What Else Are You Reading? July 2010 Edition

[Ben]

Just finished The Passage. Working on The Dreaming Void.

[Paul]

I just finished Oryx and Crake (almost amazing) and am now reading The Player of Games (pre-sleep book) and Perdido Street Station (during-the-day book). And, real soon now, since I broke down and bought a paper version of The Windup Girl (well, the cover on a Kindle just doesn't do it justice) I will start that after I finish Player or Perdido.

[Alex Z.]

Just finished Tongues of Serpents, not the best of this series I have to say, somewhat disappointed.

[Steve]

I am re-reading Hyperion after which I will be reading the other 3 books in the series. I believe Dan Simmons is "normally" classified as a horror writer, but this is an epic tale that certainly contains significant sci-fi, but also scratches the fantasy itch a little, and draws upon Simmon's horror background nicely.

I have bought 4 copies of Hyperion as I tend to give it away to introduce people to it. :)

[Sandi]

Steve, Dan Simmons is one of my favorite authors. He writes across genres. His most recent novels have been historical fiction with some magical realism.

[Tamahome]

Steve wrote: "I am re-reading Hyperion after which I will be reading the other 3 books in the series. I believe Dan Simmons is "normally" classified as a horror writer, but this is an epic tale that..."

You're rereading all 4 books?

[Steve]

Tamahome wrote: "You're rereading all 4 books?"

One at a time :), but yes, once I start I will end up reading all 4 in the end.

@Sandi, sounds like I'll have to check more of Dan Simmons work - I read Illium and its counterpart (I forget the name) and really enjoyed that.

[Andrew]

Just finished reading Year's Best SF 14 which was a great addition to the series. Picked up The Terminal Experiment, which is pretty much the only Robert J. Sawyer book I have not read other than his new 'WWW' series. He is an amazing character and extrapolated-science writer rolled into one.

[Taueret]

terpkristin wrote: "Tamahome wrote: "Pillars of the Earth by Ken Follett (abridged 8 hrs :) )"

Wow. I think the unabridged version of that is close to 40 hours. I can't think of how the story might seem different i..."

Well, I accidentally listened to the abridged version by mistake and HATED THE BOOK. I couldn't believe people raved about it so. So the unabridged version must be very different.

[Jenny (Reading Envy)]

Paul wrote: "I just finished Oryx and Crake (almost amazing) And,..."
What would have made it actually amazing? And have you read The Year of the Flood?

I just finished The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest and thought it tied everything up nicely. I am starting on a Catherynne Valente reading spree after loving Palimpsest (literally I have a pile of everything she has written!). I am also going to start Half the Sky: Turning Oppression into Opportunity for Women Worldwide for another book club, and The Thousand Autumns of Jacob de Zoet is taunting me from my bookshelf, but I think I am waiting to start it until I can take a day off and just sink into, hopefully next week.

[terpkristin]

Taueret wrote: "tWell, I accidentally listened to the abridged version by mistake and HATED THE BOOK. I couldn't believe people raved about it so. So the unabridged version must be very different."

What did you hate about it? I'm surprised you had such a strong reaction, though I could see how a 5x abridged version could leave out a lot of what I thought made it truly great--the interpersonal stories, the trials, triumphs, and disasters, but especially the story of the family itself; I could see how reducing or eliminating some of the so-called-"filler" would be disastrous.


On another note, I just finished reading The Moon Is a Harsh Mistress, so am moving on to Lamb: The Gospel According to Biff, Christ's Childhood Pal. I bought it to try out iBooks on the iPod Touch (and so far, I am NOT a fan of iBooks). I also have about 2.5 hours left in the audiobook of The Blade Itself and looking forward to going to the next in the trilogy.

[Paul]

Jenny wrote: "Paul wrote: "I just finished Oryx and Crake (almost amazing) And,..."
What would have made it actually amazing? And have you read The Year of the Flood?
Avoiding any spoilers here -- but I was not satisfied with the last two pages. I thought Atwood could have been more explicit about her vision of the ending of the tale. Nevertheless, an excellent book which I have now taken to recommending to people I know.

I have started the Flood -- of course, since I am only ten pages in I can't judge it fairly, but she is such a good writer that I can't imagine being disappointed.

