What are we reading in December 2023

Almost the end of 2023. Hope you are all near completing any challenges or reading plans.,before rinse and repeat,browsing for next year

Dusty's TBR for December
SF/Fantasy reads
Jack Vance - Book of Dreams
Isaac Asimov - Pirates of the Asteroids ✔
C J Cherryh - Brothers of Earth
T Kingfisher - Nettle and Bone ✔

from other genres
Charles Dickens - A Christmas Carol ✔
Francis Lyall - The Croaking of the Raven ✔
John Dickson Carr - The Lost Gallows ✔
Kate Greenaway - Under the Window ✔
Seabury Quinn - Roads ✔

I got through about half of my November list, and I figure that's likely again next month. Updated, with holdovers:

In Progress
Tehanu
McSweeney's Mammoth Treasury of Thrilling Tales

On Deck
Starship Titanic
Fabulous Harbours
Dying Inside
Cryptonomicon
Veniss Underground

Ordered/Slated for Borrowing
System Collapse

Still reading Doomsday Book. I am about 1/4 of the way through and greatly enjoying it so far. Not sure what I’ll read after that. Wolfe’s Fifth Head of Cerberus has been eyeing me from my bookshelf for awhile so that might be next.

Depending on any late appearances by the Library Hold Fairy, this month's line-up is The Jinn-Bot of Shantiport, Nettle and Bone, The Mimicking of Known Successes, The Surviving Sky, and Eyes of the Void.

>4 Neil_Luvs_Books: Fifth Head of Cerberus

Do it! Awesome book.

I've finished Tehanu and posted my review. Now I've started Starship Titanic.

This month's book group SF read is Alliance rising by CJ Cherryh and Jane S Fancher.

Having seen two recent Hercule Poirot adaptations, went back to the source for Curtain / Mysterious Affair at Styles. Now starting a random item from the stacks, T.H.E.M.

>7 paradoxosalpha: I enjoyed your review! At some point I need to reread the entire Earthsea Cycle. It has been a couple of decades since I reread the first trilogy and I have only ever read the last three volumes each once.

Currently reading The Red: First Light and re-reading Caliban's War.

I think this is the first I've read by Nagata. Enjoying quite a bit.

I'm finally reading Old Man's War by John Scalzi. It's not even 20 years old and already the technology he mentions as existing on earth (PDAs) has been surpassed but we're not anywhere close to transferring consciousness from one body to a new body. I guess sf writers have to be careful what they bring into the future.

>12 gypsysmom: There's a reason why writers wanting to do near-term SF might as well get themselves marketed as a "thriller."

Finished Triplanetary and started First Lensman

Finished my yearly December read of A Christmas Carol.Time travel and horror events in the book give me a good excuse to add it here.lol.Probably about my 10th read of the book,and I have watched umpteen movie versions. Dickens is so good adaptors barely need an scriptwriter,just whole chunks of both narrative and dialogue are lifted straight from the page. Good stuff,5 star stuff. :0)
Also read a couple of urban fantasy fluff stuff,and now am reading some vintage crime. The next SF book will be Jack Vance The Book of Dreams,so I can finally finish off the Demon Princes sequence.Been meaning to do that for two and a half years!

>15 dustydigger:
Hear! Hear! Christmas Carol is a treat.

>16 pgmcc: We listen every year to the audiobook read by Tim Curry. Yes, it's a treat. We wait until a couple of days after Christmas, though.

>17 anglemark:
Tim Curry has the perfect voice for it.

I am a fan of James Morrow's sequel to A Christmas Carol, "The Confessions of Ebenezer Scrooge." It's in the collection Bible Stories for Adults.

>13 Shrike58: And this was Scalzi's first attempt at a novel so he may not have had enough experience to see the dangers.

When I reread A Christmas Carol about a decade ago, my first time reading it as an adult, I was amazed how many jokes I assumed had been added by the Muppets were actually in the original!

I had a lovely time rereading H Beam Piper Omnilingual,my sort of martian exploration tale.An archaeologist is fruitlessly looking for the equivalent of a Rosetta Stone to unlock the impenetrable martian language. In the end she realizes that there is one universal scientific language across the whole universe. The periodic table gives a foothold into the language.
I always enjoy linguistic themed SF. Has anyone read Janet Kagan's Hellspark? I may get to that on my 2024 reading list. Plus Vance's Languages of Pao. Possibly a reread of Babel-17? Must be 20 years since I read that!

