What Else Are You Reading in 2019? Showing 3,051-3,100 of 3,237

[Sarah]

Christopher I haven’t read Exhalation, but I’m guessing that one would be easier to renew or at least the hold list is shorter. I’d finish The Institute.

Full disclosure: I love King and I enjoyed The Institute, even if it wasn’t his most memorable book.

[Michele]

Jordan wrote: "Trying to work my way out of a book slump. I've started so many books, but nothing has really been sticking..."

Ugh, I hate it when that happens. Like being hungry for something, but nothing tastes good.

[Michele]

Gabi wrote: "If anybody is in dire need to get depressed, go and read The Windup Girl.

I can't remember ever having read such a bleak and emotionally brutal book. Lots of rape, violence and an u..."

Oh god, yes. I mean, well-written, sure, and he can do the world-building, but it's all soooo godawfully dismal. Between that and the emotional torture of his "People of Sand and Slag" I will never pick up another book by him. You'd get more pleasure out of sticking splinters under your fingernails or pouring lemon juice on a paper cut.

[Michele]

Currently reading Red Rising and This Census-Taker. I may bail on the second one; I really liked Embassytown but he's killed off a dog in the first 50pp and I bloody hate that. It's gratuitously cruel, as well as being the laziest possible way of showing the reader, "Oh look, this character is a horrible person."

[Christopher]

Thanks Sarah, I'll give the Institute a shot

[Jennifer]

I am reading The Golden Torc. I just finished The Many-Colored Land.

[Chris]

Esther wrote: "I really enjoyed A Brightness Long Ago. Why didn't I listen before when people recommend Guy Gavriel Kay?
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show......"

I finished it today. The ratio of philosophizing to storytelling was higher than ideal for me, but I still enjoyed it. GGK's books evoke a bittersweet mood that lingers. I can't remember any other author doing it, and certainly not so consistently.

[Esther]

Chris wrote: "I finished it today. The ratio of philosophizing to storytelling was higher than ideal for me, but I still enjoyed it. GGK's books evoke a bittersweet mood that lingers. I can't remember any other author doing it, and certainly not so consistently...."

I didn't even notice the philosophising as such so it was obviously the perfect ratio for me.

[Don]

Chris, Esther or anyone else who has read " A brightness Long Ago"
did any catch the links or Easter Eggs connecting to "The Sarantine Mosaic" ?

[Esther]

Don wrote: "Chris, Esther or anyone else who has read " A brightness Long Ago"
did any catch the links or Easter Eggs connecting to "The Sarantine Mosaic" ?"

No but that is because this is my first GGK.
Seems I have another book to add to my TBR list!

[Karen]

I just finished listening to A Boy and His Dog at the End of the World. Loved the narrator. The story was well paced with a lot of twists and turns to keep you guessing.

Almost done with The Story of Arthur Truluv, a spur of the moment book I grabbed to read when work was so slow. Very engaging characters and a super sweet story. I'll be grabbing the second book, Night of Miracles as soon as I finish this one.

I'm about 1/2 way through Last Will and it's quirky to say the least. I like it but I'm not in awe of it.

I just started listening to The Bear and the Nightingale so no thoughts yet. I've also got it on my kindle so I'll be popping back and forth between the two mediums and will get it done quicker.

[Trike]

Karen wrote: "I just finished listening to A Boy and His Dog at the End of the World. Loved the narrator. The story was well paced with a lot of twists and turns to keep you guessing."

Now there’s a book at the very top of my Will Never Read list.

[Chris]

Don wrote: "Chris, Esther or anyone else who has read " A brightness Long Ago"
did any catch the links or Easter Eggs connecting to "The Sarantine Mosaic" ?"

I haven't read the latter. I know that one book is titled Sailing to Sarantium, so that phrase did jump out.

[Don]

Chris, "Sailing to Sarantium" and "Lord of Emperor's" are the two part of "The Sarantine Mosaic". It is my personal favorite of GGK's titles.

[Megan (The Gemini)]

Marie wrote: "I am going to finish within a couple of days.Dread Nation and Why the Germans? Why the Jews?: Envy, Race Hatred, and the Prehistory of the Holocaust. I'm still readi..."

Oh, how exciting! That was my first Sanderson read, too. There are no words to describe the awesomeness of that series! Be ready.. Your life is about to change.

Brandon Sanderson has changed fantasy for me forever. I just finished and I, of course, LOVED it.
As I love all of his books and need always need recovery time afterwards.

Though, I received at the library and am looking forward to picking it up. Night Circus was so beautifully written that I have faith it won't feel bland after a Sanderson read.

[Allison, Fairy Mod-mother]

Welcome to the fandom Cutter! Hope Starless Sea is able to hold its own for you!

[Gabi]

I (barely) survived Ringworld by Larry Niven on my quest to read (nearly) all of the triple award winners. There is dated, and there is DATED … and Ringworld certainly belongs to the second category. The science part is clever, no question, but the characters are as flat as a piece of paper and the women … just don't let me go on about the women (and that from me where it needs a lot to get me grumpy about women characterisation in an otherwise good SF story).


