What Are you Reading? Showing 13,401-13,450 of 16,523

[Antonella]

Today is the release day for by Alex Beecroft, the second book of the series Unquiet Spirits, after The Wages of Sin.

[Haldis]

Antonella wrote: "Today is the release day for by Alex Beecroft, the second book of the series Unquiet Spirits, after The Wages of Sin."

Thanks. I enjoyed the first book, and have been waiting for more.

[KC]

Sabine wrote: "I am a fast reader and when a sequence bores me, I read faster. (Moanmoanpleasedon'tmoanstop😊)
..."

Lol, i noticed i do that too, especially when there's no apparent reason for the "Moanmoanpleasedon'tmoanstop."

[Johanna]

I'm not sure if this short story has been mentioned here before, but... I saw Nicole Kimberling and Ginn Hale recommending a (freebie!) m/m short story on FB. The Water That Falls on You from Nowhere by John Chu is the winner of the 2014 Hugo Award for Best Short Story.

You can read it free here: http://www.tor.com/2013/02/20/the-wat...

I liked it.

[Johanna]

Johanna wrote: "I'm not sure if this short story has been mentioned here before, but... I saw Nicole Kimberling and Ginn Hale recommending a (freebie!) m/m short story on FB. [book:The Water That Falls on You from..."

Actually, I think Antonella might have mentioned this a couple of years ago in another topic, but I think it bears repeating... :-)

[Calathea]

Johanna wrote: "I'm not sure if this short story has been mentioned here before, but... I saw Nicole Kimberling and Ginn Hale recommending a (freebie!) m/m short story on FB. [book:The Water That Falls on You from..."

Thanks for the rec!

[Jordan]

Spent a few hours in a new&used bookstore and found some great used books I intend to read next year: Dune by Frank Herbert, The Maltese Falcon by Dashell Hammett, The Big Sleep and The Lady in the Lake by Raymond Chandler.

I'm not sure if I read The Big Sleep and The Maltese Falcon in college. It wouldn't make sense to have a noir course without them and I do remember watching the Falcon movie. But since I kept two of the anthology texts from the class and neither book is in them, I'm just not sure. Regardless, they would be good reread if I have, and essentials if I haven't. :-)

I fully admit to not having read Dune yet. Lol. Can't wait!

[Susinok]

Jordan wrote: "Spent a few hours in a new&used bookstore and found some great used books I intend to read next year: Dune by Frank Herbert, The Maltese Falcon by Dashell Hammett, The Big Sleep and The Lady in the..."

Dune is an amazing book! I bought the audiobook two years ago, half afraid that it wouldn't stand the test of time, but it has. It SO has!

I read Dune Messiah and the beginning of Children of Dune, but I lost interest. They did not have the punch of the original.

[Jordan]

Oh that's good to know about the sequels! Everyone I know who's read Dune says it's fantastic... :-D

[Antonella]

Johanna wrote: "Actually, I think Antonella might have mentioned this a couple of years ago in another topic, but I think it bears repeating... :-)"

I did, but a reminder is good. In fact I might reread it myself ;-).

[KC]

This week I discovered that there are several KJ Charles short stories i haven't read yet, in this collection: The Secret Casebook of Simon Feximal. A while ago i read the first two stories: The Caldwell Ghost and Butterflies, which were free at the time, and at some point i noticed the collection but assumed for some reason that it's just those two stories, when in fact the adventures of Simon and Robert continue for several more related stories. So yay! And there's a secondary character that will appear in Spectred Isle, which is coming out soon.

[Calathea]

KC wrote: "This week I discovered that there are several KJ Charles short stories i haven't read yet, in this collection: The Secret Casebook of Simon Feximal. A while ago i read the first two..."

Oh? That is good to know. I never was sure if the book is the same as the stories I already new (and liked a lot).

