What Else Are You Reading - August 2016

[Rob, Roberator]

Now that August is here, what will you be reading this month?

[Shad]

Decided to read another Discworld novel, Mort.

[Esther]

I gave in to temptation and got Harry Potter and the Cursed Child. It should be delivered in a few days so that will be next up once I finish Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell.

[John (Taloni)]

Shad wrote: "Decided to read another Discworld novel, Mort."

All of Discworld is good, but that one's among the best.

[Kristina]

I've already read the pick for the month so I'm working on Academ's Fury because I liked the first so much to just keep going. Looking forward to Curtsies & Conspiracies.

[AndrewP]

I'm just finishing off Pandora's Star and loving it so much I will go straight onto Judas Unchained. Looks like I will be skipping this months S&L pick.

[Keith]

If I stretch, I can count this as a "sword" entry, but...I'm starting in on the first of Susan Wise Bauer's massive 3-part history series, The History of the Ancient World: From the Earliest Accounts to the Fall of Rome. I think a better subtitle for the book would have been "A long procession of unremarkable, incompetent kings," since that seems to be the theme of human civilization. Anyway, Bauer has a subtle sense of humor that keeps things peppy, and how many other historians have dropped a reference to the Borg?

[John (Taloni)]

AndrewP wrote: "I'm just finishing off Pandora's Star and loving it so much I will go straight onto Judas Unchained. Looks like I will be skipping this months S&L pick."

The extreme length of the book didn't bother you? I enjoyed it well enough eventually, but it took a looooong time to get started.

[John (Taloni)]

Having finished this month's pick, I am back to Endymion with the second book in that series The Rise of Endymion. A bit interminable at 700 pages but it is supposed to be worth it. Following that I am likely to finish off the Poseidon's Children series with Poseidon's Wake Niven's book The Draco Tavern is coming up shortly too, as soon as the library gets it in from hold.

[Edwin]

Tales From The East. Book 3 of the Imago Chronicles by Lorna Suzuki.

[AndrewP]

John (Taloni) wrote: "The extreme length of the book didn't bother you? I enjoyed it well enough eventually, but it took a looooong time to get started. ."

Not really as there is so much going on in the various sub plots/stories. I would read these over Endymion any day :)

[John (Taloni)]

^ I liked the Commonwealth books enough to read the followup, but that was not quite as good. Not enough of a letdown to stop, but not as good. I'll likely get to the first book in the overall universe eventually.

Concerning the Pandora's Star / Judas Unchained books, some of the subplots pay off so extremely well that I forgave the endless exposition. It is a style, just not one I have gotten used to yet.

[Dara]

I'll probably be reading Alexander Hamilton by Ron Chernow for the entire month. Then hopefully getting back into Deadhouse Gates and eventually Harry Potter and the Cursed Child.

[RJ - Slayer of Trolls]

I just finished Jack of Shadows by Roger Zelazny which I read so I could participate in a group discussion a different book club. I gave the book 2 stars.

I started reading A Feast for Crows by George R.R. Martin.

I'm still working on:
- Shadow of the Giant by Orson Scott Card which I hope to finish later this month or early September
- The Year's Best Science Fiction & Fantasy 2015 edited by Rich Horton

[Hannah]

This month I'm doing a reread of to prepare for

I'm also starting

After that, who knows!

[Joseph]

I just got back from spending a week at Glacier National Park. The trip was bookended with 24 hour Amtrak rides, which I used to good advantage to finally revisit Westeros -- I finished A Game of Thrones, A Clash of Kings and A Storm of Swords, and am finally starting something new (to me): A Feast for Crows.

[Silvana]

Currently enjoying Summerlong by Peter S. Beagle.
Putting down The Gunslinger for a while. 20% and I am still bored.

[Silvana]

Dara wrote: "I'll probably be reading Alexander Hamilton by Ron Chernow for the entire month. Then hopefully getting back into Deadhouse Gates and eventually [book:Harry ..."

I love that biography - very well-written.
Deadhouse Gates was my last Malazan adventure - hope you enjoy it more than I did.

[Shad]

Reading the tor.com ebookclub book The Just City. I'm enjoying it quite a bit, although the science fiction and fantasy aren't a big part of the story. Mostly about trying to build a city around the ideas in Plato's Republic. I might have to read that sometime soon.

[Trike]

Joseph wrote: "I just got back from spending a week at Glacier National Park. The trip was bookended with 24 hour Amtrak rides"

Tell me more about this, please.

[Trike]

I'm currently reading two classics I've somehow managed to miss.

The Island of Dr. Moreau by Wells is, so far, hands down the best novel of his I've ever read. Where War of the Worlds and The Time Machine feel stuffy and plodding, Moreau is light and nimble.

