What Are You Reading - January 2015

[Buzz]

Just finished my first book of 2015, The Honor of the Queen. Once I'm finished with The Sparrow, I will read the next Honor Harrington novel The Short Victorious War.

[Jenny (Reading Envy)]

Tamahome wrote: "Just read the Persepolis autobiographical graphic novel about growing up in Iran. It's as heart-breaking as you think. B&N has it in the biography section.

"

Will you read part 2?

[Morituri]

I've cleared some backlog and am now making time for Joe Hill's NOS4A2

[Jeff]

Rob wrote: "Jeff wrote: "Listening to Lock In & readingThe Last Passenger (catching up from previous Kindle Select picks)"

Which narrator?"

Wil Wheaton of course. Nothing against Amber Benson, but Wil always wins

[Rob, Roberator]

Jeff wrote: "Wil Wheaton of course. ..."

That's the version I did, I want to try the Benson version at some point though.

[Stephen]

Just started Ancillary Sword. Enjoying so far.

[Tamahome]

Jenny (Reading Envy) wrote: "Will you read part 2? [Persepolis]"

Yes.

[ladymurmur]

Just finished Red-Headed Stepchild. Keidy-I really enjoyed it, and reccommend giving it a try. It is a bit lighter in feel than her newer series, leaning slightly more towards PR than UF. But quite a bit of fun. None of the characters turn out quite as expected upon first introduction. :-)

In a fit of nostalgia, I'm re-reading Oath of Fealty so I can continue with the rest of the Paladin's Legacy series.

[Sky]

Just finished Steelheart. Going to listen to Mitosis on the way to work tomorrow to prepare for Firefight which releases Tuesday.

For my 2015 goal of becoming a more critical reader of non-fiction, I am starting How to Read a Book: The Classic Guide to Intelligent Reading, preparing to prepare to read critically :)

[Keidy]

@ladymurmur: Great! I put it on my wishlist. If you haven't noticed, I usually wait for big price drops before I get books so I'll be waiting on that for awhile. Yay for breaking past 400 books on my wishlist. ^_^;

[Geoff]

I did a quick read of Cycle of the Werewolf by Stephen King tonight. Here is my review.

Still reading, and enjoying, The Snow Queen.

[Lindsay]

The best of my recent reading was a Nebula nominee from last year: Hild by Nicola Griffith. It's a painstakingly researched fictionalization of the early life of Saint Hilda of Whitby as a child noblewoman in the 7th century Kingdom of Northumbria. Apparently the first of a trilogy.

I also really enjoyed the urban fantasy Trace of Magic by Diana Pharaoh Francis. Reminded me a bit of the Alex Verus novels, in that it has a well thought out magic system with a protagonist who seems to have the "weak" form of magic.

Others included:
- Willful Child by Steven Erikson which I didn't enjoy at all. Lots of points where you're meant to point and laugh at the Star Trek spoof ... but none of it is actually funny.
- Exigency by Michael Siemsen. Good book that had lots of interesting ideas, both in terms of the mission and the aliens that they're investigating.
- I'm Dreaming of an Undead Christmas by Molly Harper. Hilarious, as with all of her books, but more of a prequel novella to her next one.

Next up is all book club reading: The Sparrow for this one and The Bitterwood Bible by Angela Slatter and How to be both by Ali Smith for the Writer and the Critic.

[Keidy]

@Lindsay: I've heard of Hild before but wrote it off because I didn't feel like reading historical fiction at the time. But lately I've been watching a lot of documentaries and concentrating on the medieval period right now. So much stuff I don't know. I have no idea what school ever really taught me about history. Nothing important apparently.

Thanks for reminding me about this book. I put it on my wish list. ^_^v

[Lindsay]

@Keidy: It really was superb. You probably wouldn't have got much of this history wherever you studied: the whole (long) novel is based off one paragraph of Bede's Ecclesiastical History of the English People and filled out by an incredible level of detail on how the anglo-saxon nobility and peasantry lived. Which is great, but it all gets completely overturned a couple of centuries later by the Norman Invasion. A lot of English historians seem to treat history as starting there.

[Keidy]

@Lindsay: Cool! Now I want to read it even more, though I'll probably wait for the price to drop. Thanks for the name drop again! Can't wait to read it. ^_^

[Joseph]

Finished A Fish Dinner In Memison and opened up The Mezentian Gate, the final (and sadly incomplete) book in E.R. Eddison's Zimiamvia trilogy.

[Jeff]

Rob wrote: "Jeff wrote: "Wil Wheaton of course. ..."

That's the version I did, I want to try the Benson version at some point though."

