What Else Are You Reading in 2019? Showing 2,851-2,900 of 3,237

[Allison, Fairy Mod-mother]

Then I stand by what I'm saying! I'm also in PA (other side though!) and now is the sort of fall time of year for cozy epics! Enjoy!

[Trike]

~ Giulia ~ wrote: "Before reading The Library at Mount Char I never thought that having [spoilers removed] could be funny.
I'm sure you've realized that by now, but it's one of those books with pretty much every cont..."

Holy shit. Thanks for that spoiler.

::: crosses book off list :::

[Eric]

Allison wrote: "Then I stand by what I'm saying! I'm also in PA (other side though!) and now is the sort of fall time of year for cozy epics! Enjoy!"

Thank you!

[Randy]

Gabi wrote: "I realised over the year that I'm more drawn to male SF authors than non-male and try to not feel bad about it. I still hope to find more non-male authors who convince me story-wise.

Around March or April I realized that for many years I've been reading a roughly 70/30 split, male authors to female. It struck me as odd since I grew up reading women mystery writers like Christie and Sayers, and adore The Haunting of Hill House among other ghost/horror works.

So I thought I'd try flipping the percentage especially considering the number of books on my shelves written by women. This year has been closer to a 50/50 split, in the process reading several good works like, The Shining Girls, In a Lonely Place, The Strange Case of the Alchemist's Daughter and Brown Girl in the Ring that I'd put off in the past.

I'll probably try the same in 2020 since it's broadened my reading (I recognize there's an atrocious pun hidden there. Not my intention but I'm blanking on a word with similar meaning) and helped pull me out of a reading rut I've been in for years.

[Randy]

colleen the convivial curmudgeon wrote: "I'm currently reading The Strange Case of the Alchemist's Daughter. Only 2 chapters in.

I'm finding the writing style interesting. It's being told by Catherine, primarily, but ther..."

Agreed. I found it helped establish the character of the characters, and gave the author a playful means to comment on the kind of story she was presenting us with.

[Randy]

Jemppu wrote: "Allison wrote: "....Stayed up til 1 am trying to figure out how you do a backhanded uppercut. A friend said "magic" and I was finally able to go to sleep...."

Hah :D Glad that didn't keep you up a..."

I haven't read a lot of those stories, but Leiber had a sense of humor honed by his time on stage (his father was a well-known actor in his day). I thought some of them read a bit like the Swords & Sorcery (influenced by the originators, Robert E. Howard and C. L. Moore who would have been contemporaries or near-contemporaries) was infused with the screwball film comedy of the 1930s &'40s and filtered through an appreciation of Shakespeare and Shakespearian language (the speech, in particular). Everything a bit larger than life and the actors gesturing so the folks in the cheap seats could see them.

On that level, I found them entertaining.

[Randy]

Carolyn wrote: "I’m reading The Bloody Chamber by Angela Carter. It took me about a year to get my hands on this from the library and it’s turning out to be well worth the wait. This author has such a mastery of l..."

Excellent book, great short story writer. I should read one of her novels.

And thanks to others for the reminder of Kage Baker. I greatly enjoyed the novella, "The Empress of Mars" and Nell Gwynne's Scarlet Spy and should get back to her work. The humor underlying those two is very appealing.

[Allison, Fairy Mod-mother]

Randy wrote: "Jemppu wrote: "Allison wrote: "....Stayed up til 1 am trying to figure out how you do a backhanded uppercut. A friend said "magic" and I was finally able to go to sleep...."

Hah :D Glad that didn'..."

This is a really interesting take on the books, thanks for your insight, Randy! It may very well be that he was "staging" the book and kind of being cheeky about it on purpose, which would explain a lot of the appreciation it gets, I think.

[Beth]

Randy wrote: "And thanks to others for the reminder of Kage Baker. I greatly enjoyed the novella, "The Empress of Mars" and Nell Gwynne's Scarlet Spy and should get back to her work"

And thanks to you for the additional reminder, Randy. Baker's an author I've been meaning to get to for a while and I've now picked up a novella of hers in ebook.

