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What Else Are You Reading?
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What else are you reading - September 2015
I gave up trying to do Midnight Tides in audio and went back to print. I am slowly making my way through it and am picking up way more than when I was doing audio.Since Halloween is approaching and i needed something good for audio (Hello Jim Marsters!) I am working my way through more Dresden Files. I finished Turn Coat last night.
Reading Dark Beyond the Stars So far, meh. Not sure I get all the raving 5-star reviews. Only 1 of the 4 stories I read so far was really good.
Since last update I've -Lemmed The Windup Girl, just didn't grab me in any way.
Read Star of the Morning, The Mage's Daughter, Princess of the Sword - really nice fantasy trilogy that is marketed like romance, but just reads like a solid fantasy story (with some romance, yes) - liked these a lot.
Re-read both Rendezvous with Rama and Titan because I wanted to compare them - I still enjoyed Titan more, but Rama was better than I remembered. (Titan's more adventurous, so more fun to read for me).
Now I'm reading Bill The Vampire - picked it up cheap on Kindle because it sounded fun. Wow, is this garbage - the main character (every character actually) is just a horrible cliché of "geek jerk" and there's a stripper "b*tch" (seriously, he calls her that constantly), and a bunch of other really irritating assholes. I can't stop reading this train wreck lol. I just can't even...if you want a taste try a sample - it's awful right from page one :)
Finished Half the World by Joe Abercrombie on audio ReviewContinuing on with the final book in the trilogy also on audio Half a War
Michele wrote: "Since last update I've -Lemmed The Windup Girl, just didn't grab me in any way.
Read Star of the Morning, The Mage's Daughter, [book:Princess of the Sw..."
You might be the third or fourth person in a row who said Windup Girl didn't do anything for them. I was gonna check it out because of all the "critical acclaim", but maybe I'll pass.
Ronald wrote: "Michele wrote: "Since last update I've -Lemmed The Windup Girl, just didn't grab me in any way.
Read Star of the Morning, The Mage's Daughter, [book:Pr..."
Well, I probably didn't give it a fair chance (only a couple chapters) - the first POV character was (to me) an uninteresting jerk, doing some fairly uninteresting stuff, in a confusing near future. I'm a character reader - so this one lost me fast. I just didn't like the POV character enough to follow him along until it got interesting.
I've been told there are better characters farther in to the book. I might give it another shot someday.
Here is my review of Look to windward, 7th book in The culture series. Really enjoyed this book, one of the best books in culture series.
Ronald wrote: "You might be the third or fourth person in a row who said Windup Girl didn't do anything for them. I was gonna check it out because of all the "critical acclaim", but maybe I'll pass. "I liked it because I had never seen anything like it before, between the post-climate-change future with the springs and the biotech, and the setting. I just wish they had spent less time with expatriot guy, whose name I don't even remember.
Giving up on 1Q84. I know a lot of people love this book but for me it just didn't work on any level. I found the plot uninteresting, the characters, except for Tengo, unlikeable and unbelievable and the dialog stilted. In my mind it sounded like bad dubbing in a foreign film, particularly when the Dowager was speaking.I also found the level of detail way over the top. ie. "He put his cigarette down on the ashtray and rubbed his nose with the middle finger of his right hand." Unless the ashtray was later used to bludgeon someone or the finger turned out to be evil I would have been fine with "He rubbed his nose." It's ironic that later the same character tells Tengo "People reading fiction aren't interested in ordinary things that they see every day. They'd rather read about unusual things."
This is the first book I'm giving one star since I read Memoirs Found in a Bathtub 2 years ago and the first I've lemmed in over 15 years.
For some mental palate cleansing I'm starting my annual Heinlein reread. This year it's Expanded Universe.
Read Karen Memory. Best steampunk I've read. My Review.Read The Shepherd's Crown. All the feelings. My Review.
Read Sorcerer to the Crown. Long and dull with occasional funny bits. My Review.
Currently reading Superposition. (It's not good when the sequel comes out to a book you've had on your to-read list since it came out).
I tried reading The Well of Ascension but I just wasn't feeling it, so I put it on the back burner and started The Dragon's Path. So far, I'm liking it.
Joel wrote: "The Wee Free Men by Terry Pratchett"Just finished reading this with my 10 year old daughter. Crivens, but it was good! (Especially as a read-aloud.)
ltux wrote: "Joel wrote: "The Wee Free Men by Terry Pratchett"Just finished reading this with my 10 year old daughter. Crivens, but it was good! (Especially as a read-aloud.)"
