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

[pdurrant]

Originally Posted by HarryT

There's a sequel, "To You, Mr Chips" which is also worth reading. It's a collection of short stories about various events in Mr Chips' life.

I had thought "Goodbye, Mr Chips" to be in the public domain. I'm surprised to find out I'm wrong. James Hilton died in 1954, so it doesn't come into the public domain until 2025.

"To You, Mr Chips" doesn't appear to be available as an ebook at the moment.

[HarryT]

Originally Posted by pdurrant

"To You, Mr Chips" doesn't appear to be available as an ebook at the moment.

I have both "Goodbye Mr Chips" and "To You, Mr Chips" as uniform ebook editions published by Open Road in 2011. I've absolutely no idea where I bought them from, I'm afraid. It wasn't Amazon.

[pdurrant]

Originally Posted by HarryT

I have both "Goodbye Mr Chips" and "To You, Mr Chips" as uniform ebook editions published by Open Road in 2011. I've absolutely no idea where I bought them from, I'm afraid. It wasn't Amazon.

Ah well. I now have a proper copy of "Goodbye Mr Chips", with the proper British spellings and punctuations. No doubt the next book will be available eventually.

[HarryT]

I've just checked and - thankfully! - my Open Road editions, although published in the US, do use proper British spelling .

[CRussel]

Goodbye, Mr. Chips is public domain in Canada, and I downloaded it from FadedPage.com. Unfortunately they don't have the collection of stories.

Charlie.

[fantasyfan]

Erebus” the story of a ship by Michael Palin
punlished by Random House, Canada and available as an ebook.

This is a gripping and fascinating story of the “Erebus” and its companion ship, “Terror”. Both were built as slow but strongly constructed and very stable bomb ships outfitted to fire shells against land-based armies. The older and slightly smaller “Terror” was actually used during the Napoleonic Wars but the war was over before the “Erebus” was ready for use. They were both then strengthened and adapted for polar exploration which remained their function and the two were always used together.

The first and longer section of this maritime biography of the “Erebus” details the three Antarctic expeditions under the command of James Clarke Ross (the Ross Ice Shelf is named after him). Palin follows his routes and details the remarkable places, events and dangers encountered. If you use Google Maps to look over some of these places you’ll find some quite interesting and serendipitous information. For instance try the “Kerguelen Islands”, still an incredibly remote location. The “Hotel” and tourist “reviews” are very funny.

The second part is a fine and often moving account of the ill-fated Franklin Expedition to traverse the “Northwest Passage”. It ends with the recent discovery of both ships which, owing to the intense cold, are in remarkably excellent condition.

I found it very hard to stop reading and the book is enhanced with superb illustrations. The ebook is available both in iBooks and Kindle. There is an excellent audio read by Michael Palin himself which is well worth a credit. However Audible’s edition is not synced with the digital ebook.

[RobertLCollins]

Over the weekend I finished The Fated Sky, the follow-up to The Calculating Stars. I quite enjoyed it. I think I would like to read a bit more about the characters and the alternate timeline Mary Robinette Kowal created. I think the next books I'll read will be one of Gail Carriger's novellas and Theodora Goss' latest.

[ekbell]

Originally Posted by CRussel

Goodbye, Mr. Chips is public domain in Canada, and I downloaded it from FadedPage.com. Unfortunately they don't have the collection of stories.

Charlie.

The book of short stories can be found at Roy Glashen`s Library as the author apparently entered Australia`s public domain before the change over.

[CRussel]

Oh, excellent, thank you. Given that he is public domain here in Canada, I'm going to go grab it!

Charlie.

[Dngrsone]

Finished listening to The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest by Stieg Larsson. This is an amazingly good audiobook (IMO).

Now going to listen to the first Honor Harrington book, On Basilisk Station

[pdurrant]

Originally Posted by pdurrant

But now I've chosen - the next in a series that I stopped reading in 2017 because I didn't have the next book. But it was on special offer this month, so now I have it! The Angel of Death, by Paul Doherty. The fourth in his Hugh Corbett Mysteries.

Which was quite fun, but an odd anachronism with a brief mention of the dome of St Pauls' cathedral. In 1296.

Next I read: Alcatraz vs the Evil Librarians by Brandon Sanderson. A fun, light YA fantasy.

[Tarana]

Originally Posted by Dngrsone

Finished listening to The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest by Stieg Larsson. This is an amazingly good audiobook (IMO).

Now going to listen to the first Honor Harrington book, On Basilisk Station

Yep, I agree, the audiobook was excellent. Just an FYI on the Honor Harrington book - there is a LOT of introductory stuff for the series in that first book. I nearly gave it up 1/2 through but the original recommender told me to just keep going - and there it was...Action!!

I'm currently listening to Journey To The Center of the Earth narrated by Tim Curry and very enjoyable and reading April Fools by Jess Lourey (and last book in this Central Minnesota cozy mystery series).

[pdurrant]

Originally Posted by pdurrant

Next I read: Alcatraz vs the Evil Librarians by Brandon Sanderson. A fun, light YA fantasy.

And then I gave God is not Great by Christopher Hitchins a go. I found it dull. I agree with him, but he wasn't telling me anything I didn't know, and I can't see it convincing people who don't agree with him. I abandoned it about 2/3rds of the way through.

Next up: Hmmm...

[pdurrant]

Originally Posted by pdurrant

And then I gave God is not Great by Christopher Hitchins a go. I found it dull. I agree with him, but he wasn't telling me anything I didn't know, and I can't see it convincing people who don't agree with him. I abandoned it about 2/3rds of the way through.

Next up: Hmmm...

I've started two from my TBR:

Krondor: Tear of the Gods by Raymond E. Feist and The Spend Game by Jonathan Gash.

Very different. Both good.

[ReadingManiac]

Originally Posted by Dngrsone

Finished listening to The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest by Stieg Larsson. This is an amazingly good audiobook (IMO).

Now going to listen to the first Honor Harrington book, On Basilisk Station

One of these days I may try audiobooks. I've listened to samples occasionally and the narrator who does the Charlton Daines books is amazingly pleasant to listen to.