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

[SeaBookGuy]

I am reading a print book, The Traveller's Tree by Patrick Leigh Fermor (his travels in the Caribbean after World War II) - I really, really wish that it were an ebook as the paperback is quite bulky; I'd pay a premium for it in fact!

I'm also reading two ebooks: Irrepressible - a biography of the writer Jessica Mitford, and Too Many Cooks - a (foodie) mom's adventures in getting her family to eat non-mainstream dinners.

And last, two audiobooks: The Dangerous Edge of Things, a murder mystery set in Atlanta (first book in a (possible) series), and Revival - coverage of Obama's (ultimately successful) healthcare fight, and beyond.

[Cyclops]

I foubd a new Robert Silverberg story online called The Tomb of the Pontifex Dvorn and might read that next. It will serve as an introduction to his Majipoor books for me. You can download it for free from here :
http://subterraneanpress.com/index.p...rt-silverberg/

[edbro]

Originally Posted by bZkindle

The Greek Seaman by Jacqueline Howett

http://www.amazon.com/The-Greek-Seam...cm_cr-mr-title

Are you reading this as a result of the big todo?
https://www.mobileread.com/forums/sho...d.php?t=127498

I see the rating is up to 1.5 stars now.

[DixieGal]

I'm reading The Thief of Time, Discworld 26. It is very good, which is a big relief after the last one. My TBR list is getting so big, but I keep coming back to Discworld.

[ATDrake]

Originally Posted by edbro

Are you reading this as a result of the big todo?
https://www.mobileread.com/forums/sho...d.php?t=127498

I thought the April Fool's joke was that bzKindle was claiming to read it at all.

As for me, le book du bus ride was Anne Eliot Crompton's Merlin's Harp, a promotional freebie from last year which I started upon yesterday to decide whether to spend 66 cents on Percival's Angels, another book in the same series which is currently on sale for $1.59 at Kobo and discountable with coupon.

The answer turned out to be "sure, why not?"

This was an Arthurian re-imagining in roughly the same vein as Marion Zimmer Bradley's The Mists of Avalon, but even more tilted towards the traditional/mystical/pagan in contrast to the newfangled/mundane/Christian elements of the tales, though not nearly as comprehensive of the legends, much less lengthy. Nimue, "Viviane", Merlin et al. are now outright Fey in whole or part (though rather than being elfish-type otherworldly Faerie, the Fey are more like displaced Pictish natives with minor magical abilities).

The story is entirely told through Niviane's eyes and really skims over much of the traditional plots in favour of recounting how Fey-Human interrelations and the Goddess influenced her and Merlin's part in the classical Lancelot/Guinevere/Arthur/Morgan/Mordred tale of love and betrayal, which is kind of mostly backdrop for her internal musings about it all.

But it was interesting enough that I don't regret my time spent reading it, and having gotten this one for free, I'm willing to put less than a dollar towards another in the series, which doesn't seem to need to be read in order (Merlin's Harp covers Arthur through his death; I assume the others are reasonably standalone since they follow Gawain and Percival through their careers, respectively).

As for the e-book edition, Amazon's Mobi version had some very minor formatting errors. Occasional no-indent text for a couple of lines of dialogue, a few words run together without spaces from time to time, italics starting or ending prematurely icertain phrases, but nothing terribly wrong. Though it would have looked much better with less space between paragraphs and some curly quotes.

Also, I should mention that characters

Speak their spells in italicized rhyme
Which to the eyes can give a hard time

and takes some getting used to, although thankfully they don't do it very often.

Very mild recommend if you like narrator-viewpoint-centric pagan-tilted Arthurian retellings with a bit of Fey-oriented fantasy (use of magic was low-key and matter-of-fact, rather than grand epic). While it's not an outstandingly good book with universal try-this-to-check-out-the-subgenre appeal, it's decent enough reading if this is the kind of thing you already like to read to begin with.

[bZkindle]

Originally Posted by ATDrake

I thought the April Fool's joke was that bzKindle was claiming to read it at all.

I think I'd rather be waterboarded.

Actually, I'm reading Obama's Wars by Bob Woodward:
http://www.amazon.ca/Obamas-Wars-Bob...1796693&sr=1-1

In Obama’s Wars, Bob Woodward provides the most intimate and sweeping portrait yet of the young president as commander in chief. Drawing on internal memos, classified documents, meeting notes and hundreds of hours of interviews with most of the key players, including the president, Woodward tells the inside story of Obama making the critical decisions on the Afghanistan War, the secret campaign in Pakistan and the worldwide fight against terrorism.
At the core of Obama’s Wars is the unsettled division between the civilian leadership in the White House and the United States military as the president is thwarted in his efforts to craft an exit plan for the Afghanistan War.

“So what’s my option?” the president asked his war cabinet, seeking alternatives to the Afghanistan commander’s request for 40,000 more troops in late 2009. “You have essentially given me one option. ...It’s unacceptable.”

“Well,” Secretary of Defense Robert Gates finally said, “Mr. President, I think we owe you that option.”

It never came. An untamed Vice President Joe Biden pushes relentlessly to limit the military mission and avoid another Vietnam. The vice president frantically sent half a dozen handwritten memos by secure fax to Obama on the eve of the final troop decision.

