What Else Are You Reading? April 2013

[Nancy]

I'm reading Zoo City by Lauren Beukes, and I'm listening to Frost Burned by Patricia Briggs. I'm pretty happy with both.

[Glaiza]

Just finished Deathless by Catherynne Valente. It was a brilliant mix of Russian folklore and alternative history. In the middle of American Gods by Neil Gaiman. Zoo City and King Rat are next on my list.

[Misti]

I just finished The Human Division series last night. I waited until they were all available before starting them. Then I was able to zip right through them.

Now I'm reading Heartless.

[Rob, Roberator]

I finished Dragonflight this past weekend (My Review).

I will be starting The Wise Man's Fear with some friends in a few days.

[A.L.]

Just finished Shadow of the Wraith which was pretty good anmd just started The Dragon Within as I have only read a couple of pages I can't yet comment.

I watched the hobbit the other day so I might have to re-read LOTR next:)

[Josh]

Just finished The Word for World Is Forest for a English Lit class it was a good book very interesting read for me since I haven't read a lot of Scfi. I might check out some of Ursula K. Le Guin other books.

[Dharmakirti]

Glaiza wrote: "Just finished Deathless by Catherynne Valente. It was a brilliant mix of Russian folklore and alternative history. In the middle of American Gods by Neil Gaiman. Zoo City and King Rat are next on m..."


The only Catherynne Valente I've managed to read so far is The Habitation of the Blessed and it rocked my world. I'm anxious to check out more work by Ms. Valente.

[Glaiza]

Valente's In the Night Garden is my favourite book by her. Inspired by the Arabian nights but with her own mythology, all the stories are connected and layered. Palimpsest is more surreal, dark and twisted so some readers can find it a bit bizarre. I'll have to check out The Habitation of the Blessed one day.

[Glaiza]

Josh wrote: "Just finished The Word for World Is Forest for a English Lit class it was a good book very interesting read for me since I haven't read a lot of Scfi. I might check out some of Ursula K. Le Guin ot..."

I still have to check out Le Guin's sci fi works. I've only read The Left Hand of Darkness and her fantasy series The Earthsea Trilogy which I really liked when I was younger. For sci-fi, I heard The Lathe of Heaven is really good.

[Pioup]

I've just finished The Woman in White which was OK, but too long, I rushed at the end so I could pick up a new book.
And this morning I started A Natural History of Dragons, possibly because the cover looks good (ahem). Next I'll have to read either The Blind Assassin or Le Déchronologue for a book club session I've been invited to (my first irl book club thing!)

[Sandi]

Pioup, The Blind Assassin is an excellent read.

I'm in a reading funk right now. I'm going to start listening to The Gone-away World today, but I can't seem to find a print book that holds my attention. I think I just have too many to choose from.

[Mike]

I just finished The Great North Road.
I liked it a lot. It is Looong, but kept my interest. Portions seemed more than a little contrived, but not enough to spoil the story.

[Noomninam]

Listening to "Century Rain" by Alistair Reynolds, with outstanding performance by John Lee. This book has everything, from noir to nanotech, and the writing is so clean -- double-plus recommended. Also reading e-book of "Humility Garden" by Felicity Savage, which I bought when it came out (90s?) and never got around to. Also excellent. And on the bedside table, an advance copy of "The Shining Girls" by Lauren Beukes -- very promising.

[Sky]

Just finished The Black Prism, going to move on to Thread Slivers today.

[Neil]

I have just picked up The Man Who Folded Himself after it was mentioned in the topic about books you love no-one else knows about. Seemed pretty interesting.

[Pioup]

Sandi wrote: "Pioup, The Blind Assassin is an excellent read.

Good to know! I wanted to read another book by Atwood for a while so I'm happy with the club choice.

[William]

The Apocalypse Whenever group is reading Dead of Eve this month.
I complained but was secretly looking forward to it.

[Sandi]

William wrote: "The Apocalypse Whenever group is reading Dead of Eve this month.
I complained but was secretly looking forward to it."

There's a group just for apocalyptic fiction?

[William]

Sandi wrote: "There's a group just for apocalyptic fiction?"

Here they are: Apocalypse Whenever

[Carolina]

Sarah wrote: "Finished Don Quixote aided somewhat by having my internet go kaput for about a week. It might honestly have become one of my most favourite books. I was genuinely in tears when it came to the end. ..."

Did you read the unabridged version? I read the "short" version and then tried the unabridged one in original Castilian and just couldn't do it! If you did kudos to you!!!

[Geoff]

Kasher in the Rye: The True Tale of a White Boy from Oakland Who Became a Drug Addict, Criminal, Mental Patient, and Then Turned 16 by Moshe Kasher

and

The King's Blood by Daniel Abraham

I've resorted to having two books on the go for when my tablet loses power. That way I can just switch to a DTE.

[Walter]

Reading Marvel Comics: The Untold Story. Remember so many of the names from the early days. And seeing how so many of those writers and artists were treated, as regards their creative work, the appeal of being self-published has become even more obvious.

[Robyn]

Just finished Pirate Cinema. 4/5 stars.

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

[Carolina]

Sarah wrote: "I will say that it didn't feel abridged when every new character introduced went off on a 10 page monologue detailing every event in their lives... "

I can totally understand you, me I gave up at the first monologue when he is left alone in the mountains...

[Melissa]

I am enjoyingLife After Life

[Neil]

Got a bit behind on the Discworld series so I've started up Unseen Academicals.

[Jo]

Aside from Dragonflight, I read The Eye of the World. I just finished Promise of Blood, which was a pleasant surprise. My bathroom reading is Casino Royale, though I haven't made much progress. I just started The Great Hunt and am picking back up Empire in Black and Gold. A fairly busy month for me.

