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

[Latinandgreek]

Originally Posted by dreams

Egypt - How a Lost Civilization was Rediscovered by Joyce Tyldesley is now on my wishlist. Thanks

I have his River God: A Novel of Ancient Egypt / The Seventh Scroll (A Novel of Ancient Egypt) / Warlock: A Novel of Ancient Egypt / The Quest on my wishlist now. Thank you for the suggestion.

The Monstrumologist is in my TBR pile.... Maybe, I will move it down near the bottom.

I read this when my son had to read it in elementary school. My son and I didn't eat meat (or buy it) for quite a while.

I have a bunch of those on my bookshelves. They were perfect to throw in my purse and carry around to read when I had a few minutes.

I have to stop reading this thread. My wishlist is going to be expensive when my 6 month goal is over.

I think I just may add all of these to my TBR list, too...

[pdurrant]

Originally Posted by pdurrant

The Moving Finger by Agatha Christie.

An engaging tale, with Miss Marple as a deus ex machina at the end.

Next up: Fortress of Eagles by C. J. Cherryh

I read the first in this series just over a year ago. It's about time I got on to the rest. I do remember the first as confusing but interesting. Hey — checking my notes at the time, that's almost exactly what I said then!

Hmm... I bought these back in December 2009! It's certainly time I read them.

[tecweston]

Just Finished:

- Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World That Can't Stop Talking by Susan Cain - pretty good. I definitely feel more confident that being an introvert is not a personality flaw and shouldn't be confused with being antisocial (as I have often been accused of). It also helped me understand how to talk to extroverted people without being frustrated with or dominated by them.

Currently Reading:

- Skeleton Crew by Stephen King (28%)

- Chronicles of Sherlock Holmes by David B. Beckwith (14%) - holy crap is this book full of typos and punctuation errors. Did nobody proofread this?

- Moby-Dick, or The Whale by Herman Melville (12%)

[ProjeKtWEREWOLF]

I am listening to the new Warhammer 40,000 Ultramarines audiobook "Eye of Vengeance" by Graham McNeill. I am enjoying it immensely. More quality output from the Black Library.
I have a WH40K Horus Heresy audiobook for when I'm done with this; "Butchers Nails" by Aaron Dembski-Bowden. Possibly my favourie BL author along with Dan Abnett.

[Chi Cygni]

Originally Posted by HarryT

I don't read non-fiction books all that often, but I thoroughly recommend this one to anyone interested in space travel. Dan Parry tells the story of the Apollo 11 lunar landing is a way that's as close as you'll get to "being there". The book takes you right through the mission, from takeoff through to splashdown back on Earth, interspersed with the background story of American manned spaceflight. It's very well written, and gives an absolutely enthralling account of the first manned lunar landing.

Very highly recommended.

So, I read it. I absolutely agree with what Harry said. "Moonshot" - book difficult to put down and makes you hold your breath. Very informative, excellently written with attention to detail. I truly recommend it too.

[caleb72]

It's been quite a while since I've posted here - so I'll give a quick list of books I've been reading since and some random thoughts:

Tender is the Night by F Scott Fitzgerald was a book club read and I enjoyed the read. It was quite satisfying that the book club had different views and it made for some interesting discussion. At some stage I'd like to read more from this author as this was my first experience.

Verdant Skies by Steven Lyle Jordan. He's one of our own and quite outspoken on a few topics, but how does his book hold up? I was quite happy with this one - it's the book that wanted to be a TV series and only the need to 'sexualise' the characters relentlessly bothered me. Other than that, a good read and I purchased the sequel to read later.

Only Ever Always by Penni Russon. Probably the only traditionally published author that I actually know in real life. Lovely woman and a great YA novel. It's quite cerebral in its way and I wonder what age you need to be to appreciate it fully. On the other hand, as I grow older I'm finding I have a harder time appreciating at what age teenagers become mentally mature. Maybe that's why adults tend to make rules against which teenagers rebel.

Work of Art by John Black. An indie author, this book was a great story. It had some proof-reading issues that marred its review score on my site, but I sent a list of corrections and the author promptly put out a new release incorporating these fixes. This book would sit well in a shelf with Iain Banks (non-sci fi) and Barbara Vine.

Rocannon's World by Ursula Le Guin. It was her first book and I have to say it didn't grab me as much as I was hoping it would. I found it difficult to stay enthralled and I sensed my reading became almost mechanical, almost. But it was her first book so I shouldn't read too much into my reaction. I count some of her works as my favourites in the genre.

The Survival of Thomas Ford by John A A Logan. Another indie, this was well written, literary and should have been scooped up by a publisher. I read a history of its almost accepted status in many attempts at landing a publishing deal and I get the impression that several publishing houses were just too cowardly to take the chance. It's a great book. I wrote recently in the self-promotion thread for this book that this book is a good example of why I no longer trust publishers to filter content from me.

Wool (Omnibus Edition) by Hugh Howey. I was really excited to read this indie effort because I'd sensed the buzz in Goodreads and the Amazon reviews were off-the-charts - with good reason. Probably my best read of the year so far and worth every moment I spent on it. I will now pick up everything this author puts out there until he gives me reason not to.

The Remains of the Day by Kazuo Ishiguro. What a lovely experience it was to dwell inside the mind of an aging butler. You wouldn't think so, but it was nothing but a pleasure. It's my first read of this rather well-known author and certainly won't be the last.

