What Else Are You Reading? June 2014

[Joseph]

Finished Caesar Dies (it was short; the ending was not a surprise) and started Veil of the Deserters, the second in Jeff Salyards's series.

[Jake]

Just finsihed Assassin's Apprentice and had kind of mixed feelings. my review.

[Olivia "So many books--so little time.""]

Lately I've been in the mood for sci-fi short stories so I've been reading The Year's Best Science Fiction Sixth Annual Collection edited by Gardner Dozois. Sorry the title isn't highlighted--it's not in the system. The stories have been excellent.

[Shad]

Just finished Insurgent and starting Allegiant and Promise of Blood, mainly Promise of Blood right now since it is the club pick and the loan from the library is shorter.

A little unsure of Allegiant because of some of what I've heard and I'm also getting a little tired of the lousy economics in these YA distopian stories.

[David Sven]

Finished the latest Dresden Skin Game on Audible
My Review

A bit of buzz around Trudi Canavan's new book - Think I'll check out one of her old ones that have been sitting in my Audible Library forever The Magician's Guild

[Jenny (Reading Envy)]

War and Peace. :P

No really.

[Walter]

I read Anna Karenina a while back. Russian novels, the literary equivalent of the marathon run. :)

[Tamahome]

Jenny (Reading Envy) wrote: "War and Peace. :P

No really."

Wow. That's longer than A Dance With Dragons.

[Thomas]

Reading and enjoying Peacemaker by C.J. Cherryh.

[Jenny (Reading Envy)]

Walter wrote: "I read Anna Karenina a while back. Russian novels, the literary equivalent of the marathon run. :)"

I love to read Anna Karenina when it is hot outside....

[Mark]

Finished Jim Butcher's latest, Skin Game. It's a heist story with all the usual Dresden grace notes, including some amusing and alarming changes to Harry's pals.

I also picked up a copy of Beyond the Wall: Exploring George R. R. Martin's A Song of Ice and Fire, which is an interesting collection of essays.

I've put A Dance with Dragons on hiatus while I read this month's pick Promise of Blood because I've caught up with the tv show and don't want to get too far ahead.

And one more thing; there's a new Harry Dresden comic out this week, the first issue of a mini-series, an original tale, not an adaptation, Jim Butcher's The Dresden Files War Cry #1. If you're interested, see http://www.jim-butcher.com/posts/2014...

[Eric]

Depends how much I can get done on my upcoming business trip, but hoping to finish up the Buffy Season 8 TPBs that I checked out from the library, some Image Comics trades from the Humble Bundle, Don't Know Much About Mythology, and a few books I recently picked up. Probably overly ambitious, but we'll see.

[Jenny (Reading Envy)]

Decided to listen to Palimpsest by Cat Valente on my solitary road trip today. I've read this book three times but the audio really brings out the lush beauty of the words. I know the author won't discuss this book but I love and adore it.

[Tamahome]

Jenny (Reading Envy) wrote: "I know the author won't discuss this book but I love and adore it."

Why not?

[Eric]

Jenny (Reading Envy) wrote: "Decided to listen to Palimpsest by Cat Valente on my solitary road trip today. I've read this book three times but the audio really brings out the lush beauty of the words. I know th..."

Sounds intriguing. Also, and this is just based on Goodreads' synopsis, sounds like something they'd cover over in Vaginal Fantasy

[Jenny (Reading Envy)]

Tamahome wrote: "Jenny (Reading Envy) wrote: "I know the author won't discuss this book but I love and adore it."

Why not?"
Tama I can't find it right now but it's in her blog or livejournal somewhere. Something about the reception being overwhelming negative and she had poured herself into it.

Eric wrote: "Sounds intriguing. Also, and this is just based on Goodreads' synopsis, sounds like something they'd cover over in Vaginal Fantasy ..."
It would be good for that!

[Eric]

Jenny (Reading Envy) wrote: "Tamahome wrote: "Jenny (Reading Envy) wrote: "I know the author won't discuss this book but I love and adore it."

Why not?"
Tama I can't find it right now but it's in her blog or livejournal somew..."
Sad that people were so negative. When you create something it's almost like a child so to have people be so negative about it must hurt.

[Keidy]

"Jenny (Reading Envy) wrote: "I know the author won't discuss this book but I love and adore it."

"Tamahome wrote: Why not?"

"Jenny (Reading Envy) wrote: Tama I can't find it right now but it's in her blog or livejournal somewhere. Something about the reception being overwhelming negative and she had poured herself into it."

That is really sad that people were so negative. I LOVE Catherynne M. Valente and I discovered her through the book The Girl Who Circumnavigated Fairyland in a Ship of Her Own Making which was a book that totally blew me away!

