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One thought: If you want the best discworld book that works as just a stand alone book, go for Small Gods.

To be honest, I started with the first one, and simply carried on from there. Mixing them up might work from a simple plot point of view, but thematically it gets odd. Plus, some of the in-jokes and running gags only work if you've read them in order (eldritch being taken to mean "oblong" and "do deformed rabbit; it's my favourite" only make sense if you've read The Light Fantastic and Moving Pictures respectively). Plus, from about Men At Arms onward, the onward march of society and technology in the background is fairly obvious and important.

Halfway through "Staked", Book 8 of the Iron Druid series by Kevin Hearne. Don't be put off by the number of books, though. They are fast, light reads. Very funny, and it has a TALKING DOG! Only one book left after this. Enjoying it very much.


Hounded (May 2011)
Hexed (June 2011)
Hammered (July 2011)
Tricked (April 2012)
Trapped (November 2012)
Hunted (June 2013)
Shattered (June 2014)
Staked (January 26 2016)
Scourged (TBA - Final novel in the Iron Druid series)

 AndrewGPaul wrote:

 Kilkrazy wrote:
I too found Accelerando unendurable and had to shelve it after a couple of chapters, but somehow I came back to it a few months later, and the second time I was able to keep going and I actually enjoyed it in the end.

It was a very bad introduction to Stross, as I've enjoyed all his other books very much. (I haven't read any of his Fantasy stuff.)

All I've read by him are the A Colder War and Missile Gap shorts, and plenty of his blog posts. I'm intrigued by the Laundry series; I might give that a bash soon.

The Laundry are good fun IMO. I have read the first four. There are two more out now and another one coming this summer.

 Kilkrazy wrote:

 AndrewGPaul wrote:

 Kilkrazy wrote:
I too found Accelerando unendurable and had to shelve it after a couple of chapters, but somehow I came back to it a few months later, and the second time I was able to keep going and I actually enjoyed it in the end.

It was a very bad introduction to Stross, as I've enjoyed all his other books very much. (I haven't read any of his Fantasy stuff.)

All I've read by him are the A Colder War and Missile Gap shorts, and plenty of his blog posts. I'm intrigued by the Laundry series; I might give that a bash soon.

The Laundry are good fun IMO. I have read the first four. There are two more out now and another one coming this summer.

The laundry files are great as are some of the stand alones, particularly Glasshouse. I couldn't get through Accelerando either, and there's so many books out there that I'm not going to waste my time on something I'm not enjoying.

I'm currently swapping between the Malazan books by Ian Esslemont (Malazan Book of the Fallen is one of my favourite series, and these are just as good) and rereading the Dresden files.

I just finished Heretics of Dune. It was quite good, now I really want to read Chapterhouse: Dune. I'll probably pick up a copy soon. Meanwhile, I am now reading the first of the Humanity's Fire series by Michael Cobley, Seeds of Earth.

Uchi no otera wa shingonshu and 2nd volume of Sword art online are what's on my read list ATM. I'm swamped on reading! 14 more volumes of SAO to read and I have 14 more books related to Shikoku pilgrimage coming up along with 2 other I have also on to read list. Read read read!

Hokkaido Highway Blues has a nice section where he is hitchking round Shikoku following the pilgrimage path.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Hokkaido-Highway-Blues-Hitchhiking-Japan/dp/1841951544/ref=sr_1_fkmr0_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1455532138&sr=8-1-fkmr0&keywords=hitchhiking+in+japan

I took a break in the middle of War And Peace (it's very good, but it is also very long) to reread The White Company by Arthur Conan Doyle.

The White Company was published in 1896. It tells the story of Alleyne Edricson, a young man brought up in a monastery, who at the age of 20 in 1360 is sent out to try living in the mundane world for a year, before he must decide whether to return to being a monk or live a secular life.

What follows is a romping adventure through a Merrie Englande, France and Spain filled with the kind of mediaeval characters, historical details and mock ancient language (Prithee, Sir Knight, plight my troth for the honour of your ladie, etc.) combining action, morals and history, that only the Victorians could take seriously. Yet somehow it all works marvellously well. (My paperback edition has a glowing introduction by Anthony Burgess, who of course was no slacker when it comes to literature.)

