Introductions! What are you reading?

[María]

Archasa wrote: "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..."

I devoured them a few months back. LOVED Way of Kings, liked Words of Radience a lot too!

[Garrett]

Hi, my name's Garrett, and I'm also a multi-book reader. Right now I'm working on the last book of Laurie R. King's Mary Russell series (Garment of Shadows, which I'm really hoping will turn out to be better than the previous book did), the graphic novel The Shadow Hero (about the golden age super hero The Green Turtle, the first asian-american super hero) and The Peloponnesian War by Donald Kagan (to scratch my ancient world history itch, although to be honest that one gets read less then whatever else I'm working on, since it's both long and only available in dead tree form, so often gets left home unless I know I'm going to have a lot of time to devote to it).

Other recent reads include all of A Song of Ice and Fire (I had been waiting until he finished writing it, but I caved because I was tired of getting accidentally spoiled for major events by people talking about it online), the first two books of Brandon Sanderson's Stormlight Archive (good, but VERY LONG, other authors would have made each of those books a trilogy) and Elizabeth Moon's collection of short fiction Deeds of Honor (very good, but go read her other fantasy work first).

[Katie]

Paulina wrote: 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."

I do this! Every time I finish a book, I get caught up on my podcasts. They build up while I jam on an audiobook, so it gives me a few days break to reset my head and let me decide what I want to read next.

[Megan]

So happy to see a couple of fellow librarians in this thread!

Regarding WoT, I finished Book 4 earlier this year but didn't pick it back up. One particular character was driving me up the wall, as well as the smoothing of the skirts, and I needed to take a break. I'll have to pick it back up again since it sounds like skimming through those parts is perfectly doable.

[Bluefrog]

Hey all! I am currently reading Halting States by Charles Dross. Love seeing what you are all reading.

[Ell]

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 ..."

Heh, I was planning on reading Wheel of Time this year too. I read half the first book like ten years ago, but I'm really into fantasy right now so I figured giving it another chance was long overdue.

[Terri]

Lucille wrote: "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 readi..."

Your conjugation is great! I hadn't heard of City of Stairs before. It sounds good.

[Heather]

Hi there :) I'm Heather (on mobile so please forgive any spelling errors). I'm honestly not the biggest participant in Goodreads groups, but I love to see everyone's thoughts on books and authors so I will try to be a bit more active!

I love almost all things science fiction and fantasy, particularly books with strong female leads (Harry Dresden is a big exception to the rule here).

I'm also a multi book reader. Currently I/I'm:
- finishing up "I, Robot" by Isaac Asimov -- (love it and can't believe I hadn't read it before now
- listening to "Time's Edge (The Chronos Files #2)" by Rysa Walker on Audible -- (a fun read for the drive to work and for on my runs)
- in the middle of "Maplecroft (The Borden Dispatches #1)" by Cherie Priest -- (verdict is still out, but so far I'm enjoying it)
- recently finished "The Rook (The Chequy Files #1)" by Daniel O'Malley -- (absolutely loved this one, it's kind of like reading a super organized X-men spy novel)

[Rowena]

Hi, everyone. Love the reading lists here. Some I already love, some I have yet to read, some are new books by old favorite authors.

I feel like I don't read nearly enough anymore and am read to remedy that.

Right now, I'm reading The 100, by Kass Morgan. Still to see if I liked it as much as I liked the upn show.

[Anne]

Hello!

I'm Anne, and I'm very excited about this book club thing! I'm a librarian, and one of the perks is that I can get digital copies of books that haven't been published yet, so one of the books I'm reading is Killers of the King: The Men Who Dared to Execute Charles I, which comes out later this month. If you have any interest in history and liked things like The Devil in the White City: Murder, Magic, and Madness at the Fair that Changed America you'll like this book!

I'm also reading I, Lucifer, which is something completely different, but is also pretty awesome!