[[deleted user]]

I am reading a lot of Shannon Hale, I love her writing style, but honestly, why pick 'monster high'? Or 'Squirrel Girl'?

[Gabi]

Thomas wrote: "I enjoyed Le Guin's later Earthsea books too! What was your favorite ting about them? ..."

I like about the last three books that they feel more mature in the taking on the world. I totally enjoyed the travellogues of the first ones (I adore the folks on the rafts), but especially 1 and 3 were more or less boys-only-club undertakings. From 4 on it feels much more balanced, the underlying system of Earthsea is scrutinized, it feels more real. Especially the short stories of book 5 also make for a wonderful overview and tie -in of the world and history.

The last weeks I've withdrawn a bit cause of IRL and read quite a lot.

The Deep by Rivers Solomon I read with as a BR in this group. It tackles an interesting concept about evolution as well as altruism/social aspects as it tries to set right some of humankind history's attrocities. Solomon excels at writing characters outside of community's norm, which speaks to me. Reading the afterword about the development of this special kind of modern legend and the art forms involved was especially interesting.

Skyward by Brandon Sanderson: I stumbled about this one only because I saw the announcement of the upcoming second part of the series in the GR adds. Since I dearly needed something soothing at that time I decided to go with a book for younger readers, which I usually don't read. It turned out to be the right decision. Spensa's coming of age journey on an apocalyptic world where the last of humankind is in constant spacebattle with an enemy they don't even know, was told with care, love, heartbreaking disasters and everlasting courage and hope. An uplifting read, which I wished was translated into my language cause I would love to get it for my boys. (and it features "Doomslug the Destroyer", the very best animal companion of all time). I'm happy that I will get to the second part in only a week now.

The Blade Itself by Joe Abercrombie I read as part of the group re-reads for this month. I heard a lot of raving about this one, so my expectations were high (and I bought the whole series cause of that when I could get it cheap). Well … so far, after book 1, I'm not really sure, what the hype is about. It is not bad, but it left me with a shoulder shrug, cause I could neither see the ingeniuty of the choice of characters nor of the plot (which infact, wasn't there). But since I bought the rest, I will keep reading in hope it makes 'click'.

Aipotu by Norbert Loacker I read as part of my clean-TBR-challenge. It started rather simple prose-wise and I wasn't sure I would like it. But then it turned kafkaesque and parable-like which convinced me in the end. The premise is the often used 'how will a group of people behave if they are cut of from the rest of society for a long time' scenario.
Since I found out that the author is born in Austria I conveniently could it use for my non-us-non-gb challenge as well.

Under Heaven by Guy Gavriel Kay is a beautifully written and very atmospheric story set in a fantasy take of the Tang dynasty. It is very slow paced and for me could never reach the character investment I felt with his works "Tigana" or "The Lions of Al-Rassan". Still it was a pleasure to listen to.

Micromegas by Voltaire was a group read with another group and was my first go at the famous philosopher. Who would have thought that I would find my way to Voltaire via SF? It is a witty and intelligent short story about the relativity of things written from the POV of a traveller from Sirius who visits our solar system.
Voltaire's prose was so pleasurable to read that I instantly bought a compendium of some his works to get better acquainted.

With The Rise of Endymion by Dan Simmons I finished the clean-TBR-challenge as well as the Hyperion Cantos. In the end I had some minor qualms with it (the end was predictable - capital sin!), but the overal impression of the Cantos is one of complete awe. This epic work is one of the best - if not THE best - SF out there, hands down.
Dan Simmons is one of the authors I have on my must-read-everything-by-them list for next year.

Perchance I stumbled about a group that reads classics and found that one of this month's BotM is the "Tintin" series by Hergé. These graphic novels were a constant companion of my childhood. With one exception I own them all (even though some of them fall apart, as I had to realise when I got them from the attic) and I dove with childish pleasure into a re-read.
I started with The Castafiore Emerald, a lovely screwball story featuring my fav character, the Italian diva Bianca Castafiore. I will go on reading them bit by bit.

