December 2012 Reading

Since it's the first, why not?

Ship Breaker...must finish.

It's hard to imagine 2013 is coming so fast. Would anyone else like to do a year-long challenge of one first-time author's collection of short stories a month? Authors of one's own choosing, but I'd start a thread over in the 75-Books Challenge each month with five or six suggestions and link to it here.

I need to keep up the short-story world's presence here on LT! Genres not important, just the short story format.

Oh, and if there's an author one wants to read (eg, Edith Pearlman) whose first book came out a while back, heave it in.

Anyone up for that?

But who will start the "Readin" thread???

Since the Mayan apocalypse is coming in less than 3 weeks, I figured I'd start Project Nemesis by Jeremy Robinson. A giant monster for the end of the world....

>3 brightcopy: Oops! Fergot ta mispel 't.

Someone round here recommended John C McLoughlin's The Helix and the Sword. Gave up 50 pages in. What an annoying book. Read some non-sf instead. It was much better.

Now finished "The Hydrogen Sonata" and cleansing the palate with a dip into E.M. Forster The machine stops before a session of revisionist WW2 history. (Cross-posted for completeness from my erroneous "last post in November" entry...)

You need to be from down here in Atlanta (or close) to use the "Readin" (not much riten nor 'rithmatic down here neither)...

I'm finishing up the Jon and lobo book I started last month and getting ready for World War Z by Max Brooks...

Working through Duel: Terror Stories by Richard Matheson. Not nearly as impressed as I was with I am Legend, which was fantastic.

just finished All You Need is Kill which was a bit meh. the movie groundhogs day meets military SF. apparently they're making a movie with tom cruise miscast as the lead.

started Woken Furies

Reading Historical Lovecraft and North by 2000+.

#7

Well I'm about a quarter the way through The Hydrogen Sonata after just finishing On The Overgrown Path by David Herter.

Just started Nova by Delany.

Dumped Count to a trillion almost half-way through as the lack of any story or characters beyond the super-genius 'lead' got too much. Now enjoying the delights of Blue remembered Earth which has characters and a story...

Re-started The Enemy Stars by Poul Anderson. I got bogged down by events at home last time I tried to readiit.

Just started Cloud Atlas. I have not seen the movie - just wondering what all the fuss is about. So far it's pretty good.

#1

Good book, though there is some weakness in the plot-line. Though is is shelved under Sci-Fi in my library and I think that it appropriate for the older (15-16) young adult.

I just finished Geomancer's Compass. It is not the greatest book in the world, however it will hold the interest of the younger readers. I am not tackling a collection of essay by Margaret Atwood called In other Worlds; SF and the Human Imagination. Also have a number of other books to read. I am saving Ganymede by Cherie Priest. I am wondering if she has run the string out on this series.

>18 BobVTReader: I thought Boneshaker was enough - cardboard history meeting cliched villains.

Yeah, I didn't understand the praise for Boneshaker at all. It was formula fiction, she had sat down and looked at what a steampunk novel is supposed to contain and then just ticked all the boxes without enthusiasm, a strong story, or convincing characters.

Since the ACW was the first 'modern war' it should ideal for 'steampunking' - after decades of war stalemating on WW1 technology, the South could be hunting for Dr Frankenstein to help research reanimating their dead solders while the North could be pressuring Marie Curie to refine uranium for a bomb :-)

Last night I finished Osama by Lavie Tidhar. Don't have much in the way of thoughts as I'm still processing it. It's one of those books that makes you think and figure things out.

I'm about to start War with the newts.

Finished The Enemy Stars, ****, not bad at all!
http://sfaddict.blogspot.co.uk/2012/12/the-enemy-stars-poul-anderson-1959.html

18, 19 ,20 > I actually really enjoy Boneshaker and the other books in the series. Maybe it helps that I haven't read much other steampunk.

I too enjoyed Boneshaker. I'm not sure if that makes me an unsophisticated nebbish or if my expectations were set lower than others - in any case, I liked the book and would gladly read others by Cherie Priest...

> 23: You got a newt problem, then?

