What are you reading in May 2011?

[Kevin]

Hey, I just would like to know what everyone has geared up to read in the month of May? Right now I am doing a reread of A Wizard of Earthsea and The Tombs of Atuan.

[Paul]

Not getting into many of the group reads for May, although I may revisit The Hitch Hiker's Guide to the Galaxy which The Atheist Book Club are reading, and might see if I can find a copy of When Gravity Fails. Would love to read James Gleick's The Information: A History A Theory A Flood but it's only out in hardback (hate it when a book club does that!) and there're five people before me in the queue at the library.

So what i'm reading instead... Just about to start the first of Malcolm Pryce's Aberystwyth books, Aberystwyth Mon Amour, and I have The Mall of Cthulhu and Flash for Freedom borrowed from people which need returning. Other than that I'm kind of in the mood for some violent SF, so perhaps grab a Dan Abnett or Richard Morgan and something highbrow, which could either be Paul Auster or perhaps Tom Holland's history of Rome, Rubicon. This is, of course, all subject to my whim as per usual :D

[Nick]

I'll be reading The Languages of Pao even though it looks like it's not to win the current poll for BOTM. Also a couple more classics, The Falling Woman and The Einstein Intersection -- hope to finish them all in a couple of weeks.

[Stefan, Group Founder + Moderator (Retired)]

Hey Kevin, thanks so much for starting our May topic a day early :) I fixed the title though.

[Helen]

Only 4 hrs until May here - I've just started the Legend of Sleepy Hollow.

[Jim]

Currently reading The Solar Queen. A refreshing palate cleanser after so much hard SF. Continuing to read a story at a time in Black Projects White Knights, a wonderful compilation of some of Baker's Company tales.

[Christine]

I'm 2/3 of the way throughThe Wise Man's Fear and am looking forward to the group discussion; I know what the title refers to...

[Kerry]

I've gone back to Peril's Gate (my goodness but I want to slap Lysaer around the head). The only other books I have a firm plan to read this month (at this point) are Snow Crash and The Thief.

[Phoenixfalls]

For some reason I'm feeling scattered about my reading right now. I'm in the middle of four different volumes:

Meat: A Benign Extravagance, by Simon Fairlie, which is fascinating but too dense to read for very long;
Passion Play, by Sean Stewart, which is wonderfully written but somehow not grabbing me;
World-Building, by Stephen L. Gillett, which I've almost finished but which has stopped being useful so I haven't felt like pushing through the last 20 pages;
and
Quatrain, by Sharon Shinn, which I wanted to be light and fun (I've been a fan of Shinn since Archangel) but which is kind of crappy so far.

I have the following two volumes waiting to be read so I can review them:
Embassytown, by China Miéville
and
Cut Through the Bone, by Ethel Rohan

I've promised my dad I'm going to read Until I Find You, by John Irving.

And various book groups I'm in have several titles that I want to read planned for discussion in May.

But in my current mood I'm probably going to pick up some more Georgette Heyer. She's shot all my reading challenges to hell this year, but I just can't hold it against her. (Mostly because her novels are delightful, but also because she's dead so I don't think she'd care.)

[Helen]

Oh I would like to smack Lysaer too. I'm reading The Crown Conspiracy

[Sarai]

I'm reading Kraken by China Miéville and Blind Willow, Sleeping Woman: 24 Stories by Haruki Murakami

[Kathi, Moderator & Book Lover]

Starting Peril's Gateon my flight from New Orleans to Detroit (to Green Bay). After that, don't know...

[Stuart]

Still reading Grave Peril by Jim Butcher

[Candiss]

I'm going to scan back over When Gravity Fails again. I just read it, but I need to go back through so I can think of discussion points.

The rest of my May reading, in no particular order:

[Shel, Moderator]

I finished my Black Sun Rising: The Coldfire Trilogy #1 re-read and am trying to decide what I have the brainpower to tackle next. Reading time/energy is pretty limited these days...

[Ken]

Finished up a Miles Vorkosigan book, Memory. Not bad. Bit slow to start but once it got going it was pretty good.

Started up a Dresden Files book
Grave Peril

[Stefan, Group Founder + Moderator (Retired)]

I just reread that Vorkosigan book, Ken. I agree, starts off slow but turns really great towards the end.

