What Else Are You Reading in 2018? Showing 3,401-3,450 of 3,893

[Allison, Fairy Mod-mother]

Do it now, Thomas! James, I will! There's a buddy read presently (or reread? ) if you'd like to chime in!

[Kaa]

@Anna: Just added Ascender to our pull box this afternoon! I still can't think about Saga without getting grumpy/sad/impatient, but I swear it is everywhere.

@Allison: Hmmm. I was thinking of trying to read Ophiuchi Hotline this month as well, but based on your comment may not bother - I have plenty else I want to read that doesn't require me to deal with boob staring.

[Don]

Just finished "Agincourt" by Bernard Cornwell. I thought it was OK, if you're turned off by Coarse Language and Brutality you probably won't.

[CBRetriever]

Don wrote: "Just finished "Agincourt" by Bernard Cornwell. I thought it was OK, if you're turned off by Coarse Language and Brutality you probably won't."

it wasn't bad - it was one of two books I took with me on a 5 week intensive French course. I read it twice and The Name of the Wind six times

[Don]

CBRetriever !!! That reminds me!... Doubt a person would enjoy "Agincourt" if they were French also !

[Esther]

Thomas wrote: "I've just finished the second of the three core starter books in The Horus Heresy series, False Gods. I really enjoyed this one and desperately want to read more of the 40k universe. ..."

I used to feel vaguely intimidated by military sci and 40K but then I won Titanicus and it left me gobsmacked.
I read Horus Rising because I liked Dan Abnett's writing so much but was worried Graham McNeill might be too different.

Any words of wisdom to offer me?

[Gabi]

Finished The Last Continent in my Discworld-reading-marathon with my boys. 22 down, 19 to go.

Now we take a short Pratchett break, cause this month's group re-read Die unendliche Geschichte is ideal for my reading aloud for my kids.

[Esther]

Thomas wrote: "I personally found McNeill’s writing to be more direct than Abnett’s, but I enjoyed both equally.

I’ll pass on the advice given to me by a friend who loves 40k, both the game and the books. He sa..."

Not quite sure how but somehow I'd worked out that The Horus Heresy was the place to start.
I also want to read Gaunt's Ghosts and Sisters of Battle

[Esther]

Thomas wrote: "Let me know how they go Esther, I’m just a beginner really when it comes to 40k but it’s a universe I want to become engrossed in :)"
Me too.

[colleen the convivial curmudgeon]

I'm reading Thud!, which was originally slated for September, so I'm a bit behind...

Then it'll be either Strands of Bronze and Gold to finish up my TBR challenge or Wintersmith.

[Pam]

Finished Fire and Hemlock by Diana Wynne Jones and reviewed it - https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/2590832124. Sadly, didn't love it as much as I usually enjoy her books.

[Kirsten]

I recently finished The One by John Marrs. A thriller with the premise that DNA testing can discover your one perfect MATCH.

[Anna]

Pam, I completely agree about the relationship in Fire and Hemlock, it totally creeped me out when I read it! But I did otherwise enjoy it at the time, and I've been hoping to reread it at some point, to see what I think when I know what's going on.

[YouKneeK]

Since my last post, I’ve finished:

* Much Ado About Nothing by Shakespeare, the first half of my non-SF&F classic selection for the fourth quarter. I enjoyed it pretty well. I loved the Dogberry scenes. I watched a movie adaptation after I finished reading the play and that was fun, but I was disappointed that the Dogberry scenes weren’t nearly as hilarious as they had been in my head. My review.

* Macbeth by Shakespeare, the second half of my non-SF&F classic selection. I enjoyed it well enough, but this one is clearly far better watched than read. A large part of the story is action and reaction and those things didn’t come across too well when read in a play format. It caused the story to feel really rushed and abrupt. I plan to watch a movie adaptation of this also which I expect I might enjoy better, but I haven’t had time yet. Maybe later this week. My review.

* The Neverending Story by Michael Ende. Believe it or not, I had never read nor watched this before so the story was completely new to me. I would have loved this as a child, and I really enjoyed parts of it even as an adult. But I also though a lot of it felt tedious, and the main character got pretty annoying. My review.

Now I’m headed back to Hobb’s Realms of the Elderings with the third trilogy, The Tawny Man, starting with Fool's Errand. This is the last of the subseries that I had already read previously.

[CBRetriever]

I had to read Macbeth twice in High School: read it for Junior year in Montana and then moved to Ohio and read it again for Senior year.

However all was not totally boring that Senior year - the English teacher was wonderful as we also read The Fellowship of the Ring and he introduced us to modern poets like Ferlinghetti Lawrence (prior to this I had hated poetry. I still remember one poem vividly:

From my mother's sleep I fell into the State,
And I hunched in its belly till my wet fur froze.
Six miles from earth, loosed from its dream of life,
I woke to black flak and the nightmare fighters.
When I died they washed me out of the turret with a hose

It's the entire poem and was written by Randall Jarrell.

[Michele]

Gabi wrote: "Finished The Last Continent in my Discworld-reading-marathon with my boys. 22 down, 19 to go..."

