What Else Are You Reading - May 2016

[John (Taloni)]

^ Thanks Rob. They are free from the library so no issue getting them if/when I want. Sometimes I run out of stuff I immediately want to read and that would be a good time to mix in #2.

[Rob, Roberator]

I'm actually rereading them in audio with a few people in another group. The audio is excellent. I have a terrible memory though and things kind of blend together. I'm about to start book 4 tomorrow in fact.

[Rob, Roberator]

I finished the Red Rising trilogy, listening to both Golden Son and Morning Star in the last few weeks. I liked each book better than the last, and ended up really enjoying the series, especially in audio.

Golden Son Review
Morning Star Review

I also read Attack on Titan, Vol. 19 via Crunchyroll. I enjoyed it, but considering it was supposed to end at 20 volumes, it seems to be moving too slow (My Review).

[John (Nevets)]

Interesting Rob. I started Red Rising over a year ago, but it didn't grab me. I meant to go back, but have not yet. Your statement that it gets better as it goes on, may make me continue. I also just realized that this could be an interesting nomination for a Hugo next year, since the series as a whole could be nominated, since neither RR or GS made the short list in there respective years.

[Rob, Roberator]

I didn't like the first third of book 1 and the first tenth of book 2, but I really liked the rest.

[Joseph]

Finished Mona Lisa Overdrive and am starting something completely different: Camber of Culdi by Katherine Kurtz.

[Charles]

Just finished Every Heart a Doorway by Seanan McGuire. It was a good read but a little short. It was like the author was trying to wrap things up. I'm not sure if it was a YA book or not. The content wasn't YA but the length of the story makes me feel like it was.

[Viola]

Currently reading Doomsday Book and the only problem I have is with the name Kivrin. How the heck do you pronounce that?

This is the third book I read by this author and I liked the other two so I hope this won't be a disappointment.

[Sean]

Rob wrote: "I also read Attack on Titan, Vol. 19 via Crunchyroll. I enjoyed it, but considering it was supposed to end at 20 volumes, it seems to be moving too slow (My Review)."

20 volumes was the author's estimate early in the series. He's revised it to 20-ish. The most recent chapters certainly look like we're in the final or at least penultimate arc.

[Rob, Roberator]

Sean wrote: "20 volumes was the author's estimate early in the series. He's revised it to 20-ish. The most recent chapters certainly look like we're in the final or at least penultimate arc.
"

OK. Thanks. I couldn't find any real updates, but didn't go digging too deep for fear of spoilers.

I've been avoiding the last few chapters for now because I prefer to sort of read them in trade form, even if I'm reading them 1 at a time electronically.

[Teadragon]

I've just finished devouring the Expanse books that are already out. Now, I wait. Currently reading Children of Earth and Sky by Guy Gavriel Kay, and Uprooted by Naomi Novik.

[Michele]

Viola wrote: "Currently reading Doomsday Book and the only problem I have is with the name Kivrin. How the heck do you pronounce that?

This is the third book I read by this author and I liked the o..."

Ah, Doomsday Book will tear your heart - serious feels!!

And just like it looks Kiv - rin ("i" like in pit, in both syllables) - at least in the audiobook and in my head :)

[Trike]

John (Nevets) wrote: "Interesting Rob. I started Red Rising over a year ago, but it didn't grab me. I meant to go back, but have not yet. Your statement that it gets better as it goes on, may make me con..."

I kind of like Red Rising and I think it's well-written, but I've been trying to read it for nearly two years now. I can't put my finger on it. Weird.

[Jenny (Reading Envy)]

I started The Book of Phoenix by Nnedi Okorafor. It's a prequel to Who Fears Death (which I loved). It is on the shortlist for the Arthur C. Clarke award.

[Ctgt]

About 2/3 through Children of Earth and Sky and am really enjoying the book.

[Nathan]

Sharp Ends by Joe Abercrombie. It was wonderful. The ending piece with the Bloody Nine and Bethod was particularly good and needed given Nine Fingers place in the books and it continues Abercombie's trend: The main characters in his books might not be the people you should root for.

Other than that it has 2 mostly new, characters which reoccur in a few of the stories who are interesting.

There is also a piece that is about 7 years after Best Served Cold which was enlightening.

[[deleted user]]

With baseball season here again, I'm taking a break from speculative fiction to read Pitching in a Pinch: or Baseball from the Inside by Christy Mathewson one of the greats from the turn of the last century.

[Chris]

John (Taloni) wrote: "Reading the first book of the Wheel of Time series.

While I appreciate the world building, the book moves so slowly that I don't know if I'll continue..."


I'm at the same point with the first book in the Cinder Spires series. 100% world building at the expense of zero character development, which is making it difficult to become invested.

[Joseph]

Finished Camber of Culdi and immediately started Saint Camber.

[Trike]

Joseph wrote: "Finished Camber of Culdi and immediately started Saint Camber."

