20 Bookish Questions

Hello everyone,

I just spotted something over at Cyberkitten's blog and thought I'd join in too. Here's the link to CK's answers.

20 Bookish Questions :
One: How many books is too many books in a book series ?
The book after the series ran out of steam. A few cases here ... Anne McCaffrey's Dragonriders of Pern books were excellent ... up until the main story was told and the direction was lost. It was flogging the dead horse after that. With David Weber's Honor Harrington books, these were fantastic in their earlier days when it was all about the space navy action. Where these ran off the rails was the steady escalation into a more political sphere. The politics and espionage were boring and it dragged the stories out way too much.

But with James S.A. Corey's The Expanse series, I'm wondering if they can finish off their story in the last book ... Could be a big book. They've been clever with that series too, with it feeling like a trilogy of trilogies, where there's a time step between books 3 and 4 and another skip between books 6 and 7. The authors will finish The Expanse on Book 9, even though there's a lot of fan desire to have more books in that universe. I think they have the right of it.

Two: How do you feel about cliffhangers ?
The best cliffhangers are the ones that provide a step or a break between books. The previous book tells its own story to completion and then sets up the scenario for the next book. Done well, a cliffhanger leaves you satisfied and hungry for more. The Expanse books have done this pretty well. Another of Anne McCaffrey's though (the Freedom's Landing ending) felt like a padded first book of a set of 4 that could have been just one book.
(Translation - it's all about the book and the narrative)

Three: Hard cover or paperbacks ?
Paperbacks because they are cheaper and lighter. But ... if I'm in a book cave and they have a hard cover copy of a book I'm interested in, I won't pass up doing the collecting thing just because it's hardback.

Four: What is your favourite book ?
While it wouldn't be my Favourite, I keep going back to The Martian. It combines the space scifi that I love with a joyful style. It's fun to read. The books I've enjoyed most over the past year are the first two Murderbot Diaries books by Martha Wells and Fleet of Knives by Gareth L. Powell. Now those two books set up cliffhangers well.

Five: What is your least favourite book ?
Farnham's Freehold by Heinlein. There are probably others (Rama II) but this one came to mind recently. It's about a family who dive into their nuclear shelter and find themselves transported to the far future. And then the racism starts ... This is possibly the most racist thing I've ever read. Heinlein has his great moments ... but he also let the fascism out a bit too much and it's joined here by really offensive racism too.

Six: Love Triangles - Yes or No ?
If it's good drama, go for it. However, if the book gets mired in the love triangle to the distraction of everything else then I'll get bored. This is one of the things that drove me away from Rama II. Too much bad interpersonal drama between poor characters. But there's also a lot of potential for interesting drama here too.

Seven: What was the most recent book you could never finish ?
Rama II by Arthur C. Clarke Gentry Lee. Rendezvous with Rama was an excellent book. It had mystery, it rattled through its story, it kept you interested ... and it was over in a flash. 10/10 would consider reading again. However, I abandoned Rama II after over a third of it was tied up in tedium before they set foot on the artifact. I then did a bit of research, finding out about the Gentry Lee thing where someone else wrote it under essentially endorsement.

Eight: What is the book you're currently reading ?
Existence by David Brin. I'm not too far in so far. Tiredness and the recent heat were keeping me away from reading. But I've also not really been engaged with the writing style so far. Early days, must get back to it.

Nine: What is the last book you recommended to someone ?
I think I'll say "A Big Ship At The End Of The Universe" by Alex White here. I really enjoyed this one too. It's space fiction again but the New Thing here is that while science is in play, this book is all about the magic in the universe. Oh and motor racing too, plus fun characters. Angry characters, evil ones, good ones, naive ones. I'd definitely recommend this one.

Ten: What is the oldest book you've ever read ?
Not sure here. I think it'll be an H.G. Wells, although I'm having trouble remembering there. H.G. had a gift of writing in such a style as to avoid the danger of having their books appear dated, even now.

Eleven: What is the newest book you've read ?
I wonder actually, could be A Big Ship At The End Of The Universe, could be Embers of War. I tend to wait a little until the price has come down. I've got a big list of unread books, so it's rare that I feel that need to immediately pay full price for the newest book. Thinking about it, this could be Tiamat's Wrath, book 8 in the Expanse series.

Twelve: Who is your favourite author ?
Hmm ... I think I'll put Timothy Zahn here, for what he did for the Star Wars Expanded Universe by giving us a much better set of sequels to the movies than we got in cinema ... Oh and there's also Michael Stackpole and Aaron Allston for their XWing books, James S. A. Corey for their Expanse books, Gareth L. Powell and Martha Wells. There are too many books to lock it down to just one author :-).

Thirteen: Buying or Borrowing Books ?
I'll happily borrow a book, dive through it and hand it back but I do like to own my own books. It helps the author, probably doesn't give them much cash but the more people buy their books, the more likely we are to get more books from the author. And more people support artists, the better.

Fourteen: What is the book you dislike that everyone seems to love ?
Hmm ... Ignoring that the author seems bent on destroying her own reputation at the moment and intent on turning herself into a pariah, I'd pick Harry Potter. Yep, went there. I couldn't finish the first book. Perhaps I'd been seeing the issues inherent in her universe before they were brought out and highlighted. Maybe it was thinking Diagon Alley was a name completely lacking in originality rather than something clever or cool. And while I liked the character Luna Lovegood because she was an interesting character, I don't think the name Lovegood was an appropriate name for a child character in what's supposed to be a kid's book. Another one that may have sounded "cool" but ... pick something else. It sounded like it was inspired by the names given to Bond Ladies.

Fifteen: Bookmarks or dog ears ?

Thou shalt not dog ear.

Sixteen: What's a book you can always re-read ?
The Martian, due to the sense of fun running all the way through it. The simple intelligence in how the author develops his character and his answers to the problems he faces. It's a very enjoyable book to read through.

Seventeen: Can you read and listen to music ?
It's very rare that I don't have music on ... However, depending on the book, I might not be paying much attention to the music while being enthralled by the book !

Eighteen: One PoV or multiple PoVs ?
This can work really well either way. In The Expanse and Fleet of Knives books, the PoV changes between chapters as the book wraps together threads as seen from the different characters. It works extremely well for those books. However, others work very well from a single PoV, like Starship Troopers or Old Man's War by John Scalzi.

Nineteen: Do you read a book in one sitting or over multiple days ?
I don't read fast enough to read a 600 page book in one sitting :-D.

Twenty: Who do you tag ?
Nope. I don't do that. If you enjoyed reading this as I did with CK's version, feel free to grab the questions and tag yourself in. But I don't tag people like that :-).

PS In other news, I did the internet spaceship thing today ... I think there's mixed feelings there. I didn't have any wrist spasms but I have more stiffness in my shoulder now. Curious ...