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

[DiapDealer]

The 5th (and I believe final) book is being released July 12th 2011. I already have it pre-ordered at Amazon

No, no... not final.
The overall series is scheduled for 7 books--of course it was initially planned as a trilogy, so nothing's really carved in stone.

[orlok]

Originally Posted by covingtoncat73

Really? I find him hilarious. In one of his books, the protagonist fends off the bad guys with a frozen iguana. Now that is comedy. Of course, my tastes run to black/twisted, random, or very dry in the comedy vein so I'm probably not a good measure of what most people find funny.

I agree. I've had many laugh-out-loud moments (the swordfish?), though I have to admit a lot of it is more a wry or dark humour that won't be to everyone's taste.

[orange!]

Just finished The Last of How It Was. Not for everyone, but laugh-out-loud funny once you get used to the narrative style and cadence. Also, skip this one if you're offended by ethnic/racial slurs, which are numerous.

The author, T.R. Pearson, says on Goodreads that he's getting ready to self-publish his newest novel and has made the first chapter available there as a sample.

[issybird]

I sideloaded Vera by Elizabeth von Arnim (author of Enchanted April) from Girlebooks on a whim, thinking it would be mindless 1920's era chicklit. In fact, it was far better than that. A nuanced black comedy, it was well worth reading and the ending left me distinctly disturbed. I gather it's something of an anomaly among her oeuvre, but I shall be checking out her other works now.

[ATDrake]

Originally Posted by phenomshel

I've been looking at those two titles from Carina Press as well.

Well, I'd have to say that Cindy Spencer Pape' Steam and Sorcery, that Victorian steampunk-with-magick kinda-mystery-ish romance which I bought and just finished, was worth 99 cents + tax, even if I wouldn't pay much more than that for any future sequels.

It was a pretty decent read, and better than I was expecting based on the freebie novella (which is actually a postquel rather than a prequel), even though there were some fairly silly and unsubtle elements.

For example, one of the villains behind the dastardly scheme is exactly the type of person I thought it would be, based on those zero-sum romance clichéd character personality rules mentioned upthread.

And the heroine at first seems to be a moderately ordinary person of moderately ordinary means, but turns out to

Spoiler:

have a highly advantageous hidden heritage and special talent which is of course key to resolving the matter and telegraphed multiple times, well in advance of the dénouement.

And of course there were the very special children with very special talents who thankfully lost their very special phonetically rendered speech defects very soon after coming into contact with the governess-heroine who tames them and wins their hearts with love and understanding due to her implacably sweet nature.

But aside from that, the characterization wasn't bad, and the children were reasonably likeable once they stopped behaving with disproportionately naughtiness so that the governess-heroine could look good by persuading them to stop sliding down bannisters and breaking the valuable ancient heirlooms of the titled lord who generously took them in. Which you'd think that precocious as they're supposed to be, they would have figured out to not do that already, if only not to get sent packing back to the streets.

And the mystery/adventure (one of those which-mysterious-group-is-behind-the-nefarious-plot types kind of like that first Gail Carriger book, rather than a straightforward whodunnit) was approached in a fairly decent manner, with some mild investigative work done (undercover to parties where Important Clues are dropped and whatnot).

And I admit that I was pleasantly surprised at how some of the romantic aspects unfolded. Based on the fact that Carina publishes mainly erotic romance as far as I can tell, and the contents of the previous novella, I was fully expecting half the book to be about how the two leads were either boinking each other, or fantasizing about how much they wanted to boink each other.

But no, the book actually unfolds the characters and setting and mystery/adventure bits first, so that other stuff doesn't seriously start until the 60% mark, after which they do spend about every other scene coupling like crazed ice weasels. So those activities only take up about 20% of the story, which is a rather nice ratio for a no-romo reader.

Medium recommend if you can get it cheap during the current sale, or in a future one. I consider it worth the money I paid (especially once I factor in supporting a publisher who's committed to DRM-free and giving out promo novellas), but I personally wouldn't consider it worth paying very much more than that, simply because deep down it's just not really my kind of thing* and the writing isn't outstanding enough to persuade me to make an exception.

But it was reasonably enjoyable nonetheless and I don't regret spending the money, and think I might be persuaded to try any future sequels at a similarly low promotional price, provided the samples read well.

* And I think it rather helps if you've always harboured a secret desire to read the paranormal porno version of Mary Poppins, because it was kind of like that, in a way.

[orlok]

Apart from reading, I'm also listening to American Rebel, a biography of Clint Eastwood written and narrated by Marc Eliot. Reasonably enjoyable, though I'm finding I like Clint a little less than I used to, due to his treatment of friends, and particularly his treatment of the women in his life.

