What are you reading? - 2019, and beyond.

[stevemitchell]

The Fatal Frails by Dan Marlowe. Johnny Killaine is the unofficial night manager at a Manhattan hotel. Seems like there’s always a murder or a suicide or something equally shocking happening there to keep him busy. In this novel, he races around town, kicking in doors, kicking in heads, trying to unravel a conspiracy involving international art smugglers. Well, Mr. Marlowe wrote better books (The Name of the Game Is Death or Vengeance Man, for example); this one just seems like a lot of hand-waving and running about till the requisite 160 pages were done. Plus Killaine is an unlikeable boor.

The Cause Lost: Myths and Realities of the Confederacy by William C. Davis. Essays on Civil War topics.

The Memoirs of Solar Pons by August Derleth. The second in the seven-volume set of Pons stories by Derleth, and considered by some to be the best of the series.

Jefferson Davis: The Man and His Hour by William C. Davis. A lengthy—perhaps overly lengthy—biography of the President of the Confederate States of America. With lots of detail on his pre-Civil War career (he was a United States Congressman, Senator, and Secretary of War, as well as a war hero of the War with Mexico).

The Werewolf Principle by Clifford D. Simak. A man who was lost in space for 200 years returns to Earth—accompanied by two “passengers,” two alien intelligences that have bonded with his own. He becomes a target as government forces try to figure out who—and what—he is. A highly entertaining SF novel from Mr. Simak.

He Rode Alone by Steve Frazee. A young man in a wagon train is abandoned in the wilderness. He survives and grows up to be a very self-contained, suspicious person. He eventually finds himself involved, much against his instincts, with the people at a mining camp in Colorado. Almost more of a character study than a traditional Western.

Time Is the Simplest Thing by Clifford D. Simak. In the future, mankind does not travel to the stars physically, but rather through a kind of mental/astral projection process that reminded me a bit of remote viewing. Our protagonist makes such an excursion, and then has to take it on the lam when the government realizes he’s brought back a second, alien personality in his mind. So not unlike The Werewolf Principle, but worked out quite differently. Another nice read from Simak.

The Charlton Story by Jon B. Cooke. A first-rate history of a (mostly) third-rate comic book publisher. Charlton is probably best remembered today as the home of the “Action Heroes” line of superheroes, including Steve Ditko’s Captain Atom, Blue Beetle, and the Question; along with Peacemaker, Judomaster, Sarge Steel, and others—all now part of the DC Omniverse. But they published tons of stories in other categories over about four decades—particularly war, western, and supernatural.

The Awful Egg, Trouble on Parade, The Derelict of Skull Shoal, Target for Death, The Man Who Was Scared, The Exploding Lake, The Men Vanished, and The Munition Master by Kenneth Robeson. From the Philippines to the Amazon—from Canada to Patagonia—Doc Savage is back in action again. Because taking care of business is his name!

Strongarm by Dan Marlowe. And here is Mr. Marlowe again, this time with one of his better books. An escaped convict finds himself hunted by the Feds—and by the Mob—and by the Reds! Way better than The Fatal Frails.

[Parzival]

Just Finished: Dead Man’s Hand by James J. Butcher (son of Jim Butcher, author of The Dresden Files series). Contemporary alternative Earth murder mystery/fantasy novel. Good characters, interesting setting. Think “Harry flunks out of Hogwarts and goes to work at Chuck E. Cheese.” The hero is a washed up “witch” with a dead-end life, until somebody kills his former instructor— and he becomes suspect #1. He teams up with an ex-agent assassin to solve the crime and get a second chance at a life with meaning. Not bad. Worth the read, especially if you like Dresden.

Just started: The Bumper Biggles Book, an omnibus edition of Biggles stories. If you’re British, you probably know Biggles. If you’re American, Biggles is an intrepid RAF pilot (beginning in WWI) who has all sorts of adventures both in wartime and out. I’d heard of him, but never read any until I found this book for sale from donations at the local library. This will probably have me breaking out my Wings of War/Glory planes…

[Deleted]

Soon to be starting, A World Lit Only by Fire, by William Manchester

[oldskolgmr]

Check in; I read a few of the earliest Elric stories in the collected editions I had. They really didn't suit my tastes, at this time, HOWEVER the later stories were good (including Elric at the End of Time). 
M. Moorcock's comments, on his later stories, said that many Elric fans didn't like the later stories quite as much (especially Elric at The End of Time, for it's humorous tone ).

