What Else Are You Reading? August 2010 Edition

[Sandi]

I hope nobody minds if I get the August reading thread going.

I have The Gaslight Dogs and The Stress of Her Regard carrying over from July.

[[deleted user]]

I'm reading Chronicles of Amber and will probably be starting on Neuromancer within a week or two.

[Leighann]

I just started Song Of The Dragon by Tracy Hickman and will be following that up with Hunted By The Others by Jess Haines, since they're both due back to the library by Thursday.

[Amy]

Right now I'm working on Throne of Jade, and then I'll probably finish off the First Law Trilogy with Last Argument of Kings. After that it's up in the air, but I have a couple of the Hugo novels still to get through, so I'll probably go with Julian Comstock: A Story of 22nd-Century America.

After that, I don't know, but surgery on my wrist later in the month will keep me away from my computer for 10 days and a girl can only watch so much TV, so I'll probably get through quite a bit this month. Nice thing about the Kindle is how easy it is to read one-handed.

[Jimmy]

Just finished Freakonomics: A Rogue Economist Explores the Hidden Side of Everything. Awesome read! Now I'm reading The City & The City.

[Tom]

I'm still reading Battletech 37: Warrior en Garde and The Unincorporated Man.

[Jon]

I started The Gaslight Dogs this morning during my work commute. I'm also re-reading (in depth with notes) The Curse of the Mistwraith for a group discussion. The rest of my reads for this month can be found on my current-month shelf.

[Melissa]

I am listening to Jim Butcher's Blood Rites. James Marsters does a wonderful job.

[Sandi]

I finished The Gaslight Dogs and started The Strangely Beautiful Tale of Miss Percy Parker today. I'm almost done listening to Faithful Place, but haven't decided what my next audio book will be. I'm thinking of downloading Ysabel or Under Heaven.

[Hilary]

I'm starting (finally!) on the GRR Martin epic series. Finished Game of Thrones so far and am laboring through the second book.

[Stan]

Iliona Andrews book - On the Edge

What is there to not love about an urban fantasy that uses the sentence, "...get the guns. We’re going to Wal-Mart" on the first or second page :)

[Robin]

Just as the previous commenter I have just started with the Song of Ice and Fire series. So I am currently reading A Game of Thrones by George R.R. Martin.

[Paul]

Finally I am reading Perdido Street Station and...for all those who have been wondering, I found out how to pronounce Mieville's last name:

[Joe]

I finished The Passage a few days ago and am currently reading King Rat.

[Brian]

Kraken. I'm only 100 pages in and I like it fine. But can anyone who has read it convince me it's not just a mash-up of Neverwhere and American Gods?

Reading Absalom, Absalom! as well.

Starcraft II is taking up most of my free time though...

[Melissa]

I finished The Passage, and I started The Year of the Flood. I really enjoyed Oryx and Crake. I just purchased The City and the City, but I haven't started it yet.

[Veronica, Supreme Sword]

Paul wrote: "Finally I am reading Perdido Street Station and...for all those who have been wondering, I found out how to pronounce Mieville's last name: mee-A-vull (I bet that formatting isn't g..."

THANK YOU!!

[Sutrannu]

Just finished A Thousand Splendid Suns, and finishing up Feet of Clay.

[Rick]

Close to finishing Perdido Street Station and have The Scar waiting. Also have The Kingdom Beyond the Waves calling to me from the shelf. So maybe I will start them both! 8^)

[Sandi]

I finished The Gaslight Dogs and really liked it. I still need to do my review.

I'm still working on The Stress of Her Regard. It's really good, but the ebook edition I'm reading is very badly formatted and the text is really light, so I have to have perfect conditions to read it. I tried raising the font from medium to large, but the large was absolutely huge. It's the first ebook I'm reading on my Nook that wasn't purchased through B&N. I have downloaded and read quite a few short stories and novellas through Tor.com and haven't run into any issues with those. I think this one was just poorly done.

I'm also reading The World Ends in Hickory Hollow on my Nook. So far, it's pretty good and it's really short.

My current audiobook is Under Heaven. It's my first experience with Guy Gavriel Kay.