Those are so good.

[Joseph]

Trike wrote: "Joseph wrote: "Finished Camber of Culdi and immediately started Saint Camber."

Those are so good."

First time I've read them in probably 30 years and they're holding up very well.

[Rob, Roberator]

I finished The Burning Land. Another enjoyable read (My Review).

[Trike]

I started Zero Sum Game, which has a great opening scene... and then falls off a cliff.

Set it aside for Orphan X, a thriller in the vein of Jack Reacher or Jason Bourne. It's fast and fun.

[Ctgt]

Trike wrote: "I started Zero Sum Game, which has a great opening scene... and then falls off a cliff.

Set it aside for Orphan X, a thriller in the vein of Jack Reacher or Jason B..."

I finished Orphan X a couple of weeks ago and enjoyed it. Like you said, fast moving with some twists. Good change of pace book.

[Rick]

Last First Snow which had a price drop to $4.99 recently. Love this series.

[Walter]

After working my way through my various club reads, I'm now reading Liar's Poker, Michael Lewis's memoir about working for Salomon Brothers during the eighties. Two of his other books have been made into movies: Moneyball: The Art of Winning an Unfair Game, which I've both seen and read, and The Big Short: Inside the Doomsday Machine, which I've seen, but not yet read.

The cinematic version of The Big Short is excellent, and I highly recommend watching it to anyone who wants a better understanding of the 2008 banking crisis, what happened, and how our national economy (and perhaps even the world's) was almost upended. After the film, I wanted to read the book (which was already on my Goodreads To Read list), but it was recommended to me to read Liar's Poker first, as it sets the stage for the crimes and chaos to come.

[[deleted user]]

Not speculative fiction but still looking for suggestions. Any suggestions for good Westerns? I've enjoyed Cowboy Bebop, Vol. 1 and Serenity but never bumped into a great Western. I don't want the 100 Westerns you must read, ain't going to happen.

Still, I thought I didn't care for horror, other than Lovecraft, and then found The House on the Borderland and Lair of the White Worm. Oh, and Coraline.

So, can anyone who mostly likes S&L care to recommend 1 or 2 outstanding Westerns?

After I finish, Pitching in a Pinch: or Baseball from the Inside I'm going to give The Story of Doctor Dolittle a try.

[Joseph]

How about westerns from an SF writer? Richard Matheson's Journal of the Gun Years and The Gunfight. (Matheson also wrote I Am Legend, amongst many, many others.)

[Tassie Dave, S&L Historian]

David wrote: "Not speculative fiction but still looking for suggestions. Any suggestions for good Westerns? I've enjoyed Cowboy Bebop, Vol. 1 and Serenity but never bumped into a great Western."

How about a fantasy western. I really enjoyed Joe Abercrombie's Red Country

If you have read the First Law trilogy, it is in the same world as that series. It is JA's take on the western genre.

It is a stand-alone story.

[Keith]

Just started in on the Fantomas books with the first (seemed to make sense to start there).

[[deleted user]]

Joseph wrote: "How about westerns from an SF writer? Richard Matheson's [book:Journal ..."

Thanks, this is just the kind of recommendation I was looking for. A real Western that is exceptional. Top of the TBR list.

[Misti]

I put Red Rising on hold to read Aurora. Then ended up lemming Red Rising because I've never read a lead character that I wanted to punch in the face so much. So now I'm trying to read Order 66:, and I'm having a difficult time getting into it because I know it's no longer cannon. I hate the thought of lemming two books in a row. What is wrong with me? I think Aurora broke me, lol.

[Fried]

Between april and may I've been reading the Mistborn trilogy:
Mistborn: The Final Empire
The Well of Ascension
The Hero of Ages
The first one ends with what it seems like a deux ex machina but at the end of the trilogy, it all makes sense. I enjoyed them a lot. They are long novels but the writing was so fluid I felt like they were way more shorter. Action, drama, philosophical and religious debate, a lot of different themes.

On one side, it's sad that the second trilogy hasn't been published in my language, but on the other, this one ends so beautifully that I'm not really sure I wanna give the author a chance to dissapoint me :P

[Michele]

David wrote: "Not speculative fiction but still looking for suggestions. Any suggestions for good Westerns? I've enjoyed Cowboy Bebop, Vol. 1 and Serenity but never bumped into a great Western. I d..."


I'm not a big fan of westerns so when I say you should read both Lonesome Dove and Little Big Man I'm recommending them as awesome books that just happen to be westerns.

[Phil]

Looks like Updraft by Fran Wilde is our June club pick.

[Misti]

Phil wrote: "Looks like Updraft by Fran Wilde is our June club pick."

Oooh! I've been wanting to read this book!

[Mark]

David wrote: "Not speculative fiction but still looking for suggestions. Any suggestions for good Westerns? I've enjoyed Cowboy Bebop, Vol. 1 and Serenity but never bumped into a great Western. I d..."

