What Else Are You Reading? June 2014

[Tamahome]

[Rob, Roberator]

Funny.

[David Sven]

Finished Blue Remembered Earth by Alastair Reynolds
My review

Starting Wounds of Honour By Anthony Riches

[Shad]

Rob wrote: "Personally I liked the Shadow books far more than the Ender books, but those fell off too.

I'm pretty much done reading Card at this point though. Too many other books out there.

I might reread E..."
I would definately recommend Ender's Shadow. Bean is a very interesting character in his own right.

My library bought an ebook copy of Fool's Fate so I'm going to finish the Tawny Man trilogy!

[Dustin]

Micah wrote: "Kami wrote: "Just finished Ender's Game. Was gonna go through the entire 'universe' of novels in the chronological order. Now I'm not too sure."

I thought the same thing. I have heard independentl..."

I really liked Speaker for the Dead and Xenocide. Not for the characters, but for the themes.

It covers the conflict between faith, morals, and reason.

(view spoiler)[ In the conflict between the devout teenage girl who believes the gods want her to destroy an alien race with the power congress has given her and the AI trying to stop her. (hide spoiler)]

Us vs the Other, Upper Class vs Lower Class, Freewill, The Use of Overwhelming Force, and of course Xenocide.

Though the human characters wore on me, the Piggies and the Hive Queen are some of my favorite aliens.

[Joseph]

Finished The King in Yellow and Other Horror Stories and started The Tower Broken, the third in Mazarkis Williams' Tower and Knife trilogy.

[[deleted user]]

Joseph wrote: "Finished The King in Yellow and Other Horror Stories and started The Tower Broken, the third in Mazarkis Williams' Tower and Knife trilogy."

What did you think of the King in Yellow? I'm a fan of Lovecraft and I've been thinking about delving a bit deeper into the mythos.

[Joseph]

Matthew wrote: "What did you think of the King in Yellow? I'm a fan of Lovecraft and I've been thinking about delving a bit deeper into the mythos."

My review.

It's a relatively short book and worth checking out, especially if you get a free eBook version. The connections to the Mythos proper are pretty tangential -- Lovecraft apparently borrowed the idea of "forbidden texts" that drive readers mad, etc., from Chambers' mention of the play "King in Yellow". Lovecraft also pulled various names/places mentioned by Chambers (most notably Carcosa & Hastur) into the Mythos, but was using them in very different ways to the original. In some ways, the material in Chambers' book seems more tonally similar to Lovecraft's Dunsanian/Dreamlands works than to the later Mythos stories.

[Joseph]

Oh, and speaking of Lovecraft, anyone who's interested should head over to tor.com and read The Litany of Earth by Ruthanna Emrys (or listen to the audio version on the podcast, as I did) for a fascinating inversion of the Mythos.

[[deleted user]]

I'm pretty much done with The Leopard; it's a good book, but not one for me. Here's my review

Started:

[Casey]

Just finished Starship Grifters by Robert Kroese.
My review.

Not certain what I'll read next. Need to gauge my mood and act accordingly.

[Robert]

I read John Dies at the End, LMFAO.

[Walter]

Just starting I Am Legend. This edition (which I found in a local used bookstore) also has some of Matheson's short fiction, so looking forward to reading that as well.

[[deleted user]]

I finished Traitor's Blade, that book is incredibly fun. One of the best debuts of the year, no doubt about it. It has a lot of hype to it and I can see why. Here's my review

[Eddie]

My month has been really unbalanced so far. Started with Orange Is the New Black, which is pretty good but nothing like the show. Then moved on to The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich: A History of Nazi Germany, which was absolutely amazing. Now I am on Spell or High Water, which is a nice pallet cleansing after the mammoth history. I also have Ulysses which I be moving on to next.

[Rob, Roberator]

I finished reading The Lives of Tao thanks to some recommendations from people in the group. I really enjoyed it. (My Review)

I also finished listening to Dragon Bones earlier this week and enjoyed that as well. (My Review)

[Shad]

Finished Allegiant. Here is my review.

