First Quarter 2019 Reading

[Rorshach]

Finished Salvation's Fire.

Not as good as Tchaikovsky's (sp?) book, I thought, and I believe it's related a bit to the premise of the series, but still okay. Will probably keep reading these books if people keep writing them, but I'm not fully invested.

On to Tiamath's Wrath.

[The Marquis de Leech]

Have just finished Goethe's Sorrows of Young Werther. Shakespeare's Hamlet does better in one sodding soliloquy than Werther does in the entire book - Werther strikes me as one of those works that are more interesting in terms of cultural effects than actual content. I also noticed that the translation I was reading (the Boylan one) doesn't actually specify the colour of Werther's famous yellow waistcoat, though it does mention the blue coat. Curious.

Next up is Spengler's Decline of the West. Now that's some meaty reading... 

[Werthead]

14 hours ago, IlyaP said:

Daniel Abraham has this somewhat well known Long Price Quartet. People may have heard of it. Am currently reading the giant, wrist-shattering omnibus edition that Tor (finally!) released, as I could not find copies of the third and fourth books *anywhere* in Australia. 

This shit is good. @Werthead: as I know you've read this quartet, do you think you could answer a question about one event in A Shadow in Summer that left me a bit confused? 

It's been years since I read it, so unknown. I know there's a lot of people here who've read it more recently, so it may be better addressed to the collective.

[Jo498]

3 hours ago, The Marquis de Leech said:

Have just finished Goethe's Sorrows of Young Werther. Shakespeare's Hamlet does better in one sodding soliloquy than Werther does in the entire book - Werther strikes me as one of those works that are more interesting in terms of cultural effects than actual content. I also noticed that the translation I was reading (the Boylan one) doesn't actually specify the colour of Werther's famous yellow waistcoat, though it does mention the blue coat. Curious.

Next up is Spengler's Decline of the West. Now that's some meaty reading... 

I think I got through the first 10th or so of the Spengler. I have it on kindle (although it's maybe only the first volume). It's rather wild, I guess it was already at odds with most academic history around 1900 but it is totally beyond the scope of today's thinking.

Werther was, of course, obligatory reading at my German gymnasium. (Not sure if it is always obligatory but the town I went to school in was about  25 km from the location of the Court where Young Goethe worked as a law clerk and supposedly experienced the romance that inspired Werther... The other great local author of the region was Georg Büchner, a rebellious genius dead before his 25th birthday.)

As far as I recall I was actually positively surprised despite the length and soppiness (most of the class truly hated it, I guess) but I have not touched it again in almost 30 years. The main thing I remember is that Werther's reading reflects his mood, if he is up, he's reading Homer, the sunny Greek, if he is down, he's reading gloomy fake Ossian (of course neither Goethe nor Werther knew it was a fake).

[Garett Hornwood]

I finished off March with Vixen 03 by Clive Cussler, the fifth book of the Dirk Pitt series, which turned out to be a nice read especially compared to some of the earlier books in the series.  And the last book I finished was Line of Control by Jeff Rovin, the eighth book of the original Op-Center series, which while it had its faults like all the rest of the books in the series this book is one of the better ones.

I've read 18 books in the first quarter of the year.

[Astromech]

I borrowed the audio-book version of Simon Winchester's The Men Who United the States: America's Explorers, Inventors, Eccentrics and Mavericks, and the Creation of One Nation Indivisible for a week-long road trip. Very enjoyable listen, especially since it was the author narrating. I appreciate his division of the book into parts based upon the five classical elements: wood, fire, earth, water and metal. It isn't a  chronological history and Winchester throws in some personal anecdotes from his journeys across the US. I felt those anecdotes added to the text rather than detracting  from it. It really is an ode to the US after becoming a citizen and perhaps saccharine at times, but I always find the perspectives of American citizens who weren't born citizens quite interesting. A sort of insider/outsider perspective.

[Paxter]

All done with The Leopard. This is essential reading for lovers of historical fiction. Tomasi tells the tale of the House of Salina, whose star is fading with the coming of Garibaldi and Italian Unification. The novel focuses on the Prince of Salina's middle and latter years, as he comes to terms with the end of feudalism and the waning dominance of his noble house. In the face of adversity, the Don falls back on his intellect, courtly manners and influence and, ultimately, the comfort of the cosmos and an eternal, perfect future beyond the grave. I loved the vivid cast of Italian characters, replete with meddling Monsignors, clueless Northerners, the upstart merchant class and mysterious orders of nuns. But best of all were the meditations on the true nature of Sicily: an almost fantastical place of great history, culture and contradictions. 10/10.

