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

[pdurrant]

Originally Posted by pdurrant

Next up: The Monkey and the Tiger by Robert van Gulik. Two Judge Dee stories.

Which were very good.

Then I read Vengeance in Venice by Philip Gwynne Jones, the second in his series about Nathan Sutherland, Britain's Honorary Consul in Venice.

And next up is The Collapsium by Will McCarthy. The first in his Queendom of Sol series. I bought the next three books back in 2008 from Fictionwise, and I've been waiting since then for the first one to be available in ebook at a sensible price! £3.78 will do.

[pdurrant]

Originally Posted by pdurrant

And next up is The Collapsium by Will McCarthy. The first in his Queendom of Sol series. I bought the next three books back in 2008 from Fictionwise, and I've been waiting since then for the first one to be available in ebook at a sensible price! £3.78 will do.

Which was great fun. Enjoyable almost-science space opera.

Next up: The Willow Pattern by Robert Van Gulik. Another of his Judge Dee mysteries.

[fantasyfan]

This collection is one every Jane Austen fan should have. It is a collection of a very early novel, two fragments of other novels, and other material in manuscript. Of enormous value in putting this content in perspective are the valuable textual and explanatory notes and the brilliant introduction by the editor, Kathryn Sutherland. We also get a Select Bibliography and A Chronology of Jane Austen.

“Lady Susan” is quite early and often now included in collection of the novels, Unlike the other items in the collection, it is not in manuscript form but rather in a “fair copy” which was probably intended for family and friends rather than publication. LS uses the epistolary technique of developing a plot through sequences of letters. Sutherland notes that this method was already falling out of favour by the time this short work was written. Jane Austen’s earlier works also used this method and it is noteworthy that the conclusion shifts to an external narrator who rather succinctly polishes thing off. It is no masterpiece but has some quite interesting features well developed by Sutherland. One wonders if the lost early versions of “Pride and Prejudice” and “Sense and Sensibility” used the epistolary form. Think, for instance, of the important part letters play in “Pride and Prejudice”.


With “The Watsons” (1804-05) we are into something much more typical of an Austen novel. It exists only in a manuscript which shows a great deal of work with many deletions and additions. Sutherland notes that it promises a darker world and a very different sort of heroine who seems a forerunner of Fanny and Anne in the later novels. There is an emphasis on economic issue and the vulnerability of women who depended on marriage as their only option.

Why was it never finished? Sutherland thinks that it might be owing to the fact that the plot was too close to incidents in Jane Austen’s life. Sutherland feels that this fragment “marks a turning point in Austen’s way of writing. It suggests, unusually, Austen experimenting with biography as fiction.” Something new and darker is found in this work that will ultimately lead to Fanny of “Mansfield Park” and Anne of “Persuasion”. But it could be that Austen herself had not reached the level of artistic maturity and depth of experience to be able to develop the story in its fullness.

“Sanditon” however is very different. It is not a fragment of experimentation but a “novel in the making, broken off only by illness and death.” Professor Sutherland feels it is something very different than the previous works of the author. She asserts that it breaks “new fictional ground so extraordinary that its unfinished state is not its most obvious feature.” The novel deals with the economics and “. . . the change that narrow commercialization will work upon social relations; the dangerous erosion of an older moral economics based on mutual obligation.” Austen’s style is “written in a radically new, impressionistic style.”

The editor explores this idea thoroughly and vividly in a number of various ways through incident and character. I believe she makes a good point case for believing that this last unfinished work has the making of a masterpiece which will leave the reader full of questions.
She concludes:

“ ‘Sanditon is a satire about the contemporary craze for seaside holidays; it is also a study of people who imagine they are ill, written by a woman we know was dying. To us she appears to be shadow boxing with and laughing at death. . . . As light and funny as it is, this unfinished fiction is Austen’s most poignant work.’”

The three items above are of great interest but the volume has a number of other manuscripts which are also well worth examining.They are:

Opinions of Mansfield Park
Opinions of Emma
Plan of a Novel, according to hints from various quarters
The Verses of Jane Austen
Appendix: A Poem, and Sermon Scrap
A Chronology of Jane Austen
A Select Bibliography

Finally there are superb Explanatory and comprehensive Textual notes

Anyone interested in Jane Austen’s work should get this brilliantly organised work by Professor Kathryn Sutherland

[pdurrant]

Originally Posted by pdurrant

Next up: The Willow Pattern by Robert Van Gulik. Another of his Judge Dee mysteries.

