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

[tecweston]

Originally Posted by tecweston

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

- Plugged by Eoin Colfer

And this one just came in so add this to my "Currently Reading" list.

[ATDrake]

So as I update The List, it looks like I finish out 2011 with 210 brand-new books read, plus a bunch of re-reads, short stories, and graphic novels counted separately.

Some of the most recent stuff:

I just finished Gemma Halliday's chick-lit comedic mystery/thriller Spying in High Heels, which I started to determine if I wanted to buy the 5-book "boxed set" when Amazon had it as the Kindle Deal of the Day last week or so.

It was light, fluffy, sometimes overly silly but generally fun enough that I don't regret buying the bundle at $1.99 and have no qualms about reading the rest of the books.

Just prior to that today, I finished Bonnie Dee's steampunk romantic suspense novelette, Like Clockwork, which was a previous Carina Press freebie, to see if her writing was decent enough that I could use one of her other titles as filler if I used that Carina Press $5 off $10 purchase to buy some of CP's rare non-romance books to make up the minimum amount.

Somewhat shallow, but with enough depth regarding the problem of replacing (and displacing) the poorer working classes with automated labour and an okay serial killer subplot that if she's got something else with an interesting premise, I wouldn't mind getting it as a filler item should I need a cart-stuffer.

Speaking of steampunk-with-some-romantic-suspense that's more to my taste, a few weeks ago read in library paperback the two most recent in Gail Carriger's "Parasol Protectorate" series, Heartless and Breathless.

A nifty continuation of the surprise!storyline that closed out book #2, and gave an interesting look at more of how the tongue-in-cheek "preternatural" world worked, with a pleasant side visit to countries outside AU-Victorian-UK to see how things are handled there.

I think I like the series well enough that while they're normally mildly-enjoyable library reads for me, I'd be willing to splurge on them if Orbit once again has the bundle/discount promo deal on the earlier volumes when it releases the 5th book in paperback next year.

And a couple of days ago, I read another giveaway freebie, Andrea Speed's Infected: Prey, offered by m/m specialty publisher Dreamspinner Press, and turned out to be a nice 2-in-1 bonus book, essentially amounting to an omnibus package of two full-length separate-standalone-plotline novels bundled together. That seems rather good value for money for a title you can get for less than $3 with a good Fictionwise coupon sale.

This is a paranormal investigative murder mystery series set in a world very similar to ours, but with a viral infection causing a portion of the population to become werecats. The main character is an infected ex-cop PI who gets involved in cases where the killings are seemingly performed by other infected, or targeted against them.

That particular bit of the worldbuilding setup is interesting, but seems incomplete, as the infected are mostly normalized but stigmatized (and having certain legal protections/exemptions) in a way that makes me wonder what happened in the backhistory which kept the non-infected from hunting down and exterminating them all. Maybe that gets addressed in later books.

While there was some romance (vaguely kissing relationship drama stuff with fade-to-black alluded sex scenes), the main focus of the story was on hunting down whodunnit (more suspense/thriller-ish, with not that much in the way of Clues, though you could speculate on What and Why and maybe Who) and the main characters' internal monologue on what the world was like for people who lived with the werecat infection and how society viewed and treated them (ranging from worship via the creepy cult to the other creepy cult which saw them as devilspawn).

Which brings me to Best Out-of-Context Quote:

"Mock the sacred Xenu if you want, but you won't believe how much claiming you're a Scientologist gets you out of conversation."

Plus, it's got Canadian bisexuals who are genuinely attracted to and act upon attractions to both men and women without being stereotypically depraved and predatory about it or "only bi until I meet the right guy/girl/do it in a hawt ménage with my chosen opposite-sex mate". This tends to be rare. I hereby award bonus points.

Medium recommend if you like paranormal investigative mysteries involving non-naturally created were-people and don't mind a bit of gay relationship drama and a lot of swearing (no explicit romantic scenes, but plenty of explicit language and some not-too-explicit violence). I liked this enough that I've put the next few books in the series on my Fictionwise wishlist for the next really big coupon.

[WT Sharpe]

Ha! Love that "out-of-context" quote!

[DiapDealer]

I finished up Parker's The Hammer, and what can I say? I think I have a new "must read" author to add to my list. But I have to admit that I consider it "fantasy" by label only... or by author/publisher choice, maybe. The only thing that keeps it from being straight-up (historical) fiction is the imaginary setting/culture reminiscent of Renaissance Italy. There's no magic or supernatural elements or fantastic beasts of any kind. That's not a complaint, just an observation.

An exiled noble family makes do in a backwater colony and is barely tolerated by the lower-class colonists; while both are largely ignored by the displaced indigenous "savages." The uneasy peace of the (basically indentured) colony is put in jeopardy as the youngest noble son comes of age.

I was warned that Parker's writing could be dark and somewhat bleak—and it certainly was at times, yet not exclusively so—but I was never warned about the layers to her/his writing. Many, many luscious layers that can be peeled back and examined/absorbed one at a time. The title itself is one of the many themes that weaves its way though what might, at first glance, be strictly considered tragedy, but upon further reflection, contains much in the way of redemption as well: the Hammer of the forge that relentlessly pounds raw material into preordained goods; and the Hammer of the flintlock pistol, that when dropped, sparks a chain of events that can't be halted.

But mostly, I think The Hammer is about costs: the cost of justice, the cost of peace, and the cost of freedom and of progress. You can choose to pay the costs for those things... or you can be denied (or trampled by) any one or all of them.

Yeah, I really liked it.

I'm currently reading some of the short-stories from Tad Williams's new collection entitled A Stark and Wormy Knight. I think I like his short stories exactly as much as I dislike his novels. It's weird, but I've decided to just roll with it.