>22 dustydigger: I haven't read the others you mention but Babel-17 is long overdue for a re-read.

I also found Embassytown to be an interesting take on linguistic-themed SF.

And Ted Chiang's Story of Your Life novella is another excellent example.

>15 dustydigger: The Christmas Carol film with Alistair Sim is by far the film (all genres) I've watched most often. They catch the book brilliantly & Sim is perfect as Scrooge.

>22 dustydigger: My favourite piece of linguistically-themed sf (and probably my favourite short story ever) is Joe Haldeman's A !tangled Web. I have it in his collection Dealing in Futures.

>24 rshart3: Yep, the Alistair Sim version is my fav.

I finished Starship Titanic and posted a short review. I've started Fabulous Harbours, which turns out not to be a novel, but rather a raft of previously published short fiction tied together with Moorcock's various hyperwork conceits. I might begin an actual novel while still working through this one.

Wrapped up The Jinn-Bot of Shantiport and was somewhat underwhelmed. The author wanted to retell a classic "Arabian Nights" tale in cyber-punk garb and it just didn't hang together for me. It didn't help that I had just read another book with a South Asian flavor, The Saint of Bright Doors, which was an order of magnitude better than Basu's novel. That might get to the issue, bad balance in terms of character development versus world building, instead of coming down on one side or the other.

Finished T.H.E.M. -- ugh -- decided to give the 70's another shot with the even lesser known Nightwatch.

Just did two quick reads: Sea of Tranquility by Emily St John Mandel, and All Systems Red by Martha Wells. The St John Mandel was gracefully written -- I can see why it's been popular -- but not terribly original. It follows in the footsteps of a number of other time travel novels; it reminded me strongly of The Bone Clocks by Mitchell, but that was better written and imagined. The film Twelve Monkeys also seemed to be hovering over it. Competent and a bit lightweight. Also, I didn't think she handled the implicit paradox in time travel as well as some others.
I'm certainly going on to the next Murderbot book. It also was a well-worn scenario, but Wells did it very well and it felt like a new spin on the theme. I've enjoyed a couple of her fantasies and clearly she does SF just as well.

Just finished The Evolutionary Void by Peter F. Hamilton. The trilogy was excellent. I need to read Pandora's Star which appears to be set in the same universe. But I just got Hammered by Elizabeth Bear from the library, so I will read that next.

>29 ChrisRiesbeck: I recollect Nightwatch being a competent hard sf novel, though I've probably not even seen my copy in ten years, let alone opened it. Andrew Stephenson was at one time considered to be an up-and-coming young British writer, and his next novel, The Wall of Years, was a much heralded time-travel adventure with Vikings and Dark Age Anglo-Saxons. But there he ran out of steam.

In other news, I've been away from genre, wading through a dense history of GCHQ, the UK's cyber intelligence agency. I'm now turning to a new book from fan historian Rob Hansen, Beyond Fandom, which details the way SF fans have had an impact on the "mundane" world. He wrote it in response to the continual sniping from the literati about fans being immature, geekish and uncritical consumers of trash.

>32 RobertDay: Halfway through Nightwatch and it's OK so far, taking into account the times, e.g., virtually all the scientists are men, and when the main character enters a lab, he notes there are three men and a girl.

Finished System Collapse by Martha Wells. This one was a disappointment. The problem may have been that I went with the audiobook version. Frankly, I was bored out of my skull & struggled to go on with it. I was listening during my "elevate & ice" sessions for my post-knee-surgery recovery (gotta do something while lying on my back). Perhaps this would have gone better reading in print.

>31 daxxh: You may need to also plan on reading Judas Unchained - in a lot of ways, it is the second part of Pandora's Star (I liked both for what it is worth) :)

Re-reading Use of Weapons by Banks, but 2/3 of the way through, I'm really wondering why. I like Banks, generally, but this may be my least favorite.

>31 daxxh: I second the vote for Pandora's Star and Judas Unchained, while not necessary for the Void trilogy, they actually came first. Will you be reading the other Void books?

Finished The Forbidden Stars, the final book in Tim Pratt's Axiom trilogy. Good, fun space opera. I am a bit bemused, though, by how an an alien species whose members hate each other about as much as they hate every other species in the galaxy could possibly develop the science to get into space, much less develop the super science that far outstrips the understanding of all the other species.
Now reading Shards of Earth, the next level up of space opera, and Kill the Farm Boy, which I am finding quite funny, as intended.