What a fun project!

[Michele]

Trike wrote: "...This isn’t even the craziest thing that’s happened in the book so far and I’m only like 70 pages in...."

Woah. That's... horrific. Just another example of how big corporations screw the average citizen :P

[Michele]

YouKneeK wrote: "* The Neverending Story by Michael Ende. Believe it or not, I had never read nor watched this before so the story was completely new to me...

The movie adaptation is pretty good, too.

[Michele]

Just finished Forry: The Life of Forrest J Ackerman - brought back so many memories of classic horror and SF : ) Next up: Enchantress of Numbers, about Ada Lovelace.

[YouKneeK]

CBRetriever wrote: "I had to read Macbeth twice in High School: read it for Junior year in Montana and then moved to Ohio and read it again for Senior year."

Having to read Macbeth two years in a row would have seemed like torture to me at that age. I didn’t enjoy Shakespeare at all in school. I believe I was in my junior year when we read Macbeth, but I barely remembered it.

It’s now funny to me that I remembered his plays as being long and torturous in school, because they’re such short and fast reads in reality. Even with re-reading many of the passages for clarity, and reading the commentary alongside it. I guess studying them over a period of weeks in school made them seem longer. When I read Hamlet last year, it was the first time I’d touched a Shakespeare play in 25 years. I expected torture, but I was pleasantly surprised at how readable it was. That’s my favorite so far, of the three whole plays I’ve read as an adult.

[Rob]

I've been traveling and busy with work and other stuff and as such I've done even more audio books than normal, and fallen behind on reviews. A lot of good stuff, and I especially enjoyed the Lady Astronaut books.

The Calculating Stars - ★★★★☆ - My Review

The Fated Sky - ★★★★☆ - My Review

Foxglove Summer - ★★★½☆ - My Review

Children of Time - ★★★★☆ - My Review

I also did finally manage to finish reading The Queen of Crows with my eyes, though it's been a bit of a struggle - ★★★½☆ - My Review

[Eric]

I finished The Liveship Traders Trilogy, Ship of Destiny. That was a bit of a slog for me. Time for an Elderlings break. Starship Waking is next. The first three in the series were a hoot.

[Don]

"smarty mouth shit just flys out yer yap anytime your yap falls open.". Uncle Teardrop Wntersbone.

[Rachel]

Finally ‘finished’ Arcanum Unbounded and I loved the two stories set in totally new worlds!! So good!

I keep forgetting just how awesome (in the traditional sense) Sanderson is.

[Beth]

Thomas wrote: "I've just finished the second of the three core starter books in The Horus Heresy series, False Gods. I really enjoyed this one and desperately want to read more of the 40k universe. ..."

Considering how many Black Library books there are, you're in luck. Horus is quite an undertaking all by itself. :D (Not my thing tbh. My brother is slowly making his way through Horus Heresy--he's about 9 books in--and that's the only reason I'd even heard of it.)

[Jim]

I just started The Throne of Glass by Maas. So far a very interesting read.

[Anna]

If anyone needs more goats in their life, may I suggest checking out The Vagrant. I'd describe it as post-apocalyptic science fantasy with demons, babies and goats. Some of my all time favorite side characters, and a very unusual style. Horrorish or post-apocalyptic SFF isn't really my thing, so I can't talk about that part much, but it was worth reading all three books and two novelettes just for the goats.

[Bobby]

Anna wrote: "If anyone needs more goats in their life, may I suggest checking out The Vagrant. I'd describe it as post-apocalyptic science fantasy with demons, babies and goats. Some of my all t..."

I never thought I had a lack of goats in my life, but I'm intrigued

[Mareike]

I finished Nnedi Okorafor's Home yesterday will now make my way through the third book in the series The Night Masquerade. I'm enjoying it, but I wish the books would take more time with some things.

[Alondra]

Currently reading Dust which has taken a turn that I was not expecting. Very interesting....mmmm

Also reading The Name of the Wind, which I am loving so far. The pacing has been consistent for me and I like all of the descriptions/details. :)

[DivaDiane]

Oh, Alondra, I just finished listening to Silo. I already got the sequels and I’m really looking forward to them.

[Pam]

Read Diana Wynne Jones' Conrad's Fate and reviewed it - https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/1914572834.

[Gabi]

I was thinking about trying either The Name of the Wind or The Way of Kings once there is enough room to breath in the BRs.
Those who have read them: which one gets by with less characters? ;-)

[Allison, Fairy Mod-mother]

Gabi wrote: "I was thinking about trying either The Name of the Wind or The Way of Kings once there is enough room to breath in the BRs.
Those who have read them: which one gets by ..."

o.o

Idk how to answer this! They're both complete worlds with lots of people and places in them. Way of Kings is told from 4-6 points of view with a few interludes as well so probably that one is more complicated? Name of the Wind is all from one POV, and will be very familiar after some of the books you've read! I love them both madly though.

[Gabi]

Thank you, Allison! The question was geared towards the structure. I have the impression that fantasy series with loads of characters tend to loose pace and get lost in character interactions - which most certainly ends with me stopping to care for anyone and starting to skim through the books.

