What Else Are You Reading? October 2012

[Kevin]

Just like always, wondering what everyone is reading other than this post for the scariest month of the year. Right now, I'm trying to finally finish up Toll the Hounds. Hopefully the third time is the charm.

[Kim]

My list will be far bigger than what I believe I will read. I want to finish King Rat and The Master and Margarita. I also need to read As I Lay Dying and On the Oceans of Eternity for book club reads from last month.

For this months club reads I want to read Midnight Riot, The Satanic Verses and Pandora's Star.

For myself I want to read The Blinding Knife, The Casual Vacancy, The Good Rain: Across Time & Terrain in the Pacific Northwest and Turn Right at Machu Picchu: Rediscovering the Lost City One Step at a Time.

I guessing I won't read all of these.

[Rob, Roberator]

Just finished The Dirty Streets of Heaven, I'll join some of the others in saying "meh". You can read my Full Review if you're so inclined. I gave it 3 stars..but really it's a 2.5 for me.

Taking a break from personal reading now to do the club pick.

[Been]

Man, I don't think I've posted here in a ocuple of months. Finally picked up some Orson Scott Card again after enjoying Ender's Game so much last year. Read through Speaker for the Dead and absolutely loved it, then jumped straight into Xenocide and thought it was... ok I guess?

A lot of people warned me that the rest of his books are very different to Ender's Game, but I so thoroughly enjoyed Speaker for the Dead that I didn't even notice. Xenocide though felt slow, even though some fairly big events happened it felt like a side story. Which is even more surprising considering that it and Speaker were originally supposed to be one book.

Regardless I really enjoyed just how richly different the alien races were, far better than the "2 legs and blue skin" variety that you get waaay too much of. I'm looking forward to seeing if any new ones appear in the later series.

But for now I'm going to wait a while before jumping into the next book and catch up on the backlog of books I set myself for my reading challenge this year. So my next book will be The Blade Itself.

[Rob, Roberator]

Read the Shadow series starting with Ender's Shadow. I liked those books much better. Though Children of the Mind I found to be better than Xenocide

[Gillian]

Heat Rises I needed something silly to read because Cloud Atlas is already confusing me.

[Kevin]

Rob wrote: "Read the Shadow series starting with Ender's Shadow. I liked those books much better. Though Children of the Mind I found to be better than Xenocide"

I would have to agree that Children of the Mind is a better and lighter book. Then the shadow series is much light, but a lot more on the politics, which I found not to be as good as any of the Ender's book.

[Kevin]

Been wrote: "Man, I don't think I've posted here in a ocuple of months. Finally picked up some Orson Scott Card again after enjoying Ender's Game so much last year. Read through Speaker for the Dead and absol..."

No, Speaker for the Dead was suppose to be a stand along book, but Card could not think of a way to introduce the book, so he had to write Ender's Game first. I'm glad he did. Plus Xenocide and Children of the Mind was suppose to be one book. This is all in the introduction to Speaker for the Dead.

[Rob, Roberator]

Kevin wrote: "Then the shadow series is much light, but a lot more on the politics, which I found not to be as good as any of the Ender's book. "

That's a good point. I liked the political stuff, so maybe that's why I enjoyed them.

[Rainer]

Working through Foundation and Empire and the rest of the series while I wait for Cloud Atlas to be available at the library.

[Kevin]

I just got a copy of The Curse of Mistwrath, so I put aside Tolls of the Hound to read it.

[Walter]

Reading two, Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad and Here's Looking at Euclid: A Surprising Excursion Through the Astonishing World of Math. Since it's October, will most likely be reading the HA book club pick 'Salem's Lot, as well as S&L's current pick.

No doubt more will follow, wagging their tails behind them.

[Sandi]

I'm reading The Black Prism on my Nook. I really like how the author isn't over-explaining how the magic works.

[[deleted user]]

I'm finishing Ready Player One and then I'm not too sure.

I need to finish The Shadow Rising which is the most likely choice.

Also on my radar are American Gods, The Ghost King and Slaughterhouse-Five.

[Thomas]

I am going to finish Call of Cthulhu, thatI am reading at the moment, after that I will read Stormdancer and then I will see what's next.

[Kevin]

NMC wrote: "Kevin wrote: "I just got a copy of The Curse of Mistwrath, so I put aside Tolls of the Hound to read it."

One of my favorite fantasy series, though COTM can be dense and takes a little while to ge..."

Thanks for letting me know. I kind of got that feeling from the reviews I read.

