What are you reading in April 2021?

[Kathi, Moderator & Book Lover]

Let us know what books are on your TBR pile or in your hands for this month, and what did you think about them? All genres welcome in this topic!

[Random]

Have been released early from work for a long holiday weekend. Yay.

I have been sitting on the Murderbot series since i read All Systems Red 4 years ago back when I was recovering from breaking my left ankle. We were on vacation on the Olympic Peninsula along the Pacific coast. I was 5 days out of the cast, in an ankle brace, and walking with a cane. So instead of spending my days walking the beach listening to an audiobook, I sat outside our rooms reading.

Loved the story, enjoyed it a lot, got the followup stories as they went on sale ($12 for a novel is a bit steep, let alone a novella), and never got around to reading a single one of them.

Fast forward to a few days ago. Like last summer, a week at the beach doesn't look to be in the cards this year. But I got an email from Goodreads saying a new one is coming out this month and Lindsey mentioned Network Effect in last month's thread, and it finally clicked. Now is the time to return to Murderbot now that most of my activity involves me sitting around watching my rear end spread.

Reread All Systems Red and finished Artificial Condition on the first day.
I should finish Rogue Protocol today and then will start Exit Strategy.

I also realized that *gasp* I don't have Network Effect, didn't even realize it existed. And there are also a couple short stories I want to see if I can get my hands on, along with Fugitive Telemetry which is coming out soon.

I love Murderbot, and they are an excellent companion for healing bones and muscles. :D

[Shel, Moderator]

One of these days I really need to give Murderbot a try!

Right now I'm just at the start of A Desolation Called Peace, and am excited to come back to hang out with Mahit Dzmare and Three Seagrass again after loving A Memory Called Empire. I'm also in the middle of The Mark of Athena with my fourth grader.

[Kathi, Moderator & Book Lover]

Tonight or this weekend I will be starting The Broken Eye by Brent Weeks, book 3 in his Lightbringer series, which I’m reading for a different group.

Random, I have also been “collecting” (but not reading) the Murderbot books after reading and enjoying the first one. I have through Network Effect and will likely pick up the newest one. But I am determined to not read them till I know she has finished the series.

[Lindsey]

I'm glad I could encourage you to remember Murderbot, Random! Sadly, my library hold of Network Effect ended before I finished, so now I'm 52% done and have to wait until my next hold comes in. In the mean time, I've started A Dance with Fate. I'm carrying over into April with The Queen's Weapons and Rhythm of War. I'm also out of genre with Things in Jars for one of my book clubs.

[Mary]

Hand of Mars by Glynn Stewart

[Mary]

Paganism in the Roman Empire by Ramsay MacMullen

[Christine]

I finished The Year of the Witching yesterday and moved on to The Hod King

[Random]

I'm all out of Murderbot. :(
*sniff*

Haven't figured out what I'm going to hit next.

[Shel, Moderator]

I just finished A Desolation Called Peace and ooh it was just as good as the first book! All the culture clash and politicking of A Memory Called Empire plus a first contact with some super creepy aliens.

Next up will be The City of Brass, which I have to go pick up from the library later today, followed by The Once and Future Witches by Alix E. Harrow, which is the current read for another group I'm in. I'm really looking forward to both! And somewhere in there I'm hoping to reread Dawn for the group series read.

[Mary]

Aru Shah and the City of Gold by Roshani Chokshi

[Rose]

At present, I'm 1/3 through The Glass Hotel. I had to stop at that point until my group "meets" online to discuss that portion and then complete the book for another on-line meeting at the end of the month.

I AM engaged in some of the characters enough to wonder "what happens next?"

[Mary]

Voice of Mars by Glynn Stewart

[Lindsey]

Random wrote: "And there are also a couple short stories I want to see if I can get my hands on, along with Fugitive Telemetry which is coming out soon."

I just realized these short stories existed! In case you hadn't seen, you can get the first one online at Wired and the second goes on sale as an ebook next week. (I have already preordered it... $0.99 for a Murderbot short story from Mensah's perspective seems like a good deal!)

I had a bunch of library holds come in at once (thank goodness for Overdrive's "deliver later" feature). I did finish Network Effect (Murderbot translates well to full novel length) and A Dance with Fate (fantastic) but couldn't put off the out-of-genre An Unexpected Peril, so I started that this week.

[Mary]

The Domestic Revolution by Ruth Goodman

[Kathi, Moderator & Book Lover]

The Broken Eye by Brent Weeks was excellent, 9/10. The Lightbringer series is getting better with each book, IMO.

Predator by Patricia Cornwell was OK, 7/10. Central mysteries and their resolution was interesting and a bit surprising, but too many of the continuing characters are getting to be just plain unlikable.