Needless to say, by the end of the book Alleyne has won through all perils to become a knight, wins the love of his ladie faire, and looks set to live happily ever after.

Available like all Conan Doyle's work free on Kindle and other e-readers, being out of copyright.

If you read and enjoy The White Company, look out for Sir Nigel, a prequel published in 1906 about Sir Nigel Loring, who is a major support character in the book.

 Kilkrazy wrote:
Hokkaido Highway Blues has a nice section where he is hitchking round Shikoku following the pilgrimage path.

Ugh ;D I told ya I'm swamped! Now even more swamped Grumble grumble. I can't possible read all the books :( There's like n+1 diaries alone nevermind history etc.

Ah well. Try to fit that into the schedule...Somehow!

Leviathan wakes - the expanse stuff.

Curiousity and wanting to fill in the blanks made me hunt these down as ebooks.

I'm about 2/3 through it atm. I read a bit every couple of days.

Currently reading Gardens of the Moon, it's a bit of a slog though. Almost feels like homework. I put it away last week and decided to give it another shot. Little more than halfway done now. After this is Lies of Locke Lamora and then Name of the Wind.

 creeping-deth87 wrote:
Currently reading Gardens of the Moon, it's a bit of a slog though. Almost feels like homework. I put it away last week and decided to give it another shot. Little more than halfway done now. After this is Lies of Locke Lamora and then Name of the Wind.

Yeah, Gardens of the Moon is kinda boring, as the characters are in a stasis except for the last (hundred) pages. I'm currently reading Deadhouse Gates and it's a lot better.

Name of the Wind is not worth reading imo, it's always saying how different it is from "normal" stories, but it's really not. It's a generic fantasy story with a teenage protagonist that is good at everything. And for all the praise it did get for the writing, I can't agree with that sentiment.

I am currently reading The Isles-A History by Norman Davis.

Its a book that deals with the entirety of British and Irish history while remembering that there is a great deal more to these islands than England, or what would become England. While is is around 1000 pages by necessity it doesn't go into too much detail and there are some errors (the English had 50,000 men at Bannockburn...?) however it does a good job of giving a reasonably comprehensive understanding of the subject matter while discrediting many of the historical myths that have developed over the years.

If nothing else it certainly illuminates just how tenuous national identities are, a single historically trivial event could have prevented the formation of modern nations or even languages.

That's a great book. That kind of high level history can give you a great overview of a period.

Warrior Race does a similar job for the fighting history of the British Isles.

Anyone got any opinions on Connie Willis? I downloaded the Kindle sample of Blackout, and I didn't think it was very good. Except for her having a good ear for English despite being an American, I thought the writing was rather remiscent of teenage crossover fiction. Is this because I ought to start with an earlier book? The author has multiple nominations for awards so surely she must have some merit.

I always thought Connie Willis fit in better with the 70s writers, like Ellison. I haven't found any of her stories to strike a chord, and I suspect that's because the genre and literary expectations have continued to advance and diversify in the decades since her debut. She's great on the convention circuit, though.


I'm probably being a bit unfair, but I tend not to give authors much of a chance if I can't get into their books quickly.

Brandon Sanderson: The Alloy of Law

 Knight wrote:
Brandon Sanderson: The Alloy of Law

The Wax and Wayne books are great fun. Rather different to the original Mistborn trilogy but no less well-done for it, and probably a bit trickier to put together, too.

 BobtheInquisitor wrote:
I always thought Connie Willis fit in better with the 70s writers, like Ellison. I haven't found any of her stories to strike a chord, and I suspect that's because the genre and literary expectations have continued to advance and diversify in the decades since her debut. She's great on the convention circuit, though.


I'm probably being a bit unfair, but I tend not to give authors much of a chance if I can't get into their books quickly.

She actually is more of a 90s writer, from what I can see. It's very sad to start thinking of the 1990s as being a long time ago.

I might get her Doomsday Book and see how I get on with that, before I plunge into the bigger and more expensive series.

 Avatar 720 wrote:
The Wax and Wayne books are great fun. Rather different to the original Mistborn trilogy but no less well-done for it, and probably a bit trickier to put together, too.

