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What book is everyone reading at the moment? Part 2.

Been working my way through the Sax Rohmer, Fu Manchu novels (interspersed with other books else they become a bit too samey). Just finished Daughter of Fu Manchu, which I enjoyed.

Of their time, obviously but an entertaining enough, light read with a heavy does of nostalgia - I remember watching the films as a kid and of course, Fu Manchu was Shang-Chi's father in the original Master of Kung Fu series by Marvel which was one of my favourites.
 
Scorpion said:
I hardly ever read fiction. The latest book I am reading is called' outsider art' published by Thames and Hudson. It is of interest to me as it deals with the art of largely self taught mentally ill people, and I have schizophrenia. Although I am not self taught and spent three years at art college. I have hundreds of art books I have never read. I only looked at the pictures. But I a now redressing that error and reading my way through them.
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That sounds like a good book.

And I applaud your plan to read your books. I'm doing something similar.
 
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Lennart Hyland said:
I've finished A Place of Greater Safety by Hilary Mantel (The swedish version is translated into three books). Great book and I'm so sad that Mantel is not here any longer to bless us with great literature.

Will continue with The Nickelboys by Colson Whitehead.
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Done. Not as good as The Underground Railroad but still decent.

I got my hands on Crime and Punishment, which is translated to swedish in two books. I'm about 25% in the first one and I'm hooked!
 
The Remarkable Mrs Reibey: The convict who became Australia's richest businesswoman, by Grantlee Kieza (2023).

A lot of good research in this, but not too scholarly.

It's almost a history of the colonial settlement of Australia, but with the story of Mary Reibey intertwined.

As I said, the research is good, but a couple of the physical descriptions of historical figures seem a bit hamfisted.
 
In the mood to read this one again, maybe the third time since I first got it in 1977! Second only to When Worlds Collide for the premise (asteroid going to hit Earth), but about three times as thick.

I really like this type of book -- with the buildup to the event, moreso than the aftermath, or post-apocalyptic stories. However, I did not like Footfall, so don't recommend that one.

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alfaniner said:
I really like this type of book -- with the buildup to the event, moreso than the aftermath, or post-apocalyptic stories. However, I did not like Footfall, so don't recommend that one.
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Have you read Seveneves by Neal Stephenson? I really enjoyed the buildup (to a similar event) in that. It makes up about the first half of the book and is very well done, so if you're into that sort of thing you'd probably enjoy it.
 
In the first 50 pages or so I came across a term I was unfamiliar with when I read it before, but now I have Google to check it out immediately. Kalliroscope -- pretty cool.

Roboramma said:
Have you read Seveneves by Neal Stephenson? I really enjoyed the buildup (to a similar event) in that. It makes up about the first half of the book and is very well done, so if you're into that sort of thing you'd probably enjoy it.
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Thanks but I've tried a couple of NS's books and really don't like his style. However, I had not heard of this one and may give it the once-over.
 
alfaniner said:
Thanks but I've tried a couple of NS's books and really don't like his style. However, I had not heard of this one and may give it the once-over.
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You might find it worth giving it a chance to see if it catches you. I tried reading Fall, also by Stephenson, and had to give up after a while, so I've also found him hit or miss, but Seveneves was pretty great (at least for me).
 
Roboramma said:
You might find it worth giving it a chance to see if it catches you. I tried reading Fall, also by Stephenson, and had to give up after a while, so I've also found him hit or miss, but Seveneves was pretty great (at least for me).
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OK, turns out I can get it for free (audiobook too!) with my Kindle Unlimited program. But since Lucifer's Hammer is over 800 pages it might take me a while to get to it. I also don't like to read two too similar books too close together as I tend to conflate them. But thanks for the recommendation!
 
dann said:
I have just started on it. I have already read 2/3. It's as good as the first two, so far!
I was happy to see that
corvids
had been 'uplifted' in this one. I assume cetaceans will make an appearance if he continues beyond the trilogy. :)

Lords of Uncreation is next on my list for this summer.
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I finished it yesterday. It is as good as the previous two. I like the way Tchaikovsky weaves in elements of horror (I'm thinking of the "we're going on an adventure!" bit with Erma Lante in the second book) and fantasy,
like the conversations with the Gothi and Gethli and the "Witch"
, but still keeps it grounded in science fiction.
I liked that the weird, threatening, terrifying alien life from the second book becomes one of the main characters, the central character, really, of this story.


