What else are you reading - December 2022

[Rob, Roberator]

Home stretch. What will you be reading to close out the year?

[Trike]

Trying to finish Fairy Tale, which had to go back to the library as I was dragging my feet on it.

Stayed up all night listening to Game Changer, which I enjoyed.

Looking forward to reading some books I bought, such as The Spare Man and Primitives.

Plus comics. Should be good for another dozen or so.

[John (Taloni)]

Trike wrote: "Stayed up all night listening to Game Changer, which I enjoyed."

Is that because you wanted to stay up to finish it or were you otherwise awake? Just thinking you might have joined the Insomnia Achievers. I found my insomnia annoying when it started, but a good five years later I just accept that I'm going to be awake 1-2 hours in the middle of the night and make sure I have something to read.

[Trike]

John (Taloni) wrote: "Trike wrote: "Stayed up all night listening to Game Changer, which I enjoyed."

Is that because you wanted to stay up to finish it or were you otherwise awake? Just thinking you mig..."

It was a stay-up-to-finish.

People kinda hate the fact that I don’t really suffer from insomnia. (By “people” I mean my wife. She envies the fact I can fall asleep in minutes. My arthritis only lets me sleep about 3 hours max, so I get in a lot of reading/watching TV when everyone else is asleep.)

[Chris K.]

I'm reading Night of the Living Trekkies.

[Ruth]

I’m re-reading an old favourite of my teenage gothic self: Interview with the Vampire by Anne Rice. Hoping the new tv adaptation makes it to UK streaming soon, in the meantime there’s always the 1994 film version starring Tom Cruise and Brad Pitt.

[Perry]

Finishing up The Wheel of Time series for the second time. I read it a long time ago and decided to read it again. I have enjoyed it as much as the first time.

[AndrewP]

Trike wrote: "Stayed up all night listening to Game Changer, which I enjoyed."

I have a 1000' spool of GameChanger cable sitting in my office, I tried putting my ear to the box but couldn't hear anything. Mine must be defective :)

[Pumpkinstew]

I'm working my way through Fire & Blood. Having actually quite enjoyed the Silmarillion I thought I'd be OK with another 'chronicle' type book. Finding it hard going though.
Mentally doing a find and replace of 'mayhaps' with 'perhaps' is helping but that's far from the only thing that's not working for me.

I have two seasonal books ready for when I'm done.
Wintersmith, on my list of Pratchetts that somehow I missed, and Midnight in Everwood. The second one is a bit of a departure from my usual but I understand it's Nutcracker related and we're doubling down on that this year due to my daughter being in a production at her dance class.

[terpkristin]

I'm still trying to finish The Jasmine Throne (I'm reading with my eyes but have been so exhausted each day lately. It's been a crazy Q4).

With my ears when I'm driving I've been listening to Seveneves, which I'm shocked that I'm enjoying (so far, anyway; plenty of time to be disappointed). At least part of it (the part I'm in) is ready by the wonderful Mary Robinette Kowal who has some funny pronunciations for Kourou and Ariane.

[Ruth]

Pumpkinstew wrote: "I'm working my way through Fire & Blood. Having actually quite enjoyed the Silmarillion I thought I'd be OK with another 'chronicle' type book. Finding it hard going though.
Mentall..."

I have Midnight in Everwood lined up to read this month too, it seems suitably festive!

[Stephen]

I am reading City of Songs the 3rd book in his Seven Swords novella series. Then the 4th in the series To Blackfyre Keep, $ 4.99 for the novellas which is nice. Then on to a series I have heard good things about by Mike Shackle which starts with We Are the Dead.

[John (john)]

I just started Station Eternity and am finding it quite entertaining.

[Jonathan]

I am reading Skin Game followed by Peace Talks.

[Joseph]

Things are getting weird: God Emperor of Dune.

[John (Taloni)]

That...is just the beginning of weird. Oh, the prequels. *shudder*

[Joseph]

Oh, believe me, my Dune journey will begin & end with books that have the words Frank Herbert on the spine this time around.

[John (Taloni)]

Finished up Stainless Steel Rat's Revenge, Book 2 of the series. Awesome, silly, SFnal adventure featuring "Slippery" Jim DiGriz as the larcenist turned secret agent. Many explosions, fun adventure throughout, and a surprisingly poignant take on the preciousness of human life in the middle. Written in 1970 so a bit dated but eh. Just be aware.

Now on hold at LAPL, Elric of Melnibone where I am #1 on the list with four copies; Larry Niven's "Red Tide" where I am #1 on 1; and Fritz Leiber's "Swords and Deviltry" where I am #2 on 2 copies. Yoo dee hoo, you can come in any time! But, I think I'll next go with "The Trouble with Tinsel" from the Xmas reads thread as it is available on KU for easy reading.

