What Else Are You Reading - January 2012 Edition

[Elianara]

Picked up The Heir of Night when I was at the bookstore, sounded just like my style of a book. Going to get in a few pages every now and then when I get tired of Rule 34. Also listening to Sleeping Murder as an audio book.

[Pernell]

Finishing up A Dance With Dragons, Mistborn: Final Empire, and The Dervish House. Then probably the 2nd Mistborn book and Brasyl.

[Dana]

Since the first have finished Wizard's First Rule, rereadEnder's Game, and readA Death In Vienna, World War Z: An Oral History of the Zombie War, and am currently reading J.R.R. Tolkien: A Biography, and Echo Park.
On the nightstand waiting to be read are Stone of Tears and The Tears of the Sun.
I received an IPad for Christmas and have started to plunge into the world of e-books. "World War Z" was my first. Have been pretty happy with the selection of books available from the library - looking at rereading the john Cater series.

[terpkristin]

While hunting for a book on my bookshelf, I came across a pile of dead tree books (about 10 or so) that I had never read. I guess I kind of ignore my bookshelves now that I'm so wrapped up in ebooks (Kindle mostly) and audiobooks.

I've decided that once I finish Rule 34 (hopefully later today), I'll start tackling that pile. Up first will be Geek Mafia. I hope to read at least 30 minutes each night from these "found" books...

[Ryan]

I finished Abraham Lincoln Vampire Hunter this weekend and holy cow, it was great! I went into it with low expectations and came out more than a little impressed.

[Jenny (Reading Envy)]

Tom wrote: "I am trying to read some more classics. Just finished Gulliver's Travels. Starting Lord of the Flies next. Anyone have suggestions?"
On the Road, Les Misérables, anything by E. M. Forster, 1984.....

I just finished up Frangipani: A Novel for my Around the World reading challenge. I'm re-listening to Snow Crash, and reading Alif the Unseen on my iPad. Gut Symmetries is on my nightstand, and now I'll test drive Rule 34 and Millennium People to decide what comes next.

[Pickle]

im reading Star Wars: The Thrawn Trilogy with a view to reading The Master and Margarita if i have time.

[Aeryn98]

I have now finished Valentine's Rising. So far this is my favorite Vampire Earth book. And now I have moved on to The Reapers Are the Angels by Alden Bell. This has to be the most philosophical and poetic zombie book I have ever read (listened to).
Definite thumbs up!

[Don]

Finished The Rogue and started Sisterhood of Dune. Plan to start Royal Assassin after finishing Assassin's Apprentice on Audible.

[Alfredo]

I am reading and thoroughly enjoying Distrust That Particular Flavor, it has been great for my convalescence from a collarbone operation.

[Been]

Just finished reading Snow Crash. While I enjoyed it to a point I thought that the ending was pretty lacking. I found the plot dumps came out in clumps that were a little too heavy at times too.

Next up, starting on my 2012 reading challenge with Skulduggery Pleasant.

[January]

I am trying to split my time between A Discovery of Witches and Skyrim. Skyrim is winning.

[Samus5678]

Scorpia Rising by Anthony Horowitz, Hunger Games, Hunt for Red October.

[Elianara]

Finished with Sleeping Murder so my next audiobook will be Ordeal by Innocence. Went by the library, got home with a pile of books. First one out is Graceling in Swedish (Tankeläsaren). The Heir of Night is still on my currently reading list too.

[Keith]

Splitting my time between the third Dresden Files book, Grave Peril (finished the first two in a week -- never read any of them before) and George Mann's The Affinity Bridge

[Kate]

I found a copy of Angels of the Deep in the ebooks folder on my computer. I think I probably got it in a giveaway but really I have no memory of acquiring it.
It seems to be about the nephilim, which are my favourite part of biblical mythology, so I'm giving it a go.

[AndrewP]

Dana wrote: "Have been pretty happy with the selection of books available from the library - looking at rereading the john Cater series. "

FYI- All the John Carter books are in the public domain and therefore available for free at a number of places on the internet. Some of them are also available as free Librivox audio books.

