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Golden Oldies out there...what books are you reading right now?


Guest Jetsun Milarepa

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My latest read (which I've just finished)...

 

The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet by Becky Chambers

What a wonderful book! Sci-fi, but sci-fi with heart; sci-fi for people who are scared of sci-fi, perhaps? I dunno: maybe. It's a futuristic space adventure about a multi-species interstellar engineering team who travel to an isolated, largely uncharted, and politically unstable region of the galaxy in order to create a subspace bypass tunnel linking the area to more familiar and civilized territory. If that sounds off-putting, don't worry: there are no laser guns firing off all over the place, and you don't need a brain like Stephen Hawking's to understand the science stuff: the focus is very definitely on the characters, all of whom are superbly realised: believable, interesting, often funny/quirky, fully rounded, and likeable! It's actually a book about friendship more than anything else - about tolerance, understanding, compassion and love. And it positively celebrates diversity, be it racial, cultural, sexual, physical, cognitive - whatever. It left me feeling all warm and fuzzy inside. As I say: sci-fi with heart. Go read it, someone.       

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4 hours ago, Greenbeard said:

My latest read (which I've just finished)...

 

The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet by Becky Chambers

What a wonderful book! Sci-fi, but sci-fi with heart; sci-fi for people who are scared of sci-fi, perhaps? I dunno: maybe. It's a futuristic space adventure about a multi-species interstellar engineering team who travel to an isolated, largely uncharted, and politically unstable region of the galaxy in order to create a subspace bypass tunnel linking the area to more familiar and civilized territory. If that sounds off-putting, don't worry: there are no laser guns firing off all over the place, and you don't need a brain like Stephen Hawkins' to understand the science stuff: the focus is very definitely on the characters, all of whom are superbly realised: believable, interesting, often funny/quirky, fully rounded, and likeable! It's actually a book about friendship more than anything else - about tolerance, understanding, compassion and love. And it positively celebrates diversity, be it racial, cultural, sexual, physical, cognitive - whatever! It left me feeling all warm and fuzzy inside. As I say: sci-fi with heart. Go read it, someone.       

I read it a while back and loved it, too. Your description is spot on! I recently finished her next book, A Closed and Common Orbit. Go read that, too! :D 

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Guest Jetsun Milarepa

Just finished 'My husband's wife' by Ms Corry, wrong order, I know....read number two (see previous page) before the first one!

Now on 'Ready Player One'  by Ernest Cline, which is about a post apocalyptic world where virtual reality replaces real life, as mass war and  dwindling resources ravage the planet. It's been likened to The Matrix, but I'm only three chapters in...:D

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@daveb Re. A Closed and Common Orbit. It's already down on my list of books to read next year. I look forward to it. (:))

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6 hours ago, Greenbeard said:

@daveb Re. A Closed and Common Orbit. It's already down on my list of books to read next year. I look forward to it. (:))

I didn't mean just you, but anyone who takes your advice and reads Angry Planet as well. :)

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With the nights drawing in and the clocks due to go back in just a few weeks, it looks like this'll be my last 'serious' read of the year.

 

The Stranger in the Woods by Michael Finkel

Subtitled 'The Extraordinary Story of the Last True Hermit', this is the real-life tale of Christopher Knight from Maine in the USA, who - in 1986 at the age of twenty, and for reasons even he seems unclear of - vanished off the radar and spent twenty-seven years living in total seclusion in the woods near to where he grew up. ...A fascinating story that resonates with me because, just a few years back, I myself seriously considered doing something very similar. With me, though, I was very definitely suffering from depression: I couldn't get a handle on life; I wanted 'out'. However, I ended up making myself physically ill before my planned departure date and was admitted to hospital instead, from where I was referred on to psychological services who... Well, let me put it this way: my state of mind is such at present that I no longer wish to 'throw myself to the wolves'. 

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That sounds like an interesting read, @Greenbeard--I am going to look for it at my library. (I just looked online...it's checked out but due back Oct 4. I'll put a hold on it!)

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Guest Jetsun Milarepa

The Ernest Cline book was very absorbing 'Ready Player One' looks like it'll be a film next, I can imagine it looking a bit like Avatar. Anyhow, having finished it, I'm stuck for books right now.

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Just finished The Strange Affair of Spring Heeled Jack by Mark Hodder. What a crazy story! It is something different but kind of interesting. I think I'll probably try the next book in the series some time. One thing I liked is that the writer is descriptive. The last few books I read lacked description which made the stories and characters seem bland. Though in Spring Heeled Jack, the descriptions can be a bit gross, grim and violent, so that can be off putting. None of the characters are likeable either and is strange they are based on real life people! There were times where it reminded me of Monty Python or Hitch Hiker's Guide to the Galaxy, for instance the foul mouthed insulting parakeets. Anyway this is my first steampunk novel which has been something I'd been interested in trying out. Will look into more later on.