[Anne]

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 read As You Wish last month, and loved it so much that I bought it for my mom for Christmas! My sister and I were practically raised on The Princess Bride! I was super pleased with the writing of that book and how happy they all were to work together. It was very refreshing to hear about. :P

[Luke]

Hi everyone! Im very excited about this book club! My name's Luke, I bet many of you have seen me around the comments section.

Right now I'm reading Star Wars: A New Dawn, which I'm loving a lot! I've adored Star Wars for as long as I can remember (as you might have guessed from my name!) but I've never really read the books before. This was a great place to start! It works really great as a book even if you've never seen anything else Star Wars-related, so it makes a great introduction, just as it was intended to be!

Also: there are lots of important female characters, and I just read a chapter that passed the Bechdel test, so that's very exciting!

[Luke]

Hi everyone! Im very excited about this book club! My name's Luke, I bet many of you have seen me around the comments section. Right now I'm reading Star Wars: A New Dawn, which I'm loving a lot! I've adored Star Wars for as long as I can remember (as you might have guessed from my name!) but I've never really read the books before. This was a great place to start! It works really great as a book even if you've never seen anything else Star Wars-related, so it makes a great introduction, just as it was intended to be! Also: there are lots of important female characters, and I just read a chapter that passed the Bechdel test, so that's very exciting!

[Luke]

Hi everyone! Im very excited about this book club! My name's Luke, I bet many of you have seen me around the comments section. Right now I'm reading Star Wars: A New Dawn, which I'm loving a lot! I've adored Star Wars for as long as I can remember (as you might have guessed from my name!) but I've never really read the books before. This was a great place to start! It works really great as a book even if you've never seen anything else Star Wars-related, so it makes a great introduction, just as it was intended to be! Also: there are lots of important female characters, and I just read a chapter that passed the Bechdel test, so that's very exciting!

[Hana]

Amy wrote: "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 yo..."

It does look totally wacky! But I swear, the characters pull you in! If you dig the creatures type books (goblins, vampires, werewolves) think you'll dig it!

And yeah- that's a big reason why we thought this would be a great idea. A really nice collection of shelves and sharing what we dig reading, a cool nerdgirl weeding out of good books!

[Effing]

I'm Effing, which is short for effingunicorns, which is who you might recognize me as on TMS if you pay reeeeeally close attention to the comments because I'm all about consistency in usernames. I'm currently reading What If?: Serious Scientific Answers to Absurd Hypothetical Questions to satisfy my love of learning and just finished reading Toothiana: Queen of the Tooth Fairy Armies to satisfy an urge to get more of the characters from that Rise of the Guardians movie from a couple years ago.

My reading tastes generally lean towards fantasy, monsters, and superheroes, with occasional detours into non-fiction as the urge strikes. I have a pretty sizable backlog to get through, but if this year is anything like the last few I'll probably just add more to it faster than I can read everything.

[Hana]

Emilie wrote: "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."

Oooooh! Mieville is one of my favorites! A friend gave me Perdido Street Station and that lead to me savoring a number of his books. Have you read his "kid" book- Un Lun Dun?

[Hana]

Katie wrote: "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 appa..."

I love those books (the E&E series!), and totally fell in love with the Parasol Protectorate. Which surprised me as steampunk is not my thing at all!

[Terri]

Darragh wrote: "Hello, I'm Darragh, I'm 23 and from Ireland. In the past few years I've really not been reading as much as I would like, mostly I just stick to comics. I have an awful habit of buying books and the..."

I love Hark A Vagrant.

[Karen]

Hi, I'm Karen, a Canadian living in Boston. I just finished reading "The Boston Girl" by Anita Diamant, and am now reading "The Goldfinch" by Donna Tartt. I'm a big fan of both authors.

[Jennifer]

Karen wrote: "I just finished reading "The Boston Girl" by Anita Diamant, and am now reading "The Goldfinch" by Donna Tartt. I'm a big fan of both authors."

