -- Lee&Miller's Liaden Universe, Cherryh's Foreigner series, Kirstein's Steerswoman series, Bujold's Vorkosigan series, Lowell's Solar Clipper series
• Fantasy -- Elizabeth Moon's Deed of Parksenarrion, Wen Spencer's stuff in general, Bujold's The Sharing Knife, Sharon Lee's Archer's Beach
• MilSF -- Weber&Ringo's Prince Roger series
• Romance -- Georgette Heyer's Regencies
• Historical -- Patrick O'Brian's Aubrey/Maturin series
• Mystery -- Stabenow's Kate Shugak, Greenwood's Miss Fischer, Sayer's Lord Peter Wimsey, Hamilton's Ava Lee, Aaronovich's Peter Grant (or is this fantasy?)
• Alternate History -- Flint's 1632 (but not the whole series)
  

I'm no doubt leaving out books and series, but all of these are books and/or series that I found worthy of more than a single re-read. In some of those series, I have favourites; in others, I have 'not-favourites' of an otherwise favourite series.

Thanks for this comprehensive list. As for me, my topmost favorites are set in stone. Also I just have an indelible feeling that my 9th most favorite book is Nightfall, by Nelson Demille.