Our reads in July 2020

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Our reads in July 2020

1dustydigger
jun 30, 2020, 5:32 pm

Another month,another pile of books. Share your reads in July

2dustydigger
Bewerkt: jul 30, 2020, 5:16 pm

Dusty's TBR in July
SF/F reads
C J Cherryh - The Kif Strike Back
C J Cherryh - Chanur's Homecoming
C J Cherryh - Chanur's Legacy
Roger Zelazny - Four for Tomorrow
David Weber - On Basilisk Station
Diana Rowland - My Life as a White Trash Zombie
Diana Rowland - Even White Trash Zombies Get the Blues
James Tiptree jr - Houston,Houston,Do You Read?✔

from other genres
Edward Eager - Magic by the Lake
Patricia Wentworth - TheChinese Shawl

3cloudshipsinger
Bewerkt: jun 30, 2020, 6:26 pm

Dit bericht is door zijn auteur gewist.

4iansales
Bewerkt: jul 1, 2020, 3:04 am

Finished Redemption in Indigo. Enjoyed it. A light-hearted African fantasy. Now reading - probably rereading, ib fact, although I don't remember when I last read it, but it must have been in the early 1980s - The Jewels of Aptor.

5Shrike58
jul 1, 2020, 6:23 am

Just about done with Magic for Liars and will certainly be reading The Obelisk Gate. The other likely books are A Memory Called Empire and Red Moon.

6johnnyapollo
jul 2, 2020, 7:16 am

Reading Coyote Horizon by Allen Steele....

7paradoxosalpha
jul 2, 2020, 11:35 am

I just finished and reviewed The Star-Crowned Kings. Meh.

8seitherin
jul 2, 2020, 3:25 pm

Still reading The Book of Koli by M. R. Carey.

9AnnieMod
jul 2, 2020, 3:32 pm

Reading The Caledonian Gambit - which has some rough parts (writing-wise) early on but smoothed over later. Nothing spectacular - but it is just what I needed - a spy story set in space - a bit cliched in some places but still readable so far.

10seitherin
Bewerkt: jul 3, 2020, 5:49 pm

11Shrike58
Bewerkt: jul 3, 2020, 4:53 pm

As I mentioned the other day I was just about done with Magic for Liars, and having finished the book I can recommend it quite wholeheartedly; read it as more of a character study than as a fantasy or mystery.

12Shrike58
Bewerkt: jul 3, 2020, 4:53 pm

Now on to The Obelisk Gate; I'll admit that the start seems a bit stolid.

13ChrisRiesbeck
jul 3, 2020, 5:01 pm

14SFF1928-1973
jul 4, 2020, 1:00 pm

I'm reading Roger Zelazny's road movie Damnation Alley. If it was remade today it would have to star Vin Diesel.

15seitherin
jul 5, 2020, 9:27 am

Finished The Book of Koli by M. R. Carey. Enjoyed it.

16drmamm
jul 5, 2020, 6:22 pm

>14 SFF1928-1973: I had no idea that was a Zelazny book. I just remember the cheesy 70s movie with the killer cockroaches that gave me nightmares!

17RobertDay
jul 5, 2020, 6:29 pm

Just finished Far Horizons, a collection of stories from the 1990s which consisted of Big Name Authors revisiting their series universes for short story excursions (except for Bob Silverberg, who added a short story to his Roma Eterna collection which is hardly the series he's known for but which was the most recent thing of his to see print at the time). Now about to start on The Scar by China Miéville.

18Kanarthi
jul 5, 2020, 10:06 pm

I just finished Patternmaster and am moving on to Clay's Ark, stepping through the series in an unusual order. I enjoyed Patternmaster for its weirdness, but also thought that it paled in comparison to the other book I've read by Butler. I also had a lot of thoughts about its politics and character writing.

19Shrike58
Bewerkt: jul 6, 2020, 7:21 am

Finished The Obelisk Gate and I have to admit that there were moments where I was wondering if we were there yet; still, Jemisin does have a way with a cliffhanger!

