December 2013 Reading

Happy December! I'm a little past halfway through Tales of the Cthulhu Mythos and just finished rereading Stephen King's sf-premised horror novella The Mist for my Weird Tradition reading group. What ficitonal universes are you exploring?

Just started reading Cathrynne M Valente's Palimpsest, the first novel by her I've tried.

Picked up New Model Army from the discount bin and am giving it a go

Reading The Misplaced Legion by Harry Turtledove...

#2

I've read Palimpsest - I found it quite a slow read.

I'm currently reading Queen Of The States by Josephine Saxton.

I am starting Melmoth the Wanderer by Charles Maturin

Don't know if this is science fiction, but it does find its way into the genre on some people's lists.

Diving into mixed genre anthology Dark Currents, only some way into the first story for now, about the blues of an alternate history (not-so-)virtual war fighter as she find herself outclassed and bullied out from simile-cyberspace by enemy innovations.

>2 iansales: & 5. I read Palimpsest some time ago, and I was reminded of it recently when I read Dhalgren. I think that Palimpsest may be derivative. I had fun reading it, but it was just a 3 star read for me.

I think that I am going to start the biography James Tiptree, Jr. The Double Life of Alice B Sheldon which has been in the TBR pile for too long now.

>8 vwinsloe: I am reading this very book, and while I knew a great deal (or thought I did) about Tiptree/Sheldon, it's been an amazement as to her early life, and to some of the things that formed her. I remember the first story I read by her The Women Men Don't See and I believe I've read most of Tiptree's body of work (and own a lot of it).

I'm also reading a non-fiction book or two, and am planning on re-reading all of the Thieves' World series, before I pack them away in a box for safekeeping.

Big happy! The Kindle edition of this four-plus star book is 99¢ today, 2 December 2013!! I love Cyber Monday.

My review can be found at Expendable Mudge Muses Aloud.

When that Hunger Games juvenilia gets bestsellerdom and movie money, this far better dystopia gets too little. Baffles me.

#8 I'm a big fan of Delany's novel but I'm not really getting a Dhalgren vibe from Palimpsest.

I've just re-read the fifth collection of Warren Ellis's FreakAngels, so that I can read the sixth and final one. It's an apocalyptic SF comic series inspired by The Midwich Cuckoos, and it's very good.

Still reading Blish's Doctor Mirabilis, which is quite good, but somewhat slow going. I'm not sure how any reader who lacked my previous experience with Middle English would manage it.

#11. Perhaps it was the order in which I read them. The notebook that Kid carries maybe referred to as a palimpsest. Written on and over and circular.

9: That story sounds really interesting, @Lyndatrue! I must see if I can get it...

I'm currently reading A soldier's duty by Jean Johnson. Has anyone here read it?

My steampunk reading (the latest installment in Michael Coorlim's Galvanic Century" and the Romulus Buckle books) has been interrupted by the arrival of Cthulhu Cymraeg which I'll be reading for review.

Is it a Welsh-language anthology?

Thanks #14 @zjakkelien, the review of 'A Soldiers duty' seems worth a look. I haven't heard of the Author.

17: Me neither, @guido47. I'm about halfway now, and I really like the book. There are a few instances where I could have done with a little less detail (e.g. a 2 page description of all the types of guns and ammunition that the soldiers are using), but most of the time I like the descriptions. And it's an interesting story, I've got the feeling there are still all kinds of revelations waiting. The writing is rational, a style I've come to associate with SF. So far I'm happy with it!

>16 anglemark: It's not Welsh-language, but it is "Lovecraftian Tales from Wales".

I baled on Palimpsest. I think it was the "he tasted snail flesh in his mouth" - I have no idea what emotional state this phrase is intended to represent. The character was certainly not chowing down on escargots.

I've read a few of her books and think that In The Night Garden is her most successful.

I adored In the night garden and its sequel. I liked Palimpsest as well, but In the night garden was a stunner.

I'm currently reading The Exodus Towers and enjoying it so far as it's not as boring as most other epic trilogy books that I've tried in the last few years.

