reading

Feb. 5th, 2025 09:16 pm
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1. Asimov's Science Fiction Sept/Oct 2024

Since Asimov's Science Fiction magazine switched to six issues a year, I really can't write much of a review for the stories. There are just to many things in each issue. Even mentioning each piece would be screenspam.

I am glad I took the time to read the complete H.P. Lovecraft's complete work, because now I pick up immediately when someone is riffing on it. I'm pretty sure Naomi Kritzer was doing just that in "The Four Sisters Overlooking the Sea". I liked Anita Vijayakumar's "Bitter Chai, Sweet Chai". "In the Dark" proves James Patrick Kelly can still keep up with the kids on the dance floor. Ray Nayler also delivers an interesting near future in "A Gray Magic".

2. John Steinbeck "Tortilla Flat"

This is one of those books which could get shredded by modern sensibilities. The main characters are all ne'er-do-wells. You can have ne'er-do-wells of any race, but if the author is of one race and decides to write about ne'er-do-wells of a different race, things get more dicey. It feels to me that he appreciates the overall culture he's writing about, but it's not my culture. Add to that, the main characters do whatever they can get away with, that includes in respect to the female characters. They are as transactional and careless as an American president. So yeah, I can only hope no one reads this book thinking they should aspire to be like the main characters.

But the adventures of the main characters are just the kind of adventures you'd expect for people who will work very hard to avoid working. They are written well, with humor, and the jokes on the characters don't feel mean spirited.

Every now and then you read about an author saying "the characters led me to the ending" or some such. For most books I could never picture that. For this book, each step in overall plot feels like it's just what the characters would do. It gets all wrapped up with a neat little bow, but every bit of it is in character and feels right. It's art or literature, but it's also a fun, well written read.

3. Asimov's Science Fiction Nov/Dec 2024

Dominica Phetteplace's "Dreamliker" is near future fiction. Well, maybe fiction, but then again it just reads like next week to me. Sometimes sci-fi is scary real. Zack Be "The Start of Something Beautiful" likewise was a good near future as well. Mary Robinett Kowal's "Deep Space Has the Beat" combines tech and dance clubs, so I'll pay the cover. I've got to say, I thought the world Sean Monaghan built in "Wildest Skies" had promise, but the plot didn't really take me there, maybe this is part of a novel in the making.
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Wow, again a long time since I last posted my books. I'm not sure I have everything in order. I'm not sure I didn't miss anything. But this is what I think I read.

Expandthis got long )

reading

Sep. 30th, 2024 06:49 pm
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Wow, it's been a long time since I last posted about what I've read. I really haven't been able to get my shit together lately. So descriptions are going to be sparse to absent.

17. Neil Gaiman, et al "Don't Panic"

This book was written/re-written by three different people over the course of years. It is not as skillfully written as you'd expect from Gaiman, but he was just the first person to work on it and he was probably a bit less experienced. I did find many of the little bits of trivia which make up the book interesting.

18. Asimov's Science Fiction Jan/Feb 2024
19. Asimov's Science Fiction Mar/Apr 2024
20. Jasper Fforde "Shades of Grey"

Re-read "Shades of Grey" in preparation for reading "Red Side Story". Ended up reading it twice, because there was just too much to keep track of in the first reading. The second time through I felt I had a much better grip on all the various schemes and motivations of the minor characters. There is so very much stuffed into this book.

21. Asimov's Science Fiction May/Jun 2024
22. Jasper Fforde "Red Side Story"

For me "Red Side Story" started out a bit slower and clunkier than its predecessor. In "Shades of Grey" Fforde takes off and leaves readers to use their brains to fill in the bits he doesn't bother to slow down to say, in "Red Side Story" he slows down to spell out carefully bits that readers should be able to figure out (even if they haven't just re-read the prior book). I did feel things pick up in the middle and then charge along to the end. I like where he chose to go with the plot and characters even though it wasn't what I expected at all.

23. Asimov's Science Fiction Jul/Aug 2024
24. Terry Pratchett "Soul Music"

Continuing the re-read of the Discworld series is always fun.

25. Connie Willis "Doomsday Book"

I read "Doomsday Book" while fighting through a bought of Covid. I enjoyed the modern parts of the book much more than the medieval bits. The one thing I did think was well done in the medieval part was the sense of unreality and delirium which is engendered by Kivrin's viewpoint. I felt like there was a lack of consistency in how time travel worked. I mean if since there are locator beacons and torches, why not give Kivrin one? Oh, because that would blow a huge hole in the plot.

