What Else Are You Reading - January 2011 Edition

[Jenny (Reading Envy)]

I'm listening to Good Omens and reading A Hat Full of Sky. Not simultaneously, although maybe if Kvothe taught me how to split my mind I could accomplish it.... ;)

[Will]

I'm reading Towers of Midnight and after that I'll read I Am Number Four.

[Tom]

I got the The Name of the Wind hardback for Christmas so that's next in the queue.

[Brent]

I'm reading A Fire upon the Deep after seeing it in the poll for this month. Thinking about A Game of Thrones next.

[Jared]

I'm reading Right Ho, Jeeves and it's pretty awesome. The Amazon Kindle store had it for free for a while, and might still be.

[John (john)]

My copy of Good Omens arrived today!

[Sandi]

Jared wrote: "I'm reading Right Ho, Jeeves and it's pretty awesome. The Amazon Kindle store had it for free for a while, and might still be."

I subscribe to The Classic Tales podcast and that was serialized on it. It had me laughing out loud.

[Nathan]

Read The City & The City and the short story What Doctor Gottlieb Saw a prequel of sorts to Bitter Seeds. Link to the free story on Tor's site http://www.tor.com/stories/2010/06/wh...

Enjoyed both stories, although probably my least favorite China Miéville novel to date, yet to read Kraken though.

[Sandi]

I like China Mieville's Bas Lag novels quite a lot. I also enjoyed The City & The City. Kraken wasn't as good as his previous work.

[Jeremy]

For the commute, I'm listening to Hyperi..."</i>

I thoroughly enjoyed Hyperion, but was surprised to get to the end and find, no ending. Go ahead and get [book:The Fall of Hyperion if you want any conclusion to the story.

[Jeremy]

I've been steadily working my way through Neal Stephenson's Baroque Cycle. I'm about to start Currency which is #7 of 8.
I've committed to completing the series in six months, and I think I might do it in five.

By the way, this is my second try at these, and I'm finding that they go much easier in Audiobook form. They can be a tough read, but definitely worth the effort.

[terpkristin]

Jeremy wrote: "I thoroughly enjoyed Hyperion, but was surprised to get to the end and find, no ending. Go ahead and get The Fall of Hyperion if you want any conclusion to the story."

When I originally read Hyperion, I hated it because there was no ending. It was about 2 years later that I found out that it was the first in a trilogy and that in order to get the complete experience, I'd need to read the rest. One day, I plan on doing that, but I haven't done it yet.

How is the audio version?

[T. Scott]

I'm reading Watership Down with my daughter and Altered Carbon for myself. Next up will the 3 Chew graphic novels.

[Sandi]

Leah wrote: "I just finished reading Fragile which I borrowed from somebody. Now I'm soldiering on with the Sword of Truth series."

What did you think? I just finished Beautiful Lies by the same author. I thought it was excellent. I do like mystery/thrillers, but don't read a lot because I want quality over quantity. I'm looking forward to reading more of Lisa Unger's work.

[Philip]

Almost halfway through True Grit and it's awesome so far. Looking forward to finishing it today.

[Tamahome]

Philip wrote: "Almost halfway through True Grit and it's awesome so far. Looking forward to finishing it today."

Hmmm, I didn't know it was a book. Or if it was, that it would be by Larry McMurtry.

[Gordon]

I've gone back and resumed progress on The Great Book of Amber, which I started last year. Within it I'm nearing the end of The Chronicles of Amber 1: Nine Princes in Amber/The Guns of Avalon. Fantastic series, but it's a dead tree edition. I'm finding now that I've gotten used to the Kindle far more than I knew I had, it's difficult to go back to reading this way.

[Jeremiah]

I decided to work my way through the Dresden Files series by Jim Butcher. The first book was rough and the second was only a little better, but after that they just keep getting better. I am on book 6 and I seem to consume them like potato chips.

Beyond that i have a fair amount of school reading. Going back to school is the new unemployment.

