What Else Are You Reading - July 2016

[Shad]

John (Taloni) wrote: "Just started Endymion. Had I not already read the Hyperion books and mostly enjoyed them, I might have lemmed this book right away. It starts off with an anti-hunting screed in which a ..."
It gets better after that. I just finished The Rise of Endymion. I really enjoyed it and felt like it was a very satisfying conclusion to the series of books.

Reading The Three-Body Problem currently since I was able to pick it up as Tor.com's book of the month. I am enjoying the perspective with it being written by a nonWestern author.

[Phil]

Just finished The Dirty Streets of Heaven by Tad Williams. I enjoyed it but it could have been a little better. It bogged down a bit at one point and several times the author seemed to repeat the same information unnecessarily. I did like the overall storyline and characters.
Starting Secondhand Souls.

[Walter]

Finished The Maltese Falcon. Kept hearing the voices from the movie whenever I'd read the dialogue, which isn't necessarily a bad thing.

Now reading Hammett's fourh novel, The Glass Key. The man does good noir, but so far I'd have to give the mantle to Raymond Chandler, unless The Thin Man changes my mind.

[Rick]

Blew through Sylvain Neuvel's Sleeping Giants in two evenings and loved it. It's told in news report/interview transcript format which works surprisingly well. While it's the first in a series it's a complete story with a teaser at the end for a new mystery.

Blurbs compare it to The Martian and World War Z... I've not read the latter, but it's not really like The Martian aside from being focused on people, some of whom are scientists, who are trying to figure out how to do something. If you read it, don't go in expecting The Martian - judge it on its own.

[Misti]

Finished up Hunted a few days ago. Then I read Hacktivist, Vol. 1. Just now, I completed Two Ravens and One Crow which was included with Hunted.

Next up is Asteroid Made of Dragons which I snagged after listening to last week's podcast.

[Sumant]

Finished reading Endymion and here is my review for it, this book convinced me that entropy does exist in the universe :(.

[David H.]

The Jewel and Her Lapidary by Fran Wilde, a novella in her Gem universe. Gems are creepy.

Pride's Spell by Matt Wallace, 3rd in his Sin du Jour novella series. Continuing the funny and weird in this supernatural catering company.

The Last Unicorn by Peter S. Beagle. I read this for the first time and oddly enough the book felt almost like a Stephen King book to me (the weird mix of technology and fantasy like in Dark Tower, as well as the fairytale aspect most of DT tends to have or maybe like Eyes of the Dragon). Obviously I know Beagle came first, just amused by the similarity in feel.

[Brendan]

Finished reading China Mountain Zhang and Vermilion Sands, both of which I enjoyed quite a bit.

The War Stories from the Future anthology, on the other hand, I liked quite a bit less. There was only one story in there that I would call good (by Madeline Ashby) and the rest of it was pretty trash.

Bought The Big Book of Science Fiction, the latest of the Vandermeers' massive genre anthologies and it is ginormous. 750,000 words, over 100 stories. Will take months to read, probably. I think I'll probably go a couple stories at a time with breaks for other novels in between, but I like the vision of science fiction they present. I'm definitely in favour of any sci-fi compilation that includes Leena Krohn and Octavia Butler, that's doing it right.

[terpkristin]

I just finished listening to The Dragonbone Chair. I really liked it, and thought that the pacing was better than City of Golden Shadow. I'll have my review up later, but the long and short is that I'm really looking forward to the next book, but I'm not sure that the audio is the best format for it.

Before my trip last week, I had finished The Time Traders, but I haven't really dug into anything else on Kindle yet. I keep waiting to see what's going to be the next S&L pick.

Next up in audio is the next Andy Carpenter book, a non-SFF series that I enjoy. It's quintessential summer reading, light and quick and fun.

[Trike]

I found I Am Legend online and started reading it. I don't know if I've read it before -- I know I've seen all three films made from it multiple times and parts seem extraordinarily familiar, but it holds up despite its age and the social changes that have occurred in the 60-some years since it was written. (At one point Neville references "talking to a Negro at the plant." There was no racism in it, but the word feels odd and archaic nowadays.)

[Stephen]

Started Bloodline, the next book by Claudia Gray whose Lost Stars was so good.

[Michelle]

I've just read three of the Genrenauts novellas by Michael Underwood from Tor.com...enjoyable quick reads and The word for world is forest by Le Guin. Next is Radience

[Mel]

R.A. Lafferty was wonderfully weird writer who wrangled words with wonky whimsy. He should be read by anyone who likes SFF.
I loved Lafferty in Orbit, am continuing to read through Lafferty's oeuvre with Nine Hundred Grandmothers.
N.K. Jemisin blew me away with The Fifth Season. It is a spectacular book. Now I can't wait for The Obelisk Gate. Also I recommend, if you also like this world, looking into Stone Hunger on clarkesworld, particularly the narrated podcast version.
Ken Liu is a seriously impressive author. No surprises that I was impressed by The Grace of Kings. A truly Confucian fantasy medieval world, beautifully realised.
I finished Shadow & Claw. It's a great book.

But the take away of this post should be read Lafferty.
Seriously read R.A. Lafferty.
He's great, he even comes with a Neil Gaiman seal of approval.

