Second Quarter 2020 reading

[ljkeane]

I finished False Value. It's a bit of a return to the largely standalone style of the earlier Peter Grant books and overall, unsurprisingly, enjoyable.

Spoiler

So one of my concerns about the book, Peter leaving the police, wasn't really a factor. It was pretty clear he was undercover about 2 pages in. It looks like Aaronovitch is building up to a new underlying storyline with the mysterious dark force from another dimension. I think a book covering an excursion to the US is probably on the cards.

Next up I'm going to read Michael Connelly's The Scarecrow.

[Peadar]

I'm giving M.R. Carey's The Book of Koli a go next.

[IlyaP]

Ended up re-reading Robert Jordan's The Eye of the World, which I greatly enjoyed. (Have lost count of how many times I've reread that book; I really do love that series.)

I keep trying to read Assassin's Apprentice by Robin Hobb, but it just isn't doing anything for me. I'm going to read Caliban's War by James S.A. Corey instead and see if that doesn't cleanse my palette enough to try Assassin's Apprentice again.

 

[williamjm]

12 hours ago, ljkeane said:

I finished False Value. It's a bit of a return to the largely standalone style of the earlier Peter Grant books and overall, unsurprisingly, enjoyable.

  Hide contents

So one of my concerns about the book, Peter leaving the police, wasn't really a factor. It was pretty clear he was undercover about 2 pages in. It looks like Aaronovitch is building up to a new underlying storyline with the mysterious dark force from another dimension. I think a book covering an excursion to the US is probably on the cards.

 

I did think that when I saw your previous post that you didn't need to worry about it, but obviously couldn't say anything. I did like that there wasn't really any effort made to pretend that Peter had really left.

Aaronovitch has said that he has a novella focusing on Kimberley Reynolds planned at some point, although I'm not sure how that will fit in the chronology.

I am fairly confident we'll be seeing the Librarians again at some point as well.

[The Marquis de Leech]

Still persevering with Aristotle. To call the Organon a chore is a monstrous understatement (this is Not Light Reading). Sure, Categories and On Interpretation aren't bad... but Prior Analytics and Post Analytics are just nasty, with the sort of density you normally associate with neutron stars. Finishing them felt like an achievement.

I'm currently working through the Topics, the longest component text of the Organon. Two books down, six to go.

To mix it up a bit, and to keep my sanity, I've also re-read Treasure Island.

[ljkeane]

10 hours ago, williamjm said:

 

  Hide contents

I am fairly confident we'll be seeing the Librarians again at some point as well.

 

Spoiler

I did quite enjoy the middle aged librarian giving her name, rank and serial number when she was arrested.

 

[williamjm]

3 hours ago, ljkeane said:

  Hide contents

I did quite enjoy the middle aged librarian giving her name, rank and serial number when she was arrested.

 

I went to see Aaronvitch on his book tour for False Value and he commented that he gets a lot for stories focusing on some of the side characters and he's also tempted to write about them but there's only so much time. I was then amused when I got to the bit with the Librarians because I'm sure he'll be getting plenty of requests to do a story focused on them.

[The Marquis de Leech]

Finished Aristotle's Topics.

That twist in Book VIII came out of absolutely nowhere, and puts everything else in the Organon in a rather different light. Hooray for 2300 year-old surprises.

[unJon]

47 minutes ago, The Marquis de Leech said:

Finished Aristotle's Topics.

That twist in Book VIII came out of absolutely nowhere, and puts everything else in the Organon in a rather different light. Hooray for 2300 year-old surprises.

Super curious. Please tell! Not sure you need to put under spoiler tags since it’s 2,300 years old. 

[The Marquis de Leech]

2 minutes ago, unJon said:

Super curious. Please tell! Not sure you need to put under spoiler tags since it’s 2,300 years old. 

The Organon is the compilation of Aristotle's six texts on Logic. In fact, he codified Logic as a formal thing until the nineteenth century - it's one of his crowning achievements.

He accordingly spends a lot of time analysing the correctness of arguments and reasoning. And then, in Book VIII of the Topics, he suddenly starts talking about cunning ways of winning arguments (e.g. put your most uncertain point last, because people will be nodding along to whatever you say). He basically switches from being this neutral, scientific observer of reasoning... into someone who just wants to win arguments. It's quite a shift.

(To be fair, Aristotle isn't what he pretends to be generally. He periodically takes time out to stick his boot into Plato - misrepresenting Plato in the process).

[The Marquis de Leech]

OK. Finished Sophistical Refutations, and with it the last of the Organon. Sophistical Refutations is a tame, and rather light end to this monster (though I much prefer Plato's Euthydemus), and one rather gets the feeling that a modern reader - with a passing grasp of modern logic - would find the Sophists a joke. Literally. The Sophistries presented are the sort you'd give to a ten year old in a Book of Humour.

Anyway, with the Organon out the way, next up is Aristotle's Physics.

[Peadar]

I thoroughly enjoyed The Book of Koli by M.R. Carey, a cross between Ridley Walker and The Shadow of the Torturer. Recommended.

[Zorral]

Doherty, Gordon (2019) Son of Ishtar. It appears to be self-published.  If so, it’s slicker and more sophisticated, well copy edited, and better written than quite a few other historical fictions put out by trade publishers. Many maps and illustrations.  There are audio versions. At the bottom of this site, the different available versions are listed:

https://www.fantasticfiction.com/d/gordon-doherty/son-of-ishtar.htm

Son of Ishtar is the first volume in the author's Empires of Bronze series, featuring the Hittite Empire, starting in 1313 B.C. Presumably there will be other empires in the following books, advertised as  Egypt, Assyria and Ahhiyawa – the latter, whose actual location is unknown, but seemingly states like Mycenae on the Grecian peninsula. At the Hittite High King’s court we not only meet then, not only an Egyptian delegation, but a Trojan one. About all of which we’ll presumably learn more, if, in These Days, there are any following books, that is. Sigh.

