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

[brunogamacatao]

I'm reading "A Batalha do Apocalipse" by Eduardo Spohr, it can be translated as "The Battle of Appocalypse". It is the first book of a very talented Brazilian writer. He recently released "Filhos do Éden" (Elden's Children), it is already on my book queue. I hope that as soon as possible he translates his books to English.

[]'s

[pdurrant]

Originally Posted by pdurrant

The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction, April 2005. Another of the backlog of issues that I snapped up during a fictionwise sale.

A good issue. I enjoyed all the stories (which doesn't always happen with F&SF).

Next up, my most recent 'purchase' (actually part of a bundle I've previously bought, but that has only now become available): Grantville Gazette, Vol. #39 edited by Paula Goodlett

(Individually they're $6, but I buy in six book bundles for a per-book cost of $4.50.)

The continuing series of stories set in the '1632' universe created by Eric Flint. The Gazettes don't move the main story line on, but flesh out the world surrounding the main events. Eric Flint has described them as soap opera, which is probably right.

[tecweston]

Currently reading:

- 1Q84 by Haruki Murakami (74%)

- The Nerdist Way by Chris Hardwick (43%)

- 11/22/63 by Stephen King (38%)

- The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain (37%)

- A Feast for Crows by George R.R. Martin (9%)

- A Dance with Dragons by George R.R. Martin (6%)

Reading next:

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

- The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins

I need to finish some of these books I've started.

[CRussel]

Originally Posted by alansplace

Wow! I really got a lot of enjoyment out of The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo!! In fact so much so that I'm going to pick up a copy of The Girl Who Played With Fire and start it tomorrow. I've added the movie to the top of my netflix queue as well. Stieg Larsson is a winner!

These were among the first books I got on my original Kindle, and I suspect they had a role in converting me from a DT reader to an E reader. Compelling books. Not ones you can easily put down.

Finished: Josephine Tey's Miss Pym Disposes. From the MR Library, and not always a comfortable book, but I enjoyed it and had no temptation to quit reading. I'd give it a 4 out of 5. Definitely worth the read, but not an absolute must read.

Next up: Georgette Heyer's Masquerade. Something light and fun, where I know everything will come out well in the end.

[dmspen]

Currently reading...
Zero Day by David Baldacci (can you say Jack Reacher?)
Hawke by Ted Bell
Atlas Shrugged by Ayn Rand (whew!)

[tecweston]

Originally Posted by dmspen

Atlas Shrugged by Ayn Rand (whew!)

I tried that one last year. I gave up about a fourth of the way through because I couldn't find a single likable character to relate to.

[ATDrake]

So, first book started and finished within the new year was, fittingly enough, a book about a murder committed just in time for New Year's.

The Mask of Narcissus by Vincent Lardo was one of my holiday new release discount listings+ extra discount coupon Fictionwise purchases which I basically bought on impulse because the premise looked interesting and the sample read well. Also, it had the sporfle-tastic phrase "and two humpy preppies" in the otherwise standard blurb of how complicated chasing the convoluted clue trail got. The blurb lied about that bit, by the way, unless one applies a rather broad interpretation to the sequence of events and personalities involved.

It was much better-written than I was expecting from a small niche press FW offering, perhaps in part because it turns out the author has a number of Big 6-published mystery/suspense under his belt, and was chosen to "continue" Lawrence Sanders' apparently popular "McNally" mystery/suspense series after that author's death.

Anyway, this is one of his older novels which was originally published back in the 80s by some small press (and perhaps revised by the author with his later experience), but now reprinted by specialty ManLoveRomance Press, which publishes exactly what they say in the name.

Well, actually they don't, in this particular case, because any romance is really very secondary to the who-really-dunnit mystery plot of a gossip columnist trying to figure out what lies behind an apparent open-and-shut case of crime passionel when a prominent socialite's husband is found shot dead with his apparent latest mistress by his current wife. Complicating matters is the fact that the confessed murderess is an old flame of Mike's, and her son seems determined to become his new one.

It's a rather retro-noirish type of mystery/suspense, even given its 80s origins. That kind of hard-boiled, cynically-edged observation of character, means, and motive, and masks being pulled off to reveal new disguises underneath as following the clues leads not to answers, but instead spawns new questions.

I rather liked this one. The murder plot kept growing increasingly complex with twists at every turn, but tied together well and fit nicely in the end (although some of the resolution of that was slightly abrupt). Good legwork was done to follow the clues and the amateur sleuth had to work at it using all his personal/professional resources (and also ran into dead ends and got stymied at points, which seemed more realistic than the guaranteed "Eureka!" that clue-following sometimes elicits in lesser mysteries). The characters seemed okay as well, though in this type of story, the shape of the personalities and the ways in which they react is more important than the substance shown within them, usually.

