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

[poohbear_nc]

Just started reading The Uncollected Stories of Allan Gurganus - a true story teller in the tradition of William Faulkner and Eudora Welty. I downloaded a sample and was immediately hooked.

Well, the first story in the collection, 'The Wish For A Good Young Country Doctor', blew me away for many reasons. The tale contained a description of a cholera outbreak in Iowa in 1849 - and the description of its appearance and the town's reaction so strongly mirrored the covid pandemic - it was startling. Aside from that, this is a ripping good story with unique characters. Gurganus is a supremely gifted story teller that can capture the sound and cadence of the spoken word.

I'm looking forward to wallowing in these stories on a lazy Sunday afternoon.

[issybird]

Originally Posted by CRussel

"We" being those of us who have decided to read the first book issybird has picked, Daniel Derona.

Wasn’t my suggestion, in fact. But I’m happy to read it, although I’m racing to finish The Mill on the Floss so I can have a gap between Eliot novels!

[issybird]

Originally Posted by poohbear_nc

Well, the first story in the collection, 'The Wish For A Good Young Country Doctor', blew me away for many reasons. The tale contained a description of a cholera outbreak in Iowa in 1849 - and the description of its appearance and the town's reaction so strongly mirrored the covid pandemic - it was startling. Aside from that, this is a ripping good story with unique characters. Gurganus is a supremely gifted story teller that can capture the sound and cadence of the spoken word.

I recently finished an epidemic novella myself, A Prayer for the Dying by Stewart O’Nan. The setting was a diphtheria outbreak in post-Civil War Wisconsin. It was excellent; one of my favorite books this year. Terrifying to the extent that I think it qualified as horror.

[astrangerhere]

Originally Posted by poohbear_nc

Just started reading The Uncollected Stories of Allan Gurganus - a true story teller in the tradition of William Faulkner and Eudora Welty. I downloaded a sample and was immediately hooked.

Well, the first story in the collection, 'The Wish For A Good Young Country Doctor', blew me away for many reasons. The tale contained a description of a cholera outbreak in Iowa in 1849 - and the description of its appearance and the town's reaction so strongly mirrored the covid pandemic - it was startling. Aside from that, this is a ripping good story with unique characters. Gurganus is a supremely gifted story teller that can capture the sound and cadence of the spoken word.

I'm looking forward to wallowing in these stories on a lazy Sunday afternoon.

I met Allan when I was doing my thesis years back. I have a lovely autographed copy of The Oldest Living Confederate Widow Tells All.

[CRussel]

Currently reading A Wizard's Guide to Defensive Baking by T. Kingfisher. Acquired from the library after someone recommended the author and because the title sounded fun. I confess, I didn't really know what to expect, but it's turning out to be quite delightful.

[WT Sharpe]

Yesterday I finished Growing Marijuana Hydroponically by Tina Wright, Hans. Coincidentally, as of July, Virginia will allow each household to grow four plants indoors and keep an ounce on hand.

[CRussel]

Originally Posted by CRussel

Currently reading A Wizard's Guide to Defensive Baking by T. Kingfisher. Acquired from the library after someone recommended the author and because the title sounded fun. I confess, I didn't really know what to expect, but it's turning out to be quite delightful.

Yup. A fun read. I think I'm going to give another book of hers a try.

[CRussel]

Originally Posted by CRussel

Currently reading A Wizard's Guide to Defensive Baking by T. Kingfisher. Acquired from the library after someone recommended the author and because the title sounded fun. I confess, I didn't really know what to expect, but it's turning out to be quite delightful.

Originally Posted by CRussel

Yup. A fun read. I think I'm going to give another book of hers a try.

And finished Paladin's Grace. Not quite as wacky as Wizard's Guide, but still a definite pleasure. On to the second book in her Saint of Steel series, Paladin's Strength.

[gmw]

Dark Water by Robert Bryndza. The third DCI Erika Foster mystery. Aside from stretching some credibility at the start, I think it is probably the best of the series so far. The solution was not a complete surprise (enough hints early on that stood out to anyone that reads a lot of murder mysteries) but again there were enough distractions that I was not certain until the end. A firm 4/5.

Probably time for something different so, next up came...


