Hey!! Let's get some action going! What are we reading?

[gmw]

Originally Posted by JoelArnold

Finally read Frank Herbert's classic DUNE over the weekend. It's one I've wanted to read for a long time. I enjoyed it - I thought the world-building aspect of it was amazing. Has anyone read any of the rest of this series? And if so, did you like them?

That depends what you mean by "the rest of the series". It's gotten a lot bigger since I gave up on it.

I think Dune is a must-read classic and a great book. The next few, Dune Messiah, Children of Dune and God Emperor of Dune, I think are still worth reading, but they aren't up to the standard of the first. (Too much explanation and not enough story, at times I found them quite hard work. But the world of Dune is a fascinating place, and books are good enough, that I was content to keep going.)

Heretics of Dune I enjoyed quite a lot - more story/action than the previous books, but it did seem to end quite abruptly. Chapter House Dune starts well, but declines to a disappointing end - lots of interesting possibilities that never seem to go anywhere.

And that's about where I stopped. I have House Atreides, by Kevin J Anderson and Brian Herbert, on the shelf, but I don't remember much about it - it wasn't enough for me to go out and get the rest of the prelude.

[bfisher]

Just finished The Aviators: Eddie Rickenbacker, Jimmy Doolittle, Charles Lindbergh, and the Epic Age of Flight by Winston Groom (the author of Forest Gump).

Most of Groom's recent books have been about military history (Shiloh, Vicksburg, Kearny's March), so it isn't surprising that he tended to emphasize their military activities, when their (Rickenbacker and Lindbergh's) greatest contributions were to the development of commercial aviation. Still, a good introduction to three pioneer aviators, although a bit of a whitewash of Lindbergh's political activities.

[PurpleStar]

Started reading The Rose and the Thorn by Michael J. Sullivan. I so love this series and will miss it when I'm done reading it. It will definitely be RE-read someday.

[Ranny]

Originally Posted by pinklotus

I'm reading Hannah Kent's Burial Rites.

How is it? got mine in an audio book sale.

[Latinandgreek]

Originally Posted by PurpleStar

Started reading The Rose and the Thorn by Michael J. Sullivan. I so love this series and will miss it when I'm done reading it. It will definitely be RE-read someday.

I just read The Rose and the Thorn. I will definitely be re-reading the series too, probably sooner rather than later, I thoroughly enjoyed it.

[Yapyap]

I spent four days on the eARC of Knightley and Son by Rohan Gavin, which was really a rather short children's adventure/detective mystery, because I just kept putting it aside to shoot peas at some zombies or read the news or basically do anything that wasn't reading that book.

That said, I think it'll definitely have a happy readership (it seems to be aimed at boys around age 9, and I imagine they'd enjoy it quite a lot), but while there are plenty of middle-grade/children's adventure stories that cross over to adult readership well enough, offering something to both younger and older readers, this is probably not going to be one of them, at least in my opinion.

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by alansplace

Ah freebies. After finishing the freebie, Tall Man in Ray-Bans yesterday evening (I had quite enjoyed it) I was all but decided to start reading the very first book of Robert B. Parker's Spencer series since Jim Butcher almost always refers to this series as his favorite and I have never read even one of them nor ever seen any of the 'Spencer for Hire' TV shows. But I got a freebie this morning that appealed to me enough to make it next on my TBR list. From its metadata this paragraph both grabbed and excited me:

A chilling series of deaths strikes a writers' group in New York, leaving the remaining members to face the suspicion - and finally the certainty - that one of them is a psychopathic killer. Is a sequel to Agatha Christie's "And Then There Were None" being played out in their lives?

I do suggest you read the Spenser series in order as you could spoil things with character development by reading out of order.

[pdurrant]

Originally Posted by pdurrant

the latest in Elizabeth Moon's Paksenarrion Legacy series, Limits of Power.

Really enjoyed this, and not so much of a cliff-hanger as the last one, which is good as I don't know when the next one will be out!

Next up: The Casual Vacancy by J K Rowling. I picked this up in a sale for $1.49 out of curiosity. I'm not sure whether I'll finish it, but as I'm only a chapter or two in I'll give it a bit longer - we're just getting introduced to the characters at the moment.

[Yapyap]

Originally Posted by pdurrant

Really enjoyed this, and not so much of a cliff-hanger as the last one, which is good as I don't know when the next one will be out!

Next up: The Casual Vacancy by J K Rowling. I picked this up in a sale for $1.49 out of curiosity. I'm not sure whether I'll finish it, but as I'm only a chapter or two in I'll give it a bit longer - we're just getting introduced to the characters at the moment.

I'd give The Casual Vacancy a good try before deciding to discard it. It took a while for me to get going, but the way all the separate strands and threads tied together in the end, and the character .. well, I'm not sure I can really call it character growth, but with so many of them, there was a certain point where I suddenly understood a previously hated character a bit better, enough to near-sympathise with them, and for me, those revelations and moments made the book very much worth reading.

But it is a bit slow going at first, especially with the multiple POV characters and plot threads that don't seem to be connected or related at first.

[pilotbob]

Originally Posted by Yapyap

But it is a bit slow going at first, especially with the multiple POV characters and plot threads that don't seem to be connected or related at first.

Hmm... I guess you shouldn't read any G RR Martin stuff.

BOb

[kennyc]

Originally Posted by pilotbob

Hmm... I guess you shouldn't read any G RR Martin stuff.

BOb

I just finished MaddAddam by Margaret Atwood the third of a trilogy. It was great, but a lot of it was tied and tying characters and events together from the first two books and or revealing background and relationships that were previously unknown......

This made me think a bit of GRRM and more particularly about how writing trilogies and/or an ongoing series must feel very much like dancing on a tightroad above the crowd with no safety net.

and one must have to be some kind of magician to pull it off properly.

[kennyc]

Originally Posted by JoelArnold

Finally read Frank Herbert's classic DUNE over the weekend. It's one I've wanted to read for a long time. I enjoyed it - I thought the world-building aspect of it was amazing. Has anyone read any of the rest of this series? And if so, did you like them?

The first four or so books are good, through God Emperor of Dune... it kindof went downhill after that IMO.

[Yapyap]

Picked up Pirate King, the eleventh Mary Russell & Sherlock Holmes book by Laurie R. King. So far, so good, although I don't think it'll be one of my favourites in the series (but then, not every book can be a favourite).

Originally Posted by pilotbob

Hmm... I guess you shouldn't read any G RR Martin stuff.

BOb

No desire to. Ever.

And not because of multiple POVs. I don't mind them, not at all, and have read plenty of books with them, but they do make the process of reading slower compared to having a single POV and plot that moves forward in a straight line - I just mentioned it as something that may put some people off to start with.

[Dazrin]

Originally Posted by Dazrin

After taking most of the last week off from reading (playing games on my commute instead) I have started Blindsight by Peter Watts. This has excellent reviews and has been on my TBR list for a long time, so I am looking forward to it.

Just after I started this, my library sent me an email saying that the first Percy Jackson and the Olympians book, The Lightning Thief, was available, so I read that quickly and am now back to Blindsight. Percy Jackson was obviously written for a younger audience but was fun and fast paced, I have the next book on hold now. Certainly seems to be a good Harry Potter clone (follow a kid through his schooling, 1 main adventure/year style series.)

[BelleZora]

I recently read Miss Buncle's Book by D.E. Stevenson, a light-hearted, cozy, very English book written in the 1930's. I really enjoyed it. It's B&N's Free Friday offering today. Find it free at B&N, Amazon US, and Amazon CA.