What Else Are You Reading in 2018? Showing 3,651-3,700 of 3,893

[Allison, Fairy Mod-mother]

That's such a shame, James! That's something I often notice in media, too.

[Soo]

Thomas, I agree with you about that the POV changes and inconsistent story progression for the Red Knight. I enjoyed the story & have relatively good hopes for the next book. I think the first one had a lot of 1st book doldrums.

I heard Mark Lawrence is in the group.

If he comes by this post & answers my question, that would be awesome. =D

I just finished Prince of Fools. I really like Snorri & Jal and will continue to read the series.

My question:
Should I read the Broken Empire series before I continue with the Red Queen's War?

I also have questions about the world but I can hold off on those cause I hope some answers will be in the other books.

[Rob]

I finished listening to Kings of the Wyld - ★★★½☆ - (My Review)

[Mareike]

I just re-read Welcome to Your Authentic Indian Experience by Rebecca Roanhorse, which you can find here and I can only highly recommend it. It's a short read, but really, really well-crafted. I'm not surprised this one the Nebula in the best short story category.

[Travis]

YouKneeK wrote: "This is the subseries that I enjoyed the most during both reads"

This makes me very excited to read these books. (Thanks too for the warning about expectations!)

[Lysso]

This book was made into a radio play that was so well written it caused world wide panic.

[Beth]

my review of Ka: Dar Oakley in the Ruin of Ymr is up:

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

[YouKneeK]

Travis wrote: "This makes me very excited to read these books. (Thanks too for the warning about expectations!)"

I hope you enjoy them as much! :)

[Trike]

The mostly Science Fiction short stories in Friday Black were quite good. My review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

[Anna]

I don't really need recs, I can just as well keep watching TV, but if someone can think of a fun, light scifi book in the vein of Becky Chambers or Murderbot, let me know! I feel slumpy and a fun book might help with that.

[Soo]

Anna, do you like movies along the lines of Guardians of the Galaxy?

[Anna]

Can't really say, because I haven't watched them. But probably not, I'm not much of an action or superhero fan. Except if it's Lego :P

[Soo]

Anna, here are some recs. I leaned towards fun.

- Zero G by Dan Wells - Audible Original. Great production, a kid story but fun.

- Where the Hell is Tesla? by Rob Dircks

- Space Team by Barry Hutchinson

- Just One Damned Thing After Another by Jodi Taylor

- The Rise and Fall of D.O.D.O. by Neal Stephenson

- Paradox Bound by Peter Clines

[Anna]

Thanks Soo! I'll look into those. Jodi Taylor is on my TBR, but I want scifi* right now, so it's out. And DODO feels like it's too long, unless I remember wrong, no, it's 800 pages. I don't think I can do tomes right now. I'll look at the others. I already decided on three different books and then changed my mind, so this might be mission impossible :D

* I know they're time travel, but also historical fiction, and that's non-scifi in my head.

[Kaa]

The series I'm reading right now by Kaia Sonderby reminds me a lot of Becky Chambers's books. Testing Pandora is the prequel and now I'm reading Failure to Communicate.

[Anna]

Kaa, that does look interesting, thanks!

[Soo]

It's all good! I know what it's like to be in the mood for a particular type and not know which will fit it until it does. It's annoying. Always seems to happen when I have plenty of everything else options. =D

This really made me think about what I consider light vs what others may consider light cause the titles I thought about saying first were more along these:

Crystal Singer
Grimspace
14
The Warrior's Apprentice
Ninefox Gambit
Red Rising
Dune
Ender's Game

The only ones that I may label as light on that list are Ninefox Gambit and Red Rising. LOL! I think all of them as relatively light SF that I enjoy or love for me.

[Anna]

lol, I looked at the other series by Kaia Sønderby, starting with Damsel to the Rescue. The blurb starts:

"Terrilyn Darkhorse descends from a long line of successful, prince-rescuing damsels. Now that she’s sixteen, she’s expected to uphold the family tradition. But Terri would rather remain at home, tending her garden, perfecting her plant magic, and staying far away from the highly competitive world of damsels."

THIS might be exactly what I need XD Yes, I know it's not scifi, but it sounds hilarious.

