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

[ATDrake]

Originally Posted by SeaBookGuy

I read the penultimate one recently (Poison Ivory); Abby herself I could deal with, but her assistant C. J. was every bit as insufferable as I'd remembered with her "Shelby" stories.

I kind of had the opposite reaction. CJ was so over-the-top unbelievable that whatever she said or did no longer really touched me and began to look mildly funny in a non-sequitur Foul Ole Ron millenium-hand-and-shrimp-ptui* way, but since Abby was narrator and both judgmental and somewhat incompetent, her viewpoint started to seriously grate.

Mind you, I seem to have read two books from the mid-point of the series and maybe one of the characters gets worse and the other gets better later on.

Originally Posted by phenomshel

I was about to say, she must be hitting a note with someone, because they're selling A. Well enough for the libraries to buy them, and with these budget cuts they don't buy just everything anymore, and B. well enough for the publishers not to be dropping them.

Yeah, obviously someone loves them, judging by how many of the things made it into the library catalogue. Unfortunately that someone just isn't me and I guess I'll be sticking to Lyn Hamilton for reasonably well-written antiques dealer mysteries.

It's a shame, because the premise and descriptions seemed so interesting in the listings. Too bad it didn't live up to its promise. But I'm glad the library has them, since they're exactly the kind of moderately enjoyable mind candy entertainment that the library should stock so that you can shell your limited hoard of book-buying cash on stuff you like more.

Read and finished Tim Powers' Three Days to Never, which I picked up from the library on the strength of its being his other Declare-like book, a description which is kind of vaguely accurate.

This time it's both weirder and more mundane, with the Mossad and some competing alphabet agency chasing down a father and daughter who unknowingly turn out to have access to a particular device which allowed earlier users to try changing the world by decidedly unorthodox means.

Entertaining enough, but didn't hold my attention the same way Declare did. Also, given the nature of the device, rather convoluted with all the twists and turns.

Mild recommend if you like supernatural spy thrillers mostly seen from the viewpoint of bewildered civilians caught up in the spying, references to Albert Einstein and Charlie Chaplin and Shakespeare's The Tempest, and multi-dimensional machinations involving men who fold themselves.

* Buggrit.

[kennyc]

Just noticed a new short story collection from E.L. Doctorow - "All the Time in the World"

http://www.amazon.com/All-Time-World...9498682&sr=1-1

about to be released.

[obs20]

I'm reading We,The Drowned by Carsten Jensen http://ebookstore.sony.com/ebook/car...00000000346748
Excellent read so far!

[Crusader]

Just finished "Sister Alice" by Robert Reed. It's one of those weird sci-fi novels that will keep you pondering the ideas for ages to come.

[kennyc]

Originally Posted by Crusader

Just finished "Sister Alice" by Robert Reed. It's one of those weird sci-fi novels that will keep you pondering the ideas for ages to come.

Hmm, now THAT sounds interesting!

[Crusader]

Originally Posted by kennyc

Hmm, now THAT sounds interesting!

Yeah, it's set in a future where a select few humans have godlike powers and they live to be millions of years old. Some parts are difficult to get into and it might no be everyone's cup of tea. I enjoyed it though.

Millions of years from now, humanity is on the brink of self-destruction. Advances in science and technology have given the people of Earth access to other worlds but have not bestowed wisdom upon the planets' fractious nations. The world's great leaders decide that the best solution to what looms as a terminal problem is to create an elite group who, by their superior wisdom and abilities, will keep the peace, maintain progress, and otherwise safeguard humanity's future. One thousand people are chosen to be founders of great Families. The members of the Families aren't like the rest of humanity. Genetically enhanced and each generation continually improved, they are the carriers of Earth's greatest talents. Lawmakers, scientists, explorers, terraformers - they become a force unlike any in the history of mankind.

For ten million years, the Families dominate the galaxy - but then Alice, a brilliant scientist of the Chamberlain Family, takes part in an experimental attempt to create a new Universe. The experiment goes out of control, unleashing vast energies that destroy countless worlds, killing untold billions of people.

Before she is punished for her role in the debacle, Alice, who is millennia old, visits a much younger member of the Chamberlains, Ord, who is just coming into his powers. Only he, of all the people in the galaxy, knows what Alice tells him, but her words launch him on a quest that will take him across the vast reaches of space. He must discover his own true nature and somehow restore the family honor. This is his epic story.

[natasha_fawn]

Just started Dust of Dreams by Steven Erikson, the second to last Malazan book. I've waited on it since it supposedly ends in a cliffhanger, but the 10th and last book just came out (glee!) so now I can read them both in one go. (One very, very long go. Dust of Dreams is 1276 pages in mass market paperback, and The Crippled God is longer.) I like having the paper versions to complete the collection, but I foresee hand cramps in my future, so I may have to buy the ebook versions too.

[Iridal]

Just finished Wintertide, book 5 in the Riyria Revelations Series by Michael J. Sullivan. The fact that I finished it in one day says it all. It was superb. Unputdownable. I can't wait until April, when the final book in the series will be released.

