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

[Fbone]

Originally Posted by Fbone

Next, Terminal Alliance by Jim C. Hines. Humorous sci-fi.

This certainly is original with a nice blend of drama and humor. I didn't know how the plot would come together at the end. The resolution/outcome was good although I did think the head janitor was too intelligent and knowledgeable about military matters until the revelation on the last page. A nice read. Rated C+ [3 stars]

Next TBD.

[pdurrant]

Originally Posted by pdurrant

And now I'm reading In Search of the Dark Ages by Michael Wood. This is the 40th anniversary heavily revised version, including lots of new material about discoveries in the 40 years since its first publication in 1981.

Which was fascinating, with excellent references and bibliography for those who want even more.

Next up was a short story by John Scalzi: 3 Days, 9 months, 27 years. A wonderful time-travel story. Highly recommended.

Now reading: Codgerspace by Alan Dean Foster.

[mlewis78]

I am reading Graydon Carter's memoir. He was editor of Vanity Fair 1992-2017. When the Going Was Good: An Editor's Adventures During the Last Golden Age of Magazines.

[drofgnal]

I finished Dan Brown's new book The Secret of Secrets. One of his longer Robert Langdon Thrillers. I enjoyed it quite a bit. I still think his best was Angels and Demons.

I started Ken Follet's Circle of Days, a new historical fiction account on the building of Stonehenge.

[fantasyfan]

A Few Green Leaves

Barbara Pym

I finished reading the final novel of Barbara Pym. I ran across a 1977 reference to her in which Philip Larkin and Lord David Cecil selected her as the most underrated novelist of the previous 75 years. My library had only the ebook of A Few Green Leaves so I gave it a try.

Well, it was one of the best new reading experiences I have had for years. What a marvellous novel it is!

The setting is a small Oxfordshire English village next to an empty manor house. Other landmarks are a Mausoleum, a Deserted village, a group of newer houses, the Church and the Rectory, The characters are mainly the kinds of people one would expect in that environment and the same applies to the events in the story.

The plot develops largely through conversation pieces in which relationships are defined with a beautiful sensitivity. Pym’s characters often have flaws and limitations but they are never treated with a rough irony or sarcasm. She makes use of multiple points of view and one gets to know the villagers and feel their pleasures and disappointments. Of course, Emma is the main character and her back story and relationships form an important part of the plot but she too is a part of the village and in a very real sense the village itself is a main character in this book.

Like Jane Austen, to whom she is often compared, Barbara Pym writes High Comedy which treats a small section of human society. She is not concerned with political events but does convey the spirit of humanity with sensitivity, beauty and wisdom.

[pdurrant]

Originally Posted by pdurrant

Now reading: Codgerspace by Alan Dean Foster.

Which was OK-ish, but not, IMO, even close to his best.

Next was A Drop of Corruption by Robert Jackson Bennett. Wonderful fantasy murder mystery. A great follow-up to The Tainted Cup. Most enjoyable. I'm looking forward to more in this series. NB these are stand-alone mysteries, although the characters are ongoing.


Then I read Chicks in Tank Tops edited by Jason Cordova. Inspired by the fantasy anthology Chicks in Chainmail and sequels, but Mil SF (mostly), not fantasy.

And it was only OK. Some stories were better, and some worse, but overall just about OK.

And now I'm (re-)reading Right Ho, Jeeves by P. G. Wodehouse. Excellent fun.

[drofgnal]

I finished Circle of Days by Follet. It was a good read and I enjoyed it a lot. It was less a story of building Stonehenge and more a story of how conflict and cooperation between the groups consisting of miners, herders, and farmers led to building the stonehenge. It was a bit light on the actual building of it and more on the events that led to its building. But all in all a very solid read.

I'm now reading The Book of I by Greig. It's an interesting read on the story of a Viking raid that slaughtered a Scottish island and how three survivors, one priest from the monastery, the smith's wife, and a Viking presumed dead, got along afterward. I'm enjoying it quite a bit. It's a short read, maybe a long novella/short novel. I'll be through today.

[Fbone]

Next, I went with Verdigris Deep by Frances Hardinge. My first with this author.

The author did well with all the word pictures and expanding my imagination. I didn't know what to expect from page to page. A sense of danger seemed always present and people's reaction was sometimes normal and other times not. Funny and scary at the same time. The author delves into the human psyche to explore, as another reviewer wrote, such “weighty themes such as desire, peer pressure, fear, corruption, and the impact a good (or bad) upbringing can have on a child.” Rated C+ [3 stars].

My Stark library membership ends at the end of this month so my next read will come from there.

[drofgnal]

Finished the Book of I by David Greig. It was a NY times recommended book for the month. I thoroughly enjoyed it. Greig may be better known as an accomplished Scottish playwright. Searching for my next book....

[Renate]

I just finished "My Name is Barbra" (last name "Streisand").
At 1000 pages it was sort of long.
I liked her in "What's Up, Doc?", but I wouldn't say that I was a fan and I can't think of a single song that I really like.
Still, it was interesting to read about someone's prolific life.
It's certainly a contrast to my own life, which is more in the style of "The Dude".

[Karellen]

Watched the movie Bullet Train and discovered it was based on a book and part of a series.

Now reading Three Assassins by Kotaro Isaka, the first book in the series, and thoroughly enjoying it.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/3_Assassins

[bizzybody]

Currently reading Jack Bodett's "No Stress Space Express" series. Rusty and Mike are a truck driving team who get taken aboard a gigantic alien spaceship. There's a huge city inside the ship and turns out that getting stuff repaired takes forever. So the truckers take a crack at fixing malfunctioning equipment. The alien cargo master said they'd be swinging by Earth again in three weeks...

[pdurrant]

Originally Posted by pdurrant

And now I'm (re-)reading Right Ho, Jeeves by P. G. Wodehouse. Excellent fun.

And fun it was right to the end. A great resolution by Jeeves, of course.

Next up: The Traitor King by Andrew Lownes. This is for an in-person book club, and follows the Duke of Westminster from abdication.

So far my only criticism is that I would have liked (a brief) 'life until abdication' chapter.

[nana77]

Just finished "Project Hail Mary", by Andy Weir (2021, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Project_Hail_Mary); I've liked it, haven't read nor watched "The Martian"; btw, if I can say something about I was often comparing it to "Red Planet Blues", because Weir's writing seemed a bit like being wrote to be fine as a plot for a movie: when I was reading Sawier's book I was thinking on how that plot was so fast in a timeline that it can't fit on a film script... This was just to say that -imho- visualizing a novel while reading may be enjoyable even when it can't really fit movies.

Now on"Fiasco", by Stanisław Lem (1986).. I'm liking the philosophical trips it takes once and then .

[Karellen]

Originally Posted by nana77

Just finished "Project Hail Mary", by Andy Weir (2021, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Project_Hail_Mary);

One of my favourite books.
Can't wait for the movie... https://www.imdb.com/title/tt12042730/