[Allison, Fairy Mod-mother]

Oh if it's a matter of pacing, Way of Kings is far and away the tighter of the two. Name of the Wind is lyrical, rich, gorgeous and full but it goes at its own pace. Way of Kings always has something building and just when you need something to happen again, it does.

[Gabi]

That's a word! Way of kings it is then. Thank you, Allison!

[Travis]

Gabi wrote: "That's a word! Way of kings it is then. Thank you, Allison!"

I'm so curious to know what you think! Oh, oh Kaladin.

[Allison, Fairy Mod-mother]

Travis wrote: "Gabi wrote: "That's a word! Way of kings it is then. Thank you, Allison!"

I'm so curious to know what you think! Oh, oh Kaladin."

Kaladin!!!!!!!!!!!!1 <3 <3 <3

[Phrynne]

I really enjoyed the start to Robert Jackson Bennett's new trilogy Foundryside

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

[Rachel]

Finished Agents of Dreamland by Kiernan.
Best described as Lovecraft fungal dream-mind-f@ck.

Not linear. Requires thought and certain passages re-read to put together the whole.

[Rachel]

Also finished Rosewater which now that I think of it shares several key elements with Agents of Dreamland....hmmmm.... maybe time to get out my tin hat...,

[CBRetriever]

and managed to persevere through Terry Goodkind's Sword of Truth Series

The Sword of Truth Series: Story Arc #1 - Darken Rahl

#1 - Wizard's First Rule (1994) = Done

#2 - Stone of Tears (1995) = Done

The Sword of Truth Series: Story Arc #2 - Imperial Order

#3 - Blood of the Fold (1996) = Done

#4 - Temple of the Winds (1997) = Done

#4.5 - Debt of Bones (1998) (Prequel novella) = read earlier

#5 - Soul of the Fire (1999) = Done

#6 - Faith of the Fallen (2000) = Done

The Sword of Truth Series: Story Arc #3 - Pristinely Ungifted

#7 - The Pillars of Creation (2002) = Done

#8 - Naked Empire (2003) = Done

The Sword of Truth Series: Story Arc #4 - Chainfire

#9 - Chainfire (2005) = In the middle of

#10 - Phantom (2006) = Done = newly completed

#11 - Confessor (2007) = Done = newly completed

The Sword of Truth Series: Modern Standalone

#12 - The Law of Nines (2009) = Nope not really part of the series

The Sword of Truth Series: Story Arc #5 - The Darklands

#13 - The Omen Machine (2011) = Done

#14 - The First Confessor: The Legend of Magda Searus (2012) (necessary prequel novel) = read earlier but re-reading now = Done

#15 - The Third Kingdom (2013) = Done

#16 - Severed Souls (2014) = Done

#17 - Warheart (2015) = Done

And I am working on Italian Folktales by Italo Calvino which is pretty good so far. Now on to Robin Hobb's Liveship Traders series

[Jennifer]

I think Pillars of Creation was the last book I read in that series.

[Mareike]

I finished the Binti series by Nnedi Okorafor the other day and I wish this was a series of full novels rather than of novellas. Many of the themes she touches upon could be addressed more fully and in a more satisfying manner in longer works, I think.

[Gabi]

I read the second book of the Hyperion Cantos by Dan Simmons: The Fall of Hyperion and like with the first one I'm totally flashed. This is so perfect in every way I love in SF stories, that I have to cool down, before I take up another book. Otherwise I certainly will rate it unfairly.
Those two Hyperion-books are far, far up on my all-time-favourite tree. Just wow!

[Jamesboggie]

Gabi, I'm glad you enjoyed them. Hyperion and The Fall of Hyperion are my two favorite books.

I read my first steampunk novels back to back this month. The results were wildly different.

First, I read Karen Memory. I was excited because I met her and heard her read from the sequel. Unfortunately, I felt the book was a series of bad action set pieces. I wrote an angry review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

Second, I read Mortal Engines. I read this one because my boss asked about it. It was a fun ride in an interesting world. I like the concept of traction cities, if for no other reason than stacking a city on a monster truck is awesome. My review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

My dance card is a little full. I want to reread Hyperion, but also my ARC of The City in the Middle of the Night, Rosewater, Carmilla, Miles from Nowhere, and Foundation. I think I can get through 3 of those before the end of the month.

[Gabi]

Jamesboggie wrote: "Gabi, I'm glad you enjoyed them. Hyperion and The Fall of Hyperion are my two favorite books."

I can absolutely see why!

[Monica]

Gabi wrote: "I read the second book of the Hyperion Cantos by Dan Simmons: The Fall of Hyperion and like with the first one I'm totally flashed. This is so perfect in every way I love in SF stories..."

These are my favorites as well. I reread them about 2 years ago and I have to admit that I obviously didn't remember The Fall of Hyperion very well because like you, my mind was totally blown the second time. Simmons is brilliant!!

[Gabi]

@Monica: He is! Have you perchance read the Endymion two parter as well? Is it equally good?