Karlstar's Reading in 2024 Pt. 3

New knee, new thread.

July reading
Surface Detail by Iain M. Banks
Witch King by Martha Wells
The Sunlit Man by Brandon Sanderson
The Jet Age by Robert Serling, part of the Time-Life Epic of Flight series
Fighting Jets by Bryce Walker
Starfollowers of Coramonde by Brian Daley

August reading
Shadow and Claw by Gene Wolfe
War in the Outposts - Time-Life WW2 series
To the Vanishing Point by Alan Dean Foster (borrowed via hoopla)
Relic by Alan Dean Foster
The Aftermath: Europe - Time-Life WW2 series
Cannery Row by John Steinbeck
Downward to the Earth by Robert Silverberg
The War Within by Stephen Donaldson
Pirate of the Prophecy by Jack Campbell
Battles for Scandinavia by John Elting Time Life WW2 series

September reading
Foundation's Fear by Gregory Benford
The October Country by Ray Bradbury
Farmer in the Sky by Robert Heinlein
Russia Besieged by Nicholas Bethell Time Life WW2 series
The Sharing Knife (Beguilement) by Lois Bujold
Ashes of a Black Frost by Chris Evans
The Fatal Shore by Robert Hughes

October reading
A Little Hatred by Joe Abercrombie
Ad Astra by John G. Hemry
The Golden Apples of the Sun by Ray Bradbury
The Many-Colored Land by Julian May
The Golden Torc by Julian May
The Question of Palestine by Edward Said

November reading
The Spy Who Came in from the Cold
Stormwarden by Janny Wurts
The Hydrogen Sonata by Iain M. Banks
The Navigator's Children by Tad Williams
Dilvish, The Damned by Roger Zelazny

December reading
Bible and Sword: England and Palestine from the Bronze Age to Balfour by Barbara Tuchman
The Anubis Gates by Tim Powers
Explorer of the Endless Sea (Empress of the Endless Sea Book 2) by Jack Campbell

The usual explanation of my rating system, with updated statistics from my library here on LT.

I use a 1 to 10 rating system because I started rating books on the internet using a 10 point system and because I like the additional granularity. Checking my LT ratings, I have given out 594 8+ ratings, but I don't think I should make it even harder give out 8/10 ratings, so it is now a Top 600. I only have about 129 books rated 9 stars or higher, so either I'm being too tough or there just aren't that many 9 or 10 star books. My most common rating is 6, I like most of what I read. Here's my rating scale explained.

1 - So bad, I couldn't finish it. DO NOT READ!!!
2 - Could have finished, but didn't. Do not read. This one means I made a conscious choice not to finish, usually about halfway through the book. Something is seriously wrong here.
3 - Finished it, but had to force myself. Not recommended, unless it is part of a series you really need to finish.
4 - Finished it, but really didn't like it. Not recommended unless you really need something to read.
5 - Decent book, recommended if you have spare time and need something to read.
6 - Good book, I enjoyed it, and would recommend it.
7 - Good book, recommended for everyone. I may have read it more than once, and would consider buying the hardcover edition.
8 - Great book, I would put it in the Top 600* of all time. Read more than once, I probably have the hardcover.
9 - Great book, top 100* all time. Read more than once, if I don't have the hardcover edition, I want one!
10 - All-time great book, top 50 material. Read more than twice, I probably have more than one copy/edition.

My ratings also include the Slogging Through The Mud (STTM) rating/index. This goes back to one of Elizabeth Moon's Paksenarrion books where she spends WAY too much time actually describing how the army spent days slogging through the mud. If there is a lot of travel in the book and too much time describing the traveling, the STTM rating will be high.

Happy New Thread, and a very Happy New Knee!

I was way overdue to start a new thread. Thank you everyone for following my reading and lending me your thoughts. Also thank you for the well-wishes as I recover from my knee replacement.

I have a lot of reviews to catch up on, so here's one, a pre-surgery read.

Surface Detail by Iain M. Banks
STTM: 3 - for the Culture, travel is a choice, not a slog
Rating: 8 out of 10

This has moved way up the list of my favorite Culture novels. Like many of his novels, Banks takes some random, unconnected characters then winds them together into a fascinating story. A teen girl, (pan human) presented at the beginning as a slave; the amoral capitalist that owns her; an older, worn out warrior fighting in some obscure war; a mini-elephantine type creature and his mate; and a neuter Culture agent are the main characters, as well as some of the usual quirky ship minds and drones make up the cast.

The plot is based around the idea that some civilizations, even after meeting The Culture, retain the idea of an afterlife that includes Hell. Some of those civilizations construct their own VR Hell, and either sentence people there or allow volunteers to spend time there. We get multiple chapters of Banks' giving us his own ideas of what Hell would be like. The pro-Hell civs won't give up their Hells, so they agree to a virtual war with the anti-Hell civs (not including the Culture). At various times we're given insight into how the war is going.

Eventually all of the characters and the action gets sucked into this conflict, and there's a lot of conflict. The capitalist is trying to buy a navy from higher-tech civs, the Culture agent is trying to find out what is going on, there's a smart matter outbreak, all sorts of things.

I thought this was excellent. Great characters, great concepts, great ships and drones, the whole thing. For Culture fans, the ending was fantastic.

Was it immersive: yes
Was it memorable: yes, I still remember the plot and even some of the character names
Would I re-read it: yes, most likely
Would I recommend it: yes, to any scifi fan

>4 Karlstar: I need to read this one. I think I am put off by my copy, which is a huge hardback. I need to get over that.

Hope this thread brings you good books and speedy healing!

>3 clamairy: Thank you. When I went to the Dr. for the post-op appt on Monday, his PA asked me if there were any changes since my last appt., as they always do. She was not amused when I told her I had a new knee.

>5 Sakerfalcon: I read this one in ebook format, so it didn't look intimidating. Thank you.

Happy new thread, and happy new knee.

Happy new thread! Happy new knee!

Wishing you many good books :)

>4 Karlstar: It sounds wonderful :) I will read it, just like all the other Culture novels I haven't read yet.

>6 Karlstar: She sounds dull. I think that was amusing. :D

Happy new knee and new thread :)

>7 haydninvienna: >8 Alexandra_book_life: >9 Alexandra_book_life: >10 MrsLee: >11 Narilka: Thanks and welcome to the new thread.

>9 Alexandra_book_life: If you like sci-fi, you should read Banks. Don't start with Surface Detail though.

>1 Karlstar: Happy new thread! With regard to the woman in your doctor's office, she was clearly having an "off" day. In your situation, I'm fairly sure that my husband might have gone with the same kind of humor.

>13 jillmwo: Thanks Jill, glad I'm not the only one.

Another catch-up review.

Beyond the Reach of Earth by Ken MacLeod
STTM: 2, but there is a 'Heart of Darkness' style overland trip
Rating: 7 out of 10

Without giving too much away, this book picks up right where book one left off. Now that everyone on Earth knows about the discovery of FTL technology, there are new planets to explore, as well as a lot more exploring to do on the known planets.

I thought this was excellent near-future scifi. There are out of control AI assistants and robots, conflicting with humans and each other; aliens, alien planets and all sorts of mysteries. At points it did get a real '2001: Space Odyssey' feel, but it is just a passing resemblance. There's also an alarming discovery about the FTL technology, which I think will be resolved in the next book.

Relatively short, thankfully not too wordy, with plenty of action and excitement, but not too much. Sometimes the AIs/robots steal the show from the humans and aliens, but isn't that normal in scfi? This is more technology and aliens scifi than speculative fiction.

Good stuff.

Was it immersive: yes
Was it memorable: yes, I still remember the plot and even some of the character names
Would I re-read it: someday, possibly
Would I recommend it: yes, to any scifi fan

>12 Karlstar: My first Banks was Matter, then I read Player of Games and Excession. I especially loved the last two. I'd love to read more!

>14 Karlstar: In my book club we talked about Beyond the Hallowed Sky, but we never got around to reading it. It does sound like a nice series.

>15 Alexandra_book_life: Matter was not my favorite, the other two are excellent. Look to Windward or Consider Phlebas or even Use of Weapons would all be good options for your next Banks.

>16 Alexandra_book_life: I'm enjoying the series, I'll read the 3rd one soon.

Witch King by Martha Wells
STTM: 9 - so much slogging through mud, water and muddy water
Rating: 6 out of 10

If you like your fantasy a little scrambled, where terminology and normal fantasy symbols and roles are turned around and turned on their heads, you'll enjoy this. I found the scrambling to be just odd window-dressing that didn't add anything to the story.

We jump right into the action on page one with no introduction as Kai, the title Witch King, wakes up somewhere, being attacked by someone, with no idea how he got there. Along with him is Ziede, his loyal witch friend. Kai is a demon, who's spirit is trapped - until the attackers bring a handy dead body he can inhabit. What is Kai 'king' of? Don't know, Wells never really says, he's also not a witch, he's a demon and a Fourth Prince. What's a Fourth Prince? Don't know, Wells never really says... yes, there's a common element here. The world building in this novel is poor. Really poor.