The Goldfinch is one I have added to my somewhat massive list of books to get around to reading. The list keeps getting bigger and bigger no matter how much I read!

[Wendy]

Paulina wrote: "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 [book:Shades of Grey..."

Shades of Grey is a fantastic book, it's well worth hunting down.

I'm Wendy and I'm a one-at-a-time reader. I'm in NZ and I'm currently between books - started 'A Tiny Bit Marvellous' by Dawn French yesterday but really not feeling the self-absorption and dickishness of the characters. Might try it a bit later in the year...

Library trip today, so I'm arming myself with most of this thread. Can't wait to get started!

[Sarah]

I'm Sarah, and I'm currently reading Poison Study. I've recently finished Two Serpents Rise.

In relation to what else I've seen discussed here, I also like Brandon Sanderson - the Stormlight Archives is wonderful! All of Pratchett's Discworld is great. Jasper Fforde writes some very funny stuff - Shades of Grey: The Road to High Saffron is my favorite (just don't get it confused with those other, similarly titled books...). The Rook and Three Parts Dead are both wonderful and have some great heroines. I'm also very fond of Stiefvater's Raven Cycle.

[Nikki]

Hello all! I'm Nikki. I'm thrilled that this club was created and happy to be a part of it. I just started Tweak by Nic Sheff last night. My taste in books varies greatly, I just found and am trying to get through a list of 100 classics (I've read 15 out of 100 already). Though I love all books, I'd say I tend to go for older books. I can't wait to see what everyone's into!

[Jordan]

Hi everyone, Jordan here, aka Enferdame over on TMS. Currently near the very end of The Windup Girl... Which was not what I expected. I both like it, and dislike it? I'm not sure how I feel about it. The future stuff it presents is interesting and not inconceivable...but I was hoping it would feature the girl in question more, I guess.
I'm also listening to The Goldfinch audiobook, and I really like that as well. The narrator is really good, albeit a little smarmy... which kind of works. I'm just starting to get into audiobooks in general, I usually read faster than someone can speak it, but it does make commuting MUCH more pleasant.
Oh, also, I've got George R.R. Martin's Dreamsongs 2-Book Bundle: Dreamsongs Volumes I and II on audiobook, all bazillion hours, but since it's all short stories I'm listening to those in between other books. Excited about this group!

[Sara]

@Lucille: The Martian is excellent! You should go for that.

@Jordan: I had a similar impression of The Windup Girl. Great worldbuilding, half-baked character development.

Hi, everyone! Great to meet you all here. I hail from California (Bay Area) and have an ever-growing to-read list here on Goodreads. I'm currently on Cloud Atlas while I wait for my turn on the hold list of various other library books. If your library has an ebook hold list separate from its physical book list, you can really maximize your reach. ;-)

My all-time favorite is Pride & Prejudice, but most of my heart lies with sci-fi and fantasy. My other book club here doesn't focus on genre stuff, so I'm looking forward to an additional source of recommendations and group reads.

[Natalie Gray]

Hey everyone! My name is Natalie! I'm currently reading Volume 2 of Codename Sailor V and about to start All The Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr!

[Alison]

Hi everyone! I'm Alison, 26 years old and living and working in Glasgow. I usually have two books on the go at once, one for my commute to/from work and another to read in bed at night.

I've just finished Foxglove Summer by Ben Aaronovitch, fourth in his rivers of London series, and loved it! My commute read is The Hidden Relic by James Maxwell which I'm so so about but it's fairly easy reading and my bed time read is Magic Steps by Tamora Pierce - a reread of about the hundredth time! Oh! Also reading A World Of Ice And Fire because I'm a sucker for histories of fantasy worlds.

I almost exclusively read fantasy and sci-fi but quite willing to open up a bit

[A]

Hi, ya'll! I'm Amanda from California/Texas, though I live in Virginia (sorry, but I just can't bring myself to say I'm a Virginian just yet).

