Karlstar's Reading 2023.3

Older reading in the previous thread.

June reading
Trumps of Doom by Roger Zelazny
100 Places to See After You Die by Ken Jennings
Beyond the Gap by Harry Turtledove
Blood Song by Anthony Ryan
The Aeronaut's Windlass by Jim Butcher

July reading
Dragons of Deceit by Weis and Hickman
Descent into the Depths of the Earth by Paul Kidd
John Grimes: Survey Captain by Chandler
Frankenstein by Mary Shelley
Oliver Twist by Dickens
The Giant Airships by Douglas Botting
Iorich by Steven Brust

August reading
Lost Fleet: Outlands: Resolute by Jack Campbell
The Guns of August by Barbara Tuchman
The Mystery Knight: A Graphic Novel
The Citadel of Forgotten Myths by M. Moorcock
The Road to Kitty Hawk Time-Life books by Valerie Moolman

September reading
Tsalmoth by Steven Brust
Conan the Invincible by Robert Jordan
Direct Descent by Frank Herbert
The Reluctant King by Sarah Bradford
Earth is Room Enough by Isaac Asimov

The usual explanation of my rating system.

I use a 1 to 10 rating system because I started rating books on the internet using a 10 point system and because I like the additional granularity. Checking my LT books, the 8 ratings stop right around book 500, so I'm consistent there, but I only have about 70 books rated 9 stars or higher, so either I'm being too tough or there just aren't that many 9 or 10 star books. I would guess my most common rating is 6, I like most of what I read. Here's my rating scale explained.

1 - So bad, I couldn't finish it. DO NOT READ!!!
2 - Could have finished, but didn't. Do not read. This one means I made a conscious choice not to finish, usually about halfway through the book. Something is seriously wrong here.
3 - Finished it, but had to force myself. Not recommended, unless it is part of a series you really need to finish.
4 - Finished it, but really didn't like it. Not recommended unless you really need something to read.
5 - Decent book, recommended if you have spare time and need something to read.
6 - Good book, I enjoyed it, and would recommend it.
7 - Good book, recommended for everyone. I may have read it more than once, and would consider buying the hardcover edition.
8 - Great book, I would put it in the Top 500 of all time. Read more than once, I probably have the hardcover.
9 - Great book, top 100 all time. Read more than once, if I don't have the hardcover edition, I want one!
10 - All-time great book, top 50 material. Read more than twice, I probably have more than one copy/edition.

My ratings also include the Slogging Through The Mud (STTM) rating/index. This goes back to one of Elizabeth Moon's Paksenarrion books where she spends WAY too much time actually describing how the army spent days slogging through the mud. If there is a lot of travel in the book and too much time describing the traveling, the STTM rating will be high.

I haven't done any of my July reviews yet, so here's the first one.

Dragons of Deceit by Margaret Weis and Tracy Hickman
STTM: 4 - not a lot of travel
Rating: 5 out of 10

This is a decent fantasy novel, but for fans of their earlier Dragonlance Chronicles, this is clearly an attempt to play on nostalgia. Unfortunately, it doesn't go all that well.

The main character is Destina, daughter of a Solamnic Knight and a tribeswoman from Ergoth. She has been brought up her whole life to be the Lady of Castle Rosethorn, her father's castle. Per the code of the Solamnic Knights, she can't be a knight.

Some of the events of this book occur during the same timeframe as the original Dragonlance Chronicles trilogy, so some of the original characters make an appearance - Tanis, Sturm, Tika, Caramon and unfortunately, Tasselhof. This is where things really started to go off the rails for me, because once Tasselhof and the Device of Time Journeying appear, it kind of feels like we're repeating the plot of the Time of the Twins trilogy. The plot isn't the same, things happen very differently, but it just felt like an easy plot repeat.

This one felt more like an addendum to the original trilogy than a new novel all on it's own. In addition, there was a strong feeling that the main character was little more than a plot device to return to a familiar setting.

Happy new thread!

>4 clamairy: Thanks!

Found and starred, waiting for more reviews!

>6 fuzzi: Thanks, I'll try to catch up this weekend.

In the meantime, I finished The Giant Airships, one of the old Time-Life books from the Epic of Flight series. A good, short history of the short and tragic history of dirigibles.

Some facts that I thought were interesting.

The book mentions that two airships that were built in the UK after WWI had gas cells that were lined with goldbeater's skin - from wikipedia: "Goldbeater's skin is the processed outer membrane of the intestine of an animal, typically cattle, which is valued for its strength against tearing. The term derives from its traditional use as durable layers interleaved between sheets of gold stock during the process of making gold leaf by goldbeating, as a batch process producing many "leaves" at the same time. In the early modern production of airships, application of its high strength-to-weight ratio and reliability were crucial for building at least the largest examples. " It was tear-resistant, puncture resistant and fire proof - and it required 50,000 individual skins, stitched together, to make one gas cell (a balloon like structure within the frame of the dirigible). The book does not mention what the US, Germany or Italy used for lining material.

The most successful dirigible, the Graf Zeppelin, flew over 1,000,000 miles, crossed the Atlantic 144 times (many of the trips were to Brazil from Germany) and carried over 13,000 passengers. Unlike so many of its predecessors, it did not break apart, get shot down or burn up, it was retired after the Hindenburg disaster.

