Introductions! What are you reading?

[Mallory]

Hello,

Since it seems like most of us are waiting for the Book Club to take off, this seems like a good time to start introductions. I hope it's okay for me to make this thread. My name is Mallory, and I'm currently halfway through Kameron Hurley's The Mirror Empire. I haven't quite made up my mind if I love it yet. The characters are well-made (and astonishingly diverse), the world interesting, but her style takes some getting used to. That, and that I haven't read epic fantasy in a while, is making it a challenging read. Mostly in a good way though.

[Andi]

An introduction thread sounds like a good idea to me! :D I'm Andrea and I'm reading a couple of books. The first is Barbie and Ruth, about Ruth Handler who invented Barbie. It's interesting but there's at least one factual error (a small one) so not sure about the veracity of it I guess.
I'm also finally reading Domes of Fire by David Eddings - I finished The Elenium trilogy maybe 8 years ago and decided it was time to get through the rest of his novels that were gathering dust on my shelves. Trying to wrap my head around the politics is a bit tricky but Eddings nack for banter is incredibly entertaining.

[Jennifer]

I'm Jen. I am currently reading White Oleander for hundredth time it seems. I have a list of books I want to read, and they're all sitting there on my kindle waiting to be read, but sometimes I crave something old and comfortable.

[Locuas]

I am currently reading "The Song of the Lioness" by Tamora Pierce. I consider myself a fan of mostly fantasy and crime novels but i also read some non-fiction books.
My favourite writer is Agatha Christie
I usually read at least one chapter per day but when i skip one day it usually takes me some time to get back to it.

If i watch a movie based on a book and i like it i usually pick the book, too.
If i do not like the movie, you can try to tell me how the book is better, but chances are i will not read it.

[Jennifer]

I love Agatha Christie as well!

[Andi]

Another Christie fan here :D

[ariane]

Hey All, I'm Ariane! I usually read one work of fiction and one of non-fiction simultaneously. My fiction read at the moment Driven to Ink by Karen E. Olson, a mystery about a tattoo shop owner who solves crimes in Las Vegas. If you like tough female leads and humor (and tattoos), you should check this book out. My current non-fiction pick is depressing, so I'll just skip it. Nice to meet ya'll!

[Megan]

Hi everyone, I'm Megan. I'm currently reading "As You Wish: Inconceivable Tales from the Making of The Princess Bride" by Cary Elwes and Joe Layden. The writing in it is actually very good; I found myself sitting at the edge of my seat while reading Elwes' casting interview, hoping he gets the job, even though I obviously knew he did!

I've only read "The Murder on the Orient Express" by Christie but would love to read another book by her. Any suggestions for the next book to pick up?

[Locuas]

Megan wrote: "Hi everyone, I'm Megan. I'm currently reading "As You Wish: Inconceivable Tales from the Making of The Princess Bride" by Cary Elwes and Joe Layden. The writing in it is actually very good; I found..."

Appointment with dead. it follow some stuff that happened in Orient express

[Kelly]

I'm Kelly, and I received a couple of books for Christmas that I am about to start reading: 'Secret History of Wonder Woman' by Rose Lepore, and Lauren Hillenbrand's 'Unbroken' (I loved her 'Seabiscuit' so I am excited about this one).

[Andi]

Megan wrote: "Hi everyone, I'm Megan. I'm currently reading "As You Wish: Inconceivable Tales from the Making of The Princess Bride" by Cary Elwes and Joe Layden. The writing in it is actually very good; I found..."

I'd also recommend The Murder of Roger Ackroyd (another Poirot but a bit different than her others), The Secret Adversary (a Tommy & Tuppence novel) or And Then There Were None. (Hopefully without overwhelming you!)

[Suzanne]

Hey all, I'm Suzanne. I just finished Assassin's Apprentice by Robin Hobb and it was AMAZING. It's so refreshing to read characters that are so real, the setting seems really well thought out even though it isn't showcased much yet.

