Karlstar Reads in '22 Part 3

July reading plans
Master of Furies by Raymond E. Feist
Into the Narrowdark by Tad Williams
A Tolkien Miscellany
The Library Book by Susan Orlean

August reading plans
Sandkings by George R. R. Martin
The Grief of Stones by Katherine Addison
Beyond the Hallowed Sky by Ben MacLeod
The Shadow of What Was Lost by James Islington
The Black Song by Anthony Ryan

September reading
Magician: Apprentice by Raymond E. Feist
A Farewell to Arms by Ernest Hemingway
Peoples of Middle-Earth by Christopher Tolkien
Little Dorritt by Charles Dickens
The Burning Man by Tad Williams (short novel from the Legends collection)
The Dreaming Void by Peter F. Hamilton

October reading
The Face of the Waters by Robert Silverberg
Weird and Horrific Stories by H.P.Lovecraft (ER book, abandoned)
Orbit 1 edited by Damon Knight
A Night in the Lonesome October by Roger Zelazny

November reading
East of Eden by John Steinbeck
The Complete Robot by Isaac Asimov
The Alloy of Law by Brandon Sanderson. re-read
Od Magic by Patricia McKillip
Everless by Sarah Holland

December reading
Starlight Enclave by R.A. Salvatore
The Doomfarers of Coramonde by Brian Daley. Read this one multiple times before.
The Great Admirals: Command at Sea edited by Jack Sweetman
Three Hearts and Three Lions by Poul Anderson
The Kaiju Preservation Society by John Scalzi

I use a 1 to 10 rating system because I started rating books on the internet long before LT and because I like the additional granularity. Here's my rating scale explained. Checking my LT books, the 8 ratings stop right around book 500, so I'm consistent there, but I only have about 70 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. I would guess my most common rating is 6, I like most of what I read.

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 500 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.

I'd totally lost track that you'd gotten to over 150 in the previous thread. Time flies eh?

Yes it does! I seem to hit that mark roughly every quarter, very convenient.

Into the Narrowdark is here, just arrived today! I'm in the middle of Master of Furies, but I know what I'm reading next.

>5 Karlstar: Thanks for the reminder. I should probably start looking into picking up that Williams series...

Can I just say that I chuckled over the nuances behind your numeric ratings.

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.

>7 jillmwo: Checking my books, I almost never give out a 3 rating, so I guess maybe that's too much nuance?

>8 Karlstar: Just following up on what I wrote about WP ads. It appears that WP has once again created something and not told ANYONE about it. You can buy an "ad free" addon while on the freeplan for about $24. Just found that out today. Hope that helps.

>9 BookstoogeLT: Thanks, that does, I really dislike the ads, makes my page look like some cheap spam site.

>10 Karlstar: Yep, that's why I ended up going on one of the (now) legacy plans before they discontinued them. They really do their best to make the ads as intrusive and horrible as possible :-(

Master of Furies by Raymond E. Feist
STTM: 3 - not much travel in this one
Rating: 7 out of 10

I really enjoyed this third book in the Firemane series, perhaps because it has started to have more in common with his Midkemia books.

The plot really starts to come together in this 3rd book of the Firemane saga. Don't look at my LT review if you haven't read any of the books and don't want any mild spoilers. This book continues to follow 3 young people as they are caught up in a world-spanning conflict. Like many epic fantasy series, they don't know what's behind the conflict, or even really who's behind it, but that starts to become clear in this book.

Feist makes it clear in this book that while this world is not Midkemia, they are in the same universe and share some of the same great conflicts - and people. He brings an avatar of one of the favorite characters from Midkemia into this series, which I enjoyed.

Overall, standard epic fantasy, very similar to his other works, but with more focus on people and less on politics. Feist spends almost no time on the 'bad guys', so if you like spending a lot of time in the head of villains, it isn't that sort of fantasy novel.

I finished Into the Narrowdark, which was fantastic. The best epic fantasy I've read in years. My reading plan shifted a bit, I'm halfway into A Tolkien Miscellany, which I believe was a BB from MrsLee.

>13 Karlstar: Hope you enjoy it!

>2 Karlstar: My favorite rating of yours is the STTM one. Also, since you finish nearly everything.. what are some books that got a 1 - 4 from you? I should know this but don't think I do.

>14 MrsLee: I am, very much so. I'm 2/3 of the way through 'On Fairy Stories' and I think it is a great essay, really making me think about fantasy writing in a different way.

>15 Silversi: Some samples of those ratings:

The Crystal Gorge by David Eddings, the 3rd book in the Dreamers series. Really, the whole series deserves a 1 or a 2 rating, I read this one and the 4th book, but I really should have quit after book 2. I love Edding's stuff, but this series should never have seen print.

Port of Shadows by Glen Cook. The excitement of this being a new! Black Company book was completely ruined by it being horrible. Finished it, didn't want to.

Great Military Disasters. A bargain table book from Barnes and Noble my mother picked up for me. So high level and misleading it was just.. terrible. Didn't finish it, didn't have to.

Visitants. A short story collection that was supposed to be about angels, but wasn't and the stories were just... bad. About the only story I can recall now is the one about how the cherubs ate the guy who was trapped in a car crash.

The Wanderer by Fritz Leiber. People may recall my review of this one, it almost got a zero. Offensive in so many ways with nothing of value to make up for it.

That book Chuck made me read.

>17 Karlstar: That book Chuck made me read. I feel that way about the movie he said we had to watch too lol.

Cherubs ate people in a car crash. Wow. Well, that's a good list of bad books!

>17 Karlstar: & >18 Silversi: Well now... That's a mental image I really need to erase before I head to bed.
0.0

>17 Karlstar: I am sorry that you had that many to put on your list of Books-That-Ought-Never-To-Have-Seen-The-Daylight-of-Publication. But I'd love to hear you talk a little bit more about how reading Tolkien's essay shifted your thinking about fantasy and what it should be expected to deliver.

>20 jillmwo: Luckily it doesn't happen often at all! The vast majority of my rated books have a rating in the 5-7 range.

As for the essay, I'll have to first give a couple of quotes.
From the introduction:
"The land of fairy-story is wide and deep and high, and is filled with many things: all manner of beasts and birds are found there; shoreless seas and stars uncounted; beauty that is an enchantment, and an ever-present peril; both sorrow and joy as sharp as swords."

From the Origins section:
"We read that Beowulf “is only a version of Dat Erdmänneken”; that “The Black Bull of Norroway is Beauty and the Beast,” or “is the same story as Eros and Psyche”; that the Norse Mastermaid (or the Gaelic Battle of the Birds and its many congeners and variants) is “the same story as the Greek tale of Jason and Medea.”
Statements of that kind may express (in undue abbreviation) some element of truth; but they are not true in a fairy-story sense, they are not true in art or literature. It is precisely the colouring, the atmosphere, the unclassifiable individual details of a story, and above all the general purport that informs with life the undissected bones of the plot, that really count."

I would say that while this quote reminds me not to compare books to each other so much, the sheer volume of fantasy now, compared to when Tolkien wrote this, does make this type of criticism a bit more appropriate.

The first quote and many of the other parts of the essay that touch on Fairie as a place, or realm different than Earth and the achievement of what Tolkien calls sub-Creation got me thinking about my own writing for my game world. My writing tends to be factual and mechanical, not enough of the Fairie essence, so to speak and it immediately got me thinking of ways to make my world more of a Fairie world and less of an alternate Earth.

I've participated in gaming campaigns before where the game master's written notes about their world sucked people in immediately and got them interested in going to those mysterious places and adventuring. What was that quality about what they wrote? Tolkien doesn't really say how to do this, but I think there are a lot of hints in this essay. At least it gave me some ideas.

In the section titled Children:

"What really happens is that the story-maker proves a successful “sub-creator.” He makes a Secondary World which your mind can enter. Inside it, what he relates is “true”: it accords with the laws of that world. You therefore
believe it, while you are, as it were, inside. The moment disbelief arises, the spell is broken; the magic, or rather art, has failed. You are then out in the Primary World again, looking at the little abortive Secondary World from outside. If you are obliged, by kindliness or circumstance, to stay, then disbelief must be suspended (or stifled), otherwise listening and looking would become intolerable."

