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

[alansplace]

i finished the star svensdotter trilogy this morning. during the reading of the first book, second star, i was so enthralled with the experience that i sent this comment to dana stabenow about it in a pm on goodreads:

alansplace said to Dana:
i have read the first two kate shugak books and enjoyed them immensely. then yesterday i got the first star svensdotter book and am approaching the halfway point in my reading of it. i really really like it and, in fact, i feel like i'm reading a brand new heinlein novel. thanks a lot!!!
--
Alan

then i immediately purchased the other two books in the series from here using the 'Buy direct from me' link (in the case of the first book that's offered for free you can use the 'Download FREE from Stabenow.com' link). they are inexpensive ($4.99) and you get both mobi and epub versions that are uncontaminated by drm

[jersysman]

I also purchased Fatal Flaw from the Dana Stabenow web site (thanks alansplace for the links). I liked the first book and hope I'll like the second. I like getting decent books at a quality price.

[Billsuits1]

I am on page 800 of Gone with the Wind. Less than 200 to go to finish it. Started one week ago, too. Easy read for me.

Next up is V is for Vengeance by Sue Grafton. Can't wait!

[Kevin8or]

Originally Posted by Billsuits1

I am on page 800 of Gone with the Wind. Less than 200 to go to finish it.

How is it compared to the film?

[Billsuits1]

Originally Posted by Kevin8or

How is it compared to the film?

I started reading it more for the history of the Civil War and Reconstruction than the romance story, but the romance story is very good and I see why so many people like that aspect.

It is very different than the movie to me. There are things that are completly different, and parts that never showed up in the movie. I still read the book as if the movie actors are speaking the parts!

PM me and I can elaborate if you would like but I won't release any spoilers to ruin it for others who are waiting to read it.

It is a super easy read. The pages just turn and turn. Very well written.

[Kevin8or]

I understand. Historical fiction is a great way to learn about other time periods. (As long as the non-fictional aspects are historically accurate)

[covingtoncat73]

Originally Posted by Kevin8or

I understand. Historical fiction is a great way to learn about other time periods. (As long as the non-fictional aspects are historically accurate)

I had a history prof. who would assign one historical fiction novel to read per semester. For the Stuart England class I took, it was Devil in Velvet by John Dickson Carr, a fun read!

Originally Posted by Billsuits1

I started reading it more for the history of the Civil War and Reconstruction than the romance story, but the romance story is very good and I see why so many people like that aspect.

It is very different than the movie to me. There are things that are completly different, and parts that never showed up in the movie. I still read the book as if the movie actors are speaking the parts!

PM me and I can elaborate if you would like but I won't release any spoilers to ruin it for others who are waiting to read it.

It is a super easy read. The pages just turn and turn. Very well written.

When I was young I loved Gone with the Wind, the book and film, but now that I am older I have a more nuanced perspective about it. There is no doubt that it is a very will written romantic novel set at the time of the American Civil War. Now though I realize that when it was written it was also a clever piece of propaganda for the revisionist history of the Southern secession and Civil War as a noble lost cause and a not so subtle defense of the Jim Crow that prevailed at the time the book was written.

Well fiddle-dee-dee. The antebellum South was just perfect until those nasty old Yankees came down and ruined everything [for wealthy white slaveholders].

So anyway I have finished Spring Snow and am now immersed in the next book in Mishima's tetralogy, Runaway Horses.

[WT Sharpe]

I'm Reading William James' Talks To Teachers On Psychology: And To Students On Some Of Life's Ideals. One of the copies I have is this one, which is $2.15 at Amazon. It contains a biography of William James, which I read, and which towards the end contains the line "On the other hand, a spiritualist believes that mental events are attributed to the soul.[citation needed]" Sure enough, whoever compiled that book lifted the bio straight out of Wikipedia (unless the Wikipedia author was the same person who compiled that book, which I doubt). Have people no shame? There's not one word of credit in that bio to let the reader know the source from which it comes.

Disgusting.

[ATDrake]

Finished another handful of paid e-book purchases since last I wrote.