At the time, the only supply of helium in the world was in the USA and at first there wasn't enough of it to replace hydrogen. Later, the US refused to sell any to Germany, but all of the smaller zeppelins pre-Hindenburg would have been too heavy and too small to fly with helium anyway. Wikipedia again: " In 1903, large reserves of helium were found in natural gas fields in parts of the United States, by far the largest supplier of the gas today. "

>7 Karlstar: You might be interested in Neville Shute's autobiography Slide Rule. "Shute" (real name Neville Shute Norway) worked on the design of the British airship R100, with Barnes Wallis who became more famous for other reasons, and there's certainly mention in that of the use of goldbeater's skin as the material for the gas cells — plus lots more abut the R100 and R101. Be warned that it's suggested that Shute's account may not be entirely reliable about R101.

>8 haydninvienna: Shute was mentioned in the book as having worked on the R100 and the R100 and R101 were the 2 airships referenced with regard to goldbeater's skin. The R101 was nearly a complete failure.

Thanks for the reference, you were correct, I would be interested.

I hope you like Oliver Twist!

>10 BookstoogeLT: I did enjoy it. I'd say I liked Little Dorrit more though. Have you read it?

I'm almost done with Frankenstein, probably move on to one of the two Steven Brust Vlad books that I haven't read yet, Iorich next.

Question for you smart folks:

I was recently given an old hardcover edition of Rip Van Winkle, and the shipper sent it in one of those plastic envelopes with no padding at all. It was clearly bashed during shipping and a decent sized chunk 'crumbled' at the top of the front cover. It didn't break off or anything, but you can feel that it is crumbly under the cover material.

The question is: it feels like that part of the cover is now compromised and might get worse. What's the best way to contain the damage?

>11 Karlstar: I have read both, at least twice. I too like Little Dorrit better but overall find Nicholas Nickleby or Bleak House to be at the top of the Dickens pile.

>13 BookstoogeLT: I haven't gotten to those two yet, or David Copperfield.

>12 Karlstar: That kind of damage is way beyond my knowledge and experience. I'm sorry. Perhaps you can check YouTube for book repair videos.

>15 clamairy: Thanks, I think I will take this over to the Book Care group and see what they say.

Descent into the Depths of the Earth by Paul Kidd
STTM: 4 - surprisingly little for such a long trip
Rating: 7 out of 10

This is the novelization of the 'famous' series of AD&D adventures with basically the same name. This came out soon after the release of the 3rd edition of the D&D rules in 2001 and the main character, Justicar, quickly became very popular. The books were a way to introduce the new and very different rules to the audience. As mentioned previously, this has nothing to do with our Earth.

The main character, Justicar (which is also his profession, aka ranger); Escalla the pixie wizard and Cinders, his hell-hound cloak 'companion' are fun characters. This book doesn't go into a lot of depth on the characters, this is about the adventure and the quirkiness. I give the author some points for originality for including a pixie as a wizard instead of a more typical human or elf.

The story is basically an expansion of what's in the module series. While Justicar and Escalla are helping the human refugees who have fled from attacks by giants, they discover that many are missing. The missing humans appear to have been abducted by something or someone that is tied in with politics in the Fae Court and Escalla gets involved. They not only have to go far on a trail to find the missing humans, but they also to resolve Escalla's problem. This part of the novel was never in the adventure modules and it's a good way to get them on the path without it being just 'because'.

The action is great, the characters are good, there's good interaction between the pixie and the human and the opponents.

For whatever reason, possibly because they did not print many, these books are hard to find and expensive, typically $25 - $50 for a mass market paperback or higher. Now I need the next one.

>16 Karlstar: If you get an answer, I would like to hear it. Curious minds and all that.

>18 MrsLee: Absolutely, I'll post it here.

John Grimes: Survey Captain by A. Bertram Chandler
STTM: 8 - some long, boring, ridiculously offensive space trips
Rating: 1.5 out of 10 (my LT star rating is 1/2)

The less said about this one, the better. We discussed it briefly in my previous thread. There are 4 short novels in this omnibus edition, of which I read 2, so technically I can't give it a 1, since I finished 2 of them. It was fairly clear to me that the author, writing these in the late 60s, was using the original Star Trek concept of a mostly male officer crew on starships, with 1 female officer and a few female crew. Unfortunately, that was just an excuse to be ridiculously sexist.

In the first novel, 'Breaking the Cycle' (there's a pun at the end, it wasn't worth it) Capt. Grimes is trying to rebuild his reputation and while doing so, is assigned a mission to escort a female police officer to find a derelict space liner that was attacked by pirates and is now floating empty. That didn't seem so bad, until he contrived to have Grimes and the female officer stuck in a lifeboat, potentially forever - naked. After that it was just a really long 'I wouldn't date you if you were the last man in the universe' situation. The plot did improve, but not nearly enough to make up for it.

The second novel, 'The Big Black Mark', was Grimes again trying to make up for the snafu of the previous mission and not really doing any better. At least there was a ship and a whole crew this time and Grimes stayed away from the female crewmen, but that was soon fixed. Overall this second novel was a little better, but not enough for me to continue. At that point I had read too much and gave up on the other 2 novels in the book.

I guess the author's point was to write about a Capt. Bligh type captain who just kept having worse and worse luck and didn't have the sense to fix it - but why do that?

