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

[DiapDealer]

I finished up Earnest Cline's Ready Player One and loved every bit of it. It's probably not going to win any literary awards—and I'm not going to say he was a master of characterization and complex plotting. But he made me laugh every-other sentence, and THAT'S an accomplishment in itself. It very well could only have a niche market (those in their 40's), but it doesn't limit itself completely to '80s pop culture (though that IS quite dominant). There's also the late '70s and early '90s. Just a funny, entertaining blast from MY past. Thank you Mr. Cline!

Then after about seven chapters' worth of John le Carré's relatively short Our Kind of Traitor, I've decided to pulled the plug. I frankly have no clue what's going on. There seems to be two main POV's, but I'm never quite sure which one I'm in... sometimes it even appears to be both at once. There also seems to be two different time-frames that I can't, for the life of me, keep straight. Usually I can adjust to most authors' styles and quirks, but I just can't make heads or tails of what le Carré is trying to say. I'm re-reading about every-other paragraph trying to make sense of things. And while it certainly seems to be English... I'll be damned if I can make any sense out of it. I seem to recall a similar reaction to The Tailor of Panama many moons ago.

I'm leaning towards William Gibson's Zero History next.

[Kevin8or]

Originally Posted by DiapDealer

Then after about seven chapters' worth of John le Carré's relatively short Our Kind of Traitor, I've decided to pulled the plug.

I did the same with A Murder of Quality. (I moved on to his next book, The Spy Who Came in from the Cold, which was much better.)

[Apache]

I just finished The Holy Thief and The Darkening Field (The Bloody meadow in England) by William Ryan. They are set in 1936 and 1937 Russia while Stalin is still consolidating his power. They are murder mysteries and are well researched. I enjoyed them and would recommend them if you like mysteries.
I also finished rereading Shinju by Laura Joh Rowland and started Bundori in the same series. It follow Sano Ichiro as he investigates murders in japan in the Late 1600's.
Apache

[pdurrant]

Originally Posted by pdurrant

Moving Mars by Greg Bear. Goodness, I bought this back in December 2008!

That was interesting. A good read, and didn't disappoint in terms of super-science.

Next up: Magic edited by Martin Greenberg. A collection of Fantasy stories that I bought in the 60% off sale in May.

[WT Sharpe]

I just finished the Dec. 17, 2011 issue of Science News.

[WT Sharpe]

Just finished The Gates by John Connolly. This one was wickedly funny; in the way only a book about the gates of Hell being opened and the Great Malevolence coming to Earth to rule with his army of demons can be. It's in the Young Adult section, but I suspect there are many other adults besides me who will eat this one up.

I could see this one being made into a movie.

[HomeInMyShoes]

I started Hold on to Your Kids by Gordon Neufeld.

Still finishing up The Land that Time Forgot trilogy of short novellas by Edgar Rice Burroughs. Just started the third part. The first two parts were pretty entertaining.

[Traye]

Originally Posted by WT Sharpe

Just finished The Gates by John Connolly. This one was wickedly funny; in the way only a book about the gates of Hell being opened and the Great Malevolence coming to Earth to rule with his army of demons can be. It's in the Young Adult section, but I suspect there are many other adults besides me who will eat this one up.

I could see this one being made into a movie.

I'm a big Connolly fan. I love his Charlie Parker series. I bought The Gates in hardback when it was released and I loved it. I also loved The Book Of Lost Things although it got mixed reviews.

Un Lun Dun by China Mieville was another YA book I thoroughly enjoyed.

I started and finished Endurance, I read it pretty quickly and it kept my interest. Some creepy bits along with some far fetched stuff but nevertheless I thought it good horror.

I've started Florence and Giles by John Harding. This was a 99p book from the Kindle store. It has pretty ace reviews and the dialogue of Florence is supposed to be very quirky. It's being touted as a gothic tale. I can't wait to read more.

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by Crusader

Finished reading and just posted a review of Snuff, the latest Discworld novel.

It's the darkest Discworld novel I've read so far. While the humor is still there it's toned down somewhat due to the gravity of the topics the novel tackles. Overall a good read, but don't expect the silly hilarity of the earlier Discworld novels.

The Discworld novels are more or less standalone, but you might want to read Thud! before reading Snuff in order to understand some of the references.

They aren't really standalone. And as you say, read Thud! before Snuff in order to get the references. There's a chart going around that shows reading Discworld out of order and ruining the series. This chart suggests it's OK to read out of published order. The only way to properly read the series (the first time) is in published order. Terry doesn't recap and he does reference some of what came before. So if you read out of published order, some of the jokes and references won't make sense.

[Kevin8or]

I started reading the first Discworld novel and set it aside. This was years ago. Fans of the series recently told me that I ought to start further along the series, that dislike of the first novel or two isn't uncommon. My plan is to try Equal Rites, when I get around to it.

[Traye]

Originally Posted by Kevin8or

I started reading the first Discworld novel and set it aside. This was years ago. Fans of the series recently told me that I ought to start further along the series, that dislike of the first novel or two isn't uncommon. My plan is to try Equal Rites, when I get around to it.

I've picked up some of them over the years but never got around to reading them.
I did bookmark the reading order for if I ever get around to starting.
I did have the Discworld game for PS1 ( showing my age here ) but found the main character a whining idiot. May have just been the voice hahaha.

[JSWolf]

I am currently reading In the Garden of Beasts by Erik Larson. If you'd like to know what happened in Germany before WWII when Hitler was just coming to power, this is a very good read.

Also reading Lost by Gregory Maguire. As an eBook extra, it starts off with A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens and then it goes into the main story.

[tecweston]

Currently reading:

- The Land of Mist by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle (83%)

- 1Q84 by Haruki Murakami (57%)

- Bossypants by Tina Fey (~6%) Listening to this on my computer because Overdrive only has it available as a WMA audiobook and I can't listen to it on my iPod. Sigh, first world problems.

- No Country for Old Men by Cormac McCarthy (0%): Overdrive used to only have a PDF of this book, but now that there is an epub I figure I might as well check it out. It's only 175 pages so it shouldn't take me too long.

eBooks I will be reading as soon as I finish these:

- 11/22/63 by Stephen King

- A Feast for Crows and A Dance with Dragons by George R.R. Martin

- God, No: Signs You May Already Be an Atheist and Other Magical Tales by Penn Jillette

- The Nerdist Way by Chris Hardwick

Books I'm on the waiting list for at my library:

- Plugged by Eoin Colfer (ebook)

- The House of Silk: A Sherlock Holmes Novel by Anthony Horowitz (audiobook)

- The Night Eternal by Guillermo del Toro and Chuck Hogan (audiobook)

[DiapDealer]

Originally Posted by JSWolf

I am currently reading In the Garden of Beasts by Erik Larson. If you'd like to know what happened in Germany before WWII when Hitler was just coming to power, this is a very good read.

I've almost bought this several times—because I really enjoyed his Devil in the White City. I'm just afraid that Pre-WWII Germany won't hold the same fascination for me that the Chicago World's Fair did. I should probably just break down and try it, though.

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by DiapDealer

I've almost bought this several times—because I really enjoyed his Devil in the White City. I'm just afraid that Pre-WWII Germany won't hold the same fascination for me that the Chicago World's Fair did. I should probably just break down and try it, though.

It might be available at your local library. That's where I got it.