It was an enjoyable read though, even though I was sick and miserable while I was reading it. The modern bits show the standard Willis humor, despite the fact it's taking place in a horrorshow.

26. Walter D. Edmonds "The First Hundred Years"

This vaguely named book is actually about the first 100 years of the Oneida LTD company. It's not that well written, but it did fill in a bit of history of the transition from the commune to the modern silverware company. Only people who are really interested in the history of Oneida (company and commune) or are really really bored should look at picking up this book.

27. Roger Zelazny "The Collected Stories of Roger Zelazny Volume 5: Nine Black Doves"

This volume of the collected stories covers a period when I was reading many of the works when they were published or shortly after. The part I found most interesting in this one was the previously unpublished outlines (for collaborations or movies). He sometimes put an incredible amount of research into an idea. He set out to be a polymath and it shows in how much ends up in different stories or story ideas.

reading

Jun. 8th, 2024 05:49 pm
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13. Christopher Moore "Razzmatazz"

I liked "Razzmatazz" better than "Noir", but I still think Moore was just trying to hard to make every single character over the top. Many of his earlier books most of the characters were normal people going through extraordinary circumstances or dealing with the one completely bonkers character. I've got to give credit though with the plot points of getting a group of people under surveillance to a party. I like the way the different threads came together and thought it was the best part of the book.

14. various "Tales from Isaac Asimov's Science Fiction Magazine"

I have no idea where we got this book, but it's been on the shelves for a while and I just found it. It contains stories originally published between 1979 and 1984, so fairly early on in the Asimov's run. All before the time I started reading the magazine. The first few stories felt young and fresh. There were some which probably felt retro even in 1984. Overall, it was a pretty good collection. I must admit I was surprised to read the Octavia Butler story in a collection for young adults. She can be pretty bleak and harsh and I'm not sure I would suggest that particular story for young adults.

15. Robert Harbinson "The Built, the Unbuilt, and the Unbuildable"

This is what happens when you take some lectures and try to fluff them up to a a full length book using impenetrable academic speak. Don't walk away from this one. Run. Any sane person would have stopped after a few pages. I have a nice jacket with long arms for occasions like this.

16. Terry Pratchett "Men at Arms"

The good thing about there being so many books in the discworld series is that by the time I get to re-reading them, much of it is fresh and new for me. I had forgotten how much innuendo there is between Nobby and Angua, although it's rather inevitable. It's Nobby afterall. It surprises me how the critical part of the scene with Cuddy in the Tower of Art takes place entirely off screen. I think that was intentional, to make it less disturbing. It might have been better if the paragraphs with Cuddy's viewpoint and Detritus' viewpoint were reversed. I imagine that was a hard bit to figure out how to write. This books is where the Watch really starts to get rich with characters and interactions. Also I love the choice of title of the book. The tongue is stuck firmly in the cheek for that one.

reading

Apr. 20th, 2024 03:31 pm
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12. Various, "The Long List Anthology Volume 4"

This volume of the long list anthology was quite enjoyable. It had a good variety. The stories feel fresh and young, even the jaded ones. Many of the stories were first published at tor.com. Two came from Uncanny Magazine. There was only one which I had read previously in Asimov's. These anthologies are a bargain because I can get them for not a lot of coin.

13. Terry Pratchett "Lords And Ladies"

Derien and I read "Lords And Ladies", the next book in our re-read of the Discworld series. I liked this book better this time than the last, not sure why, it just flowed for me. I'm pretty sure I'll be talking about one of the plot points from this book when we get to the very last Discworld book. If so, that's a pretty impressive tie in 23 years in the making.

reading

Mar. 30th, 2024 12:50 pm
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8. Irvine Welsh "Trainspotting"

I have seen the "Trainspotting" movie multiple times but I'd never read the book before, so this was a treat. I think the people who made the movie did a very good job of translating the book into a different form. They did a good job of capturing the feel and many of the stories. But the book format allows so much more. The vast majority of the book is told 1st person. In each chapter/piece you have to determine who the first person is because it's not given to you. All the characters have different internal (and external) voices and generally it's this which gives you the first clue of whose perspective you are experiencing. I found it interesting that this rotating 1st person perspective was kept consistently up to the chapter where Renton meets Dianne. After that point, the 1st person perspective comes and goes.

I don't think they could have done much better with the movie adaptation, but there is so much more in the book. It is awful, dark, and delightful and poetic.