All of this relates to a question I ponder sometimes when thinking about my reading. Why do some books, some book locations, some characters stick in our minds long after we've read the book, and some just vanish not long after? The author obviously achieved that state of creating a world your mind can enter, some do it better than others.

All of this relates to a question I ponder sometimes when thinking about my reading. Why do some books, some book locations, some characters stick in our minds long after we've read the book, and some just vanish not long after? The author obviously achieved that state of creating a world your mind can enter, some do it better than others.

This is something I think about quite a bit, and I suspect it's worthy of its own thread. (Unless you don't mind your journal thread being hacked.)

>22 clamairy: Either is fine with me! It is a common thought for me.

>22 clamairy: & >23 Karlstar: That sounds like a discussion I would be interested in following and contributing to.

>22 clamairy: >23 Karlstar: Any suggestions for a title for the thread?

>25 Karlstar: Hmmm. How can you distill this question: What makes for a more (the most) memorable book reading-experience(s)?

>26 clamairy: That might be as good as it gets. Shorter, but maybe not clear enough: What makes for an immersive reading experience?

>27 Karlstar: Very well said. The only problem for me being that immersive isn't necessarily memorable.

>28 clamairy:
Perhaps we should have a competition for the most appropriate and memorable title for the thread.

>21 Karlstar: What was that quality about what they wrote? Tolkien doesn't really say how to do this ...: I don't think that telling us how to do it was what the essay was about (says he gamely, not having read it for a while). Tolkien's point was more along the lines of justifying the fairy story as an art form in its own right. C S Lewis also has an essay on fairy stories (in which I think he actually refers to Tolkien's essay*) but again the point is a bit different, as you can see from its title: "Sometimes Fairy Stories May Say Best What's to Be Said". At the time Tolkien wrote his essay, the fairy tale as a literary form had fallen on hard times. It wasn't always so: Goethe wrote fairy stories for adults. But you can see from your quotation from the Origins section that Tolkien was attacking a tendency to explain fairy stories as expressions of older myths, or the collective unconscious, or whatever, rather than taking them as seriously as say a George Eliot novel.

* He does. He gets the reference wrong, but the editor corrected it. The essay is in Of Other Worlds: Essays and Stories.

>28 clamairy: You're right, it doesn't, so now I'm back to being stuck, which makes me think we should use use your question in >26 clamairy: as the title.

>29 pgmcc: Very funny! :)

>30 haydninvienna: He absolutely was not telling us how to achieve that! That's the mystery left up to the writers. I think at the time there was more of a need to justify the fairy story art form, though even today there are people who question why people read scifi and fantasy.

>31 Karlstar:
There is a phrase I am fond of. I do not know who said it.

If you want to tell the truth, write fiction.

If you want to tell the truth about the present day, write science fiction.

>31 Karlstar: I like yours better because it's more concise. Maybe just add "and/or memorable" to yours? Mine is rather muddled.

>33 clamairy: Here goes: What makes for an immersive and/or memorable reading experience?

>34 Karlstar: I like it.

>34 Karlstar: Sounds good to me. Now I have to create a list of things to say on the topic.

>34 Karlstar: Wish I knew how to judge before reading! I would say that immersive is very different to memorable. Some of immersive is simply a clear writing style adjectives and pronouns correctly chosen and placed appropriately so you can take the gist of the sentence/scene without having to think outside of reading what the author might have meant. Having nothing that throws you out of the suspension of disbelief - physics and rules being consistently applied, characters acting as you expect. This is difficult to achieve with characters that are also exciting and inventive. A fast paced plot helps to carry the reader over any holes without noticing them so much.

Memorable is harder - writing characters that resonate with you (all the different varied you's) as a reader, Worlds that you can believe in and want to be in, innovative solutions to situations you've found yourself in and wished you'd been able to use. I think the key memorable works for me are those I have wanted to be in, detailed enough to visualise and grasp.

Maybe copy this over to HobNob and see what the authors have to say?

>37 reading_fox: I do too, but more importantly, I wish I could capture it and write it myself!

I created the new thread: https://www.librarything.com/topic/343292

>38 Karlstar: Just added my two bits to that thread. I really spent some time thinking about the question (which was fun) so thank you for wondering about the nature of the answer.

>32 pgmcc: That quote sounded familiar to me, but I could not identify it. I finally gave up and googled. What I found so far is that the first sentence is supposedly a quote from Joshua Halberstam. Both together didn't come up with anything, the second one referred to a intro by Ursula LeGuin, but not exactly. Maybe you are the author!

Into the Narrowdark by Tad Williams
STTM: 8 - a lot of traveling, a lot of growth
Rating: 9 out of 10

If you haven't read these books yet, avoid the spoilers!

Normally a high STTM rating for me pulls down the overall rating, but not this time. This is the 3rd book in William's The Last King of Osten Ard series, which follows his Memory, Sorrow and Thorn series. He promises this series is just four books and the last one is basically done, so this isn't a GRRM situation.

About 30 years has passed in Osten Ard and the Norns are back and up to something, which is never good for the humans. Despite being soundly defeated in the MST series, the Norns are back stronger than ever. King Simon and Queen Miriamele are still around, but the going is tough for them.

As always in this series, the overall plot here is the Hikeda'ya (aka Norns, a faction of elves) are once again trying to reclaim their ancient lands from the humans, which while we don't know for sure, likely means by killing all the humans. The Zida'ya (Sithi, or elves) are opposed to the Hikeda'ya in general, though normally they co-exist in an uneasy truce. There is a 3rd non-human faction, the Tinukeda'ya, or Changelings, which includes other recognizable fey creatures such as niskies, goblins and a few others.

This is all set in Tad's meticulously detailed world of Osten Ard. While elves are a common fantasy race, Tad has gone to great lengths to make a unique creation. In fact, if you have read his books you probably already know this, but it is become clearer that the 'ships' that the Norns, Sith and Changelings 'sailed' to Osten Ard on are spaceships, not sailing ships and 'The Garden' must have been another world.

There is a lot of walking, riding and hiding in this book as the various protagonists, who were scattered a bit in the previous two books, continue trying to survive and get to where they need to be. This causes there to be multiple threads in the books as it is broken down by chapter, by character. Through it all the characters, whether Norn, human or Sithi, young or old, continue to grow and learn.

I really enjoyed this book! If you've read his original Memory, Sorrow and Thorn trilogy, which was named after swords in the books, you'll enjoy this. Tad's moved on a bit from naming books after swords or having magic swords partially drive the plot, I think this series is better. I also strongly recommend reading The Heart of What was Lost and Brothers of the Wind before starting this series, or circling back if you read the first two books and haven't read them yet. They are both effectively prequels and while not necessary, will really make some things clearer.

To me this is the best epic fantasy series I've read in years and this is the best book of the series. This is better than the Feist, Butcher or Weeks books I've read in the last couple of years. Those series were good, this is better.

>41 Karlstar: I have been eagerly anticipating Williams finishing this series so I can dive in. MST was a HUGE part of my growing up experience and the rest of Williams ouvre (except Otherland) has been like bitter ashes to me. I am hoping these books can restore my faith in him as an author.

>42 BookstoogeLT: I wasn't a huge fan of the Shadowmarch series. I enjoyed the first two, I think mostly for the potential but didn't enjoy the last two as much. I'm a big fan of the first Bobby Dollar book. I wish there were 10 more in the same style. The second one... just went way too far. Way too far. The third one felt like he'd been influenced by his readers way too much.

Purchases from our impromptu trip to the used bookstore.

>44 Karlstar:
Nice for an impromptu visit.

>44 Karlstar: Nice to see a Kinuko Craft cover for McKillip. Love that artwork!

And is that the Sandkings collection or just the original short story? It looks big enough to be the entire collection of short stories but I just never know.

>46 BookstoogeLT: It is the short story collection. That store tries to specialize in older and specialty books, but they have a few scifi that weren't rare.

>44 Karlstar: Very nice haul. (I loved loved loved Od Magic.)

>44 Karlstar: Another fan of Od magic here! And I also loved Sandkings (the short story).

Nice plant too!

How can it be August already? I got distracted by one of my new purchases and I'm reading the Sandkings short story collection, also still working on A Tolkien Miscellany. Mostly not reading at all though, too busy with work the last couple of weeks.

