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

[astrangerhere]

Originally Posted by astrangerhere

Since my last update I've finished:

I am currently listening to

• Framley Parsonage by Anthony Trollope

And I am reading on my KA1

• Tell it to the Bees by Fiona Shaw

(My wife surprised me by ordering me a new Kobo Libra H20 - i thought it would be a Christmas present. I have not decided what my first read on that device will be)

I finished Framley Parsonage this morning and will start listening to Ann Patchett's Commonwealth on my evening commute.

I am still working on Tell it to the Bees, which reads very quickly. I just haven't had much time for it this week.

My Kobo Libra H2) should arrive today and I am still pondering what my first read on it will be.

[pdurrant]

Originally Posted by pdurrant

I'm continuing a re-read of Harry Potter: Next up: The Goblet of Fire.

Which was much better than I remembered. Perhaps because I wasn't so keen to zoom through the plot.

Next up: Asimov's SF Magazine for Nov/Dec 2019.

[Deskisamess]

Finished another book about Everest, Ascent Into Hell, by Fergus White. While somewhat repetitive, this author fills in a lot of details about what happens to a body during the long process of high altitude climbing. The science behind the climatizing they go through during the process is very interesting.

He also offers more insight into the places climbers stay before they get on the mountain itself, and some details about more personal issues like bathrooms etc. and how those needs are dealt with during these climbs.

Many of the other books lack the detail about that, aside from the basic facts. It was interesting, and helpful in understanding much of what I read in the other books about Everest.

Started We Two, a book about Queen Victoria and Prince Albert. I've been watching Victoria on Prime Video, and wanted to know more about her and Albert. The book jumps back and forth in the time frame, which is confusing, especially given all the names of the various people mentioned. I'm hoping once I'm further along, it won't be as confusing.

[ReadingManiac]

I'm just going over my tbr to decide what to start next. I think I've had enough Horror for a while.

[gmw]

Since my last post...

Eclipse Four edited by Jonathan Strahan. A collection of SciFi and fantasy short stories. There were some in here I really didn't like, but the collection was saved by a few good stories. The stand-outs for me were: Thought Experiment by Eilieen Gunn, The Panda Coin by Jo Walton and Tourists by James Patrick Kelly. 3/5.


Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency by Douglas Adams, which we discussed over in the New Leaf Book Club.


The Buried Giant by Kazuo Ishiguro. "Strange but very good" is a phrase that might apply to various Ishiguro books, and it certainly applies here. Interesting and unpredictable characters and setting. There are some obvious morals/messages going on in here, and layers of more subtle ones as well, but the telling is quite idiosyncratic. Regrettably my reading time was much interrupted, so I'm looking forward to coming back and revisiting before too long. For now I give it: 4/5.


The Land Before Avocado by Richard Glover. A fascinating look back at the 1960s and 1970s in Australia. In parts very funny, and in parts horrifying reminder. Overall it imparts the positive message that life in Australia has changed very much for the better over these last few decades and we should celebrate that fact (and use it as inspiration for what we might achieve in the future). 4/5.

I'd say the book also held an implicit reminder that if all these positive changes can happen in our lifetimes, we could just as quickly slip backwards if we don't take care (if we refuse to see just how far we've come). I guess this book is of more interest to Australians than others, depending on your outlook, but the conclusions are similar elsewhere, too, and on this note I now have to add two more books to my reading list (both referenced by this one): Enlightenment Now by Steven Pinker, and Factfulness by Hans Rosling, Ola Rosling, Anna Rosling Rönnlund.

[pdurrant]

Originally Posted by pdurrant

Which was much better than I remembered. Perhaps because I wasn't so keen to zoom through the plot.

Next up: Asimov's SF Magazine for Nov/Dec 2019.

Which I'm still reading, but I've also read the latest Grantville Gazette, and a couple of shorts from Neil Gaiman.

[SeaBookGuy]

Working on Slaughter and Forgetting, second in the Josef Slonsky police series set in Prague. Relationship between him and his younger assistant Navratil reminds me of Morse and Lewis. Kindle Prime lets me read one title per month free (there are six).

