First Quarter 2021 Reading

[ljkeane]

Piranesi wasn't bad but I didn't enjoy it anywhere near as much as I remember enjoying Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell. The setting didn't really capture my imagination and perhaps now wasn't the time to read a book that features isolation and loneliness so prominently.

Next up I'm going to read Naomi Novik's A Deadly Education.

[Peadar]

The Expert System's Brother was short and fun. Up next, The Grass Crown by Colleen McCullough.

[Wilbur]

Red Seas Under Red Skies by Scott Lynch was a long and interesting story, and one I liked better than The Lies of Locke Lamora.

One of the key features that stood out to me included the fact that the plot reminded me a lot of Yojimbo (or A Fistful of Dollars if you prefer the illicit remake by Sergio Leone) in that the protagonists play off powerful factions against one another.  Another is how Locke's actions and motivations recreate the characteristics of Flashman in his cowardly falling into lucky outcomes when it is time for violence.  Finally, the Treasure Island references are enjoyable and easy to comprehend once the characters get onto the seas with the pirates.

The two main characters, Locke and Jean, seem to develop and possess more compassion in this story than in the original novel, as they express empathy with some individuals among the down-trodden who are not members of their gang.  And this provides one of the most humorous elements of the book when they work out their sympathies for the underclass upon the rulers on one particular den of vice and iniquity.  Still, this is in contrast with their general willingness to murder and rob anyone who isn't them without much concern.

Finally, I enjoyed the cliff-hanger at the end, and I will seek out the next book just to find out what happens to Locke.

[Vaughn]

On 2/21/2021 at 9:24 PM, Teng Ai Hui said:

Just finished City of Stairs.  Very enjoyable.  My favorite character was Sigrud.  I wish he had more screen time.  I was happy to discover that apparently he is the main character of City of Miracles, book #3 of the Divine Cities series.

Just started City of Blades.  The opening sequence between Mulaghesh and her new neighbors was a fun place to start.

 

Also, I always envisioned Sigrud as looking like the comic book version of Sabertooth.  However, I recently noticed that the author, Robert Jackson Bennett, has artistic renderings of his main characters on his website.  Evidently, Bennett thinks that Sigrud looks more like Ragnar Lothbrok from Vikings.

Just blew through all three over the last few weeks - very engaging books. As noted, Sigrud gets his time to shine. I'll hold off on saying more about Miracles since you've not read it yet but I enjoyed all three. The breezy but interesting plotting reminds me a bit of Zelazny, where you're on a voyage of discovery in a weird world, right along with the novel's protagonists.

[Vaughn]

Bennett did a good job of blending stuff that was pretty familiar in terms of how people live/act/behave in the real world with some very fantastical elements.

[Iskaral Pust]

I read Leonard And Hungry Paul by Ronan Hession, a literary fiction with a very patient and nurturing attitude toward introverted young adults who have failed to launch and are belatedly taking some steps to self-actualization.  I cannot recall why I bought it, but its optimistic tone was a nice change-up during COVID.

Next was The Poppy War by RF Kuang, a relatively conventional fantasy, the opening volume of a trilogy, that is differentiated by a female POV protagonist and a setting in a fantasy proxy for China.  The character arc and plot feel very familiar.  The first half is like The Name Of The Wind (but a less annoying Mary Sue and a much brisker pace), while the second half was like the Black Company or the Bridge Burners from Malazan.  The main conflict here is thinly veiled analogy of the Sino-Japanese conflicts of the 20th century, especially the rape of Nanking.  While I wouldn’t dispute any Chinese (or Korean) person’s right to do so, the portrayal of the Japanese analogues lacks any nuance or humanization.  Overall this was a pretty good fantasy read, and my mother loves the trilogy, but I found myself a bit tired of all the fantasy tropes and cliche character arc and angsty conflict to resolve.  I’m generally struggling with ennui with the fantasy genre unless the author brings some novelty in the prose, tone or characters.  I still like Joe Abercrombie despite the ubiquity of grimdark, for example, because of his dark humor, poking fun at any angsty cliches, and willingness to subvert the tropes.

Most recently I read The Body: A Guide For Occupants by Bill Bryson, a non-fiction about the human body.  As usual with Bryson, this is an interesting and entertaining read without being terribly demanding or massively insightful.

[williamjm]

The Earthsea omnibus I was reading had four miscellaneous short stories after the main books, two written before A Wizard of Earthsea and two from the last decade. The earlier stories weren't bad but felt a bit slight and don't entirely fit with the later works, Le Guin commented in her notes on them that trolls had obviously become extinct in Earthsea since the first story was written. The Daughter of Odren was the best of the shorts and would have fit in well with the Tales From Earthsea stories. The very final story Firelight was a good coda for the series showing an elderly Ged in his last days.