20Sakerfalcon
jul 6, 2020, 11:21 am

Reading Merchanter's luck. Other than the Chanur books I find Cherryh's SF a bit heavy going - but at least this one is shorter than Downbelow Station.

21dustydigger
Bewerkt: jul 6, 2020, 4:59 pm

Thoroughly enjoyed my reread of Cherryh's The Kif Strike Back,and immediately dived into book 4 of the Chanur Saga,Chanur's Homecoming.I also had great fun reading My Life as a White Trash Zombie and am now reading the sequel Even White Trash Zombies Get the Blues.
Done more reading this week than in the whole month before,because I am suffering a nasty dose of sinusitis,so am resting as much as possible,so have more time for reading instead of cossetting Mr Dusty! lol.
Wont sleep much tonight,partly from pain discomfort but also my son right now is being birth coach for his wife. Their first baby.So many restrictions because of Covid 19.
So lots of time to go off with Pyanfar aamong her very dangerous allies(?) or cracking open human skulls with a zombie mortuary attendant. Lovely ! :0)
Hope to be a grandma for the 7th time by tomorrow morning!Probably at 3 am,if I know babies :0)

22SChant
jul 7, 2020, 5:08 am

Comfort reads of old stuff at the moment - just finished The Demolished Man and now starting The Seeds of Time.

24daxxh
Bewerkt: jul 9, 2020, 2:22 am

Whoo Hoo! Library opened for drive-by hold pickups and I now have William Gibson's Agency to read.

Just finished Light of Impossible Stars. Best of the three.

25dustydigger
jul 9, 2020, 5:42 pm

Almost finished Chanur's Homecoming,and will go straight on to the final,fifth book,Chanur's Legacy
Also readong James Tiptree jnr Houston,Houston,Do You Read.

26iansales
jul 10, 2020, 2:29 am

Now reading Cage of Souls, another Clarke nominee

27SFF1928-1973
jul 10, 2020, 4:28 am

Disappointed by Damnation Alley, won't say why because spoilers. It was a quick read though and quite entertaining. Now reading The Pnume, last book in Jack Vance's Planet of Adventure tetralogy.

28SFF1928-1973
jul 10, 2020, 4:30 am

>16 drmamm: For some reason I've not seen the film although I heard they made a lot of changes.

29johnnyapollo
jul 10, 2020, 8:38 am

Reading Coyote Destiny by Allen Steele....

30ScoLgo
jul 10, 2020, 4:48 pm

Books read over the past 3 weeks or so:
  • Alternate Routes. A 4-star re-read to refresh for the recently published sequel...
  • Forced Perspectives. Also 4 stars. I hope Powers writes more Vickery and Castine books. I found the exploration/portrayal of Daedalus and his Labyrinth in the first book more intriguing than the invoking of the egregore in book 2 - but I love how Powers weaves his weird stories around real-world events. In Forced Perspectives, he ties in the San Fermin coastline collapse with Cecil B. DeMille's first filming of The Ten Commandments. Vickery and Castine find themselves involved in the supernatural shenanigans due to their visits to The Labyrinth in Alternate Routes.
  • Angelmaker. A 4.5 star detective ninja gangster story with a Bond-like supervillain trying to bring about apocalypse - except here Bond is a woman in her 80's. A dazzling tale.
  • Edie Investigates. A 4-star short story featuring the octogenarian Jamie Bond from Angelmaker.
  • Always. 3 stars & non-genre. The third, and weakest, installment of Nicola Griffith's Aud Torvingen trilogy. Only the weakest because I found both The Blue Place and Stay more compelling.
  • Endangered Species. A 4.5-star collection from Gene Wolfe.
  • Leviathan's Deep. 4-star feminist fiction from 1979. I enjoyed the alien perspective of the protagonist.
  • The Sudden Appearance of Hope. 3.5 stars. My 2nd Claire North read after The First Fifteen Lives of Harry August, which I also rated 3.5 stars.
  • Song of the Beast. My first Carol Berg comes in at 3.5 stars. This would easily have been a 4-star book if not for the standard 'she loves me/she loves me not' romantic aspect.

