Karlstar Herds Cats in 3Q2021

Tämä viestiketju jatkaa tätä viestiketjua: Karlstar reads more in 2021 Part the Second.

Tämä viestiketju jatkuu täällä: Karlstar Reads in '22.

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Karlstar Herds Cats in 3Q2021

1Karlstar
Muokkaaja: joulukuu 29, 2021, 10:30 pm

Time for a new thread!

July reading
Give Me Back My Legions! by Harry Turtledove
Theft of Swords by Michael Sullivan
Project Hail Mary by Andy Weir
The Cityborn by Edward Willett
Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck
Alaric Thain's History of the 21st Century by Alaric Thain (abandoned)
The History of the Swedish People, Vol II
The Eye of the World by Robert Jordan

August reading
The Burning White by Brent Weeks (Lightbringer book 5)
After the Apocalypse: America's Role in a World Transformed by Andrew Bacevich
The Glass Menagerie by Tennessee Williams
Jimmy and the Crawler by Raymond E. Feist
Unlocked by John Scalzi
The Glass Menagerie by Tennessee Williams
2001: A Space Odyssey

September Reading
Rise of Empire by Michael J. Sullivan
Heir of Novron by Michael J. Sullivan
Fugitive Telemetry by Martha Wells
Boundless by R. A. Salvatore
The Eagles Claw: A Novel of the Battle of Midway by Jeff Shaara
Relentless by R. A. Salvatore
Winter in Eden by Harry Harrison

October Reading
Bride of the Rat God by Barbara Hambly
Sos the Rope by Piers Anthony
The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck

November reading
Brothers of the Wind by Tad Williams
We Die Alone: A WWII Epic of Escape and Endurance by David Howarth
Foundation by Isaac Asimov
Prelude to Foundation by Isaac Asimov
Wonders of the Invisible World by P. McKillip
The Great Hunt by Robert Jordan (re-re-read)
The Council of Shadows by S.M.Stirling

December reading
J.R.R. Tolkien: Myth, Morality, and Religion by Richard Purtill
The Queen of Wands by John Ringo
The Dragon Reborn by Robert Jordan (re-re-read)
The Shadow Rising by Robert Jordan
Ink and Sigil by Kevin Hearne
Queen of Storms by Raymond E. Feist

2Karlstar
heinäkuu 11, 2021, 9:26 am

I use a 1 to 10 rating system because I started rating books on the internet long before LT and because I like the additional granularity. Here's my rating scale explained. Checking my LT books, the 8 ratings stop right around book 500, so I'm consistent there, but I only have about 70 books rated 9 stars or higher, so either I'm being too tough or there just aren't that many 9 or 10 star books. I would guess my most common rating is 6, I like most of what I read.

1 - So bad, I couldn't finish it. DO NOT READ!!!
2 - Could have finished, but didn't. Do not read. This one means I made a conscious choice not to finish, usually about halfway through the book. Something is seriously wrong here.
3 - Finished it, but had to force myself. Not recommended, if you're a complete-ist and read it, you'll regret it.
4 - Finished it, but really didn't like it. Not recommended unless you really need something to read.
5 - Decent book, recommended if you have spare time and need something to read.
6 - Good book, I enjoyed it, and would recommend it.
7 - Good book, recommended for everyone. I may have read it more than once, and would consider buying the hardcover edition.
8 - Great book, I would put it in the Top 500 of all time. Read more than once, I probably have the hardcover.
9 - Great book, top 100 all time. Read more than once, if I don't have the hardcover edition, I want one!
10 - All-time great book, top 50 material. Read more than twice, I probably have more than one copy/edition.

My ratings also include the Slogging Through the Mud (STTM) rating/index. This goes back to one of Elizabeth Moon's Paksenarrion books where she spends WAY too much time actually describing how the army spent days slogging through the mud. If there is a lot of travel in the book and too much time describing the traveling, the STTM rating will be high.

3pgmcc
heinäkuu 11, 2021, 9:32 am

The best of luck with your new thread. I may not comment often, but rest assured, I am lurking behind the drapes.

4BookstoogeLT
heinäkuu 11, 2021, 9:46 am

>3 pgmcc: Would you mind dusting those drapes while you're there? The dust makes me sneeze when I'm hiding there...

5pgmcc
heinäkuu 11, 2021, 10:00 am

>4 BookstoogeLT: I have noticed that it is when I have tried to dust the drapes that I have disturbed the dust and you have started sneezing. That is why I stand so still. Now, if you were leave your vacuum cleaner near the drapes and ignore the sound of it operating I would give them a good vacumming.

6hfglen
heinäkuu 11, 2021, 10:53 am

>4 BookstoogeLT: >5 pgmcc: Do I detect a job waiting for Ernest and YouKneeK's Roomba?

7Karlstar
heinäkuu 11, 2021, 11:03 am

>4 BookstoogeLT: >5 pgmcc: >6 hfglen: Thanks. How long will it be until we have a robot to dust everything, do you think?

8Silversi
heinäkuu 11, 2021, 12:55 pm

Wait.. I thought herding the cats was my job. I bought the t-shirt.

9Karlstar
heinäkuu 11, 2021, 2:29 pm

>8 Silversi: It is, I'm just the assistant cat-herder.

10BookstoogeLT
heinäkuu 12, 2021, 10:00 am

>7 Karlstar: 1 million years. Humans are too stupid to make a robot that will only dust. If we try to make something like that, it'll end up as a Terminator or Skynet or something just as scary.

11Sakerfalcon
heinäkuu 12, 2021, 10:10 am

Happy new thread! I hope you will have many good books to report on during this quarter.

12Karlstar
Muokkaaja: heinäkuu 12, 2021, 12:45 pm

>10 BookstoogeLT: I see you've read the old Asimov robot stories, so you know how this is going to go.

>11 Sakerfalcon: Thanks!

13Narilka
heinäkuu 12, 2021, 4:16 pm

Yay, new thread!

14YouKneeK
heinäkuu 13, 2021, 12:03 pm

>6 hfglen: Catching up on threads after being out of town (without WiFi of all things!)...

I’m not sure either Ernest or my Roomba would be of much use in dusting drapes, unless it’s the Amelia Bedelia style of dusting which applies dust (or cat hair) rather than removing it. However, enough coordinated Roombas might have some moderate success in herding cats. It sounds like Silversi and Karlstar have that under control, though!

15Karlstar
heinäkuu 15, 2021, 9:59 pm

Done with Project Hail Mary, moving on to The Cityborn.

16Karlstar
heinäkuu 18, 2021, 4:22 pm

Catching up on a review or two.

Give Me Back My Legions by Harry Turtledove
STTM: 8 - there's a lot of mud 2012 years ago
Rating: 7 out of 10

This is the historical fiction story of the characters and events that lead up to The Battle of Teutoburg Forest, back in the early 1st century. Apparently there are some historical references to the battle but no actual accounts. Turtledove took the known characters, the Roman Emperor Augustus, a Roman governor, Quinctilius Varus and a German, Arminius a Cherusci tribe leader, along with some of the Roman military leaders and several other Cherusci and turned into a story about the events that led to the battle.

I enjoyed this, though the Romans do spend a lot of time complaining about the mud in Germany, which is Turtledove's way of pointing out there were no Roman roads in northern Germany at the time and that it rains a lot there. For me, reading something from this far back in history that is about a battle I was not familiar with was fun. A quick, short read.

17Busifer
heinäkuu 19, 2021, 2:04 pm

(> 10 etc on dust/dusting: I've always toyed with the idea of dust-eating mites. Only, how can they know what is "dust", ie unwanted stuff, and what is fabric, human and animal skin and hair, etc? Anyway, I expect they too turning into Skynet, eventually.)

18-pilgrim-
heinäkuu 19, 2021, 4:19 pm

>17 Busifer: A lot of actual "dust" is actually shed skin and hair.
So I suppose, using robot logic, it WOULD be simpler to dispose of it before it detaches and becomes separate pieces....OOUCH.

19Busifer
heinäkuu 20, 2021, 1:08 pm

>18 -pilgrim-: I know, and the mind boggles for consequences!
But one can wish: no more dusting, no more dust rats! I would be so happy...

20MrsLee
heinäkuu 21, 2021, 2:22 pm

>19 Busifer: OH, we only have dust bunnies here. :P

21Busifer
heinäkuu 23, 2021, 9:27 am

>20 MrsLee: I Sweden they're dammråttor - literally "dustrats" - and so I like to call them that. Bunnies sounds far too nice! ;-)

22Karlstar
heinäkuu 23, 2021, 11:45 pm

I finished The Cityborn and Of Mice and Men. I'm reading Alaric Thain's History of the 21st Century but will likely pick up something else too while deciding whether I'm finishing this one or not.

23BookstoogeLT
heinäkuu 24, 2021, 6:44 am

>22 Karlstar: Will you be reviewing Of Mice and Men?

24clamairy
heinäkuu 24, 2021, 8:43 am

What >23 BookstoogeLT: said. And was this your first time reading it?

25Karlstar
heinäkuu 24, 2021, 8:57 am

>23 BookstoogeLT: >24 clamairy: I will, I'll try to catch up on reviews this weekend. I'm not 100% positive, but I think it was my first reading.

I'm abandoning the Alaric Thain book, the only good thing about it is the name 'Alaric'. 'After the Apocalypse' by Andrew Bacevich (ER book) is up next.

26Karlstar
Muokkaaja: heinäkuu 25, 2021, 10:41 pm

Review time!

Theft of Swords by Michael J. Sullivan
STTM: 4 - some travelling, but not as much character revelations as was needed
Rating: 6 out of 10

This has been reviewed here on GD recently, so I won't go into too much detail. This is the omnibus edition of the first 2 books in the Ryria Revelations series. Royce and Hadrian are rogues, in the old Fahfrd and Grey Mouser tradition - they are very good at sneaking around, clever about break-ins and very good warriors with just a hint of magic ability. Together they call themselves Ryria, so I guess this series is all about revealing stuff about them. Of the two, Hadrian is the softy and Royce is the tough guy, though really both of them are characters you can like. This is not dark fantasy at all.

I liked the action and the characters. I like the world he has built, though it could use a bit more backstory, for me. While the stories are about stealing swords, there is much, much more to it. This is fairly standard fantasy, there are even elves and dwarves, though both are rare.

27YouKneeK
heinäkuu 24, 2021, 5:00 pm

Swords and Deviltry, the first Fafhrd book, has been on my list (and on my Kindle) for a long time, so your comparison of the two was interesting to me.

Regarding Theft of Swords, I agree some more back story would have been nice.

