What are you Reading this December, 2016?

[Michael]

I loved the first book and really wanted to enjoy the sequel, but Metro 2034 proved to be a disappointment - which was a real shame.

http://thecultofme.blogspot.co.uk/201...

[EchoBaz(Unofficial World's Fastest Reader)]

This is maddening! Let me post bookcovers goodreads!

I got a nice little lesson with . If a space opera has its space battles described to you via just descriptions of what happens, and there's no dialogue in it, I'm gonna glaze over.

I'm moving onto . Huge fan of the games, so I'm looking forward to this.

[Shaitarn]

Finished the Han Solo trilogy and have started Sorcerer to the Crown by Zen Cho. Interesting story, but the Jane Austen style of writing is making it harder going than it should be (I know some people will love the book even more for that, it just doesn't do anything for me).

[Andrea]

I've finished reading Alphabet of Thorn (will save comments for when the discussion opens up).

Now reading . I would have read it last year when I was reading everything I owned that was Tolkien related, but after reading the Silmarillion and the Unfinished Tales, I didn't think I could handle a third version of the same story all in the same month. So waited a year to get back to it.

[Gary]

Just finished Castle of Wizardry by David Eddings. Now on to book 5 in the series, after I finish the mystery novel I am currently reading.

[RJ - Slayer of Trolls]

Brendan wrote: "Randy wrote: "That's one of my all-time favorites Brendan, hope you enjoy it!"

I did enjoy it. Bester packs several book's worth of SF ideas into a short book, and the writing is pretty sophistica..."

I didn't even think of it having been written around the same time as Childhood's End but it turns out they were only about 3 years apart. Completely different books though, as different as it gets. Someday I need to get to The Demolished Man. I have some Bester short stories too but those seem to get mixed reviews.

[RJ - Slayer of Trolls]

Silvana wrote: "Randy wrote: "I'm also reading Catalyst - A Rogue One Novel by James Luceno "

Do you enjoy Catalyst?"

Not too much at this point, but I'm only 5 or so chapters in. I did see Rogue One and I liked it a lot. I'm going to need to see it a couple more times in the theater and then buy the Blu-Ray.

[Shaitarn]

Finished Sorcerer to the Crown and have started Trader by Charles de Lint. I loved pretty much everything of his I've read and so far this is no exception.

[Hillary]

Really enjoyed Genevieve Valentine's Persona, which is a very near future SF concerned with PR and propaganda in a UN-like league of nations (there's not much of a tech focus, though there's a notable plotline related to surveillance). It's a quick, page-turning read. I also enjoyed the follow-up, Icon, though a little less so -- perhaps because I was already familiar with the set-up or perhaps because I found the actions of the "ecoterrorist" group a little less plausible in this one.

Tad Williams' Bobby Dollar urban fantasy with angels trilogy was mostly entertaining but not among my favorities. Happy Hour in Hell in particular was a bit of a trudge at times.

I did enjoy Seveneves, despite some weaker elements (a relatively slow first 125 pages or so, a hard-to-believe significant decision that precedes the book's biggest time jump, etc.). Some of the tech-exposition goes a little overboard (esp. where it's repetitive), but some is fascinating, much of it extrapolating on existing tech & ideas.

& I read PKD's Solar Lottery, which I read for the first time. Some of the political ideas and discussions at the beginning seemed eerily relevant (though they aren't necessarily developed much in the rest of the book, which turns into a fugitive-style thriller complicated by telepathy).

[Darren]

Trying to finish up the things in my queue I started earlier in the year and... put aside. Finished The Ballad of Black Tom, but some of them just feel like I was right to put them aside. I really wish I liked Moonheart more, because I hate to abandon it. I like De Lint, I have lived in Ottawa, and tramped through the Glebe, that neighbourhood in which the book is centred. But it keeps losing me.

[Kathy]

and .

[Sarah]

Hi all,
I've been away from the group for a few months while being overwhelmed with moving. Yikes! I hope I never have to do that again.

Anyway, while unpacking endless boxes of books this month, I have been listening to-

We Are Legion (We Are Bob) I really enjoyed this one.

The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet This was enjoyable.

Pines I enjoyed this series enough to read all three books, but I don't understand why it needed to be three books. This could have been one stand-alone novel.

[Ben]

Graveyard of employees is likely to be the last book I'm going to get through this year

[Davy]

In december, I:

- Finished Wheel of Time book 10: Crossroads of Twilight (finally! What a drag ...)
- Read Half a War (great read, but not as great as the first 2)
- Started Wheel of Time book 11: Knife of Dreams (hopefully things will pick up now)

[Kivrin]

Randy wrote: Reading some non-SF/F stuff too:
- The Professor and the Madman: A Tale of Murder, Insanity and the Making of the Oxford English Dictionary by Simon Winchester
- Farewell to Manzanar by Jeanne Wakatsuki Houston ..."

