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

[Rev. Bob]

I started the year with some Star Wars graphic novels, bought on sale (of course). One was the story of an old Yoda solo mission, as told to Kenobi, and it was interesting to see the old master in the field. After that was a collection of one-shots, the most interesting of which is the tale of Artoo taking on Darth Vader’s Star Destroyer to rescue Threepio… and winning almost single-handedly. Finally, I reached an odd pair of stories - one of how Vader and Tarkin subjugated Mon Cala (Ackbar’s planet), and a sequel set several years later, with the Rebels setting things right.

I’m currently between books, as I’m not sure what I want to tackle next. I’ve been clearing out some unread single issues in the meantime; the comiXology app will only display up to 150 items in a list on the library page, so I wanted to get my unread list under that. Many of them are “first in a (mini)series,” so I don’t count them towards any challenges, but there have been a few solid self-contained stories in the latest batch.

Maybe I’ll get the third and fourth “Dark Lord” novels processed and loaded next, having read the first two over the holidays. That’s a YA or MG series about a millennia-old Big Evil Guy whose opponent defeated him in battle and transported him to modern-day Earth… as a 12-year-old boy. It’s popcorn, sure, but it’s fun popcorn.

[stuartjmz]

Having finished the excellent Daughters of the Sun and learned a great deal about the MUghal Empire and its notable women, I've now started The Pursuit of Italy: A History of a Land, its Regions and their Peoples By David Gilmour. I really enjoyed his book The British in India, and am looking forward to learning more about the country which completely surrounds the one I think of as my home away from home.

[astrangerhere]

Originally Posted by astrangerhere

Working on my first three books of the year:

• The Song of the Lark by Willa Cather (audio)
• The Left Hand of Darkness by Ursula K. LeGuin (library for book club)
• Hild ]by Nicola Griffith

Finished up Song of the Lark yesterday. A solid 4/5 for me. I felt like the back 1/3 had some pacing problems, but I enjoyed the story immensely. I am about half way through the LeGuin. It reads really quickly when I can sit down and dedicate the time to it.

I have now started listening to Jhumpa Lahiri's The Lowland, which has been on my TBR since 2014 when it garnered a lot of nominations and a few awards.

[latepaul]

Originally Posted by latepaul

I've started reading "The '86 Fix" by Keith A. Pearson, which is a KU title I downloaded (signed up to KU again as it was on an offer). So far seems good, only about 12% in.

Turned out it ends up on a cliff-hanger that gets resolved in book 2. Arggh! Also felt like it was padded out a bit, although that might have just been poor writing. I do wonder if the author split a longer book in two to game the system? Surely not...

Anyway, I've still got The Odyssey and The Wandering Earth on the go but I'll be starting The Left Hand of Darkness tonight as the NLBC pick for January.

[latepaul]

Originally Posted by astrangerhere

Working on my first three books of the year:

I also listened to the Clarksworld podcast of James Tiptree, Jr.'s "The Man Who Walked Home" during my lunch.

How did you find it?

I've borrowed Her Smoke Rises Up Forever from the library a couple of times but I've read less than half the stories. "The Man Who Walked Home" was one of them. Didn't love it, it was OK.

[astrangerhere]

Originally Posted by latepaul

How did you find it?

I've borrowed Her Smoke Rises Up Forever from the library a couple of times but I've read less than half the stories. "The Man Who Walked Home" was one of them. Didn't love it, it was OK.

I would give it a 3ish out of 5. I appreciated the idea of it, but I am not sure how great the execution was.

[kcladyz]

I am reading " The Reckoning" by John Grisham. Very good and very different. I am also reading Woman in the Window. I gave up on it but giving it a second chance. Its turning out good but the author draws things out too much by being overly descriptive. For example she spends a paragraph describing the detective turning a page in his notebook. Not necessary in the story.

I believe the next book I will read is The Andromeda Strain , Juror #3, The Regulators. I read Stephen Kings Desperation and found it one of the best horror books I read and The Regulators is supposed to be about the same monster in a parallel universe. The Deep by Nick Cutter is on my list. I read The Troop ( recommended by Stephen King) and that is one of the top horror books I ever read as well.

