What books are we reading at the moment ?

[T42]

I'm a big Stephenson fan, but (like I did with Anathem) I've bogged down about a third of the way in, mainly because it's such a massive tome to schlep about. This is where ebooks win, but my local library had a hardcopy. I will try and pick it up again.

Reading it is somewhat wearing on the wrists, but it's worth it.

Back in 1981 I read a heavy chunk of a book, holding it in a position that placed lateral strain on a tendon in my elbow.  The tendinitis became agonizing, I took it to the doc, he took a blood sample and diagnosed diabetes which had indirectly caused gout.

So don't knock heavy books, they're a valuable diagnostic tool.

[ElyDave]

Recently started 1Q84 as my home bedtime book, all three volumes in one. Another weighty ex tree. 

I think it will take a while, not least because of mybhabit of reading four or five books at a time.

[L CC]

I gave up after 8 hours of listening. The other 22 hours of 1 & 2 shall remain Un downloaded.

[T42]

Slade House, David Mitchell's latest(?) slim volume. Entertaining so far.

On phone & tablet, Stephen Baxter's Proxima.  It's OK.  No marks to the publisher for describing him on the cover as "Terry Pratchett's co-author on the Long Earth books".  That must be galling.

And in between, Alasdair Gray's short stories, all of them in a single vol. which I bought because me darling daughter walked off not with my ducats (well, them too) but my Penguin 60s copy of Five Letters from an Eastern Empire and it was the only place I could get it, short of chasing up a used copy.  Currently re-reading Five Letters, it's great.  Long live the garden of irrevocable justice, say I.

[rafletcher]

The Devotion of Suspect X, by one Keigo Higashino. A Tokyo set detective story. So far, so good.

[andrewc]

"Moskva" by "Jack" (Jon Courtenay) Grimwood.  I found this chaps writing after a recommendation from Charles Stross for his "Arabesque" sequence, a trilogy of noirish thrillers set in an alternative future Alexandria.  Since then I've read all of his recent standalone novels and his "Assassini" trilogy set in an alternative history Venice.  All of the books have had a strong SF/Fantasy element. 

"Moskva" doesn't have this,  it's got his usual tortured & confused protagonist trying to solve a serial killer mystery in 80's Moscow.  Well written & with good characterisation and a good sense of "place".   

Not finished it yet, but so far pretty decent. 

[Guy]

I've just started Victor Madeira's "Britannia and the Bear: The Anglo-Russian Intelligence Wars 1917-1929". It is absolutely fascinating.

Decades before the Berlin Wall went up, a Cold War had already begun raging. But for Bolshevik Russia, Great Britain - not America - was the enemy. Now, for the first time, Victor Madeira tells a story that has been hidden away for nearly a century. Drawing on over sixty Russian, British and French archival collections, Britannia and the Bear offers a compelling new narrative about how two great powers of the time did battle, both openly and in the shadows. By exploring British and Russian mind-sets of the time this book traces the links between wartime social unrest, growing trade unionism in the police and the military, and Moscow's subsequent infiltration of Whitehall. As early as 1920, Cabinet ministers were told that Bolshevik intelligence wanted to recruit university students from prominent families destined for government, professional and intellectual circles. Yet despite these early warnings, men such as the Cambridge Five slipped the security net fifteen years after the alarm was first raised. Britannia and the Bear tells the story of Russian espionage in Britain in these critical interwar years and reveals how British Government identified crucial lessons but failed to learn many of them. The book underscores the importance of the first Cold War in understanding the second, as well as the need for historical perspective in interpreting the mind-sets of rival powers. Victor Madeira has a decade's experience in international security affairs, and his work has appeared in leading publications such as Intelligence and National Security and The Historical Journal. He completed his doctorate in Modern International History at Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge.

[Ruthie]

Unapologetic: Why, despite everything, Christianity can still make surprising emotional sense by Francis Spufford

According to the blurb, this book takes on Dawkins's The God Delusion, and Hetchens's God Is Not Great.  I haven't read either, but I've read a fair bit of Dawkins and his writing style is usually clear and well argued, full of wonder at the world.

I'm afraid Spufford's writing doesn't come up to the same standard.  This is partly due to the subject matter:  In his works on evolution Dawkins is dealing with tangibles.  If they aren't tangible now, they've definitely been tangible in the past, before they were evolved out of existence.  Spufford is dealing with the transcendent yet immanent presence of the intent behind everything.  See?  See how you end up using airy-fairy language as soon as you try talking about this stuff?  It just happens!

That being said, Spufford's experiences of God (for want of a better word) are similar to my own, so I was with him, all the way.  He captures the Anglican mindset beautifully, and he says a lot of things I would like to say but CBA due to being shouted down by the forces of secularity, ie this forum and my friend Jane who thinks I'm a defective because I go to church.

