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Our reads in August 2021
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dustydigger
Posted 2021-07-31 5:55 PM (#23328)
Subject: Our reads in August 2021



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Location: UK		Much truncated TBR this month,as I am glued to the TV watching the Olympics!

Dusty's TBR in August

Edgar Rice Burroughs - Pirates of Venus
Robert A Heinlein - Green Hills of Earth
Margaret Cavendish - The Blazing World
Karel Capek - War with the Newts
Erin Morgenstern - Night Circus
Algis Budrys - Who?
Yevgeny Zamyatin - We
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daxxh
Posted 2021-07-31 7:33 PM (#23329 - in reply to #23328)
Subject: Re: Our reads in August 2021



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Location: Great Lakes, USA		Still have to finish
A Desolation Called Peace
The Ministry For the Future
Project Hail Mary

Had to return some others to the library and can't get them again for a while.

I have these as well.
Hummingbird Salamander
The Animals in That Country.

Not sure if I will get to them as I also have the newest Edward Rutherfurd book to read and it is a pretty hefty tome.
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devilinlaw
Posted 2021-08-01 3:03 PM (#23333 - in reply to #23329)
Subject: Re: Our reads in August 2021



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Location: Las Vegas, NV		my plans for August:

finish Foundation by Isaac Asimov
finish the last two books (The Invisible Man & The Island of Dr. Moreau) of a five novel HG Wells collection i've been working through
finish Nnedi Okorafor's Binti trilogy by reading Binti: Home & Binti: The Night Masquerade
get caught up on Seanan McGuire's Wayward Children series by reading In an Absent Dream, Come Tumbling Down & this year's Across the Green Grass Fields
also, time permitting, i'm planning on reading The Stars Change by Mary Anne Mohanraj, New Moon's Arms by Nalo Hopkinson & Uprooted by Naomi Novik
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spoltz
Posted 2021-08-02 2:55 PM (#23336 - in reply to #23328)
Subject: Re: Our reads in August 2021



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Location: Beaverton, Oregon, USA		I'm starting August by reading The Once and Future Witches by Alix Harrow. It's good, but it's coming along slowly. I had all day to read it Saturday and Sunday but kept falling asleep, not because it was boring. I think I just needed the sleep.

I think I might also read The Ladies of Grace Adieu and Other Stories by Susanna Clarke.

I'm still kind of randomly picking from all the books I have on my Kindle that I've gotten on sale. I might also squeeze in a hard copy of Venus Plus X by Theodore Sturgeon this month.
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dustydigger
Posted 2021-08-16 5:42 AM (#23366 - in reply to #23336)
Subject: Re: Our reads in August 2021



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Location: UK		Very disappointed in Pirates of Venus. Carson Napier , very much a weak shadow of John Carter,was quite a dull character. Maybe I'll read the other 4 in the series at long intervals..
I enjoyed reading The Blazing World by Margaret Cavendish,Duchess of Newcastle who could rightly be acclaimed as a founder of feminist SF. I was enjoying reading a section mocking scientists and philosophers,assuming she was aping Jonathan Swift,so imagine my surprise to find she wrote the book 60 years before Gulliver's Travels satirized politics! She was one of the earliest women in England to write and publish in her own name. Eccentric for sure,but she seems to have been a delightful person.
Finished a reread of Green Hills of Earth,pleasant but not earth shattering.On the other hand I found Voyage to Arcturus often to be unpleasant,but quite shattering. And I dont have a clue what its about,except maybe its about the meaning of life,with the depressing conclusion that there is no meaning,and life is futile! lol. Difficult but fascinating and original,and amazing for 1920. No wonder it had such an effect on other writers.
Now reading some pulpy stuff - ,Seabury Quinn's The Devil's Bride and Jack Williamson Legion of Space - and am girding up for Zamyatin's We which hugely influenced Orwell's 1984.,but apparently has wit and humour and a light satiric touch. Not much of that in Orwell!
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daxxh
Posted 2021-08-23 8:32 PM (#23376 - in reply to #23366)
Subject: Re: Our reads in August 2021



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Location: Great Lakes, USA		So far this month, I have read the following:
The Animals in That Country - skip this one.
A Desolation Called Peace - excellent
Project Hail Mary - very good

I read some Miss Fisher mysteries and some nonfiction this month as well. I am hoping to finish the latest Stephen King book and The Ministry For the Future before the end of the month.

