Amph What book are you reading right now?

Excellent


I'm currently reading a holiday anthology: "My True Love Gave to Me"

 

And how did you like The Red Knight?

 

The Red Knight: Parts of it were excellent, other parts not so excellent. Overall, it was good enough so that I'll probably read the next one.

 

I think The Fell Sword has less of the not so excellent parts.

 

A Slow Regard For Silent things is an odd novella. The author informs you before and after that you might not like the book, and it really is just a few daysin the life of the character Auri. There is a one revelation about her that might become important but the next actual Kingkiller book could easily tell it as well. Some folks note that as Auri knows the Names of everything on sight and everything must have its place that it reads like someone with OCD. Another review notes that Rothfuss is a perfectionist(and in this novella he indicates that he is among the broken) and so like a writer who must put that word or sentence in its place so must Auri know where things go.

Moving on. I have of course read Gibson's Sprawl Trilogy. I read the Burning Chrome short story collection. I tried to read The Difference Engine and just could nto get into it. And The Cryptonomicon just would not get on with it. I gave the Bridge Trilogy a go and got really board.

The Periperal is the latest Gibson book and I shall read it next.

 

Yeah, I've also tried to read Difference Engine a couple of times. The concept is cool, but for some reason I can never make it past the first ten pages.

 

"Star Wars: A New Dawn" by John Jackson Miller

I'm about 150 pages in. It's decently written, and there are some interesting characters (Count Vidian in particular), but the problem with this is that it will inevitably go nowhere. It's all just set up for the TV series. Perfunctory stuff.

 

"My Lunches with Orson Welles"

 

Isaac Asimov's Foundation. Read it over twenty years ago in Swedish so this is the first time for me in English.

 

The Arms of Krupp by William Manchester. Detailed history of the Krupp family/munitions conglomerate, who armed Germany in both world wars as well as many, many other conflicts. Their status as arms dealers dates back to the 18th century, and they're still going today, albeit in a different capacity.

 

Andre Agassi's autobiography. Listened to his interview this morning on Bob Edwards' show, seems like a legitimately nice guy.

 

Mortal by Ted Dekker & Tosca Lee

 

In the Woods by Tana French

 

Nation by Terry Pratchett

 

I have given this 51 pages and if it does not get better in another 50 pages or so I shall dump it. I am considering (finally) of gathering together books I can part with and using them as credit in used book stores and this right now is at the top of the list.

 

Screw it. I'm reading Tarkin by James Luceno.

 

Do let us know if it's any good like Darth Plagueis, or a disappointing waste of time like Dark Lord and LoE.

 

The Bully Pulpit: Theodore Roosevelt, William Howard Taft & the Golden Age of Journalism (2013) - Doris Kearns Goodwin



This book tells the story of . . . well, there it is in the title, I guess. The book essentially has two main thrusts, despite Goodwin’s attempts to integrate them into one. The first is the relationship between Roosevelt and Taft. It’s a kind of a political tragedy in a way. It’s the story of two fast friends finding each other and becoming the closest of political allies and then, through process of time, falling apart from each other and becoming political enemies in the race for the White House and, ultimately, kind of destroying the Republican party for decades. And, as with any good tragedy, it’s all done from the best of motives and with the best of intentions. The second thrust is about the rise of progressive journalism concurrent with the Roosevelt-Taft story, specifically seen through the rise and fall of McClure’s Magazine and the stable of writers McClure formed there: William Allen White, Lincoln Steffens, Ida Tarbell, etc. The connections between the two stories are frankly pretty tenuous and I found most of the progressive journalist stuff to be kind of tedious. Ida Tarbell is certainly a fascinating figure and the story of McClure’s extramarital affair, nervous breakdown and complete ruination was sufficiently grim. But the book is too long; the body of the book, not counting the references, notes, index, etc., is nearly eight hundred pages. Of closely set type. Frankly, I think the book would have been better if Goodwin had saved the progressive journalism stuff for a later book or something. It’s the Roosevelt-Taft story that is the heart of the book and the thing you’ll remember after reading the book. It’s both painful personal drama and engaging political philosophy. With the journalist angle out of the book, it would be closer to five hundred pages, which is just more manageable. As it stands, it’s too much of a brick and too intricate for me to recommend it to anyone but history buffs; had it just focused on the Roosevelt-Taft angle, it might have been a book I could have recommended across the board. Conditionally recommended. 3 stars.

tl;dr – story of Roosevelt-Taft relationship is engaging political philosophy and tragic personal drama, but book suffers from overlength due to inclusion of tenuously connected stories of many journalists. 3 stars.

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I heard about that one. It sounds really interesting. I love watching the old interviews with Orson Welles, a fascinating man. He had the right mix of being an effective egotist and storyteller

 

Just 38 pages and I like it.

 

That's what Ive found also, being about halfway through with it.

 

Words of Radiance, by Brandon Sanderson
(Home reading)


Seaspan, by Sharon Powers
(Work reading)

 

Star Wars: The Lost Tribe of the Sith: The Collected Stories (2012) - John Jackson Miller



So, this book is a series of short stories that are all connected; it follows the establishment, development and expansion of a group of Sith who find themselves stranded on an isolated, unknown planet. It takes place over a period of a couple of thousand years and it’s really quite fascinating. Miller is one of my favorite Star Wars authors; he knows how to create characters that are indelible, unique and sympathetic in a short time, which is necessary here, since none of these characters, given the time-hopping nature of the stories, stay around very long. He’s also one of the few Star Wars authors (the late great Aaron Allston being the main other one) to really understand the role of humor in the Star Wars galaxy and this book boasts quite a few laugh out loud moments. I really enjoyed this book and it’s an EU book that I recommend whole-heartedly. You don’t need a lot of knowledge of the rest of the EU; given that it’s about people stranded on an isolated planet with no contact with the outside galaxy, these stories pretty well stand on their own. Even non-Star Wars fans, I think, will find a lot of charm and interest in these well-written, smart, character based stories. Highly recommended. 4 stars.

tl;dr – Miller continues to write Star Wars stories even non-fans can love with this millennia spanning collection of short stories following survivors on a desolate and isolated planet. 4 stars.

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The Lonely Sea: Collected Short Stories, by Alistair MacLean. A mix of fiction and non-fiction sea stories, many of them set in the North Atlantic during WW2, where MacLean served in the Royal Navy. Good writing, vivid imagery, and a nice mix of laugh-out-loud humour and lump-in-your-throat pathos.

 

I broke down and got Words of Radiance by Brandon Sanderson from the library. Just about 200 pages in and it's excellent.

 

Famous For The Creatures by Andrew Motion.

I'm not enjoying it. Pretentiously overcomplicated and wordy, nothing is happening in two simultaneously written plots. I couldn't care less about either of them, I find the narrator rather irritating. I'll probably stick with it for another few pages before starting something else.