President Obama’s ordering a surge of 30,000 troops and pledging to start withdrawing U.S. forces by July 2011 did not end the skirmishing.

General David Petraeus, the new Afghanistan commander, thinks time can be added to the clock if he shows progress. “I don’t think you win this war,” Petraeus said privately. “This is the kind of fight we’re in for the rest of our lives and probably our kids’ lives.”

Hovering over this debate is the possibility of another terrorist attack in the United States. The White House led a secret exercise showing how unprepared the government is if terrorists set off a nuclear bomb in an American city—which Obama told Woodward is at the top of the list of what he worries about all the time.

Verbatim quotes from secret debates and White House strategy sessions—and firsthand accounts of the thoughts and concerns of the president, his war council and his generals—reveal a government in conflict, often consumed with nasty infighting and fundamental disputes.

Woodward has discovered how the Obama White House really works, showing that even more tough decisions lie ahead for the cerebral and engaged president.

Obama’s Wars offers the reader a stunning, you-are-there account of the president, his White House aides, military leaders, diplomats and intelligence chiefs in this time of turmoil and danger.

[pdurrant]

Originally Posted by pdurrant

another Agatha Christie now. Her 8th book, The Big Four, featuring Hercule Poirot.

A stinker. Hercule Poirot against criminal masterminds out to destabilise and take over the world. A secret base, as master of disguise, and Poirot mis-reading situations and people and getting things wrong.

Next I read a freebie: Septimus Heap: Magyk by Angie Sage

I was a little harsh in my initial assessment of Magyk, as the tyography is off-putting. It insists on setting all the Magyk words used like Darkeness in bold. Although I did finish it, I'm not tempted to get any of the later books.

So, now I'm onto In the Ocean of Night which I bought way back in December 2008 from Fictionwise. It's the first in a series and, for once, I have the whole series already.

[gmw]

Originally Posted by DixieGal

I'm reading The Thief of Time, Discworld 26. It is very good, which is a big relief after the last one. My TBR list is getting so big, but I keep coming back to Discworld.

Wow, it is really interesting to see how people's reactions to books vary. Sure I liked Thief of Time but Jingo was one of my favourites. I will be really interested to see what you make of Night Watch when you get to it, that may well be my absolute favourite of all the Discworld stories - but like Jingo it is about Vimes and the Watch and has much more a serious tone (and is more political).

I guess that's one of the great things about the Discworld books, there's something there to match lots of people's preferences.

[kennyc]

And I'm one of those that just can't get into those Discworld things....

[DixieGal]

Originally Posted by gmw

Wow, it is really interesting to see how people's reactions to books vary. Sure I liked Thief of Time but Jingo was one of my favourites. I will be really interested to see what you make of Night Watch when you get to it, that may well be my absolute favourite of all the Discworld stories - but like Jingo it is about Vimes and the Watch and has much more a serious tone (and is more political).

I guess that's one of the great things about the Discworld books, there's something there to match lots of people's preferences.

Really? JINGO? We have very different tastes. i have stated in several threads that it was the worst for me. But the Watch books are more something that I slog through, preferring the Witches and Wizards. The Watch books are too intellectual for my lowbrow tastes.

Originally Posted by kennyc

And I'm one of those that just can't get into those Discworld things....

BURN THE HERETIC!!!

[GeoffC]

Originally Posted by DixieGal

BURN THE HERETIC!!!

He's burn-proof ....

[kennyc]

Originally Posted by DixieGal

Really? JINGO? We have very different tastes. i have stated in several threads that it was the worst for me. But the Watch books are more something that I slog through, preferring the Witches and Wizards. The Watch books are too intellectual for my lowbrow tastes.



BURN THE HERETIC!!!

.

[pdurrant]

Originally Posted by pdurrant

Next I started a recent freebie: Septimus Heap: Magyk by Angie Sage
Some YA books are good for adults to read too. This isn't one of them.

This was, perhaps, a little harsh. I had a long car journey today, and used the speech synthesis feature of the Kindle to carry on where I'd left off. I think I must have been more put off by the dreadful typography than I'd expected.

The plot is still hopelessly thin, with supposedly intelligent adults failing to add two and two to make four repeatedly, but apart from that it was OK. I'll finish it off after all, and see how it ends.

[phenomshel]

Originally Posted by kennyc

And I'm one of those that just can't get into those Discworld things....

I can't either. Light the blowtorch for us both, DG!

Originally Posted by GeoffC

He's burn-proof ....

Oh yeah, forgot about that. I'll just stand over here in Kenny's shadow, then...

[phenomshel]

This English class is killing my leisure reading. I still have Aunt Dimity's Death going on the Droid X, and After Hours on the Sony. The only thing I 'm making any progress at all with is the third in the Phryne Fisher series - I picked up the first three books in an omnibus ebook edition and have been really enjoying them on the iPad.

For English, I have read Toni Morrison's Recatitif, a couple of excerpts of graphic fiction pieces (which I didn't enjoy, apparently I don't do symbolism), and an excerpt from The Joy Luck Club by Amy Tan. I did my midterm essay on the Amy Tan piece.

For Week Six in English, we're discussing mysteries, though . I already have permission from the professor to interview a couple of my author buddies as "scholarly sources", LOL. This will be the easiest paper I've ever written! (I say that and it will turn out to be the most difficult...)