28Karlstar
heinäkuu 24, 2021, 10:53 pm

>27 YouKneeK: Other folks can likely chime in, but to me it feels like the Fafhrd and Grey Mouser books by Lieber were the prototype of the 'buddy' fantasy crime team. A lot shorter, a bit less developed, but if Sullivan wasn't influenced by them, it is quite the cosmic coincidence.

29Karlstar
heinäkuu 28, 2021, 12:06 pm

Kindle has changed my reading plans, I'm now 3 chapters into The Eye of the World.

30Jim53
heinäkuu 29, 2021, 8:45 pm

I've never read the Lieber, but your comparison intrigues me. Off to the library...

31Karlstar
heinäkuu 29, 2021, 9:50 pm

>30 Jim53: Give it a try! Like many classic fantasy novels, it is quite short.

32Karlstar
heinäkuu 31, 2021, 4:56 pm

The Cityborn by Edward Willett
STTM: 1 - a couple of very short trips
Rating: 6 out of 10

This book surprised me. My daughters bought it for me because it had been languishing on my Amazon wishlist for a couple of years. Why was it on my Amazon wish list? Because Amazon recommended it. When I first picked it up and started reading it, my first reaction was that it was going to be a YA dystopian romance novel, and I'd made a huge mistake.

Turns out, while there are dystopian aspects, this isn't set on Earth or in a space station, it is more of a early colonization novel. Also, while it is definitely YA, it isn't a romance. I was pleasantly surprised by how much I enjoyed the characters and the plot. Was it all a little simplistic and contrived? Sure, but that really wasn't a problem. The science was also a little on the convenient/unexplained side, but I felt that went along with the intended YA audience. It reminded me of City of Illusions in places, though certainly not as well written.

It was much better than I thought it was going to be when I first picked it up. Score one for Amazon recommendations.

33Karlstar
heinäkuu 31, 2021, 5:19 pm

Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck
STTM: 0
Rating: 8 out of 10

I may have read this earlier in my life, it is likely it was required reading at some point in my school career. If so, it was early enough that I did not remember it at all.

This is the story of two itinerant farm workers, not migrant workers as we understand them today, but similar. While I don't think a date is given in the story, I believe it is set in the 1930's, due to the references to moving pictures and work tickets. George and Lennie are looking for a farm to work at, to earn a bit of cash so they can pursue their dream of having their own farm.

Early in the story they reach the farm where they were headed. We learn early on that Lennie, while hugely strong, is intellectually challenged and at times can't control his own strength.

The rest of the story is sad, rough and leads to a terrible, inevitable ending. I can see why this is a classic, it is a powerful story told very quickly.

Is it sad that what comes to mind the most is the Bugs Bunny cartoon with the Lennie character?

34clamairy
heinäkuu 31, 2021, 9:00 pm

>33 Karlstar: "Is it sad that what comes to mind the most is the Bugs Bunny cartoon with the Lennie character?"

OMG, I'm laughing and I shouldn't be. Luckily for me I must have read the book before I saw the Looney Tunes version.

35Karlstar
heinäkuu 31, 2021, 11:46 pm

I just couldn't put this one in with the other two reviews, had to take a break.

Alaric Thain's History of the 21st Century by Alaric Thain
STTM: 0 - supposed to be a history
Rating: 1 - DNF

This is rare for me, a book with a 1 out of 10 rating. A friend of mine loaned it to me with a request to read it so we could discuss it. This is a self-published book by someone called Alaric Thain, which I really hope is not his or her real name. Sorry Alaric, I didn't like your book.

This book is supposedly a 'history' of the 21st century, written by someone from the 21st century, who somehow is writing it from the 29th century. Since this is written in the 29th century, obviously the world is more advanced and everything is in the past.

My first problem was the prologue. I assume it was written by a fictional person from the 29th century. Right off, it says how great Alaric Thain is and how this is a great book. There's a publishing rule that says you can't say how great your own book is, right?

Unfortunately for a history of the 21st century, Thain feels he has to go back to when humans first roamed the Earth as hunter-gatherers to tell us how things should really have been, and does this so badly and so briefly, this is just junk. This sort of brief overview of history continued through the industrial revolution and into the early 19th century, and I just gave up. It was so full of massive generalizations and just plain invalid assertions I couldn't read any more. Life is too short.

I told my friend I wouldn't continue and wondered why he did. I guess later it has some economic theories he wanted to discuss, so I may jump ahead to that section and see what garbage it contains. Maybe.

36BookstoogeLT
elokuu 1, 2021, 7:24 am

>35 Karlstar: Are you sure this wasn't written by said friend but they didn't want to admit it?

37YouKneeK
elokuu 1, 2021, 7:28 am

>36 BookstoogeLT: Haha, I was thinking the same thing.

38BookstoogeLT
elokuu 1, 2021, 7:45 am

>37 YouKneeK: * fist bump *
Great minds......

39Silversi
Muokkaaja: elokuu 1, 2021, 1:50 pm

>33 Karlstar: Lennie always reminded me of the cartoon. It's exactly how I pictured Lennie and I often questioned (in my mind) if the cartoon guy was based off of him.

40Silversi
elokuu 1, 2021, 1:48 pm

>36 BookstoogeLT: Knowing said friend, I can wholeheartedly say.. he would admit it loud and strong lol.

41Karlstar
elokuu 1, 2021, 10:03 pm

>36 BookstoogeLT: I think he read it because his father-in-law suggested it, if I remember right. Don't worry, he didn't write it and won't be insulted by my review. I did forget to mention that it reminded me that 'Alaric' is a great name.

42Karlstar
elokuu 5, 2021, 10:11 pm

I finished my re-re-read of The Eye of the World and I think I enjoyed it more this time than the previous two readings. I thought the characters were well done, the plot is good and so is the writing. There's good character building in this book that explains a lot of what goes on in later books. There's also a lot more foreshadowing than I remember.

One of the things I noticed in the TV show trailers now makes a lot more sense. In my previous readings of the book, my impression of Lan and the Borderlanders was of a vague standard fantasy warrior type, with maybe some Mongol influence. It is fairly clear now that what Jordan intended was more Japanese. While the names of places, such as Fal Dara seem generic fantasy and so are some of the weapons; the language and appearance of the warriors seems more Japanese. That's just the Shienar and Lan though, it will be interesting to see if that holds up for some of the other Borderland kingdoms.

43clamairy
elokuu 5, 2021, 10:33 pm

>42 Karlstar: You keep spraying those bullets around... I think between you and your wife I might have been clipped.

44libraryperilous
elokuu 6, 2021, 6:11 pm

>42 Karlstar: I don't think I'll ever commit to Jordan's series, but I'm glad it holds up well on rereads for its fans.

45Karlstar
elokuu 7, 2021, 10:12 am

>43 clamairy: I started Burning White right after finishing EoTW and now I think I see the differences between the two. For Weeks, the characters are everything and the setting is just background, most of the time. Jordan puts more effort into the setting and naturally, considering the plot, the history.

46clamairy
elokuu 9, 2021, 2:29 pm

>45 Karlstar: I only own one Weeks and I haven't touched it yet. Also, turns out I bought EotW for my Kindle last year.

47Karlstar
Muokkaaja: elokuu 29, 2021, 10:27 am

>46 clamairy: Then you are all set to jump right in!

48Silversi
elokuu 9, 2021, 10:55 pm

Tuesday! Aug 10. I'm an hour and 5 minutes early but...

49Karlstar
elokuu 10, 2021, 9:49 am

>48 Silversi: Thanks dear!

50pgmcc
elokuu 10, 2021, 9:54 am

Happy Birthday, Jim. Have a great day.

51-pilgrim-
elokuu 10, 2021, 10:31 am

Happy Birthday! Many happy cats of the day to you!

52Narilka
elokuu 10, 2021, 12:03 pm

Happy Birthday!

53hfglen
elokuu 10, 2021, 12:18 pm

Hippo Birdie two ewe!

54YouKneeK
elokuu 10, 2021, 1:02 pm

Happy birthday Karlstar!

56clamairy
Muokkaaja: elokuu 10, 2021, 1:30 pm

Happy Birthday, dude! Hope there's lots of cheese and books coming your way.

57libraryperilous
elokuu 10, 2021, 1:48 pm

Happy catbirthday!

58Karlstar
elokuu 10, 2021, 1:59 pm

>56 clamairy: >57 libraryperilous: Thanks! My daughters and wife are always very good to me, I've already opened The Glass Menagerie, Unlocked, J. R. R. Tolkien: Myth Morality & Religion and The Burning White. In what is a inevitable yearly tradition, I picked up The Burning White for my Nook last week to take on our trip, so now the hardcover will be headed back. I almost always manage to buy myself a book that someone has already purchased for me.

My daughter told me I have to write a book report on the Purtill book.

59NorthernStar
elokuu 10, 2021, 6:20 pm

Happy birthday!

60BookstoogeLT
elokuu 10, 2021, 6:51 pm

>58 Karlstar: But the Burning White will look so good on a bookshelf! Won't all the other volumes miss it?

61Karlstar
elokuu 10, 2021, 9:30 pm

>59 NorthernStar: Thanks!

>60 BookstoogeLT: I have 2 on kindle and 2 on the shelf, so I guess they'll have to be lonely. I don't think this series has risen to the level of a 9 out of 10 rating.

62Silversi
elokuu 10, 2021, 10:07 pm

>58 Karlstar: Don't you write book reports for all of your books?

63MrsLee
elokuu 11, 2021, 5:31 pm

This is what I get for skipping LT for a day. Happy Birthday! Did I miss all the cake?

64Karlstar
elokuu 11, 2021, 10:57 pm

>63 MrsLee: Thanks MrsLee! No cake, but there was apple pie.

65Karlstar
elokuu 12, 2021, 10:42 pm

Still working on The Burning White. My Nook says it is 1200 pages. I'm getting a little tired of evil monologues and characters thinking to themselves. I really didn't need more Andross Guile in this one, I thought he finished with that in book 3. Ditto Murder Sharp.

66Karlstar
elokuu 18, 2021, 10:22 am

Finally finished The Burning White. I'll have to contemplate on it for a few days before I write a review. I think I need something short next, like Jimmy and the Crawler.

67Karlstar
elokuu 18, 2021, 3:48 pm

The NPR list is out! I see a lot of books here that you folks have been talking about and a few I've read.

https://www.npr.org/2021/08/18/1027159166/best-books-science-fiction-fantasy-pas...

Note that at the bottom they say that they left some authors out in order to help out lesser known authors. Which make this more of a participation trophy list, doesn't it?

