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What are you reading?

FlyingMonkey

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Red Moon by Kim Stanley Robinson. New York 2140 was very good, probably because Robinson has a feel for New York and New Yorkers. In Red Moon, he seems to be trying both to deal with the rise of China but he's (inevitably) not got the same depth of understanding of contemporary China. The main characters are engaging and there are some good set-pieces on the Moon itself, but too much of the book is basically a tedious chase back and forth to and from and across the Moon, without much more than that to drive the plot, and the ending - well, you'll just have to see, but rarely do you see an ending so blatantly say 'you're going to have to wait for the next book' than this.
aHR0cDovL3d3dy5zcGFjZS5jb20vaW1hZ2VzL2kvMDAwLzA4MC8yNzQvb3JpZ2luYWwvUm9iaW5zb25fUmVkTW9vbi1IQy5qcGc=
 

edinatlanta

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I'm really enjoying this edition. Not gonna lie I, like most people I suppose, need some help reading my boy Shakespeare. This is sometimes too helpful but I also suppose its better to be too helpful than not enough.

Spoiler alert: Lear is craycray.

61yeaSxtGoL.jpg
 

HORNS

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Yes, I definitely recommend it.

Thanks. I just read The Agony and the Ecstasy, about the life of Michelangelo and just started Clan of the Cave Bear.
 

FlyingMonkey

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I've been reading the work of Paul Tevis, who wrote three novels that were later made into successful films: The Hustler, The Color of Money and The Man Who Fell to Earth. I can't think of many people who've had so many of their novels filmed so well, especially considering he only wrote 6 novels and died relatively young. The one I've enjoyed most of his has been Mockingbird, an effective post-apocalyptic novel in which the last remaining humans are provided for by robots who seem intent on stopping them breeding...

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Walter_Tevis
 
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Joffrey

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I started New York Trilogy by Paul Auster. Finished book/story 1 (City of Glass) and I'm perplexed. I am going to force myself to finish the other 2 books/stories included (thankfully they appear shorter).
 

bencap

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Red Moon by Kim Stanley Robinson. New York 2140 was very good, probably because Robinson has a feel for New York and New Yorkers. In Red Moon, he seems to be trying both to deal with the rise of China but he's (inevitably) not got the same depth of understanding of contemporary China. The main characters are engaging and there are some good set-pieces on the Moon itself, but too much of the book is basically a tedious chase back and forth to and from and across the Moon, without much more than that to drive the plot, and the ending - well, you'll just have to see, but rarely do you see an ending so blatantly say 'you're going to have to wait for the next book' than this.

As a big fan of sci-fi/"speculative fiction", I've been meaning to start digging into Robinson's output because I've heard a lot of good things. Is this the first book of his you've read, or do you have a recommendation for a good one to start with?
 

FlyingMonkey

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As a big fan of sci-fi/"speculative fiction", I've been meaning to start digging into Robinson's output because I've heard a lot of good things. Is this the first book of his you've read, or do you have a recommendation for a good one to start with?

He's been writing a number of loosely-linked books connected to a post-climate change future: 2312, New York 2140 and Aurora. I'd start with those and then maybe go back to the Mars Trilogy if you decide you like his stuff. However, my personal favourite novels of his are his stand-alone ones that play with history: The Years of Rice and Salt and Galileo's Dream.
 

FlyingMonkey

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I've been reading some older Japanese crime fiction by Seicho Matsumoto: Inspector Imanishi Investigates, which is really evocative of the time just before the 1964 Tokyo Olympics but which relies on an unintentionally hilarious plot twist and a series of unlikely coincidences, and A Quiet Place, which I am currently enjoying.
 

FlyingMonkey

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Much less weight than Endo, I am continuing on my Japanese crime fiction kick, reading everything I can by Keigo Higashino, who turns out to warrant his popularity (which certainly isn't always the case with crime and mystery writers). Although the 'Detective Galileo' series for which he is best known is pretty good, it's his standalone novels that really impress, notably Journey Under the Midnight Sun. His work is giving me some food for thought for my own first crime novel, which I'm about 1/3 of the way through at the moment...
 

edinatlanta

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Much less weight than Endo, I am continuing on my Japanese crime fiction kick, reading everything I can by Keigo Higashino, who turns out to warrant his popularity (which certainly isn't always the case with crime and mystery writers). Although the 'Detective Galileo' series for which he is best known is pretty good, it's his standalone novels that really impress, notably Journey Under the Midnight Sun. His work is giving me some food for thought for my own first crime novel, which I'm about 1/3 of the way through at the moment...
Can you read Japanese or is there just more English language translation available over there? I'm also assuming you're a cracker.
 

FlyingMonkey

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Can you read Japanese or is there just more English language translation available over there? I'm also assuming you're a cracker.

I'm very English but my wife is Japanese. My Japanese language reading ability isn't fast enough for reading novels for pleasure, so I'm reading the, I think, only translation available on Kindle...
 

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