It's been very enjoyable reading. The logic and consistency behind the universe is one of a kind.

 Avatar 720 wrote:

 Knight wrote:
Brandon Sanderson: The Alloy of Law

The Wax and Wayne books are great fun. Rather different to the original Mistborn trilogy but no less well-done for it, and probably a bit trickier to put together, too.

Plus, the more of his books you read, the cooler they get, as you start to figure out just how interconnected they all are.

 Kilkrazy wrote:

 BobtheInquisitor wrote:
I always thought Connie Willis fit in better with the 70s writers, like Ellison. I haven't found any of her stories to strike a chord, and I suspect that's because the genre and literary expectations have continued to advance and diversify in the decades since her debut. She's great on the convention circuit, though.


I'm probably being a bit unfair, but I tend not to give authors much of a chance if I can't get into their books quickly.

She actually is more of a 90s writer, from what I can see. It's very sad to start thinking of the 1990s as being a long time ago.

I might get her Doomsday Book and see how I get on with that, before I plunge into the bigger and more expensive series.

Huh. I must have bought a really beat up used book. My apologies.


Also, she's hella old. I remember her verbally sparring with Ellison at a convention in what felt like the 90's, and she seemed to fit in with the old guard.

 DarkLink wrote:

 Avatar 720 wrote:

 Knight wrote:
Brandon Sanderson: The Alloy of Law

The Wax and Wayne books are great fun. Rather different to the original Mistborn trilogy but no less well-done for it, and probably a bit trickier to put together, too.

Plus, the more of his books you read, the cooler they get, as you start to figure out just how interconnected they all are.

The Cosmere is such a well thought-through universe from how it currently appears. No masses of obvious signs and foreshadowing, and everything seems rather independent save small instances of joined threads. I'm excited to see where it all leads.
---
I started The Long Way to a Small Angry Planet this evening, and already I'm in two minds. On the one, the premise is interesting and unique, and many of the characters are quirky and feel like they have some depth to them. On the other, the protagonist is 2-D 'gotta escape a from past that wasn't their fault and is only vaguely hinted at', plot seems to take a backseat to obvious, shallow social commentary, and I'm only 43 pages and there's already been a continuity error made solely for the purpose of said commentary.

I'm not even that bothered about the commentary itself; It's eye-rollingly obvious and has so far seemed bolted on, but every story preaches morals and messages. This one is just objectively poor writing and editing.

Has anyone else read this and if so, does it get any better at handling the social commentary, and does the protagonist ever become even remotely interesting?

Well, I shelved Accelerando and, feeling the Bern, picked up Turtledove's Joe Steele. It's vintage Turtledove, better than his Colonization series or later Jake Featherston books, but not quite up there with the World War tetralogy. It has a tighter focus, with only two POV characters, little extraneous characterization and none of the gratuitous sex that padded his earlier novels. The result is a quicker read, but has a bit of that Simpsons "All the recent events of your life have revolved around him in some way" feeling. All in all, if you prefer fun alternate history instead of plausible alternate history, this is the book for you.

I'm now reading Arthur C. Clarke's 1953 novel, Childhood's End. Supposedly, parts of this book were the inspiration for the TV series V. It's pretty good so far!

I recently finished The Turing Test, a short story collection by Chris Beckett.

This book of 14 short SF stories won the Edge Hill prize in 2009. While this is not a major literature prize, it is still notable for a genre book to win something outside the awards that exist in the genre (i.e. Hugo and Nebula.)

https://www.edgehill.ac.uk/shortstory/

From this you might guess that these stories are literary SF, rather than hard SF, and you would be right.

Chris Beckett is actually an academic social scientist by training and practice. While he doesn’t have a background in physics or computing, the science in this book is pretty ‘realistic’ if I can use that word about SF. What I mean is that it’s low-key and mostly extrapolated from modern day technology.