I also just picked back up Kushiel's Dart by Jacqueline Carey (started a while back and never finished) and I'm feeling a little meh about it. It seems like it has a lot of potential, I really like the world setting and lore. But it gets pretty slow with a lot of excessive detail that doesn't seem related to much in the plot, with a lot of characters being gossiped about that I can't really keep track of. It might pull together once I know all the characters, but it feels a bit like homework at the moment.

[Amarie]

Hi! I'm Ayse and I'm reading A Dance with Dragons by George R. R. Martin. It's going pretty slow since I really do not want to finish it be left without any asioaf books.

Andi wrote: "An introduction thread sounds like a good idea to me! :D I'm Andrea and I'm reading a couple of books. The first is Barbie and Ruth, about Ruth Handler who invented Barbie. It's interesting but the..."

Oh I love David Eddings! Elenium was one of the first fantasy series I read after LOTR and I loved it. The humor was awesome I like to reread them again sometime.

Andi wrote: "Megan wrote: "Hi everyone, I'm Megan. I'm currently reading "As You Wish: Inconceivable Tales from the Making of The Princess Bride" by Cary Elwes and Joe Layden. The writing in it is actually very..."

I second all of these books but especially And Then There Were None. It is my favorite Agatha Christie book and she is one of my favorite writers!

[Christina]

Well, I'm in the middle of a bunch of books (I'm a multi-book reader, it's how I get stuff done).
Currently: The Name of the Blade Book 1 by Zoe Marriott
Neverhome by Laird Hunt and I'm about to start Let the Right One In by John Ajvide Lindqvist (yes, just now. I'm slow when it comes to picking up books everyone raves about)

[Andi]

Suzanne wrote: "Hey all, I'm Suzanne. I just finished Assassin's Apprentice by Robin Hobb and it was AMAZING. It's so refreshing to read characters that are so real, the setting seems r..."

I think I may finally get around to the Robin Hobb books I have after I finish The Tamuli. Been meaning to read Hobb's work for at least the past 10 years!

Amarie wrote: "Hi! I'm Ayse and I'm reading A Dance with Dragons by George R. R. Martin. It's going pretty slow since I really do not want to finish it be left without any asioaf books.

Andi wro..."


Yes! I remembered the humour was what I loved most about The Elenium & one stand alone novel I'd read, so I'm glad it still appeals to me (as my taste in humour has changed somehwat).

[Nic]

I just finished The Bees by Laline Paull (which is completely amazing and i want to recommend it to absolutely everyone I talk to), and The Memory Garden by Mary Rickert. I'm part way through Dorothy Must Die by Danielle Paige and about to start My Real Children by Jo Walton

[Megan]

Thanks for the recommendations all! Looks like I'll be heading to the FICTION Christie shelf in my library soon :)

[Hana]

I'm hana and I always read a couple books at once. I swear, it's a bit ridiculous. I even have audible for the car/bike ride to and from work. OOOOH. That can totally be a discussion- TMS style Audible favorites.

Anyhow, on audible I'm listening to Kate Locke's God Save The Queen. I really didn't think I'd be that into Kate Locke- I don't do that well with steampunk, but her writing just pulls you in! I'm also reading various Hellblazer volumes, and I'm trying to read The Love Affairs of Nathaniel P., by Adelle Waldman, which a friend gave to me and all the reviews make look kinda vile.

Though some topics are hard for me to get into (like straight up history) I can read and enjoy anything if it's well written (like James Michener books!).

[Amy]

I'm reading "American Elsewhere" by Robert Jackson Bennett (his more recent book "City of Stairs" is well regarded)

I'm loving AE, the writing is REALLY good, it has a cool female protagonist too

[Amy]

Hana wrote:Anyhow, on audible I'm listening to Kate Locke's God Save The Queen. I really didn't think I'd be that into Kate Locke- I don't do that well with steampunk, but her writing just pulls you in!

I've been wanting to read that one! although the cover is a bit "WHACKY MARKETING" (although a lot of covers are terrible)

looking at discussions (and the bookshelf) I'm a little surprised at the amount of books that are ones I've read or want to read

[Jo]

Hi I'm Jo. I'm a librarian and avid reader. I currently am reading Joe Abercrombie's Before They Are Hanged and I am looking forward to reading the Cary Elwes As You Wish book also- my parents got me a signed copy for Hanukkah. I am also listening to an audio book: Liar, Temptress, Soldier, Spy, about four women undercover in the civil war. VERY cool.