>18 MrsLee: Here's what I have so far from 2WonderY:

"I would use white glue and wrap it in waxed paper in order to mold it back into place. The waxed paper will peal off after the glue sets."

There was a follow-up suggestion to use parchment paper instead of waxed paper.

>20 Karlstar: I can see that. I have a special glue (non-acidic) that I bought for book repair. That would be my only other suggestion. Although, white glue may be non-acidic, I don't know.

>20 Karlstar: I bought this stuff on Amazon a couple of years ago. I haven't had to use it yet. https://a.co/d/09epx7c

>22 clamairy: Interesting, think it would work on the cover? I'm guessing that under the cover itself, is cardboard?? Paperboard, something like that?

Done with Iorich, which was good. It is always refreshing to get a good dose of Vlad snark once in a while.

I decided to take a detour back to the Alliance/Syndic universe and read Lost Fleet: Outlands: Resolute before Tsalmoth.

Resolute is going well, this may be one of the better books of the series. There's a little more to it than just giant space battles.

Both of my daughters and our grand-daughter were visiting this weekend. For the first time since pre-covid, my sister hosted her big family and friends party yesterday. There were quite a few folks missing, this time, but it was still a good time. We had our grand-daughter with us all day today, which was great, but it has been a long weekend.

As a special favor for my sister, my daughter and I made 'Grandma Browns Beans', which used to be a staple in stores in Central and Western NY until the pandemic. The company, which had been a family operation since 1938, closed up shop. My sister has been talking about them ever since (2020, not 1938, I know you were thinking it), so we had to make some. They are really just baked navy beans with a little salt, brown sugar, onion, a bay leaf and bacon. That's it and the internet recipe says the onion is optional! They aren't great but my sister was happy! For the less nostalgic people I also made a big pot of homemade baked beans.

>25 Karlstar: Those sound quite good. Why aren't they great? Are they a little bland compared to the usual baked beans?

>26 clamairy: I think it depends on how you like your baked beans. They are very, very bland, there's not even any black pepper in them! The amount of seasoning to beans is real low. I prefer my baked beans with at least a little molasses and my recipe has 15 ingredients.

I liked this description from the internet: "Grandma Brown's canned baked beans are available in the northeast USA but not common elsewhere. They are very simple with only 6 ingredients named on the can. This is a process to recreate them faithfully. Note that these beans are not tomato based, they are thick not saucy, and they are only mildly sweet."

>27 Karlstar: Yes, I'm sure I would be adding things that aren't in the recipe. Garlic and ground pepper, to start. I make a recipe from my sister-in-law that is loaded with extras. They have become a family favorite.

>28 clamairy: Mine too, though I need to come up with another side dish for family events. Variety is good.

I finished The Lost Fleet: Outlands: Resolute, which was good. Moving on to The Guns of August and likely Tsalmoth for breaks.

I'll be interested in hearing how you do with The Guns of August as it is one of those books I remember being on my parents' bookshelf but which as a teenager, I couldn't really get into. (I don't think I had sufficient context in terms of the various players.)

>30 Karlstar: I finally got around to The Guns of August a couple of years ago. Well written & worth reading. WWI gets short shrift in most US history education.

>31 jillmwo: >32 ChrisG1: So far, so good. It is certainly well written and engaging.

Ed: when will I stop referencing my own posts? Don't answer, that was rhetorical. Besides, the real answer is probably never, or about the same time I stop writing gibberish.

>30 Karlstar: Looking forward to your thoughts on The Guns of August. I read it in '14 for the anniversary to the start of the war, very well written and I've gotten other books by Tuchman but have gotten to them on my TBR pile yet.

I agree with >32 ChrisG1: WWI is forgotten even though we're basically still dealing with the fallout of how it ended.

>34 mattries37315: So far so good, I'm interested in her other titles too but may see if I can get them from the library. I will say that so far, she seems to rely on people remembering/knowing about events that happened that aren't directly related but were factors. That may have worked in 1962, but not as well in 2023. It just gives me things to look up though.

>33 Karlstar: and >35 Karlstar: We all have done it (referencing the wrong post in a response). Also, I like it when a book drives us to check things. (I have a horror of looking stupid, but it does slow down the full process.)

I have Guns of August in my Kindle library; I just haven't worked up the wherewithal to plunge into it. That said, I find your comments to be encouraging.

>36 jillmwo: It is a book about WWI, how exciting can it be? Yet, the writing keeps it entertaining without it coming off as light or irreverent.

Time for a quick review of my back to back 1800's novels.

Frankenstein by Mary Shelley
STTM: 3 not really any slogging, but there is considerable travel and angst
Rating: 7 out of 10

I would guess that most of you reading this have already read the book, so there's no need to summarize. I'm not sure I'd ever read this before. I thought it was good, not great. I read the Everyman's Library edition with the introduction by Mary Lesser, which I enjoyed too.

Other than this being now over 200 years old, it has aged fairly well. Since the EL edition is my preferred edition, I definitely don't need another one.

I've been leaving off my criteria for great/memorable books lately, partly because some of them didn't need it.

Was it immersive? No, I put it down several times.
Was it memorable? Yes, this is well done.
Would I re-read it? Probably not.
Would I recommend it? Yes, for people who haven't read it and want to experience the original.