Two stories for instance are set in a future London that is the physical host for a Matrix style consensual cyberspace developed to reduce the environmental impact of 21st century urban life. Obviously this combination of technology does not yet exist, but it’s easy to see the beginnings of it in current VR, and medical life support systems. You can imagine this developing in 50 years much more easily than you can imagine FTL travel, which we believe with our current state of knowledge is scientifically impossible. In fact there is an FTL story, but the point of it is to put some characters into a position of total isolation from the rest of the human race. Some of the stories involve more extreme ideas like a drug that lets you slide between parallel worlds, or a time machine to take holidays in the past.

The key point is that the SF elements are there to support the story, not to be the story itself. What Beckett is really writing about is the human condition, psychology, and inner space. He handles this very well, I definitely recognise and empathise with the emotions of his characters. To be honest I found the book rather sad, because his characters all have something to make them sad, and none of them get out of their sadness within the confines of the short story format. I don’t think that is a flaw -- everything cannot be triumphant -- but it does mean you won’t finish this book in an upbeat frame of mind.

All that being said I quickly went and bought The Holy Machine and Marcher, two Beckett novels that follow up some of the ideas introduced in The Turing Test. Next up will be a review of The Holy Machine.

The Turing Test on Amazon.co.uk (Kindle edition).

Reading this for class, not by choice, but I am loathing it so much that I figured I should share it here:

"Sarah Osborne's World" by Catherine Brekus... It's basically a book about the rise of Evangelicalism in the US. It's fething pathetic. This book is doing little more for me than firmly reinforcing the reasons that I have for NOT being a Christian.

Seriously, unless you are firmly entrenched in Christianity, or you're a religious studies person (either in school for it, or holding a degree), this book is probably one of the most masochistic reads you may come across... I want to jump in a TARDIS and slap the gak out of this woman.

Finished Joe Steel, started Chris Bunch's Scoundrel Worlds. I'm not too far into it, but so far it seems someone has hired the A-Team in space as security for a union of Dreadball referees.

 Ensis Ferrae wrote:
Reading this for class, not by choice, but I am loathing it so much that I figured I should share it here:

"Sarah Osborne's World" by Catherine Brekus... It's basically a book about the rise of Evangelicalism in the US. It's fething pathetic. This book is doing little more for me than firmly reinforcing the reasons that I have for NOT being a Christian.

Seriously, unless you are firmly entrenched in Christianity, or you're a religious studies person (either in school for it, or holding a degree), this book is probably one of the most masochistic reads you may come across... I want to jump in a TARDIS and slap the gak out of this woman.

Care to give a bit of a summary? Having never hear of it before, I'm curious what you find particularly slap-worthy about the book.

 Hordini wrote:

Care to give a bit of a summary? Having never hear of it before, I'm curious what you find particularly slap-worthy about the book.

So she's a Puritan in/around Massachusetts.... As a teenager she was "overcome by a spirit of disobedience" (she had a teenage fight with her parents) and took the family canoe out on the water.... The current overtakes her ability to control it, so she panics, stops paddling all together, convinced god was punishing her... until she felt that his punishment was out of love, and that she would survive the ordeal. She later runs off and marries a bloke her parents didn't approve of (including going so far as to steal from her parents' shop a "bridal gift" that would have otherwise been customary). First husband dies at sea (he was a sailor), she instantly blames herself, claiming it was god punishing her for her sinfulness.

She did have a child by the first husband, and later remarries... well, this child (and there's a real Norma/Norman Bates vibe going on from the bits of her diary in this book) ends up dying at the age of 12.... At first she feels that god has blessed HER by taking her son away (as in, the mercy of god was that he comforted her by taking away the sons pain). This feeling of blessing is later replaced by self-blame. She goes on to say that god again, punished her sinfulness by taking away her son. In this case, the sin was that she loved her son more than god... Basically she states that god has taken away the people who she thought most important in her life (hubby and son) in order that she might have no one closer to her than god.


Ostensibly, this book is supposed to be about the rise of evangelicalism in the US, which would be an interesting book. However, so much of the book is swirling around this one lady, even though the author notes that Osborne's life/actions/thoughts aren't exactly typical of other evangelicals of the day, including the Puritan variety.

It's an academic history book.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Sarah-Osborns-World-Evangelical-Christianity/dp/0300182902/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1456739088&sr=8-3&keywords=Brekus