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What Else Are You Reading? > What Else Are You Reading - May, 2015

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message 101: by Rob, Roberator (new)

Rob (robzak) | 7204 comments Mod
I liked The Magicians but I'm not surprised at the mixed reviews. It is very negative and depressing at times and generally lacking in likeable characters.

I think a lot of those problems are reduced in the second book and almost gone in the final book. But that first book can be too large of a turn off to many people IMHO.


message 102: by Dara (new)

Dara (cmdrdara) | 2702 comments Finished Into Thin Air: A Personal Account of the Mount Everest Disaster. I really enjoyed it. Blew through it in 2 days. My review. Not sure what I want to read next. Have a few samples about K2 on my kindle. Maybe one of those will strike my fancy.


message 103: by David (new)

David Turko Promise of Blood A colonial/fantasy book filled with mages and political struggles. Just started yesterday and already it's amazing.


message 104: by Sky (new)

Sky | 665 comments David wrote: "Promise of Blood A colonial/fantasy book filled with mages and political struggles. Just started yesterday and already it's amazing."

PoB was the June S&L pick last year - you can find the old discussion threads here:

https://www.goodreads.com/topic/group...


message 105: by Dharmakirti (last edited May 22, 2015 07:03PM) (new)

Dharmakirti | 942 comments Dara wrote: "Finished Into Thin Air: A Personal Account of the Mount Everest Disaster. I really enjoyed it. Blew through it in 2 days. My review. Not sure what I want to read next. Have a few sample..."

I haven't read Dan Simmons' The Abominable yet, but it was the first thing that came to mind when I read your post. From what I understand, the novel is about a secret attempt to summit Mt. Everest and recover the remains of a climber who perished in a previous attempt to summit the mountain. Oh, they also need to protect the world from Nazis...I'm not all that sure what Nazis have to do with the novel, but apparently there is a spy story going on along with the climbing story. And considering the name of the novel, I would guess that there is a yeti roaming around on Everest.

Edit: I corrected the link above so it now points to the right novel.


message 106: by Dara (new)

Dara (cmdrdara) | 2702 comments Dharmakirti wrote: "Dara wrote: "Finished Into Thin Air: A Personal Account of the Mount Everest Disaster. I really enjoyed it. Blew through it in 2 days. My review. Not sure what I want to read next. Have..."

Hmm. Seems pretty interesting.


message 107: by Scott (new)

Scott | 312 comments I finished the last in Mary Robinette Kowal's Glamourist Histories series, Of Noble Family. And I also just finished 1984. Not exactly sure what I'll read next, but I have a huge list to pick from lol


message 108: by Dustin (last edited May 22, 2015 07:18PM) (new)

Dustin (tillos) | 365 comments Waiting for Uprooted to arrive. Until then I have The Night Circus and The Martian to work on.


message 109: by Joseph (new)

Joseph | 2433 comments Finished The Serpent Sea and am onto the last Raksura book, The Siren Depths. (Well, the last aside from the short story collections, which I think I'll be getting to at some later point.)


message 110: by terpkristin (new)

terpkristin | 4407 comments Dustin wrote: "Waiting for Uprooted to arrive. Until then I have The Night Circus and The Martian to work on."

I grabbed Uprooted from Audible. It's next for me to listen to after I finish Sea of Silver Light.


message 111: by Dustin (new)

Dustin (tillos) | 365 comments Joseph wrote: "Finished The Serpent Sea and am onto the last Raksura book, The Siren Depths. (Well, the last aside from the short story collections, which I think I'll be getting ..."

I'm jealous. Been waiting for a kindle discount on 3 so I can get the audiobook and have entered multiple giveaways for the short tales.


message 112: by Stephen (new)

Stephen Richter (stephenofskytrain) | 1638 comments I am starting Tigana in audio, narrated by the great Simon Vance


Jenny (Reading Envy) (readingenvy) | 2898 comments Reading The Sword of Rhiannon in the actual month it's being discussed!


message 114: by Joseph (new)

Joseph | 2433 comments Dustin wrote: "I'm jealous. Been waiting for a kindle discount on 3 so I can get the audiobook and have entered multiple giveaways for the short tales."