[Maggie]

I am finishing up The Left Hand of Darkness, which is so much better than I'd imagined, and then I have Grass and To Ride Hell's Chasm lined up.

[Rose]

Im currently reading Worst Laid Plans: When Bad Sex Happens to Good People It is hilarious. Im sure everyone can relate with at least one of the stories in this book.

[Brad Theado]

Been reading a lot of independent apocalyptic fiction that could probably be deemed somewhat sci-fi.

77 Days in September
Surviving the Fog
Adrian's War
After the Flash

Also been rereading the Drizzt series from the Forgotten Realms.

Just finished 6 seasons of WhiteSpace: Episode 1

Im thinking about getting into Clockwork Angels: The Novel next. And Caliban's War.

I had to lem Cloud Atlas. I just couldn't get into it.

[Kris]

I just got my copy of The Hydrogen Sonata and cant wait to dive into that...

[AndrewP]

Just finishing up The Princess Bride and 1984. Next up I'm going to tackle Surface Detail before The Hydrogen Sonata arrives on my shelf :)

[Aloha]

October already! Time to put in the books I finished since the last posting.

Finished:
Skippy Dies
Here's the review:
http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/...

Redid The Sound and the Fury in audio with Grover Gardner, excellent narrator. Even better the second go round. Confirmed that Faulkner is one of my favorite authors.

Finished The Master and Margarita. Enjoyed that one. Lots of symbolism and background research to do for a relatively small book.

Reread How the Mind Works for September's discussion.

Read The Man Who Was Thursday

Currently Reading:
Women and Men

[Kristina]

I bought the big Night Angel Trilogy in one book beast back in July and I just finally got around to starting it (Cloud Atlas didn't catch my interest). I imagine that will most of my October.

http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/61...

[John]

I'm working my way through the top 100 Science Fiction books of all time, so whenever I'm not following the book picks here I'm reading something I haven't read in a long time. Right now, it's Dune. Haven't read it in several years and it is better this time around.

[John]

I just finished Voltaire's Candide and am now reading 1984 by George Orwell. Cloud Atlas was being held by 8 other people when I got in line, so I'm still waiting for that. Hopefully I'll get it and get it done before month's end.

[Gabe]

I just finished The Night Circus (awesome book) and have just started Angelfall (it's ok so far). Can't wait to start on Cloud Atlas!

[David Sven]

Finished listening to Book One of Brandon Sanderson's Mistborn Trilogy The Final Empire. Loved it.
My review http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/....

Before I do the next book in the series I'm going to listen to the Audible version of Abercrombie's Best Served Cold

[Gareth]

I also am finishing off the original Foundation series.
I also want to chase down Brave New World as it was unfinished when I 'had' to read it for school and I spent so long thinking it was 1984...(which I did chase down).
Also would like to try the Hobb book from...August? as it was not available at the time.

[Bill]

Just finished listening to the new Brandon Sanderson novella Legion. It's free for now from audible and a quick listen at only 2 hrs. Very interesting premise and hope Mr. Sanderson makes it into a full novel soon!

[Adelaide]

I am reading Conjure Wife for the Classic Horror book club, Poison Study for Vaginal Fantasy hangout, and Rosemary's Baby for the Classic Genre Fiction book club. From my own picks I'll be reading The Hastur Cycle and Swindled: From Poison Sweets To Counterfeit Coffee The Dark History Of The Food Cheats. We'll see what else pops up.

[Preston]

Currently reading The Dog Stars by Peter Heller. Really good so far (post-apocalyptic).

His writing style is a little different; not sure how to describe it but I am getting used to it.

[Jeff]

Bill wrote: "Just finished listening to the new Brandon Sanderson novella Legion. It's free for now from audible and a quick listen at only 2 hrs. Very interesting premise and hope Mr. Sanderson makes it into a..."

Yeah I'm doing that as well and trying to see if I can get back in audiobooks. Trying to read Cloud Atlas and I'm so glad it's a 31 day month.

[Sandi]

Bill wrote: "Just finished listening to the new Brandon Sanderson novella Legion. It's free for now from audible and a quick listen at only 2 hrs. Very interesting premise and hope Mr. Sanderson makes it into a..."

THANKS! (Yes, I'm shouting!) I had just put that on my Nook wishlist today but didn't want to pay 3 bucks for a novella. Getting the audio (read by one of my favorite narrators) is a wonderful treat.

