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

[bfisher]

Midway through Miles Cameron's The Red Knight. Lots of fighting and magic, hints of the beginning of gunpowder, many characters and venues (needs a map). I will be looking forward to the sequel The Fell Sword release Jan 28 2014.

[xg4bx]

The King in Yellow by Robert W. Chambers

[mewmartigan]

Just finished "March to the Stars". Great series by Weber and Ringo but I am taking a break before "We Few" since the end of book made me sad.

During my break, I will be reading "2312" by Kim Stanley Robinson. I love his hard sci-fi stuff but was a little disappointed with Galileo's Dream. His forthcoming book, "Shaman" takes place in the Ice Age......might be interesting.

[leanansidhe]

I'm re-reading The Dresden Files series for the 4th time. Great series for anyone that loves Urban Fantasy. Some say the first couple of books were a bit slow but I've enjoyed every one of them over and over.

[bfisher]

I finished reading Roddy Doyle's new Barrytown novel The Guts. I am more impressed than ever by his use of dialogue. I am even more amazed that someone can write a book about cancer and aging without producing great depression in the reader. Fair play to yeh, Roddy Doyle.

[Dhevi]

Just started reading Emperor of Thorns by Mark Lawrence. Have been awaiting this book for a good while.

[alansplace]

Originally Posted by leanansidhe2

I'm re-reading The Dresden Files series for the 4th time. Great series for anyone that loves Urban Fantasy. Some say the first couple of books were a bit slow but I've enjoyed every one of them over and over.

Me too, though I haven't been posting about it here this time around, as it seemed somehow to be redundant to do so. Instead I've posted my progress in 'The Dresden Files' thread. I think this is also my fourth time reading the series, but I'm unsure of that as I seem to have lost track of the count. Of course each re-read I do gets just a bit longer as each new book in the series gets published. I'm one quarter of the way through the 7th book, so I'm almost halfway finished with this re-read! Then in December the fifteenth book gets published

[Yapyap]

I'm back to the Mary Russell series - nearly halfway done with Justice Hall, the sixth book, now, and again enjoying it quite a lot.

I find myself almost reluctant to take a break from this series after this one, but I know myself and I don't want to overdose on something I'm enjoying this much, as that might risk enjoying the later books in the series.

[HarryT]

Just finished "Partners In Crime" by Agatha Christie. This was her 11th book, and was originally published in 1929.

Although this book has an overall "plot", it's essentially a short story collection featuring "Tommy and Tuppence", who first appeared in Christie's 2nd novel, "The Secret Adversary". In this book they are running a detective agency, and each chapter (or sometimes 2 or 3 chapters) describes one of the cases they tackle.

The interesting twist in the book is that they are themselves big fans of detective fiction, and in each case they try to adopt the methods and quirks of a famous (famous at the time, that is - most of them are now long-forgotten to most modern readers) fictional detective. Thus in the first story they adopt the methods of R. Auston Freeman's forensic investigator Dr Thorndyke; in a later one they try to solve the crime in the manner of G.K. Chesterton's Father Brown, and so on. Amusingly, in the final story they adopt the methods of Christie's own Hercule Poirot, and poke fun at Poirot, and specifically at Christie's book of the previous year, "The Big Four" .

A fun book. Well worth reading.

[tompe]

Originally Posted by HarryT

The interesting twist in the book is that they are themselves big fans of detective fiction, and in each case they try to adopt the methods and quirks of a famous (famous at the time, that is - most of them are now long-forgotten to most modern readers) fictional detective. Thus in the first story they adopt the methods of R. Auston Freeman's forensic investigator Dr Thorndyke; in a later one they try to solve the crime in the manner of G.K. Chesterton's Father Brown, and so on. Amusingly, in the final story they adopt the methods of Christie's own Hercule Poirot, and poke fun at Poirot, and specifically at Christie's book of the previous year, "The Big Four" .

A book with a similar theme that I can recommend is The Poisoned Chocolates Case by Anthony Berkeley.

[pdurrant]

Originally Posted by HarryT

Just finished "Partners In Crime" by Agatha Christie. This was her 11th book, and was originally published in 1929.

Although this book has an overall "plot", it's essentially a short story collection featuring "Tommy and Tuppence", who first appeared in Christie's 2nd novel, "The Secret Adversary".

I like the way Tommy and Tuppence aren't unaging. We see them moving through their lives, unlike, say, Miss Marple and Poirot, who remain almost unchanged from book to book.

[Apache]

I am reading the second of Allan Mallinson's Mathew Hervey series The Nizam's Daughters. I started with the first in the series, A Close Run Thing: A Novel of Wellington's Army of 1815, and liked it so much that I went on to the second. If you like Patrick O'Brian's Aubrey–Maturin series you will like this one. Instead of the British Navy it is the British Calvary. His attention to detail and his descriptions are wonderful. If you dislike the Aubrey–Maturin series you might want to pass. If you like Bernard Cornwell's Sharpe series you would also like this one.
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Close-Run-Th...lose+Run+Thing
Apache

[samhy]

A Clash of Kings is over and before starting A Feast for Crows I'm reading Mr Penumbra's 24-Hour Bookstore. I really like it.

[HarryT]

Originally Posted by pdurrant

I like the way Tommy and Tuppence aren't unaging. We see them moving through their lives, unlike, say, Miss Marple and Poirot, who remain almost unchanged from book to book.

Especially when we consider that Poirot retired from the Belgian police force at the start of WWI. If he was 60 then, he would have been 62 when we first met him in 1916 during "The Mysterious Affair at Styles", 93 when he announced his retirement from active work in 1947 after "The Twelve Labours of Hercules", and 121 by the time of his final case, "Curtain" .

[WT Sharpe]

Originally Posted by pdurrant

I like the way Tommy and Tuppence aren't unaging. We see them moving through their lives, unlike, say, Miss Marple and Poirot, who remain almost unchanged from book to book.

T&T were practically kids in their first appearance; there was plenty of room for them to grow. Miss Marple was already elderly and if memory serves me correctly, Poirot was already retired in his first appearance. There wasn't a lot of room for them to age and still continue their habit of breathing.

Damned iPad autocorrect wants to change Marple to Marilee.