[Tamahome]

I'm checking out Live Free or Die a little bit. It's kind of a prequel to the Schlock Mercenary: Under New Management comics.

[Brandon]

Jeremiah,
That pretty much sums up the Dresden series they are like a good bag of chips once you start you just cant stop. They will never win any big awards but they are fun reads and just keep getting better imo. Plus I do like how Butcher does his foreshadowing.

[Matthew]

I'm currently reading Mistborn: The Final Empire by Brandon Sanderson and am falling in love. The world is so fully realized and the writing is superb; I could almost believe magic is real.

[terpkristin]

Matthew wrote: "I'm currently reading Mistborn: The Final Empire by Brandon Sanderson and am falling in love. The world is so fully realized and the writing is superb; I could almost believe magic is real. "

Me too! I love how much world-building Sanderson has done. I can almost do without some of the "fight scenes" in the book, but love how he's built a world and in a completely organic way via the narrative, has let the reader into the world and its rules. It's a very different world than the traditional fantasy.

[Russell]

I just finished reading The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao. If you are a gamer or a Tolkien fan who also likes a little history thrown in you'll enjoy this book.

[Jlawrence, S&L Moderator]

Just finished the excellent bio James Tiptree, Jr.: The Double Life of Alice B. Sheldon, and plan to read The Name of the Wind alongside Good Omens.

[Larry]

Matthew wrote: "I'm currently reading Mistborn: The Final Empire by Brandon Sanderson and am falling in love. The world is so fully realized and the writing is superb; I could almost b..."

I loved the Mistborn books. The ending I thought was interesting for the series. Also the series takes you on a great arc imho, some nice unexpected turns.

[Remy]

My library finally got Bitter Seeds and Windup Girl in. Finished both, and thoroughly enjoyed both. Now, I picked up Good Omens at the store closing of a Waldenbooks along with Percy Jackson and the Last Olympian. Got my next few weeks of reading all set!

[Tamahome]

Remy wrote: "along with Percy Jackson and the Last Olympian..."

I just watched the movie (Lightning Thief). Not bad.

[Levi]

Reading Bill Bryson's A Short History of Nearly Everything, which is phenomenal. I am reading it as part of the Science Book Reading Challenge (http://goo.gl/LPvEj), which I took up to get me out of my comfort zone of reading mostly genre fiction. I am amazed at how succinctly he is able to portray complex ideas such as String Theory and Quantum Physics, subjects that intimidated me before. Highly recommended.

[Matthew]

I am making my way though Towers of Midnight I have enjoyed all the wheel of time books, even though they did start to lag a bit in the middle

[Deirdre]

I've already read Good Omens, and coincidentally, started Altered Carbon the day before the podcast announcing Good Omens as the pick and the suggestion to read Altered Carbon as a second choice.
I'm kinda new to Goodreads... is there a thread to discuss Altered Carbon and I'm just missing it?
Thanks :)

[Jenny (Reading Envy)]

I think they were encouraging us to read it if we wanted to (there was an undertone of us being whiners, I think, hehe), but I think Veronica actually said she didn't think we'd do the two-books-at-once thing, it is too much for her.

But please do post about it in general. I was curious about it and would like to know what you think!

[Deirdre]

Thanks for the feedback, Jenny. :)
I'm just a bit more than half done, and am loving it. The pacing is quick and efficient; the descriptions of people, places, and things are effective and evocative without ever being "too much"; and the plot twists and turns just enough to keep you intrigued without losing you.
So far, the only complaint I have is it feels a bit too cyberpunk-y -- like he's trying to recapture the cyberpunk heyday a decade after its peak. This is not a bad thing if you love mid-80s Gibson, but the grunge and attitude is definitely closer to that than it is to, say, Stross or Doctorow or some other post/cusp-of-singularity writers I've read.
But, even so, his world and technology is extremely believable and well fleshed-out.

[Colin]

I am currently out of my hometown for work, so i am about to start Chaosbound by David Farland, the latest book in the Runelords series which i have been reading since the first book came out.

