What are you reading? And why?

[Lawrence]

I suspect the odds are good that if you've joined this group you're the sort of person who has more books (or at least lists of books) than time to read them. And bastards like me keep writing new ones! That's probably the biggest downside that so many of my friends are also authors -- I want to read all their stuff!

So, pop in, tell me what you're reading, and why out of all the choices of things you could have read next, you picked that one!

[Rick]

I am reading "The Difference Engine" as source material in preparation to write "Fishpunk."

[Lawrence]

Rick wrote: "I am reading "The Difference Engine" as source material in preparation to write "Fishpunk.""

Ah, I thought you were just reading it for the halibut.

[K.R.]

I'm reading 'The Apocalypse Gene' by Carlyle Clark and Suki Michelle. It's a YA adventure; a wonderful blend of sci fi and fantasy set in a near-future Chicago.

Lyle & Suki are friends through one of my writers groups. I read the manuscript when it was being workshopped. The novel was released in October, and I just couldn't wait to read the final product.

[Lawrence]

Karin, I know exactly how you feel. It's a wonderful thing to see someone else's book through from the early stages of its creation to actually holding the finished, published thing in your hands and read it, appreciating all the subtle (and sometimes not so subtle) changes that the author has made to bring it to that point.

[Leah]

Lawrence wrote: "Rick wrote: "I am reading "The Difference Engine" as source material in preparation to write "Fishpunk.""

Ah, I thought you were just reading it for the halibut."

That's the most ridiculous thing I ever heard.

[Leah]

I'm reading "The Duchess of Malfi: Seven Masterpieces of Jacobean Drama" by Frank Kermode and probably will be reading it for several weeks. I'm a Shakespeare fan and thought I should expand my horizons.

[The Pirate Ghost]

I'm reading 1984by Orwell. and The Altman Codeby Ludlum. I just finished Rogue Hunter: Gaia #1: Into the Abyssand before that. The Mummy Case

That's bene in the last week or so.

[Owlseyes]

I am reading "El Judio errante" (The wandering Jew) by Eugene Sue.Why? Because I am also reading Umberto Eco's "O Cemitério de Praga"; here, there's a character (captain Simonini) who in his childhood read "El Judio errante"; and Simoni struggles with anti-Jews feelings...; so I wanted to know more about.

[Owlseyes]

"The Prague Cemetery", I meant,Eco's.

[Lawrence]

Leah wrote: "That's the most ridiculous thing I ever heard. "

Just stick around, there'll be much more ridiculous things here in no time.

[Lawrence]

Hugh, I am in envy and awe that you have the time/ability to get that much read in a week.

[Lawrence]

Nice to have you here, José, looks like you resolved that whole invitation issue.

[Owlseyes]

hey! simple: my Mozilla Firefox is nuts; so, I switched to Google Chrome,...trick done!
thanks.

[Nan]

I love anthologies. They are like a select box of chocolates prepared for one special taste or another. If I had a pile'o'money, I'd be trying to get more of them together. This is why I picked up "By Blood We Live" at the Library. Well, that and I was out of new books to read, no holds had come in yet. Plus, this editor had put together a zombie anthology I had enjoyed chewing my way through a couple summers ago, so I felt confident in his hands.

[Nayan]

Reading Dance with Dragons. Why? Well, GRRM made thousands of poor souls like me beg and grovel for this installment for years...would like to savor it while it lasts :)

[Jacqueline]

I'm reading Silence by Becca Fitzpatrick. It's #3 and I have enjoyed the series somewhat. Basically I break up hard SciFi and Erotica with some YA to keep it all balanced out. So far, 40%, it's jusk OK. I keep looking for another Hunger Games/Enderverse/Doc 5 (these are my fav)quality series, anyone?

[Lawrence]

Nan wrote: "I love anthologies."

Nan, speaking as a small press publisher who has put out four anthology (the last one, Cucurbital 2 , launched just last month), may I just say bless you.

[Lawrence]

Nayan wrote: "Reading Dance with Dragons."

Personally, I'm holding off, at least until the next one, because I know I'm going to want/need to go back and read all the books that came in front of it, just to hold the story all in my head. And I just can't spare the time right now. But some day...

[Lawrence]

Jacqueline wrote: "I'm reading Silence by Becca Fitzpatrick."

I've seen a lot of people here on GoodReads are reading that, but I'm not acquainted with the author or her series. Hmm... perhaps I should add at least the first book to my "to be read" list.

[The Pirate Ghost]

Lawrence wrote: "Hugh, I am in envy and awe that you have the time/ability to get that much read in a week."

