Content

A drawing teacher, Walter Hartright, is employed by Mr Fairlie of Limmeridge House in Cumberland to teach his niece, the beautiful heiress Laura Fairlie, and her devoted half-sister Marian Halcombe, who is poor and plain but clever. Hartright and Laura fall in love, but he is penniless and Laura is promised in marriage to Sir Percival Glyde, a friend of her late father. The pair part and Hartright leaves England to forget her.

Laura begins married life with Marian as a companion. It soon becomes clear that Sir Percival has money troubles and has married his wife for her fortune. His friend Count Fosco, whose wife is Laura’s aunt, appears to be involved with the plot and Marian is deeply suspicious of him, despite his open admiration of her. Trying to eavesdrop on their plotting, she is soaked in the rain and taken very ill. Recovering, she is told that Laura has died suddenly while visiting her aunt in London… (text by Wikipedia, under CC-BY-SA licence)

About the book

Wikipedia has some information about the author and the book. William Wilkie Collins (1824-1889) was an English author who wrote 30 novels, 14 plays and lots of other fiction and non-fiction. “The Woman In White” was serialized from 1859 to 1860 and then published as a novel in 1860. It is considered to be among the first mystery novels. There have been at least six movies and two BBC TV series as well as an Andrew Lloyd Webber musical based on the book.

Where to get the book

You can get it at Amazon (look out for deals on the marketplace) in a couple of dozen different paperback and hardcover editions (e.g. Penguin Popular Classics, 2007, Penguin Classics, 2003, Oxford’s World Classics, 2008, Vintage Classics, 2007…) and in more or less every other book shop.

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Content

Lavinia is the daughter of the King of Latium, a victorious warrior who loves peace; she is her father’s closest companion. Now of an age to wed, Lavinia’s mother favours her own kinsman, King Turnus of Rutulia, handsome, heroic, everything a young girl should want. Instead, Lavinia dreams of mighty Aeneas, a man she has heard of only from a ghost of a poet, who comes to her in the gods’ holy place and tells her of her future, and Aeneas’ past… If she refuses to wed Turnus, Lavinia knows she will start a war – but her fate was set the moment the poet appeared to her in a dream and told her of the adventurer who fled fallen Troy, holding his son’s hand and carrying his father on his back…

About the book

Wkipedia has more information about the author. Lavinia is a minor character in Virgil’s epic poem “Aeneid”.

Where to get the book

You can get it at every book shop and of course at Amazon (look out for deals on the marketplace) in at least one paperback and two hardcover editions (2008 and 2009).

Other suggested books

This month’ shortlist was:

• “Lavinia” by Ursula K. Le Guin
• “Posion” by Chris Wooding
• “The Hobbit” by J.R.R. Tolkien

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Content

The desert planet Arrakis is the sole source of Melange, the “spice of spices”. Melange is necessary for interstellar travel and also grants psychic powers and longevity, so whoever controls it wields great influence. The troubles begin when stewardship of Arrakis is transferred by the Emperor from the Harkonnen Noble House to House Atreides. The Harkonnens don’t want to give up their privilege, though, and through sabotage and treachery they cast young Duke Paul Atreides out into the planet’s harsh environment to die. There he falls in with the Fremen, a tribe of desert dwellers who become the basis of the army with which he will reclaim what’s rightfully his. Paul Atreides, though, is far more than just a usurped duke. He might be the end product of a very long-term genetic experiment designed to breed a superhuman–he might be a messiah. His struggle is at the centre of a nexus of powerful people and events, and the repercussions will be felt throughout the Imperium…

About the book

Frank Herbert (1920-1986) was an American SF writer. “Dune” was first published as two shorter stories, “Dune World” (1963) and “The Prophet of Dune” (1965). Both stories were expanded and reworked into the first novel of the “Dune” series. Herbert published five other novels in the series, and today Herbert’s son Brian Herbert continues to write Dune novels together with Kevin J. Anderson.

Where to get the book

You can get it at every book shop and of course at Amazon (look out for deals on the marketplace) in several paperback and hardcover editions (e.g. from Hodder 2006, Hodder 1982, SF Masterworks 2007).