Oliver Twist
STTM: 1 - only two short trips and not a lot of time wasted
Rating: 7 out of 10

Another book I don't think I need to summarize. I almost gave this a 8, since I do have two versions, but I do not own a hardcover and I'm not likely to read this again.

One thing I did find a bit strange with this reading, is how little Oliver Twist actually does in this novel. Almost everything is done to him, or for him, not by him. It also felt very similar to Little Dorrit, but without the romance aspects. I kept waiting for Oliver Twist to become someone and he never actually did. I enjoyed reading it and now I'm thinking about which Dickens to read next.

Was it immersive? Not really, I read both Frankenstein and the Giant Airships at the same time.
Was it memorable? Yes, definitely.
Would I re-read it? Probably not, there's a few other Dickens to get to first.
Would I recommend it? Yes, for people who haven't read it and want to experience the original.

>38 Karlstar: I'm thinking of rereading Frankenstein because I've been making this jigsaw!

>40 Sakerfalcon:
Interesting jigsaw. Enjoy the read. It is a while since I read it.

>38 Karlstar: My thoughts on Frankenstein are in line with yours, although it has been many years since I read it. Good, memorable, not going to read it again.

>42 MrsLee: agreed. I'm glad I read it. I also have read Oliver Twist, and appreciate it, no plans to read it again.

>38 Karlstar: I read Frankenstein in grad school, and enjoyed it, but then I did a reread in my 40s for a book group and I found it laughable in some places. There was too much convenient swooning on Victor's part. Still, a memorable story.

>39 Karlstar: I have not read Oliver Twist since high school, but I would be open to listening to it at some point. As you point out there are too many Dickens books that I haven't read that would have to come first.

>40 Sakerfalcon: Oh, that's lovely!

>40 Sakerfalcon: That's a cool puzzle!

>44 clamairy: I don't think I could listen to Oliver Twist very long. The abuse suffered by too many of the people in the book, particularly the women, would just make me stop listening.

>38 Karlstar: It seems that the general consensus is that it's good to have read Frankenstein but once is sufficient. On one level, I agree. However, I have read and re-visited it perhaps 3 times over the past 30 years. The first time left me with the sense that the early movie-makers were really rather shallow as they focused on the tech side of things (electricity and lightning) rather than on the book's actual story. The second time (a more immersive reading experience) it struck me that it was really a book about responsible parenting (Dr. Frankenstein flunked that one) and the third time was due to an academic discussion I'd run across about how Frankenstein's Creature went about educating himself. (Way above my comprehension but I bet with an instructor as part of a seminar, it might have been much more interesting.)

Oliver Twist, I must confess, I just never had much use for. Most of the people are not likeable and it's all about abusive behaviors. Dickens and I have never really "clicked".

>48 jillmwo: I thought the part about the creature educating himself was one of the less believable parts, that whole segment of the book wasn't plausible.

I think the second impression, that of the failure of parenting, is probably what we're actually supposed to take away from the book.

Iorich by Steven Brust
STTM: 3 out of 10, not much travel
Rating: 7 out of 10

This is the 12th book in the Vlad Taltos cycle, by publication order. Somehow I'd managed to skip over it and read the next three, so I was glad to read this one and fill in some of the missing gaps in the story.

This is a very typical Vlad novel. For those who don't know, Vlad Taltos is a human living in an elven (Draegeran, in his world) empire. He started his career as a medium-level crime boss and assassin, but after refusing to do his bosses bidding a few times, had to go on the run and is now a wanted man.

He doesn't save the world in this one, like some of the previous books, but he does have to head back to the big city to help a friend. That puts Vlad in the place where he shines the most, in the city, avoiding assassins and helping his friends. Good action and good dialogue and a bit of confusing political intrigue, I enjoyed this one more than I did the following two.

Edited to add:

Was it immersive? Yes, I read this as often as I could.
Was it memorable? To some extent, I suspect in time it will just be Vlad being Vlad.
Would I re-read it? Possibly.
Would I recommend it? Yes, if you like the Vlad books, if you haven't, start at the beginning!

Glad to see some good books you read, ie, Dickens ;-)

Do you have an easy to view list of all the Dickens you've read? I wouldn't want to suggest something you've already partaken of...

>51 BookstoogeLT: Not impressed by the Paul Kidd? :)

I think the list here in LT is almost accurate.

Oliver Twist, A Tale of Two Cities, Little Dorrit and A Christmas Carol (not listed here in LT yet). That's all I can recall ever reading. I have a vague notion I've read something else, but can't definitely say which one.

In general my reading of 'classic' literature is very lacking and I'm slowly trying to correct that.

>52 Karlstar: Is there any indication of how many books the Lost Fleet Outlands series is going to be? I've still to read the Genesis fleet trilogy but have to admit that I'm getting tired of "Black Jack" and am not sure I can put up with another 5+ books of him...

>50 Karlstar: I need to get back into this series. I read the omnibus of the first 3 books, and I've collected some of the others over the years but they've been shelved where I can't see them which greatly lowers their chances of me remembering I have them!

>54 Sakerfalcon:
...I've collected some of the others over the years but they've been shelved where I can't see them which greatly lowers their chances of me remembering I have them!

