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

[pdurrant]

Originally Posted by pdurrant

Next up: Hangman's Holiday. A collection of Lord Peter Wimsey short stories.

And some non-Wimsey sories. All excellent.

Next up: Black and Blue by Ian Rankin - his 8th Rebus novel.

[astrangerhere]

Originally Posted by astrangerhere

<SNIP>and will be starting Julia Armfield's Our Wives Under the Sea on paper directly thereafter.<SNIP>.

This will absolutely be one of my top books of the year!

[CRussel]

Originally Posted by astrangerhere

...will be starting Julia Armfield's Our Wives Under the Sea on paper directly thereafter. That will conclude my "10 books selected by my wife" goal for the year.

Originally Posted by astrangerhere

This will absolutely be one of my top books of the year!

Hold placed at the library!

[astrangerhere]

Originally Posted by CRussel

Hold placed at the library!

I will be really interested in your perspective. I have many questions I want to ask, but don't want to until after you've read it.

As for me, my wife had a migraine yesterday, so I was trying to be as quiet as possible. Combine that with some pretty major thunderstorms, and that led to pulling a book off the shelf at random and leaving the computer off.

I started the revised and updated edition of Points of View: An Anthology of Short Stories. Its a Penguin paperback originally published in 1956, updated in 1966 and 1995. I am pretty sure I've had this copy since 1995 and have not once cracked it open. It contains 44 short stories packed into 608 small print mass market paperback pages. I do love a good anthology!

See the cover below.

[isarl]

Originally Posted by isarl

Read a few short stories by Robert Sheckley from the Citizen in Space collection.

The Mountain Without A Name felt like it needed another element to it to round it out just a bit more. Left me a little dissatisfied.

The Accountant was an effective example of a familiar scene with an unfamiliar edge, and it got a laugh out of me.

Citizen in Space was light, quick, and fun, but I liked The Accountant better.

Ultimately, the story I enjoyed most from the Citizen in Space collection was Ask a Foolish Question, which I felt was simple and effective enough not to show its age as much as some of the others.

I started and finished Dune Messiah, which I felt was a worthy sequel to the original. I suppose now I will have to read the third book in the series.

I also read A Psalm For the Wild-Built, by Becky Chambers in a single day and am now hoping its sequel goes on sale again sooner rather than later. What a delightfully lovely story about a traveling tea monk. I feel like it did a perfect job capturing the spirit of the dedication, For anybody who could use a break.

[CRussel]

Originally Posted by astrangerhere

I will be really interested in your perspective. I have many questions I want to ask, but don't want to until after you've read it.

As for me, my wife had a migraine yesterday, so I was trying to be as quiet as possible. Combine that with some pretty major thunderstorms, and that led to pulling a book off the shelf at random and leaving the computer off.
<snip>

It'll be 5 weeks before it's available, according to Overdrive, and that was the shortest time from three libraries.

As for migraines -- yeah. Quiet is good. Dark is good. Hope she's doing better!

[issybird]

Originally Posted by astrangerhere

This will absolutely be one of my top books of the year!

I'm not sure this is exactly my thing, but on such a strong recommendation I'm willing to give it a try -- especially since I'm first in line for one of four audiobooks at one of my libraries.

[CRussel]

Originally Posted by issybird

I'm not sure this is exactly my thing, but on such a strong recommendation I'm willing to give it a try -- especially since I'm first in line for one of four audiobooks at one of my libraries.

Let us know what you think, issybird. It sounds like you'll get a copy before I will.

[astrangerhere]

Originally Posted by issybird

I'm not sure this is exactly my thing, but on such a strong recommendation I'm willing to give it a try -- especially since I'm first in line for one of four audiobooks at one of my libraries.

You may hate it. But I'd still like to talk about it if you do read it. I don't know how it would be in audio. I read it in 3.5 hours over 2 sittings.

[pdurrant]

Originally Posted by pdurrant

Next up: Black and Blue by Ian Rankin - his 8th Rebus novel.

Which was very good, but not compelling for me.

Next up: Cold Welcome by Elizabeth Moon. A very recent purchase, under one of Amazon's "Spend £10, get £5" deals

[DiapDealer]

I recently finished up Terry Brooks' final Shannara series "The Fall of Shannara". I've not really been that excited about many of these later series', but after an investment of 40+ years, I felt compelled to at least see it through.

Much like the other Shannara series of recent years, this last four-book installment played out like a greatest hits album of Brooks' favorite rehashed plotlines and magical conundrums from his older Shannara books (only the characters' names are changed to confuse the innocent).

Simon Vance did an excellent job of narrating the audio books, but even he couldn't make it all very meaningful. Make no mistake: this was no triumphant finale, 40+ years in the making. It was a commercially-baked chocolate-chip cookie. OK, but nothing to get excited about.

He may write more prequels and gap-fillers in the Shannara universe, but I'm done. Happy memories for a younger me and these books, but older me is just tired of giving the newer stuff a chance to break out of Brooks' own quagmire of canon and plot rehashes. R.I.P Shannara.

[drofgnal]

I’ve just started ‘The Road to Reality, A Complete Guide to the Laws of the Universe’ by Roger Penrose. It’s about 1000 pages of the history of mathematical thought, physics including classical, quantum, relativity (special and general), and quantum gravity (theory of everything, strings, loops etc.). I’m enjoying it, but it’s not a light read. It was a birthday present a couple of years ago. I plan it as a slow read from time to time while I continue to read fiction.

[drofgnal]

Originally Posted by DiapDealer

I recently finished up Terry Brooks' final Shannara series "The Fall of Shannara". I've not really been that excited about many of these later series', but after an investment of 40+ years, I felt compelled to at least see it through.

Much like the other Shannara series of recent years, this last four-book installment played out like a greatest hits album of Brooks' favorite rehashed plotlines and magical conundrums from his older Shannara books (only the characters' names are changed to confuse the innocent).

Simon Vance did an excellent job of narrating the audio books, but even he couldn't make it all very meaningful. Make no mistake: this was no triumphant finale, 40+ years in the making. It was a commercially-baked chocolate-chip cookie. OK, but nothing to get excited about.

He may write more prequels and gap-fillers in the Shannara universe, but I'm done. Happy memories for a younger me and these books, but older me is just tired of giving the newer stuff a chance to break out of Brooks' own quagmire of canon and plot rehashes. R.I.P Shannara.

Thanks for the heads up. I’m just finishing up the ‘Genesis of Shannara trilogy. I think this may be close to next. I think I’ll skip it.

[DiapDealer]

Originally Posted by drofgnal

Thanks for the heads up. I’m just finishing up the ‘Genesis of Shannara trilogy. I think this may be close to next. I think I’ll skip it.

The series' at other end of the Shannara universe (timewise) were at least interesting. Word & Void, Genesis, etc. But on the other end (chronologically), everything after Heritage started getting pretty sketchy for me.

[Kindleing]

Originally Posted by drofgnal

I’ve just started ‘The Road to Reality, A Complete Guide to the Laws of the Universe’ by Roger Penrose.

Are you reading this on an e-ink reader? I see from the Amazon description "... but the book is leavened by vivid descriptive passages, as well as hundreds of hand-drawn diagrams.". I was wondering how well the "hundreds of hand-drawn diagrams" render on e-ink. My experience has generally not been positive.