[Diego]

Hello, I'm Diego, and I'm currently reading Off to be the wizard, which is proving to be a slight but funny book. I've also just finished off The Goblin Emperor, which I really enjoyed.

Can't wait 'till we all choose a book and start discussing it!

[Kirstie]

Hi I'm Kirstie and I'm currently reading Ray Bradbury's Fahrenheit 451. I'm really enjoying it so far and love all the different ideas within it. This year I plan to get though more old school sci-fi.

[Shannon]

So far on this list I've seen Song of the Lioness, Agatha Christie, and Fahrenheit 451. Man am I in the right place. I'm a writer (you can find me on Goodreads if you're interested) and a huge myth/folk nerd. I'm currently reading Beowulf, The Canterbury Tales, and The Curse of the Raven Mocker. I love epic fantasy, urban fantasy, anything historical or alt history, and epics/sagas/myths/fairy tales/etc.

[Jess]

Hey everyone! I'm Jess, a college junior (on break right now) studying creative writing and literature. I'm currently working my way through two books--Rainbow Rowell's Landline and Shira Glassman's The Second Mango, both great reads with complex female characters.

[Megan]

Hello! I am also a Megan, and currently reading Brothers in Arms by Kareem Abdul-Jabbar. It's about the 761st Tank Battalion, which was a black tank battalion that fought in WWII when the army was segregated and treated black soldiers as second class. So far, it's really good!

I'm going to be graduating from university this year, so I'm going to start reading more fantasy and sci-fi, they're my favourite genres but I've read a lot of non-fiction the last few years for school and haven't had much time for reading whatever I wanted, except for comics. Excited to get started and I'll definitely be hitting this group up for suggestions :)

Also a big Christie fan! Especally for Miss Marple.

[Kirstie]

Jess wrote: "Hey everyone! I'm Jess, a college junior (on break right now) studying creative writing and literature. I'm currently working my way through two books--Rainbow Rowell's Landline and Shira Glassma..."

I read Landlines when it first came out and loved it. Have you read any of her other books? :)

[Kirstie]

Megan wrote: "Hello! I am also a Megan, and currently reading Brothers in Arms by Kareem Abdul-Jabbar. It's about the 761st Tank Battalion, which was a black tank battalion that fought in WWII when the army w..."

What kind of sci-fi do you like? I have just realised the depths of my love for sci-fi and horror and have been reading allot more lately. A great lesser known sci-fi ish book I would recommend is K-Pax :)

[[deleted user]]

Hi guys. Great taste in this group, I see. :) I'm Kiri, and I've been picking at The Annotated Turing for like a year. I've been listening to The Devil Wears Prada while I'm on the elliptical, and... I am not enjoying it. Very much looking forward to starting something else.

[María]

Hi everyone! First of all, thanks for the group, it's a great idea! I'm not very sure how groups work here (I usually use this only to keep a journal about which books i?ve rad and keep track of my to-read list, but I'll try to be an active member of the group.

So I'm María and I am a multi-book reader, despite all the good advice my litterature high-school teacher gave us against reading more than one book at a time :)
Currently actively reading "The bethroted", by Alessandro Manzoni (I know, not very the-mary-suey, but each summer I start a classic litterature book), "The Art of Asking", by Amanda Palmer and re-reading "Neverwhere", by Neil Gaiman (my go-to book when I'm feeling a bit blue). I'm also in the middle of "Winter's Tale", but kind of stuck there…

[Emma]

Hi I'm Emma from the UK. Another Agatha Christie fan!

I'm just about to start reading The London Scene - a series of essays by Virginia Woolf - which I've been looking forward to getting my hands on for a while.

I'm also currently reading The Casual Vacancy by JK Rowling.

