What Else Are You Reading - November 2014

[Joseph]

Finished City of Dreams & Nightmare and am continuing with the second in the trilogy, City of Hope & Despair.

[Clyde]

Just finished Gone Rogue by C.K. Crigger and So Sure of Death by Dana Stabenow.
Now reading The Shadow of the Wind by Carlos Ruiz Zafón and Fire with Fire by Charles E. Gannon.
Next up, Encounter with Tiber by Buzz Aldrin.

[Walter]

Just finished This Will Make You Smarter: New Scientific Concepts to Improve Your Thinking. The brevity of the essays made reading the book much easier than it might have been otherwise. OTOH, the sheer number of SHAs (shorthand abstractions) got a bit overwhelming near the finish line. Excellent book, though.

Now reading Harvest Home for another book club.

[Joel]

Giving Century Rain by Alastair Reynolds a try. So far it is very intriguing.

[Dara]

I finished Snow Crash last night. It was... interesting. My review. No idea what I want to read next.

[Joe Informatico]

Rob wrote: "Joe Informatico wrote: "I'm finally starting the Long Price Quartet by Daniel Abraham"

I really enjoy his Dagger & Coin series, but I haven't read any of that series yet."

I heard Dagger & Coin was also really good, but I decided to do the Long Price first. Partly because Jo Walton highly recommended them in her Tor.com column, partly because the setting of Long Price sounded a bit more interesting and unusual, and partly because the Long Price is finished, while Dagger & Coin is still ongoing.

So far, LP's been a bit slow out of the gate, but it's just gotten really interesting. (I'm about halfway through the first book, A Shadow in Summer.)

[Eric]

Dara wrote: "I finished Snow Crash last night. It was... interesting. My review. No idea what I want to read next."

On my way to read that review!

[Tamahome]

You should do Gravity's Rainbow in your virtual book club Jenny, complete with costumes!

[Dara]

Eric wrote: "Dara wrote: "I finished Snow Crash last night. It was... interesting. My review. No idea what I want to read next."

On my way to read that review!"

Thanks! :-)

[Jenny (Reading Envy)]

Tamahome wrote: "You should do Gravity's Rainbow in your virtual book club Jenny, complete with costumes!"
That would be a hard sell. We did read Snow Crash though.

[Rob, Roberator]

Dagger & Coin will finish next summer at least. I may check out his other series after.

[Phil]

Finished Borderlands of Science by Charles Sheffield. It's a non-fiction book to help aspiring SF writers not make fools of themselves with bad science. He would take a branch of science, give a bit of its history and talk about what we know (as of 2000) and then talk about where it's safe to speculate.. It's an enjoyable read if you're interested in the science in SF. He also references books (his own and others) that use the concepts well. The bibliography at the end would make a good reading list for people who like hard SF.
Starting The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms

[Shaina]

I'm almost done with The Gunslinger. I really haven't been able to get into it and am ready for it to be done. I'm mostly just not finding myself interested or compelled to read more.

I also just read Ms. Marvel which was great and I can't wait for more.

[Ally]

Shaina wrote: "I'm almost done with The Gunslinger. I really haven't been able to get into it and am ready for it to be done. I'm mostly just not finding myself interested or compelled to read more.

I also just..."

I felt the same. The second one is much better.

[Misti]

Breezed right through The Thousand-Dollar Tan Line. If you are a fan of the show, then you'll probably enjoy this book. It could've used more Weevil though. ;)

Now I'm jumping back to the Dresden Files with Blood Rites. Oh, and I almost forgot my audible credit rolled over today so I'm going to listen to Waistcoats & Weaponry.

[terpkristin]

Ally wrote: "Shaina wrote: "I'm almost done with The Gunslinger. I really haven't been able to get into it and am ready for it to be done. I'm mostly just not finding myself interested or compelled to read more.

I also just..."

I felt the same. The second one is much better."

Just so you have the counterpoint, I hated The Gunslinger and kept hearing how the second one was much better...it wasn't, unless you go by twice nothing is still nothing. I put the series down after the second or third one. Fool me once...

I'm currently listening to City of Golden Shadow. I didn't really know what it was about before I started, though I'm totally digging it so far.