Other suggested books

There was no short list this month, as we agreed upon reading “Dune” based on the fact that we wanted to read a longer novel and had more time than usual until the October meeting — which was then cancelled due to the Rummer closure, so we had extra time on top of that.

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Content

Elanor Robinson’s life had shattered when Father volunteered for the Great War, leaving her alone with a woman he had just married. Then the letter had come that told of her father’s death in the trenches and though Eleanor thought things couldn’t get any worse, her life took an even more bizarre turn.

Dragged to the hearth by her stepmother Alison, Eleanor was forced to endure a painful and frightening ritual during which the smallest finger of her left hand was severed and buried beneath a hearthstone. For her stepmother was an Elemental Master of Earth who practiced the darker blood-fueled arts. Alison had bound Eleanor to the hearth with a spell that prevented her from leaving home, caused her to fade from people’s memories, and made her into a virtual slave…

About the book

“Phoenix and Ashes” is part 4 of the loose series “The Elemental Masters”. Mercedes Lackey is an American fantasy author who has written over a hundred books since 1987. She has her own website with lots of information and a blog.

Where to get the book

You can get it at every book shop and of course at Amazon (look out for deals on the marketplace) in at least one paperback and one hardcover edition.

Other suggested books

Sorry, I wasn’t at the meeting and can’t right now find any E-Mail about the other suggestions.

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Due to a lot of people not being in town, the next meeting has been postponed to the 13th October! We’re reading “Dune” at the moment. The book before that was “Phoenix and Ashes”. Individual postings for these will follow shortly.

Also, Bryony just mailed to tell us about a temporary closure of the Rummer. She wrote: “Just to let you know that Andy, landlord of the rummer, gave me a ring yesterday to let me know that the Rummer is having to have some pretty major re wiring type work done and will be closed for at least a couple of weeks. He apologised profusely and said that he will let us know when we can go back. This may or may not interfere with our next reading group meeting which is on October 13th, there may need to be a change of location or it may need to be pushed back a little, but then that would give us all a bit longer to read Dune I will give you more info as soon as I have it.”

Update: The Rummer is still closed, so there won’t be a meeting in October. News for the November meeting will follow soon.

Update: The November meeting will be on Wednesday the 10th!

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Content

Detective Elijah Baley investigates the murder of an offworlder in Spacetown. In the opinion of the Spacers, the murder is tied up with recent attempts to sabotage the Spacer-sponsored project of converting Earth to an integrated human/robot society on the model of the Outer Worlds. To search for the killer in the City’s vast caves of steel, Elijah is assigned a Spacer partner named R. Daneel. That’s Robot Daneel. And notwithstanding the celebrated Three Laws of Robotics, which should make such a murder impossible, R. Daneel is soon Elijah’s prime suspect…

About the book

Wikipedia has some information about the author and the book.

Where to get the book

You can get it at every book shop and of course at Amazon (look out for deals on the marketplace) in at least one paperback edition. If you buy a collection of the robot stories, make sure that “The Caves of Steel” is actually included.

Other suggested books

The short list for this month was:

• “The Caves of Steel” by Isaac Asimov
• “Dune” by Frank Herbert
• “Moving Mars” by Greg Bear

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Content

Dinah hopes the new home provided by Gomer Gwynne will be a fresh start for her and her mother. She dreams it is a castle, imagines bedrooms with four poster beds, a drawing room with a glittering chandelier, exquisitely decorated for Christmas. But Gomer has given them a crumbling house, with no central heating, faulty electricity — a condemned building. He sees Dinah as a little girl, wants to get her out of the way to take her mother out drinking and dining. Alone, angry, Dinah has no idea of the force she can unleash. From the castle in the city, a stone lioness leaps off the wall and comes to Dinah’s garden, followed by a bear, followed by a wolf. The savage animals protect the house, protect Dinah, but at a price…

About the book

Jenny Nimmo is from Windsor, but lives in Wales nowadays. Her first book was published in 1974, and she has written almost two dozen books since then. She has her own website with lots of information.