So, if you want to know why people like me believe in God against all the opposing noise, then read this book.  Read it in a quiet, empty church if possible.  While you're there, just listen.

[andrewc]

"The Traitor" by Seth Dickinson (also published as The Traitor Baru Cormorant).
SF of the sociological type, reminds me a bit of Le Guin, which is no bad thing.
Only partway in, but so far it's good.

[T42]

Dan Simmons, Black Hills.  I reckon he's been reading Hanta Yo.

[Ruthie]

The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet by Becky Chambers

Described as a 'space opera'.  I had to google that.

"Space opera is a subgenre of speculative fiction or science fiction that emphasizes romantic, often melodramatic adventure, set mainly or entirely in space, generally involving conflict between opponents possessing powerful (and sometimes quite fanciful) technologies and abilities."
www.goodreads.com/genres/space-opera

It's sub teen-fiction high school drama set in space, basically.  It's awful.  New girl on the space ship grows up a bit as she encounters new life and new civilisations.

Seriously, don't bother.

[TheLurker]

Oh if you want _awful_ space opera, with a capital "A", try any of the Lensman* series by E. E. (Doc) Smith.  I read them at a time** when I thought Asimov was a good writer and I was appalled at how crap they were.


*I've never read anything else by him. Wouldn't want to. The thing that astonishes me now is that I read more than one of the series.

**I.e. a sci-fi obsessed 14/15 year old prepared to read just about anything in that line pretty much regardless of quality.

And the reason I popped in here... "One Man and his Bike", Mike Carter. Again.  Keep thinking how much I'd like to do summat similar.

A bit of background.
http://www.wanderlust.co.uk/magazine/articles/interviews/mike-carter-one-man-and-his-bike?page=all

[pcolbeck]

Currently reading the "Temeraire"  series by Naomi Novik. It's like Hornblower or Patrick O'Brian's Aubrey-Maturin books but with the addition of dragons. That is it set during an an alternative reality Napoleonic Wars where both sides have aerial corps that use dragons. Nonsense but fun.

[Guy]

I've just started Victor Madeira's "Britannia and the Bear: The Anglo-Russian Intelligence Wars 1917-1929". It is absolutely fascinating.

It was well-worth the money.

Next up will be "The Death of Yugoslavia" by Allan Little & Laura Stilber. I'd not heard of the BBC series but the accompanying book looks rather interesting.

[sg37409]

And the reason I popped in here... "One Man and his Bike", Mike Carter. Again.  Keep thinking how much I'd like to do summat similar.

I thought this was one of the best cycling books I've ever read.

Just finished "Wings on my sleeve" by Eric Winkle Brown which was amazing.   Now on to my 1st Terry Pratchett and struggling.

[citoyen]

Trials & Turbulence - the autobiography of Christopher Miles Boardman.

Pretty standard celeb life story fare, no great drama, not exactly a literary heavyweight, but a nice easy read, which is about as much as I can manage at the moment. There's some nice stuff about his rivalry with Obree - he seems to appreciate Obree's qualities much more with hindsight than he did at the time.

[L CC]

The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet by Becky Chambers

Described as a 'space opera'.  I had to google that.

"Space opera is a subgenre of speculative fiction or science fiction that emphasizes romantic, often melodramatic adventure, set mainly or entirely in space, generally involving conflict between opponents possessing powerful (and sometimes quite fanciful) technologies and abilities."
www.goodreads.com/genres/space-opera

It's sub teen-fiction high school drama set in space, basically.  It's awful.  New girl on the space ship grows up a bit as she encounters new life and new civilisations.

Seriously, don't bother.

Darn it. I was looking forward to that. Maybe it's got a good narrator and sounds better than it reads?
/clutches at straws

[T42]

Speaking of cycling, when the post arrived the missus handed me a book entitled Escobar, "as told by" by his brother Roberto. Apparently Roberto was quite a cyclist, taking the mountain stage in a 1980s Tour of Colombia - there are photos of him in action, and working alongside a Colombian world champ of the time, whose name I've forgotten. Dunno if he used certain substances or not.

This last weekend I mentioned Pablo Escobar to my daughter and was rewarded with a "never heard of him".  She would have been in her mid-teens when he was killed. Imagine being 17 in the 30s and never hearing of Al Capone - it'd take determination.

[Karla]

Unapologetic: Why, despite everything, Christianity can still make surprising emotional sense by Francis Spufford

According to the blurb, this book takes on Dawkins's The God Delusion, and Hetchens's God Is Not Great.  I haven't read either, but I've read a fair bit of Dawkins and his writing style is usually clear and well argued, full of wonder at the world.