68Karlstar
Muokkaaja: elokuu 19, 2021, 10:51 pm

I remembered I had an ER book to read After the Apocalypse: America's Role in a World Transformed by Andrew Bacevich. It is so political I won't actually be able to write a review in this thread, if you need to you can check out my review of the book. I didn't care for it much.

Work has been busy, and we had guests three times in the last month and we went on a trip to visit family, so my reading has been impacted.

69clamairy
elokuu 24, 2021, 2:23 pm

>67 Karlstar: I've read 12 and probably own at least another dozen of those. Nice list. I am almost always happy with NPR's lists and recommendations.

>68 Karlstar: You are the only reviewer who has rated that book less than 4 stars so far. I'm sure that will change since people who aren't enjoying a book usually take a lot longer to get through it. At least one of the reviewers claimed it was completely apolitical. Are you sure you both read the same thing? ;o)

70Karlstar
elokuu 24, 2021, 10:40 pm

>69 clamairy: Thanks for reading my review! I actually edited it a bit just now as it was not as clear as it should be. After reading the other reviews again, it is likely that he makes his point better than I gave him credit for, so I bumped my rating up to a 2.5. As far as 'apolitical' goes, I don't think a book on that subject can be considered apolitical in any way or any sense. The other reviewer may be confusing his lack of stated political party as apolitical, which is not the same thing.

He had a good point, then spent most of the book in doing what felt like a lot of whining. Oops, maybe I'm back to a 2 rating again.

How'd you get by with the storm?

71Karlstar
elokuu 24, 2021, 10:43 pm

I guess I felt the need to follow up my 2 really long epic novels, The Dragon Reborn and The Burning White, with 3 really short not quite novels. Unlocked: An Oral history of Haden's Syndrome, Jimmy and the Crawler, and The Glass Menagerie. A review will follow soon but at the moment I'm stuck on the really terrible value of 2 out of 3.

72pgmcc
elokuu 25, 2021, 4:00 am

>68 Karlstar: Your review is interesting. Recent events of 2021 probably mean the book is already due an update. The World is transforming so much faster than we anticipated.

73Karlstar
elokuu 25, 2021, 10:36 pm

>72 pgmcc: Very true! We'll need to do things a little differently now and in the future, which was probably different than he imagined it would be, at least somewhat.

74Karlstar
elokuu 25, 2021, 10:55 pm

I used some of my Amazon credit to buy the Penguin Galaxy edition of 2001: A Space Odyssey to correct the fact that I didn't own any copies of it. The horror!

This edition is very nice, with a stylish cover, clean, quality paper and well bound. There's also a great foreword by Neil Gaiman. https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/538851/2001-a-space-odyssey-by-arthur-c...

I might need a couple of others in this series, I don't own a copy of Neuromancer, and my copies of Dune and Stranger in a Strange Land are old paperbacks.

75libraryperilous
elokuu 26, 2021, 9:33 pm

>70 Karlstar: Bacevich often is contrarian for contrarianism's sake. One suspects being a curmudgeon on any topic requires a bit of that.

76Karlstar
elokuu 27, 2021, 12:43 pm

>75 libraryperilous: Ah, that makes sense, this was my first Bacevich, likely the last.

77Karlstar
elokuu 29, 2021, 10:26 am

Time to catch up on reviews.

The Burning White by Brent Weeks
STTM: 8 Not much mud, but so much slogging
Rating: 5 out of 10

I read this on the Nook, which was good, it would have been difficult to handle this 990 page monster in paperback format. That also helped obscure the fact it was a 990 page monster, of which it felt like 660 pages were evil monologues, internal dialogue, internal reminiscing or just plain extra words. So many extra words, he must have been trying to keep up with Sanderson. Slogging through page after page
of memory recap or internal dialog just felt like a chore.

Unfortunately for me a lot of the extra words were either about or from Andross Guile or Murder Sharp, two of my (by design) least favorite characters. I really didn't want to hear another word from either one of them going into this book and I did not get my wish. In this one, Weeks tries to make it look like the entire series has really been about Andross, or at least tries to set up a mystery as to who is the actual Lightbringer - Gavin, Kip or Andross, while the title implies it is going to be Karris.

I found this series to be inconsistent. Some books were quite good, some were not. This one was not. There were some clever and fun parts, but not enough to relieve the slog. The ending wasn't great. Gavin even parachutes into the final scene, what's up with that?

78Karlstar
elokuu 29, 2021, 10:38 am

Jimmy and the Crawler by Raymond E. Feist
STTM: 0 - very short book and all the action is in cities
Rating: 7 out of 10

I read three short books, including this one, to take a break from the Eye of the World and The Burning White. Mostly The Burning White, I guess.

Jimmy and the Crawler is a 100 page novella starring one of my favorite characters from this series, Jimmy the Hand. This is set after the Serpentwar and Krondor series of books, though it is really a continuation of the Krondor series, which had its own companion video games.

As always, Jimmy is off on a mission for Prince Arutha to try and track down the mysterious criminal organization lead by the Crawler. That organization has made multiple attempts on Jimmy's life and he's done with waiting for the next. Along with William, Pug's son and Jazhara, he's off to track down the Crawler and bring him down. This brought up a lot of memories of the computer games, as it was supposed to do.

This was actually too short, so everything felt rushed, but it was still fun to read. I know, I can't make up my mind, 990 pages is too long, 100 pages is too short. However, I feel that writing complete 100 page novels is not possible, even the old masters of the short novels like Moorcock and Lieber, wrote 150 - 200 page books. At least the description of this one made it clear it was a novella.

79Karlstar
Muokkaaja: elokuu 30, 2021, 11:22 pm

Unlocked: An Oral History of Haden's Syndrome by John Scalzi
STTM: 0 - no mud, no insight, not much of anything
Rating: 3.5 out of 10

Another really short book. Unfortunately in this case, I thought it was so short as to be a bad value. I almost never write Amazon reviews, but I had to for this one and my title was 'Buyer Beware!'. Do not pay full price for this! Do not pay more than $4! It might be a decent value if you get it at a used book store for $2.

There you go, that would have been a whole paragraph in this book. When there's one, two, three or four sentence paragraphs followed by 4 blank lines before the next, there's not a lot of words to this. Worse, it is really only 125 pages, which if it was normally spaced, would likely have been under 100. See my previous review for my comment on books of 100 pages. Since the list price of this is $11.99, ow! I pity any poor Canadian tricked into paying $15.99. I checked B&N and Amazon and both are selling it for $10.99, the publisher should be ashamed. At least both sites are selling it for $3.99 in e-book format, which is better but still poor value, when I just bought Eye of the World for $3.99 on Kindle.

The oral history format is a fun thing going around the internet now for lots of topics. Scalzi does a great job writing this using that format. It is a prequel book to his two book Lock In series, but if you've already read Lock In, it really doesn't offer you anything you didn't already know. Because it is an oral history, it is really short on character development.




I would have given this a lower rating, but since I didn't have to force myself to finish it, it should have been a 4, but given the lack of value and sparse content, 3.5 felt better. Since I can't do 3.5 here on LT, I gave it 1.5 stars. I read the other reviews and except for the one or two people who apparently got this included for free either with Lock In or somewhere else, no one else cared about the price. I guess they didn't notice they were getting ripped off or bought it substantially discounted.




Sorry, I'll stop quadruple spacing now. I blame you, Tor books. LT won't even let me have 4 lines without content! Good for them.

80Silversi
Muokkaaja: elokuu 30, 2021, 11:20 pm

>79 Karlstar: I'm sorry but that really made me laugh. I clicked your spoilers. I think I'll keep you around, you're a funny guy.

81Sakerfalcon
elokuu 31, 2021, 7:53 am

>79 Karlstar: Great review! I read this when it was collected in The best of Tor.com 2014? (I think it's 2014. One of Tor's annual collections of their best short fiction anyway.) There is no way it's worth paying the prices you quote, not even if Scalzi himself personally blessed the mobi file.

82Karlstar
syyskuu 1, 2021, 11:11 pm

>81 Sakerfalcon: What's with the trend of pricing novellas more expensively than full novels? Besides the two I just reviewed, I saw the Murderbot series at the bookstore today and they are all novellas. The hardcovers are almost reasonably priced - the first book is 156 pages and $11.69 on Amazon, but the paperback is $13.39? What the heck is up with that?

I won't be buying these new, at least not in paper, no way am I going to support this price trend.

83Sakerfalcon
syyskuu 2, 2021, 4:38 am

>82 Karlstar: It doesn't make any sense at all. I know you can't put a monetary value on some things, but I do expect a reasonable number of pages in exchange for my hard-earned cash! I'm hoping that maybe the Murderbot novellas will be collected into one reasonably-priced volume, like the Penric series has been (although that is from different publishers).

84reading_fox
Muokkaaja: syyskuu 2, 2021, 4:41 am

>82 Karlstar: - it's very annoying isn't it. In essence I don't mind authors earning a living and charging what the market will bear, but I very much want to know, and it should be extremely clear if I'm buying a couple of days entertainment, or just and hour or two. I don't much like novellas at the best of times, because there's just insufficient room for character development and complex world-building. At best you get one or the other, usually at the expense of a decent plot, normally you get plot without either. Either stick with a short story and give it a decent punch, or get the details in and make a novel.

>83 Sakerfalcon: ooh I didn't know Penric has been collected! I've put off reading it because novellas.

85pgmcc
syyskuu 2, 2021, 4:52 am

I think you will find the author’s share of the book price is very small, in the single digit percents.

86reading_fox
syyskuu 2, 2021, 5:57 am

>85 pgmcc: I know it is. But the amount of that goes up with the cover price, and they can write more novellas per year than novels. Very few authors are just writing for the love, even if they started out that way. Although I do like a quote from CJ Cherryh - only become an author because you can't not write.

87Whane1974
Muokkaaja: syyskuu 2, 2021, 6:22 am

Tämä käyttäjä on poistettu roskaamisen vuoksi.

88Karlstar
syyskuu 2, 2021, 9:34 pm

>85 pgmcc: I assume most of the cover price is going first to the bookseller, second to the publisher, then printer, then author, with the last two getting not much.

>86 reading_fox: I'm all for authors earning a living, but unless there is a radical change in how they are being compensated, there's something wrong with this pricing.

89Karlstar
syyskuu 2, 2021, 9:48 pm

>84 reading_fox: You described it perfectly, we should be able to judge for ourselves if we are paying over $10 per hour, for one of these short novellas, or a lot less per hour for a lot longer book. Especially if the book may never be read by me again if it isn't that great.