[Rick]

Read a short comic on the true origins of Santa, Klaus and am in the middle of Becky Chambers' A Prayer for the Crown-Shy which is very good if you like her stuff at all (it's book 2 in the series, don't start here).

[Ruth]

Dracula Daily has now finished so next up in read-a-classic-novel-in-real-time-via-emails is: Whale Weekly. That’s right, I’ve signed up to read Moby-Dick or, the Whale in weekly (ish) instalments in my inbox. Apparently it takes two years for the events of the novel to unfold so that’s how long it’s gonna take to read it. Having previously tried and failed to read it, I’m hoping this unorthodox reading method might just do the trick this time round.

Edited to add: just checked tumblr and yep, the whale memes have begun.

Edited again to add: the emails are labelled as being from “Ishmael”

[Tim]

I'm finishing up the Scholomance with The Golden Enclaves which just squeaked in ahead of the next in queue - finishing of the Grave of Empires with Three Axes to Fall

[John (Taloni)]

Ruth wrote: "Dracula Daily has now finished so next up in read-a-classic-novel-in-real-time-via-emails is: Whale Weekly. That’s right, I’ve signed up to read Moby-Dick or, the Whale in weekly (ish..."

That sounds awesome. I don't know if I could do two years. But I love the concept.

[Ruth]

John (Taloni) wrote: "Ruth wrote: "Dracula Daily has now finished so next up in read-a-classic-novel-in-real-time-via-emails is: Whale Weekly. That’s right, I’ve signed up to read Moby-Dick or, the Whale i..."

No idea if I and everyone else who’s signed up for the emails will be able to stick with it to the end, but I figured why not give it a try?

In the meantime, I’m Starting my festive read, the Nutcracker retelling Midnight in Everwood by Maria Kuzniar.

[Joseph]

Heretics of Dune time.

[Chris K.]

I on to the next Wild Cards book, Mississippi Roll.

[Misti]

I finally finished The Well of Ascension yesterday. Going to start The Spare Man soon.

[Tamahome]

I'm 63% into The Last Watch. It's like watching the Syfy channel. The science isn't really explained much. Things seem to be added just to look cool. That might take away from the "sense of wonder". There's plenty of Marvel-like humor. It's ballsy to have an "edge of the universe". Stuff is happening now.

End of reading blog. RLog?

[John]

Just read the first 2 Children of Time books, and about to read #3. Really good reads with some original ideas and light humour throughout.

[Ruth]

Well so much for a festive read. I gave up on Midnight in Everwood after about 50 pages because the writing style annoyed me. The author had swallowed a thesaurus and a guide to fashion and interior design of the 1900s and made it everyone else’s problem.

So instead I’m starting Wild and Wicked Things by Francesca May which is The Great Gatsby only with magic! and lesbians!

[Trike]

Ruth wrote: "The author had swallowed a thesaurus and a guide to fashion and interior design of the 1900s and made it everyone else’s problem."

😂

[Jonathan]

Finished up the Dresden files. They have become some of my favorite books! Just started reading The Lies of Locke Lamora

[Paul]

I'm reading Babel: An Arcane History with my eyes, and Nona the Ninth with my ears.
My listening experience with Nona is reminiscent of my first time listening to Harrow, in that it makes little sense, the main character and plot appear to have little or nothing to do with the previous book, and it's feeling a little bit like torture waiting agonizingly to find out how it all ties in together.
Harrow ended up totally redeeming itself in the end IMO, and when I re-listened to it, I enjoyed it even more because I was able to spot all the clever allusions in the first parts of the book. Still, I'd rather not spend 10+ hours of listening time annoyed and confused. At least (view spoiler)[ Camilla and Palamedes (sp?) are in this one though (hide spoiler)] which makes it a bit more bearable.

[Ibrahim]

I am 40% into the American gods audiobook and oh my god I just don't like it, it seems right up my wheelhouse (Gods and deities and magic) but I just don't get why I can't like it.

[Ruth]

Ibrahim wrote: "I am 40% into the American gods audiobook and oh my god I just don't like it, it seems right up my wheelhouse (Gods and deities and magic) but I just don't get why I can't like it."

Because it’s incredibly slow-moving and over-rated? 🤭

[Oaken]

Ruth wrote: "So instead I’m starting Wild and Wicked Things by Francesca May which is The Great Gatsby only with magic! and lesbians!"
Really? Because The Chosen and the Beautiful by Nghi Vo is also The Great Gatsby with magic! and a queer protagonist! Did The Great Gatsby recently come off copyright?