I don't have that much time. I use the "text to speach" feature on my Kindle. Appaerantly I'm one of a few people who can traslate the sanitized computer voice into scenes, pictures and imagine voices etc, without reading it myself or having a narrator do it for me.

So I play the kindle in txt to speach mode while walking my dog (about 40mins a day before work more often than not) while ironing my clothes for work and driving to work. I bring the kindle with me to appointments anything I have and listen on the way, then read while there and of course on the way home. When I'm lucky, I get time in the evening after the kids are in bed to read.

[Jacqueline]

If you to-read Hush Hush please don't hold it against me. It's very YA. If you are looking to expand your horizons try Gabriel's Ghost by Linnea Sinclaire. I just finished all 4 in that series (Doc 5),they were outstanding.

[K.R.]

Lawrence wrote: "Nayan wrote: "Reading Dance with Dragons."

Personally, I'm holding off, at least until the next one, because I know I'm going to want/need to go back and read all the books that came in front of i..."

Me too. Although I may not hold out until the next one is released; we'll see. . .

[Nayan]

Karin wrote: "Lawrence wrote: "Nayan wrote: "Reading Dance with Dragons."

Personally, I'm holding off, at least until the next one, because I know I'm going to want/need to go back and read all the books that..."

Going by the pace at which GRRM is writing books, I may be a doddering old fool when I get to read the entire completed series at one go (I think he will take at least another 10-12 years to do so)...LOL..
On a serious note, he IS a great writer..

[S]

On the GRRM note, I actually started the series this year, so as to not be out of touch with discussions of the HBO version. Stalled out at the start of the 3rd book, but I'll be back.

Right now, I'm reading The Cambridge Companion to Science Fiction. I review everything I read and have been feeling like I want a better criticism/literary analysis toolkit. This has been on my shelf a while, but browsing through the new SF Encyclopedia revived my excitement about writing about science fiction.

[Lawrence]

Yikes! I can't help but worry how my own work would fare when measured by such a standard. I'm just trying to tell a good story. Now you've got me wondering what kind of review you might give to Buffalito Destiny if you get to it.

[Lawrence]

For the last few months, most of my reading time has been spent on things that colleagues had sent me for award nomination consideration. Then when the Nebula ballot came out, I started reading items on it that I hadn't gotten to you. Once I had my ballot turned in, I read through a small stack of YA and middle grade works that had been recommended (with some overlap of the Nebs list). Now I've finally gotten back to a bit of pleasure reading, a book I'd been wanting to get to for so long that I've already bought the next one in the sequence (sheesh!).

So, on the one hand, I've been getting a lot of reading in, but at the same time, I don't think I've been reading enough of the many things I want to read as well as the things I need to read (professionally speaking).

[K.R.]

Right now I'm reading The Dovekeepers because Terri-Lynne DeFino told me to. It was a little slow-going the first 40 pages or so, but now I'm really enjoying it.

[Kate]

I'm starting Gail Carriger's Timeless.

I believe that will finish the Parasol Protectorate series.

[Lawrence]

Kate wrote: "I'm starting Gail Carriger's Timeless."

Kate, I'm about to start reading Timeless myself. I just added it to my "currently reading" list.

[Kate]

"Kate, I'm about to start reading Timeless myself. I just added it to my "currently reading" list."

Cool, I really can't wait to find out what happens with Alexia, Lord Maccon, and the others.

[Brian]

Currently reading Bradley P. Beaulieu's The Straits of Galahesh. Enjoyed the first book and this is the sequal. Fantasy, a mix of old Russian and Persian cultures. I just finished The Hunger Games and 1634: The Baltic War by eric Flint in the last couple of weeks. All Great books!

[Lawrence]

Brian wrote: "Currently reading Bradley P. Beaulieu's The Straits of Galahesh."

I don't think I've ever met him, but I'm a member of an online community with Bradley and we've certainly exchanged comments across a variety of threads there. I've not gotten around to reading his stuff yet, but your post reminds me that, at the very least, I need to invite him over to my blog to participate in EATING AUTHORS.

[David]

Right now I am reading the auto biography of Mark Twain. I am reading it because I wanted a look into the mind of one of our country's literary giants.

[Lawrence]

David wrote: "Right now I am reading the auto biography of Mark Twain."

That sounds quite enjoyable. I've read biographical pieces on Twain in the past, but always filtered through the biographer's lens. Viewing Twain's perspective on his own life and accomplishments sounds compelling.

Quite by coincidence, I've just read a story submission (I'm currently reading for the next volume of Cucurbital, through the end of June) about one of Twain's daughters.