What are U reading these days? (PART NINE (2013) (ongoing thread for 2013) Showing 51-100 of 1,110

[Jim]

It's hard waiting years for the next installment. The worst disappointment I had in that area was The World of Tiers, Vol. 1 by Philip José Farmer. The first one was super. The next 2 were pretty good, then there were a LOT of years (20?) until the next 2. They sucked.

[Jackie]

That's even worse, after the Long Wait, and then the book sucks.

[Joy H., Group Founder]

Thanks for your interesting comments, Jackie.

I have just downloaded (from audible.com) the bio, Drama: An Actor's Education (2011), by actor, John Lithgow. Now I can LISTEN to it. I started reading it awhile back but it was overdue at the library. Lithgow is so entertaining!

[Jackie]

Lithgow has an amazing voice, I'll bet it's very good.

[Joy H., Group Founder]

Yes, Lithgow also has a great personality. He's genuine and authentic. No posturing. He's real. He's an original.

[Jim]

That does sound interesting, Joy. I'll have to see if my library has it in audio format.

[Joy H., Group Founder]

Jim wrote: "That does sound interesting, Joy. I'll have to see if my library has it in audio format."

Yes, it's nice hearing him (John Lithgow) read his own book. His voice is very recognizable.

[Jim]

I found it at one of my libraries. Thanks. I just started listening to The Hunger Games, so it will be a bit before I can get to it, though.

[Jackie]

Who's voicing the audio of HG, Jim?

[Jim]

Carolyn McCormick, some chick with too high a voice & not enough differentiation between speaking voices. She's not doing the book any favors, IMO. Still, her voice is trained well enough that she's easy to understand.

[Jackie]

That's too bad. I would think they'd get the right people for the job, since it's the voice that's presenting the story.

[Jim]

I'm pretty picky about readers, so she might not bug anyone else as much as she does me. Listening to the same voice for hours on end makes it a tough row to hoe. Even the best can get irritating.

I don't know how some readers get the job at all. Some are just wonderful. Erin is listening to the Queen Betsy books read by Nancy Wu. She agrees with me that they're complete drivel, but are a lot of fun with Nancy reading them.

[Joy H., Group Founder]

I agree that a lot depends on who is reading the audio version of a book. I remember one reader who sounded so haughty that I couldn't stand listening to her.

BTW, I have just downloaded the following book from audible.com:
Ender's Game (first published 1985) by Orson Scott Card
Literary Awards: Hugo Award for Best Novel (1986), Nebula Award for Best Novel (1985)

I'm not usually a SF reader but our local library's book group is going to discuss this book next month (Feb). So I thought I would try it. One of the Goodreads reviewers recommended the audio version.
http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/...
It says: “The audio version of this book had a long commentary at the end by the author in which he told about how he conceived of the story. In his commentary he said that he believed that the audio format is the best way to consume this book.”

Here's audible.com's page about _Ender's Game_:
http://www.audible.com/pd/ref=sr_1_1?...

[Jim]

I really liked "Ender's Game", Joy. Excellent book. I didn't care for most of the rest of the series, but it stands well on its own. "Ender's Shadow" is pretty much the same story, except from Bean's POV. He's an interesting character & it gives a different perspective. I was surprised that it could be so good.

[Jackie]

I read Ender's Game last year because of the movie coming out later this year, starring Harrison Ford. I gave it 4 stars so I must have liked it well enough. I have most of the Ender's series and the Shadow series, so I'll get to them eventually.

[Joy H., Group Founder]

Jackie wrote: "I read Ender's Game last year because of the movie coming out later this year, starring Harrison Ford. I gave it 4 stars so I must have liked it well enough. I have most of the Ender's series and t..."

Wow! A movie of Ender's Game. I'd better start listening to my audio-book soon! Glad you mentioned it!

Ender's Game (2013)
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1731141/
"70 years after a horrific alien war, an unusually gifted child is sent to an advanced military school in space to prepare for a future invasion."

[Jen]

Oh a movie of Ender's Game? I read that book two or three years ago. I enjoyed it, and I read either the first two or three books in the series, but got bored and didn't finish. Still, I guess I'll have to go see the movie! :)

[Joy H., Group Founder]

Jenni wrote: "Oh a movie of Ender's Game? I read that book two or three years ago. I enjoyed it, and I read either the first two or three books in the series, but got bored and didn't finish. Still, I guess I..."

Jenni, I'll be sure to see the movie too! I've GOT to get busy listening to the audio-book. I've never read the book and have often wondered what it was about. Now I'm about to find out! lol

[Jen]

I reallllllly liked the first book. I have to say that I totally didn't call the ending, but I should have seen it coming. I love it when books do that to me!

[Joy H., Group Founder]

Jenni wrote: "I reallllllly liked the first book. I have to say that I totally didn't call the ending, but I should have seen it coming. I love it when books do that to me!"

So the ending of Ender's Game isn't predictable?

[Jackie]

I knew what was gonna happen, but not right away. I enjoyed it anyway, I did it as a buddy read.

