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Our reads in February 2023
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dustydigger
Posted 2023-01-31 5:20 PM (#26792)
Subject: Our reads in February 2023



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Location: UK		Another month,another pile of books Share your reading plans with us!
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dustydigger
Posted 2023-01-31 5:24 PM (#26793 - in reply to #26792)
Subject: Re: Our reads in February 2023



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Location: UK		My TBR for February

Dusty's TBR for February
SF/Fantasy reads
Harlan Ellison - I Have No Mouth and I Must Scream
Charles de Lint - Someplace to be Flying
H Beam Piper - Fuzzies and Other People
James Blish - Black Easter
Doris Piserchia - Star Rider
Roger Zelazny - Eye of Cat
Catherine Fisher - Slanted Worlds
Kim Newman - Anno Dracula
Jodi Taylor - A Second Chance
John Milton - Paradise Lost
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daxxh
Posted 2023-01-31 9:00 PM (#26794 - in reply to #26792)
Subject: Re: Our reads in February 2023



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Location: Great Lakes, USA		February reads are all library holds. I may not finish them as the are all due within two weeks.

Children of the Mind - Orson Scott Card
Needle - Linda Nagata
Generation Loss - Elizabeth Hand
The Jigsaw Assassin - Catherine Asaro
The Heir of Caladan - Brian Herbert, Kevin J. Anderson
The Last Wild Horses - Maja Lunde
Wayward - Blake Crouch

Edited by daxxh 2023-01-31 9:02 PM
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dustydigger
Posted 2023-02-17 3:56 PM (#26833 - in reply to #26794)
Subject: Re: Our reads in February 2023



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Location: UK		Finished Milton's Paradise Lost,epic and magnificent,and I want to reread C S Lewis Out of the Silent Planet and its sequels. I would have got much more out of the Lewis books if I had read Milton first. I only saw it as vaguely connected with the general biblical story of Adam,the Temptation ,and Fall. Now I see Lewis was also doing an homage to Milton.
By chance my next fantasy read was Black Easter,James Blish's fantastic tale of magicians,Armageddon and demons galore.Fantastic. I naturally had to rush on to the sequel,After Judgment Day,where the traditional story of the apocalyse did NOT turn out the traditional way!Black Easter was a tight focused little story,the sequel was much more spawling,with several themes,but still Milton inspired. Wry,sly humour,satire sharp as knives,intelligent philosophical musings,very ambiguous religious views,and some high vocabulary. I rarely if ever need to use a dictionary with novels,but here I used it often. All in all unusual,and intriguing.Good stuff.
And I see reading The Sparrow looming up in the future!
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dustydigger
Posted 2023-02-22 8:22 AM (#26836 - in reply to #26833)
Subject: Re: Our reads in February 2023



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Location: UK		Finished Roger Zelazny's somewhat bizarre and mindbending Eye of Cat. Gave my old brain a good workout as is usual with his SF. His fantasy is much more easy going fun,but I love both of his modes.Dont think a lot of younger readers connect with him,but his true fans are loyal. Still one of my favourite authors,even when I dont understand a word ! lol.
Plodding through H Beam Piper's Fuzzies and Other People,written 2 decades after the first 2 books in the series and it shows. Very very slow,and repetitious. Still over 100 pages to go,so I'm unlikely to read anything else this month. Instead I will get on with my nth reread of Lord of the Rings.
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bazhsw
Posted 2023-02-27 3:25 PM (#26845 - in reply to #26792)
Subject: Re: Our reads in February 2023



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I started the LQBT roll your own challenge properly in February and have really enjoyed the start. I read 'Ammonite' by Nicola Griffith first, 'China Mountain Zhang' by Maureen McHugh and if I get a move on may finish 'The Left Hand of Darkness' by Ursula Le Guin. It was my first time with Griffith and was left a little non-plussed, 'China Mountain Zhang' really surprised me in so many good ways. I'm still not sure if the Le Guin book is a re-read from a couple of decades ago. I possibly would have given up on it early on but am glad I have perservered with it. I really should make notes because I'll forget all the interesting ideas when I try and write a review.

One of the things about thematic challenges is how themes intersect - in the space of a month I've read two books which portray human reproduction outside of heterosexual relationships. Reading both close together has been fun
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dustydigger
Posted 2023-02-28 11:49 AM (#26846 - in reply to #26845)
Subject: Re: Our reads in February 2023



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Location: UK		Hi bazhsw! You read some great books in February.
For me Ammonite,while a pleasant enough read wasnt super interesting. Too many books seem to put themes and agendas above the actual tale telling and characters,but Griffiths just about passes muster for me,though the whole reproduction theme barely seemed credible to me,it took a lot of work suspending disbelief!
China Mountain Zhang was a really sweet book. I felt as if this was an ordinary coming of age,finding your feet in the world sort of book - the world of this nice young man just happened to be in the future! lol.
For me Le Guin is not really my cup of tea. Major important themes,and world building,but I always feel she is one step removed from her characters,eyeing them rather like a scientist coolly watching an experiment. So I end up feeling respect and interest,but I too am at one remove from the story.The juvenile Earthsea series left me cold. But Left Hand,in the latter section ,was very sad and poignant,I see why it is so revered,but it upset and depressed my younger self way back in 1969,and reading it in the 80s still was only a duty read for me. Sorry all you myriad Le Guin fans. I am just a Philistine,forgive me!
Each year I dutifully read one more of her works 11 so far. I am thinking of rereading the early Hainish books,which I did quite like way back in the mists of time. Anyhoo,the next new book of hers in The Telling,its on several WWEnd lists and I want to tick it off. I have put off for about 4 years,so this should be the year I actually get to it......oh joy.......

I'm off to set up this thread for March
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daxxh
Posted 2023-02-28 2:23 PM (#26848 - in reply to #26792)
Subject: Re: Our reads in February 2023



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Location: Great Lakes, USA		I read very few of the books I planned to read and fewer overall than I usually do. It has warmed up where I live, so I am outside as much as possible. I read the following:

Children of the Mind - Orson Scott Card. Wish I would have read this when it first came out. Perhaps I would have liked it better. I struggled to remember the characters from the previous book. This one was just ok.

The Jigsaw Assassin - Catherine Asaro. Very good. I like this series.

Recursion - Blake Crouch. Very good. I am liking this author and will seek out more of his books.

Catalyst Gate - Megan E. O?Keefe - Excellent. Really enjoyed this trilogy. Hope there is more to come.

The Island of Dr. Moreau - H.G. Wells. Good. Reread this since I have The Daughter of Dr. Moreau for next month.
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bazhsw
Posted 2023-02-28 3:22 PM (#26850 - in reply to #26792)
Subject: Re: Our reads in February 2023



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Oh dustydigger I think we have similar tastes in some respects because I agree with most of what you said, particularly regarding Griiffith. For Le Guin, I too agree she seems a little removed from her characters. Reading 'The Left Hand of Darkness' I carry on sighing at a wonderful sentence or a paragraph which introduces a wonderful concept, or I think I get the idea she is trying to express but I definitely feel that 'distance', like her stories are happening in a petri dish. I'll hopefully finish it at bedtime tonight so will squeeze it in for February.
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