This is the first I've ever heard of Palimpsest though. It sounds like an interesting read and I'm totally putting it on my wishlist. I'm really sad that people were so negative about it though. She's an amazing writer.

[Micah]

I just finished American Prometheus: The Triumph and Tragedy of J. Robert Oppenheimer on Audible. It was great. Anybody interested in the history behind the atomic bomb and it's use should check it out. Also gave great insight into the Red Scare of the 1950s. I felt it was a good portrait of a complicated genius.

[Sky]

Just finished Promise of Blood. I had intended to go on to Prince of Fools, but whispersync is not yet available with the kindle version, and I won't have another audible credit for for another 2 weeks, so it looks like its on to The Crimson Campaign for which I have both kindle and audio :)

[Keidy]

I've finished reading Outlander by Diana Gabaldon just in time for the new TV series coming up on Starz soon! I had a lot more fun than I thought I would reading this. My Review

I've also recently finished reading Moth and Spark by Anne Leonard after winning the book in the "Sword & Laser: Moth and Spark Book Giveaway". Sadly though I did not enjoy this book at all. In fact it's the worst I've read so far this year. My Review

And lastly (after that horrible book) I've read Thief's Magic by Trudi Canavan. This was a surprisingly good story, especially since it was a spontaneous buy because of a pre-order sale on Amazon's Kindle for $3. I will definitely read more of this series when it comes out. My Review

I'm now almost done reading the second book in the Dresden Files series Fool Moon and it's a bit of a struggle. Harry is annoying me with his wishy washy ways. After that I'm all set up to read The Death Cure, the last in "The Maze Runner" trilogy. Whew. Lots of reading done. ^_^;

[Michal]

Halfway through The Book of Negroes. Cockroach is up next.

And I just finished my Bone re-read!

[[deleted user]]

Just finished Prince of Fools! A very, very different book from any of the Broken Empire books. Here's my review

I'm on to The Garden of Stones, seems like stock fantasy but with some crazy creative worldbuilding so far.

[Phil]

Finished The Avatar by Poul Anderson. I didn't like it that much but did find something curious about 3/4 of the way through. It was written about 25 years before the movie Avatar by James Cameron and is in no way connected or similar to it except at one point the humans land on a planet they name Pandora and find an ancient statue that depicts aliens that are about twice as tall as a human, have flat faces, are blue and have tails. I wonder if Anderson ever noticed the similarities.
Starting Promise of Blood now.

[Joseph]

Phil wrote: "Finished The Avatar by Poul Anderson. I didn't like it that much but did find something curious about 3/4 of the way through. It was written about 25 years before the movie Avatar by..."

Interesting! Although given that Anderson died in 2001 ...

[Sandi]

I finished listening to Glimpses by Lewis Shiner yesterday. I only gave it two stars and may go back and lower it to one. If it had been the book in the blurb, or if it had lived up the the first couple of chapters, it would have been pretty good. Instead, it made a left turn and ran off a cliff.

I've now started listening to Crown of Renewal by Elizabeth Moon. It's the fifth and last book in the Paladin's Legacy series. I really enjoyed the other books in the series, but I am concerned. I read the first three in print, listened to the 4th and am listening to the 5th. What I wonder is why they can't keep one narrator for the series. Susan Ericksen narrates this one and the second one. Jennifer Van Dyck narrated the 1st and the 4th. Angela Dawe narrated the 3rd. Weird, huh? I actually think this series would be best with at least two narrators, one male and one female. Or, just a male narrator because most of the storylines are from male characters' points of view. There's really only one major female character. I dunno. I like the series and audio is a good way to go because of the length.

[Jeff]

I've finally decided to read A Feast for Crows since HBO is quickly catching up to me. Then it will be A Dance with Dragons to be caught up. If time permits in the remainder of the month, I'll continue the adventures of Harry Dresden with Dead Beat.

[Phil]

Joseph wrote: "Phil wrote: "Finished The Avatar by Poul Anderson. I didn't like it that much but did find something curious about 3/4 of the way through. It was written about 25 years before the mo..."

Darn, I should have looked that up Joseph.
Upon a little googling I see that others have pointed out the similarity of an Anderson short story, "Call Me Joe", and the plot of Avatar the movie. I guess Cameron is a closet Poul Anderson fan.

[Chris]

I'm currently reading Scourge of the Betrayer. Next on my list is The Crimson Campaign or Cibola Burn (depending on whether Corey's book is released before I finish Scourge).

[Bryan]

I started Jeff Vandermeer's Annihilation this morning, and am now halfway through. Worried I'll find golden flora on this next plane flight.

