November 2017: What was good this year?

[Darth Richard II]

28 minutes ago, Lily Valley said:

The Traitor.

 

Oh, yeah. I do. That one was divisive around here.

[Lily Valley]

8 hours ago, Darth Richard II said:

Oh, yeah. I do. That one was divisive around here.

What I love best about this place.  Yelling about important stuff, books.

Finished We Have Lost the President.  I can see where people might think of Douglas Adams, but I'd rather just reread Douglas Adams.

I need to get back to the Nebula Picks.  I've got one on backlog and didn't realize The Power came out this year, thought it was a 2016 publication.  I'll give it a whirl next.

[Starkess]

I finished Knife of Dreams. Such a dramatic improvement over Crossroads of Twilight! Also makes me sad though because I know I'm getting into the Sanderson books now. I like BS but never felt like he got it right.

[Andorion]

12 hours ago, Starkess said:

I finished Knife of Dreams. Such a dramatic improvement over Crossroads of Twilight! Also makes me sad though because I know I'm getting into the Sanderson books now. I like BS but never felt like he got it right.

Knife of Dreams was such a huge improvement over all the previous books! I almost feel like its his best, though I think books 4 and 5 are the series best overall. If only he could have finished the series...

 

The worst part of having Sanderson was the stupid humour. Sanderson writes 5 year old level humour.He ruined Mat.

The part he got right I felt, was the huge battle. He can write epic stuff.

[Darth Richard II]

I'm trying to read Ann Leckie's Provenance and the gender neutral pro-nouns are driving me insane.

[Deedles]

Really Enjoying The Stone in the Skull. I half wish I’d reread the earlier trilogy though, just to familiarize myself with the characters that hav recurred. 

 

Just finished her a reread of A Dance with Dragons. I thought it was better without the weight of expectations. It held up well. 

 

Picked up Poseidon’s Gold by Lindsey a Davis as a light commute book.

[Lily Valley]

17 hours ago, Darth Richard II said:

I'm trying to read Ann Leckie's Provenance and the gender neutral pro-nouns are driving me insane.

I got used to it after a couple of chapters.  Let em wash over you.

[RedEyedGhost]

Finished Twilight Eyes by Dean Koontz, quite awhile back.  I really enjoyed this, but the second half was less good - I read it for the carnival setting and that was completely abandoned in the second half.  And I also finished The Troop by Nick Cutter.  Another good book that I feel really stuck the landing.  There was a bit too much tell and not enough show (in the characters' heads) for my taste.  There were also some really vile scenes as one of the characters is a

serial killer in the making

Still and enjoyable book though.  I have now started The Core by Peter V Brett, I'm sure I'll plow through this one much faster as it's the finale of a five book series, and Persepolis Rising is up next.

[Darth Richard II]

1 hour ago, Lily Valley said:

I got used to it after a couple of chapters.  Let em wash over you.

I finished the book and never got used to "em". (haha I see what you did there). Like, I appreciate what she was trying to do and all but the words she chose just made everyone sound like American actors trying to sound Scottish.

[LongRider]

On ‎11‎/‎14‎/‎2017 at 0:21 PM, Lily Valley said:

DO IT!  I'm only 25% through and totally savoring it.  It's really good.  REALLY GOOD.  

I got and read it and holey moley, what a story!!  It had everything, grandiose ideas, hubris, horrible lack of preparations, betrayal and abandonment.  And then the fun started.  A difference in this story from the early Antarctic survival stories I have read was while in Antarctica, yes there was snow, ice, storms and bitter below zero cold, the men were on ice covered ground.  The men of the Karluk were on ice over the Arctic ocean and had to cross over ice with leads (where the ice splits and opens to water) to reach Wrangel Island (with no boats)and that was so harrowing and scary.  What tough men, one woman and two small girls they were.  Incredible story of survival.

  Thanks for pointing me to it.

[Lily Valley]

9 hours ago, Nasty LongRider said:

I got and read it and holey moley, what a story!!  It had everything, grandiose ideas, hubris, horrible lack of preparations, betrayal and abandonment.  And then the fun started.  A difference in this story from the early Antarctic survival stories I have read was while in Antarctica, yes there was snow, ice, storms and bitter below zero cold, the men were on ice covered ground.  The men of the Karluk were on ice over the Arctic ocean and had to cross over ice with leads (where the ice splits and opens to water) to reach Wrangel Island (with no boats)and that was so harrowing and scary.  What tough men, one woman and two small girls they were.  Incredible story of survival.

  Thanks for pointing me to it.

Thanks for reading it with me.  I AM STILL WAITING FOR THE WORLD TO CRUMBLE. UNDERNEATH ME!!!  :scared nightmares:  

One of those fools went back to the arctic, and there's another book chronicling that journey.    I CANT DO IT NOW.  I need something fluffy after that.  

 

 

[LongRider]

1 hour ago, Lily Valley said:

Thanks for reading it with me.  I AM STILL WAITING FOR THE WORLD TO CRUMBLE. UNDERNEATH ME!!!  :scared nightmares:  

One of those fools went back to the arctic, and there's another book chronicling that journey.    I CANT DO IT NOW.  I need something fluffy after that.  

 

 

I hear ya.  If you ever get in the mood to read about the Antarctic, The Endurance which is about Ernest Shackleton's 1914 expedition which involved the ship, Endurance, being stuck in ice and eventually sinking.  However, 

Spoiler

everybody lives

but what a wild ride to get to the end.

But not until you're ready, of course.

edt; what is title for the story of the survivor who returned to the Arctic? 