I know that sounds strange, and maybe cheap, and I assume the publishers are having these same sorts of conversations, but let's face it, after years of buying fantasy and scifi novels where 250 pages is considered short and 900 is epic, I'm used to paying a lot less than $10 per hour of reading. A lot less.

They are trying to change the value formula and I'm just not having it. That means I'm going to have to pay very close attention to page counts when I buy books online, or worse, put them on my wishlist, which is not something I've done much in the past. I don't really want to buy books by considering whether it is a good 'value' or not.

You'd think this would also be a consideration for awards - is a book being considered of the same 'value' as the others?

90-pilgrim-
Muokkaaja: syyskuu 3, 2021, 6:46 am

>89 Karlstar: On the other hand, I am sick of wasting my time on books that have obviously been padded or to meet a given word count.

It is not a new phenomenon - Alexandre Dumas and Charles Dickens are notable examples - but recently I have been reading books from my parents' library, and revisiting books from my own you, where coming in at around 200 pages was the norm. I have appreciated the tautness of their construction, and the lack of padding to wade through. I value my time, and don't want to waste extra hours for a given amount of enjoyment.

I used to think along the lines discussed here, and resent parking more for 150 pages rather than 350. Then I realised that the 150 pages were often better written, and the story more memorable (in my opinion) than something padded to 350 page count.

Of course, I also note that the older books that I read have a smaller line spacing and font, so I am not sure how the length really compares. Perhaps the better comparison is with classic SF, in a modern edition, where print style is similar, but the writers has different expectations of length placed upon them - and they have been some of my favourite recent reads.

91reading_fox
Muokkaaja: syyskuu 3, 2021, 5:47 am

>89 Karlstar: - I've copied your excellent points to a thread in Hobnob to see what the authors make of it, https://www.librarything.com/topic/334953. Not sure how many traditionally published authors we actually get there, but thought it worth raising.

>90 -pilgrim-: yeah also valid - unknown authors seem to get heavily edited to shorter lengths but then once they're famous the page count shoots up without always a corresponding quality. Word count is the usual absolute measure, but harder for readers to access. 80k is a short full novel, 300k is epic!

92Karlstar
syyskuu 3, 2021, 2:52 pm

>90 -pilgrim-: Absolutely! See >77 Karlstar: for my thoughts on too many words and I've given up on Stormlight Archive because of it. I don't think either author was trying to meet a word count, but there are certainly a lot of words.

I agree with you on quality vs. quantity, but when I pick up Foundation and it is nearly 300 pages, which I've always considered a 'short' novel, for $7.99; or Use of Weapons at 382 pages for $8.99 - am I really going to be convinced to pay $11.99 for a 100 or 150 page book from an author I'm not familiar with? Why would I take that chance? Why would any new scifi reader at a bookstore do that, when they could have a high quality classic?

There's something wrong here. Maybe they are counting on internet buzz to tell people what to buy and publishers are hoping they'll ignore price. They are doing the readers a disservice.

>91 reading_fox: That will be interesting, thanks for doing that and thanks for the kind words. As usual I have some horrible grammar in that post.

93Karlstar
syyskuu 4, 2021, 9:48 pm

I solved the problem of the expensive Murderbot novellas, I picked up one from the library.

94BookstoogeLT
syyskuu 5, 2021, 6:06 am

>93 Karlstar: thumbs up!

95Karlstar
syyskuu 5, 2021, 1:33 pm



STTM: 2 - no mud on the Moon or in space, but a bit of a slog on the way to Saturn
Rating: 9 out of 10

This is the Penguin Galaxy hardcover edition, with a introduction to the whole (currently) 6 book series by Neil Gaiman. I have to say, I really enjoyed the introduction and his discussion of speculative fiction. I picked this up as I did not have a copy of 2001 and hadn't read it in years. I might have to pick up a couple more in the series, I really liked the cover and quality of the binding and paper. Not super high quality, but very good.

You folks know all about this one so there's not much to say. It was written by Clarke in parallel with the movie, not before or after and it is a bit different. Both complement each other. I could see scenes from the movie in my head while reading.

I really enjoyed this, it is to the point, clear, brief and precise. It is both a first contact story and it isn't. This is a story about humans, aliens and technology and Clarke does a great job of speculating.

There is one problem that jumped out at me fairly early, all of the astronauts are male, which is a strange assumption for Clarke to make for a book set in 2001.

96Karlstar
syyskuu 15, 2021, 3:35 am

Finally got a chance to read one of the Murderbot books, which was fun. Moving on to my other library book, one of the more recent R. A. Salvatore novels, Boundless.

97clamairy
syyskuu 15, 2021, 9:43 am

>96 Karlstar: I'm glad you liked it. They are overpriced, so I borrow them when they are new and then buy them when they are on sale. Pretty sure the first one was a freebie from Tor anyway. I wish I'd known you wanted it... I could have emailed it to you. (I still can!)

98Karlstar
syyskuu 15, 2021, 12:35 pm

>97 clamairy: Thanks, I think you can send it in a FB message?

99clamairy
Muokkaaja: syyskuu 15, 2021, 1:57 pm

>98 Karlstar: I will try that!

Done! Let me know if it doesn't work.

100Karlstar
Muokkaaja: syyskuu 19, 2021, 9:45 am

Time to catch up on reviews again.

The Rise of Empire by Michael J. Sullivan
STTM: 4 - a long sea voyage, plus a jungle trek
Rating: 7 out of 10

I decided to just read this one and enjoy it and not be quite so picky. It helps that it is well edited and well written, I rarely if ever had to re-read a sentence trying to figure out what it was supposed to say.

This is the continuing adventures of Royce and Hadrian. They are still working for King Alric, trying to protect the kingdom from the newly forming Empire. They are opposed by an old foe, Merrick, who doesn't get nearly enough time in the book, so he is just more of a concept than an actual opponent.

Unlike the last book, a good part of this one takes place on board a ship, as they head to the goblin infested southern reaches of the continent. Goblins in this world are more like demons, not little humanoids. There is also a parallel plot featuring Arista and the Empress, as they try to keep the newly formed Empire from becoming just a force for despotism. It is a little strange that while the last book was all about Nationalists vs. Royalists vs. Imperialists, in this one, two of the three factions have just vanished.

I like the action and the plot in these books and rarely find anything to dislike.

101Karlstar
syyskuu 19, 2021, 9:45 am

The Heir of Novron by Michael J. Sullivan
STTM: 2 - no long journeys in this one
Rating: 7 out of 10

Royce and Hadrian go treasure hunting. Finally, in this book they set off for the long hinted at treasure hunt in the ruin of Percepliquis. The old capital of the Empire, long lost, they must find it and a fabled treasure stored there or it is is all over for the Empire.

A lot of threads come together in this one and it actually helps if you have read the Legends of the First Empire series, which went way back into the past to tell how the human Empire came about. Some of what is in this book won't make a lot of sense if you haven't read them, but you can get by without it.

Basically, there's a whole new threat to the Empire, which again, like the previous book, is a little strange and abrupt since the Empire has only been around a whole one year or so. This one is more of an adventure quest type of book, though long and this time the whole gang (Arista, Alric, Mauvin, Myron) are along for the trip. I did enjoy the Modina/Amilia parts of this book too, almost as much as the Royce and Hadrian sections.

Good epic fantasy, nothing to complain about here.

102Karlstar
syyskuu 19, 2021, 9:51 am

Fugitive Telemetry by Martha Wells
STTM: 0 - it all happens on a space station
Rating: 6 out of 10

This is a novella in the Murderbot series. It jumps right in when a dead person is discovered on the station and not only can they not identify the body, but there's no evidence of the cause of death. Murderbot/SecUnit talks their way into joining the investigation and after that, becomes the focal point of the investigation because the humans are incompetent.

This is a tech murder mystery with some cyborg vs. human overtones and societal commentary. For murder mystery fans, figuring out who did it was probably easy halfway through. Funny in spots and a quick read. Too short, it is definitely not worth the cover price, but still a good read.

103Karlstar
syyskuu 19, 2021, 9:54 am

The problem with library books is that you have to read them immediately! Going to the library has changed my reading plans as some of these books are just out for two weeks.

I just finished Boundless from my first trip to the library and now I have The Eagles Claw: A Novel of the Battle of Midway by Jeff Shaara to read and the 2nd Salvatore book in the series, which I picked up when returning Fugitive Telemetry.

104Silversi
syyskuu 21, 2021, 9:46 pm

I would just like to say that all books should have a STTM rating.

105clamairy
syyskuu 22, 2021, 9:10 am

>102 Karlstar: Hey, don't forget to collect the book file I sent you via Facebook.

106Karlstar
syyskuu 22, 2021, 9:23 pm

>105 clamairy: I don't think I got it!

107clamairy
syyskuu 22, 2021, 9:36 pm

>106 Karlstar: I sent it on the 15th. I still see it sitting there, unread.

108Karlstar
syyskuu 24, 2021, 10:48 pm

Finished The Eagle's Claw: A Novel of the Battle of Midway which was a narrative version of the events, not so much a history. Shaara likes telling the stories of the people but I thought he left out some details i would have liked to know. Next up is another library book, Relentless, just because I picked up the 2nd book in the series and they had the 3rd one.

109BookstoogeLT
syyskuu 25, 2021, 7:55 am

>108 Karlstar: There are a lot of series/books with Relentless as the title. Which one are you referring to?

110Karlstar
Muokkaaja: syyskuu 26, 2021, 12:15 pm

>109 BookstoogeLT: You are right, there's a zillion of them! It is this one Relentless, the one by R. A. Salvatore.

I didn't get another book from the library this week, so I'll be going back to my own personal TBR pile soon.

111BookstoogeLT
syyskuu 26, 2021, 2:40 pm

>110 Karlstar: The 27th Drizz't book? Man, Salvatore is beyond "milking" that character. I dont even know what you'd call it.

112reading_fox
syyskuu 27, 2021, 12:02 pm

>110 Karlstar: you'd have thought authors/publisher would check for duplication, but it seems they seldom do. It can't be that hard to have a unique adjective noun combination short enough to be publishable but unique to that work.

113Silversi
syyskuu 27, 2021, 3:41 pm

Authors know there are other books with the same name, but just as everything has already been written about, all of the good names have also been used. Being completely authentic, with zero borrowing of ideas or names is not something that can actually be done. You can alter things, borrow something from somewhere and use a technique from somewhere else to make both different, but apparently we humans are out of true original ideas to write about (and name things).

114pgmcc
syyskuu 27, 2021, 4:22 pm

>113 Silversi:
Something I found interesting was that book titles are not covered by copyright.

