What Else Are You Reading - May 2016

[Rob, Roberator]

Hey May! What's New? You know..bookwise..

[Trike]

Just started XCOM 2: Resurrection, which begins strong. It takes place between the rebooted XCOM game and this year's new XCOM 2. I thoroughly enjoyed the first game and it sounds like the second is just as good.

[Bill]

I finished Aurora early, so I'm tackling A Gathering of Shadows, Superman: The Unauthorized Biography, The Caped Crusade: Batman and the Rise of Nerd Culture, and Marvel Comics: The Untold Story.

[Brendan]

Reading Nights at the Circus, which is not previous S+L pick The Night Circus.

[Geoff]

Just started The Caves of Steel by Isaac Asimov.

[John (Taloni)]

I'm finishing up the last Discworld book. It's been quite a ride.

[Colin]

Still in progress on Alight by Scott Sigler and eagerly awaiting the new one from Claire North - The Sudden Appearance of Hope which should land on my Kindle mid-month.

In Claire North we seem to have found a rare and wonderful thing - an author that my wife and I are both equally excited about reading!

[Dharmakirti]

I finished reading A Darker Shade of Magic the other day. I really liked it and look forward to reading the sequel.

This morning, I started my re-read of C.S. Friedman's Coldfire Trilogy. This trilogy was one of my favorites 15 years ago; we'll see if it still holds up.

[Richard]

So I've recently finished.. The Mechanical, suggested by my wife. I thought it was really solid. She liked the sequel even more so I'll hopefully get to that this month. ****

The Golden Compass started out way slow for me, I almost dropped it. But then talking bears and the whole bit about people's connection with their demons won my over in the second half and I'm going to be continuing on to the sequel. ***

Cascade Point and Other Stories. I read this for Cascade Point as a Hugo winner, but I enjoyed every story in this book a lot. *****

The Moon is a Harsh Mistress. I tried and failed to like Stranger in a Strange Land last year; this story I liked a whole lot better. It was like a thought exercise into staging a revolution and seeing it through. I would enjoy reading a compare and contrast of Moon's Mike and Stranger's Mike, and am curious if that character-type is recurring in any other Heinlein works. ****

Caliban's War. I loved this book; compared to the first, I feel like the story was not quite as strong, but I'm more drawn into riding along with the characters. I love that I still have four more books to read! *****

Witches Abroad and Small Gods. Witches Abroad annoyed me in the same way that Moving Pictures did; I just found the silly trope jokes annoying. What saved this book is that Pratchett has the characters of the witches are even more fun to read than in the Wyrd Sisters, even if I liked that story better. I'm not surprised that the witches are coming back just two books later. I also liked that I saw what seemed like the seed idea of Small Gods appear in this book. And Small Gods, I just loved that story. I can't decide if this or Night's Watch is my favorite Discworld book to this point. Small Gods is a case where everything Pratchett digs out of the theme is gold and the characters were solid. ****/*****

[Joseph]

Finished Neuromancer and so of course must immediately continue to Count Zero.

[Sumant]

Here is my my review for The Dragon Reborn.

[Em Lost In Books]

Am planning to finish Rise of Empire and A Tree Grows in Brooklyn this weekend.

[Stephen]

Moving on to the next Linda Nagata book The Trials and Claudia Gray new Star Wars book Bloodline: New Republic.

[Kristina]

Working on Cold Days.. almost caught up! The Dresden books are so fun. Next is A Court of Mist and Fury which just released yesterday and I have Abercrombie's The Heroes also from the library.

[[deleted user]]

Just started A Secret Vice. Having just finished The Story of Kullervo I'm on a Tolkien roll.

[Phil]

Richard wrote: "So I've recently finished.. The Mechanical, suggested by my wife. I thought it was really solid. She liked the sequel even more so I'll hopefully get to that this month. ****

[book..."

I agree with you about the merits of Moon over Stranger. If you mean what I think you do about character type, you might like [book:Citizen of the Galaxy|16689]. Although it is one of his "juveniles" it's still quite good.