I'm afraid Spufford's writing doesn't come up to the same standard.  This is partly due to the subject matter:  In his works on evolution Dawkins is dealing with tangibles.  If they aren't tangible now, they've definitely been tangible in the past, before they were evolved out of existence.  Spufford is dealing with the transcendent yet immanent presence of the intent behind everything.  See?  See how you end up using airy-fairy language as soon as you try talking about this stuff?  It just happens!

That being said, Spufford's experiences of God (for want of a better word) are similar to my own, so I was with him, all the way.  He captures the Anglican mindset beautifully, and he says a lot of things I would like to say but CBA due to being shouted down by the forces of secularity, ie this forum and my friend Jane who thinks I'm a defective because I go to church.

So, if you want to know why people like me believe in God against all the opposing noise, then read this book.  Read it in a quiet, empty church if possible.  While you're there, just listen.

I read that a while ago.  I thought the first chapter was an excellent rant, but the subsequent chapters kind of drifted off into sounding like someone who doesn't know when to get down off the soapbox and is starting to repeat  himself.  Know what I mean?

It was worth it for gems such as this though:

"I don't know if there is a god.  And neither do you, and neither does Richard bloody Dawkins, and neither does anyone. It not being a knowable item. What I do know is that, when I am lucky, when I have managed to pay attention, when for once I have hushed my noise for a little while, it can feel as if there is one. And so it makes emotional sense to proceed as if he's there, to dare the conditionality." 

[Ruthie]

Unapologetic: Why, despite everything, Christianity can still make surprising emotional sense by Francis Spufford

According to the blurb, this book takes on Dawkins's The God Delusion, and Hetchens's God Is Not Great.  I haven't read either, but I've read a fair bit of Dawkins and his writing style is usually clear and well argued, full of wonder at the world.

I'm afraid Spufford's writing doesn't come up to the same standard.  This is partly due to the subject matter:  In his works on evolution Dawkins is dealing with tangibles.  If they aren't tangible now, they've definitely been tangible in the past, before they were evolved out of existence.  Spufford is dealing with the transcendent yet immanent presence of the intent behind everything.  See?  See how you end up using airy-fairy language as soon as you try talking about this stuff?  It just happens!

That being said, Spufford's experiences of God (for want of a better word) are similar to my own, so I was with him, all the way.  He captures the Anglican mindset beautifully, and he says a lot of things I would like to say but CBA due to being shouted down by the forces of secularity, ie this forum and my friend Jane who thinks I'm a defective because I go to church.

So, if you want to know why people like me believe in God against all the opposing noise, then read this book.  Read it in a quiet, empty church if possible.  While you're there, just listen.

I read that a while ago.  I thought the first chapter was an excellent rant, but the subsequent chapters kind of drifted off into sounding like someone who doesn't know when to get down off the soapbox and is starting to repeat  himself.  Know what I mean?

It was worth it for gems such as this though:

"I don't know if there is a god.  And neither do you, and neither does Richard bloody Dawkins, and neither does anyone. It not being a knowable item. What I do know is that, when I am lucky, when I have managed to pay attention, when for once I have hushed my noise for a little while, it can feel as if there is one. And so it makes emotional sense to proceed as if he's there, to dare the conditionality."

Yeah, that kind of thing, really.

[Ruthie]

The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet by Becky Chambers

Described as a 'space opera'.  I had to google that.

"Space opera is a subgenre of speculative fiction or science fiction that emphasizes romantic, often melodramatic adventure, set mainly or entirely in space, generally involving conflict between opponents possessing powerful (and sometimes quite fanciful) technologies and abilities."
www.goodreads.com/genres/space-opera

It's sub teen-fiction high school drama set in space, basically.  It's awful.  New girl on the space ship grows up a bit as she encounters new life and new civilisations.

Seriously, don't bother.

Darn it. I was looking forward to that. Maybe it's got a good narrator and sounds better than it reads?
/clutches at straws

There's a copy here you can have.  You might really like it!  Then we can have a battle of the book reviews.  Hopefully in person.  In a pub.

[L CC]

O I can't read. Not books, anyway. I GAWI to read them to me.

[Ruthie]

I'm not reading it to you.  That would involve reading it again.

[matthew]

I'm not reading it to you.  That would involve reading it again.

That's probably more telling than your first review and far ore succinct.   

[Mrs Pingu]

The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet by Becky Chambers

Described as a 'space opera'.  I had to google that.

"Space opera is a subgenre of speculative fiction or science fiction that emphasizes romantic, often melodramatic adventure, set mainly or entirely in space, generally involving conflict between opponents possessing powerful (and sometimes quite fanciful) technologies and abilities."
www.goodreads.com/genres/space-opera

It's sub teen-fiction high school drama set in space, basically.  It's awful.  New girl on the space ship grows up a bit as she encounters new life and new civilisations.

Seriously, don't bother.

Sounds a wee bit like Divergent by Veronica Roth