What are you currently reading?

[Helen, I·ᴍ ɪɴ ᴛʜᴇ ʟɪʙʀᴀʀʏ]

Let us know what book you are currently travelling. Feel free to try and tempt us.

[Joseph]

Fair winds and following seas are carrying me through C.S. Forester's Horatio Hornblower books -- I'm currently in the fourth (Hornblower During the Crisis), which I'll finish in the next day or two (it's a fragment left unfinished at Forester's death, so only about 100 pages long, including notes about how the story would have continued on).

[Helen, I·ᴍ ɪɴ ᴛʜᴇ ʟɪʙʀᴀʀʏ]

What are they like?

[Joseph]

They're pretty great -- very solid naval adventure, written mostly during the 30s, 40s & 50s. I read the entire series (11-ish books) repeatedly when I was young, but this is my first time going back to them since maybe 1990.

I find that in a lot of ways, historical fiction can scratch for me the same itches as fantasy.

[Helen, I·ᴍ ɪɴ ᴛʜᴇ ʟɪʙʀᴀʀʏ]

Scary going back to old books. Some I find too dated and don’t enjoy them anymore.

[Joseph]

Yeah, that's always a concern, but at least in this case I've been lucky so far.

[Helen, I·ᴍ ɪɴ ᴛʜᴇ ʟɪʙʀᴀʀʏ]

I started The Ninth Rain, I’m really enjoying it. There are some great characters and interesting world building going on.

[Elise]

I finished Dune. It was pretty good, if a little hard to follow at times. Really liked Paul as a character. Looking forward to the movie.

Now I've started The Girl and the Mountain.

[Aaron]

Just finished Project Hail Mary - Highly recommend, instant favorite for me.

Next im onto book 5 of Shadows of the Apt The Scarab Path

[Janette]

Joseph wrote: "They're pretty great -- very solid naval adventure, written mostly during the 30s, 40s & 50s. I read the entire series (11-ish books) repeatedly when I was young, but this is my first time going ba..."

Have you read The Bone Ships trilogy? It was partly inspired by Hornblower I think. It's a great series.

[Janette]

I have just finished The Wisdom of Crowds which is the final part of the Age of Madness trilogy. Epic story telling!

[Joseph]

Janette wrote: "Have you read The Bone Ships trilogy? It was partly inspired by Hornblower I think. It's a great series."

Not yet, but it's definitely on my list!

[Helen, I·ᴍ ɪɴ ᴛʜᴇ ʟɪʙʀᴀʀʏ]

The poll is open.

[Elise]

I started Shadow and Bone last night for bedtime reading.

[Joseph]

And I've been burning through those Hornblower books -- just about to start Lord Hornblower, the penultimate book in the series. (Well, I guess penpenultimate -- there's also a collection of some short stories that I've never read before which will round things out.)

[Marcelo]

Just started The Eye of the World. It is my first time reading The Wheel of Time. I am more of a Sword and Sorcery reader and I don´t know what to expect from this series.

[Helen, I·ᴍ ɪɴ ᴛʜᴇ ʟɪʙʀᴀʀʏ]

Well, Marcelo, I enjoyed it but it certainly has faults.

The Exiled Fleet I’m reading this.

[Joseph]

Finished Hornblower and am revisiting my all-time favorite fictional world, Tekumel, with The Man of Gold by M.A.R. Barker.

[Helen, I·ᴍ ɪɴ ᴛʜᴇ ʟɪʙʀᴀʀʏ]

Enjoy.

[Joseph]

Finished Flamesong (sequel to The Man of Gold) and started Foundation since the TV series drops ... is it Friday?

(I'm just going to read the original Foundation trilogy, though -- none of the prequels or sequels or the other Asimov books that got retconned into the series.)

[Helen, I·ᴍ ɪɴ ᴛʜᴇ ʟɪʙʀᴀʀʏ]

You’re flying through books!

[Joseph]

Yes! Although it's partially an artifact of reading a bunch of relatively short, fast-moving things, and also spending the weekend up at my parents' with nothing to do but read (or do sudoku on my phone).

[Helen, I·ᴍ ɪɴ ᴛʜᴇ ʟɪʙʀᴀʀʏ]

I’m working too much overtime this month to read much. I have a dentist bill after chipping a tooth. So annoyed that we’ve ‘run out’ of NHS dentists!

[Aaron]

Just finished The Scarab Path and it was the best of the series so far. It's the start of the next arc and i think it benefits from having a tighter focus, mainly on 4 character pov's. Also getting more info into the magical side of the world was great.

Can't read book 6 until my brother catches up so gonna start rereading the expanse before the final one of that comes out later this year.

[Helen, I·ᴍ ɪɴ ᴛʜᴇ ʟɪʙʀᴀʀʏ]

I can’t read Tchaikovsky, he enjoys bugs too much.