I did manage to finish one.
The Library Book by Susan Orlean
STTM: 0 - libraries don't move!
Rating: 8 out of 10

I really enjoyed this one. It is sort of the story of the LA Central Library fire, which happened in April, 1986. Don't beat yourself up if you don't recall that event, it was the same day as the Chernobyl nuclear accident.

The book is partly the history of the LA Central library and the librarians, partly the story of the fire and the recovery, part the author's own relationship with libraries, and part biographies of the head librarians since the library was founded in the 1880's. This mish-mash works just fine. I wasn't a fan of the grey-ish paper and the light font that was chosen, it was a bit hard to read, but not that bad. The books that she chooses to use as chapter headings are fun clues as to what the chapter is about.

While not immersive, this book was definitely memorable. Not sure about re-readable, I don't think I'll need to read it again as it isn't that kind of book. Thanks again to the folks responsible for this BB.

>50 Karlstar: I enjoyed this one, too. I think it was recommended by the NY Times, and I got on the Libby wait list based solely on the high ratings here on LT without even checking to see what it was about. I'm happy to hear you enjoyed it, too!

P.S. Your touchstone is pointing to the wrong Library Book.

>51 clamairy: Fixed, thank you!

>52 Karlstar: :o)
And now you've thanked yourself.

>53 clamairy: You'd think by now I wouldn't do that, but nooooo.

>52 Karlstar: >53 clamairy: >54 Karlstar:
I think some self-appreciation is always a good thing.

Almost done with Sandkings. The reading plan has changed again, I was given The Grief of Stones so I'll be reading that next.

>56 Karlstar: Oh! Enjoy! (I'm sure you will!)

Review time.

Sandkings by George R. R. Martin
STTM: 5 - some slogging through the star lanes, tunnels and worlds
Rating: 8 out of 10

There are only 7 stories in this collection, all science fiction, ranging from 20 pages long to 54.

'The Way of Cross and Dragon' - a church knight is sent to stamp out a new heresy, but heresy is a matter of opinion.
'Bitterblooms' - way out in the future on some dystopian planet, high tech meets survivalists. A story about a relationship.
'In the House of the Worm' - this one reminded me of one of Moorcock's end-of-the-Earth stories. A strange human court and stranger creatures at the very end of the sun's existence.
'Fast Friend' - humans meet symbiotic creatures that live in space. Can love survive?
'The Stone City' - a quest by a spaceman to see the center of the universe ends strangely.
'Starlady' - of all of the stories, this one felt like Game of Thrones in space, set on some out of the way planet with aliens and criminals.
'Sandkings' - the title story and most famous. A despicable human buys a new pet, semi-intelligent ant-like creatures.

None of these are really happy stories, I'm not sure Martin knows how to write those. The last 3 seem to be set in the same universe. Of these, 'Sandkings' is memorable and immersive and re-readable, for me. 'The Way of Cross and Dragon' and 'Bitterblooms' are both good and not quite so depressing as the others. In those two, the contrast between the good side of human nature vs. the various bad sides come out the best. The others are all good too, but his pervasive background of 'the far future sucks' doesn't make for happy reading and several of them feature his usual cast of really bad people.

>58 Karlstar: I'm done with Game of Thrones, but I really enjoyed Sandkings (the short story) and may look out for this collection. It sounds bleak but interesting.

>58 Karlstar: - Way of Cross remains one of my favourite short stories of all time. Something about it just really appeals, quite a bleak humour but very well crafted.

>60 reading_fox: I think I enjoyed that one more this time around than in the past. It was interesting and thought provoking. All of the stories are well written, I just wonder what caused him to write them.

I'm done with Grief of Stones, which was good. On to a book that was recommended to me years ago The Shadow of What Was Lost.

I also finished Beyond the Hallowed Sky last weekend, but since I keep forgetting that, I'm not sure that says good things about it.

>62 Karlstar: Just 'good?' LOL

>64 clamairy: I haven't decided on the review yet. I enjoyed it, but I think some of the facets of those books are starting to bug me a little. It doesn't help I read it soon after Into the Narrowdark, which I gave a rare 9 rating. I can't compare Grief of Stones to that in any way and come up with a fair rating, so I'm still thinking. It was memorable, not really immersive and it will be a while before I re-read it.

I guess it is time!

Grief of Stones by Katherine Addison
STTM: 2 - everything takes place in one city
Rating: 7 out of 10

My very short review:
A worthwhile follow-up to Witness For the Dead. We are again following Thera Celehar, a Witness for the Dead, as he continues to unravel mysteries and has a bit of an undead adventure too. Thera is a good character and the world and situations the author creates are compelling.

This might be a borderline 8, I'm on the fence. I enjoyed the book, but, I have questions. Is this supposed to be steampunk? There are airships and trams and gas lights, but no steampunk feel. Do the trams run on steam? Electricity? Horse-drawn? Celehar rides trams constantly, but there's no description. What does the city look like? There's a lot of names of neighborhoods and places, but it doesn't put anything in my head at all. The titles and place names don't bother me, but as I mentioned in https://www.librarything.com/topic/343292#7909543, there are some person names that are way too similar.

I enjoy the character of Celehar and the mysteries and what he does with his abilities, but I think the lack of description of everything else is starting to get to me, this book felt too much like the previous one. That and the author's dragging out his relationship status. Get on with it already! Also, what the heck with his injury?

>64 clamairy: To answer your question, I'd say it was very good but not great.

Finished The Shadow of What Was Lost, which was good (not Grief of Stones good, just good) and onto The Black Song, which has sucked me in already in the first 30 pages.

Catching up on reviews.

Beyond the Hallowed Sky by Ken MacLeod
STTM: 2 - FTL, so almost no travel at all
Rating: 6.5 out of 10

I had to hedge the rating on this one, I'm torn between a 6 and a 7. Mostly because while I enjoyed it, I know when I put it on the shelf, while I'll remember the gist of the story, I will not be able to remember the title. I just can't connect it to the story.

A good, but not great near future scifi novel. In 2070, FTL travel has been discovered, while at the same time we have cloud colonies on Venus. With near instantaneous FTL, some countries have settled an Earth-like planet, only to discover strange alien life, strange alien stone structures - and bees. The book is partly first contact, partly Sol-system conflict between blocs. The conflict is mostly on Venus and Apis, the new planet. There's a dismissive mention of a 'failed' colony on Mars, which I thought was an unnecessary throw in.

Good tech feel, good conflict, good action, but I still don't understand the title! If you like sci-fi, I'd recommend it and I'll likely read the next one when it becomes available.

>69 Karlstar: Thank you for the review. I have this one, and I really want to read it, but am waiting for Macleod to release the rest of the trilogy. Luckily, he seems to write fairly fast and I have the Engines of Light trilogy and a couple of his stand-alone novels to keep me occupied while waiting.

Macleod's titles don't always have a direct connection with the story. I mean, there was a canal in The Stone Canal, but it wasn't really the main point of the story, (I don't think...?). I dunno; he is rather a challenging author - which is probably why I like what I have read from him.

>70 ScoLgo: Welcome! pgmcc was much more enthusiastic about this one than I was, but I think you can take my ratings and add 1 and get most people's ratings, quite often.

>71 Karlstar: & >70 ScoLgo:
I admit to having a penchant for Ken MacLeod's works. There are many aspects of his work that I appreciate from knowing the areas in Scotland he writes about, and I am also familiar with some of the politics he plays with in his stories. I suspect you would not pick up on the anti-Brexit theme as many of the allusions are subtle and are likely to be noticed only by people on this side of the Atlantic who are intimately familiar with the nuances and ramifications of Brexit.

>70 ScoLgo: I really enjoyed The Engines of Light trilogy. Each book was good, but when I finished the third book, and everything fell into place, the trilogy became a lot more than the sum of the parts. I envy you your reading it for the first time.

In terms of his standalone books, I really loved Newton's Wake. There is a lot of subtle humour in it.

>72 pgmcc: I own fourteen Ken Macleod novels. Besides Engines of Light, I have not yet read Descent or Beyond the Hallowed Sky). The most recent Macleod book I read was Newton's Wake, which I liked very much. I will be reading Cosmonaut Keep soon as the trilogy is included in my WWE Challenge reads for this year. I'm looking forward to it!