I'm also reading Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? every now and then. It's good that it's short. I don't think it's as groundbreaking and amazing as I'd been lead to believe, even for the time.

[Viola]

I'll be start listening to The Dying of the Light now that I finally have it on my iPad. Technology is evil.

[Rob, Roberator]

@Kristin is that for SFFAudio? How is the narrator?

[terpkristin]

Rob wrote: "@Kristin is that for SFFAudio? How is the narrator?"

Yes it is. He's a little slow but he does the voices quite well. I'm listening to the narration slightly sped up.

[Rob, Roberator]

I'm probably doing that soon.

[Walter]

Just finished Saga, Volume 3. Enjoying the series muchly.

[Rob, Roberator]

Walter wrote: "Just finished Saga, Volume 3. Enjoying the series muchly."

Have you tried Rat Queens, Vol. 1: Sass & Sorcery?

[Walter]

No Rob, but it's on my list now. :)

[Rob, Roberator]

A friend called it better than Saga. I'm not sure which is better, because both are very good IMHO.

[Aaron]

Done with Crossover it was pretty good not great but enjoyable, I'll probably move right on to the next two books. Hyperion got stalled for a bit because my fantasy audiobook of Blood Song has really got me hooked, the narrator sounds the same for everything which coming off of The Hero's Guide to Saving Your Kingdom with Bronson Pinchot as the narrator certainly feels like a drop. But the book itself is really good it's sitting at 4.5 for me right now unsure if I will give it a 4 or a 5 gotta let some stuff sink in first.

[Alan]

After finishing Alif the Unseen a week after everyone else here, I wanted a quicker read and picked up Happy Hour in Hell. my review

If you get sucked out of a book by gaping plot holes, I can't really recommend Happy Hour in Hell but if you can turn off your internal critic, it's fun.

Also my review of AtU is here but I don't have any insights that weren't already said more eloquently by other people during the group read.

[John (Taloni)]

Alan wrote: "If you get sucked out of a book by gaping plot holes, I can't really recommend Happy Hour in Hell but if you can turn off your internal critic, it's fun.
"

I felt the same way about Good Omens. As a story it's, well, not really much of a story. As humor and social commentary, it's great.

[Jenny (Reading Envy)]

I finished Soldier of the Mist and I'm going to need those companion websites.

[Dara]

Chose a book at random from ones I already own. Going with The Golem and the Jinni.

[Walter]

Just finished Harvest Home, quite the seasonal novel. Bit of a sluggish start, but picked up after a while.

While waiting for the S&L BotM to come in at the library, have started Write. Publish. Repeat. on the chance I'll learn something useful. It's currently a Goodreads nominee for Best Business Book of 2014, so I'm hopeful.

[Pat]

The Abyss Beyond Dreams: A Novel of the Commonwealth - Loving it so far.

[Robyn]

Dara wrote: "Chose a book at random from ones I already own. Going with The Golem and the Jinni."

I read that earlier this year and thought it was fun. I don't know if you just read Alif the Unseen or not, but if you did the djinn mythology will be interesting to compare to each other.

[Dara]

I read Alif earlier this year. I wasn't crazy about it. I am enjoying The Golem and the Jinni though. It's a nice change of pace. Small-scale character story instead of epic OMG THE WORLD IS ENDING!

[John (Taloni)]

Reading Redemption Ark by Alastair Reynolds. I dunno what his fascination with redeeming mass killers is. There's three in this book including the Inhibitors. Decent book, good use of science, but Reynolds comes off like he's trying way too hard to be gritty.

[Trike]

Apparently I accidentally jumped on this month's bandwagon for A Natural History of Dragons and I'm about 2/3 of the way through it, limiting myself to one chapter a night and two on weekend nights. I like it quite a lot so far.

Slogging through Lex Talionis, which I might end up lemming.

All other books have been put aside for the moment. I keep BUYING books, of course, because I have a disease, apparently.

Latest purchases:
Falling Sky
Upgraded
The Flash, Vol. 1: Move Forward,
Captain Marvel, Vol. 1: Higher, Further, Faster, More
Ms. Marvel, Vol. 1: No Normal
Cyanide and Happiness: Punching Zoo
The Fox: Freak Magnet
Sci-Fi Chronicles: A Visual History of the Galaxy's Greatest Science Fiction

[Sky]

I finally finished The Black Prism. I thought I'd get a lot more reading done on my honeymoon but it was done only on the airplane ride there and the flight back. Perhaps that's a good thing.