The novel then alternates from the past to the present, while covering approximately the same world terrain, twice. In the past Kai is in the body of a nomad girl, captured by the Hierarchs, who are very powerful spell casters of some sort from somewhere who take over everything. Kai is freed by a friendly human who becomes a friend, and along with Ziede, some human troops and Tahren Stargard, an 'Immortal Marshall', they do some stuff in the Hierarch's Summer Palace. That's all in the past. In the present, now that Kai and Ziede have escaped their trap, they have to go back to the now flooded Summer Palace, because they can't find Tahren.

I didn't care for some of Well's choice of terms. I know we're all worn out with 'wizard' or 'sorcerer', but there's a dozen other less common and more appropriate terms than the one she chose - expositor. Her choice of term for spells - 'intention'; is fine. Expositors throwing around intentions just doesn't read right for me though. There also wasn't a ton of plot, as the plot was supposed to intersect with politics, the lack of world-building made it murky.

Despite the lack of world-building and choice of terms, it was memorable.

Was it immersive: No. The lack of world building and constant mud-slogging was annoying.
Was it memorable: yes, I still remember the plot, what little plot there was and the character names.
Would I re-read it: No
Would I recommend it: Only to people who want to read something very different.

>18 Karlstar: I'm sorry you didn't enjoy it more, but I understand your quibbles. Also your touchstone is pointing to the wrong book. (I believe I had the same issue every time I tried to use the touchstones for this one as well.)

>19 clamairy: Thanks for the heads up on the touchstone, that one was tricky. It also probably isn't fair of me to judge anything I read right after the surgery.

>20 Karlstar: I think Witch King is one of those books that requires a good deal of concentrated attention. And yes, immediately following surgery, you may not have been in the best frame of mind for it. I went through it twice (and with two different book groups) before I felt I'd grasped what was going on.

>21 jillmwo: I kept feeling like the palace setting would have made more sense if I had any familiarity with anything in the real world like it, which I don't. I probably missed some political details too that would have identified what was going on a bit better.

I finished War in the Outposts and The Aftermath: Europe. I'm still working on 2 from Alan Dean Foster, just by coincidence, Relic and To the Vanishing Point. To the Vanishing Point is a little creepier than I feel like dealing with at the moment, but I'm reading it slowly.

I finished both Relic and To the Vanishing Point, both of which were ok, not outstanding. I've sort of started Cannery Row.

>24 Karlstar: So is it that you're not sure you're really going to stick with Cannery Row? "Sort of started" as a phrase lacks enthusiasm for the general assignment. Suffering from ennui? Do you need something completely different?

>25 jillmwo: I'll definitely read it, just wanted to make sure I was in the mood before I got too far. I'm 4 or 5 chapters in now. I'm also reading Downward to the Earth, a Robert Silverberg novel that mysteriously appeared on my Kindle.

>26 Karlstar: Kindle? I thought you were a Nook man...

>27 clamairy: I have both but read more on my Nook. I did need the Kindle for Hoopla.

>28 Karlstar: Practical to have both. How's the Silverberg going?

>28 Karlstar: Oh, so it's a Fire, and not an eReader? I seem to recall we had this conversation before. I've had to use my Fire for a couple of borrowed books, and for the few eBooks I bought from B&N. It's so much heavier than my Paperwhite that it requires a little bit of an mental adjustment.

>29 jillmwo: Not bad so far, feels like a 'Heart of Darkness' story, a human former administrator returns to a jungle planet with 2 sentient species, neither of which humans understand well. Peaceful so far but there's the undertone of impending freakishness. I've actually been focusing on Cannery Row.

>30 clamairy: Yes, a Kindle Fire, it does a lot more than I need it to do, but I did by accident download a Heinlein audiobook via Hoopla, so I could listen to it if I wanted.

Done with both Cannery Row and Downward to the Earth. I moved on to The War Within, the second book in a non-Covenant Donaldson series, I read the first book probably in 2018 or 2019.

>32 Karlstar: I would love to hear your thoughts on Cannery Row.

Thanks >33 MrsLee: I will try to get to that review soon.

More reviews to catch up on.

Sunlit Man by Brandon Sanderson
STTM: 4 - there is some mud, not a lot of slogging
Rating: 3 out of 10

I really did not enjoy this one. This felt like an author's idea for a nearly inhospitable planet that should have been a short story or a novella, not a full novel. Padding it out to novel length just added words with no substance.

At the very start of the book, Nomad arrives on the surface of a strange planet. randomly fleeing magically from his pursuers, with his 'tool', an intelligent item that can form itself into anything. It also acts as his conscience and magic power meter, constantly reminding Nomad that he's running low.

Unfortunately for Nomad, and the inhabitants, this tiny planet is so close to its sun, and the sunlight somehow magically invested, that it melts everything - objects, the ground, people, the ships they fly around in, everything. Why does anyone live on this planet? That is never explained or justified. In the first chapter, Nomad narrowly survives being melted by the dawn sunlight, due to his magic, but watches as some people who were staked out melt and their hearts turn into rechargable batteries. Seriously.

Nomad becomes the hero they need while finding allies, leading them to the promised land, etc. Nothing about the plot is all that interesting. Nomad's interaction with his tool and his strange 'torment', that prevents him from using it for violence, is somewhat interesting, as Sanderson gradually reveals more and more about it. That's about all that was redeeming about this one, for me.

Was it immersive: No. Everything about it made me want to put it down.
Was it memorable: A bit, yes, the way you remember a bad experience.
Would I re-read it: No
Would I recommend it: Only to hardcore Sanderson fans.

To vary things while I was recuperating, I read a few of the Time-Life books, which were a good break from my other reading.

The Jet Age and Fighting Jets.

The Jet Age of course started with WW2 and the ME262, but quickly moved on to talk about the development of jet airliners, including the DeHavilland Comet, Boeing 707, DC-8 and others, introducing the idea of fast, affordable flying to basically everyone. The book went over the history and design of the early airliners, then the evolution into short-hop airliners, larger airliners, long-haul airliners, etc. The last chapter is devoted to the Concorde. The book is way out of date by now, but good history.

Fighting Jets goes through the same time period, but focuses on US Air Force fighters. There was a long chapter on the Korean War and another on the Vietnam War, and the planes and pilots involved. It ends with the early stages of F-15 and F-16 development.

War in the Outposts and The Aftermath: Europe

My parents started buying me these books when I was young and I have a partial set, but not including these two. A few years ago a friend asked if I was interested in his uncle's set, which is how I got the Epic of Flight books and another partial set of the WW2 books. I still have to reconcile which are duplicates.

War in the Outposts was great, as it covered some of the smaller and lesser known areas of conflict. Iran, Madagascar, Borneo, the Aleutians (not that uncommon), Jan Mayen Land, Svalbard, Greenland. Inhospitable climates and small unit action, if there was any action at all. Both the Allies and Germany were stubborn about trying to put meteorologists in Greenland and the arctic, in horrible conditions, only to have them be rooted out by the other side (most of the time).

The Aftermath: Europe was exactly what it sounds like, the years after V-E day until 1948, covering the terrible conditions, the recovery, conflicts with the Soviets and very briefly, the war crimes trials. More space was spent on the civil wars and Communist takeovers in Eastern Europe. Too high level to be really useful, but a good summary.

>35 Karlstar: Thanks for this review. It sounds like this is one to avoid for me. I mostly love Sanderson's work, but I hated Steelheart and this one sounds like it has some of the same flaws.

>37 Sakerfalcon: Always glad to help!

>35 Karlstar: I was curious right up until the point that the hearts melted into rechargeable batteries. Then decided it was not really my thing. (So I add my thanks to those of >37 Sakerfalcon: )

>39 jillmwo: Welcome! :)

I finished Pirate of the Prophecy (Empress of the Endless Sea), which I thought was decent, also Battles for Scandinavia, not sure what's next.

I've had Foundations Fear, one of the Foundation books not written by Asimov, hanging around for years so I've started that. It is about 3x the length of an Asimov novel, but good.

Time to get back to reviews. I don't need to review Starfollowers of Coramonde, this was a multi-time re-read for me. However, it was a refreshing relief after The Sunlit Man and Witch King. I tried compare the three. Ultimately, The Sunlit Man and Starfollowers have exactly the same plot. The protagonist shows up on a planet he's not familiar with and is thrown into the role of hero. He meets allies, some heroic, some ordinary and ends up on a quest to take down a BBEG. In both novels, he turns out to be A hero, not THE hero. Starfollowers just has a better cast and a better setting and while Gil McDonald does spend a good amount of time thinking about things, I don't think anyone can top Brandon Sanderson when it comes to characters spending time in their own heads.

So, a review.
Shadow and Claw by Gene Wolfe
STTM: 6 - They do spend a lot of time traveling
Rating: 8 out of 10

The first two books of the New Sun series.