>73 ScoLgo:
When I read Cosmonaut Keep I was on a visit to my daughter who was in Edinburgh for the Edinburgh Theatre Festival in 2003. In preparation for my trip to Edinburgh I had been looking up maps of the city to get myself oriented. My daughter was over with a bunch of her college theatre colleagues (she was studying Drama and Theatre Studies at the time) who had rented a house for the weeks of the festival. I was given a couch in the living room as my bed. I woke up early on my first morning there and started reading Cosmonaut Keep. The opening of the book involved people meeting and wandering about Edinburgh in, if my memory serves me well, the 23rd century. (It could have been further in the future, but that's not important right now.) In his writing of these scenes, Ken MacLeod used the names of roads and places I was familiar with after my map research and my first day finding my way through Edinburgh. That was a lovely link to the book that I had not been expecting, and it certainly tied me to the book.

The one bit in Newton's Wake that I laughed out loud about was the opera performed on the planet colonised by people from China. Remembering the fall of the USSR very clearly I found the opera very funny. Ken received many requests to write a full opera on the topic but has declined to do so. I know we have discussed Ken MacLeod's works on and over over time, but I cannot remember the detail of our conversations, so I could easily have told you that bit before. Apologies if that is the case.

I finished Anthony Ryan's The Black Song. I'll need a palate cleanser after that one, there's a lot of bloody action in it. Not sure what the next book is going to be just yet. I've also read a lot of epic fantasy the last two months, so there's another reason to read something different.

Edited to fix horrible sentence structure and grammar, you'd think I wrote the original on a phone or something.

>75 Karlstar: Your touchstone is going to the wrong title. It takes me to The Nixie's Song which seems far more benign and unlikely to offer much in the way of "bloody action". But I could be wrong....

>76 jillmwo: Lol! Thanks for catching that. Not sure why it came up with that one and not the right one, but it is fixed now.

Raymond Feist's Magician: Apprentice, the first book of the Riftwar series (the split first book version) is available for 2.99 today from Amazon US.

I've picked up a good number of classics lately from library and garage sales, so for a change I'm reading Little Dorrit, the Britannica Great Works of the Western World #47 edition.

>79 Karlstar:
That is a Dickens that I have not read yet.

I must get back to Dickens. Having enjoyed all the Dickens books I was reading I found David Copperfield a bit tedious and have not picked up a Dickens since reading it.

>79 Karlstar: & >80 pgmcc: That is one I haven't read, either. I hope you enjoy it. I loved Copperfield, but I was 22 when I read it, and I believe my mind did not wander quite as easily then.

>81 clamairy:
Are you saying my mind wander…Oh look! Shiny thing.

>79 Karlstar: I honestly know nothing of Little Dorrit so will be interested in what you get from it. I have never been the biggest Charles Dickens fan, but I suspect that says as much about me as about anything else. I continually wait to hear of one of his titles that I might fall in love with. (Not sure A Christmas Carol really qualifies, given that it's so short.)

>66 Karlstar: The decadence of Amalo reminds me of Belle Époque Europe, especially Vienna or Budapest.

>80 pgmcc: My favorite Dickens, but Copperfield himself takes some warming up to, I think.

>83 jillmwo: Sorry to disappoint, but I had to set Little Dorrit aside for now, the print was just too small for me to read, even in good light. I got about 25 pages in and just had to stop. I switched to A Farewell to Arms, which I picked up for .25 at a garage sale recently.

>85 Karlstar: Font sizes can be absolutely murderous. No worries. I don't think my lack of familiarity with Little Dorritt will be any moral equivalent to the butterfly waving his wing in one place that creates a tsunami on the other side of the globe.

>86 jillmwo: I was actually enjoying it, I'll have to find an ebook copy to read sometime.

Review time
The Shadow of What Was Lost by James Islington
STTM: 7 - there's a lot of walking, some growth
Rating: 6 out of 10

An Eddings-esque, Jordan-esque epic fantasy. To sum it up in an entirely unfair way: There's an existential threat we're going to have to walk to while picking up a crew and being chased by bad guys while we learn about ourselves and our powers and grow up some.

A friend of mine had highly recommended this years ago and I see it mentioned quite often on the internet. It wasn't bad, but it isn't Eddings, Jordan or Tad Williams quality either. This one follows three young people, Davian, Wirr and Asha. From the start, Davian and Asha are clearly romantically attached. In this world, you either have the Gift, or you don't. Those that have the Gift are identified to the 'Administration', marked with a tattoo and bound by the Four Tenets, magically imposed rules that generally prevent the Gift from using magic against people, ever. If you have the Gift but fail the test to prove you can control it, you become a Shadow, with the Gift magically removed from you and your face marked permanently with lines of Shadow. The Shadows then become a lower caste.

There's a remnant from an old war, the Boundary, which is failing and must be fixed. The creatures on the other side are hostile, but no one really knows anything about it, how to fix it, etc. There's even Islington's version of Rhuidean. There's bad good guys and good bad guys and people we aren't sure of, so there's plenty of plotting in this book and it is fairly well done.

>87 Karlstar: If you have Amazon Prime it should be free. You just have to be sure to sort the prices of the ebook from Low to High.

Has anyone else been watching the new Rings of Power show? Should we have a thread to discuss it?

>90 Karlstar: Yes, please. I keep meaning to start one and not getting around to it. (Anything long I prefer to type on a physical keyboard to cut down on typos!)

>91 clamairy: Done!

Ok, I did it, I read A Farewell to Arms. I didn't think it was that great, one of those classics that really shouldn't be one, in my opinion. I also finished The Peoples of Middle-Earth, which I had been poking away at for a while, but wanted to finish now that the Rings of Power show is on.

>89 clamairy: Found it, thanks! I'd never sorted that way, so after trying once and failing, went back in, searched on the book specifically (lots of DVDs) and then sorted by price and there it was, free!

>94 Karlstar: Yay! Yes, it should give you a Kindle versions only option, then you can sort. I'm glad you found it.

>93 Karlstar: I read A Farewell to Arms, decades ago and I suspect it hasn't aged well.

>95 clamairy: It definitely has not, but I wonder what people saw in it when it was written.

Darn Amazon! Since Magician: Apprentice was sitting on my Kindle, I read it. Back to Little Dorrit now that I have a Kindle version also.

>96 Karlstar: I liked it when I read it 35+ or so years ago. LOL It was For Whom the Bell Tolls that I couldn't finish...

>98 clamairy: Thanks, I'll avoid that one! I haven't read much Hemingway, now I'm not sure how much more I will try.

>99 Karlstar: Just read The Old Man and the Sea before you give up. I read For Whom the Bell Tolls as a teen. Few memories, except it made me cry and was probably my first exposure to war writing.

>100 MrsLee:
I second MrsLee’s recommendation for The Old Man and the Sea.

>100 MrsLee: >101 pgmcc: Thanks, I won't give up on Hemingway just yet.

>99 Karlstar: I like his Nick Adams short stories and The Sun Also Rises is one of my favorite novels.

The Black Song by Anthony Ryan
STTM: 8 - a lot of travel, a lot of slogging
Rating: 7 out of 10

If you are a fan of Ryan's epic fantasy and a fan of Vaelin Al Sorna, his main character, this one won't be a disappointment. Vaelin has two nicknames: The Darkblade and The Thief of Names. Ryan hits us over the head in this book with the reason for both. Vaelin and his companions are still trying desperately to stop the the other Darkblade, leader of the Stahlhast horde, from conquering even more kingdoms.

There is a mystical battle here between two ancient, otherworldly forces, one working through Kehlbrand, the other through Vaelin. As the defender of the good side, how low will Vaelin be forced to go to win? Will he just become another completely evil Darkblade himself in the process?

None of these books have been cheery, but this one goes a bit darker as the situation becomes more desperate. There's a lot of people killed in bloody ways.

It was immersive, I didn't want to put it down once I started it. It was memorable, though I suspect some of the details will fade quickly. Would I re-read it? Maybe, but for now it was a little too dark for that, I'd have to be in the mood.

>104 Karlstar: It was immersive, I didn't want to put it down once I started it. It was memorable, though I suspect some of the details will fade quickly. Would I re-read it? Maybe, but for now it was a little too dark for that, I'd have to be in the mood.

That's a really interesting summation of your response (and succinct)! You found it compelling (kept picking it up) and you find it memorable. But the kicker -- from my perspective -- is that you think you'd have to be in a particular mood to re-read it. Perhaps part of the reason that you found it memorable has to do with the emotional reaction to darkness -- the shocking number of people who died in bloody ways?