[Anna]

Soo, to me Ninefox is indeed light. It was on my list with Chambers and Murderbot, but I took it out because I understand that most people wouldn't call it light. But it's exactly the type of humor I like, so to me it's light and extremely fun(ny).

[Soo]

Haha! That one does sound like fun. If that one perked your interest, you may also like Second Hand Curses by Drew Hayes.

[Anna]

The damsel book reminded me of T. Kingfisher because of the gardening, but I already decided against reading Kingfisher, because I'm in a scifi mood. So maybe I'll add it to my TBR for another reading slump.

I could just reread Ninefox for the third time this year.

[Rachel]

Anna wrote: "I don't really need recs, I can just as well keep watching TV, but if someone can think of a fun, light scifi book in the vein of Becky Chambers or Murderbot, let me know! I feel slumpy and a fun b..."

Scalzi is generally good popcorn scifi. Oh or the Bobiverse books. I've done the first one. Lots of genre in-jokes.

[Rachel]

Soo wrote: "It's all good! I know what it's like to be in the mood for a particular type and not know which will fit it until it does. It's annoying. Always seems to happen when I have plenty of everything els..."

Oooh I LOVE crystal singer!! I used to re-read it every single year through my twenties!!

[Soo]

I agree that Scalzi and Bobiverse books are light SF in general but I don't necessarily think of Bobiverse as funny. It just has funny moments more than anything else.

I read Crystal Singer a lot in my teens & 20s too! I should do a re-read at some point.

[Anna]

I just read Fuzzy Nation, I need another Scalzi break. I wasn't really looking for funny, just feel-good I guess. Something that doesn't make me curl into a sobbing ball under my bed.

But like I said, it's possible I'm just in an impossible mood, sometimes the right book simply doesn't exist. But at least I've now got several options to go through, and even if I don't end up reading any of them now, they'll be on my TBR the next time I go browsing for something fun.

[Lost Planet Airman]

Bill, the Galactic Hero?
The Princess Bride?
The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy?

When I'm in a slump, I watch an episode of The Middleman, or the first episode of Galavant.

[Anna]

Mike wrote: "Bill, the Galactic Hero?
The Princess Bride?
The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy?"

I happen to know that Bill isn't available at my library, and I've read the other two. They are indeed both great reads for when you need something fun!

[Sarah]

I’m feeling kinda slumpish too Anna. I was thinking of doing a reread. I just can’t seem to pick up the darn book! Lol

[Anna]

Yeah I just finished a reread and I loved it, but that's because I already knew I loved the book. Picking up something new seems like too much effort.

[Rachel]

I know you said SF but for some reason I keep thinking of Soulless as a similar‘tone’ to the others....

[Anna]

Soulless would be almost exactly what I need. In fact since you mentioned it, I started The Dark Days Club a few days ago hoping it would be like Soulless, but it's so bad! It's making me want to give up reading forever. But I just decided I'll continue it for now, the very least it'll bore me to sleep in no time.

[Jacqueline]

What about Ancillary Justice (or it’s sequels) by Ann Leckie? I found those relatively light. And sort of in the vein of Murderbot. I loved them.

[Trike]

Anna wrote: "Soulless would be almost exactly what I need. In fact since you mentioned it, I started The Dark Days Club a few days ago hoping it would be like Soulless, but it's so bad! It's mak..."

Have you read Dark Star by Alan Dean Foster? It’s a novelization of the movie, but Foster made it funnier. It’s got kind of a dark ending, but it feels weirdly appropriate.

I also think XOM-B is pretty fun, with a cool sci-fi twist on zombies. It’s more of an action tale, though.

[Anna]

I’ve read Ancillary, but not Dark Star.

[Soo]

I second XOM-B! It's not the usual zombie story and it has such a great goodness vibe that's rather great. It's not a funny story but has it's moments.

[Shomeret]

I just read The Thrilling Adventures of Lovelace and Babbage a graphic alternate history by Sydney Padua. I was surprised that so many people shelved it as non-fiction when the author makes it so clear that it's alternate history. Maybe the footnotes and endnotes cause people to think that it's purely academic. If you actually read some of those notes, you'll realize the book was written for entertainment.