>36 Karlstar:
I also have reservations about Use of Weapons. When I read it I was amazed that so many people were praising it over Player of Games. I love the latter and my reread of it strengthened my appreciation of the book. When I attempted to reread Use of Weapons I could just not get into it. I wanted to reread it to see what everyone else saw in it, but it started without Iain's usual splash of genius. Some time in the future I will reread Use of Weapons but it will take me effort to get into it.

Looking over this series of posts, I probably need to begin a program of rereading Banks' works.

>36 Karlstar: I read the Void trilogy so I plan on starting Pandora's Star over the holidays.

I love Banks and need to reread. I am not sure which is my favorite - Excession probably. Or Consider Phlebas.

I've only read the first four Culture books, but I too liked The Player of Games much more than Use of Weapons.

>38 pgmcc: I can't blame you, though I think I've come around on Use of Weapons now that I've finished it. It is difficult to read because it doesn't progress serially, it jumps around in time from chapter to chapter and there's basically nothing stitching those sections together, so it isn't much of a story. Basically, this is Banks talking about the futility of weapons and war, while picking on one Special Circumstances agent, who keeps getting killed in nasty ways then brought back by the Culture over and over to go fight in another futile war with yet a different 'weapon'.

In the end, the end justifies the means, if that makes sense.

The problem is, in the middle the book gets tiring, but if you persevere to the end, it is worth it. He does slip in a little of his own personal views on politics and religion a couple of times which is distracting. I was considering getting my brother started on Banks, Use of Weapons is definitely not the place to start!

From what I remember, Player of Games is a much better story.

>40 daxxh: I also prefer Consider Phelbas.

There were things I liked about Use of Weapons, especially the interleaved structure running forward and back in time.

I have always intended to get around to reading the Culture series by Banks but have never gotten around to it. My sense is that some love it and others not so much.

>42 Karlstar:
Do not get me wrong, I enjoyed Use of Weapons; I just could not understand some people rating it higher than Player of Games. The things you describe, i.e. non-linear story, jumping back and forward on the timeline, are things I like in a story.

In terms of reading Iain’s SF books I can only go on my own experience in terms of reading sequence. I was luck enough to discover Banks early so had the pleasure of reading all his books in publication sequence and reading all but three as they came out. Consider Phlebas is as good a place to start as any. It is the one that hooked me straight off.

>45 pgmcc: Consider Phlebas was very much a "bottom drawer" book; Banks trailed the ms. around for some time before it got published, and it's very much a conventionally-structured adventure story that could easily be sold to a publisher as a new writer's first sf novel. Many consider that Player of Games is the better introduction to the Culture and on reflection, I can see why.

I remain in awe of the first sentence of CP, though. The first thing we read about the Culture is "The ship didnlt even have a name." It took us until Excession to understand just what that meant for the Mind involved...

Just finished "Death's End" from the Three Body Problem trilogy last night. Some issues with it, but it's just so ambitious that I really appreciate the work.

>46 RobertDay: and all: I felt that Banks's novels generally went downhill over time. Earlier ones, like Player of Games and Consider Phlebas, were great. The last ones were pretty bad, especially Excession which featured supposedly superintelligent AI ships who spent much of the novel having hissy fits and juvenile arguments like spoiled adolescents. Both unpleasant, and implausible. In charity, maybe Banks was too ill by then.

Just finished Doomsday Book. It certainly deserves the awards it won when published and the appreciation it still receives from readers. Simply a really excellent story well told.

>46 RobertDay: I remember Iain giving a description at a Belfast convention of how he had written his first SF novels, if I recall correctly, in school jotters, long before getting them published.

I picked up Consider Phlebas in a Wexford bookshop when on holidays with my wife and young children. I had never heard of Banks but picked this book up because it had a great cover and had the potential of being a good summer read. I thought, to use the old cliché, it was a ripping yarn. It prompted me to hunt out The Wasp Factory and after that I was totally hooked on all Iain's work.

In the Culture books, Player of Games was my favourite until I read Look to Windward. Look to Windward did not become my favourite but joined Player of Games in joint first place. If I were to extend the category to all his SF books, then Feersum Enjinn would be up there too, and, controversially, also The Algebraist.