9. Arthur Ransome "Great Northern"

I finally gave in and read the last book in the Swallows & Amazons series. I had been holding out because as long as I had one more book, it wasn't over. But now, alas, I've finished the whole series. I will go back and start from the beginning again.

This book had the whole usual cast of characters, but focuses on the younger kids. That makes sense, because by this point John, Susan, and Nancy are basically adults. They are wrapped up in duties and responsibilities. Nancy does get to shiver some timbers, but Dick, Dorothea, Roger, and Titty are at the center of the action. By bringing in the younger characters in earlier books Ransome solves the "they never grow up" problem which other children's books series get stuck on. They do grow up and more kids come along, that's just the way it goes.

Like the other books this book teaches how to do some thing "the old fashion way". In this case you learn how to make nets and blinds. I don't think this book read quite as well as some of the others. This one had a point "egg collectors bad, conservation good" and the fun was secondary to that.

10. Nicholas Meyer "The West End Horror"

This book has been hanging around the house for many years. Published in 1976, it's one of the Sherlock Holmes stories of the "found writings of Dr. Watson" variety. Basically a fan fic before the term fan fic. I can't seem to put a finger on why but it felt like the story and pacing didn't feel like the originals. It didn't wow me.

11. Rohase Piercy "My Dearest Holmes"

This book is a more recent (2007) Holmes & Watson story. Again, a found writing of Dr. Watson. It is un-apologeticaly slash fiction. The first section is a stand alone story, which takes place before Watson's marriage. I felt this section did a good job of Holmsian plot and pacing. The detail of dialog and inner dialog didn't really hold up for me, it went a bit too far from the original. But then again, I'm not the target audience. But I felt the author did a nice job of tying up the mystery. The second part of the book deals with the time when Watson is married and to the resolution of "The Final Problem". This section I felt was more clunky. I did like how the author came up with an explanation for Mary calling Watson "James", a very nice touch. And I liked the how the author dealt with Mary & Watson in general. But the detail writing felt even more removed from the canon constructions. Slash fans who don't want prawn might find this book more entertaining.

reading

Mar. 1st, 2024 07:19 pm
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7. Clancy Strock "I Know... I Was There"

This book is a collection of short pieces Strock original wrote for "Reminisce" magazine. I didn't know there was such a thing, but I guess there was. The time period covered is generally the 1930's through the 1950's. Unfortunately, they aren't that well written and they are saccharine. Really, it was just painful for me. It made me appreciate books such as "Elm at the Edge of the Earth" or "The Northern Farm: A Glorious Year on a Small Maine Farm". For those books the nostalgic bits are integral parts of the telling, not like being asked to chew it up and swallow it undiluted.

As antidote to this one, I've started "Trainspotting".

reading

Feb. 24th, 2024 04:40 pm
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5. "Sisters In Law"

This book covers the careers of Sandra Day O'Connor & Ruth Bader Ginsburg, the 1st and 2nd women on the supreme court, respectively. I lived through the time covered by this book, but through much of it I was less than totally aware of what was going on with the Supreme Court. I found some of the book quite enlightening. I was not happy to read all the ways in which things happened due to "friend of a friend" type contacts. The differentiator was less about 'liberal or conservative' and more 'went to the right school and knew someone who knew the right person.' I assumed there was some level of that, but the breadth and extent is still disappointing. Today I always assume politics is heavy in the court, but I didn't realize the sort of backhanded maneuvering was taking place in the '70s. I'm sure it's even worse now, which makes it hard for someone a cynical as I am to think about. I don't think it is the most corrupt institution in US government, but that bar is very low indeed.

I have always felt like my life will probably be summed up to "everything he ever did in total amounted to fuck all." That's the way life is for most of us. We really aren't going to change the world. We're going to muddle through, get by okay if we're lucky, and hopefully treat our fellow human beings decently. But for prominent people to have their entire life's work basically undone in a short time, that's got to bite. Well, it would bite if they were alive to see it.

I was startling to be reminded just how awful the gender discrimination and straightjackets were back in the early '70's. I mean today we can see a lot of problems and backsliding, but I'd forgotten just how bad it was before. I like to hope that there will be an equal amount of change in another 50 years and not continued regression.

