What Else Are You Reading - March 2016

[Rob, Roberator]

Rick wrote: "".."

This is my last post on this, because you seem determined to argue with me, when I think we have similar opinions on technology, but different tastes on what we like.

I don't refuse to use Apple products, just buy them. They work for a lot of people, but frustrate me normally. I'm sure I could get used to them if I used them more, but I'm happy with what Ib use instead.

I don't see how make me religious about it. Shouldn't I get to decide how to spend my money?

[Jenny (Reading Envy)]

Rick wrote: ""... your dislike of Jobs is based not on the man or his actions but on the misapprehensions of the uninformed? Yeah, that's reasonable.
."
I feel like you've made your point and this isn't the thread for this debate. Moving on.

I am back to reading The Fifth Season.

[Tassie Dave, S&L Historian]

Finished A Darker Shade of Magic. I liked it enough to go straight on to the sequel A Gathering of Shadows. Both are fun reads.

I will read the alternate pick The Fifth Season and a selection of the other March Madness books for April.

[Kristina]

So I finished Miss Peregrine's Home For Peculiar Children. I wanted to read it because it's becoming a movie and several of my friends loved it.. but I found it really slow and the characters rather uninteresting. The pictures that go along with the story are really cool, but that's about it... I even then jumped into book 2 (Hallow City) because I already had it and hoped it got better.. but at about 25%, I'm still bored. So idk .. the reviews for those books are really good too.. but I'm just not enjoying them. I put Hallow City down to start A Darker Shade of Magic and I like it soooo much better so far. I don't know if I'll go back to it ....

[GaiusPrimus]

Nothing related to what I'm reading, but I'll jump on the thread of Apple vs. Android.

I used to own a Blackberry Pearl, Bold, Iphone 4S (jailbroken and non), Note 3 and now a Note 4.

I own an iPad and an iPad mini.

I also own both a windows desktop, a macbook, an iMac (wife) and an android raspberry pi.

Can't we all just agree that everyone is different, people have different uses for their technology and not everyone will be the same?

I personally have an issue with a company telling me how I can use the devices I own. I didn't lease them and am not expected to return it in mint condition at the end of the their use.

Secondly, design aesthetics. I'll be the first one to say that the iOS line looks nice. How Apple engineers get everything to line up, be centered and what not. Then everyone and their mother throws a case on it, so does it really matter that much? Oh yeah, the case has a cutout to show the Apple logo in the back, because status is important.

Thirdly, in regards to my computing use, I use my mac for convenience use since it's a laptop, but anything that I really need some computing power for, I use my windows machine, which has been upgraded multiple times in the last 10 years I've owned it for a fraction of the cost of a new macbook.

[AndrewP]

John (Taloni) wrote: "FWIW I read almost exclusively on the kindle app on my iPad mini. I used to use a kindle fire but the experience is better on the iPad mini. That is, Apple beat Amazon at their own game."

I went the other way. I lost interest in my iPad way back when Apple decided to ban in-app purchases from the Kindle App. If you bought the Fire a month or so back it was on sale for $39, only a 7th the cost of an iPad mini!
Anyhow, once you switch to a Paperwhite, all tablets are off the table :)

[Rick]

... and this why I hate the discussion about OS or hardware. No one cares what we all use. Your use isn't mine, mine isn't yours. Use what you like but let's drop posting about it as it's wildly de-raily.

On topic - finished The Midnight Mayor, a good read. Slightly too long but still fun. Still reading A Borrowed Man.

[Sky]

Rick wrote: "... and this why I hate the discussion about OS or hardware. No one cares what we all use. Your use isn't mine, mine isn't yours. Use what you like but let's drop posting about it as it's wildly de..."

Gee, how magnanimous of you.

[AndrewP]

Just finished the Heralds of Valdemar trilogy by Mercedes Lackey. We read Arrows of the Queen as group pick and I picked up the complete trilogy in one volume.

Just wondering of anyone else read all 3? They left me totally confused as to the target market. Quite a bit seemed to be aimed at teenage girls, then a few parts were very adult in content. In the end I think I would have a hard time finding anyone I could recommend these to.

[Rick]

Sky wrote: "Gee, how magnanimous of you..."
Didn't mean it condescendingly, but it's a useless, circular discussion that tends to breed content-fee snark like your reply which add nothing to the discussion. I could outline why I dislike Windows and use OS X but does anyone care? Very likely not.

It's also.. OFF TOPIC.

[John (Taloni)]

AndrewP wrote: "Just finished the Heralds of Valdemar trilogy by Mercedes Lackey. We read Arrows of the Queen as group pick and I picked up the complete trilogy in one volume.

Just wondering of anyo..."