[Elise]

I finished The Girl and the Mountain. Can't say as I understood everything that was going on, but I still enjoyed it, and then was slapped in the face with another cliffhanger.

I've now started The Wisdom of Crowds. So excited for it. :D

[Mary]

Gateway to Fiction by C. Chancy

[Aaron]

Helen wrote: "I can’t read Tchaikovsky, he enjoys bugs too much."

lol he really does. I've only read SotA and one of the children of time books but im starting to think all of his work involves bugs haha

[Mary]

Witch Hat Atelier, Vol. 8 by Kamome Shirahama

[Helen, I·ᴍ ɪɴ ᴛʜᴇ ʟɪʙʀᴀʀʏ]

Aaron wrote: "Helen wrote: "I can’t read Tchaikovsky, he enjoys bugs too much."

lol he really does. I've only read SotA and one of the children of time books but im starting to think all of his work involves bu..."

My library just bought all his back catalogue. Not borrowing a single one! Nuh-huh

[Elise]

What I finished in September.

Dune ★★★★
The Winter of the Witch ★★★★★
The Girl and the Mountain ★★★★

[Joseph]

Decided to revisit Ellen Kushner's wonderful Swordspoint.

[Helen, I·ᴍ ɪɴ ᴛʜᴇ ʟɪʙʀᴀʀʏ]

Lovely choices Elise.

[Mary]

Hardtack and Coffee or, The Unwritten Story of Army Life by John Davis Billings

[Mary]

Full Steam Ahead: How the Railways Made Britain by Peter Ginn and Ruth Goodman

[Elise]

Just finished The Empire's Ruin. There was one POV I definitely preferred over the others, and I didn't see how they were all connected. Like three stories in one. So I guess I could say I enjoyed a third of the book. It was quite dark too.

Now I'm in the mood for a haunted house story, so I'm starting Haunted.

[Helen, I·ᴍ ɪɴ ᴛʜᴇ ʟɪʙʀᴀʀʏ]

POV books are funny. Sometimes I really resent the change and then find myself every bit as invested in the new person as the old and resent leaving them. Other times there’ll be a character that I just can’t take to.

[Helen, I·ᴍ ɪɴ ᴛʜᴇ ʟɪʙʀᴀʀʏ]

My September Reads:
The Ninth Rain ****
No One Home ****
The Exiled Fleet ****
Exit Strategy ****
Network Effect ****
Victories Greater Than Death ***
Ryan's Christmas ****

I was more in genre!

[Mary]

Mistress of the Waves by George Phillies

[Elise]

I finished Shadow and Bone last night. I really liked it. Going to start book two soon.

[Tnkw01]

I finished Johannes Cabal the Necromancer, it was funny and I enjoyed it. Now I on to The Sandman. It's like an old fashioned radio show with sound effects and multiple characters.

[Joseph]

I've moved on to Tremontaine: The Complete Season One, so still in Ellen Kushner's Riverside, but this is a prequel that was originally serialized on Serial Box (or whatever they're calling themselves these days).

[Marcelo]

Finished Song of Susannah and Darth Plagueis.

Now I'm back to finish The Book of Swords.

I was expecting more of these short stories.

[Tnkw01]

I finished The Sandman it was pretty good. I gave it a 4 star. I can honestly say that it was a lot like the old fashioned radio dramas before there was tv. Lots of sound effects and multiple characters. Great stuff. Now I reading The Broken Sword by Poul Anderson. So far it is fantastic.

[Chris]

I'm currently reading Taltos, in an effort to read the Vlad Taltos series in chronological order.

Working on We Men of Ash and Shadow in audiobook as well.

And the ebook of Spirits of Vengeance

I have several unfinished/paused books as well but won't go into them for fear of reawakening my reading slump...

[Mary]

The Werewolf of Whitechapel by Suzannah Rowntree

[Dhanusha]

Haven't read anything for the past couple of months as work's been hectic. Hoping to dive back into reading now, just picked up Sheepfarmer's Daughter

[Helen, I·ᴍ ɪɴ ᴛʜᴇ ʟɪʙʀᴀʀʏ]

I’m reading Empire of the Vampire

[Elise]

FinishedThe Wisdom of Crowds last night. It was really excellent, but the series now feels incomplete. Now I’ve started a mystery: Arsenic and Adobo. And also Siege and Storm. Both good reads for fall.

[Marc]

I discovered books 3-12 of a series called 'Familiar Kitten Mysteries' at a local thrift store, and read book 3, Sympathetic Magic. I was expecting something YA, with kittens involved, but they were short adult mysteries with a good bit of witchcraft, probably self-published. There were some issues with punctuation, but I didn't get booted out of the story by spelling and the logic is pretty good. Looking forward to the next.