The way it ended gives me hope that the series might continue.

Oh, and in the unlikely event that it's ever adapted to screen, I hope someone in the art department has the sense to put the number '40' on the hull of the Urshanabi, or maybe '⅔', like '2 of 3'.
 
Roboramma said:
You might find it worth giving it a chance to see if it catches you. I tried reading Fall, also by Stephenson, and had to give up after a while, so I've also found him hit or miss, but Seveneves was pretty great (at least for me).
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I loved Snow Crash, but Necronomicon was boring and I gave up.
 
Rules of the Road by C.B. Jones

I fairly decent little creepypasty-esque horror anthology about a mysterious radio broadcast that people hear while driving, where a jovial if someone off voice gives them rules they have to follow or face dire consequences.

Lightweight, fun little campfire spook tales.
 
Even though I've read it a couple times before, I'm reminded (again) of some of the irritations with the aforementioned Lucifer's Hammer. While there are dozens of characters, many of them have names that start with "H". Hamner, Harry, Hugo, Harvey, Henry, Hardy. And the two main female characters, Eileen and Maureen. It makes it hard to keep them separate with similiar sounding names.

Printed in 1977 (my copy), there are lots of typos and formatting errors. I don't recall seeing that many in any other book of the era, even though it was before digital editing. But I can't explain how they can spell one character's name two different ways in the same paragraph.

There's also a writing tic I find irritating. In many cases, the author states that the character "didn't" do something. I've seen this in other books as well. "He didn't smile." "She didn't laugh." "He didn't blink." And a puzzling one "He didn't whistle." OK, Mr. Author, so what else didn't that character do? Swig a beer? Dance a jig? There are millions of things a character might not do in a certain context. Fine. Tell me what they did do.

I found the first third of the book to be quite interesting, up to and including the immediate aftermath of the Hammerfall. After that, it's just factions gearing up for a big battle at the end, along with lots of melodrama.
 
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alfaniner said:
Even though I've read it a couple times before, I'm reminded (again) of some of the irritations with the aforementioned Lucifer's Hammer. While there are dozens of characters, many of them have names that start with "H". Hamner, Harry, Hugo, Harvey, Henry, Hardy. And the two main female characters, Eileen and Maureen. It makes it hard to keep them separate with similiar sounding names.
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In the last few chapters they introduce at least three more H-name characters, Horrie, Hobie, Hartman. Weird.

The last part of the book is not nearly as engrossing as the first part. A lot of events are described second- or third-hand, removing any immediacy or tension. Perhaps that's why I remembered little about the ending.
 
Roboramma said:
Have you read Seveneves by Neal Stephenson? I really enjoyed the buildup (to a similar event) in that. It makes up about the first half of the book and is very well done, so if you're into that sort of thing you'd probably enjoy it.
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I did get this one since it was included in my Kindle subscription. I did like the way it started out but see my notes in my Amazon review below.
The premise is interesting enough. (Perhaps minor spoilers follow). I'm only about halfway through this 800-PLUS page book, and nearly all of the apocalyptic scenario takes place on a space station well-removed from Earth. Good enough, but the excruciating detail gets to be a bit much. I'm sure the book could have been half as long with a few pertinent drawings or diagrams. ("Picture worth 1000 words", don'tcha know...) It gets to be work just to visualize each new structure or procedure described when most of them don't make much difference.
It's like a non-coder trying to listen to a programmer talk about all the minute details of their latest app. One's eyes glaze over after a while.
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Lennart Hyland said:
Done. Not as good as The Underground Railroad but still decent.

I got my hands on Crime and Punishment, which is translated to swedish in two books. I'm about 25% in the first one and I'm hooked!
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Finished this a while ago and it was amazing.
I'm now about 1/3 in Homage to Catalonia by Orwell.
 
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