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

[edbro]

Originally Posted by slenderperson1

If you like this book you will want to read "Packing for Mars" by Mary Roach. Sounds similar. Behinds the scenes look at training and experience. Who gets selected per psychological tests, etc. I'm only on the third chapter and can't put it down.

And of course the classic The Right Stuff by Tom Wolfe.

[SeaBookGuy]

Originally Posted by slenderperson1

If you like this book you will want to read "Packing for Mars" by Mary Roach. Sounds similar. Behinds the scenes look at training and experience. Who gets selected per psychological tests, etc. I'm only on the third chapter and can't put it down.

KUCI's "Writers on Writing" podcast archive contains an interview with her about the book. I've not read anything of hers yet, but I think I'd prefer "Spook" instead.

[Crusader]

Originally Posted by slenderperson1

If you like this book you will want to read "Packing for Mars" by Mary Roach. Sounds similar. Behinds the scenes look at training and experience. Who gets selected per psychological tests, etc. I'm only on the third chapter and can't put it down.

Wait till you get to the part where she explains the working of and training for using the space toilet!

"See the funny puppet? Watch his mouth. What's he saying? He's saying 'Oooo-aaaah-oooo'."

[Rumpelteazer]

I finished my fifth book of the year today: The Cat Who Ate Danish Modern, the second in the Cat Who series, by Lilian Jackson Braun. It's a reread, I've read it about 15 years ago I think. Clearly back then I read the series not in the right order because in my recollection Yum Yum is a much later addition.

Now I've started with 1st to Die by James Patterson, the first in the Women's Murder Club series. I liked the short-lived tv-series, not so sure about the first book though. It's a quick read but I am getting irritated with the extremely short chapters and constant shifting of POV.

[captobvs]

Finished reading Feists' Magician: Apprentice/Master and decided to switch gears for awhile. I am now reading Dominant Species by Michael E. Marks.

[ATDrake]

Finished the non-fiction semi-biographical history George, Nicholas and Wilhelm: Three Royal Cousins and the Road to World War I, by Miranda Carter.

The thesis seems to be that the breakdown of the close familial relationship between European royals of the Victorian Era is kind of paralleled by the breakdown of general European relations over the same period, expressed via the case study of three of Queen Victoria's grandsons, who just happened to be the heads of their respective empires.

It's one of those "the personal is political" things as two out of three basically insecure neurotics who were coddled in their youth and never experienced real adversity or were properly trained to handle real power and a nasty habit of firing all the actually competent people nevertheless got their hands on just enough of it to do real damage. The other was King George of England and his portions of the book might as well have been assigned to his father King Edward, who had far greater influence on the actual events that the author is trying to tie together.

But it was interesting enough for some of the personal glimpses into the characters of the three rulers and the people surrounding them. Bit of a slog in the middle, as they mostly led really amazingly boring personal lives until they suddenly got more exciting towards the end.

Mild recommend for people interested in that era or late European royalty or family feuds conducted at the distance of several countries over a number of decades.

Now as part of a concerted effort to finish library books I've had lying around way too long, on John Zakour and Lawrence Ganem's Ballistic Babes, an omnibus collection of two comic near-future sf novels starring a beset PI with a snarky AI assistant who in the first novel has to protect a retiring teen-pop starlet from death threats received from PATA (People Against Talentless Acts), all as part of a reality show.

Took me a few chapters to get into, as the setting uses a lot of faux-futuristic pop culture slang (nano for second, sharks for lawyers, etc.) and it seems to have been based on Hollywood media gone mad, but I think I'm liking it and might go have a look at the other books (these are 3rd and 4th in a series) after I'm done.

[BearMountainBooks]

Originally Posted by Rumpelteazer

Now I've started with 1st to Die by James Patterson, the first in the Women's Murder Club series. I liked the short-lived tv-series, not so sure about the first book though. It's a quick read but I am getting irritated with the extremely short chapters and constant shifting of POV.

That would be why I have never made it through a J. Patterson book. My mom, OTOH LOVES those books because of the short chapters and different POVs...

[WT Sharpe]

Originally Posted by Fbone

Just completed Speaks the Nightbird by Robert McCammon and thought it was well written but did have a few plot holes maybe as a result of some aggressive editing to keep it under 800 pages. I would list them but don't know how to do the "spoiler" link.

Next will be The Doomsday Book by Connie Willis.

At the bottom of the Quick Reply box, you'll see a link that says "Go Advanced". Then, just over the new text box, you'll see an eye icon with a red "X" over the eye. Select the text you want enclosed in the spoiler tags and click on the eye icon. That should do the trick! Hope that helps!

[kennyc]

Originally Posted by WT Sharpe

At the bottom of the Quick Reply box, you'll see a link that says "Go Advanced". Then, just over the new text box, you'll see an eye icon with a red "X" over the eye. Select the text you want enclosed in the spoiler tags and click on the eye icon. That should do the trick! Hope that helps!

Is THAT what that is. I've been typing them in manually all this time.

Nice work Mr. Moderator....go ahead and take the rest of the day off, you've earned it.

[WT Sharpe]

Originally Posted by kennyc

Is THAT what that is. I've been typing them in manually all this time.

Nice work Mr. Moderator....go ahead and take the rest of the day off, you've earned it.

Can I take the night off from my government job?

BTW, that wasn't a Moderator post. That was just me being my normal nice self in hopes of one day calling in the favors!

[Rumpelteazer]

Originally Posted by BearMountainBooks

That would be why I have never made it through a J. Patterson book. My mom, OTOH LOVES those books because of the short chapters and different POVs...

I tried reading his The Murder of King Tut but stopped after less than 100 pages because of the short chapter (often not even needed since the same POV continued in the next chapter). So I kinda knew what I was starting.

It reads fast and I do like the story in itself so I'll finish it.

[kennyc]

Originally Posted by WT Sharpe

Can I take the night off from my government job?

..

Sure, it's fine by me.

[Care]

I have read books 2 and 3 in the In Death series. I really like these books.

I then took a break and read Nyphron Rising, book 3 in the Riyria Revelations. I thought the first half was a bit slow, but the second half really was awesome. I think Arista is now one of my favourite characters in this series. Her character growth in this book was great and she really stepped up and was so kick ass by the end. I loved it.

I read a YA fantasy called The Replacement which is about a boy who was switched at birth by some type of fae like creatures. I was supposed to be dark and creepy, but I found it kind of boring.

I am now re-reading The Eye of the World, book one in the wheel of Time series. I am reading it along with a friend who reads very slowly so it will take me longer that usual to finish.

I think I am also going to start Cruel Enchantment, which is a fae PNR.

[Fbone]

Originally Posted by WT Sharpe

At the bottom of the Quick Reply box, you'll see a link that says "Go Advanced". Then, just over the new text box, you'll see an eye icon with a red "X" over the eye. Select the text you want enclosed in the spoiler tags and click on the eye icon. That should do the trick! Hope that helps!

Thank you

Spoiler:

1. Where was Rachel's testimony? Why didn't she take the stand?
2. Two circus performers managed to meet in a settlement in Carolina?
3. What ailment killed the magistrate? It couldn't have been strep throat.
4. A man untrained in combat manages to kill a bear an entire Indian tribe could not?
5. Shawcombe murders all these people and no one notices?
6. How would Rachel survive in the settlement? No food.
7. An Indian in Spanish territory speaks French?

It works!

[kennyc]

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