[Johanna]

Finished listening to Speakers of the Dead by J. Aaron Sanders (Gay Mystery Winner of this year's Lambda Literary Awards). I ended up liking this one a lot although it was nothing what I expected it to be. I think quite a few of you might enjoy this, actually. I understand that this is a debut novel? If so, I'm impressed. Speakers of the Dead is intriguing, historical, fictional view on Walt Whitman and the New York of his time. Life was gruesome back then, let me tell you. Some might find this book even difficult to read at times (due to its dark content). But there's also hope of many things to come in this story. Especially when one views it from the 21st century. Anyway, you're going to have to find about them yourselves. :-)

It's marked as mystery, but mystery isn't main thing here, IMO. Also, it has an enjoyable, interesting Author's Note in the end. Don't skip that. This is a book that competed against Dal McLean's Bitter Legacy and both are definitely books that aren't easy to pigeonhole. And in a way, I really like that.

[KC]

Calathea wrote: "KC wrote: "This week I discovered that there are several KJ Charles short stories i haven't read yet, in this collection: The Secret Casebook of Simon Feximal. A while ago i read th..."

I discovered that by chance, actually. Someone asked KJ Charles something about the new "Spectred Isle" book, and she said that a character from the Casebook appears in the new one, and the character didn't sound familiar. And then it sounded like there was only one more story in there, but actually there are quite a few. So yay for more stories. :-)

[Susinok]

I'm reading All Wheel Drive by ZA Maxfield. Two very likeable and damaged characters. This book has been fun.

[Sabine]

Susinok wrote: "I'm reading All Wheel Drive by ZA Maxfield. Two very likeable and damaged characters. This book has been fun."
Yes, I read this too and liked it.

[Karen]

Susinok wrote: "I'm reading All Wheel Drive by ZA Maxfield. Two very likeable and damaged characters. This book has been fun."

I also read this recently and really enjoyed it. It's one of the best Bluewater Bay books, IMO going beyond the series ("universe") formula. It led me to consider how/why the books in this series work, or don't work for me.

I've read most, not all, of the series. A group of authors write books set in the same Olympic Peninsula town, where a popular shifter TV series is being filmed. This is a take on Forks, Washington and the Twilight series books. Although Twilight was filmed in Oregon, the for-real small town in Washington experienced the benefits and challenges of an influx of tourist-fans over a number of years.

Characters in the BB series include residents, returning residents, the actors and crew of the show, and the various authors have leeway regarding how much they acknowledge/incorporate characters from the other books. ZAM also wrote Hell on Wheels, a much earlier book in the series that features the twin of a main character in All Wheel Drive. One of the things I especially enjoyed in AWD was how skillfully ZAM includes characters from her own book and other books in the series.

The Bluewater Bay series is interesting, with a number of "close but..." stories (for me). It's as though there's a checklist of possible things to include, and the authors have to incorporate a certain number of them (family challenges, once-burned issues, illness/health issues, etc.), and every letter in the Rainbow alphabet gets at least one story, and of course there has to be an HEA/HFN. Anyway, there's usually a lot to fit into a limited space. Sometimes all of the complications take a while to set up, and then there's a rush to the ending. All this makes it engaging to me just from an "interested in the writer's craft" POV.

[Karen]

BTW, the Bluewater Bay books are stand-alones and it's not at all necessary to read them in publication order, but you can find that info here: https://www.goodreads.com/series/1305...

[Susinok]

Karen wrote: "The Bluewater Bay series is interesting, with a number of "close but..." stories (for me). It's as though there's a checklist of possible things to include, and the authors have to incorporate a certain number of them (family challenges, once-burned issues, illness/health issues, etc.), and every letter in the Rainbow alphabet gets at least one story, and of course there has to be an HEA/HFN. Anyway, there's usually a lot to fit into a limited space. Sometimes all of the complications take a while to set up, and then there's a rush to the ending. All this makes it engaging to me just from an "interested in the writer's craft" POV...."

Except for the every rainbow color, just about ANY unrelated colection of stories can meet this same criteria. I have enjoyed most of them. I skipped one because of the racism controversy.

My favorite one so far was the one with asexual characters, though I've enjoyed them all.

[Karen]

Susinok wrote: "Karen wrote: "The Bluewater Bay series is interesting, with a number of "close but..." stories (for me). It's as though there's a checklist of possible things to include, and the authors have to in..."

