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What am I reading
Sep. 14th, 2020 07:25 pmNot a great deal to be honest. Having a young family doesn’t leave much spare time for reading - at least not when you want to spend some non-child time with your partner after the kids are in bed. Most of my fiction needs these days are met by audio dramas on podcast. More on those in another post.
I’ve also developed a habit of starting books, putting them to one side and starting another one. I’m currently partway through:
Gaiman’s Ocean at the End Of Of the Lane
Black Howl, the third in the Black Wings series - at least I finished the first two. Penny recommended these having read the books which are a take on Alice.
Norman Davies’ Vanished Kingdoms, which being a history of such places lends itself to a chapter at a time
Chuck Wending’s Wanderers, which I started just as the pandemic hit and found was a little too close to real-life events.
David Gerrold’s The Man Who Folded Himself, which I picked up last week after seeing it mentioned by him on Facebook and I remember being very good when I read it in my teens. Only a few pages in to this one.
Scott Westerfield’s Leviathan, recommended by Lise Frascalossi and Matt Le Van. Alternate history Austria-Hungary near the start of World War One, with mechanics. I’ve read one chapter and will come back to, as it's an intriguing set up.
What I have finished (other than Black Wings and Black Night which are pulp easy reading).
The latest in the Rivers of London series, False Value, is reasonable, but suffers a bit from being the book after the conclusion of the Faceless Man arc. Aaronovitch is either filling, or doing a pile of setting up. The good bits are very good, particularly the description of Beverley Brook holding Court, but I think I’d rather be finding out more about the German characters introduced in The October Man.
Jeeves and the King Of Clubs was also recommended by Lise and Matt. By Ben Schott, he of the miscellany (which is drawn on), it’s billed as an homage and largely succeeds. The language, the characterisation and some of the farce are hard to tell apart from the originals. The plotting is good, not least the explanation of the Diogenes Clubs real purpose, but the book ends with two or three loose ends. Plum was always meticulous about tying everything up. This just seems to stop as if it’s run out of steam.
I’ve also developed a habit of starting books, putting them to one side and starting another one. I’m currently partway through:
Gaiman’s Ocean at the End Of Of the Lane
Black Howl, the third in the Black Wings series - at least I finished the first two. Penny recommended these having read the books which are a take on Alice.
Norman Davies’ Vanished Kingdoms, which being a history of such places lends itself to a chapter at a time
Chuck Wending’s Wanderers, which I started just as the pandemic hit and found was a little too close to real-life events.
David Gerrold’s The Man Who Folded Himself, which I picked up last week after seeing it mentioned by him on Facebook and I remember being very good when I read it in my teens. Only a few pages in to this one.
Scott Westerfield’s Leviathan, recommended by Lise Frascalossi and Matt Le Van. Alternate history Austria-Hungary near the start of World War One, with mechanics. I’ve read one chapter and will come back to, as it's an intriguing set up.
What I have finished (other than Black Wings and Black Night which are pulp easy reading).
The latest in the Rivers of London series, False Value, is reasonable, but suffers a bit from being the book after the conclusion of the Faceless Man arc. Aaronovitch is either filling, or doing a pile of setting up. The good bits are very good, particularly the description of Beverley Brook holding Court, but I think I’d rather be finding out more about the German characters introduced in The October Man.
Jeeves and the King Of Clubs was also recommended by Lise and Matt. By Ben Schott, he of the miscellany (which is drawn on), it’s billed as an homage and largely succeeds. The language, the characterisation and some of the farce are hard to tell apart from the originals. The plotting is good, not least the explanation of the Diogenes Clubs real purpose, but the book ends with two or three loose ends. Plum was always meticulous about tying everything up. This just seems to stop as if it’s run out of steam.
