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

[Jadon]

One might argue that Blindsight by Peter Watts had something new in the vampire vein. Of course it was science fiction, and one of the characters merely happened to be a vampire, in a scientific and not magical way. The story itself was a first encounter one.

Currently reading Crescent in the Sky by Donald Moffitt.

[FlorenceArt]

Originally Posted by bevdeforges

Just finished Jonathan Franzen's The Corrections and I have very mixed feelings about it. Overly long and rambling, plus the exposition of the background of the various characters was not well handled. But by the end I was glad I had stuck it out and finished the book.

Will have to sleep on it and reconsider.

Thanks for the feedback. I'm not really planning to buy it, but who knows, I'm keeping an eye on reviews just in case. I don't mind long and rambling, but I already have a few of those in my TBR list, and I still haven't finished Ulysses

[GeoffC]

Originally Posted by FlorenceArt

Thanks for the feedback. I'm not really planning to buy it, but who knows, I'm keeping an eye on reviews just in case. I don't mind long and rambling, but I already have a few of those in my TBR list, and I still haven't finished Ulysses

[kennyc]

Originally Posted by FlorenceArt

Thanks for the feedback. I'm not really planning to buy it, but who knows, I'm keeping an eye on reviews just in case. I don't mind long and rambling, but I already have a few of those in my TBR list, and I still haven't finished Ulysses

Originally Posted by GeoffC

See! Told ya!

[FlorenceArt]

Originally Posted by kennyc

See! Told ya!

You don't know what you're missing. I'm in the middle of the whorehouse chapter

[LadyHeather]

I'm re-reading Bridget Jones's Diary at the moment and I must say I didn't remember that the movie is so different from the book, I forgot all about that! so I'm discovering a lot of "new" things (again) haha

I'm also reading "No! I don't want to join a book club" by Virginia Ironside (the first book I borrowed from my public library for my e-reader ) and Sense and Sensibility by Jane Austen (since I bought the beautiful leather bound B&N Jane Austen book a few weeks ago). Depending on the mood I'm in.

[DixieGal]

Originally Posted by Jadon

One might argue that Blindsight by Peter Watts had something new in the vampire vein. Of course it was science fiction, and one of the characters merely happened to be a vampire, in a scientific and not magical way. The story itself was a first encounter one.

Currently reading Crescent in the Sky by Donald Moffitt.

If you have not yet read Watts' Starfish trilogy, then be sure to get it. It is absolutely mind-blowing hard scifi and thriller. All are available for free here at MR in the Patricia Clark library.

[bevdeforges]

Originally Posted by FlorenceArt

Thanks for the feedback. I'm not really planning to buy it, but who knows, I'm keeping an eye on reviews just in case. I don't mind long and rambling, but I already have a few of those in my TBR list, and I still haven't finished Ulysses

My lack of enthusiasm for The Corrections makes me real hesitant to bother with Freedom - and now I'm finding myself hesitant to attempt another book I found that looked interesting, but has been compared to The Corrections in a couple of reviews.

What I didn't like about The Corrections was the seemingly endless "background," replete with "shock value" scenes (like the "talking turd" scene, which struck me as completely OTT - point made, the man is anal retentive, let's move on). Oh well - on to the next novel.

[FlorenceArt]

Originally Posted by bevdeforges

My lack of enthusiasm for The Corrections makes me real hesitant to bother with Freedom - and now I'm finding myself hesitant to attempt another book I found that looked interesting, but has been compared to The Corrections in a couple of reviews.

What I didn't like about The Corrections was the seemingly endless "background," replete with "shock value" scenes (like the "talking turd" scene, which struck me as completely OTT - point made, the man is anal retentive, let's move on). Oh well - on to the next novel.

I try to ignore recommendations or -em, what's the opposite of a recommendation? a decommendation?- based on perceived similarities between books. Two books can be similar in an area that means nothing to me (like subject matter for instance) and differ wildly in others that do matter to me (like the writing). There are too many different reasons to like or dislike a book, a statement like "if you liked this, you will love that" simply means nothing in my opinion. Now I try to read an excerpt before I buy. It's not fool-proof of course, but combined with reviews that explain WHAT the reviewer liked or disliked in the book and why, it works more often than not.

[SeaBookGuy]

Originally Posted by LadyHeather

I'm re-reading Bridget Jones's Diary at the moment and I must say I didn't remember that the movie is so different from the book, I forgot all about that! so I'm discovering a lot of "new" things (again) haha

I'm also reading "No! I don't want to join a book club" by Virginia Ironside (the first book I borrowed from my public library for my e-reader ) and Sense and Sensibility by Jane Austen (since I bought the beautiful leather bound B&N Jane Austen book a few weeks ago). Depending on the mood I'm in.