[terpkristin]

Today I finished reading The Hero of Ages, thus finishing the Mistborn trilogy. I didn't like this one nearly as much as I liked Mistborn: The Final Empire and The Well of Ascension, though I still enjoyed and would recommend the trilogy as a whole. My review is spoiler-free and can be found at http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/....

I was originally planning on moving right into the Dark Tower books once I finished Mistborn, but I've changed my mind. With The Wise Man's Fear (book 2 of the Kingkiller Chronicles) coming out in March, I've realized that I'm not going to want to stop reading Dark Tower to read it, so instead I'm going to dig into my backlog of audiobooks, which includes a fair few mystery/thriller novels.

Before reading those, though, I still have Into Thick Air: Biking to the Bellybutton of Six Continents in dead tree format that I got for Christmas and started (but put down as I got sucked into Mistborn) and am going to re-read (re-listen-to?) Good Omens since it's been awhile since I read it and it's the book of the month here.

[Jenny (Reading Envy)]

I finished Wintersmith and since none of my local libraries have I Shall Wear Midnight I'm moving on to other things for now.

I am zipping through The White Tiger which won the Man Booker prize in 2009, and have an eBook version of Feed to try. I know, zombies, but it was on a lot of "Best of 2010" lists.

[Brandon]

I just finished Dance of cloaks which I felt was disappointing on many levels. I felt like the motivations of the main character were very fuzzy and that the character did not really reflect the world in which he was raised.

I just started Side Jobs by Jim Butcher, given its a collection of short stories I do not have high expectations and if a story is only fair I will probably just move on to the next one.

[Justin]

This month I have read Philip K. Dick's VALIS trilogy. I decided to read these books when I learned that Radio Free Albamuth will be made into a movie.

[Mlybrand]

Just finished Old Man's War and it was great. Now my audiobook is Colour of Magic and I just started Game of Thrones on my Kindle.

[Don]

Larry wrote: "I read Michael Crichton's final novel Pirate Latitudes.

Now I'm working through Stephen King's Dreamcatcher and Justin Cronin's The Passage."

Pirate Latitudes is great fun!

[Don]

I'm listening to Kraken. The narrator is over the top, too dramatic (very hard to listen to) but the story is exuberantly inventive.

[Don]

I'm reading Scott Sigler's The Starter, having just finished The Rookie.

They are really good, even better than when he podcast The Rookie.

[Brandon]

I just started Stonewielder which I am throughly enjoying. I finished Side Jobs which was okay. I am not a fan of short stories normally but if you like the Dresden series it adds some nice background for other characters.

[Andre]

This month I'm also reading:

Babel-17
The Man with the Golden Arm
Acacia: The War with the Mein

And started reading the Bible, I'm expecting to read it over the course of the year.

[Chris]

I just ordered Unbroken: A World War II Story of Survival, Resilience, and Redemption

[Sandi]

Xris wrote: "I just ordered Unbroken: A World War II Story of Survival, Resilience, and Redemption"

I got that for my husband for Christmas. He's really enjoying it. I want to read it, but I suspect he'll give it to his dad when he's done and I won't get a chance.

[Tamahome]

I was reading the 2010 intro to Stephen King's horror essay book, Danse Macabre. He thinks zombies may represent terrorists. Hmmm...

[Nathan]

Got around to finishing Empire in Black and Gold. I found it enjoyable and interesting, but it somehow couldn't quite grip me. Started the next in the series Dragonfly Falling and working my way through Brave New Worlds: Dystopian Stories one short story at a time.

[Carmin]

I've started my year getting around to read Neil Gaiman's books I hadn't read: American Gods, The Graveyard Book, and Anansi Boys. All were amazing.

[Brandon]

I finished Stonewielder which I enjoy and I have just started The Passage. I am only a few pages in and it is showing promise.

[Mike]

Hello! I've finally started Donaldson's Against All Things Ending. I hope I like it better than the last one.

Also, just finished Shadowheart by Tad W. Good and easy read!