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What Else Are You Reading?
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What else are you reading? - October 2015
Rob wrote: "I finished listening to River of Blue Fire. I didn't enjoy it as much as the first book, but I definitely plan to continue the series at some point soon.Yeah, the middle books definitely have middle-book problems. I liked #3 better than #2 but 1 and 4 were best. And there were parts of 4 that weren't strictly needed. I still really enjoyed the series (the book, since they just took it and divided it into 4 chunks, I think), though. A great ride.
Mod
Yeah, the middle ..."
Good to know. Thanks.
Finished The Traitor Baru Cormorant in a few days because I had to know what was happening and it was written in a straight forward and easy to read style. Well, easy to read except for the fantasy names, the pronunciation pattern of which escaped me, but that was an insignificant thing.Started Empire Ascendant and having trouble remembering which of the enormous cast of characters is which.
Less insignificant if you ever have to read it out loud!:-p
Finished Quantum: Einstein, Bohr and the Great Debate About the Nature of Reality as well as a re-read of Bradbury's The October Country because, well, 'tis the season. Followed that with Dead Leaves: 8 Tales from the Witching Season; now reading Necroscope.Also finished listening to my commute book, the Modern Scholar lecture series Principles Of Economics: Business, Banking, Finance, And Your Everyday Life; now listening to Heaven or Heresy: A History of the Inquisition.
I've recently finished The Aeronaut's Windlass by Jim Butcher (my review) and Shadows of Self by Brandon Sanderson (my review). And reread The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams (my review)Now, I've just started Time Salvager by Wesley Chu.
For work, I'm reading Two Boys Kissing by David Levithan. For leisure, I'm reading a self-care zine I bought at GeekGirlCon 2015.
Trudging through Mere Mortals the second book in the Star Trek: Destiny trilogy.So many characters from nearly every Star Trek series.
Read The Aeronaut's Windlass, strongest opening Butcher book, 4/5 and a very strong 4 at that, I expect many 5s from this series. I guess my main problem was I never really felt the action rise, and it's very much the first book in a series where it reads more like a prologue to a longer series then a single entry.Almost done with Shadows of Self, it's not as good as Alloy of Law it's still solid, I'm probably leaning on very weak 4/5 right now. That being said it's still quite good but a bit of a disappointment considering how much I liked Alloy of Law.
Just grabbed Raising Caine, if it's anything like the last two it should be great, in a weird sci-fi written in the 50s-60s but it's actually brand new kind of way.
Still blitzing through random webnovels, I guess I'll give a shoutout to Mother of Learning https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/2...
Groundhogs day(err month) but in stereotypical fantasy land is pretty cool.
Trying out 2312 which feels quite odd, a bit like classic John Brunner, updated. Finished Neal Asher's Dark Intelligence last week and it's classic Polity stuff from him which I like. Next up is something non-genre, either Arctic Dreams or The Name of the Rose.
Read The Empress Game. Gladiator princesses! My Review.Read Supersymmetry. More fun with quantum physics. My Review.
Read Trigger Warning: Short Fictions and Disturbances. It's Neil Gaiman. My Review.
Currently rereading The Broken Kingdoms.
Perhaps I ought to get on with Empire Ascendant before Mirror fades from memory.
I picked Cibola Burn back up after lemming it in December of last year (quite a long break, I know). I ended up liking it. Turns out I quit right before it got good. No regrets, though. Glad I took that break. Here's my review. https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...Next I'm going to read the Expanse novellas.
Olivia wrote: "Right now I'm reading Manifold: Time by Stephen Baxter. So far it has been excellent."Good to hear. That book's been sitting on my shelf, and I've been eyeing it. 'Might read that next :-)
I read The Aeronaut's Windlass, which was a lot of fun - and a nice change of pace from the Dresden books I was catching up on...While Changes was great, I hate to say it but I was getting a little sick of Dresden by Ghost Story.After TAW I read Shadows of Self, which I ended up not liking and was pretty annoyed with. Maybe I am souring on Sanderson. I am not liking any of his main characters lately. Everything feels too preachy and heavy handed. No complexity to the characters (or just stereotypical character archetype complexity) Wayne is the book's only saving grace.
"Spectacles are like hats for smart people!"
