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

[issybird]

Originally Posted by pdurrant

That Tom Sawyer is still a child is very evident in the later chapters.

Or a sociopath.

[Dr. Drib]

Finished Oh, William!, by Elizabeth Strout. What a loving novel, one full of both pain and beauty.
I LOVED IT.

Now starting two novels:

Hunger - Choi Jin-young
Jane Fallon - Welcome to the Neighborhood

I've not read any work from the two authors listed above, but I'm looking forward to starting when I place a period after this sentence.

[astrangerhere]

Originally Posted by issybird

Or a sociopath.

100%.

Originally Posted by Dr. Drib

Finished Oh, William!, by Elizabeth Strout. What a loving novel, one full of both pain and beauty.
I LOVED IT.

I've never met a Strout novel that I did not really enjoy.

[nana77]

Originally Posted by astrangerhere

100%.

Not sure why Tom Sawyer is listed into the "bad boy" literature genre, while Huckelberry's not ( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Story_of_a_Bad_Boy ).

Aldrich established the precedent that, generally, bad boy stories do not depict the characters' maturation to adulthood, though there is some evidence that they do grow up. In the case of The Story of a Bad Boy, Aldrich notes early in the book that the characters are now adults and serving as "lawyers, merchants, sea-captains, soldiers, authors, what not."

Btw, I'll have to find an used copy of "The Long Tomorrow", by Leigh Brackett, as a digital translation isn't available (except Amazon's), and the public libraries has one only for reference consultation.

1Q84 is fantastic, yet; I don't get the negative reviews on its Wikipedia page:

A negative review from The A.V. Club had Christian Williams calling the book "stylistically clumsy" with "layers of tone-deaf dialogue, turgid description, and unyielding plot"; he awarded a D rating.[20] Also criticizing the book was Sanjay Sipahimalani of The Indian Express, who felt the writing was too often lazy and clichéd [...]

[astrangerhere]

• Audio - Braiding Sweetgrass: Indigenous Wisdom, Scientific Knowledge, and the Teachings of Plants by Robin Wall Kimmerer (390 pages)
• Kobo - The Books of Earthsea, complete illustrated edition, by Ursula K. Le Guin (1008 pages)
• Paper - The Letters of J.R.R. Tolkien, revised and expanded edition, edited by Humphrey Carpenter and Christopher Tolkien (720 pages).

I have found the Tolkien best taken in small doses - a year or so at a time in the correspondence is enough to entertain. More than that, and he becomes annoying.

[DiapDealer]

Originally Posted by DiapDealer

I've now started Ken Liu's All That We See or Seem. A little cyberpunk for a change. Another audiobook (narrated by Kat Cleave).

I started out really enjoying this book. But then about halfway through, the main characters were changed to other characters. I'm not really sure what happened, but I never recovered from that non-existent segue. The writing was fine, I just couldn't wrap my head around the shift in narrative.

I'm starting the audiobook version of George Saunders newest release Vigil. I did not read Lincoln in the Bardo, so I'm going into Saunders' stuff cold turkey.

Vigil is a novel about a spirit guide, Jill, who must shepherd the soul of a dying, unrepentant oil CEO, K.J. Boone, into the afterlife, while supernatural visitors demand a reckoning for his corporate greed, exploring themes of capitalism, environmentalism, and absolution through a blend of comedy and surrealism.

That blurb is a horrible sentence. I'm hoping it's not representative.

[issybird]

Originally Posted by DiapDealer

I'm starting the audiobook version of George Saunders newest release Vigil. I did not read Lincoln in the Bardo, so I'm going into Saunders' stuff cold turkey.

Weirdly apropos to another thread, Lincoln in the Bardo is one of the best books I've read, but my sense (I like to avoid being spoiled) is that Vigil doesn't live up to it. Haven't got to it yet; it's on my "soon" list. Just saying; don't miss out on Bardo even if Vigil's not quite all that. Also, the audiobook is supposed to be fabulous; I need a little more space before I give it a try.

[DiapDealer]

Originally Posted by issybird

Weirdly apropos to another thread, Lincoln in the Bardo is one of the best books I've read, but my sense (I like to avoid being spoiled) is that Vigil doesn't live up to it. Haven't got to it yet; it's on my "soon" list. Just saying; don't miss out on Bardo even if Vigil's not quite all that. Also, the audiobook is supposed to be fabulous; I need a little more space before I give it a try.

Good to know. Thanks! I'm sort of glad I started with Vigil. This way, I may like it more than if I had read Lincoln in the Bardo first.

Vigil is starting out pretty trippy, so I doubt I'll completely hate it. Both audiobooks seem to have huge casts involved.

[pdurrant]

Originally Posted by pdurrant

Now I'm going to start my most recent purchase: Empress of Forever by Max Gladstone.

Which was excellent.

Next up: Nettle and Bone by T. Kingfisher. Looks like a good fantasy so far.

[issybird]

Originally Posted by DiapDealer

Good to know. Thanks! I'm sort of glad I started with Vigil. This way, I may like it more than if I had read Lincoln in the Bardo first.

OK, with that nudge I've now started Vigil myself.

[Dr. Drib]

I'm having trouble getting into Jane Fallon's novel, Welcome to the Neighborhood. A bit too 'talkey, talkey' (for my tastes) and too light-hearted for what I was expecting. I'll give it about 20 or so more pages.

In the meantime, I'm going to also start reading a novel by Lindsay Hill, titled Sea of Hooks. I had the PDF, but it was a pain to read on my smaller devices, so I went ahead and purchased the ebook today.

[pdurrant]

Originally Posted by pdurrant

Which was excellent.

Next up: Nettle and Bone by T. Kingfisher. Looks like a good fantasy so far.

And it was good and interesting.

Next I read Bones in the Blackout. A well researched murder mystery set in the last half of 1939

Next up: not sure yet

[issybird]

Originally Posted by issybird

OK, with that nudge I've now started Vigil myself.

Wow. That was bad. Seriously bad. Obvious, trite, derivative, shallow, heavy-handed -- I could keep going. Its single merit lay in its being short.

It makes me think of Harper Lee's Go Set a Watchman in that I really, really wish Saunders hadn't done it as it's impossible to feel the same about his work now. He's tarnished for me.

[Fbone]

The Man Who Saw Seconds by Alexander Boldizar

Like others have said, this starts off really exciting but then becomes silly. It's satirical so that probably was intentional. I'll admit the excitement and pacing were good. Development fascinating. Too much preaching and social commentary for my liking. This understandably won several SF best book awards although published by a small press. I believe Dick's short story 'The Golden Man' was its source along with the film adaptation Next. Rated C [3 stars]

[pdurrant]

Originally Posted by pdurrant

Next up: not sure yet

I read War Games by Christopher Anvil, edited by Eric Flint. A collection of short Mil SF stories. Bought back in 2008! 4/5

Next up: James by Percival Everett. A book club book, and the reason I read Huckleberry Finn recently.