For me, this one didn't disappoint. I've read this in the past, but needed a new copy so I picked up the 2 volume Omnibus for my Nook.

At the time, the setting and characters were somewhat original - a far future planet, possibly dying, with a feudal society structure, yet alien creatures and technology as spaceflight and limited teleportation is possible. Into this setting insert Severian, a foundling (shocking, I know) apprentice at the Torturers Guild. Are we really going to have those things 1000's of years in the future? Severian accidentally gets mixed up with rebels and the story takes off. The author gradually shows us more and more of the world, which usually feels very 1600's, until some technology or alien appears.

The plot is interesting, the characters are interesting, though sometimes the story wanders and gets muddled in the second book. I'll be moving on to the next two books soon-ish.

Was it immersive: I thought so, even the traveling parts.
Was it memorable: Yes, it is a very unique setting.
Would I re-read it: This is at least my 2nd reading.
Would I recommend it: Yes.

To the Vanishing Point by Alan Dean Foster
STTM: 8 - that's pretty much the whole story
Rating: 5 out of 10

I got this one via Hoopla from the library when I realized I couldn't read any more of the Sanderson novels I'd downloaded. I was immediately surprised to find that this wasn't Foster's usual light scifi, but a fantasy novel set in current times and it had a little bit of a horror aspect too.

Frank, who owns a small chain of sporting goods stores, decides that the family is going to drive from LA to Las Vegas in an RV and not fly. Halfway through the desert, they pick up a hitch-hiker. Mouse, the hitchhiker, soon tells the family that she is a Singer, on a quest to get 'The Spinner', who spins the web of reality, soothed and back on track, because the forces of Chaos are mucking things up.

Frank and family are skeptical, until they get gas at a very strange gas station, then soon after find themselves pulled over by the highway patrol of Hell and in jail in hell. Of course there's an off-ramp to Hell near Vegas! Frank is determined to get the family back to normal Earth and to Vegas (shades of the Vacation movie here) but of course that's not in the cards.

They pick up a very strange Native American too and the whole group is off on a quest in their trusty RV. All sorts of strange encounters and places ensue. Overall, I thought this was fun, though maybe a little much on the horror side a couple of times for me.

>43 Karlstar: So 5 out of 10 is decent for you? LOL (That's my 2.5 out of 5, and it's not so good.)

Just curious, can you not read the Sanderson books because you've had enough of him, or is there a technical issue?

>44 clamairy: 5 out of 10 for me is I didn't dislike it and I'd recommend it, to some people, with some reservations.

I've had enough of Sanderson for now. I quit reading the Stormlight Archive after book three, but I do like the Mistborn Era 2 books, he wanders less in those, I think.

Almost done with Foundation's Fear, which is really not Asimov-like at all. I've also started The October Country, for the read-along from the 75 Book Challenge group.

So I don't read too far ahead in The October Country, I picked up the Kindle version of Farmer in the Sky, just for the heck of it and because it was inexpensive. Very poorly done though, the cover image resolution is terrible and there are lots of formatting problems.

Still catching up on reviews

Cannery Row by John Steinbeck
STTM: 1 - very little travel, a fairly static little society
Rating: 8 out of 10

This is another classic that is still readable and enjoyable. This gets an 8 from me for now as by my own rating formula, since I don't own more than one copy and haven't read it more than once, 8 is as high as I can go, though technically it should be a 7, but that would be completely inaccurate.

Despite the title, this isn't about canneries or people who work there, it is just set in Monterey, in the section of town by the water near the canneries. There is a little community of people, most of which are un-housed - a couple live in a boiler, some people actually rent drainage pipes, a few live in a warehouse. The time is the 1930's, times are tough but they all get by.

I enjoyed all of the characters and their interactions. Somehow Steinbeck makes getting by day to day, in this very poor community that is so tied together by circumstance, helping each other; seem like a good life. Times may be tough, but that's not what they are focused on. In some ways, it is about how Mack and the 'boys' (some as old as 50) actually seem to enjoy not having very much, as long as they have a roof over their heads. Other minor characters stand out too, like the man who flip-flops his way to the beach in the morning and away again at night. Why? Other than fishing, what's he doing? What about his family?

At times Steinbeck digresses into descriptions of the ocean and the coast, or other areas of California that just bring the whole thing to life.

I enjoyed reading it and it is quite memorable.

Was it immersive: Yes. Not big on plot, but it pulls you in.
Was it memorable: Yes, in a very general way.
Would I re-read it: Definitely.
Would I recommend it: Yes.

Just realized I never reviewed Relic, so here we go.

Relic by Alan Dean Foster
STTM: 3 - very little travel
Rating: 6 out of 10

I rate this one slightly above To the Vanishing Point because for me, it just felt like a better story and I enjoyed it a little more.

Far, far in the future, and not in Foster's Commonwealth universe, humans have killed themselves off entirely via a virus. Ruslan is the only human left on his planet and maybe the only human anywhere. At that point, aliens show up. A little too convenient. The very friendly Mycari take Ruslan in and offer to recreate humanity via cloning, but he refuses, as he considers himself a poor example of humanity and humans in general to be not worth it.

The Mycari respect his wishes, but make a deal with Ruslan - he'll agree to help recreate humanity if they can find Earth. Why is it that far off in the future, Earth is always lost? Then another alien race decides that maybe they'd like possession of the last human, and there's some conflict.

I enjoyed this, it wasn't great, but it wasn't terrible and it bypassed some obvious plot problems.

Was it immersive: Yes.
Was it memorable: Only in a very general way.
Would I re-read it: Probably not.
Would I recommend it: If you like Foster's books or like this sort of novel.

The War Within by Stephen R. Donaldson
STTM: 6 - some travel, a lot of personal conflict to resolve
Rating: 8 out of 10

Another one where I might rate the book higher in the future, but 8 is where it lands on my scale for now. After not enjoying the Sanderson novel and the Foster novels were a bit mediocre, this one and Cannery Row were like an entirely superior species of book.

The War Within is the second book in The Great God's War series. I read the first book The Seventh Decimate years ago and remembered some of the key characters, but I have to say, the first half of Seventh Decimate was so unremarkable that is dragged the book down for me, though the second half made up for it. Two kingdoms, Amika and Belleger have been opponents for years, but are now unified, at least on the surface. The 'Decimates' are the 7 forms of magic and there is some rifle and cannon technology. I guess that technically makes this a powder mage series?

This book picks the plot up soon afterwards. To me, Donaldson spends the rest of the book showing his writing mastery by all the non-obvious levels of 'a war within'. Within the now unified kingdoms of Amika and Belleger, within the two primary characters, the Prince and the Princess, between those two, the introduction of 'gods' and a church, and so on. So many levels of conflict within - as the external conflict that's coming hasn't arrived yet.

Unlike some of Donaldson's other novels, he doesn't use a overly complicated writing style with words we rarely, if ever read. Even so, this is still very well done. Can't wait for the next one.

Was it immersive: Yes. The characters are excellent.
Was it memorable: Yes.
Would I re-read it: Definitely.
Would I recommend it: Yes.

>48 Karlstar: I really do owe it to myself to read Cannery Row. I've read very little of John Steinbeck -- Travels with Charley and his retelling of the King Arthur legends. But you make it seem like it would be more enjoyable ratherr than harrowing. I think what I know of The Grapes of Wrath put me off.

>51 jillmwo: Oh! I hear you. We read The Pearl, The Grapes of Wrath and The Red Pony in HS, so I avoided him. Then I read East of Eden just out of curiosity in my mid-thirties and I changed my mind about him. I still thought it was a bit dark, but then I read it again for a book club in my mid-forties and decided it was even better than I remembered.

>51 jillmwo: & >52 clamairy: You absolutely must give Cannery Row a read. So different from his other works. Not dark.

>48 Karlstar: Great review, I'm glad you enjoyed it.

>53 MrsLee: I have it rated in my LT catalog, but have zero memory of it. I just looked it up on my PC. According to my book log I read it in 1993, and I liked it.

>53 MrsLee: Thanks for your review and encouragement to read it.

>51 jillmwo: You really should give Cannery Row and The Grapes of Wrath a read.

Downward to the Earth by Robert Silverberg
STTM: 7 - lots of mud, lots of slogging on a journey of discovery
Rating: 5 out of 10

While looking for something to read while recovering, this one just appeared on my Kindle. I have no idea how or why, I didn't buy it. Since I'd read the books I had available that I was interested in, I figured I'd give it a shot.

In some far off time, 'the Corporation' has been required to return control of a planet to its native inhabitants, which come in two forms - the very elephant like nildororor and the sasquatch-like solidororor. There are a few humans left on the planet, a few that used to work there but don't want to leave, for various reasons, plus some tourists. The planet in general is hot, humid and steamy jungle, suited for the natives but not humans. Yes, there are elephants.