We seem to be in the same groove -- I loved "Book Club" on audio (read by Sian Phillips, Empress Livia in the "I, Claudius" TV program), and have just ripped the discs of "Bridget Jones" to mp3 to re-read; the movie was like watching a highly abridged version of selected moments from the book, rather than following the actual story.

I also listened to "Confessions of a Jane Austen Addict" recently, which wasn't bad, although Austen purists seemed to hate it.

Originally Posted by FlorenceArt

I try to ignore recommendations or -em, what's the opposite of a recommendation? a decommendation?

pannings?

[LadyHeather]

Originally Posted by SeaBookGuy

We seem to be in the same groove -- I loved "Book Club" on audio (read by Sian Phillips, Empress Livia in the "I, Claudius" TV program), and have just ripped the discs of "Bridget Jones" to mp3 to re-read; the movie was like watching a highly abridged version of selected moments from the book, rather than following the actual story.

I also listened to "Confessions of a Jane Austen Addict" recently, which wasn't bad, although Austen purists seemed to hate it.

I'm always a little cautious with audiobooks, ever since Jim Dale read Harry Potter to me a lot of other audiobooks just don't compare... but maybe I should try one again

I just started in Eclipse from Stephenie Meyer. I'm still not sure weather or not I like the books but I keep on reading it haha

[WT Sharpe]

Has anyone started a "What the heck did you read in 2010" thread yet?

[Iridal]

Originally Posted by LadyHeather

I just started in Eclipse from Stephenie Meyer. I'm still not sure weather or not I like the books but I keep on reading it haha

I enjoyed the Twilight series very much ! Oops, did I just admit I like Twilight in public

I'm currently reading Matilda by Roald Dahl. It's a children's book (and I'm supposed to be all grown up), but I don't really care. There's just something about the way he writes. And the pictures are so purty

[ATDrake]

Originally Posted by phenomshel

…and now I'm reading "The Ninth Daughter" by Barbara Hamilton, which has to do with pre-Revolutionary war history and Abigail Adams.

Ooh. Barbara Hamilton is the pseudonym of my favourite writers, whose publisher apparently decided she should adopt it to try and break out of the midlist doldrums as a "new" author with that series.

If you end up liking Ninth Daughter, you might also want to look up Patriot Hearts under her regular name (nearly the same, but ends with -bly). It's a straight historical set from the viewpoints of Martha Washington, Dolly Madison, Abigail Adams, and Sally Hemings and pretty decent, though not nearly as good as The Emancipator's Wife, which is her Mary Todd Lincoln novel which was a finalist for a Michael Shaara Award for Excellence in a Civil War Novel. She also writes excellent sf/fantasy and other historical mysteries.

As for me, I finished Elizabeth Ann Scarborough's Song of Sorcery, which was a charming understated mildly comedic quest-fantasy. I enjoyed it enough that I'll be buying the three sequels in the series, perhaps if the niche re-publisher participates in the Read an e-Book Week sale that Smashwords seems to have. Otherwise, they've got a 25% off discount coupon on their website (but PDF only) and they're also available via Omnilit which did 50% rebate for CyberMonday (but again, PDF only). I'll wait and see.

Read a couple more R.A. MacAvoy. Really enjoyed The Book of Kells; I'm a sucker for time-travel tales of people getting sucked into another time and place to Help the Locals With Their Anachronistic Know-How and Discover Something About Themselves (in either direction of the time stream). And this one's got a Canadian in it, too! Plus Vikings in pre-medieval Ireland, always a bonus. Recommended.

Was a little disappointed that The Grey Horse was not a sequel. But it was a fairly decent tale set post-Potato Famine about the clashing culture of Irish tenants and English landlords and late Victorian politics, as the backdrop for a Faerie man's wooing of a stubborn Irish lass. Not as paranormal romantic as that description might make it sound in case curious PNR fans were wondering, since that's not really the main focus of most of the story. But an interesting, pleasant rural historical fantasy read.

To continue the theme of horses and authors named Elizabeth A*, partway through Elizabeth A. Lynn's The Silver Horse, which is the tale of a girl whose brother is lured away by the title creature into the clutches of some otherworldly being and enters the Land of Runaway Toys to bring him back. This is very short, about 1200 locations on the Kindle, and I suspect it was an older children's novel in its print incarnation. Cute and charming so far; a little reminiscent of Terry Pratchett's Wee Free Men, minus the Nac Mac Feegles.

[DixieGal]

Originally Posted by Iridal

I enjoyed the Twilight series very much ! Oops, did I just admit I like Twilight [I]in public[/And the pictures are so purty