The Dangerous Book For Demon Slayers by Angie Fox however, was not one of them. This I noticed was due at the library yesterday, so accordingly I read and returned it then. It also marks a break in my apparently 2-month long pattern of having read mysteries and historicals (and historical mysteries) pretty much exclusively for fiction (with the exception of one nostalgia skim-reread). I've been feeling dragon-deprived and going into withdrawal, to be honest.

I'm still feeling dragon-deprived, as TDBFDS is actually a paranormal romantic comedy with no dragons in sight.

But it does have a roadkill-flinging senior citizen biker gang witch coven, which is what got me to read the first book in the series, The Accidental Demon Slayer when it was a freebie last year from Dorchester, with whom Fox has currently broken away from to self-publish her backlist in the wake of their author royalties non-payment issue.

Much like the 1st book, newbie demon slayer Lizzie is coming to terms with the suddenly revealed weirdness of her status quo after having abandoned her previously perfectly normal unsuspecting suburban life when her secret heritage manifested itself with a demonic portal on the toilet seat.

This episode in the series introduces a bit more of the hidden demonslaying world by having Lizzie try to prevent a succubus with an agenda from dragging her fairy godfather to the altar of a Las Vegas all-nite wedding chapel, while not-dealing with her feelings for her hot sexy protective shapeshifting guardian griffin, which relationship-denial does not in the least prevent them from having hot sex anyway.

As with the magickal casino in Mercedes Lackey's urban fantasy series, I am deeply disappointed that there were no elvish Elvis impersonators anywhere to be seen.

But the rest of it fairly amusing and the world-building is mostly played for laughs, with Lizzie having to undergo a driving test-like licensing process before she can Go Forth and Slay Again (with appropriate learner's permit supervision), saving the serious bits for the emotional drama and angst of being The Slayer.

Thus far a nice light comedic series with the romantic parts not overdone. Writing not great but pretty decent and overall good clean silly fun and recommended if you like such.

I'll look for the other remaining books at the library and might get the e-book versions if they're bundled up at discount pricing, or perhaps the German-language translation of the 1st book for language practice since it looks like that one's couponable at Kobo while the author's self-published versions don't go through Smashwords and may not be further discountable.

[Steve_D]

Well I finished The American... meh, it was "OK". I am now moving on to The Corner by David Simon & Ed Burns. This may take a while as I don't get much time to read

[orlok]

Originally Posted by nigel p bird

I've just finished The Point by Gerard Brennan. If we ever need a new Bateman, he's the man.

I'm also in the middle of The Brothers Sisters - after a slow start, I'm now won over by the magically spinning tale.

nigel

K for the Brennan tip - I'm a big Bateman fan and have neaver heard of Brennan.

Just finished The Sisters Brothers myself, and agree, it started unsurely but turned into a little gem. I enjoyed the language especially, which I found quite authentic (what do I know?), almost like reading something from the period.

[tecweston]

Currently reading:

- The Night Strangers by Chris Bohjalian (40%)

- A Storm of Swords by George R. R. Martin (61%)

- 1Q84 by Haruki Murakami (25%)

eBooks I will be reading as soon as I finish these:

- 11/22/63 by Stephen King

- The Night Eternal by Guillermo del Toro and Chuck Hogan

- God, No: Signs You May Already Be an Atheist and Other Magical Tales by Penn Jillette

- The House of Silk: A Sherlock Holmes Novel by Anthony Horowitz

eBooks I'm on the waiting list for at my library:

- Damned by Chuck Palahniuk

[HomeInMyShoes]

Originally Posted by Steve_D

Well I finished The American... meh, it was "OK". I am now moving on to The Corner by David Simon & Ed Burns. This may take a while as I don't get much time to read

Please let us know what you think. This has been on my radar for at least a year now.

[Kevin8or]

Originally Posted by Steve_D

I am now moving on to The Corner by David Simon & Ed Burns.

I loved Simon's HBO show "The Wire." Loved, loved, loved. Simon's Homicide: A Year on the Killing Streets is in my to-read stack, but The Corner looks just as good.


status update: The Passage (Justin Cronin) is taking longer to read than I'd anticipated.