[pdurrant]

Originally Posted by pdurrant

I'm enjoying One Enchanted Evening, although it was a slow start. I'm impressed that every time something didn't sound right about the time period and I looked it up, it turned out to be accurate.

And it was a good read. I'm going to knock off one star for being inaccurate about the weather.

From the afterword I think he wrote it with a co-author, not just with a good editor. But still pretty good. I'd be tempted to buy another one by him.

Next up: The Sister Paradox by Jack Campbell. My most recent purchase!

[stuartjmz]

Continuing with my Allingham re-read, and the gloss continues to come off the rose. The Fashion in Shrouds was toxically misogynistic and (like all her works) casually racist, Traitor's Purse was much better, but Coroner's Pidgin is so empty and incoherent I'm only finishing it because in an hour's time I'll have another one completed for my GR Challenge. Book twelve of nineteen, and so far only two have been as enjoyable as when I read them in my teens, Sweet Danger and Traitor's Purse. Nostalgia is a treacherous tour guide

[HarryT]

Strange how our tastes do change with time. I don't enjoy Allingham as much as, say, Sayers, but I still find her books a pleasant way to while away an afternoon. Hope you find at least a couple more that you do enjoy! Have you read any of the "modern" Campions written by Mike Ripley? If not, they may be worth a try.

[stuartjmz]

Originally Posted by HarryT

Strange how our tastes do change with time. I don't enjoy Allingham as much as, say, Sayers, but I still find her books a pleasant way to while away an afternoon.

Indeed, the difference between 15 and 51 is larger than a mere transposition of digits, with an almost inevitable impact on re-reads.
I've had a similar experience of change, but in a positive way, with some of Ngaio Marsh's books. As a teen, I loved her books for the way she used them to share her primary passion, theatre, especially Shakepeare. But her attitude toward the land of her birth and its indigenous people (from whose language her own name comes) seemed ambivalent at best. Having re-read 10 or so last year, I was intrigued to note that her perspective on these islands and its peoples was much more nuanced and thoughtful than I'd previously noticed. Certainly her views on people genetically blessed with an abundance of melanin are far ahead of those repeatedly expressed by Allingham (whose writings in this specific regard remind me ever more of Enid Blyton)

[DiapDealer]

Originally Posted by stuartjmz

Nostalgia is a treacherous tour guide

One of the very reasons I rarely reread. I'd much rather keep the nostalgic memory of a book I loved reading when I was young, than be bored by (or annoyed with) that younger me's incredibly suspect tastes.

[stuartjmz]

Originally Posted by DiapDealer

One of the very reasons I rarely reread. I'd much rather keep the nostalgic memory of a book I loved reading when I was young, than be bored by (or annoyed with) that younger me's incredibly suspect tastes.

Indeed. I have learned a lot from my recent rereads though. Learned about me, how I've changed, and read the series with a different eye, seeing how the writers developed their voices over the course of time. It hasn't been all bad, and since they're fast reads, it's put me way ahead for my GR challenge, leaving plenty of time for the more challenging new reads lined up.

[HarryT]

Originally Posted by stuartjmz

... and read the series with a different eye, seeing how the writers developed their voices over the course of time.

Yes, that's the reason I like to read authors' books in order, because it is interesting to see how they evolve over the years. In recent years, I've read Allingham, Marsh, Sayers and Christie that way and it's been illuminating. I've found Sayers and Christie to be authors whose work has stood the test of time; Allingham and Marsh perhaps less so.

[stuartjmz]

Originally Posted by HarryT

I've found Sayers and Christie to be authors whose work has stood the test of time; Allingham and Marsh perhaps less so.

This is good to know, because Sayers is on my list, but not as a re-read, I never got around to her back then. As for Marsh and Allingham, it's become clear to me that their strongest works are when they write about stuff closest to them - the Albert and Amanda pairing is as strong as I remember, and when Marsh writes about theatre, her books come alive, shining with passion.