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

[CRussel]

Originally Posted by HarryT

Finished "The Heir Apparent", by Joel Rosenberg. The fourth book in the "Guardians of the Flame" series, and the first half of the Baen omnibus "Guardians of the Flame: Legacy", which I bought in June 2004. The series as a whole is the "a group of D&D players get transported into a fantasy world where they become their game characters for real" thing which has been done a number of times, but this is one of the better ones, to my mind. Sounds corny, but well worth reading. Recommended.

This is, unfortunately, one of the many books I've bought from Baen in the past which is no longer available.

NB: Joel Rosenberg, who wrote fantasy novels, is not to be confused with Joel C. Rosenberg, who writes political thrillers.

FWIW, Harry, these books are available on Amazon as standalone. Apparently Mr. Rosenberg recovered his rights to them and re-published. (I note that the new publisher is listed as "Spectrum Literary Agency, Inc", and I know they've done this with several Baen authors.)

[pdurrant]

Originally Posted by pdurrant

Next up: Analog SF for September/October, and also Sharpe's Battle.

Analog was very good. I'll give a proper commentary when I have a moment.

OK, here it is:

An excellent set of stories, bar two or three.

"Heaven's Covenant" by Bud Sparhawk was one of the two and the longest, a tale of expansion through the universe using hibernation technology, with deliberately vague discrimination.

"My Fifth and Most Exotic Voyage" by Edward M. Lerner was brilliant - time travel and Lemuel Gulliver.

"i know my own & my own know me" by Tracy Canfield was also a wonderful tale of uplifted creatures -- including a cat.

"The Old Man" by Rich Larson was the other I wasn't impressed by. A tale of rebellion and terrorism across generations, with ambiguity as to justification.

"Orphans" by Craig DeLancey was a tale of interstellar travel, and an explanation of the Fermi Paradox.

"The Sword of Damocles" by Norman Spinrad was an excellent alternative explanation for the Fermi Paradox, although I think the reason given for a lack of communication was very poor.

"Ghostmail" by Eric Del Carlo was an OK Mil-SFish short story.
"The First Trebuchet on Mars" by Marie Vibbert did just what the title said. Excellent.
"Climbing Olympus" by Simon Kewin was another story whose title says is all (or nearly). Not as fun, and a bit predictable.
"Emergency Protocol" by Lettie Prell was a good short short.
"A Tinker's Damnation" by Jerry Oltion was a very good look at problems of technological dependence.
"The Absence" by Robert R. Chase was a rather disappointing 'ghost' story.
"Arp! Arp!" by Christina De La Rocha was a good marine technology story.
"The Mathematician" by Tom Jolly was an excellent alien viewpoint/no humans story.
"Coyote Moon" by James Van Pelt was an OK story of economic inequality.
"Abductive Reasoning" by Christopher L. Bennett was an amusing look at a Ufologist's real close encounter.
"Invaders" by Stanley Schmidt was an OK eclipse viewing story.
"Victor Frankenstein's Bar and Grill and Twenty-Four-Hour Roadside Emporium by Michael F. Flynn Probability Zero story didn't quite live up to the promise of the title.

[BenG]

I read several SF stories in July and enjoyed them all: Sleeping Giants and Waking Gods by Sylvain Neuvel, Binti and Home by Nnedi Okorafor, The High Crusade by Poul Anderson, and Company Town by Madeline Ashby.

After these I took a break from SF and read The Great Escape by Paul Brickhall, Love Among the Chickens by P.G. Wodehouse, The Homecoming by Earl Hamner Jr., Your Turn, Mr. Moto by J.P. Marquand, Burglars Can't Be Choosers by Lawrence Block, Being There by Jerzy Kosinski, Zuleika Dobson by Max Beerbohm, and Brideshead Revisited by Evelyn Waugh. Currently I'm reading Jane Eyre
.
And short stories:

Spoiler:

July
Mr Lupescu by Anthony Bloucher
Voluntary State by Christopher Rowe
The Circular Ruins by Jorge Luis Borges
The Lottery of Babylon by Jorge Luis Borges
The Lake by Ray Bradbury
We Are for the Dark by Robert Silverberg
The Striding Place by Gertrude Atherton
The Little Room by Madeline Yale Wynne
The Moonstone Mass By Harriet Prescott Spofford
The Garden of Forking Paths by Jorge Luis Borges
The Richpins by E.G. Swain
A Leg Full of Rubies by Joan Aiken
Thirty Seconds from Now by John Chu
Forty Counting Down by Harry Turtledove
Twenty-one Counting Up by Harry Turtledove

August
Luella Miller by Mary E. Wilkins Freeman
Grettir at Thorhall-stead by Frank Norris
Paladin of the Lost Hour by Harlan Ellison
Repent Harlequin said the Tick Tock Man by Harlan Ellison
Sobbin' Women by Stephen Vincent Benet (basis for 7 Brides for 7 Brothers)
How Love Came to Professor Guildea by Robert Hichens

[pdurrant]

Originally Posted by pdurrant

Sharpe's Battle.

Sharpe's Battle was excellent as usual.

Then I read The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie by Muriel Spark. An odd narrative style, and not a very interesting story. Edinburgh was the best character, and there wasn't enough of it. Not really my kind of thing, although I know that there are people who love it.

Next up: The Coming of Wisdom by Dave Duncan. The second in his "Seventh Sword" trilogy that started with The Reluctant Swordsman that I read back in 2014.

