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The Pick & Mix in 2017
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dustydigger
Posted 2017-01-01 11:16 PM (#14868)
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Location: UK		I did say I wasnt going to bother with a thread this year since I had little time to run it,but of course in the end I couldn't resist,so here we are.Once again I look forward to comments on your reads,and browsing through our very eclectic reading lists.Have a great year!
I am steadily continuing reading through the Hugos and Nebulas,and am on to the 90s now,which co-incides beautifully with the last stage of Doc Nefario's Defining Books challenge. As a notoriously avid fan of older SF, I should hang my head in shame at my poor showing of 90s SF.On re-entering the SF arena after several decades away I have been rather reluctant to even make forays into the 90s,and huge swathes of it remain untouched,but this year I must fill in some gaps.Another thing is that I am SO not a fan of big tomes,and the 90s seem to be teeming with them.Have you SEEN the size of Neal Stephenson's Anathem,for instance?
This month I will be making a (reluctant) start on KSRs Green Mars and also Greg Bear's Moving Mars and people from Librarything will be well aware of my lack of enthusiasm for martian politics.My pet peeve is about the disappointing way authors seem to obsess with conspiracies,politics and revolutions in books about Mars,and here are two back to back....sigh......
Oh for the good old days of riding the dead sea bottoms of Barsoom with John Carter.Much more to my tastes that red rocks and boring politics!
I expect you to divert me with some rattling good reads from every part of science fiction.
And here is my proposed TBR for January;

Kim Stanley Robinson - Green Mars
Greg Bear - Moving Mars
Lois McMaster Bujold - Gentleman Jole and the Red Queen
John Wyndham - Chocky
Roger Zelazny - Sign of Chaos
Anton Strout - Dead Matter
some good stuff there to divert me from the red rocks.

Edited by dustydigger 2017-01-01 11:19 PM
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Weesam
Posted 2017-01-01 11:28 PM (#14869 - in reply to #14868)
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Location: New Zealand		Welcome back Dusty. Looking forward to the Pick & Mix again. I love this challenge because I don't have to try and fit the books to a theme, just go with what I really want to read.
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Leyra'an
Posted 2017-01-02 8:13 AM (#14873 - in reply to #14868)
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Location: USA		Thanks, dustydigger! I have mine all set up, except for the book that hasn't been released yet. New C.J. Cherryh set in the "Foreigner" universe. I've been grabbing each of those as they came out since she started the series, so it makes sense to leave a space open.
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majkia
Posted 2017-01-03 6:58 AM (#14922 - in reply to #14868)
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Location: Niceville, FL		Dusty, good luck with Green Mars. I confess I DNF Red Mars because of the petty politics stuff. Boring!

I've started two books that will fit the challenge. Elantris and Elizabeth Moon's Trading in Danger, which i keep thinking I read because the opening situation seems so familiar some how. Yet I'm sure I haven't read it.
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Naomi_uk72
Posted 2017-01-03 7:26 AM (#14923 - in reply to #14868)
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Location: Sheffield, UK		Hi Dusty, and thanks for keeping the Pick'n'Mix challenge alive. :-)

I've started my year off to a good start, with Prince of Thorns by Mark Lawrence (a holdover from last year's Triumvirate challenge), and thoroughly enjoyed it. While I wait for book two to be delivered I've moved on to West of Eden by Harry Harrison, because dinosaurs!

Good luck to everyone else. :-)
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Leyra'an
Posted 2017-01-03 9:43 AM (#14927 - in reply to #14868)
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Location: USA		I actually found the so-called politics in Robinson's Mars trilogy interesting. That I read a lot of narrative history may in part explain that.