I was slightly amused by one line about Ged saying how wonderful it had been to know the Name of the Wind, although I notice he didn't mention knowing anything about The Doors of Stone.

Next up is Adrian Tchaikovsky's Bear Head. It's a sequel to Dogs of War which I thought was a great novel, so I'm looking forward to this.

[HoodedCrow]

I have liked John Wyndham’s books, especially The Chrysalids. Easy reading.

The most popular children’s books in Canada are probably Anne of Green Gables, etc. i liked Emily Carr’s books. They pulled her out of poverty. There is Never Cry Wolf.  don’t know if you have kids, though.

[Kyll.Ing.]

Discworld

Yeah, all of it, but admittedly, not at once. After reading the first one almost four years ago, I found out there were approximately as many Discworld books as there were months left of my PhD work. So I did the sensible thing and bought a Discworld book every month after payday for as long as I've been working. I finished The Shepherd's Crown the other day, and my thesis deadline is in late March - my counting was a little off when I did the original estimate.

What can I say? I've thoroughly enjoyed every book. Terry Pratchett really was taken away too early. It's a really well crafted setting, with really well crafted characters. The wordplay is excellent, from the music shop being plundered by luters to Nanny Ogg going to bed early on account of being an old lady - as early as 6 AM or so. It's a world that went through real change as the series went on, but it still remained the same old world.

So, not sure what I'll do next month. OK, next month will be stressful as hell trying to finish my PhD, but after that ... I'll have to come up with something. As I couldn't find a good way to fit Raising Steam into my old bookshelf, even sideways, I've had to buy a new one, and now it stands there mostly empty. I'll continue working as a post-doc. in our research project for another couple of years, and knowing myself, that bookshelf too will be filled before I'm finished. It'll be interesting to see what with.

[Plessiez]

1 hour ago, Kyll.Ing. said:

 I finished The Shepherd's Crown the other day, and my thesis deadline is in late March - my counting was a little off when I did the original estimate.

I really should try to read The Shepherd's Crown at some point (I think that I've also not read I Shall Wear Midnight but that I have read everything up to Wintersmith, but it's been a while).  I was a bit discouraged after reading Raising Steam (which I'm afraid I didn't like at all) but everything I've heard about the later Tiffany Aching books has been very positive.

(And good luck finshing your PhD!)

[dog-days]

5 hours ago, Plessiez said:

I really should try to read The Shepherd's Crown at some point (I think that I've also not read I Shall Wear Midnight but that I have read everything up to Wintersmith, but it's been a while).  I was a bit discouraged after reading Raising Steam (which I'm afraid I didn't like at all) but everything I've heard about the later Tiffany Aching books has been very positive.

(And good luck finshing your PhD!)

I think Shepherd's Crown is definitely worth reading, though it's kind of patchy, and feels like a draft. At the same time, there's at least one scene there that feels completely indispensable to any fan of the Aching/Witches books. There are other good bits too, of course - I haven't read Raising Steam since it sounded as if it had more of the problems that were there in Snuff;  in contrast, I thought Shepherd's Crown felt like a genuine Tiffany book, and a strong conclusion to the series. 

I don't cry much, but if I could, I would have wept buckets at the end. 

[Kyll.Ing.]

9 minutes ago, dog-days said:

I don't cry much, but if I could, I would have wept buckets at the end. 

Or that ... other point in the book. It got my eyes wet, at least.

But I agree that The Shepherd's Crown is a great Tiffany book. As I've said in here before, the other of her books have a tendency to follow roughly the same plot: Something unknown is stalking Tiffany Aching, and she needs to confront it before it destroys her and/or those she loves. That plot is fortunately absent from this book, and it also gives a very nice wrap-up of the Witches series.

Although I will agree that it felt a little patchy in places. A few of its plotlines kind of petered out without paying off. The book was written in a race against time (and dementia!), after all, and it showed a bit. Still, I found the result satistfying enough. I've read far, far worse books in my time.

Oh, and I didn't have as much of a problem with Raising Steam, which I read last month. It was a little rough in places, and it had a bit of what TVtropes calls "anvilliciousness" at points, but I think it gave a satisfying feeling of the end of an era for the Disc - that is, the beginning of a new era, because a lot of new opportunities open up without the old really being lost. It also revisited a ton of old side characters, showing how life went on for them all. Well, minus a few, unfortunately. But then again, it gave a feeling that the tales will continue for the various characters, even if we don't get to participate in them anymore. The Turtle Moves, and all that.

[Starkess]

I've been listening to The Cruel Prince by Holly Black and really enjoying it. I am not usually super into fairy stories (as in, the fey/fair folk type) but this one is working really well. Already queued up book 2 at the library so hopefully I won't have to wait long after finishing.

