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

[mewmartigan]

Originally Posted by CRussel

Agreed. The Prince Roger series is one of my all-time favorites!!

Glad it seems to be well liked, I am looking forward to it.

Was it meant to be a trilogy and "We Few" is like an addition? Or was 4 books always the plan? Just curious since We Few breaks away from the naming scheme of the first 3.

[Stephjk]

Originally Posted by mediax

I can recommend Madeline Miller's The Song of Achilles and Margaret Atwood's The Penelopeiad as related reading in a more modern style.

The Penelopeiad is probably best appreciated after reading the Odyssey itself, but it was reading The Song of Achilles that finally persuaded me to tackle the Odyssey (after many, many years of Classicsophobia).

I thoroughly enjoyed all thre, and The Song of Achilles is one of my very favourite books of recent years.

Thanks for the tips, I'll be looking for them!

[CRussel]

Originally Posted by mewmartigan

Glad it seems to be well liked, I am looking forward to it.

Was it meant to be a trilogy and "We Few" is like an addition? Or was 4 books always the plan? Just curious since We Few breaks away from the naming scheme of the first 3.

I'm not sure what the original plan was for the total number of books. I've often wondered, given the naming. But We Few doesn't feel like an afterthought. Plus there is a persistent rumour that a further Prince Roger book is in the works. If so, I'll be very happy. This really is a series that transcends its genre. Yes, it's a MilSF shoot'em up. But it's a lot more, and much better than I had any expectation of when I first bought it. (Also, FWIW, the Audible versions of the books are also excellent, if that's your preference. And these are the perfect books for encouraging you to extend your run just a bit further than you really wanted to, just so you can listen some more. )

[alansplace]

Originally Posted by alansplace

I very much enjoyed reading The Mystery of the Tolling Bell as it was a nostalgic and fun read. Such Wicked Friends was an interesting story and the setting, which is actually the entire Sandy Reid series' setting, gave me a nostalgic blast back to John D. MacDonald's Florida-based Travis McGee series.

So next I'll be reading The Clue in the Old Album (Nancy Drew #24) by Carolyn Keene (Mildred Wirt Benson) along with A Raging Storm (Derrick Storm Trilogy #2) and A Bloody Storm (Derrick Storm Trilogy #3) both by Richard Castle.

I loved reading The Clue in the Old Album, it was great!

Finishing up the Derrick Storm Trilogy of short stories/novellas by reading A Raging Storm (Derrick Storm Trilogy #2) and A Bloody Storm (Derrick Storm Trilogy #3) back to back was a good call. I recomend reading all three that way. Either way it was a fun read.

Next up will be The Ghost of Blackwood Hall (Nancy Drew #25) by Carolyn Keene (Mildred Wirt Benson) and Death on the Nile (Hercule Poirot, #17) (Colonel Race, #3) by Agatha Christie, which will be my first Hercule Poirot book (and my first Colonel Race book) and my second book by Agatha Christie. The first was And Then There Were None.

[JoelArnold]

Finished reading Tess of the D'Urberville's this weekend. I enjoyed it much more than I thought I would. Rather bleak, but so beautifully written and thought-provoking.

[DiapDealer]

Reading--and loving--Stella Gemmell's solo (and stand-alone!!) debut; The City.

The City is ancient, layers upon layers. Once a thriving metropolis, it has sprawled beyond its bounds, inciting endless wars with neighboring tribes and creating a barren wasteland of what was once green and productive.

In the center of the City lives the emperor. Few have ever seen him, but those who have recall a man in his prime, though he should be very old. Some grimly speculate that he is no longer human, if he ever was. A small number have come to the desperate conclusion that the only way to stop the war is to end the emperor’s unnaturally long life.

From the mazelike sewers below the City, where the poor struggle to stay alive in the dark, to the blood-soaked fields of battle, where few heroes manage to endure the never-ending siege, the rebels pin their hopes on one man—Shuskara. The emperor’s former general, he was betrayed long ago and is believed to be dead. But, under different aliases, he has survived, forsaking his City and hiding from his immortal foe. Now the time has come for him to engage in one final battle to free the City from the creature who dwells at its heart, pulling the strings that keep the land drenched in gore.

[pdurrant]

Originally Posted by pdurrant

Realtime Interrupt by James P. Hogan, that I bought back in July 2002.

That was interesting. I think that one aspect was clearly taken too far, and I didn't believe that the people in the story wouldn't realise that this one aspect was far more important than anything else. An above average read, overall.

Next: War Maid's Choice by David Weber. A recent purchase (February 2013).

[Stitchawl]

Today I had lunch with Robert H. Batey, the author of 'Under His Hat.' He published his book several years ago, then underwent a prolonged round of abuse from the 'Louis Carroll Society' because he couldn't 'prove' his lineage.
He is the great-great nephew of 'Alice,' of ' Alice in Wonderland fame, and told me all about the real-life characters that are behind the names found in the book. I never realized that the tea party was a somewhat 'real' event, or that the players were actual people. I had known the name 'Coffee Johnny' from the British folk song, "Blayden Races," but I never knew he was 'The Mad Hatter,' or that Tommy Over the Bridge was 'the doormouse!'

