Second attempt at this. Maybe I get the references now?
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I read when I can't sleep, so yes there's a lot of books here. Nearly all SF.
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31% complete! Stephen has read 14 of 45 books.
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Stephen started reading Why I Hate Canadians by Will Ferguson
Stephen finished reading The End of the Matter by Alan Dean Foster (Pip and Flinx, #4)
The End of the Matter by Alan Dean Foster (Pip and Flinx, #4)
Accompanied by his faithful minidrag Pip and a most troublesome alien called Abalamahalamatandra -- Ab for short -- Flinx set …
Stephen reviewed Beyond the Trees by Adam Shoalts
Enjoyable crazy travelogue
5 stars
I would add a caution up front that a 300 page book about canoeing for several months does get pretty samey. However it's not really much of a surprise. The author has some lovely descriptions of the landscape and the absolutely terrible time he puts himself through willingly to cross it.
He's clearly not one for the busy modern world, although I think he's hamming it up a bit for some humour in the dry bits. It works.
Stephen reviewed Slow Horses by Mick Herron
Slough House is Jackson Lamb's kingdom; a dumping ground for members of the intelligence service …
Maybe I just don't like spy thrillers
2 stars
I found the first third of this book a real struggle and only finished it because I wanted to read it ahead of seeing the TV series. The remainder of the book is more enjoyable, but it does shamelessly set a cliffhanger every 5 pages or so, through misinterpret-able references or missing information.
The idea of the far right rising I will grant is pretty prescient from 2010, mind. There's some great ideas, but I don't really like description such as "looked like Timothy Spall, gone to seed". Yes, I can imagine it, but I find it jarring.
The Android's Dream is a 2006 science fiction novel by American writer John Scalzi.The title …
A servicable silly SF thriller, although already aging
4 stars
It took me a while to get into this book, as I didn't read the synopsis and therefore had no idea where it was going. In 2024, the way computers, AI, and hacking is represented seems almost quaint now. In that sense there's some real Bladerunner vibes about the book. Scalzi's humour here also references fads from the early 2000s which also date it, not well.
But it's perfectly fine, and made me smile quite a few times. If it tried less hard to be funny, I think it would have been better. Preferred Kaiju Preservation Society, although the COVID references in that will probably age it just as well!
Very enjoyable, if problematic
4 stars
If you go to the Yukon, you can save reading most of the information signs in the whole territory as they're all cribbing from this book. It's in a very readable style, but that style is from the 50s, updated in the 70s, and reprinted ever since. The way the author treats anyone who's not a white man is...not great. Any individuals are described fairly, but at a general level First Nations are described as "crude" or "brutal" or other dismissive language, and women feature rarely. It was quite a surprise compared to federal and territorial literature. But it is of its time, and does draw on the last few actual eyewitnesses to the Klondike Gold Rush.
And oh boy, was that totally insane. The weather people endured, below -50C for the winter, with minimal clothes and tents, if they arrived early. Transporting 500kg of supplies, 40kg at a time, …
If you go to the Yukon, you can save reading most of the information signs in the whole territory as they're all cribbing from this book. It's in a very readable style, but that style is from the 50s, updated in the 70s, and reprinted ever since. The way the author treats anyone who's not a white man is...not great. Any individuals are described fairly, but at a general level First Nations are described as "crude" or "brutal" or other dismissive language, and women feature rarely. It was quite a surprise compared to federal and territorial literature. But it is of its time, and does draw on the last few actual eyewitnesses to the Klondike Gold Rush.
And oh boy, was that totally insane. The weather people endured, below -50C for the winter, with minimal clothes and tents, if they arrived early. Transporting 500kg of supplies, 40kg at a time, up the White Pass, and then learning how to build boats on Lake Bennett before shooting the White Horse and Five Finger rapids to get to Dawson City. It is indeed surprising that more didn't die.
Few made money, and those that did, instantly spent their money at terrifying rates, with the sawdust on the floors in the bars being worth thousands of dollars from the gold dust being dropped. It's all mad. When you only have gold, food and whiskey sell like crazy!
I can't quite believe it, a very addicting book.
Stephen finished reading Beyond the Trees by Adam Shoalts
Stephen wants to read This Was No * * * * Picnic by John Schmidt
Sure I'm going to regret this
Stephen finished reading Slow Horses by Mick Herron
Slow Horses by Mick Herron
Slough House is Jackson Lamb's kingdom; a dumping ground for members of the intelligence service who've screwed up: left a …
Stephen finished reading The Android's Dream (The Android's Dream #1) by John Scalzi
The Android's Dream (The Android's Dream #1) by John Scalzi
The Android's Dream is a 2006 science fiction novel by American writer John Scalzi.The title is a reference to Philip …
Stephen finished reading Klondike : The Last Great Gold Rush, 1896-1899 by Pierre Berton
Stephen wants to read Klondike : The Last Great Gold Rush, 1896-1899 by Pierre Berton
Yukon holiday reading
Stephen wants to read Dominion by Stephen Bown
Stephen reviewed Gryphon in Light by Larry Dixon
On the border between Valdemar and the deadly Pelagirs Forest, the gryphon hero Kelvren returns …
Good start to a new trilogy, slow middle act
4 stars
After starting in a war, and finishing in something quite interesting, the middle of this book is mainly everyone sitting round and having a think about what to do next.
Not a good place to start reading Valdemar books. It'll make sense but it's using characters that have had several books of their own at this point.