A bunch of pre-orders came in while i was away...Slow Regard of Silent Things, The Peripheral, The Three Body Problem, Heiroglyph. I think next I'll catch up on the Magicians Trilogy and read The Magician's Land while I wait for the another group's read of The Blinding Knife to start next week.

[Robyn]

Trike wrote: "Apparently I accidentally jumped on this month's bandwagon for A Natural History of Dragons and I'm about 2/3 of the way through it, limiting myself to one chapter a night and two o..."

That book is a lot of fun. I really need to read the sequel.

Dara wrote: "I read Alif earlier this year. I wasn't crazy about it. I am enjoying The Golem and the Jinni though. It's a nice change of pace. Small-scale character story instead of epic OMG THE WORLD IS ENDING!"

I definitely preferred it as well, though I think of the three books I've read in the last year featuring djinns, The Throne of the Crescent Moon was my favourite.

[Dara]

Throne of the Crescent Moon was fantastic. Have you read Engraved on the Eye? It's free on kindle! http://www.amazon.com/Engraved-Eye-Sa...

[Robyn]

I haven't! Awesome. Something good to read that's also free! Thank you!

[Dara]

You're welcome! I hope you enjoy it. I love Saladin's writing style.

[Kristina]

Working on The Broken Eye. It's been so long since I read the last one though that I feel kinda lost. I'm enjoying it except for one character pov who feels way different than I remember him. Like he over-matured, but then it could be my foggy memory too. At my bookfair last week I took a peak inside The Iron Trial and got totally hooked even thought it's more of a middle grade book-so I'm taking a couple days to knock that out.

[Eric]

Just started The Intern's Handbook: A Thrillerlove it already

[Cappy]

just finished with magicians land, I really enjoyed this series. the ending tired things up nicely but also left room for another book. reading promise of blood right now.

[Eric]

Cappy wrote: "just finished with magicians land, I really enjoyed this series. the ending tired things up nicely but also left room for another book. reading promise of blood right now."

Wanted to start the series, but all copies in my county library system were out.

[Geoff]

Just finished Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?. I thought it was okay. I like the idea of the bounty hunter going after hidden androids but the Mercer vs Buster stuff was very boring to me.

At a used book sale today, I picked up:
Full Dark, No Stars by Stephen King
Whipping Star by Frank Herbert
Sailing to Sarantium & Lord of Emperors by Guy Gavriel Kay

Not exactly what I was looking for but it will have to do.

I think I'll read Whipping Star after I finish Gardens of the Moon, which I just started last night.

[David H.]

Most recently I've read The Slow Regard of Silent Things by Rothfuss, Clariel by Nix, and Imperfect Sword by Campbell. All three very interesting with their own flaws and strengths. I'm also slowly working my way through Tsugumi Ohba's Bakuman series, a manga series about two kids trying to be manga writers.

Right now I'm working very slowly through The Count of Monte Cristo. 100 pages down, 1150 more to go . . .

I'm thinking about maybe starting some Asimov stories afterwards, probably the Foundation universe (Robot, Galactic Empire, and Foundation). But maybe not! We'll see . . .

[John (Taloni)]

Count of Monte Cristo is definitely worth it. Yes, it's long, but so is Lord of the Rings. They're about the same word count, actually.

For Asimov, I would definitely start with Foundation and then the original Robot books. The later add-ons can be interesting, but don't really add much. If anything I would suggest The End Of Eternity. It's a fabulous time-travel story that is an unofficial capstone to Asimov's early writing career. That book is best if you've read the Galactic Empire books (The Stars, Like Dust / The Currents of Space / Pebble in the Sky) but that can be a lot of reading.

[Tamahome]

For Asimov I would recommend Caves of Steel.

[Shad]

While I enjoyed Foundation, I have to second The Caves of Steel as a place to start with Asimov.

[David H.]

I've actually read several Asimov stories before, including his great memoir I. Asimov. I've read the first Foundation, and I believe I've read a lot of the Robot short stories. I never finished the series, though, and I wanted to try out the chronological order listed in Wikipedia.