What Are You Reading?

[AnaKhouri]

I am reading the Witcher books by Andre Sapowski. We watched the first episode of the show and neither of us thought it was great, but my husband LOVES the books and finally convinced me to read them, then we can try more of the show to see if it improves. Apparently the timeline of the show is all over the place and the books will explain a lot.

[Ghel]

I finished the Darth Bane series. I really enjoyed it. Bane is one of the few villains who has a consistent philosophy and actually lives by it.

Now I'm reading Casting Shadows, the first book in the Passing of the Technomages trilogy by Jeanne Cavelos. It's set in the universe of the Babylon 5 tv series. The main character is Galen, the technomage featured in the Crusade spin-off series. I've had this trilogy for a while, but it was packed up when I was living in the apartment. Now that I've unpacked it, I'm looking forward to reading it.

[Ironclad Alibi]

I have started reading Un Lun Dun by China Miéville.

I have finished Un Lun Dun and it is an excellent story. I would love to see a movie made of it. It might have to be an animated movie due to the nature of some of the characters.

My next book is China's Wings by Gregory Crouch. It is the true story of aviation in China during the 1930s and 1940s.

[AnaKhouri]

Gideon the Ninth by Tamsyn Muir. I'm quite enjoying it; it's a seamless blend of SF and fantasy with a good amount of snark.

[YamiNoHime]

"Triangle: The Fire that Changed America" Amazing look at the political climate surrounding the 1911 Triangle Shirtwaist factory fire. It was the largest workplace disaster in history until 9/11/01

[Seanette]

Recent acquisition: "Seven Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle", by Stuart Turton. Very weird murder mystery, and it's hard to discuss it in much more detail without serious spoilers.

[Nunavut Pants]

Many years ago, I read and loved "Forgotten Beasts of Eld" by Patricia McKillip. The mood was wonderful, the story cycle hit all of the appropriate touch-points, and so on. I borrowed her "Riddle-Master of Hed" books from the library, and did not like them at all. I don't really remember why any more, except that they were depressing. I still re-read "Eld" with some frequency and still love it.

Borrowed a book of her short stories from the library recently. Too depressing, without the mood or epic feel or storyline that I appreciated from "Eld". Didn't even finish it.

I also checked out a book by Jack Vance. I also enjoyed some of his writing in the long-ago, particularly the "Dying Earth" stories said to have partly inspired the spell system in classic D&D. This one was "Night Lamp", which was an odd sort of coming-of-age meets space-opera meets revenge story. It felt like the very flat characters were kind of brought in and out nearly at random, and the near-constant inclusion of names that are rarely if ever explained seems to get in the way rather than making the story feel mythic as it had in his earlier work.

At least the book on the Pottsdam treaty was pretty interesting. And we'll see how the Monuments Men book goes.

[Ironclad Alibi]

Speaking of 'what if' or alternative history books, have you ever read any of Harry Turtledove's work? He's apparently written a few such books. I say "apparently" because the only one I've read to date is Ruled Britannia, in which the Spanish Armada was successful in conquering England.

Another of Harry Turtledove's books is The Guns of the South in which time travelers provide the CSA army with AK47s in 1864. It is a good story.

Another alternate history I have but not read yet is Harry Harrison's trilogy Stars & Stripes Forever, Stars & Stripes in Peril and Stars & Stripes Triumphant. These are about Great Britain siding with the CSA, then the USA and CSA combining to fight GB.

The story of Britain and France siding with the CSA is also told in Peter Tsouras' trilogy Britannia's Fist, A Rainbow of Blood and Bayonets, Balloons & Ironclads.

[Seanette]

I'm currently rereading Stephen Fry's Making History, which does address what would have happened if Hitler hadn't been born. Interesting read.

[Mental_Mouse]

Things like "what if Hitler made it into art school"? Tensions were still high in Germany, so something would have happened, but would it have been anything like WW2 as we know it? Hitler was the charismatic figurehead, but there were a lot of Nazis who went along with him. Would there still have been a Holocaust, and would it be aimed at the same groups? Would the war have gone past a few skirmishes, or would it still have become a world-wide war?

Wind forward a few decades, and what would be the knock-on effects? If there wasn't a Holocaust to shock the world, would any of the human rights laws or civil rights movements we know have come about, and if they did, how would they have looked? What would later wars look like, with "just following orders" still being an acceptable defence? I just find the butterfly effect fascinating.

Sorry, I've just rambled on for ages.

Others have addressed this elsewhere, with far greater erudition than I, but offhand and IMHO: Germany and most of its allies would certainly have risen to war, because WWI had ended with "a peace to end all peace", leaving Germany among others humiliated and furious. Hitler himself was a charismatic leader, but there were a lot of other Nazis that were pretty charismatic and smart, so odds are that there would have been another leader handy.