I know that the OP is about books per se, however I have recently read a series of graphic Novels by Greg Rucka, Lazuraus, Lazuraus


Now re-reading Steven Brust's, THE KHAAVREN ROMANCES: Paths of the Dead. This is book one of a three book set. 

I may slip in some other reading, here and there (I don't include reading like graphic novels, or short non-fiction).

[tdenmark]

Mar 8, 2023 23:09:20 GMT -6 ochrejelly said:

I’ve finally got around to the Earthsea trilogy. I just finished the second one and I’m really enjoying them!

I made the mistake of my first reading being out load to my kids. That is not a book meant to be read out loud. It was not a fun experience and I couldn't wait to be done with the book.

Now I've lost any interest in reading any more books in the series.

If I'd read it as a kid I might have enjoyed it.

[tombowings]

Apr 8, 2023 23:40:30 GMT -6 tdenmark said:

I made the mistake of my first reading being out load to my kids. That is not a book meant to be read out loud. It was not a fun experience and I couldn't wait to be done with the book.

I didn't have that experience with my daughter. She enjoyed the first three books when I read them aloud to her. I wasn't confident the fourth book would interest her, so we left off there.

[ochrejelly]

I finished the 3rd Earthsea book last week and thought the whole series was great. In general I think UKL is a fantastic author, I’ve also read the first 3 Hainish cycle novels and I really enjoyed those as well.

[tdenmark]

Apr 9, 2023 0:53:39 GMT -6 tombowings said:

Apr 8, 2023 23:40:30 GMT -6 tdenmark said:

I made the mistake of my first reading being out load to my kids. That is not a book meant to be read out loud. It was not a fun experience and I couldn't wait to be done with the book.

I didn't have that experience with my daughter. She enjoyed the first three books when I read them aloud to her. I wasn't confident the fourth book would interest her, so we left off there.

I must just be terrible at reading out loud. I kept fumbling over the (unpronouncable) names, half the time we were lost as to who was who.

[oldskolgmr]

Apr 9, 2023 23:02:43 GMT -6 tdenmark said:

Apr 9, 2023 0:53:39 GMT -6 tombowings said:

I didn't have that experience with my daughter. She enjoyed the first three books when I read them aloud to her. I wasn't confident the fourth book would interest her, so we left off there.

I must just be terrible at reading out loud. I kept fumbling over the (unpronouncable) names, half the time we were lost as to who was who.

I have read these books, but I have not had the chance to read them to kids. 

The first three books kind of bored me, but the other three are Pure Le Guin Gold. I'm a big fan of Ursula Le Guin's writings.

[stevemitchell]

Puritanism by Francis J. Bremer. A volume in the Oxford University Press “Very Short Introduction” series. A good overview of the Puritan movement in both England and New England.

Hitler vs. Stalin by John Mosier. A high-level examination of Hitler and Stalin as war leaders, examining their roles in the economic, military, and political spheres, with the author coming down mostly in favor of Hitler. (Not as a human being, of course—they were both appalling in that respect.)

The FBI-CIA-UFO Connection by Bruce Maccabee. Despite the title, this book really is more about the Air Force’s early programs to study the UFOs—Projects Sign, Grudge, and Blue Book. An expansion of an earlier book, with more about the CIA added this time.

Eighty Years of Arkham House by S. T. Joshi. A concise history and bibliography of this important horror and science fiction publisher.

The Caller of the Black by Brian Lumley. Speaking of Arkham House—this was Brian Lumley’s first book of stories for the publisher, most of them involving the Cthulhu Mythos.

The Blind Spot by Homer Eon Flint and Austin Hall. A so-called “classic” of early SF. The authors pile on characters, narrators, and weird phenomena, all to little purpose, until about half-way through the book, when a man from Earth passes through the titular spot to arrive in another plane of reality.

The Weapon Shops of Isher and The Weapons Makers by A. E. Van Vogt. Seven thousand years in the future, the Empire of Isher rules the Solar System. But these are Van Vogt novels, so of course there are many hidden and competing factions. Great SF from the Golden Age.

The Wild Adventures of Cthulhu: Volume II by Will Murray. Another collection of Murray’s Cthulhuoid fiction, with some very good stories.

