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Pick and Mix 2015
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daxxh
Posted 2015-05-18 12:36 AM (#10572 - in reply to #9182)
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Location: Great Lakes, USA		I have extended this challenge to 20 books. I've been using this challenge for the 2014 books overflow and for books that I get from the library since those don't count for the Clear the Shelves Challenge. Here's what I've read since my last update.

Full Fathom Five - Max Gladstone
This book was ok. I liked the first one (Three Parts Dead) better. It's kind of fun to try to match the places in this world with their exisiting counter parts. I'm not sure that I am correct, but I think this one took place in Hawaii or some Pacific island.

The Bone Clocks - David Mitchell
This book was excellent. The speculative parts of this book were implied or barely mentioned until the middle of the book. But, this book was so well written and the characters so well described, that I loved it. The first and last chapters are told from Holly Sykes' point of view. All other chapters are told from a different character's point of view, but Holly is always there. One character (not a main character), I remember from Cloud Atlas. I need to read more David Mitchell.

Station Eleven - Emily St. John Mandel
This book was also excellent. Civilization has been ravaged by a plague. This book spends equal time before the plague and after the plague. Very little takes place during the plague. All the characters have one acquaintance in common, an actor who died just as the plague was starting. It's a very character driven book. It's well worth reading.

The Enchanted - Rene Denfeld
This was a surprisingly good book. I picked it from the new in paperback shelf at the library because it had horses on the cover. I am not sure why this is considered speculative fiction. Perhaps the delusions of a criminally insane person locked up in isolation too long were considered by someone as fantastical. Regardless, this book was excellent. Told from the point of view of a death row inmate, this book illustrates that beauty can be found even in the most awful places. This is also a character driven book and is well worth reading.

The Long Tomorrow - Leigh Brackett
This book is one of the better books written in the 1950s. I suspect this one will stand the test of time (I think it does already.) It lacks the pulp feeling of Galactic Patrol/Lensman books. Where those books are action based, The Long Tomorrow is character based.

Coming Home - Jack McDevitt
There's nothing like starting a series with Book 7. I have read other Jack McDevitt books, but none were in the Alex Benedict series. This was an ok book. But I may have liked it better had I read some of the earlier books and had gotten to know the characters better. It seems like a transitional book (like a Book 2 in a trilogy). I plan on reading books 1-6 at some point, since this one was a "mystery in space" type book and I like those.

Edited by daxxh 2015-05-18 12:41 AM
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dustydigger
Posted 2015-05-18 12:52 AM (#10573 - in reply to #10572)
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Location: UK		@ Daxxh - Would Seeker,also an Alex Benedict book, apply to the Detective Sf challenge? I havent read any of McDevitt's work,have just got his book Seekers as a Nebula winner,but it may apply here as well. Could kill two birds with one stone!
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dustydigger
Posted 2015-05-18 12:57 AM (#10574 - in reply to #9182)
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Location: UK		Terry Pratchett - Moving Pictures - Amusing satire on Hollywood, where every cliche is slyly ridiculed. Lots of crazy characters, with big parts for some who are bit players in other books, like Cut-My-Own- Throat Dibbler, erstwhile seller of very dodgy meat products in Ank Morepork, but here, by dark magic transformed into a Sam Goldwyn/Cecil De Mille sort of producer determined to produce some great epic, "Blown Away" (a GWTW clone). We have the development of the movie world at a gallop here, great fun, and even get the wizard professors of Unseen University involved in saving the day when evil creatures from other dimensions are making an effort to break through into Discworld via the silver screen of Holywood. Oh, and my favourite scene is where Death, WHO SPEAKS LIKE THAT AS USUAL, sits invisible in a bar knocking back large glasses of rum one after another, and asks the barman for a packet of nuts! Great entertainment, though a little bit too long for me.
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spectru
Posted 2015-05-20 7:48 PM (#10586 - in reply to #9182)
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Location: Fort Myers, Florida USA		Doomsday Book by Connie Willis

I had been reluctant to read this book after having read Willis' Blackout/All Clear double novel. I just don't care for her writing style. Doomsday Book, which I believe was written earlier, doesn't suffer as much from this. It is slow paced and fairly long, but it is a good story; and once things finally get going, about two-thirds of the way along, it's well told.

