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

[CRussel]

Originally Posted by Strether

That's one of my favorites, too, and I gave it to my sister-in-law as an ebook for Christmas, and she enjoyed it also.

I suspect that that massing of all the characters at the end, with baby chicks underfoot and a poet wandering in and out was the inspiration for the hilarious dinner party in Bujold's A Civil Campaign.

Jim

Could well have been. I love having all these Heyer's here, thanks to the sales that we've had the last few years. Every time I need a break and want to just chuckle and enjoy myself, I pull one out. But now I have several as Audible books too, thanks to a coupon I got for Audible, combined with the WhisperSync for Voice special pricing on some of them.

(It was baby ducklings, actually, but the result's the same. Hilarious!)

[Dazrin]

Originally Posted by Dazrin

Next will be either Bridge to Terabithia or Fire Watch. My eldest is getting to be almost the age for the first story if I remember it correctly, so I want to re-read it first to check.

Well, I won't be reading Bridge to Terabithia right away to her, she isn't quite ready I don't think, but I really enjoyed it. Now on to Fire Watch, but I probably won't have a chance to start till Monday.

[pdurrant]

Originally Posted by pdurrant

Next up: The Forever Engine by Frank Chadwick.

Originally Posted by CRussel

Normally I would have zero interest in a Steam-punk book, but Chadwick's first book was so good I have to give this one a try. Especially since I hadn't really expected much out of that first one and it turned into a 5/5 from me, too.

This turned out to be another 5/5 read for me. A very impressive first couple of novels. I look forward to what he writes next.

[EDIT: I find he has done other steam-punk stuff before. In fact, he was one of the early people in the genre, designing a game "Space: 1889" from 1983 onwards, published in 1988.]

Next up: The Incompleat Nifft by Michael Shea.

The oldest of my unreads, from November 2003. It's just possible I have read this before. If it becomes too familiar I'll abandon it and move on.

[CRussel]

OK, I'll put it on my TBR,RS list. Probably as soon as I finish The Cuckoo's Calling.

[pdurrant]

Originally Posted by pdurrant

Next up: The Incompleat Nifft by Michael Shea.

The oldest of my unreads, from November 2003. It's just possible I have read this before. If it becomes too familiar I'll abandon it and move on.

I've finished the first story in the collection, and it's not to my taste. I'm much more sure now that I have read this before when I first got it, but it obviously wasn't much to my taste then, given how little impression of it I retain.

So I'm abandoning it. I have so many other books to read that I'll enjoy much more.

I think I'll try tackling my TBR with newest and oldest in alternation (with some others thrown in as I feel like it).

So next up is Stormbreaker by Anthony Horowitz. The first of his Alex Rider YA novels, I bought this on 30 December 2013 for £0.99.

[Yapyap]

I finished Partials. Liked it a whole lot - it's not without its problems as far as the plot goes, but I liked the characters, the pacing and that most of the questions I asked myself (and the book!) while reading were actually answered later on.

The biggest problem I now have is that I want to read the next book and likely the soon-to-be-released third book, too, neither of which I already have, so that's a few additions to the to-be-bought list... Still, I'll try sticking book 2 into my wishlist for now - I don't need/want it immediately.

Originally Posted by pdurrant

So next up is Stormbreaker by Anthony Horowitz. The first of his Alex Rider YA novels, I bought this on 30 December 2013 for £0.99.

I rather enjoyed the entire Alex Rider series - it's one of those where, I think, one shouldn't attempt to think too hard and just relax and go with the (fast-paced and entertaining) flow. Sort of like with action movies.

[Tarana]

Still on The Shining in prep for Dr Sleep becoming available from the library. Should be done with it tomorrow. I never forgot how much I enjoyed this book, but I was afraid that I'd find it too passe today. Nope. Still a great horror book!

Spent the afternoon trying to help my sibling download a Pip and Flinx adventure. Apparently, the file on Amazon is corrupted and they hope to have a fix in a couple of days. I am just pointing out that if your ebook isn't working, don't always assume that it's something you are doing wrong or your unit.

[Geralt]

Originally Posted by Yapyap

I finished Partials. Liked it a whole lot - it's not without its problems as far as the plot goes, but I liked the characters, the pacing and that most of the questions I asked myself (and the book!) while reading were actually answered later on.

Hey have you read Dan Wells series about John Cleaver? If yes, how does it compare?
I read it and liked it a lot, so I was wondering if I should read Partials. Thanks.

[Nyssa]

Originally Posted by Nyssa

Still reading Steelheart. Very interesting.

This was my update about it from Wednesday:

One of the supporting characters, Megan, has me quite intrigued. I think, at this point, I'm almost more curious about her, than I am about if/how they succeed on their mission. In fact, seeing how Sanderson himself labels this as a YA series, I'm just assuming they do succeed - so really, Megan has most of my attention at the moment.

