What Else Are You Reading in 2021? Showing 2,101-2,150 of 2,230

[Jacqueline]

Finished Aurora Burning by Jay Kristoff and Amie Kaufman a couple of nights ago and started the last one in the series, Aurora’s End, last night. Half way through. Non stop action. 6 different POVs. It’s midnight so I probably should get some sleep. Don’t want to but it’s hard seeing the page. So very tired. Glad I waited until the last one came out before I read the second one. Pretty hectic cliffhanger.

[Leonie]

The cliffhanger was definitely pretty hectic! The final book is what I'd refer to as a wild ride! Have fun!

[Jacqueline]

A very wild ride Leonie. I'm about 2/3 of the way through now I think.

[Leonie]

Jacqueline wrote: "A very wild ride Leonie. I'm about 2/3 of the way through now I think."

A bit like living through 2017-2021 in Australia, actually...🤦🏽‍♀️😂

[Gabi]

I just read my worst book ever! Yeah! "Shadow over Mars" by Leigh Brackett. If I saw it correctly it was not only nominated for the retro Hugo but actually had won it. A complete mystery to me why.
The contrast was even more stark since right before that I read "Gather, Darkness" by Fritz Leiber, released 8 years earlier and light years away concerning quality writing. So old age is no excuse.

Whatever, this even made Robert Jordan's character writing look decent and I'm thinking about going on with the WoT books, after I've abandoned them with book 8 and just read the summary on some wiki page. I've fallen head over heels in love with the screen adaptation and I could imagine that I like the books better now that I have faces in mind while reading.

[Chris]

I finished The Subtle Knife a little while back. Certainly engaging, I'd say it really stops being subtle about the points it's trying to make by this part of the story. Still enjoying it overall, but putting off book 3 until I've gotten through the Piranesi group read and my copy of Empire in Black and Gold, which arrived at the library for me.

[Jacqueline]

Leonie wrote: "Jacqueline wrote: "A very wild ride Leonie. I'm about 2/3 of the way through now I think."

A bit like living through 2017-2021 in Australia, actually...🤦🏽‍♀️😂"

Yeah that's been a bit hectic too lol

[Tamara]

I looked through the Readers' Choice Awards books for the genres I've read in this year, but I felt like I couldn't say they were 'the best', because they're the only ones out of the options that I have read. So I don't actually know if they're 'better' than the others, although I enjoyed them. That's the other thing - whether a book is better or best, and whether or how much I liked it aren't necessarily the same thing. But I also agree that since only some books are chosen, you can't say that the one you liked out of those was the best of the whole year.

[Tamara]

On current reads, I'm enjoying the second book in Naomi Novik's Scholomance series, The Last Graduate. What I really like about this series so far is that in it, life is a hard slog, desperate and awful and beautiful, (the last especially unexpectedly and in the little things). Which is a great description of real life. The heroine is very honest, pragmatic, and reluctantly but inherently kind. I like it for its pluckiness, honesty, humour, and heart.

I'm also not minding The Way of Kings, like I was afraid I would - given the beginning, I thought it might be very violent, but so far, it's more interesting and thoughtful than that.

[Gabi]

@Tamara: yes the beginning of Way of Kings is tricky with 2 hours nearly non stop fighting/battle scenes. I feared I would lose my boys over that (I started reading it to them aloud), but soon they came onboard and now are loving it.

[Brick]

Finished Killing Floor and will be starting The Hero from Otherwhere.

Adding to The Way of Kings...I'm a fan of Brandon Sanderson's work, especially Skyward and Starsight and just bought the recent release Cytonic. I haven't read The Way of Kings yet, but it's on my list.

[Colin]

Just finished Velvet Was the Night by Silvia Moreno-Garcia. Not SFF, this is historical fiction and noir about an episode in the Dirty War in Mexico in the 1970's. Takes a little while to get into it but, once you do, the plot won't let you go. The characters are very noir, but written so you care about them (well, some of them). I recommend it, even if you don't usually read noir.

[CBRetriever]

Gabi wrote: "I just read my worst book ever! Yeah! "Shadow over Mars" by Leigh Brackett. If I saw it correctly it was not only nominated for the retro Hugo but actually had won it. A complete mystery to me why...."

That was her first novel and is bad.

She was also a screenwriter known for The Big Sleep (1946), Rio Bravo (1959), and The Long Goodbye (1973). She also worked on an early draft of The Empire Strikes Back (1980), elements of which remained in the film; she died before the film went into production. She was the first woman shortlisted for the Hugo Award.

Her Eric John Start books were fairly good space opera tales. The Long Tomorrow is pretty good for the times and is supposedly the first post nuclear holocaust book ever written.