Can't go wrong with Simon Winchester! Love his writing.

[RJ - Slayer of Trolls]

Kivrin wrote: "Can't go wrong with Simon Winchester! Love his writing."

Yeah, I liked the book (The Professor and the Madman: A Tale of Murder, Insanity and the Making of the Oxford English Dictionary). Overall it was an interesting story and well-researched. My review is here if anyone is interested: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

[Kivrin]

I read "The Professor and the Madman" with my book club.

My fave is still Krakatoa: The Day the World Exploded

[Gary]

Now reading Enchanters' End Game by David Eddings

[Mike]

Davy wrote: "In december, I:

- Finished Wheel of Time book 10: Crossroads of Twilight (finally! What a drag ...)"

I also found that one to be really hard to slog through. I think my first time reading the series (currently on my second time through), it was the book I took the longest to finish at about three months.

[RJ - Slayer of Trolls]

Kivrin wrote: "I read "The Professor and the Madman" with my book club.

My fave is still Krakatoa: The Day the World Exploded"

Thanks - I'm gonna see if I can borrow that one next.

[Gary]

Mike wrote: "Davy wrote: "In december, I:

- Finished Wheel of Time book 10: Crossroads of Twilight (finally! What a drag ...)"

I also found that one to be really hard to slog through. I think my ..."
Oh boy something to look forward to...

[Andrea]

Finished the Children of Hurin by Tolkien.

Now I have two more books planned for the end of the year, one an anthology and the other an omnibus.

and

[Shaitarn]

Finished Trader, finishing off the year with a re-read of A Princess of the Chameln which I first picked up years ago.

[Gary]

Just finished Enchanters' End Game by David Eddings

[Gary]

Now reading The Dragon and the George by Gordon R. Dickson

[Andrea]

Gary wrote: "Now reading The Dragon and the George by Gordon R. Dickson"

Somewhere along the way that series became one of my used bookstore hunting quests since I'm a huge fan of the movie Flight of Dragons. So far I've got most of the series but not all of it yet. Sure, I could just order them online, but it's more fun to be on the hunt even if it takes several years to complete!

[Gary]

They are all available in ebook format.

[Brendan]

Finished The New Weird. The stories themselves are fantastic, even though i'd read a few of them already. The essays and the experimental "group story" were pretty bad. It would be better if they had a few of the actual voices of the genre write essays beyond Harrison, maybe Vandermeer should have been less modest and not kept himself out just because he was editor.

Currently reading The Three-Body Problem for another group's read.

[Ivy]

Gary wrote: "Mike wrote: "Davy wrote: "In december, I:

- Finished Wheel of Time book 10: Crossroads of Twilight (finally! What a drag ...)"

I also found that one to be really hard to slog through..."

10 and 11 were my least favorite volumes. Its been a while since I read them but I remember getting pretty tired of the Perrin/Faile storyline.

[[deleted user]]

I finished slogging through Too Like the Lightning by Ada Palmer. Ugh, what a steaming pile of litcrap. Playing games with English's gendered pronouns is the new favorite conceit of the Literati. Palmer introduces a child who works Miracles into a godless future, and then abandons that story for more quotidian political conspiracies & dorm room philosophy discussions. (Seriously, the kid can heal the sick, resurrect the dead, turn water to wine, out do all of Jesus's best tricks, and all we're worried about is whether the trains run on time?) I would not bothered finishing had I realized the book was part of a series and had no ending.

[Brendan]

G33z3r wrote: "I finished slogging through Too Like the Lightning by Ada Palmer. Ugh, what a steaming pile of litcrap."

Ha, I thought that book was fantastic. I'll probably pick up the sequel as soon as it's out (in 2 months). It's funny though, everything you mentioned not liking (gendered aspects, philosophy, political conspiracies) were the parts I said I liked best in my review.

[Andrea]

Gary wrote: "They are all available in ebook format."

That takes away all the fun of the used bookstore hunt ;) I've done a few series that way (especially since I started these quests before ebooks were around) and it's such a feeling of accomplishment to actually complete a series.

Plus I much prefer physical books. I tend to keep my eReading to things I can pick up for free, except where something is only in eBook form and have to buy it.

[[deleted user]]

Brendan wrote: "It's funny though, everything you mentioned not liking (gendered aspects..."

I thought Leckie finished beating gendered pronouns to death already. Palmer's addition is to have the narrator use gendered pronouns while leaving the quoted dialog in gender-free "it" & "they", then pausing the lecture us on how she's chosen the pronoun's gender even when it doesn't match the subject's biological gender. And if Palmer "dear reader"'s me one more time I'm going to throw a fruitcake.