[Esther]

I have just finished Lakes of Mars.
IT was a little over written but generally good; well plotted, interesting characters.
But it is the start of a series which I will not continue because I have had enough of stories set in school/military academies where children are mean, vicious and violent towards one another.

[DivaDiane]

Anna, how about the Lady Astronaut Of Mars by Mary Robinette Kowal? It’s a novella, so very short and the prequel just came out. It’s SF and quite light and definitely feel good!

Another light read I’d recommend, although it’s not SF, is Howl’s Moving Castle. It’s YA, but I really enjoyed it.

[Travis]

I've been bad at posting updates here. But here's a quick one.

The first three books of the Earthsea series, and I just started the fourth. Love love love. It was especially moving to read the third, The Farthest Shore, Le Guin's meditation on death and mortality, so shortly after her own death. I also feel like these books might be even more resonant now, given the imminence of human-caused ecological catastrophe, than they were when first published.

I'm also in the middle (1 down, 2 to go) of Robin Hobb's Liveship Traders trilogy. And while there were things that irked me in the last third of the first book, I'm excited to return to the characters and story.

Finally, The Black God's Drums was a romp that I read in one glorious sitting.

[Anna]

Diane wrote: "Anna, how about the Lady Astronaut Of Mars by Mary Robinette Kowal? It’s a novella, so very short and the prequel just came out. It’s SF and quite light and definitely feel good! "

I've read everything in the Lady Astronaut universe, and loved all of it. Five stars for everything! And Howl is in my top 3 of books to reread when I feel down.

I ended up starting Nekropolis by our December scifi author Maureen F. McHugh. Slavery and living in mausoleums, that's light and fun, right? Well no, it's not light and fun, but it's damn good and I'm loving it.

[Allison, Fairy Mod-mother]

Travis, so glad you're loving Earthsea! I can't wait to hear your thoughts on Tehanu especially.

Anna is extremely hard to recommend to because she's read everything =P

[Anna]

Allison wrote: "Anna is extremely hard to recommend to because she's read everything"

That's not even close to true! Well the first part is, but not the second.

[Allison, Fairy Mod-mother]

Anna wrote: "Allison wrote: "Anna is extremely hard to recommend to because she's read everything"

That's not even close to true! Well the first part is, but not the second."

I was going to add "or it's something she can't read right this second" but that seemed like tooooo much teasing at once ^^

[Anna]

Well it's hard to be a mood reader when you're extra moody! :P

[Michele]

Recently finished The Night of the Hunter for a group read over on Literary Darkness - really excellent.

Other than that I've been really sick the past few days, barely left the sofa, so have been re-reading some favorite fairy tale retellings: Snow White, Blood Red, Ruby Slippers, Golden Tears, and Black Thorn, White Rose. Very satisfying. Feeling a little better today, so moving on to Ficciones.

[Michele]

Travis wrote: "The first three books of the Earthsea series, and I just started the fourth. Love love love. It was especially moving to read the third, The Farthest Shore, Le Guin's meditation on death and mortality, so shortly after her own death. I also feel like these books might be even more resonant now, given the imminence of human-caused ecological catastrophe, than they were when first published."

Yes indeed. So glad to hear from someone else who loves Le Guin :)

[Lost Planet Airman]

Shomeret wrote: "I just read The Thrilling Adventures of Lovelace and Babbage a graphic alternate history by Sydney Padua. I was surprised that so many people shelved it as non-fiction when the auth..."

Seconded! Thirdsied and fourthified as well.

[Anna]

Kaa wrote: "The series I'm reading right now by Kaia Sonderby reminds me a lot of Becky Chambers's books. Testing Pandora is the prequel and now I'm reading Failure to Communicate."

Kaa, can you tell me:

- Does the prequel novella stand on its own?
- Do you know if it's a duology, or will there be more?
- Does the first book end in a cliffhanger?

I'm really intrigued by this author/series, and want to try it out, but I hate to be left hanging!

[CBRetriever]

Mike wrote: "Shomeret wrote: "I just read The Thrilling Adventures of Lovelace and Babbage a graphic alternate history by Sydney Padua. I was surprised that so many people shelved it as non-fict..."

I saw the same thing with Stephen King's 11/22/63 being shelved as History

[Soo]

lol - Yah. I don't understand that kind of thing either. It's weird.