I swear, sometimes I wonder if Stephen Donaldson is a human thesaurus or if he just keeps one by his desk and refers to it every paragraph. Or maybe a dozen "word of the day" desk calendars.

He dredges up so many words that I get impressed. But then he uses the same uncommon word again and again (I've counted at least three uses of "mansuetude" in The One Tree and I'm just a fraction into it.) His books are one where e-book click-to-define features would really help out.

Of course, he also has another habit of the psychic description. You know, the old "His eyes darted about as if they say he'd had an egg and bacon sandwich for lunch." Over and over he has various facial features somehow imparting complex plot points.

As Dave Langford said of Donaldson's prose: "People in his novels don't have faces, they have 'gaunt, compulsory visages', as opposed to those of us for whom faces are optional."

Was it Langford or Nick Lowe who invented "clench racing"? Which is a race to find all appearances of the word "clench" in one of Donaldson's novels.

Mansuetude? As in the masue-dudes will inherit the Earth?

Hi,
A great group. Hoping I can reignite my reading bug through the groups on LT! Going to be starting The Lathe of Heaven by Ursula k. Le Guin in the next few days with The Gods Themselves by Asimov following closely on the heals....

I was not familiar with Stephen R. Donaldson. I found this bio info ripped from wiki interesting :

"Donaldson spent part of his youth in India, where he attended what is now the Kodaikanal International School. He was attending Kent State University as a graduate student at the time of the Kent State shootings on May 4, 1970. Though he was not on campus at the time of the shootings, his apartment was one and a half blocks away, and he was forced to live under martial law for three days afterwards. Donaldson does not like to discuss the incident, as he finds the memories disturbing.2"

I had to give up on The Remaining by D.J. Molles about 3/4's of the way through. When the book depends on the absolute stupidity of all the characters in order to move the plot along, it becomes too annoying to continue.

Now I'm onto Red First Light by Linda Nagata. So far it's great!

#7 & 8--I read the Tiptree biography a year or so ago, and thought it was excellent.

I'm starting Vast by Linda Nagata. I didn't report it but I read all of Cherryh's Company War books this summer and fall (about one a month) plus the 3 Cyteen novels. Regenesis is next; then I have to find my copy of 40,000 in Gehenna in the attic to reread it.

Just downloaded The Diamond Age. I have seen mixed but mostly positive reviews. The negatives seem to be around the ending, which doesn't surprise me as Stephenson is very hit-and-miss with endings. Anathem and Reamde's endings were good - Snow Crash and Cryptonomicon, not so much.

I'm a Stephenson fan, despite his quirks, so I am looking forward to it.

Well, I clearly don't hate Donaldson, given that I'm on book 5 of the Covenant decalogy. I will admit that when I first tried to read The Wounded Land about a decade ago, I actually got a bit mad at it and put it aside for near a decade. Not sure why it angered me so much at this point. I think it was because I had just read the first three back-to-back and I got annoyed with the combination of sad-sack Covenant combined with putting him in a situation where the same thing (venom) kept happening over and over and over. And too much of having to read Covenant's two favorite curses ("Hellfire!", "Hell and blood!") which rang so false to my ears.

I like the world-building and a lot of the characters. I just get tired of Donaldson's stilted dialog, "gaunt, compulsory visages" and his "wowee, look at my vocabulary!" that makes me suspicious when he gets stuck on a few obscure words (I remember now that he was in love with the word "attar" in the first book and a different one in each of the subsequent ones).

Other authors I like have the same or analogous faults. I've read a ton of Stephen King but he can have his atrocious moments as well.

Edit: Hah! Just glanced back at the screen and saw you wrote "Stephenson" and not "Donaldson". Oh well, I typed all that so I'm leaving it. :D

It's alright - applies to the thread two posts up....

Nearly finished with Blindsight. Rather confusing in the beginning but I'm past that point.

35> the allergy to Euclidean geometry (and the anti-Euclidean drugs) entertained me, but I really didn't know where to start with the crest of Blindsight. I much preferred the Rifter trilogy. How are you finding it ?

Actually, just finished it. The end was so-so, I didn't really believe Siri's regained humanity. The characters' habit of saying -See! and Siri going - of course! and I, the reader, being none the wiser got annoying fast.

