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

[phenomshel]

Originally Posted by ATDrake

Finished Ruled Britannia, Harry Turtledove's alternate history Shakespearean thriller wherein the master playwright is commissioned by two opposing powers to write a Very Special Play in an England where the Armada succeeded and the Spaniards now rule.

Absolutely brilliant.

Turtledove makes truly marvelous use of the language, juxtaposing surprisingly naturalistic Shakespearean dialect with more neutrally omniscient narrative voice. It's a rare writer who can pull off that combination of period flavour and modern comprehension*. Connie Willis managed to pull this trick in her short story Winter's Tale, but most authors fail miserably when they try.

And not only the awesomely evocative use of language, but also the plot is very well done, with characters' internal thoughts and motivations and external expressions of them shown with a subtle clarity. Scenes one thinks are simply pleasant scene-setting background detail filler-inners turn out to have surprising bearing on the plot later, and the whole seems beautifully laid out with a certain economical elegance, deftly woven into a magnificent whole.

While the heavy use of Shakespearean language won't be for everyone (by all means, do read the Kindle/Nook samples for the experience), I highly recommend this to anyone with an interest in the Bard, the late Tudor period, and what-might-have-been. I bought this purely on impulse after reading In the Presence of Mine Enemies, and I don't regret it in the least.

Plus there's nifty guest star roles and a good set of historical notes in the back, which I always love. Turtledove based more of this on actual history than I'd have thought, given that he normally loves to do these multi-volume epics where the US South won the Civil War only to run up against Nazi Germany before they all get invaded by alien space lizards, or stuff like that.

Now if you'll excuse me, methinks I needs must exit, pursued by a bear†.

* The vocabulary was unusual, and certainly gave my Kindle's dictionary a workout, but the meaning was perfectly understood from the surrounding context; except for that one constable who seemed to have been imported from the cast of 'Allo 'Allo!.

† I started on Tim Davys' Amberville, an offbeat sleuth story with the conceit of being set amongst plush animals, wherein the PI is a stuffed bear. This is surprisingly still free for Canadian Kindlers, but it's not quite grabbing me like I hoped.

I tried to give you Karma for that line, but it tells me I have to spread it around some more, first. I'm looking up Amberville, right now! Probably the Harry Turtledove, too.

[BearMountainBooks]

Originally Posted by poohbear_nc

I'm wallowing in works by Elizabeth Ferrars - whose works are now becoming available again - a mystery writer compared (favorably) with Agatha Christie - murder mysteries in England - with many delicious plot twists and quirky characters.

Just finished "Enough to Kill a Horse" - a wonderful "death at a dinner party in a small English village" mystery.

These sound VERY interesting. Must investigate!!!

[Mel Comley]

I'm reading Linda Prathers The Gifts at the moment.

Tortured. . . raped. . . executed. . .
No matter how much he drank, Gavin McAllister couldn't get the headline out of his head. Just words. He was a writer, made his living with words. The impact of the words directly correlated to the emotions of the reader. Words could be twisted, knives to open up wounds long hidden. Maneuvered to evoke buried nightmares. Bare the soul, expose the wound, and you had a best seller. Make them laugh. Make them cry. Above all, make them feel something. He was an expert at manipulating words for emotion.

But he'd seen the body.

It wasn't a story this time. This time it was personal. The demon of his nightmares had no name, but now he knew where to look for him. Glade Springs had secrets. And no one uncovered secrets better than Jacody ives.

Really good read.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Gifts-Jacody...0719698&sr=1-2

Mel

[siraks]

currently reading

decision points - george bush

why we suck - dennis leary

hal spacejock book 1 - simon haynes

i am finding now with the ereader and the amount of books i can have with me i want to read more and more and so little by little i'm reading 3 at once now...some days one book gets more love than the others :P

[pdurrant]

Originally Posted by pdurrant

Analog, May 2011. I'm half-way through already, and it has an absolutely splendid "Probability Zero" short short.

Yes, a very good issue. Next up is Asimov's SF, April/May 2011. I haven't been impressed with this issue so far (half way through it). One of two things I quite liked, but also one or two I really didn't like. Hopefully the second half will be more to my taste.

[bZkindle]

Originally Posted by siraks

currently reading

decision points - george bush

why we suck - dennis leary

hal spacejock book 1 - simon haynes

i am finding now with the ereader and the amount of books i can have with me i want to read more and more and so little by little i'm reading 3 at once now...some days one book gets more love than the others :P

is that your actual Kobo? is that a paint job or a skin? I kinda like that.

