What are you reading now?

Yep, they will be next after the oddments, & then the D`Alembert series.



For the time period they have to be some of the best SciFi, much as I like some of the fantasy stuff someone like Smith or Asimov beat most of todays stuff hands down IMO

I have a deep and abiding love for many of the Golden Age authors - Gernsback, Blish, Heinlein, Pohl, Bradbury, Kornbluth et al. Spent my late childhood/early teens in second hand bookshops reading those authors voraciously.

It was a unique period in a way because science and technology were still viewed as areas of limitless potential (and tended to have a degree of science in as well), whereas now sci-fi and fantasy tends either to be fluffy escapism or dystopian nightmare.

There was a good bit of writing in Saturday's Times magazine (can't put a link because you have to pay to view). Caitlin Moran was writing about the library in the town where she grew up. She said :

"Everything I am is based on this ugly building on its lonely lawn - lit up during winter darkness, open in the slashing rain - which allowed a girl so poor she didn't even own a purse to come in twice a day and experience actual magic: travelling through time, making contact with the dead (Dorothy Parker, Charlotte Bronte, Richard Brautigan, Truman Capote).
A library in the middle of a community is a cross between an emergency exit, a life raft and a festival. They are cathedrals of the mind; hospitals of the soul; theme parks of the imagination. On a cold, rainy island they are the only sheltered public spaces where you are not a consumer, but a citizen instead. A human with a brain and a heart and a desire to be uplifted, rather than a customer with a credit card and an inchoate 'need' for 'stuff'."

Oh yes Billy, that is why I have so many old books, the original Foundation books are another example. The extrapolations of such people is really brilliant.

One of the most thought provoking books I ever read was First & Last Man not sure now who wrote it, could have been Kurt Vonegut



Must say it is also why I like Cussler & Clancy as the forcasts of the future, not too distant make sense with todays knowledge.

Heinlein, Bradbury, Asimov, also Lovecraft and Fred Hoyle were my must reads as a teenager. Used to go to the Library in Worcester on Sat mornings and spend time reading them in there -

Twas Olaf Stapleton who wrote Last & First Man whichever way the title goes. Came to me in a flash.



I think I read every SciFi in our local library with some very obscure ones that I can`t really remember. Now I have all the books that I rely enjoyed & still re-read from time to time.

At the moment I am reading The Last Dragon Chronicles by Chris D'Lacey. I started reading these a fair few years ago after getting the first one with a World Book Day token. Am now almost finished Dark Fire, but I can't find Fire World in any book shops so I'm lasting it out as long as possible. Not easy for me! I'm rereading these so I can reread the Inheritance cycle before Inheritance is released and I wont have too long to wait!

The Last Dragon Chronicles are essentially children's books, but I think they have a great story to them, and I think Chris D'lacey is secretly a fan of NCIS. Little bits crop up, especially later on in the series!

Found out why it's not in any shops. It's not released yet! Ooops Is now preordered, and I have to figure out how to make ten pages last seven days!

My last read was, "Zorba the Greek" by Nikos Kazantzakis. I am fond of many things Greek, the country, the people .... and Alexis Zorbas embodies so much of what Greek; Food, wine, music, dance, carousing and philosophy. I particularly enjoyed the philosophy, and this conundrum:

Hmmm, that made me think...
I do like to plan, so from that point of view I like to look forward, but I also think it's important to deal with misunderstandings and arguments quickly in case I'm not around to make amends later!

Currently reading Dawn French's Dear Fatty. Thoroughly enjoying it and learning lots about her that I didn't already know!

Mrs C

Ooh great thread, I always have a book on the go Just finished Your Money or Your Life by Joe Dominguez, Vicki Robin and Monique Tilford. Am now even more inspired to become financially independant, might take a good few years though lol!

Just read Mimus by Lilli Thal and am working through all of Martin Cruz Smith's Arcady Renko books. Started with Gorky Park on Friday and have just finished Red Square.
Also on the go are The geography of Nowhere: Rise and decline of America's Man-made Landscape by James Howard Kunstler and Making Sense of the Troubles by Davids McKittrick and McVea.
Have a huge pile of dull research stuff to read but am thinking of having a couple of days off hard thought ane rereading Larry McMurtry's Lonesome Dove.

Finished the oddments of Doc Smith, now on the D`Alembert series, saving the Lensmen till last.

Have just finished reading the biography "Edward Wilson of the Antarctic" by George Seaver

One of Scotts South Pole party, fabulous person like most of them...

Now for some light relief

"A Simples Life" the biography of the famous Meerkat "Aleksandr Orlov"

I got into big trouble this evening when talking about 'Jane Eyre'. I said something like 'Oh yes, that's the story where she is a governess, Mr Rochester goes blind and she marries him' (a fair summing up, I thought...). DD2 was furious and said 'The film's coming out next month, and now you've spoilt the ending!' I just assumed that everyone still had to read it at school, but apparently not...

LOL, I thought it was one of those stories everyone knew as well. Never mind the ending might be different in the new film!!

True enough about film versions and that.
It was on the short list of pick any 5 or so when I was in school. I'd picked something else though, can't recall what now, lol.
But yeah, a large number of my mates from school had read it as well.
Oh, I think that was the year I was reading Dostoyevski (Eng. Lit. teacher gave me a go on that ). What was I thinking??? lol

Right - Dawn French finished (review to go on my blog later this week) so now reading Falling Angels by Tracy Chevalier which was in a pile of books a friend just gave me. Only read about 50 pages so far, but completely captivating!

Mrs C

I don't think I've read Falling Angels - what's it about? Must put that on my Amazon list....I like her books

D - Queen Victoria has just died and two families meet when they walk in the cemetery the day after her death (which I understand is what they had to do as part of the official mourning) Their girls become friends, but each family sees Victoria's death in a different way - and that's as far as I've got so far!

Mrs C

Sounds good...

I seem to have been very lax with this thread. Let me say it is not because I have stopped reading, far from it, I read far too much!! Not that I think that is possible.

For Christmas & was lucky enough to get 2 books on the Blitz. One a general book that covered the whole country, & the other about London. Both of which were extremly interesting.

The other book was based on Mass Observation papers covering 1945-1948. It was very interesting to learn the sort of things my parents were going through after the war finished. It was also very funny in places. Learning from "real" peoples experience is most enlightening!! I was also interested to see that the Mass Observation thing is still going on.

Currently reading "Here I Stand; A Biography of Martin Luther". It's an early 1950's edition, and quite interesting. Being myself a Protestant, Lutheran to be specific, I was already familiar with many of the over-arching topics of theological importance. Reading more detail about the process of the Reformation, as well as the social and political changes going on throughout Europe at the time is providing some additional insights.

Following Pol's advice, I bought "Call the midwife" for the kindle last night and have read the introduction and first page so far!

I'm also re reading Mrs Gaskell's "North and South" and want to give Mr and Mrs Hale a good slap!

Enjoy