[Faith]

I finished The Day of the Triffids by John Wyndham. My review:

https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

[Kathy]

Finished Railhead and now on to The Final Empire, really digging Brandon Sanderson.

[Gary]

Finished The Dragon and the George by Gordon R. Dickson. The current cover is pale compared to the original covers by Boris Vallejo.

[Emily]

I'm in the middle of Critical Failures II: Fail Harder. Essentially, these guys were sucked into a Dungeons & Dragons type game in book one, and book two just continues their adventures. It's super juvenile and wildly inappropriate, but it has its moments. I used to play some D&D growing up, so there's kind of a nostalgia there when the "game rules" get brought up in the story. Overall, I just find it a super easy, entertaining read that doesn't require a lot of brain cells.

[Ramon]

I just finished Ringworld's Children (in English) and have just started Luna: New Moon (in Spanish). Also trying to finish one of my SciFi novellas when I get bored reading.

[Dylan]

Andrea wrote: "seeing he didn't write the book to be analyzed (whether linguistically nor thematically)..."

Is that true? I know that he did not intend for it to be interpreted as an allegory (which many people do), but do you actually have a citation or evidence that he did not intend for it to be analyzed in any way?

In particular, linguistically (as you mention) -- why go to the trouble of creating multiple languages that adhere to the actual behaviors of real language, and create appendices and supplementary materials, with no intention of having them analyzed?

Did he intend for it to be critiqued? Can one critique without analysis? I don't know the answers.

I can certainly see how the breaking down of sentences can be boring, but Tolkien was also a poet, and poets tend to write carefully structured language -- which can be difficult to appreciate, and sometimes even to understand, without careful deconstruction.

In short, I'm not convinced. :)

Also, I'm intrigued and would love to read this Le Guin essay on Tolkien.

[Dylan]

Dylan wrote: "Andrea wrote: "seeing he didn't write the book to be analyzed (whether linguistically nor thematically)..."

Is that true? I know that he did not intend for it to be interpreted as an allegory (whi..."

And let me apologize for the above post -- I don't mean to make this into a Tolkien debate thread. Just meant to reply with some thoughts and observations about a previous post.

Thanks!
:)

[RJ - Slayer of Trolls]

I just finished The Light Fantastic by Terry Pratchett. I liked it - review here if anyone is interested: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

I'm still working on Catalyst - A Rogue One Novel by James Luceno and I should wrap it up in the next few days. I enjoyed the Rogue One movie but this book is pretty boring. Review to follow soon.

I recently started A Monster Calls by Patrick Ness. I'm not very far into it yet - it's obviously meant for young readers but so many friends have given the book great reviews that I feel like I need to read it. I'll probably give it to my 13 year old daughter when I finish it.

I'm still working on:
- Tarzan of the Apes by Edgar Rice Burroughs
- The Year's Best Science Fiction & Fantasy 2015 Edition ed. by Rich Horton

[Michael]

Dylan wrote: "Andrea wrote: "seeing he didn't write the book to be analyzed (whether linguistically nor thematically)..."

Is that true? I know that he did not intend for it to be interpreted as an allegory (whi..."
I missed Andrea's original post, so I'm not sure exactly what she said. IMO once a book is written and published, it belongs more to the reader than the author. The author can certainly express his opinion. But it's up to the reader to decide what they see in the book.

[nmm]

At the moment reading Kim Stanley Robinson 2312 and Tropic of Cancer by Henri Miller.

This month I also read Terry Goodkind First Confessor, Wizard's First rule and Do Android dream of electric sheep by Phillip K. Dick.

[Andrea]

Well, I ended up reading faster than I expected so I squeezed in by Philippa Gregory. I had won the first book through Goodreads so decided to see where the series went. I have definite issues with the absurdity of some of the events and the lack of historical accuracy (given this is Gregory!) but it was a quick read and exactly what I was looking for.

Since that also went faster than expected I then followed up with . It was also a bit ridiculous and innacurate, but again, taken as a brainless read it was ok and filled the time.

Now I still need to finish the Dresden graphic novel omnibus (on the last third) but that won't take me till midnight, so I decided to start on something for the next year

by David Eddings. I finished the Belgariad a little while back so time to continue on.

[Gary]

Andrea wrote: "Well, I ended up reading faster than I expected so I squeezed in by Philippa Gregory. I had won the first book through Goodreads so decided to see w..."

I finished my reread of the Belgariad in December as well. I will likely get to the Mallorean after I move later this month after unpacking my first edition HCs. I may do a reread of the Sparhawk books as well. But I am also working on a reread of The Sword of Shanarra.