Someone, whom I don’t know, but who wasn’t me, has observed:

Quote

…the bronze age was over before most of the Bible was written, so our world view of antiquity generally misses the 1800-odd years when bronze was the major metal.

This is the first fiction I have been able to immerse in, in a long time.

https://www.ancient.eu/article/1443/author-interview-son-of-ishtar-by-gordon-doherty/

 

[Peadar]

48 minutes ago, Zorral said:

Doherty, Gordon (2019) Son of Ishtar. It appears to be self-published.  If so, it’s slicker and more sophisticated, well copy edited, and better written than quite a few other historical fictions put out by trade publishers. Many maps and illustrations.  There are audio versions. At the bottom of this site, the different available versions are listed:

https://www.fantasticfiction.com/d/gordon-doherty/son-of-ishtar.htm

Son of Ishtar is the first volume in the author's Empires of Bronze series, featuring the Hittite Empire, starting in 1313 B.C. Presumably there will be other empires in the following books, advertised as  Egypt, Assyria and Ahhiyawa – the latter, whose actual location is unknown, but seemingly states like Mycenae on the Grecian peninsula. At the Hittite High King’s court we not only meet then, not only an Egyptian delegation, but a Trojan one. About all of which we’ll presumably learn more, if, in These Days, there are any following books, that is. Sigh.

Someone, whom I don’t know, but who wasn’t me, has observed:

This is the first fiction I have been able to immerse in, in a long time.

https://www.ancient.eu/article/1443/author-interview-son-of-ishtar-by-gordon-doherty/

 

I would be interested in giving this a go... Thanks for sharing.

[Iskaral Pust]

1 hour ago, Zorral said:

Doherty, Gordon (2019) Son of Ishtar. It appears to be self-published.  If so, it’s slicker and more sophisticated, well copy edited, and better written than quite a few other historical fictions put out by trade publishers. Many maps and illustrations.  There are audio versions. At the bottom of this site, the different available versions are listed:

https://www.fantasticfiction.com/d/gordon-doherty/son-of-ishtar.htm

Son of Ishtar is the first volume in the author's Empires of Bronze series, featuring the Hittite Empire, starting in 1313 B.C. Presumably there will be other empires in the following books, advertised as  Egypt, Assyria and Ahhiyawa – the latter, whose actual location is unknown, but seemingly states like Mycenae on the Grecian peninsula. At the Hittite High King’s court we not only meet then, not only an Egyptian delegation, but a Trojan one. About all of which we’ll presumably learn more, if, in These Days, there are any following books, that is. Sigh.

Someone, whom I don’t know, but who wasn’t me, has observed:

This is the first fiction I have been able to immerse in, in a long time.

https://www.ancient.eu/article/1443/author-interview-son-of-ishtar-by-gordon-doherty/

 

Good suggestion.  There was an interesting period of early interaction — trade, war, diplomacy — between diverse empires in the Bronze Age.  I just bought a copy.

[Zorral]

2 hours ago, Iskaral Pust said:

Good suggestion.  There was an interesting period of early interaction — trade, war, diplomacy — between diverse empires in the Bronze Age.  I just bought a copy.

I'm continuing to read it even as I type this.  It's such a refreshing change.  Doherty's also accomplished for me as a reader something I didn't think anybody could do these days -- he's got a young protagonist that is interesting, not annoying, not predictable, not like All The Other Young Chosen Ones!  I do wish vols 2 and 3 were here.  Alas.

[Starkess]

I finished Rich People Problems, the final book in the Crazy Rich Asians trilogy. It was not great, and not in the fun sort of way book 1 was trash. Definitely the worst of the trilogy, but it was a quick read and entertaining in some parts. Certainly I am glad the series is over.

In my listen of Only Human, I realized my ipod screwed up the order of the files and I listened to a large section out of order. I'm going back now to listen to the part in between, and it's a bit disturbing how much of it is not needed. I wasn't really very confused at all without it. (These books have a tendency to skip times in chunks and fill in the story via exposition, given their unique narrative framing as a series of audio files, so it seemed totally plausible.)

[Inkdaub]

Finished The Broken Crown and am continuing my West re-read with The Uncrowned King. 

[Peadar]

After gorging myself on samples, I decided to read K.J. Parker's Sixteen Ways to Defend a Walled City. Fun so far.

[Wilbur]

On 4/20/2020 at 2:40 PM, Starkess said:

In my listen of Only Human, I realized my ipod screwed up the order of the files and I listened to a large section out of order. I'm going back now to listen to the part in between, and it's a bit disturbing how much of it is not needed. I wasn't really very confused at all without it. (These books have a tendency to skip times in chunks and fill in the story via exposition, given their unique narrative framing as a series of audio files, so it seemed totally plausible.)

Contrarily, I was VERY CONFUSED when the same thing happened to me as I listened to Robert Harris' Cicero Trilogy.  Very confused!

I am wrapping up Ian C. Esslemont's Dancer's Lament and finding it to be quite coherent and enjoyable.  His Malazan books written earlier (but happening later in the timeline of the world) frustrated me because they seemed very opaque, but this one follows a reasonable set of story lines and has characters for whom I care.  Hooray!