How about The Sisters Brothers? Good read, not too long ...

[Jenny (Reading Envy)]

I'm reading The Sunlight Pilgrims by Jenni Fagan, about our world freezing in an ice age.

[Ctgt]

David wrote: "Any suggestions for good Westerns? "
I concur with Michelle, Lonesome Dove is awesome and is one of my favorite books of any type.
I also enjoyed Paradise Sky.
If you're looking for old school it's hard to go wrong with Louis L'Amour, I especially enjoyed his Sackett series, Sackett's Land.

[Clyde]

David wrote: "Not speculative fiction but still looking for suggestions. Any suggestions for good Westerns? I've enjoyed Cowboy Bebop, Vol. 1 and Serenity but never bumped into a great Western. I d..."

Six Shot by C.K. Crigger melds SF (time travel) and Western genres. Good story.
Also, I agree that Lonesome Dove is friggin' awesome, and Louis L'Amour's Sacketts series provides consistent good reads.

[Joseph]

OK, I admit I haven't read it myself, but I'm taking a good, long look at Wilderness by Roger Zelazny -- at least part of it is apparently the story of Hugh Glass (as in the movie The Revenant).

[Phil]

Finished Forever Undecided: A Puzzle Guide To Gödel by Raymond Smullyan, kind of. When I was in my late teens I read What Is the Name of This Book? by Smullyan and fell in love with logic puzzles. I aced a logic and critical thinking class in university and thought I was hot stuff. 35 years later this book kicked my ass. I started getting lost at about 25% and was completely in the woods around 50%. I just skimmed the second half as I didn't have the time or energy to work the problems. I'm not saying it's a bad book but it was way beyond me.
Starting Updraft.

[[deleted user]]

Ctgt wrote: "David wrote: "Any suggestions for good Westerns? "
I concur with Michelle, Lonesome Dove is awesome and is one of my favorite books of any type...."

OK. I think I have three to give a try. Journal of the Gun Years, Lonesome Dove and Sackett's Land. If none of those appeal to me, I'll just give up on the genre. I'll have at least given it a fair trial.

I had the impression L'Amore was just churning out books like all those endless Star War books. I do read them, but it would not be ones I'd recommend to someone who wanted the best introduction to Speculative Fiction. But it seems he is more than a industry, but rather a strong storyteller. Good to know.

[Stephen]

I am reading The Apache Wars: The Hunt for Geronimo, the Apache Kid, and the Captive Boy Who Started the Longest War in American History. 10% in and the author has a way of keeping the tale going without it being too boring.
I too recommend The Sisters Brothers as it is quite different and short.

[Colin]

I've just breezed through Wesley Chu's Time Salvager. (I'm a fan of time travel stories!) It's a fairly compelling read, if a little clichéd in places, but I wasn't initially aware that it's the start of a series. Unfortunately, nothing much gets resolved at the end of this first book, to the point where I think it doesn't really stand up on it's own. It's not long until the sequel comes out, and I'll probably read that too, but I'm not sure how big a series it's planned to be.

Incidentally, this is the first book where I've really made use of the Kindle / Audible whispersync thing. That really is a fast way to power through a story.

[John (Taloni)]

I finished up the first Wheel of Time book and, for Rob and other fans, I did wind up liking it better by the end. What could have been a deus ex machina ending was actually well foreshadowed and handled in an interesting fashion.

So, amusing story, at least to me. I went to get the next one out of the library as they have the full run. Nope, BOTH copies are out! I went on to read Aurora and a book of Pratchett shorts. WOT2 came in just as I was finishing the Pratchett book.

[Rob, Roberator]

Glad to hear you liked the end of Eye of the World. I hope you enjoy the second one. I'm about 75% of the way through my reread of book 4. It started really slow, but got really good after about 20%.

That's a lot to ask though, especially a book that thick.

[Fresno Bob]

David wrote: "Not speculative fiction but still looking for suggestions. Any suggestions for good Westerns? I've enjoyed Cowboy Bebop, Vol. 1 and Serenity but never bumped into a great Western. I d..."

Lonesome Dove is the one I'd recommend, every time I put it down, I felt like I was letting the characters down, "Don't worry guys, I'll be back!"

[Fresno Bob]

Walter wrote: "After working my way through my various club reads, I'm now reading Liar's Poker, Michael Lewis's memoir about working for Salomon Brothers during the eighties. Two of his other book..."

Good thing to start with Liar's Poker, Flash Boys is good too, hell, everything Michael Lewis writes is interesting

[Fresno Bob]

Michele wrote: "David wrote: "Not speculative fiction but still looking for suggestions. Any suggestions for good Westerns? I've enjoyed Cowboy Bebop, Vol. 1 and Serenity but never bumped into a grea..."

you beat me to it!