Finished up White Night (A-); while I get the sense of a little series fatigue setting in Butcher does keep developing his protagonist, as Harry Dresden learns to be more of a comrade and a teacher while at the same time having no trust for his nominal leaders.

> 25, 26 - I liked Boneshaker too, but found the ensuing books in the series even better.

> 23, 27 - Are we talking about a world in which Gingrich clones run amok? This is an unsettling premise for me.

ETA: I recently finished The Coldest War by Ian Tregillis and thought it was excellent. I am really looking forward to the third book in the trilogy.

I think it's high time we put a Capek on all these amphibian puns.

Currently reading L'Orbe et la Roue by Michel Jeury, where a protagonist is caught willy-nilly over the span of thousand years in several instances of the conflict between two supposedly allied (but still somewhat at odds) power groups reminiscent of Banks' Culture. There are echoes of Cheradenine Zakalwe or similar "sensawunda" sceneries that remind those depicted in Look to Windward as well, but it's slightly earlier (1982, and much more obscure) french SciFi.

Ship Breaker and me? We didn't hit it off. Must be me, so many others are yodeling about it.

#32, that's how I felt about Dune!

It's sort of jarring when everyone-but-everyone sees this glorious scrumptious feast and you see a four-pack of Ensure.

Hearing that everyone else loved it is a good way to ruin a book.

#32 I think that's a Bacigalupi thing. I gave up on The Windup Girl 100 pages in. I've no desire to try Ship Breaker.

Ive enjoyed some of Bacigalupi's stories in magazines if I remember correctly.

>37 sf_addict: I can't remember any story of his I've read. I think Ian's right, Baciagalupi isn't the writer for me, I have no desire to read The Wind-Up Girl or Pump Six or any of the rest of his work.

I quite enjoyed his ss The People of Sand and Slag. I thought The Fluted Girl was good. I didn't care much for Yellow Card Man or Calorie Man. I think part of it is I just don't enjoy that setting very much. Which means I should steer clear of Windup.

I finished Them Bones by Howard Waldrop. I've read a lot of Waldrop's short fiction and this book, one of only two novels, didn't disappoint. I'll try to track down the author's other novel sometime next year.

>40 beniowa: I liked Waldrop's short novel/novella "A Dozen Tough Jobs" in the collection Strange Monsters of the Recent Past even better than Them Bones. It's Hercules redone in the American South during the Great Depression.

Currently reading Jack Glass.

Continuing my end of the world month theme, I'm reading Virus: The Day of Resurrection by Sakyo Komatsu.

Just finished The Apocalypse Ocean by Tobias Buckell. It's the fourth Xenowealth novel that Buckell published himself using Kickstarter and it was quite good.

> #41, yeah I read that one in another collection. It's hard to say which short story is my favorite. He's got a lot of good ones.

I'm listening to The Star Fraction and it's just ok.

I'm reading War Machine which I'm really enjoying.

To commemorate the great man's birthday I have begun The Fountains of Paradise by Arthur C. Clarke. Its been a while...

Beginning The wind-up girl by Paolo Bacigalupi, just a few pages in but interesting so far.

I just finished Orbus by Neal Asher. That was good, violent fun.

I'm rereading The Essential Ellison.

45 bj:

Who is the reader? Star Fraction, I think is the weakest of the 4 'Fall Revolution' books. I love 'Sky Road'

I'm doing a reread of Dune, which I first read and loved in high school. This is my second go around and I'm still loving it.

>50 cosmicdolphin:: the reader is Stephen Crossley and it's only so-so. I wouldn't rave about either the story or the narration so i don't know if I'm going to continue with the series.

Now I'm finished with Star Fraction I'm going to start listening to Pandora's Star (narrated by John Lee), and seeing as it's about 38hrs long I hope I like it!

I'm reading Silversands and am enjoying that.

A flying visit to the Continent, involving two long stopovers in Frankfurt and mainly night flying, has meant that I've polished off Galactic North by Alastair Reynolds and Salt by Adam Roberts. Now about half-way through On.

I finished Alas, Babylon a few days back and started Chapterhouse: Dune.

