What Else Are You Reading - September 2016

[Rob, Roberator]

What will you all be reading this month?

[Andy]

I am a little bit into The Black Prism this month in addition to the book club pick. I have never read anything by Brent Weeks before so I am looking forward to this.

I just last night finished The Fireman and it was really, really good. Joe Hill really knows how to use fantastic situations to bring out the humanity in people (both good and bad). The first third is slow but it pays off big time.

[John (Taloni)]

Partway into Riordan's latest, The Hidden Oracle. It's a decent continuation of the Percy Jackson series featuring an unpowered, suddenly mortal Apollo. Nothing earth shaking here, just a fun romp in a known universe.

[Kristina]

Right now I'm working on Sleeping Late on Judgement Day and then I'm sure I'll start the club book.

[Misti]

Finished up Changes last night. There was some kinda shipping delay with the book pick for the month. So I checked out The Science of Discworld IV: Judgement Day on audio book on Overdrive.

[Trike]

Just started the alt-history Underground Airlines. The first chapter is very good. I dig the cover so much I made a new thread about cool covers.

[Shad]

I've been reading and enjoying On Basilisk Station, but my interlibrary loan request for A Fire Upon the Deep came in so I'll be starting on that one. I'll probably keep reading at least a little bit in Basilisk to keep the plot fresh.

[Colin]

Just a couple of chapters into Who Killed Sherlock Holmes? - the latest instalment in Paul Cornell's Shadow Police series. The characters are pretty well established now after the first two books, so it's been straight into the action this time round.

Also in the middle of The Ghost Rebellion - the 5th in an ongoing Steampunk series. I sometimes think that I read these more out of habit than in the expectation of a good story. It's not really my genre and I do find myself doing the eye-rolling thing when the latest technological innovation is rolled out to entertain us, which is surely not what the authors intend!

[Thane]

Read Monster Hunter Memoirs: Grunge by John Ringo and Larry Correia and it was really good!

Currently reading The Armageddon Rag by George RR Martin because sometimes you just need to know if its really that bad.

[Brian]

Currently Listening to Maddaddam by Margaret Atwood

Currently Reading: Three body problem by Cixin liu

Up next: Half a war by Joe Abercrombie

Then: Angles of attack (front lines #3) by Marko Kloos

[Viola]

Listening to Terms of Enlistment and it reminds me of Old Man's War and Starship Troopers (the movie). I don’t know if it is me or the story but I seem to have a hard time focusing on the story sometimes.

Also going to pick up The Risen Empire, if I can find the book.

[John (Taloni)]

Thane wrote: "Currently reading The Armageddon Rag by George RR Martin because sometimes you just need to know if its really that bad."

I really enjoyed it. Fevre Dream too, around the same timeframe.

[Stephen]

Listening to Peter Grant #4 Broken Homes. The book are a fast listen because of the writing style and the first rate performance by Kobna Holdbrook-Smith. Kobna hit all the right notes and it is a blast to listen to. Plus a jazz snippet introduces each chapter.

[Tom]

A Study in Scarlet, The Grace of Kings, as well as some others I'm dipping in and out of.
Up next: The City & the City and I, Robot.

[Joel]

Viola wrote: "Also going to pick up The Risen Empire, if I can find the book."

I really enjoyed the Risen Empire. Still haven't read the sequel though.

[John (Taloni)]

Finished up the Riordan book last night and went casting about for something to read. Three big books are tee'd up at the LA library but are still on hold.

With this month's pick being the only Vinge book that I have read, which I roundly disliked, I thought "he can't be as bad as I remember." I picked up A Deepness in the Sky. So far, seems pretty good. Ramships, a weird star and mysterious civilization, what's not to like? Well, perhaps the hamfisted analogy between the US and Russia for the two exploration fleets, but I'll get past it.

[nickytwothumbs]

Just picked up The Silver Tide again after stopping to read Stranger Of Tempest.

[Colin]

Thomas wrote: "Up next: The City & the City "

Great choice. Loved that one.

[Trike]

Colin wrote: "Thomas wrote: "Up next: The City & the City "

Great choice. Loved that one."

[90s Comedian Voice]
What's the deal with all these books with "city" in the title? Have you noticed this? It's like these authors just left the suburbs and discovered bright lights. "Look Ethel! This burg has more than one stoplight!" And they drive around in circles looking for a mall. A mall!

[Darren]

I'm re-reading The Kingkiller Chronicles. Still so good. Also Inversions.

[Brad]

Finishing up Dust Of Dreams, toying with the idea of going right into The Crippled God so I don't forget who everyone is again. So many names and places in these books.