[Amy]

I'm currently reading Percepliquis, which I started yesterday.

Before that was:
The Return of the Dapper Men
Wake Up and Dream
Mechanique: A Tale of the Circus Tresaulti
Shadow's Edge
and Hammered

I'll probably read Empire State next.

The third novella in Myths of Origin: Four Short Novels is going slowly, mostly because I haven't been in the right head space lately for such flowery prose. And I'm a third of the way through Great Expectations.

I'm doing better than I thought I might this month, since I'm working extra hours at work AND skipping breaks just to keep up. Serves me right for working in the office of a fitness company...January is resolution season!

[terpkristin]

I started Geek Mafia. I'm noticing a trend for me, stated by S&L, of reading techno-thriller books.

I'm enjoying this one more than Rule 34 but I will say, this one also was endorsed by Cory Doctorow (or so the blurb on the back indicates) so this might be another "rule breaker" in terms of his recommendations. ;) (Ready Player One was another he endorsed that I quite liked)

With the last two "sci-fi" S&L picks being techno-thriller type books, I kinda hope that next time we do something a little more....classic.

[Kris]

terpkristin wrote: "I started Geek Mafia. I'm noticing a trend for me, stated by S&L, of reading techno-thriller books.

I'm enjoying this one more than Rule 34 but I will say, this one a..."

Terp you should pick the book...throw it out there and see what happens...

[Sean]

Just received a copy of MM9 by Hiroshi Yamamoto, which is basically Torchwood vs Godzilla.

[Jlawrence, S&L Moderator]

Just started A Canticle for Leibowitz (the first on my 'read these books in 2012' challenge list), and making my way through The Making of The Empire Strikes Back.

[Jenny (Reading Envy)]

Jlawrence wrote: "Just started A Canticle for Leibowitz (the first on my 'read these books in 2012' challenge list)"
Have you ever read it before? I never have, and have always meant to!

[Ryan]

Just cracked the cover of The Magicians by Lev Grossman.

[Jlawrence, S&L Moderator]

Jenny wrote: "Jlawrence wrote: "Just started A Canticle for Leibowitz (the first on my 'read these books in 2012' challenge list)"
Have you ever read it before? I never have, and have always meant..."

I started it when I was in high school, I think, and liked it a lot but got thrown off by a certain plot development early on (I won't spoil) and put it down. But I've always meant to go back and read it through, and finally am doing so!

[Shaun]

Finishing up pillars of creation by terry goodkind, then I think I might reread Dragonflight by Ann McCaffery. Think I'm gonna skip rule 34 though. I'm kinda anal about reading series books sequentially, even when their stand alone, and honestly neither one of them seem interesting to me. Empire state looks interesting though.

[Lindsay]

Reading a unique book that is a blend of ya fantasy, adventure, mystery and suspense. The book is by an indie writer and I'm actually liking it. It's a short read, which I like. Due to my crazy home life, I don't have the time to invest in books over 300 pages.

LightMasters: Number 13 by
M.G. Wells

[Linguana]

I have been surprisingly absorbed by Jonathan Safran Foer's Eating Animals for the last few days. Didn't think I'd actually like it, carnivore that I am. But it is quite good.

[Patrick]

Currently finishing up A Dance With Dragons, then I want to jump in on a list of 15 great sci-fi classics. I'll probably start that list with A Brave New World and read it concurrently with the big Steve Jobs biography. I don't really know if I'll get anything out of the comparison but I'm kind of curious to find out.

[Tracy]

Just got Shadows in Flight in the mail so will be starting on it this evening,working on Empire State also

[Joe]

Finished Geek Love about a week ago and just finished Big Questions. Both were very strange in their own ways, and were also both very good. Currently, I am reading The Toaster Project to get a start on my vow to read more non fiction this year.

[Kevin]

I'm rereading Gardens of the Moon right now, not really understanding it the first time around.