I finished Nova and posted my review.

Dang good review para, well written !

Thanks!

Finished Silversands and really liked it. It helped that it was only 150 pages long.

I'm now reading Future Weapons of War and so far the stories have been really good and not repetitive at all.

Just finished Blue remembered Earth which was excellent, am now on another big book, Brin's Existence. Looking good so far...

Finished Cloud Atlas. Good read. Uneven at times, as some of the stories-within-the-story were better than others. Still, it held together surprisingly well.

Have you seen the flick? Does it compare favorably to the book? I neither read nor watched either but I have a free pass to a movie!

After losing interest in City of Darkness halfway through, I abandonned SF novels for a time. I get in a frame of mind where I feel I ought to finish the current SF book before moving on to the next unless it's a real loser. I think this novel probably worked well in its time and as a young adult novel. Surprising (to me) is that Harlan Ellison did an award winning audiobook of this novel. If I ever come across it, I might have a listen.

In other news, good things come to those who wait. I'd put a hold on Roadside Picnic several weeks ago. After waiting in line, it was finally my turn and I picked the book up from the library yesterday. I'm hopeful I'll like it. Many people have thought it worth reading.

>DugsBooks: I have not seen the movie. I actually had the book on my ever-growing "list" since it came out, but something always jumped in front of it. From what I have heard, the film is structured differently from the book - a more "linear" telling of the many tales (the book jumps back and forth a lot.) Reviews have been very mixed.

>Dugsbooks: Read the book first. I read the book and thought that they did a remarkable job with the movie. Other people who have not read the book first, did not seem to fully appreciate the film. So much so that they thought the film was about "the connectedness of all things." One reviewer said that it was like a "Hallmark Card written by David Foster Wallace."

Structure aside (which is what everyone seems to want to talk about when comparing the book and the film) I think that the book is much darker than the film. You understand that what the author was talking about is the essence of human nature.

If you go to see the movie without reading the book, at least read the wikipedia entry on Cloud Atlas which gives a decent summation of the central themes.

About a third of the way into Matter, enjoyable though I can't say it's totally flooring me so far.

#65 It's better than Surface Detail and the Hydrogen Sonata...

I've been reading the Best of John W. Campbell. After reading the stories and flipping back to the copyright page to check, I was surprised to see they were written mid-30s. They hold up rather well. Looking forward to reading Who goes there? again.

#66 Unfortunately true.

Next up Reach for Tomorrow Arthur C.Clarke's second collection.

Finished The Coldest War yesterday evening (A); builds well on the foundation of the previous book in terms of character development; Tregillis has set himself a high bar for the third book and it will be interesting to see if he can pull it off.

Now reading Overthrowing Heaven by Mark L. Van Name...

Read The quantum thief which I mostly enjoyed, despite not always knowing what was going on. Am about to start The reality dysfunction - see you in a few months!

>66 iansales:,68 Well, it picked up for me afterward as the point of view characters acquired some more definition (for Anaplian) or began evolving as the events unfolded (Ferbin & Holse), and some pieces of requisite planetary scenery porn kicked in. Quite liked it overall.

My next reads are fantasy.

I'm currently reading Fire Time by Poul Anderson.

Finished 'On'. A bit let down (will review). Now cleansing the palate with some architecture and revisionist history.

Finished Edge of Infinity though the book is looking a little worse for wear after reading it while sitting in the pool!

I'm now reading Kell's Legend on my ereader so I won't be reading that in the pool :-)

Now reading Children No More by Mark L. Van Name...

Starting Peter F. Hamilton's latest: Great North Road

I just finished Osama. I did not like the dreamy, surreal style, and I am puzzled why it is getting generally such good reviews. I found it to be a fairly boring (I kept falling asleep as I was trying to read it) exercise in frustration, as we never really do get a clear explanation at the end.

#74 sounds interesting!

Having started the book early in the year I finally got around to finishing up Tempest's Legacy (A). Why so long to finish? The book picks right up from the dark place where Jane True finds herself at the end of the second book and proceeds to get darker; there's nothing like dealing with the results of insane medical torture to brighten up the day!