What are you reading in March 2011?

[Aloha]

And I need to think about Hyperion and The Fall of Hyperion.

[Kevin]

Laurel and Aloha, thanks for We Have Always Lived the Castle recommend, starting it this time next week maybe?

[Kevin]

Just finished Things Fall Apart, a leftover book from the weekend, going to finish the sequel No Longer At Ease tomorrow, thank god both of these books are half as long as a regular book.

[[deleted user]]

Kevin wrote: "Laurel and Aloha, thanks for We Have Always Lived the Castle recommend, starting it this time next week maybe?"

That thing you're doing? Right there?

It is being done incorrectly.

[[deleted user]]

wiseman'sfear

[Kevin]

Ala wrote: "Kevin wrote: "Laurel and Aloha, thanks for We Have Always Lived the Castle recommend, starting it this time next week maybe?"

That thing you're doing? Right there?

It is being done incorrectly."

Then what should have been the right way?

[Dawn]

Laurel wrote: "Dawn, give We Have Always Lived in the Castle a try. It's a personal favorite! Plus, you can read it in a single sitting if you want to. The story is surprising, well written, and a..."

Oh it's on my reading list, I was just being snotty with Kevin :)

[Jeff]

I'm going to be reading my library's web page, watching my account status, showing my position in the waiting list for The Wise Man's Fear drop from five down to zero.

[Snail in Danger (Sid)]

Heh, Jeff, I'm doing that right now with Pale Demon. Once I have gotten and read that I'll doubtless switch to doing so with WMF. (With the minor variation that my library has altered its practice and no longer assigns specific numbers to people, but rather is doing some kind of traveling salesman optimization.)

Also, I'm reading Yarn. And now that my copy of Spells of Binding has arrived, I'm going to re-read at least the Patricia C. Wrede and Pamela Dean stories, and maybe some of the others.

Soon I'll be reading Jackie Kessler's Rage, and I've decided not to read Past Imperfect: Facts, Fictions, and Fraud in the Writing of American History, at least for now. Not because of any defect in the book per se, though it is a little dry and repetitive at least in the first few dozen pages, but because its subject turns out to push many of my personal exasperation buttons.

[Lara Amber]

It's March already?

Betrayal in Death
Doomsday Book
Gardens of the Moon
Oliver Twist
The Fall of Hyperion
Storm Front (reread)
Moral Disorder: and Other Stories
A Touch of Dead

[Aloha]

Kevin, there's a great discussion going on after you're done reading at my main hangout, Horror Aficionados:

http://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/5...

Kevin wrote: "Laurel and Aloha, thanks for We Have Always Lived the Castle recommend, starting it this time next week maybe?"

[Maggie]

My reading time in February kept getting cut into by life, so I didnt get as much done as I wanted...so I have a whole pile waiting to be read!
I finished Perdido Street Station (Bas-Lag)
and need to read Toll the Hounds and The Blade Itself, but it all seems too heavy right now, so I started The Bards of Bone Plain and Cold Hand in Mine first.

[Stuart]

I am reading Fool Moon byJim Butcher

[Joel]

Samantha wrote: "Snail in Danger (Nikki) wrote: "Yarn is on my TBR pile too. Have you read Grey? I liked it. The Philosophical Breakfast Club looks interesting. Kind ..."

i have been eying Grey but it has such mixed reviews (3/5 on amazon, 3.27 on GR)... good to hear some positive response.

[Kevin]

Aloha wrote: "Kevin, there's a great discussion going on after you're done reading at my main hangout, Horror Aficionados:

http://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/5...#..."

Well try to talk about it after I read the book sometimes next week.

[Aloha]

I'm looking forward to hearing your take on it, Kevin. Shawn gave a brilliant psychological take on it. I love it when people with depth and sensitivity give their take on things. Some people see more than others.

[Mike]

I'm reading Catching Fire then The Wise Man's Fear.

[Paul]

Just finishing Time out of Joint (PKD) and then I think it will be sit in front of the bookshelves time. Have A Game of Thrones to read before the TV series starts and think I might try Pride and Predudice with a view to adding the Zombies later in the year!

