Raven
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Posts posted by Raven
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I'm struggling through Velocity Weapon, by Megan E. O'Keefe, and so far it a complete mystery why it has garnered so much praise... It's slow, not very interesting and reads like fan fiction.
I've nearly put it down for good twice now, but for some reason have felt compelled to pick it up again. I think I just want to get to a part where I can see why it has been praised!
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8 hours ago, Madeleine said:
Enjoy!
Oh, it was long gone when I posted that!
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Lord alive, I've died and gone to breakfast food heaven!
Just popped in M&S on my way into work and have found they are doing Full English Breakfasts in a box! 2 minutes in the microwave and you have bacon, a poached egg, a sausage, tomato and beans.
Wonderful!
I can see this becoming a bad habit...
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2 episodes of Star Trek: Discovery down, and I can't say this season has got off to a flying start. The first episode was flat, but the second was better.
4 days to new baby Yoda...
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Enola Holmes
A good, fun old romp of a film, in which Milly Bobby Brown is simply brilliant. Star and producer, and she was just 15 when it was made! She was good in Stranger Things, but if she carries on like this she's going to end up running Hollywood!
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11 hours ago, Madeleine said:
I've just found out by chance ie surfing on Amazon, that False Values has been out in paperback for a month, yet I haven't seen it promoted, or even on a table, in one bookshop locally. But they promote the new novel by some reality TV star with no writing experience whatsoever.
I think I've only ever seen Aaronovitch's books on a table in the science fiction section of Waterstone's.
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I like Abigail as well. Aaronovitch seems to be pretty good at writing feisty females!
The foxes are in it; they think they are spies, according to the blurb!
I think the previous hardback novellas have been around that price.
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New novella next March: What Abigail Did That SummerLooks like it is set at the same time as the main series novel Foxglove Summer.
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11 hours ago, Brian. said:
I've just hit 86 books and a shade over 30,000 pages.
That must have been a good workout!
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I have been re-watching some of the Studio Ghibli films on DVD over the last few weeks, and now I have Netflix again I can catch up with some of the later ones that I have missed.
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I've not read the books, but I have see the BBC adaptation (and enjoyed it!).
I probably should give them a go!
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There are a few specialist books shops in the Charring Cross area of London that might be able to give you an appraisal, if you can get there (Symonds may be one of them!)
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Kicking this one off, as September seems so last week!
I actually bought my first paper book in several months yesterday; Andrzej Sapkowski's Sword of Destiny (the second book in the Witcher series, which is actually a second collection of short stories following on from The Last Wish, that I read earlier this year).
As with all new authors or book series that I start, the moment I buy and enjoy the first book the *naughty word* publishers (in this case, Gollancz) decide to reissue the series with a new set of covers, so this purchase was justified (in my head, anyway) by my needing to get the old version when I noticed it in my local WHSmiths earlier this week (I'm also justifying it on the grounds that as I fancied reading it and my reading mojo has been so poor recently, I was going to buy it!)
I'm now about 30 pages in to the first story and it's pretty good!
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Splendid job there, sir!
On 9/29/2020 at 7:59 AM, Athena said:I can't believe no one has replied yet!
There are a couple of books on the list that I would be interested in, were it not for the piles of un-read books I already have dotted around the flat (not to mention the virtual ones I have on my Kindle!)
A culling really needs to take place before I even consider adding to their numbers!
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30 minutes ago, Angury said:
What do you guys do with your time instead of going on the internet?
Posting that here, I suspect you might get a lot of people replying that they read books!*
*Other hobbies are available...
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But it's actually a badly written comic.
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On 9/22/2020 at 2:36 AM, muggle not said:
what joke.
Case rests, M'lurd.
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9 hours ago, Brian. said:
Dangerous Hero by Tom Bower (3/5)
A non-fiction book all about the last Labour leader Jeremy Corbin. The book charts his political career and his time as leader up until the last general election. Like many people in the UK I was impressed by Corbin when he first surfaced as a candidate for the position of Labour leader. Over time however I couldn't agree with his position on certain things and although I appreciate that politics is never black and white I just felt that he wasn't the right person to lead the country or the Labour party. This book addresses many of the allegations thrown his way when he was leader, especially his lack of action when it comes to anti-semitism inside the party. After reading the book I don't believe he is necessarily a bad person and he definitely stands by his principles but he is easily lead by those around him. The book was pretty good but I do see why there have been some accusations of it being a hatchet job even if I don't feel that way myself.
*cough* it's Corbyn! *cough*
I don't blame you for getting it wrong, though, the man is thoroughly forgettable and deservedly so. I resent him thoroughly for his lack of a position on Brexit. You cannot lead Her Majesty's Opposition and be absolutely nowhere on the single biggest issue of the day... Gifted the Tories another 10 years, and that is utterly unforgiveable.
(apologies for the rant!)
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On 6/13/2020 at 9:58 PM, Raven said:
Nearly half way through the year and I'm probably on target for 10 books by the end of the month.
Well, I did make it to 10 books by the end of June, but then I went through what I think is termed "a fallow period".
Not quite sure what has happened to my reading mojo; I completed Inversions and being the first Iain M. Banks book I have read for a long while, and having rather enjoyed it, I went straight on to Surface Detail, which is a very different book - though still enjoyable - but I just ground. to. a. halt...