[Dj]

Gabi wrote: "I just read my worst book ever! Yeah! "Shadow over Mars" by Leigh Brackett. If I saw it correctly it was not only nominated for the retro Hugo but actually had won it. A complete mystery to me why...."

Don't hold back, tell us how you really feel. LOL

[Mathew]

I've started The Moon Is a Harsh Mistress. It's great so far.

It's funny b/c I had read a light space opera book by Heinlein earlier this year - The Rolling Stones - and assumed that was his style of writing. Boy was I wrong.

[Jacqueline]

Finished Aurora’s End by Amie Kaufman and Jay Kristoff at 1.25 this morning. There was a massive storm and I couldn’t sleep anyway so I just read it until I finished it. Non stop action. Loved it.

[Reading]

I'm planning in reading The Exorcist soon.

[Faith]

My review of All of Us Villains by Amanda Foody

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

[Stephen]

Beeswing: Losing My Way and Finding My Voice 1967-1975. Fascinating memoir by the great British folk rock musician Richard Thompson, written with Scott Timberg who apparently was himself a respected writer.

[Ed]

Chris wrote: "I finished The Subtle Knife a little while back. Certainly engaging, I'd say it really stops being subtle ..."

I think book 3 gets even less subtle!

I just started the just-published Cyber Mage by Saad Hossain. I enjoyed a novella from him earlier this year so I'm eager to try this other book.

[Michelle]

I just finished my re-read of the outstanding Stormed Fortress. Terrific book!! Now I am about to read Sharpe's Assassin, which made its welcome and much-anticipated appearance on my kindle home screen. I've missed Richard and Patrick!

[Phrynne]

Ed wrote: "Chris wrote: "I finished The Subtle Knife a little while back. Certainly engaging, I'd say it really stops being subtle ..."

I think book 3 gets even less subtle!"

I rather enjoy his books but when he wants to make a point then subtle he is not!

[Leonie]

Tamara wrote: "I looked through the Readers' Choice Awards books for the genres I've read in this year, but I felt like I couldn't say they were 'the best', because they're the only ones out of the options that I..."

There were very few books I'd read in the nominations this year. Someone in another group commented that they were very US centric. Not sure if this is so, but it was an interesting comment.

[Jan]

Leonie wrote: "There were very few books I'd read in the nominations this year. "

Me too, Leonie. I didn't end up voting at all. I'd read and enjoyed Project Hail Mary, but didn't love it enough to want to vote for it as 'best' SF read of the year. *shrugs*

[Tamara]

Jan wrote: "Me too, Leonie. I didn't end up voting at all. I'd read and enjoyed Project Hail Mary, but didn't love it enough t..."

Me too also, about this book.

[Mary]

The seeded books have always seemed like an arranged list of winners. And I'm from the US.

[Rachel]

Yes and now we can’t even write in actually good books. It’s just a publicity stunt to sell more books for the holidays since Amazon owns GRs. Folks that don’t even read SF or F just vote for the only name they recognize

[Jan]

Yeah I wish people wouldn't vote for books they haven't actually read but think they *might* like. Seems to defeat the purpose (or the purported purpose LOL). Now say 'purported purpose' 5 times quickly.

[Michelle]

I only voted for one book since I read it. Didn't vote for any others.

[Stephen]

Long drive tomorrow. I got an mp3 cd of Tunnel in the Sky from the library.

[Gabi]

Since I seem to be as stubborn as Nynaeve I suffered through books 9 and 10 of the Wheel of Time. I thought 9 would hit rock bottom regarding boredom, but then came 10 ...
The next one better be the promised improvement.

[Phrynne]

Gabi wrote: "Since I seem to be as stubborn as Nynaeve I suffered through books 9 and 10 of the Wheel of Time. I thought 9 would hit rock bottom regarding boredom, but then came 10 ...
The next one better be th..."

It seriously does get better Gabi. Hang in there. And it is great to be able to say you have read them all!!!
I thought book 10 was the weakest link. By book 12 I started giving them 5 stars.

[The Joy of Erudition]

Seriously, if I read that series, I'm just going to go with summaries for any of the famous "slump" books that I start reading and look like they really are that dull.

[CBRetriever]

I read all of them in The Complete Wheel of Time. It's currently $163.85 but it was on a short time deal once for $44.95. For 15 books (it includes the prequel), it wasn't a bad deal.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00...

ETA: it was a bit of a slog, but not as bad as The Sword of Truth series by Terry Goodkind

[Michelle]

The Sword of Truth series was good at first but went south very quickly! I read the Wheel of Time series as each book was published. I enjoyed it alot. I will say that I skimmed through dress descriptions, etc, but it was a good story.