I'm thoroughly enjoying the bonus audio at the end. Not sure if that's in the print version, but it does add a lot IMHO

[David H.]

I've read some more Asimov, having finished up to Foundation and Empire.

Then I read The Martian, which was great (it's my real-life book club January pick).

And now I'm reading the lead-up stories for Deathstalker, starting with Mistworld.

[Rob, Roberator]

Jeff wrote: "I'm thoroughly enjoying the bonus audio at the end. Not sure if that's in the print version, but it does add a lot IMHO"

I'm not sure about the print version. He originally sold that "history" as a novella, then eventually Tor released it for free on their website. So I read it there before the book came out, and didn't bother to listen to it.

If I do the Amber Benson version, I'll probably listen to that novella first, since it seemed like they had a bunch of different readers doing it.

[Lariela]

Started The Amulet of Samarkand this afternoon.

[Robyn]

I finished The Carpet Makers and have picked up Bitter Seeds by Ian Tregillis. It covers well-worn ground (WWII, superhumans, Nazis, British warlocks...ok, that last one is a twist) but personally I think it's well-worn because it's damn entertaining. I'm a quarter through and very curious where we're going.

[John (Taloni)]

I'm now reading Pushing Ice by Alastair Reynolds. It follows a group of unwilling colonists that were asked to track a moon as it revealed itself to actually be a huge spaceship. They get caught up in the ship as it accelerates and have to land.

This is the first "big dumb object" story I've read since I saw Ringworld referred to as such a year or two back. Probably the phrase has been around forever. Pushing Ice is an interesting story, but at halfway through the novel I'm ready for the object to be a little less dumb.

[David Coulson]

Finished The Sparrow for the Sword and Laser read. It was alright, but I liked the ideas presented more than the actual story itself if that makes any sense.

Started on a re-read of City of Stairs for Dragons and Jetpacks. I wasn't sure if I was going to enjoy reading it again so soon, but I find I'm really enjoying picking up on little details that have so much more meaning after you've read it once and know all the details of the story and the world.

[Whitney]

Slowly going through The Lies of Locke Lamora

[Whitney]

ladymurmur wrote: "Just finished Red-Headed Stepchild. Keidy-I really enjoyed it, and reccommend giving it a try. It is a bit lighter in feel than her newer series, leaning slightly more towards PR tha..."

Red-headed and the whole series has a romance back drop (as in yes she does have a love interest) but its not necessarily up front and center like in a PNR which is what I like.

[Tamahome]

Dragons and Jetpacks?

[Shad]

Finished The Sparrow and decided to check out the sequel Children of God. I would agree with David Coulson that the exploration of the ideas in the book was more interesting than the actual story, especially with some of the errors the author made with how characters behave.

[Robb]

After putting it off for a long while I have just started Gene Wolfe's Book of the New Sun tetralogy.

[Dharmakirti]

I'm still working on The Night Circus. I like the author's prose style, but I've been having a little difficulty getting into the story, it just isn't doing anything for me and I find myself wanting more.

Yesterday, I purchased the new issue of Grimdark magazine (http://grimdarkmagazine.com/) because it contained part 1 of a new R. Scott Bakker short story, The Knife of Many Hands. The story takes place in the same world as Bakker's fantasy novels, but it is set some time prior to the action of his first series, Prince of Nothing. According to the author, the story is an homage to Robert Howard. As he says on his blog, "I stuffed Robert Howard’s pulp into the crack-bowl of my brain as a youth – and I hope it shows!"

I plan on starting a couple novels in the next couple of days, The Sparrow and The Queen of Tearling.

[Carolina]

I will start Imagothis week, and hopefully I will get my copy of The Sparrow from the library this week.

[Dharmakirti]

Jenny (Reading Envy) wrote: "I started Dhalgren along with the same group I read Infinite Jest with. Crazy so far."

Dhalgren is pretty crazy, maybe not Gravity's Rainbow level crazy but close. I loved Dhalgren.

I hope you enjoy.

Edit: Is there any chance you can send a link to the book discusion? I would love to follow the discussion.

[Dharmakirti]

Tamahome wrote: "Just read the Persepolis autobiographical graphic novel about growing up in Iran. It's as heart-breaking as you think. B&N has it in the biography section.
"

I saw (and loved) the movie when it came out and have been meaning to read the graphic novel for some time but just haven't gotten around to it.

[Madelyn]

Not Sword or Laser, but Maplecroft is sstill a very cool book.

