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

[pdurrant]

Originally Posted by Aladyleyna

And wow, the movies turned out to be really different from the books. I'm still a bit shocked.

Well, the 17 years that elapse from Bilbo's 111st Birthday to setting out to Rivendell probably are a bit of a shock. Not to mention Tom Bombadil and the Barrow Downs. There are more to come!

[HarryT]

Originally Posted by HarryT

I've now started reading "The Railway Detective", by Edward Marston (a pen-name of the British author Keith Miles). This is a new author for me; I picked up the book for £1 in an Amazon sale a few months ago.

It's the first in a series, and features Inspector Robert Colbeck, a detective who investigates crimes committed on the railways in the early 1850s. My first impressions are favourable.

I've now finished this. Pretty good for the first in a series, and I have high hopes for the later books in the series.

There was one thing I didn't particularly like about it: the book started out as a traditional detective story, with Colbeck following up the clues in the robbery of a mail train. Half way through the book, we suddenly switch to an "inverted detective story" format - we're told "whodunnit" and the rest of the book then alternates between Colbeck's point of view and that of the "bad guys". I didn't personally find that this worked very well; I would have preferred it had the viewpoint stayed with Colbeck right the way through, with a traditional "denoument" at the end of the story.

I shall certainly continue with the series, despite that.

[pdurrant]

Originally Posted by pdurrant

Next up: Sad Cypress by Agatha Christie.

Another good Hercule Poirot mystery. I remembered the plot of this one (probably from the TV show), but it was still fun seeing how it worked out.

Indeed, I enjoyed it so much I'm going straight on to her next book, her 36th:
One, Two, Buckle My Shoe by Agatha Christie

[The Terminator]

Originally Posted by pdurrant

Another good Hercule Poirot mystery. I remembered the plot of this one (probably from the TV show), but it was still fun seeing how it worked out.

Indeed, I enjoyed it so much I'm going straight on to her next book, her 36th:
One, Two, Buckle My Shoe by Agatha Christie

I read that last month, it was okay but not here best. A little slow for me.

[Traye]

I'm halfway through The Girl With Glass Feet. I'm thoroughly enjoying it. The characters are intertwined nicely and I think I'm approaching a part where the story is going to move on and open up even more. I hope it continues to get better.

[pdurrant]

Originally Posted by pdurrant

One, Two, Buckle My Shoe by Agatha Christie

Originally Posted by The Terminator

I read that last month, it was okay but not here best. A little slow for me.

Yet another good Hercule Poirot mystery. Again, I remembered the main plot points of this one, but it was still fun seeing how it worked out.

A little slow? Well, perhaps, but IMO that's because it needs the build-up. But I agree that it's an average book for Mrs Christie. It's just that her average books are better than many other people's best, IMO.


Next: The Swords of Lankhmar by Fritz Leiber. The fifth in the Fafhrd and the Grey Mouser series.

[alansplace]

Originally Posted by alansplace

Well I finished reading Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone today, and like I figured, that reading has made me want to read another Harry Potter book, so I'm starting a re-read of Year 2, Chamber of Secrets.

Finished reading Year 2, now on to Year 3, Prisoner of Azkaban. So far I'm enjoying this re-reading a lot.

[Nyssa]

Originally Posted by alansplace

Finished reading Year 2, now on to Year 3, Prisoner of Azkaban. So far I'm enjoying this re-reading a lot.

I'm not ready to reread them as yet, but its good to hear that they still stand up to the first time around. Enjoy!

[alansplace]

Originally Posted by Nyssa

I'm not ready to reread them as yet, but it goods to hear that they still stand up to the first time around. Enjoy!

If I read all 7 in this re-read, this will be my 2nd complete re-read (the 3rd time I've read the entire series)!

[tecweston]

Just Finished:

- 11/22/63 by Stephen King - thoroughly enjoyed this one, especially the last hundred pages or so. I couldn't put it down until it was finished, and it ended way different from how I expected.

Currently reading:

- The Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkien (33%) [third time] - I haven't read this in about a decade but I am enjoying it just as much as I did the first two times I read it. What a fantastic story.

- A Feast for Crows by George R.R. Martin (31%) [on hold]

- A Dance with Dragons by George R.R. Martin (20%) [on hold]

[tecweston]

Oh, I forgot to say, I think I'm going to finally start reading the new Sherlock Holmes novel The House of Silk by Anthony Horowitz. I'm kinda waiting for a bunch of library books to come in but I've been #1 on like three different books' lists for a couple weeks now and I'm not sure when they're going to finally come in. Not sure if I want to start a new book yet.

[The Terminator]

Originally Posted by pdurrant

It's just that her average books are better than many other people's best, IMO.

Right you are.

So far Crooked House is pretty good, And Then There Were None was a lot more interesting from the start (I.E not interviewing people), but so far so good.


Separation Of Power definitely starts out slower than the first two books in the series, but I expected that given what the book is about.

[MickeyC]

Originally Posted by tecweston

Just Finished:

- 11/22/63 by Stephen King - thoroughly enjoyed this one, especially the last hundred pages or so. I couldn't put it down until it was finished, and it ended way different from how I expected.

My sentiments exactly!

[HarryT]

This book is a standalone sequel to the "Mistborn" trilogy, and is set some 300 years after the events that ended that trilogy. Technological progress has been rapid, and the world now has steam trains, guns, and primitive motor vehicles.

Lord Waxillium Ladrian returns to the city of Elendel as the heir of his House, following the death of his uncle, having spent 20 years enforcing the law out in the "Roughs" - the uncivilized land outside the city. He tries to act as a city nobleman is expected to act, and to settle down and find a wife, but is soon drawn into a web of danger and adventure.

This is a superb book, completely different in feel to the "Mistborn" trilogy. I didn't come to it with very high hopes, having heard some rather negative comments about it, but I thoroughly enjoyed it. A fun read. Don't read it unless you've read the Mistborn trilogy first, though, or it's not going to make much sense.

[pdurrant]

Originally Posted by HarryT

This is a superb book, completely different in feel to the "Mistborn" trilogy. I didn't come to it with very high hopes, having heard some rather negative comments about it, but I thoroughly enjoyed it. A fun read. Don't read it unless you've read the Mistborn trilogy first, though, or it's not going to make much sense.

Thanks — added to my wish list.

[EDIT: I see the paperback isn't out until September. Hopefully my TBR will be low enough, and the price of the ebook edition will drop enough, that I'll feel able to buy it then.]