Comic book-wise i read a few more volumes of GTO and Attack on Titan. I've got a hold on Saga Vol 5 at the library I am hoping will come through soon.
Up next I am starting Old Man's War, then will go back and read The Riyria Chronicles in preparation for The Death of Dulgath that I backed on Kickstarter.
Finished Ancillary Mercy, which was an excellent conclusion to an excellent trilogy, and started Orlando Furioso by Ludovico Ariosto (in the Oxford World Classics prose translation by Guido Waldman), just for the sake of moving to something completely different.We'll see whether I actually get to the end or not.
Here is my review of 2nd book in discworld series.Here my review of 3rd book in Hitchhiker's guide to galaxy.
Just started Bad Astronomy by Phil Plait. So far we've covered such myths as balancing an egg at the equinox, lightyears as measure of time, and the Dark Side of the Moon.
Elizabeth wrote: "Joseph wrote: "Finished Ancillary Mercy, which was an excellent conclusion to an excellent trilogy, and started Orlando Furioso by Ludovico Ariosto (in t..."Well, I'm about 15 pages in and so far we've had a ghost, a female knight knocking dudes about, and a flying horse, so so far, so good.
I finished my re-read of David Eddings' Elenium series the other day and it was so much fun. I know Eddings was very against his books being adapted as films but I think the Elenium and Tamuli series would make for great tv shows. I'm now reading The Turquoise Ledge, a memoir from author Leslie Marmon Silko. She's is one of my favorite authors since I discovered her novel Ceremony in high school.
I finished Never Let Me Go, excellent book - tried to watch the movie, but ugh, boring.Next I dove into the Witcher series - The Last Wish, Sword of Destiny, Blood of Elves - really liking the series.
Took a break from the Witcher stuff to re-read The Human Division and now I'm reading The End of All Things.
Woah, haven't been on here for ages. I'm reading Prince of Fools by Mark Lawrence, and enjoying it as a diversion away from my college work.Other books read so far this month:
Caliban's War - James SA Corey
Flash Boys: A Wall Street Revolt - Michael Lewis
Gust Front - John Ringo
The Last Kingdom - Bernard Cornwell
The Queen of the Tearling - Erika Johansen
Wool - Hugh Howey
Abaddon's Gate - James SA Corey
Gonna have to give Scalzi a go. 'Been meaning to for years, ever since I heard him talk on a panel at a Melbourne sci-fi convention. I hear good things about his stories.
Just finished Flood by Stephen Baxter. Man, that was depressing. But fascinating in a "can't look away from the ongoing train wreck" kind of way. The basic premise seems a bit of a stretch, but once I got past that, it was a really interesting picture of the Earth gradually swallowed up in water, and a very intriguing insight at the end. Meanwhile I think I'll go read 1984 and cheer myself up.
I'm 80 pages into Soldier of Sidon by Gene Wolfe. I've heard the Latro books are just as good as the The Book of the New Sun and The Book of Long Sun series.
Picked up the first Jim Butcher book. I generally find the "murder mystery" to be a silly plot device and am not a fan of noir either. So it is a testament to Butcher's skill that I am loving this book.It's a library borrow and has six books in the download. Offhand I think I probably won't finish all six in the two weeks allotted. But it's old enough that I can just keep renewing, since there's no one likely to put it on a request.
I read Old Man's War. It was short, sweet, and awesome. Looking forward to continuing the series.I was walking through San Francisco this weekend and there was a little take a book, leave a book shelf on the street corner with 10 or so books on it. One of them was Midnight Tides, which I started earlier this summer and then stalled on (great book, just stalled while getting used to yet aother new cast of characters) - so I grabbed it. I gotta say being able to flip through print books to jump to the map in the front and the list of characters is quite convenient. One day they will invent my kindle with a scroll wheel to rapidly flip pages :)
In audio I am starting The Crown Tower on my way to work tomorrow.
Almost catched up with the Dresden Files, a bit sad about that, now listening to Cold Days and loving it. Continuing my re-read of the malazans, at The Bonehunters right now, so nice to remember all the people I loved the first time i read through these.
Sky wrote: " One day they will invent my kindle with a scroll wheel to rapidly flip pages :) "Random thought, couldn't you use the bookmark feature to do that? Bookmark the map, then when you want to go back, bookmark your current location. Flip to the map, then back to where you were reading.