I read all three. They seemed very reminiscent of Pern, with the telepathic horses standing in for the telepathic dragons, and the hall standing in for the Weyrs, with similar hidebound traditions outside of it.

I would say you could recommend it to people who like Pern (if they don't already know about it) and also people who like horse-and-sword fantasies.

[Nadine]

I'm nearly done with Six of Crows & am really enjoying it.

[Carolyn F.]

I finished , liked it. I also finished which I loved.

I'm now reading

I'm also listening to which is so good so far.

[Michele]

AndrewP wrote: "Just finished the Heralds of Valdemar trilogy by Mercedes Lackey. We read Arrows of the Queen as group pick and I picked up the complete trilogy in one volume.

Just wondering of anyo..."

I've read about 20 or so of Mercedes Lackey's Valdemar books (many of them multiple times) and I'd say they are squarely in the teenager market, though they're still readable for adults (their main problem is they become repetitive after a few trilogies).

I guess I have no clue about today's teenagers though - maybe they are so protected and clueless these books would damage their poor little teen brains? Probably more likely, their parents are the clueless ones.

I mean, really - weren't most of us reading Stephen King and Michael Crichton and Danielle Steele or whatever, as teenagers? Maybe we also were reading Sweet Valley High or Goosebumps, but jeeze. Didn't you start reading adult books the moment you realized your parents weren't paying attention to what you were reading (or they even encouraged you to read whatever caught your fancy)?

Of course when I was a teen back in the late 80s, there was no real YA section, or just a few shelves in the kids area that were for older kids. I stopped browsing in that area at 13. I read Lonesome Dove at 14, and a bunch of Heinlein (not the juveniles), and Thomas Covenant and Interview with the Vampire and anything else I could get my hands on.

I'm sorry, I went off on a rant :)

[Michele]

This month I've read...

All the Birds in the Sky

Vampire Kisses - YA, fun little urban fantasy, nothing like I was expecting

Booked To Die, The Bookman's Wake, The Bookman's Promise - regular mysteries. If you are interested in books as collectibles or just good mysteries, check them out.

Garden Spells and First Frost. I don't know how to class these - a bit of romance, a bit of family saga, a bit of magic. Very nice stories.

Chase the Dark, another YA urban fantasy, this one was more predictable but I liked the choices for the supernatural.

Just finished The Darwin Elevator and moved right on to the 2nd in the series The Exodus Towers. These are very action based SF popcorn. Not the best stuff, but fun and fast reads.

[David]

Currently, I am reading Warrior: book #2 of the Legacy Fleet Series. I am very eager to read Nemesis Games by Corey, and it's next in line. I don't know where I will go from there.

[[deleted user]]

Reading comics from the Aspen Humble Bundle. Finished Homecoming and the The Four Points. Homecoming feels like a movie adaptation but I didn't find it on IMDB. Looking forward to starting the Michael Turner stories. Aspen Extended Edition is next.

Well, if I'm not using my MicroVAX, I like BE/OS on my BeBox.

[Ju]

I started and finished Every Heart a Doorway and it was *magnificent* go get this novella, it's absolutely gorgeous and creepy in just the best way.

[John (Taloni)]

Recently, a bunch of Discworld. Thief of Time, The Wee Free Men, Monstrous Regiment, and A Hat Full of Sky. Not loving the Tiffany Aching stuff but I'm a completist and they aren't bad.

I'm generally a big fan of the City Watch / Sam Vimes books and enjoyed the Thief of Time story. But at the same time, the usual sardonic commentary was gone due to the heaviness of the subject matter. I understand why Pratchett did that, but I did miss the laughs I usually associate with Discworld.

Now reading Thud!, after which I intend to wander off into some Jim Butcher shorts, the Bigfoot stories and Side Jobs.

[Joseph]

Finished El Borak and Other Desert Adventures and am about to start A Darker Shade of Magic by V.E. Schwab.

[Sumant]

Here is my re-read review of The Great Hunt 2nd book in WOT series.

[AndrewP]

One day early but I got started on A Darker Shade of Magic. Also just started the ultimate LEM book .. Memoirs Found in a Bathtub

[[deleted user]]

The Angel, Buffy, Spike books from Humble Bundle got me sidetracked from the Aspen books. Read the Riley and Willow one-shots last night. The Riley story was good until the last page. It ties into a larger story, so I hadn't a clue what the mark on his chest meant. Still, the interaction between Riley and Sam was nicely done. The unexpected type of silo was also a nice twist.

So many comics in such a short time.

My Gopher browser opens to the Jughead search engine. And my WAIS server opens to the Directory of Servers. My Lynx browser opens to Lycos. (To add to the favorite tech debate)