A human named Gunderson, who used to be a middle-level manager, returns to the planet to try and understand it better, plus to try to 'make it up' to the nildororor, who he used to think of as just animals. In particular, he wants to reconnect with a couple of old friends, including one old girlfriend, plus make a pilgrimage to the nildororor holy place, the 'mountains of mist'. The natives have absolutely zero technology and don't appear to be interested in it at all, they just want to be left alone on their planet with their own form of mysticism.

The trip is a mix of travel, self-discovery and some alien jungle type horror as Gunderson keeps encountering plants and animals that want to eat, merge, mutate or otherwise do bad things, but his nildororor guide is always there. At one point, Gunderson has a conversation about sentience, when the alien asks how humans know that elephants don't have souls, implying we are wrong.

I thought this was just all right, I guess it was mostly a novel about how we should be careful when dealing with alien life.

Was it immersive: Not really.
Was it memorable: Yes.
Would I re-read it: No.
Would I recommend it: If you want an alien 'Heart of Darkness' kind of read, maybe.

>56 Karlstar:. elephant like nildororor and the sasquatch-like solidororor. I had a passing thought about your review and wonder if I'm alone in this. As an initial reaction, I find those names of his lifeforms shown to be clumsy as I mentally pronounce them while reading. (Not unlike the unpronouncable Pfiftriggi in C.S. Lewis's Out of the Silent Planet. I realize hat naming aliens in science fiction is always a challenge unless one is by profession a linguist. Did any of that kind of thinking occur to you as you were reading? Did the names of the life forms used by Silverberg bother or irritate you? Or were you able to just go with the flow?

>57 jillmwo: They did and I think by about halfway through, I was just mentally dropping the last 'or'. When writing the review I had to check to make sure I had the right number of 'or's.

I checked the library for ebooks by Lois Bujold and found The Sharing Knife Bequilement and I started that, as well as Ashes of a Black Frost, which is the third book in Evan's Iron Elves series.

>58 Karlstar: I'm laughing. I love your practical response of mentally dropping the last "or".

>60 jillmwo: Thanks, I wonder if he did it on purpose.

I am ready for next week's readings in The October Country. The stories continue to be weird.

Another review
Pirate of the Prophecy (Empress of the Endless Sea 1) by Jack Campbell
STTM: 5 - a lot of sailing around in circles
Rating: 6 out of 10

Since I've enjoyed Campbell's Lost Fleet books and the related series, I thought I would give another one of this a chance. The book (first in a series) is set on a far off planet, where the base technology level seems to be pre-gunpowder Earth. However, there are two Guilds that basically run the planet. The Mechanics have mid 20th century Earth technology and the Mages, who seem to have some sort of actual magical or mental powers.

A young lieutenant in the Empire's service, Jules/Jeri, is on her first voyage. She's a 'legion orphan', her father died in the service and her mother died at roughly the same time and she was raised in an orphanage, which carries a stigma. Shocking, a novel about an orphan. I'm guessing there will be more about the parents revealed in later books.

While at an island port, Jules encounters a Mage, who after just one glance at her, pronounces a prophecy which immediately causes her to flee for her life - to a smuggler/pirate ship. Luckily for her these are virtuous pirates who take her in and protect her, but she spends the rest of the books first trying to hide, then flee, from the Mages and the Empire and the prophecy. The Mechanics view the other people on the planet as just foolish illiterates, but they are partially her allies.

I thought this was good, I liked the characters and I think he'll tell us more about her family and this strange, backwards world in future books. I also thought he had a good perspective on how someone who is the subject of a prophecy would have so many difficulties. The ship and the crew were good, but not great.

Was it immersive: Yes, I enjoyed it.
Was it memorable: I think I'll remember the general plot for a while.
Would I re-read it: Maybe, probably not.
Would I recommend it: If you are looking for a different sort of pirate book or a pirate/scifi crossover.

Foundations Fear by Greg Benford
STTM: 2 - almost no travel and no mud on Trantor
Rating: 4 out of 10

I finished this, so it wasn't that bad, but it was so long and so un-Asimov that I didn't care for it much. It might have worked better for me if I'd read the afterword first.

In the afterword, Benford explains that he always had questions about Foundation, including - why were there no aliens? What was the role of computers? What did psychohistory look like? Not sure I understand that last one but it definitely affected this book.

In addition, there's this interesting quote from Asimov himself about Foundation, when he re-read it later - "I read it with mounting uneasiness. I kept waiting for something to happen, and nothing ever did. All three volumes, all the nearly quarter of a million words, consisted of thoughts and conversation. No action. No physical suspense."

So Benford set out to answer the questions, fill in the 'missing parts' and provide lots of action and went too far in the other direction. During his researches, in order to fill in some missing pieces of psychohistory, Hari's team finds some old personality sims - really old ones, so old they are now banned. The sims turn out to be - Voltaire and Joan of Arc. They then go on adventures in The Mesh, the computer universe.

Hari and Dors survive assassination attempt after assassination attempt, including one on a far off planet while they are experiencing life as primates. Voltaire and Joan have adventures in the computer universe. Dors and R. Daneel Olivaw do robot things. The Emperor wants Hari to be First Minister, while he is still trying to finish psychohistory. There's a lot going on, I think way too much.

Was it immersive: Not really.
Was it memorable: Eh, I may remember the negatives.
Would I re-read it: No.
Would I recommend it: If you have to read all of the Foundation books, but you can skip this one.

Pricey! https://grimoakpress.com/products/the-summer-tree-limited-edition

They look great though.

>63 Karlstar:. My dear man, are you TRYING to completely demolish my already-crooked-and-somewhat-tarnished halo? Because yes, those are pricey.

>64 jillmwo: I know! Is it wrong that I'm considering getting one?

>63 Karlstar: Thanks for the nudge. No, I didn't spring for the pricy version. I've never read it, even though I own a paper copy. I just purchased the Kindle version for $3.99.

>66 clamairy: It isn't his best work, being his first, but I really enjoy that trilogy. I hope you like it.

I'm doing his Tigana with a book group later in the month. I don't think they've read anything by him before.

>68 jillmwo: You're starting with a good one! I've only read three, my favorite being The Lions of al-Rassan, but Tigana was a very close second. There's an ancient group read thread for you to check out when you're done.

>68 jillmwo: A lot of folks think Tigana is his best, or at least it is their favorite. I hope you enjoy it.

>70 Karlstar:. I know I have read Tigana before. I just need to reread it and see what comes back into my head as I do. One way or another, I know that I discovered Kay as an author while on a business trip to the Netherlands. (I'd run out of reading material and still had a full length airplane flight to get thru. It was either Tigana or Arbonne that I read at that point.) My hardback copy of Tigana may be be a first edition (U.S.) but it's not really in very good shape.

>71 jillmwo: Sorry about that! I hope your group enjoys it too.

I finished Beguilement, which I quite enjoyed, I'll have to get the next two from the library. I'm still working on Ashes of a Black Frost, but I'm remembering now why I waited so long to revisit this series, I just don't care any more where the plot is going. I like the characters, but it has gotten to be a slog.

This past week I had my last physical therapy appointment, according to the therapist, I 'graduated', a session or two early. I also saw my surgeon, who said everything is going well. I'm at about the 3/4 point in terms of flexibility and function, the other 25% will take another 10 months.

I've been driving more and more, so far up to a 35 minute drive, no long trips yet.

Congratulations! Are you taking walks? Are you pain-free?

>74 Karlstar:
That is fantastic news. Well done. Good luck with the "other 25%".

>74 Karlstar: Seconding what Peter said.

>75 clamairy: Thank you. Not yet, I've been getting out and doing errands, but not taking walks yet, as our street had been milled (paving removed) the day before my surgery and just finally paved yesterday. New pavement! The pain is much, much better. Sometimes even pain free, sometimes just nagging.

>75 clamairy: >76 pgmcc: Thank you! I took the week off from at home PT, but I need to resume.

Edit: >77 haydninvienna: Thank you too! The omission was not intentional.

>74 Karlstar: I would expect nothing less than near perfection from you in any of your endeavors. So glad to hear it.

>74 Karlstar: It's such a good feeling when they let you go, isn't it? You feel like moving around, even to the point of taking on very large intimidating people and animals as you bellow Lemme at 'em. But OTOH, it sounds as if you're being careful and not over doing the feeling of super-power.

One day at a time.

>79 MrsLee: Thank you! I'm still hobbling at times but that may be permanent.

>80 jillmwo: The bar down the road from us has a really nice sand volleyball setup with leagues. I am really tempted, but I've never played sand volleyball and at this point I haven't played at all in 6 years. I'm probably retired?

>74 Karlstar: This is such great news! Congratulations!

>82 Alexandra_book_life: Thank you!

>74 Karlstar: Great to hear that you're doing better than just "on the mend"! Hope you get back to 100% soon.

>74 Karlstar: Belated congrats!

>84 hfglen: >85 Narilka: Thank you both.