6. Janny Scott "A Singular Woman: The Untold Story of Barack Obama's Mother"

This book was an interesting biography. The first few chapters covered more grandparents, great aunts and uncles than I could follow, but once we got down to the birth family and life of Stanley Ann Dunham it got more interesting. The biographer drew together a bunch of incidents and facts which suggested ideas but didn't draw positive conclusions. I like that. It was interesting as a biography regardless of the fact that one of her children ended up becoming president of the US. That comes in, but thankfully isn't the focus. I think the book is a good example of how most of us more or less muddle through and if we're lucky we find out what makes us happy, or content, or perhaps provides for us before we die. If we're unlucky we find none of the aforementioned. Very few find all of the aforementioned. I think Dunham understood at some point she was trading security for what made her happy, what was her passion. That might have cost her years in lifespan, but she (and we) can never know. She just might have traded her happy years for stable unhappy years and ended with the same outcome.

reading

Feb. 10th, 2024 11:48 am
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3. Terry Pratchett "Small Gods"

This was a reread of the first Pratchett book I ever read. I adore this book. The theme is spot on. The pacing is good. If for some reason you have never read Terry Pratchett, this is a good place to start.

4. Douglas Coupland "Microserfs"

Random reread of "Mircrosefs". This book is double edged for me. It is about techies and was written in the mid '90's so has a lot of built in nostalgia. But it's also about startups and I still am kind of PTSD about startups. So reading it is like a bittersweet symphony of life (sorry couldn't resist that one). Coupland writes about his characters '80's nerd nostalgia well. He evokes it without appearing totally poser (I'm looking at you Ready Player One). So a fun book for geeks of a certain age.

reading

Jan. 28th, 2024 11:10 am
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1. Barack Obama "Dreams from My Father"

The first two sections of this book felt kind of wandering and not cohesive. That may have been intentional because he was talking about not fitting in and finding his place. I really enjoyed the 3rd section of the book which talked about his first visit to Kenya and his family there.

2. Kim Stanley Robinson "Red Mars"

"Red Mars" was one of those books which I had heard of, but never got around to reading. I didn't know what to expect because I had intentionally avoided spoilers and summaries. But since this book is quite old, I'm not going to worry about spoilers here. This is an incredibly ambitious book. It covers geology, economic theory, psychology, sociology, political theory, and run of the mill sci-fi technological extrapolation. And it tries to do so while having a plot. That's a lot to ask of any book. It would have taken a miracle to pull it off and miracles are hard to come by. The characters reactions and sociology felt like something an author writing in the '50's would have come up with when trying to show the year 2000. The book was published in the early 90's, but doesn't acknowledge the impacts of HIV, long term birth control, or anything non-heteronormative, let alone project into further social change. In order to have the plot move along correctly, we need lots of science, but then we have to ignore critical things like meteor showers and the importance of earth's magnetic field. But we'll bring those things into play when they are needed, please ignore them at all other times. And two critical points which break the whole suspension of disbelief come into play: In a tech level with the ability to build machines to terraform Mars why can't earth be so terraformed? And in a society where one person can program machines to build hundreds of miles of pipeline (in days) and robots that can make robots, a handful of partisans could have overwhelmed a force with interplanetary supply lines easily.

As either a utopian or dystopian novel, this could have been much shorter. There were lots of descriptions that reminded me of John Carter, albeit more based in astronomy than fantasy. So do I think it was worth it? Not really.

reading

Dec. 23rd, 2023 10:54 am
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30. Sally Mitchell "Daily Life in Victorian England"

"Daily Life in Victorian England" was written as a textbook/school library book intended for high school or maybe 1st year college. It has lots of easily consumable short sections which have a lot of facts, but don't go very in depth on anything. You can't really go in depth if you want to cover the entire Victorian Era in a reasonably short volume. There were certainly some interesting bits, but I wanted more depth and detail. The prose was very straightforward, easy to read, and yes, boring for me. Being for the school market, it irked me in places how the author had to "balance" everything. So, the treatment of natives is balanced. The treatment of the poor is balanced. The treatment of slaves is balanced. There are some workhouses which offered some education to some of the children (got to stretch a long way to get balance on that one). So yeah, it's not entirely Victorian worship, but it definitely only glances and looks away politely at the uglier bits. It's easy to cover terrible inequity up with "overall the standard of living improved so drastically." Yeah, we're still doing that.

uh, 13 revisited

Asimov's March/Apr 2023, I thought I read this earlier, but it turns out I skipped it. I liked that the cover story by Paul McAuley refused to be any of the cliches it might have become. It was complicated and multi-layered. Ray Nayler's language and setting in "The Case of the Blood-Stained Tower" really reminded me of Roger Zelazny. It also had the feel of "there is a lot more here that I'm not telling you about" which Zelazny was famous for. Overall it was a pretty good issue. There were a few duds I could have done without, but the majority were good.