In the meantime ... back to the Dresden Files by Jim Butcher (starting book 6: Blood Rites)

[BenG]

I'm reading The Dirty Parts of the Bible by Sam Torode. It's a coming of age story set in the Depression. When his father is blinded in a freak accident, a preacher's son is sent fromMichigan to Texas to retrieve some money he threw down a well when he was converted.

It's a retelling of the story of Tobias and Sarah from the Book of Tobit.

[thinkpad]

I just finished the first book in the Hunger Game series. I found it a bit short, I wanted more pages to read so I bought the second book

It will not end up among my favourite books, but it was good enough to get me to buy the second book.

The story is captivating but I felt that more could have been done to build up the characters and give them depth.

[ATDrake]

Finished Elizabeth Peters' Die For Love, 3rd in her Jacqueline Kirby mystery series.

Between this and that Mercedes Lackey short story, I'm beginning to get this impression that fictional recountings of romance writer professional gatherings are a hotbed of pointless squabbling, passive-aggressive backstabbing, vicious catfighting, and silly costume-wearing. I have got to start finding more of these things to read.

In any case, this was a very funny case of an academic librarian's visit to a trashy genre publicity event where nothing is what it seems, everybody has it in for everybody else and a couple of former friends may or may not harbour deep dark secrets which drive them to kill and kill again. With bonus mockery of stereotypical romance novel prose.*

The whodunnit was pretty good, with a completely different character than I thought being the obvious victim getting killed (I'd have pegged the initial victim as a murder suspect), and the character whom I'd then thought would turn out responsible for the death being eliminated from consideration. I'm usually fairly bad at these things, so mysteries where I don't guess the answer before the amateur sleuth does get bonus marks.

Highly recommended for entertainment value provided by good clean satirical fun. This was the only one in the series my library had in e-edition, but I'll be happy enough to look at the rest in their paper collection.

Now if you'll excuse me, I feel the urge to go plagiarize The Lustful Turk under an assumed name. Valerie von Drachenstein†, perhaps.

* Kind of like Sharyn McCrumb's Bimbos of the Death Sun, come to think of it, only set at a romance instead of a sci-fi convention.

† Started on Borrower of the Night, 1st in Peters' Vicky Bliss series, but it's not grabbing me nearly as much.

[bZkindle]

Osama bin Laden by Michael Scheuer
fun times with everyones favorite terrorist!

[BearMountainBooks]

Originally Posted by ATDrake

Finished Elizabeth Peters' Die For Love, 3rd in her Jacqueline Kirby mystery series.

Between this and that Mercedes Lackey short story, I'm beginning to get this impression that fictional recountings of romance writer professional gatherings are a hotbed of pointless squabbling, passive-aggressive backstabbing, vicious catfighting, and silly costume-wearing. I have got to start finding more of these things to read.

In any case, this was a very funny case of an academic librarian's visit to a trashy genre publicity event where nothing is what it seems, everybody has it in for everybody else and a couple of former friends may or may not harbour deep dark secrets which drive them to kill and kill again. With bonus mockery of stereotypical romance novel prose.*

The whodunnit was pretty good, with a completely different character than I thought being the obvious victim getting killed (I'd have pegged the initial victim as a murder suspect), and the character whom I'd then thought would turn out responsible for the death being eliminated from consideration. I'm usually fairly bad at these things, so mysteries where I don't guess the answer before the amateur sleuth does get bonus marks.

Highly recommended for entertainment value provided by good clean satirical fun. This was the only one in the series my library had in e-edition, but I'll be happy enough to look at the rest in their paper collection.

Now if you'll excuse me, I feel the urge to go plagiarize The Lustful Turk under an assumed name. Valerie von Drachenstein†, perhaps.

* Kind of like Sharyn McCrumb's Bimbos of the Death Sun, come to think of it, only set at a romance instead of a sci-fi convention.

† Started on Borrower of the Night, 1st in Peters' Vicky Bliss series, but it's not grabbing me nearly as much.

Great write-up. Give Vicky some time. She'll grow on you.

[pdurrant]

Originally Posted by pdurrant

next up is a book I'd somewhat despaired of ever seeing: The Big Meow by Diane Duane.

And a very good book it is too. Of course, in it's current state there are a few typos, and it'll probably change a little in editing, but and excellent story, and I really enjoyed it.

Although the story is stand-alone, it would be best to read the other two first.

And now a complete change of pace. Red Rabbit by Tom Clancy.

I bought this from fictionwise back in February 2009 for the high price of $6.45. (Well, high compared to the average price I've paid for ebooks.)

I'm pretty sure I've read all the previous books in the series at one time or another, but it might take me a while to get back into what's going on. However, it's a long enough book that I should have time to do that. (Over 1MB in Kindle form. Over 650 pages in paperback!)

[wyndslash]

currently reading Walden Two by BF Skinner. very interesting.