Stories of the Raksura, Volume 1: The Falling World & The Tale of Indigo and Cloud is currently $1.99 for the ebook reader of your choice ...


message 115: by David Sven (new)

David Sven (gorro) | 1582 comments Finished Daniel Abraham's A Shadow in Summer.
My Review

Continuing on in the series with A Betrayal in Winter


message 116: by David Sven (new)

David Sven (gorro) | 1582 comments Finished The Vagrant on Audible
My Review

Starting Nexus also on Audible


message 117: by Rob, Roberator (new)

Rob (robzak) | 7204 comments Mod
I finished Apex. While I have a few complaints, they are mostly minor. If you haven't checked out this series yet, you really should. (My Review)

I also listened to Elantris. It was alright, but far from my favorite Brandon Sanderson novel. (My Review)

I also read The Mad Apprentice, which is a Middle Grade book, but I like the author and the series has been good so far. (My Review)


message 118: by Shad (new)

Shad (splante) | 357 comments Finished Cryptonomicon and enjoyed it quite a bit. It is important to keep in mind the book written in the late 90s. My review

On to Sea-Kings of Mars.


message 119: by Dustin (new)

Dustin (tillos) | 365 comments Joseph wrote: "Stories of the Raksura, Volume 1: The Falling World & The Tale of Indigo and Cloud is currently $1.99 for the ebook reader of your choice ... ..."

Victory! Many thanks.


message 120: by Sky (new)

Sky | 665 comments Went camping this weekend and got a lot of reading in.

I finally finished House of Chains. Man Erikson writes great endings. On the drive there and back I started a re-listen of Prince of Fools in preparation for The Liar's Key. Got a lot of comic reading done as well....I read Saga, Vol. 2 and Saga, Vol. 3, Attack on Titan, Vol. 2 and Attack on Titan, Vol. 3, GTO: Great Teacher Onizuka, Vol. 3. Also read Star Wars #4, Darth Vader #3-4, Princess Leia #2-3, and Kanan #1

This week I am reading Buddha, Vol. 1: Kapilavastu by Osamu Tezuka (of Astroboy fame), finally started Apex (that started with a bang!), will read a few more GTO and Attack on Titan, finish my re-listen of Prince of Fools, and read two Expanse short stories I missed, Gods of Risk and "Drive" from Edge of Infinity while I wait for The Liar's Key and Nemesis Games on the 2nd.


message 121: by Aaron (new)

Aaron Nagy | 379 comments I pushed my way though the Lies of Locke Lamora aftering lemming it the first time. I liked it, but not by much. The Narrative/writing style isn't to my liking.

I'm reading the sequel now and I'm liking it even less, the characters are just meh.


message 122: by David H. (new)

David H. (bochordonline) Why punish yourself if you're not enjoying Scott Lynch's books?


message 123: by Aaron (last edited May 26, 2015 09:14AM) (new)

Aaron Nagy | 379 comments I also read Perfect State. 3/5 M. Night Shyamalan would approve.

David H. wrote: "Why punish yourself if you're not enjoying Scott Lynch's books?"

They got hyped ALOT, and there have been books that I lemmed before that I ended up loving once they got running. I enjoyed the first one enough to continue 3/5, and I felt the series had potential to get better authors first book and all, but so far that's not happening.


message 124: by AndrewP (new)

AndrewP (andrewca) | 2667 comments Over the weekend I finished off Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell, which I didn't think was that bad. Zipped through Club Dead in a day and a half and am now completing Stephen Lawhead's Robin Hood trilogy with Tuck.


message 125: by Eric (new)

Eric Mesa (djotaku) | 672 comments Finished Super Mario Bros. 2 and How I Proposed to My Wife: An Alien Sex Story to finish off my Reading Challenge for 2015. Currently REALLY enjoying both Genius, Vol. 1 and Old Man's War Boxed Set 1 (I'm on Ghost Brigades at the moment). About to start (probably tonight) The Happiest Days of Our Lives.

Overall, it's been a great year for reading for me so far.


message 126: by Tim (new)

Tim Alm | 34 comments So far this month I've read Interlude-Brandon which is a pretty mind blowing entry in that series.