115Karlstar
syyskuu 27, 2021, 10:56 pm

>111 BookstoogeLT: I bet he calls it money in the bank! His writing quality is still good, but since he's using the same characters and pretty much hasn't changed the plot, it is getting repetitive.

116Karlstar
syyskuu 28, 2021, 10:48 pm

I finished Salvatore's Relentless and picked up Winter in Eden by Harry Harrison. This easily sets the record for me for the longest duration between reading two books of a series. LT says that West of Eden, the first book in the series came out in 1984 and that's probably when I read it.

117Karlstar
syyskuu 28, 2021, 11:00 pm

I'm in the RPG Auctions group on Facebook, usually they are selling gaming stuff, it is actually a good place to find good quality gaming material. However, I just missed 2 awesome items - Christopher Tolkien reading the Silmarillion on vinyl, and J. R. R. Tolkien reading and singing The Hobbit, also on vinyl.

How much would you pay?

118Karlstar
lokakuu 5, 2021, 10:20 pm

Finished Winter in Eden, now on to Bride of the Rat God. Seems like a good book for October.

119Karlstar
lokakuu 10, 2021, 12:04 pm

Winter in Eden by Harry Harrison
STTM: 5 - some long journeys, some personal discovery
Rating: 7 out of 10

As mentioned in >116 Karlstar:, I first started reading this series a long time ago, possibly before this second book was available. Not sure, either way, I just finally got back to continuing with this series and it did not disappoint. This is book two, so don't jump in here, the first book is West of Eden.

The premise of this series is that the extinction of the dinosaurs did not happen. Intelligent, roughly human-sized, bipedal dinosaurs called Yilane (murgus to humans) share the Earth with two 'species' of humans, Stone Age humans and what I guess are supposed to be something like Neanderthals. The Neanderthals are cold-loving sailors and whale hunters.

An Ice Age is coming, which doesn't bother the humans too much, but it is a disaster for the dinos. They inevitably collide when the murgus try to move to a warmer area and there is a conflict. This is unusual for the murgus, as they have a very, very strict matriarchal, very orderly society where there is no violent conflict.

The story revolves around a human, Kerrick, his wife Armun and two groups of Yilane. Kerrick is determined to keep his people alive. One of the murgus has developed a hatred of Kerrick and his people and is determined to see them exterminated. A couple of sub-plots, one with the Neanderthals and one with a peaceful group of Yilane add to the mix.

I really enjoyed picking up this book again. The characters are complex, the world is rich and the plot of the Yilane, masters of biology, vs. the humans is fascinating. Really good stuff.

120Karlstar
lokakuu 12, 2021, 10:39 pm

Done with Bride of the Rat God, on to Sos the Rope, a good old-fashioned post-apocalyptic, dystopian story.

121Karlstar
Muokkaaja: lokakuu 16, 2021, 2:48 pm

Bride of the Rat God by Barbara Hambly
STTM: 1 - no travel, just a little journeying
Rating: 7 out of 10

Partly from my LT review:

Set in 1920's Hollywood, where a silent picture star, Chrysande Flammande and her sister-in-law Nora get tangled up in the occult when her boyfriend gives her a necklace as a gift, making her the Bride of the Rat God. The Rat God demands a sacrifice and Chrysande (real name Christine) is it! I really liked the 'campy' feel of this, as it is set in the early days of Hollywood and the film industry.

The author did a great job making this feel authentic. I read one review that said they expected it to be more 'campy', I guess this was more realistic than campy, which was perfect for me. It is told from the point of view of Nora, Christine's sister-in-law. Nora married a Yank during WWI, was widowed during the war and lost most of her family do the Spanish Flu in 1918 and nearly her own life and is still recovering, emotionally. 'Rescued' by Christine (who needs a keeper), Nora is new to the USA and the whole Hollywood scene and gives a good outsider's perspective.

Nora and her new friend Alec team together with a Chinese wizard, Shang Ko, to try and fend off the Rat God and keep Christine alive.

Great stuff, I completely enjoyed it.

122Karlstar
lokakuu 16, 2021, 2:59 pm

Sos the Rope by Piers Anthony
STTM: 3 - some walking, not much slogging, except once!
Rating: 7 out of 10

If this were a bit longer, I probably would have given it a 8, as I actually have two copies. This is one of Anthony's pre-Xanth novels and it is completely different in tone and substance. I definitely enjoyed Robert Vardeman's foreword, which reminded me of all of Anthony's old Scifi, like Ox and Orn and Macroscope.

This is a simple, post-apocalyptic, dare I say, dystopican future novel. After 'the Blast', warriors travel singly in small groups, when they have a conflict or want to make a larger group, they challenge each other to a 'friendly' duel in the Battle Circle. Food, shelter and weapons are provided at hostels by the mysterious 'crazies', but otherwise there is no work, no agriculture, no manufacture.

When Sol of many weapons meets Sol the Sword very early in the book (somehow two guys with the same 3 letter name is unusual, though everyone has a 3 letter name), they duel in the circle for the right to bear the name and weapon. When Sol the sword loses, he is now nameless. Worse, the young lady they met at the same time isn't interested in a nameless, weaponless warrior. Both Sol's want to build an empire in this world, but now one of them can't.

Sol goes on from there and we get to learn more about this strange world. As you can guess from the title, he takes a new name and new weapon and starts over.

Short, but very good. I actually read this a long time ago in the Battle Circle omnibus and wanted to read it again, when I saw that there was a Planet Stories edition, I had to pick it up, I promised the editor of Planet Stories I'd buy the books if they ever published more. I like the cover blurb "The Universe of Future Centuries PLANET stories".

123MrsLee
lokakuu 16, 2021, 9:25 pm

>121 Karlstar: I have that on my Kindle, you make me want to get to it sooner rather than later.

124Karlstar
Muokkaaja: lokakuu 16, 2021, 11:57 pm

>123 MrsLee: It really wasn't the sort of thing I normally read, except I like nearly everything by Barbara Hambly. It will probably be an 8 star book someday when I read it again.

125-pilgrim-
lokakuu 17, 2021, 5:09 pm

>121 Karlstar:, >123 MrsLee: I love Bride of the Rat God. I only wish Barbara Hambly had written more in that setting - Nora is one of my favourite heroines.

126Karlstar
lokakuu 23, 2021, 9:34 pm

I read some more of Otherland: River of Blue Fire, a slow pace re-read. Recently switched over to another one of this year's classic reads The Grapes of Wrath.

127Karlstar
marraskuu 1, 2021, 3:24 pm

Finally finished The Grapes of Wrath, that took way too long, too much work and football on tv! Good book though. I have Tad Williams' most recent book Brothers of the Wind on the way, so I'll likely pick that up as soon as it arrives.

128BookstoogeLT
marraskuu 1, 2021, 4:30 pm

>127 Karlstar: Wait, Williams is writing a prequel BEFORE finishing up his sequel trilogy? Or is that sequel stuff all done and I wasn't paying attention?

129Karlstar
marraskuu 1, 2021, 8:51 pm

>128 BookstoogeLT: This is another stand-alone book that goes with the new trilogy. Yes, new related content!! Rumor is that the last book is basically done but going to be broken up into two books.

130Karlstar
marraskuu 2, 2021, 9:46 am

>128 BookstoogeLT: Got this from Tad today in his newsletter:

From Tad Williams:
"I really thought it would be different this time, despite having been wrong more often than the Flat Earth Society. I really did. And it could have been a three-book series, but it would have been the same kind of trilogy as the original Memory, Sorrow, and Thorn—two long books and then a horrifyingly gigantic final volume that would just squeeze into one swollen hardcover, but then be broken into two for paperbacks.

But even that technical “trilogy” is denied me. My publishers won’t do it again. Back in the day, it was very hard for them to publish To Green Angel Tower in hardcover, and they’re just not willing to go through all that again. For one thing, I’m pretty sure the profit margins in print publication have shrunk since the late ’80s, and also it’s getting harder to find companies who make specialty paper for long books. The stuff we used on TGAT was so fine you could slice amoebas in half with a page and not even dull the edge. Finding the same quality paper nowadays might triple the cover price we’d have to charge.

So, instead of a single monstrous volume of The Navigator’s Children, we will now have two smaller (but still pretty darn long) books, Into The Narrowdark and then The Navigator’s Children. And now I have to finish and edit them separately, because I’m submitting the first half (which means it’s then largely out of my hands) before I finish the second. That means that no matter what changes I might want to make while working on Navigator’s ending, I can’t fix anything I calculated wrong or forgot about in Narrowdark. So I’m being very cautious before sending the first half off to start the publication process."

131Silversi
marraskuu 2, 2021, 10:56 am

>127 Karlstar: To be fair, you did actually read during football a few times lol.

132Silversi
marraskuu 2, 2021, 10:58 am

>130 Karlstar: So this is a 2 book series or a stand alone that you're getting soon?

133BookstoogeLT
marraskuu 2, 2021, 5:10 pm

>129 Karlstar: Not that I'm bitter, but he IS releasing a prequel before finishing up the current sequel series then. Sigh, I guess I keep on waiting then....

134Karlstar
Muokkaaja: marraskuu 2, 2021, 11:01 pm

>132 Silversi: Oops, too much Tad backstory required! The book I got today, Brothers of the Wind, is a prequel, not part of the trilogy he's currently writing. The current trilogy is called The Last King of Osten Ard. Two books are published, the last book is going to be split into two, for the reasons Tad gave.

>133 BookstoogeLT: Have you read The Heart of What Was Lost yet? It is a bridge book between MST and the current trilogy.

Ed. Shoot, I said trilogy. Quadrology?

135Karlstar
marraskuu 2, 2021, 11:01 pm

>133 BookstoogeLT: The next book Into the Narrowdark, has a release date of July 12, 2022 if that helps.

136BookstoogeLT
marraskuu 3, 2021, 6:05 am

>134 Karlstar: I wait until series are finished being written before starting them (hence my desire for him to finish it). Too many books on the tbr to wait years between books. I'll just wait years and then read the series :-)

137Karlstar
Muokkaaja: marraskuu 8, 2021, 5:30 am

The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck
STTM: 10 - it is a book about a journey that ends in mud!
Rating: 9 out of 10

This was one of my classic reads for 2021. Originally published in 1939, this is the fictional story of a family that is forced to move out of Oklahoma during the Great Depression (and the Dust Bowl) and travels west to California to find the dream of a better life.