Most enjoyable.

I then read The Wellstone by Will McCarthy. A continuation of his Queendom of Sol series, but with an odd framing from a more distant future, which I thought detracted from the story a bit.

Next were three Valdemar books, Arrows of the Queen, Arrow's Flight, Arrow's Fall, which were excellent. Having started this read/re-read of the series with all the prequels, it was fun to see how much was mentioned in these first three books.

The I read the third of the Queendom of Sol books, Lost in Transmission. I enjoyed it, but it continued the odd framing device, which I still didn't like.

Then a new purchase: Goodnight, Mr James & Other Stories by Clifford D Simak. Part of a series of books collecting all his short fiction. I thought that starting with a book half way through the series would be a drawback, but I couldn't see any logic to the selections. They were all good.

And finally bringing myself up-to-day, I'm reading Uprising by Justin Kemppainen. A self-published post-apocalyptic novel, I'm not sure I'm going to finish it.

[drofgnal]

I'm about to finish my reread of LOTRs, and I'm not sure where to go from here. I watched the Reacher Series on Amazon Prime so I bought a couple of those books that were 1.99 deals of the day. Maybe that. It's also coming up on Easter and I may read something else. Around Easter I've read things like Quo Vadis, The Robe, Decker's AD 30 and 33. I bought Michener's The Source so maybe that. I'm just not sure I want to get bogged down with 1400+ pages right now. My post retirement work is currently about full time and reading time is at a premium. We'll see. It'll probably be Michener's Book.

[astrangerhere]

After a horrendous February with a forced hiatus from everything but dealing with a family emergency, I'm reading:

• Backwater by Dorothy Richardson, the second in her Pilgrimage novel sequence
• The Love That Dares: Letters of LGBTQ+ Love & Friendship Through History edited by Rachel Smith and Barbara Vesey

[Solitaire1]

Just finished reading Blitz Volume 3. It was very good, and I'm looking forward to the next volume.

[Deskisamess]

Finished All the Way Home: Building a Family in a Falling-Down House by David Giffels. A neighbor recommended it, because the area of Ohio this takes place in is not far from us. I loved his writing style, and totally enjoyed the read. Found myself laughing out loud at many of the stories. The author's style reminds me of James Lileks.

Midway through Capote's Women: A True Story of Love, Betrayal, and a Swan Song for an Era. I've skimmed a bit, lots of detail about these women, with a lot of jumping time frames. I'm more interested in Capote than these women. I did watch the first 2 episodes of the tv show, but couldn't take the crude sordid way it was told. Maybe it's impossible to show Capote's over-the-top style without being over-the-top.

Closing in on the end of Endgame: Inside the Royal Family and the Monarchy's Fight for Survival. Interesting read for me, I'm fascinated by all things Royal.

After watching a documentary about airline stewardesses, I read Fly Girl: A Memoir which covered a lot of the same info. It was fun to read from a person person's experiences.

Looks like I need to read some fiction now...

[Tarana]

Originally Posted by haertig

I just finished Midworld by Alan Dean Foster. I don't know how I missed this one for 50 years. I enjoyed it. An interesting world that Foster built here.

My favorite book is Nor Crystal Tears in the same series. Turns out I have Midworld and just haven't read it so it is in the pile for March now.

My latest read was Cell by Robin Cook, a medical thriller. Started it the night before and read virtually the entire book the next day at the ER with a family member. Excellent thriller, very much kept my attention which made the 12 hours go by a bit faster. Lots of techno jargon and while it is explained may be too much for someone who is very unfamiliar with it.

[Greg Anos]

Reading the Project Gutenberg Astounding versions of the E. E. Smith PHD Lensmen core tetrology. It's been interesting to see the "Campbell editing" vis-a-vis the later Reading Press versions.

[Dr. Drib]

Originally Posted by Greg Anos

Reading the Project Gutenberg Astounding versions of the E. E. Smith PHD Lensmen core tetrology. It's been interesting to see the "Campbell editing" vis-a-vis the later Reading Press versions.