Now back to SFF for the first time in a while. I'm going to re-read Williams' Memory, Sorrow and Thorn, starting with The Dragonbone Chair. 

[shortstark]

Read the latest and greatest (imo) Expanse installment over the weekend, Tiamats Wrath is awesome, emotional, intriguing and full of wtf moments, gonna be a long wait till book 9.

[Luzifer's right hand]

Read The Raven Tower by Ann Leckie in on go yesterday. I really liked the non-human POV for a change and found the setting rather interesting. 

[kiyoaki]

My wife got a Kindle Unlimited subscription, so I checked out Michael McClung's self-published (?) Amra Thetys series. The first two books are perhaps not all that original but fun and very well written. Classic sword and sorcery, fast-paced and a little gory, with likeable characters. I will check out the rest of the series later.

[Mlle. Zabzie]

On 3/19/2019 at 4:29 PM, Mlle. Zabzie said:

Recently finished City of Brass and its sequel Kingdom of Copper, and boy howdy did I love these books.  

I'm about 80% through Julian Barnes' The Sense of an Ending.  I do love an unreliable narrator book.  The main character of this book is so unreliable, and the revelations of the unreliability are so subtly and cleverly done that it keeps you thinking.

I'm also reading Ronnie Spector's ghostwritten autobiography Be My Baby (very entertaining in a depressing kind of way).

Next up Ann Leckie's The Raven Tower.  I've also got The Bird King in my queue. 

Enjoyed The Raven Tower immensely, and as always was swept away by her meticulous world building and careful plotting, though there were several elements that felt Leckie^TM but just imported to more of a fantasy realm than a space opera setting.  

Be My Baby was a quintessential rock and roll autobiography, with all the elements of the good ones and the tried and true narrative line, so that was good.  

Currently reading The Bird King, which I like a lot, but I am not getting the gushing hype (meaning I think it is solid, well-written and entertaining, with fun perspectives, but I don't think it is particularly groundbreaking).  Also reading T. Kingfisher's Clocktaur Wars, which is just fun.

[Larry of the Lawn]

On 3/26/2019 at 8:58 PM, IlyaP said:

Daniel Abraham has this somewhat well known Long Price Quartet. People may have heard of it. Am currently reading the giant, wrist-shattering omnibus edition that Tor (finally!) released, as I could not find copies of the third and fourth books *anywhere* in Australia. 

This shit is good. @Werthead: as I know you've read this quartet, do you think you could answer a question about one event in A Shadow in Summer that left me a bit confused? 

I read it on ebook because it's so tough to get actual LPQ books, was very surprised and stoked to walk into a bookstore a couple weeks ago and snag this!

[IlyaP]

2 hours ago, larrytheimp said:

I read it on ebook because it's so tough to get actual LPQ books, was very surprised and stoked to walk into a bookstore a couple weeks ago and snag this!

 

Think you'd be able to answer a question about something that happened in A Shadow in Summer that confused me? There's one scene in particular that I've read and just ... can't make sense of it.

[RedEyedGhost]

57 minutes ago, IlyaP said:

Think you'd be able to answer a question about something that happened in A Shadow in Summer that confused me? There's one scene in particular that I've read and just ... can't make sense of it.

Have you read the one surviving thread about the book? 

(Wow is it ever sad to go back to the end of this subforum and see how much has been culled.)

 

I'm also unsure why you haven't just asked your question.  Mark it in spoilers tagging, and it will very likely get answered. 

[IlyaP]

1 hour ago, RedEyedGhost said:

Have you read the one surviving thread about the book? 

(Wow is it ever sad to go back to the end of this subforum and see how much has been culled.)

 

I'm also unsure why you haven't just asked your question.  Mark it in spoilers tagging, and it will very likely get answered. 

 

I've not read the rest of the books yet. I'm in the early parts of the second book in the series (I need a short-hand for the version I have; can we call it 'The Single Volume Edition' or something? I don't know what to call the massive wrist-breaker that Tor published late last year). 

As for not having a spoiler tag...it...honestly hadn't occurred to me to use it. I'm also avoiding that other thread as I don't want to accidentally be spoiled, which I think is a fair and reasonable position to take. 