Now I’m starting the next book in the Xenogenesis trilogy for our SF series read.

[Shel, Moderator]

I had a whole bunch of library loans come in at the same time, so I've had to change my reading plans! I'm right now reading A Guide to the Birds of East Africa, which is very sweet so far, and next up will be The House in the Cerulean Sea which finally came in.

I was hoping to get to Xenogenesis but it doesn't seem to be in the cards this month if I want to read all these loans before they need to be back at the library.

[Leticia]

I read the Split Worlds series by Emma Newman and really liked!

I read a Butler collection Kindred / Fledgling / Collected Stories in March and liked it, but now I need a break from her books because they can be deeply unsettling and this is too much for me now with lockdown and homeschooling. I need something lighter right now.

[MadProfessah]

@kathi glad you’re enjoying the LIGHTBRINGER series. I agree it gets better with every book. I got book 5 on release day but haven’t started it yet because I’m savoring it!!

[Kathi, Moderator & Book Lover]

MadProfessah wrote: "@kathi glad you’re enjoying the LIGHTBRINGER series. I agree it gets better with every book. I got book 5 on release day but haven’t started it yet because I’m savoring it!!"

It is a group read, one book a month, in a different Goodreads group I help moderate. I’m glad it was chosen—I had never read anything by Brent Weeks before this series.

[Eva]

Yes, Lightbringer was one of my favorite series, as well, especially for how smart it is and all the plot twists and reveals, as well as the strong character growth and diverse cast (in every sense of the word, everyone is so unique). It's not flawless, but I was glued to the page all the way through. Some of the scariest villains I've ever read, too!

[Ken]

Finished Small Gods. Very good. I was disappointed with Moving Pictures but this was pretty good

Finally reading Stand on Zanzibar

[Kathi, Moderator & Book Lover]

Adulthood Rites by Octavia E. Butler was excellent, 9/10. Comments in our group discussion of the Xenogenesis series.

I’m reading yet another series on my own, the Saga of Pliocene Exile, and I finished book 2, The Golden Torc by Julian May, 8/10. I really needed a list of characters because I struggled to keep the plots and plotters straight. I especially like the overlay of Celtic mythology on this tale of time travel with alien and human exiles.

Next up is a stand-alone fantasy by Katherine Kurtz, St. Patrick's Gargoyle.

[Leticia]

I was reading The Well of Ascension and I really liked it. I plan to read the next book in the Mistborn series asap.

[MadProfessah]

I’m about 20% in reading “The Fires of Vengeance” that I finally found on Cloudlibrary.

[Shel, Moderator]

Spring break and lots of reading time! I finished A Guide to the Birds of East Africa, which was lovely and sweet, and followed it with two five-star reads in a row: The House in the Cerulean Sea and The Once and Future Witches. I was afraid any other SF/F would suffer by comparison if I read something else in the genre immediately following those two, so now I'm on to some nonfiction with The Evolution of Useful Things: How Everyday Artifacts-From Forks and Pins to Paper Clips and Zippers-Came to be as They are..

[Random]

Leticia wrote: "I was reading The Well of Ascension and I really liked it. I plan to read the next book in the Mistborn series asap."

Sanderson really won me over with the Mistborn series. What I enjoyed the most about that initial trilogy is that the books kept getting better. The Hero of Ages is my favorite. In fact, Sanderson is one of my few "buy whatever he publishes and read the description later" authors. As of yet, I have not been disappointed in anything of his I've read.

I am reading, just not books, or at least not the kind of books I normally track. A lot of technical stuff for work in prep for a new project that will be coming my way in the next couple months.

Fugitive Telemetry releases in 2 days and I've already pre ordered the ebook. I can't wait!

I feel bad that I am still sitting on Black Sun Rising. I was listening to it when I broke my ankle and I just have not been able to start it back up. Which is a pity given I am really close to the end.

I have been listening to a lot of podcasts though. About tea of all things. I'm becoming an addict. Oh wait, I was already an addict. I'm just finally admitting it. The down side to limited mobility and stimulus checks. I have been spending way too much time browsing the internet for more interesting teas to buy.

By this time next week I hope to be driving again. Wish me luck! :)

[Christine]

I've just finished Architects of Memory and although I enjoyed this book, I'm not sure I'll be reading the second book. I'm now about to start Last Song Before Night

[Shel, Moderator]

Christine, the author of Last Song Before Night is a dear friend of mine!

[Christine]

Shel wrote: "Christine, the author of Last Song Before Night is a dear friend of mine!"That's really cool-I've just started the book so can't yet comment on it