Tips for summer holiday reading?

Sfinx

Sfinx

Life's a riddle
Joined
Nov 27, 2007
Messages
1,053
Hey all,

Leaving soon for a couple of weeks of sun & sea - and plenty of time for reading. But no idea yet which books to take with me (except for A Cosmology of Monsters by Shaun Hamill, sounded interesting).

So -- admitting to being a tad lazy and having the fullest confidence in you guys -- what do you recommend? I guess some you may know my preferences, but if not: my favourite authors of all time are Fritz Leiber and Gene Wolfe; I've also thoroughly enjoyed the likes of Mark Lawrence, Steven Erikson, Hal Duncan, Joe Abercrombie, Ursuala LeGuin, Mike Carey, Adam Roberts, Richard Morgan, NK Jemisin...

Thanks for any input - will let you know if your choice comes along to the beach :cool:
 
Ah.

You've reminded me, sfinx, that normally I've put up a list by now for the Summer reads. This year it's sort've crept up on me...

..but I'll get on with it.

Obviously I would suggest the latest Abercrombie, but I suspect you've read it already. Think you might like the Hamill as well.
 
OK: For Fantasy/Horror I'm going to suggest the following, in no particular order:

City of a Thousand Faces

Legacy of Ash

A Little Hatred

Last Smile in Sunder City

Cursed

Doing Time

Cosmology of Monsters

Ninth House

Kingdom of Liars

I'll explain more in the article. I may think of more as we go along.....
 
Some of my favourite fantasy reads this year:

By Force Alone by Lavie Tidhar

The Ten Thousand Doors of January by Alix Harrow

and the Gods of Blood and Powder series by Brian McLellan

All quite different but all good reads!
 
Ken MacLeod's Selkie Summer is the only 2020 release I can highly recommend. A fun, lighthearted novella with an environmental theme. Not as openly political or potentially divisive as his other work, unless you live in a failed, fake democracy like 'Merica or the UK, which Sfinx and I fortunately don't.
 
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OK: done. Should be up Saturday. Surprisingly much more Fantasy than SF to recommend, although I thought I'd read more SF. Perhaps not quality SF. :)
 
Cheers, well done Hobbit; solid list!

I've settled on these beach companions:
  • A Little Hatred, Abercrombie (hadn't gotten around to this one yet!)
  • A Cosmology of Monsters, Hamill (as said, this 'combination of Stephen King, Ray Bradbury, Addams Family with a touch of H P Lovecraft and even Stephen Spielberg' sounded very interesting indeed)
  • By Force Alone, Tidhar (thx for this one Westy, looking forward to meeting the man behind the myth :))
  • Ash: A Secret History, Gentle (had forgotten I really needed to read this one, thx for reminding me Hobbit, in the Big Books section)
  • Secondhand Souls and Lamb (Moore is right up there up there with Pratchett and Wodehouse; very funny man)

On the 'next-time-I-order-list': McLeod's Selkie Summer (thx Av!), Cherryh's The Chronicles of Morgaine, Taylor's Doing time and Ada Palmer's sequels to Too like the lightning: Seven surrenders and Will to battle.

Thanks for the input all.
 
Sfinx said:
Cheers, well done Hobbit; solid list!

I've settled on these beach companions:
  • A Little Hatred, Abercrombie (hadn't gotten around to this one yet!)
  • A Cosmology of Monsters, Hamill (as said, this 'combination of Stephen King, Ray Bradbury, Addams Family with a touch of H P Lovecraft and even Stephen Spielberg' sounded very interesting indeed)
  • By Force Alone, Tidhar (thx for this one Westy, looking forward to meeting the man behind the myth :))
  • Ash: A Secret History, Gentle (had forgotten I really needed to read this one, thx for reminding me Hobbit, in the Big Books section)
  • Secondhand Souls and Lamb (Moore is right up there up there with Pratchett and Wodehouse; very funny man)

On the 'next-time-I-order-list': McLeod's Selkie Summer (thx Av!), Cherryh's The Chronicles of Morgaine, Taylor's Doing time and Ada Palmer's sequels to Too like the lightning: Seven surrenders and Will to battle.

Thanks for the input all.
Click to expand...
I have the Morgaine cycle in my TBR pile. I should really try fitting that series in at some point this year.

My favorite fantasy read so far this year is Angela Boord’s Fortune’s Fool.
 
What Av said. :)

Officially started my summer vacation time today: and guess what - it's raining! But at least that means that between staring at the rain and making tea I can do some 'proper' reading! :)

Pleased to hear Morgaine and ASH being given a try. I'm hoping they hold up! Keep fancying rereads myself...
 
I am actually very happy with the current cool, rainy summer weather. The last two summers were dreadful in terms of heat.
 
Must admit, I'm not great with heat either (not that we get it that often in the UK). Plus: more reading!!
 
And more tea drinking. I am forced to drink less or no tea during the day when it's really hot and I'm sort of a Darjeeling addict.
 
Having moved from North West UK (Stoke-on-Trent) to the South of Gran Canaria (three years living in Puerto Rico, now living in Playa del Ingles) I can add that it is always summer here lol.

I have noticed though, that warm sunny dry weather is conducive to reading, and though I run a business here, the work/life ratio is also much better. 10-am-4pm, and POETS day on Friday would be considered full time employment. So the upshot of this is I have read more in the last four years than in the previous 20 combined. Oh and got seriously in to retro gaming on the PC.

I believe the problem in the UK is that whenever they get any warm weather they immediately start to brag about it. It's hotter than Ibiza, it's hotter than Benidorm, it;' hotter than Barbados/Miami/The carribean (yeah but hang on a sec..... isn't it hurricane season there? lol)

It's hotter than Gran Canaria....... Oh shut up, and just wait till next week. In fact no, wait to November, or February when we got 22C, unless we got a Calima and then it could be 29C. And 88mm of rain a year. No one likes people bragging so karma dictates that it will p!ss down in the UK tomorrow/next week!

That's my theory on the problem anyway. Just like the obesity epidemic coincided with the introduction of wide screen TV.

It's not all paradise here though - I will just mention..... I haven't had a holiday for 4 years!
 
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