Starting the year with Leviathan Wakes by James S.A. Corey.
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dustydigger
Posted 2017-01-06 4:58 AM (#14960 - in reply to #14868)
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Location: UK		I think Thomas i went into it with the wrong idea,thinking the terraforming would have a much bigger part in the story. only to find cospiracies and revolutions much to the fore The fact that the we were informed early on that the most likable character was going to die ruined the book for me,as I couldnt fully commit to him since I was waiting for the bad news! lol.Disliked many of the female characters in particular and some improbable plot points irritated me.Didnt like the multi POVs,especially since I disliked the characters,so all in all it wasnt not a very happy experience. Wonder if its a gender thing. Quite a few female SF fans agree with me,whereas the guys love the book.
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dustydigger
Posted 2017-01-06 5:03 AM (#14961 - in reply to #14868)
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Location: UK		I have finished Lois McMaster Bujold's final book in the Vorkosigan saga Gentleman Jole and the Red Queen which was a book that sent shock waves through her enormous fan base. On GR we see the extraordinary sight of lots of people giving the book 4 or 5 stars,which is quite normal for her books,while others are giving it 1 star! Huge hidden plot details stretching back over decades,including a menage a trois,have seriously upset many fans.Never take Bujold for granted,she loves to unsettle the fans
I girded up my loins,so to speak,and plunged in,accepting the new points uneasily at first,but within a few pages the usual LMB magic enfolded me,and the warmth,charm and humour were the same as ever.We also saw more of Miles this time,and were treated to lots of little anecdotes about Aral,Cordelia and the young Miles,which we fans always lap up andalso little about the newest Vorkosigan generation too. There is very little plot here,its all character driven,wrapping up the future of the charactersand it certainly grabbed my attention even at this unhappy time and I read through it steadily. LMB is one of the few authors I read where I am looking at the page count unhappy that the end is coming far too soon,the book is never long enough, but you do know already you are going to reread it,probably several times,so you take comfort from that.Even more than usual I got the urge to go back and reread the book at once,then the whole series! lol.(very rare that,very few authors over the years have been worthy of immediate reread,but LMB sits there with C J Cherryh,Dick Francis,and Georgette Heyer)
I havent bothered with a proper review since Sable Aradia and Nymeria posted excellent reviews on WWEnd,,not much I can add. Will LMB write more on the Vorkosigan universe? Oh I would love it,but this book seems valedictory. Never mind,we have the whole saga there for comfort.Not many authors can manage to invoke challenging genetic features,romance,space opera and gender issues seamlessly and with enormous skill.Good stuff.

Edited by dustydigger 2017-01-06 5:15 AM
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dustydigger
Posted 2017-01-08 5:10 PM (#15011 - in reply to #14868)
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Location: UK		I finished John Wyndham's short novel, Chocky,and found it quite pleasant,though very low key indeed. I also completed Greg Bear's Moving Mars,making it 36/52 Nebula winners read.I found it a bit of an oddity really,with the first section being a young adult romance,with a whiney perverse heroine who irritated the life out of me ,so that I never really had enough empathy with her throughout the whole book. The next section followed her into a life of martian politics,small plucky underdogs against terran transnationals determined to have their way(you all know how much I LURVE martian politics as I slog through KSR!),and the final part is how Mars uses some very odd(slightly risible IMO) future science to move Mars to safety in another part of the galaxy.I think some ''handwavium'' may have featured in the lab! Bear might have good ideas,but his writing skills didnt live up to them in my view.Oh well,what do I know,it won the Nebula and was Hugo,Locus,and Campbell nominated.
It was at least fast paced and I did like the world setting,and the 460 pages went by quickly..
Will keep on with Green Mars,and also have Terry Bisson's Voyage to the Red Planet at hand. I seem to be overwhelmed with books about Mars this month
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majkia
Posted 2017-01-08 5:48 PM (#15012 - in reply to #14868)
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Location: Niceville, FL		I finished Elizabeth Moon's Trading in Danger and enjoyed it a lot. I especially liked the fact the heroine, believe it or not, thought through her options rather than just jumping into things without considering options no matter how bad those options might be. Also, I thought the book did a very good job of presenting military sorts of thinking, and contrasting it with civilian approaches to tactical situations. I spent 20 years in the Air Force so was happy to see this in a mil Sci Fi novel. I look forward to reading more of the series.
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dustydigger
Posted 2017-01-09 7:53 AM (#15018 - in reply to #14868)
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Location: UK		I really enjoy Moon's work.Speed of Dark and Remnant Poulation are excellent standalones,and Its a long while since I read the Vatta War series,I could do with a reread - if I ever had time! lol. Moon's characters are always attractive and the books are quite immersive,a bit like Anne McCaffrey in style (indeed they collaborated on the Sassinak series). I am determined next year to finally get round to the Paksennarian series.
I really enjoyed her Heris Serrano series which I compared favourably with David Weber's Honor Harrington books,which after a promising start became enormous books about political conspiracies etc,which I dont enjoy.Poor Honor seemed to get lost between the interminable secret meetings of her enemies,so I gave up on the series.But I still do an occasional reread of the first and best,On Basilisk Station.
I particularly liked Moon's Once a Hero,which I class as a top grade comfort read. I think I've read it about 5 times and my paperback copy is getting really tatty.
Oh,just checked and book 6 of the Vatta's War series is coming out in 2017,after a 9 year gap! Wonder if I can squeeze in the 1-5 rereads this year.....sigh......so many books so little time.
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Mervi2012
Posted 2017-01-17 2:58 PM (#15108 - in reply to #14868)
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Thanks for starting Pick & Mix this year, too, dustydigger.
I've read Red Mars from Robinson and I have to admit that while I finished it, I don't have any plans to continue with the rest. Like you, I prefer Barsoom. But I'm interested in hearing what you think of the next book.
I'm also a long-time fan of Bujold. GJ&RQ was at first difficult for me because Aral was my favorite character. I can see that people who expected GJ&RQ to be a usual Miles romp through space, were disappointed with it. But I'm on the Bujold mailing list and so I understood that it isn't an adventure book. So, I ended up thoroughly enjoying it.

