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

[JSWolf]

I've got three books going.

Lies, Damned Lies, and History by Jodi Taylor (Chronicles of St Mary's #7) I'm both listening to this and reading it. Not at the same time.

Rules are meant to be broken, aren't they?

'I've done some stupid things in my time. I've been reckless. I've broken a few rules. But never before have I ruined so many lives or left such a trail of destruction behind me.'

Max has never been one for rules. They tend to happen to other people.

But this time she's gone too far. And everyone at St Mary's is paying the price.

With the History Department disintegrating around her and grounded until the end of time, how can she ever put things right?

Project Hail Mary by Andy Weir I'm listening to this and it's excellent. Ray Porter is the narrator.

Ryland Grace is the sole survivor on a desperate, last-chance mission—and if he fails, humanity and the earth itself will perish.

Except that right now, he doesn’t know that. He can’t even remember his own name, let alone the nature of his assignment or how to complete it.

All he knows is that he’s been asleep for a very, very long time. And he’s just been awakened to find himself millions of miles from home, with nothing but two corpses for company.

His crewmates dead, his memories fuzzily returning, Ryland realizes that an impossible task now confronts him. Hurtling through space on this tiny ship, it’s up to him to puzzle out an impossible scientific mystery—and conquer an extinction-level threat to our species.

And with the clock ticking down and the nearest human being light-years away, he’s got to do it all alone.

Or does he?

The Drowned World by J. G. Ballard

When London is lost beneath the rising tides, unconscious desires rush to the surface.

Fluctuations in solar radiation have melted the ice caps, sending the planet into a new Triassic Age of unendurable heat. London is a swamp; lush tropical vegetation grows up the walls of the Ritz and primeval reptiles are sighted, swimming through the newly-formed lagoons.

Some flee the capital; others remain to pursue reckless schemes, either in the name of science or profit. While the submerged streets of London are drained in search of treasure, Dr Robert Kerans – part of a group of intrepid scientists – comes to accept this submarine city and finds himself strangely resistant to the idea of saving it.

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by pdurrant

And it was.

Then I read Bones at the Manor House by Emma Jameson. More fun in early WWII English countryside.

And I followed it up with Enquiry by Dick Francis. I enjoyed the re-read.

Now I'm reading The Killing Time by Elly Griffiths. The second in her Ali Dawson time-travel series. I've really liked her other books, but I don't think I'll continue this series once I finish this book. There's just no logic to any of it. Which might the the point of something involving time travel. This book'll have to have a seriously good last 12% to change my mind on the series.

If you want an excellent series that uses time travel and is a lot of fun to read, read The Chronicles of St Mary's by Jodi Taylor. The first 5 stories in order are...
The Very First Damned Thing (short story)
Just One Damned Thing After Another
A Symphony of Echoes
When a Child is Born (short story)
A Second Chance

[pdurrant]

Originally Posted by JSWolf

If you want an excellent series that uses time travel and is a lot of fun to read, read The Chronicles of St Mary's by Jodi Taylor. The first 5 stories in order are...
The Very First Damned Thing (short story)
Just One Damned Thing After Another
A Symphony of Echoes
When a Child is Born (short story)
A Second Chance

I read the first three of these back in 2016.

I liked the first half of the first one. The second half not so much.

The second one I didn't really like.

I really didn't like the third, and dropped the series.

I think three novels is enough. I won't be trying this series again.

[pdurrant]

Originally Posted by astrangerhere

I read this a few years ago! I remember thinking that Pym was very good at writing very unlikable characters.

It was very readable. And I didn't abandon it, which says something for its quality. But not a book I intend to ever read again.

I think I was just hoping against hope that something interesting would happen!

[pdurrant]

Originally Posted by pdurrant

Next up: Echopraxia by Peter Watts.

A sort of sequel to Blindsight.

Fascinating, but I can't say I really enjoyed it. Hard SF and at the same time, not really. Odd.

Next up: A Comedian Dies by Simon Brett. His fifth Charles Paris mystery.

[VulcanRidr]

Actually, I have been reading a lot of older fiction and science fiction, including
* E.E, "Doc" Smith, Skylark of Space, Lensman series;
* Edgar Rice Bouroughs, Barsoom series (John Carter of Mars);
* C.S. Forrester, Horatio Hornblower;

And followed Hornblower with David Weber's Honor Harrington series.