[Ken]

I kinda like to think that was Bujold's plan. Have us feel the same feelings that Miles was living with at the time.

[Helen]

I've just started Containment

[Clark]

Kevin wrote: "Hey, I just would like to know what everyone has geared up to read in the month of May? Right now I am doing a reread of A Wizard of Earthsea and The Tombs of Atuan."

I'm gonna try to read the final book of Gene Wolfe's "Book of the New Sun" series, "The Citadel of the Autarch", it's a busy month for me and I've found that I cannot zip through these books. Just too dense and poetic. So, I'm gonna try to do a chapter or two a day. After that I'm gonna re-start Poul and Karen Anderson's "King of Ys" series. I read the first book, "Roma Mater" some years ago and enjoyed it, but got sidetracked before I got to the second book. Gonna start over. It's a curse to be an avid but slow reader.

[Christine]

I finished The Wise Man's Fear and decided to move on to something a bit lighter...Crescent Dawn. Clive Cussler is so read-able

[Ken]

I could not get into Grave Peril. Reading for two days and read a grand total of 6 pages. Put it back up on the shelf and started a Vlad Taltos book
Jhegaala

[Kevin]

Ken wrote: "I could not get into Grave Peril. Reading for two days and read a grand total of 6 pages. Put it back up on the shelf and started a Vlad Taltos book
Jhegaala"

I guess you are unlike me and most of of the people who have read Dresden, who have started the first book then want ,and many do read the rest of the series.

[Snail in Danger (Sid)]

Admittedly this was many years ago, when the series was new - but I couldn't get into the Dresden series either. I forget if I read the first book and then just never continued, or if I never finished the first book. I remember appreciating the noir homage, but not being bowled over by the actual book.

[Hélène]

I'm reading Violent Origins: Walter Burkett, Rene Girard & Jonathan Z. Smith on Ritual Killing & Cultural Formation (as usual I have a fit with Girard) and Redheart by Jackie Gamber. This one feel "classical" fantasy so far.
I also picked up each short stories Sharon Lee& Steve Millerhave been adding to the Kindle store these past weeks. A treat!

[Sandra]

I've read three of the Dresden Files but was not bowled over at all. Have a couple more, but they're way near the bottom of the pile.

I read Carol Berg's The Spirit Lens and am hoping I'll like it better when I read #2, The Soul Mirror. Also read Wizard of the Pigeons by Megan Lindholm. Wrongly billed as fantasy, IMO. Very poignant story about a Viet Nam vet with PTSD. Am currently reading Bangkok 8 (Sonchai Jitpleecheep, #1), a mystery taking place in Bangkok. It's very witty and the wholly different culture almost makes it qualify as fantasy. I'm listening to Dragonfly in Amber, an interminable experience. Pleasant enough, but plot is almost non existent... I'm almost finished, thank God.

[Shel, Moderator]

The Dresden Files have been on my radar screen for a while, but I haven't gotten around to giving them a try yet. I don't have super-high expectations but think they might be mildly entertaining - we'll see!

I think I'm going to take a break from the baby books and pick up Connie Willis's Bellwether - I've really enjoyed the other books of hers I've read and it looks like a fairly quick read.

[Ken]

Kevin wrote: "I guess you are unlike me and most of of the people who have read Dresden, who have started the first book then want ,and many do read the rest of the series. "
I enjoyed the previous 2 books, just not in the mood for book like this right now. I was looking for an actual fantasy novel, nothing heavy. Taltos was right up my alley.

[Phoenixfalls]

Shel wrote: "I think I'm going to take a break from the baby books and pick up Connie Willis's Bellwether - I've really enjoyed the other books of hers I've read and it looks like a fairly quick read."

Bellwether is probably my favorite of Willis' novels. The SF elements are virtually nil, but I giggle the entire time every time I pick it up. Hope you enjoy!

[Ron]

I'm in the middle of Regenesis, C.J. Cherryh's sequel to "Cyteen". Fine writing, very character-driven (and some very driven characters), perhaps a trifle slow in the first hundred pages or so but gathering steam now. I've also started one of the Black Company books by Glen Cook. After "Regenesis" i am tempted to reread "Downbelow Station" and follow up on more of the Union vs, Merchanters' Alliance series.