[Joseph]

I just finished Dawn, H. Rider Haggard's first novel (Victorian romance with none of the lost race/adventure elements he'd later be known for) and started The Last Unicorn by Peter S. Beagle, which I'd somehow never quite gotten around to previously.

[T. Scott]

Today I finished listening to Ready Player One. Loved it! So now I am listening to Flowers for Algernon and reading The Well of Ascension.

[AndrewP]

So far this year I have been working through a few small books that I had hanging around the place. Time to get back to The Sword of Truth series with #5 Faith of the Fallen. (Determined to finish up this series this year if I can.)

[Teadragon]

Just finished "Mistborn" by Brandon Sanderson. I'm glad S&L pointed me towards his books! I'm also listening to A Game of Thrones in audiobook format, and thinking about picking up the whole series in paperback so that I can rip into them full-speed-ahead(audiobooks are so much more slow than actually reading the book).

[Soo]

I finished Fifty Shades Freed. It's not my favorite book of the trilogy. Too many bits that didn't work for me in this book. I knew it was losing my interest when I kept taking breaks to read random short stories.

Going back to my pile:


Skimming/Rereading:

[terpkristin]

Kris wrote: "Terp you should pick the book...throw it out there and see what happens..."

In the spirit of trying this out, and since V & T sometimes come in here to look for book suggestions, I'm going to try this. :D

After thinking about it long and hard, doing a lot of Google searches for "best science fiction" and "classic science fiction" and the like, I came across the site SffMeta.com. I clicked the link for "All-Time High Scores" and the first science fiction book listed was one that I know some S&L'ers are currently reading (I'm looking at you, JLawrence). The book is A Canticle for Leibowitz which I've heard of but never really knew what it was about. Now, looking at the description, I think it fits the bill perfectly for our next science fiction read. What's better,I think that there are enough people here who have read it that they can probably help "moderate" some of the discussion (like Josh did with Shadow and Claw). So...Veronica and Tom, if you're reading this, what say you? For our next sci fi pick, let's do a true classic, eh?

[Jenny (Reading Envy)]

I haven't ever read it but always wanted to.

[Kris]

I vote Yes....

[AndrewP]

Sounds like a good suggestion. The only objection might be that, from the brief synopsis, it sounds a bit like Anathem.

[terpkristin]

I picked up Geek Mafia in earnest yesterday (after reading the first 50 pages or so over the last week) and finished it this morning. It wasn't particularly good, but it was enjoyable.

I think that now I'm going to read the Dunk and Egg stories from Legends, Legends II, and Warriors. Then I'll probably read the rest of the stories from Legends. I like the idea of a book of short stories, to fill in the gaps between the next S&L pick and audiobooks.

[Kate]

I just finished The Sea Thy Mistress, which was gorgeous.

I'm now back to working on The Cold Commands, which I abandoned some time before Christmas. I'm hoping it's gotten better in the intervening time.

[Jenny (Reading Envy)]

I started The Postmortal, one of the nominees for the Phillip K. Dick award. Pretty readable, looking back on a period in history where people had found out how to cure aging.

[Been]

Just finished reading Skulduggery Pleasant. Really good YA Urban Fantasy story about magic, good vs. evil, and skeleton detectives. I'm going to leap straight into the next book in the series, Playing with Fire.

[Tamahome]

Jenny wrote: "I started The Postmortal, one of the nominees for the Phillip K. Dick award. Pretty readable, looking back on a period in history where people had found out how to cure aging."

That was one of Sfsignal's favorite books of the year. They're listed in the comments.

http://www.sfsignal.com/archives/2012...

[Joseph]

Finished The Last Unicorn and started The End Of The Story: The Collected Fantasies Of Clark Ashton Smith Volume 1.

[Tom, Supreme Laser]

I'm not agains Canticle, but I also believe it has been cartoon long since we had a book with actual freaking spaceships in it.

[Bree]

I like my spaceships full of warrior princesses, telepathic dragons, and legions of the undead.

[Joseph]

Bree wrote: "I like my spaceships full of warrior princesses, telepathic dragons, and legions of the undead."

I would buy at least ten copies of this book.