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

[covingtoncat73]

Well, I just started reading The Alchemist's Apprentice by Dave Duncan. I'm only 20 pages in but keen to get back to it.

I'm listening to In the Garden of Beasts by Erik Larson and have listened to 3 out of 11 sections on eAudio from my library. Larson, as I knew from listening to The Devil in the White City, writes non-fiction more thrilling than most novels. It is a great listen so far.

The Anatomy of Ghosts, which I finished yesterday, was okay but I didn't love it like I thought I might.

[MeiLin]

Seeing as how the Rapture is Saturday, I started reading The Dirty Parts of the Bible. It's quite good, and very apropos. I just finished "Cryoburn," what is supposed to be the last Vorkosigan book by Lois McMaster Bujold, and not only was it good, I am sad that there will be no more Miles.

[maianhvk]

@ sirak: when you finish Mockingjay you will realise the 1st and 2nd book are nothing compared to it. A bit depression it left me after I finish Hungger Games series when the protagonist collapsed, people died and they didn't truly "save the world" as I'd imagined. Omg I ruined all the funs! Let's just say... expect the unexpected.

@ orlok: weren't you a bit rebelous when you were teenager?

[ATDrake]

Finished the final 5 Amelia Peabody mysteries by Elizabeth Peters.

For awhile, it looked like they were getting back to being plain old Egyptian archaeological-related murder mysteries (with increasingly sprawling family saga and occasional flashback adventure).

But then they kind of went back to being secret undercover part-time espionage/political thrillers and the most recent one, A River in the Sky, isn't even really Egyptological at all, but has the Peabody-Emersons retroactively exploring biblical sites in Palestine in a mildly Da Vinci Code-esque secret artifact/secret society conspiracy sort of way.

Oh well, whatever makes the octogenarian author money, I guess.

I did quite like The Guardian on the Horizon, which is one of the retro books slotted into the chronology and nicely follows up on and answers a number of questions left dangling from The Last Camel Died at Noon, a previous novel which made major changes to the status quo.

And I enjoyed the "modern" The Serpent on the Crown, which was a nice, classic artifact-related murder mystery of the type that I'd been expecting when I first started reading these things. Plus it had one of Emerson's famous exorcisms, which are always enjoyable*.

It's weird what you notice when you read these things all at once. Over the course of the last batch of books, Amelia seems to have gotten a lot more religious, with many more biblical references and overt mentions of Christianity. Not that she hasn't always been kind of moralizing, but previously it was done mainly in a non-denominational kind of way, and related to charity to the poor, decent treatment of animals, and improving the plight of women and downtrodden natives.

And I think I've picked up on what's supposed to be a hinted connection to the Vicky Bliss books (besides the Queen Tetisheri artifacts), with the "Master Criminal" (and Master of Disguise) in charge of a network of thieves and forgers of historical artifacts having semi-settled part-time at a residence in Cornwall, which perhaps-not-so-coincidentally happens to be where an adept-at-disguise-and-theft-and-replacement-of-historical-artifacts-with-forgeries happens to hail from.

Ancestor or mentor, who knows? Possibly future books will do some more hinting, although Wikipedia† says that future Peabody books will be more retro-adventures rather than continuing with the latest established timeline.

On the one hand, it'll be nice not to have to read too many words regarding the escapades of the third generation of inordinately precocious offspring with idiosyncratic speech habits and likely to be day-saving habits.

On the other hand, that probably means there'll be even more retro-angst of the second generation's will-they-won't-they Like Totally Destined True Love If They Weren't So Stubborn About Admitting Their Feelings Outside of Extended Musings in the Narrative Text Now Shut Up And Get A Room Already relationship drama.

The point is probably moot anyway, considering the 4-year publishing gap between the most recent two books. And I admit to a minor schadenfreude over the inordinately precocious and rather annoying day-saving former child's getting the curse of "may you have children who are exactly like you". Ahahahaha…

Moderate recommend. At this point, the books are a fairly sprawling multi-generational saga full of references to (and spoilers for) previous books that make them not really standalone. And the previous books tended not to be as well-written. But still a rather entertaining read if you've become familiar with the background and the characters and know what you're getting into.

* And very rarely depicted, despite the fact that the books go on about how famous they are; I think this is at most the third in the series, out of 19 books so far.

† [Citation needed].