Currently reading:
- The Star Fraction by Ken MacLeod
- The Light Brigade by Kameron Hurley
- Facets by Walter Jon Williams

31ChrisRiesbeck
jul 12, 2020, 2:59 pm

32Shrike58
Bewerkt: jul 14, 2020, 12:03 pm

Found myself with access to This is How You Lose the Time War and a short time to read it. Verdict: Very good and very over the top at the same time. You can't say that the authors didn't pull out all the stops to "make it weird!" I can also certainly see how some folks would find this whole reading experience cloying though. Right now definitely in the top quarter of the genre fiction I've read this year.

33seitherin
jul 14, 2020, 9:21 am

Added Emergency Skin by N. K. Jemisin to my rotation.

34ScoLgo
jul 15, 2020, 12:01 pm

Blazed through The Light Brigade & liked it a lot.

The Star Fraction is great so far but finding time to sit with a print book is difficult at the moment. Hoping to devote more time to it soon.

Next e-read that came available from Overdrive is Reamde. Progress bar says only 5% but I'm engaging with it pretty well.

35iansales
jul 17, 2020, 2:27 am

Currently reading Valour and Vanity, the fourth book of the Glamourist series set in Regency England. Not as convinced by this one so far as I was the others, perhaps because it's set in Venice.

36Sakerfalcon
jul 17, 2020, 1:15 pm

I’m reading Empress of forever by Max Gladstone. It’s good so far although not grabbing me quite as much as his Craft sequence.

37SFF1928-1973
jul 17, 2020, 2:18 pm

New Writings in SF-19 just arrived in the post. At least they were new writings in 1971, Christopher Priest and the late Michael G Coney were new faces in the genre, exciting talents but still a little wet behind the ears. I sometimes wonder if my obsession with old SF reflects a regression into childhood but there's no escaping the fact that Science Fiction was better back then.

38dustydigger
jul 17, 2020, 5:20 pm

Finished the final book of the Chanur saga,Chanur's LegacyI only meant to read the first in the series,Pride of Chanur for a challenge in June,but of course I was swept away to Cherryh's universe and ended up reading all five! lol.
I have in mind to reread Merchanter's Luck,but maybe I will then feel the need to read Rimrunners and the Hellburner books yet again. That woman has a total grip on her world and her audience,and I cant just dip a toe in the waterits always total immersion! :0)
James Tiptree jnr Houston,Houston,Do You Read? was extremely interesting. I wish I could have read this Hugo and Nebula winning novella back in 1976 when it still wasnt known Tiptree was actually Alice Sheldon.even then there were two audiences,male and female who would have wildly different responses to the tale. Add on two extra gender responses once you know the writer was a woman,and thats a lot of freight.
Come to think of it,we could probably add a fifth response,that of today'sreaders,with over 40 years of feminism in SF.
Tiptree set up the beginning so well.,with quite beautifully taut stripped down prose she paints the predicament of 3 astronauts who have gone off course and dont expect to get back home. From these opening pages I can totally see why many writers,including big names like Robert Silverberg andHarlan Ellison were socertain Tiptree was male.
I found it intriguing until the final scenes which were melodramatic,and almost risible,hammering out her thesis almost at the expense of credibilty,but there is undoubtable power and talent there.

39ChrisRiesbeck
jul 18, 2020, 4:59 pm

>37 SFF1928-1973: I usually have the opposite feeling, at least when reading novels. I have thousands of older SF books. I like to grab things as randomly as the stacks allow. Only rarely do I find something from decades back that has held up well, e.g., Richard Cowper. More commonly, the speculation is silly and the characterizations are thin and from a narrow white male western European perspective. There's still the usual 90% is crap, but I love how the SF has changed, both in cultural perspectives and writing horizons.

40SFF1928-1973
jul 19, 2020, 4:18 am

>39 ChrisRiesbeck: I'd be disappointed if nobody stuck up for the newer SF. It sounds like you have an awesome library. I didn't know so many SF books existed, I've only read a little north of 300 in my lifetime.