From our bookshelf I read Watchmen, cause I got it for a few cents in used books. While I can intellectually see the impact this graphic novel had, I couldn't get into the right mood for it. I freely admit that I most probably lack a) the sense of this era of cold war, b) the understanding of the importance of the superhero culture on parts of humankind and c) the depiction of women here (which I go with in books from the 60ies, but which bothers me in books from the late 80ies).
Apart from that the bleak stories of the failed protagonists came to a satisfying whole in the end.

Another one from our shelf was Seveneves by Neal Stephenson. A very special book about the end of most of humankind (this time not due to self-effacement). This book excels in technical and scientific ideas. Stephenson certainly knows his hard SF and explains it convincingly - up to the point that he literally clubs the reader to death with information. I have never read any other book that was so heavy on the tell-don't-show like this one.
Unfortunately it is not met by a careful psychological approach which this situation would have called for. So that it ended as rather unbalanced for me.

[Allison, Fairy Mod-mother]

welcome back Gabi! and what lovely summaries! extra excited now to eventually get to most of these

[Stratos]

Finished An Ember in the Ashes and it leaves me with mixed feelings. Very good worldbuilding, excellent fantasy elements, grim setting, but (and that's a big but) really boring style of narration, restricted by the pov of the 2 protagonists. Gonna continue with the second book A Torch Against the Night just to satisfy my curiosity. It could have been a nice 4 star book but the narration makes my gut tell me it 's 3 stars.

[[deleted user]]

so would you recommend me An Ember in the Ashes, or should I skip it? because it does look good....

[MadProfessah]

I’m reading RECURSION...

[Stratos]

Hannah wrote: "so would you recommend me An Ember in the Ashes, or should I skip it? because it does look good...."

If Romance Fantasy is your thing go for it! If not you can live without it.

[Monica]

I'm listening to Infomocracy which in light of current events in the US (and the world...Brexit, Hong Kong, etc...) the spread of misinformation and how it instantaneously changes the narrative and influences voters is just depressingly too close to nonfiction...

[Michele]

My reading list has been rather eclectic over the past few weeks: Maggie Stiefvater's The Raven Boys series (YA fantasy), The Testaments (dystopia), Headlong (wacky lit-fic), The Immoral Majority: Why Evangelicals Chose Political Power Over Christian Values (politics/religion), The Memory Police (um...not sure, actually lol), and Embassytown (SF). All were very good, but the last one was genuinely mind-boggling, in the best way. First China Miéville I've read and it will not be the last. (Oh, yeah -- also a good bit of beta-reading of fanfic for various folks...)

Right now I'm reading Misery. Although I'm a fan of King's writing, somehow I never read this one; the current season of Castle Rock inspired me take it on.

[Carolyn]

I’m reading The Water Dancer by Ta-Nehisi Coates. Amazing writer...my first novel by him.

[Sarah]

I'm continuing with the Earthsea Cycle with The Tombs of Atuan

[Jacqueline]

I’m still reading Rosewater. My Father in Law is still in hospital 60km away and by the time I get home I’m too tired to read. Mentally drained. It’s been an emotional and tiring couple of months.

Hubby finished The Long Way to a Small Angry Planet yesterday. It was sort of alright and a “girls book” apparently. The sci-fi version of chick lit. I don’t know about that. A lot of guys loved it. I loved it. No pleasing some people I suppose. He is hard to please. Might give him Rosewater when I’m finished. I missed his birthday a couple of weeks ago since we were 9 hours apart so I bought him a couple of books for when I see him next week. Not SFF though. Silver by Chris Hammer (he enjoyed his first book Scrublands) and the new one by Martin Cruz Smith. It’s got the same character as was in his bestsellers from the 70s and 80s. I loved Gorky Park.

Anyhoo....back to drinking a lot of tea and thinking about reading. I’ve been up since 5.45. Didn’t want to be but the dog had an accident (he cried to go out but I was too slow) and I just never got back to bed. Only got a few hours sleep and I’m exhausted.