I always, logically enough, find more in a reread than in my first reading. My first reading of Consider Phlebas was a roller-coaster ride which left me grinning from ear to ear, out of breath, and wanting more. It was only when I reread it recently that I saw it has a strong anti-war theme. Having read all of Iain's books and learned more about his thoughts on the World before I reread Consider Phlebas probably made me more sensitive to what was being said between the lines.

In terms of memories from my first reading of Consider Phlebas, my most vivid memory is not, like you, the first line in the Prologue, but the first line in chapter 1.
"The level was at his top lip now."

All this talk of Consider Phlebas is making me want to read it again.

>50 pgmcc: "I always, logically enough, find more in a reread than in my first reading."

You can never step in the same river twice.

>48 rshart3: I disagree, but YMMV, obviously.

I'd point out that Banks' cancer was only diagnosed a few months before he passed, and he had little warning that he was seriously ill. Indeed, he was part-way through writing The Quarry at the time, wherein a major character has terminal cancer. Although Iain was not particularly superstitious, I suspect he wouldn't have written the character that way had he had an earlier intimation of his state of health.

I am back to my reading of the Dune series of books in preparation for the theatrical release of Dune, part 2. I have four more books to read before it comes out. Today started reading Dune: House Harkonnen.

I've just started A Second Chance, the third in the Chronicles of St. Mary's. I find them great fun.

>49 Neil_Luvs_Books: Hearty agreement on the excellence of Doomsday Book. Have you read any of her other Oxford books?

>50 pgmcc: I think I'll start my brother out on Player of Games and see how it goes.

Starting my fifth Vorkosigan book, Cetaganda, today.

>55 Jim53: Ditto for Doomsday Book, but I've read the other Oxford novels and found them to be dreadful caricatures of Britain. There is so much Willis gets wrong that the stories are undermined for me. And yes, I know she said that she'd done research at the Imperial War Museum for Blackout/All Clear, but it's more the details of civilian life that she gets wrong.

I burnt through Beyond Fandom,as I thought I would. It's recommended, especially if you've ever gritted your teeth when a mainstream novelist or film-maker is being interviewed about their latest work which includes spaceships, robots and future disaster, but says "it's not science fiction"; or when a piece in the mainstream media on an sf convention or a new book release adopts a lazy stereotype of fans as social inadequates with no taste and poor personal hygiene. Hansen deliberately excluded fans who've made an impact in science, engineering or publishing, so there's no mention of Professor Jack Cohen, for instance, and Malcolm Edwards only gets mentioned when there are relevant quotes from his fanzine output. The story of how he went from being a branch librarian in Harrow to the CEO of HarperCollins, in which fandom played a reasonable part, is kept for another time.

Now burning equally quickly through Untouched by Human Hands; 125 pages in A-format paperback, makes the reading experience itself a bit of a blast from the past. The stories in the collection date from the early 1950s, but some of them come up particularly fresh even now; for instance, Watchbird could be very easily re-written for today, with robotic birds monitoring the human population for murderous intent, and learning different human behaviours. Drop the words "AI", "drone" and "algorithm" into the text, (and remove the compulsive cigarette smoking) and a modern readership would lap it up. I have some of the best of these stories in other collections, but my 1967 Four Square paperback is in nice condition and a pleasure to read.

Finished the most recent book in the Xuya universe, The Red Scholar's wake by Aliette de Bodard. Pirate space opera with lesbians, yay.

I recommend a similar non-genre book, Deep as the sky, red as the sea by Rita Chang-Eppig. It's historical fiction but about the original pirates in their original context (time & place).

>59 karenb:

Odd synchronicity. I just picked up a copy of the non-fiction Women Pirates like new for $1 out of a public library book sale yesterday.

Reading Galactic Patrol by EE Doc Smith

Reading New Suns 2 edited by Nisi Shawl. so far, a very good collection of SF&F by people of colour - a bit too much fantasy for my taste, but all very well written and engaging.

Knocked off The Mimicking of Known Successes; a good entertainment that leaves me looking forward to the next story by Older.

Just finished Vanguard: The Genesis Fleet, the first in the Lost Fleet prequel series by Campbell. Very much like his other books, but with a lot more ground action and less fleet action. I enjoyed it, nothing revolutionary here and he's a little fuzzy on the science and technology, but still a good comfort read. Best read after reading at least a few of the Lost Fleet books.