So just out of spite I ruined my December reading schedule and started Spiderlight by Adrian Tchaikovsky, because it has 'Spider' and 'Tchaikovsky', two ingredients I adore. Hopefully it will ease my mood. It is my first attempt at his Fantasy. So far I've only read his SF books.

[Allison, Fairy Mod-mother]

Oh my. Well, I am glad you're doing something that should make you happy. *Shudders*

I'm gonna be over here, surrounded in orange scented bug zappers.

[colleen the convivial curmudgeon]

Started The Empty Grave this morning, which is a carryover from October, because I am so on top of things!

[Gabi]

Allison wrote: "Oh my. Well, I am glad you're doing something that should make you happy. *Shudders*

I'm gonna be over here, surrounded in orange scented bug zappers."

Ooops, sorry, I keep forgetting … mea culpa! (But I love them soooo much, I can't help)

[Allison, Fairy Mod-mother]

Haha Gabi, as long as pictures aren't openly accompanying your posts, you're totally fine and I am glad that you love something that much!

Colleen, I literally just threw out the mums and pumpkins. High five for resisting the inevitable pull of winter!

[Sarah]

I'm just finishing Dawn by Octavia E. Butler. Amazing book.

[DivaDiane]

I went back and saw that I’d actually given Ringworld 4 stars! I’m sure I was seduced by the awards and giving it more than its fair share of the “benefit of the doubt” / special dispensation because of when it was written, so I changed my rating and demoted it to 3 stars. Basically, because I felt exactly as you did about the book in general.

[Gabi]

Diane wrote: "I went back and saw that I’d actually given Ringworld 4 stars! I’m sure I was seduced by the awards and giving it more than its fair share of the “benefit of the doubt” / special dispensation becau..."

I was considering 3 stars until near the end, but then came this dump explanation as to why they stranded on Ringworld and the second woman only wanted to have sex with the MC - and I decided on one of my very rare 2 stars.

[colleen the convivial curmudgeon]

Allison wrote: "Colleen, I literally just threw out the mums and pumpkins. High five for resisting the inevitable pull of winter! "


I sort of dipped my toe into Winter with The Raven and the Reindeer and am now retreating back to Autumn! ^_^

(I just took down the Halloween decorations last weekend... and only most of them. We still have 2 small pumpkins out.)

[CBRetriever]

Gabi wrote: "So just out of spite I ruined my December reading schedule and started Spiderlight by Adrian Tchaikovsky, because it has 'Spider' and 'Tchaikovsky', two ingredients I adore. Hopefully it will ease my mood. It is my first attempt at his Fantasy. So far I've only read his SF books."

I found that book hilarious in its shredding of fantasy stereotypes (and I too hate spiders)

[Gabi]

CBRetriever wrote: "I found that book hilarious in its shredding of fantasy stereotypes (and I too hate spiders) ..."

Sounds promising!

[MadProfessah]

I love the “Sarantine Mosaic” it’s my second favorite of Kay’s work (behind the epic “Tigana” is course!

[Kateb]

my 90 year old uncle , who still has his mental abilities, was bored with what he was reading. He usually read adventure/ spy etc.

i bought him a kindle a few years ago, and buy him books all of the time.

so I bought him Janet Evanovitch first book. I thought it would just get him out of the dull zone.

He keeps ringing me to laugh about each funny bit in the book. He has nearly finished book 2. From a person who usually reads half an hour a day, he has morphed into 1 to one and half hours a day.

He tells me it is all my fault as he isnt doing his 2 hours of exercise each day now

I have had to re read these two books so i know what he is talking about. They are so funny. A good light read

[CBRetriever]

another funny series to try after that is the Arly Hanks series by Joan Hess. They're set in Maggody, Arkansas and feature the lone police representative in the town. Her mother and her mother's sidekick are the equivalent of Grandma Mazur in the Stephanie Plum books. He might enjoy them.

[Kateb]

thanks i will find these books, but at his pace of reading , and he is 90, he might not finish this series.

[Lizzie]

Don wrote: "Chris, Esther or anyone else who has read " A brightness Long Ago"
did any catch the links or Easter Eggs connecting to "The Sarantine Mosaic" ?"

Yes - and they were absolutely spine-tingling for me! I guess you also read Children of Earth and Sky, Don?

[Don]

Lizzie, It was a thrill when who the healer must became clear. Yes, "Children of Earth and Sky" is a bonafide 5star read.

[Soo]

Hi! I've been reading tons but pretty busy & intentionally stepped away from getting into group talks/BRs/etc. Part of my plans for the year was to slow down on books (mostly audiobooks) and make time for parks/hikes/outdoors. I cut down a lot on internet/computer time to have time for other interests.

I missed all the chats! But it was nice to explore a good chunk of my state/surrounding area. =D

I did not slow down on books and decided that it would be cool to hit 555 for 2019. I'm currently at 535. Haha!

Currently reading Wandering Inn, Volume 4. It's an epic fantasy adventure with a small dash of LitRPG. The series was recommended to me by various friends but I put it low on the list because it wasn't available on audio. Then it came out on audio & I tried it out. The series has issues but the story turned out to be rather charming! WI has lots of cool concepts, fun characters and a big world setting. Each Volume is around 1600-2000+ pages.