I like the different pacing of the older science fiction stuff...

[pdurrant]

Originally Posted by pdurrant

Next up: A Comedian Dies by Simon Brett. His fifth Charles Paris mystery.

Which was the expected fun, but I found the motivation a bit weak.

Next up: a non-fictionbook - Love Triangle by Matt Parker.

[CRussel]

Originally Posted by pdurrant

I read the first three of these back in 2016.

I liked the first half of the first one. The second half not so much.

The second one I didn't really like.

I really didn't like the third, and dropped the series.

I think three novels is enough. I won't be trying this series again.

Yup. Exactly how I felt about the series. Though I might have been a bit more positive about the first one, but definitely DONE with the series after the third. Which I did not finish.

[DrNefario]

Originally Posted by CRussel

Yup. Exactly how I felt about the series. Though I might have been a bit more positive about the first one, but definitely DONE with the series after the third. Which I did not finish.

I managed to get out early, after just the first one. Not for me.

[pdurrant]

Originally Posted by pdurrant

Next up: a non-fictionbook - Love Triangle by Matt Parker.

Which was fun. Some new (to me) facts - e.g. there were still living wooly mammoths when the Great Pyramid was built. (Although not in Egypt, of course!)

A few typos, one of which I've sent an email about, but nothing too serious.

Next up: Back to fiction with Swordheart by T. Kingfisher.

[astrangerhere]

Originally Posted by astrangerhere

Currently:

• Kobo - The Books of Earthsea, complete illustrated edition, by Ursula K. Le Guin
• Paper - The Professor's House by Willa Cather - I'd not read this one and am LOVING it
• Paper - A Little History of Philosophy by Nigel Warburton
• Audio - Lady Susan by Jane Austen

We're still plugging along in Earthsea, still going at my wife's pace (while we both have other books on the go as well). I absolutely loved Cather's The Professor's House. It's my highest rated book of the year thus far.

Currenlty:

• Kobo - The Books of Earthsea, complete illustrated edition, by Ursula K. Le Guin
• Paper - A Little History of Philosophy by Nigel Warburton
• Audio - Brief Answers to the Big Questions by Stephen Hawking

[DiapDealer]

Originally Posted by DiapDealer

Now starting Claire North's Slow Gods. Space Opera is definitely a new venture for her.

I'm enjoying this well enough so far, but labeling it "Space Opera" seems a bit of a stretch to me.

[issybird]

I just finished Colson Whitehead's Crook Manifesto, second in his Harlem trilogy. I didn't like it quite as much as the first, but that's a quibble. I'm looking forward to the third book when it comes out in June (which is what finally got me off the stick on this one!).

In the middle of a book of Marie Antoinette's correspondence with Maria Theresa and The Athene Palace, a journalist's account of Bucharest in the seven months following the fall of France. I'm enjoying both.

Now I need to figure out what novel I'm going to start next.

Originally Posted by DiapDealer

I'm enjoying this well enough so far, but labeling it "Space Opera" seems a bit of a stretch to me.

I've greatly enjoyed several of her other books, but I'm not sure if this one's for me. I'll be interested in your reaction. Not being exactly a space opera is a good thing in my books!

[DiapDealer]

Originally Posted by issybird

I've greatly enjoyed several of her other books, but I'm not sure if this one's for me. I'll be interested in your reaction. Not being exactly a space opera is a good thing in my books!

It's not one of my favorites of hers. Not because of the (in my opinion) misleading space opera label. But mainly because I feel it lacks a real plot. That's not always a problem for me when enjoying works, but it is here. It is most definitely Science Fiction, but there's a lot of focus on cultural niceties and ideals as well.

If I had read the book instead of listening, the abundance of gender pronouns for the various cultures probably would have been visually disruptive for me, but as an audiobook (with a more than decent narrator), it was not aurally disruptive. Infodumps do abound though.

Ultimately it felt like a long soliloquy to me. Her writing was as solid as ever, I was just never able connect to anything.

[issybird]

Originally Posted by DiapDealer

It's not one of my favorites of hers.

Thanks! I'll give it a miss, especially since it's long. I have enough false starts as it is.

For my next novel, I've started Nonesuch by Francis Spufford. Dark magic can be problematic for me, but his Cahokia Jazz was one of my favorite books of last year so I'm chancing it.