Finished my Worlds Without End challenge reads for the year this past weekend with Locklands. Overall, The Founders is a pretty good trilogy that reads a bit YA, (the characters feel younger than their stated ages and the dialog is riddled with current-day exclamations), but with a hefty dose of cursing and some relatively gory scenes. I didn't find it nearly as compelling as Divine Cities, but still a pretty good ride. From beginning to end, I'd rate it 7/10.

Also just finished a non-genre with Silvia Moreno-Garcia's Untamed Shore. Had some trouble connecting with the characters at first but it came together pretty well by the end. Garcia continues to impress with her ability to shift genres while telling a beguiling story.

Next up is the new Tim Powers, My Brother's Keeper. I know next to nothing about this novel but am expecting another secret history, this time with werewolves!

Finished the Sheckley and now catching up on some peripheral Pratchett, the illustrated The Last Hero - an altogether nicer book in its original format than the earlier illustrated Discworld outing, Eric.

>55 Jim53: no that’s the first one I have read by Connie Willis. Are the others in her Oxford time travel series as good?

>67 Neil_Luvs_Books: Not >55 Jim53:, but I enjoyed both Doomsday Book and To Say Nothing of the Dog immensely, though To Say Nothing is more comic and more of a romance. I haven't read the later duo yet.

>68 Stevil2001: As I said upstream, I've read the other Oxford novels and found them to be dreadful caricatures of Britain. There is so much Willis gets wrong that the stories are undermined for me. And yes, I know she said that she'd done research at the Imperial War Museum for Blackout/All Clear, but it's more the details of civilian life that she gets wrong.

Finish Nightwatch and about to start The Circus of Dr. Lao.

>58 RobertDay: Hmm, Watchbird is not amongst the stories in my copy of Untouched by Human Hands. But I have 13 stories: "The Monsters", "Cost of living", "The Altar", "Shape", "The impacted man", "Untouched by human hands", "The King's wishes", "Warm", "The Demons", "Specialist", "Seventh victim", "Ritual", "Besides still waters"

I guess your copy has the following 10 ?
"The Monsters", "Cost of Living", "The Altar", "Keep Your Shape", "The Impacted Man", "Untouched by Human Hands", "Watchbird", "Warm", "Specialist", "Seventh Victim".

ETA: "Watchbird" can be found on Project Gutenberg. https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/29579

>69 RobertDay: I agree - gave up after Blackout so can’t talk to All Clear, but I found the former almost unreadable.

Not being British, it was probably not the same as RobertDay, I just found it an unpleasant clastrophobic and confusing read with not a single character I cared about.

>71 bnielsen: That's right.

>72 amberwitch: That as well.

>72 amberwitch: My experience with Blackout as well. I liked both To Say Nothing of the Dog and Doomsday Book but after Blackout I was left with no desire to read All Clear.

>74 ScoLgo: I was the opposite - I almost did not finish To Say Nothing of the Dog but I loved Blackout/All Clear. :)

Thanks for the Oxford time reviews. Very helpful in helping me decide what is priority in my TBR list.

I've started A Door Into Ocean which was mentioned in this group a few times last month.

Finished off The Last Hero pretty quickly. This dates from more than twenty years ago, so just before people started publicly lauding Pratchett for being a Serious Master of Satire and well before his "embuggerance" began to become evident in his later books. So this was a pleasant return to laugh-out-loud Pratchett, helped by the Paul Kidby illustrations. Leonard of Quirm's wooden spaceship and its crew are shown in loving detail, straight from the pages of "Ye Right Stuffe", and I'm sure I saw a passing reference to The Wizard of Speed and Time. Huge fun. Seek out the large-format original and avoid audiobook versions and other format reductions,

inished one day this will all be yours what a fun read! only problem is that it ends....... Given the subject matter it makes sense he end it that way but I want to know what happens next, and it doesnt look like any sequel exists. Is there one? I read children of time but interested in exploring more of him. suggestions

I read the 2nd & 3rd of the Murderbot books: Artificial Condition and Rogue Protocol. I'm still enjoying them, though it annoys me that the publisher has divided a continuous story line into several novellas which could have been one book, just to boost their profits. Too much of that going on.

>80 rshart3:

It's easy to be cynical, but I think the novella-length volumes really reflect the way Wells wrote them. I imagine that they will eventually be reprinted with several titles per volume. Many durable sf and fantasy series have had editions which were changed up thus.