Nine Princes in Amber by Zelazny. I'm not hating it but not loving it, either. I hate the cliche of "woke up without any memories", so that's a struggle.

[Ctgt]

@Dara
I loved the Chernow book Titan: The Life of John D. Rockefeller, Sr., be interested to hear what you think of the Hamilton.

[Dara]

Silvana wrote: "Dara wrote: "I'll probably be reading Alexander Hamilton by Ron Chernow for the entire month. Then hopefully getting back into Deadhouse Gates and eventually..."

I'm really enjoying the Hamilton bio. It's long but good. Deadhouse Gates is one of my favorites in the Malazan series but it's a hard one to stomach.

[Joseph]

Trike wrote: "Tell me more about this, please."

Well, as I said, it was a trip to Glacier National Park. I met my parents & brothers & their families there. I took the Amtrak, which was about a 23 hour train ride each way, during which time I mostly sat in my seat and read George R.R. Martin or (at night) tried, with limited success, to sleep. (Everybody else was driving.) We didn't stay in Glacier proper; we were in a campground near Apgar by the west entrance. One day we took a red bus trip up to the top of Logan Pass, and another day we did a couple of hikes that turned out to be much more strenuous than we'd anticipated, but were rewarded by some amazing views of lakes and mountains and mountain goats.

Highly recommended; the worst part was that my cell carrier (Virgin) has literally zero coverage in North Dakota or Montana, so I was completely cut off on the train, and limited to the campground's wifi, for which I had to go sit next to the campground office.

[Trike]

Joseph wrote: "Trike wrote: "Tell me more about this, please."

Well, as I said, it was a trip to Glacier National Park. I met my parents & brothers & their families there. I took the Amtrak, which was about a 23..."

Cool. I'm always looking for destinations for my next trip. :) do you post photos online anywhere, like Flickr?

[John (Taloni)]

Oooh! Was it recent Martin, or perhaps old goodies like Armageddon Rag or Fevre Dream?

[Joseph]

John (Taloni) wrote: "Oooh! Was it recent Martin, or perhaps old goodies like Armageddon Rag or Fevre Dream?"

Game of Thrones -- I decided it was finally time to go back and reread the original three, then continue on to the ones I hadn't read yet.

(I've read at least some of Martin's other work. My first encounter with him, long before Game of Thrones, was his short story Sandkings, found in some anthology or other.)

[John (Taloni)]

Sandkings is a great story. The TV show made from it not quite as awesome, but still good.

Fevre Dream made me feel sympathy for a steamboat. A STEAMBOAT. That's how good a writer he is.

As for Armageddon Rag, it got played up in the Marvel comic "New Mutants" back in the 80s. I wrote in as the lead singer thanking them. They published it...under his name! So much for my Marvel moment of fame...

[Silvana]

Tuf Voyaging is one underrated jewel from Martin. Dreamsongs vol 1 is also pretty amazing.

[Kristina]

Dara wrote: "I'll probably be reading Alexander Hamilton by Ron Chernow for the entire month. Then hopefully getting back into Deadhouse Gates and eventually [book:Harry ..."

I'm thinking about checking this out too.. I'm so hooked on the music from the show and have only read bits about him on Wikipedia.

[Kristina]

John (Taloni) wrote: "Sandkings is a great story. The TV show made from it not quite as awesome, but still good.

Fevre Dream made me feel sympathy for a steamboat. A STEAMBOAT. That's how good a writer he is.

As for A..."

Oooh I ordered Fevre Dream and am eagerly awaiting its arrival!

[Dara]

Kristina wrote: "Dara wrote: "I'll probably be reading Alexander Hamilton by Ron Chernow for the entire month. Then hopefully getting back into Deadhouse Gates and eventually..."

I highly recommend it. It's making me appreciate the musical even more.

[John (Taloni)]

Kristina wrote: "Oooh I ordered Fevre Dream and am eagerly awaiting its arrival! "

Tell us how you like it! I think you'll enjoy.

[Geoff]

Here's a few books I've finished recently:

Children of Earth and Sky by Guy Gavriel Kay - Good but not great from GGK (review)
The Fireman by Joe Hill - Very disappointing first read of a Joe Hill book (review)
The Bicentennial Man and Other Stories by Isaac Asimov - The title story is the standout in this collection (review)
Best Served Cold by Joe Abercrombie - Despite some positives, I find that Abercrombie just might not be my cup of tea (review)
Age of Myth by Michael J. Sullivan - Outstanding first book in a new series from the author of the Riryia books (review)

Now, I'm starting The Waking Fire by Anthony Ryan and The Winds of Change and Other Stories by Isaac Asimov.