This is all about the family dynamics and the struggle to stay together, stay alive and find a better tomorrow.
At the beginning the story is told from the point of view of Tom Joad, the son. Tom returns home from prison to find the family is being forced by 'the bank' off of the land they've lived on for years. They turn a car into a truck and pack Granma and Granpa and Ma and Pa and the sons and daughters and inlaws and an itinerant preacher and everything they can pack into the truck and head to California, to where a flyer tells them there are jobs and fruit to pick; heaven compared to the dying corn and drought in Oklahoma. (This is a trip of approximately 1500 miles)

By the end of the story, it is being told from the point of view of Ma Joad, as the trip proceeds Ma gradually takes over keeping the family together (somewhat) and keeping them going.

I thought this was very good, but a tough read. This is not a happy story. At no time did I want to put it down, even when the story got a bit tough and hard to take. It certainly felt like historical fiction, though I have not checked on the accuracy. The ending is a bit bizarre, in my opinion.

138clamairy
marraskuu 6, 2021, 1:45 pm

>137 Karlstar: Yeah, I found the ending jarring, if we're talking about the woman who lost her baby saving someone's life by breast feeding him. I think that might have seemed a lot less bizarre 80 years ago. But who knows?

139Karlstar
marraskuu 6, 2021, 11:38 pm

>138 clamairy: Yes, that part. It didn't ruin the book for me, but there was probably some hidden meaning there I was supposed to get, which I don't care for. Just before that, I guess the flood was also some kind of metaphor too. Otherwise, it was a great book.

140Sakerfalcon
marraskuu 8, 2021, 10:16 am

>138 clamairy:, >139 Karlstar: And what about the turtle ...?

141pgmcc
marraskuu 8, 2021, 11:04 am

>140 Sakerfalcon: You make this sound like a Blade Runner test for replicants. Do you know something about Clam and Karl that you should be sharing with the rest of us? Should we be afraid? Can we expect a better life on the Off-World colonies?

142ScoLgo
marraskuu 8, 2021, 12:16 pm

>141 pgmcc: I was finishing reading Tigerman by Nick Harkaway this past weekend and ran across a quick reference to the Voight-Kampff test that made me chuckle. But this is now the 2nd such reference in two days. Should I be worried?

143pgmcc
marraskuu 8, 2021, 12:27 pm

>142 ScoLgo:

You're walking across a desert. You find a turtle on its back. What do you do?

Should you be worried?

How did you enjoy Tigerman?

144ScoLgo
marraskuu 8, 2021, 1:07 pm

>143 pgmcc: "What do you mean I'm not helping?!"

I enjoyed Tigerman very much. Had a bit of a slow start before really picking up. Did not see the denouement coming but, in retrospect, it was nicely done - and the clues were there all along.

I'm sad that I have now read the last Harkaway fiction book available. Hope he releases more soon. In the meantime, I have all six of his titles, (including as Truhen), on my shelf available for re-reads so there is some comfort in that. I may also try his non-fiction book at some point. Have you read that one?

145Karlstar
marraskuu 8, 2021, 10:25 pm

>140 Sakerfalcon: Was the turtle supposed to mean something too? I figured it was just a turtle.

146Sakerfalcon
marraskuu 9, 2021, 6:05 am

>145 Karlstar: We spent a lot of time debating whether it did or not when I studied The grapes of wrath at uni!

147libraryperilous
marraskuu 9, 2021, 10:16 am

>146 Sakerfalcon: Ah yes, the perennial "Why did the turtle cross the road? To get to the other side or to symbolize?" debate.

148ScoLgo
Muokkaaja: marraskuu 10, 2021, 11:23 am

>146 Sakerfalcon: On which side of the debate did you land, Claire? Is the turtle just a turtle? Or is the turtle symbolic of the perseverance and determination of the migrant families in reaching for their goals?

And now I wonder if the tortoise in the film Lucky was meant to be a nod to Steinbeck?

(edit to fix touchstone)

149pgmcc
marraskuu 9, 2021, 12:24 pm

>144 ScoLgo: I will answer you in my thread as I have a lot to say on the matter and do not want to take up too much space in Karlstar's thread.

Follow me to HERE!

150Karlstar
marraskuu 9, 2021, 10:49 pm

>148 ScoLgo: I do not think that's the right touchstone! I see the point about the turtle, I'd say just a turtle.

151pgmcc
Muokkaaja: marraskuu 10, 2021, 3:23 am

>150 Karlstar:
Yea! Just a turtle! Sure!

Isn't that very like what the hare said?

152Karlstar
marraskuu 10, 2021, 1:09 pm

>151 pgmcc: Sometimes a turtle is just a turtle.

153BookstoogeLT
marraskuu 10, 2021, 4:46 pm

>152 Karlstar: And sometimes it's a Teenage Mutant NINJA turtle!

154Karlstar
marraskuu 10, 2021, 10:41 pm

>153 BookstoogeLT: Yes it is and sometimes it is a giant mutant flying turtle and sometimes it is a strange disguised super-hero.

155pgmcc
marraskuu 11, 2021, 2:52 am

>154 Karlstar:
And sometimes it’s soup.

156BookstoogeLT
marraskuu 11, 2021, 5:45 am

>154 Karlstar: Now I'm trying to remember the giant turtle's name from Discworld because......

>155 pgmcc: that giant turtle would make a boatload of soup!

15720thEagle
marraskuu 11, 2021, 6:10 am

158BookstoogeLT
marraskuu 11, 2021, 5:09 pm

>157 20thEagle: Thanks!
Nothing like a big bowl of A'Tuin soup on a rainy cold day ;-)

159Karlstar
marraskuu 11, 2021, 10:23 pm

160Karlstar
Muokkaaja: marraskuu 12, 2021, 9:52 pm

Brothers of the Wind by Tad Williams
STTM: 7 - lots of travel, lots of discovery
Rating: 8 out of 10

This is another short novel set in Tad's Osten Ard setting. This is not part of his current series Last King of Osten Ard (as discussed here recently) but a novel from the distant past, far before the Memory, Sorrow and Thorn trilogy. It is about two 'elven' (Sithi to the humans, Zida'ya to themselves) brothers, Ineluki and Hakatri, both of the leading family. It is also about Pamon Kes, their changeling companion. As you can expect from the cover, a dragon is involved, but like a typical Tad novel, that's just one part of the story.

This is a great book for anyone who's read the first Osten Ard trilogy, or is reading the new trilogy. There is some great background on the Sithi and the Norns in this one, plus a lot about the lesser known changelings. As always, the characters and the setting are the true star of this book. Osten Ard is painstakingly detailed and rich and it all comes out in this book. It is not big on action. This maybe isn't a fair comparison, but it in some ways has a resemblance to The Silmarillion. It is about the people and the land at the time, while also filling in some mythology and history.

I assume all this backstory will become (or is) relevant to the current trilogy underway, I'm looking forward to finding out how.

161BookstoogeLT
marraskuu 12, 2021, 2:17 pm

>160 Karlstar: So was this a standalone novel then?

162Karlstar
marraskuu 12, 2021, 9:52 pm

>161 BookstoogeLT: Completely. The name Ineluki seemed familiar to me, but I haven't researched it yet. Other than they started in Asu'a, it was pretty much completely new ground, plus it takes place far in the past.

163Karlstar
marraskuu 12, 2021, 9:56 pm

I looked it up, Ineluki was a historical figure, the name first appears in MST multiple times. I guess I was never curious enough about Ineluki to want to learn more, but Tad must have felt differently. The story was interesting, even if Hakatri is the major character and not Ineluki.

164-pilgrim-
marraskuu 13, 2021, 8:10 am

>158 BookstoogeLT: Are you Mocking the Turtle now?

165BookstoogeLT
marraskuu 13, 2021, 9:03 am

>162 Karlstar: Yeah, Ineluki the Storm King was the big bad in MST's final book I think.

>164 -pilgrim-: What's that you say, a mocking turtle? I hear they make great soup too! :-D

166-pilgrim-
marraskuu 13, 2021, 9:35 am

>165 BookstoogeLT: You've been talking to Alice again.

167BookstoogeLT
marraskuu 13, 2021, 9:40 am

>166 -pilgrim-: Yes indeed!
It's actually probably a time for a re-read of the duology :-)

168-pilgrim-
Muokkaaja: marraskuu 13, 2021, 10:13 am

>167 BookstoogeLT: I don't think I have actually read them in full, only the Bancroft Classics abridged versions.

169BookstoogeLT
marraskuu 13, 2021, 1:03 pm

>168 -pilgrim-: I had some paper copies, before we down sized last month. So I'd have to go track down some gutenburg press ecopies or something.

170BookstoogeLT
marraskuu 13, 2021, 1:26 pm

>168 -pilgrim-: In this case, it wouldn't surprise me if the abridgement were actually an improvement. Carroll could really wander around a literary landscape with the best of them.

171Karlstar
marraskuu 13, 2021, 2:53 pm

>165 BookstoogeLT: Sad that I couldn't remember more detail. Did Ineluki actually appear in MST?

172BookstoogeLT
marraskuu 13, 2021, 3:16 pm

>171 Karlstar: I think he was a disembodied spirit trying to get a material body again? But I'm wicked hazy on the details. I just checked and it's been a decade since I read MST :-)

173Karlstar
marraskuu 14, 2021, 8:23 pm

Finished We Die Alone: A WWII Epic of Escape and Endurance and moved on to Foundation. I had to compare the book to the TV show in case my memory was faulty.

174Karlstar
marraskuu 16, 2021, 10:36 am

Done with Foundation, moving on to Prelude to Foundation, which I think I've only read once.

175BookstoogeLT
marraskuu 16, 2021, 4:28 pm

>174 Karlstar: Now, is that the entire Foundation trilogy?

176Karlstar
marraskuu 17, 2021, 6:57 am

>174 Karlstar: Just the first book so far. I think the TV show is still in the first book, for what little material they took from it, I wanted to see if they also took material from the two prelude books.

177jjwilson61
marraskuu 17, 2021, 10:15 am

The Foundation trilogy is Foundation, Foundation and Empire, and Second Foundation. Prelude and the rest were written later, much later, I think.

178Karlstar
Muokkaaja: marraskuu 17, 2021, 12:56 pm

>177 jjwilson61: Right, Prelude is over 400 pages, much longer than the books of the original trilogy and it was written in the late 80's, Asimov says because fans wanted more.