The resulting war might not have looked quite the same... or maybe it would, because that "Final Solution" just combined centuries of traditional persecution against Jews, Gypsies and later gays, with the already-in-progress development of eugenics. Note that the Shoah wasn't even the first genocide of the century, that would be the Turkish massacres. Then too, another German (or Soviet) leader might have been able to convince the Japanese to hold their water... and then America probably wouldn't have joined the war until after Europe had been thoroughly redrawn.

Similarly, the human-rights movements weren't something that appeared in response to the Holocaust, they had roots running back to the Enlightenment. There were already Jewish defense groups, the feminists and suffragettes were still around, and various groups organizing among American blacks. Even Israel might have been founded anyway... by the end of WWII, a lot of imperial nations (especially Britain) were finding their colonies and possessions to be as much liability as asset.

[Pixelated]

I so envy you, being able to read it for the first time. I remember how much I loved it, and was gutted that they never managed to sync their schedules enough to write a sequel.

I've always loved "what if?" stories; whether it's alternative universe versions of history or just "what if the anti-Christ was raised by normal middle-class people?" I find it fascinating how things can spin off, so long as the author is good enough to make everything hang together.

Things like "what if Hitler made it into art school"? Tensions were still high in Germany, so something would have happened, but would it have been anything like WW2 as we know it? Hitler was the charismatic figurehead, but there were a lot of Nazis who went along with him. Would there still have been a Holocaust, and would it be aimed at the same groups? Would the war have gone past a few skirmishes, or would it still have become a world-wide war?

Wind forward a few decades, and what would be the knock-on effects? If there wasn't a Holocaust to shock the world, would any of the human rights laws or civil rights movements we know have come about, and if they did, how would they have looked? What would later wars look like, with "just following orders" still being an acceptable defence? I just find the butterfly effect fascinating.

Sorry, I've just rambled on for ages.

With Good OmensI really LOVED the basic premise ... Armageddon is days away and they've lost the Antichrist ...

Speaking of 'what if' or alternative history books, have you ever read any of Harry Turtledove's work? He's apparently written a few such books. I say "apparently" because the only one I've read to date is Ruled Britannia, in which the Spanish Armada was successful in conquering England.

Somewhere in my collection I've got a book about several pivotal points in history, but I haven't read it yet. Next time I go to my storage unit I'll dig through my boxes and see if I can find it. I'm hoping it does offer some speculation on what today's world would be like if those points had pivoted in a different direction.

[greek_jester]

I'm about 90% through Good Omens now and looking forward to see how it ends. They've found the Antichrist but he doesn't seem to be cooperating ...

I so envy you, being able to read it for the first time. I remember how much I loved it, and was gutted that they never managed to sync their schedules enough to write a sequel.

I've always loved "what if?" stories; whether it's alternative universe versions of history or just "what if the anti-Christ was raised by normal middle-class people?" I find it fascinating how things can spin off, so long as the author is good enough to make everything hang together.

Things like "what if Hitler made it into art school"? Tensions were still high in Germany, so something would have happened, but would it have been anything like WW2 as we know it? Hitler was the charismatic figurehead, but there were a lot of Nazis who went along with him. Would there still have been a Holocaust, and would it be aimed at the same groups? Would the war have gone past a few skirmishes, or would it still have become a world-wide war?

Wind forward a few decades, and what would be the knock-on effects? If there wasn't a Holocaust to shock the world, would any of the human rights laws or civil rights movements we know have come about, and if they did, how would they have looked? What would later wars look like, with "just following orders" still being an acceptable defence? I just find the butterfly effect fascinating.

Sorry, I've just rambled on for ages.

[Pixelated]

I'm finishing off The Hundred-Year-Old Man Who Climbed Out the Window and Disappeared by Jonas Jonasson. It's hilarious. The number of coincidences in the book is mind-boggling, but there's no indication the story was ever intended to be taken seriously (at this point he's had some totally lovely meals in the company of such pleasant notables at Josef Stalin and Kim Il Sung).

I also finally finished Double or Die, of the young James Bond series. I have to admit that for the final few dozen pages, all I could think of was "BUT DID THE CAT SURVIVE??"

[It's me]

I just finished book 10 of Benedict Jacka's Alex Verus series. Anyone who is a Dresden Files fan should enjoy the Alex Verus books.

http://benedictjacka.co.uk/alex-verus/

Now I think I will go back to Ack-Ack Macaque trilogy. Well-crafted cyber-steampunk by an author (Gareth Powell) who excels at creating imagery with words.

[Ironclad Alibi]

I have started reading Un Lun Dun by China Miéville.