What Else Are You Reading? September 2010 Edition

[Philip]

Started Audible's new release of Bitter Seeds today, which I waited a while on. Great idea for a story, I'm looking forward to listening to the related podcasts and seeing all the old posts.

[Jenny (Reading Envy)]

I read ex nihilo, a short book of poetry from a promising writer who is on the longlist for the Dylan Thomas Prize (writers under 30).

Also I just started The Dispossessed: An Ambiguous Utopia because I'm the librarian for a utopian fiction class, which is awesome while also actually being kind of Sword and Lasery. I mean, there are planets! And space travel!

[Cameron]

Just finished Throne of Jade and really liked it. I'm really enjoying the Temeraire series and I'm looking forward to reading the next. I'll pick it up tomorrow.

Quickly read through the Lost Tribe of the Sith series as well. Just quick little short stories set in the Star Wars EU. Fun, but far from recommendation-worthy quality.

[Leon]

I am reading "let the Great" world spin. I have less than a hundred pages left. The book is very good so far. You can easily follow the characters and remember them as they appear in another character's point of view. A very well written story of interwoven New Yorkers lives.

[Brian]

The Well of Ascension Audiobook

I really like the way magic is done.

Always wanted to be a Jedi, now I would rather be a Mistborn.

[Hope]

I just finished A Tale of Two Cities and I just started listening to How to Train Your Dragon read by David Tennant(yes I am a doctor who fan;)!

[Philip]

Hope wrote: "I just finished A Tale of Two Cities and I just started listening to How to Train Your Dragon read by David Tennant(yes I am a doctor who fan;)!"

How To Train Your Dragon was a great movie, I just got the book for my son.

[Jim]

Dan wrote: "Royal wrote: "The Well of Ascension Audiobook

I really like the way magic is done.

Always wanted to be a Jedi, now I would rather be a Mistborn."

True, Sanderson creates some wonde..."

I am about half way through book 1 and loving it!

Regards, Jim

[Kris]

Darrin wrote: "Kris wrote: "I an reading the finale to Peter Hamilton Void series..almost done and it is really good..."

Loved Pandora's Star. You will enjoy it. I have the Void series which I..."

All of his stuff Rocks in my opinion...

[Tamahome]

I'm at location 6218 in Evolutionary Void. :)

[Kris]

Tamahome wrote: "I'm at location 6218 in Evolutionary Void. :)"

Nice...

[Michael]

Well I did start The City & The City but got totally bored and repeatedly sidetracked. So instead I re-read the first Discworld book The Colour of Magic and totally fell in love with the Discworld again. I am now 3/4 of the way through book 2 The Light Fantastic. Additionally I finally found a trade paperback of City of Golden Shadow completing my collection of trades for the Otherland series so I expect a re-read is in the future.

[Louis]

I am reading Zero History by William Gibson and am enjoying it. I would say that this falls more in standard Fiction possibly as a Technothriller rather than Science Fiction. This does not stop me from reading it as the best science fiction is always about the story, not the setting.

[Tamahome]

Louis wrote: "I am reading Zero History by William Gibson and am enjoying it. I would say that this falls more in standard Fiction possibly as a Technothriller rather than Science Fi..."

According to an interview with William Gibson on the Agony Column podcast, it's science fiction about the present written by someone in the past. Rick Kleffel is one of the best author interviewers.

http://www.bookotron.com/agony/news/2...

[Beth]

Re-reading A Fistful of Rain by Greg Rucka and just finished listening to The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins, which was incredible! Cannot wait until next Thursday when I have the 14.95 for Catching Fire. Also listened to Cross Bones by Kathy Reichs, which was pretty good too.

[Eric]

I am reading a hard-bound copy of Zero History by William Gibson while waiting for my Kindle 3. Cued up is the last in the Void series by Peter F Hamilton.

[Patrick]

Darrin wrote: "Kris wrote: "I an reading the finale to Peter Hamilton Void series..almost done and it is really good..."