This is the fourth Connie Willis book I've read. She has one more that has garnered some acclaim: To Say Nothing of the Dog. I read Three Men in a Boat in preparation for it. I think maybe if Willis had been writing a century ago, she could have written Three Men in a Boat. I may yet get around to reading To Say Nothing of the Dog, but I'm in no hurry.
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dustydigger
Posted 2015-05-21 2:56 PM (#10589 - in reply to #10586)
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Location: UK		Had a good week. Finally finished Andy Weir's fun novel The Martian,sort of Robinson Crusoe on Mars. Most of the technical stuff went over my head,but the character Mark Watney's self-deprecating,often irreverent humour helped the tech stuff go down smoothly. Watney would probably win my character of the year award. A fun and gripping homage to the team who brought Apollo 13 back to earth,and the Right Stuff of astronauts. Excellent.
Also great fun was Eric Frank Russell's Wasp.the story of a ''wasp'' an irritant saboteur cum agent provocateur cum assassin,sent to cause disruption on an enemy planet prior to invasion. A classic plot lifted from World War II,which was tense,fast moving and gripping. Apparently some people now are disapproving of it,saying it is a textbook for terrorism,glorifying violence against innocent people. Didnt strike me that way,since I was born in 1948 and such tales of resistance workers during the war were staple fare in my childhood. Got to admit the fast light tone does gloss over some tough action,but that is war. Interesting and exciting.
Also completed EDoc Smith's First Lensman,rather clunky today. Got to love the optimism though,where ethical space farers set up a Galactic space patrol after lots of shenanigans by corrupt politicians.. Bewildering twists of plot,but still the huge scale and spectacle are amusing fun. Star Trek was probably the offspring of this style of writing!
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Weesam
Posted 2015-05-21 4:31 PM (#10590 - in reply to #9182)
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Location: New Zealand		You got two of my favourite reads from last year there Dustydigger - The Martian and The Wasp. Really enjoyed both those books so much.
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spectru
Posted 2015-05-21 8:25 PM (#10591 - in reply to #10589)
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dustydigger - 2015-05-21 3:56 PM

Had a good week. Finally finished Andy Weir's fun novel The Martian,sort of Robinson Crusoe on Mars. Most of the technical stuff went over my head,but the character Mark Watney's self-deprecating,often irreverent humour helped the tech stuff go down smoothly. Watney would probably win my character of the year award. A fun and gripping homage to the team who brought Apollo 13 back to earth,and the Right Stuff of astronauts. Excellent.


I enjoyed The Martian as well. I think you've made a good characterization of it. I likened it to McGyver in space.
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spectru
Posted 2015-05-22 9:55 PM (#10595 - in reply to #10591)
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Location: Fort Myers, Florida USA		Earthman, Come Home by James Blish

This is the third and longest novel in the Cities in Flight Omnibus. I believe it was first published in 1955, making it the first published of these four novels. I also found it, initially at least, the least engaging. The writing seems disjointed. It's often hard to follow the characters' reasoning and thought processes. My impression is that it is comic bookish. It is a series of strange space opera adventures. I don't know, but I'm guessing that it must have been written for publication as a serial in one of the pulp science fiction mags of the day. The character development is thin, with the lead character, John Amalfi, being the only one with whom we can identify at all; and as the novel progresses, we do learn to follow him and root for him. In the end, it is a fun space romp.

Edited by spectru 2015-05-22 9:57 PM
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spectru
Posted 2015-05-28 4:39 PM (#10647 - in reply to #9182)
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Location: Fort Myers, Florida USA		Rocannon's World by Ursula K Le Guin

This is Ursual K Le Guin's debut science fiction novel. It has a strong element of fantasy, dungeons and dragons kind of stuff, which isn't usually my favorite, but I found this adventure tale to be terrific. Le Guin's first book is as good as many other authors' best. I've read others in Le Guin's Hainish cycle; this one encourages me to read more.

It's a little surprising to me that this novel is only on one WWEnd list: The Defining Science Fiction Books of the 1960s, and that one was added only recently to our list of lists.