[Jen]

Joy, I think that it can be predictable... It just totally blindsided me for some reason, but my husband had it figured out much earlier than I did. Even if you figure out what's going on, it's still a great read... and probably makes it be even more enjoyable in some ways. :) Jackie, do you remember when you figured it out?

[Joy H., Group Founder]

Jenni, I'm not good at predicting outcomes. So I'll just wait and see what happens.

[Jen]

Joy, I'm generally not good either... so enjoy it with me the way I did, I liked how I found it out. :)

[Joy H., Group Founder]

OK, Jenni! :) I'm already suspicious. lol

[Jackie]

Jenni, not the exact part but when they brought Ender to the Commander School or whatever it's called, after leaving the first Battle School.

Predicting outcomes often ruins it for me. I want to be baffled, stumped, amazed!

[Joy H., Group Founder]

Why did they call him "Ender" if his name was "Andrew"?

[Jackie]

I wondered the same thing, but rest assured, it tells you why in the book.

[Joy H., Group Founder]

I'll be waiting to come to that part. Hope I didn't miss it.

[Jackie]

If you have missed it, I'll tell you when you're finished.

[Joy H., Group Founder]

OK. Jackie. I've only listened to a little over an hour of the audio-book, Ender's Game. It's about 12 hours long. (a new way to indicate page numbers. LOL)

[Jim]

I normally don't read most of the sales emails I get, but this one from Abe Books said it was for the 50 Essential SF books, a favorite genre of mine. It's a pretty good list that I've read more than half of.
http://www.abebooks.com/books/feature...

[Jackie]

Nice list. I haven't read as many as I would like. Less than half the list.

[Werner]

I've read a dozen of them. Of course, as with any lists of this type, there could be arguments galore about selection criteria (personally, I consider alternate world fiction to be SF, though the listmakers didn't), books "wrongly" included, and books "wrongly" left out. To quote the line at the bottom of the list, "Let the indignant outcry of our fellow nerds commence!" :-)

[Jim]

I liked the authors represented. Good selection there, too. I've read even more of the list if I base it on them, probably 2/3 or even 3/4.

[Jen]

Okay, I hate to thread-jack here, but I just have to say that I am LOVING A Storm of Swords! Deciding between the fourth Game of Thrones book and something else is going to be a hard choice. :)

[Jackie]

Jenni, the general consensus us that ASOS is the best of the entire series, you're in good company.

[Jen]

I have to agree with that one. I just looked at the ratings for the fourth and fifth book. #4 is 3.99, and #5 gets back up to (I think) 4.18... not as strong as ASOS, but those are great ratings. :)

[Joy H., Group Founder]

I found out why they call him "Ender" in Ender's Game. (view spoiler)[Andrew's little sister called him "Ender". (hide spoiler)]
Of course the name probably has a meaning beyond being a nickname.
I think an "Ender" is someone who "ends" things. We'll see.

[Jackie]

Did they say why she calls him Ender? There is a reason.

[Jim]

I was pretty disappointed in the last 2 Game of Throne books. They were good, but really long winded. The last one really made me feel like no progress had been made.

[Jackie]

I really liked them and thought they were good but you're right about no real progress, especially with Dany.

[Jen]

That's sad, I just heard so much raving about the whole series... I figure that I'll enjoy book 3, and then see how it goes for 4 and 5. I read Jim's reviews of 4 and 5 (but I didn't click on spoiler links), and I do see myself finishing them. Maybe I just won't rush through it. Even if I do absolutely love 4 and 5, won't it be at least another two years or so before 6 is out?

[Jackie]

If we're very lucky, it'll only be a year or two. I'm expecting 4 or 5 years, as per usual with GRRM, despite his promises of 'next year'. Ha! He's such a liar.
It's not that #4 and #5 weren't any good, they were, but after the events of ASOS, it's hard to beat that. Even though some people are stalled in one location, other things are still happening.
The biggest problem I had with #4 and #5 is that it's the same block of time for both books, but he split it geographically, so in #4 I didn't get to see my more beloved characters and he introduced new people I don't care about. I was more anxious to get back to the people I care about.
As a whole, the series is top notch.

[Jen]

Oh man! A whole book without (view spoiler)[Arya or Tyrion? Or Jon Snow? Or Dany and her dragons? Or Bran and Hodor? Ohhh, that could kill me. (Heh, and look at me and laugh, half of these characters might be killed off, who knows!...) (hide spoiler)]...I could see the frustration.

[Jackie]

Yeah, it was tough. But it was great getting them back in A Dance With Dragons.

[Jen]

Ohhhh now I want to know what characters I won't get to see in the fourth book. Wait, don't tell! :)

[Jackie]

My lips are sealed...or should I say, my fingers, lol

[Jen]

Awe Jackie, you're cool! I'm not one who likes spoilers, but this is one series where I really want to make sure to NOT discover things before I should. That happened a bit when I was reading the second book, so that's also likely adding to my not enjoying that book as much as I had hoped.

[Jackie]

I agree, I'm not a fan of spoilers, and most especially with this series, things are so utterly unpredictable and shocking when they happen, so to know in advance would totally ruin it.