I'm reading Demi Monde : Winter which is utterly ridiculous but engaging despite that.

Currently reading Burning Paradise by Robert Charles Wilson.

Seriously...how many of y'all knew about This Day In SciFi and didn't tell me about it? This cool-as-anything compendium of SFnal goodness, birthdays and movie trivia and Days of the Future Passed predictions?! Seriously fun.

Nice link richard !

I've been gobbling it up. What a cool discovery for a trivia lover like me!

Just finished Spin. Not Bad. I like who the aliens turned out to be.
I thought I'd try reading some long science fiction and fantasy epics, starting with Asimovs Robot/Foundation series, and starting it with The End of Eternity.

Finished up This Case is Gonna Kill Me (B+); more paranormal romance than urban fantasy. The author does a good job of keeping her fantasy elements toned down, but whether she is able to do so as the series progresses will be the hot question.

Finished The End of Eternity. It's not bad for such an old book.

After A soldier's duty and An officer's duty, I've started Hellfire. I can't help but love these books...

Just started Exultant.

I've finished Burning Paradise and I am now reading What Lot's Wife Saw by Ionna Bourazopoulou

I finished James Tiptree, Jr.: The Double Life of Alice B. Sheldon, and I highly recommend it. What an interesting life and a fascinating person.

I started The Ocean at the End of the Lane this morning.

#47 Ian, are you reading the Xeelee books in any particular order (or just Destiny's children in any order)? I've been looking at the sequence even though I've already read a couple. There is a chronological sequence and Baxter suggests another although he says the books are independent of one another.

I read most of the early books when they were published, so at this time I'm reading the Destiny's Children's trilogy as a trilogy. In fact, until I started Exultant, I didn't even realise the trilogy was about the Xeelee - and the join between Coalescent and this one is far from seamles...

#51

Transcendent is more closely related to Coalescent and features some of the same characters.. It is more a thematic series.

Finding Exultant a bit dull to be honest. Feels like a YA, and all the galactic engineering stuff just isn't catching my interest. Disappointing after the first book of the trilogy.

Still in steampunk land with Romulus Buckle & the City of the Founders -- alternating with Weirder Shadows Over Innsmouth.

Just started Baxter's Emperor.

I finished Doctor Mirabilis and posted my review. In a dramatic change of register, I'm now reading The Blood Angels Omnibus.

About half-way through Vortex by Robert Charles Wilson...

Just started Parasite by Mira Grant and so far it looks to be an interesting premise.

Finished up The Red: First Light by Linda Nagata. Really good book. Well-told and full of some really interesting ideas. Near future with really interesting military tech and some well-explored ideas about technology and free will.

Now I'm starting The Cusanus Game by Wolfgang Jeschke .

Just finished The Diamond Age. I liked it. The ending (as in, the VERY ending) wasn't as bad as many reviewers indicated, IMHO. The last 100 pages or so - I was thinking "man, Neal Stephenson has access to some pretty amazing drugs." Over the top crazy stuff. Looking back at the story, it's almost as if he increased the pace at an exponential scale, starting from a snail's pace and ending at "WTF just happened?"

If anyone has any flavor of ereader, all of them have a sale today (Sunday 22 December) on Pat Frank's classic post-apocalyptic novel, Alas, Babylon. USD 1.99! It's worth it to have it archived on the ereader, even if one's already read it.

thanks for mentioning that Richard. Snatched it up. Perhaps I'll re-read it now. :0

That's my plan, Jean...re-read, but Someday (which given my age might never come).

I just started Reamde. I had put off reading it because I found Anathem to be a chore that was not well rewarded. But Reamde took right off and is maintaining a brisk pace, much more like the Neal Stephenson of old.

#64 I found Reamde kept the pace up the whole way through. Anyone I know who read it flew through it, as did I.

#65 by @pgmcc> me too. I couldn't put Reamde down.

>65 pgmcc:, it's good thing, because I don't have an ereader! Schlepping this hardcover back and forth on the commuter rail is certainly going to increase my muscle mass.

