What have you been reading this March?

[Michael]

Robert wrote: "I dug up my old Dark Forest review, it's brief and spoiler free: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show..."

Thanks, Robert, I gave a look, good review! Da Shi is a cool one, I like him :)

[Tony]

I finished the first story in The Science Fiction Anthology - The Death Traps of FX-31 by Sewell Wright. Well, it's not the first story, just the first I chose to read. Anyway, it's a fun story from the 1930s, likely first published in Amazing or Astounding or a similar pulp magazine. Brave Terran spacemen armed with atomic pistols and atomic grenades take on intelligent giant spiders on planet FX-31. A fine example of the atompunk genre.

[Andrea]

Tony wrote: "I have finished Under an Azure Sky. On the whole, I enjoyed it, although I found the ending a little unsatisfying. It fills the LGBTQ slot in my Bingo."

You're blazing your way through the BINGO it seems :)

Michelle wrote: "I'm on reread #52,000 of the Vorkosigan Saga by Lois McMaster Bujold. I get in the mood every now and then because it's one of those comfort series. I just finished..."

I love that series, I really should get back to it. I got blocked when the library didn't have some of them but these are good enough to go out and buy them.

Georgann wrote: "I just finished Peace Talks. Loved it! I'm not quite sure why it took me so long to get around to these last 2 books, but I'm here for them now! Next one..."

Dresden! Still waiting for the next to be published. When he's done I'll start all over again from the beginning.

[Andrea]

And my update is that I finished reading Wicked. That was...kinda dark. A bit like picking up The Magicians after reading Harry Potter. Having the Lion, (the witch and the wardrobe...oops, wrong book), Tin Man and Scarecrow discussing the Witch's sex, gender, sexuality and other rumoured perversities while Dorothy was sitting there was offputting :)

On to Undead and Unemployed by MaryJanice Davidson. Considering this vampire series was my big epic series for the year, I'm three months done with the year and only 1 book done! At least these books are a light 200 pages or so each, still plenty of time to catch up. This one goes into one of my BINGO slots I don't recall which I picked out for it...

[Audrey]

I read Undead and Unemployed last year for a challenge. It looks like the third book will fit a challenge for this year. Still haven't read the first book.

I ended up not loving the Wicked book but the show is phenomenal. I'll get to the movie version eventually.

[Andrea]

I saw the musical on Broadway many years ago, and with the movie coming out figured was a good moment to finally get around to reading the series. Agreed I enjoyed the musical more than the book, the musical took a bit of the darker edges off.

The Undead series is pretty silly, but everyone needs something light to read between the heavy stuff. The third book will fit at least two slots, Vampire and Starts with U. Must admit I picked a few slots just so I could fill them with this series, don't recall if there were more matches. I had the New to You Author with the first book.

[Pierre]

Robert wrote: "Pierre wrote: "I started Ready Player Two (...)"

I hope you like Prince..."

Well, not really. It's been such a long time since I heard anything by him, and I was never a fan of him. May I ask what the relation is between Prince and Cline's book?

[Robert]

There is an entire section of the book involving the Oasis creator’s love of Prince’s music and iconography.
You’re not likely to hear much new material from him these days on account of him being deceased…but, on the other hand, he left his affairs in such a legal limbo that there very well may be unreleased material that finally comes out in the years come.

[Tony]

Andrea wrote: "You're blazing your way through the BINGO it seems :)"

Yeah, I have realised that my reading tine has decreased over recent years - partially due to work taking more time, but also because there are a lot more available distractions than back in the 70s and 80s. Thanks internet 😝 So I now try and concentrate on Bingo reads early on, otherwise I will run out of time to get it finished.

[Tony]

Robert wrote: "You’re not likely to hear much new material from him these days on account of him being deceased…but, on the other hand, he left his affairs in such a legal limbo that there very well may be unreleased material that finally comes out in the years come."

That, and the things they can do with technology these days. Natalie Cole released a single with her long-dead father Nat, which was done by digitising some of his songs and blending them into the new recording. And that was 24 years ago.

[Andrea]

Tony wrote: "Yeah, I have realised that my reading tine has decreased over recent years - partially due to work taking more time, but also ..."

Its definitely not a bad plan, especially as the end of last year approached and I still had the 1k page book still to read. I cut that one really close. Not exactly something you can squeeze in on New Year's Eve.

[Audrey]

Finished The Invisible College -- so good. I'd probably call it gaslamp fantasy (steampunk adjacent). Now to see if I can read the sequel ARC before it comes out in a week.

[Tony]

I finished another short story in The Science Fiction Anthology. This one was The Sentimentalists by Murray Leinster from the early 1950s. It was a light-hearted tale about honeymooning aliens anonymously helping humans, flipping the stereotype of bug-eyed monsters out to steal our women. Definitely worth a read.

[Robin]

That's 'The Well of Ascension' finished and despite getting a strong feeling for how this second book might end (and being mostly right), it was a great read. Really enjoying this series in a way I perhaps haven't in a while. So, on we go... 'The Hero of Ages' is next, to finish the Mistborn trilogy...

[Pierre]

Robert wrote: "There is an entire section of the book involving the Oasis creator’s love of Prince’s music and iconography.
You’re not likely to hear much new material from him these days on account of him being ..."

Thanks Robert for this information. I haven't reached that section of the book, and i am ready to dnf it, I don't find it interesting. All those references to old games, songs and films go over my head, I wasn't into it then and a fortiori I can't relate to it at all.

[Bryan]

I'm reading as I've been missing Abercrombie's writing.
Also listening to , read by the author.

Pierre wrote: "I haven't reached that section of the book, and i am ready to dnf it, I don't find it interesting. All those references to old games, songs and films go over my head, I wasn't into it then and a fortiori I can't relate to it at all."

Honestly, if you're considering dnf'ing it, just do it as the book is not going to get better or offer something new. Cline just isn't a very good writer, and what made Ready player one, despite all its faults, enjoyable to me (and other geeks of similar age) were the usually well-chosen references and the familiar fairy-tale plot. In Ready player 2 Cline took the same plot, decided to basically name-drop everything he likes, and worst of all, turned the main character into a horrible a** — literally worse than the bad guys from the first book.

[Andrea]

Finished Undead and Unemployed. Its a very silly book but its fun. I also read the short story that comes after it, it doesn't have a standalone entry in Goodreads and I'm not reading the whole anthology it is in since it has spoilers for other series like the Anita Blake one.

And March is over, let me get an April thread up and running.

[Audrey]

Robin wrote: "That's 'The Well of Ascension' finished and despite getting a strong feeling for how this second book might end (and being mostly right), it was a great read. Really enjoying this series in a way I..."

Oh, what a treat to read for the first time.

[Audrey]

I have heard the same thing about Cline from many other reviewers. He's really not very good.

[NekroRider]

I think since my last March update I read Three Act Tragedy by Agatha Christie which was another good Poirot mystery.

Also finished Force of Kings by Christian Cameron, the final book of his historical fiction Tyrant series. Great conclusion though would have liked some better endings for a few characters and an updated historical note to follow the final paragraph.

Sultana's Dream by Bengali author Rokeya Sakhawat Hossein. It is a feminist utopian scifi/fantasy short story she wrote in 1905. It's very short but I thought it was an interesting and worthwhile read.

[Robert]

I just started “The Daughter of Doctor Moreau”, let’s see how it goes.

(RIP Val Kilmer, coincidentally.)