Yeah, I really enjoyed it. Terry Pratchett is amazing.
Mod
The Dark Forest (My Review)
A Canticle for Leibowitz (My Review)
But I really enjoyed the latest Abercrombie book: Half a War. Nice finish to the series (My Review).
I finally finished Seveneves! Lots of satisfying granular details and interesting twists.
I finished Reaper Man and went on to Witches Abroad. I'm also reading Ending Time, the fourth instalment in a scifi romance series which (disclaimer) was written by my sister. I found the series fairly enjoyable although I do acknowledge my bias.
I just finished The Girl with All the Gifts and I loved it. Mike Carey brings a lot of humanity to the zombie apocalypse and I am still thinking about the book and the characters almost a week later.
Phil wrote: "Giving up on 1Q84. I know a lot of people love this book but for me it just didn't work on any level. I found the plot uninteresting, the characters, except for Tengo, unlikeable an..."Funny. My brother-in-law talked incessantly about 1Q84. He said is was one of the best books ever written. I tried to read it couldn't get through the fifth chapter. There must be something in the brain that's wired differently in people who like that book. (or in the brains of those of us who hate it)
Reading my second Scalzi: Old Man's War. Pretty excited.
I finished reading Dreamwalker, the first book in C.S. Friedman's new YA series. It was fun. 3 stars. I recently started The Song of Achilles and I'm really liking it. It is the story of the relationship between Achilles and Patroclus, told from the POV of Patroclus. It is a love story.
I have read the first four Conan stories in the collection The Coming of Conan the Cimmerian; The Phoenix on the Sword, The Frost Giant's Daughter, The God in the Bowl and The Tower of the Elephant (my favorite, so far). This is great stuff. This is the firt time I've read anything by Howard. Other than the Dark Horse comic series, Conan: Book of Thoth, I've not read any Conan stories, either. My only experience with the character comes from the films.
Last night, I started Drood by Dan Simmons. I bought this novel a few years ago, right after I finished reading his excellent novel The Terror and I am just now getting around to reading it.
I'm in a reading funk at the moment, not really sure that I'm loving anything I'm reading right now:The Fifth Season is a book I was reading before starting the September book pick. It's been a struggle. I don't think her writing style is for me, though I want very much to like it. Right now it's on hold, effectively.
Armada I had high hopes for before reading reviews. After reading reviews I still decided to read it but the bar was significantly lowered. I'm rolling my eyes a lot. I might give up. It was, at least, very easy to listen to on the plane to and from my summer vacation.
A Canticle for Liebowitz is one that's been on my list to read for ages, so I'm glad it's the September book. I'm intrigued so far but it better start moving soon, I'm almost a third in and still feel like it's all just setup.
And I've got my 2 long-term books still going. Not worth mentioning those again.
Ronald wrote: "Phil wrote: "Giving up on 1Q84. I know a lot of people love this book but for me it just didn't work on any level. I found the plot uninteresting, the characters, except for Tengo, ..."I lemmed it maybe 1/3 of the way through. Maybe it's because I'm left handed! I knew my brain was wired wrong.
listening to the blackstone audio, Fate of Worlds: Return from the Ringworld - by Edward M. Lerner and Larry Niven; narrated by Tom Weiner. got it from the Public Library(overdrive).
Just started Ship of Destiny by Robin Hobb. The third book of the Liveship Traders Trilogy. Wow, something is actually happening in the first 100 pages :)
Joseph wrote: "Starting the third & last of Chris Evans' Iron Elves books, Ashes of a Black Frost."Isn't it crazy that he finds time to write his books even with amidst all this Avenger-mania?
Tommy wrote: "Isn't it crazy that he finds time to write his books even with amidst all this Avenger-mania?":) I'm sure he wouldn't mind if there was a bookkeeping mix-up such that Chris Evans (author) got one of Chris Evans (actor)'s royalty checks ...
So Bill the Vampire was a horrible book and I still don't understand why I didn't throw it across the room (figuratively, as it's an ebook) but I didn't. I guess it's like a ScyFy cheeseball made-for-tv movie. Anyways, I do not recommend it :)Now I'm reading Scott Sigler's trilogy about the triangles - Infected, Contagious, and about halfway through Pandemic. The writing isn't too smooth, but the story is gripping. Or it was for the first two books, I'm struggling a bit with the third, maybe I've just OD'd on the bio-thriller aspect.
Read Superposition. Quantum physics courtroom drama. My Review.Read A Red-Rose Chain. Another excellent entry in one of the best urban fantasy series out there. My Review.