What differences do you see? (Don't forget 'Spoiler Alert'.)

[Greg Anos]

Spoiler alert! [For E.E. 'Doc' Smith's Lensmen series]

Spoiler:

There aren't any major difference, at least until later in Gray Lensman, but a number of phraseology changes, and a lessening of the Arisian appearance of competency. They are still really smart, but nearly as overpowering as in the novel version.

Several general examples of changes:

Galactic Patrol: When Kinnison captures 6 Boskonian ships, the surviving crew of Britiannia are scattered among the 6 ships, rather than being concentrated in one ship of the 6 in the novel.

Gray Lensman: in the torture scene with the Delgonian Overlord, Kinnison ends up physically fighting the Overlord, (completely implausible!) rather than having the worm switch off the thought screen. (obviously an editorial re-write, and a clumsy one at that!)

No major scene omissions or insertions, just editorial steeping on various scenes, from trivial to major.

I haven't started on Second Stage Lensmen yet.

[pdurrant]

Originally Posted by pdurrant

And finally bringing myself up-to-day, I'm reading Uprising by Justin Kemppainen. A self-published post-apocalyptic novel, I'm not sure I'm going to finish it.

I did finish it, but it had too much going on to be good. 2/5

Next I read To Crush the Moon the fourth (& last) in Wil McCarthy's Queendom of Sol series. And the reason for the framing of the previous two books becomes apparent. It sort of works. I still think it would have been better not done that way, but perhaps that's just me. An OK ending.

And then there was The Nine Tailors by Dorothy L Sayers. Which I enjoyed, although I couldn't following the bell-ringing jargon.

And One Virgin Too Many by Lindsay Davis, the 11th in her Falco series, which I had not read before. Excellent.

And now I'm reading the March freebie from the University of Chicago: The Tiger in the Attic by Edith Milton. A memoir of a Jewish refugee in England.

[Dr. Drib]

Originally Posted by Greg Anos

Spoiler alert! [For E.E. 'Doc' Smith's Lensmen series]

Spoiler:

There aren't any major difference, at least until later in Gray Lensman, but a number of phraseology changes, and a lessening of the Arisian appearance of competency. They are still really smart, but nearly as overpowering as in the novel version.

Several general examples of changes:

Galactic Patrol: When Kinnison captures 6 Boskonian ships, the surviving crew of Britiannia are scattered among the 6 ships, rather than being concentrated in one ship of the 6 in the novel.

Gray Lensman: in the torture scene with the Delgonian Overlord, Kinnison ends up physically fighting the Overlord, (completely implausible!) rather than having the worm switch off the thought screen. (obviously an editorial re-write, and a clumsy one at that!)

No major scene omissions or insertions, just editorial steeping on various scenes, from trivial to major.

I haven't started on Second Stage Lensmen yet.

Thank you.

Your findings about Smith's serialized novels are generally the same that I have experienced in serialized novels published in popular SF magazines (especially 'IF Science Fiction' and 'Galaxy Magazine of Science Fiction', and even short story collections of the 1940s and 1950s, such as A.E. Van Vogt's Null series and in Clifford D. Simak ('City'), and in Zenna Henderson's work). In fact, this seemed to be the norm back then, perhaps due to an attempt to legitimize the field as authors attempted to dig SF out of its perceived 'ghetto market' persona; and, in addition, as publishers (perhaps due to Ray Bradbury's growing influence in the early 50s, and then later with Harlan Ellison's landmark 'Dangerous Visions' anthology in 1967.) I'm also thinking of Robert Silverberg as he abandoned the pulpish SF of his early period. The same can be said of Michael Moorcok's mature work, as well, I believe. Of course, all of this is an over-simplification of why serialized novels were later fleshed out to a different level of emancipation as authors embraced a more mature, universal, and personal vision of their work.

And don't forget money!

[Solitaire1]

Originally Posted by Greg Anos

Reading the Project Gutenberg Astounding versions of the E. E. Smith PHD Lensmen core tetrology. It's been interesting to see the "Campbell editing" vis-a-vis the later Reading Press versions.

I've been meaning to read Lensmen because it was the inspiration for DC's Green Lantern Corps. I do have the anime of Lensmen but I haven't watched since shortly after getting the laserdisc about 20+ years ago.