The Wonderful Wizard of Oz partially because I'd never read it. I was very impressed. I wouldn't say the book is better than the movie if for no other reason than nostalgia for the movie. I must say I quite liked all the differences.

Finally I am about halfway through Old Man's War . I have wanted to read Scalzi for a while now. I must say I am quite impressed.


Jenny (Reading Envy) (readingenvy) | 2898 comments I just got my copy of The Familiar, Volume 1: One Rainy Day in May by Mark Z. Danielewski, author of House of Leaves. It is GORGEOUS. There are apparently going to be 27 volumes.


message 128: by Joseph (new)

Joseph | 2433 comments Wrapped up The Siren Depths and it's back to the Hugo nominees with The Three-Body Problem by Liu Cixin.


message 129: by Lindsay (new)

Lindsay | 593 comments I'm currently about 20% into Neal Stephenson's latest book Seveneves. So far it's brilliant. Lots of Earth orbit hard SF so far in response to a disaster of Earth-dooming proportions. It's got a lot of the same last-minute human ingenuity in space that Titan by Stephen Baxter has, but without the crushing depression.

Unless it majorly disappoints in the rest of the book this should be on every SF fan's reading list.


message 130: by Dharmakirti (last edited May 29, 2015 04:14AM) (new)

Dharmakirti | 942 comments Jenny (Reading Envy) wrote: "I just got my copy of The Familiar, Volume 1: One Rainy Day in May by Mark Z. Danielewski, author of House of Leaves. It is GORGEOUS. There are apparently going to be 27 volumes."

I'm reading it now and I'm really enjoying it.


message 131: by Tamahome (last edited May 29, 2015 04:16AM) (new)

Tamahome | 7222 comments Lindsay wrote: "I'm currently about 20% into Neal Stephenson's latest book Seveneves. So far it's brilliant. Lots of Earth orbit hard SF so far in response to a disaster of Earth-doomi..."

I'm at the same place. Sometimes I get bored. Sometimes I really like it.


message 132: by John (Nevets) (new)

John (Nevets) Nevets (nevets) | 1903 comments Tamahome wrote: "Lindsay wrote: "I'm currently about 20% into Neal Stephenson's latest book Seveneves. So far it's brilliant. Lots of Earth orbit hard SF so far in response to a disaste..."

I'm in the same ballpark, maybe a bit ahead on Audible. I'm enjoying the story, but sometimes it feels like Neal is really talking down to the readers, instead of just letting us search out things on our own if we don't understand them. I appreciate the fact the science is accurate, but this isn't a physics class about the science.


message 133: by Tamahome (new)

Tamahome | 7222 comments I'm a sucker for lectures about Lagrange points though (no it's not where ZZ Top goes to drink).


message 134: by Brendan (new)

Brendan (mistershine) | 930 comments Finished Mona Lisa Overdrive. Loved it, The Sprawl books are all great and Molly is possibly my favourite character in all of SF. Continuing with Canadian authors, started Station Eleven, so far I like it. The parts set in Toronto really stick out to me, since I grew up in the GTA.


message 135: by Rob, Roberator (new)

Rob (robzak) | 7204 comments Mod
Tamahome wrote: "I'm a sucker for lectures about Lagrange points though (no it's not where ZZ Top goes to drink)."

Aww. Count me out then!


message 136: by Tamahome (new)

Tamahome | 7222 comments Hmm, maybe there's a connection.




message 137: by Rob, Roberator (new)

Rob (robzak) | 7204 comments Mod
Maybe I'm back in then..


message 138: by Alan (new)

Alan | 534 comments I finished The Magician King. If you likedThe Magicians, you've probably already read this one. If you didn't like The Magicians, don't bother with the sequel. 'Cause, if you didn't like Quentin in the first book, he doesn't improve soon enough in this one to help you much. For me, however, both books were interesting enough that I will read the latest one and had to write long-ish reviews of each to work out my feelings about them.

