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

[jgaiser]

Originally Posted by tecweston

I saw this in the NYT Book Review today. Has anyone read it? George R.R. Martin says it's good so it caught my eye.

Picked up the first volume and devoured it. Haven't started the second one yet. *Very good* epic fantasy. If you like epic fantasies, pick it up.

[Latinandgreek]

Originally Posted by tecweston

I saw this in the NYT Book Review today. Has anyone read it? George R.R. Martin says it's good so it caught my eye.



It says "George R.R. Martin, author of A Game of Thrones, raves, "For my money, [the best epic fantasy of 2011] has to be The Wise Man's Fear by Patrick Rothfuss. The Wise Man's Fear is the second volume in Rothfuss's Kvothe series... it was worth the wait. I gulped it down in a day, staying up almost to dawn reading, and I am already itching for the next one. He's bloody good, this Rothfuss guy."

I've read both books, they are great. I'm eagerly awaiting the third.

[DianNC]

NPR put Rothfuss' series fairly high on their Top 100 Fantasy/Sci Fi list as I recall. Top 20, at least, as voted by readers.

[poohbear_nc]

Before the Poison - by Peter Robinson - major disappointment! [A stand-alone novel -- NOT an Inspector Banks mystery]

This book started off reminding me of Laura - lonely man obsessed by dead woman, but quickly lost all narrative momentum. Briefly, a recent widower, who happens to be a mega-successful movie soundtrack composer, moves back to England and buys a huge house -which seems to be haunted by a woman who lived there and was hanged for murdering her husband in the 1950's. He embarks on a quest to prove her innocence ... and is a horrible detective. Robinson seems more interested in how many musical references his narrator can drop into a chapter, or the quality of his wine & food choices, rather than constructing a compelling mystery. The ersatz plot wanders around, with infusions from the dead woman's diary (actually more interesting than the contemporary mystery), to a contrived ending.

N.B. If you read this on a Kindle Fire, or other tablet, it can be fun to listen to the music mentioned in the book as you read - that, at least, was interesting.

[CRussel]

Originally Posted by Apache

I am reading Post Captain by Patrick O'Brian.

Originally Posted by CRussel

Best part is, you know there are 17 more to go when you finish Post Captain. Worst part is, there won't ever be any more.

Originally Posted by Apache

Now you are depressing me.
Apache

Ah, well, by the time you've read all 19 books in the series, you'll have the fun of starting over, but this time listening to the Audible versions of them. There are two narrators who have worked on the series, and I have to say my favourite is Patrick Tull, but several of his are no longer available. The ones read by Simon Vance are quite acceptable, fortunately.

These are definitely on my "periodically re-read" list.

[Apache]

Originally Posted by CRussel

Ah, well, by the time you've read all 19 books in the series, you'll have the fun of starting over, but this time listening to the Audible versions of them. There are two narrators who have worked on the series, and I have to say my favourite is Patrick Tull, but several of his are no longer available. The ones read by Simon Vance are quite acceptable, fortunately.

These are definitely on my "periodically re-read" list.

Thank you for the suggestion. Usually I fall asleep when listening to audiobooks.
Fortunately, (or unfortunately depending on your outlook ) I was recently diagnosed with cancer. I will have to drive two hour, one way, every day for 60 days for treatment starting in late April. I will have to get them for the trips.
By the way the outlook is extremely good.
Apache

[orlok]

Originally Posted by Apache

Thank you for the suggestion. Usually I fall asleep when listening to audiobooks.
Fortunately, (or unfortunately depending on your outlook ) I was recently diagnosed with cancer. I will have to drive two hour, one way, every day for 60 days for treatment starting in late April. I will have to get them for the trips.
By the way the outlook is extremely good.
Apache

Sorry to hear that Apache. Best of luck with your treatment.

I agree with you, btw, the only way I can listen to audiobooks is driving (or housework, sometimes) - if I listen in bed, I'm asleep in minutes.

[issybird]

Best to you, Apache.

I can only listen to an audiobook I've already read, because of my tendency to zone out. If I've already read it, I know what's happened while my thoughts went walkabout.

[pilotbob]

Originally Posted by orlok

Sorry to hear that Apache. Best of luck with your treatment.

I agree with you, btw, the only way I can listen to audiobooks is driving (or housework, sometimes) - if I listen in bed, I'm asleep in minutes.

I listen to audio books while driving. I'm glad they don't put me to sleep.

BOb

[WT Sharpe]

Originally Posted by Apache

Thank you for the suggestion. Usually I fall asleep when listening to audiobooks.
Fortunately, (or unfortunately depending on your outlook ) I was recently diagnosed with cancer. I will have to drive two hour, one way, every day for 60 days for treatment starting in late April. I will have to get them for the trips.
By the way the outlook is extremely good.
Apache

I'm glad to hear that the prognosis is good, but very sorry to hear you have cancer. Will you be driving yourself? That's a long daily commute for someone in the best of health.

[Apache]

Thank you for your concern.
I am doing Proton Therapy which has very few or no side effects.
http://www.proton-therapy.org/howit.htm
I will be driving myself. I used to have a job that required me to drive and fly or both all over the US and Canada. Two hours one way will be easy.
Apache

[WT Sharpe]

Wishing you the best of luck with those treatments, Apache. You may also consider taking a few podcasts with you to listen to on the road along with your audiobooks.

[WT Sharpe]

Apache, I know you like mysteries. If you'd like to hear them served up with equal parts noir and humor, I'd recommend Decoder Ring Theater's Black Jack Justice podcasts, starring Christopher Mott as Jack and Andrea Lyons as Trixie Dixon, Girl Detective; modern day whodunnits done in the style of old-time radio.

[HarryT]

"Surfeit of Lampreys" (published as "Death of a Peer" in the US) is the 10th book in Ngaio Marsh's "Inspector Alleyn" series, and she's in fine form here. The Lampreys are a large, upper-class, rather eccentric family with expensive tastes and no income. They invite their rich Uncle, Lord Wutherwood, to visit them, in an attempt to borrow money from him, but he is murdered in their house, and there seems little doubt that it was a member of the household who committed the murder. Chief Inspector Alleyn and Inspector Fox investigate the mystery.

I enjoyed this book very much indeed. The murder is, in a sense, almost secondary to the book; the real reason for reading it is the wonderful characterisation of the eccentric but enormously likeable Lamprey family.

Thoroughly recommended.

[CRussel]

Originally Posted by Apache

Thank you for the suggestion. Usually I fall asleep when listening to audiobooks.
Fortunately, (or unfortunately depending on your outlook ) I was recently diagnosed with cancer. I will have to drive two hour, one way, every day for 60 days for treatment starting in late April. I will have to get them for the trips.
By the way the outlook is extremely good.
Apache

Perfect for the trip, and I'm glad the prognosis is good. But not fun.

I also tend to fall asleep if all I'm doing is listening to an audio book. But if I'm driving, or walking, or swimming, or even just knitting, that's enough to let me keep awake and enjoy the book.

On the other hand, there are some books I'd far rather read via Audible than to read in hard copy. Not sure why, but, for example, the Outlander series is one I got bored reading, but enjoy when listening to it.