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

[pdurrant]

Originally Posted by pdurrant

Next up: One-Eyed Jack by Lawrence Watt-Evans. Something I bought back in 2013.

An excellent dark fantasy. Highly recommended.

Next up: The Chinese Maze Murders by Robert Van Gulik.

[pdurrant]

Originally Posted by pdurrant

Next up: The Chinese Maze Murders by Robert Van Gulik.

Excellent murder mystery set in Ancient China with Judge Dee.

Next up: The Alchemy of Stone by Ekaterina Sedia. I know nothing about this except that I bought it nearly nine years ago from Fictionwise. I guess it's time to see if it was a good buy!

[PurpleStar]

I finished Force of Nature by Jane Harper. I liked it better than her first book. Next up is Aurora Blazing by Jesse Mihalik.

[Luffy]

My 2 star review of Body on the Bayou (Cajun Country Mystery, #2), by Ellen Byron:-

Spoiler:

Like most cozies worth their salt, this one wears its phoniness on its sleeve. But that doesn't mean that the writer can get away with murder.

There was a lot of waffling. The main character follows the trail that a semi competent cop would be onto in a jiffy. Pages and pages of nothingness dressed as story. I can't be garrulous in the face of well meaning mediocrity.

The manner of the showdown was different. The big twist in the end, with the wedding, was uncalled for and was incredulous. If I'm in a bind in the future and don't know what to read I might pick up the next book in the series.

[mlewis78]

I finished Midnight in Chernobyl by Adam Higginbotham. Took me a long time because I was watching a lot of news for a while and then would have to watch streaming entertainment to clear my head.

Going to read Olive, Again next (Elizabeth Strout). I read the first book a good while back and saw the TV series on HBO. I bought the new pandemic novel End of October (Lawrence Wright) this week but needed to read something lighter first. Olive, Again is borrowed from NYPL (kindle).

Amazon emailed me a $5 off one-week offer on End of October. It was on my wish list. If they did that more often I would buy more books. Maybe that's not a good idea.

[pdurrant]

Originally Posted by pdurrant

Next up: The Alchemy of Stone by Ekaterina Sedia. I know nothing about this except that I bought it nearly nine years ago from Fictionwise. I guess it's time to see if it was a good buy!

It was OK. Some interesting stuff, but perhaps too much for just one novel. And the lack of focus on one protagonist was odd. I think the author should have chosen one viewpoint and stuck to it, rather than switching awkwardly.

Next up: F&SF for May/June 2020

[issybird]

Originally Posted by PurpleStar

I finished Force of Nature by Jane Harper. I liked it better than her first book.

I didn’t like her first book, either.

[astrangerhere]

Originally Posted by poohbear_nc

I've just finished my yearly re-read of Dance to the Music of Time - it gets better with each reading - esp discovering the infinitely layered web of relationships amongst the major and minor characters! Masterful! And the language requires you to read slowly, notice, and savor.
Enjoy!

It's funny, I've had a yearly re-read of War and Peace for three years running now, unintentionally. It clocks in at 1296 pages. But the notion of reading a twelve book cycle once a year completely overwhelms me. Who knows, though, this is my first read of the series and maybe I will love it as much as you. I have been enjoying the lush language, for sure. But tell me, am I going to get books where women are the focus? Right now I've only seen them in the context of mothers, sisters, or prostitutes and I will not be able to carry that through 12 books.

[ReadingManiac]

Originally Posted by poohbear_nc

I've just finished my yearly re-read of Dance to the Music of Time - it gets better with each reading - esp discovering the infinitely layered web of relationships amongst the major and minor characters! Masterful! And the language requires you to read slowly, notice, and savor.
Enjoy!

A good re-read might be what I need right now. I started the Apocalypse reading several books and have really struggled with reading time ever since.

[issybird]

Originally Posted by astrangerhere

But tell me, am I going to get books where women are the focus?

Well, no, not in my memory of it.