[Sandi]

Steve, my favorite Dan Simmons book, other than Hyperion, is The Terror. It is amazing the way he makes the reader feel trapped in an Arctic winter.

[Jenny (Reading Envy)]

Paul wrote: "Jenny wrote: "Paul wrote: "I just finished Oryx and Crake (almost amazing) And,..."
What would have made it actually amazing? And have you read The Year of the Flood?
Avoiding any sp..."
Ah, the ending, a puzzle still to me. Does it help to know that Crake has mirror neurons? According to Atwood's response to me in Twitter.

[Keith]

I'm reading The Ruling Sea, the second book in the Chathrand Voyage series. I love it so far, it's such a fun series.

Just finished The Blade Itself. It was decent. Good enough to get me into the next book in the series anyway.

[Jon]

I'm about halfway through Tales of the Dying Earth. Highly recommended to those who enjoy "old-school" SFF.

[Brian]

Glad to see some love for Dan Simmons.

I found an old used copy of The War Against the Chtorr 1: A Matter For Men earlier this month and just finished it.

I enjoyed it a lot. It's also a good companion read to The Moon Is a Harsh Mistress as Gerrold dedicates the book to Heinlein and there are some similarities in theme.

[Paul]

Jenny wrote: "Paul wrote: "Jenny wrote: "Paul wrote: "I just finished Oryx and Crake (almost amazing) And,..."
What would have made it actually amazing? And have you read The Year of the Flood?
Av..."
Of course! Mirror neurons! I'm hoping The Year of the Flood suggests a possible path for a possible mindset to imagine an ending. Ahh, what the heck; she is an amazing writer.
And (hi Brian) unlike Gerrold, at least she finished her story. I've been waiting for almost twenty years for volume 5. Supposedly that will come out next year.
(Because of him, I refuse to read multi-volume works until they are all published.)

[Kyanni]

I just finished Abraham Lincoln Vampire Hunter. Though not as cute as Buffy, Honest Abe can swing a mean axe. The story telling caught me early and was very difficult to put down. The spin Seth Grahame-Smith puts on the various highlights on the life of Abraham Lincoln can make you take a peek on Wikipedia to see if those events could have happened.

[Cameron]

After running out of fingers and toes to count how many times Veronica has mentioned how great His Majesty's Dragon is, I finally decided to give it a go. I've finished part 1 and I'm quite impressed so far.

[Jon]

I picked up The Gaslight Dogs from the hold shelf at the library yesterday. And I must read The Rainbow over the weekend as I have a real life book club meeting Tuesday night to discuss it.

I should finished Fugitive Prince today or tomorrow and I'll continue my in-depth re-read of Curse of the Mistwraith.

[Philip]

Cameron wrote: "After running out of fingers and toes to count how many times Veronica has mentioned how great His Majesty's Dragon is, I finally decided to give it a go. I've finished part 1 and I'm ..."

It's a great book, I highly recommend it, too.

[Jeremy]

Hi gang. Just unearthed this podcast, and am digging it! I'm between books now, just finished Ysabel and enjoyed it, though it's a little YAish. Also read The Magicianswhich was a harry potter story for the college set. I might hit the heinlein up. i enjoyed Stranger in a Strange Land but never read much other Heinlein.

[Sandi]

I just finished Kraken by China Miéville and Changes by Jim Butcher. I'm now reading my free Nook download of His Majesty's Dragon by Naomi Novik.

In audio, I'm listening to Ordinary Thunderstorms, a mystery/thriller by William Boyd. My next audio book will be Time Travelers Never Die by Jack McDevitt.

[JP]

Just finishing selected Hugo-nominated literature before July 31. Tying up loose ends in Palimpsest and reading two more novellas: Vishnu At The Cat Circus by Ian McDonald and The Women of Nell Gwynne's by Kage Baker.

[Tamahome]

Giving Endymion a shot. I'm at the part where he mentions the 'Raspberry Jam Delta-v' effect. My favorite Joe Satriani song. Ah hah!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EtkOSs...

[Jenny (Reading Envy)]

Jorg wrote: "Just finishing selected Hugo-nominated literature before July 31. Tying up loose ends in Palimpsest and reading two more novellas: Vishnu At The Cat Circus by Ian McDonald and [book:..."

When you finish, I would like to hear your picks!