[terpkristin]

Thanks to a trip to my parents' house (2 hours round trip), an MRI (2 hours round trip, thank you DC traffic!) and a doctor's appointment (3 hours round trip, thank you Washington, DC traffic!), I was able to finish Before They Are Hanged and am about 1/4 through Last Argument of Kings. I'm really enjoying the trilogy, but it definitely requires that you read all three books. I like seeing how items from the first book is coming back around now, though. Still think there's some story about West and his sister that needs to come out. :)

I'm also reading through Lamb: The Gospel According to Biff, Christ's Childhood Pal. It's cute. I'm getting ready to go on vacation (an Alaskan cruise!) and I've got a big stock of books (audio and Kindle, mostly) that I'm bringing with me:

Assassin's Apprentice by Robin Hobb
Royal Assassin (also Robin Hobb)
Assassin's Quest (final in Hobb's Farseer trilogy)
Barbara Kingsolver's "Animal, Vegetable, Miracle" and "Prodigal Summer" (it was too hard to find the Goodreads pages for those books)
Atlas Shrugged
The Gunslinger (this I'll probably put off toward the end, as I want to read the entire series)
Eat, Pray, Love
Girl Missing
Mistborn: The Final Empire, The Well of Ascension, and The Hero of Ages

I also have the first Geek Mafia book (Geek Mafia) and The Catcher in the Rye in dead tree format; I haven't decided if they'll come with me, too. I doubt I'll get through all the books, but since most are electronic one way or the other, I have the flexibility to bring a variety of books in case I don't like one/some. :) 8 days til I leave, I cannot WAIT.

[Alan]

I am reading Kevin J Anderson's Enemies & Allies, an Elseworlds-style retelling of Batman and Superman's first meeting.

Also reading Stronghold and Temple of the Winds.

Very genre of me.

[Glenn]

I believe Honor Harrington's next novel is due soon from Weber and I'm also rereading Koontz's Moonlight cove novels, which believe it or not could be categorized as science fiction. I can't tell you why or it would spoil the story but definitely worth a read!(Seize the Night and Fear Nothing)

[Jon]

I finished The Gaslight Dogs Friday afternoon and am still mulling it over. To lighten my mood for the weekend, I picked up another Victorian era (actually Late Victorian/Edwardian Era or WWI to be precise) novel, The Beekeeper's Apprentice. I've been remiss in not keeping up with the re-read on The Curse of the Mistwraith though.

[Orlando]

...besides reading 2 books on World History and one on European history I am squeezing in Lamb: The Gospel According to Biff, Christ's Childhood Pal(half way finished) and The Passage...(3/4 of the way finished)

I really enjoy both books and they are a great break between reading textbooks

[Brett]

I just finished A Storm of Swords and The Girl With The Dragon Tatoo, and started The Blade Itself, The Girl Who Played With Fire & The Moon is A Harsh Mistress.

[Curt]

After finishing the Abercrombie trilogy with Last Argument of Kings I am back to catching up on Phillip K Dick. Reading The Three Stigmata of Palmer Eldritch. Having a hard time getting into this book.

[Jenny (Reading Envy)]

I just finished The Book and Lost in the Funhouse. Looking forward to Super Sad True Love Story, Schlepping Through the Alps: My Search for Austria's Jewish Past with Its Last Wandering Shepherd, and contemplating finally starting The Pillars of the Earth.

[Joe]

Along with King Rat, which I am still reading, I have started The Hunger Games, which I am really enjoying.

[Eliyanna]

I'm reading Night Watch next. It's a seriously popular urban fantasy series in Russia that has a Russian tv series based on it. The movie version of the first book in the series is on my Netflix queue--but I won't watch it until I'm done. I'm really excited about this one.

[[deleted user]]

I just finished Foundation and Empire and am listening to Kraken. Also am starting Earth's Ultimate Conflict. Busy book reading month before Mockingjay comes out.

[[deleted user]]

Joe wrote: "Along with King Rat, which I am still reading, I have started The Hunger Games, which I am really enjoying."

Joe, I really enjoyed The Hunger Games, its a great book. The second book in the series, Catching Fire, is also very good.

[[deleted user]]

Still Working through The Mote in God's Eye.
Got The Steel Remains waiting and was given Redwall and Wild Cards (the fifth one) by a friend so they're going on the bedside table.

[Jon]

I finished The Beekeeper's Apprentice (my review) on the commute home last night. I started The Mystery of Grace last night, but fell asleep after the second page (my fault, not de Lint's). I'm very remiss in re-reading Curse of the Mistwraith this week thanks to three days of training (and no lunch) at work.

[Sandi]

Jon wrote: "I finished The Beekeeper's Apprentice (my review) on the commute home last night. I started The Mystery of Grace last night, but fell asleep after the second page (my fault, not de L..."

I loved the audio book of The Mystery of Grace. I couldn't stop listening.