I'm currently reading The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes and Other Stories. I read an abridged children's version of The Hound of the Baskervilles when I was young and fell in love with Sherlock, so I've always wanted to get my hands on the real thing. I read pretty much anything I can get my hands on and there are oh so many books on my "to read" list...so I think this will help push me into spending less time hunting in Skyrim and more with a book in my hand :)

[Andrea]

Right now - when migraines aren't sidelining me (I need a brain transplant stat! Somebody get on that ...), I started reading the The Coldest Girl in Coldtown. Not a huge vmpire fan, but I'm liking this so far. Also, it's nice to read a book where a girl gets to be heroic and proactive.

[Kristina]

Hello everyone! My name is Kristina. I read quite a bit of science fiction and fantasy but not exclusively. Right now I'm reading Cibola Burns by James S.A. Corey and Mr. Fox by Helen Oyeyemi. I still have a ton of books to burn through my TBR pile. I read a few books at once, making time to read here and there. I am also big on audiobooks. I listen to them over the weekends when I make the drive to visit my grandparents and back.

It's great to see so many Agatha Christie fans out there (watching all of Poirot on Netlix right now)

It's great to meet everyone so far and I can't wait to start book clubbin'

[Cyn]

Hey there! I'm Cynthia. I'm juggling Dorothy Must Die by Danielle Paige and Captivated by You by Sylvia Day. I read mostly YA and romance, but I'm looking to get into more fantasy novels this year.

[alexys]

Hi, everyone! I'm Lexy, a recently graduated literature major. I'm excited for the opportunity to discuss books with like-minded folks! I'll pretty much read anything if it's (in my humble opinion) well-written, but right now I'm into fantasy. I'm currently reading The Amber Spyglass, the final book in Philip Pullman's His Dark Materials trilogy.

[Jill]

Hi, I'm Jill (Jill Baker Oliver on TMS), and I'm currently reading the Mageri series by Dannika Dark. I have about 3000 books on my kindle right now waiting, so I'm pretty sure I'll never catch up. My main genre I read is fantasy (urban/paranormal or high fantasy) followed by mysteries, but I'll read just about anything. I am particularly fond of the free and cheap books on Amazon.

[Ashwise]

Hi my name is Ash and I'm reading 11 books at once (I'm a voracious reader). Of the 11 I like "Bad Feminist" by Roxanne Gay. It's a really good commentary about race, class, gender, and sexual orientation mixed with pop culture. The best essay I've read is about the idea of Prince Charming and how the heroine has to give up something to be with him, along with fantastic commentary about 50 Shades and Twilight.

[Megan]

Kirstie wrote: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 :)

I really love Octavia Butler and Ursula Le Guin! I used to be a huge Tolkien fan when I was a kid, but I'm trying to branch out a lot more. I'll have to check out K-Pax!

[Grace]

Grace here! My current reading list consists of The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society by Mary Ann Shaffer, #GIRLBOSS by Sophia Amoruso, The Book of Strange New Things by Michel Faber, and The Farm by Tom Rob Smith. I love fiction and tend to stay away from non-fiction but I will still read it if it comes with a high recommendation!

[Erin]

Hi my name is Erin and I'm a web developer and all around nerd. My favorite genres are sci fi and fantasy but I need to branch out a bit.

I just finished reading Blackbirds by Chuck Wendig. He is absolutely AMAZING. I have since purchased all his other works. I just started reading The Atrocity Archives based on a friend's recommendation. I was saying that there needs to be a sci fi/fantasy story about a programmer.

I'm reading through all your current books and making a longer and longer to read list. Oh well, I have a goal to read 100 new books this year. I tend to re-read a lot of old books because I love the comfort and familiarity. But I need new blood too.

[Amarie]

Jessiqa wrote: "Nina wrote: "Jessiqa wrote: "Howdy, I'm Jessica. I'm a former librarian. Right now, I'm between books. I recently finished The Midas Flesh and about to start Anansi Boys."

