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

[ReadingManiac]

Originally Posted by JSWolf

When you do read The Stand, you should read the longer uncut version. That's the one I read and it's excellent.

Oooh, thanks for pointing that out. Now how to tell which is which! I've put the Kindle version on my ereaderiq list.

[Number9]

Originally Posted by JSWolf

Have you read The Green Mile? It's also excellent. The movie is one you should see if you have not.

11/22/63 is another must read.

I've read both of them and watched the movie. Excellent all three.👍
I also saw the 11/22/63 TV show, but didn't like it very much.

[Number9]

Originally Posted by ReadingManiac

Oooh, thanks for pointing that out. Now how to tell which is which! I've put the Kindle version on my ereaderiq list.

I'm not sure if the shorter version is still in print or for sale actually. I haven't seen it since the complete and uncut version was published. But I may be mistaken.🙃

[Fbone]

Originally Posted by Fbone

Next from KU, Devoted by Dean Koontz. For the next two months or so all books will be from KU while I have free trial.

I like dogs. I like books about dogs. I like books about dogs with a happy ending. Rated C [3 stars].

Next is Railhead by Philip Reeve. I like trains.

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by ReadingManiac

Oooh, thanks for pointing that out. Now how to tell which is which! I've put the Kindle version on my ereaderiq list.

This is the link for the uncut version of The Stand form Amazon US.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B001C4NXKM

[gmw]

Originally Posted by ReadingManiac

Oooh, thanks for pointing that out. Now how to tell which is which! I've put the Kindle version on my ereaderiq list.

Just to add to what's already been posted, for the comfort of being able to see it with your own eyes, check the preview and there will be two obvious indicators internally:

* The copyright is 1978 & 1990. (1990 for the expanded bits.)

* The first sentence of the fourth paragraph of "A Preface in Two Parts" says explicitly: "This version of The Stand is an expansion of the original novel."


I was going to say something about good luck waiting for it to come on special (I've been waiting to get an ebook edition for a long time), but there it was waiting for me today in Kobo AU.

[Uncle Robin]

3.75/5 for Beyond The Aquila Rift: The Best of Alistair Reynolds, now back to The Best of Faiz and being reminded that Urdu poetry really IS very different to Hindi prose.

[Elektron]

Originally Posted by ReadingManiac

The title got me curious so I just looked this up. Interesting concept. Is it directed at children?

coughs I may or may not be a child. Currently reading Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury.

[Uncle Robin]

wading through The Best of Faiz, I have discovered that on rekhta.org, almost every entry in the ebook has an audio, and most are recitations by the poet himself. Reading along silently while listening to the poet recite his own work is SO much more enjoyable than stumbling through them myself!

[pdurrant]

Originally Posted by pdurrant

Next up: The Wandering Earth by Cixin Liu. A freebie of just this story, not the collection of stories of the same title.

Originally Posted by pdurrant

It turns out I had the whole collection as a freebie too, so I've started on that.

The collection is better as a whole over the individual stories. I don't know if it's in the original stories, or a result of the translation, but I find the stories good (if occasionally implausible) but the actual telling of them is rather dull.

3/5 only for me, which is a step up from the 2/5 I gave "The Three-Body Problem".

Next up: Arsène Lupin - The Gentleman Burglar by Maurice Leblanc, in a new translation from the French by Josephine Gill.

I bought this at retail price! But the retail price is only £2.15.

I did consider the Penguin version, but that doesn't list a translator at all, so I assume it's a very old out-of-copyright translation. This new translation has got some very good reviews, and is said to be very close to the original, unlike many earlier translations.

It will be interesting to see how I like it.

[WT Sharpe]

Just finished Great Minds of the Western Intellectual Tradition, 3rd Edition by The Great Courses and a dozen top professors. It's a mammoth audio course whose 84 half-hour lectures cover everyone from the pre-socratics to Robert Nozic. Today or tomorrow I should finish the 400+ page syllabus. You better believe I'll be counting these as two separate books in my list of books read in 2021.

[Luffy]

My 4 star rating of a book that I discovered for free on this site, An Old Chester Secret, by Margaret Deland:-

Spoiler:

I did not like the ending. This is what happens when theology messes with a good story. But regardless, the only reason I didn't give this short but amazing book a perfect score is because of the dated and rampant misogyny in the proceedings.

The author was so obscure. She wrote a sterling book, never broke out of anonymity, and her work has been neglected cruelly.

I was happy, having read a book that carried a low expectation. Lately, my ratings have leaned towards negativism, but I hope to discover more gems like this one.

[Uncle Robin]

After the mental challenge of The Best of Faiz, time for some relaxing fun with The Saki Megapack. I'd never heard of him until recently, but can already see why he's referenced as an influence on PGW.

[SeaBookGuy]

Finished the first book in Mark Hebden's series featuring (French) Inspector Pel Death Set to Music, which I liked well enough that I'll likely read the 10 available titles.

[CRussel]

Originally Posted by CRussel

Meanwhile, on my Kindle, I'm reading Rogue Protocol, the third of The Murderbot Diaries from Martha Wells. These are strangely compelling little books which are seriously overpriced for their length, but patience at my library has paid off.

Finished this, plus the fourth and fifth Murderbot Diary books. Really quite enjoyable, though hardly deep and profound. 4 stars for the series as a whole, 1 star for the novella at novel pricing. Put myself on the wait list for the 6th in the series, due out this spring, at my library. Which puts me 128th in line on 25 copies. Though I suspect they'll up the copy count by the time it releases.

Now, reading Fire with Firethe first of the Caine Riorden by Charles E. Gannon. So far, pretty good. I have started this a couple of times, and had trouble getting past the first couple of chapters. But this time I ploughed through and have now quite gotten in to it.