[Tokio]

Pillars of the Earth by Ken Follett
The Last Unicorn by Peter S. Beagle
Smoke and mirrors by Neil Gaiman
The audiobook of lord of the rings and whatever I feel like after that

[Ethan]

Finished and loved The Goblin Emperor as my first book of 2015. Started Annihilation in audio format for the gym, and just started Three Parts Dead. I'm loving it so far - I have a feeling it will end up a favorite if it sticks the landing.

[Dharmakirti]

Ethan wrote: "Finished and loved The Goblin Emperor as my first book of 2015. Started Annihilation in audio format for the gym, and just started Three Parts Dead. ..."

Three Parts Dead was so much fun. Tara Abernathy is such a great character.

[Jenny (Reading Envy)]

Dharmakirti wrote: "Jenny (Reading Envy) wrote: "I started Dhalgren along with the same group I read Infinite Jest with. Crazy so far."

Dhalgren is pretty crazy, maybe not Gravity's Rainbow level crazy b..."

It's a secret group in Facebook, but if you are interested and have Facebook, send me a PM.

[Dharmakirti]

Jenny (Reading Envy) wrote: "Dharmakirti wrote: "Jenny (Reading Envy) wrote: "I started Dhalgren along with the same group I read Infinite Jest with. Crazy so far."

Dhalgren is pretty crazy, maybe not Gravity's R..."

I no longer have a Facebook account.

[Ethan]

Dharmakirti wrote: "Ethan wrote: "Finished and loved The Goblin Emperor as my first book of 2015. Started Annihilation in audio format for the gym, and just started [book:Three Parts De..."

Agreed, I love her! The magic system is fresh and the world is fascinating as well.

[Ulmer Ian]

The Three-Body Problem

Just started reading this book. There's been so much hype about it - how it is like the the forward guard of Chinese SciFi into the Western world.

The quotes on the dust jacket are sort of funny, they obviously wanted to promote that it is a bestseller in China, but that meant they couldn't bury the fact that it is a translation. So half the quotes on the back are about what a great translation it is.

...and I love it so far! I'm so glad that it is living up to its reputation. So far it is actually a bit in the same genre as Robert Charles Wilson "world gets effed up" books like Spin and Chronoliths. And those are some of my favorite scifi books.

[David Coulson]

Tamahome wrote: "Dragons and Jetpacks?"

I Goodreads group I actually joined because someone on here mentioned it, it's like like Sword and Laser but every month members can nominate books to read next month and everyone can vote on which one to read. The group reads two books every month, a "Dragon" (Fantasy) and "Jetpack" (Sci Fi). Also they have a couple of cool read challenges going on this year.

[kvon]

I read The Last Policeman for my book club. I want to note to myself next Christmas don't read a hopeless pre-apocalyptic novel during a festive season (although the main character has a pleasantly strong moral fiber)

[ladymurmur]

Chakara wrote: Red-headed and the whole series has a romance back drop (as in yes she does have a love interest) but its not necessarily up front and center like in a PNR which is what I like.

I prefer romance in the background or as a story component, rather than the central plot. I guess I lean more towards the UF end of the spctrum than PR. :-)

[Whitney]

ladymurmur wrote: "Chakara wrote: Red-headed and the whole series has a romance back drop (as in yes she does have a love interest) but its not necessarily up front and center like in a PNR which is what I like.

I p..."

me too

[David]

I'm fairly new to sci-fi and fantasy. I'm currently reading Revelation Space by Alastair Reynolds and The Name of the Wind by Patrick Rothfuss. Greatly enjoying both. My first book of each author. Alastair Reynolds can really write. If Revelation Space is indicative of his other work I can see me reading everything he's done.

[AndrewP]

Tamahome wrote: "Dragons and Jetpacks?"

I took a look at this group and there is a lot of overlap with S&L so a lot of book picks are in both bookshelves.

[Tamahome]

Are the moderators named Tod and Venessa?

[John (Taloni)]

Dww108, Reynolds is heavily inspired by Larry Niven. I'm a fan of pretty much all of Niven's work, but if I were to pick one to suggest it would be Ringworld. World of Ptavvs for...some other ideas Reynolds is using, I don't want to spoil.

[Mysterio2]

I am slowly working my way back through Steven Erickson's Malazan series, and am now a bit into the third book, Memories of Ice.

This was prompted by my unsuccessful attempt at the final book in the series (The Crippled God) some time ago. It is such a dense, sprawling series, and I'd been away from it for so long at that time, that it didn't take long for me to realize I'd lost much of the plot and needed to start over again.

[Julie]

I'm currently reading Outlander by Diana Gabaldon, which was suggested by a different podcast. It's not bad, but I don't think I'm going to continue in the series unless it picks up a little.