[Geoff]

Recently, I've finished:

Anathem - review - Finally finished this, definitely a strong outing from Stephenson.
The Dead Zone - review - Uneven book from King, but I enjoyed it.
White Sand - review - Its not perfect but its pretty good considering Sanderson isn't going to publish it.
The Collected Stories of Arthur C. Clarke - review - Some good stories but there's just way too many in this book.
This Immortal - review - There was a good mystery in this book, but it wasn't fully fleshed out.
The Warded Man - review - It wasn't for me. Most of the characters were annoying (or downright horrible).

[Silvana]

Terms of Enlistment by Marko Kloos. Military scifi FTW!

[Jenny (Reading Envy)]

I started Sleeping Giants, which is told almost entirely in interviews and journal entries, about a strange statue piece discovered deep in the earth. Really enjoying it so far!

[AndrewP]

I just finished Neverwhere, another amazing adult fairy-tail masterpiece from Mr Gaiman. As the setting was an alternative London it only highlighted how bad this concept was handled in A Darker Shade of Magic.

[Icia]

Just started Oryx and Crake, and then after probably whatever the library has available for ereaders. I'm hoping to continue a post-apocalyptic theme (and then become a little paranoid about SIGNS of the end because that's how I roll). Maybe A Canticle for Leibowitz or YA The 5th Wave.

[Jenny (Reading Envy)]

Icia wrote: "Just started Oryx and Crake, and then after probably whatever the library has available for ereaders. I'm hoping to continue a post-apocalyptic theme (and then become a little paranoid..."
Love love love love looooooove Oryx and Crake.

[Rick]

Just finished Lightless which is a kind of thriller set in space. Good debut, one of the key points was guessable early on but well written. Stands alone but also is the first in a series. I'll do the next book in a bit, after I finish Aurora and The Fifth Season.

[Ctgt]

Jenny (Reading Envy) wrote: "I started Sleeping Giants, which is told almost entirely in interviews and journal entries, about a strange statue piece discovered deep in the earth. Really enjoying it so far!"

Really liked that book.

[Trike]

Jenny (Reading Envy) wrote: "I started Sleeping Giants, which is told almost entirely in interviews and journal entries, about a strange statue piece discovered deep in the earth. Really enjoying it so far!"

Oh, I wanted to read that and had forgotten about it.

[Dara]

I've been reading non-genre stuff, mostly about mountaineering. I'm currently reading The Mountain: My Time on Everest by Ed Viesturs, the first American to climb all 8,000 meter peaks without supplemental oxygen. It's quite good.

[Keith]

Somehow, I totally missed the memo that there was a third Magicians book, so I started The Magician's Land today.

[Sumant]

Here is my review of The Farthest Shore really loved it!.

[TRP]

I've just re-read Shardik by Richard Adams. I think I'm going to push for this to be a "Sword" pick at some point.
The book has a connection with Stephen King's Dark Tower series. Shardik is a character in The Waste Lands and is deliberately modelled on Richard Adams' giant bear.

[Phil]

Finished Aurora. Well, I certainly always come out of a KSR book knowing more than I did going in but the infodumps seemed little more excessive than usual this time. The plot was interesting enough to keep me going though as others have said, he could have lost the last section.
Starting Forever Undecided: A Puzzle Guide To Gödel by Raymond Smullyan. Coincidently a small connection to Aurora but given that book's breadth it would be hard to find a book without a connection.

[Rob, Roberator]

I listened to Red Rising, which is narrated by the excellent Tim Gerard Reynolds. Despite a slow/predictable start, I really enjoyed it (My Review).

I've also continued with my reading of the Saxon Stories, which continue to be great with Sword Song (My Review).

[Lucien21]

Finished Arkwright and Orphan X enjoyed both

[AndrewP]

Rob wrote: "I've also continued with my reading of the Saxon Stories, which continue to be great with Sword Song (My Review). "

If the BBC keep to the same schedule, season 2 of The Lost Kingdom will be books 3 & 4 so I need to read them in the next few months too.