True. : ) But I'm more aware of it in this series.

Perhaps it's because these stories are related, at least in place and relative time, and that requires an increased degree of awareness from the authors and/or editors to maintain relative continuity within 19 books (and counting) written by 12+ different authors. That's a lot of books and authors. It's like different screenwriters for a TV series — a lot of different writers. An interesting concept.

[Loretta]

I have read nothing for a week! I don't know why, but when I'm on vacation, I don't read. I guess it has to do with being with actual people :) and at the end of the day I'm too tired. I need to get back to the DG reread. There are 100 comments since the last time I looked, and I left off a little ways into Old Poison.

[Josh]

Karen wrote: "BTW, the Bluewater Bay books are stand-alones and it's not at all necessary to read them in publication order, but you can find that info here: https://www.goodreads.com/series/1305..."

I read LB Gregg's story in the series and really enjoyed it. Those shared world series can be a lot of fun.

[Josh]

Loretta wrote: "I have read nothing for a week! I don't know why, but when I'm on vacation, I don't read. I guess it has to do with being with actual people :) and at the end of the day I'm too tired. I need to ge..."

I tend to catch up a lot of reading on my vacations. :-) But I'm usually with other readers, so that makes sense.

[Jordan]

I just posted a question in our BOM section, for those who may not have seen it. If you're interested, and it's cool if you're not, I thought we could do a year-long challenge read in 2018 of Raymond Chandler's Phillip Marlowe series. If you've got thoughts on it, let me know!

[Josh]

Barbra wrote: "Josh wrote: "Karen wrote: "BTW, the Bluewater Bay books are stand-alones and it's not at all necessary to read them in publication order, but you can find that info here: https://www.goodreads.com/..."

She was! But real life got in the way. I hope she'll be back to writing soon.

[Josh]

Jordan wrote: "I just posted a question in our BOM section, for those who may not have seen it. If you're interested, and it's cool if you're not, I thought we could do a year-long challenge read in 2018 of Raymo..."

Oh! What a great idea!

[Clary]

Ame wrote: "I've read the Captive Prince series so many times and I really really like the audiobooks. I've seen some criticism of the narration but I liked the narrator and had no problems with him. He's not ..."

I feel the same way about the narration. I am generally pleased with his Damen but have more trouble with Laurent. But then I knew going into an audio that I would not like any voice for Laurent but the one in my head.

Captive Prince is so difficult to characterize. I see it so much more than a fantasy in a way, similarly to Dune or the Left Hand of Darkness. It's a political, military, cultural clash, study of prejudices -- how they develop and what it takes to get over them -- struggle between good and evil both internally and externally, character growth and development (for both of the protagonists) and of course, the love story. Sometimes, I just get lost in the descriptions of the competing architecture and clothing, and the way both are used to show the growth in Damen (and in Laurent).

[Jordan]

Just started Brandstetter and Other Stories this morning. But, as the first book has Dave in it, I'm saving it for last.

So, I started the second short story in it, and so far, it's not what I was expecting and I have no idea where it's going to go. I've noticed that about Hansen's work. I just don't know. lol.

Also, this story mentions Natsuke, which reminded me of The Mermaid Murders. :-)

[KC]

Jordan wrote: "Just started Brandstetter and Other Stories this morning. But, as the first book has Dave in it, I'm saving it for last.
So, I started the second short story in it, and so far, it's..."

I love his short stories. There's always something surprising, and the writing and characters are incredible.

[Jordan]

Well, I was just surprised with a short story about Bohannon I wasn't expecting. I've not read the Bohannon books yet, though thankfully I do own them. I'm not even halfway through the story and already I'm sad that this was never turned into a major series like Dave Brandstetter. Lol. I'm loving everything about this!

That said, the second story in the collection was just kinda weird. Not really my thing. But that's ok. I've still got a few more to go, including Dave's story.