[Gabi]

@Phrynne: I'm hoping, hoping, hoping! I think I'm already happy if he would stop writing Nynaeve as the idiotic teenage girl without any emotional development.

@The Joy of Erudition: this is the wisest of ideas. I was actually doing this when I gave up reading the series in the first run, but then when the screen adaptation started I just was too curious to read Nynaeve and Lan scenes (which are rare anyway)

[Dj]

Jan wrote: "Yeah I wish people wouldn't vote for books they haven't actually read but think they *might* like. Seems to defeat the purpose (or the purported purpose LOL). Now say 'purported purpose' 5 times qu..."

Thanks for that last.

[Jan]

Dj wrote: "Thanks for that last."

;)

[Marc]

since I haven't read any of those books, I won't be voting. I do have Andy Weir's new book, it's on my to-read, but I won't be attacking it till at earliest, April 2022, that's my drop-dead date of reading hugo award winners, and it as far as I know, didn't even get nominated.

I just finished Connie Willis's To Say Nothing But The Dog, an enjoyable book, not too earth-shattering, but an entertaining read!

Now, on to Philip Jose Farmer's lone hugo win, reading River World, which for book one, has his winning 'To Your Scattered Bodies Go'. I'll read the full thing even though the 2nd half didn't win ("The fabulous Riverboat").

[Phrynne]

I like the way this series crosses over with characters from the Parasol Protectorate

My review of Romancing the Inventor by Gail Carriger

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

[Florian]

Jan wrote: "Yeah I wish people wouldn't vote for books they haven't actually read but think they *might* like. Seems to defeat the purpose (or the purported purpose LOL). Now say 'purported purpose' 5 times qu..."

Yeah, that´s true. I also only voted on one category.

[Chris]

I need to get back into Gail Carriger's other work at some point. I've only read Parasol Protectorate, and I really enjoyed that one, and what she did with the genre. I find most of the werewolf/vampire stuff pretty intolerable, but that series was a fun read all the way through.

[Bonnie]

Michelle wrote: "I only voted for one book since I read it. Didn't vote for any others."

Same here. Plus a couple more I had read but they weren't good enough for a "Best" bite.
It's GR Choice "Best Books of the Year," not "Books I would like to read."

Must I read all these comments and believe them and not believe that those are are people's best books of the year?

[Mary]

These are explicitly described as "decided by readers." Therefore it SHOULD mean "books that readers like."

[Chisom]

Seeing how books get nominated without being published for up to a month, their definition of "readers" must be very different from the standard version.

[Chisom]

Currently reading The Storied Life of A.J. Fikry

Enjoying the story and its characters.

[Jamie]

I finally finished the story collection Unnatural Creatures, edited by Neil Gaiman. I especially loved the story about the deadly alien/monster spot, one of the more unusual creatures I've come across so far.

I also finished the audiobook of A History of the World in 10 1/2 Chapters, by Julian Barnes. While not entirely SFF, it has chapters that edge into these genres a little. The chapter set in the Afterlife really reminded me of the 'Heaven' that Missy creates when gathering dead humans for her cyberarmy, in the Doctor Who show.

[DivaDiane]

I’m reading, listening to actually, Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe, which is just lovely. I bought it on a whim in an Audible sale several years ago, probably because my own son’s name is Dante and he’ll soon be the same age as the protagonists. The YA/NA group chose it for November or December and I’m finally getting to it.

Also eye-reading The House on Mango Street, which I’m enjoying too.

[Beth]

Ever-so-slightly late to The Long-Expected Party, I've finished listening to The Fellowship of the Ring (narr. Rob Inglis). This was a lovely production and I recommend it if you don't mind a number of indications that it was recorded quite some time ago.

The book itself I've had a tricky relationship with. My. WORD. is it slow out the starting gate, which previously to now has made for many DNFs over the years. In any case, I'll burble about all that in a review later on. :D (review)

Next up in audio is my second listen-through (and 3rd reading) of Hogfather, narrated by Nigel Planer. This seems to have fallen out of license on audible U.S., which makes me happy I managed to pick it up when I did.

[Anna]

[Insert obligatory Rob Inglis sings hey Tom Bombadil while I puke for days anecdote here]

I listened to a bit of the Andy Serkis narration of Hobbit or LOTR (don't remember which although yes I can tell them apart lol) and I didn't dislike it or like it, it just didn't feel like something I wanted to listen to at the time. I will probably eventually try again, just to see what they're like. At the very least I want to get to Gollum :)