What Else Are You Reading in 2020? Showing 1,451-1,500 of 2,960

[Eric]

I finished Charmcaster. Four stars. Fun tales, but I have had enough popcorn for now. I'll get to the remaining three books at some point.

Onto a little history: The World Is Flat: A Brief History of the Twenty-first Century.

[Jordan]

Finished We Ride Upon Sticks, which I loved. The ending felt a little abrupt though, like the author just didn't know how to make a good transition to "after".

I'm about halfway through reading Century Rain and it feels like things are really starting to pick up now. I'm guessing the second half will be a fast read for me.

Started listening to Aurora Burning, which so far I am enjoying much better than the first book. The team and all the people in it feel like they've really settled into their characters now and are much more distinct than they were in the first book. This is the light-hearted space antics that I wanted right now.

[Don]

I just read that there is a famous fight School/ Club in China, that takes young orphans and trains them in the art of battle in exchange for room and board.
some of these martial artists were recently sent to the china-india border to train the troops for China that are not allowed to carry guns or explosives....

[Don]

and once you start handing out orphans to the martial arts school wouldn't the military and the intelligence community also want some orphans?

[Mary]

Depends on whether they think the bother of raising them and the inevitable attrition as large numbers prove unfit is worth the effect.

[Kirsten]

I've been listening to Golden in Death by J.D. Robb

[Esther]

I thoroughly enjoyed Jasper Fforde's new alternate reality The Constant Rabbit - 5 stars.

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

[Eric]

I started reading The Stand. According to the double prefaces, this is the newer, uncut version on my Kindle. I'm not a real big fan of OoooOOOooOOOoOOOoooooo...Steven King, but many have recommended this book to me, so here goes.

[Gabi]

I've read

Startide Rising, which was brimming with great ideas, but I found that the writing wasn't up to the content, so it ended with my average 3 stars.

The City & the City, which was terrific. In this form even I like the classical detective novel.

The Harbors of the Sun, the fifth, and so far last, installation of the Raksura series is in the meanwhile available as audiobook, so I could finish the series (the ebooks are too expensive for my budget). Unfortunately I was rather disappointed by it. Too many characters, too many plotlines.

The Hidden Girl and Other Stories is an amibitious short story collection. Some of the stories are outstanding, yet I liked the SF stories much more than the Fantasy ones.

A Tale for the Time Being I read spontaneously cause of Anna's recommendation (always good :D). It was one of the books that go out of the program at storytel end of June. And I LOVED it totally. Two alternating POVs, one of a Japanese-American writer living on a remote island in Canada in the now-time, the other a Japanese-American schoolgirl living in Tokyo 10 years earlier and going through hell with being mobbed at school and experiencing the suicide attempts of her father. Both are connected through the diary of the girl that the woman finds washed on the shore. Terribly good writing.

The Old Drift I picked up as I saw it nominated for the Arthur C. Clarke award. This one demanded a lot of concentration. It starts with three women who end up in Zambia (one born there, one from England, one from Italy) and follows their families for 3 generations, while giving a rough discourse through Zambian history of the last century.

[Mary]

Part-Time Gods by Rachel Aaron

[Esther]

Gabi wrote: "I've read
The Hidden Girl and Other Stories is an amibitious short story collection. Some of the stories are outstanding, yet I liked the SF stories much more than the Fantasy ones..."

I have just read The Hidden Girl the individual stories were good but I felt a little over whemled by the quantity. It was too much to take in at once.

[RJ - Slayer of Trolls]

Rachel Adiyah wrote: "I just finished VALIS by PKD. Not sure if I should read Man in the High Castle or The Divine Invasion."

I'd recommend The Man in the High Castle. One of my all-time favorites.

[Rachel Adiyah]

I just added Clive Barker's Imajica to my reading.

[Gabi]

Esther wrote: "have just read The Hidden Girl the individual stories were good but I felt a little over whemled by the quantity. It was too much to take in at once. "

I guess the number of stories wouldn't have been the problem, if not so many of them would have been variations of a theme. Each one on its own was great, but together there was too much repetitiveness.

[Michele]

Eric wrote: "I started reading The Stand. According to the double prefaces, this is the newer, uncut version on my Kindle. I'm not a real big fan of OoooOOOooOOOoOOOoo..."

Eric, I hope you like it. It's my favorite King novel :)

[Michele]

I just finished a re-read of Gibbon's Decline and Fall (rather frighteningly topical, despite being written in 1996 or so, but so beautifully hopeful at the end -- I really needed it right now). Now reading The Room Where It Happened: A White House Memoir (also frightening lol)

[Don]

Michele, are you referring to the Decline and fall of the Roman Empire by Gibbons ? I think the Author date is earlier.

See any parallel's to the now ?

[Eric]

Michele wrote: "Eric, I hope you like it. It's my favorite King novel :)"

Thanks. So far I've been introduced to quite the blend of characters, not to mention some slithering nefarious species.

[Don]

Just caught a interesting phrase on a Facebook video.
"Ancha Banka" short for Anchor Banker, an individual who invests in that which drags them down.
In this case the person was feeding his addiction.

[CBRetriever]

I decided to go on to the 4th Malazan book (House of Chains. It was a refreshing surprise in that the first 25% dealt with only one story line. I'm interspersing it with Dinner at Deviant's Palace which I'm not very impressed with. Very male oriented dystopian story . I don't think I'll be reading much more by this author.

[Michele]

Don wrote: "Michele, are you referring to the Decline and fall of the Roman Empire by Gibbons ? I think the Author date is earlier."