My P&M challenge starts this year with some Star Trek: TNG books. First up is six book series Double Helix where a mysterious General is using a genetically engineered virus to wreak havoc on several planets. The first two books were okay although the second one was set on Terok Nor - DS9 while it's still under Cardassian control so it was more like a Deep Space 9 book with Doctor Pulaski as the main character.
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dustydigger
Posted 2017-01-24 8:43 AM (#15167 - in reply to #14868)
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Location: UK		I truly enjoyed Tery Bisson's Voyage to the Red Planet,a fun romp about a film crew on the first manned space flight to Mars to make a blockbuster film. Lots o digs at the movie industry,but the characters are interesting,there is humour,suspense and even pathos to keep it moving along. The best thing about the book was its wonderful descriptions of Mars from both space and on the planet,a sense of the wonder,beauty and utter alienness of that world. Quite a contrast to the massive infodumps of heavy science in KSRs Green Mars. Amazing how someone can really obliterate any sense of wonder with dullness.True,Leyra'an,our Thomas and I have totally opposed views on the books. He actually admitted to me that he REREADS the series,voluntarily!
I'll let him off this time,because mostly we have similar views on books,and seem to have lots of books in common. WWEnds lists have something to do with this,I imagine.
Next up are Bruce Sterling's Heavy Weather for the 90s Defining book challenge,and I am waiting for several books at the library for that challenge including Octavia R Butler and David Brin. Plus on the list for Charles Stross's Singularity Sky,which so very much impressed Thomas.As a writerhimself he was in awe of this debut by Stross. Hope I enjoy it,as I have had mixed results with Stross. I really liked the first in his Merchant Prince series,which seemed fairly standard UF,but I didnt like the plot developments,nor the characters so I gave part way through book 3. I was not too keen either on Halting State.The Laundry Files might be OK though,I'll try them next year.
But the science looks a bit too advanced for my poor ignorance. Any fans here?
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majkia
Posted 2017-01-24 11:42 AM (#15168 - in reply to #14868)
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Location: Niceville, FL		I finished The Steerswoman by Rosemary Kirstein. What a great find! Intelligent and well drawn characters, a complex world and science in the midst of sword and sorcery. And, two main characters are both women.
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Mervi2012
Posted 2017-01-24 1:09 PM (#15169 - in reply to #14868)
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I listend Kristine Kathryn Rusch's "the Falls" and enjoyed it a lot, which isn't a great shock because Rusch is one my favorite authors. The Falls is the fifth book in Diving universe series but it's set on a different planet with different characters. It has lots of POV characters, both male and female. It's essentially a murder mystery set on a city which grew around the base of operations for a space fleet. The characters are all professionals in their own field, for example a doctor, a space ship captain, an engineer, but they all want things done on their own way. So they don't always work well together. Anyway, a good mystery tale.
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dustydigger
Posted 2017-01-31 5:16 PM (#15199 - in reply to #14868)
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Location: UK		Dear me,end of the first month of the challenge already,where does time go?
25 participants have read a respectable 75 books so far.,across a very wide area,which I love to see. Keep it up,Pick N' Mixers
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Mervi2012
Posted 2017-02-02 6:12 AM (#15206 - in reply to #14868)
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I read Emmi Itranta's City of Woven street (The Weaver in US). It's her second book and this time fantasy. The book is set on an island where parts of it flood frequently. The main character is a weaver who has two secrets: she can read and she can dream. Dreaming is illegal and only men who are in the House of Words should be able to read. Itranta uses very beautiful prose and the plot moves rather slowly. Still, I liked it but not as much as her first book, The Memory of Water.

I also listened Jim C. Hines' Unbound. It's the third in his Magic Ex Libirs series and the stakes just keep getting higher. I really enjoyed all the science fiction and fantasy (books, movies, tv-shows) references. The main character Isaac Vainio is a librarian and also a Libriomancer who can pull objects out of books. Yes, that includes magic items. In this book, Isaac is trying to correct things that went wrong in the previous book, Codex Born. Hes in a very bad place, emotionally and perhaps financially as well. The people around him fear that hes becoming depressed which makes him reckless not only with his own life and wellbeing but with the people he cares about. I'm really enjoying this series.