>105 jillmwo: Knowing that it is a bit darker than I usually like, it would likely have to follow a run of lighter books and there'd have to be an aspect of it I wanted to read again, while just kind of reading past the rest. It really isn't all that dark, just a lot of descriptive killing.

Still working my way through Little Dorrit. I'm enjoying it and really want to find out what happens to the title character in the end, but there are sure a lot of words to get through to get to that point and Mr. Dickens keeps sending us off on side-tracks for minor characters.

>107 Karlstar:
I find the side-tracks and minor characters an entertaining part of his books. You have got to remember his books were serialised over many weeks; they were the soap-operas of the time.

>108 pgmcc: I do keep that in mind, but it does give it a bit of a scattered feeling at times.

>109 Karlstar:
As every good guru tells you, "You are on a journey..."

Journeys can be a bit scattered.

>107 Karlstar: there are sure a lot of words to get through

As I recall, my son rejected A Tale of Two Cities in high school for exactly the same reason...

>110 pgmcc: I am happy to report, O Noble reading guide, that I have completed the journey of which I so long ago embarked upon, which journey would be familiar to you.

>111 jillmwo: Now that I've read both, I actually think the first 2/3 of A Tale of Two Cities was harder to get through, for me.

>112 Karlstar:
Ah! I am glad young Grasshopper has completed his journey, only to start along another path.

I read Tad Williams' 'The Burning Man' from the Legends anthology just for the heck of it today. I have to admit, I don't think that story meant a single thing to me the first time around, or the second, only now after reading Brothers of the Wind did it have a real impact.

I finally started The Face of the Waters by Robert Silverberg, an ER book. It is good so far, reminds me a bit of his Majipoor series.

Some short reviews because longer ones are not required for these books.

Peoples of Middle-Earth by Christopher Tolkien. This is basically a history of the evolution of parts of Tolkien's writings on everything from the calendar to language to Hobbits to Numenor. Christopher shows some early notes on each subject, where later revisions differ, etc. Definitely for extreme Tolkien nerds, this isn't a novel, more of the history of how Middle-Earth evolved. I'm still grateful that Marco the Hobbit never appeared in LoTR or the movies.

Magician: Apprentice by Raymond E. Feist. I've never read the split version of book one before. It was still great.

A Farewell to Arms by Ernest Hemingway. An American officer in the Italian Army ambulance corps in WWI. He meets a British nurse, falls in love (maybe?), gets wounded, the Italians get their butts kicked in the war and bad things happen. His relationship with the nurse is the very worst of early 20th century male-female dynamics. Really not a good book.

I finished The Face of the Waters. While it seemed like a Majipoor book in the beginning, the only thing they had in common were humans stranded on an alien world with little or no technology. I'll post a review, likely tomorrow, I was trying to get that one done before the October 11 publishing date.

Catching up on reviews.
Little Dorrit by Charles Dickens
STTM: 3 - some traveling, lots of character development
Rating: 8 out of 10

This was long and at times, it felt like I was being dragged through the mud while Dickens held out on the ending, which was basically inevitable from the very beginning, but I really enjoyed this one.

Like many of Dickens' novels, this is a commentary on English Society structure, government at the time and the institution of debtor's prisons. Much of the story takes place at the Marshalsea debtors prison, where the entire Dorrit family has come to live and the youngest girl, known as Little Dorrit, is actually born in the prison.

The story follows several families. The Dorrits, at the very bottom of society. Next are the Clennams, a formerly successful merchant family, now comfortably well off but not rich and certainly not noble, the novel is mostly about Arthur, the son. The Meagles family, in a similar situation as the Clennams. At the top of society are the Merdles, an extremely rich investor, and the Barnacle clan, heading up the government Circumlocution Office and taking up space either in the office or in Parliament. The Circumlocution Office has mastered the art of 'How not to do it', in this case meaning their function is to prevent anything from getting done.

Arthur returns from working with his father in China to confront his mother about 'something' in his past, or his parents past, he knows there is something, but his father died before revealing anything and his mother will not tell. Mr. and Mrs. Meagles return from a trip abroad with their single daughter, where they met some interesting characters - Miss Wade, who is single, beautiful and very unfriendly; and Rigaud, a possibly fake noble, possible murderer and complete rogue and also Arthur Clennam. This is a large part of the cast and they will go in and out of each other's lives for the rest of the book.

Arthur meets Little Dorrit when he arrives in London and confronts his mother, unsuccessfully. Little Dorrit (Amy) is a poor, mostly starving under-dressed young lady working as a seamstress for Arthur's mother. His good nature takes over and he discovers she lives in the Marshalsea prison with her father, brother and sister. He offers to find out why Mr. Dorrit is still in debtor's prison, but Mr. Dorrit refuses. He starts working on it anyway. Along the way he runs into Mr. Meagles again, who has been thwarted by the Barnacles at the Circumlocution Office. He meets the Meagles' daughter again, who is being courted by a not very good artist, who is a relative of the Merdles. Things get complicated. Relations between different levels of society are frowned upon, or at worst, considered to be insults. You can't have friends who are beneath your standing and you can't even talk to those too far above you.

This mixing of people and circumstances continues throughout the book, of course. A few more characters are introduced along the way as Arthur meets an old girlfriend, who's father is the landlord of Mr. Meagles friend, an inventor. Around and around they go, the Merdles do business and Mrs. Merdle is the belle of Society, the Meagles try to keep up, the Dorrits try to get by, Arthur tries to help everyone and so on. Little Dorrit is the glue that holds her family together; Arthur is the one that crosses levels of society to do what is right.

A fairly long story with a large cast of characters, some good, some flawed and some unpleasant. Fortunes change, old mysteries are uncovered, the rogue Rigaud does rogue-ish things. I really enjoyed it, I found it immersive, though the side-tracks were frustrating, it was definitely memorable and I'll likely re-read it someday.

From Barbara Hambly today: "got word from Open Road Media that Traveling With the Dead (still my favorite of the vampire books), Witches of Wenshar (Sun Wolf #2), Dark Hand of Magic (Sun Wolf #3), and George's Exile Kiss and Budayeen Nights with all be on sale, digital, US only, $1.99, this Friday (Oct. 14)."

>118 Karlstar: and >119 Karlstar: Did you not see the part where I said I didn't need to add more books to my Kindle hoard during my retirement? Both of those posts are great input. I might actually succumb to reading Little Dorrit because your review makes it clear that you got engaged in it fairly deeply and fairly quickly. And much of Hambly's work I've enjoyed in the past.

>120 jillmwo: I'm tempted to pick up the Sun Wolf books on Kindle, I haven't read them in ages.

I am happy to see that your enjoyed the Dickens, but I agree about his books feeling like torture at times. Our brains just are not wired to handle his writing easily, IMHO.

>119 Karlstar: I am trying very hard to read some of hundreds of kindle books I have already bought, and not buy so many anymore... but did you say vampires???

>122 clamairy: I did! I am a big fan of Those Who Hunt the Night. Very traditional vampire and he doesn't sparkle. It is probably the only vampire novel I can say I enjoyed, other than Dracula.

I agree about the Dickens, there were several times I had difficulty parsing his 19th century English with terms I sometimes couldn't figure out easily in context.

>123 Karlstar: It's available to borrow on OverDrive, so I've added it to my gigantic wishlist.

Just finished The Dreaming Void, which is still excellent. Not sure what is next, I have library sale and yard sale books to get to, including some Shakespeare, more Dickens, Catch-22 and a Lovecraft collection from ER that I really should get to. I guess, considering the season, the Lovecraft should be next.

I decided to get the ER book done, so I'm reading Weird and Horrific Stories a collection of short stories by H.P. Lovecraft. I like the quality of the book, it is a nice hardcover edition. Unfortunately, I've never been a Lovecraft fan, so it is slow going. The first three stories so far are unremarkable.

Probably the best way to do this is story by story as I get through them. While reading these I was reminded why in the past I've just not been impressed by his writings.

The stories in this book are presented in publication order.

Weird and Horrific Stories by H.P. Lovecraft

'The Alchemist' - an 8 page story about the last member of a family of French nobles that all die at age 32 because of a curse from the 1300's. Neither weird nor horrific, for values of what we now know as weird.