[BearMountainBooks]

Originally Posted by mklynds

On Monday I read Hounded by Kevin Hearne.
It was a recommendation I got here at MR and it was great. I couldn't put it down. I don't really read "Urban Fastasy" but it was just too good to pass up. A great story with great pacing. I loved the humor in it as well as the scope of the book. It really felt like I was reading just one story of this huge world the author created. I look forward to his future works. One last note, I hate animals as characters, especially if they can talk! Yet I am pretty sure that the second best part of this book is the main characters pet Irish Wolfhound. Loved that it took something I had hated and turned it into something I want more of. Great Read! 5/5

Tuesday and Wednesday I read Magic Bites by Illona Andrews
This is the book the internet told me to read if I liked urban fantasy but didn't want a lot of romance. A butt kicking female main character was a great start. A fun take that was new to me on the traditional vamps and weres! And a cool take on magic. I didn't manage this in one sitting but It was the last thing I did Tuesday and the first thing Wednesday morning. I really liked the story. I loved that it had some dead ends in it. It add to the feel of the book. My one criticism is that there is a point when the author seems to just give the main character a break rather than the character achieving it on her own. Still an easy 4/5 in my books. I look forward to the rest of the books in the series. I have a few other books in front of them in my cue but am happy to have found another good series to read.

Today I started reading Storm Front by Jim Butcher
I only just started it. I am only 50 pages in and liking it so far. More to follow!

I love the Ilona Andrews series!!! One of my favorites!

I'm ambivalent about Dresden Files. Didn't care for them much.

[johnnaryry]

Originally Posted by Crusader

Finished Salem's Lot by Stephen King last night. It wasn't as scary as I was led to believe, although compared to Dracula I much prefer Salem's Lot. Having read Dracula a couple of weeks previously it was interesting to see the parallels/lore King uses with a twist of his own.

Overall a good enough read, but nothing that would keep me up at night.

I remember reading it when I was 11 or 12. Totally scared the excrement out of me, I slept with the lights on for the whole summer!

--ryan

[orlok]

[QUOTE=maianhvk;1545878@ orlok: weren't you a bit rebelous when you were teenager? [/QUOTE]

What makes you say that?

(Does being expelled from school for bunking off to play golf and visit the girls' school count? Or writing off my first car aged 16? Or being a peroxide punk in plastic trousers?)

[thinkpad]

I just finished To Defy A King and it was
I'm currently starting on my fifth book in a row from Elizabeth Chadwick: The Wild Hunt.

[ATDrake]

Read Ancient Egypt on 5 Deben a Day, one in Thames & Hudson's entertaining series of historical faux-travel guides. This one is ostensibly set in the reign of Ramses II, though there's reference to past and future famous rulers.

Lots of fun, and written by some university professor whose name I can't recall, having returned it to the library. The author note in the back did a dedication to a number of people whom I assume are Egyptologically related, including Barbara Mertz, who writes as Elizabeth Peters.

If you've ever wanted to know where to go and what to see and what to get in ancient Egypt (hint: monkeys only make good souvenirs for hated enemies), as well as useful phrases such as "Does this loincloth make me look fat?" and "Truthfully, I'm afraid of mummies", then this is a book you need. Highly recommended.

"Truthfully, I'm afraid of mummies" might have actually been a useful phrase for Vicky Bliss in The Laughter of Dead Kings, 6th and currently final volume in the series. I started this awhile ago, but put it on hold to read up on the Amelia Peabody series first, since they were supposed to be connected and this was another Bliss adventure having to do with Egypt.

It turns out that the connection that I thought would be made actually took a rather different form which was mildly surprising. But it's a bit open ended, since that particular "group" seems to have a suspicious number of the telltale artifacts in question, unless copies were made and passed out to everyone in the other "groups" as well.

Also a couple of other callbacks to the Peabody books, with a swordfight (and a rotund maybe-ancestor of the same surname possessing dueling scars having popped up in the Peabodys) and Peters kind of writing herself into the story with a scene where she pretends to be an obsessed novelist tracking down Amelia's journals so that she can "retell" the adventures in fictionalized form.

In the front there's a note about the sliding timeline and all the technological advances that have been invented since then which have to be accounted for in order to keep the Bliss books "current" since they're meant to be contemporary rather than historical. Even though this is the first time that e-mail etc. have shown up in the series, I think the advances have been incorporated fairly well, and I'd have never really noticed a transition if the author hadn't pointed it out.