[Rick]

Flex caught my eye, partly because of the description but mainly, I confess, because of the author's name. Ferrett Steinmetz

[Tina]

Finally starting Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell

[Rob, Roberator]

I just finished Life Debt and found it to be a vast improvement over Aftermath - Full Review

[Joel]

Recently read Lost Moon: The Perilous Voyage of Apollo 13, which easily surpasses the already excellent film that is based upon it. I highly recommend it.

I also recently concluded the audio book of Golden Fool by Robin Hobb. James Langton continues to be a fantastic narrator. I highly recommend the audio versions of these books if your interested.

[Kristina]

Rick wrote: "Flex caught my eye, partly because of the description but mainly, I confess, because of the author's name. Ferrett Steinmetz"

That sounds interesting! First I've heard of it.

[Sumant]

Here is my review for Titus Alone.

[Dharmakirti]

I should finish The Thousandfold Thought, the last book in The Prince of Nothing trilogy, sometime today. After that, I'm going to start The Judging Eye, the first book in the sequel series, The Aspect-Emperor.

I've also started this month's pick The Last Wish which I hope to get through in the next couple of days.

[John (Taloni)]

Finished up Rise of Endymion. Pretty good ending, too bad it took a THOUSAND PAGES to really get started.

Neither The Draco Tavern nor Imprudence have come off hold at the library yet, but may shortly. I might try to fill in with the trade paperback of Avengers vs Thanos, but I will need something for the kindle if insomnia hits.

[AndrewP]

Finished Pandora's Star by Peter F. Hamilton this weekend and went straight on to book 2 Judas Unchained . It's another 1000 pages so I'm going to have to skip this months S&L pick.

[Amanda]

Just finished The Riddle Box, and have decided it's time for another read of Name of the Wind.

[Aaron]

Finished rereading Umineko 1-4 again now that the new translation is out. Re-reading this while listening to my friends reading it for the first time is hilarious. There are so many major spoilers hinted/almost directly stated in 2-4 that are just cleverly hidden though multiple meanings. Now just to wait another year for them to finish editing the translation for the 2nd half of the series.

It's still a 3/5,4/5,5/5,5/5 for each of the parts.

I do recommend anyone who likes the concept of mystery+fantasy put together to give this series a shot though it's a slow start, I know it's technically Kinect Visual Novel, but just think of it as a kindle book on your computer with different colored text and music/sound effects that are used to good effect. Also use the classic art, the new sprites pulled from the pachinko game are awful.


I'm almost done with this series starting with A Warrior's Path and ending withA Warrior's Penance. It's been a very solid fantasy series overall that hasn't disappointed me yet though I have a few more hours left in the last book but otherwise this is standing above the recent crop of books I read. probably 4/5

Most of the way though Daemon, is this book supposed to be a comedy? I find this book constantly hilarious though I don't think it was intended to be that way. Overall I'm enjoying it despite many of the characters making really bad decisions. probably 3/5

Finished Grunge which read like a very high quality fan-fiction...which is basically what it sounds like it was. There was lots of little snipes between Ringo and Correia in the book too. Overall it was a good bit more trashy/pulpy than even the main line books, but I still liked it a good bit. 4/5

Finished this series too The Wrath of the Great Guilds, audiobook only YA fantasy it was pretty good overall as a series by the same author of Dauntless, he left it open for a future sequel to occur maybe 15-20 years later but we will see. 4/5

[Phil]

Finished The Last Wish. It was o.k. but nothing special. There was some odd phrasing which may have been a problem with the translation; I can never tell. I did like the twist he put on fairy tales. Geralt was an interesting character but I didn't like a lot of his friends like Dandilion.
Starting Monk's Hood by Ellis Peters.

[John (Taloni)]

Due to other people being interested in Poseidon's Children #3 at the library (harrumph!) I went on to the first book of Rick Riordan's Norse series, which we own. Pretty good so far. I suppose serious SFF purists would turn their noses up at his lighthearted take, but I'm enjoying it.

Re: Dandilion: I wound up mentally pronouncing it "dan DILL ion." Did others do that, or was it more like the obvious reference "DAN de lion"?

[Joseph]

John (Taloni) wrote: "Due to other people being interested in Poseidon's Children #3 at the library (harrumph!) I went on to the first book of Rick Riordan's Norse series, which we own. Pretty good so far. I suppose ser..."

In the game it's pronounced like the flower. Or weed, if you prefer.

[Brendan]

A quick look at the witcher subreddit says that people think it may have been a translation mistake? For people who read the other books, is it spelled the same or differently there?

[Michele]

Phil wrote: "Finished The Last Wish. It was o.k. but nothing special. There was some odd phrasing which may have been a problem with the translation; I can never tell. I did like the twist he put..."

Ooh, Cadfael! I have a huge crush on him :) Love that series, and the BBC movies aren't bad either - now I also have a crush on Derek Jacobi, lol.