179BookstoogeLT
marraskuu 17, 2021, 5:13 pm

>178 Karlstar: I hope they all choked on it.
Outside of the original trilogy, I have not liked anything, prequel or sequel, to do with the Foundation series :-(

180BookstoogeLT
marraskuu 17, 2021, 5:15 pm

>177 jjwilson61: A lot of people lump the entire trilogy into one big "Foundation" for ease of typing, so I wasn't sure if Karlstar was taking a shortcut or using it as Asimov intended it (ie, as you wrote it out)

181Karlstar
marraskuu 17, 2021, 11:21 pm

>179 BookstoogeLT: If I recall correctly, I didn't care for the two prequel books. I liked the concept, I really didn't need the wordy backstory. Wordy novels were not Asimov's strength.

182Karlstar
marraskuu 19, 2021, 12:16 pm

We Die Alone: A WWII Epic of Escape and Endurance by David Howarth
STTS: 9 - so much slogging through the snow!
Rating: 6 out of 10

I would rate this book higher if it wasn't for such a very specific audience. This is a story of a spy/recon mission to northern Norway during WWII gone horribly bad. More specifically, it is one of the ultimate survival stories I've ever read, right up there with Unbroken. A single man against the late winter/early spring weather and the Germans.

This was a good read, it moved along and was well written. The story itself is amazing and incredible and gives a great view of life in northern Norway in 1943, from the perspective of both the villagers and Jan, the fugitive.

183Karlstar
marraskuu 21, 2021, 11:50 am

I finished Prelude to Foundation, it was better than I remembered. The TV show is definitely drawing some of its content from this book, but mangling it.

184Karlstar
marraskuu 22, 2021, 12:23 pm

Currently working on Wonders of the Invisible World by Patricia McKillip. Best short story collection I've read in a long time.

185BookstoogeLT
marraskuu 22, 2021, 5:12 pm

>184 Karlstar: Good stuff isn't it? :-D

186Sakerfalcon
marraskuu 23, 2021, 5:41 am

>184 Karlstar:, >185 BookstoogeLT: This is a great collection! I haven't seen anything new from McKillip for a while now - anyone heard any news about her?

187Karlstar
marraskuu 23, 2021, 12:06 pm

>185 BookstoogeLT: >186 Sakerfalcon: Quite good and some of the stories are long enough to have substance. I'm not up on author news at all.

188BookstoogeLT
marraskuu 23, 2021, 7:06 pm

>186 Sakerfalcon: Sadly, I have not heard anything or any potential news about a new book.
Kingfisher, published in '16, is the last I've heard from her. While she usually had a 3-4year gap between books, this seems a bit more. I'm really wondering if she's done.

189Karlstar
marraskuu 26, 2021, 4:07 pm

I picked up The Great Hunt on kindle, I'm about to chapter 10. Still really good, even the third time around.

190Karlstar
marraskuu 29, 2021, 4:32 am

>185 BookstoogeLT: I thought it was a really good collection. The Great Hunt was excellent, again. Now on to some S.M.Stirling vampire book I picked up at the book sale. Ugh, I hate vampires.

191Karlstar
joulukuu 3, 2021, 11:32 am

Time to catch up on reviews!

Wonders of the Invisible World by Patricia McKillip
STTM - 1 almost none since these are short stories
Rating: 8 out of 10

This is a very high rating for me for a short story collection, but there are so many good ones it feels justified. I would definitely read some of these again and would recommend them to others. Since the copy I have is a slightly beat up and deliberately damaged library copy, I'll likely get another copy someday.

This collection actually started out slow for me. The title story, 'Wonders of the Invisible World' is first, it is a short story about a time traveling actor appearing to Cotton Mather as an angel. It felt a bit clumsy and contrived. The second story 'Out of the Woods' was just all right. However, 'The Kelpie' was outstanding, a complete short story about a young man, a group of artists and a difficult tangle of loves and relationships. Great stuff, it didn't hurt that it was 47 pages long. There were several others I really enjoyed, including 'Oak Hill', 'Knight of the Well' (another long one), 'Naming Day' and 'Byndley'. I didn't care for 'Xmas Cruise' much, but that's just one.

Overall, an excellent collection.

192Karlstar
Muokkaaja: joulukuu 3, 2021, 10:33 pm

Council of Shadows by S.M.Stirling
STTM: 2 - very little travel or discovery
Rating: 4 out of 10

This is another book I picked up at the library sale, it was in good condition and for 20 cents, who can complain? My rating for this would be much higher if I actually enjoyed vampire novels. This is the second book in a trilogy.

In this series by Stirling, Shadowspawn have evolved in parallel with humans. They not only have the usual long/eternal life, immunity to disease and super strength, but they also have magic powers. Sunlight doesn't seem to bother them, but silver does. They still rely on blood to sustain themselves. Humans and shadowspawn do share DNA, ranging from fully human 'normals' to humans who can use some of the magic.

In this book, a 'good' vampire Adrian Breze is recently married to Ellen, who has officially gone missing. The evil vampires are plotting to kill off most of the human race, leaving just enough alive for feeding and serving the Shadowspawn masters. Somehow, vampires have managed to conceal their existence due to their immense wealth, presumably by behind the scenes control of politics and the banking system. Adrian and Ellen are opposed to this, along with a small number of human allies. There's also a thread with a completely normal police officer who's investigating Ellen's disappearance, but that thread felt like it was only there to get the officer introduced to Adrian.

This was fine, Stirling is a good writer, I just really, really dislike vampire books. I couldn't enjoy any of the characters because they were either vampires or stooges of the vampires. I also wonder in these days where everyone has a blog, vlog or 1000's of Instaface followers, how would vampires stay hidden? I guess the lack of plausibility isn't important, but it didn't help.

If I vanish tomorrow, you'll know the vampires got me. If I retract this review, you'll know the vampires got me.

193BookstoogeLT
joulukuu 3, 2021, 5:53 pm

>192 Karlstar: The only "good" vampire is one with a stake through its heart! :-D

194Karlstar
joulukuu 3, 2021, 10:43 pm

>193 BookstoogeLT: Apparently Stirling forgot that completely!

195BookstoogeLT
joulukuu 4, 2021, 11:16 am

>194 Karlstar: Sadly, he's not the only writer who has made that rookie mistake ;-)

196-pilgrim-
joulukuu 4, 2021, 3:27 pm

>192 Karlstar: I doubt everyone is as online as you suppose.

It it extensive amongst certain social milieux, less so among others.

But the passive surveillance levels nowadays (CCTV etc, I am not talking conspiracy theories) and instant transmission of records, means that a first slip up would probably be the last.

I think a successful vampire would have to remain in remote areas, and be prepared to resort to animals if better prey did not appear. Nightclubs and opera houses would not be safe - too much CCTV footage of them leaving with victims...

197BookstoogeLT
joulukuu 4, 2021, 3:45 pm

>196 -pilgrim-: Unless they don't show up on camera, like they don't have a reflection in a mirror. Karlstar would have to verify that for us though.

198-pilgrim-
joulukuu 4, 2021, 4:00 pm

>197 BookstoogeLT: They don't show up in older cameras because of the mirror in an SLR camera. Digital cameras must infuriate them.

199BookstoogeLT
joulukuu 4, 2021, 4:57 pm

>198 -pilgrim-: But is digital any different? That's the question.

200-pilgrim-
joulukuu 4, 2021, 5:44 pm

>199 BookstoogeLT: No silver involved.

201Karlstar
joulukuu 4, 2021, 5:49 pm

>196 -pilgrim-: In Stirling's novels they mix freely, go to public restaurants, use public airports, etc.

>197 BookstoogeLT: >198 -pilgrim-: Fairly certain Stirling's vampires looked at themselves in mirrors. Another one of those old fashioned signals or limitations eliminated.

202-pilgrim-
joulukuu 4, 2021, 5:55 pm

>201 Karlstar: Gimme a good, old-fashioned vordulak!

No socialising, no simpering, and definitely no sparkling.

203pgmcc
joulukuu 4, 2021, 5:57 pm

>192 Karlstar: this post is appearing blank. Is there a problem. I thought I caught a glimpse of words but they seemed to fade away quite quickly before I could read them.

204BookstoogeLT
joulukuu 4, 2021, 5:57 pm

>200 -pilgrim-: Not sure that it was the silver that was the cause though. And this is the problem with every author making up their own fake lore. Us fans get left holding the doggy poop bag. without the bag ;-)

>201 Karlstar: Well, I guess that answers that then! :-D

205-pilgrim-
joulukuu 4, 2021, 6:10 pm

>203 pgmcc: The problem is at your end, I think, Peter.

I can read it, and BookstoogeLT has also been responding to the content.

206pgmcc
joulukuu 4, 2021, 6:40 pm

>205 -pilgrim-:
So, the vampires got you and >204 BookstoogeLT: too.

207BookstoogeLT
joulukuu 4, 2021, 7:22 pm

>206 pgmcc: Not me, uh uh. I'm totally human, honest. Would I be posting online on social media like this if I was a vampire?

208pgmcc
joulukuu 4, 2021, 7:28 pm

>207 BookstoogeLT:
Exactly what a vampire would say.

209Storeetllr
joulukuu 5, 2021, 12:01 pm

I'm with >202 -pilgrim-:.

210Silversi
joulukuu 5, 2021, 8:09 pm

Pfft. Whatever, I'll take a sparkly vampire rather than another murderous vampire story. I had a lot of fun with the sparkly vampires and my teenage daughter way back when.

211BookstoogeLT
joulukuu 6, 2021, 7:11 am

>210 Silversi: I wouldn't have a problem if they called them something other than vampires. Sparklebois perhaps?

The Last Dance (Sparklebois #23)

See, I could live with that. It's not the existence, so much, of sparklebois but that they try to mix them into my bowl of nasty murderous vampires :-D

212Darth-Heather
joulukuu 6, 2021, 3:09 pm

I haven't read/watched any of the sparkly ones, so I can't really say about that, but for those who appreciate the murdery sort of vampires I recommend Necroscope by Brian Lumley.

213BookstoogeLT
joulukuu 6, 2021, 4:20 pm

214Silversi
joulukuu 6, 2021, 11:31 pm

Well, there were actually several groups of murdery vampires in Twilight. The power group of vampires in Paris (I think) did tours of their grounds to trap visitors in a big room for a giant feeding frenzy so while the main story focused on "the good guy vampires" I guess you all could have enjoyed those parts. I suppose they all did sparkle in sunlight, but it was just a way to explain their aversion to it rather than melting into a pile of goo or burning to ash.

215BookstoogeLT
Muokkaaja: joulukuu 7, 2021, 6:27 am

>214 Silversi: I did read the first 2 Twilight books.
/edited to add:

And I did watch the entire Angel tv show. And more recently, I did read Hard Day's Knight where a vampire duo are the good guys.

But I definitely lean in the direction of liking what Darth Heather mentioned.

