What are you reading in June 2014?

[Paolo]

If you just want the voter packet and the right to vote, you want to get the LonCon supporter plan.

[Karen]

Paolo is correct. The supporting membership allows you to vote for this years Hugo, Retro Hugo and Campbell awards as nominate for next year's awards. Additionally you get to download the voter package of a good portion of the nominated works, for instance:
Novels - the entire WOT series is provided as one giant file, you also get Grimoire series 1-3. The remaining books you get excerpts
Novellas and Novelettes - all the nominated works
Campbell nominees - The Lives of Tao, Nexus, Three Parts Dead, Two Serpents Rise, A Stranger in Olondria, and three pieces by Benjanun Sriduangkaew.

There's other stuff as well - short stories, graphic novels, etc. If anybody else is reading through the package, maybe we could have a separate thread?

[Paul]

Thanks for the info on that guys. I've always been aware of the Hugos but never really looked into voting.

Still undecided about whether to go to Loncon but looks like they have some cool authors signed up to attend(including Robin Hobb as a guest of honour!)

[Laurel]

I have such a great time at our small little Con here in Winnipeg. I'd love to go to a huge Con someday. If you go to Loncon, let us know what it's like!

[ally ¯\(ツ)/¯]

Laurel, I knew you were Canadian! I didn't know you lived in Winterpeg too! o_O

[Chris , cookie guilt]

Winnipeg: Home of Laurel, Ally, and the Thrashers Jets.

[Nan]

Laurel wrote: "I have such a great time at our small little Con here in Winnipeg...

I've always had a very nice time at Keycon, though I haven't been able to attend in recent years.

[Laurel]

Chris wrote: "Winnipeg: Home of Laurel, Ally, and the Thrashers Jets."

I think of you at every game :)

Yep, proud Winnipegger! Even have a Timmies double double addiction ;)

[Ala]

Some DA, I'm going to Canada, just for a Timmie's double double.


And to bug laurl.

Mostly for Tims though.

<_<

[Laurel]

Don't you even!

I would smother you with polar bear hugs! Then I'd hand you a Timmies. After more hugs.

Grr!!!! *smoosh*

[Audrey Jane]

Nienna wrote: "I loved the Chrestomanci series. Almost, but not quite, as much as Howl's Moving Castle, and more than Howl's sequels."

Thanks :) Will definitely check the series out.

[ally ¯\(ツ)/¯]

It would appear this is the year that Science-y books. First The Martian and now Influx
Both stories are really interesting. Just SO... MUCH... Brain power needed to wrap my head around some of this stuff. (Although truthfully, I mostly just blindly accept whatever the author spews as fact when I don't know better.)

[Kelila]

Started The Ocean at the End of the Lane yesterday. I was surprised by how short it was! This shouldn't take long...

[Paolo]

Continuing with Saga, Volume 2. Not as good as Volume 1, which was amazing, but still pretty good.

I also started Annihilation last night. Creepy as hell from the very beginning... this kind of eerie, disturbing story is right up my alley.

[Nan]

Paolo, thank you for bringing Annihilation to my attention :) -- it looks really good and definitely is on my list to read soon!

[Paolo]

Nan wrote: "Paolo, thank you for bringing Annihilation to my attention :) -- it looks really good and definitely is on my list to read soon!"

You´re welcome! Something cool about this series is that the first book was published in February, the second in May, and the third is coming out in September. So there will be no long waits before having read the entire trilogy.

[Lee]

I liked Annihilation. Have to get the sequel.

[Nan]

Paolo wrote: "... So there will be no long waits..."

Wow, that's really great! There are enough people at my library requesting the first and second books that I'll probably just be ready for the third book when it comes out.

[Karen]

So in keeping with my plan to read stuff I have already, I downloaded all the unread Kindle books to the iDevices and pulled the novels from the Hugo packet into iBooks. But now I don't know what to read first!!! Hard Magic? Theft of Swords? The Dragonriders of Pern? The Last Policeman? Red Seas Under Red Skies? Saga, Volume 1? The Sirens of Titan? Angelfall? Nexus?