'A Reminiscence of Dr. Samuel Johnson' - 5 pages. I think this was an exercise in writing in 1700's style, plus name-dropping. All that happens is a couple of supper club meetings, reads like meeting minutes. Neither weird nor horrific.

'The Beast in the Cave' - 6 pages. A man gets lost in Mammoth cave with no light. More horrific than weird.

'The White Ship' - 6 pages. A lighthouse keeper goes on a strange ship to fantastical lands 'in the South'. I actually liked this one, maybe a little weird, maybe a little horrific.

'Memory' - 1 page. Read this yesterday and already forgot it.

'Dagon' - 5 pages. Stranded sailor discovers old undersea ruins with signs of giant undersea humanoids. Weird and horrific.

I read one more story in the Lovecraft collection then moved on.

I recently picked up a copy of Orbit 1 at a garage sale. Turns out it is a first edition, first printing paperback from 1966 in nearly new condition! The page edges are still sharp and neat, it has clearly never been exposed to sunlight (no fading or yellowing) and the cover is like new. There is a slight spine crease, so it looks like it has been read but you'd never know it otherwise. I probably should keep my grubby paws off of it and find a pdf somewhere, or a used hardcover.

I have fond memories of borrowing the Orbit short story collections from the library many years ago, I don't know how many our library had, but there was one published per year, they must have had between 10 and 20.

>128 Karlstar: That was my reaction to Lovecraft also.

>129 MrsLee: Glad I'm not alone!

>127 Karlstar: "'Memory' - 1 page. Read this yesterday and already forgot it." Wonderful.

>131 Jim53: I was thinking the same thing. Brilliant one sentence review, >127 Karlstar:!

>131 Jim53: >132 clamairy: What can I say? (except Thanks!) It wasn't memorable.

Strangely, the first story in Orbit 1, is basically a far future scifi/horror story, very Lovecraftian - except much better.

After many recommendations from folks here, I picked up a replacement copy of A Night in the Lonesome October and finally read it. I'm glad I did, that was fun.

>134 Karlstar: Right? I read this last October and really enjoyed it. I won't make it a yearly thing, like I do The Legend of Sleep Hollow, but I'm sure I will be reading it again.

>135 clamairy: I had no idea what to expect, as everyone is good about avoiding spoilers and that is a very different novel than Zelazny's usual. Fun stuff! I had to put it down a couple of times so as not to finish too fast, though I wasn't trying to line up the days. I confess I did not recognize Morris and McCab.

So the stories in Orbit 1 were good, but weird. I mentioned the first, which was a space-based Lovecraftian horror story. Considering that was also kind of the theme of A Night in the Lonesome October, I think maybe I'm cursed now. At least 3 of the stories I would consider horror, and not science fiction.

'The Disinherited' by Poul Anderson, about humans on a far off planet with intelligent alien life, was possibly the best story in the bunch.

'Kangaroo Court' - kangaroo aliens come BACK to Earth. Oops. Kind of entertaining.

'5 Eggs' by Thomas M. Disch was another that was more horror than science fiction. Seriously, I have to wonder what he was on when he wrote it.

'A Splice of Life' by Sonya Dorman was another that would fall in the horror genre.

'The Disinherited' and '5 Eggs' were immersive, but none of them were really memorable, except maybe for '5 Eggs', only because it was just that horrific.

Moving on to East of Eden by Steinbeck.

I'm going to have to alternate East of Eden with something lighter, just not sure what, yet. Unfortunately it is getting to the point where I can only read books in print during the day, it is just too difficult in anything but bright light. The room with the best reading light is also my home office, so not much reading is getting done.

Finally got around to taking some shelfies, so I can stop talking about it on Peter's thread!

Trish is responsible for the awesome shelf lighting. (and the Christmas decorations)

This is the main wall of the library/home office.



The opposite wall in the same room. That's Bill the Buffalo, stuffed gargoyle guardian of the library.


The Tolkien shelves.

Ha, Christmas decorations are just getting started.

Love your shelfies :)

Excellent shelfies. Beautifully decorated.

Love the shelfies :)

>139 Karlstar: Splendid! Thoughtful arrangement. All of the Tolkien shelved together and upright. I am envious of the organization!

great shelfies. the down slide of reading ebooks and audiobooks is no shelfies.

>141 tardis: >142 pgmcc: >143 Narilka: >144 jillmwo: Thanks folks! >145 majkia: I am a big fan of physical books but I'm also a big fan of reading, so whatever gets it done, at least I can keep track of the ebooks here on LT.

>139 Karlstar: Very nice. I especially like those two that are back-to-back in the middle of the room. What a great idea.

Great shelfies! I can even read some titles. I love the dragon bookend. What a great room; maps, books, lighting, comfy seating and entertaining decorations. A fire in the fireplace and a hot cuppa and you would never want to leave.

>139 Karlstar: Looks like a very comfy spot to read!

>147 clamairy: Thanks, I like my little office area separated from the rest of the room, plus I'm nearly surrounded by books.

>148 MrsLee: >149 Jim53: Thanks, looking forward to some holiday vacation time so I can spend some time reading. I actually don't spend much time reading in this room, the couch is a new addition so that may change.

>139 Karlstar: Very handsome!

That's a lovely room, looks like the perfect spot to curl up with your favourite books! It still looks spacious even though you've fitted lots of shelves in.

>151 haydninvienna: >152 Sakerfalcon: Thank you

Someday I'll have proper floor to ceiling bookshelves with 6 (or 7!) shelves, but for now this does quite well. You have all given me a better appreciation for the room.

In reading news, while East of Eden is quite good it isn't very cheery, so I paused reading it and switched over to The Complete Robot, which is much more fun.

>153 Karlstar: The name Steinbeck and the word cheery aren't often in the same sentence, are they?

>154 clamairy: Possibly only in Travels with Charley.

>154 clamairy: >155 MrsLee: I guess I'm working my way through the not so cheery ones. There are some amusing descriptions though.

I'm looking forward to this one!

BETSY WOLLHEIM AT DAW BOOKS ACQUIRES TWO FANTASY NOVELS BY NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER TAD WILLIAMS
New York, NY (November 10, 2022): Betsy Wollheim, Publisher at DAW Books, has acquired North American rights to two fantasy books by Tad Williams, represented by Matt Bialer at Sanford J. Greenburger Associates. Williams is a New York Times bestselling author with a storied and extensive backlist of science fiction and fantasy with DAW Books, including the Memory, Sorrow, and Thorn trilogy, the Otherland quartet, and many more.
The first of the two books, scheduled for Fall 2024, is THE SPLINTERED SUN. Set in Williams’ beloved and well-known fantasy world of Osten Ard, THE SPLINTERED SUN follows the adventures of Robin Hood-esque figure Flann Alderwood and his band of misfit rebels in one of Osten Ard’s oldest and strangest cities, Crannhyr.
THE SPLINTERED SUN is a fast-moving adventure that will thrill newcomers diving into the world of Osten Ard for the first time, while weaving together many parts of previously unrevealed Osten Ard history for all the readers who are eager to delve into the pre-DRAGONBONE CHAIR history of Hernystir and Erkynland.
Short summary:
Set in the New York Times-bestselling world of Osten Ard, Tad Williams’s latest novel is an action-packed, fast-moving adventure following the mythic figure of Flann Alderwood and his band of misfit rebels. As the old King of Hernystir’s health worsens, the realm has been thrown into chaos—warlords divide the land up among themselves and questions about the heir to the throne continue to cause conflict. Flann, along with mysterious allies both common and noble, must aid the King’s one legitimate heir in his quest to receive his father’s blessing and attempt to return stability to the realm, while pursued by enemies eager to end his life.

>157 Karlstar: Anything new by Tad Williams is exciting.

>157 Karlstar: That's good news! Maybe by the time The splintered sun is published I will have read the second Osten Ard series ....

In more East of Eden avoidance, I'm re-reading Alloy of Law on my kindle, since I grabbed a free copy recently.

>160 Karlstar: Can one read Alloy of Law as a stand-alone or do you have to have read the whole Mistborn trilogy beforehand in order to get the full meaning of the story?