I finished Ashes of a Black Frost, which had been in the TBR pile for about 3 years, now time to find my next read.

I decided to pick up a book I bought at the library sale last year, The Fatal Shore: The Epic of Australia's Founding. I'd been hesitating starting it for a while, but I checked the reviews here on LT and most folks thought it was very good. So far, it is.

On the bonus side, I found in the book a diaper coupon from 1989. That's almost historical, isn't it?

>87 Karlstar:. Hold on to that coupon for another decade and some museum will ask if you're willing to contribute it to them (Ideally, nicely framed...)

>87 Karlstar: Ha! How much is it for? A dollar?
I'm pretty sure I have that book still sitting around somewhere so I'm glad you're enjoying it.

>88 jillmwo: I'll probably just keep it in the book so it may be around that long.

>89 clamairy: Yes! One dollar. Does your copy have a coupon in it?

>90 Karlstar: I don't think so! If I ever find it again I will check.

Luckily this area is fairly low maintenance, there are some short annuals that can't be seen in this picture, otherwise this is all perennials. This picture is from sometime in mid-July. I had to re-link this to get it to show up properly.

>92 Karlstar: That's lovely! I'm envious of how green it is (was) because we're in the middle of a serious dry spell here and everything is fading a little earlier than usual.

>92 Karlstar: How beautiful!

>92 Karlstar:
Lovely.

>92 Karlstar: So beautiful and peaceful

>92 Karlstar: Wow. That is really lovely. (And I would imagine a fair amount of work to get it to that level. Congrats!)

>93 clamairy: Thank you. We're a little drier than normal here but have gotten some rainy days. At this point all that's left blooming is the annuals, gladiolus and the sedums and that planter of petunias, which just won't quit.

>94 Sakerfalcon: >95 pgmcc: >96 Narilka: Thank you.

>97 jillmwo: The previous owners left us a good start, but mostly hosta, the ornamental grass and vinca vine. Ripping out the grass hasn't been too bad. The coneflowers were a great find, we love those orange ones. The mice/voles eliminated another large patch of hosta 2 winters ago, so I had some available space for new plants.

>98 Karlstar:
I spent August ripping out vinca that had taken over while we were away.

>92 Karlstar: What a peaceful view. Thank you for sharing.

>99 pgmcc: I ripped some out in the spring, have to do more now, it takes over so fast.

>100 MrsLee: You are very welcome.

>101 Karlstar: We were gone for four months, so you can imagine the state of the place when we got back.

>102 pgmcc: I can, it is persistent stuff.

Way behind on reviews.

Farmer in the Sky by Heinlein
STTM: 4 - one long flight, then not much
Rating: 6 out of 10

This was an old favorite that I was a little surprised to find that I did not own. I must have borrowed it from the library multiple times back in the day. I picked up a cheap (cheaply done, too) version for my Kindle.

This is a very basic Heinlein story. A young man and his father decide to emigrate to Ganymede, which is being settled as a 'farming' moon/planet, as Earth is very short on food. He makes the point before they leave Earth that food is strictly rationed and artificial.

After a long, but fast trip, they arrive at Ganymede. Through some unspecified technology, they are both heating the moon and providing breathable atmosphere. After some time working around the colony, they are appointed a plot of land and start turning it into farmland. At least Heinlein is realistic enough to point out that it won't grow Earth crops as it is sterile and there's no 'soil', they have to make soil using rock and specially prepared soil starter from Earth. It goes on from there.

The book is very dated and simplistic - the Boy Scouts basically get everything done! He has a step-mother and step-sister, but they are basically left out of the story entirely. Only fans of older scifi would enjoy this at all, I would think.

Was it immersive: Yes, but it is an old favorite, and short.
Was it memorable: Not really, they are farmers on Ganymede.
Would I re-read it: Maybe
Would I recommend it: If you are a Heinlein fan and haven't read it.

>104 Karlstar: My husband says he read it, but doesn't remember much of it now. Other Heinlein juveniles made a far greater impression.

>105 jillmwo: Not sure why my brain kept telling me to re-read it. It was dated but still fun, but not memorable.

I'm about 2/3 of the way through The Fatal Shore. Good stuff, but very textbook-ish.

>106 Karlstar: Oh. Like Michneresque? Or worse? (I loved Michener when I was younger, but I don't know how well he'd fly with my senior onset ADHD.)

>107 clamairy: There isn't a lot of story here, it really is more like a textbook.

>107 clamairy:
My favourite Michener was The Source. One I disliked was Space. He invented a lunar mission just to give the opportunity to have astronauts crash on the Moon.

>108 Karlstar: Hmm. Perhaps it might work better for me as an audiobook.

>109 pgmcc: The Source and Hawaii were both amazing. I think the only other two I've read were Tales of the South Pacific, which was very good and The Drifters which was just okay. And ugh, that spoiler bit would not sit well with me.

>110 clamairy: I think you focus on this sort of book in audiobook form much better than I would. I think I'd tend to stop paying attention. I'll try to do a better job describing the book in my review.

Beguilement book 1 of The Sharing Knife by Lois McMaster Bujold
STTM: 2 - not much travel
Rating: 6 out of 10

I enjoyed most of this book. It was a little too romance-y for my taste in spots. I picked this up via Hoopla when I thought I'd see what they have available from Lois McMaster Bujold. Like all of her fantasy books, it was very well written and the characters are excellent.

The story starts with a young lady on the road, leaving her family farm and headed for a larger city to look for work. She's alone and expecting. When she stops at a roadside farm that sells food, she encounters a patrol of 'lakewalkers', itinerant warriors with some magic talent, they defend the countryside against evil.

Soon enough she gets tangled up in the local infestation of evil and meets a particular lakewalker in person. Unfortunately, I've already forgotten the names. That's not really a criticism of the book, I read this over a month ago.

I think I already saw someone here on LT mention a potential problem with this book. She's 20, or maybe 18 and he's more than 20 years older.

However as I mentioned, it is well written, I liked the characters and there's enough action to keep it going. Unlike most fantasy books today though, the action is up front, not at the end. The rest is the romance-y part.

Was it immersive: Yes.
Was it memorable: I remember the essentials, not the character names.
Would I re-read it: Maybe, too soon to tell.
Would I recommend it: To anyone who likes Bujold's fantasy works, definitely.

>111 Karlstar: Yeah, well that's kind of the point... Some of the facts and factoids don't stick in my brain, and I'm okay with that.

Ashes of a Black Frost by Chris Evans
STTM: 3 - some confused wandering
Rating: 4 out of 10

This series had so much promise when it started. The Iron Elves are fighting FOR the empire, against the Shadow Monarch - another elf. The Shadow Monarch has gone off the deep end due to her obsession with her Silver Wolf Oak and has decided that the humans absolutely must go.

The Iron Elves are bonded to her via a black acorn embedded in their chest, but the regiment of Iron Elves, led by Major Konowa Swift Dragon, have sided with the empire and not her. Along with some humans, a dwarf, and the mysterious Rallie Synjyn, a scribe/artist/reporter who rides with them, the Iron Elf regiment has been trying to get to the Shadow Monarch for the first two books of the series.

This one picks up right after a huge battle at the end of book two, where a 'Star', some beneficial magical manifestation of nature, has returned the the world. Now that the Star arrived safely, the Iron Elves have to finish their task and get to the Shadow Monarch. Her forces of angry trees (more like Huorns than Ents), rakkes (were-apes? can't quite figure out what they are supposed to be) and other opponents will try to stop them in what is a basically never-ending battle through the book.

Konowa is aided by the shades of the dead Iron Elves, led by young sergeant Ally, his parents, and Rallie. There's a lot of fighting, a lot of weary slogging and some decent magic in this one. I just thought the author left too much to the imagination and wrapped it up poorly.

Was it immersive: Not really.
Was it memorable: A bit, in a bad way.
Would I re-read it: Nope.
Would I recommend it: If you read the first one and are excited about the series and have to finish it.

>112 Karlstar: I had started Beguilement a year or two back as an ebook but, somehow or other, was distracted before I finished it. You've given me something to think about, the next time I go rummaging about looking for something to read on my Kindle.

>115 jillmwo: I hope you do, it is a well written story and I'm planning on continuing the series.

A Washington Post article about libraries and who uses them. This should be free access:

https://wapo.st/3YaPxpI

According to the table, our local library is funded at a level 2 or 3 times lower than other libraries in the state serving the same size population.

>117 Karlstar: Thanks for sharing. I had gotten about 75% of the way through that article the other day, but I never saw the data for individual libraries. I did some quick calculations and was kind of horrified by what I found. My public library when we lived in Illinois spent $34 per person in 2022. My town library when I lived in Connecticut spent more than twice that amount. Where I live now the town spends 4½ times the amount they do in Illinois. That's so depressing.

>118 clamairy: But is that because the costs are higher in NY or because we value libraries more?