216-pilgrim-
Muokkaaja: joulukuu 8, 2021, 8:10 am

>215 BookstoogeLT: I think the reason Angel does not trigger my sparkle allergy is that Angel is not really a vampire - he is a human soul stuffed back into a vampiric body. All the normal vampires are 'murdery' and Angel, when stripped of his soul i.e. Angelus, is as murderous as any other vampire.

217-pilgrim-
Muokkaaja: joulukuu 8, 2021, 8:10 am

One of my favourite takes on vampires is the Barbara Hambly ones. Her vampires can be sympathetic - this is a version that takes their damnation seriously - but they are not nice. Don Ysidro may be handsome and charming, but if he invites you for a walk someplace quiet, DO NOT GO.

218Karlstar
Muokkaaja: joulukuu 8, 2021, 12:51 pm

>217 -pilgrim-: Now those are good vampire books!

219-pilgrim-
joulukuu 8, 2021, 2:26 pm

>218 Karlstar: I thought you might agree. ;-)

Now, can we get BookstoogeLT to try them?

220ScoLgo
joulukuu 8, 2021, 2:42 pm

>219 -pilgrim-: I agree about the James Asher books but have only read the first three so far. I liked the first book best with my interest tailing off a bit during the next two. What really pulled me into book #1 was the premise of vampires needing a human's help with an existential threat.

I keep meaning to continue the series but have not managed to find time yet. I blame all these other books piling up on the TBR...

221Karlstar
joulukuu 8, 2021, 3:50 pm

>219 -pilgrim-: Not murdery-enough, I don't think!

>220 ScoLgo: I picked up two from the library sale recently, so I'll be reading those soon!

222Karlstar
joulukuu 8, 2021, 11:23 pm

Interesting article, but is 300,000 really the most?

https://getpocket.com/explore/item/10-famous-book-hoarders?utm_source=pocket-new...

I saw one of the various hoarders shows here on TV a few years back, and there was a couple that lived in an old 3 story house and they had books in every room, every hallway, every staircase, everywhere. I think at the time they said they had about 20,000, but that seemed low.

223haydninvienna
joulukuu 9, 2021, 5:41 am

>222 Karlstar: And of course there's Umberto Eco, who (I recall) had about 60,000. The writer and publisher Rupert Hart-Davis had about 16,000, which are now in (I think) the University of Wichita library.

224-pilgrim-
Muokkaaja: joulukuu 9, 2021, 6:06 am

>222 Karlstar: i am a little disturbed thst I have more books than Hannah Arendt.

225Karlstar
joulukuu 9, 2021, 9:47 pm

>224 -pilgrim-: I'll bite, who's Hannah Arendt?

I finished J.R.R. Tolkien: Myth, Morality, and Religion, I'm going to have to go back through it to write my book report that's due. Moving on to another library sale book, Queen of Wands but reading The Dragon Reborn on my kindle too.

226-pilgrim-
Muokkaaja: joulukuu 11, 2021, 7:45 am

>225 Karlstar: Hannah Arendt was one of the people on your list of 10.

She was a German Jewish philosopher who escaped Nazi Germany to the US. Although her doctoral thesis on Love and Saint Augustine is in the realm of pure philosophy she is probably better known for The Origins of Totalitarianism. I suppose her broad theme is human nature. A scarily intelligent lady.

ETA: That book on Tolkien sounds tempting...

227Karlstar
joulukuu 16, 2021, 12:02 pm

Finished with The Dragon Reborn, which to me feels like it will take me through season one and season two of the TV show. It will be interesting if they actually choose to follow the plot.

228Karlstar
joulukuu 23, 2021, 7:33 am

Finished The Shadow Rising re-read and went back to Queen of Wands to finish that.

229trevorrampling7
joulukuu 23, 2021, 7:48 am

Tämä käyttäjä on poistettu roskaamisen vuoksi.

230-pilgrim-
joulukuu 23, 2021, 8:01 am

>227 Karlstar: I was about to start watching The Wheel of Time when I noticed an unread copy of the first book sitting on my Kindle. Would you recommend my reading that before attempting the TV series?

231Karlstar
joulukuu 23, 2021, 11:05 pm

>230 -pilgrim-: Hmm, tough question. You seem to be the kind of person who wants to know how it 'should' be, so I'd recommend reading first. The TV show skips and/or condenses some parts of book one that really aren't necessary for a TV show, though they added some parts I just don't understand.

There might be a better way though - read about 2/3 of the book, then stop and watch the show.

232-pilgrim-
joulukuu 24, 2021, 5:17 am

>231 Karlstar: Thanks, Jim. I'll try it the latter way.

233Karlstar
joulukuu 25, 2021, 9:55 am

Merry Christmas!

234pgmcc
joulukuu 25, 2021, 10:39 am

>233 Karlstar:
Many happy returns.

235-pilgrim-
joulukuu 26, 2021, 9:10 am

Merry Christmas!

236Karlstar
joulukuu 27, 2021, 10:14 am

>234 pgmcc: >235 -pilgrim-: Thank you both.

I finally finished Queen of Wands, which was kind of strange, I'll post a short review later. I'm going to have to be more selective in my library sale selections next year.

237Karlstar
joulukuu 28, 2021, 3:35 pm

Here's my really short book report/review of

J.R.R. Tolkien Myth, Morality and Religion by Richard Purtill

Originally published in 1984, 2003 edition with a new foreword.

In the preface Purtill states that he wrote this book for people who enjoy Tolkien’s work, hoping to help them understand it better and point out things we may have missed. It is the author’s belief that what Tolkien produced was literary myth and as close as possible to ‘original myth’, which are stories written about gods or heroes, most importantly, written by a believer.
In the first three chapters, Purtill defines the three kinds of myth – original, literary and philosophical and explains why he feels that Lord of the Rings is literary myth. He spends quite a bit of time defining the three types and then draws on Tolkien’s writings in ‘On Fairy Stories’ to support his premise.
In the middle of the book, he goes on to explain how he feels that the Hobbits are the real heroes of the book and how they all exhibit various heroic traits. Frodo carries the burden of the Ring and ultimately succeeds, while Sam selflessly carries Frodo on what he expects to be a one-way journey. He also explains how while Hobbits are one side of human nature, Elves are another – the refined artistic and scientific nature.
In the last section of the book, he moves away from quotes from the Lord of the Rings and goes more into Tolkien’s myth-making in The Silmarillion, discusses magic and miracles in Tolkien’s world, and finally discusses the ‘Joyous Turn’ and how the Lord of the Rings is really about death and immortality.

This book sounds like a lot of dry analysis and in parts, it is exactly that. However, the author does make use of a lot of Tolkien’s own writings from his letters and ‘On Fairy Stories’ and ‘Leaf by Niggle’. He also summarizes and provides quotes from Lord of the Rings, so this book is also partly a summary of the story and not just analysis.
In Chapter 3, ‘Myth and Story’, he goes into a bit of the contrast between science fiction and fantasy, given the assumption that while fantasy in general is an older category of literature, modern fantasy grew out of the science fiction genre. He actually gives his definition of science fiction.
“A story, then, is science fiction if
It is about the future; or
It involves space travel of a kind that has not occurred at the time the story is created; or
It involves events taking place on a planet or location other than Earth, but in our universe, or else in an alternate universe; or
It involves telepathy or other psi phenomena; or
It involves nonhuman persons or subpersonal creatures that do not exist in the real world but are not ‘supernatural’ (I will call these alien persons or creatures); or
It involves an imaginary scientific discovery or mechanical device of a kind that does not exist at the time of writing and may never exist (I will call these ‘fantastic’ discoveries or machines).”

Using these criteria, he discusses how some stories are science fiction, some are fiction with 1 or 2 science fiction elements, but the boundaries, even with such a definition, are not clear. Fantasy stories, according to the author, are set in no clear time period, contain magic and creatures or people that we recognize from myths and marvelous events not explained by science.
These definitions are his attempt to further define stories in relation to myths, plus describe what was being published at the time that The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings appeared. He does make what I thought was an interesting comment about more modern writers. “In many modern writers, the instinct for reverence, for awe, seems dead - or at least weak from disuse.”
A lot of time in the first three chapters and the middle of the book are spent describing Tolkien’s own views on myth, fantasy and his own works. This is drawn from Tolkien’s letters, a discussion of “Leaf by Niggle’ and quotes from ‘On Fairy Stories’. Sometimes Tolkien’s own letters are a bit contradictory, but in general it seems to support the idea that Tolkien knew he was writing a literary myth, with his ideas on morality and life and death woven throughout.
In the middle and later sections of the book, where he explores the nature of people and heroism in The Lord of The Rings, this is where he gets into the concepts of morality in the story. This part relies heavily on quotes, so it would be quite familiar to anyone familiar with the books. It is a lot more entertaining than the first section, which was heavy on definition and discussion.
I definitely enjoyed reading this book, though I felt with the beginning being so heavy on literature concepts, it could have used a second reading once I’d gotten through the whole thing and had a chance to absorb it a bit. Even flipping through the book to write this helped clarify the book in my head.

238Storeetllr
joulukuu 28, 2021, 4:07 pm

>237 Karlstar: Sounds really interesting. Not sure I've got the patience/fortitude right now to read it, but I'm putting it on the back burner just in case that changes.

239Karlstar
joulukuu 29, 2021, 10:29 pm

Done with Ink and Sigil, moving on to Queen of Storms.

240Karlstar
joulukuu 31, 2021, 2:37 pm

Happy New Year folks! For those already celebrating and those who don't start for a few hours, I hope your day is merry and 2022 is a good one.

241pgmcc
joulukuu 31, 2021, 4:01 pm

>240 Karlstar:
Have a wonderful New Year, Jim. Have a great 2022.

242haydninvienna
joulukuu 31, 2021, 4:07 pm

Happy new year, Jim.

243Karlstar
joulukuu 31, 2021, 5:02 pm

244pgmcc
joulukuu 31, 2021, 5:07 pm

>243 Karlstar:
Wish silversi a Happy New Year. I could not find a thread of her own to leave the message.

245Karlstar
joulukuu 31, 2021, 11:05 pm

246Storeetllr
joulukuu 31, 2021, 11:44 pm

Happy New Year!

247Silversi
Muokkaaja: tammikuu 1, 2022, 9:07 am

>244 pgmcc: Thank you and a happy new year to you as well. I'll start a new one soon.

248Karlstar
tammikuu 3, 2022, 12:28 pm

>246 Storeetllr: Thank you!
Tämä viestiketju jatkuu täällä: Karlstar Reads in '22.