#67 It was the physical book I read. I leant it to my son-in-law who is a Kindle user and he read it in a week. I think he was hurrying up to get back to his lightweight device. ;-)

Does everyone over 45 remember the movie Soylent Green? Well guess what! The Kindle edition of Make Room! Make Room! is only 99¢ now! It's the novel the movie was based on, and it's well worth the read.

#69 Thank you for the tip, @richardderus.

In my house everyone, even the sixteen year old, knows Soylent Green. :)

$10.08 when I looked at it. Perhaps it is only 99cents in the US. :(

On the bright side, it is another book on my "must have" list.

US only? That seems very mingy. So sorry about that!

> 69: A surprising number of people I know who are not sf fans recognise the reference and sometimes even use it themselves.

My morning coffee reading is Stephen Baxter's Emperor, whilst I'm also about half-way through Graham Joyce's 'The Storm Watcher'.

#71 So sorry about that!

No need to apologise. You did not set the price.

I am delighted you brought the book to my attention.

Have a great Christmas.

>72 RobertDay: I've heard it once in a way, but not often from non-fans. I'm very glad to hear that it's more common than my experience suggests.

>74 pgmcc: Thank you most kindly, and I return the sentiments.

Back to reading Anathem by Neal Stephenson (been traveling a bit so the reading has been haphazard)...

If anyone has followed Raymond Feist's Riftwar saga, the fifth and last book, Magician's End, is $1.99 TODAY ONLY 26 December. US Kindle people only, I fear.

@richardderus....are you a shill for Kindle? You seem to be advertising them a lot here

When I find a deal relevant to the SF group, I post it. Why? Is this causing you some inconvenience?

> 79: Can't speak for Lynxyear, but those who don't know you might suspect you of just being another spammer and ignoring LT's rules on promotions. Us regulars know otherwise, of course...

(I've come across this sort of thing on other forums, so it's not unique here.)

A simple visit to my profile would solve that objection. And might even be best done before making snide-sounding posts, permaybehaps.

#81 Richardderus, I for one appreciate your notifying us of bargains on offer. Thank you!

I am such a biblioholic that I figure everyone would rather know than not know if the addiction can be fed without breaking the bank (any further).

Cheers!

About 100 pages into The Abominable, Dan Simmons's newest work. Started VERY slow, but it is getting better.

What Peter said in #82. :)

Dittos on #82 also. Since it takes 4 "attaboys" to nullify one "awshucks" as they say - I like seeing bargains posted also richardderus .

> 83, 86, 82, et al this is a forum for discussion of the books we have read...not where to get bargan basement prices for Kindle books.

IF you want to advertise these books then START YOUR OWN THREAD ON KINDLE BOOK PRICES....then this thread can return to its real purpose.

#87 I'm sorry, who made you the arbiter of what should or should not be in this thread? I have no objection to richarderus's post and obviously neither do the majority of the the other posters. If you don't like the tone of this thread you are quite welcome to start your own where you can communicate with like minded people. Given your intolerant attitude, however, there may, sadly, not be anybody in existence with a mind like yours.

I seem to recall a number of interesting posts by Mr. Derus that had nothing to do with Kindles.

And while I don't read ebooks at all, I have no objection to anyone mentioning them. Aren't we advertising a book each time we recommend one, paper or bits?

I appreciate the words of support. Lynxear, if my posts annoy you, why not visit my profile and block me? You won't see the posts that bother you after that.

Excellent point about the whole purpose of discussing the books we've all read or are reading being a form of advertising. I read something and can't wait to tell the world. Well, not always, but usually. It's also the reason I read reviews, to find out what someone else couldn't wait to warble about.

Kind of a short step to the bargain-hunting....

Disregarding the tone of Lynxear's posts, there is a point there, you know. This thread is about what we are currently reading and it's pretty disingenious to ask "who said so". I think a dedicated "bargains to be had" thread makes a lot of sense.

#91

Absolutely. As to the "who made you arbiter" point? Well Tim did, well he made everyone arbiter. It is up to us to self-police. There are a number of people (myself included) who are irked by posts of such deals (especially when in post 77 there is no indication that the poster is reading that book now, or has read it recently; and when it was the third such post in quick succession) that a "bargains" thread is a good solution.