>119 Karlstar: I hate to say this, but I definitely think we value books, reading and libraries more in the Northeast in general compared to parts of the Midwest and South. Don't get me wrong, there are pockets of hook nuts everywhere. And urban areas tend to be more bookish. But all three of the libraries I am talking about are relatively rural.

>120 clamairy: You are likely right, I expect that's why our library is so under-funded, relatively.

>121 Karlstar: I believe that's why so many libraries have done the smart thing and created consortiums. They can pool their resources, especially for things like ebooks and audiobooks. Then they can get away with spending less per resident, and still provide a decent amount of media for consumption.

Key quote (to your point clamairy) is this:

Rural libraries and bookmobiles are doing secular-saintly work out there with limited budgets. But Iowa’s South English Public Library and North Dakota’s Bowbells Public Library, which serve a few hundred people and measure their budgets in the single-digit thousands, simply can’t provide the exhaustive collection and endless and esoteric services you’ll find at the New York Public Library, the nation’s largest, which had $332 million to throw around in 2022.

Libraries do a lot of resource sharing but the funding levels always mean that some areas have more to share than others.

>123 jillmwo: Yes. I'm in the same consortium as a bunch of extremely wealthy communities like The Hamptons. And even where I am quite a few of the houses are vacation homes, which means people are paying taxes and rarely using the library at all.

I finished The Fatal Shore, I'm still reading along in The October Country and I started another Bradbury short story collection, The Golden Apples of the Sun and because it was cheap on Kindle, I started A Little Hatred by Ambercrombie. I hadn't realized it was set in his First Law world, but seems to introduce a new generation of characters.

I finished A Little Hatred already, I was surprised it went so fast.

I started Ad Astra, a short story collection by John G. Hemry and I'm still working on The October Country in the group read.

>127 Karlstar: I hope you like it. I loved the various short stories and ended up giving it 4.5 stars :-)
(oh, in regards to Ad Astra, not the October one)

>128 BookstoogeLT: So far so good! I thought his short about the editorial and re-write process was great.

I finished both The October Country and Ad Astra. I thought The October Country did not finish quite as well as it started, but all of the stories were at least good. Ad Astra was good all the way through.

>130 Karlstar: Is that touchstone for Ad Astra the right one? It's going to a movie.

>131 jillmwo: Thank you, it is fixed now.

Not much reading lately, on Saturday we went to see Hamilton, which was very good. On Sunday my brother invited me along to go to the Bills-Titans game. Two events in two days and a lot more walking than I've done in a while.

>133 Karlstar: Getting back to normal levels of activity is important. Think of it as unregulated physical therapy.

>133 Karlstar: That's sounds fun. How well were you able to keep up? Did you have much discomfort?

>134 jillmwo: Thanks, it is nice to get out and do things again!

>135 clamairy: Unfortunately we were in balcony seats in a theater with no elevators, so going up and down 4 flights of stairs was slow. I'm sure I held some people up, especially going down. I still can't quite go down stairs 'normally'. Not too much discomfort though! A little sore today.

I got talking to some friends about how one of them had not yet read The Many-Colored Land by Julian May, so I looked it up and it is available in ebook from the library, so now I'm knee deep in the hoopla.

I was really surprised to see that the copyright on the book is 1981, I think I picked up this series after the 2nd or 3rd book was out, not right away.

I downloaded The Golden Torc from Hoopla and finished that one too, so it is back to The Golden Apples of the Sun while I try to figure out my next read.

Next up is The Hydrogen Sonata by Iain Banks. So far I know that the title is a common name for a composition for an instrument designed to be played by a person with 4 hands.

>139 Karlstar: One person with four hands? Not two people with two hands each?

>140 clamairy: there are sonatas for piano 4 hands, but the hands are usually attached to 2 people.

>141 haydninvienna:
That depends on which planet you are on.

>140 clamairy: Yes, one person with 4 hands. The young lady, who's not human (or Culture) but humanoid, and a member of a race who will be Subliming (Ascending was the term David Brin used) soon, had herself altered to add 2 arms and 2 hands so she could play the instrument properly. Apparently it has strings and keys (and pedals). Getting through the entire piece, which is apparently very difficult, is her 'life task'.

>142 pgmcc: Exactly.

My reading plans have taken a detour. My nephew dropped off a couple of books he wants me to read, pertaining to Gaza.

Apparently the letter M is where I start to lose track and get sloppy when putting books here in LT. A week or two ago, someone mentioned the Dennis McKiernan novels and when I checked my books vs. LT, there were several I'd never added here. Tonight I did the same with the Michael Moorcock Elric novels and found three that weren't here in LT. The weird thing is, it is random books from a series, not consistent.

Some time when it isn't quite so late in the day I'll have to go through the rest of the M's and check vs. LT.

>145 Karlstar: I don't know how suddenly one's catalog goes off the rails, but I've had similar issues. Tidy it up as best you can.

>145 Karlstar: I don't even want to look at my catalog compared to the books on my shelves. Way back when, before I started working out of the home, I tried to catalog every book I had read, not the books on the TBR shelves. Then at some point I tried to do some of those, but it's just a mess. Please don't talk to me about the books on my Kindle.

>145 Karlstar: >146 jillmwo: There is a series of girls' school stories (Trebizon) which for some reason I have never entered into my LT catalogue. I don't own all the books. Now if I find books from the series I have no way of knowing whether I already have them or not. I would love to enter them into LT, but unfortunately I must have put them into a box when I had to clear my flat, and I haven't managed to find them yet.

>147 MrsLee: I am in denial about the books on my kindle. I don't add them to LT until I start reading them. That way I can pretend I only have a sane number on there.

>148 Sakerfalcon:
I enter my Kindle books on LT when I get them. I am afraid I would forget all about them if I lose visibility of them. At least on LT I can browse my catalogue when deciding what to read and there is chance I will see them. That is not to say that there are no books on my Kindle that I have forgotten. Hardly a month goes by without my thinking I must buy a book I have come across only to discover I bought it for Kindle some time ago.

>146 jillmwo: I don't understand it either!

>147 MrsLee: It helped when we moved and I could check LT as I unpacked.

>148 Sakerfalcon: >149 pgmcc: I have to put my books in, otherwise I end up with doubles when I look at series here on LT and see that I'm missing something. Strangely enough, one of the Moorcock novels that wasn't in LT... I had 2 copies. The 2nd one may have come from me buying a used book on the internet and when it arrived, it was much more damaged then advertised. Maybe. I was wondering why the heck they were both on the shelf though.

I finished The Spy Who Came in from the Cold. What a great book. Engaging and memorable.

>151 Karlstar:
I am glad you enjoyed it. When I finished reading it I felt it was the perfect spy book and wondered what any other espionage story could offer that was not already in The Spy Who Came In From The Cold

>149 pgmcc: I have been considering entering all my kindle books on LT for a while now, for the reason of visibility that you mention. If one day you notice hundreds of books added to my catalogue, that is what it will be!

I had the same reaction to that slim spy novel. It's so economical, yet effective. Tightly plotted and emotionally wrenching.

>153 Sakerfalcon:. Laughing! Because this year, for the first time, I'm noting privately in my catalog whether I have added something in print format or in Kindle or both. (I also noticed this morning three titles listed that I'm pretty sure I re-homed several years back. Somebody, hand me a broom so I can do some tidying up myself.)

I'm away from home for a few days, so besides The Spy Who Came in from the Cold, I downloaded Janny Wurts' Stormwarden for my Nook and brought The Question of Palestine with me.

You can tell Stormwarden is a Wurts novel, it just has that tone and jumps immediately into the action.

>153 Sakerfalcon:
Today LT saved me €7. I came across a Fred Vargas book that I thought I did not have. A quick search of my catalogue told me it is safely tucked away at home already.

Done with The Spy Who Came in From the Cold, Stormwarden and The Question of Palestine. Back to The Hydrogen Sonata and Dilvish, the Damned, which is a replacement for a book lost in the 2018 water damage incident.

Add me to the list of those who add their Kindle books to their catalog right away. When I am looking for something new to read I can sort all the books in my Kindle collection by rating and pick something unread to start. It mostly works.

I'm so far back in reviews, I'm still on September books. Time to catch up a bit.

The Fatal Shore by Robert Hughes
STTM: none to speak of, but at times it was a slog
Rating: 6 out of 10

I was hoping for a book a little bit more focused on Australia the place, but this was almost entirely focused on 'the System' - the sentencing of those found guilty of crimes in the UK to first prison, then transportation to Australia. It started out by describing the UK justice system at the time, then moved on to the actual voyages and settling of Australia. The book covered 1780-1840, roughly, though it did touch on events both before and after.

The main focus was the conditions and treatment of the transportees. They either worked for the government, were loaned out by the government to settlers/farmers, or were indentured to the farmers directly. Which method was prevalent depended on the governor at the time. Those who committed additional crimes were sentenced to one of the penal colonies, particularly Norfolk Island.