Edited by spectru 2015-05-28 4:44 PM
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dustydigger
Posted 2015-05-31 1:11 AM (#10663 - in reply to #9182)
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Location: UK		I read Rocannon's World many decades ago,but remember thoroughly enjoying it,as it was much more light and quick moving genre stuff than her literary,drier and more serious(to me!) later stuff. Did you know that in this book she was the creator of the ''ansible'',the instant communication machine to connect worlds light years apart in real time? Lots of other authors took over her term. I came across it twice the last couple of years. Cool to invent an impossible machine that is taken up by other authors!
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pauljames
Posted 2015-05-31 4:40 AM (#10664 - in reply to #10663)
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Location: scotland		Halfway through Ash which was the last book ever written by the english horror writer James Herbert.
So far many creepy things have occurred, most of them to do with hauntings but some to do with clandestine politics of a sort. All very mysterious. This book offers solutions to the disappearance of Lord Lucan and the identity of Jack the Ripper!
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dustydigger
Posted 2015-06-01 12:30 PM (#10681 - in reply to #9182)
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Location: UK		I completed Vonnegut's Sirens of Titan,another of his works excoriating religion and war. Miles better than his Player Piano I read earlier in the year for the 1950s SF challenge. This was full of the most savage irony. Unlikeable characters meant I couldnt feel an emotional attachment to it,but it was well-written,often blackly humorous,and quite poignant at times. I much preferred it to Slaughterhouse Five. Sirens was the final book for my 1950s challenge,which was great fun. I have come across a few clunkers,but for the most part I found the fifties books great fun,and came across some new authors I would read more of (Edmond Hamilton,Leigh Brackett,Ted Sturgeon in particular) I will now be reading for the 60s SF challenge. Got to get a move on. My knee op has been moved up to beginning of October,so I would like to get as many of my challenge books read before that. Last year after my first op I couldnt read for many weeks. The pain killers kept me dozy for weeks,and the almost unbearable pain lasted for the best part of 3 months,so concentration on reading was difficult. Better get cracking as I still have about 25 WWEnd challenge books to read,and another 40 from other genres for a Shelfari challenge....help!....Around 70 books to read in 4 months? Just about feasible if I work at it

Status report for end of May.
participants - 15
books read - 161
books reviewed - 91.
That's two new participants (welcome!),41 books read,and 21 new reviews this month.Excellent
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Guest
Posted 2015-06-01 5:33 PM (#10688 - in reply to #10681)
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dustydigger - 2015-06-01 12:30 PM

I completed Vonnegut's Sirens of Titan,another of his works excoriating religion and war. Miles better than his Player Piano I read earlier in the year for the 1950s SF challenge. This was full of the most savage irony. Unlikeable characters meant I couldnt feel an emotional attachment to it,but it was well-written,often blackly humorous,and quite poignant at times. I much preferred it to Slaughterhouse Five.



I read Sirens of Titan about a year ago. I didn't rank it among Vonnegut's best. I hardly remember it now. Slaughterhouse Five, on the other hand, is among Vonnegut's best. Different strokes for different folks.
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spectru
Posted 2015-06-05 6:34 AM (#10709 - in reply to #9182)
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Location: Fort Myers, Florida USA		The Man Who Fell to Earth by Walter Tevis

What a great little book. About a 'man from Mars' who comes to earth as the vanguard of an invasion, albeit a peaceful one, and fails to complete his mission. I wholeheartedly recommend it.

btw, the guest poster above was me.

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dustydigger
Posted 2015-06-05 12:48 PM (#10711 - in reply to #10709)
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Location: UK		Spectru,did you ever see the film with the same name with David Bowie. Stuck pretty faithfully to the book. Both had sad endings!
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Weesam
Posted 2015-06-06 4:05 PM (#10718 - in reply to #9182)
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Location: New Zealand		I've finished off this challenge with a reading of Frankenstein. I was ambivalent about this one, which is probably why I left it to last. One of the problems is that I know the story so well from movies and TV that I wasn't sure I wanted to read the book, and another is that I don't often enjoy books that are written so long ago. Happily Frankenstein surprised me by being an excellent read, that still contained surprises, and so well written I had no trouble getting into it. In the end I am happy with my final choice for the Pick & Mix.
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spectru
Posted 2015-06-06 7:55 PM (#10719 - in reply to #10711)
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dustydigger - 2015-06-05 1:48 PM

Spectru,did you ever see the film with the same name with David Bowie. Stuck pretty faithfully to the book. Both had sad endings!


I checked out The Man Who Fell to Earth on IMDB: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0074851/?ref_=ttpl_pl_tt

In addition to David Bowie in the lead role, there were a couple of name actors in the cast and astronaut Jim Lovell as himself. The description of the movie makes it seem as if they diverged from the book somewhat, but then, don't they always?