I’ve been meaning to reread this cycle for years, but the lure of the unread always makes it seem like too much of a commitment. So recently, when I had to burn some Audible credits, I picked up the Simon Vance narration; I’ll be interested to hear his spin on the characters. When I get around to it!

[CRussel]

Originally Posted by issybird

Well, no, not in my memory of it.

I’ve been meaning to reread this cycle for years, but the lure of the unread always makes it seem like too much of a commitment. So recently, when I had to burn some Audible credits, I picked up the Simon Vance narration; I’ll be interested to hear his spin on the characters. When I get around to it!

I am the exact opposite right now -- the lure of the comfortable re-read wins out over the new. And when I finally get to reading something new, it is pure schlock. I find I am doing exactly zero serious reading while doing more reading than "normal". Oh, and a large portion of it is audio rather than ebook.

[poohbear_nc]

Originally Posted by astrangerhere

It's funny, I've had a yearly re-read of War and Peace for three years running now, unintentionally. It clocks in at 1296 pages. But the notion of reading a twelve book cycle once a year completely overwhelms me. Who knows, though, this is my first read of the series and maybe I will love it as much as you. I have been enjoying the lush language, for sure. But tell me, am I going to get books where women are the focus? Right now I've only seen them in the context of mothers, sisters, or prostitutes and I will not be able to carry that through 12 books.

Well, there is the unforgettable Pamela Flitton/Widmerpool.
(You need to watch the BBC series to appreciate her the best - Miranda Richardson was superb.)

But - the novels focus on Nick Jenkins and the kaleidoscope of characters that keep forming and reforming around him in new patterns. So the novels follow him through prep school, university, and WW II, and describe events as seen through his eyes. It becomes a challenge to re-fit characters from earlier books/earlier in Nick's life, into later volumes. The narrative for me reads as if Jenkins were sitting by a fireside reminiscing. It's his life.

And the language ... you can literally wallow in it.

The books are fairly short, with 4 chapters in each, so that the entire 12 novel sequence reads more like a triple-decker Victorian novel split into 12 volumes.

[Pulpmeister]

Yes, Music of Time is highly recommended. Bought it piecemeal in second hand bookstores, so they look a bit different on the shelf. Some of his characters disappear in WW2 of course, such as when a bomb hits the Cafe de Madrid in London... just as a bomb hit the real-life Cafe de Paris in London. Jenkins is not the action-man protaganist so much as a slightly bemused but always entertained observer of the dance.

[pdurrant]

Originally Posted by pdurrant

Next up: F&SF for May/June 2020

A mixed bag this month. The novella, Byzantine was very good. Of the three novelets, Stepsister and Who Carries the World were very good, but I didn't really like Birds Without Wings. Of the six short stories, Eyes of the Forest, An Indian Love Call, In the Eyes of Jack Saul and Another F*cken Fairy Tale were all very good. Warm Math was another OK-ish take on the Cold Equations. Hornet and Butterfly I just didn't like. The science fact article, Star Link, Star Junk was excellent.

On the whole, a good issue.

Next up: World Divided by Mercedes Lackey et al. The second in her "Secret World Chronicles" series. I read the first back in 2014, and it was OK, but I remember nothing about it. We'll see if the second volume make me interested in the rest, or whether I should abandon the series.

[pdurrant]

Originally Posted by pdurrant

I'm undecided as to whether I want to bother reading the next one. If I can remember the story in a month or two I'll read it.

Originally Posted by pdurrant

Next up: World Divided by Mercedes Lackey et al. The second in her "Secret World Chronicles" series. I read the first back in 2014, and it was OK, but I remember nothing about it. We'll see if the second volume make me interested in the rest, or whether I should abandon the series.

I read the intro and the first story, and had no interest. Then I checked my comment from 2014.

It appears to be a series of short works by different authors in a world based on some kind of on-line game. Abandoned. And the sequels, which I got in various Baen bundles.

Next up: Not sure.