[Sumant]

Here is my review of The Temporal Void

[Jenny (Reading Envy)]

Andy wrote: "I just last night finished The Fireman and it was really, really good. Joe Hill really knows how to use fantastic situations to bring out the humanity in people (both good and bad). The first third is slow but it pays off big time."
I really liked that one,

I just finished Totem by Darin Bradley. I haven't written the review yet because I'm not sure I'm done having dreams inside that dystopian world. It is that vivid, highly recommended when it comes out in October.

I am just sitting down to start The Obelisk Gate by N.K. Jemisin. I wanted to wait until I had a chunk of time to sink into it and I have a blissful day off tomorrow.

[Joel]

Rereading Mr. Monster by Dan Wells. I highly recommend this series.

[Trike]

Joel wrote: "Rereading Mr. Monster by Dan Wells. I highly recommend this series."

I'll pass on anything to do with serial killers.

[Stephen]

Finished Broken Homes, now on to Foxglove Summer before I tackle A Fire Upon the Deep.

[terpkristin]

I'm struggling a bit to get into A Fire Upon the Deep so have mostly been reading Stone of Farewell in audio, thanks also to a drive that SHOULD have been ~6 hours each way taking 8.5 one way and 7.5 the other (thanks, Pennsylvania). I feel like SoF may be a smidge slower than The Dragonbone Chair, but I'm digging it. There's one character I thought was in the first book but haven't had a chance to go back and check and another character who's a bit mysterious.

[Phil]

Finished Orbit Unlimited by Poul Anderson. Anderson can be hit and miss for me and unfortunately this one was a miss. While the premise was interesting, four connected short stories about traveling to and starting a colony on another planet, the male characters were uniformly unlikable and the writing was steeped in 60's sexism. While I can usually forgive that sort of thing based on when something was written the constant assertion that women didn't have type of brain that could handle math or abstract thought was grating even to me.
Starting my annual Heinlein re-read with Farmer in the Sky.

[Darren]

terpkristin wrote: "I'm struggling a bit to get into A Fire Upon the Deep so have mostly been reading Stone of Farewell in audio, thanks also to a drive that SHOULD have been ~6 hours each wa..."

Seoman Snowlock! Great books, all three.

[Lynzie]

hey guys, this is Rin from Michigan. I'm just now restart-reading The Last Policeman by Ben Winters. The last time, I was into it and was enjoying myself, but life happened and it fell by the wayside. I hope it doesn't disappoint.

I just recently finished All the Birds in the Sky, which was a solid A-/B+ for the combination of science fiction and fantasy. Although, it was a surprisingly quick read. I'd be curious to read more from that universe of tales.

[Brendan]

Half way through The Obelisk Gate. Great stuff.

[Misti]

Ended up lemming A Fire Upon the Deep. Now The Science of Discworld IV: Judgement Day is on hold because I couldn't finish it in time, before someone put it on hold with the library. :( So I've checked out Furies of Calderon on ebook, in the meantime.

[Kristina]

started this month's book... then saw my pre-order for the new throne of glass came in...so I'm going to have to do that instead

[Joseph]

Finished! with A Dance with Dragons; next up, A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms. And then, I'll join the rest of you in the long, long, long wait.

[John (Taloni)]

Finished up a Deepness in the Sky. Turned out to be decent despite my misgivings. There's a good 250 page thriller bloated out to a 770 page book and large sections dragged, but overall okay. The cardboard villains made me gag, but good space opera otherwise.

Next on to a book I've been resisting reading: Piers Anthony's Under a Velvet Cloak. The seven book Incarnations of Immortality was pretty good, so I'm giving this followup book a try. My wife lemmed it but we share a kindle library, so with nothing else in the queue I opened it up.

I'd heard - but not bothered to read - later Anthony, which from what I understood frequently features older men having their way with teenage girls. Well, this book opens with a thirteen year old girl falling in love with an older mage. They have sex before she's fourteen and become a couple. Soon after circumstances change and she decides to become a prostitute in order to obtain information from traveling men. I honestly don't know how Anthony hasn't been arrested.

[Alan]

John (Taloni) wrote: "I honestly don't know how Anthony hasn't been arrested. ..."
You can't be arrested for thinking about it - and note that some of his work also moves over into the distasteful areas of sado-masochism, torture, etc.
However, society at large is becoming more aware of the dangers: In UK you can be arrested, convicted, and put on a list for having inappropriate images stored on your computer. You don't have to be found guilty of actually doing anything unpleasant - but by storing them and/or looking at them you are declaring yourself to be an individual of questionable tastes, and a possible danger to the young and vulnerable - so you go on a list, so the police can find you quickly and easily if they have reason to do so. You have also helped create a market for such images, which encourages abuse by others.
This may be the reason Anthony chooses to live in America.
The case could be made that the UK system is over-policed and intrudes on privacy, but this is one of the few ( very few!) areas where I think such surveillance is entirely justified.
The case (and the arguments!) are much more intricate and detailed than this, but I don't want to write a thesis, just a short post.

