Shejidan / What have you been reading lately?

**Posted by Kokipy** 11/02/2021 2:47 pm

I am into Hunters of Dune and am finding it to be quite bad. I guess I wil finish it but not even my completist nature is likely to impel me into any more of these post Frank books.

**Posted by Surtac** 11/02/2021 6:11 pm

Aja Jin wrote:
I enjoyed Empire a lot, but missed the Cyteen reference (and I agree with influences/homage to CJ). The sequel was, to me, quite different. I enjoyed it, perhaps not as much as the original.

Can you find the Cyteen reference ?

Just did a re-read, for the first time in ... 20 years ? more? ... of The Faded Sun. Set late in the A/U timeline, and written early in CJ's career, there are certainly differences from the later-written mainline books. The hyperdrive works differently; although one could propose simple technical advancement. And there is no way the Regul would have gotten the drop on Mallory like they did on Koch.
The treatment of the Mri and Regul, both very non-human, is outstanding, among her very best.

**** Appologies to Surtac, I edited his post instead of replying ********

Yeah, no worries re the edit - I'm sure I've done similar accidentally in the past myself.

I'll dig out the Cyteen reference and come back with it. For context, it's not an explicit reference to Cyteen by name, but a few words of character description that had my brain immediately flashing back to a scene in Cyteen. Hmmn - I''d better find that scene reference too while I'm at it, hadn't I?

And I agree with the mahe's assessment of the Faded Sun books, I think a reread of those here at Chateau Dysfunction is long overdue.

**Posted by Surtac** 11/02/2021 8:26 pm

Right.

The reference in Memory that I was referring to comes early in chapter 16, page 261, location 4610 on the kindle. Mahit is thinking ''she likes the taste of processed fish-flake powder on her breakfast porridge and they are repulsed'',

My brain immediately flashed to an early scene in Cyteen. Chapter 2, part ii, Ari Senior is dining with the Family: "Ari smiled gently across the table, across the salad with vinaigrette, product of their own gardens, and dusted it liberally with a spoonful of Keis, synthetic cheese, a salted yeast, actually: spacer's affectation. Her mother had used it. Ari still liked the tang of it, and imported it downworld at some little trouble. Most of the Family abhorred it.

Well, maybe it's just me, but that's how my brain works sometimes. So it goes.

**Posted by Aja Jin** 11/03/2021 8:47 am

Just finished Piranesi. What an odd, interesting, book.

**Posted by Surtac** 11/03/2021 5:09 pm

Aja Jin wrote:
Just finished Piranesi. What an odd, interesting, book.

That was pretty much my exact reaction too. I liked it, but wouldn't know where to start discussing it without spoilers.

**Posted by Kokipy** 11/05/2021 9:40 am

Yes. I am glad, tho, that you two liked it. I was unsure about recommending it, despite the pleasure it brought me. It is quite odd but so well executed.

**Posted by starexplorer** 11/05/2021 6:21 pm

I am tempted. I have been reading nonSF for a while, and looking forward to getting back to it. I am finishing my reading for my annual favorites review email. Several choices are SF, but I’m finishing up the nonfiction currently.

**Posted by nighthawk** 11/06/2021 7:34 am

I bought Piranesi, thought I might read it on my next train trip (which starts tomorrow). Right now I'm reading Shirer's Berlin Diaries and The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich, sort of going back and forth. Political trends in several countries led me to want to know more about how Hitler came to power, and it's been several decades since I read those particular accounts.

**Posted by starexplorer** 11/06/2021 11:47 am

nighthawk wrote:
I bought Piranesi, thought I might read it on my next train trip (which starts tomorrow). Right now I'm reading Shirer's Berlin Diaries and The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich, sort of going back and forth. Political trends in several countries led me to want to know more about how Hitler came to power, and it's been several decades since I read those particular accounts.

Those are good ones. I still read a ton on WWII and Nazism and the Holocaust.

**Posted by Kokipy** 11/06/2021 6:45 pm

I am reading Hunter Thompson. Just got through his coverage of the 1972 presidential campaign.