[Jordan]

Surprised again! The fourth story is also about Dave! So much for saving him for the end. Lol. :-D

[Johanna]

Jordan wrote: "Surprised again! The fourth story is also about Dave! So much for saving him for the end. Lol. :-D"

So the stories about Dave are different than in the Brandstetter series? I just now realized I probably haven't read Brandstetter and Other Stories. If so... "Yay!" :-)

[Johanna]

When I clicked myself in the group right now, this What else are you reading topic showed that it has 13841 new posts in it. Ha! My first thought: These guys must have found something prettt-ttty interesting to read and discuss about... I mean, we're a talkative bunch, but... :-D

[Antonella]

Johanna wrote: "When I clicked myself in the group right now, this What else are you reading topic showed that it has 13841 new posts in it. Ha!..."

Yes, I noticed it. And just before GR wasn't functioning, so I thought these two facts were connected...

[Antonella]

Johanna wrote: "I just now realized I probably haven't read Brandstetter and Other Stories. If so... "Yay!" :-)"

One of the many books which are waiting for me. At least I bought this only one year ago...

[Anne]

Antonella wrote: "Johanna wrote: "When I clicked myself in the group right now, this What else are you reading topic showed that it has 13841 new posts in it. Ha!..."

Yes, I noticed it. And just before GR wasn't fu..."

And the General news topic has almost 4500 new posts :)

[Jordan]

Johanna wrote: "Jordan wrote: "Surprised again! The fourth story is also about Dave! So much for saving him for the end. Lol. :-D"

So the stories about Dave are different than in the Brandstetter series? I just n..."

Yes! These are short murder mysteries!

[Jordan]

Johanna wrote: "When I clicked myself in the group right now, this What else are you reading topic showed that it has 13841 new posts in it. Ha! My first thought: These guys must have found something prettt-ttty i..."

Mine did that too! So odd.

[Jordan]

Actually, this is not going to be helpful to anyone. I just moved to a new computer, and it still says all the posts in this thread, including the two I just made, are new. *facepalm*

[Antonella]

Anne wrote: "And the General news topic has almost 4500 new posts :)"

The situation is getting worse then: this happened to me only after you mentioned it ;-). Before the only new stuff were the 13800 new comments in ''What else are you reading''.

To be on topic: I spent the whole Saturday reading (heaven) and I finished it yesterday, wow!

[Jordan]

Antonella wrote: "Anne wrote: "And the General news topic has almost 4500 new posts :)"

The situation is getting worse then: this happened to me only after you mentioned it ;-). Before the only new stuff were the 1..."

Ooooh, yes, that's a good book for sure!

[Ame]

I just finished Oversight and it was really hard not to make a paralell comparison to Trump presidency. Especially when Santino dedicates this book to everyone that resists.

[Antonella]

by Elin Gregory is out:
http://www.smashwords.com/books/view/...
http://www.amazon.com/Bones-Our-Fathe...

Here she is guest author chez Charlie Cochrane:
http://charliecochrane.wordpress.com/...

[Jordan]

Just got an uncorrected proof copy of David Bowie Made Me Gay: 100 Years of LGBT Music, which looks really interesting. Won't be able to read it for a long while though, but I'm looking forward to it!

[Jordan]

OMG, guys! Check out this amazing list of LGBTQ+ Fantasy and sci-fi books!!!

https://theillustratedpage.wordpress....

[Antonella]

Jordan wrote: "OMG, guys! Check out this amazing list of LGBTQ+ Fantasy and sci-fi books!!!

https://theillustratedpage.wordpress......."

That's great, thank you very much!

[Jordan]

Antonella wrote: "Jordan wrote: "OMG, guys! Check out this amazing list of LGBTQ+ Fantasy and sci-fi books!!!

https://theillustratedpage.wordpress......."

You're welcome!

[Jordan]

Ok, I've finished Brandstetter and Other Stories. It was good! But I only really enjoyed three of the five stories. Oh well.

[Jordan]

I take it Blind Side isn't coming out for awhile? I think the release date just got pushed back. I'd assumed we'd be reading that this month and didn't organize a BOM. if anyone still wants to do a BOM this month, though we're very late, we can start nominations ASAP in the nomination thread until Friday and have a poll up over the weekend. Thoughts?

[Antonella]

Yesterday I've read a cute trans short story: My Name is Sully.