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What Else Are You Reading?
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What Else Are You Reading - April 2015
I have The Skull Throne for now and The Grace of Kings preordered on audible. After that, who knows?Half the World is a great read BTW. If you have read JA's other works, esp. Best Served Cold, you will see him taking themes he has covered before and look at them from a different angle with different results.
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I am a little bit into Joe Abercrombie's The Heroes. I really like the tie into the first law trilogy but also the nods to the events in Best Served Cold.I also have a lot of non-fiction on deck, Dead Wake: The Last Crossing of the Lusitania is probably next. I just really enjoy Erik Larson's writing.
I thought Half a King was alright, but I really loved Half the World.
Still making my way through the Tawny Man trilogy. Will finish Fool's Fate in the next week or so and then I might take a break and read some sci-fi or something.
Rob wrote: "April already. I just started Midnight Riot on my drive into work (which is the American name for Rivers of London / Peter Grant #1). I really don't get the need for the title chan..."
I agree with the name change and yes the name will make sense by the end. Rivers of London works as a series name, but Midnight Riot works better as a book name, the real crime is them changing the cover art.
@Rob - I hope you like Midnight Riot, I love this series.I haven't been in much a reading mood lately - I keep reading first chapters of things and then playing video games and watching tv. But there are a few books coming out this month I'm really looking forward to.
I just picked up Romance of the Three Kingdoms, Vol. 1 because Ken Liu said it was the inspiration for his new book The Grace of Kings which I have preordered and I wanted a bit of background. I don't think this is the best translation, but the one I see recommended is $25 and only hard copy, so I went with an ebook that will give me a taste.
Also I preordered The Rebirths of Tao, because I really liked the first two in the series.
And I also preordered The Disfavored Hero because it sounds awesome.
All are coming on the same day...which to read first?!?
Waiting on Wyrd Sisters until I finish up Cibola Burn. Cibola Burn is simultaneously intriguing and boring. Good action, decent characters, but the whole Expanse bit about "the unknown unknowable remains mysterious, dangerous and unknowable" is wearing thin after four books.
John (Taloni) wrote: "Waiting on Wyrd Sisters until I finish up Cibola Burn. Cibola Burn is simultaneously intriguing and boring. Good action, decent characters, but the whole Expanse bit about "the unknown unknowable r..."That and "we're disagreeing, the only answer is a gunfight!"
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I can't wait to read and discuss that one next week! The Deaths of Tao ended on such an awful cliffhanger, and then it's publication got pushed back due to the Angry Robot issues.
John (Taloni) wrote: "Waiting on Wyrd Sisters until I finish up Cibola Burn. Cibola Burn is simultaneously intriguing and boring. Good action, decent characters, but the whole Expanse bit about "the unknown unknowable r..."Sounds like I'm not missing much by choosing not to continue this series.
Dara wrote: "That and "we're disagreeing, the only answer is a gunfight!" "Sooooo true! While I like the tribute to The Stars My Destination, and definitely like the way the authors explicitly thank Bester, after a while I want to ask "if the future is messy, can it be messy some way other than everyone shooting at each other?"
Brendan wrote: "Sounds like I'm not missing much by choosing not to continue this series. "
Mmmm...it's fairly good space opera, but maybe don't binge read them. The formula becomes soooooooo obvious when you do. Or at least, it did to me when I did.
Michele wrote: "I just picked up Romance of the Three Kingdoms, Vol. 1 because Ken Liu said it was the inspiration for his new book The Grace of Kings which I have preordered and I wanted a bit of background. I don't think this is the best translation, but the one I see recommended is $25 and only hard copy, so I went with an ebook that will give me a taste.Also I preordered The Rebirths of Tao, because I really liked the first two in the series."
Let us know how you like the translation - I've been wanting
to read RotK for a long time now and put it as one of my 2015 reading goals.
I have the same problem w/ RoT and GoK coming out on the same day. I guess it's a good problem to have :)
The characters in the Expanse felt like they were overdosed on testosterone. The whole thing just seemed very... un-self aware? The over-all story arc and grand mystery was interesting but I didn't want to take the risk that the books were all similarly tropey.