Edited by spectru 2015-06-06 7:57 PM
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spectru
Posted 2015-06-06 8:06 PM (#10720 - in reply to #10718)
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Weesam - 2015-06-06 5:05 PM

I've finished off this challenge with a reading of Frankenstein. I was ambivalent about this one, which is probably why I left it to last. One of the problems is that I know the story so well from movies and TV that I wasn't sure I wanted to read the book, and another is that I don't often enjoy books that are written so long ago. Happily Frankenstein surprised me by being an excellent read, that still contained surprises, and so well written I had no trouble getting into it. In the end I am happy with my final choice for the Pick & Mix.


I enjoyed Frankenstein. It is widely considered to be the first science fiction novel. I thought the writing was better than other things I've read from 200 years ago, i.e. Jane Austen. It's particularly remarkable considering that it was written by a teenager. I haven't seen a movie that was anything like the book. The Boris Karloff movies certainly weren't. I heard that there was film starring Robert DeNiro that was faithful to the book, but I haven't seen it.
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spectru
Posted 2015-06-13 8:53 AM (#10771 - in reply to #9182)
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Location: Fort Myers, Florida USA		Time Enough for Love by Robert A. Heinlein

This book is very long; too long. It is a collection of anecdotes and tales linked together by a meandering conversation with much pontification. The predominant theme is incest. Stranger in a Strange Land and The Moon is a Harsh Mistress are two of my favorite Heinlein novels, from the same period. I don't put Time Enough for Love in the same class.
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Weesam
Posted 2015-06-14 4:42 PM (#10775 - in reply to #9182)
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Location: New Zealand		I think Time Enough for Love was the book that turned me off Heinlein. Unfortunately it was the first book of his I ever read, and for a long time I didn't read anymore. I do have The Moon is a Harsh Mistress on my list to read for the 60's challenge, so here's hoping it is a better experience.
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spectru
Posted 2015-06-14 6:40 PM (#10777 - in reply to #10775)
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Weesam - 2015-06-14 5:42 PM

I think Time Enough for Love was the book that turned me off Heinlein. Unfortunately it was the first book of his I ever read, and for a long time I didn't read anymore. I do have The Moon is a Harsh Mistress on my list to read for the 60's challenge, so here's hoping it is a better experience.



Weesam - The Moon is a Harsh Mistress does have plural marriages, but it is a novel in the more conventional format , and a good story of the political rebellion of Luna for independence from Earth.

There are several reviews of The Moon is A Harsh Mistress here on WWEnd, mine included.
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DrNefario
Posted 2015-06-15 8:32 AM (#10780 - in reply to #9182)
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Location: UK		I've been thinking of trying to complete the Locus Best SF list, and Time Enough For Love is the book I am least looking forward to.

I have read Moon is a Harsh Mistress, and can't say I have strong feelings about it one way or the other. I think it tends more towards good Heinlein than bad Heinlein, but I don't think I really found it that great a story.
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spectru
Posted 2015-06-15 4:43 PM (#10783 - in reply to #10780)
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DrNefario - 2015-06-15 9:32 AM

I've been thinking of trying to complete the Locus Best SF list, and Time Enough For Love is the book I am least looking forward to.

I have read Moon is a Harsh Mistress, and can't say I have strong feelings about it one way or the other. I think it tends more towards good Heinlein than bad Heinlein, but I don't think I really found it that great a story.


The Locus list is inclined me to read Time Enough for Love. It's one of our shortest lists and I have head all but half a dozen. The end is in sight.
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spectru
Posted 2015-06-20 8:35 PM (#10838 - in reply to #9182)
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Location: Fort Myers, Florida USA		The Triumph of Time aka A Clash of Cymbals. Cities in Flight #4 by James Blish.

This is about the end of the universe.

This wraps up the Cities in Flight omnibus

Cities in Flight is on the SF Masterworks and The Classics of Science Fiction lists. I found it just so so. I was prompted to read this having read an outstanding short story by James Blish, written much later than Cities in flight, published in Harlan Ellison's anthology Again Dangerous Visions. I think he must have honed his writing skills in the intervening years. Cities in Flight is a collection of four novels written mostly in the 1950s. I think they weren't written in the order in which they occur in the series. The writing is uneven, and overall I'd rate it mediocre. The second book, A Life for the Stars, written in 1962, the latest publication date, was the best of the bunch.

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pauljames
Posted 2015-06-21 5:29 AM (#10841 - in reply to #9182)
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Location: scotland		Have started Shadowplay by Tad Williams. This is the second of a four part fantasy series. I really enjoy long series however they take a long time to read and absorb. So far there are very many different stories and tales within the larger story. Hard to keep track of everything so will probably need to re-read in the future.
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