41iansales
jul 19, 2020, 5:08 am

Now reading Bone Silence, the final book in a trilogy that I think was supposed to be YA.

42igorken
Bewerkt: jul 19, 2020, 3:08 pm

>41 iansales: It's been a while since I've read any of his, but I've a hard time imagining what a YA work by Alastair Reynolds would look like.

edit: typo in his name and added touchstone

43RobertDay
jul 19, 2020, 5:13 pm

Just finished Miéville's The Scar and unwinding with some photographs of the Peak District and some Bolshevik posters (as you do), to cleanse the reading palate...

44seitherin
jul 19, 2020, 8:30 pm

Finished Clarkesworld Magazine, Issue 162 and added Clarkesworld Magazine, Issue 163 to my reading rotation.

45karenb
jul 19, 2020, 10:00 pm

Currently reading Angelmaker, which I had missed when it came out. (Thanks, ScoLgo!) Now wishing that I had been trained as a spy for high school.

Currently working on the novella Anxiety Is the Dizziness of Freedom by Ted Chiang, because for once I'd already read four of the six novella nominees. (The Hugo packet included Chiang's entire collection Exhalation: Stories, which is tempting, but I can resist the other stories for now.)

Pausing A memory called empire because Hugo voting ends before that book group. Also, I'm not as close to finishing all the novel nominees.

46ScoLgo
jul 19, 2020, 11:33 pm

>45 karenb: I hope you enjoy your read of Angelmaker!

47iansales
jul 20, 2020, 2:29 am

>42 igorken: Judging by the Revenger trilogy, pretty much like his other books.

48dustydigger
Bewerkt: jul 25, 2020, 5:27 pm

I am doing a final reread of David Weber's On Basilisk Station,my 3rd or 4th reading. I love all that sort of Hornblower in space stuff,but I enjoyed the books of the Honor Harrington series less and less as time went on. Huge wodges of politics and plots,and what I enjoyed wasgetting less and less. When I ended up skip reading one massive doorstopper I gave up on the series altogether.
I am intending to do final rereads of old books on my shelves,as there is literally no available spaces left in my house, double stacked bookcases,double stackedshelves in cupboards(with piles up on top whichtend to topple over) and the book boxes stacked behind the armchair and under the kitchen table.....oh boy,gotta start weeding out,people, before the house explodes!.
Hmm,looking at my Hornblower in space subgenre, I am quite happy to part with Weber,but jettisoning Miles Vorkosigan,Nicholas Seafort,or any of my C J Cherryh books would be a much much harder task :0)

49Shrike58
Bewerkt: jul 24, 2020, 7:50 am

Finished A Memory Called Empire yesterday evening and it deserves all the nominations it's received. This is considering that the author is using some plot devices that could be very trite but mostly managed to make them strengths. I don't remember where but comparisons to Asimov have been made; but this is Asimov stripped down to the frame and rebuilt with modern components.

50Sakerfalcon
jul 24, 2020, 8:56 am

I finished Empress of forever and wasn't impressed. This had none of the strengths of Gladstone's Craft series - original world-building, compelling plots, three-dimensional characters who must make tough decisions and grow from the experience. EoF was a far-future galactic chase with lots of technobabble in place of worldbuilding, and a main character who is something of a Mary Sue. Viv is a tech genius in our world, but finds herself transported into a far-future, post-human universe ruled by the tyrannical, all-powerful Empress. But despite being disadvantaged in every way in this unfamiliar setting, she somehow makes all the right decisions, that no-one else ever thought of, to win the day. There were a couple of twists that momentarily raised my interest, but the new tracks contained the same old problems. I liked the way Viv assembled a group of allies around her, and their interactions, but none of the characters were really developed enough for this to save the book for me. I guess I prefer immersion into an SFnal culture (e.g. A memory called Empire) rather than a frantic chase across the universe.