[Michele]

Sarah wrote: "I'm continuing with the Earthsea Cycle with The Tombs of Atuan"

Mmm, such a good series...

[Michele]

Jacqueline wrote: "I’m still reading Rosewater. My Father in Law is still in hospital 60km away and by the time I get home I’m too tired to read. Mentally drained. It’s been an emotional and tiring couple of months. ..."

So sorry for your stress :( I hope things get better.

[Benjamin]

Gabi,

Regarding The Blade Itself, the hype has more to do with the whole trilogy rather than just the first book itself. Book one has some interesting characters, but is otherwise pretty standard fantasy. With book two, Abercrombie starts subverting the usual fantasy tropes, and by the final book, things are very different.

[Jacqueline]

Thanks Michele. I’ve been my FIL’s carer for 7 years and I’ve had family members who haven’t given a flying fig before trying to muscle in and it’s made it even more stressful. Still not completely sure if he’s coming home yet so the uncertainty is really getting to me.

I think my dog is feeling better now so that’s a plus.

[Beth]

The Bumblebee Flies Anyway: Gardening and Surviving Against the Odds: a beautiful, heartbreaking memoir about a little garden and the seemingly impossible task of preserving nature against the tide of "civilization." I am not ashamed to say this book made me cry a few times. (review)

Next, on to a reread of Ancillary Justice for the BR in a couple weeks. I read it when it first came out a few years ago and remember that it was pretty overwhelming early on. About 50 pages in and it's nice being able to just enjoy the story and the details since I'm familiar with most of the threads.

[Gabi]

Benjamin wrote: "Gabi,

Regarding The Blade Itself, the hype has more to do with the whole trilogy rather than just the first book itself. Book one has some interesting characters, but is otherwise pretty standard ..."

That's what folks keep telling me, Benjamin, and that's why I will read on.

[Quantum]

On a Red Station, Drifting. I'm going to read all of the stories in the Xuya series. I know some members did that a while back.

[Don]

gaba, gaba, goo !!!

[Don]

quillifer the knight

[Jordan]

Trying to work my way out of a book slump. I've started so many books, but nothing has really been sticking. I've actually made it a decent ways into my current books though, so fingers crossed that I'll actually finish something for once.

I'm about a third of the way through Agency, which I'm liking better than I remember liking The Peripheral. I had to look up what happened in the first book though because I couldn't remember who the characters were and what had happened past the set-up. Maybe I'm just more used to the world by this second book and therefor can enjoy the story more.

On audio I'm a couple hours in on The Impossible Contract and am enjoying it immensely so far. Haven't read the first book, but based on this one I'll probably go back and read it at some point soon.

I'm also just starting on Made Things and Babylon Steel, both of which I haven't really made up my mind about yet.

[Beth]

Bobby wrote: "Some First Law content warnings with minor non-plot spoilers."

"Chapter name: (view spoiler)[Teeth and Fingers. (hide spoiler)] I bet this is the one."

...and it was. Being psychologically prepared for it helped, so thanks! ;)

[Araych]

Artemis by Andy Weir

Light sort-of mystery set on a moon base in the future, told in the first person by the young female protagonist. I was feeling generous and gave it 3 stars.

[Hannah]

My top reads in 2019 were The 7 1/2 Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle by Stuart Turton, Queen of Air and Darkness by Cassandra Clare!

[Lizzie]

I've just started The Priory of the Orange Tree and I am pretty sure I am going to like it, but I'm finding that her writing style (which is a bit like Jane Austen doing fantasy, weirdly) is pulling me out of the story a little bit from time to time.

I'm guessing that with the book being around 800 pages long, I will have plenty of time to get used to it!

Also, I can't help but draw parallels with The Thousand Autumns of Jacob de Zoet about the trading post etc.

[Marie]

Hannah wrote: "My top reads in 2019 were The 7 1/2 Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle by Stuart Turton, Queen of Air and Darkness by Cassandra Clare!"