31. Fern Brady "Strong Female Character"

I enjoyed Fern Brady's "Strong Female Character". Reading about her troubles makes me glad that I just find it incredibly tiring to interact in society, hard to maintain eye contact, and depressing to remember everything stupid I've ever done. I have a functional, if begrudging, relationship with human society. So a lot of what Fern went through was familiar to me, but if I had rolling hills she had mountains and cliffs. I imagine a lot of people who read the book will say, "I remember feeling like that" in places. But I think the extremity of the experience makes it a different experience. We all end up having to build our own toolbox, so we can hear the common thread in what she says. But where an average person might need a hammer, Fern needs a sonic screwdriver, multi-tool, sawzall, and vacuum pump. And she got to build them out of fuck all. I was surprised to read how much sexual repression and period shame her generation experienced. I'd have thought people of my generation who had to deal with all those hangups wouldn't subject their kids to it, but I guess it's the gift that keeps on giving.

reading

Oct. 30th, 2023 06:34 pm
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29. Asimov's Nov/Dec 2023

This issue is the end of an era. I started getting issues of Asimov's in 1986 I think. [personal profile] derien may have started a bit earlier. With exception of a few lost issues with moves, we've kept a subscription continuously the whole time we've been together. But this is our last printed issue. I had been debating ending our subscription entirely because I feel the overall quality of the content has been tailing off for a while. But when I found out we can get epub versions, which should be compatible with our ebook readers, I decided to go that route. So the next issue will be electronic only. I like the printed format, but I think we have 5 boxes packed full of old issues and can't read them because of allergies and decomposing paper.

In this issue, my favorite long piece was Dominica Phetteplace's "The Ghosts of Mars" Many of the of stories in Asimov's recently have had non-sociotypical characters, but a lot of them just feel like it's a cover for the author's inability to write emotion. The main character in this one felt real to me, with a voice which was believable. Among the short stories, my favorites were Prashanth Srivatsa's "Meet-Your-Hero", Frank Ward's "In The Days After", and James Patrick Kelly's "Embot's Lament".

reading

Oct. 23rd, 2023 05:46 pm
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28. Neal Stephenson & Nicole Galland "The Rise and Fall of D.O.D.O"

This book was hard to get through. The writing isn't good. The detail plotting feels clunky. The characterization isn't. In the middle of this book I actually looked up some reviews to try to find how the authors divided up the writing. I mean I really wanted to makes sense why it was written the way it was.

Several of the reviewers complained about the quirky format. It goes from regular first person past narrative as the main characters diary to various other formats: another characters journal, email chains, bureaucratic reports, transcribed audio, powerpoint slides, even some epic poetry. For the most part I enjoyed the exotic methods better than the straightforward narrative. This is because the straight narrative wasn't very good and the authors didn't seem to be able to portray or develop the characters. The odd formats actually covered up a lot of that inadequacy. So the weird parts were actually better. With the exception of the epic poetry. I'm glad I wasn't reading that in close proximity to a fork or knife. I remain ocularly intact.

The book has a fair amount of satire poking at bureaucracy. Alas it's sprinkled throughout the main text. Sometimes it jars against the rest of the text, feels like an off note, and loses it's own punch amongst all the other words. It probably would have been better as a short.

Through the whole thing the authors keep having secondary characters refer to the high degree of romantic tension between the primary characters. But the authors seem utterly unable to show that to the reader. Of course, overall, I don't think the characters are well portrayed, but the romance thing feels really unsupported.

One of the tricky parts of magic is you need to have rules and be consistent with them. One of the tricky things about time travel is you need to have rules and always obey them. The more you pile on the harder it becomes to not seem inconsistent, or sloppy, or slapstick.

Overall, if you see this book on your (virtual or physical) shelf, don't walk away. Run.

reading

Oct. 1st, 2023 07:28 pm
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24. Terry Pratchett "Moving Pictures"

After finishing up "A History of Mechanical Inventions", Terry Pratchett's roast of Hollywood was a very fun read. It is obvious Pratchett loves the subject matter and there is so much to make fun of in movie tropes. This book introduces Gaspode the Wonder Dog, who is a particular favorite of mine.