[alansplace]

Originally Posted by alansplace

I finished The Fallen Man last night and got that feeling at the end that I really didn't want to leave the Hillermanverse. So I picked up The First Eagle (the Hillerman books are $8.99 at amazon.com), the 13th installment in the Joe Leaphorn & Jim Chee Mystery Novels. I really enjoy this series. It places me in an environment where I've spent a lot of vacation time and also some college field work time as well.

Wow another one I really really enjoyed. I was going to pick up the next book in the Joe Leaphorn & Jim Chee Mystery Novels but I didn't, instead I put it off. And here's why.

My wife kept tuning in all kinds of really irritating (to me) content on the TV. I'd been noticing the TV ads for the release of a new movie version of The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo staring Daniel Craig. It looked interesting and I had picked up the book a while back, but had not yet read it.

So I poked around on my Amazon Prime free movie streaming account and found that the original Swedish movie version dubbed in English was available, so I asked my wife if it was ok if I played a streaming movie. She was OK with the idea. By then she was watching a movie on Spike and a Trojan condom commercial was playing at every one of the numerous commercial breaks, man-oh-man I was really ready for a commercial-less movie. So I switched the TV input to my Roku and played the movie.

Well it was really intriguing and now I'm beginning to read the book.

[caleb72]

I started the year with The Time Machine by H. G. Wells. I had never read it before only seen a couple of the movies. The book was great and managed the build tension really well.

Now I'm reading Across the Nightingale Floor by Lian Hearn. This is part of my challenge in 2012 to actually read some books that I already own rather than continually getting new books.

[DiapDealer]

Originally Posted by caleb72

Now I'm reading Across the Nightingale Floor by Lian Hearn. This is part of my challenge in 2012 to actually read some books that I already own rather than continually getting new books.

I'll be interested. I own the three books in that series too, but have yet to read them.

[CRussel]

Originally Posted by alansplace

Wow another one I really really enjoyed. I was going to pick up the next book in the Joe Leaphorn & Jim Chee Mystery Novels but I didn't, instead I put it off. And here's why.

My wife kept tuning in all kinds of really irritating (to me) content on the TV. I'd been noticing the TV ads for the release of a new movie version of The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo staring Daniel Craig. It looked interesting and I had picked up the book a while back, but had not yet read it.

So I poked around on my Amazon Prime free movie streaming account and found that the original Swedish movie version dubbed in English was available, so I asked my wife if it was ok if I played a streaming movie. She was OK with the idea. By then she was watching a movie on Spike and a Trojan condom commercial was playing at every one of the numerous commercial breaks, man-oh-man I was really ready for a commercial-less movie. So I switched the TV input to my Roku and played the movie.

Well it was really intriguing and now I'm beginning to read the book.

I saw the Swedish movie, and enjoyed it, and read all three books in the series. The books are darker that the Swedish movie, but very compelling. I read them when I first got my K2 and could not put them down.

[pilotbob]

Originally Posted by alansplace

Wow another one I really really enjoyed. I was going to pick up the next book in the Joe Leaphorn & Jim Chee Mystery Novels but I didn't, instead I put it off. And here's why.

My wife kept tuning in all kinds of really irritating (to me) content on the TV. I'd been noticing the TV ads for the release of a new movie version of The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo staring Daniel Craig. It looked interesting and I had picked up the book a while back, but had not yet read it.

So I poked around on my Amazon Prime free movie streaming account and found that the original Swedish movie version dubbed in English was available, so I asked my wife if it was ok if I played a streaming movie. She was OK with the idea. By then she was watching a movie on Spike and a Trojan condom commercial was playing at every one of the numerous commercial breaks, man-oh-man I was really ready for a commercial-less movie. So I switched the TV input to my Roku and played the movie.

Well it was really intriguing and now I'm beginning to read the book.

Amazon Prime movies contain ads? I didn't know that.

BOb

[alansplace]

Originally Posted by pilotbob

Amazon Prime movies contain ads? I didn't know that.

BOb

No, Spike had the awful ads. Amazon Prime Free Streaming is just that, Free Streaming.

[taosaur]

The movies were interesting, but I'm not inclined to see the American remakes or read the books. I enjoy watching mysteries and thrillers sometimes, but they're just not my taste for reading.

[missimpossible]

Originally Posted by maianhvk

The Count is about revenge, while Notre Dame is about hopeless love. They have the same melodrama fator, I think, so you just don't like emotional reading, do you?

Hmm, don't think it's that. I love a good bit of emotional melodrama, I just never totally bought into the characters or their motivations in Hunchback, so it was difficult to care about what happened to them. Still a great read though.

Just finished Crime and Punishment. Good god, what a book. I'm still feeling a little bowled over, to be honest. It's powerful. The epilogue is utterly excellent. Great book, will definitely be picking up more Dostoevsky. Can anyone recommend decent translations in ebook form of either The Idiot or The Brother Karamazov? I tried reading some of the Gutenberg copy on my Kobo and I couldn't really get along with it (I had the Oxford World's Classics in paperback and it's pretty good).

[CRussel]

Finished The House of Silk, A Sherlock Holmes Novel by Anthony Horowitz. Three stars out of 5. VERY slow at the beginning, and really not enjoyed at all for the first 25%, but my wife had read it and convinced me to keep on. In the end, I liked it, but only just. And I knew what the main parts of the puzzle were from very early on.

[dreams]

Originally Posted by benham

Currently reading Without Remorse. Does anyone know why it is listed as Jack Ryan #1 when Ryan does not seem to be in it?

I read some of these years ago and looked up why this is considered as part of the Jack Ryan series. Wikipedia goes into detail to explain the why.

[benham]

Thanks dreams!