Loved Pandora's Star. You will enjoy it. I have the Void series which I..."

Resist the StarFlyer!!

[Nevan]

I'm reading American Gods (love it!) and listening to my first-ever audiobook, 1984. I'm not exactly comfortable with the audiobook format for some reason; listening to a book while walking seems to demand too much attention from me.

[Joe]

I finally finished Catching Fire and since my fiance is currently reading our copy of Mockingjay, I picked up White Noise and am going to give DeLillo a try.

[Jon]

After ten days and a thousand pages, I finished The Way of Kings (my review) last night. I slept on it before writing my review and kept it as spoiler free as I could.

Not sure what I'll pick up next. I got a call from the library this morning, so I probably have The Passage waiting to be picked up from the hold shelf. Next week I'm scheduled to attend a real-life book discussion of Jane Eyre, which I've already read but probably should skim to refresh my memory.

[Kyanni]

Just finished the The Hunger Games, Catching Fire and Mockingjay trilogy by Suzanne Collins. Reminded me a little of the movie the Running Man, with the exception that young men and women are fighting to the death against each other. The books take you for a wild ride through a dark totalitarian future where a simple gesture turns Katness into the the symbol of the resistance.

[Jenny (Reading Envy)]

I finished up Noise by Darin Bradley and The Dispossessed: An Ambiguous Utopia the same week, two interesting stories about societies trying to survive major changes.

I did a quick read of The Thieves of Manhattan, which made me laugh (laugh! like LOL! in parts anyway).

Now I'm on to Chronic City.

I'm also finally getting the novels nominated for the Dylan Thomas Prize in through interlibrary loan, so I'll be hitting Jasper Jones in the next few days.

[terpkristin]

I'm still working on Assassin's Quest. I haven't had a lot of time to read lately, but I'm making a lot more progress this week than in the last two. I really would like to finish it this weekend, if possible, and maybe also read Mockingjay by the end of next week.

In non-sword/laser books, I finished listening to Eat, Pray, Love which might well have been called "Whine, Reminisce, Lecture." The only redeeming value of this book is that it re-piqued my interest in taking yoga classes.

I finished that at the gym this morning and moved onto listening to Shadow Divers, which I'm pretty stoked to read. I am a SCUBA diver and have always been interested in wreck diving, so it's particularly up my alley. I'm expecting it to get me into it just as much as The Perfect Storm: A True Story of Men Against the Sea did. So far (30 minutes in), so good.

[Eric]

I'm finishing up "Warrior Queens: The Queen Mary and Queen Elizabeth in World War II." It's about the adventures of the two great Cunard liners during World War II. Not SF or Fantasy, but a great historical read.

[Cameron]

Finished The War of the Worlds today. A fantastic read. I was surprised to see how faithful the recent Tom Cruise movie was to the original text, event-wise anyway. I look forward to reading more of Wells in the near future.

I'm not sure now if I want to continue the Temeraire series with Black Powder War, or if I want to go with Gregor the Overlander next. I'm really liking Naomi Novik's approach to dragons and I'm enjoying the series, but I'm also excited to see what Suzanne Collins has done outside of The Hunger Games. Hmm, decisions...

[Philip]

just finished Blade Itself and liked it a lot ... but always frustrated with endings of "to be continued" ... before I start Moon and see why so many are upset with Heinlein I'm going to read Franzen's Freedom ... don't people who love Sword and Lasr also like other things too? .. sheeesh

[Sandi]

I'm finally finished listening to The Disappearing Spoon: And Other True Tales of Madness, Love, and the History of the World from the Periodic Table of the Elements and am listening to The Way of Kings.

I'm almost done reading The Stand and will be moving on to Anathem. I don't know about reading two long books back-to-back. I'll probably read Her Fearful Symmetry concurrently with Anathem.

[terpkristin]

Just now finished Assassin's Quest and am going to move on to Mockingjay. After that, The Name of the Wind.