The 7½ Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle is on my library hold list. I'm glad to hear it's a worthwhile read!

[[deleted user]]

When you said 'Hannah,' I thought you were talking to me, Marie!

[Eric]

Does anyone know anything about this series? Sister Light, Sister Dark

[Allison, Fairy Mod-mother]

Anything? Yes! Having added it to the poll, I know lots about it! But I haven't read it, if that's what you mean ^^

[Mareike]

I'm currently listening to Dreamsnake by Vonda N. McIntyre and am very happy to finally read something by this author.

I'm eye-reading The Girl in the Road by Monica Byrne, a book that one the Tiptree (now Otherwise) Award in 2015 and that my best friend gave me quite a while ago. It's a little disorienting so far, but features intriguing characters and I'm looking forward to seeing where it'll take me.

[Eric]

Allison wrote: "Anything? Yes! Having added it to the poll, I know lots about it! But I haven't read it, if that's what you mean ^^"

One comment / category I saw was "Coming of Age," whatever that means for Sister Light, Sister Dark. YA maybe? And I'm still not sure who invented YA.

[Allison, Fairy Mod-mother]

Eric wrote: "Allison wrote: "Anything? Yes! Having added it to the poll, I know lots about it! But I haven't read it, if that's what you mean ^^"

One comment / category I saw was "Coming of Age," whatever that..."


Excellent question. Jane Yolen does write a lot of YA. This, while categorized by some users as YA, is supposed to be adult fantasy, as in written with the intent that the audience would be comprised of adults, and is supposed to have deeper considerations that allude to a need for understanding that teens might not have. It was nominated for a Nebula, which also seems to suggest that it had more force behind it than one would anticipate from a book aimed at a younger crowd.

[Eric]

@Allison: Thanks for the input. The first book in the series is being offered as a Kindle deal for $1.99 USD. I'll give it a whirl.

Sister Light, Sister Dark

[Kateb]

i needed something humerous. asked a friend and she suggested Janet Evanovitch. Now not sci fi, not fantasy , but we will see

i have laughed and laughed , am up to book 6 . so sorry my fellow sci fi people i am leaving the group image for a while.

so funny

[CBRetriever]

I loved those books. Grandma is such a hoot.

[Allison, Fairy Mod-mother]

Friends, I am not sure what sort of time I will have tomorrow, it being MY FAVORITE holiday, so I wanted to take a moment tonight to say Happy Thanksgiving to my fellows in the States and far flung!

Each and every member here enriches my life more than I can express without veering dangerously into sentimentality, so thank you for being here and being you and I'll leave it at that.

For those who are not acquainted with the American tradition of Thanksgiving, please see the image in the spoiler for a quick rundown of the history behind it!

(view spoiler)[ (hide spoiler)]

[Kateb]

CBRetriever wrote: "I loved those books. Grandma is such a hoot."

i am loving the cars and the ways they are destroyed. SHe has no idea how she did it , ha ha ha

[Gabi]

@Allison: :D what a wonderful enlightenment. Now I understand Thanksgiving ;).

I wish a marvellous day today to all US reading buddies!

[Mareike]

Allison wrote: "Friends, I am not sure what sort of time I will have tomorrow, it being MY FAVORITE holiday, so I wanted to take a moment tonight to say Happy Thanksgiving to my fellows in the States and far flung..."

Allison wrote: "Friends, I am not sure what sort of time I will have tomorrow, it being MY FAVORITE holiday, so I wanted to take a moment tonight to say Happy Thanksgiving to my fellows in the States and far flung..."

Happy Thanksgiving, Allison and everyone else who's celebrating!

[Phrynne]

Allison wrote: "Friends, I am not sure what sort of time I will have tomorrow, it being MY FAVORITE holiday, so I wanted to take a moment tonight to say Happy Thanksgiving to my fellows in the States and far flung..."

I am so glad I now fully understand the history of Thanksgiving. Have a really great day:)