I'm currently reading Rogues and Connie Willis' story in it is so damn charming that it's nearly irresistible. The book's worth it for her contribution alone (and that's not to cast shade on Rothfuss' story, which is also pretty darn good).


message 139: by Daniel (last edited May 29, 2015 02:47PM) (new)

Daniel K | 164 comments Reading Hugo-2015 nominated Three-Body Problem and so far its best novel of the last months (years?) for me. Awesome style, so many real-world scientific references, great thriller that creates true anxiety which doesn't allow to fall asleep too soon at night.


message 140: by Stephen (new)

Stephen Richter (stephenofskytrain) | 1638 comments I have started The Dark Between the Stars.


message 141: by Rochelle (new)

Rochelle | 69 comments I just started the Memoir of Lady Trent, the Voyage of the Basilisk. Excited to get back in this world!


message 142: by terpkristin (last edited May 30, 2015 01:25PM) (new)

terpkristin | 4407 comments I finished listening to Sea of Silver Light the other day and finally wrote my review. Long story short, I enjoyed it. The middle books suffered from "middle book syndrome" a bit and the last one went on a bit long but I really liked the ideas and Williams' prescience.

This morning I finished reading A Darker Shade of Magic, which I liked quite a bit. It was a quick-moving book that took me on some unexpected twists and turns (and some expected ones). I'll be writing my review soon. I also read an Otherland short story, "The Happiest Dead Boy in the World," which was in Legends II (a collection I've had for awhile but only read a selection of the stories from).

This morning I started the June pick, City of Stairs on my Kindle and later started listening to Novik's new book, Uprooted. The latter has an interesting narrator, a woman who sounds Eastern European. It fits within the story, which so far has been predictable (though I'm only through the first chapter or so).

I want to read another Otherland short story, though I'm going to try to find it outside of the collection it's in (as the larger collection might not be my thing). We shall see...


message 143: by AndrewP (new)

AndrewP (andrewca) | 2667 comments terpkristin wrote: "I want to read another Otherland short story, though I'm going to try to find it outside of the collection it's in (as the larger collection might not be my thing). We shall see... "

Other than the one in Legends 2, which book is there another Otherland story in?


message 144: by terpkristin (new)

terpkristin | 4407 comments Oz Reimagined: New Tales from the Emerald City and Beyond. The book is listed on Goodreads as The Boy Detective of Oz: An Otherland Story (Oz Reimagined) and is available on Kindle Unlimited for free or without for $1.99. I just bought it. :)


message 145: by Jeffrey (new)

Jeffrey Hoover (macdude) | 7 comments Stephen wrote: "I am starting Tigana in audio, narrated by the great Simon Vance"

I liked the book, how is the voice work on the audio?


message 146: by Rick (last edited May 30, 2015 03:15PM) (new)

Rick The Way Into Chaos kept me up last night. Very good fantasy that shows you can tell a great story and do plenty of worldbuilding without taking 900 pages. My review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

The Peripheral, top notch Gibson. If you love his prose and how he describes worlds, read this.

The Coming of Conan the Cimmerian The TSoR read didn't grab me, but someone mentioned this in one of the threads. I'm not really into pulp but these were fun stories that aged surprisingly well.


message 147: by Stephen (new)

Stephen Richter (stephenofskytrain) | 1638 comments Jeffrey wrote: "Stephen wrote: "I am starting Tigana in audio, narrated by the great Simon Vance"

I liked the book, how is the voice work on the audio?"

Simon Vance is a pro. Everything just flows.


message 148: by AndrewP (new)

AndrewP (andrewca) | 2667 comments terpkristin wrote: "Oz Reimagined: New Tales from the Emerald City and Beyond. The book is listed on Goodreads as The Boy Detective of Oz: An Otherland Story (Oz Reimagined) and is avai..."

Thanks! Worth $1.99 as none of the other authors in the anthology are on my fav's list.


message 149: by Misti (new)

Misti (spookster5) | 549 comments I just finished The Final Empire. It took me a while to get into it, but once I did I had trouble putting it down. I'll probably go ahead and start the June pick.


message 150: by Rob, Roberator (new)

Rob (robzak) | 7204 comments Mod
Stephen wrote: "Jeffrey wrote: "Stephen wrote: "I am starting Tigana in audio, narrated by the great Simon Vance"

I liked the book, how is the voice work on the audio?"
Simon Vance is a pro. Everyth..."


Ditto this. You can't go wrong with a book narrated by Simon Vance.


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