It was an interesting lunch! I'm looking forward to reading the book. I don't give a damn if it's fact or fiction. He made for a rollicking good lunch companion!

Stitchawl

[HarryT]

Originally Posted by Stitchawl

Today I had lunch with Robert H. Batey, the author of 'Under His Hat.' He published his book several years ago, then underwent a prolonged round of abuse from the 'Louis Carroll Society' because he couldn't 'prove' his lineage.

Did he say why he couldn't prove it, as a matter of interest? Producing documentary evidence of a family relationship a mere 3 generations in the past is not difficult.

[Dazrin]

Originally Posted by Dazrin

Up next is The Return of Sherlock Holmes by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle.

I finished this today on my way to work. I am really enjoying these books and will probably move on to The Valley of Fear soon, but I am going to read a couple others before that.

First was How to Talk to Girls at Parties by Neil Gaiman which was free on Amazon a while back. Since I haven't read Gaiman before it was worth a try. I wasn't all that impressed, but I did enjoy parts of it. I will probably try more by him in the future since I do see how his writing could be entertaining.

My current read is The Wandering Earth by Cixin Liu. It was a China Galaxy Science Fiction Award winner for 2000, but only translated to English last year. I am about 30% into it and it has been an interesting take on the end of the world scenario.

[Xanthe]

Count me in as another member of the "March Upcountry" fan club. That is one series that I periodically re-read and it never loses its appeal.

I'm currently doing a re-read of Faith Hunter's "Death's Rival" on Cool Reader, got "Fledgling" by Sharon Lee & Steve Miller ongoing in audiobook format, the "Age of Ra" by Stephen Lovegrove is process on the Aldiko reader, on the Kindle reader "The Diva Ate Her" by Anne Onymus (actually, Darla Cook's thinly disguised memoir of her period of employment with Laurell K. Hamilton - not well-written but validates what the more astute of the former fandom eventually realized ), and "The Three Musketeers" by Alexandre Dumas is still in progress on the Play Reader.

All of these are running on the Nook HD; I'm really liking this device.

[pdurrant]

Originally Posted by pdurrant

Next: War Maid's Choice by David Weber. A recent purchase (February 2013).

Still reading this (it's good so far), but I've also just read a short story in my TBR pile, This Chicken Outfit by A. L. Sirois, bought in December 2003. A fun little take of marketing and aliens.

[Stitchawl]

Originally Posted by HarryT

Did he say why he couldn't prove it, as a matter of interest? Producing documentary evidence of a family relationship a mere 3 generations in the past is not difficult.

I did ask him that. He said that they simple didn't honor his sources. Perhaps it like the question of the proof of evolution vs creation? Some folks just won't accept the 'proofs' no matter how sound they may be.

The same sort of thing happening at a poetry reading given in 1957 by Robert Frost as Penn State University.(I used to show a movie of that reading to my English classes.) English profs have long insisted that Frost's poem, 'The Road Not Taken' was written as his metaphor for life. (And of course ,there is no doubt that it can be use as such.) But when asked by a pipe-smoking, tweed-jacket-with-suede-elbow-patches English prof '...but sir, just what does that poem 'really mean?' Frost replied, "Son, my poems don't 'mean.' My poems are. I was walking in the woods beside my house, and came to a fork in the trail. That's all there was to it."

Having walked that same trail beside his home in Ripton, Vermont (now a public area dedicated to his work, with some of his poems carved into wooden tablets along the paths,) I too stood at that very same well-marked intersection, and sorry I could not travel both
And be one traveler, long I stood
And looked down one as far as I could
To where it bent in the undergrowth;

But today, there are English professors all over the world who still insist that Frost wrote this with the purpose, with the intent, of being his metaphor for life. No matter what he said... They are university profs. They know better. When my boxes arrive, I'll put up some photos of the trail and the poetry boards, and you'll be able to see just what he what he saw when the idea for that poem came to him.

and so....

I shall be telling this with a sigh
Somewhere ages and ages hence:
Two roads diverged in a wood, and I—
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference.

Stitchawl

[rkomar]

Originally Posted by Stitchawl

I shall be telling this with a sigh
Somewhere ages and ages hence:
Two roads diverged in a wood, and I—
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference.

That last line seems to indicate that he's talking about more than just a walk in the local woods. It would make me suspicious of his answer, if I was one of those professors. I would think, "He probably just doesn't like talking about the deeper meaning of his poems". He wouldn't be the first to feel that way.

[Dazrin]

Originally Posted by Dazrin

My current read is The Wandering Earth by Cixin Liu. It was a China Galaxy Science Fiction Award winner for 2000, but only translated to English last year. I am about 30% into it and it has been an interesting take on the end of the world scenario.

I forgot my truck keys at work, so my wife had to bring the spare set (commuter train to/from a park and ride) which managed to give me just enough time to finish. It was very good. Obviously written in a language other than English first, but that is not a bad thing. The translation was quite good.

I think I will move onto Field of Dishonor, Honor Harrington #4 next. I will decide for sure in the morning though.