[Charlie]

Hi guys :) My name is Charlie, I'm new to good reads and my book reading vies for my attention with comics and video games.
Currently reading 'I shall wear midnight' by Terry Pratchett featuring the amazing Tiffany Aching.
I also just bought the New 52 comic Swords and Sorcery Amethyst so I'm going to dig into that.
Can't wait to be able to discuss things with you guys :D

[MysteriousPanda]

Hi, I'm from Australia. I am about to read "Princesses Behaving Badly: Real Stories from History Without the Fairy-Tale Endings" by Linda Rodriguez McRobbie. I also have "The Great Zoo of China" by Matthew Reilly and few graphic novels/comics waiting for me to dive into them. :D

[Ell]

HellO! I'm Ell, and I'm from Sweden. I am doing my yearly reread of LotR (seriously, the few weeks between BotFA coming out and 2015 was just agony since I wasn't allowing myself to start reading them again). I finished Silmarillion yesterday and started Hobbit this morning. Feels so good to be home. :D

[Archasa]

Hi! Great idea with this club, might help me focus a bit more on books again (the internets and tv shows tend to eat up most of my free time).

Just recently started reading Conn Iggulden's War of the Roses series which starts with Stormbird (anyone read them - are they worth the effort?) and also Stephen Fry's second memoir The Fry Chronicles which covers his younger years and his early career in the 80s.

[Emilie]

Hi! My name is Emilie and I'm from Norway. Currently reading Catch-22 by Joseph Heller and The City & The City by China Miéville, as well as a slew of comic books.

[Sarah]

I'm Sarah - another inveterate multi-book reader, I just finished The Illustrated Man (which was amazing, why did it take me so long to get to it?) and am starting Ancillary Sword (I didn't love the first one but I am intrigued). Also Alif the Unseen and a Carl Hiaasen book. My new years resolution is to go to the library less and actually make a dent in my to-read shelf. I'm looking forward to people to discuss books with.

[Brit]

Good Morning! It seems that a lot of people on here are multi-book readers. Me too. :)
I just spent New Years Eve finishing the three I've been working on. New Year, new books! I've just started reading "The Fantastic Laboratory of Dr. Weigl" and re-reading "The Fifth Elephant".

[Lorrs]

nic wrote: "I just finished The Bees by Laline Paull (which is completely amazing and i want to recommend it to absolutely everyone I talk to), and The Memory Garden by Mary Rickert. I'm part way through Doro..."

I'm Lorraine - I got a book vouchers for Christmas and this is one of the books a picked up,[Bees]. It hadn't been on my radar before this but was in the "buy one get one half price" table. I also picked up Do No Harm - Henry Marsh and How to Build a Girl - Caitlin Moran.

I am currently reading Eleanor & Park- Rainbow Rowell, already halfways through it, since reading Fangirl been wanting to read more of her stuff, really like her characters. Also got lots of Image stuff in the Comixolgy sale; Alex + Ada, Revival, Morning Glories. So lots of reading to keep me going.

[Terri]

Hello! I'm Terri. Currently I'm reading The Drunken Botanist - a kind of encyclopedia of plants used to make alcohol. The writing is brisk and it moves quickly. I'm also reading Best American Essays 2014. I read every year's edition. They are great anthologies. Also reading a couple of children's books a week. I'm expecting my first child, Andy husband and I have started a children's book blog.

I also love Tamara Pierce and Agatha Christie - two writers who appear to be common threads on the thread.

[Hayley]

Hi everyone. My name's Hayley. I'm 27 yrs old. I live in Australia and I'm a post-grad Law student. My undergrad degree is in Media and Cultural Studies and Mass Communication.

I'm on Goodreads a LOT and I love connecting with people over books. (I'm also a Mary Sue reader :)). So feel free to add me! I love seeing what people are reading. I'm obsessed with it really. If someone is on my bus or train I need to peer over to see what they've got their nose in. The e-reader is my nemesis in this, as you can imagine.

If I'm ever reading two books at a time it is only if one is fiction and the other is non-fiction. That is all my brain can juggle.

So currently I have just started The Birth of Korean Cool by Euny Hong, as I'm heading to South Korea in a couple of weeks for some skiing and pop culture enjoyment.

