CUK Book Club: Currently reading...

[sadkingbilly]

the final architecture trilogy by Adrian Tchaikovsky
very entertaining imo

now: Europa deep by Gary gibson

[DoctorStrangelove]

Next: "Methuselah's Children (1958)" by R. A. Heinlein.

Done: off to Oxfam with it. There's another 6 or 8 inches of bookshelf containing Yet More Heinlein. . I wonder where or when I acquired them.

Next: "The Alternative Asimovs" (1986), being the original versions of "Pebble in the Sky"/"Grow old along with me", "The End of Eternity", and "Belief", the first of these being in the Galactic Empire theme.

[sadkingbilly]

the final architecture trilogy by Adrian Tchaikovsky
very entertaining imo

now: Europa deep by Gary gibson

dun. end a bit disappointing.

now Service Model by Adrian Tchaikovsky

[DoctorStrangelove]

Next: "Rainbow Mars" is in the pile & it's more of the time travel oevre.

Done: off to Oxfam with it.

Next: the wizard one "The Magic Goes Away" by L Niven.

This one is an illustrated trade paperback. Bought far back in the mysts of tyme. Probly 1979. 2nd printing.

[DoctorStrangelove]

Next: "N-Space" by L. Niven. More Known Space stories.

Done: off to Oxfam with it. Took a long time to read those last 40 pages.

Next: "Time Trap" by Keith Laumer. The one with the giant rutabaga aliens.

[sadkingbilly]

dun. end a bit disappointing.

now Service Model by Adrian Tchaikovsky

weird, quite amusing though.
next - echogenesis by Gary Gibson

[DoctorStrangelove]

Next: the wizard one "The Magic Goes Away" by L Niven.

This one is an illustrated trade paperback. Bought far back in the mysts of tyme. Probly 1979. 2nd printing.

Done: off to Oxfam with it.

Next: "The Magic May Return" edited by L. Niven. An anthology containing "Not Long Before The End" being the first of Niven's Warlock stories plus stories by other writers in the same vein.

[DoctorStrangelove]

Next: "The Magic May Return" edited by L. Niven. An anthology containing "Not Long Before The End" being the first of Niven's Warlock stories plus stories by other writers in the same vein.

Done: off to Oxfam with it. "Strength" by Poul Anderson and Mildred Downey Broxon was very good: the end of magic leading to the return of the glaciers and the fall of a civilisation held up by magic, presumably 14000 years ago in north America.

A nice conceit that all those dinosaur skeletons are actually dead dragons after the magic went away. .

Did look at some other swords & sorcery stuff but neither book appealed particularly, so:

Next: "The Once and Future King" by T.H.White. The Arthurian Leg End. A sword. And some sorcery.

It's a bit fecking long at 800 pages. So starting it on 4/4/26, we'll eventually find out how gripping it proves to be. .

Oh look: Uther Pendragon is a fecking Norman FFS and conquered Engerland in 1066. WTAF?

Book the First "The sword in the stone" was amusing enough: it was downhill all the way from those heights. This is the one Disney made the film from.

Book the 2nd "The witch in the wood". Meh.

Book the 3rd "The ill made knight". Lancelot. Meh.

Book the 4th "The candle in the wind". Mordred doing his evil best. Meh. Last chapter not too mad.

Book the 5th "The book of Merlin". First chapter not too bad, carrying on from the previous chapter. Lots of repetition of stuff that's in the first book.

It merely appears endless: I'm sure the end is achievable with perseverance and dedication to the task. .

Reading this I now understand why I never ever bothered with Lord of the Rings.

20 pages to go in Book 5 & it's like pulling teeth. Be glad to see the back of this one.

Oh. spoiler: the final battle is never described. Or if it was I blinked & missed it.

Tedium++.

[DoctorStrangelove]

Next: "Secret Warfare" by Bruce Norman. Published 1973. No mention of ULTRA, ENIGMA, Bletchley Park or COLOSSUS, these remaining secret at the time. No idea when I bought this but it was at least 20 years ago, if not 30.

Done: off to Oxfam with it. I didn't attempt to understand any of the codes/cyphers mentioned. The most recent mention was of the Krogers.

Next: "ULTRA goes to war" by Ronald Lewin. (1978).

This one mentions ENIGMA, the contribution of the Poles, COLOSSUS, Bletchley Park, Tommy Flowers, and even has a photograph of the latter receiving a doctorate from Newcastle in 1977.

[DoctorStrangelove]

"The illustrated history of Gadget Warfare: The Vietnam War" by F. Clifton Berry Jnr.* 82nd Airborne.

All that materiel, all those crazy weapons, Puff the Magic Dragon, Agent Orange, Daisy Cutters, CBU-55 FAE.

And they still lost to little men with AK47s and bicycles.

If there's something to be grateful to Harold Wilson for, it's keeping us out of that mess.

*That's the late F. Cliffton Berry Jnr.

https://www.airforcemag.com/f-clifto...-jr-1931-2020/

Done: read for the 2nd time: off to Oxfam with it.

Next: "Mother Earth" by I. Asimov.

Set before "Caves of Steel". I'd never heard of this one and have never seen it in an anthology.

https://archive.org/details/Astoundi...ge/59/mode/1up

So here it is in all its glory.