pontalba Posted July 7, 2013 Share Posted July 7, 2013 Amazing but true, I have read 6 books in the last 6 days! Don't know how long I can keep this up....also it is giving me no time to write reviews or look at anybody else's posts and reading logs...but it is fun. Flowers for Algernon is about to be started. Fantastic! Husband really liked Flowers for Algernon. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vodkafan Posted July 7, 2013 Author Share Posted July 7, 2013 Flowers For Algernon was great. Have started Up The Line by Robert Silverberg but probably won't read much today. Sun is shining must get outside! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Karsa Orlong Posted July 7, 2013 Share Posted July 7, 2013 I've read books by Kim Stanley Robinson, the Mars series, when I was a teenager and liked it. I've bought the books (in English) this year and hope I'll like reading them again (tbh I don't remember a lot from it). Me neither! I read them many years ago and remember finding them quite hard going, but I did read the trilogy right the way through (never read the book of short stories, though). I wonder if I'd get more out of them now? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vodkafan Posted July 7, 2013 Author Share Posted July 7, 2013 Me neither! I read them many years ago and remember finding them quite hard going, but I did read the trilogy right the way through (never read the book of short stories, though). I wonder if I'd get more out of them now? I only have the book of short stories. Wonder if it will make any sense without the main books? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vodkafan Posted July 8, 2013 Author Share Posted July 8, 2013 The Sexual Life Of Catherine M 2/6 Catherine Millet I read this as an antidote to Doris Day's insipid biography. Catherine Millet is a French art critic. Therefore she presents her sex life here as a sort of Performance Art. I am not going to attempt an in depth review. Suffice to say she is not a woman who just likes to do it now and then. However, I could not draw anything very noble out of the book . It seemed to me the literary equivalent of a woman flashing naked under her fur coat on the London Underground . Sorry Catherine, but you are not special. We can all have sex and we can all be art critics too. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vodkafan Posted July 8, 2013 Author Share Posted July 8, 2013 (edited) Saving Faith 5/6 David Baldacci One of a box set of books my son bought me for Chrimbo. Not one I would ever have picked for myself, but this book was great! A very fast paced thriller with all the elements I liked out of the Bourne films (not the very dated and inferior book) and the last book of the Millenium trilogy (Hornet's nest) . Very much a blend of those two, set in contemporary times. the "Faith " of the title is actually a woman who is under protection of the FBI as a witness but other people need her dead. Enough said. The action never sags, there is a bit of a love story and all the characters are quite believable. Some strong female characters so I think women readers would like this as much as men. Edited July 8, 2013 by vodkafan Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Karsa Orlong Posted July 8, 2013 Share Posted July 8, 2013 I've got a Baldacci sitting on my TBR pile (well, it's sitting in the Kindle, really). I'll have to move it up Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Athena Posted July 8, 2013 Share Posted July 8, 2013 My brother's girlfriend is a big fan of Baldacci, my brother has read some of his books too and likes them. I've only read two, when I was a lot younger I read one my parents own (Absolute Power I think it is, in Dutch), I quite liked it. I own a copy of The Christmas Train (in Dutch) which I liked a lot. Absolute Power and one other book by him are on my wishlist (I'd put The Christmas Train in English on there too but you can't have a book set as read as well as on your wishlist). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vodkafan Posted July 8, 2013 Author Share Posted July 8, 2013 World War II Blitz Diary Vol.3 5/6 Ruby Alice Side Thompson I still have to give this almost top marks because it is real . The war advances on through 1942 into 43. Material and food shortages are really starting to bite. All the news is bad as the Allies have not yet started winning any battles. One of Ruby's sons is already a POW and another is badly wounded and comes home to live with them for a while which causes problems. I saw another side to Ruby in this volume. In her own way she can be just as narrow minded as her religiously obsessed husband. With her it is about the class divide. She sees herself as a cut above the working class people around her. At first I saw this as merely having high standards for herself but she can be both racist and judgemental at times, although she is never patronizing. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vodkafan Posted July 8, 2013 Author Share Posted July 8, 2013 Thanks Karsa and Athena. I might look for some more Baldacci . Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vodkafan Posted July 8, 2013 Author Share Posted July 8, 2013 The Mad God's Amulet 2/6 Sword Of The Dawn 2/6 The Runestaff 4/6 Michael Moorcock These are the remaining 3 of the History Of The Runestaff series. The first one (The Jewel In The Skull) I read earlier and I enjoyed that very much. It was bursting with original and exciting ideas and seemed somewhere in between traditional sword and sorcery fantasy and SF. The next two though were very mundane and ordinary fantasy stories and turned into a quest for certain objects of power (yawn). Thankfully the last one The Runestaff picked it up a bit again. Not all the principal characters survived to the end which is always refreshing. The first one will stick in my mind but overall for me the series is not a keeper. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vodkafan Posted July 8, 2013 Author Share Posted July 8, 2013 The Rituals Of Infinity 2/6 Michael Moorcock Not a very well thought out story. It seemed as though Mr Moorcock had this plot presented to him as a dream then wrote it hastily down and worked it up into a story without worrying about working out any details. Basically in the quest for Faster Than Light space travel the human race finds several alternate earths in parallel dimensions but almost as soon as it makes this discovery it finds out that they are being destroyed systematically . Not knowing why this is or who is behind it, Earth uses its new technology to intervene and try to stabilize these alternate worlds with varying success. Then a new alternate Earth appears and it appears the whole human race may be the experiment of some higher power and our own Earth is due to be destroyed as a failed experiment... I have made the story a lot more interesting than it is to actually read . It touches on so many great concepts (creation, God(s), everything being an illusion) but frustratingly does not deliver. It starts to get very silly near the end and the ending is ridiculous . Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Timstar Posted July 11, 2013 Share Posted July 11, 2013 Me neither! I read them many years ago and remember finding them quite hard going, but I did read the trilogy right the way through (never read the book of short stories, though). I wonder if I'd get more out of them now? I got the first one (Red Mars?) the other day on audio, I've seen them many times in the shops and being intrigued, I love a good 'tome' trilogy. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Karsa Orlong Posted July 11, 2013 Share Posted July 11, 2013 I got the first one (Red Mars?) the other day on audio, I've seen them many times in the shops and being intrigued, I love a good 'tome' trilogy. I seem to remember finding they got very bogged down in the politics, which was what slowed me down a lot when I was reading them. I'd probably find them a lot more interesting now. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vodkafan Posted July 13, 2013 Author Share Posted July 13, 2013 (edited) Up The Line 5/6 Robert Silverberg This is a re-read for me although it has been 25 years . It is a well thought out, very funny and irreverent look at time travel. Jud Elliot III is a citizen of 2059 who enrols as a Time Courier to take groups of tourists up the line - back in time - to famous events in history. His fellow Time Couriers are all quite mad and run their own private scams and dodges, from smuggling artifacts down the line to the future, to one person compiling a family tree and sleeping with all his female ancestors starting with his grandmother (when they are in their prime). Jud soon finds the temptation of having Time as his playground irresistible and he starts a scheme of his own which soon lands him in trouble with the Time Patrol - implacable, incorruptible policemen. (imagine Judge Dredd but in period costumes to blend in) Along the way Jud beaks the rules and creates every paradox that scientists have thought of, and a few that the author thought out and invented on his own. For anyone who is interested in the theory of time travel and the things that can in theory go wrong, this is a must read. Edited July 13, 2013 by vodkafan Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vodkafan Posted July 13, 2013 Author Share Posted July 13, 2013 (edited) I have been buying books again. I have no excuse. My TBR is completely out of control. The latest: (these all from charity shops) Hayfever (Parragon health guide) The Selfish Gene Richard Dawkins Sharpe's Company Bernard Cornwell Two Eggs On My Plate Oluf Reed Olsen A Plague Of Angels Sheri S. Tepper Slavery A New Global History Jeremy Black New On Kindle: Tales From The Workhouse (Mary Higgs, James Greenwood etc) The Martian Emperor (Chronological Man book 2) Andrew Mayne The Fall Of The Towers trilogy Samuel R. Delaney ( plus a load of freebie short books that probably aren't worth mentioning; but if any are I will review them) Just added these to the list on the first page of my blog....it has shocked me that in just over 6 months I have spent £86.18 on books....as it happens it amounts to 86 books. Some of that includes postage. Edited July 13, 2013 by vodkafan Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kidsmum Posted July 13, 2013 Share Posted July 13, 2013 Interesting list VF, of course you can't go wrong with Sharpe imo. I'll be interested to hear what you think of the slavery book, i read Bury The Chains by Adam Hochschild about Britains involvement in the slave trade which i really enjoyed. I don't think about how much i've spent on books, quite a lot probably but a lot less than if i smoked, gambled or went to the pub every week Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Athena Posted July 13, 2013 Share Posted July 13, 2013 Just added these to the list on the first page of my blog....it has shocked me that in just over 6 months I have spent £86.18 on books....as it happens it amounts to 86 books. Some of that includes postage.x While that is quite a bit of money, you got most of your books for a really cheap price!! Amazing. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vodkafan Posted July 15, 2013 Author Share Posted July 15, 2013 I am very much enjoying the Sheri S. Tepper book A Plague Of Angels . It is the sort of fantasy I like, which is to say, actually SF in disguise; although it has dragons, trolls and ogres I suspect these are mutations, and it also has robots, and the wicked witch and her minions are actually rebuilding a spaceship. About half way through so far... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vodkafan Posted July 18, 2013 Author Share Posted July 18, 2013 Finished A Plague Of Angels and started The Martians but have given it up after reading 3 stories . Don't think I would be interested in the original trilogy. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vodkafan Posted August 16, 2013 Author Share Posted August 16, 2013 Hi all I am back but not getting much forum time. Still reading. Not bought any more books this week at least! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Timstar Posted August 16, 2013 Share Posted August 16, 2013 Have you read any of the other Sharpe books? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vodkafan Posted August 17, 2013 Author Share Posted August 17, 2013 Have you read any of the other Sharpe books? Hi Tim no. But if I like this one I will as they are easily found secondhand Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Timstar Posted August 17, 2013 Share Posted August 17, 2013 Hi Tim no. But if I like this one I will as they are easily found secondhand Cool, I remember it being a good one, hope you enjoy it! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vodkafan Posted August 24, 2013 Author Share Posted August 24, 2013 Cool, I remember it being a good one, hope you enjoy it! Ah goody Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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