That said: when the andat Seedless "removes" the baby from Maj, the text explained that something just fell onto a plate and then Maj screamed. So Maj was full-belly pregnant, and then suddenly her womb just...shrunk away? And what happened to the baby? What exactly did Seedless turn it into, or do to it, or to Maj? I understand Seedless' job with regards to the city's economy, but the particulars of what happened in that scene confused me. Did he turn her baby into a literal seed? Or into something else? As there's a whole scandal around the translator apparently "mistranslating", I'm left uncertain as to what I read, and would love some clarification around that. 

 

[Rorshach]

So, finished Tiamat's Wrath. 

I liked it, but - reading the spoiler thread - less than the board in general, it seems. Oh, well.

Now reading Poor Economics: A Radical Rethinking of the Way to Fight Global Poverty by Abhijit Banerjee and Esther Duflo

[Cithrin's Ale]

I was under the impression Song For Arbonne was one of Kay's lesser works; it's sort of the forgotten child sandwiched between Tigana and Lions of Al-Rassan. I ended up liking it a lot. The prose had a density to it that I enjoyed; it helps that I'm willing to forgive Kay's sentimentalism and occasionally bizarre sex scenes which irk some people. The fact that I liked Song For Arbonne so much makes me optimistic about Fionovar Tapestry, which I will be starting after A Brightness Long Ago. 

I also enjoyed the Empires of Dust series. I've always enjoyed reading about repugnant characters. There's also some fun metacommentary on the appeal of darker fantasy in The Tower of Living and Dying.

I'm pretty embarrassed by the fact that I did not finish Black Leopard, Red Wolf. I found the writing a bit too confusing for me; I had trouble understanding James's descriptions. I feel like I didn't give this work the effort it deserves, so there's a bit of guilt here.

[williamjm]

8 hours ago, Cithrin's Ale said:

I was under the impression Song For Arbonne was one of Kay's lesser works; it's sort of the forgotten child sandwiched between Tigana and Lions of Al-Rassan. I ended up liking it a lot. The prose had a density to it that I enjoyed; it helps that I'm willing to forgive Kay's sentimentalism and occasionally bizarre sex scenes which irk some people. The fact that I liked Song For Arbonne so much makes me optimistic about Fionovar Tapestry, which I will be starting after A Brightness Long Ago.

While it isn't one of Kay's more famous works, I agree A Song for Arbonne isn't too far off the quality of Tigana or Lions.

[RedEyedGhost]

On 4/1/2019 at 11:07 PM, IlyaP said:

 

I've not read the rest of the books yet. I'm in the early parts of the second book in the series (I need a short-hand for the version I have; can we call it 'The Single Volume Edition' or something? I don't know what to call the massive wrist-breaker that Tor published late last year). 

As for not having a spoiler tag...it...honestly hadn't occurred to me to use it. I'm also avoiding that other thread as I don't want to accidentally be spoiled, which I think is a fair and reasonable position to take. 

 

  Reveal hidden contents

That said: when the andat Seedless "removes" the baby from Maj, the text explained that something just fell onto a plate and then Maj screamed. So Maj was full-belly pregnant, and then suddenly her womb just...shrunk away? And what happened to the baby? What exactly did Seedless turn it into, or do to it, or to Maj? I understand Seedless' job with regards to the city's economy, but the particulars of what happened in that scene confused me. Did he turn her baby into a literal seed? Or into something else? As there's a whole scandal around the translator apparently "mistranslating", I'm left uncertain as to what I read, and would love some clarification around that. 

 

 

It's been more than a decade since I read it, but 

Spoiler

I think Seedless did what he was designed to do "Removes(d) the Part That Continues" (I think that's his literal name, like I said, it's been awhile).  With cotton there's a very nice delineation between the seed and the useful part, with the much more complex pairing of a fetus and a woman I always pictured it as a messy, quick, near full-term abortion where the child had no opportunity of survival (which is why everybody was so horrified by the result).  I don't think it was ever explained if it was just the baby that was removed or her womb as well. 

The mistranslation was definitely on purpose to further destabilize Heshai - who was already near the point of collapse - before Maati would be ready/capable of taking control of Seedless.  This would weaken the Khaiem without putting a target on the Galts that would cause an immediate and devastating retaliation, like a straight up assassination.  The Khaiem had grown quite complacent in their power, but could still destroy the Galts with a single order from any of their many poets.  

 

[unJon]

I woke up today to see Holy Sister by Mark Lawrence and a new KJ Parker have downloaded to my Kindle. Nice!