The bargains thread would improve matters by
a) making it even easier for people who want the bargains to find them
b) not pissing off those who read/post on this thread to find out what others are reading.
c) improving the monthly reading threads by not making them even longer than they are already. If people post all applicable bargains we could be seeing 50 or 60 posts every month - not all of which will be applicable to all readers (some will be US specific, some will be UK specific).

BTW my Christmas reading was Dream London by Tony Ballantyne.

If a number of people are irked by such posts then they should, as you have done, make that fact known in an reasonable fashion. As you say it is up to the majority of posters to determine what is appropriate to this thread or not. I regard it as extremely rude and dictatorial for one person to shout out IN CAPITAL LETTERS what everybody else should be viewing. As I said I don't object to the Kindle posts even though I don't own one and ignore such messages. I would object if they became too abundant.

Currently reading Pattern Recognition, trying to finish this and The Children of the Sky before the end of the year.

Kinda agree with 91 and 92, but in the most polite fashion possible as richardderus is a nice fellow.

>91 anglemark:, 92, 94

Thank you for your support....I perhaps was a little off in my approach.

HOWEVER I did make a sensible suggestion of starting a separate thread regarding the bargain Kindle prices for some books.

That would satisfy those that were interested in those posts and not interfere with those that wanted to discuss the books themselves. Just like we don't care for authors who tout their books on this thread...but they have the opportunity to do so on a separate thread.

I don't doubt that @richardderus is a nice fellow as am I as well if you get to know me.

Happy Holidays, everyone!

:)

Oh, and I'm reading an omnibus of P K Dick stories. Currently on The Three Stigmata of Palmer Eldritch. So far not hating it. I really WANT to like PKD but I've found his longer works to be a mixed bag so far.

Should anyone want to start such a thread for bargains, feel free. I don't want to curate another thread in any forum, or feel pressured to find stuff to put on such a thread.

If anyone's annoyed by these posts, block me. It's simple. It's painless. It guarantees you won't see the content that I, along with several others, find useful. I use the method myself, because the fact that someone annoys me is no proof that I'm correct about the person being annoying.

>97 richardderus: fine if that is your attitude I can offer some bargains of my own.

Might as well look at what competition to the Kindle offers....here is a couple of Kobo offerings

Brandon Sanderson : Infinity Blade Awakening $0.99 (others in the series at the same price)

Andrew Mayne : Public Enemy Zero $1.02

Pretty good buys and both are rated above 4stars on LT

98: Huh? But... @Lynxear, you are now doing what you yourself find annoying and what you yourself suggested NOT to do. All @richardderus is saying is that he does not want to start a bargain thread himself, not that he won't post in one if someone else starts it. Why not just put your post 98 in a separate thread? Then the problem would be solved. And nobody who is annoyed needs to block anyone and thereby miss that person's other posts as well.

Gently ignoring all the acrimony.

I'm nearly through with the biography James Tiptree, Jr.: The Double Life of Alice B. Sheldon which I've found fascinating. I remember the entry of Sheldon/Tiptree in those first amazing short stories, and knowing some of the details of her life gives fresh insight into the author of The Women Men Don't See.

I've read a lot of good sci-fi this month – The Quiet War by Paul McAuley, Ancillary Justice by Ann Leckie, Fortune's Pawn by Rachel Bach, The Android's Dream by John Scalzi and Twenty-First Century Science Fiction, an anthology. They were all very good, although they had very different tones.

>100 Lyndatrue:. I thought it was possibly the best biography I ever read. What a fascinating life! What an amazing person!

#97

Well maybe everyone should just post anything they like to just the one thread - things would very quickly descend into uselessness.

There is no thread curation so I don't understand that bit of your message. If someone starts a bargains thread you shouldn't feel pressured to find stuff to put on such a thread. However you quite clearly have found stuff that would be appropriate in the past (three times recently). Are you saying that if you find a bargain in the future you would post it here regardless of the presence of a bargains thread?