This is also an attribute of my book storage. I will not refer to it as a problem because when I am organising my bookshelves I take great delight in discovering unread books I had forgotten I had. LibraryThing has meant I avoid buying books I already have (mostly), but it does not actively keep books I have at the forefront of my mind.

Now that I am retired, of course, I will be giving loads of time to organising my library and will know exactly what books I have and exactly where they are shelved. :-)

On that note, I have been planning to organise my bookcases but have opted to read books instead. I think that is a fair priority, especially as I appear to be on a roll with great books at the moment.

>53 BookstoogeLT: There's one more book coming in the Outlands series, The Lost Fleet: Outlands: Implacable, which is out in hardcover. Amazon says it is book 3 of 3, so maybe that's it. LT doesn't have it listed yet as part of the series, even though the touchstone works.

>54 Sakerfalcon: I think there's one more book coming before the cycle is complete! I had no idea when I started reading these books, even though he made an obvious connection between the Draegeran houses and the books, that he'd actually write this many. There's a couple in the middle that dragged a little, but at least they are all relatively short.

>55 pgmcc: You'll have plenty of time to organize.

>56 Karlstar: Thanks.

>56 Karlstar:
You'll have plenty of time to organize.
Precisely.

Is it weird that I'm just about to finish The Guns of August? I guess I'm a week ahead on the calendar.

Done! Heading off to visit family for a few days so I have to plan something to read on Nook or Kindle.

>60 Karlstar: I hope you have a wonderful time.

>60 Karlstar:
Have a great time.

>61 clamairy: >62 pgmcc: Thank you both. It is supposed to be 100F tomorrow, but cooler after that.

Did you delete your gravatar profile? I was running a broken link checker and it caught one of your old comments.

>64 BookstoogeLT: Um? Not sure what you are referring to. i changed my profile picture here?

Back from the trip. The drive was fairly easy, the roads weren't too busy, I'm guessing a lot of people are traveling next week. It also wasn't quite as hot as expected, it never did get to 100F and the following days were much cooler. Don't think it got over 70F today.

I wanted to read something on my Nook while I was away, so I picked up the most recent Elric novel, The Citadel of Forgotten Myths. So far a fairly typical Elric novel, but it is interesting to see how the writing has evolved a little over the decades.

The Lost Fleet: Outlands: Resolute by Jack Campbell
STTM: 4 - the usual flying through space and time
Rating: 7

I think this is one of the better books in the series. The Alliance fleet, led by Adm Geary as usual, is off to Dancer space to make more formal contact - but to get there they have to go through systems controlled by the extremely hostile Enigmas. Unlike some of the other books, that isn't the only conflict.

Within the fleet there are now factions - those who are opposed to the Admiral, those who are opposed to contact with aliens and those who aren't ready to give up war with the Syndicate. There is also more of a civilian government vs. military power struggle as well. I thought these added conflicts really enhanced the book and added some interesting characters. Otherwise, this is fairly standard Lost Fleet fare, fairly light military scifi.

Was it immersive? Yes, I like this universe and this was a good addition.
Was it memorable? So far, yes.
Would I re-read it? Probably not, unless I re-read the whole series.
Would I recommend it? Yes, for fans of space opera with the emphasis on space.

The Guns of August by Barbara Tuchman
STTM: 2 - can get a little sloggy in spots
Rating: 8 out of 10

Like most people, I thought this was excellent. It starts with the funeral of King Edward VII as a way of introducing the primary leaders and the state of Europe, then proceeds to briefly cover the early years of the 20th century and the conflicts and preparations for war. The primary focus is on France, Germany and England, with a small amount of time spent on Russia and even less on Turkey. For whatever reason, Austro-Hungary is almost completely left out.

There were several pre-war incidents that were mentioned that I had to look up, she does have a tendency to mention events that may have still been taught in 1962, but have likely been left out of school textbooks since, so I had several things to look up in wikipedia, which I did not mind at all.

After going through the various preparations for war, about 2/3 of the book is spent on the summer of 1914, primarily August, 1914. After that, most of the time is spent on the Battle of the Frontiers in Belgium and France, at the army/corps level. Unlike many modern writers, she does not tell any stories of the individual soldier, or any military leader under corps level. There were times I wanted a more Atkinson or Shaara level view of what was happening to individuals. There are maps! At times reading the long sections on movements of this army or that army, or this town or that river, I would start wishing for a map, and there would be one a page or two later.

I thought this was very well done. Many of the blurbs or reviews mention the quality of the writing and I'm not sure quite what they meant, but there was some sneaky sarcasm from time to time that was amusing. It was sad, reading it, realizing that WWI was nearly a repeat of the Franco-Prussian war and that it would repeat, again, in World War II. What was even sadder were the parts that told how before the war, there was a theory that the world had become so economically intertwined that a big war was impossible, or would have to be only a few months long. If only that were true.

Was it immersive? No, it is too far removed in time and too vast of a conflict for that, I think.
Was it memorable? Yes, definitely.
Would I re-read it? Most likely.
Would I recommend it? Yes, for anyone without a comprehensive knowledge of WWI.

