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

[tecweston]

Originally Posted by tecweston

I'm having a real tough time getting into [The Hunger Games]. I don't relate to any of the characters and the present-tense writing style annoys me. Especially since I'm also reading two really great books that I'm totally entertained by (A Dance with Dragons and The Beekeeper's Apprentice), reading The Hunger Games feels like a chore. I may drop this one.

Okay I may have been too hasty on giving up. My wife told me that once they got to the Arena, I'd be hooked and she was right. I can't put the book down now.

Currently Reading:

- A Dance with Dragons by George R.R. Martin (63%)

- The Beekeeper's Apprentice by Laurie R. King (62%)

- The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins (56%)

- Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World That Can't Stop Talking by Susan Cain (~20%) [on hold]

[maianhvk]

Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets.

I'm liking Snape and Lockhart.

[alansplace]

Originally Posted by maianhvk

Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets.

I'm liking Snape and Lockhart.

Hmmmm....er...do you 'like them'? Or is it that you 'enjoy the characters'?

[maianhvk]

Originally Posted by alansplace

Hmmmm....er...do you 'like them'? Or is it that you 'enjoy the characters'?

There's a difference? Well, I enjoy almost every character. But I especially like them

It's just that Snape's so mean, and Lockhart's so self-confident, that's why I like them

(Don't like Harry Potter himself. Ron's okay.)

[pilotbob]

Originally Posted by maianhvk

There's a difference? Well, I enjoy almost every character. But I especially like them

It's just that Snape's so mean, and Lockhart's so self-confident, that's why I like them

(Don't like Harry Potter himself. Ron's okay.)

I like contrarians.

BOb

[alansplace]

Originally Posted by maianhvk

There's a difference? Well, I enjoy almost every character. But I especially like them

It's just that Snape's so mean, and Lockhart's so self-confident, that's why I like them

(Don't like Harry Potter himself. Ron's okay.)

...and what do you think of Morgan in 'The Dresden Files'?

[orlok]

Originally Posted by pilotbob

I like contrarians.

BOb

No you don't.

[jgaiser]

It's just been one of those months. Almost nothing seems to keep my interest.

I'm more than 70% through Master and Commander by Patrick O'Brian (stuck);
I'm more than 60% through The Throne of the Crescent Moon by Saladin Ahmed (stuck);
I should be reading The Lies of Locke Lamora by Scott Lynch (in a read-along, but I'm *really* not excited about the book).

Instead I'm enjoying Jane Carver of Waar by Nathan Long. The story of a hard-riding biker girl, who accidentally kills a drunk pawing her bottom. Running from the law, she ends up in a cave with a strange instrument that transports her to another world, where she discovers she has super strength and super jumping ability is this lower gravity world (sound familiar) An amazingly fun, pulp fiction story that's a take on the Edgar Rice Burroughs Mars stories.

An interview with the author on Black Gate:
http://www.blackgate.com/2012/03/13/...s-nathan-long/

[DiapDealer]

I'm currently experiencing a bit of a crush on Jasper Fforde's Thursday Next.

[Stitchawl]

Originally Posted by pilotbob

I like contrarians.

BOb

Originally Posted by orlok

No you don't.

Yes he does.

I'm reading some DI Rebus again, this time 'Fleshmarket Alley.' Somehow I missed it the first time through the Ian Rankin series. Always a bit dark, but always a bit humorous too, and a cracking good read!


Stitchawl

[AlysonofBathe]

Hello everyone!

I'm currently half way through Dickens' Bleak House - very long book.

[CRussel]

Originally Posted by Stitchawl

Yes he does.

I'm reading some DI Rebus again, this time 'Fleshmarket Alley.' Somehow I missed it the first time through the Ian Rankin series. Always a bit dark, but always a bit humorous too, and a cracking good read!


Stitchawl

I quite enjoy the Rebus series, even though they are a bit dark. (OK, a lot dark.) And his new series, of which The Complaints is the first, is also good.

[maianhvk]

Just finished HP & Chamber of Secrets. Now I'm reading Blindness, by José Saramango.

Originally Posted by alansplace

...and what do you think of Morgan in 'The Dresden Files'?

I found it confusing* just after a hundred pages, so as far as I remember, never got the chance to meet anyone called Morgan.

*detective + cops, fantasy (wizards, vampires, monsters, werewolf, you name it), modern Chicago...

[CRussel]

Originally Posted by CRussel

Next up, a couple of Dana Stabenow short stories, then possibly "Jump Gate Twist" the first two of Mark L. van Name's Jon & Lobo series.

Finished a Dana Stabenow story, a werewolf thing she did by request. Yech. She's a good writer, but I really have no time or interest in werewolf stuff. I can't accurately rate it, since it's completely outside my realm.

Finished Jump Gate Twist, an omnibus of One Jump Ahead and Slanted Jack, the first two of the Jon and Lobo stories from Mark L. van Name. Also in the book were a couple of short stories and some connecting text.

I had very mixed feelings about this book. Jon's perpetual angst is OK at first, but gets seriously wearying after a while. And Lobo's sarcasm is also a bit over the top, especially since no context for it is given (until the short story at the very end, which was not previously published, so far as I can tell.)

On the other hand, I liked the characters overall, I thought the interaction was well done and consistent, and the pace of the stories was sufficient to keep me reading all the way through an 800 page omnibus. The premise is a well established (man w/ secret power + "super machine" buddy against the establishment and the bad guys caper stories) SF genre, and the bad guys are all bad, but the good guys are enough of a mixed bag to be believable as characters, and the whole thing does, in the end, all hang together.

I'll give this a 3.5 out of 5, with a note that I'll very likely buy and read the later stories, especially if I can pick them up in a Webscriptions bundle. Worth my time, but not something I'll pre-order or pay extra for an eARC.

[alansplace]

Originally Posted by maianhvk

Just finished HP & Chamber of Secrets. Now I'm reading Blindness, by José Saramango.

Originally Posted by alansplace

...and what do you think of Morgan in 'The Dresden Files'?

Originally Posted by maianhvk

I found it confusing* just after a hundred pages, so as far as I remember, never got the chance to meet anyone called Morgan.

*detective + cops, fantasy (wizards, vampires, monsters, werewolf, you name it), modern Chicago...

See my reply here where our little discussion is a better fit.