The UFO Rabbit Hole by Kelly Chase. Los UFOs, otra vez. Taken from a series of podcasts. The first half of the book is a good overview of the various theories about UFOs—where they are coming from, why they are coming. Then the author goes into a rabbit hole of her own, with a couple of chapters about Tom DeLonge, of Blink-182 fame, who has taken a role (or struck a pose) as today’s foremost expositor of all things UFOlogical. She finishes up with a look at the ancient astronaut theory, with more to come in a promised second volume.

Dracula by Bram Stoker. I read this once, way back in Sixth Grade, and never since. So I decided to give it a second go. Pretty good overall, although Van Helsing comes across as a ponderous, pontificating bore.

[rayotus]

My Goodreads page: www.goodreads.com/user/show/69753346-ray

Some good books I've read this year:

Night Walk, Bob Shaw
Game Players of Titan, Philip K. Dick
The "Bobiverse" novels 1-2, Dennis Shaw
Engine Summer, John Crowley
The Colour of Magic, Terry Pratchett
The Bull and the Spear, Michael Moorcock
Out of the Deeps, John Wyndham
Puppies of Terra, Thomas Disch
Wolfbane, C. M. Kornbluth

Of these, Wolfbane gets the "blew my mind" award. Engine Summer gets the "touched me" award. And the Bobiverse gets the "guilty reads" award. I laughed the most while reading Colour of Magic.

[plethon]

I just finished two Gardner F Fox books in the past week,

Kothar and the Wizard Slayer, and
Kyrik Fights the Demon World

They were both fantastic. It would be difficult to list off the amount of ideas and inspirations that seem lifted straight to OD&D,

They read like Quest or Geas spells with how the characters were drawn in, and despite involving gods, demons (who are more powerful than the gods in GFF universe), travel and other planes, etc, I blew through them in a few hours as if they were encompassed in a single session.

[rayotus]

More books I've read this year:

Pigs Have Wings, P. G. Wodehouse (Blandings Castle #8)
Them: Adventures with Extremists, Ron Jonson
City, Clifford D. Simak (re-read, first time was decades ago)
The Word for World is Forest, Ursula K. LeGuin
Project Hail Mary, Andy Weir (re-read)
A Maze of Death, Philip K. Dick
Island at the Top of the World, Cameron Ian

Happy to talk about any of these if anyone is curious.

[terje]

The Fisherman by John Langan - A weird horror fish story about the biggest and oldest fish in the most primordial sea. A beautiful weirding of ancient mythology.

[plethon]

I finished reading Almuric by REH. I can't say I enjoyed his sword and planet novel as much as Conan, but there were some interesting alien beasts and humanoid races and it was well written. The ending was a little abrupt and it didn't seem like REH was enjoying himself much by writing it, but I'm no REH scholar so I don't really know why he wrote it. It seemed like he had less to say when not focused on a 'fictional' age of our own planet Earth.

[stevemitchell]

Almuric may have been (probably was) edited and rewritten for publication by Howard's agent, Otis Adelbert Kline, after Howard's death. We may never know how much of Almuric is Howard's vs. Kline's. I always liked it, though.

[plethon]

Just read "Sticks" by Karl Edward Wagner, he based it on real experiences of the artist Lee Brown Coye who discovered strange stick-structures surrounding a ruined farmhouse in the desolate Mann Brook region potentially connected to certain megalithic structures found in that area.

[stevemitchell]

"Sticks" is a great story, and Wagner is a very good writer, both in his sword-and-sorcery and horror tales.

[stevemitchell]

The Blue Beetle Companion by Christopher Irving. A look at all four versions of the Blue Beetle comic book superhero, as published by Fox, Holyoke, Charlton, and DC. Plus information on the Blue Beetle comic strip and radio show from back in the 1940s. Very enjoyable.

Mountain of the Dead by Jeremy Bates. Several explorers attempt to learn what really happened in the Dyatlov Pass incident in Soviet Russia back in 1959. Before too long, they find themselves threatened by the same dire fate that befell the original Dyatlov Pass hikers. . . .