>68 Karlstar: Thank you for this review. Quite honestly this is one of those titles that I bought because of that uncomfortable sense of not knowing enough about the period so... "I should really read this." I just haven't got round to it yet. You've given me a MUCH better sense of what to expect!! I might yet get round to reading Tuchman's book

>68 Karlstar: Good to hear that you enjoyed the book. Honestly Austria-Hungary was dead weight on Germany's war effort, the only area where they "succeeded" was on the Italian front due to the Italian commander being horrible.

>69 jillmwo: You are welcome. Even if you aren't into the actual army vs. army sections, there's a lot of that book that will give a tremendous amount of useful background.

>70 mattries37315: Can we really blame them for participating half-heartedly? From when I read A Farewell to Arms last year, I remember that when he was with the Italian Army, it was full of ordinary soldiers complaining that they had absolutely no desire to go to war, the war was all about prestige for the nobility.

Tuchman does make the point in a couple of places that the German attitude was that they deserved to rule the world.

I finished The Citadel of Forgotten Myths, which probably should have been named 'The Citadel of Myths Best Left Forgotten'. On to Tsalmoth, finally.

>72 Karlstar: Ha! That is definitely not a bullet. 😆

>68 Karlstar: I remember enjoying The Guns of August and I remember liking The Proud Tower more although I can't remember too much about it except it discussing Western society around the transition to the 20th century and was partly about anarchists

>74 jjwilson61: I was definitely going to look into more of her histories, though I was immediately interested in The Zimmerman Telegram and Bible and Sword. We'll see how they go, The Proud Tower may end up on the list too.

>75 Karlstar: I didn't find her writing as engaging in those books.

>76 jjwilson61: Uh oh. Sounds like I should try to get them from the library.

The Citadel of Forgotten Myths by Michael Moorcock
STTM: 8 - no mud to speak of but so many different ways to slog!
Rating: 5 out of 10

This is really three novellas with a bit of a common storyline. Elric and Moonglum adventure to the World Below - the other side of their 'egg shaped' world. I still haven't figured out how an egg-shaped world has an apparent flat edge. Is it shaped like a fried egg?

Elric is accompanied by a Princess of somewhere or another, while his love, Zarozinia stays home, waiting for him to solve the mystery of the origin of the Melniboneans and his own personal demons. Of course, since he won't stop using his soul drinking sword Stormbringer, how can that happen? In the first story, they meet some other Melniboneans who have become pirates and slavers and along with a couple of warrior priestesses, they get involved.

The second novella is a Heart of Darkness type story - they have to adventure upriver to the deep jungle, infested with hostile natives, to find the Blood Anemone, the plant that may cure Elric's chronic weakness (anemia?). His soul drinking runesword, Stormbringer, just isn't helping much any more, no matter how many souls it consumes and his patron Arioch seems a bit distant. They meet some more outcast Melniboneans.

In another review I read that these first two novellas were written a long time ago and fit into the middle of the Elric timeline.

In the third and worst story, which seems to be completely out of sequence, Elric and Moonglum continue to search for the origin of the Melniboneans and their Phroon/dragon allies, while also trying to return to their side of the world. This one really felt like a final Elric story. Unfortunately Moorcock sprinkles in way too many references to modern politics, going as far as naming two opponents or creatures using an anagram of Boris Johnson. (it was that obvious, even I noticed). Lots of babbling about origins, lots of talk about battles that happen that are supposed to feel part of the story, but get just a bare mention and lose all impact. The end is completely unsatisfying.

There is a birthday hunt going on!

I have 8 candles, the other 4 are going to give me trouble.

I got in a quick read, another of the Time-Life books The Road to Kitty Hawk. It was fun to read, but it definitely felt like it was missing some things. The illustrations and photographs were great. Not as good or informative as the airship book.

>80 Karlstar: I have 8 as well. I started it before the site went down, so I haven't had much opportunity to go back.

>80 Karlstar: and >82 clamairy: Wow, you're both impressive. I haven't even begun on that particular Hunt.

>79 Karlstar:, >80 Karlstar:, >82 clamairy:, >83 jillmwo: I finished it but had to get some hints from the Help thread. The "hack" one I needed very detailed help to get.

>84 Sakerfalcon: Tim's clues were a bit too specific for me, but I'll go back and try again.

>84 Sakerfalcon: That one I needed help with too. It's a fun hunt :)

>84 Sakerfalcon: Tim's clues were definitely the hardest to solve.

I started the game yesterday, but the site was slow. I got 3 before I quit. Not Tim's. :D

I finally got them all last night but at least 3 or 4 were attained by randomly clicking around, as opposed to any coherent research or plan on my part.

Candle #3 was particularly obscure for me. When it popped up, I was like...

>89 ScoLgo: Yeah, #3 has been bugging me, I can't figure it out.

>90 Karlstar: Would you like a hint?

>91 ScoLgo: I wouldn't mind.

I got that one after dredging around a bit, but I'll let >91 ScoLgo: give you the hint.

>92 Karlstar: Try poking around in 'More...'

>93 clamairy: >94 ScoLgo: I would have never 'guessed' that was the right link to click on, thanks!

In the descriptive text for the treasure hunts there is always a link to a topic that provides clues for those in need. These clues then get collated into another thread too.

>96 AHS-Wolfy: I'm up to 9 out of 12. I try to avoid looking at that thread.

Make that 10, I finally realized I wasn't being literal enough on #1.