My loan on Piranesi by Susanna Clarke came in so I started that today. I went into it with 0 clue what it was about. Definitely wasn't expecting this but I'm actually enjoying it so far! It's also quite short so I don't anticipate it will take long.

[Plessiez]

Finished The Mirror and the Light yesterday which means that, despite a fairly slow month, I'm still basically on track to meet my target for the year (currently 10/60).  Thought it was a solid conclusion to the trilogy, and not quite as depressing as I was afraid it would be.

This month I'm going to be a bit less structured than I tried to be in January and February.  I'm hoping to read two books I'd meant to finish earlier in the year (C. J. Cherryh's Fortress in the Eye of Time and Matt Ruff's Sewer, Gass & Electric) as well as Marlon James' A Brief History of Seven Killings.  But I'm not sure what else I'll be trying yet.

[Ormond]

Last night I finished Brain Wave by Poul Anderson. Somehow he was one of the "big" science fiction authors I'd never read anything by, so I wanted to finally try him. This turned out to be his first published novel, copyright 1954. It was short, only 164 pages. The novel is a sort of thought experiment about what would happen if the intelligence level of all animals with brains suddenly increased. In the story there is a general rise for everyone -- the very smart become supergeniuses, the mentally handicapped rise to what's now "normal intelligence", chimpanzees rise to what's now low level human intelligence, etc.  One can certainly tell the novel was written around 1953 -- the women characters are secondary and have a harder time emotionally dealing with their increased brain power, almost all the characters smoke (even inside spaceships), etc.  I found the writing to be very good, though, with many interesting turns of phrase, and can see why the book is still considered one of Anderson's best. 

My next fiction will be the fantasy novel Transformation by Carol Berg.

[williamjm]

4 hours ago, Ormond said:

Last night I finished Brain Wave by Poul Anderson. Somehow he was one of the "big" science fiction authors I'd never read anything by, so I wanted to finally try him. This turned out to be his first published novel, copyright 1954. It was short, only 164 pages. The novel is a sort of thought experiment about what would happen if the intelligence level of all animals with brains suddenly increased. In the story there is a general rise for everyone -- the very smart become supergeniuses, the mentally handicapped rise to what's now "normal intelligence", chimpanzees rise to what's now low level human intelligence, etc.  One can certainly tell the novel was written around 1953 -- the women characters are secondary and have a harder time emotionally dealing with their increased brain power, almost all the characters smoke (even inside spaceships), etc.  I found the writing to be very good, though, with many interesting turns of phrase, and can see why the book is still considered one of Anderson's best.

I read it a few years ago, it does have some great concepts in it although I agree parts of it have dated badly.

[Inkdaub]

I am about a third into Gwynne's A Time of Dread.  It's pretty good so far.  There is quite a bit of intrigue in the story and I always love that. 

 

[Starkess]

I loved both The Cruel Prince and Piranesi, although I thought the latter was just a hair too slight. A very interesting exploration of abuse, trauma, and coping. Impatiently waiting for The Wicked King (sequel to TCP)!

For now, I'm listening to Fairest, book "3.5" in the Lunar Chronicles. It's a novella about the main villain and it's not particularly enjoyably to read (I do not like spending this much time inside the head of a narcissistic rapist, personally) but it is nice to get a bit more worldbuilding for the series, as I've felt that aspect to be a little lacking.

[mushroomshirt]

Finished A Deadly Education by Naomi Novik this weekend.  It was on sale for $2.99 on Kindle.  (Thanks @Lord Patrek and the Amazing Book Deals thread!)

I really enjoyed it.  The first half I liked especially.  I loved the concept - a twist on the usual secret hero destined for greatness.  We get that hero, but he's not so secret and he's not the main character.  The main character El seems to be destined to be the Lord Voldemort of the world, some massively powerful villain that will destroy all light and goodness.  You might be able to argue that the author is a little heavy handed with this since she makes explicit reference to LOTR and "bad Galadriel" - which happens to be the main character's full name.  (you know: beautiful and terrible as the dawn, all will love me and despair) I really liked seeing how miserable El is trying to be good even though everyone thinks she's bad no matter what she does.

The second half is much more conventional, with El moving away from reclusive loner to having her own little group of friends.

The book reminded me a lot of @Peadar's The Call, which I loved.  There's no actual call, but there's the same school concept & lots of the kids don't make it because of the mals that can get them at any time.  There's a bunch of magic though, so maybe it's more like The Call crossed with a bit of Harry Potter.

I will definitely pick up the sequel, but I am a little worried since I liked the first half more than the last half. 

[Lord Patrek]

42 minutes ago, mushroomshirt said:

Finished A Deadly Education by Naomi Novik this weekend.  It was on sale for $2.99 on Kindle.  (Thanks @Lord Patrek and the Amazing Book Deals thread!)

Reading it now!