51PeterCF
jul 24, 2020, 4:50 pm

I'm currently reading 'Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?' from Philip K. Dick.
And I've just Finished Dune from Frank Herbert

52gypsysmom
jul 25, 2020, 8:31 pm

I read Radicalized by Cory Doctorow because it was one of the 5 books chosen for CBC's annual battle of the books, Canada Reads. Doctorow grew up in Canada and I believe he still retains Canadian citizenship even though he now lives in Los Angelese. So that qualifies his books to be considered Canadian. Other than that there is nothing in this collection of 4 novellas that would make one think of Canada as all of them take place in the USA. The panelists on Canada Reads obviously didn't think this book was a book to put Canada in focus and it was voted off the first day. However, the stories, which were published in 2019, seem like Doctorow had a crystal ball to look at what was going to happen in 2020; especially the last story which has to do with a group of wealthy people who go off into the desert to wait out a pandemic and social collapse. I've never read anything by him before but I'll be looking for his work now.

53johnnyapollo
jul 26, 2020, 8:01 am

Reading The Dinosaur Lords by Victor Milán - had started it previously and now well into the story...

54SChant
jul 26, 2020, 9:49 am

Started The Tiger and the Wolf by Adrian Tchaikovsky for my SF&F book group. I like his SF but this one is fantasy and I'm struggling to get into it. Shape-shifters in a pre-Iron Age type of culture - it's not gripping me.

55iansales
jul 29, 2020, 2:31 am

Just started And Go Like This, John Crowley's latest collection. I've read the two longest pieces - before The girlhood of Shakespeare's Heroines and Conversation Hearts - as they were published separately as novellas. I think some of the contents of this collection also appeared in Totalitopia.

56karenb
jul 29, 2020, 5:17 am

>54 SChant: It's like a good news/bad news joke. Yay, this author writes all kinds of books. Oh, wait, I can't read them all, argh. It's cool that they're that good, but as a reader I kinda want to enjoy every last thing they write. Ah well, at least it doesn't happen with many writers.

Just finished Rosewater, by Tade Thompson. Excellent first contact SF in Nigeria, with lots of xenobiology and reading of minds (explained via xenobiology, but I know some folks won't like that). I look forward to the other two books in the Wormwood Trilogy; fortunately, they're already out and readily available.

It looks like the next book will by 88 Names by Matt Ruff for another book group.

57paradoxosalpha
jul 29, 2020, 10:20 am

>55 iansales:

Yes, there's at least one story in common between And Go Like This and Totalitopia.

58paradoxosalpha
Bewerkt: jul 29, 2020, 5:11 pm

I've just started reading Heinlein's Glory Road, which I've never read before, and recently found in a nice hardcover 21st-century edition. It seems like it will be a fast read. I'll admit I'm as excited to read the afterword by Samuel Delany as I am to read the novel itself.

59DugsBooks
Bewerkt: jul 29, 2020, 4:56 pm

>58 paradoxosalpha: One of my favs from the 6th grade if not the favorite. Been so long I will have to look up the story line.

Aha, you linked a different book, same title.

60ChrisRiesbeck
jul 29, 2020, 5:07 pm

Finished Against a Dark Background, halfway through Titan's Daughter.

61paradoxosalpha
jul 29, 2020, 5:11 pm

>59 DugsBooks:

Eh! Touchstone fixed, thanks.

62karenb
jul 29, 2020, 10:30 pm

>56 karenb: (Ah, I should clarify: When a fave author has the talent & skill to write different kinds of books, why do I not have the taste and sense to enjoy all those different books? A failing on my part, not the author's.)

63ScoLgo
jul 30, 2020, 6:32 pm

Neal Stephenson's REAMDE was a heck of a ride. I rate it 4 stars, (8/10). While there are some elements of cyberpunk, it's pretty much a modern-day thriller with nary an SF element in sight.

Reamde is the most cohesive and non-digressive plot I have seen from Stephenson. Each and every chapter kept things moving toward a climax that was, ultimately, a bit of a let-down, (as per usual for NS). The final confrontation between Dodge & Jones had an element of the ridiculous to it that was hard to look past. Along the way, there were also a bunch of intuitive leaps made by characters that helped bring everyone together for the final showdown. Nevertheless, the journey getting there was a lot of fun. I now definitely intend to read, Fall; or, Dodge in Hell, sooner rather than later.