I finished Tsalmoth and really enjoyed it. If you've read some of this series, you should read this one. In some ways it felt like a direct sequel to Iorich, and from my reviews of Tiassa and Hawk, maybe those could have been skipped. Can't wait for the next one.

>98 Karlstar: I need to get back to Brust's series. I really enjoyed the ones I read.

>99 majkia: I thought there was a couple that wandered a bit, plot-wise. Brust has something in mind, I just can't figure out what. ALso, without all of the other characters, I still enjoyed them, but Vlad mostly talking to himself when he's on his own, just isn't as much fun.

I remembered today that I had purchased Conan the Invincible, one of the Conan novels by Robert Jordan. Not great literature, but that's what's up next.

>101 Karlstar: Hopefully it will be entertaining.

>102 clamairy: Eh. Its not DNF worthy, but I won't be reading any more Conan novels.

After finishing Tsalmoth, I was looking around for something else to read and decided to pick up an old Frank Herbert novel, Direct Descent, from way, way, way down at the bottom of the gravity well/TBR pile.

It is actually an illustrated novel, there is a black and white sketch/illustration every 3 or 4 pages, kind of neat. The first one is of two people - a man in a shipsuit and brush cut, a woman in the same outfit but with a very Joan Jett haircut. Very early 80's.

>103 Karlstar: But you'll keep reading Brust? My mind boggles ;-)

>105 BookstoogeLT: What can I say, I'm a Brust fan and I like the Vlad character. It's good stuff.

I forgot to mention, I did actually finish Conan the Invincible.

>106 Karlstar: I've come to realize that it's all about personal taste and I just have to accept it :-D I love the original Conan stuff and really like most of the pastiches. I tried Brust but had to stop at whatever book it was where the main character and his wife got divorced.

>107 BookstoogeLT: I disliked that section of the Vlad books too and Brust knows the fans didn't like it, I think. The last two books I've read either had a flashback to when they were together or clear signs they will get back together.

Ed: Fixed a terrible word order mistake.

I finished Direct Descent, I really enjoyed the illustrations. Oh, the stories were kind of fun too, nothing fantastic about them but not terrible.

Not sure what will be next, another selection from the deep TBR pile or the top of the TBR pile are the choices.

>109 Karlstar: Do you close your eyes and reach in?

>110 clamairy: I wandered around the library (its one room, not that much wandering) and basically picked a book at random to get Direct Descent. There are a couple small TBR piles to choose from too. I could roll dice to see what the dice say.

>111 Karlstar: I swear that I know a librarian in Pennsylvania who uses a multi-sided dice to do exactly the same kind of selection.

>112 jillmwo: Good for them! I have enough books listed here as 'to read' I'd have to go with percentile dice.

I don't remember who recommended this one, but The Reluctant King: The Life and Reign of George VI, 1895-1952 is up next. Strangely, LT keeps wanting to just call this George VI.

A short review.
The Road to Kitty Hawk by Valerie Moolman
STTM - 0, this is about flying!
Rating - 6 out of 10

Another of the Time-Life large format, short picture/history books. This one focuses on experiments, attempts and concepts of flying before the Wright brothers, plus the last third is about the Wright brothers. It is kind of shocking to read about how many people jumped off buildings or towers or hills with feathers or wings on, convinced they were going to fly. It didn't cover much about balloons, as that is in a different book. I thought it did a good job going over the early gliding attempts before moving on to the Wright brothers. It also covered some of the other powered-flight attempts going on at the same time, like Langley, but left out Santos-Dumont.

Not bad, not great, but I enjoyed it. It would have gotten a higher score but it was too brief. It did make me want to re-read McCullough's book on the Wright brothers again.

Tsalmoth by Steven Brust
STTM - 4 - they don't go far, but they do walk a lot
Rating: 8 out of 10

A rare 8! I really enjoyed this one. Tsalmoth is the most recent installment in the Vlad Taltos series of novels. However, though it is newest, the entire book is a flashback to somewhere around the 4th book - except for the last paragraph.

This book not only clarified a lot of what has gone on in the last few books, it also brought us back to a time when Vlad was happy, engaged to his wife and still in Adrilankha. Like most Vlad books, it involves a bit of a mystery. Some borrows a considerable sum from Vlad, then is killed before they could pay him back. Their quasi-illegal money making scheme was near perfect. Now someone owes Vlad 800 (and counting) and he's determined to find out who, what and why and make them pay.

Each chapter is introduced by a brief blurb about Fenarian (human) wedding customs vs. the customs of the various Dragaeran houses. As Vlad and Cawti go about to solve the mystery, they also proceed with wedding planning. As mentioned in my LT review, Brust portrays Vlad and Cawti as one of those couples so much in love they are kind of sickening, in a good way.

I always appreciate Brust's writing and I enjoy the characters. There is quite a bit of good stuff revealed along the way and he sets up a bit of a cliff-hanger for the next book.

Two words....

As you can see, I AM truly a man of few words. In fact, if I were a man of any less words, I would have to be the man of no words and that just wouldn't be kosher.

Speaking of kosher, hebrew national hotdogs are certified kosher. They're pretty good. Of course, I put them into Grands crescent rolls to make pigs in a blanket. Since the grands biscuits have butter in them, the hotdogs stop being kosher per the whole don't mix dairy and meat thing. But I believe that part of the certified kosher is getting blessed by a rabbi. So would the rabbi's blessing overcome the butter in the crescent rolls?