25. "The Long List Anthology Vol. 7"

This is the first of the Long List anthologies which I've read. It was a pretty good collection with many strong stories. There were a few which didn't do much for me, but the majority were good to great. I'd recommend picking this up if you like shorter works and definitely if you can find it on sale (as I did). I have a few more volumes in this series which I will be sprinkling in between my novels length reading.

26. Asimov's Science Fiction Sep/Oct 2023

"The Break-In" worked better than most of the Kristine Kathryn Rusch. I think the jumping between character perspectives helped the energy level and flow. However, the ending made it feel like just part of a story, not really as stand alone work. My favorites for this issue were the novelettes. Dean Whitlock's "Deep Blue Jump", Michele Lafromboise's "Tears Down the Wall" and David Erik Nelson's "The Dead Letter Office" were my favorites. Several of the short stories were doing different things this month. None of them really hit on all cylinders for me, but I appreciate the variety and the effort.

26. Jasper Fforde "The Fourth Bear"

I can't remember when I last read "The Fourth Bear", but it's been a while. I'm always amazed by the number of references Fforde can stuff into a single book (and that's just the ones I pick up on). I had forgotten how he placed this book within the Thursday Next universe, so there is some crossover to the other series. This book feels a little less zany than "The Big Over Easy", but it is still out there with nursery rhyme characters and psychotic murderous baked good (cookie or cake?). How does he come up with all this stuff?!

27. Terry Pratchett "Reaper Man"

How did I forget so many of the parts of this book? Even though this one takes place fairly early in the Discworld saga, I ended up reading it quite a while after the books around it. That being said, much of it was new to me again on the re-read. Really this book is two stories which take place between the same two covers which really don't bother to interact with each other. I think Pratchett probably had both ideas, but neither made a full novel and he needed to have a full novel. They really could have been done as one of those back to back books where you read halfway through for one story, then turn the books upside down and start reading from the other cover for the other story. In one storyline Death gets great character development and the author gets to play with an extended metaphor. In the second storyline it is lovely how Pratchett excoriates suburbs and malls. Some of the plot points are a bit clunky, but the descriptions of rural life and rural and wizard personalities are worth it.

reading

Aug. 13th, 2023 07:46 pm
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19. Vaseem Khan "The Unexpected Inheritance of Inspector Chopra"

I wanted to like this book. I am always looking for new detective series. Even better if it takes place in a culture I'm not all that familiar with. But it just didn't make it.

20. Terry Pratchett "Guards! Guards!"

It was so much fun re-reading "Guards! Guards!". I had forgotten much of the plot. My memory had mixed in bits of different Watch books and left out some significant bits of what was there. Sybil rocks so hard in this book the trolls should give her an honorarium. Some of the lines are so very perfect for our current political discourse that it's scary. I mean current political discourse is scary and it must have taken one cynical mind to come up with it in 1989. Prime Pratchett.

21. Tom Clancy "Red Storm Rising"

This was a re-read from back in the '90's. Back in the day I read the first few Clancy books then got turned off by the direction of the Ryanverse. This book feels incredibly well researched. When I first read it I didn't pick up on the construction, but it is a good lesson in how to write a huge book. It spans a lot of places, time, and storylines. It does that by picking up specific characters and following them through each of the story arcs. Some come onstage for only a brief time, so persist for much of the book. As I was reading it, the jumping from character to character in the different plotlines reminded me of Lord of the Rings. I'm not saying it's anything like LOTR in other aspects. But the way of dealing with OMG what a long and complicated story by breaking it up into bite sized chunks following specific characters is similar.

"Red Storm Rising" is very much retrofuturism now, but some of the assumptions made by characters in the book and some of the results ring awfully close to what we have seen in Ukraine.

22. Terry Pratchett "Eric"

At some point I have to read "Faust". I mean so many authors riff on it. "Eric" isn't my favorite Pratchett book. It has its funny bits, but I think Pratchett is much better when he's running in an open field chasing whatever butterflies inspire him.

23. Abbott Payson Usher "A History of Mechanical Inventions"

I picked this book up at a book sale who knows how many years ago. It is a reprint of an imprint from 1954. When I started it, I was disappointed how much time it spent on theory and how little depth it seemed to go into of each aspect of mechanical/technical development. This isn't a book which would guide you to rebuild civilization. But it does do a good job of illustrating its main theme: it takes village or many villages. It argues that there isn't one big invention. Each invention is a whole lot of stage setting, the actual invention or many inventions, and a whole lot of refinement and improvement. Often one person gets credit because their name is written down somewhere, but usually they just got lucky enough to get written down. When the knowledge gets distributed and multiple people start to refine it and expand on it, then things really start to roll.