Medium-high recommend if you like retro-noir-ish hard-boiled society murder mysteries. The m/m and f/m romance content is not particularly romance-y, consisting of non-explicitly phrased innuendo and fade-to-black for the frequent-ish casual sex scenes, and some emotional reminisces about happier previous personal relationships, but not too much angst or drama about things.

At roughly $3 after coupon, this was well worth my money and I'm willing to look at more of the author's books if they come back into print at FW during the sales, and if FW puts them under the right name (they misfiled this one as being written by another MLR Press author). FW's edition may or may not have eaten some of the intended line-spacing between scenes, because there are some sections where it would seem natural to have a transition break between them. But the story is very readable otherwise and there were no noticeable typos.

Also got started on my first selected book for my 2012 challenge, Stephen Leacock's Too Much College, or, Education Eating Up Life, which seems especially fitting for the start of semester.

Even 50+ years later, some of Leacock's points about the way that mathematics and languages are taught in Canada ring true, and overall it seems like it'll make a good addition to the MR library. PG Canada's edition looks to be in pretty good shape, with just some minor typographical niceties and making more easily navigable separated chapters needed for optimal e-reader experience.

[Tunkabean]

Last night I finished reading HG Well's The Time Machine! Twaz fantastic! I'm still in awe! Excellent writing, ingenious story telling & superb concept integration. A true classic

[alansplace]

Originally Posted by alansplace

Wow! I really got a lot of enjoyment out of The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo!! In fact so much so that I'm going to pick up a copy of The Girl Who Played With Fire and start it tomorrow. I've added the movie to the top of my netflix queue as well. Stieg Larsson is a winner!

The Netflix DVD of The Girl Who Played With Fire arrived and I played it for about 10 or 15 minutes and it then got to the point where I was at in the book. So, I stopped it as there was still almost 2 hours of movie left and I'm at the halfway point in the book. So I decided to watch it after I finish reading the book. Stieg Larsson is a winner!

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by alansplace

The Netflix DVD of The Girl Who Played With Fire arrived and I played it for about 10 or 15 minutes and it then got to the point where I was at in the book. So, I stopped it as there was still almost 2 hours of movie left and I'm at the halfway point in the book. So I decided to watch it after I finish reading the book. Stieg Larsson is a winner!

Wasn't he one of The Rutles...Dirk, Barry, Stieg and Nasty.

[alansplace]

Originally Posted by JSWolf

Wasn't he one of The Rutles...Dirk, Barry, Stieg and Nasty.

[RichL]

In honor of Mr. Hawking's 70th I've started reading 'The Grand Design'. I love it when someone as educated as he is, is able to explain his subject so that someone as unsmart as myself can almost understand what the hell he's talking about.

[xg4bx]

Ex-Patriots by Peter Clines

"It’s been two years since the world ended. Two years since the dead rose and the plague of ex-humanity decimated mankind. For most of that time, the superhero called St. George, formerly known to the world as the Mighty Dragon, has protected the people of Los Angeles at their film studio-turned-fortress, The Mount. Together with his fellow heroes—Cerberus, Zzzap, and Stealth—he’s tried to give the survivors hope and something like a real life. But the swollen population of the Mount is becoming harder and harder to sustain, and the heroes are feeling the pressure.

Hope arrives in the form of a United States Army battalion, based in a complex a few hundred miles away in Arizona. This is not just any base, however. The men and women of Project Krypton are super-soldiers, designed and created before the outbreak to be better, stronger, and faster than normal humans. They want the heroes and all the people of the Mount to rejoin America and have normal lives again.

But can the military be trusted? And is there even a country left to rejoin? There is a secret at the heart of Project Krypton, and those behind it have an awesome power that will help them keep that secret hidden. The power of Freedom."

[Guttenberg]

Exactly half-way through the Millennium trilogy (at 50% mark of "...Played With Fire"). Engaging and enjoyable books, but if Larson is accurately describing Swedish society, then they sound a little too... er... "liberal" for me. Maybe not, they do make the Volvo.
"77 Shadow Street" (and the precursor novelette "The Moonlit Mind") by Koontz in the bullpen.
Skaal!

[The Terminator]

I'm reading

1. Les Miserables by Victor Hugo

2. Transfer of Power by Vince Flynn

3. The World According To Clarkson by Jeremy Clarkson