Anansi Boys ..."

Neil Gaiman is the best, I don't think I ever come across a book from him that I did not love at first read.

[Lara]

Hi all! I'm Lara, 21 and from Sydney, Australia. I'm currently reading Marvel Comics: The Untold Story by Sean Howe which despite loving has sadly taken me well over a year because studying English Literature leaves very little time for personal reading. Hoping to finish it this month before uni resumes. I'm also reading The Fire Eaters by David Almond which is excellent and delightfully short in comparison to both Marvel and the Victorian classics I spent the last 5 months reading for uni!

Paulina wrote: "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 definitely like taking time to digest my books after reading, but I don't always have time. If I'm reading a series though, I'm usually too eager to find out what happens to my beloved characters.

Last year I discovered steampunk fiction which I love, so I'm hoping to explore that genre a little more this year.

Happy reading everyone!

[Jennifer]

Hey, I'm Jennifer and I am delving deep in to the comic book world right now. I am enjoying Oz and Captain Marvel, getting some background reading Rocket Raccoon and Groot, Guardians of the Galaxy, and I am following the new Captain America and Thor.

[Joanna]

Hi everyone, My name is Joanna. I am a junior at CSUSB and an English major (literature and linguistics). I am finishing up the memoir Angela's Ashes by Frank McCourt. I've been a huge fan of The Mary Sue and am looking forward to getting to know everyone and to what we all plan to read.

[Nikki]

Hi! I'm Nikki. I'm currently reading Yes Please by Amy Poehler. Im also working my way through the Miles Morales Spider- Man series.

[Erin]

Hello everyone, I'm Erin and I read a variety of genres but especially love science fiction/speculative fiction. I'm currently reading The Walking Dead compendium I got for Christmas, and just finished Jared Diamond's book Collapse: How Societies Choose to Fail or Succeed.

[Keana]

I'm Keana, and I am an avid book reader, even more so when I got my Kindle last year. Reading is my passion.

I'm currently reading A Clash of Kings by George R. R. Martin, A Way of Kings by Brandon Sanderson (he's becoming a favorite author of mine, btw), and I'm re-reading The Lies of Locke Lamora by Scott Lynch.

[Kit]

Hi, I'm Kit.

I just finished The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, and The Restaurant at the End of the Universe, and I'm currently working my way through Jared Diamond's Guns, Germs, and Steel.

I'm not sure what I'm going to pick up next, though I'm a huge fan of Ray Bradbury and Agatha Christie.

[Aimee]

Hello! I'm Aimee.

Back when I got my first library card (College Station, TX, 1967), my parents enforced a few rules, which I still follow: read widely (not all the same genre), and read a non-fiction book for every fiction book you read.

I manage to get through two books a week (more on vacations).

I'm reading almost exclusively on Kindle these days; I have Fuchs' corneal dystrophy, and I can set the Kindle app on my iPad to white text on a black background, which is SO much better for my eyes!

I just started The Paper Magician, by Charlie Holmberg; and A Little History of Science, by William Bynum.

[Karena]

I'm Karena and I'm reading a few books. I'm participating in a few challenges, namely Book Riot's Read Harder challenge in an effort to read more diversely in a number of ways. Right now I'm reading Gulp: Adventures on the Alimentary Canal, Kitty in the Underworld, and The Year of Reading Dangerously: How Fifty Great Books (and Two Not-So-Great Ones) Saved My Life.

[Jamie]

Hi, I'm Jamie! Right now I'm reading through Wheel of Time (Second book right now). I'm liking it so far, but I hear the series gets super slow later on.

I also only found out about this entire website when I heard about this group.

[Hayley]

Jamie wrote: "Hi, I'm Jamie! Right now I'm reading through Wheel of Time (Second book right now). I'm liking it so far, but I hear the series gets super slow later on.

I also only found out about this entire we..."

I just started reading Wheel of Time too! :)