[Thurman]

What Would Satan Do?. Its good but a hard read. Its definatly not what I expected, but i'm half way finished

The Postman I read this when I was a kid. After the movie I tried to find the book again. But all the had were adaptions of the film. This is the original version

[David Sven]

Had a listen to Lovecraft's The Outsider on SFFAudio. Loved it.

My review http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/...

[Jukka]

I'm reading The Fractal Prince because Cloud Atlas looked like a demanding book and I haven't really read anything since summer vacation. Found out that I really didn't remember how little handholding The Quantum Thief provided and that the Fractal Prince provides even less. Very confusing, mostly in a good way.

[Amy]

I'm currently reading Dark Currents, as well as testing out the new Whispersync by trading back and forth between text and audio on The Diamond Age: Or, a Young Lady's Illustrated Primer.

My spouse made me promise not to buy any new books for a month (pre-orders didn't count though, hence Dark Currents), so I'll be working through backlog instead.

[Kat]

I just finished up Feed so Deadline is definitely in the queue for sometime this month.
I'm currently trying to get into The Dog Stars. After that, it's onto Poison Study for Vaginal Fantasy and then The Casual Vacancy.
I may do A Game of Thrones in audio form. (I know, I'm so behind the times.)

[David Sven]

Katrina wrote: "I may do A Game of Thrones in audio form. "

I can highly recommend the audio version of GOT. Though I wasn't satisfied having to wait to get in the car too and from work so I doubled up on ebook as well

[Rob, Roberator]

David Sven wrote: "I can highly recommend the audio version of GOT. Though I wasn't satisfied having to wait to get in the car too and from work so I doubled up on ebook as well "

Too bad they just came out with their sync for ebook/audio thing just now..

[[deleted user]]

I'm in-between books. I have a ton I want to read, but not sure about the order. I will list some here, and if ya'll can help I'd appreciate it.
Witch and Wizard
Homeland By RA Salvatore
The girl with the dragon tattoo
dragons path by Daniel Abraham
nd the sword of shannara trillogy.
HELP

[David Sven]

Finished King of Thorns by Mark Lawrence.

My review http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/...

Starting Kill Decision by Daniel Suarez as my lunch time read

[David Sven]

Listened to Lovecraft's "The Temple" on SFFAudio. Didn't enjoy it as much as "The Outsider"

My review http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/...

[Marc]

Cloud Atlas on Audio, while I try to finish Empire State, which was a lot harder work than I expected - a bit too noir for me.

Then a bit of Six Easy Pieces: Essentials of Physics By Its Most Brilliant Teacher to mix it up a bit!

The Martian Chronicles when I'm done with Empire State for my other book group

[Susan]

Reading Mage's Blood by David Hair. I had to look pass the, IMO, cope out of using real world history and changing the name of everything for his world building. Once the story gets going the plot and characters are worth overlooking the world building.

I am planning on reading The Blinding Knife by Brent Weeks this month.

[Ian]

In the middle of God Emperor of Dune and Elfstones Of Shannara.

Have to say I'm pleasantly surprised by God Emperor, first read it when I was a lot younger and found it hard going, am enjoying it much more this time around.

On the other hand Elfstones I have pleasant memories of, but rereading it now seems very dated and derivative. Similar to some other 70s/80s fantasy now, I think its been well surpassed by modern fantasy like ASOIAF/First Law etc and going back to a 'classic' really feels like a slog. Never feel that way about LOTR though.....so to Sean above, I would not recommend you put the Shannara trilogy at the top of your list...

Once I'm done with these am planning to re-read The Many-Coloured Land and the rest of the saga of the exiles if I can find em at the back of my shelf

[Marc]

NMC wrote: "Ian wrote: Once I'm done with these am planning to re-read The Many-Coloured Land and the rest of the saga of the exiles if I can find em at the back of my shelf ..."

That's next on my list after..."

This makes me want to reread them - not thought about them in years. Marc Remillard is a great anti-hero

[Tim]

On Audible:
I'm listening to by Terry Pratchett and after that will be by Brian Aldiss

On Kindle:
I'm reading by Darren Humphries as a break from the long, slow trudge through by Stephen King

On Dead Tree:
I'm still reading by Peter F. Hamilton. Next up is by Ellis Peters (off-genre, but Brother Cadfael is always good reading)

[Joseph]

I finished Libriomancer by Jim C. Hines and decided it was time to revisit the Ballantine Adult Fantasy series again -- I've just started Zothique by Clark Ashton Smith (I think they're my favorite of his stories) and will continue on for probably another four or five BAF books.

[Kris]

I love the Books about the Remillards! Great stuff!