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

[mikemck]

Breaking in my new Kindle with a reread of A Song of Ice and Fire in anticipation for July, and enjoying some Jules Verne from the MR library. Also have to finish Warbreaker by Brandon Sanderson.

Also have Frankenstein ready to go. I gave it shot, but did not seem to be in the mood to focus on it.

[carld]

I just finished Elegy Beach, a very enjoyable post-apocalyptic fantasy by Steven R. Boyett. I hope he decides to write more stories set in this really interesting universe. It reminds me a bit of Rich Cook's Wizard's Bane series, but grittier and more realistic, while retaining a lot of humor. The interplay between the characters is a lot of fun.

I'm going to give Code of the Lifemaker another try. After a promising prologue it completely failed to grab my interest.

[maianhvk]

Originally Posted by Latinandgreek

I just started "The Throne of Fire" by Rick Riordan. I'm also finishing off "The Curious Incident of the Dog at Night Time"

tell me what you think about The Throne of Fire. I had plan to read it for a while but forget somehow...

[Crusader]

Originally Posted by Latinandgreek

The fifth one is set to be released in July, I believe, if that helps your decision any

I'm glad you like it, I loved the series and am planning on rereading it soon.

I know. The problem is having to wait for books 6 & 7. If he sticks to form 5 or so years is a bit long to wait!

[BearMountainBooks]

Only objection I have is to the motivation being chalked up in part to mental derangement, since I feel that tends to be overused as an easy out; why can't the murderer just be a clever self-justifying conscience-ignoring manipulative fill-in-the-blank who shamelessly takes advantage of their trusting fellow human beings for personal gain instead?

Well, but wait! Isn't that "clever..." sort of deranged for taking advantage of trusting fellow humans...?

[ATDrake]

Originally Posted by BearMountainBooks

Well, but wait! Isn't that "clever..." sort of deranged for taking advantage of trusting fellow humans...?

Perhaps, though I'd personally consider it to make a great deal of sense towards achieving one's goals in a sociopathic way once one has decided to step over that line and kill, and kill again.

But it all seems to be overly pat when the same person who manages to maneuver others into participating in their dirty work also happens to have a convenient suddenly-revealed mental illness which semi-absolves them of responsibility and cuts off avenues of reflection into the darker side of human nature*.

I just eye-roll at that sort of thing, which I first encountered in a particular series of cozy mysteries where I made the mistake of reading 5 in a row which did that convenient murderer-was-just-plain-wackadoodle-think-no-more-of-possible-reasons-for-killing-don'tchaknow-it-would-have-never-happened-if-they-hadn't-been-totally-doolally-all-along for each and every one.

It's like, way to dismiss the broad spectrum of human motivation and stigmatize people with mental illness as ticking-time-bombs-of-random-murder while letting "normal" suspects off the hook because you just have to be visibly clinically insane in retrospect before you can kill someone.

* "Oh look, crazy people are cra-a-a-zy! We all know good old salt-of-the-earth people in command of all their senses would never, ever try and kill anyone†…"

† Despite what, centuries of recorded evidence to the contrary?

[Cyclops]

Currently on a re read of Alan Dean Foster's For Love of Mother-not, the prelude to the thranx/commonwealth/pip and flinx series.

[orlok]

Just finished Riders of the Purple Sage by Zane Grey (came 3rd in the May 2011 Mobile Read Book Club Vote), which I really enjoyed, and have started Mystery by Jonathan Kellerman, the latest in his Alex Delaware series, all of which I have read.

[MickeyC]

Just finished David Balducci's Total Control. This is the first Balducci I've read and now have the whole series to look forward to.

Next Altered Carbon by Richard Morgan

[Nyssa]

I'm reading Thieve's World, the first book in the Thieve's World Series by Robert Asprin. This is the first paper book/series I've read in about 4 or 5 months.

Originally Posted by GoodReads Synopses

Thieves' World is what resulted when the world's top science-fiction and fantasy writers got together to create the amazing new world of Sanctuary, where you mix and mingle with Lythal the Star-browed: his magic is questionable, his sword-play is not. Jubal: ex-gladiator and slave, now a respected citizen (he made his money selling slaves). One Thumb: the crooked bartender at the Vulgar Unicorn ...and even more fantastic characters!

The entire 12 book series is an anthology of anthologies; each chapter of each book is written by a different author. The contributing authors for this volume are:
Robert Lynn Asprin, Lynn Abbey, John Brunner, Poul Anderson, Andrew J. Offutt, Joe Haldeman, Marion Zimmer-Bradley & Christine DeWees.

[BearMountainBooks]

Originally Posted by ATDrake

Perhaps, though I'd personally consider it to make a great deal of sense towards achieving one's goals in a sociopathic way once one has decided to step over that line and kill, and kill again.

But it all seems to be overly pat when the same person who manages to maneuver others into participating in their dirty work also happens to have a convenient suddenly-revealed mental illness which semi-absolves them of responsibility and cuts off avenues of reflection into the darker side of human nature*.



* "Oh look, crazy people are cra-a-a-zy! We all know good old salt-of-the-earth people in command of all their senses would never, ever try and kill anyone†…"

† Despite what, centuries of recorded evidence to the contrary?

Well, I totally agree about the "absolves" them of responsibility. While being an asshat may actually *be* a mental illness some people "do the crime" and they don't feel guilty or care. They simply do it for personal gain. So I guess I get what you're saying. It's okay for a guy to steal/kill/manipulate in a book because he has PERSONAL MOTIVATION/PERSONAL GAIN--without using the excuse of: He's mental or he wouldn't have done these crimes.

[Canary]

I just got my nook today and I downloaded 'A Fool Again' by Eloisa James.
I'm planning to read that after I finish 'Cornelia and the Audacious Escapades of the somerset sisters' by Lesley M.M. Blume. (Which is very good, by the way)

[Ron.]

I finally finished the book I have been reading for a week (A Bend in the Road) It was not long 300 some odd pages, and it was not that I didn't enjoy it. Just been in a funk lately, hopefully that's past now..

what to read next....

[maianhvk]

I finished The Name of The Wind last night. Phew! What a long one. What next? ah yes, Hunger Game.

[caleb72]

Originally Posted by maianhvk

I finished The Name of The Wind last night. Phew! What a long one. What next? ah yes, Hunger Game.

What did you think of it?

Regards
Caleb