What Are You Reading? 3

[Sister Jennifer]

My "have with me on my travels" book is Stardust by a Mr. N Gaiman. Seen the film many times but never read the book. Enjoying the differences.
Just taken receipt of Venus on the Halfshell by Kilgore Trout* which apparently was the inspiration for Hitch Hikers Guide to the Galaxy.

* pseudonym of Philip José Farmer. Kilgore Trout is a character in the novels of author Kurt Vonnegut.

Stardust movie was quite different (to the book) but really good all the same.

Venus on the Half-Shell is going to the top of my 'to buy' list. I'm a fan of Vonnegut and especially Douglas Adams. I hadn't heard of that book before so thanks a million.

Have just started reading The Luck of The Bodkins by PG Wodehouse. I can't exactly say why I love his books so much but this opening sentence might help explain;

Into the face of the young man who sat on the terrace of the Hotel Magnifique at Cannes there had crept a look of furtive shame, the shifty, hangdog look which announces that an Englishman is about to talk French.

So good.

 

[CaptnBlynd]

The Kindle "slush-pile" Date Night on Union Station

I am a retired person and voracious reader. Along with many fine series by well known authors, I am reading a lot of the free e-books from Amazon for the Kindle. You can read them with a kindle app on almost anything and they are free. It is like the old days of reading through unsolicited submissions, some I do not read more than a few pages, others are undiscovered diamonds.

My favorite so far is the first novella, each are just under 200 pages, in the Union Station series by E M Foner: Date Night on Union Station.

A light hearted romp about the perils of computer dating and politics in the who knows / who cares distant future. A quirky and enjoyable read focused on characters while introducing a wide new universe. There are now 9 of these stories and I can not say I like the prices of the others at $3 for each 180 page story. I do own them all so I guess that says something. The first story is still free to introduce you to the series, digital and at Amazon only, as far as I know.

 

[raisindot]

My "have with me on my travels" book is Stardust by a Mr. N Gaiman. Seen the film many times but never read the book. Enjoying the differences.
Just taken receipt of Venus on the Halfshell by Kilgore Trout* which apparently was the inspiration for Hitch Hikers Guide to the Galaxy.

* pseudonym of Philip José Farmer. Kilgore Trout is a character in the novels of author Kurt Vonnegut.

Stardust movie was quite different (to the book) but really good all the same.

Venus on the Half-Shell is going to the top of my 'to buy' list. I'm a fan of Vonnegut and especially Douglas Adams. I hadn't heard of that book before so thanks a million.

Have just started reading The Luck of The Bodkins by PG Wodehouse. I can't exactly say why I love his books so much but this opening sentence might help explain;

Into the face of the young man who sat on the terrace of the Hotel Magnifique at Cannes there had crept a look of furtive shame, the shifty, hangdog look which announces that an Englishman is about to talk French.

So good.

Venus on the Half Shell is pure crap (or, pants as you Brits like to say). The only thing it has in common with Vonnegut is the use of the Kilgore Trout name. Considering the number of great books Philip Jose Farmer wrote, this one is him slumming at this worst.

Wodehouse, on the other hand, is timeless. Doesn't matter that all the plots are essentially the same and that the characters are all stock English stereotypes. It's his ability to write sentences such as the one above that have earned him his place in the humor pantheon.

 

[Llaneel]

I am reading the long earth. After the first few pages, I was hooked. But......

I had to stop at chapter 25.

It is the chapter where Joshua and the ship pass over the world that was completely underwater.

I think it is world 175k+. Joshua is about to take a dip aand the ship sends an aquatic autonomous unit to check it out.

Anyway....

I could not continue. Why? Because I'm trying to figure out how the humans are getting passed this world? I understand the flying ship but what about all the humans walking?

 

[Llaneel]

Walking and stepping into underwater.

 

[raisindot]

I could not continue. Why? Because I'm trying to figure out how the humans are getting passed this world? I understand the flying ship but what about all the humans walking?

You've got a really good point there. [Won't get into what happens in future books here] For those who aren't "natural steppers" (i.e., can't blaze through them like Joshua does) this world would pose a huge problem for amateur steppers, since they can only cross one world at a time and then have to wait a few minutes before moving on. But if they "materialized" underwater, they'd drown while resting us for the next one.

This is a such a good question that if you don't mind I want to requote you and post this to one of the Long Earth book discussions.

 

[Tonyblack]

It is indeed a good point and one that I've wondered about as well. Welcome to the site.

 

[=Tamar]

Death at Gallows Green, A Victorian Mystery, by Robin Paige. Silly and with some flaws in the research, but good to fill an idle hour or two.

 

[Tonyblack]

Rereading Dodger. There are some awful puns in there that I'm sure I didn't see in previous readings.

 

[Sister Jennifer]

I haven't reread any of Sir TP's newer books, the last half doz I mean.