Asperfell by Jamie Thomas. Asperfell is a prison for Mages. I especially liked the start of this. For all that it might be considered just background information, I thought it was very well done; the characters are appealing and setting is interesting, and all offered up with a sense of tension, knowing things were about to break. I was left wanting more. Whereas the time in Asperfell itself was at first less compelling. But it does improve and the reluctant romance is neatly built. The end felt a little rushed, but I definitely feel involved now and so I am looking forward to the next instalment of the trilogy (not yet released). First person narrative often puts me off, especially in what is partly a YA romance, but I thought it worked well here. 4/5.

Note: The publisher let this down a bit, letting through some formatting and proof-reading errors: enough that I noticed them. (Normally, for a book I enjoyed as much as this, I would be unlikely to notice minor problems.)

[bizzybody]

Originally Posted by gmw

Free-Wrench by Joseph R. Lallo. A short steam punk novel. Parts of the plot were pretty flimsy and unconvincing, there mostly as an excuse for the action, but the action was fun. The characters are unsurprising but amusing and fit the story well. The ebook is free and I was entertained, so I can't complain too much. 3/5.

Get the whole series, it's quite fun, as is everything else he's written.

"Bypass Gemini" is the first book in the "Big Sigma" series, one of his earlier books so a bit wobbly but he's become a very good author since.

[bizzybody]

Currently reading the 12 book "Astral Prime" series by J.S. Morin. The third series in the Black Ocean universe, it takes place after "Galaxy Outlaws" (16 books) and starts partway through the second 16 book series "Mercy for Hire" but as yet has little interaction with characters in the other series except for one minor (but powerful) player who has become a main character.

What inspired the Astral Prime spinoff was when a wizard's apprentice took an illicit drug to enhance her powers, she accidentally almost destroyed the mining station YF-77. This series follows the aftermath of that incident.

If you think Star Wars Jedi are "space wizards", they have nothing on the wizards in the Black Ocean universe. Scientists couldn't crack artificial gravity or faster than light travel, but the wizards figured it out pretty quickly. For quite a while the only way spacecraft could enter the Astral to go between real space points effectively FTL, a wizard was required to perform the magic. By the time of these books, stardrives have been developed which meld magic and science in order to drop into Astral without a wizard. They also have "gravity stones" carved and enchanted by wizards to produce artificial gravity and nullify inertia. They can be any size, from small for single person ships to very large for big ships.

But learning magic comes with a price. Magic and technology do *not* normally get along. A wizard doing magic can disable or destroy advanced technology or "A-tech". Technology that's resistant to magic interference is primitive or "P-tech". A wizard with extreme skills can drop a massive ship into Astral without causing any (or not much) inconvenience to the technology.

But the price? Wizardry causes the practitioner to become befuddled by technology, even ignorant about how to use it. Some wizards even have problems using simple things like buttons to open powered doors or making and answering comm calls. Wizards with minimal magic skills tend to learn how to maintain star drives, which leads to "stardrive mechanic" being a derogative for wizards used by non-wizards.

[Colonel Cathcart]

Originally Posted by Colonel Cathcart

I'm in a dystopian state of mind, it seems. Maybe it's the Corona virus? Can't tell. I'm finishing reading Cormac McCarthy's The Road. Before that I read Margaret Atwood's The Testaments. Next on my reading list is Philip Roth's The Plot Against America.

I was a bit alarmed by this trend, so I decided to take a little de-tour and instead of going straight to Roth's novel, I'm now reading Yuval Noah Harari's Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind.

[Uncle Robin]

Just started Sahir Ludhianvi - the People's Poet by Akshay Manwani. So far,an informative biography.

[pdurrant]

Originally Posted by pdurrant

Next up: Daniel Deronda by George Eliot. For the Classics Book Club. This is certainly long-form, weighing in at around 800 pages! (Pages calculated with calibre).

Originally Posted by astrangerhere

It will only take you a few days at your clip! I am slow reading this one while I have some other things on the boil.

18 days, in fact. I'll save further comment for the 15th, but only 2/5 from me.

Next up: Ancillary Sword by Anne Leckie. I expect this to be much more to my taste.

[j.p.s]

I'm about half way through the Michael Lewis book released last week, The Premonition: A Pandemic Story and highly recommend it.