[Seth]

Oaken wrote: "Did The Great Gatsby recently come off copyright?

Yep.

https://www.npr.org/2021/01/02/952737...

[Ibrahim]

Ruth wrote: "Ibrahim wrote: "I am 40% into the American gods audiobook and oh my god I just don't like it, it seems right up my wheelhouse (Gods and deities and magic) but I just don't get why I can't like it."..."

Yes yes thank you, it's so slow and a lot of the scenes are just useless, why is he flexing his literary prowess? why is he describing dreams in ways that make them seem undescribable?........ I liked stardust better!!

[Tina]

Ibrahim wrote: "I am 40% into the American gods audiobook and oh my god I just don't like it, it seems right up my wheelhouse (Gods and deities and magic) but I just don't get why I can't like it."

I didn’t care for it and lemmed it.

But I too liked Stardust, and loved The Ocean at the End of the Lane

[Unabridged Bibliophile]

terpkristin wrote: "I'm still trying to finish The Jasmine Throne (I'm reading with my eyes but have been so exhausted each day lately. It's been a crazy Q4).

With my ears when I'm driving I've been l..."

Omg Seveneves is my favorite Sci-fi book of all time. I'm really curious to hear how you enjoyed it!

[Ruth]

Tina wrote: "Ibrahim wrote: "I am 40% into the American gods audiobook and oh my god I just don't like it, it seems right up my wheelhouse (Gods and deities and magic) but I just don't get why I can't like it."..."

Neil Gaiman is a bit of a hit-and-miss author for me. Loved Anansi Boys and Neverwhere, but found American Gods a real slog.

[Pumpkinstew]

Ruth wrote: "Well so much for a festive read. I gave up on Midnight in Everwood after about 50 pages because the writing style annoyed me. "

Sorry to hear that. I still plan on giving it a go after Wintersmith, which I'm enjoying. I mean it's not as good as Hogfather, but nothing's as good as Hogfather.

I dropped Fire&Blood at the point where it caught up to the finale of House of the Dragon. I wasn't intrigued by it enough to go on and read spoilers for the TV show. The show has proper characters instead of lots of names in a fairly bare chronical that is mostly a litany of misery with diversions into a medievel gossip column.
It's the first time I've ever abandoned a novel for being eclipsed by the adaptation.

[Tamahome]

26% into Assassin's Apprentice. Learned what a horse tack is. It's kind of slow, but the characters and magic system are good. 17 hours in audiobook time so not bad (page count is unreliable to find length). Even the ebook has the nice new images from the new hardcovers (unlike NOS4A2). Robin sure knows a lot of historical stuff. She may be reading this. It's different. I wonder what her goals were in writing it.

[Ruth]

Tamahome wrote: "26% into Assassin's Apprentice. Learned what a horse tack is. It's kind of slow, but the characters and magic system are good. 17 hours in audiobook time so not bad (page count is unre..."

I’m also (re) reading Assassin’s Apprentice, nearly finished in fact. Hobb definitely favours character and world building over action (although there is action, it just takes time to arrive) and I’m here for it - the Realm of the Elderlings is my favourite fantasy series.

[Trike]

Legends & Lattes came in this morning, so I started it. The audiobook came off hold first and I was a little concerned at first because it’s read by the author, but his performance is SPECTACULAR. Already 42% done. Will finish before work tonight.

[Tim]

Ruth wrote: "I’m here for it - the Realm of the Elderlings is my favourite fantasy series"
Agreed. She really nailed the landing on the whole series too. Such a satisfying conclusion.

[Rob, Roberator]

Trike wrote: "Legends & Lattes came in this morning, so I started it. The audiobook came off hold first and I was a little concerned at first because it’s read by the author, but his performance ..."

Travis Baldtree does audio books for other authors. I was kind of surprised when I saw he had a book coming out because I just thought he was a narrator.

[Trike]

Rob wrote: "Travis Baldtree does audio books for other authors. I was kind of surprised when I saw he had a book coming out because I just thought he was a narrator"

Apparently he was paying attention to what works and what doesn’t, because Legends & Lattes is an effortless 5-star read.

[Robert]

Trike wrote: "Apparently he was paying attention to what works and what doesn’t, because Legends & Lattes is an effortless 5-star read."

A cute, pleasant read indeed. I'm passing this one on at Christmas this year, hope it makes the rounds.

[Silvana]

Starting Nettle & Bone - hoping this to be a cozy enough book for Christmas.

[Calvey]

Based on the effortless 5-star read, I have just got the book Legends & Lattes at Amazon. (my library had no ebook and I'm far far away for the holidays).