[Vincent]

Like almosty everyone else in America, I'm reading:

[Mike]

terpkristin wrote: "Just now finished Assassin's Quest and am going to move on to Mockingjay. After that, The Name of the Wind."

I'm working on Assassin's Quest myself. I've also started reading Cory Doctorow's Down and Out in the Magic Kingdom during my lunch break at work. And I just got volumes 2 and 3 of Scott Pilgrim in the mail from Amazon, so I'll probably blow through those too.

[David]

I'm listening to Spook Country in prep for Zero History and readingPirates of the Levant by Arturo Pérez-Reverte fourth book of his Alatriste series. While there's no sorcery, there are plenty of swords, daggers and intrigues. Just finished Tongues of Serpents: A Novel of Temeraire and loved it, but she had me as an uncritical fan half way through the first Temeraire. This is a series that is really well done as audiobooks - even better listened to than read.

[Jason]

I finished Moxyland. It had some interesting ideas, but for some reason I felt it was missing something? Not sure. Now I'm on to Hackers: Heroes of the Computer Revolution. Not exactly Sword and Laser, but a great read so far, nonetheless.

[Eric]

Sandi wrote: "I'm finally finished listening to The Disappearing Spoon: And Other True Tales of Madness, Love, and the History of the World from the Periodic Table of the Elements and am listening..."

I just finished The Disappearing Spoon: And Other True Tales of Madness, Love, and the History of the World from the Periodic Table of the Elements too. The book made me an insufferable know-it-all while I was reading it. However, the home school chemistry group that I was teaching really liked all of the historical insight that it brought to the table.

[Ben]

Reading The Exorcist. It's very good, even though I've seen the movie like twenty times.

[terpkristin]

Felt under the weather today and stayed home from work, ended up finishing Mockingjay. I'm kind of torn on how I feel about it. It definitely wasn't what I expected.

I've moved onto The Name of the Wind on the Kindle and am still listening to Shadow Divers from Audible.

[Mike]

Currently reading Night of the Living Trekkies and currently listening to Under the Dome.

[Daniel]

For fun I Just got done with It and I am reading Mistborn now. For school I am reading the Iliad.

[Aaron]

I am reading The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy again as I have just brought it again on the kindle. Not sure if I am going to ref the other 4 books after or read something else.

[David]

Still plodding through A Clash of Kings because I can't find the time to read it as much as I would like. Just finished Percy Jackson and the Olympians: The Lightning Thief with my 6-y-o son and started Artemis Fowl a couple of days ago.

Also reading The Talent Code by Daniel Coyle to try and get some clue how to motivate my kids so that they excel at their chosen hobbies (and school).

[Micah]

I finally got a hold of my libraries copy of The Blade Itself, and it is great so far. Also just finished Chronicles: Volume One on audio. Chronicles was not so great, written with no time line and jumped from decade to decade with no warning. It was hard to keep track of. It was very descriptive but lost me somewhere along the way, although i did finish it.

Now I picked up Dracula on audio a book I am hoping to finally be able to finish. I hope it translates well into audio.

[Paul]

Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone to read to my kids.

Pandora's Star - really love this guy's work.

[Skip]

Daniel wrote: "For fun I Just got done with It and I am reading Mistborn now. For school I am reading the Iliad."

I really enjoyed the Mistborn series, it doesn't go where you expect it to go.

The Iliad is a real classic. With a good teacher it's an action movie.

I just got and finished Distinctions: Prologue to Towers of Midnight, and am currently reading Zero History which I got signed last night.

[Robert]

I just got the Audible version of The Way of Kings - new cycle begun by Robert Jordan’s Wheel of Time saga completer - Brandon Sanderson. Read by the same artists who have done prior books (Kate Reading & Michael Kramer) - it's been an enjoyable listen so far (about one hour into the 45 hours, 37 minutes). I like his closure/writing in The Gathering Storm - and this is a good start to a new one.

[terpkristin]

Way of Kings isn't Wheel of Time, is it? I thought it was his new series...Stormlight?