Working through T Kingfisher Nettle and Bone. pleasant enough,but Hugo winning calibre? Was wondering what it reminded me of,and of course its Naomi Novik territory in Uprooted or Spinning Silver,but the heroine is less intelligent or interesting IMO.The Goblin Emperor was more my cup of tea,but I read little fantasy as a rule. Whatever happened to deep,high concept SF.
Also reading Lucky Starr and the Pirates of the Asteroids and Jack Vance The Book of Dreams.That may be all I'll manage this month. Four visitors from USA coming for Xmas,and Mr Dusty is a lot of work now,reading takes a bit of a back seat.

Starting Mistress Masham's Repose by T. H. White. I've never read anything by him other than The Once and Future King, so I am curious.

>79 cindydavid4: I'm enjoying Tchaikovsky's Final architecture series, which begins with Shards of earth. Doors of Eden is a standalone, and quite unlike anything else I've read.

I'm currently reading Terminal alliance by Jim Hines and enjoying it a lot.

thanks for that! Doors of eden looks very intriging but Im bit scared off by the complexity of it, as described by a reviewer here.. Can you tell me more about the book and what to expect?

>85 cindydavid4: Here's what I wrote after finishing Doors of Eden:
"The doors of Eden is a big SF novel about parallel worlds which split off at various points on the geological timeline. So there are worlds where trilobites, fish, rats, etc are the dominant intelligent species, as well as our own human-dominated world. Until recently these worlds were completely separate from our own, but as the book opens we see cracks occurring and strange creatures entering our world. Monster hunters, scientists, government agents, gangsters and more will be forced to come together to figure out what is happening and try to save the world as we know it. The narrative alternates between the adventure in the present day, which is fast-paced and follows some compelling viewpoints, and chapters from a textbook which outline the different worlds that diverged. I really enjoyed a novel where Geology forms a major part of the S in SF; it's thoughtfully examined and effectively contrasts with the action-oriented plot. There are some very negative reviews on amazon, complaining that the book is too "woke" because it has gay and trans characters, and can be read as a critique of Brexit. None of that bothered me, and I appreciated the book's ultimate message."

Hope this is helpful!

>86 Sakerfalcon: You mean there are still people who think criticizing Brexit is a bad thing? Beggars belief.

Finished Darknesses by L.E. Modesitt. 2nd in his Corean Chronicles series. I've taken to Modesitt's writing - he's a good story teller - nothing fancy, just well-told narrative & some good world-building, making for an enjoyable fantasy read.

>88 ChrisG1: Yes, I have enjoyed the Magic of Recluse series by LE Modesitt. I think I have read the first five. Just good story telling.

>88 ChrisG1: I struggled with the Corean Chronicles, finding them a little dry for my tastes, although I am a major Modesitt fangirl.

I'm now juggling multiple volumes of short fiction, but I'm halfway through Dying Inside, and the hold fairy has just told me that she's got System Collapse for me. So I hope to finish at least one more novel--probably two--before month's end.

Finished The Circus of Dr Lao which I found amazing, so I read Finney's non-fantastic Past the End of the Pavement which was far more conventional but still well done. About to start The Asylum of Dr. Caligari.

>84 Sakerfalcon: thx!

In my nonfiction reading I just finished The Age of Insecurity (I could not get the link to work; it is supposed to go to this book https://www.librarything.com/work/30498715 ) by Astra Taylor. It is an excellent addition to the Massey Lecture series hosted by the CBC. It is a consideration of capitalism in history and current affairs. Highly recommended.

Wrapped up The Surviving Sky. Even if I'm charitable towards a first novel, its plot and pacing felt clunky to me.

After detouring to Exadelic, I'm back to My Brother's Keeper. Sort of wishing I had skipped the Evans book as it was not nearly as good as I had expected after Jo Walton sang its praises way on high. Oh well, they can't all be winners.

Am also finally getting around to The King in Yellow, which is off to a Weirdly interesting beginning.

A non-genre note... I also recently read the latest release by one of my favorite science fiction authors: Mark W Tiedemann recently switched gears and published Granger's Crossing, which is an historical fiction/murder mystery set in US revolutionary war times. Tiedemann really brings the late 18th century St. Louis setting to life in this meticulously researched novel. Recommended for anyone that enjoys this type of story.