And that's just a sample. Arrgh! (I think I have problems. I am kind of eyeing that Series Challenge folder and wondering if that would help)

[Becky]

Go for The Last Policeman because it's a group read. Then Hard Magic and sequels, because they are really good. Then I dunno. :P

[ally ¯\(ツ)/¯]

Red Seas was awesome.
Saga was awesome too.
Angelfall I'd wait until book three's release date is closer. (but it was also awesome).

[Karen]

Thanks ladies...I think I will follow the order as printed :)

[colleen the convivial curmudgeon, Not a book hipster!]

Finally finished The Outcasts after deciding to push through... Can't say it got much better, though. Don't recommend it.


Started Dorothy Must Die this morning. Not very far in, but so far so good. I like the writing/tone.

[Paul]

c.o.lleen ± (... never stop fighting) ± wrote: "Finally finished The Outcasts after deciding to push through... Can't say it got much better, though. Don't recommend it. Started Dorothy Must Die this morning. ..."

I keep meaning to try Dorothy Must Die. It sounds like an interesting idea.

Won't be getting to it for a while though as Cibola Burn arrived yesterday!!

[Lee]

c.o.lleen ± (... never stop fighting) ± wrote: "Finally finished The Outcasts after deciding to push through... Can't say it got much better, though. Don't recommend it.


Started Dorothy Must Die this morning. ..."

I keep looking at Dorothy Must Die too. I tend to like fairy tale (children's stories) retellings. But I'm not really an Oz fan.

[Lee]

I finishedThe Adjacent. An illusionist during WWII is hired by the government to figure out a way to hide their planes from the enemy and the result has horrible consequences for the future.

The author had a solid science fiction idea. But - the story was too long, had too many main characters, and was way too vague. Plus - the illusionist part was much shorter than I expected.

[Becky]

I finished The Sword and the Passion last night. It was... not good. Worse than Commageddon (surprisingly)... this one was Commageddon AND Apocellipses. O_o

[Paul]

Nienna wrote: "I finishedThe Adjacent. An illusionist during WWII is hired by the government to figure out a way to hide their planes from the enemy and the result has horrible consequences for th..."

That's a shame that it had some problems. I've had my eye on this one for a while. Would you say it is worth reading or is it one to avoid?

[Sam]

Waiting for my copy of 'Wise Man's Fear' by Patrick Rothfuss to get here! I've run out of books until the post arrives!

[Lee]

Paul wrote: "Nienna wrote: "I finishedThe Adjacent. An illusionist during WWII is hired by the government to figure out a way to hide their planes from the enemy and the result has horrible cons..."

I liked it, but I think it would've worked better as a shorter book. It's broken up by sections, and each section tells a story that may one may not be connected to the others. In a way it reminded me a lot of Cloud Atlas - so if you're a fan of Cloud Atlas you might like it more than I did. I picked it up because The Prestige (same author) is one of my favorite books and when I saw that this one had l
an illusionist in it too I got excited. But that part was very small in comparison to the rest of the book.

Also the end (vague - ish spoilers) (view spoiler)[ leaves it up to the reader to figure out what was connected (and what wasn't) and what was happening to the characters. I didn't like that. (hide spoiler)]

It had a very cool concept though.

[Paul]

Thanks Nienna. I'll probably still give it a go at some point (I loved the Prestige too which is why I have been eyeing this one). Will definitely go into it with the right expectations now though.

[MrsJoseph *grouchy*, Bad Girls Deadlift]

Becky wrote: "I finished The Sword and the Passion last night. It was... not good. Worse than Commageddon (surprisingly)... this one was Commageddon AND Apocellipses. O_o"

O_O


Boy, bad luck for you lately...

[colleen the convivial curmudgeon, Not a book hipster!]

Still reading 'Dorothy Must Die'. Didn't get very far this weekend... I liked the writing in the beginning, but it's started to grate on me a bit.