64seitherin
jul 31, 2020, 10:36 am

Finished Clarkesworld Magazine Issue 163 and added Clarkesworld Magazine Issue 164 to my reading rotation.

65igorken
jul 31, 2020, 4:11 pm

>63 ScoLgo: Hah, I thought Reamde was quite a slog, and liked it much less than his other novels, probably because I generally enjoy the collosal digressions he usually gets criticized for. Just saying that shows that your opinion does still make a lot of sense, though. I did also just buy the Fall or Dodge in Hell pocket (you do need fairly big pockets for it) though (afer a bit of hesitation) and I'll certainly be giving that a read soon.
You may enjoy his earlier non-sf work, the Cobweb, which he initially published under a joint pseudonym with his co-author and uncle, as that also has a less convoluted plot and no or limited sf elements.

66ChrisRiesbeck
jul 31, 2020, 6:28 pm

Finished Titan's Daughter (feh!), about 20% into The Blue Hawk, which I'm liking so far.

67ScoLgo
jul 31, 2020, 7:07 pm

>65 igorken: Thanks, I will look for The Cobweb. Pretty sure my library has it on Overdrive, (which is where I snagged Reamde from). I have read most of Stephenson's other work and own quite a few of them in hardcover, (Cryptonomicon, The Baroque Cycle, Diamond Age, Snow Crash, Anathem, Zodiac, Seveneves). I too am a fan of his digressive meanderings, (except for Turing's bicycle chain in Cryptonomicon - that bit irked me to no end, for some reason ;-).

68karenb
aug 1, 2020, 4:17 am

>65 igorken: Hey, have you read Interface, the previous (and non-SF) book that Stephenson wrote with his uncle? I enjoyed it a lot. It's about elections and polling, so be forewarned (some people have more or less tolerance for that in their fiction).

69igorken
aug 1, 2020, 5:00 am

>68 karenb: Good shoutout. I haven't read Interface, but I'm aware of its existence and I generally find elections interesting, so I may well read it some day and will probably enjoy it.
I'm trying to read a bit more widely these days and also find myself with less time to read, combine that with how Stephenson's books tend to take more than an evening or two to finish, and it becomes the type of book that I don't actively seek out, just like Stephenson's other earlier works The Big U and Zodiac, but they are the type of book I find myself picking up if I see them in stock somewhere.

70cindydavid4
aug 1, 2020, 12:44 pm

>19 Shrike58: Im just now reading fifth season, is the obelisk gate as good?

71cindydavid4
aug 1, 2020, 12:55 pm

>37 SFF1928-1973: >39 ChrisRiesbeck: I was reading sci fi like eating candy in the 70s and 80s; have reread sme and can't say the writing was better now. Tho there were obviously classics that stood the test of time. But most that Itried to read are laughable now. so I can't say it was better now. and I agree love how the genre has developed, expanded in writing style and perspective. Still finding more mind bending stuff to enjoy

72cindydavid4
aug 1, 2020, 12:57 pm

Oh Dune is so good, tho be sure to read the sequel, I think its a much tighter book, not as much world building much more character study and plot

73cindydavid4
aug 1, 2020, 1:07 pm

>40 SFF1928-1973: Hey 300 is nothing to sneeze at!! But there is plenty out there to love And yeah some of us have high numbers of read books, but if I recall correctly most of those books from the 70s and 80s were like eating candy, Id go through a few books a day, a trilogy in a weekend. So I was reading 100+ a year back then. Nowadays Im lucky if I get 50 (not all sci fi) Enjoy exploring!

74cindydavid4
Bewerkt: aug 1, 2020, 1:20 pm

nvm

75cindydavid4
aug 1, 2020, 1:15 pm

>62 karenb: I see that as a positive, the author has a great range of talent in many areas. I have a few authors I love that I know I won't like all there works. John Connely is known for his mysteris which I have no interest in, but his book of lost things is a classic for me. Not a failing on your part, just knowing what you like and prefer not to read.

76cindydavid4
Bewerkt: aug 1, 2020, 1:21 pm

nvm

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