[gmw]

Originally Posted by Bookpossum

I have just finished reading Once Upon a River by Diane Setterfield, which was a nomination for New Leaf Book Club's November book. It didn't win, but as I had intended to read it some time, now seemed as good a time as any.

I enjoyed it very much, so thanks for the nomination, gmw!

A pleasure. I just finished Once Upon a River by Diane Setterfield for myself, and it turned out to be good for me too.

There were parts of it that started to drag a bit: my thought at the time was not so much too long as trying too hard. But mostly it worked and overall I enjoyed it very much: a very distinctive mood, wonderful characters and I thought it did a very good job of straddling the line between fantasy and a more factual historical fiction. 4/5 and I look forward to reading it again sometime.


Now I'd better get on reading the actual winner: The Tenant of Wildfell Hall by Anne Brontë, if I hope to finish it before discussion starts.

[Uncle Robin]

Finally got around t both Binti and Revelation Space - enjoying both very much, although of course the Binti trilogy is only 2/3 the size of Revelation Space, so deciding whether to tackle the rest of the Revelation Space series is a decision yet to be made.

[pdurrant]

Originally Posted by pdurrant

Which I'm still reading, but I've also read the latest Grantville Gazette, and a couple of shorts from Neil Gaiman.

I've finished the Grantville Gazette, the shorts and the Asimovs. I was very impressed with the GG and the Asimovs - both 5/5 this time. I didn't like one of the shorts, but the other was a fun early work.

Now I'm reading both Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix and Analog for Nov/Dec 2019.

[CRussel]

Originally Posted by gmw

Now I'd better get on reading the actual winner: The Tenant of Wildfell Hall by Anne Brontë, if I hope to finish it before discussion starts.

Yes, time to buckle down.

[issybird]

It's been a while since I've posted in this thread, so I'll just mention a couple of recent reads, Star Machine by Jeanine Basinger, which was a terrific book about the studio system in Hollywood and A New History of the Trojan War by Barry Strauss, which was a pretty sketchy treatment and I don't recommend it. You'd be better off just reading the Iliad.

Among my current reads are In Search of the Trojan War by Michael Wood, which I am enjoying, and The Third Reich in Power by Richard Evans, an excellent book which is going to take some time. I greatly enjoyed his The Coming of the Third Reich, which I read earlier this year.

[fantasyfan]

Twilight of Empire is possibly the finest exhaustive study of the Mayerling tragedy available in English. The authors work through the complex web of events and personalities by arranging the text into four sections.

The four chapters of Section one vividly set the scene giving us the political, social and familial contexts within which Crown Prince Rudolf and Mary Vetsera were raised. Particularly relevant are the relationships they had with their parents.

Part 2 deals with the tragedy and its “immediate aftermath”. There is no attempt to use “intrusive analysis” and I believe the authors do succeed in creating a powerful sense of tragic drama as they outline the dark and conflicted nature of the Prince and the naive romanticism of his impetuous teenage lover.

In Part 3 the authors turn to an analysis of the many “conspiracy theories” that have obfuscated the mystery for over a century. Some are simply attempts to make a particular theory fit by ignoring known facts and taking refuge in improbable assumptions, e.g. that the suicide notes were “made up” by the authorities after the event. Other theories are more attractive but the authors raise objections which demonstrate their improbability. On the other hand, some may indeed have a foundation in fact which may have value in eventually helping to come to a possible understanding of what actually motivated the tragedy.

The final section attempts to do just that and on the basis of “analysing psychological motivations, and revisiting controversies with fresh explanations” Greg King and Penny Wilson reach a conclusion which I believe is far more credible and convincing than the usual double suicide for love which has dominated various approaches to the Mayerling affair.

Twilight of Empire is exhaustively researched and heavily footnoted with a full index and Bibliography. The authors are careful to distinguish differences of reliability amongst the many sources they use. The text reads very well and I was soon deeply involved with the world and characters of this superb book.

[Uncle Robin]

Now enjoying Maharanis: The Lives and Times of Three Generations of Indian Princesses, a light, interesting look at four women who lived through India's transition from British rule to independence.

[issybird]

Originally Posted by pdurrant

I read Sharpe's Christmas, which was excellent, as usual.

That was fun. I'm glad you mentioned it.