The Usurper King by Marie Louise Brook. A parallel biography of the English Kings Richard II and Henry IV. Both were descended from King Edward III; they were cousins and nearly of the same age. Richard ascended to the throne upon the premature death of his father, the Black Prince; his reign was troubled, and ended when Henry usurped the throne and had Richard put to death. This set in train the dynastic and political strife that would culminate in the War of the Roses half a century later.

Methodism by William J. Abraham. From the Oxford University “Very Short Introduction” line. A good overview of the history and beliefs of the Methodist Church.

The Parameters of the Weird Tale by S. T. Joshi. Essays on a number of weird fiction writers, including (this is a Joshi book, after all) H. P. Lovecraft.

The Coming of the Saucers by Kenneth Arnold and Ray Palmer. Kenneth Arnold’s sighting of nine mysterious flying craft near Mount Rainer in 1947 ushered in the modern era of UFO phenomena. This book recounts his story of that event, as well as his participation in the investigation of the Maury Island Incident. (Depicted somewhat differently in the recent Project Blue Book TV series.) An interesting window into early UFO lore.

Rest in Agony by Paul W. Fairman. A brother and sister battle a Satanic cult. Fairly (no pun intended) ho-hum horror from the 1960s.

The Descent and Deeper by Jeff Long. A two-novel series. The surface world reels in horror when it discovers an alternate branch of humanity existing in an endless series of caverns and tunnels far beneath the ground. Almost immediately, those above and those below go to war—with the surface dwellers seeming to win, at least for a time. . .Very imaginative and frequently gruesome.

The House of Nodens by Sam Gafford. A monstrous presence haunts a group of men from their childhood to their maturity. Structurally somewhat similar to Stephen King’s It, but the horror, the horror is quite different.

Queen of K’n-Yan by Ken Asamatsu. A four thousand year-old mummy is recovered in China and taken to a research facility in Japan. Although humanoid in appearance, the mummy appears to have a reptilian genetic structure. Before too long, the research center is overcome with strange and violent phenomena—and then the mummy returns to life. A good horror tale with some Lovecraftian elements.

[plethon]

I want to make a post about my recently expanded riddle library, because I just got a really good new book, The Dictionary of Riddles by Mark Bryant. The author collects 1500 riddles from throughout history, citing the source and giving a brief note on the author or context. For such an unassuming volume it really has a high level of scholarship, and I was able to pick it up for about 7 dollars online.

Another good riddle book from my shelf is The Old English and Anglo-Latin Riddle Tradition, edited and translated by Andy Orchard. All of the Dumbarton Oaks Medieval Library books are great and this one is no exception. They are a bit more in price but they offer a lot of stuff you cant find in translation anywhere else and new stuff is coming out all the time.

There's another book I am reading which isn't a book of riddles but is about the wisdom/riddle tradition itself, Vivien Law's "Wisdom, Authority, and Grammar in the Seventh Century," which focuses on the grammar of Virgilius Maro Grammaticus and the Hiberno-Latin riddle tradition. Virgilius wrote a satirical grammar which unfortunately cannot be read in its entirety in English, so this secondary volume is all I could get. But it has some funny episodes like two grammarians arguing for days over the vocative of ego and things like that.

[Parzival]

Just finished an old children’s book— Havelok the Dane by Kevin Crossley-Holland (1964). For some reason this was among some old books of mine as a boy, but I had never read this— odd, as it was right up my alley. British readers might be more familiar with this tale, essentially a prose retelling of an English medieval legend (and poem). Not a bad tale at all— a young prince of Denmark is imprisoned by his traitorous regent, who tasks a lowly fisherman with the job of murdering and disposing of the boy. Instead, the fisherman and his family protect the child king and escape with him to England. Meanwhile, in England, the beautiful young queen of the land has suffered a similar fate, betrayed by her own power-hungry regent, who comes up with what he thinks is the perfect plan to discredit her before the people and secure the throne for himself. I’ll say no more at this point, though the resolution is probably obvious. A quick read that covers the legend well. (Probably out-of-print. Mine was apparently a library copy which had been “weeded” from the shelves and sold; I suspect to my grandmother.)

Have picked Howard Pyle’s The Merry Adventures of Robin Hood back up after reading Part I and stopping. Finished Part II, which culminates in the well-known Tournament of the Golden Arrow. Reading it, I can hear the Errol Flynn movie soundtrack in my head! “Ta-ran-ta-ran-ta-ra!”