[Stephen]

Since the medium age of death is about 30 in the Middle Ages 14 is when people got their mid life crisis.

[[deleted user]]

I am finishing up Skin Game and hopefully starting either The Copper Promise or Good Omens: The Nice and Accurate Prophecies of Agnes Nutter, Witch. I only semi-recently got back into reading so I still read relatively slowly, which is frustrating when there are so many books I hope to check out!

[John (Taloni)]

Good Omens is so awesome I would recommend it over almost any other book. Read it first!

[Misti]

John (Taloni) wrote: "Good Omens is so awesome I would recommend it over almost any other book. Read it first!"

Ditto, what he said!

[Trike]

I did the audio of Good Omens and while the narrator did a yeoman's job, he just wasn't up to doing the women's voices. This is what finally made me stop listening to audio books. I liked the story and have nothing but praise for the narrator, but I wish I'd read it instead.

[Darren]

Use of Weapons

[Joseph]

Finished A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms (which, seriously, if you're pining for Westeros, read this book) and, since my Kindle is currently unavailable (long story), I'm going back to the Ballantine Adult Fantasy series for a bit with Hannes Bok's Beyond the Golden Stair.

[John (Taloni)]

Halfway through Titan by Stephen Baxter. I'm good for the subject material, but it takes way too long to get going. The setup takes a third of the book, and involves a preposterous premise that the NASA of the early 2000s would allow a one-way mission to Titan. The slam on the space program's bureaucratic and essentially anti-space focus is well taken given NASA's failures, but the outcome is ridiculous wish fulfillment. Simply put, Baxter needs a better premise.

My reaction to this and the also overlong Deepness in the Sky is that the best part is that they are good insomnia fodder, allowing a lengthy read during times when I can not sleep. Each was long enough to be a trilogy during the 70s and earlier, when I started reading SF, but contain only one book's worth of story. I can't say I'm a fan of the endlessly long style.

That, and the focus on the present is not why I come to SF. This book reminds me of the start of Firefall, which spend 100 agonizing pages in the present before heading off to the more interesting SFnal concepts.

I don't know what the rest of the book will bring, but I do know I am skimming large parts of it. Baxter seems best as a co-author.

[Joseph]

John (Taloni) wrote: "Halfway through Titan by Stephen Baxter. I'm good for the subject material, but it takes way too long to get going. The setup takes a third of the book, and involves a preposterous pre..."

I thought Titan was one of the grimmest books I'd ever read.

Finished Beyond the Golden Stair and, since I'm still Kindle-free, went with another Ballantine Adult Fantasy title: The Broken Sword by Poul Anderson.

[John (Taloni)]

Joseph wrote: "I thought Titan was one of the grimmest books I'd ever read."

Ooof, thanks. I'm now about halfway through the book and it's getting into some pretty preposterous geopolitical stuff. It's one thing when you jump right into it like Heinlein did with Revolt in 2100, a lot different when the author asks me to believe that such radical change would happen as a natural outgrowth of today's conditions. Now to see if this book can be more of a downer than the movie Silent Running...

[Phil]

Just finished my reread of Farmer in the Sky by Heinlein. The last time I read this was 1974 and needless to say I didn't remember much of it. I think I probably got more out of it now than I did when I was 11 and I was surprised by how much I really enjoyed it. It's really just an account of the day to day life of a teenage colonist on Ganymede and doesn't have much action but it was still compelling. This new (2009) edition contains an afterword analyzing the science of the novel, written in 1950, and what Heinlein got right and wrong.
Starting Wool Omnibus.

[[deleted user]]

I am reading The World of Ice & Fire: The Untold History of Westeros and the Game of Thrones. Kinda powering through this to get it finished. It's a one volume history of Westeros. It's not a story, it's the synopsis of a story. It's too cursory to be engaging. It would be valuable as information for your inner Ice and Fire nerd, but you're constantly being told that the information is uncertain.

[Sky]

I finally finished Dust of Dreams. I thought Dust of Dreams could have been a lot shorter, it was one of my least favorite books in the series. Still heads and shoulders above most other fantasy epics though. On to The Crippled God!

Also read a lot of manga - finished reading all of Hikaru no Go, Vol. 1: Descent of the Go Master and Naruto, Vol. 01: The Tests of the Ninja, started Video Girl Ai, Vol. 01: Preproduction and a re-read of Dragonball 完全版1. Caught up to the english releases of Attack on Titan, Volume 01 and started reading the Simul-releases on Crunchyroll. Also read Saga, Volume 6. Liked it so much I decided to subscribe to the print editions.

[AndrewP]

Almost half way through the month and I have just started A Fire Upon the Deep, not sure if I will finish before the end of the month.

Just finished the Pandora's Star & Judas Unchained pair from Peter F Hamilton. Amazing stuff and highly recommended if your a space opera fan. Review here:
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...