Then, a couple of weeks back the following popped up in the Kindle Deal of the Day, and I just finished it tonight...
Doctor Who: At Childhood's End
By Sophie Aldred
Once upon a time, there was a girl who travelled through time and space in a blue box with an impossibly old man, but one day they parted and went their separate ways in less than cheery circumstances. Many years later, the girl now grown, met up with an impossibly young woman, who claimed to have once been an impossibly old man...
Side note: I'm beginning to think this whole COVID situation is starting to drive me crackers...
So, a Doctor Who book written by Sophie Aldred about an older Ace (her companion character in the late 90's, for those who don't know) meeting up with the current Jodie Whittaker incarnation of the Doctor. I loved Ace when I was growing up; she was strong, feisty and pretty damn hot - she also famously took out a Dalek with a baseball bat! Her pairing with Sylvester McCoy's Doctor worked wonderfully well, and following on from one of the less successful periods in the show's history they started to turn it around and do the kind of character development with Ace that wouldn't look out of place in the new series. It was therefore disappointing that in 1989 the BBC pulled the plug on the show and we never got a third series with Ace and - crucially for this book - no departure story.
Scroll on 30 years and now that tale can be told, and I'm sorry to say its a little disappointing itself.
McCoy's Doctor - again, for those not watching at the time - had a tendency to be rather manipulative when it came to those around him, and that character trait is used as the reason for Ace's departure from the TARDIS. Whilst the reason's for Ace's departure are utterly plausible, I can't help being a little sad that is how one of my favourite pairings in the show came to an end.
But that isn't the end of the story, it's just the beginning!
Ace (or to use her real name, Dorothy McShane) is now the successful CEO of a global charity* that is trying to save the planet, but that's just the day job; in her spare time, she's a cross between James Bond (fast cars and secret lairs) and Marie Curie (if the latter had been into explosives, rather than slowly poisoning herself). Teenagers are going missing from the streets of London, and Ace is on the case, but chasing a thread from the other end of the story, so are the Doctor, Graham, Ryan and Yaz. To be honest, it's a bit of a convoluted plot, and one that makes use of one of the less impressive elements of Ace's backstory (and one that already had an explanation to boot!) but that's all fluff; if you are reading this book, it is probably to catch up with Ace and to see how she interacts with a different, female Doctor.
The former largely works; Ace being in charge and distant from the people in her life is very believable (and draws an interesting parallel with her former mentor) but for all the good she seems to be doing in the world, she doesn't seem to have been able to move on from her travels with the Doctor. The Doctor, on the other hand, has certainly moved on and the two characters together make an interesting pairing, but not one that is really explored very deeply in this book (without giving anything away, the end of the book is rather abrupt, and it feels as though it is missing some wrap up scenes, especially one that I felt was needed between Ace and Yaz).
Overall, there is quite a bit here to like, and there is a good hit of nostalgia for the older fans, but the story itself is rather weak and after the initial, interesting mystery, it devolves into a rather run of the mill resolution. If you are not a fan of Ace, or the current incarnation of Doctor Who, then it's probably not one for you. For my own part, I think it just misses the mark (I don't normally give books ratings out of five, but if I did this would be a solid three).
Entertaining enough, but definitely one of the fans.
Oh, and if Big Finish don't end up spinning off a series of audio adventures from this, I will eat my baseball bat.
*A Charitable Earth, geddit? - you can thank Russell T Davis for that one...
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8 hours ago, muggle not said:
He who laughs last:
Was slow to get the joke.
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6 hours ago, Marie H said:
Watched the trailer of the 2nd series of Disney+'s The Mandolorian.
Scheduled for October 30th. I'm so looking for this!!
Yes, that does look good!
I'm looking forward to the third series of Discovery, as well.
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19 hours ago, poppy said:
I've been watching Morse (for the first time) but must admit I far prefer Inspector Lewis and Endeavour.
Some Morse episodes have dated badly, especially the earlier ones, but the stories usually still hold up (certainly better than some Lewis and Endeavour episodes, where the stories are just too far fetched - having said that, I do like Endeavour!)
Following on from the comments above, I'm another Northern Exposure fan, and have been toying with the idea of a re-watch this winter.
During lockdown I re-watched a large part of the series Bugs; I've been working my way through Tom Baker Doctor Who stories and I'm currently re-watching Stargate Atlantis (just started on season 3).
I've also watched most of the Marvel films through again and the original Star Trek films I have on Blu-ray (1,2,4 & 6). Keep meaning to re-watch Lord of the Rings again, but never seem to get around to it!
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On 9/5/2020 at 5:22 PM, Brian. said:
That was my reason for deciding to 'read' it now as I wanted to read the book before seeing the movie.
22 hours ago, willoyd said:I'm another Dune fan! I don't read much science fiction, but that was brilliant - on my 6/6 list. Stasiland was an interesting read too - real insight into life in East Germany.
I know the story, because I've seen the David Lynch film, but I've never got to the book (even though I have had a copy of the shelf for many years!).
Maybe this will be the year!
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19 hours ago, Brian. said:
I'm also about halfway through the audiobook of Dune by Frank Herbert.
1 hour ago, Athena said:I really like Dune, I've read it 3 times I think. I hope you like it!
I have been meaning to read Dune for years, and I really should do so before the Denis Villeneuve film comes out later this year!
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Well done, Hayley! (and thanks for all the hard work!)