No, this is Gibbon's Decline and Fall, a speculative fiction novel by Sheri S. Tepper. It's set in a near-future America where fundamentalism, nationalism, misogyny, etc. are on the rise, and is about seven women, long-time friends, who find a way to stop it. Beautifully written and very powerful/moving. Tepper's work often played with/looked at questions of sex, gender, and society.

But the original Gibbon's history is also perhaps relevant :)

[Don]

TY

[John]

Has anyone read Station Eleven by Emily St. John Mandel? I learned of it from George R. R. Martin’s blog. He was quite impressed with it. I bought it and it came yesterday. Can not wait to read it!

[Allison, Fairy Mod-mother]

it was a group book a couple years back! heads up, there's a pandemic, but I thought it was a lovely book

[Don]

John J, "Station Eleven": if you like end of the world books, this one is a little bit different and a pleasure to read.

[Christopher]

I've read Station Eleven and would recommend it.

[Michele]

John wrote: "Has anyone read Station Eleven by Emily St. John Mandel? I learned of it from George R. R. Martin’s blog. He was quite impressed with it. I bought it and it came yesterday. Can not wait to read it!"

An excellent book, very different from other post-apoc novels. Quieter, I guess you'd say? Also, it's not often you get a novel that's a finalist for the Arthur C. Clarke Award, the National Book Award, the Women's Prize for Fiction, and the PEN/Faulkner Award. The Venn diagram for that particular overlap has to be vanishingly small :D

[Shomeret]

I finally read This Is How You Lose the Time War which was beautiful but I found the plot predictable.

[Araych]

Early Riser by Jasper Fforde

This might be the strangest book I've ever read. I don't want to give too much away but apparently it takes place in an alternative reality in which there is an ongoing ice age and people hibernate. Charlie Worthing gets a new job as a Winter Consul, sort of a caretaker while others sleep. And then he gets involved in sort of a mystery semi-war. But the book is full of dry humor and jokes of all kinds. Very odd, completely original. I liked it. 3 stars.

[Anna]

Araych, it's on the group shelf, if you want to check out the discussions!

Early Riser >> First impressions | Final thoughts

[Dj]

Mary wrote: "The Palace Job by Patrick Weekes"

I really enjoyed that book, what did you think of it?

[Dj]

Livvie wrote: "im currently reading "ready player one' and loving it. think im too young to get most of the 80's references though :("

No worries, I lived through the 80s, Army, divorce, Kid, whole nine yards and I didn't get all the references either.

[Dj]

Allison wrote: "Popcorn reads are sometimes exactly what we need!"

Is a popcorn read what was once called pulp?
I sometimes feel so out of the loop.

[Mary]

A popcorn read is something light and fluffy.

Pulp was the sort of fiction published in pulp magazines.

Overlap is conceivable.

[Don]

Dj, you may feel looped out but you are definitely in the loop.

[Don]

I listen to an excellent PodCast called "ArtCurious" by Jennifer Dasal And was very pleased to find out Ms. Dasal is putting out a book complimentary to the PodCast.

[Allison, Fairy Mod-mother]

Aw haha sorry, not trying o exclude you, DJ!

[Michele]

Mary wrote: "A popcorn read is something light and fluffy."

Similar to a "beach read" then -- undemanding, entertaining, simple plot, requiring little attention. So you can lie in the sun and drink while reading it ;)

[Allison, Fairy Mod-mother]

Right, think like a summer action movie. turn of brain, insert popcorn!

[Beth]

In search of a literary term: what's it called when there are long passages following a character around as they do things, with maybe some description of the scenery along the way? Recent examples that immediately come to mind have an omniscient or objective point of view.

I call them "this happened, then that happened" sequences, but that isn't what they're called in lit classes, of course... :D help?

[Mary]

Slice of life?

[Beth]

Not quite, no. "Exposition" is almost it, but my understanding is that exposition is more about background information (or info-dumps) than what's happening in the story's present.

[Sarah]

Narrative?

[Chris]

Action? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Action_...

[Beth]

Both of these are getting there. So that The Boss doesn't request this move to a new thread ;) thanks, and I'll look into this a bit more on my own.

[Don]

The Daily deal on Audible is Starsight by Brandon Sanderson.
His stuff is rarely on sale.

[Carro]

Araych wrote: "The Android's Dream by John Scalzi

Human diplomat kills alien diplomat and Harry Creek, ex-soldier and all-around fixer is tasked to prevent interplanetary war...."

Unless I'm remembering the wrong book - I really liked a fight scene in a shopping mall that involved a futuristic version of a bouncy castle or maybe it was sort of flying skates. (Been a few years).

[Carro]

Michele wrote: "John wrote: "Has anyone read Station Eleven by Emily St. John Mandel? I learned of it from George R. R. Martin’s blog. He was quite impressed with it. I bought it and it came yester..."
Hokay, I was reading the sample chapters yesterday and stopped at the point he was panic buying bottled water in a snow storm and trying to get it to his brother's apartment, having just had rather a fit about his girlfriend's behaviour. I wasn't too thrilled by the main character's personality. Is that section a good indicator of the tone throughout the book, or does it change?

[Meredith]

Carro wrote: "Michele wrote: "John wrote: "Has anyone read Station Eleven by Emily St. John Mandel? I learned of it from George R. R. Martin’s blog. He was quite impressed with it. I bought it an..."

I read it recently. The narrative switches among multiple characters and at multiple points in time. I felt there were a lot of different feeling elements to the story, so that one is not indicative of the feeling of the whole.

[Carro]

Meredith wrote: "I read it recently. The narrative switches among multiple characters and at multiple points in time. I felt there were a lot of different feeling elements to the story, so that one is not indicative of the feeling of the whole. ."
Thanks, that's helpful/