[Louie]

I just started Wool, today. And I am hoping to finish it as well as Shift and Dust before Cibola Burns comes out. So that would be ~1500 words in 10 days. Wish me luck.

[Rob, Roberator]

Finished listening to Dark Force Rising. Not as good as the first, but still enjoyable (My Review).

[kvon]

Today I finished Dead Ever After, and I'm happy with Harris's finale for this series. Yay for definite endings!

I also finished The Selected Works of T.S. Spivet which has lots of cool drawings and marginalia, but had a lousy ending. Boo! It's more magical realism than sff.

[Jenny (Reading Envy)]

Since I finally finished The Best Science Fiction and Fantasy of the Year: v. 8 (highly recommended!), I started Neptune's Brood by Charles Stross since it is on the Hugo list. I abandoned the book before it, but so far this is better keeping my attention.

[Alan]

Finally reading Wool and wish I had been able to when the club was doing it because I really like it but have no one with whom to discuss it.
It's going pretty fast so I'm trawling through this thread looking for ideas for a new stand-alone or series to try ...

[Walter]

Finished Duma Key, now reading Blackbirds, which not only was the runner up for this month's read, but which I picked as my choice for the group read for another club, so it's a twofer.

[Stephanie]

This week I finished The Talisman and The Martian.

Now I am planning on rereading The Devil in the White City: Murder, Magic, and Madness at the Fair that Changed America for a local book club and starting The Wind Through the Keyhole because I am anxious to get back to reading the DT series.

Although these plans could all come undone if my library hold on Black House comes available soon... as much as I enjoyed The Devil in the White City on the first read (~8 years ago and living in Chicago at the time so I could oogle all the architecture), I finding that I am not as excited about it this time.

[Jenny (Reading Envy)]

Alan wrote: "Finally reading Wool and wish I had been able to when the club was doing it because I really like it but have no one with whom to discuss it.
It's going pretty fast so I'm trawling ..."

Add bits to the discussion and people will dive back in.

[Dylan]

Was out of town for two weeks, and in that time I finished:

Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince (My favorite of the series so far)
Star Wars: Darth Vader and the Ghost Prison (Liked it)
Wonder (LOVED IT)

Now I'm reading Chuck Wendig's 500 Ways To Write Harder.

[[deleted user]]

Just finished The Garden of Stones, that book is amazing! I can't believe a debut that awesome just completely sailed under the radar like that. Here's my review

[Bryan]

Started Charlie Stross' Neptune's Brood, but am not getting excited by the financial focus.

[Tamahome]

Bryan wrote: "Started Charlie Stross' Neptune's Brood, but am not getting excited by the financial focus."

But I hear there's a big payoff.

[[deleted user]]

Tamahome wrote: "Bryan wrote: "Started Charlie Stross' Neptune's Brood, but am not getting excited by the financial focus."

But I hear there's a big payoff."

Well played.

[[deleted user]]

I was fortunate to get an early look at Koko Takes a Holiday-- which is amazing.

BoingBoing and i09 have had excerpts up. Great stuff.

>>Five hundred years from now, ex-corporate mercenary Koko Martstellar is swaggering through an easy early retirement as a brothel owner on The Sixty Islands, a manufactured tropical resort archipelago known for its sex and simulated violence. Surrounded by slang-drooling boywhores and synthetic komodo dragons, Koko finds the most challenging part of her day might be deciding on her next drink. That is, until her old comrade Portia Delacompte sends a squad of security personnel to murder her. <<

[Michele]

Whenever I see the name Koko I think of that gorilla who knows sign language. I don't know if I can escape tying that visual with that name.

[Dara]

Finished Days of Blood & Starlight last night. My review. Finishing the trilogy with Dreams of Gods & Monsters.

[Bryan]

Rabindranauth wrote: "Tamahome wrote: "Bryan wrote: "Started Charlie Stross' Neptune's Brood, but am not getting excited by the financial focus."

But I hear there's a big payoff."

Well played."

Indeed. I was worried that you might find that pun... too big to nail.

[Jenny (Reading Envy)]

Bryan wrote: "Started Charlie Stross' Neptune's Brood, but am not getting excited by the financial focus."

*ignores all the puns*

I'm 95 pages in and liking it! The financial stuff passes quickly.

[Bryan]

Jenny (Reading Envy) wrote: "The financial stuff passes quickly."

Like a bank bailout?

[Eddie]

In celebration of Season 2, I read Orange Is the New Black. Good book. The show takes little tidbits from it, but isn't remotely similar.

I also started reading The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich: A History of Nazi Germany. I've wanted to read this book for a very long time, but just never got around to it. I am still early in the book, pre WWII, but so far the history has been amazing. I didn't know a tenth about what happened leading up to the war.