That's what happens when you're a man of few words. Like me....

;-)

>117 BookstoogeLT: lol! I personally am partial to Ball Park franks. As in, if I had to make a ball-park guess, I'd say that no sort of blessing would make pigs in a blanket kosher, since pigs are not kosher.

I am progressing through The Reluctant King. I think it is good, though I'm not getting a good sense of who he was, it is more focused on what happened to him.

Just a quick note to see whether you were aware of the newest (2023) edition of The Hobbit as illustrated by the author. It matches the copy of The Silmarillion that I think you were given for Christmas last year. Visit https://www.harpercollins.com/products/the-hobbit-illustrated-by-the-author-j-r-...

>117 BookstoogeLT: I found an "out" for your kosher problem - Grands don't contain butter, but rather "vegetable shortening." So, no dairy combination - you are absolved!

>120 jillmwo: Thanks! That will be going on my wishlist. I needed a different hardcover edition of The Hobbit anyway.

>121 ChrisG1: Fantastic! (I think)

I'm not sure whether to be happy or grossed out now, hahahahaa

Not reading related and you'll have to endure a commercial, but I thought some folks might appreciate this.

"Jimmy Fallon & Jack Black Recreate "More Than Words" Music Video"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1ISYT6EeUM0

>124 Karlstar: That's wonderful. Jack Black is so freaking talented. Jimmy Fallon, too. I will be sharing that.

Still reading both The Reluctant King and Earth is Room Enough.

Some thoughts on the stories in Earth is Room Enough. This is a collection of short stories that all take place on Earth.

The Dead Past - an archeologist has an unhealthy interest in time viewing. A good story about the dangers of such technology. I thought this was excellent.

The Foundation of S.F Success - a poem (!) about how to write SF, or mostly about how Asimov does it.

Franchise - a cautionary tale about turning too much over to the computers. It is almost amusing how poorly Asimov anticipated developments in computers while speculating on their effects on society more accurately.

Gimmicks Three - a fantasy story about wishes and consequences. So trivial I have trouble remembering it at all.

Kid Stuff - is fantasy kid's stuff? What if your life depended on it?

I finished Earth is Room Enough, here is a blurb for each of the rest of the stories. Some of these stories are scifi, some are not.

These are all quite short or even very short. Some are only 1 or 2 pages so I can't say much at all.

The Watery Place - very hard to remember what this is unless I keep in mind it was written using 1940's astronomy. Also a terrible play on words.

Living Space - with infinite Earths to live on, it had to happen eventually.

The Message - how'd that historically significant message get there?

Satisfaction Guaranteed - a robot story about a too-humanoid robot. This one has appeared in other collections.

Hell-Fire - so short no blurb is necessary.

The Last Trump - a story about Judgement Day.

The Fun They Had - it's always better in the good old days.

Jokester - a computer story about jokes. Not funny.

The Immortal Bard - another time travel story. I thought time travel was bad?

Someday - another robot/computer story.

The Author's Ordeal - another poem about what it is like to be a writer.

Dreaming is a Private Thing - Dreams as entertainment.

Of these stories, I thought 'The Dead Past', 'Franchise' and 'Satisfaction Guaranteed' were by far the best, though I'd read them before. They are all very good.

As 'The Author's Ordeal' describes, most of the rest of the stories are his mind coming up with a 'what if' scenario then writing a quick story to go with it. Not my favorite type of short story, as you end up with no character development or plot.

Almost done with The Reluctant King, but it is making me want to re-watch The King's Speech and the first season of The Crown. Not sure what's up next to read, likely something else from the TBR pile.

>128 Karlstar: Uhoh. I might have taken a bullet. I loved that movie, and that series. Although I enjoyed the earlier seasons of The Crown much better than the last two.

ETA: Sadly only available in paper.

>128 Karlstar: Your touchstone for The Reluctant King brings up a biography by Bradford of George VI rather than the particular title you meant. Was that intentional? Is it the same book with a title changed for different markets (UK vs US)?

>129 clamairy: I enjoyed both and I already warned Trish that I need to re-watch them. I actually have a spare hardcover library copy with no jacket if you are interested.

>130 jillmwo: Yes, that's the correct touchstone, for some reason, LT keeps stubbornly insisting it is titled George VI, even though my copy is titled 'The Reluctant King The Life & Reign of George VI 1895-1952' by St. Martin's Press, NY.

Next up is Hellburner, another old-ish Cherryh scifi novel from the TBR pile.

>132 Karlstar: Have you read the preceding volume, Heavy Time?

>133 ScoLgo: I have, but it was quite some time ago. Are any of the characters the same?

>134 Karlstar: Yes. Heavy Time and Hellburner comprises a duology. The other Alliance-Union novels are loosely related stand-alones.

>131 Karlstar: You're very kind to offer, but I rarely read physical books these days.

>135 ScoLgo: It did feel a bit familiar, but even after re-reading my review here on LT, I remember nothing of Heavy Time. Maybe I should re-read the last couple of chapters.

>136 clamairy: Unfortunately it is harder to share/transfer an e-book, if I had one.

>137 Karlstar: There isn't one, or I would have just borrowed the ebook from the library. It's too old, apparently.