I finished Steelheart and am now reading the followup short story Mitosis.


Steelheart was a very interesting read. I had accidentally spoiled the ending for myself due to my pursuing more info about Megan. I have no idea how I'm going to review it or even what rating I will give, but I will definitely check out the rest of the series. I just don't want to shortchange the book because of my own impatience.

After Mitosis, I will either return to Narnia with Prince Caspian or try something completely different - Swan Song - A post-apoctolyptic horror novel by Robert R. McCammon.

[alansplace]

Originally Posted by alansplace

I enjoyed reading The Line with some reservations. It was a bit too much into 'romance' for my taste and also seemed to me to be somewhat predictable (with some reservations). As well it kinda' dragged along using a lot of filler till 3/4 of the way through it when then in Chapter 25 it hit me with a big reveal that I hadn't seen coming. Then it started to drag again till it hit me with another reveal!. So I have mixed feelings. Perhaps if it had been edited down to a novella I might have been happier with it? But despite these reservations/criticisms I still enjoyed reading it.

Now back to reading Dangerous Women where a Diana Rowland story is next!

Originally Posted by alansplace

After Diana Rowland's story Dangerous Women was pretty uninteresting to me. I'd enjoyed the first few stories preceding Jim Butcher's (his entry was the real reason that I'd gotten this book, it was great) then after reading it I began reading the first parts of each story till I decided to skip that one and go on to the next one. Then I got to Diana Rowland's entry which was great. The rest of the book was more of, try it, skip it, and then go on to the next one till the end. Oh well!

Speaking of Diana Rowland, her new Kara Gillian book, Fury of the Demon (#6 in the series) was released today and I've begun reading it.

Wow, Fury of the Demon was a real winner! Yay Diana Rowland!!

Now on to read Hugh Howey's new release, Sand Omnibus!

[Yapyap]

Originally Posted by Geralt

Hey have you read Dan Wells series about John Cleaver? If yes, how does it compare?
I read it and liked it a lot, so I was wondering if I should read Partials. Thanks.

No, I haven't - I hadn't even heard about it until yesterday. After enjoying Partials, that other series is something I might well consider reading, though.

Partials is definitely YA, and it does suffer a bit from one YA trope I don't necessarily care for (not only is the teen protagonist the one to have to save the world, which I can deal with, since it's usually the protagonist's job!, but all the adults tend to be more close-minded, stubborn and wilfully blind than the teens, and that never sits quite comfortably with me), but if you're fine with those two things, I'd recommend it.

It's different enough in tone from most current YA out there, especially in that the protagonist doesn't go all damsel in distress the moment a cute boy arrives, and there is no insta-love.

[DrNefario]

I finished Mistborn: The Final Empire by Brandon Sanderson yesterday. I really enjoyed it. I think I averaged about 100 pages a day, which is way above my normal reading speed. It's a book that feels fresh and innovative within the mainstream epic fantasy tradition. Looking forward to reading the rest of the series at some point.

Only two books into the year, I'm already feeling a bit oppressed by the prescriptiveness of all the challenges I've set myself, so I rebelled and started We by Yevgeny Zamyatin, which turns out to be quite appropriate. It's a classic early dystopia, about conformity, and I wanted to read it before Brave New World (which I might have already read, I can't really remember), since it's apparently less effective the other way round.

[Geralt]

Thanks Yapyap. I think its clearer for me now.
Just to let you know, John Cleaver series is marketed as YA but it's really not that.
Sure, the protagonist is a teen, but this book series is more Thriller/Fantasy for adults then it is a YA book.

[Yapyap]

After hearing so many good things about the Vorkosigan saga (and having enjoyed Bujold's The Sharing Knife series far more than I expected to, considering I'm generally not the biggest fan of either romance or traditional fantasy), I started Shards of Honor earlier today. So far, definitely enjoying this, although the very beginning was a bit shaky (I understand this was Bujold's first novel, so I suppose that explains some of that).

Originally Posted by Geralt

Thanks Yapyap. I think its clearer for me now.
Just to let you know, John Cleaver series is marketed as YA but it's really not that.
Sure, the protagonist is a teen, but this book series is more Thriller/Fantasy for adults then it is a YA book.

I figured that much out from the blurb, yes. Shouldn't be a problem; I do read plenty of non-YA as well.

[Tarana]

Yapyap, I also loved Shards of Honor. There are 2 books (published after) that occur prior in the timeline. The stories aren't just side tracks - they aren't part of the saga.

I just finished The Shiningby Stephen King. Excellent story that has held extremely well over the years. I was reading it again in anticipation of getting Dr. Sleep. Listened to the audiobook. Campbell Scott as a narrator is good, but doesn't project as well as others. I found it difficult to understand him without either quiet or earbuds with noise cancelling.

Next is Colour of Magic (already started) by Terry Pratchett.