I dropped in to ask about Children of Time. How far into the book do I need to get for me to decide if I like it or not? I remember hearing lots of good things about the book but I'm put off by most of the humans. Do I need to try about 15-20%? I've listened to about an hour.

[Rachel]

The likable characters in a children of Time are not really the humans....so ...

[Trike]

Started reading the nonfiction AI Superpowers: China, Silicon Valley, and the New World Order, which is astonishingly fascinating. The deep dive into China’s copycat and cutthroat culture is eye-popping. This is why Chinese AI is going to rule the world soon.

[CBRetriever]

Soo wrote: "I did not slow down on books and decided that it would be cool to hit 555 for 2019. I'm currently at 535. Haha! "

Nice to find someone else with high numbers - I'm at 331 during my first full year of retirement. However, I have a lot of 400-700 page books in my stats plus omnibus editions containing more than one book (154 total books in SFF)

[Soo]

That's great! =) Happy retirement, CBRetriever.

I'm working on making overall health a priority. Breaking lifelong habits to focus more on myself is really hard! To keep myself occupied, I make mini-goals to push me along and keep myself on track. One of them are my experiments with audiobook speeds & comprehension while reading something else & listening to a book. Original plan was to step back from reading a ton but I changed gears when I realized I needed more solo time to work on building new habits. I have an audiobook running most of the day as I do stuff.

Children of Time - I don't need to like the humans but the setup for the story comes across as overly dramatic & nothing has hooked me in the first hour.

I may not be in the right mood for the story. I'm trying to listen to the audiobooks I've had for a while & jump genres to keep the stories fresh. Children of Time was one of my picks for SF. I try to have a few books/series of each genre on standby to read.

[Chris]

Children of Time is one of my favorites. Even if you end up not liking it, it may give you plenty of food for thought.

[Eva]

I think the audio performance for Children of Time is very over the top, I didn't like it and plan to read it with my eyes instead. I've heard that all the main characters are spiders, so I think not liking the caricature-like humans in the beginning doesn't matter.

Kudos to you guys reading SO MANY books in just one year - wow! 👏

[Trike]

CBRetriever wrote: "Soo wrote: "I did not slow down on books and decided that it would be cool to hit 555 for 2019. I'm currently at 535. Haha! "

Nice to find someone else with high numbers - I'm at 331 during my fir..."

Are you ladies doing anything else besides read? Because day-ammm.

[Jacqueline]

Yeah that’s nearly 2 a day. My best last year was 9 in a week and that was intense.

[Gabi]

@Eva: I listened to the audio version of Children of Time and had no problem with it (I did the same with the sequel).

[Soo]

Children of Time: Should I give the audio another hour or two? Only seen a small bit of the aliens and that seems to be the hook.

Trike, short answer is multitasking. I can listen to an audiobook for 90% of my activities. Only times I'm definitely not listening to a story are dancing, hangouts with friends & when I'm trying out new music.

[CBRetriever]

I'm a speed reader (self taught), so I go through books pretty fast. I also play a lot of game apps on my Fire. However, I had no children and we moved from Texas to Oregon after I retired and haven't yet found a regular routine after a year. Working on the kitchen, unpacking, arranging and then rearranging, and having a few health problems have taken up a lot of time, but I hope to find some sort of volunteer work to do in the future.

[Gabi]

If you need something to lighten your day, read Spiderlight, of you're tired of the Sword and Sorcery heroes read Spiderlight, if you love laughing read Spiderlight, if you weren't happy with "The Blade Itself" read Spiderlight - well … if you want to read something, read Spiderlight.

Only … if you are afraid of spiders, do NOT read Spiderlight (sorry, there are two major scenes with them).

I picked this up not knowing what to await. I never read a Fantasy by Tchaikovsky before and when I saw that it was a typical D&D fellowship out to defend the Light against the Dark, I wasn't expecting any depth. Well, I was mistaken. In the end I even had tears in my eyes, because Tchaikovsky managed to turn the sillyness of this kind-of-parody into profound aspects of humanity.

Such a positive suprise read.

[CBRetriever]

even for those who hate spiders

[Allison, Fairy Mod-mother]

Just finished Palimpsest, the book of the sexually transmitted city. As you can guess from the description, it was...

f*cking weird.

Puns aside, it was, though. She's very talented, but I think this one needed a bit more time proving before it was cooked.

Also reading Small Gods which is, as advertised, delightful.

[Raucous]

Allison wrote: "... Also reading Small Gods which is, as advertised, delightful."

I've always been fascinated by the role that religion plays in the Discworld universe and so this was a favorite of mine. If you're into cover art there's a link to the full Josh Kirby art for the book in this reader ranking (#9):

https://artofdiscworld.wordpress.com/...

I suppose that these covers could be seen as a spoilers (in the same sense that the cover for A Night in the Lonesome October was) but they still leave quite a lot to the imagination.

[Allison, Fairy Mod-mother]

Ahh, that's great, thanks Raucous!