I read A Voyage to Arcturus when I was in Jr High. I remember thinking it was weird, but not much else. Perhaps a re-read is in order.
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dustydigger
Posted 2021-08-24 3:32 AM (#23377 - in reply to #23376)
Subject: Re: Our reads in August 2021



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Location: UK		Garrett P Serviss' Second Deluge was possibly the first natural world catastrophe novel,about when a huge amount of rainfall results from a mysterious cloud of moisture from space which envelopes the earth,so that even Mount Everest is submerged. A brilliant scientist builds himself an Ark and handpicks 1000 worthy people to be the basis of the future once the waters go down. Ignore the very very dodgy science and odd ideas about eugenics,and you have a fast paced rip- roaring adventure very reminiscent of Jules Verne. Garrett does a pretty good job of depicting the devastating events.An enjoyable read
Will have to work hard to complete Legion of Space,and Seabury Quinn's The Devil's Bride as they will be competing with the Paralympics,just as last month it was the Olympics. I never even got near reading half of my TBR.
Next month is Sci-Fi September over on Book Tube,so I will start on next month's TBR,but should keep it quite short.A minor irritation of WWEnd is the inability of revisiting and editing my early TBR each month.Once done it is fixed in stone,its impossible to go back and add or delete books on the list,never mind not being able to tick off each book as read during the month.Not very user friendly I'm afraid
I did intend to finally get round to reading Hugh Howey's Wool but was daunted by its 600+ pages.EEK. My brain cant focus on anything longer than about 200 pages. Ah,good old Golden Age SF,they only needed 200 pages to provide a cracking story while also stuffing in brilliant SF themes.Amazing.

Edited by dustydigger 2021-08-24 3:35 AM
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spoltz
Posted 2021-08-26 10:53 AM (#23379 - in reply to #23377)
Subject: Re: Our reads in August 2021



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Location: Beaverton, Oregon, USA		So far this month, I've read:

The Once and Future Witches - Alix E Harrow - slow going, but worth it.
The Consuming Fire - John Scalzi - I did really well considering I read The Collapsing Empire 3 years ago. I really enjooyed it.
Welcome to Night Vale - Joseph Fink, Jeffrey Cranor - Really weird but really good.
The Last Emperox - John Scalzi - Great ending to a great series.
The Rosewater Insurrection - Tade Thompson - Didn't care for this one. I had a hard time remembering the first book, Rosewater, which I loved. There were too many points of view narratives in the book and I felt there wasn't much differentiation of the characters.
Lent - Jo Walton - The first half is a slow burn but then the second half is WOW!. Very innovative use of the Groundhog Day trope and alternate history.

I'm currently reading It Devours! by Fink and Cranor, the second book in the Night Vale series. It's good, but not as good as the first one yet. I'm only about 50 pages in so there's more ahead.

I still plan to read The Ladies of Grace Adieu before the end of the month. We'll see
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spoltz
Posted 2021-08-31 10:22 AM (#23383 - in reply to #23379)
Subject: Re: Our reads in August 2021



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Location: Beaverton, Oregon, USA		I finished It Devours! by Fink and Cranor. It was good but the novelty did wear off. The plot was strong but it wasn't quite as funny as the first.

I also read Ladies of the Grace Adieu by Susanna Clarke. It was a lovely collection of short stories, all of which were engaging. I'd describe it as book to read if you want more of the world of Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell. Or if you haven't read that yet, it serves as a good introduction to that world.
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