[Sandra]

C.J. Cherryh is sine qua non in science fiction. I can vouch for Downbelow Station. Have you read the Foreigner series? Awesome.

[Snail in Danger (Sid)]

Downbelow Station's pretty good, but Cyteen's my favorite. Regenesis made me kind of sad, because I felt it was as long as Cyteen without the generational heft of Cyteen. (About 20 years of time in Cyteen, and 9-10 months or so for Regenesis.)

CJ Cherryh did say on her blog recently that she might do a followup to Regenesis as one of the next three books she writes for DAW.

[Sandra]

I have Cyteen in my pile at the top!

[Kathi, Moderator & Book Lover]

Clark wrote: "After that I'm gonna re-start Poul and Karen Anderson's "King of Ys" series. I read the first book, "Roma Mater" some years ago and enjoyed it, but got sidetracked before I got to the second book. Gonna start over."

I read The King of Ys several years ago, all in one volume. I though it was excellent but not a quick read.

[Shanshad]

Shel wrote: "The Dresden Files have been on my radar screen for a while, but I haven't gotten around to giving them a try yet. I don't have super-high expectations but think they might be mildly entertaining -..."

The first Dresden books didn't wow me when I originally read them. It took some coming back to the series for later books to really make me a fan. Now, I'm hooked and waiting for the latest. They're not all brilliant, but they're fun and a little relief from all the kick-butt heroine urban fantasy series out there.

Love Bellwetherit's goofy and light fun, but that's just it, it is fun to read. And a nice break when I need it. Even my mother enjoyed that one.

Currently reading Highbornwhich is going better than expected. Also trying to get through Soul Hunt and The Grimm Legacy.

Tried to crack open and read Touched by an Alienand just couldn't get into it. May go back to it later, but it's not thrilling me by any stretch.

[Edward]

Snail in Danger (Sid) wrote: "Downbelow Station's pretty good, but Cyteen's my favorite..."

I feel the same way, find things on the Union side a lot more tense and exciting, though I enjoy the Alliance books too. Have you read Forty Thousand in Gehenna? I thought that was an amazing book. Shared your opinion on Regenesis. Devoured it, because I was so interested to see what happened with the characters, but it felt like a dinner-length appetizer.

[Emma]

Finished The Angel's Game by Carlos Ruiz Zafón. Written so beautifully and being so delightfully elaborate, I absolutely loved it.

Planning to read either The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest or The Hunger Games next.
Also on my list, re-reading The Name of the Wind so I could finally start The Wise Man's Fear.

[Shel, Moderator]

I finished Bellwether and found it good fun! Lots of humor/social satire, but hidden in there are some interesting musings on the nature of scientific discoveries.

[Ron]

Sandra aka Sleo wrote: "C.J. Cherryh is sine qua non in science fiction. I can vouch for Downbelow Station. Have you read the Foreigner series? Awesome."
Sandra, absolutely right about Cherryh; I read "Downbelow" in my impressionable years and now think the whole Union/Alliance group is ripe for a revisit. Loved the first "Foreigner" novel but got bogged down in the second; I thought at the time that the ambassador wanna-be was a weak nuisance of a character. Should have trusted Cherryh more, probably. I would like to see a follow-up to "Regenesis": I think introducing a major player in the last forty pages is a bit suspect, but otherwise the thing might never have ended.
As for favourites, I confess to a strong weakness for the "Pride of Chanur" novels.

[Sandra]

Ron wrote: "Sandra aka Sleo wrote: "C.J. Cherryh is sine qua non in science fiction. I can vouch for Downbelow Station. Have you read the Foreigner series? Awesome."
Sandra, absolutely right ab..."

Well Bren does dither a bit in the first two novels, but weak? Not. The series is a masterful bit of political suspense with the invention of a truly fascinating race of people.

[Snail in Danger (Sid)]

Bren kind of irritates me, to the point where I don't particularly enjoy the Foreigner series. I will agree that some of the atevi characters are quite interesting, though. (Mainly Cajeri and the dowager.)

