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

[Fbone]

Originally Posted by Jcas

Was trying to read The Hitchhikers Guide To The Galaxy but having trouble getting into it, so started a book called The Shadow Of The Wind only about 5% into it and already hooked.

I enjoyed Shadow of the Wind very much. Beautifully written and translated. The original in Spanish must be incredible.

His next book in the series is available.

[lila55]

Originally Posted by Jcas

Was trying to read The Hitchhikers Guide To The Galaxy but having trouble getting into it, so started a book called The Shadow Of The Wind only about 5% into it and already hooked.

I read "The Shadow of the Wind" some years ago, and loved it! His next book, Angel's Game, I also found enjoyable but not quite as much as the first. Another good read about Barcelona that I had a hard time putting down is "Cathedral of the Sea" by Ildefonso Falcones.

[captobvs]

Although I have most of these series in pb I'm looking to find the "Swords" series by Saberhagen, the "Dungeon" series by Farmer and anything by C.J.Cherryh for my Kindle.

[kennyc]

Originally Posted by DixieGal

Ummm ... You might want to start over from the beginning after all this time.

I concur. And BTW welcome to MR Rick.

[Latinandgreek]

Originally Posted by Jcas

Was trying to read The Hitchhikers Guide To The Galaxy but having trouble getting into it, so started a book called The Shadow Of The Wind only about 5% into it and already hooked.

I've been meaning to pick that one up, I'm glad you like it.

[naql]

I finished up Bob Dylan in America not too long ago and now I'm rereading The Ultimate Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy. I didn't realize they released it on the Kindle until after reading through the last few pages of this thread.

After this I'll probably be rereading The Lord of the Rings which is also on the Kindle now. It is the whole series in one book too.

[MickeyC]

Originally Posted by Jcas

Was trying to read The Hitchhikers Guide To The Galaxy but having trouble getting into it,

You'd better go back and finish it or you'll never know what 42 means!

[ATDrake]

Originally Posted by captobvs

Although I have most of these series in pb I'm looking to find the "Swords" series by Saberhagen, the "Dungeon" series by Farmer and anything by C.J.Cherryh for my Kindle.

You can get some of Cherryh's work via Closed Circle, an e-bookstore she runs with a couple of other authors.

While it's DRM-free and the money goes directly to the authors themselves, I think their execution of the concept is a bit lacking. They seem to grasp some potential in e-books, but still confuse them with paper books.

They have their website set up so that it charges per format (though there's also the option of a MultiFormat "Full" pack), you get one download link via e-mail which expires in 24 hours, and if anything happens such as a corrupt or lost file (apparently you're supposed to "protect" your sole download like a not-easily-replaceable physical book, according to the FAQ), or you got a single format and find out you need another, you have to re-buy the book.

That seems a bit much to pay for in terms of what you get for the price when the better-known books cost 9.95 (though there are some $5 more obscure titles).

By contrast, BookViewCafé has excellent terms: online reading access, MultiFormat straight off the bat, re-download as necessary, and generally $4.99 per book, bundle/omnibus pricing available. It would be nice if Cherryh et al. joined them.

As for what I'm reading, I recently finished Diane Duane's Romulan Star Trek novels, The Bloodwing Voyages (omnibus containing My Enemy, My Ally, The Romulan Way, and Sword Hunt/Honor Blade) and the final volume in the set, The Empty Chair.

MEMA and TRW were as excellent a re-read as I remembered, but SH/HB/TEC definitely suffered from apparently having been one story that ended up being split and printed as three books over the course of several years, due to Duane's scheduling conflicts, according to the afterword in the back of the Omnibus.

While it was an entertaining enough story (except for the parts which dragged) and it was nice to catch-up with what her characters were doing, it felt like wish-fulfillment AU fanfic. Not that Star Trek novels aren't just licensed fanfic anyway, but MEMA and TRW both read and felt like they could have fit in with the series as-is, while SH/HB/TEC had me wondering about the Point of Departure, as alternate history fans call it.

Since I read them both in e-book editions, I might as well comment on the formatting.

There were a few minor typos I spotted (I own paper copies of MEMA and TRW, thanks to a relative of a relative who moved overseas and left her old Star Trek novel collection behind, which eventually passed down to me), but rather weirdly, in the Omnibus, certain words are "decapitalized", so stuff like the Security and Life Sciences branches of Starfleet are oddly lower-cased. And they're both books that force spaces between paragraphs, too.

Good thing I got them in ePub (both at Kobo with the recent 50% off holiday coupons, for $4.38 each after taxes; not bad for the Omnibus, which amortizes 2 and 2/3rds worth of novels printed over 4 volumes to a cost of $1.10 per book, though Kobo's since jacked up the base selling price of the Omnibus again) so they were easy to fix.

There was a cute in-joke on the frontispiece of The Empty Chair. Apparently, Simon & Schuster books are also published on one of the Romulan planets.

As for what I'm reading next, sampling from the Fictionwise books I bought earlier this year to determine which authors' other works I'll be picking up with the 60% off holiday coupon in the Deals forum. Currently on R.A. MacAvoy's Damiano, which is pretty good so far and has earned her an automatic "buy" position.

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by Care

I have the first few In Death books, but have not had a chance to read them yet. They sound interesting.

They are interesting. Give the first one a go. They are pretty fast reads. I'd be interested in what you think.

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by Crusader

Just finished Survivor in Death yesterday. The Eve Dallas series is a kinda guilty pleasure read for me when I can get my hands on the book. Not something I'd want to have in my library, but something I do enjoy reading.

The interaction between Eve and Peabody (and Eve and her computer!) is great.

I used to like the way her POS car worked and the interaction there. But she did eventually get a new one that actually works.

There are things I'd like to know what happens, but I won't ask as they'd be spoilers.

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by Jcas

Was trying to read The Hitchhikers Guide To The Galaxy but having trouble getting into it, so started a book called The Shadow Of The Wind only about 5% into it and already hooked.

Something is wrong here. You're not supposed to not like The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy.

[Paul Levine]

I'm reading Dennis Lehane's "The Given Day," historical fiction, a different genre for the Boston crime novelist.

I tried to order "True Grit" from Amazon, but not available. (Loved the new Jeff Bridges movie. Far superior to the John Wayne original).

Paul LevineAuthor of "Riptide"
"To Speak for the Dead"
"Mortal Sin"

[Jcas]

Originally Posted by JSWolf

Something is wrong here. You're not supposed to not like The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy.

I do intend to revisit it, as i need to know what 42 means ...

[Crusader]

Just finished "The Strain" by Del Toro and Hogan. Doesn't really bring anything new to the table, but an enjoyable read nonetheless. I don't know whether I'll be buying the rest of the trilogy though. If they appear in my local library I'd definitely give them a read though.

[roger the rabbit]

Originally Posted by Jcas

I do intend to revisit it, as i need to know what 42 means ...

That makes me feel very old!!