I kind of paused my other reading to read Kitty Goes to War. I'm not usually a series reader, especially when the series is in progress, but the Kitty Norville series and The Dresden Files series have both hooked me and I've read all the books currently in print.

[Matt]

Eliyanna wrote: "I'm reading Night Watch next. It's a seriously popular urban fantasy series in Russia that has a Russian tv series based on it. The movie version of the first book in the series is on..."

LOVED the Night Watch series (books)

[Matt]

I'm currently reading Under the Dome ... it's been a long time since I've read a Stephen King book .... liking it so far.

[Kyanni]

Just finished "The Blade Itself" by Joe Abercrombie. For a change of pace, I decided to read a non-fiction book, "Hellhound on His Trail: The Stalking of Martin Luther King, Jr. and the International Hunt For His Assassin", by Hampton Sides. So far, I have read 25% of the book and it is very difficult to put down. Next, I plan on reading, "Before They are Hanged", the second book in the trilogy by Joe Abercrombie.

[Jim]

Just finished His Majesty's Dragon. I was not sure about the premise and had some trouble with the dragon speaking right out of the egg. Although I never had an issuer with a wizard summing a fireball out of nowhere in other stories; I guess we all have thing we like to believe without question. But after that I really enjoyed the story and am very glad I read it. I definitely will be reading the rest of th series.

Just started The Highwayman by R.A. Salvatore. Had the book laying around for a while so I figured it was time to read it.

[Darrin]

Currently reading Paladin of Souls by Lois McMaster Bujold. First time reading her. Very good so far. Also reading a classic - 1984. Never read it in high school. Just wanted to see what the fuss was all about. Keeping my eyes open for my next book.

[Darrin]

Renee wrote: "Still Working through The Mote in God's Eye.
Got The Steel Remains waiting and was given Redwall and Wild Cards (the fifth one) by a friend s..."

How do you like Mote? I tried the Redwall books, just coouldnt get into them so I passed them along to a big fan. The Wild Cards I heard was great my brother-inlaw loves them. Still have yet to read one.

[Darrin]

Robin wrote: "Just as the previous commenter I have just started with the Song of Ice and Fire series. So I am currently reading A Game of Thrones by George R.R. Martin."

The series is fantastic! I am still waiting for the fifth book like thousands of other people. You wont be dissappointed. It is a large undertaking considering the size of the novels. Enjoy!

[Joe]

Just finished The Hunger Games, and I liked it a whole lot. I know in premise it was similar to Battle Royale, but it really didn't bother me like it seems to have bothered others. Oh well...I thought it was very good.

[Richard]

I finished The Passage and The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, now I on the second Millennium book The Girl Who Played with Fire. I see Veronica is reading the third one. :-)

[Richard]

Joe, how graphic is the violence in The Hunger Games? Is it as brutal as Battle Royale?

Joe wrote: "Just finished The Hunger Games, and I liked it a whole lot. I know in premise it was similar to Battle Royale, but it really didn't bother me like it seems to have bothered others. ..."

[Joe]

Richard wrote: "Joe, how graphic is the violence in The Hunger Games? Is it as brutal as Battle Royale?

Joe wrote: "Just finished The Hunger Games, and I liked it a whole lot. I know in premise..."

Well, I haven't read Battle Royale, but I have seen the movie. And based on how violent the movie is and assuming the book is comparable, The Hunger Games is much tamer. It has its violent moments, but being for teens, it really isn't that brutal.

[Tamahome]

Was listening to Mur Lafferty's free superhero novel Playing for Keeps last night. Sounded fun.

http://www.podiobooks.com/title/playi...

Is that a Santa in your pocket, or are you just happy to see me?

http://escapepod.org/2005/12/22/ep033...

[Jlawrence, S&L Moderator]

Just finished The Man Who Loved Books Too Much: The True Story of a Thief, a Detective, and a World of Literary Obsession (pretty interesting), and am starting Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter (get em, Abe!).

[Philip]

Matt wrote: "I'm currently reading Under the Dome ... it's been a long time since I've read a Stephen King book .... liking it so far."

I thought it was excellent, in the same league as The Stand for me.

[Philip]

Jim wrote: "
Just finished His Majesty's Dragon. I was not sure about the premise and had some trouble with the dragon speaking right out of the egg. Although I never ha..."

I loved His Majesty's Dragon. I was also skeptical about the dragons speaking out of the egg, but bought the explanation that they pick up language of people speaking around the egg prior to hatching.