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

When I bought my Kobo Clara HD two months ago, I was excited to discover it had Overdrive integration, something not available on Kindle e-ink devices here. I logged in and placed a hold which I promptly forgot about until it arrived this morning, so now I'm reading The Widows of Malabar Hill on my Aura H2O2

[pdurrant]

Originally Posted by pdurrant

And now I'm reading Tramp Royale by Robert A. Heinlein. A travelogue of his round-the world trip in the early 1950s.

Which was interesting. I'm not sure there's more to say about it.

Next was a quick read: Paddington Abroad by Michael Bond.

Delightful stories of Paddington falling on his feet as usual.


Next up: Enemy of God by Bernard Cornwell. The second in his Arthurian trilogy.

Just started Daughters of the Sun: Empresses, Queens and Begums of the Mughal Empire and it's off to a great start, looking forward to a fascinating, informative read. Also reading the Mirabelle Bevan series by Sara Sheridan for lighter fare, just about to start book three England Expects. In book one and especially book two, the questions for discussion the author included for book groups were very well thought out and thought-provoking,

[astrangerhere]

I just started The Janissary Tree by Jason Goodwin, which has been on my TBR since January!

From the jacket:

The Janissary Tree is the first in the series, and the year is 1836. Europe is modernizing, and the sultan of the Ottoman Empire feels he has no choice but to follow suit. But just as he's poised to announce sweeping political change, a wave of murders threatens the fragile balance of power in his court. Who is behind the killings? Deep in the Abode of Felicity, the most forbidden district of Topkapi Palace, the sultan - ruler of the Black Sea and the White, ruler of Rumelia and Mingrelia, lord of Anatolia and Ionia, Romania and Macedonia, Protector of the Holy Cities, steely rider through the realms of bliss - announces, "Send for Yashim."

[CRussel]

Somehow, I ended up reading A Natural Woman, Carole King's memoir. Fascinating, actually. I'm quite enjoying it.

[astrangerhere]

I am also listening to Jeremy Irons read Brideshead Revisited, which is one of my favorites from university.

Started on The Left of Hand Darkness for next month's book club, and enjoying it so far. Also just started on Kim Stanley Robinson's Aurora - I found its opening a bit more dense and harder to connect with than Le Guin's sinistral masterpiece, but am starting to warm up to it now

[ReadingManiac]

Originally Posted by stuartjmz

Getting an early start on my 2019 Reading Challenge by getting back into The Taste of Words: An Introduction to Urdu Poetry, a language as beautiful as its impossible script

That's interesting. I've never heard Urdu spoken, so I went to YouTube and found this https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC8j...qQBv_TZUAjtg2A

Originally Posted by ReadingManiac

That's interesting. I've never heard Urdu spoken, so I went to YouTube and found this https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC8j...qQBv_TZUAjtg2A

Thanks for the link! That was indeed spoken Urdu, and nice simple Urdu at that - I could understand almost all of it. The high Urdu poetry in the book I'm reading is best heard sung (or at least performed with musical accompaniment) and is heavily Persianate in vocabulary. I can get by in daily conversations with Urdu speakers, and have been praised by some for my "Urdu", but the Urdu of classical poetry is both beautiful and humbling, a reminder of how much I don't know about the language my father learned at school.

[gmw]

So I finished reading the Binti trilogy by Nnedi Okorafor (Binti, Binti: Home & Binti: Night Masquerade). A more accurate description would be one novella and two-halves-of-a-novel - which is okay, as they were priced to match.

I think I missed the point somewhere. I mean the first novella won both Hugo and Nebula awards, so someone must think it's good. I might stretch as far as 3/5 for this science-fiction-ish story, but that's only by allowing for the fact that it seems intended for children.

I do think the main character was quite interesting and had a lot of potential, but was let down by a shallow support cast. The same is true of the settings and mathematical magic: so much potential but let down by a lack of exploration. And ditto the central plot: interesting idea with a strong contemporary moral, but let down by inconsistent execution. All of which contributes to the main offence: I never forgot I was reading a made up story.

Finally tackling an embarrassing gap in my "read" list, just started on Le Petit Prince: Avec les dessins de l'auteur Antoine de Saint-Exupéry . The opening few paragraphs made me smile, and I figure I might just as well soldier on translating it to myself first, before reading a proper, professional translation.

[DiapDealer]

I once again find myself in the position of wishing Ben Aaronovitch wasn't quite so enamored of witty (and usually long-ish) architectural references/descriptions. They're like hitting the occasional jaw-clacking pothole on an otherwise enjoyable drive for me.

[Fbone]

Originally Posted by Fbone

Next, another freebie, The Long Tomorrow by Leigh Brackett.

This book is sometimes listed as one of the top five SF novels people pretend to have read. Well, I'm glad I made the effort to read it. Beautifully written with a simple premise. I enjoy classic SF that keeps things narrowly focused. There is no need to explain everything just try to answer/question one possible scenario. There is a lot of religious fervor but it's done without preaching to the reader. It's the direction Brackett chose in this instance. The book's theme and morals are still valid today 60 years after publication. Rated B [4 stars].

Next, a purchase from 2014 (!), Paganini's Ghost by Paul Adam.

Aurora was a very challenging read for me - hard SF in which the science was (for me) HARD. Constant trips to Wiki to get enough of a gist of phrases like "kolmogorov complexity" and "Winograd schema" to try to get enough of an idea of what they meant to be able to follow the story. Which was in some ways apt, because "science is hard, space is HARD" was really a big part of the story.

Now back to Urdu poetry and Le Petit Prince both of which will tax my brain less than the maths of Aurora, that's for sure!

[astrangerhere]

Just started The Left Hand of Darkness for the January New Leaf Book Club selection. I am embarrassed to say that I have never read any LeGuin before, so I am looking forward to it.