July's Jubilant Joust At New Books

[Simian]

Just finished The Red Wolf Conspiracyby Robert V S Redick. Although it was a little wayward at times with its characterisation and plotting, it was still good fun, and a promising start to the series. Next I will be reading V.by Thomas Pynchon, as a precursor to having a stab at Gravity's Rainbow.

[AE35Unit]

Having a break from wishing the Koontz book would get a move on and am dipping into Report on Planet 3 And Other Speculations by Arthur C Clarke. A collection of essays from 1972

[Thadlerian]

Summing up my summer readings:

- Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows (audio): Yeah, still very good.
- Men at Arms, Terry Pratchett (third reread): Second best of Pratchett.
- Blue Mars, Kim Stanley Robinson: The sexist characterization bothered me too much with this last book of the Mars trilogy for me to be able to really enjoy it.
- Pandora's Star, Peter F. Hamilton (second attempt: successful): A fairly OK space opera, but massive letdown when the secret inside the barrier was revealed. Of all possible crazy, scary, profoundly disturbing things there could have been, there had to be that...
- The Red Wolf Conspiracy, Robert V.S. Redick: Letdown, see RWC thread.

- The Shock Doctrine, Naomi Klein (non-fiction): Might just as well be the second time Klein has altered my worldview (No Logo was first). I have mistrusted monetarism for a while, but I had no idea it had had such murderous effects on the world these last 30 years... Shocking and deeply painful - I almost wish it had been fiction.

[Hilarious Joke]

Men at Arms, Terry Pratchett (third reread): Second best of Pratchett.

Begs the question...

[Thadlerian]

Originally Posted by Hilarious Joke

Begs the question...

Night Watch, of course!

[Ursa major]

I've been dipping in and out of On Writing by Stephen King. Within its two hundred or so pages (in hardback), there are two books: a memoir of a writer (Stephen King, naturally**); and guidance for writers (that would be some of us).

I'd read much of the material in the memoir before - it's incorporated into King's Dark Tower books - but it was good to see it written out straight. The advice in the other part is not ground breaking (e.g. avoiding the passive tense; avoiding adverbs and steroid-packed verbs of attribution; balancing narration, description and dialogue; etc.), but it's succinct and put across in an entertaining way - that's a pretty good attribute for a book from which we could all learn.

(King also pointed me in the direction of The Elements of Style by Strunk and White; I was worried that I'd not be able to find a copy, until I discovered that I had the book already: it was in a pile of books that had been "cluttering up" (not my words) my parents' house and which were now cluttering up mine.)



** - I know, an adverb - and not the only one!

[AE35Unit]

Right now settling down with Trials of Life by David Attenborough. Chapter 7, Living Together.

[chopper]

Originally Posted by Thadlerian

- Pandora's Star, Peter F. Hamilton (second attempt: successful): A fairly OK space opera, but massive letdown when the secret inside the barrier was revealed. Of all possible crazy, scary, profoundly disturbing things there could have been, there had to be that....

but a very well-envisioned enemy, you must admit. one that truly could not comprehend humanity. much better than night's dawn, imo.

[Hilarious Joke]

Night Watch, of course!

That's one of my favourites as well!

[Pyar]

I finished Four Ways to Forgiveness by Ursula K. Le Guin and it was pretty good. But I have to say I thought The Birthday of the World was better though.

Edit: Oh and I just started Building Harlequin's Moon by Larry Niven and Brenda Cooper.

[ravenus]

Roadside Picnic by the Strugatsky brothers is a superbly written short novel on which the film and the game STALKER are loosely based. In the story an alien visitation creates a "Zone" whose nature is decidedly different from the surrounding earth, and the aliens have left behind several objects with unique properties. These objects are collected by mercenaries called stalkers, who brave the dangers of the Zone to do so, and sold in the black market. The book plays out mainly through the eyes of Redrick Schuart, a veteran stalker, occasionally shifting to other perspectives.

I might do a fuller review but in any case I heartily recco this to all interested in SF of the more accessible (non-obsessed with warp drives and auto-propulsion thrusters) variety.

[Hilarious Joke]

That sounds really interesting.

[Thadlerian]

Originally Posted by chopper

but a very well-envisioned enemy, you must admit. one that truly could not comprehend humanity. much better than night's dawn, imo.

Yeah, yeah, but it was so... mundane

[AE35Unit]

I might just pick up CASTLE OF WIZARDRY, Book 4 of the Belgariad by David Eddings. Last time I had this in my hands was way back in 2006 when Matthew was born! Read all 4 books while doing the 4 hourly feeds but I reckon i could just get right back into it without reading the previous books again.

[Sylvetra_Snake]

Reading Sons of the Oak by David Farland but am struggling with it. The previous books were one POV at a time with a break in between, or at least i never spotted any multi-POV but this fifth book is horrible, i don't know who is thinking what and have to keep back tracking to figure out who i am following. I also get the feeling the writer had given up on the series but had to finish it, and this was the best they could come up with. So far, i am disappointed, not that the series was ground-breaking but readable it had been. And i worry about the sixth instalment.