Continuing on with Fool's Fate. I am enjoying it quite a bit.

[Manolo]

I have read Pirate Cinema. I really enjoyed it. But I should say that I don't agree some of Cory idea, I am also worried about how copyright laws are going. Probably It will go worse.

I have just started to read The Emperor's Soul.

It looks great. I will tell you :D

[Dara]

Finished Toll the Hounds finally. My review.

Now going to finish Dreams of Gods & Monsters.

[Ken]

I'm re-reading David Brin's Uplift Saga 1-6, currently on 5.

[terpkristin]

I started listening to Curiosity Thrilled the Cat, a sort of murder mystery book where the main character has cats with magical abilities. I'm a cat owner and I enjoy murder mysteries, so this seems like a natural fit. ;) It's cute if slightly predictable.

I'm also still reading Flash Boys: A Wall Street Revolt when I'm not too pissed off over it.

I haven't decided what's next, after I finish Curiosity Thrilled the Cat (which will probably be today or tomorrow).

[[deleted user]]

I ditched The City by Dean Koontz last night. Too bored to finish reading it. Here's my review

[Gaines]

Trying to decide what to read next. Am 40 pages from being finished with A Dance with Dragons. Would like to do an about-face and read a sci-fi novel. Something set far away from Earth, but with good character development (otherwise it will be too difficult coming down from Martin's prose!). Any ideas?

[Rob, Roberator]

Gaines wrote: "Trying to decide what to read next. Am 40 pages from being finished with A Dance with Dragons. Would like to do an about-face and read a sci-fi novel. Something set far away from Earth, but with go..."

I enjoyed Pandora's Star, but it's long and the first half of a duology.

[Tamahome]

+1

[David Sven]

Gaines wrote: "Trying to decide what to read next. Am 40 pages from being finished with A Dance with Dragons. Would like to do an about-face and read a sci-fi novel. Something set far away from Earth, but with go..."

I see you've already read Rev Space. I'd check out Chasm City - one of my favourite Rev Space books - or maybe Reynold's House of Suns.

[Tamahome]

Or Blue Remembered Earth, if you really like talking elephants.

[David Sven]

That one's on and near Earth but.

[Tamahome]

Finished Stephen King's Mr. Mercedes. Not bad. Not too long and good characters. Nothing supernatural. More like a Law and Order episode. I liked the character Holly. It's going to be the start of a trilogy somehow.

[John]

I'm reading Daryl Gregory's 'Afterparty', about a third of the way through. As others have said, it's reminiscent of William Gibson's later stuff. William Gibson channeling Philip K. Dick, maybe.

I'm enjoying it thus far. A wonderful collection of eccentric characters that your heart goes out to.

[Rob, Roberator]

Finished listening to Cibola Burn.

I'm torn on this one. I gave it 4 stars, but it felt very different from the first 3 for me. Read My Review for my attempt to explain.

[Rob, Roberator]

Tamahome wrote: "Finished Stephen King's Mr. Mercedes. Not bad. Not too long and good characters. Nothing supernatural. More like a Law and Order episode. I liked the character Holly. It's goi..."

I'll be listening to that just as soon as my review copy for SFFAudio comes in...

[Bryan]

Just starting up the Space Opera anthology edited by Rich Horton.

[kvon]

I read The Goblin Emperor by Katharine Addison (aka Sarah Monette, of Melusine and ShadowUnit) and enjoyed having a nice if naive boy, who suddenly becomes an all-powerful emperor. A stand-alone fantasy.

Also Without a Summer by Mary Robinette Kowal, book 3 in her Austen-era magical romance. The main character Jane goes through some ugly scenes in this book.

Currently reading The Sea of Time where P.C. Hodgell continues to fill in her backstory. It's good to see Jame back in a city with her Talisman aspect.