[Iridal]

Originally Posted by Iridal

I just started reading The Last Four Things by Paul Hoffman. It's the sequel to The Left Hand of God, which was so good I finished it in a day. So I was really looking forward to this new book. I'm about 50 pages in, and I have to say I'm a little disappointed. Hopefully it's going to get better ...

I gave up ... It's not really a bad book, but I need full concentration (which I don't have after a long workday). I'll finish this one during my holiday next week.

Instead I started reading The Ambassador's Mission by Trudi Canavan. It's the first book in The Traitor Spy Trilogy, which follows The Black Magician Trilogy.

[maianhvk]

Originally Posted by maianhvk

I will either start reading The Chronicles of Narnia or catch up with the latest book in Michael Scott's The Secrets of Immortal Nicholas Flamel: #4 The Necromancer.

I gave up with Michael Scott's the Necromancer. The Nicholas Flamel series was interesting at the beginning: the 1st book was promising, the 2nd book was acceptable, the 3rd book was hard to finish and now the 4th one is totally a disaster. I struggled through the first tenth of it and surrendered at once!

Now, Narnia's waiting I watched the movies but never read any book of the Chronicles and the first book is just awesome!

[caleb72]

Originally Posted by maianhvk

Now, Narnia's waiting I watched the movies but never read any book of the Chronicles and the first book is just awesome!

Have you read The Dark is Rising series by Susan Cooper? You seem to like YA quite a bit and this series is one of my favourites in that genre.

[Ea]

Originally Posted by caleb72

Have you read The Dark is Rising series by Susan Cooper? You seem to like YA quite a bit and this series is one of my favourites in that genre.

I remember that series very well. One of my favourites. More fairy-tale like, but equally great is the Taran series by Lloyd Alexander.

[maianhvk]

Originally Posted by caleb72

Have you read The Dark is Rising series by Susan Cooper? You seem to like YA quite a bit and this series is one of my favourites in that genre.

Originally Posted by Ea

I remember that series very well. One of my favourites. More fairy-tale like, but equally great is the Taran series by Lloyd Alexander.

2 more series to put on wishlist!!!! sometimes I really hate you all when you recommend "great" or "awesome" or "can't-put-down" or "favorite" books

(kiddin'. Thanks for the recommendations)

[BearMountainBooks]

If I recall correctly there are a few John Levitt (Dog Days Urban Fantasy series) fans out here. I follow his blog via libraryjournal so noticed that his band had put out their first CD:

http://www.cdbaby.com/cd/procrastinitas

It won't surprise those who read the series that John is a musician; what did surprise me was the style of the band. I was expecting Jazz. There's some of that on the CD --sort of. Most of the songs mimics a sort of jazz, but it's kind of new-age ... or, my own term, "new-weird." It's always weirder though, when you're expecting one thing (jazz) and you get (something else.)

Of COURSE authors are only loosely related to characters they write about (if at all). So don't ask me why the album came as such a surprise. It's probably more my lack of stepping outside older music (I'm a traditional kind of gal: Moody Blues, Crosby Stills and Nash, Eagles, Bob Seger, some Bangels...) Yeah, showing my age, there.

Anyway, I found it *interesting* to listen to. Supposedly it is also on iTunes (I don't have any apple devices, so no idea of the link) and it may go up on Amazon's MP3 store or whatever that is.

The link I sent lets you get a pretty good idea of the flavor.

[maggievnc]

in addition to a good entertainment I recommend this book - as a "healer"....

the story is about the life in Iceland around the beginning of the 20th century.

bellow is a link to wikepeda.

i have read this book at least twice, it's like a bottle of hot water to take to bed in especially cold nights.

my best friend Tommy gave it to me when i was at a very law state in my life, experiencing some tough challenges. she said: this book will make you feel better - and it did!

i think that "northern exposure" (remember the successful TV sirial of the 90's?) was inspired in a way by this book. its magical, intelligent and yet comforting. enjoy :-)

would love to hear your impression.

sara

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Fish_Can_Sing

http://www.smashwords.com/profile/view/saradagan

[caleb72]

Originally Posted by maianhvk

2 more series to put on wishlist!!!! sometimes I really hate you all when you recommend "great" or "awesome" or "can't-put-down" or "favorite" books

We're like drug pushers - but at least this drug is good for you.

[maianhvk]

Originally Posted by caleb72

We're like drug pushers - but at least this drug is good for you.

and bad for my wallet, yeah.