Lots of group reads for me this month. Some are:Leviathan Wakes
The Grace of Kings
The Queen of the Tearling
Station Eleven
Ready Player One
Ancillary Justice and Ancillary Sword
The Girl on the Train
I'm also waiting for the Hugo nominations to come out on April 4th. I might add in one I haven't read as an audio book this month.
Just finished Wandering Ghosts. Decent stories but never ones that grabbed my attention. I don't think I'll go looking for any more by Crawford, but if some appear in an anthology I'll most likely read them.
Just started A Martian Odyssey. It's short so even though I'm not too far in here are some impressions. The science shows its age. The idea of the alien being so different in thought that it makes communication almost impossible is nicely done.
Just started A Martian Odyssey. It's short so even though I'm not too far in here are some impressions. The science shows its age. The idea of the alien being so different in thought that it makes communication almost impossible is nicely done.
John (Taloni) wrote: "After a while I want to ask "if the future is messy, can it be messy some way other than everyone shooting at each other?""Samsies. I wish the story had more nuance. I love the world but everything else leaves much to be desired. I am interested in the show, however.
Finishing up the 2nd in the Finishing School series Curtsies & Conspiracies going through Living Language Korean, Complete Edition: Beginner through advanced course, including 3 coursebooks, 9 audio CDs, Korean reading & writing guide, and free online learning so far really dry. I then need to start Ancillary Justice for our group read and get more into Ready Player One. That might be all I can fit in with school if I can even do that.
Just started Turbulence by Samit Basu. The beginning is really good so far.Bounced off of Red Rising. Put it aside for now.
Just finished Half a King. I really enjoyed it.Now I am moving on to Terminal World by Alastair Reynolds.
If Terminal World doesn't work out, I am going to give Neal Asher a try.
Currently listening to Assassin's Quest by Robin Hobb and narrated by Paul Boehmer, who is a fantastic narrator by the way.
Joel wrote: "Just finished Half a King. I really enjoyed it.Now I am moving on to Terminal World by Alastair Reynolds.
If Terminal World doesn't work out, I am going to give Neal Asher a try.
Currently lis..."
I read Assassin's Apprentice a few months ago and really enjoyed it. I've been thinking about getting the rest of the books on Audible but wasn't sure about the narrator. Good to know he does a great job with it!
Christina wrote: "Joel wrote: "Just finished Half a King. I really enjoyed it.Now I am moving on to Terminal World by Alastair Reynolds.
If Terminal World doesn't work out, I am going to give Neal Asher a try.
..."
Yeah, he is really great. Unfortunately, he does not narrate any other of Robin Hobbs books after the Farseer trilogy.
I finished All Fall Down last night. It was interesting. You should check out my review; no spoilers, just my reactions to certain pages early on.
Currently at work re-listening to the entire Myron Bolitar series by Harlan Coben. . . . mystery thriller books with dark comedy if you aren't aware. Love having a job where I get to listen to 4-5 hrs of audio books a day. Meanwhile re-reading the Mistborn Trilogy Boxed Set by Brandon Sanderson.
Finished up The Queen of Zombie Hearts yesterday. Have to admit I loved the series. Started The Skull Throne and stayed up way to late...again. I also haveHeaven's Queen sitting on the steps-looking forward to wrapping that series up. I have my hold in on Wyrd Sisters and if I have time to kill after the others I'll read Blameless.
I am not a fast reader and certainly not when reading in a different language but after months I finally finished volume 1 of The Deluge by Henryk Sienkiewicz (I want to recommend his books to everyone!) I was hoping to catch up on my reading now, my to read list is only growing since I discovered S&L, but its (The Deluge's) ending wasn't really an ending, just another ending of a chapter, I guess they just had to cut the book in half somewhere.
I hope I will start reading volume 2 somewhere later this month but first I am going to have some guilty pleasure in reading Ranger's Apprentice book 4.