I finished Dying Inside and wrote a short review of it. Now starting in on System Collapse.

>97 paradoxosalpha: I read this earlier this year & found it to be excellent.

>98 ChrisG1:

I liked the book, but I had heard such high praise for it, that it was a little tough for it to measure up to that.

Just finished Medusa's Web by Tim Powers. It was a fun read, though the plotting was a bit muddled (for me, anyway) which is fairly common with occult or SF suspense novels which have a time travel element. He keeps the action going enough that I didn't worry too much about that. I'm not sure if I'd call this SF or Fantasy, but I'll go with SF.

I read System Collapse and posted my review. I'm now focusing on Fabulous Harbours, where I have already reached the midpoint.

Just finished a 4 book "romantasy" and back to being a citizen of the galaxy with Gray Lensman. I wasn't fond of the first book I read in this series but I really liked the one just finished (Galactic Patrol) so I am looking forward to this one.

Merry Christmas all.

Knocked off Nettle and Bone, which while far from bad, I have to regard more as a bellwether for Ursula Vernon's increasing popularity, rather than really being "Hugo" worthy. The absence of Rebecca Kuang's Babel on the Hugo ballot was the ghost at the banquet at Chengdu this year.

Wrapping up the year with Eyes of the Void.

>103 Shrike58: !!!!? seriously? oh my god that was such an amazing book

>102 elorin: You didn't care for Spacehounds of the IPC? I haven't read them in ages but I don't recall a huge difference between that and Galactic Patrol. I'm interested in your thoughts.

I finished Butcher's The Olympian Affair, part 2 of the Cinder Spires series. I wish he'd go a bit more into the world and background. Is this world supposed to be far-future Earth or some other planet?

>105 Karlstar: I bought a Lensman omnibus with the novels and short stories in chronological order which is how I am reading them. The first was Triplanetary and I didn't like the writing style. I felt like it was trying too hard to be historical reporting or some such. I liked the storytelling style of First Lensman much better and truly enjoyed Galactic Patrol.

>106 elorin: Ok, thanks!

>104 cindydavid4: Yeah - I thought Nettle and Bone was far superior to Babel, although not comparable in any other sense.
I find Ursula Vernon writing fairy tales as T. Kingfisher to be almost in the same league as Robin McKinley (meaning pretty amazing), although her stories are a lot shorter, and thus in general less complex and with a simpler worldbuilding.

After a break from fiction, about to pick up Persepolis Rising.

Finished The Asylum of Dr. Caligari, taking a break from SF for M is for Malice, then will start The Deep Sky.

Finished Asimov's Lucky Starr and the Pirates of the Asteroids 1954,very much in the pulpy space opera mode of Doc Smith's 1951 Grey Lensman.. I love the way these old spacers just nonchalantly whizzed around in their rocket ships ,which they always souped up to incredible speeds. For most of the month I have been just reading trashy urban fantasy and the like because of Mr Dusty's situation. MRI showed it was a stroke affecting the language centre of his brain,but we are coping,and after 53 years of marriage we pretty much can guess each others thoughts and needs anyway!! lol.
He is showing some improvement,though it will be slow progress. So I see quite a bit of stress busting mindless pulp ahead. :0)

>100 rshart3: I liked Medusa's Web quite a bit. Although it's a stand-alone, it fits nicely into the larger 'Haunted Southwest California' setting of many of his novels and short stories.

Powers remains a favorite author of mine. I just finished his latest over the holiday weekend. My Brother's Keeper is another excellent secret history that revolves around the Brönte family fighting werewolves and ghosts in Haworth, Yorkshire. Fun stuff, but I get the feeling that a lot of Brönte fans may be a bit perplexed by the bonkers re-imaginings of Tim Powers.

In other news, The King in Yellow is progressing nicely. Have also started a re-read of Among Others, which is holding up exceptionally well.

>111 dustydigger: Glad Mr. D is showing improvement. And it's true about the 53 years: I'm coming up on a 50th anniversary, and it's amazing how often we think the same things at the same time.

>104 cindydavid4: It's very good, but if I had deigned to exercise my right to vote for the Hugo awards this year (I trusted nothing to do with this year's iteration of Worldcon (once I participated in the nomination process)), I would have placed The Daughter of Doctor Moreau at the top of my slate.

>111 dustydigger: Glad to hear that there have been some positive developments in your circumstances.