[[deleted user]]

Paul, Pride and Prejudice and Zombies is so close to the original that it might be a bit tedious reading both in quick succession.

I'm reading through a bunch of essays on climate change, which is now five years old and hilariously out of date. Also sporadically reading Plague Zone on my phone at bus stops and started Bringing Out the Dead this morning, which is as gruesome as it is engaging.

[Aloha]

K, I felt the same way about Pride and Prejudice and Zombies. It was funny for 5 mins., but I wouldn't read it again.

[Snail in Danger (Sid)]

Yeah, PPZ was a cool concept. Unfortunately, it flat-out reproduced the words of Jane Austen paragraphs at a time. I like Pride and Prejudice, but somehow in PPZ the same text seemed dull.

[[deleted user]]

Every time I actually started enjoying P&P&Z I pulled out my P&P and realised I was reading a pure Austen section. I really like the concept of P&P&Z but it fell flat in the execution.

[Bill]

Just finished Strangers on a Train by Patricia Highsmith and quite enjoyed. About to start Aldous Huxley's Brave New World

[Paul]

Aloha, Nikki and K thanks for the comments I might revise my idea of reading P&P&Z and just stick with the original

[Maggie]

Paul wrote: "Aloha, Nikki and K thanks for the comments I might revise my idea of reading P&P&Z and just stick with the original"

It is probably worth a read Paul, but I wouldn't buy it...lol
I was very frustrated that it was like yet so unlike the original book. I think it was a good concept that got written in a huge hurry. With some care and patience it could have been great!

[Liz]

I can't find it mentioned anywhere now, but IIRC Pride and Prejudice and Zombies was advertised as having retained 80% of the original text. I can only find reviews that mention that now. I really enjoyed PPZ, perhaps because I knew when I bought it that it mostly the original text with a smattering of zombies.

Now the "prequel" (Pride and Prejudice and Zombies: Dawn of the Dreadfuls) that has been released...I read the first chapter since it was free and thought it was horrible.

As for what I'm reading this month...doing my fourth re-read of A Game of Thrones, I Shall Wear Midnight (Tiffany Aching, #4), and The Sands of Time - A Doctor Who novel I downloaded for free from the BBC.

[colleen the convivial curmudgeon]

Liz wrote: "Now the "prequel" (Pride and Prejudice and Zombies: Dawn of the Dreadfuls) that has been released...I read the first chapter since it was free and thought it was horrible. "

Good to know.

I actually liked P&P&Z. I agree that it was, generally, one joke stretched thin, and I doubt I'll read it again - at least not any time soon - but it did have me laughing out loud at times, and that's a rarity for me.

I saw the prequel and thought about getting it, but I thought it might just be a lame attempt to milk the cow, so I've been hesitant. If it's as bad as you say it is, then I'm glad I never got around to picking it up.

I never picked up any of the other variations, like Sense & Sensibility & Sea Monsters, either, though I was thinking of picking up Jane Slayre: The Literary Classic with a Blood-Sucking Twist at some point, which I've heard deviates a lot from the original source material.

And I did like Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter, which is sort of along the same lines.

[colleen the convivial curmudgeon]

Oh, and, um, I'm currently reading The House on Durrow Street.

Last night I read Cinderella: From Fabletown with Love - a spin-off of Fables, which was enjoyable but not as good as the original series, though it has some potential for growth.

And, before that, I'd read Little Bee for a group read. It's not a book I would normally pick up, but it was pretty good.

[Julie]

How do you people all plan out your reading so far in advance? I can only guess.

For school, I'm reading .

In this science fiction and fantasy areas, I'm planning on reading and maybe something by William Sleator.

In the non-science fiction and fantasy areas, I'm planning on continuing .

This will not take me all month, so I know that there will be more. I just don't know what yet...

[Kim]

Julie wrote: "How do you people all plan out your reading so far in advance? I can only guess."

I don't know about others but for me it goes: what my books clubs are reading, followed by what is sitting on my shelves to read and then what new books are coming out that month.