The Kult by Shaun Jeffrey. Serial killer thriller I call this and I really enjoyed it. There were some moments in the book where I felt the author manufactured responses that didn't quite make sense in order to progress the plot and those things tend to jar. But otherwise, it was a page-turner and I'll be happy to pick up another book from this author.

Pulchritude by Ana Mardoll. Our own Ana put out her first novel and it was a 'beauty'. A tragic retelling of Beauty and the Beast, this book reminds me why I think copyright should only be temporary and why there is a benefit to the world in works becoming public domain.

Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury. A classic Sci-fi that I've been meaning to read for a while. What a great book! It really made me think and I don't feel that its core message is out-dated. Much like 1984, it made me look around at my world with some apprehension. I seriously think we need to be far more apprehensive about apathy and blind conformity than we should be about terrorism. There it is - I've said it and that's as political as I'll get for the moment.

Cthulhu in Wonderland by Kent Kelly. A mash-up of Lewis Carroll's Alice in Wonderland using the mythos of Cthulhu. I only gave this two stars but I think that needs some explanation. I have never read Lovecraft and I can't say I'm up on the Cthulhu mythos (even vaguely), so some of the cleverness of this may have been totally lost on me. Additionally, this is written in the style of Lewis Carroll of whom I'm not especially fond. I found the original work somewhat painful to read, even if I was glad that I did. So this book was a case of two strikes and you're almost out. Luckily, I could dimly appreciate it as an exercise which saved it from the third swing-and-miss.

The Gods Themselves by Isaac Asimov. This I'm currently reading now. The book seemed to come up often as a really good Asimov to read and as I've read very little of Asimov I thought I'd give it a go. I'm two thirds through and I can see why it's recommended. The first part was a really good read, but where it shined was in part two. Wow! Reading about the Soft-ones and the Hard-ones was an amazing experience. I've just started the third part.

OK - that's a big laundry list. Maybe I'll spare people such pain by posting more regularly and in smaller doses from now on.

[The Terminator]

I forgot to post that I finished Endless Night by Agatha Christie yesterday morning, a good read but she usually doesn't let her books drag like this one did a little in the middle. I'll give it a 6/10 stars.

[Straycat1945]

For the Aussie up there, I recently read Walkabout by James Vance Marshall & Lee Siegel. A gem of a little book; realistic, and very descriptive of the outback fauna.

I have to recommend a book for anybody, and everybody who has actually done a long hike, or has thought about doing one, or just for a good old lol. That is A Walk in the Woods by Bill Bryson, it is absolutely priceless.

[jgaiser]

Originally Posted by caleb72

Wool (Omnibus Edition) by Hugh Howey. I was really excited to read this indie effort because I'd sensed the buzz in Goodreads and the Amazon reviews were off-the-charts - with good reason. Probably my best read of the year so far and worth every moment I spent on it. I will now pick up everything this author puts out there until he gives me reason not to.

I completely agree that the Wool series is an amazing set of books from an Indie author. Wool 6 will be out soon and I look forward to more from this author.

As an aside, Hugh finally was convinced to get an agent who in turn shopped his work to a number of traditional publishers. The results were amusing to say the least.

[dreams]

Originally Posted by caleb72

<snip>Wool (Omnibus Edition) by Hugh Howey. I was really excited to read this indie effort because I'd sensed the buzz in Goodreads and the Amazon reviews were off-the-charts - with good reason. Probably my best read of the year so far and worth every moment I spent on it. I will now pick up everything this author puts out there until he gives me reason not to.<snip>

Originally Posted by jgaiser

I completely agree that the Wool series is an amazing set of books from an Indie author. Wool 6 will be out soon and I look forward to more from this author.

As an aside, Hugh finally was convinced to get an agent who in turn shopped his work to a number of traditional publishers. The results were amusing to say the least.

I am really looking forward to reading the Wool stories. I have 1-3 so far and have to wait to purchase the rest due to my 2012 reading goal. I don't want to start until I have the most current one. I hate to have to wait.

Thanks for sharing the link. It was interesting to read his post and all the comments. Which made me want to read his books even more.

I'm reading Scorpion House - about 78% through - and enjoying it. I don't know how to describe it, maybe cozy mystery set in Egypt comes closest. It reminds me of one famous Agatha Christie novel.

[thinkpad]

I found a Dragon series that I like by E.M Sinclair. I'm currently on the third book the first one is free:
Soul Bonds Book 1 Circles of Light series
http://www.smashwords.com/books/view/146078

[orlok]

Originally Posted by caleb72

It's been quite a while since I've posted here - so I'll give a quick list of books I've been reading since and some random thoughts...

Thanks for the post caleb. I've picked up on a couple for my TBR list as a result , and I am reminded to start reading Wool very soon.

[DiapDealer]

Originally Posted by jgaiser

I completely agree that the Wool series is an amazing set of books from an Indie author. Wool 6 will be out soon and I look forward to more from this author.

Add one more who was duly impressed. Eagerly awaiting his next book... later this month (week), I believe.

[CRussel]

OK, folks, my TBR does NOT need all this. OTOH, the omnibus is available as an Amazon Prime lending. But really, that saves me money, but does nothing for shortening my TBR.

[Fbone]

Originally Posted by caleb72

It's been quite a while since I've posted here - so I'll give a quick list of books I've been reading since and some random thoughts:

OK - that's a big laundry list. Maybe I'll spare people such pain by posting more regularly and in smaller doses from now on.

Thanks for the post. Sadly, a few of your recs are ebook and/or Kindle only.