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Steve's Bookshelf 2015


Karsa Orlong

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A little late to the party, but nice pictures! :smile2: And what a nice bird you found to flip :lol: Happy to see McCullough is still delivering. I know I've recommended this before, but it doesn't hurt to try again.... :lol:

 

As we are nearing December, and the season, I was reminded last night how I read The Lions of Al-Rassan a few years ago and again I remembered how much I loved it. I think I will always think of the book in December :D I really want to re-read it at some point. It's been in the cards for a long time now. 

 

Edit: What's a fairy tole? :shrug::rolleyes::D 

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I know I've recommended this before, but it doesn't hurt to try again.... :lol:

Yeeeeah, not going to happen :lol:

 

 

 

As we are nearing December, and the season, I was reminded last night how I read The Lions of Al-Rassan a few years ago and again I remembered how much I loved it. I think I will always think of the book in December :D I really want to re-read it at some point. It's been in the cards for a long time now.

 

Wonderful book :smile:   Aren't you tempted to read one of his others, though? :smile:

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Yeeeeah, not going to happen :lol:

Sigh :(:lol:

 

 

 

Wonderful book :smile:   Aren't you tempted to read one of his others, though? :smile:

Oh, I totally am, but I've never seen any of his books (in English) at the library :( Well, of course I could reserve them, as I'm sure there are copies, but I have so many reservations placed already that I should really curb my enthusiasm .... :blush:

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The Moon is a Harsh Mistress by Robert A. Heinlein


 


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1966 - Hodder paperback - 408 pages


 


 


In 2075, the Moon is no longer a penal colony. But it is still a prison...


Life isn't easy for the political dissidents and convicts who live in the scattered colonies that make up lunar civilisation. Everything is regulated strictly, efficiently and cheaply by a central supercomputer, HOLMES IV.


When humble technician Mannie O'Kelly-Davis discovers that HOLMES IV has quietly achieved consciousness (and developed a sense of humour), the choice is clear: either report the problem to the authorities... or become friends.


And perhaps overthrow the government while they're at it.


 


 


With its highly stylised narrative voice and its endless political and economic diatribes, I found this book to be far from an easy read.  At times it was a struggle to summon the enthusiasm to pick it up and continue (I nearly gave up on it on several occasions).  In the end, I discovered that it benefited from extended reading periods, where my reading got into a flow with the deliberately awkward narrative style.


 


There's a lot of merit in the book, really.  It seemed to me that Heinlein had examined every angle from which a revolution - on the Moon or anywhere else, for that matter - could stand or fall, and Mike, the sentient computer (named after Mycroft Holmes), is a fun character - but he's really the only one.


 


I liked it, I didn't love it.  I much, much, much preferred Ian McDonald's Luna: New Moon.


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Sharpe's Tiger (Sharpe Book 1, chronological order) by Bernard Cornwell

 

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1997 - Harper ebook - 401 pages

 

Richard Sharpe avoids the tyrannical Sergeant Obadiah Hakeswill and endeavours to rescue a British officer from under the nose of the Tippoo of Mysore.

 

But in fleeing Hakeswill, Sharpe enters the exotic and dangerous world of the Tippoo. An adventure that will require all of his wits just to stay alive, let alone save the British army from catastrophe.

 

 

So, finally, I've started Cornwell's 'Sharpe' series, nearly two years after I bought all 21 books for less than £21 in Amazon's Christmas Kindle Daily Deal.  I'd put it off for so long because I wanted to at least get up to date with his 'Warrior Chronicles' series (fat chance, seeing as the ninth book has recently been published!) and also to finish Patrick O'Brian's 'Aubrey/Maturin' series (mission accomplished, there, but still in the grips of withdrawal symptoms :(  ).

 

Set in 1799 this is, chronologically, the first book in the series, although it was somewhere around the 15th written.  From that point of view Cornwell's writing is well-developed by this stage, and he serves up a story set around the siege of Seringapatam, full of action, friendships, betrayals, a bit of romance, and lots of characters to either sympathise with or hate.  I'd go so far as to say that in Sergeant Hakeswill he created one of his most memorable and hateable character I've yet come across (hard not to imagine him being played by Philip Glenister . . . ).

 

It's a fairly straightforward story, including plenty of set-ups and pay-offs and twists you can see coming a mile away.  To be fair, it never claims to be otherwise - it's just a rollicking good adventure story.  I found it kind of strange, in that I'm so used to Cornwell's novels being written in the first person (as with the Warlord and Warrior Chronicles) that reading a story told in the third person made it feel like reading a different author.  No bad thing, really.  Plus it's set far more recently than any other of his books I've read, which gave it a completely different feel.  No shield walls here.

 

Cornwell never seems to fail to entertain.  I thoroughly enjoyed it.  Can't really ask more for 99p!

 

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All's fine, thanks :smile:

 

Didn't do a lot of reading towards the end of last year - I stopped listing what I read, so I can't remember in full.  Since last post I definitely read:

 

Sharpe's Triumph - Bernard Cornwell (not bad)

Dauntless (Lost Fleet Book 1) - Jack Campbell (average at best - which is a bummer as I have the whole series and the spin-offs on my Kindle :lol:)

Off Season - Jack Ketchum (very scary and deeply unpleasant)

Mr Midshipman Hornblower (Hornblower Book 1) - C. S. Forester (not quite Patrick O'Brian but still brilliant!)

 

also, non-fiction:  Winter King: The Dawn of Tudor England - Thomas Penn (about Henry VII - very good)

 

 

Christmas books:

 

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HUGE thanks to Laura for the Hornblower books :thankyousigna2:  :D

 

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