Edited by Mervi2012 2017-02-02 6:18 AM
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dustydigger
Posted 2017-02-08 6:10 AM (#15248 - in reply to #14868)
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Location: UK		Finished Bruce Sterling's Heavy Weather and am now reading Octavia E Butler's Parable of the Sower,which is unrelentingly dark,downbeat and very disturbing. Only reading about 10 pages a day its so hard to take! For light relief I am reading some light UF and romantic suspense,while STILL plodding along with KSRs Green Mars.Still around 200 pages to go,but I hope to finish it this month.
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majkia
Posted 2017-02-08 8:17 AM (#15250 - in reply to #14868)
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Location: Niceville, FL		Finished [Sorcerer's Legacy] an early book by Janny Wurts. You can already see her ability to weave a story, even if I had a few problems with the plot, mainly people doing stupid stuff.

Still, enjoyed it very much.
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dustydigger
Posted 2017-02-16 3:51 AM (#15298 - in reply to #14868)
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Location: UK		I managed to finish Octavia E Butler's harrowing Parable of the Sower,so dark and brutal.Well written and gripping,but dystopia is perhaps my least favourite genre. I will take a long break before reading the sequel,Parable of the Talents. Apart from the unrelenting violence ,unfortunately I didnt find the heroine's philosophy/religion very convincing at all!
On a much lighter note,I finally completed Roger Zelazny's Prince of Chaos,the final volume of the Amber chronicles.Very sad that Zelazny died before writing his planned two more Amber trilogies.Ten books were not enough!.John Gregory Betancourt did a few books after Zelazny's death,but I could only find one of them in the library,and the rest are too expensive to buy.Oh well,I can always reread! lol.
To cheer myself up from the Butler horrors,and from the slow and heavy Green Mars - down to 100 pages left there - I had a fun time reading John Scalzi's reboot of H Beam Piper's Fuzzy stories,Fuzzy Nation.Fast paced,it certainly was a worthy companion to the original tales.
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dustydigger
Posted 2017-02-20 4:49 AM (#15332 - in reply to #14868)
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Location: UK		Completed Charlie Stross's debut novel,the exuberant Singularity Sky,fizzing with extravagant ideas and very dark humour. Good stuff. Also finished James White's Sector General,much of which,confusingly was not set in the Sector General space hospital,but on an ambulance ship,but who cares.lol.Thsi time our Dr Conway had to help a kilometres long wormlike creature! White is never lost for inventive aliens.
A mere 60 pages left of the interminable Green Mars,so the end is finally in sight.

Edited by dustydigger 2017-02-20 4:53 AM
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Mervi2012
Posted 2017-02-24 10:00 AM (#15355 - in reply to #14868)
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I read two of Bujold's new novellas: "Penric and the Shaman" and "Penric's Mission". I really enjoyed the first Penric story, "Penric and the Demon" and these two are similar, beautifully written fantasy tales with great characters. "Penric's Mission" ends rather abrubtly but the next one "Mira's Last Dance" is coming soon.

Also, I've read Genevive Cogman's "The Masked City" and "The Burning Page". The main characters Irene is a librarian, working for an interdimensional Library... stealing books from various alternate realities! Great fun!

Last but certainly not least I read Becky Chambers' "A Closed and Common Orbit". It's an indirect sequel to her "Long Way to Small, Angry Planet" which I throughly enjoyed. This one is very different but just as enjoyable. It has two alternating POV characters and one of them is an artificial intelligence in a sythetic human body.
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dustydigger
Posted 2017-02-24 12:17 PM (#15356 - in reply to #15355)
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Location: UK		Wow,Mervi,you are certainly having fun those books sound interesting. I have a soft spot about alien libraries,going all the way back to H Beam Piper's classic Omnilingual.
I FINALLY,with great relief,completed the interminable Green Mars,which I found dull and flat ,not my cup of tea at all,and it took me the best part of two months as I could only read a dozen pages at a time.But I compensated with David Brin's Brightness Reef which was as long as Green Mars,but only took a week to read. I love the whole Uplift universe,so though there were some faults it was a fun,fast paced read,with multiple POV ,detailed descriptions of half a dozen alien races,and just a fizz of fun and plottwists.Much more my cup of tea!
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Mervi2012
Posted 2017-02-24 12:50 PM (#15357 - in reply to #14868)
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Yes, I've been really lucky (and picky) with my reading. Also, my computer apparently suffers from a Windows 10 problem which limits my internet time severly. So I had more time to read.
Too bad Green Mars wasn't good. I've been thinking about trying it but it sounds like I wouldn't like it at all, either. I haven't read anything from Brin but Brightenss Reef sounds very nice.
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Leyra'an
Posted 2017-02-25 4:50 PM (#15365 - in reply to #14868)
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Location: USA		Life went through another of those chaotic episodes, and reading time was nonexistent. I finished Leviathan Wakes by James S.A. Corey a while back. Very well done, and highly recommended, especially if you love space opera. And today I finished a reread of Clarke's Rendezvous With Rama. It's held up well, over the years, and I enjoyed revisiting it.

While putting together a list for this year, I discovered that I'd never actually read Hunter of Worlds by C.J. Cherryh. And so, without further delay...
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