[Rob, Roberator]

Yeah, I wish I had read 1/2 before watching the show.

[Trike]

I saw an ad for Lost Kingdom while watching Orphan Black. Is it better to read the books first?

[AndrewP]

Trike wrote: "I saw an ad for Lost Kingdom while watching Orphan Black. Is it better to read the books first?"

Personally that's always my preference.
But the series follows the books fairly closely, there's just more detail and nuance in the novels. They're all short (300 pages or less), fast moving and easy to read if that's any help.

[Sumant]

Here is my review of The Shadow Throne.

[Rob, Roberator]

Trike wrote: "I saw an ad for Lost Kingdom while watching Orphan Black. Is it better to read the books first?"

Yes.

[Chris]

Icia wrote: "Just started Oryx and Crake, and then ..."



I loved Oryx and Crake even more than Atwood's other great books. You are in for a treat.

[AndrewP]

I finished my kindle book, dead tree book and audible listen all on Sunday, so for a few hours at least I'm reading absolutely nothing :)

[Wendy]

Trike wrote: "I saw an ad for Lost Kingdom while watching Orphan Black. Is it better to read the books first?"

I'm probably the odd one out, cos I much prefer to watch a film/tv show first and then read the book. Usually I get so disappointed by the editing that's done - and not always in the service of making a good or recogniseable version of the book. But if I read the book second, then it's a delight to get a fuller view of it

[Esther]

Wendy wrote: "Trike wrote: "I saw an ad for Lost Kingdom while watching Orphan Black. Is it better to read the books first?"

I'm probably the odd one out, cos I much prefer to watch a film/tv show first and the..."

I have to agree. I always believed in reading the book before watching the film but I have changed my mind recently.
Firstly if I really like the book the film/TV do not dictate how I see the characters in my mind and there is (almost) always so much depth and additional detail in the book that the film/TV doesn't detract from the reading experience.
On the other hand if the book 'spoils' me about a plot twist or unfortunate event then the film/TV loses the punch or emotional impact it might have had and I feel disappointed.

[Keith]

About halfway through The Wine-Dark Sea, a collection of weird fiction by Robert Aickman. It's fantastically creepy.

Also starting the espionage thriller Burned by Valerie Plame. Really liked her first book.

[terpkristin]

I finished The Skull Throne a week or so ago and am sad that now I have to wait until 2017 for the next (and final?) installment in that series.

I also finished listening to The Crown Tower and loved it. I'm looking forward to continuing in the Riyira backstory.

I've started listening to Aurora and am kind of bored (about 25% in). I hear it gets "worse" in the back half, so this does not bode well...

I'm reading Starslip Crisis: Volume 1 kind of on the side and am trying to figure out what to read next in print/Kindle. Too many options, and the one I "should" read is for work, so we'll see...

[Ctgt]

@Keith-big fan of Aickman, also enjoyed Dark Entries

[Joseph]

Finished Count Zero [he said, adjusting his mirrored sunglasses] and am of course continuing immediately on to Mona Lisa Overdrive.

[Tom]

Working my way through Dune and thoroughly enjoying Ready Player One

[Stephen]

I am starting the audio of the A Gathering of Shadows. Also the ebook of Stormdancer. Plus a new daily ritual of reading a short story using http://www.rocketstackrank.com/search...
where on the 1st and the 15th of the month short stories are posted & ranked; and a link to find them. Plus the time it takes to read them. My favorite new site.

[John (Taloni)]

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. For WoT fans, is there a place where the first storyline ends? Say after three books? Or do you have to read all fourteen to get to a stopping point? I would like to give this well loved series a fair sampling, but fourteen 800-page books would be a little much, unless I start loving it.

[Rob, Roberator]

I'd say read the first two WoT books maybe? Maybe 3. I forget exactly where certain things happen.

It's a super long series, and suffers from being very slow at times, but I loved the first book, so if you're not really feeling that one, it just might not be the series for you.