Have read a couple of plays, Death of a Salesman and A Midsummer Night's Dream. ( Pre adaptation I watched on the telly).

Have ordered The Master And Margarita by Mikhail Bulgakov. Really looking forward to reading this one.

Happy reading.

 

[RathDarkblade]

Rereading Dodger. There are some awful puns in there that I'm sure I didn't see in previous readings.

I noticed quite a few references on first reading (e.g. the reference to Mr Bradshaw). Being Jewish myself, I just loved Solomon Cohen's character to bits.

Have read a couple of plays, Death of a Salesman and A Midsummer Night's Dream. ( Pre adaptation I watched on the telly).

Yep. I read The Crucible at school and tried reading DoaS when I was 19, but didn't understand it very much. I re-read it some years later, after delving into 1930s US history, and understood much more of it.

I'm currently reading a fun little volume entitled Teaching's Strangest Tales. I'm ambivalent about the "...Strangest Tales" series; on the one hand, it's quite fun, but on the other, every 100-200 pages or so, I keep catching spelling and grammar errors that annoy me. *shrug* Oh well.

The books themselves are amusing and sometimes interesting, but I would certainly not rely on them as reference books.

 

[=Tamar]

Just finished In Shining Armor, which I believe is book 4 in the Charming series. I'm sorry to say I'm disappointed. It's a page-turner but there are elements of both language and action that are just not to my taste. I found myself flipping pages, saying "more fighting, more injuries magically healed, ho hum" in between "more sex, ho hum" and very occasionally, "gosh, some plot".

 

[=Tamar]

Maia Chance's first three Fairy Tale Mysteries: 1. Snow White Red Handed, 2. Cinderella Six Feet Under, and 3. Beauty, Beast, & Bella Donna. Two young actresses make their way through Europe, one searching for her mother, the other helping her friend and hoping to earn enough money to retire to her dream home. Unfortunately, they keep encountering people who are obsessed with the idea that fairy tales are real history, and finding recent murder victims. There's also a surprising amount of shall we say, unusual archaeological evidence... and a hint of romance. The mysteries are twisty and confusing, the heroines are pragmatic, and the allusions are plentiful, not restricted solely to the titular fairy tale. Not bad at all, but best read with some other books between them.

 

[Tonyblack]

Just finished a reread of Nation. Wow! That book is so, so good! Dodger is not a patch on it at all.

 

[=Tamar]

S. Andrew Swann's Dragon series:
1. Dragon Princess (2014), 2. Dragon Thief (2015), 3. Dragon Wizard (2016). All paperback. I had thought book one started bad but it got better fast. A halfway competent thief with a heart of, if not gold, gold plate, makes poor decisions while drunk and manages to get almost everyone angry - the royal wizard, the dragon, the princess, all the royals of several kingdoms including Elfland, and several gods. Gender confusion abounds as Princess Frank (yes) weds the royal dragon. Fortunately for everyone else, certain powerful entities find the hero entertaining.

Not big on allusions but there's lots of entertaining action and some serious humor.

 

[Dotsie]

The End of the World Running Club, by Adrian J Walker. Very good, post apocalyptic fiction.

 

[Sister Jennifer]

Cor, I'll check that one out Dotsie. I'm about to read Fahrenheit 451, am looking forward to it. After that I hope to read The Master And Margarita .

Others I have read, Killing Pablo by Mark Bowden, was interesting at first but was a bit long. So You've Been Publicly Shamed by Jon Ronson, a very good read. I highly recommend it.

Happy Reading.

 

[=Tamar]

Lured in by a fifty-cents get-rid-of-these sale at the used book store, I just read Fer-de-Lance (1934), the first of Rex Stout's Nero Wolfe mysteries. I think I read one Rex Stout mystery back in the 1960s, one that was written at least six years after this one. I'm not sure why they were so popular. The language is reminiscent of Damon Runyon's style, and the viewpoint character, Archie, is an odd combination of dim-bulb strong-arm man, male nurse companion, and gourmet with a fondness for rare orchids, the last no doubt learned from his boss, Nero Wolfe. The writing is distinctly old-fashioned, the tone is noir, and the main characters are not especially appealing, so I am puzzled because I seem to want to read another one.

 

[=Tamar]

Bride of the Rat God by Barbara Hambly. It's about people making a B-grade potboiler movie in the 1930s, but their work keeps being interrupted by a real (in the book) B-movie-style plot element, the Rat God. Complete with Hollywood car chases, explosions, eerie 1930s-style fake Asian mysticism (combined with respectful treatment of the Asian characters), and, of course, cursed jewelry that even the characters comment is not Asian in style. Yet it works well with some genuinely unsettling scenes. I thought it was a nice touch that the cover on the paperback is a parody the old monster-movie posters.

 

[Who's Wee Dug]

I have quite a few of Barbara Hambly's book's I think the first series I read was the Darwarth Trilogy, the USA covers have the best artwork.