[Paul]

Melissa wrote: "I am enjoying Life After Life"

I'm also reading this.

[Brian]

Just started reading The Stupidest Angel: A Heartwarming Tale of Christmas Terror, and once I'm finished with that I'll head on to The Magicians and Small Favor.

[Ronel]

I am not as imaginative. I only have A Game of Thrones, and The Heroes on my reading list for April.

[John]

I just picked up a book called Bedlam by Christopher Brookmyre, having never heard of either. I popped into Waterstones (first time in a physical book store for a few years) and bought the book solely based on the scribbled recommendation of a Waterstones employee that was pinned to the shelf (the recommendation, not the employee).

I asked the staff if I could come back and complain if I didn't like the book. She just smiled nervously, unsure if I was being serious or not.

I wasn't.

[Jay]

Finished Old Man's War, 1/2 way through Starship Troopers and started The Ghost Brigades. Great stuff!

[Pickle]

just finished and it was terrible, im due to read before i hand it back to the library but think i will read to cheer me up after that last book.

I also might read &

[Kate]

Almost finished The Best of All Possible Worlds, which was on sale in the Kindle store a few weeks ago. I's enjoying it a lot more than I expected to and am reminded that I should read more sf set beyond Earth.

[Ian]

Just finished The Way of Kings on audible - despite its flaws its still one of the most ambitious things I've read for a long time and overall is Epic!! Just hope it doesnt trail off the way Mistborn did after the first book. By the way, 45 hours audiobook for 1 credit?? Great value......

Also finished The Daylight War this week, another series that started great and seems to be struggling to stay at the same level - was Ok but not up to the very high standard of the first 2 books somehow

[Rob, Roberator]

Ian wrote: " Just hope it doesnt trail off the way Mistborn did after the first book"

I'm curious if you finished the trilogy. I'll grant the second book isn't as good as the first, especially the first half of it.

The third book and the conclusion on the other hand were excellent in my opinion. I was very impressed with how he tied everything together.

[Ian]

Yes, I finished it. I think on Mistborn the concepts/worldbuilding were great but then the story itself got pretty weak and full of holes. The way Sanderson writes politics feels like a kindergarten version compared to eg GRRM and I had some problems with it, just was a bit disappointing after a great start.

[Chad]

Been working on , about 1/3 of the way through book 2. Also reading . I just recently discovered Joe Abercrombie and am enjoying his stuff immensely.

[Martin]

Just started on The Robert E. Howard Omnibus for the Kindle. $1.99 isn't bad for 2000 pages. I've never read any Conan the Barbarian stories before, but so far I'm really enjoying it. Very George R.R. Martin-esque.

[Dara]

Finished Assassin's Apprentice last night. Really liked it but thought the end was a little confused and rushed. Will likely pick the second book up this weekend. Now getting a jump on Wool Omnibus for May.

[Tamahome]

Coming back to Peter F. Hamilton's anthology Manhattan in Reverse, after podcaster Luke Burrage just discussed it. The title story wasn't that good, but Demon Trap was excellent. They both feature Paula Myo from the Commonwealth books, nicely relifed I might ad. :)

[Joseph]

Finished The Door to Saturn and am about to start Thief's Covenant by Ari Marmell.

[Jeff]

Just finished the Whispersync tag-team on The Way of Kings. Started a little slow for me and really didn't get into it until about 1/2 way in. Then I wanted to read/listen. Enjoyed it but kinda fried since it was sooooo long. Still have 1 audible credit for April so I'm going thru the thread for ideas. Looking for something a little lighter but fun. Perhaps something along the lines of a Dresden Files read perhaps or something completely outside of the S&L genre.

[Sandi]

Jeff wrote: "Just finished the Whispersync tag-team on The Way of Kings. Started a little slow for me and really didn't get into it until about 1/2 way in. Then I wanted to read/listen. Enjoyed it but kinda fri..."

If you want light and fun, try The Iron Druid Chronicles by Kevin Hearne. It a book that's really enhanced by the audio production. The narrator does such an awesome job. Hearne posted on Facebook today that the e-book of the first installment, Hounded, is available as an ebook for $2.99 right now, but I still would recommend the audiobook. It's very fun.

[LegalKimchi]

Feast for crows (yeah, i am catching up) I just finished Wise Man's fear (it was good... not great). I am still wondering what is up next for me.

[Jeff]

Sandi wrote: "Jeff wrote: "If you want light and fun, try The Iron Druid Chronicles by Kevin Hearne. ..."

Yeah from what I've seen around, I'm going to give the Hounded audiobook a whirl. Thanks for the recommendation!

[Sandi]

I just finished listening to The Gone-Away World. I'm debating between giving it four or five stars. It's kind of like The World According to Garp meets Catch-22 meets Slaughterhouse-Five, meets.... Well, you get the idea. It's absurd yet thoughtful. The narrator was excellent too.

I'm now listening to Open Season, the first Joe Pickett mystery by C.J. Box. I've read a couple of his stand-alones and enjoyed them. I chose it because I should be able to finish it tomorrow and not carry anything over the weekend.

In text, I'm almost done with The Killing Moon. I'm also still working on A Clash of Kings. When I need a change of pace, I'm reading American Rose: A Nation Laid Bare: The Life and Times of Gypsy Rose Lee. I don't read many biographies, but this one is pretty interesting.

[Laura]

I finished Foundation and Empire and I'm now half done with Throne of Jade.

[Nancy]

I'm halfway through Rae Carson's The Crown of Embers, the second book in her Fire and Thorns series. I am REALLY enjoying it so far. I especially like the setting, which has an attractive Spanish air to it.

[Tamahome]

Peter F. Hamilton's political short story 'Footvote' has some amusing 'new rules' for a new world order, from Manhattan in Reverse.