[Rob, Roberator]

I listened to Dark Matter. I got a review copy of the audio, which I believe comes out this week. I liked it, but didn't love it. (My Review)

I also did some comics/manga:

Ms. Marvel, Vol. 5: Super Famous. This series continues to delight me. (My Review)

Attack on Titan 20 . Things are really ramping up now. (My Review)

[Larry]

Currently enjoying Ben Winters' Underground Airlines. I'd forgotten how his writing is more mystery than science fiction. Makes me want to reread his The Last Policeman trilogy.

[Jenny (Reading Envy)]

Some of you may know the Ben H. Winters Last Policeman novels, about a cop who keeps working as the world collapses (great reads, recommended.) I just finished an alternate history novel by him called Underground Airlines, about the present day if the Civil War never happened. My review is here. Not my normal fare but a good read.

[Joel]

Currently reading Lost Moon: The Perilous Voyage of Apollo 13. I've always enjoyed the movie, and so I decided to give the book a try. I've been thoroughly enjoying.

[John (Taloni)]

An abundance of riches: Am partway into both the Endymion books and the Poseidon's Children series. Just as I'm reading "On The Steel Breeze" this month's selection comes available in the library, so I have to finish the current book and then rush on to that. And, I already checked out a bunch of good comics from the library so there is that as well.

The endless political correctness of the Poseidon's Children series is wearing, but that seems to have become Reynolds' style. The science is good and the slow unveiling of a large mystery works. I despair of finding anything with the majesty of Ringworld, Protector or even A Gift From Earth, but as latter day works go, Reynolds is fine.

[Phil]

Just finished Secondhand Souls by Christopher Moore. This is a sequel to A Dirty Job. I loved this like I do all his books. They are full of humour and heart and I think if you like Neil Gaimen then you'll like Moore too.
Coincidently, I read this right after The Dirty Streets of Heaven by Tad Williams which I also enjoyed. Both books involve supernatural beings dealing with souls in modern day San Francisco but Moore blows Williams out of the water as a writer.
Starting The Last Wish.

[Ctgt]

Finished up Age of Myth, which I enjoyed and am switching gears with When the Sacred Ginmill Closes

[Trike]

Just finished Nexus, which is your basic cyberpunk thriller. Okay, but nothing remarkable. My review.

[Sumant]

Here is my review of Changes

[terpkristin]

Harry Potter and the Cursed Child just showed up on my Kindle, so I know what I'm diving into imminently.

I'm also listening to the 2nd book in the "Nikki Heat" series by "Richard Castle." It's a series of books written in parallel with the show. They seem quite light and are fun to listen to (having lived the show, even the later years except that craptastic series finale) which is what I need right now.

And I've got The Last Wish queued up and ready to dive into, too. Thanks to WhisperSync for Voice, I have both Kindle and audio editions, so I'll read in whatever format makes the most sense when I pick it up.

[Darren]

Lonesome Dove

I finished The Brass Verdict this morning. Quick read. Can see a bit of a formula, compared to the previous book in the series, but whatever, I enjoyed it all the same. Seem to be on an SFF hiatus, after giving up on Theft of Swords. I got over halfway through that before I stopped kidding myself that I was ever going to enjoy it.

[Ctgt]

Darren wrote: "Lonesome Dove"

Oh I loved LD.

[Jenny (Reading Envy)]

Trike wrote: "Just finished Nexus, which is your basic cyberpunk thriller. Okay, but nothing remarkable. My review."

And I'm currently reading book 3 in that trilogy, Apex

[Sky]

Jenny (Reading Envy) wrote: "And I'm currently reading book 3 in that trilogy, [book:Apex|20..."

I loved Nexus and Crux. I just couldn't get into Apex though. I really wanted to like it, but aborted multiple attempts at finishing it.

[Rob, Roberator]

I continued my Discworld read, with Eric. I liked it, but not nearly as much as some of the others (My Review).

I also listened to Skeleton Crew, which appears to have a brand new audio book edition, with a variety of actors for voice readers. There were some pretty good stories in there, but overall I didn't find it as good as some of the other collections I've read by him (My Review).

[Sky]

I finished Mr. Penumbra's 24-Hour Bookstore last week. It was a very fun read. I finally started Dust of Dreams a few days ago. I had marked as currently reading months back but never actually started.

Comic book-wise, I finished working my way through all 72 volumes of Naruto and am reading some of the afterwards/side stories. I just started reading Video Girl Ai and re-reading the original Dragonball. My library just got Saga v.6 and I was first in line, will start that tonight. I am also buying and reading the entire set of Mobile Suit Gundam: THE ORIGIN, Volume 1: Activation. It's a great hardcover collection. I finished the first 4 volumes and the 5th just arrived.

Plus lots of random baby books and some programming books.

[Sifou]

i find myself in that situation again where i start reading multiple books at the same time then go to a vacation and don't bring my reading material with me and off course i start reading a new couple
of books and now i have to finish 5 OR 6 books lol its fun though i feel like i am world hoping

[Rob, Roberator]

So I caved and I ended up picking up Harry Potter and the Cursed Child. I enjoyed it for what it is. I wrote up a short/spoiler free review