[Lily Valley]

22 hours ago, Nasty LongRider said:

I hear ya.  If you ever get in the mood to read about the Antarctic, The Endurance which is about Ernest Shackleton's 1914 expedition which involved the ship, Endurance, being stuck in ice and eventually sinking.  However, 

  Reveal hidden contents

everybody lives

but what a wild ride to get to the end.

But not until you're ready, of course.

edt; what is title for the story of the survivor who returned to the Arctic? 

Cool, I've been meaning to read up about the Endurance.  I work with a scientist who has made several trips to the Antarctic and occasionally get to work with some people from NASA's CSBF who go down there every year.  Even in 2017, I think they're kind of nuts and I'm also a little jealous.

The book is called Ada Blackjack.    I'm looking forward to reading it and will probably tackle it in tandem with the Hugo reading early next year.

One thing that really struck me about Niven's narrative was:

She didn't blame Mamen for the loss of the crew that died on Herschel island.  I wonder if it was because he didn't survive.  It seemed like a really poor judgement call to order those men onward.

[LongRider]

2 hours ago, Lily Valley said:

Cool, I've been meaning to read up about the Endurance.  I work with a scientist who has made several trips to the Antarctic and occasionally get to work with some people from NASA's CSBF who go down there every year.  Even in 2017, I think they're kind of nuts and I'm also a little jealous.

The book is called Ada Blackjack.    I'm looking forward to reading it and will probably tackle it in tandem with the Hugo reading early next year.

One thing that really struck me about Niven's narrative was:

 

  Hide contents

 

She didn't blame Mamen for the loss of the crew that died on Herschel island.  I wonder if it was because he didn't survive.  It seemed like a really poor judgement call to order those men onward.

 

 

For the spoiler, no kidding. 

Spoiler

Sending the men to Hershcel was really bad judgement and he should have been called out for that. 

I worked with a young man who worked in Antarctica for awhile as a forklift driver.  He took great vacations to Oz and NZ.   A more cotemporary look at Antarctica is Life on the Ice: No One Goes To Antarctica Alone by Roff Smith.   He's an American expat living in Oz who spent some time there and I enjoyed his stories about his experiences.  He also wrote; Cold Beer and Crocodiles about his bicycle trip round Australia.  Another good one, no hair raising survival stories tho.

 

edt; Ada Blackjack does look interesting.    hmmmm

[Lily Valley]

16 minutes ago, Nasty LongRider said:

For the spoiler, no kidding. 

  Reveal hidden contents

Sending the men to Hershcel was really bad judgement and he should have been called out for that. 

I worked with a young man who worked in Antarctica for awhile as a forklift driver.  He took great vacations to Oz and NZ.   A more cotemporary look at Antarctica is Life on the Ice: No One Goes To Antarctica Alone by Roff Smith.   He's an American expat living in Oz who spent some time there and I enjoyed his stories about his experiences.  He also wrote; Cold Beer and Crocodiles about his bicycle trip round Australia.  Another good one, no hair raising survival stories tho.

This looks really good.  Ice Master contained quite enough of the survival stuff for the time being.  I've been fascinated with Antarctica since grad school  IceCube is there, the giant neutrino detector and tons of other cool science projects.

Looks like I've got a good themed list for my Christmas reading break.  Before I tackle it, I'm going to comb this thread for a bit of fluff.  I just reread the first book of Jemison's Hundred Thousand kingdoms trilogy.  I need something new.

[LongRider]

3 minutes ago, Lily Valley said:

I've been fascinated with Antarctica since grad school  IceCube is there, the giant neutrino detector and tons of other cool science projects.

Didn't know about Ice Cube.  I too find Antarctica interesting, such an extreme environment.  A fluffy SF novel, Antarctica by Kim Stanely is a quick read.  It's OK but does take place there.  

[Isildur's Mane]

I finished reading Myth and Sexuality by Jamake Highwater - I really loved this book - thought it was really interesting

I started rereading Assassin's Apprentice by Robin Hobb. I read this book ages ago and started the second one but for whatever reason I had to put it down and now I've forgotten everything. I'm really liking rereading it though. 

Almost finished my reread of the illustrated Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets. I've read it a million times but not illustrated and I love it.

Still reading Eye of the World but slowly and only every now and then. 

Edit to add

Still reading Metro Winds too, by Isobelle Carmody

Also - put this in the november reads because I couldnt find the december one

[Isis]

Nick Harkaway's Gnomon is super double plus good. Obviously.

[aceluby]

Reading Sanderson's Wax and Wayne series and am just not getting into it.  After reading most of the Cosmere this year I'm seeing way too many patterns that are currently rubbing me the wrong way:

1) 2D characters

2) Atrocious dialog working FAR to hard to seem 'witty'

3) 90% setup for one big ending event

4) Too much focus on 'figuring out' the magic system

So I think after the first in the series I'll shelve the rest and Stormlight #3 until I get through some of the heavier stuff I have on my plate.

[WarGalley]

Finished The Last Colony by John Scalzi. Pretty much standard Scalzi. Entertaining and fast reads (I think of them as snack novels) with the same kind of pacing, dialogue, wit and plot turns you get in the predecessor novels.  

I "hopped" Zoe's Tale and picked up The Human Division since Zoe's Tale wasn't available at the library and it's the same story as in The Last Colony but told from a different character's perspective. That might be a mistake but I can't imagine it would be a big one. A

After that, I'll do A Deepness in the Sky or A Fire Upon the Deep depending on what my library has immediately.