I thought this was useful history, but I didn't get a good sense of Australia from it. Excellent background and well researched information, but hard to get through at times.

A Little Hatred by Joe Abercrombie
STTM: 5 - lots of personal growth, some slogging.
Rating: 7 out of 10

I picked this up on Kindle because it was on sale for a very reasonable price and I'd read the previous books, though the previous one in the First Law series was disappointing. This one is a continuation of that series, with a new generation of characters.

At first Abercrombie's style of introducing the characters, then gradually bringing them together wasn't that interesting, but I found myself drawn in and I finished the book much quicker than I expected. All of the characters were flawed but interesting. Leo, the governor's son, is only interested in being a hero. Rikke', the Dogman's daughter, who has some talent for seeing the future, is inexperienced and insecure. Orso, the King's son, is a drunk dilettante. Savine, the Lector's daughter, is a ruthless businesswoman and investor, with no humanity at all. Over the course of the book, they come together in various ways and grow up a lot, which there's a rebellion, a worker's revolt and a lot of conflict.

I thought this was surprisingly good, much better than the previous First Law novel, The Heroes. The survivors of The Heroes made cameo appearances in this one.

Was it immersive: yes.
Was it memorable: Sort of, likely the details will fade soon.
Would I re-read it: Possibly.
Would I recommend it: Yes, if you like Joe Abercrombie novels.

>159 clamairy: I add them after I read them. I have to add them here otherwise I'd buy the book twice, or forget to remove it from my wishlist and someone would buy it for me.

Ad Astra by John G. Hemry (aka Jack Campbell)
STTM: 0 - very short stories
Rating: 7 out of 10

For a short story collection, I really enjoyed this one. Not quite as much as The October Country, but all of the stories were good, sometimes amusing and all seemed to be a complete concept.

Some memorable stories -
"Lady Be Good" - a down and out spacer in a down and out ship has to make tough choices.
"As You Know, Bob" - the process of writing a scifi novel. Funny.
"Do No Harm" - what to do when a derelict spaceship is discovered.

I'm not going to write a review of The Many-Colored Land or The Golden Torc, I've probably mentioned them here before and they are 40 years (!!!) old at this point. Both are fantastic scifi/fantasy novels, I still really love that series.

>164 Karlstar: You know, I didn't really find The Many-Colored Land that appealing back when it first came out. But you do make me wonder if that was just because I was just in the wrong time/place in my life for it.

The Question of Palestine by Edward W. Said
Rating: 5 or 6

This is a long essay on the subject by a Paestinian-American. Born in Jerusalem in 1935, he and his family moved to the United States, wikipedia describes him as a "public intellectual". That part is clear in the early part of the book, as he talks about American academics that he claims were influential and representative of American thought in the 1940's and 1950's.

He first talks about Western attitudes towards the Orient and Palestine, then goes on to explain his point of view as a Palestinian. This book was first published in 1979, then revised in 1992, but even with the (apparently limited) revision in 1992, it still was hopelessly out of date, constantly referring to the situation in the 70's and 80's as the status quo.

He also uses several novels as general explanations for Western thought. That can be useful in some ways, but novels reflect the beliefs of the author and it is not always valid to generalize from them, especially novels 80-100 years old. He also amends quotes by adding italics, or parenthetical comments, which I didn't like at all.

This was definitely good as a way to see someone else's viewpoint, but had some issues.

>165 jillmwo: Was there anything in particular you didn't care about it, do you recall?

>164 Karlstar:
I remember when they first came out. They piqued my interest at the time but I never indulged.

>168 pgmcc: It is not too late! They really are excellent.

>167 Karlstar: I honestly cannot recall. Back in 1981, I didn't have all that much experience with science fiction / fantasy as genres and I probably viewed the book as primarily written for a male readership. I was exploring SFF with an eye towards more feminist-oriented authors. I could afford those in backlist mass-market paperbacks -- C.J. Cherryh's Hunter of Worlds and some of the Darkover series churned out by Marion Zimmer Bradley. But as I recall, Julian May was being marketed as highly sophisticated science fiction and I didn't think I would get it. Back then, I suspect I could accept the concept of space aliens but would have rolled my eyes with regard to time travel.

>170 jillmwo: You are probably right as to the intended audience. As far as the highly sophisticated science fiction goes, I think it bears more resemblance to the Golden Age scifi, with grand ideas that just work, without a tremendous amount of explanation, rather than today's 'hard' scifi where it is expected that the tech is esoteric and at least somewhat explained.

That actually reminds me of the story in the Ad Astra collection about writing scifi.

Tad Williams' The Navigator's Children arrives tomorrow! This is the 4th and last book in the 2nd Osten Ard series, though he is working on more stand-alone books in the same world.

I know what I'll be reading this week.

Looks like there is a system problem today. The image server is down. Nothing in my gallery is available, so for folks that post cover images, you'll see blanks.

>173 Karlstar: Yes, based on what I see in my own library, the problem is specifically with those images that have been uploaded by users. Do you do that a lot?

They must have fixed it because I see all of my covers. (And they should all be user covers.)

>174 jillmwo: I don't, I noticed it when a picture here failed to appear.

>175 clamairy: Agreed. I often choose covers from Amazon though.

Just need two reviews to catch up.

The Spy Who Came in from the Cold by John le Carre
STTM: 4 - some flying, some driving, but some personal growth too. This is not about the travel.
Rating: 8 out of 10

I'm going with an 8 on this one as it is my first reading, I only own the e-book version (so far) so it doesn't meet any of the criteria for a 9 or a 10 yet.

For those who are unfamiliar, the novel is written from the point of view of a British spy in the 1950's, who's post is Berlin/East Germany. When he's recalled to London, an opportunity arises, and the story goes on from there. The plot is complex, though for people used to reading spy novels written more recently than 1963, it may feel familiar and dated. The characters are well done and a bit unusual.

Not much else to say, this is short but excellent.

Was it immersive: yes.
Was it memorable: Yes.
Would I re-read it: Likely.
Would I recommend it: Yes, if you have any interest in Cold War spy novels.

>177 Karlstar:
Glad you liked it.

>178 pgmcc: I did, thanks, now I can put the other book on my TBR pile.

I finished The Navigator's Children today. A really great finish to the series. I was surprised to see that I was the first person to review the book here on LT.

>179 Karlstar: I really need to try some Tad Williams.

>180 clamairy: Have you considered his books before and decided against them?

>181 Karlstar: No, I have not decided against them. I even snagged The Dragonbone Chair as an Audible book. I just have to remember to listen to it.

>180 clamairy: I read the Dragonbone Chair and loved it, but keep forgetting to move on to the rest of the trilogy. Now I probably have to go back and reread the first one.

I do highly recommend the stand-alone Tailchaser's Song - it's wonderful and has the handsomest hero ever.

Reading through the thread and seeing all the cataloging woes, makes me glad I keep all my book data in Calibre. That has my books read and all my TBR's. TBR currently stands at about 280, so a comfortable 2 year cushion :-)

I just bought Navigator's Children, so sometime in '25 I'm going to start with MST and read the whole shebang :-)

>184 BookstoogeLT: The catalog woes are just the usual, about once a year I find books that I thought I had entered here that are missing. Might just be me being inconsistent.

The whole MST re-read may not be as long as Wheel of Time, but it isn't short!

Happy Thanksgiving to those who celebrate! To everyone, I hope you have a good day.

I hope you had a wonderful time with family, Karlstar. And that there are sufficient leftovers to make today just as satisfying!

>187 jillmwo: Thanks Jill, I hope yours was good as well. A slightly amusing story about leftovers, or in this case, not leftovers.

I make twice-baked white and sweet potatoes, with maple and chipotle. Some of the family like them, some don't just because they don't like sweet potatoes. After dinner last night, Trish complained that she hadn't had one, as they were gone. They are one of her favorites, so she was sad. I just couldn't see how that was possible, so I looked in the oven and found half of them had never made it to the table. This suited her just fine as now she has leftovers.

>188 Karlstar:
Nice catch. I hope you told her that you had reserved those ones for her because you knew how much she liked them.

>188 Karlstar: Some things you just save for the day-after.

>189 pgmcc: I was not that quick thinking! She's happy now though. I do feel bad for the one person who couldn't attend who didn't get one in their take-home box.

>190 jillmwo: They are great leftovers!

>188 Karlstar: That dish sounds amazing. Any chance you would share the recipe with us?

>192 MrsLee: I would love to, I'm honored.

Twice-baked white/sweet potatoes – makes 10 halves

1 stick butter
2/3 pint of half and half
2 chipotles in adobo, plus some sauce (or more if you like spice, see below)

3 large russet baking potatoes
2 sweet potatoes, roughly the same size as the russets

2 TBSP maple syrup
¼ cup sour cream
salt and pepper to taste

Grated cheddar cheese
maple syrup

Clean potato skins and bake using your preferred method. (mine is 400 degree oven for 1 hour, roughly, on a foil-lined baking sheet) The sweet potatoes will take less time than the white potatoes and since you need to preserve the skins, try to take them out when they are just fully baked. When they start oozing, they are ready. The potatoes need to be soft enough to scoop out and mash.