I must admit, I spent way too much time reading this book for that one lesson. I might have been better off focusing all the time on learning the details of any one of the chapters. There was a lot of "there is too much material for a detailed study within the scope of this work".

reading

Apr. 2nd, 2023 03:27 pm
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7. Terry Pratchett "Sorcery"

Continuing the re-read of all the Discworld books. In "Sorcery" you can feel Pratchett getting the rhythm which he honed for many years. It's hard to put my finger on just how, but every now and then I'd hit a bit of very prime stuff. Bits of this felt repeated from the early books and I'm glad for the next book we get to move on to a different cast of characters. It seems by the way Pratchett ended it, he wanted a break from the characters as well.

8. Jennifer Worth "Call the Midwife: Farewell to the East End"

This book, like the previous two has a mix of dark and light stories. There are some places where we cover ground which we'd gone over in previous books, sometimes from a different perspective, sometimes not. This book wraps up several of the main characters stories and is a natural ending point of the series. I don't think it was as strong as the first two books, but it was nice to see how some of the things turned out.

9. Asimov's Jan/Feb 2023

I have had a subscription to Asimov's since the '80's. We have boxes of back issues on shelves or in storage. It is hard to contemplate, but I'm debating letting my subscription lapse. Every now and then there will be an outstanding, wonderful story. But in general the number of stories that do nothing for me outweigh the ones which do anything for me. I feel like the quality of the stories has been steadily declining over the years. This makes me sad. It seems the longer form stories tend to lose the most and the short works are where we see the remaining gems.

What follows is what I wrote to a friend about Norman Spinrad's "Up and Out".

"Derien started to read it and gave up after a few paragraphs. I had to read the whole thing, because I always do.  Spinrad is either a) senile, b) a really bad author, or c) a genius author who is able to write an entire long form story perfectly in character of a thoughtless tech bro. It's hard to tell which based on the evidence presented. As far as the qualities of the story, it's hard to know where to start.  All complications and consequences are just glossed over. The writing made we want to poke my eyeballs out with a spork. The plot was wanking over (to quote the Australian "Honest Government Ads" group) shitfuckery. If it was a spoof of how Musk would think and write about himself, it was brilliant. If it was intended to be anything other than a farce, it was sad indeed."

The whole first part of this issue was either torture or did nothing for me. My favorite was Ramsey Shehadeh's "Cigarettes and Coffee" which did a good job of putting the reader into the shoes of a main character who is not in charge of everything and not infinitely wealthy, and who's world just doesn't turn out perfect no matter what they do. Quite the opposite in fact.

10. P. G. Wodehouse "Sam In The Suburbs"

After Asimov's I decided to read a random P.G. Wodehouse. I thought based on the title and the settings that this book was written later in his career, but it's was actually published in 1925. The prose was right on the mark with humor both overt and implied. The plot is a bit less clear. Maybe he tried to put too much in there. The start is a bit clunky because plot points involving the main character need to get established. I thought Wodehouse spent a bit too much time on the early scenes in London. He brings in a ton of different characters all working on different threads through the middle of the book. In the end he ties it all together, but the way he chose to do it seemed a bit off. While I was reading it I actually thought of a way it could have tied out better, but I can't remember it now and might never again.

Not the strongest Wodehouse book, but still a fun read.

11. Terry Pratchett "Wyrd Sisters"

I finished the re-read of "Wyrd Sisters" while on vacation. I had forgotten just how unresolved Pratchett left many of the story lines in this one. He really had fun bashing tropes in this one and the refusal to resolve everything feels like more of that. Granny is much more Granny in this one, but hasn't quite jelled into her final state. Nanny springs into action basically complete. After reading this one, I almost feel like I have to read one of Jasper Fforde's "Fool" series to get my full dose of Shakespeare pastiche.

reading

Feb. 19th, 2023 09:07 pm
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5. Asimov's Nov/Dec 2022

Finally got around to reading the Nov/Dec issue of Asimov's. The novelettes and shorts in this issue had a lot of variety. "I'll Be Moon For Christmas" Michele LaFramboise was sweet although post apocalyptic. Ray Nayler's "The Empty" was so real you could feel the sun and grit of the sand getting into everything. It was honed sharp cutting close to current day reality and will likely be mistaken for a historical story in 50 years. M. Bennardo's "Forty-Eight Minutes at the Trainview Cafe" didn't end as I expected, but is an interesting sociological piece. I anticipated the end of "Falling Off the Edge of the World", but I still got invested in it.