[David Sven]

Finished Speaks the Nighbird on Audible
My review

Starting Mark Lawrences Prince of Fools also on Audible

[Robert]

Cleansing the Sci-Fi/Fantasy part of my brain in preparation for NaNoWriMo July Camp. Starting to wonder what I got myself into......

[Sky]

Finished Proven Guilty and Leviathan Wakes. Starting Prince of Fools now, then will read more of the Expanse series before/after we start Dawn

[[deleted user]]

Started reading my very first Mieville, The City and the City. Having a tough time putting it down to read The Wolf: A Novel.

[Jenny (Reading Envy)]

Reading both Authority by Jeff VanderMeer and The Witches of Eastwick by John Updike.

[Dara]

Added Best Served Cold to my currently reading pile. I have a hankering for some Joe Abercrombie.

[Jake]

I just finished Blood Song and thought it was pretty awesome. my review.

[Sandi]

I finished listening Hollow World this morning. I really liked it. Kind of a modern H.G. Wells/Jonathan Swift vibe. I'm now starting On the Steel Breeze. I love the narrator, Adjoa Andoh. She played Martha's mother on Doctor Who and was one of the narrators of Lagoon by Nnedi Okorafor.

[Walter]

I remember reading The Witches of Eastwick. I particularly remember how Jane's character in the book had a very different personality than in the movie.

[Bryan]

Jenny (Reading Envy) wrote: "Reading both Authority by Jeff VanderMeer and The Witches of Eastwick by John Updike."

How's Authority so far? Any more visits to the tunnel, er, tower?

[Ben]

Yeah, what do you think of it Jenny? It's very different to Annihilation but I loved it as well.

[Jenny (Reading Envy)]

Ben wrote: "Yeah, what do you think of it Jenny? It's very different to Annihilation but I loved it as well."

Bryan wrote: "How's Authority so far? Any more visits to the tunnel, er, tower? "

Well, Jeff VanderMeer made the smart decision to pull the second novel back to the regular world, to the crumbling government facility that is in charge of Area X. Control, who I've been seeing on Jeff's Facebook page for a year now, is the preferred name for the new director of the program. He's just arrived and trying to gather information, and it has a lot of tension. He keeps describing the building which borders the swamp and I can't help but thinking that Area X is more pleasant than a forgotten bureaucratic tower of concrete. ;)

[Jenny (Reading Envy)]

Walter wrote: "I remember reading The Witches of Eastwick. I particularly remember how Jane's character in the book had a very different personality than in the movie."

I'm reading it as I fall asleep every night and it's definitely smashing against the movie version which I have vague memories of. I think the book seems darker, and the movie was more campy. I'm just bound and determined to read at least one John Updike novel without giving up in despair. Witches seem to be going better than rabbits.

[Bryan]

Jenny (Reading Envy) wrote: "Ben wrote: "Yeah, what do you think of it Jenny? It's very different to Annihilation but I loved it as well."

Bryan wrote: "How's Authority so far? Any more visits to the tunnel, er, tower? "

Wel..."
That does sound like a good move. OK, Kindle, snarf it!

[Liam]

Closing out June with Royal Assassin by Robin Hobb, The Crimson Campaign by Brian McClellan, and The 9th Girl by Tami Hoag.

[Phil]

Finished Robert A. Heinlein: In Dialogue with His Century Volume 2: The Man Who Learned Better by William Patterson. I thought it was much more professionally written than Vol.1.
I've been reading Heinlein for 40 years and enjoyed learning more about his life. I came out of it liking his work a little bit more because I now understand some of the background but liking him a bit less because he was a pompous jerk with an overinflated sense of honour which caused him to drop friends at the smallest perceived insult. He also wouldn't have liked this group because he hated "organized fandom". Despite all this it's a worthwhile read if you're a fan of his work.
On a sad note, Patterson, who worked on this for 23 years, died a month before it was published.
Starting The Golden Compass by Philip Pullman.