I could seriously go the rest of the book without hearing the phrases (view spoiler)["about my age", "What did I get myself into?" and... I can't remember the third, but there was one. (hide spoiler)]

[Becky]

MrsJoseph wrote: "Becky wrote: "I finished The Sword and the Passion last night. It was... not good. Worse than Commageddon (surprisingly)... this one was Commageddon AND Apocellipses. O_o"

O_O


Boy, bad luck for ..."

I know.

[Sinistmer]

I am currently reading Last Policeman. It goes quickly, and it's interesting so far. Will post more full thoughts in the book's forum when I am finished.

[Becky]

Ahh, but just think - by the time you finish, you'll have the 6th book in hand! :P

I'm currently reading Skin Game and loving it, even though there are tons of character references that are passing right over my head. Memory doesn't seem to be my strong suit lately.

And apparently the boy can tell how I'm feeling about a book by my eyebrow expressions. *shrug* LOL

[Becky]

Yes. I tend to do that, too! I can only raise the right one on its own, though. I'm jealous of your ambidextrous eyebrow ability.

[Lee]

I just finishedMy Real Children. What an odd book. An old woman with memory problems looks back on her life - but she has dual memories and can't remember which is real. Interesting concept. But I had problem with the writing. This was my first Jo Walton book - and probably my last. I found the writing overly simple, and I had no connection to any of the characters, and the dialogue was stiff and unnatural.

[colleen the convivial curmudgeon, Not a book hipster!]

My reading time has been seriously hampered of late by getting wrapped up in watching Jer play the PS3 and getting involved on internet debates. Blech.

(Well, at least the games are entertaining... )

[Becky]

What is he playing?

[colleen the convivial curmudgeon, Not a book hipster!]

Different things. The God of War: Ascension, Darksiders II, and he just bought a new game which I forget the name of.

I bought him a new PS3 for his b-day this past weekend, 'cause his old one crapped out, so he's been just playing stuff he hasn't had a chance to in awhile.

[Becky]

Aww, that was awesome of you! We'd probably panic if our PS3 were to die. We use it for Netflix and Amazon Prime video and different TV/movie apps more than gaming, really.

I love the GoW series - but I was really disappointed with some of the gameplay changes they made in Ascension. There were points where you're fighting and viewing from a distance, so it's like little grey/red speck fighting lots of other little blackish specks.

I thought it was frustrating. I never finished that one.

I haven't heard of Darksiders... will have to investigate this...

[colleen the convivial curmudgeon, Not a book hipster!]

Darksiders is cool. In the first game you play War, and in the second game you play Death.


And, yes, I am a pretty awesome wife. ;)

We got a PS4 with the tax money we thought we were getting (which we didn't actually get) - but we also needed it 'cause we also used the PS3 for watching DVDs and Netflix and stuff - but since it's not backwards compatible and he was missing his old games, especially sine there's not a lot of good PS4 stuff out yet, now we have both.

[Becky]

c.o.lleen ± (... never stop fighting) ± wrote: "Darksiders is cool. In the first game you play War, and in the second game you play Death."

Nice!

[Paul]

After being disappointed with a few books I've read recently and struggling to get into anything I've decided to do a re-read of The Heroes which I know I love and which should hopefully tide me over while I try to find something new that I'm interested in.

[Ala]

Read the new Iron Druid today. Really don't like Granuille, but the Archdruid is an ok addition.

[Jackie]

Ala wrote: "Read the new Iron Druid today. Really don't like Granuille, but the Archdruid is an ok addition."

That sucks. Granuille was shaping up to be one of my favorite characters.



I started Sourcery last night. It's okay so far.

[Paolo]

I´m currently reading... uh... stuff about the World Cup?

[Becky]

LOL

[Christine]

I finished Annihilation back in May and thought it was really good and I am currently reading the sequel Authority, I am also going to start The Amulet of Samarkand soon - hopefully.