[stevemitchell]

I don't normally talk about my comic purchases, but this one, I think, deserves an "honorable mention": Atlas Goes to War, edited by Dr. Michael J. Vassallo, and jointly published by Marvel Comics and Dead Reckoning, a division of the Naval Institute Press. Atlas was the name for Marvel Comics in the 1950s--during which time, they published an immense number of war comics. This volume collects 50 stories from this period, with art by Russ Heath, John Severin, Jack Kirby, Steve Ditko, Joe Sinnot, Joe Maneely, Don Heck, and many others. Great stuff, almost entirely forgotten these days when everyone tends to think of Marvel as "superheroes only."

[plethon]

Finished Kyrik: Warlock Warrior, started Kyrik and the Wizard's Sword.

Arriving today in the mail: The Maze of Peril

[plethon]

Finished Kyrik and the Wizard's Sword. I really like these stories and don't agree that Kothar/Kyrik are 'Clonan' stories, I've tried to read some non-REH Conan stuff from a couple authors and ditched them quickly, but these grabbed me and have a very different feel, despite being similar in superficial ways. Fox's prose doesn't come close to REH which is fine, because the books read very quickly as Fox was mainly a comic book writer. Magic is a lot more present in the world, and Kyrik is fully comfortable around it as he is also somewhat of a Warlock himself. In one story he has an affair with a goddess who transforms herself into a snake that wraps around the hilt of his sword and speaks to him throughout the story. There's less of a presence of religion in the world and the gods seem to be on an even playing field with magic users who are simply very old and powerful.

Finished The Maze of Peril. I wish there were more of these novels by Holmes, I would read any number of them.

Next 2 books I am going to read:
-Magic Mirrors which is an anthology of John Bellairs fantasy stories including the unfinished sequel to The Face in the Frost.
-Swords against Death

[oldskolgmr]

Check In; I found myself uninterested in the Khaavren Romances. 
I attempted some more Moorcock, The King of Swords. Again uninspired by the prose.
I'm starting a Salman Rushdie book, Two Years Eight Months and Twenty-Eight Nights: A Novel. I like his prose style.

I'm also reading...non-fiction, boring (to others) weight training texts, by Mark Rippetoe with Lon Kilgore, Starting Strength. As well as a companion text for grey haired guys like me, The Barbell Prescription, by Jon Sullivan and Andy Baker. 

[Parzival]

Jul 10, 2023 8:08:01 GMT -6 plethon said:

Finished The Maze of Peril. I wish there were more of these novels by Holmes, I would read any number of them.

Next 2 books I am going to read:
-Magic Mirrors which is an anthology of John Bellairs fantasy stories including the unfinished sequel to The Face in the Frost.

A John Bellairs anthology? Sign me up! Is it still in print?

[flightcommander]

This is Me, Jack Vance! (Or, More Properly, This is I), by ... Jack Vance!

[flightcommander]

Jul 21, 2023 22:52:00 GMT -6 flightcommander said:

This is Me, Jack Vance! (Or, More Properly, This is I), by ... Jack Vance!

This book is really not about his literary career but rather about his life, which was by some measures extraordinary. One thing I learned is that he wrote the Lyonesse trilogy while essentially blind.

[rhialto]

Jul 22, 2023 20:27:16 GMT -6 flightcommander said:

Jul 21, 2023 22:52:00 GMT -6 flightcommander said:

This is Me, Jack Vance! (Or, More Properly, This is I), by ... Jack Vance!

This book is really not about his literary career but rather about his life, which was by some measures extraordinary. One thing I learned is that he wrote the Lyonesse trilogy while essentially blind.

Yes, it surprised me that there was less about his writing. I was disappointed, at first, but in the end it was a very enjoyable read. His humor and casual recounting at his life's end bear his trademark...detachment? Aplomb? 

[plethon]

Jul 21, 2023 14:30:12 GMT -6 Parzival said:

Jul 10, 2023 8:08:01 GMT -6 plethon said:

Finished The Maze of Peril. I wish there were more of these novels by Holmes, I would read any number of them.

Next 2 books I am going to read:
-Magic Mirrors which is an anthology of John Bellairs fantasy stories including the unfinished sequel to The Face in the Frost.

A John Bellairs anthology? Sign me up! Is it still in print?

My copy was new, but it's only had one printing according to the NESFA website