I finished Reanimators and am moving on to The Weird Company: The Secret History of H.P. Lovecraft's Twentieth Century, another riff on Lovecraft's work by Pete Rawlik.
A bit more than halfway through Turbulence. Loving it. If he finishes strong, I'm buying the sequel immediately.
Just finished Wyrd Sisters. While it wasn't one of my favorite Discworld books, there's no such thing as a bad one.Starting I Lost Everything in the Post-Natal Depression.
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I did an audio reread of The Two Towers. Less of a review than a few thoughts. (My Review)
And I decided to give Urban Fantasy another try with Midnight Riot Still not as good as Dresden, but then nothing seems to be for me. I do plan to give the second book a shot. (My Review).
I'm almost done with The Republic of Thieves and I still haven't decided on what to read next, I am thinking maybe to read Assassin's Apprentice, The Well of Ascension (re-read) or Blood Song
Halfway into The Peripheral by William Gibson. So far, much more into Flynn's story than the rest of it. The rest gets better when the two stories begin to interact. (Trying for no spoilers.)
In Progress:Audiobook: Midnight Riot (coincidence, I swear, Rob; but, also, cool :) I started this today before I read this thread!)
Paperback 1: The Good, the Bad, and the Undead (my downstairs-hanging-out-with-the-foster-kittens/cats book)
Paperback 2: Assassins in Love (languishing on my nightstand as my TiVO is a demanding influence)
Paperback 3: The Color of Magic (started this today and is my mobile paperback--goes with me everywhere)
Ebook: The Mermaids Singing
Finished in April:
Audiobook: Kitty Goes to Washington
Ebook: A Dance with Dragons
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Haha. Nice. Something else to talk about at the April meetup!
So I got all three of my preorders this morning (The Grace of Kings, The Rebirths of Tao, The Disfavored Hero) and now I can't decide! Only Grace of Kings has an audio version right now, but it's not whispersync'd, which is irritating.
Decisions, decisions...
Rob wrote: "Leesa wrote: "Audiobook: Midnight Riot (coincidence, I swear, Rob; but also cool :) )"Haha. Nice. Something else to talk about at the April meetup!"
I think I have that somewhere. Hmm...
Camilla wrote: "I'm reading Ready Player One and The Magicians, although I'm not far in either!"I'm relistening to Ready Player One for one of my book clubs. Such a fun one.
Jenny (Reading Envy) wrote: I'm relistening to Ready Player One for one of my book clubs. Such a fun one."I'm quite happy with it so far, it's fun to see all the references and still have this futuristic image in my head.
Just got Ms. Marvel, Vol. 2: Generation Why a couple hours ago and have already read half of it. Super good. There's no way Wilson can stuff it up and get less than 5 stars from me aside from killing off the main character by having her choke on a felafel.The issue/chapter where Wolverine guest stars has already provided a half-dozen quotable quotes.
I can practically hear the 70s fanboys..."Until Ms. Marvel chokes on a falafel, Make, Mine Marvel!"
Michele wrote: "So I got all three of my preorders this morning (The Grace of Kings, The Rebirths of Tao, The Disfavored Hero) and now I can't decide! Only Grace o..."
Grace of Kings was great, in my review, I had hoped that there would be an audiobook version. Now that I see who the narrator for it is, I might have to re-read (listen) to the book sooner than I'd planned.
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The Sword and Laser
Books mentioned in this topic
Station Eleven (other topics)Return of the Crimson Guard (other topics)
Wyrd Sisters (other topics)
The Sword of Rhiannon (other topics)
The Broken Sphere (other topics)
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Authors mentioned in this topic
Ken Liu (other topics)Mary Doria Russell (other topics)
Alastair Reynolds (other topics)
Charlaine Harris (other topics)
Lord Dunsany (other topics)
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I just started Midnight Riot on my drive into work (which is the American name for Rivers of London / Peter Grant #1). I really don't get the need for the title change. Interesting so far.
I also started Half the World as my hold FINALLY came in (and I'm the first one to get it from the library..they just took forever to process it or something).
Seems better than the first one so far.
How about you? What are you reading this month?