Somehow I missed this, and I love it.

Oh man, this looks awesome. If you're looking for more in the same category (while, probably, also being a bit easier to read), a couple years ago I really enjoyed — well, you know: it's harrowing as fuck, but, that's what happens when you sail a pirate ship to Hoth in the 19th century — "Resolute: The Epic Search for the Northwest Passage and John Franklin, and the Discovery of the Queen's Ghost Ship." It's a several-similar-histories-in-one-anthology book about various attempts to get across the top of the world; find the northwest passage; find the magnetic pole; find a bunch of previously-lost missions before survivors are dead, etc.. (Plus, just a week or two ago, we randomly unearthed one of the missing most-famous ships from this book. History is all around us. Etc..)

If you're looking for something else, farther afield, in that same category — namely: "god humans will just not take a hint about their impossible old-timey conquests against nature; and yet, eventually, it worked" — I'd suggest reading-and-then-deciding-to-skim-because-jesus-christ-david-get-an-editor "The Path Between the Seas: The Creation of the Panama Canal, 1870-1914." Spoiler alert: That particular task turns out to be about as difficult as climbing a mile of greased rope. ...and, also, really deadly, for many people involved, for various reasons inherent to the aforenamed category. We figured out how to do the thing, eventually, but... god damn.

You would probably also enjoy "The Measure of All Things," because that book contains all of these same qualities (except widespread death, I guess), and yet — unlike 'Panama' — in the end, this time, the French actually finish the damn thing! Zing-bang! Wocka-wocka-wocka! Stereotypical jokemaking! Anyway, 'Measure' is about the guys responsible for the metric system — so, not much ice-sailing, but — another arduous, old-timey, staggering task.

'Resolute' is a quick read; 'Measure' is a bit denser, f'ya ask me; 'Panama' is like an old man's version of Goblet of Fire, but with only about an Azkaban's-worth of good reading in there, in my opinion. (You'll 'feel it' when it drags, and realize when to move forward a bit. You'll be 15% more confused this way, but 40% happier. It's worth it.)

(PS: On the previous point: It occurs to me that my attitude probably borders on heresy for certain other readers in the world. Welp: Hi, I'm Teague. I read a lot of books. I have just as much authority as any other reader — and with that authority, I give anybody on Earth permission, for the rest of their lives, to just drop (or skip-ahead in) whatever book they're reading, whenever it becomes a slog. Your overall reading habit is much more important than your finishing this book; never make yourself hate the time you spend reading, due to some misplaced sense of completionism. Unless you are studying for something — or you're Abbie, and this is your job, somehow, impossibly — just... always read stuff you enjoy. There will always be something else to go and immediately enjoy reading. You're allowed to stop hanging-out with a book in the same way (and for many of the same reasons) you might stop hanging-out with a person; and anyway, you can give the relationship another try, later, if you wanna re-test old waters. Life is too short to turn 'reading experiences' into 'obligations-to-self' — at least, in my book.)

(Puns. End on puns. Nobody likes it when you do that, which makes it good for them. Puns build character, right?)

I am immediately on board a thousand percent.

Yarp. I'll have what she's having.

*poychase*

They actually found HMS Terror a few years ago.

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/ … ge-attempt

It's like you don't even know me.

Re-reading Ubik for the first time in a good few years. Nobody writes late capitalism like PKD.

I've just read Gideon The Ninth on Boter's recommendation. I enjoyed it but did feel it went on a bit long. I'm not sure I'll be rushing to read the sequel but I didn't hate. I really enjoyed the snarky narrative style which at times reminded me of Terry Pratchett. I certainly didn't pick it up and say "Oh no, not another space lesbian necromancer novel, I am so tired of these."

Highlighted Finna as well as two others at an event we had at work - semi-informal discussion with customers, I and two others each with a few minutes to present a few books.

Star Trek: Picard The Last Best Hope – Una McCormack
what can I say? I am a sucker for tie-in novels. Opinions seem divided on the latest Star Trek series there were things I really liked about it and others I was less keen on. This book may be the best thing about it, and I don’t mean that in a derogatory way. It expands the back story glimpsed in the show between the ending of the next-generation movies and the start of the pilot. Following Picard as he led the mission to evacuate the Romulan Empire. The amount of space politics leaves it feeling more like “Babylon 5” than traditional Star Trek even borrowing the other series moniker for the title. This is no bad thing and it really expands both the Star Trek universe and the new Picard series both in the way a good tie-in novel should but also perhaps some think we should have seen in the episodes proper.

The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet – Becky Chambers
This is one of those books that gets mentioned a lot recently and I was put off picking it up by the comparisons to firefly. I love firefly, but every third advert on my Facebook timeline is an e-book comparing itself to firefly and I don’t want any more second-rate knockoffs. I enjoyed the characters and world here although the book is rather episodic and never really feels like it’s telling a larger story, it was nice to read a more uplifting positive sci-fi tale without everything being horrifically “twee”.

Second foundation – Isaac Asimov
I actually took an extra couple of days before starting this book whilst I looked for the third entry mistakenly assuming this had been the second. I really enjoyed the first book and everything it set up, so was really disappointed when none of it really seemed to be paid off. I can’t really fault Asimov for the concept he used that have become cliché in the many decades since but this didn’t particularly grab me. I would have liked to have seen the establishment of the second Empire that the books had been alluding to the whole time, perhaps this is something that happens in one of the many, many sequels he continued to write but I’m not sure I’ll stick around for them. That Nolan brother that does “Westworld” is apparently developing this for television, I’ve no idea how that will work but good luck to him!

The last Emperox – John Scalzi
I’ve been a fan of Scalzi ever since “old man’s War” and have read almost all his books, this interdependency series has been one of his strongest and I found it to be a very tight trilogy it is closer to “Game of thrones” in space then “the expanse” series although very much its own thing. It has overtones of “Dune” with its clashing noble families but without the tedious boredom. The sarcastic style and ample swearing really works for it. It is definitely one of those series that I would both love to see on film, yet no they would never get the tone quite right.

Last edited by Faldor (2020-05-03 08:55:55)

I would prefer not to.

;-)

As long as I'm here I should mention that I'm halfway through E. Jean Carrol's bio of Hunter S. Thompson. (Yes, that E. Jean Carrol...the magazine columnist who has accused President Donald Trump of sexually assaulting her in the 1990s) Can't say I've been a fan of HST's work per se, but I have been fascinated by what others have seen in him.

Last edited by drewjmore (2020-12-11 16:41:56)

I have only just learned of the existence of Gormenghast and cannot for the life of me decide if it sounds like something I want to read. I think I'll have to give it a shot just to satisfy my curiosity!