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by JSWolf

My current read is Playmates by Robert B. Parker. It is the 16th book in the Spenser series.

I've finished Playmates and it was good, not great. I will continue reading the Spenser series.

For now, I'm reading The Man Who Folded Himself by David Gerrold which I'm hoping will be the next Book Club read.

This classic work of science fiction is widely considered to be the ultimate time-travel novel. When Daniel Eakins inherits a time machine, he soon realizes that he has enormous power to shape the course of history. He can foil terrorists, prevent assassinations, or just make some fast money at the racetrack. And if he doesn't like the results of the change, he can simply go back in time and talk himself out of making it! But Dan soon finds that there are limits to his powers and forces beyond his control.

[gmw]

I read The White Tiger by Araind Adiga.

The white tiger of this novel is Balram Halwai, a poor Indian villager whose great ambition leads him to the zenith of Indian business culture, the world of the Bangalore entrepreneur. On the occasion of the president of China’s impending trip to Bangalore, Balram writes a letter to him describing his transformation and his experience as driver and servant to a wealthy Indian family, which he thinks exemplifies the contradictions and complications of Indian society.

I am still not sure whether I enjoyed it or not, but I certainly had no trouble finishing it - quite compelling in an odd way, and certainly a fascinating view of India, and of life in general.

---

And on a completely different note, I finally got around to reading Fool by Christopher Moore. I keep a list of books I've seen recommended on MR that I plan to check out - and this one went on that list six years ago!

This is an adaptation of Shakespeare's King Lear, told from the perspective the the Lear's fool, named Pocket. Moore (shamelessly) brings in bits from other Shakespeare plays - the three witches from Macbeth stand out, and as the books says: "there's always a bloody ghost" - and manages to wrap the events around Pocket as the driving force behind the events.

I found it a remarkably clever work. Not only is it very funny, but he manages to work the language (mixing old and new) so that the setting and character all seems right while also being a light and easy read. The plot, while I didn't get big surprises, is cleverly and neatly constructed. Bawdy, almost in the extreme, and with a lot of the violence of the times left in, it also still manages to have a surprisingly sweet romance behind it all.

This is the first book of Moore's I've read, but I'm impressed and will be looking for more (pun intended).

[ReadingManiac]

I'm starting to drift towards Horror with Halloween coming up but first, a Dark Fantasy:
Faerie Tale by Raymond E. Feist

So far it's excellent!

[philandjan]

Forty Signs of Rain by Kim Stanley Robinson could easily have been titled Forty Winks Are About to Arrive!

Having been disappointed with The Mars Trilogy, I should really have been more prepared for another science lesson with little plot to speak of. The topic is certainly a thought provoking one, especially as Storm Harvey has just hit Texas leaving many people waiting for the emergency services. Unfortunately, this book just doesn't seem to inspire anything other than an unpremeditated snooze.

Let's hope that Hear the Wind Sing by Haruki Murakami keeps me more awake!

[pdurrant]

Originally Posted by pdurrant

Next up: The Coming of Wisdom by Dave Duncan. The second in his "Seventh Sword" trilogy that started with The Reluctant Swordsman that I read back in 2014.

A fun fantasy. Leads straight into the final volume of the trilogy, so up next:

The Destiny of the Sword by Dave Duncan

[astrangerhere]

Originally Posted by astrangerhere

Started listening to Anthony Trollope's The Warden on my commute.

Started C.J. Sansom's Dissolution on the Kobo this morning with my coffee.

Finished Dissolution on Friday and The Warden this morning.

Moving on to Alan Hunter's Gently Does It on my Kobo and Michael Cunningham's The Hours in audio.

[poohbear_nc]

Did a re-read of The Hours, after watching the film version, after re-reading Mrs. Dalloway, after watching the film version (with Vanessa Redgrave).

[astrangerhere]

Originally Posted by poohbear_nc

Did a re-read of The Hours, after watching the film version, after re-reading Mrs. Dalloway, after watching the film version (with Vanessa Redgrave).

Yeah, this is a re-read for me as well. Will read it with Mrs. Dalloway and then do the films. The Hours flim was one of the first dates my wife and I went on (saw it at the old Varsity on Franklin St.), and we were talking about it last week. Hence the desire.

[poohbear_nc]

Originally Posted by astrangerhere

Yeah, this is a re-read for me as well. Will read it with Mrs. Dalloway and then do the films. The Hours flim was one of the first dates my wife and I went on (saw it at the old Varsity on Franklin St.), and we were talking about it last week. Hence the desire.

For whatever reason, whilst home-bound with a flu bug that has transformed my brain into tapioca, I watched the Mrs. Dalloway film, then moved to the book, to The Hours film, and to the book. It was a wonderful odyssey.
[And yes, I too saw The Hours at the Varsity - loved that theatre.]

[Dngrsone]

Finished reading Exploring J. R. R. Tolkien's "The Hobbit" by Corey Olsen. This was a deeper look into the book, with some insight into Tolkien's use of certain words and phrases, that might not register with the casual reader. If you are a fan of the book, I recommend this read.

[Fbone]

Originally Posted by astrangerhere

Finished Dissolution on Friday and The Warden this morning.

Moving on to Alan Hunter's Gently Does It on my Kobo and Michael Cunningham's The Hours in audio.

What did you think of Dissolution? It's on my TBR list.