 

I don't know what I'll read next, I have quite a few books waiting to be read.

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I didn't enjoy Spring-Heeled Jack myself, and your comments described some of the things I didn't enjoy about it.

 

If you want some other, lighter, more fun steampunk I would recommend James Blaylock's Langdon St. Ives books. The first one is titled Homunculus.

And Gail Carriger's Parasol Protectorate series is even lighter in tone. With werewolves and vampires and strong female characters, but also the occasional romantic elements. Still fun, if you can get past the romance parts. Or her Finishing School series, about teenage girls in a steampunk spy school in a massive airship. Less romance, but in the same world as the Parasol Protectorate series.

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Thanks for the recommendations, @daveb. I'll look for and book mark those to try from the library. The Spring Heeled Jack story was a mixed bag. Some things were interesting, but some of the not so good aspects brought it down. I may still give later books in the series a try, but I'm not in a rush to do so. It's been hard to find a series that I can really get into. Harry Potter was the last one that I was driven to read every book.

 

I decided on the next book to read and it is Death of Dustman of the Hamish Macbeth series. I take it back, this is a series that I find interesting and enjoyable enough to continue reading. I'm just not doing it in chronological order. I don't think it is too critical reading them this way.

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I'm reading Asexual Perspectives by 

Sandra Bellamy.  I'm relatively early into it and there is one woman telling her story that I could have written myself.

Then I like all kinds of mysteries.  Ones that are about funny old ladies working together to figure it all our, where animals talk & help their owners solve the crime & thrillers.  

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I am in the middle of moving, and in my packing of books I just rediscovered Get Your War On by David Rees. Rees was in NYC when the towers came down, and for solace for himself and his office workers, he started making satirical comic strips using repetitive clip art. People started sharing them and the book idea took off, with all proceeds going toward the removal of landmines in Afghanistan. I forgot how funny and irreverent that book is! :D Will be ordering Russell Brand's new book this week. 

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  • 2 weeks later...
Guest Jetsun Milarepa

I really loved Great Little Things it was so thought provoking. Now I'm on 'Quiet' by Susan Cain, which is about the power of introversion, which is so overlooked in a noisy , empty society. The history of how society stopped being thoughtful and considerate in favour of the loud and charismatic is very interesting.

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Gentle Giant

I haven't read "Quiet" but I've been meaning to. Thanks for reminding me, now I'll go book mark it "to read" in my library folder.

 

There are several different Quiets by Susan Cain which one are you reading?

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I read it some time ago, and also enjoyed her TED talk (which is what led me to her book).

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Guest Jetsun Milarepa

Just finished 'I see you' by Clare Mackintosh. A real page turner and as she used to be a met police woman, she wrote a highly plausible thriller too....

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imnotafreakofnature!

Just finished Yoga from the Inside Out by Christina Sell, now on to Grain Brain by David Perlmutter.

 

Does anyone know anything about the Outlander series? I started buying the books used as I came across them because it looked like something I might be interested in. I'm still missing number three (Voyager) after several months of looking, so I decided to check out season one of the TV series from the library. However, I was more than thoroughly disgusted when it got to the THIRD sex scene in the very first episode ( :angry:!!) that I returned it the next day. Can anyone tell me if the books are that bad? If so, I'll just get rid of those, too.

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I tend to find an author I like and then work my way through everything they ever wrote.  I am currently in a John Green phase.  His latest novel is "Turtles All The Way Down" which I haven't gotten to yet but it sounds interesting.  He wrote the book, "The Fault In Our Stars" which was made into a movie.  I'm currently reading an older book of his called "Looking for Alaska".

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James Herriot's All Creatures Great And Small. I still laugh, and cry, every time.

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On October 24, 2017 at 2:18 PM, Tja said:

James Herriot's All Creatures great And Small. I still laugh, and cry, every time.

That is indeed a classic and well worthy of a re-read.

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Guest Jetsun Milarepa

There's a TV show here called 'The Yorkshire Vet'  and although it's not set in the actual vet surgery Herriott used because it's now a museum, the senior vet was trained by him and has many funny stories of the time.

Reading 'Sapiens' and 'Homo Deus' will be next, by Yuval Noah Harisi, it's a potted history of mankind and it doesn't show us in much of a good light as a species. First book is our history (he's an Oxford History don) and the second is an exploration of where the species may be heading.

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  • 4 weeks later...
TheLastOfSheila

Been in an Anne Rice phase, but already planning my next re-read which will be The Alienist by Caleb Carr.

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Guest Jetsun Milarepa

I really got into Anne Rice @TheLastOfSheila, there was such a continuity in some of the characters. Not been able to finish as many reads as hoped, the Homo Deus book is still on the front burner though, just requiring a lot of thought to read.

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