>161 jillmwo: Unfortunately the concepts of his magic system are explained in the previous books and twisted in new ways in these, so while you could skip them, what the heck they are doing in the early chapters will be confusing, unless you can just read through it and accept it. I'm not one of those people, so... :) The characters and setting are pretty much all new, otherwise.

If you want a summary of the magic system, I'm sure one of us could provide it.

>161 jillmwo: I read Mistborn and then some years later read Alloy of law and didn't have any problems with it. I probably did remember some of the basics of the magic system, but I was also prepared to, as Karlstar says, just read through it and accept it when I didn't remember something.

>162 Karlstar: and >163 Sakerfalcon: I read the first Mistborn book but haven't done the other two. However, I'm pretty good using the "go with the flow" approach. Many thanks to you both!

>164 jillmwo: I also realized after I posted that there is most likely a very complete review/explanation of his magic system somewhere on the internet, if you really needed to know.

I tried starting Everless again and after 60 pages, it is time to give up. There's just not enough background, or action, for me to care about what is going on. I also read another chapter of East of Eden and it got even grimmer.

Looks like time to start Od Magic, but that one is a bit of a eye test to read for me.

Od Magic is going well. To me this has more of a feeling of the Harpist trilogy than most of her other books, there is both politics and more magic than some I've read recently.

>167 Karlstar: Interesting. I enjoyed the Morgon series quite a bit. Never heard of Od Magic. Fortunately my library has a copy.

I love Od magic, it's one of my favourite McKillips.

>168 Jim53: >169 Sakerfalcon: I am enjoying it quite a bit, glad I finally found it.

>168 Jim53: I'm not familiar with the Morgon series, which one is that? Checking here in LT I still have a lot of McKillip novels to get to!

>170 Karlstar: I thought you were referring to the Morgon series when you said Harpist. It begins with The Riddle-master of Hed, followed by Heir of Sea and Fire and Harpist in the Wind. Morgon, prince of Hed, is the primary protagonist. What did you mean by Harpist? That might be one that's new to me.

>171 Jim53: We are referring to the same series, which LT says is the Riddle-Master trilogy. For whatever reason, I did not recall Morgon's name, but the character of the Harpist is always the one that has stuck in my head. Obviously I'm overdue for a re-read.

>172 Karlstar: I can't decide whether to be relieved or disappointed that we were talking about the same series ;-)

I re-read them last year and they held up pretty well.

>167 Karlstar: I loved this one! I guess this means I really need to read that Riddle-Master trilogy, if it is as good as Od.

>174 clamairy: I just finished Od Magic, I really enjoyed it. I thought it had the same sort of feel and theme as the Riddle-Master trilogy - untamed, wild power, with people trying to find their own destiny; though in a much longer format, obviously. I was thinking yesterday that two thirds of the way through Od Magic and nothing much had happened, except interesting events in ordinary lives that were obviously being brought together for something extraordinary at the end. Typical McKillip, very well done.

>175 Karlstar: She was a very gifted writer. I think I gave this one 4½ stars.

And now for something completely different! I saw a post this week on ABE's facebook page that said one of their vendors sold a cookbook from 1748 for $2800 US. They even included some pictures, which I thought was cool.



What really surprises me is how similar this is to cookbooks today, except for things like "A certain Cure for the Bite of a Mad Dog".

>177 Karlstar: Oh boy. If that mad dog had rabies there was no recipe to fix that! That is very cool, though.

>177 Karlstar: "By a Lady." Who presumably doesn't want it known that she knows how to do something as lower-class as cooking.

>179 Jim53: I know they listed her name in the post, not sure if it was in one of the other images.

>177 Karlstar: That is awesome! I especially love the clickbait-y title of Chapter III!

Since Everless was a gift, I decided to finish it. I did but didn't care for it, actually skipped/skimmed parts of a couple of chapters. In another poor choice, I've started Starlight Enclave by Salvatore, one of the more recent Drizzt books. It is just ok, reminds me of the conversation we had about movie sequels and knowing when to stop, which I'm not good at.

>182 Karlstar: Step away from that book. It's only 3.5 stars here on LT. You don't need "average" in your life.

(Yes, yes... I know technically 2.5 is average. But I will rarely start something that has a rating below a 3.7 in here. Call me a snob.)

>183 clamairy: I may, I downloaded an old favorite to my Nook today.

>183 clamairy: Nope, couldn't do it, once I started it I had to keep going, though I skipped a couple of sections.

We wandered into the city today to check out a bookstore we had not been to before, Talking Leaves...Books. (yes, that's actually the name, don't blame me) It was a great little bookstore, packed with tall shelves in twisty aisles. Their stock seemed to be a mix of old and new, leaning towards more new. The history section was a bit sparse, so I didn't pick up any new history, but I did find a couple of fantasy books. I was tempted to pick up an Agatha Christie mystery, I liked the editions they had and they also had some Everyman's Library books, but I wasn't interested in the ones they had in stock.

What I did get: A signed copy of The Lost Metal, which even came with a one page 'broadsheet' - a duplicate of one of the broadsheets from the book, with a map of the city on the back! They must have been given them when they got the signed copy and were nice enough to remember to give it to me, it was loose, not part of the book. I also picked up one of the Witcher books I haven't read, just for the heck of it.

>186 Karlstar:
That bookshop sounds great fun. I am concerned that there was a bookshop in the city that you had not been to before. Is it only opened a short while? What other excuse could you have for not having visited? I love the name.

People are anxious to see photographs. How can you give such a fascinating description of what sounds like a super bookshop and not let us see it?

:-)

>185 Karlstar: You are a completist!

That bookstore sounds fun!

>187 pgmcc: Hey Peter, cut him a little slack. It hasn't been that long since they moved to that area. :o)

>186 Karlstar: I am so envious!

>187 pgmcc: It was your example that led me to go searching for bookstores in the area we hadn't visited yet. We moved here at the height of the pandemic and really haven't gotten back into shopping yet, plus that area is 40 minutes away, mostly due to the horrendous traffic lights.

>188 clamairy: Good memory!

I prefer to navigate the world without my phone whenever possible, so I took no photos, but if you google the store name they have lots of photos up.

I plan on visiting a couple more small bookstores tomorrow in a small town east of here. I am concerned that the google picture for one of them is an empty farm field.

>189 Narilka: I had no idea what the extra piece of paper was when they stuffed it in the book, luckily the staff was on the ball and realized they had the extra page that was supposed to go with the signed editions. Very fortunate for me, I'm not sure I've ever just picked up a signed edition in a bookstore and purchased it.

>190 Karlstar:
I used Google to search for Talking Leaves and was inundated with posts for Talking Leaves in Castletroy, Limerick. I then narrowed it down to Talking Leaves in Lockwood. It looks good.

The irony is, Limerick is the place I went on my bookshop safari a few weeks ago. Now, in my defence, Castletroy is on the outskirts of Limerick and, as I travelled there by train, it was too far to get to on foot, so I never got to the Castletroy Talking Leaves. It had not even come up on my radar when I did my research on bookshops in Limerick. They way I searched was to look for bookshops in Limerick using Google maps. When I saw the locations of the bookshops I focused on the ones near the city centre.

Your description of your Talking Leaves tells me it is a place I would love to visit.

>191 pgmcc: It is Talking Leaves...Books in Buffalo, NY. I'd provide a link but the store website has no pictures! It is only when you do a google search that pictures show up. I could post a link to a single pic, but there are over 60 of them and google is making it quite difficult to share them.

That's exactly how I found this place, by searching on bookstores in the area via Google maps. I didn't get to the one that might be a farmer's field today, maybe next week. Today was taken up by painting the top border in the kitchen.

>192 Karlstar: Where is Lockwood? I had it mixed up with Lockport...

>192 Karlstar:
Thank you for that, Jim. Refining my search with Buffalo, NY, created a more focuses set of links. I used the "Images" settings for the search an was able to get pictures. It looks great. I suspect you will be back, despite the awkward traffic lights.

>193 clamairy: Not sure, but there is a Lockwood Library at the University of Buffalo, just a few miles from here! Closer than the bookstore. There seems to be a lot of places with Lockwood in the name here in western NY.

>194 pgmcc: That store just happens to be 2 blocks from our favorite spices store, Penzey's Spices, so we'll very likely be back. I now know which road not to take to make the drive less unpleasant.