Just finished Saga of the Swamp Thing, Book One. The plot is chaotic and confused, but I'm very much enjoying Alan Moore's loony, brilliant writing & concepts, and the dazzling artwork and layouts. Onward to Book 2, where the undergrowth will grow thicker. I don't read graphic novels much, recently; with my older eyes it's too difficult. But for this, a little eyestrain is worth it.

I wrapped up Fabulous Harbours and posted my review. That's likely to be the last book finished in 2023, though I might have a go at Norse Mythology Volume 1.

I finished Pillars of the Earth (excellent!) and am back to SF with Children of Time.

As a break in the novel below, I read Saga Volume 11, the continuation of the ongoing space opera comic by Brian K. Vaughan and Fiona Staples. This was the worst in the series to me: the art seemed rushed and a bunch of characters showed up, whose backstories and motiviations I could barely remember...

So it's back to Fall, or Dodge in Hell, which in true Neal Stephenson fashion I'm finding both really interesting and a bit of a slog. I'm still going to try to get as far as possible before the holidays end, as this isn't really the kind of book I like to read in 15 min increments.

>118 drmamm: I really enjoyed both Pillars of the Earth and Worlds Without End. I think there are two more volumes in that Kingsbridge cycle that I would like to get to someday.

Yesterday I finished reading Dune: House Harkonnen. Today I started the last volume in this prequel series to Dune, Dune: House Corrino. So I think I am on track to finish reading both Dune and Dune Messiah before part 2 of the movie comes out in March. I hope to complete my reread of the entire Dune series in 2024. I have never read Brian Herbert’s and Kevin Anderson’s concluding volumes Hunters of Dune and Sandworms of Dune.

Started Downbelow Station by CJ Cherryh.

Later today I'll finish a selection of Horacio Quiroga's short stories, The decapitated chicken and other stories, some of which are very Weird.

I've squeezed in The Mysteries and Billion-Dollar Brain (my reviews for both are posted), and I've picked up Tales from Earthsea and A Deepness in the Sky from the public library.

Finished Gray Lensman in time for the new year and picking up Second Stage Lensman for my next read along with Equal Rites.

Well,its the end of 2023,not a good year for the world at large with wars and atrocities,and personal issues not helping me.
I had a shocking 29 books left unread on my years TBR.I will make them the base of my 2024 reading,together with trying to finish the Winston SF juvenile series for WWEnd.I've finished 26/37 books,and have access to 6 more,and will keep looking for online free copies of the rest.I think it is achievable. Great find was seeing that Internet Archive has several of the tales that appeared in the Astounding magazine
Other plans include rereading Heinlein's juvenile series.
But things will be a lot looser this coming year,with lots of fluff when I just need mindless escapism! :0)
But I will here tomorrow asking the usual ''what are we reading in.......''
Wishing all of us a Happy New Year,with lots of wonderful reads ahead.

Dusty

>125 dustydigger:
Have a Wonderful 2024!

Wrapping up the year with Eyes of the Void, which I found much more enjoyable than the first book in the trilogy, and which leaves me looking forward to the conclusion (that was not meant ironically).

Seeing 2023 out with False Value, #8 in the hugely entertaining Rivers of London series. Although some may consider this fantasy because of the magic element, I'm categorizing this one as SF because it deals with a difference engine possibly created by Ada Lovelace and Charles Babbage. Besides that, it's nice to finish out the year with something light.

>128 gypsysmom: A very good book, but I'm not sure that I'd call it light, as Aaronovitch seems to be looking at going Lovecraftian as a way to raise the stakes of his series.

Finished off the year with:
Kill the Farm Boy. Really quite funny take on the heroic quest. Sagged ever so slightly towards the end, but thoroughly enjoyable.
Half the Blood of Brooklyn by Charlie Huston. Vampire noir with lots of blood and guts. Not light and happy, but a good read. Somewhat refreshing, if that is the right turn, to have truly nasty vampires, not a one that emanates a strange, irresistible sexual attraction.
Pirate Utopia, Odd and interesting alternative history "diesel punk" , with great illustrations by John Coulthart.

>130 wbf2nd: Half the blood of Brooklyn

It looks like your "of" has a zero

>131 elorin: Thanks. Corrected

>125 dustydigger: Wishing you a better 2024!

>133 RobertDay: Seconded!