Where to get the book

You can get it at every book shop and of course at Amazon (look out for deals on the marketplace) in several paperback editions (e.g. Mammoth 1995, Egmont Books 2002) and at least one hardcover edition (Orchard Books 2007). If you buy the book at Waterstone’s in Cardiff (2a The Hayes), they’ll give a 10% discount if you mention the reading group and have a Waterstone’s loyalty card.

Other suggested books

This month’s long list was:

• “The Steel Remains” by Richard Morgan
• “Reave the Just and Other Tales” by Stephen Donaldson
• “Summer Castle” by ??? (“Summers at Castle Auburn” by Sharon Shinn???)

The short list for this month consisted of these books:

• “Waking Dream” by Rhiannon Lassiter
• “Griffin’s Castle” by Jenny Nimmo
• “Best Served Cold” by Joe Abercrombie

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Content

Michael McGill, a burned-out private eye, is hired by a corrupt White House Chief of Staff to find a second “secret” United States Constitution, which had been lost in a whorehouse by Richard Nixon. What follows is a scavenger hunt across America, exposing its seedier side along the way. McGill is joined by surreal college student side-kick, Trix, who is writing a thesis on sexual fetishes. (quote from Wikipedia, licensed under CC-BY-SA, list of authors)

About the book

Wikipedia has some information about the author and the book. Warren Ellis is known as a comic book writer. “Crooked Little Vein” is his first novel.

Where to get the book

You can get it at every book shop and of course at Amazon (look out for deals on the marketplace) in at least one paperback and one hardcover editions. If you buy the book at Waterstone’s in Cardiff (2a The Hayes), they’ll give a 10% discount if you mention the reading group and have a Waterstone’s loyalty card.

Other suggested books

The short list for this month was:

• “Crooked Little Vein” by Warren Ellis
• “The Prefect” by Alastair Reynolds
• “Only Forward” by Michael Marshall Smith

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Content

“Black Juice” contains ten independent fantasy short stories. Whether a family singing their daughter to her death, a young boy braving pestilential angels to give his grandmother the death she deserves and himself the freedom he deserves, or clowns on a sniper spree at a clown convention, these are people you believe in, stories of quite extraordinary power.

About the book

Margo Lanagan is an Australian writer who has published young adult novels since 1990. “Black Juice” has won many awards, including two World Fantasy Awards in 2005.

Where to get the book

You can get it at every book shop and of course at Amazon (look out for deals on the marketplace) in at least one paperback edition from Gollancz. If you buy the book at Waterstone’s in Cardiff (2a The Hayes), they’ll give a 10% discount if you mention the reading group and have a Waterstone’s loyalty card.

Other suggested books

The short list for this month consisted of three short story collections:

• “Bending The Landscape Volume 3: Fantasy” by Nicola Griffith and Stephen Pagel (editors)
• “Black Juice” by Margo Lanagan
• “Dark Alchemy: Magical Tales From The Masters of Modern Fantasy” by Gardner Dozois and Jack Dunn (editors)

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Content

August 15th, 2047. Happy Hundredth Birthday, India… On the eve of Mother India’s hundredth birthday, ten people are doing ten very different things. In the next few weeks, all these people will be swept together to decide the fate of the nation. From gangsters to government advisors, from superstitious street-boys to scientists to computer-generated soap stars, “River of Gods” shows a civilization in flux — a river of gods.

About the book

Wikipedia has some information about the author and the book. “River of Gods” has been nominated for the Arthur C. Clarke Award and the Hugo Award (both Best Novel 2005) and won the Best Novel Award from the British Science Fiction Association in 2004.

Where to get the book

You can get it at every book shop and of course at Amazon (look out for deals on the marketplace) in several paperback and hardcover editions. If you buy the book at Waterstone’s in Cardiff (2a The Hayes), they’ll give a 10% discount if you mention the reading group and have a Waterstone’s loyalty card.

Other suggested books

This month’ longlist was:

• “Manifest Destiny” by ???
• “2010: Odyssey Two” by Arthur C. Clarke
• “And Another Thing…” by Eoin Colfer

The short list for this month was:

• “Red Mars” by Kim Stanley Robinson
• “Fahrenheit 451″ by Ray Bradbury
• “River Of Gods” by Ian McDonald

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