[[deleted user]]

I try to plan out what i'll read, but it hardly every works out that way...

[Dawn]

I'm pretty good at making plans and sticking to them, but I always slip in new books here and there when I feel like it. I'm a planner, so planning out books in advance is just natural to me.

[Kim]

The only part of my plan I generally manage to stick to is book club books :P There's always something else that pops up

[Kim]

Just got my copy of The Wise Man's Fear... damn that's a big book. Now to try and find time to read it.

[[deleted user]]

And yet, when you reach the end, you'll wish it was longer.

[Aloha]

If there's an interesting monthly read in my book forums, I start with those so that I can participate in the discussion and maybe write a review. I also toss books recommended by friends, or had great reviews or PR into my currently reading. My currently reading is my shelf for the top books I'd like to get to ASAP, and to not forget.

About 1/3 through The Blade Itself. I now know why I only occasionally read Fantasy. Those books are usually thick. Fantasies are also for people who enjoy a really good story, but that's about it. I'm for mean little books that is potent with meanings, and makes my head go crazy with thinking about it afterwards.

[Dawn]

Ala wrote: "And yet, when you reach the end, you'll wish it was longer."

I haven't even started it yet, and I already wish it was longer. I could totally do a 2k tome...

[Jim]

I'm reading the first of the Wild Card books, Wild Cards. I've read it before, back when it first came out, but that was a long time ago. I've also read at least of the stories published else where. I finally got almost all the first 8 books, except the fourth book. I guess I'll order it from Amazon & try to read the series this year. I haven't read them all nor in order, so that should be fun.

[Bill]

Half way through Outpost of Jupiter by Lester del Rey and just started The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde

[Leigh]

I'm reading Dragon Champion. Picked it up at the Bookstore 'cause I loved the cover.

[[deleted user]]

@Aloha: Got a rec for one of your "mean little books"?

@Dawn: You and me both. As I got towards the end of the book, I started getting a bit depressed... "why can't you be longer?!"

Ah well...

[Aloha]

Ala, some of my favorite mean little books are The Cannibal Within, We Have Always Lived in the Castle, The Haunted Vagina, The Painted Bird, and Let's Go Play at the Adams. But I have a feeling we don't have similar reading tastes. We would cross as far as the Sci-Fi or Fantasy, but I'm not sure you'll go for the ones I just listed.

[Aloha]

Just got from Audible, 4 this time because 2 of them were on special for $4.95. Great deal on audios! I'm really looking forward to listening to all these. Great books! I have to get through these thick Fantasy monthly reads. Halfway through The Blade Itself. Good story.

The Idiot
Ayn Rand and the World She Made
The Elegant Universe: Superstrings, Hidden Dimensions, and the Quest for the Ultimate Theory
The Hidden Reality: Parallel Universes and the Deep Laws of the Cosmos

[[deleted user]]

Y'know...

There's stepping outside ones comfort zone, and there's leaping off a 1000ft cliff...

Though The Painted Bird looks intriguing.

[Aloha]

Ala, be afraid, be very afraid. The Painted Bird is actually more horrifying than the horrors I read, because it's supposed to be an account of what the author went through. That's what horror is, based on how cruel people can be to each other.

[[deleted user]]

If I have nightmares, I'm blaming you.

[Aloha]

Oh, goody!

[Dan]

I'm reading Endymion, The Rise of Endymion, and Devil Red.

[Snail in Danger (Sid)]

Aloha, have you ever looked at One Bloody Thing After Another? Some of the characters are high school kids, and the narrative is not completely linear, but I can't help thinking that it would qualify as a "mean little book." (Full disclosure: I read a free copy from netgalley, but I honestly liked it - I wouldn't recommend it if I didn't.)

[Aloha]

Thanks, Nikki. I put that in my to-read. What is the most disturbing about One Bloody Thing After Another is that the mother was kept in chains because she won't eat anything that's already dead. How dare they do that to people for their special appetites! It's a violation of people's rights! I need to stand up for my own kind.