[Jim]

Some of Cherryh's characters (Bren may be a good example) seem more like good old wishy-washy Charlie Brown.

Just finished The Solar Queen by Andre Norton. A review of sorts here.

[Shel, Moderator]

I need to read more Cherryh - I read Cuckoo's Egg, which I really enjoyed, the Chanur books, which I loved, and the Morgaine Saga, which I didn't like as much. I have The Faded Sun Trilogy on my shelf but haven't read it yet, and would like to read the Foreigner books one of these days (candidate for our next series read, maybe?).

Right now I'm re-reading the first four of Patricia Briggs' Mercy Thompson books in anticipation of receiving book 5 in the mail in a few days.

[Sandra]

Shel wrote: "I need to read more Cherryh - I read Cuckoo's Egg, which I really enjoyed, the Chanur books, which I loved, and the Morgaine Saga, which I didn't like as much. I have [book:The Faded ..."

That's a great idea, shel - Foreigner for the next series. I haven't read any of her fantasies, but I do love her scifi.

[Ken]

Finished up Brust's Jhegaala. Pretty good. I always enjoy a good Taltos novel.

Started on another overdue Eighth Doctor Who novel
Coldheart

[Phoenixfalls]

Shel wrote: "I have The Faded Sun Trilogy on my shelf but haven't read it yet. . ."

This is my favorite by far of the Cherryh I've read. It's some of her early work, and so the pacing is kind of rough, but the central metaphor is absolutely brilliant and really packs an emotional punch (for me at least).

Plus my mom, who never remembers anything about anything she reads (often times not even whether or not she's read it!), has on multiple occasions said it's the best thing she's read in the past. . . well, now it'd be 15 years.

:D

[Deedee]

I recently finished Among Others. Excellent! I recommend it. Among Others was the second book by Jo Walton that I've read (the other one was the highly entertaining Tooth and Claw ) and I shall move her other books up my TBR. I'm also doing a re-read of A Game of Thrones (only 50 more pages to go). I first read A Game of Thrones the summer of 2001. The ending was a wow! I decided then that I wanted to re-read it before going on to A Clash of Kings .... and then it took me almost a decade before I got around to a re-read. http://www.towerofthehand.com/books/101/ is helpful in keeping the numerous characters straight, and the HBO series has helped me visualize the characters. My 2 cents: Martin does have heroes in his novel; they are Tyrion and Daenerys; additionally, Martin also has a strange antipathy to Starks, especially Eddard and Catelyn. I'm glad I re-read A Game of Thrones. I'm going to wait a week or two and then start on my first reading of A Clash of Kings.

I'm also just beginning Daughter of the Forest (with the hope that Juliet Marillier will be kinder to the characters I like than George R.R. Martin is to the characters I like in his series).

I started reading When Gravity Fails when it first came out in the 1980s and wound up tossing it after a chapter or two. I don't care for stories about thugs in the underworld and their shady dealings, and I vaguely remember that being the point of When Gravity Fails.

Instead, I'm planning to read Snow Crash, mainly because I have a copy that I bought when it first came out in 1992 that I haven't read yet, plus a couple of blogs I've read recently have mentioned it, so it's up on my list. I also have Tanith Lee's novel The Silver Metal Lover near at hand .... gotta love the cover:

[Jan]

Just finished Ten Ruby Trick, which was a wonderful mix of fantasy, swashbuckling adventure and a dash of romance, but underneath that was a story about freedom and what it's worth, and the dangers of Utopian society's.

The magic system was extremely original, the three main characters were very well rounded, and it had one of the more meatier antagonists (leaning to anti-hero) I've encountered in a while.

[Janny]

I am all caught up on my CJ Cherryh titles, having finished the last Chanur and the latest, Betrayer.

Also caught up on two nonfiction titles for my local book club.

Debating which of two temptations to start now:
The Soul Mirror or Seer of Sevenwaters.

[Ken]

Deedee wrote: "Instead, I'm planning to read Snow Crash, mainly because I have a copy that I bought when it first came out in 1992 that I haven't read yet, plus a couple of blogs I've read recently have mentioned it, so it's up on my list"

Snow Crash is pretty good. I read it many years ago. Everything from Stephenson is pretty amazing, well except his Trilogy