Amph What book are you reading right now?

Dragonflight and Dragonquest by Anne Mcaffrey. They were ok. Dragonflight started off good but I got a bit bored as it went on.

Dragonquest was better but it went on for a bit too long IMO. I might try to get a copy of the The White Dragon though to find out what happens to Jaxom after the end of Dragonquest.

 

I'm about to start Percepliquis by Michael Sullivan.

 

Just finished The Grapes of Wrath and, before that, East of Eden. Loved both, though I think I liked Grapes a tad more. I think it's a bit oversold as being "anti-capitalist." Sure, it was chiefly about the horrors the excesses of capitalism can bring about, but it didn't seem to be, on the whole, anti-capitalist. For example, the vignette chapters about small roadside business owners seemed to take a positive view of them, at least to me.

East of Eden I liked because it wasn't really "about" any grand narrative or idea; it was just the intergenerational saga of a family and the banal trials and tribulations we all face throughout our lives in some form.

 

Dark Paths by Markus Heitz

Been looking forward to this being translated for a while now. It's really good like his other books.

 

IMO, McCaffrey was a fantastic world builder, good character creator, but her plotting and story structure felt awkward. And I'd fly to Pern and be a dragonrider in a heartbeat.

 

Never got into her Dragon series but I liked the series of the 'Ship Who Sang'.

 

Castle of Otranto, the first gothic horror novel, though 'novel' is a loose term as it's less than 100 pages. Still interesting though.

 

Almost finished The Night Manager. I'll probably start my other SG-1 novel after that.

 

Just finished Harry Potter and the Cursed Child by Rowling/Thorne/Tiffany.

Though it's a script and not a traditional novel, it still reads and feels like the world of Harry Potter that I remember. I wasn't--and still am not--quite sure meeting up with middle aged (and mid life crisis) Harry was such a good idea, but I'm all for exploring more of Rowling's world, even if much of Cursed Child feels a tad too familiar. The Potter novels were nothing if not formulaic anyway, so not a deal breaker. I had my quibbles, and hardcore fans are likely to have even more, but I enjoyed my return to this world after a decade away. - 7/10

- There are any number of things that occur in the script that I'd be curious to see how they pull off in person.


Now debating my next read. Have a few options, with Ray Bradbury's Dandelion Wine perched precariously at the top.

 

Half way through Stargate SG-1: Trial by Fire. It's pretty good so far.

 

I, Jedi

 

In The Mouth Of The Whale by Paul McAuley. I bought all three of these Quiet War books at the same time and B&N was nice enough to provide me with a 10% off coupon.

 

Star Wars: Allegiance by Timothy Zahn

 

Honor Among Enemies by David Weber

 

The Borgias: The Hidden History, by G. J. Meyer. One of the major challenges of modern historiography is that many of the details of accepted ancient, medieval, and Renaissance history are based on unreliable accounts. Facts handed down over time turn out, on investigation, to be traceable only back to a writer working decades later, or to rumors and smears promulgated by political enemies. That's the situation Meyer encountered when he set out to write the salacious story of the Borgias but found that he simply couldn't credit almost any of the salacious details. Those that weren't outright falsifiable simply didn't turn up much of anything in the way of credible supporting evidence. The result is a very interesting history, in which Meyer traces the rise of the Borgia family, from Alonso Borgia's rise to the papacy as Calixtus III to his elevation of his nephew Rodrigo Borgia to the heights of Church administration, where he remained for decades before becoming Pope Alexander VI and himself boosting the career of Cesare Borgia, who Meyer is quite confident is not Rodrigo's illegitimate son, but, along with Rodrigo's other supposed bastards, the child of Rodrigo's nephew whom he took in after the nephew's death. Meyer might end up perhaps a bit too enthusiastic a Borgia backer (mostly in the form of making excuses for Cesare), but even for a skeptic it's hard not to acknowledge that he's done a significant job of rehabilitating the Borgias, especially Rodrigo. Meyer's writing is energetic and readable, and he paints a compelling picture of Renaissance Italy and its shifting political tides, aided by his technique of placing "background" sections between chapters, short segments offering brief, digressive summations of topics that provide context to the larger events of the Borgia story, ranging from the Kingdom of Naples to the papacy; the evolution of the College of Cardinals; the parentage of Cesare, Lucrezia, and their siblings; condottieri; the Sforza dynasty; the Castel Sant'Angelo; and the role of superstition and astrology in Renaissance Italy. A fascinating, informative, entertaining read, and a nice reminder of the value of historical skepticism.

 

Saltiness makes history taste so much better.

 

"Them" by Jon Ronson .

it's pretty good , a selection of his investigations into the various people who believe in the conspiracy of a secret cabal ruling the world . There's a great bit with Tony Kaye who was just finishing American History X , seems like he was a right egomaniac .

.

 

Fall of Light by Steven Erikson

 

Watch the whole thing if you wish, but I'm posting for the 57:45 and beyond.

 

Star Wars: Rebel Force 6: Uprising

 

Just finished Honor Among Enemies. Not sure what I'm going to read next.

 

thanks for wasting a minute and a half of my time by posting this like it was something interesting like a ****ing release date and not just another dumb joke about how good he and martin are at procrastinating

 

'The Pontiff in Winter'

It is a dissection of the papacy of John Paul II by John Cornwell who brought us the infamous 'Hitler's Pope'. It acknowledges the good things John Paul II did but it still it is by far the most critical dissection of his reign that you are going to find. Cornwell makes a pretty compelling case that John Paul's obsession with papal infallibility and his belief in a rigid centralized bureaucracy robbed the church of any sort of local identity and thus made it harder for the church to engage with parishioners. Cornwell completely damns John Paul by saying his philosophy on leading the church in such a centralized manner made the perfect climate for the sexual abuse scandal.

The most interesting parts are when Cornwell dissects the Pope on topics he usually got high praise for. There is a very careful look at John Paul's many apologies notably to the Jews. The language John Paul used was very carefully chosen and never does he clearly say the Church it's self was responsible for hurting people.

There's also a charming anecdote about Mother Teresa and John Paul II comparing feminism to abortion.

I come to this as an atheist and a former disillusioned Catholic but Cornwell is still a firm believer in the good that the Church is capable of. In this book and in 'Hitler's Pope' I get the sense of a man trying to correct wrongs. I'd like to see him write a book about Pope Francis as he does seem to be the Pope Cornwell hopes for.

 

Elric: The Stealer of Souls by Michael Moorcock. Silmarillion reread averted, thank god, so instead I'm checking out an entirely different vein of genre classics courtesy of Del Rey's incredibly comprehensive anthology series. The writing's a little rough (even as a guy who loves adverbs I thought a couple of the adverb choices in the first novella sounded like quotes straight from a bad fan fic) but there's a really compelling core here that makes the lasting appeal of the character understandable. The anthology also includes an introduction by Moorcock, who has mellowed out in his old age based on some of his other essays I've read, and older articles and letters of his that put the works squarely in the context of his then-current thought processes. Apparently a later volume includes the first Jerry Cornelius novella, which is when the whole Eternal Champion thing started to really take hold, as that's basically a rewrite of earlier Elric stories in a sci-fi setting. I'm interested in that primarily because I have it on good authority that character is gonna make you run with a needle, needle needle gun.

 

The Han Solo Adventures by Brian Daley.