I have just started Nemesis by Chalmers Johnson:
http://www.amazon.com/Nemesis-Last-A...pr_product_top

Like ancient Rome, America is saddled with an empire that is fatally undermining its republican government, argues Johnson (The Sorrows of Empire), in this bleak jeremiad. He surveys the trappings of empire: the brutal war of choice in Iraq and other foreign interventions going back decades; the militarization of space; the hundreds of overseas U.S. military bases full of "swaggering soldiers who brawl and sometimes rape." At home, the growth of an "imperial presidency," with the CIA as its "private army," has culminated in the Bush administration's resort to warrantless wiretaps, torture, a "gulag" of secret CIA prisons and an unconstitutional arrogation of "dictatorial" powers, while a corrupt Congress bows like the Roman Senate to Caesar. Retribution looms, the author warns, as the American economy, dependent on a bloated military-industrial complex and foreign borrowing, staggers toward bankruptcy, maybe a military coup. Johnson's is a biting, often effective indictment of some ugly and troubling features of America's foreign policy and domestic politics. But his doom-laden trope of empire ("the capacity for things to get worse is limitless.... the American republic may be coming to its end") seems overstated. With Bush a lame duck, not a Caesar, and his military adventures repudiated by the electorate, the Republic seems more robust than Johnson allows. (Feb.)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

[pdurrant]

Originally Posted by pdurrant

Asimov's SF, April/May 2011.

A sub-par issue for me, saved by a splendid Novelette by Kristine Kathryn Rusch. I think I just didn't like the style of several of the stories. Hopefully the next issue will b more to my taste.

Next, back to my Agatha Christie stash, and her sixth book: The Secret of Chimneys

[siraks]

Originally Posted by bZkindle

is that your actual Kobo? is that a paint job or a skin? I kinda like that.]

no it isn't

i wish it was a skin i had. there's a canadian flag skin that you can purchase so i just downloaded a jpg of it and played around with it in photoshop until it looked like the leafs flag

i think there's a place to get custom skins where you just upload a picture and may try that but with a different picture!

[bZkindle]

Originally Posted by siraks

no it isn't

i wish it was a skin i had. there's a canadian flag skin that you can purchase so i just downloaded a jpg of it and played around with it in photoshop until it looked like the leafs flag

i think there's a place to get custom skins where you just upload a picture and may try that but with a different picture!

a quick look gives me:
http://www.uniqueskins.com/Products/...o+eReader+Skin
and
http://www.gelaskins.com/store/skins...s/Kobo_eReader
for custom kobo skins, but I don't think it would be all that hard to do with a stencil and some good paint.
Oh, and a steady hand too.

[siraks]

Originally Posted by bZkindle

a quick look gives me:
http://www.uniqueskins.com/Products/...o+eReader+Skin
and
http://www.gelaskins.com/store/skins...s/Kobo_eReader
for custom kobo skins, but I don't think it would be all that hard to do with a stencil and some good paint.
Oh, and a steady hand too.

it doesn't seem that bad for 8 bucks, upload a pic and get your own skin.
thanks

edit :: i plugged in the image in my avatar and the price would be 19.99 but the skin looks awesome, it almost looks like blue leather and the back is simple but pretty sweet ... might have to order this skin !

[BenG]

Just finished The Long Ships by Frans Bengtsson. The Witch in the Wood by T. H. White is up next.

[DiapDealer]

Originally Posted by BenG

Just finished The Long Ships by Frans Bengtsson.

I just purchased this and was thinking about reading it next. What were your impressions?

[Iridal]

Originally Posted by thinkpadx

Finished the 3rd book in the Hunger Game series which I personally thought was the best. I've started on Oath of Fealty now that the follow up book Kings of the North is nearing its release.

I'm finished too! I agree with you, Mockingjay was definitely the best of the 3 books. And this makes book 25 of this year

Now starting Dead Beat (Dresden Files 7) by Jim Butcher.

[caleb72]

Just finished The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time. Fantastic.

Just started TAG by Simon Royle, another MR author.

Regards
Caleb

[CRussel]

Downloaded Elizabeth Moon's latest, Kings of the North , this morning, and am about 1/3rd of the way through it. Enjoying it immensely. Way overpriced, of course, and I won't do it for very many authors.

Just finished Mouse and Dragon, by Sharon Lee and Steve Miller. I'm re-reading the entire Liaden Universe(r) series again, now that they're all available at reasonable prices as eBooks from Baen. Enjoying it even more the second time through.