As for certain character developments advanced in the book, I can only hope that if there's a next in the series, they don't go the cheap sentimental route. I was just as "WTF are you on about?" as party approached was, and I'll be more than happy if the established-and-gradually-evolved-over-previous-books works-well-enough-for-me status quo is maintained and maybe mildly advanced, but without any sudden drastic changes.

Another nicely-done heist-caper mystery with a surprising but logical whodunnit and high entertainment value. But this time you really do have to have read at least two of the previous books to fully appreciate the story (Trojan Gold and Night Train to Memphis). Recommended as usual.

And now from one Barbara who occasionally writes historical mysteries under a pseudonym to another Barbara who occasionally writes historical mysteries under a pseudonym, onto Barbara Hambly's The Shirt on His Back, 10th in her excellent Benjamin January series set in antebellum New Orleans. Though technically, this one wanders out of antebellum New Orleans for very good and entertaining reasons.

[maianhvk]

Originally Posted by orlok

What makes you say that?

(Does being expelled from school for bunking off to play golf and visit the girls' school count? Or writing off my first car aged 16? Or being a peroxide punk in plastic trousers?)

of course they* count.

*: anything you listed above.

I almost finish "The Book Thief". It's getting better and better - maybe I'll do a reread right after when I finish it!

[pdurrant]

Originally Posted by pdurrant

F&SF, January 2002, which I picked up in the recent 60% off sale at Fictionwise.

And I'm glad I did. Some of the short stories weren't to my taste, but I did like the last two Novelets, "Great Heart Rising" by Lawrence C. Connolly and especially "Death in Love" by R. Garcia y Robertson.

Next: Agatha Christie's 13th book, The Sittaford Mystery. This is from my mass purchase of her novels in a Fictionwise sale in February 2010. ($0.95, net).

[Arthur Slade]

Am nearly done the Hunger Games Trilogy. 1st book was one of the best I've read in ages. Second book was a very good book. 3rd book isn't quite as gripping for me. 70% done so I'll find out if it grabs me by the throat like the first one did...

[maianhvk]

I'm reading Artemis Fowl, book 1.

(Somehow I forgot that I had Mistborn, Song of Ice & Fire and Monster Hunter International on the reader... Okay, I'll try to finish Artemis Fowl 1 tomorrow then move on to the famous series.)

[ATDrake]

Yesterday, finished my 100th never-read-before full-length book for the Read 100 Books in 2011 Challenge*, which I personally kind of think should be "Read 111 Books in 2011" for numerical symmetry purposes.

It was Barbara Hambly's The Shirt on His Back, 10th in her excellent Benjamin January historical sleuth series normally set in antebellum New Orleans, which takes the ex-slave turned musician/surgeon out of his usual surroundings and into the disputed fur-trapping territory of British North America, which basically means proto-Canada. Awesome!†

The new books since Hambly got picked up by Severn House seem to be aimed at filling in the blanks for some of the side characters. In Dead and Buried, we got a look into Hannibal Sefton's past; in The Shirt on His Back, we get a tiny glimpse into what made police lieutenant Abishag Shaw leave the mountains of Kentucky for the swamps of New Orleans. Apparently an upcoming book will deal with January's Paris years and Ayasha.

As usual, a very good whodunnit which was complicated to figure out, but all made sense in the end, plus interesting depictions of fur-trapper life and relationships with the natives (and reasonably accurate, given my own readings on the subject from a Canadian History course I'd taken previously). And they get native-style names! Although I do miss the author's notes on the history that Hambly sometimes puts in the back (and didn't this time).

Highly recommended if you like well-done historicals, though it does help to have read the previous ones, since certain details are dropped that kind of spoiler you for at least what went on in Dead and Buried (also highly recommended). But aside from that, the actual case can be followed fairly well standalone, if you don't mind knowing how some of the personal developments in previous books got resolved before you actually read them yourself.

Now on to pick my 101th book.

* My list of stuff read thus far is here, for the morbidly curious. Novellas, graphic novels, short story collections, and re-reads are included, but not counted towards the whole.

† Or maybe I should say "Waugh!", like everyone else in the book seems to do.

[Steve Anderson]

Cooking with Fernet Branca by James Hamilton-Paterson. A comically pompous expat in Tuscany and his expat neighbor get mixed up in various hijinks. It's funny and awkward and hard to pull off as a writer. The humorous recipes in it don't work for me so far, but I'm hoping they're in there for a bigger reason.