[JP]

Jenny wrote: "When you finish, I would like to hear your picks! "

Sure thing, Jenny. Makes you wonder whether other group members are going to vote for the Hugo awards this year and what their picks might be.

Finished Vishnu At The Cat Circus which I liked a lot. My first foray into author Ian McDonald. His latest book, The Dervish House, went on my to-read list.

[Orlando]

I am reading The Passage by Justin Cronin. Still to early for any serious comments.

[Jon]

Finished (a couple of days ago) Fugitive Prince (my review) ahead of an in-depth online discussion next month. It doesn't look like I'm going to finish The Rainbow before this evening's real-life book club discussion. I'll continue re-reading The Curse of the Mistwraith and start The Gaslight Dogs this week.

[Robert]

I just finished reading First Light Chronicles by Randolph Lalonde. Overall, I enjoyed this novel quite a bit. When I get back from my trip from Missouri I will be reading 7 Scorpions: Rebellion by Mike Saxton (paperback finally made it to the house).

[Dennis]

I'm finishing And Another Thing..., just started Moonseed, and am listening to Spook: Science Tackles the Afterlife.

[Sandi]

I'm reading The Gaslight Dogs and The Stress of Her Regard.

[Tamahome]

Got Sigler's Infected on library audio for the car. Not a bad bio-thriller. He does the voices and vocal effects himself. Some violence & language.

[Jimmy]

Finished The Moon is a Harsh Mistress last night (loved it) and picked up Freakonomics: A Rogue Economist Explores the Hidden Side of Everything today for a healthy dose of nonfiction.

[Josh]

Finished The Moon Is a Harsh Mistress a week or so ago.

This week, I just finished reading Memory and Komarr by Lois McMaster Bujold. These are two great books in the Vorkosigan Saga. They are about Miles's life after he leaves the Barrayar Imperial Military and becomes a Imperial Auditor, which is like a federal investigator except the whole empire is the jurisdiction and the powers are limited only by the Emperor himself. Each book as a great case, one inside Imperial Security and one on the planet Komarr.

I'm moving onto Prelude to Foundation and Foundation by Isaac Asimov.

Oh and I'm half way through Moral Issues in Military Decision Making by Anthony E. Hartle. Title basically says it all. It is focused on the U.S. Military post Cold War.

[Matt]

I'm reading City at the End of Time, by Greg Bear.

A slow moving story, with a unique idea on how time travel might not be paradoxical.

Haven't finished it yet (as I said slow moving), but it is very interesting.

[[deleted user]]

Given up on Moon is a harsh mistress. I just keep zoning out and have absolutely no idea what is going on... I will try it again, but for the moment I'm enjoying The Mote in God's Eye. Not far into it, about chapter five but have been sucked in so far.

[Tamahome]

I'm watching the movie adaption of The Jane Austen Book Club. Don't tell anybody.

[Halbot42]

Dan Simmons rocks, sometimes he's scary like Stephen King and always brilliant. I loved Hyperion when i read it 15 years ago, but Ilium and Olympus blew my mind. Try to imagine someone combining the future of human evolution, greek myth, archeology, cyborgs in the asteriod belts, greek gods, and quantum mechanics with a breakneck good story. Oh yeah lots of analysis of Shakespeare and other literaty greats, in sci fi, by cyborgs.
I just read Changes by Jim Butcher, he's my new favorite author even tho i cant get into the fantasy series, but Harry rocks, now we have to wait a year to find out *** **** ***. Abe Lincoln rocked although I'm doubtful he would approve of the end. Bitter Seeds was a great idea, but kind of fell apart for me second half, cant wait to see where he goes with it tho. Im reading Atrocity Archives by Stross, Skin Trade by Hamilton, Colorado Kid by King, The Prefect by Reynolds, and waiting for Before they are Hanged to get here. Bloody 9 Bloody 9

[David]

reading Piers Anthony Modes series I read them around 15 years ago but he had only written 3 of them now there are four and I can' remember the first three so I am reading them all and the same thing for Ben Bova's Orion series when if first read them in the 90's there were only 5 books there were are 6 books but its been so long I am reading the rest first. Going to flip back in forth I have read the first Orion after DODOES of course now I am reading the first Mode book not sure if I will finish before our next book comes up

[Tamahome]

Woah, time travel.