Read The Library at Mount Char. Like American Gods as written by Joe Hill, only better than that implies. Amazing. My Review.
Currently reading Witches of Lychford.
Finished The Moon is a Harsh Mistress by Heinlein. My ranking of the Heinlein Hugo winners: The Moon is a Harsh Mistress, Stranger in a Strange Land, Double Star, Starship Troopers, Farmer in the Sky. I enjoyed them all. But I've had enough 50-60s era scifi. So I'm moving on to Empire in Black and Gold by Adrian Tchaikovsky. Its been on my shelf awhile so I'm finally going to find out if the series is worth it.
Read John Ringo's The Hot Gate, his 3rd installment in the Troy Rising series. Then read the pic of the month, A Canticle for Leibowitz. Since we're in the post-apocalyptic genre, I just started Shift by Hugh Howie.
College football started this weekend. I've got season tickets to Cal and the rest is on tv, so there go my Saturdays. Anywhoo that leaves even less time for reading, so instead of 1-2 books a week I'm down to 1-2 a month.I just finished Changes. It was fantastic. I knew it'd be good just from the mentions of it I've seen in the forums. It ended on such a cliffhanger that I am immediately moving to Ghost Story. I also finished Attack on Titan, Vol. 5. I am still slowly making my way through Midnight Tides. At this rate I'll finish it by Christmas.
Lords and Ladies, book 14 of Diskworld. This is the funniest thing I've read in years. Nanny Ogg getting ready to take a bath and terrifying the neighborhood had me on the floor.
John (Taloni) wrote: "Lords and Ladies, book 14 of Diskworld. This is the funniest thing I've read in years. Nanny Ogg getting ready to take a bath and terrifying the neighborhood had me on the floor."Lords and Ladies might be my favorite Discworld book, depending on the date & time on which you ask me.
Finished Heartless over the weekend and started Half a War. Flying through it and looking forward to Turn Coat next.
I'm currently reading
and nearing the half way point. I am not really fully into it and wondering if I should keep on. What do y'all think?Oh, I'm listening to the audiobook and I am not enjoying the narrator as much as I would have hoped.
Finished Ashes of a Black Frost and started the final Tiffany Aching/Discworld book, The Shepherd's Crown, and is it getting dusty in here? It must be getting dusty.
Adrian wrote: "I'm currently reading and nearing the half way point. I am not really fully into it and wondering if I should keep on. What do y'all think?Oh, I'm listening to..."
It was an S&L pick awhile ago, like a year or two or three. It wasn't my thing but a lot of folks liked it. It seems that the sequels are equally or more well-liked. But if it's not your thing, there's plenty else out there to read....
I'm rolling my eyes through listening to Armada. The only reason I'm finishing is that it's super-light, which is something I seem to need this week.
terpkristin wrote: "I'm rolling my eyes through listening to Armada. The only reason I'm finishing is that it's super-light, which is something I seem to need this week. ..."I liked Armada! It was super light and I felt that it was a lot of fun. I think it gets compared harshly to Ready Player One (whether justly or unjustly) but they both have a similar flavor and Wil Wheaton is great at narrating them both.
Maybe really serious stuff isn't my thing?
Leviathan Wakes has a pretty good ending. Yes, the books can be a slog. This is a trilogy bumped up to nine books because that's the fashion these days.
John (Taloni) wrote: "Leviathan Wakes has a pretty good ending. Yes, the books can be a slog. This is a trilogy bumped up to nine books because that's the fashion these days."Are people enjoying this approach? Or are others perturbed by the extreme lengthiness of it all? I sure hope the narrator starts to improve...
I loved LW and the rest of the series - but then, I was hooked by Miller's character right away. I don't believe in slogging through any book not for school, so quit whenever you feel it's just not for you.IIRC, they planned the series through 9 books right from the start. But they wrote each of the first few with definite endings in case the publisher didn't pick them up for the whole thing.
I love a series that goes on and on - as long as it has a direction that makes sense.
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The Sword and Laser
Books mentioned in this topic
Armada (other topics)Never Let Me Go (other topics)
Contagious (other topics)
The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet (other topics)
Pandemic (other topics)
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Authors mentioned in this topic
Aliette de Bodard (other topics)David G. Hartwell (other topics)
Luke Daniels (other topics)
Jim Butcher (other topics)
Stephen King (other topics)
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I read Half a War on my way to SF, and I'm going to read either Magician: Apprentice that I bought at Borderlands while I was here, or Pyramids for the return trip.
How about you?