While the potatoes are baking, put the butter, cream and chipotles in a small pot and heat, then turn off and let sit.

When the potatoes are fully baked, remove from the oven, let cool briefly, carefully cut in half with a sharp knife, then carefully remove the potato, putting the empty skins in a 9x13 baking dish and the potato in a large bowl.

Use an immersion blender, blender, or your favorite method to blend the milk mixture. Small pieces of chipotle are fine. Add half the milk mixture to the potatoes and mash, then add the sour cream. Add more milk mixture as needed, you want the potatoes a little looser than normal for mashed potatoes. Add salt and pepper to taste and the maple syrup. If you’re a big maple syrup fan, a little more wouldn’t hurt. There will likely be extra milk mixture – I put it in the turkey gravy! If you know in advance you won’t do that, cut back on the half and half a bit, you can always add more directly to the potatoes if needed.

Spoon the potato mixture into the skins (both white and sweet!). You should have enough to fill 10 halves. Cover and let sit in the fridge for an hour or so, then take them out, cover with grated cheddar cheese and a drizzle of maple syrup. Bake in a 350 oven for 30 minutes to heat through, serve.

The ratio of white and sweet potatoes is up to you. My family prefers this ratio, even the ones that don’t really care for sweet potatoes. The same with the chipotle, I make these chipotle flavored, not spicy.

>193 Karlstar: Thank you! I think this will be tried at the next family gathering around Christmas.

>193 Karlstar:. You've been hiding your lamp under a bushel! What a wonderful recipe.

>194 MrsLee: I hope you and your family enjoy them.

>195 jillmwo: Thank you.

I am still working my way through The Hydrogen Sonata. I am enjoying it, but I'm starting to think maybe it isn't as immersive/engaging as I first thought. I'm finding it too easy to put down.

>197 Karlstar:
The Hydrogen Sonata is, in my opinion, Iain’s weakest SF book. I still found it good, but not great. It does not have that little kernel of oomph that makes the others better. One of the best things about it is that it is a Culture book.

>198 pgmcc: That about sums it up. The Mind to Mind conversations are fun, the tech is fun, the plot is not much.

>199 Karlstar: Hear! Hear!

I have vague memories of reading it and thinking, "This is a nice Culture novel, but when is it going to get started?"

Those of you who have read my thread over the years know that I am a table-top gamer, in particular, almost all versions of Dungeons and Dragons. Since I started way back when, I've designed and written material for my own world and written my own adventures. I've had one article published in a gaming magazine and I've co-authored an adventure module that's sold a few copies.

A long time ago, I put together an Atlas for my game world, printed on my old tractor feed dot matrix printer and gave it to my gaming group in a nice folder, mostly text but a couple of black and white maps were included. For the last few years, that Atlas has been hosted on wordpress and google docs and I've added to it and added maps and color-ized some of the old maps.

Working with the Lulu press site (thanks >194 MrsLee:!) I finally turned it into a 54 page 'book'. I took the defaults for their cover, I just wanted to get it done and didn't feel like messing with it to make it fancy. Reading it in print, I can already see places where it needs some additions and revisions.



Sample page.

>201 Karlstar: Wow! This is so cool. Congratulations!

>201 Karlstar: Sweet! How often are you still playing? And are you playing with a completely different crowd since you moved, or are you playing virtually?

Both of my kids are D&D players. My son's group meets in person weekly, and my daughter's group meets virtually because they are spread out.

>201 Karlstar: Fantastic! Isn't it great to have something you've spent so much time on in print?

And yes, no matter how careful I am, I generally open up one of my books and a typo or mistake leaps of the page at me. The nice thing is, you can make the corrections and upload a new version to print for not much more than the original.

>201 Karlstar:
Very nice. Well done.

>202 Alexandra_book_life: >204 MrsLee: >205 pgmcc: Thank you!

>203 clamairy: Thanks. Almost weekly, actually. I'm in a virtual game that started during covid with folks I met via a friend, I'm local to none of them. The old crowd, including my brother and (new to the group) nephew, meets about once a month (sometimes) in person, except for the one who moved to Florida, he's virtual.

>204 MrsLee: It is! I think Lulu's process is great. I thought my text was in pretty good shape, but except for some image width issues, it took a very short time to get it ready to print. Thanks again! Next time I may put more effort into the cover.

The guys will be getting one for Christmas, whether they want one or not. :)

>204 MrsLee: And yes, no matter how careful I am, I generally open up one of my books and a typo or mistake leaps of the page at me.: The universal experience of authors, in my not-insignificant experience.

>201 Karlstar: I like seeing the inside sample pages. Very nice work. Of course, having set this down in static form, you know your players will call you on any unanticipated shifts in geographic placement or time needed to reach the next village. As dungeon master, you won't be able to fudge it at all.

>209 jillmwo: Thanks. You are absolutely correct, they will. However, even more than our real world, borders and even features are not static.

>201 Karlstar: That's really cool!

>211 Narilka: Thank you.

Thanks for the comments folks. I'm really happy to have it in printed form and I think the group will enjoy it.

In reading news, I finally finished The Hydrogen Sonata. I picked up Bible and Sword: England and Palestine from the Bronze Age to Balfour for my Kindle when it was on sale, I've started that. I also have a couple of books coming.

>212 Karlstar: You've read a lot of Tuchman's work in recent years, haven't you? Was she incredibly prolific?

>214 Karlstar: This will be my third in the last 2 years. I find them very easy to read and quite interesting. Looks like she wrote about a dozen books.

>214 Karlstar: *thumbs up*

Had to take a brief road trip back to my work location for a meeting (Mon-Wed), while I was gone I finally finished Bible and Sword: England and Palestine from the Bronze Age to Balfour. Enlightening but because of where it stopped, by design, it felt incomplete.

I'm a big fan of the year in review stats. After spending some time adding the reading dates to about 20 books, it is starting to be accurate.

You read 55 books in 2024!

You read the most books in August.

You read 12,048 pages; your average book was 377 pages.

Edited. Apparently I am sloppy with my recording. Also my typing and grammar.
Updated:

You read 58 books in 2024!

You read the most books in August.

You read 13,152 pages; your average book was 387 pages.

I recently made a trip to the Old Editions bookstore and picked up The Anubis Gates, which has been recommended by several people here. I started it yesterday, seems interesting so far.

>218 Karlstar:
I cannot remember when I read it, but I remember I enjoyed it. It feels like it must have been about twenty years ago.

>218 Karlstar: Anubis Gates is so much fun! I hope you will like it :)

>219 pgmcc: I was fairly certain you were one of the people that recommended it.

>220 Alexandra_book_life: Thanks, I think I will.

>221 Karlstar:
That is entirely possible. I remember being well pleased with it.

>218 Karlstar: Nice! Tim Powers is one of my top-5 authors and is an automatic 'buy on publication' for me. The Anubis Gates was my introduction to Powers; I randomly picked up the hardcover back when it was first published and became an immediate fan as no one does secret histories quite like he does.

If you like The Anubis Gates, there are two novelettes set in the same world: Nobody's Home and The Properties of Rooftop Air. The latter is not one of Powers' stronger stories but the former is quite good. Both feature side characters from The Anubis Gates and clock in at less than 100 pages each.

>221 Karlstar: & >222 pgmcc:

I entered this into my catalogue in March 2008. I remember reading it almost immediately as I had been hunting for it.

Unfortunately I did not write a review. I was in LT less than two years at that time and was obviously not as mature and sophisticated as I am now.

>223 ScoLgo: Thanks, those sound like good e-book options.

>224 pgmcc: You were just a young lad then. Maybe time for a re-read?

>225 Karlstar:
Just a lad of 51 summers.

>225 Karlstar: Just delurking quickly to wish you and yours a happy holiday season.

>227 jillmwo: Thanks Jill, same to you and yours.

An article on book collectors:

https://getpocket.com/explore/item/10-famous-book-hoarders?utm_source=firefox-ne...

I need to step up my game.

Happy Holidays everyone!

FYI, The Summer Tree is just $1.99 on Kindle.

I finished Explorer of the Endless Sea, still working on The Anubis Gates and I started the re-read of The Summer Tree.

>230 Karlstar: I hope you had a wonderful Christmas.

I bought this one a few months ago. (Now I have a trade paperback and Kindle copy, neither of which I've read.)

>232 clamairy: I did, thank you, how was yours?

I think you were talking about The Summer Tree. (touchstones don't seem to be working right now) No time like the present!

>233 Karlstar: Excellent, but I did not get enough sleep for several nights in a row. Now it's just me again and I'm reading, relaxing and hoping to catch up on sleep.

>234 clamairy: I know how that goes, company is tiring. My daughter and SIL and grand-daughter were visiting, so now we're recovering.