6. Eric Garcia "Anonymous Rex"

This book has been sitting around the house a long time. Derien read it years ago, but I'd never gotten around to it. The coyote - road runner cartoons were fun even though they were completely absurd and impossible. But for me, this book was just absurd and impossible. Even suspending disbelief on the central premise of the universe, I felt like it wasn't consistent. So this guys outfit gets utterly shredded and soiled, but you can put it back on and walk in public with no one noticing?! If it's an intelligent, self mending outfit you have to say that. For the mystery part, it felt like the plot depended on too many coincidences to reach the end. The whole sequence was hella complicated, so I can see why it took a lot of contortions to work out, but that didn't make it any better for me. So in short, I'll pass on the sequel and I won't be saving it to read again.

reading

Feb. 4th, 2023 02:19 pm
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3. Becky Chambers "The Long Way to a Small Angry Planet"

"The Long Way to a Small Angry Planet" was a fun read, but really felt like I should have gotten it from AO3. It feels like Firefly/DS9 fanfic which was written with an eye toward selling the rights to TV. Somehow the chapters seem to feel like we're getting episodes in a show. It was enjoyable and there are some interesting ideas in the universe which Chambers built. Generally, I like the differences in the races and how humans fit into it. This is Chambers' first novel and self published at that and as such is an impressive effort. If I sound a bit critical, it just because I think with a little more editing/refining it could have been stellar.

4. Joe Haldeman "Dealing in Futures"

"Dealing in Futures" was kind of a mixed bag for me. I was impressed by the novella "You Can Never Go Back", which was the basis for the central section of "The Forever War". I've heard about "The Forever War" as a classic of science fiction, but have never read it. Maybe I'll do that now. This story was the first time I've ever read anything "space marines" where the combat could be followed and which conveyed the ugliness of war. Some of Haldeman's fictional social changes have come to pass, but these stories were written in the mid '70's to early '80's. His attitudes and those of his main characters are generally stuck in the '70's or earlier. I'm not nostalgic for the '70's, I lived through them (albeit as a kid) and now I'm just embarrassed by how sexist, racist, and close minded American society was. Sometimes it was hard to get around the squicky bits to see the interesting plots and worlds.

reading

Jan. 15th, 2023 02:17 pm
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Catching up on a lot of books, most of which are re-reads which I finished a while ago, so I'm not going to be detailed.

ExpandCut for length )

reading

Oct. 1st, 2022 12:29 pm
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It has been a long time since i updated on books, but I haven't actually finished much in the intervening months.

17. Asimov's Sep/Oct 2022

Of note in this issue of Asimov's was "Grandmother Troll" which reminded me of the Tiffany Aching series for some reason. Maybe it is the combination of troll and gruff old farmer. There was a good selection of short stories. "The Rules of Unbinding" by Geoffrey A. Landis is a short fresh and fun take on a very old trope. Where "The Extraterrestrials are Coming! The Extraterrestrials are Coming!" is light, "The Rise of Alpha Gal" is dark, or maybe grey depending on your leanings.

18. "An Introduction to Fiction" edited by X. J. Kennedy

Picked this one up at a book sale somewhere and it has been in the "to read" pile for some time. As you would expect from the title, it's a Lit 101 textbook. The first part of it introduces terms and uses classic stories to illustrate them. The selections are varied, work well, and almost all out of copyright saving the publishing company money. The second half of the book features a collection of "modern" fiction, which makes it obvious that this book was published in the 1970's. It seems like the editors tried to be progressive and liberal, but that's like choosing the most environmentally friendly 747. There were some of the stories which were painfully racist.

So is short, read the first part, leave the 2nd part for the awkward dustbin of history.

19. Seth Grahame-Smith "Pride and Prejudice and Zombies"

I can't remember where we got this book, but it was picked up on a lark. However I was pleasantly surprised how well the bits fit together. The feel of the Austin characters stays pretty much intact despite the inclusion of the zombie matter. I do think he overdid it a bit on how many servants end up dead, I mean at that rate the wouldn't have anybody left in two years, but you can't expect realism in a zombie story. It was fun and reminded me that I really should go back and read Jane Austen again, mission accomplished.

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