I've also just started Robert Jordan's The Wheel of Time series with #1 The Eye of the World. I was hoping it would fill the A Song of Ice and Fire hole within me! Let's see how we go.

[Lucille]

Hi I'm Lucille, I'm actually finishing City of Stairs by Robert Jackson Bennett (was really good and I think the remaining pages may be filled with twists and surprises)
After that I plan on reading The Martian by Andy Weir or Three parts dead by Max Gladstone. Or Skin Deep by Brandon Sanderson. OR I'll first try to finish everything I started reading this year and never finished. That would be best but eh! I'll see.
I'm also french and very anxious about some grammar or conjugation mistakes I might have make (make? made ? ><) so I'm sorry about it, I'm trying to improve my english by reading a lot and practice as much as I can. ~

[María]

Hayley wrote: "Hi everyone. My name's Hayley. I'm 27 yrs old. I live in Australia and I'm a post-grad Law student. My undergrad degree is in Media and Cultural Studies and Mass Communication.

I'm on Goodreads a ..."

I thought I was the only one that tried to peek what people are reading on the train or metro. Happy to know I'm not so crazy :) And I'm 27 too, hehe ;)

Good luck with The Wheel of Time. It starts great and then… iiiitttt'sss soooo loooong and sloooowwwww and never finishes and so……

[Hayley]

María wrote: "Hayley wrote: "Hi everyone. My name's Hayley. I'm 27 yrs old. I live in Australia and I'm a post-grad Law student. My undergrad degree is in Media and Cultural Studies and Mass Communication.

I'm ..."

That's the main opinion I'm receiving on it. I won't torture myself. I'll just start with the strong end of the series and cut my losses accordingly...! :)

[Katie]

I'm Katie, and these days, I'm mostly an audiobook reader. I used to be a marathon book reader, but when I lost my train commute, I lost my alone time. The vision of me with a book in my hands apparently drives my family insane with the need to interrupt me.

I just finished Etiquette and Espionage #1, and it was darling. My next book (as soon as I catch up on podcasts) will be Decoding the Heavens. After that? Whatever the group comes up with!

[Paulina]

Hi all! I'm Paulina. Just finished The Big Over Easy by Jasper Fforde; it's a murder mystery set in an amazingly absurd universe. I loved it and really want to read Shades of Grey: The Road to High Saffron but haven't gotten my hands on a copy yet.

Does anyone else take breaks between books to "digest"? To kind of get yourself back to a fresh mindset before starting a new story? I plan to start on Gone Girl in a couple days and gods know what after.

Feel free to add me; I love to see what others are reading!

[Archasa]

María wrote: Good luck with The Wheel of Time. It starts great and then… iiiitttt'sss soooo loooong and sloooowwwww and never finishes and so……

Yes WoT demands a lot of patience (especially with incessant descriptions of dress details) which is unfortunate as the basic premise and the world building is so inspired. I lost patience after a while but my husband got through the lot of them and in his opinion they are worth it. It has a good payoff at the end, and the writer that picked up after Jordan's unfortunate demise did him proud.
I would recommend any reader of WoT to speed read through the annoying bits - it's not GRRM, you won't necessarily miss out on super important details.

[María]

Archasa wrote: "María wrote: Good luck with The Wheel of Time. It starts great and then… iiiitttt'sss soooo loooong and sloooowwwww and never finishes and so……

Yes WoT demands a lot of patience (especially with ..."

Yes, I only finished it because I'm a huge Sanderson fan and I had read that what he had done with the ending was good, so I wanted to read it. I speeded the middle, as you said, yes, the best thing to do.

[Archasa]

María wrote: "Archasa wrote: "María wrote: Good luck with The Wheel of Time. It starts great and then… iiiitttt'sss soooo loooong and sloooowwwww and never finishes and so……

Yes WoT demands a lot of patience (..."

Sanderson is the main reason I'm of half a mind to get back to WoT and finish it. I love his series The Stormlight Archive. Have you read Way of Kings nad Words of Radience yet?

[Hayley]

Thanks ever so for the input on WoT, peeps. Most insightful. :)