Just started Ancillary Sword, having recently read Ancillary Justice (I’m always behind on things).
Speaking of which, also got 2061: Odyssey Three out from the library. I read it years ago because it was at my parents’ house, but I’d never read any of the other books until fairly recently (although I’ve seen both the films), working my way through them between other things.
Quick read. Worth it. Paging @GulliverFoyle for backup.
And it has a good lyricism and cadance…
Tenser, said the Tensor.
Tenser, said the Tensor.
Tension, apprehension and dissension have begun.
I occasionally find myself walking along and reciting in my head, “Gulliver Foyle is my name…”
…and now you probably are, too.
I had to read Great Expectations in school, and I don’t remember particularly liking or disliking it. A few years ago I decided to try reading it again, and really enjoyed it. The serial writing style made it easy reading, and it was surprisingly funny!
I might need to try reading Bleak House sometime; I really enjoyed the miniseries that was made a while back.
Yep, a few chapters in, if I remember correctly.
But every so often I let hope win out over experience, and try another; Great Expectations would be the one I try next, I guess. (Interesting to reflect that it’s much easier to change my mind for the better about genres of music than about literature.)
Struggling my way through Too Like The Lightning which is good? I think? But it’s so full of dense future-politics involving (maybe?) genetically-enhanced humans with multiple conflicting sets of laws that I’m really having a hard time focusing on it for more than 15 minutes at a time.
That’s from The Demolished Man, isn’t it?
Yup. I personally think The Demolished Man is the better of the two books, but The Stars My Destination is still darn good. Bester had a gift for pacing that I wish today’s info-dump-happy authors shared.
Still reading 1491 off and on. I put it down for quite a while and now working on it again, up to the Mayans, about 3/4 of the way through the main part of the book; there’s 100 pages of footnotes, bibliography and index. It’s dense, but fascinating.
One of the latest mind-blowers was that Norte Chico, on the barren Peruvian coast, seems to have had some of the earliest - and independently invented - cities and governments in the world, around 3500-3000 BC, almost contemporary with Uruk in Sumer.
Other than that, I’ve recently been reading through all Cat Valente’s Fairyland books, which are delightful and sweet, and several collections of H.R. Wakefield’s ghost stories, now republished on the Kindle. He had a nasty misogynist streak and typical early 20th c. racism, but some of his stories are brilliantly scary - ‘The Red Lodge’ for one is a classic in tone and development.
Yes, those two books are monuments of genius. A number of his short stories, too.
I’m not much of a comics expert, but my understanding is that Bester also wrote the Green Lantern oath, which I always thought was pretty cool.
currently-
and
both interesting, but grim.
You and me. Actually, I put it down several years ago and I need to start over. You’ve inspired me to try again!
Your second pick looks really interesting. (I’m more of a modern history person, which is why 1491 is proving to be a challenge for me.)
Too Like The Lightning is kind of exhausting. I feel like it was worth it but it’s definitely dense. 
Okay so now it’s gone from future-politics to every other chapter being weird sex stuff. I was not expecting this much Marquis de Sade and maybe-incest.
I’ve read it twice, and listened to the audiobook version.
DO NOT ATTEMPT THE AUDOBOOK VERSION unless your idea of a good time is “10 minutes of numbers being read out loud”.
I’m not sure if there’s incest in it. The book is pretty dense and I had a hard time keeping track of stuff. Ando’s maybe used to? There’s a scene toward the end I won’t try to describe but made me pretty uncomfortable. I guess lots of scenes made me uncomfortable like when we find out what Mycroft was sentenced for.
Well Ando is apparently boning his wife’s brother while the wife watches? Assists? IDK. I feel like an otherwise-interesting story has really begun to go off the rails with the whole faux-18th century brothel thing.