#96 @brightcopy, I like PKD's works but I find them a mixed bag, both the longer and the shorter works. I still find that I get interesting ideas from them, but I do find that some of the stories strike me as a little flat. There is, however, in my opinion, enough enjoyment in his works to justify my reading on.

Has any other Science Fiction author had as many films based on his/her works as have been made using ideas from PKD?

>103 andyl: I wouldn't know of the existence of a bargains thread, Andy. I'm not counting the number of times I post about the issue, either.

As for posting about anything one wants to post about...yeah, so?

Back to the solution for the irritable: Block me. Takes a very few seconds and imposes your own will on no one except yourself, where it belongs.

#105

What do you mean you wouldn't know of the existence of the thread? It obviously doesn't exist currently - but it could.

We have threads on interesting web pages, on SF films, on SF themed music and more. Any thread with half decent activity is very easy to find on this group. Just click "Science Fiction Fans" and see the list of recently active threads.

As for posting about anything one wants to post about...yeah, so?

The reason we have different threads is the same reason that we have different groups.
a) it makes finding stuff easier
b) it doesn't overwhelm the user in irrelevant (to them) content.

The second reason is key - it is why we split things up into monthly threads at the moment. Having loads of people post about things they are not "currently reading" would make this thread huge. Too huge for some people - some of whom may not be on a high speed connection - to bother reading and sharing what books they have on the go. Therefore the utility of the thread reduces.

> 99 that is my point exactly....such posts on this thread are annoying and frankly useless. If one is interested in finding a bargain price book for their Kindle, Kobo, or whatever e-reader they use they can go to the site for that reader and find them easily themselves.

There is no need to turn this thread into a LT shopping channel

> 106 Well said...

Just starting a re-read of the Terry Carr 1983 'Best of..." anthology. I often find it interesting to revisit this sort of thing; the Cold War perspective of the introduction seems rather ironic now. Always interested to see how the stories stack up after thirty years, too.

Reading some Jack Vance...

After much searching for the past 2 years, I have discovered a reprint copy of The Incredible Shrinking Man by Richard Matheson. Like his book I Am Legend this book is set up with a main story (as the title of the book) followed by a half dozen short stories.

Dating myself but as a young lad in about 1959 or so the movie came to our local theater and I still remember some scenes...so I am looking forward to this read.

I had been making my way through the Retrieval Artist novels lately - up to Duplicate Effort now - which I had read before but now, rereading after I had read the earlier novels, it does make a lot more sense (and is a lot better - I liked it enough the first time but now it is even better).

Just read Parasite by Mira Grant, which was a gripping read.

I've started reading Kallocain by Karin Boye. From what I've read about the book it sounds like a Swedish 1984.

Maybe more a Swedish Brave New World, but yeah.

Currently reading Fenrir. Good stuff.

Rereading Lucy.

>114 anglemark:
I see. Well, having never actually read Brave New World (and yes, let me assure you, I do voluntarily admit that that is an unsightly lacuna), that is not a comparison I am able to make. If Kallocain turns out to be a smashing good read, it might bump BNW higher up the slopes of mount TBR.

And as long as we're counting fantasy, I'm currently tearing through the final sections of Cornelia Funke's Tintenherz aka Inkheart. I love it that the main villains are characterized as such by, um -- how to put this non-spoilerish -- by what they do to large collections of books. That speaks to me!

> 111 I recently read the third and fourth Retrieval Artist books and enjoyed them. Consequences started out a little flat, as if the author were tired of filling in the background for new readers, but it recovered nicely. Buried Deep was excellent, with two especially nice chapters: the panic on Mars, and the interview with the ex-husband.

I loved the original story, with its novel take on human - alien interaction, and the series is progressing nicely. I'm glad to hear that #7 is good too.

Over the past few days I have read Hive Monkey by Gareth Powell and Love Minus Eighty by Will McIntosh.

>119 andyl:. What did you think of Love Minus Eighty?

Just finished Neptune's Brood (A); Charlie Stross in fine form.

Happy 2014! I finished rereading Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? and started Consider Phlebas for a group read on the 75 Books for 2014 forum.