>195 Karlstar: Honestly, I don't think anyhing could lure me to settle permanently in upstate New York, but the combination of a bookstore AND a spices store is very hard to resist. And one or two of the reviews on Yelp for Talking Leaves suggest that there are also some excellent coffee bars near by. What else could one need in a civilized environment?

>195 Karlstar: I miss Penzey's Spices. We had one in West Hartford, only about 15 miles from my former home. It's actually still the closest one to me. :o( I know you can order online, but it's not the same without sniffing everything first.

>197 clamairy: Sniffing, yes, but I also love to see loads of spices in all their colors and textures next to each other. A treat for the eyes as well as the nose. I would love to go to one of the markets where they have spices in huge piles.

>198 MrsLee: I agree. I did some Googling and found a spice shop not far from here. Hopefully I will find the time to get there before I forget it exists.

>198 MrsLee: and >199 clamairy: Many years ago, when I worked for Marvel Comics, there was a spice shop of this sort very near the office. It was a local little family shop and I remember bringing home fresh curry to my mother one Christmas.

>200 jillmwo: You worked for Marvel Comics??!!!

>201 clamairy: Yes, back in the '80's when the Marvel office was on Park Avenue South. For a time, I worked in their legal offices and when I was pregnant with my first child, Captain America came to the office baby shower for me.

>202 jillmwo: What a great memory to have! I forgot that you lived in NYC. We weren't that far apart for a stretch there. (I was working in Great Neck, in the building that was the UN before it moved to the city.)

Sorry for the hijacking, Karlstar.

>196 jillmwo: That may be the only valid use of 'upstate' I've ever seen.

>196 jillmwo: >197 clamairy: We actually used to have a very nice, non-chain spice and herb store even closer, but the pandemic closed that one down. You can't beat shopping for spices at the store, I've done mail and internet ordering for years, but it isn't the same. There's some other interesting looking stores around Talking Leaves...Books we haven't checked out yet.

>203 clamairy: I do not mind, you folks are always interesting.

>197 clamairy: & >198 MrsLee:
There is a Eurasian Supermarket close by and the smell of the spices when you walk into the shop is mind bending. Most of our supermarkets have a nice, neat spice section with small glass jars aligned alphabetically and containing about 40 grams of spice each. In the Eurasian Supermarket there are sacks of spices in the spice aisle, and they sell it by the kilogram. It is worth a visit simply to get the smell.

>200 jillmwo:
I was wondering where you got your superpowers.

>201 clamairy:
I am sure >200 jillmwo: has a cape.

>198 MrsLee: Half of me says "Come to sunny Durbs (even though it's raining as I write), and we can make an expedition to the Victoria Street Market, which is exactly as you describe." The other half points out that it's well populated with pickpockets, muggers and other undesirables, and is in a less-than-salubrious part of town with no parking. However many tourists go there and live to tell the tale.

Edited to add link

>198 MrsLee: Or you could go to the souq in Doha, which has everything that Hugh describes except for the pickpockets. (And just now, the weather is even pretty nice.) I remember seeing a fellow walking around one stall there once, dropping a scoop of this and a scoop of that into a big plastic bag and them heading for the desk. I summed he was making up his own personal spice blend as he went.

>199 clamairy: There is also a good spice shop we like in Mystic, CT. I know that's not 'close', but Mystic is a great place to visit. There's also (or was) one in Grand Central terminal.

I finished Starlight Enclave, definitely not my favorite Salvatore. Currently working through my Nook version of Doomfarers of Coramonde, not sure what's next, though I recently rediscovered my copy of Dies the Fire, the first of S.M.Stirling's post-apocalyptic fantasy series.

Done with Doomfarers, moving on to a book I picked up at the library sale The Great Admirals: Command at Sea, 1587-1945.

I'm enjoying the Admirals book, the background information and essays are mostly good. So far I have gotten through 9 of the admiral essays and 3 of the historical summaries/surveys on the state of navies at the time.

The admirals covered start in the late 1500's and then proceed more or less chronologically with some overlap, since some were opponents.

Francis Drake - I thought this essay was ok, a little lacking in scope and detail.
Maarten Tromp (Netherlands) - a much more complete essay, good information.
Robert Blake - another good one.
Michiel de Ruyter (Netherlands) - better details than the previous, plus action maps!
Niels Juel (Denmark) - good amount of detail, nice to see a third country represented
Edward Hawke - moving into the 1700's now
Suffern (France) - a bit scarce on biographical and action details, almost felt like he was included to have a French admiral on the list.
Horation Nelson - just a summary as they point out there are 100's of Nelson biographies.
Andreas Vokos (better known as Andreas Miaoulis, Greece) - decent detail, nice to have yet another country represented

A break for the survey on the change to the Machine Age navies, though the next two admirals led hybrid fleets.

David (James) Glasgow Farragut (USA) - 1860's, the author of the 'Damn the torpedoes' quote, though most often misquoted.
Wilhelm von Tegettoff (Austria) - mid-1800's, when Austria wasn't landlocked.
Survey IV - The New Steel Navies
George Dewey (USA) - A good bio including high level details of Manila Bay battle
Heihachiro Togo (Japan) - Another good bio with good historical context of Russo-Japanese War, before and after.
Survey V - The Dreadnought Revolution
John Jellicoe (UK) - a little bit critical, very high level description of Jutland.
Reinhard Scheer (Germany) - a good summary of Scheer's career, but the battle info is very scant (repeat of Jutland).
Survey VI - Air/Sea Navies
Andrew Cunningham (Ireland/Scotland) - decent bio, mostly skipped Taranto though.
Yamamoto (Japan) - quite critical of him as a person and leader, though they admit factual information is lacking.
Spruance (USA) - good bio, mostly focused on Midway.
Halsey (USA) - not much of a bio, mostly focused on Leyte Gulf, not sure why they skipped Guadalcanal.

In all, good, short high-level bios of the Admirals with a little information on some of their most notable actions. Too short for much substance but still useful.

I've been slacking on reviews, so here's the ones that are missing.

Everless by Sara Holland. The author clearly decided to take the term 'time is money' and make it literal. By taking blood from people and using alchemy, they leach time from the donor and turn it into coins, which is now the currency of the realm. This creates an economy full of inequities. A young lady of unknown past (she's an orphan) goes to work at Everless, determined to both make a living and get back at the nobles that live there. Like so many other fantasy orphans, she turns out to be a very important person with magical talent. The characters were a bit shallow and the world had the absolute minimum of description. The story was kind of interesting though, if you ignore some of the really obvious plot elements.

Starlight Enclave by R. A. Salvatore - despite the cover saying this is a 'legend of Drizzt' book, it is not. It is listed as book 37 in the Legends of Drizzt series, but like a couple of others in the series, has nothing to do with Drizzt. For those not familiar, back in 1988 Salvatore created the character of Drizzt Do'Urden, dark elf ranger, exile from the evil dark elf homeland and the only good dark elf known. A tremendously popular character, he has spawned graphic novels and comics and 36 more books. Salvatore is creative, given the chance to define a new civilization, he created a game for this book that blends rugby and the mezoamerican ballgame, but played on ice. Still, for most fans of this series, I think this one would be disappointing. There were clearly places in the action where he had to minimize the skills of the characters to add phony risk.

Doomfarers of Coramonde. I've read this 4 or 5 times, it is just one of my all time favorite fantasy novels and series. For me, it is immersive, memorable and hard to put down. I like the world Daley created but mostly I like the characters. This is an old-fashioned 80's fantasy where people from our world end up in a fantasy world, in this case via science from our world, (mostly) not magic. Set in the late 60's early 70's, a young soldier from the US Army ends up in Coramonde, summoned to fight a dragon. From there it proceeds to introduce a great cast of heroes trying to prevent evil from gaining dominance in their world. The second book is as good as the first, I'll get to that one in 2023.

Merry Christmas to all who celebrate!

Happy Holidays!

>214 majkia: Thank you! Same to you.

I finished Three Hearts and Three Lions, which was a re-re-read and somewhat of a homework assignment. Trish gave me The Kaiju Preservation Society on Kindle, so I'm reading that in between the Admirals book.

Still reading the Admirals book (see >211 Karlstar: for the list) and I've started Provenance to read inbetween.

Happy New Year everyone!

I will start a new thread tomorrow, I hadn't even noticed how long this one had gotten until today.