John (Taloni) wrote: "Sky wrote: " One day they will invent my kindle with a scroll wheel to rapidly flip pages :) "Random thought, couldn't you use the bookmark feature to do that? Bookmark the map, then when you wan..."
Yeah, i do do that, but it still requires several taps. If I could scroll through bookmarks with a hardware button, it would be better (or flip through pages to quickly browse a book).
Usually I end up loading up the book in Kindle Reader for PC and printing out the maps / character lists, or just loading them up on on of my other kindles for quick reference.
Not SF/F, but I just finished The League Of The Scarlet Pimpernel. It is a collection of short stories. I enjoyed them even more than the novels. My enjoyment of these stores, novels and short stories, comes from the various ways the Scarlet Pimpernel outsmarts his foes. Character development or historical veracity is very secondary. The short stories gave me plenty of escape plots without distractions. Not great literature, or even great writing, just enjoyable quick reads. That's not bad.
The true solution is to tattoo all the Malazan maps on your body. You must commit to this series.
Stephen wrote: "The true solution is to tattoo all the Malazan maps on your body. You must commit to this series."Preferably on the inside of your eyelids. Then, when you need to reference the maps, just close your eyes and shine a halogen bulb at your head.
Started two: The House of Morgan: An American Banking Dynasty and the Rise of Modern Finance and The Very Best of Charles de Lint.
I'm reading the Alias Alias, Vol. 1 comic by Brian Michael Bendis to prepare myself for the Jessica Jones series. It might be the best comic I've ever read.
I started Royal Assassin, the second book in the Farseer trilogy, the other day. It's been a couple years since I read the first book but I read the plot synopsis on Wikipedia to remind myself what happened. For the most part*, I really enjoy returning to the six Duchies.*My only issue is that I don't really care for Robin Hobb's prose. For me, it's like the style of the telling doesn't quite fit the story being told, if that makes any sense at all.
LA County Library really outdid themselves this time. Today I picked up David Weber's Hell's Foundations Quiver after getting it transferred from another library. It only came out October 13th!
Finished Heir to the Empire by Timothy Zahn, the first and I'm told best of the Star Wars Expanded Universe books. It was actually quite good and the characters stayed true to their movie counterparts.Starting The Traitor Baru Cormorant.
Reread The Broken Kingdoms. Still my favorite book of this series. My Review.Read Kraken. Amazing language. Horrible novel. My Review.
Read Children of Time. Makes you care about a race of uplifted spiders and does it very well. My Review.
Currently reading Sunset Mantle.
Dharmakirti wrote: "*My only issue is that I don't really care for Robin Hobb's prose. For me, it's like the style of the telling doesn't quite fit the story being told, if that makes any sense at all."I know exactly what you mean. I'm stalled half way through the third book of the Live Ship Traders trilogy. Love the story, world building and characters but somehow Hobb's writing doesn't match up to the promise.
AndrewP wrote: "Dharmakirti wrote: "*My only issue is that I don't really care for Robin Hobb's prose. For me, it's like the style of the telling doesn't quite fit the story being told, if that makes any sense at ..."Heh, for me, everytime I open up a new Robin Hobb book I feel as if the writing settles around me like a comfortable blanket. I really like it. It's one of the many reasons she's one of my favourite authors.
Currently going through Joel Shepherd's Renegade: The Spiral Wars. Military sci-fi with a hefty dose of socio-political themes and ancient alien mysteries, as it should be done. Shepherd is my favourite author that noone has ever heard of.
Hobb's prose is what kept me going through the worst parts of the Farseer trilogy. I've never heard someone say they didn't like her prose before but not every book or author is for every person.
Kevin wrote: "Currently going through Joel Shepherd's Renegade: The Spiral Wars. Military sci-fi with a hefty dose of socio-political themes and ancient alien mysteries, as it sho..."This is high on my to-read list as well. Loved his Cassandra Kresnov books and the Sasha series is brilliant political fantasy.
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The Sword and Laser
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I also listened to Shadows of Self. I thought it was good, but not great. (My Review)
My progress in text continues to be slow, but I did read Saga, Volume 5 and wrote up a few words, but really there isn't much to be said about Saga at this point apart from that it's excellent and you should read it. (My Review)