[Robert]

terpkristin wrote: "Way of Kings isn't Wheel of Time, is it? I thought it was his new series...Stormlight?"
:Edited my last - the last two for WoT will be, of course Towers of Midnight (due 2 November 2010 and A Memory of Light (due late 2011). Sanderson's planned 10-volume series "The Stormlight Archive" starts with this. My bad :0

[Andre]

As an aside to catching up with The Windup Girl. I'm enjoying a couple of 3 letter non-fiction books.

GTD and STP.

That is Getting Things Done: The Art of Stress-Free Productivity

and

S.T.P.: A Journey Through America With The Rolling Stones

[terpkristin]

So I finished Shadow Divers and really enjoyed it (even if it wasn't all true, it was a really engaging story). I've moved on to reading Blind Descent: The Quest to Discover the Deepest Place on Earth, a book in many ways about another of my hobbies. I'm not sure how far I'll get through this one, though, as it's ostensibly at least half about a person I have met (and very much dislike) and things he's done. We'll see.

[Cameron]

Finished Gregor the Overlander a couple days ago and thought it was very good. Suzanne Collins is quickly becoming one of my favorite authors.

Currently, I'm listening to Ringworld. I don't usually go the audiobook route, but I thought I'd give it a try. I like it so far.

Just started Black Powder War today. Naomi Novik is also quickly becoming a favorite of mine.

[terpkristin]

terpkristin wrote: "I've moved on to reading Blind Descent: The Quest to Discover the Deepest Place on Earth, a book in many ways about another of my hobbies. I'm not sure how far I'll get through this one, though, as it's ostensibly at least half about a person I have met (and very much dislike) and things he's done."

I had a crazy "small world" incident today while listening to the audio book of Blind Descent. For a small bit of back story, before I became so broken, I used to be an avid caver. I've done a lot of caving in WV and the TAG regions, as well as been involved in surveys (cave mapping), cave digging/exploration of virgin cave, and rescue (both instruction and taking classes). As such, I've met a lot of people in the caving community, one of whom is Bill Stone. I do not like Bill Stone. Unfortunately, a book about finding the deepest caves can't be complete without talking about Stone, and I was unsure I'd want to read a book that glorified anything about him. Sure enough, the first part is entitled "Stone" and is all about Stone's introduction to caving and his exploration in Mexico.

But, now the crazy part. The book mentioned that he met a woman named Pat while in college who also happened to be really into the outdoors. She was a physical therapy student, he was studying engineering. At the time, I didn't think too much of it.

Then the book says that he married Pat, and discusses some of the craziness they did (including climbing Mt. McKinley!). At around this point, I remember that I had a physical therapist in Rockville (actually one of my best physical therapists) named Pat Stone. And I start to wonder how many physical therapist Pat Stones there are in the world. Awhile later, I recalled that Bill lived in Maryland at least for a time, and I started thinking that my former physical therapist really was his ex-wife.

Sure enough, at a point in the book, the author said that Pat Stone joined a physical therapy group at Shady Grove, doing orthopaedic rehab and had been there for 17 years...yep, she's my old physical therapist. I figured that this book would bring up people I knew in my past life and people I had heard of, but never in a million years did I think that THIS would be a connection made in the book. Also, I never knew that my old PT was a (former?) caver and climber, I wish I had known that while I was under her care, we'd have had even more to talk about...

Crazy, eh?

[Paul]

terpkristin wrote: "terpkristin wrote: "I've moved on to reading Blind Descent: The Quest to Discover the Deepest Place on Earth, a book in many ways about another of my hobbies. I'm not sure how far I'll get through ..."
Hmm. Not only the same people, but consider the symbolism of the name and their one time avocation. The Wheel weaves as the Wheel wills.
(And hey terpkristen, almost done with WOT v.1, and, starting the NewSpring as you suggested. Great stuff.)

So where is TAG? I'm guessing WV is west of V. And way north of F (where I am). Speaking of which , there are some stunning PBS (local) videos about the caves down here -- most of which are accessible only to divers.