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

[pdurrant]

Originally Posted by CRussel

I was inspired to re-read these books by the eArc about Ivan, which reminded me once again how much I really enjoy LMBs writing.

I am under strict instructions from my TBR pile that I must wait for the final version of the Ivan book.

[pilotbob]

I started reading _The Colour of Magic_ and taking my first dive into Discworld.. and so it begins.

BOb

[CRussel]

Originally Posted by pdurrant

I am under strict instructions from my TBR pile that I must wait for the final version of the Ivan book.

Read it now, read it then, it's the same hit to the TBR. Not, I admit, to the pocketbook.

Danger, of course, is read it now, AND read it then.

Or, in my case, read it now, and get inspired to add 4 more books to your TBR.

Finished Legacy, book two of The Sharing Knife by Lois McMaster Bujold. This is my least favourite of the four books, and I still loved it. Great series. On to #3, Passage.

[mnfe]

I have just started re-reading the Harry Dresden books. Can't wait for the next one! I'm up to book 3 and I started on Friday...

[BookwormJulie]

Currently Reading on Ebook - The Years by Virginia Woolf, The Colour by Rose Tremain. In print reading The In-Between World of Vikram Lall - M.G. Vassanji and Street of Riches - Gabrielle Roy

[JSWolf]

I finished Black Wind this past weekend. Very good book. I highly recommend it.

Now I am reading Stiff: The Curious Lives of Human Cadavers by Mary Roach. So far it is quite enjoyable.

Stiff is an oddly compelling, often hilarious exploration of the strange lives of our bodies postmortem. For two thousand years, cadavers--some willingly, some unwittingly–have been involved in science's boldest strides and weirdest undertakings. They've tested France's first guillotines, ridden the NASA Space Shuttle, been crucified in a Parisian laboratory to test the authenticity of the Shroud of Turin, and helped solve the mystery of TWA Flight 800. For every new surgical procedure, from heart transplants to gender reassignment surgery, cadavers have been there alongside surgeons, making history in their quiet way.

In this fascinating, ennobling account, Mary Roach visits the good deeds of cadavers over the centuries–from the anatomy labs and human-sourced pharmacies of medieval and nineteenth-century Europe to a human decay research facility in Tennessee, to a plastic surgery practice lab, to a Scandinavian funeral directors' conference on human composting. In her droll, inimitable voice, Roach tells the engrossing story of our bodies when we are no longer with them.

[covingtoncat73]

I finished Pure and thought it was excellent. I have read one other book by Andrew Miller that was quite good, Ingenious Pain. I see he as a couple of other books out that I should probably look up.

Right now I'm readiing The Forever War. The pages are turning more quickly than Pure's and I'm about 1/2 done, it is a good one for sure.

[John F]

Currently reading: The Long Earth by Terry Pratchett and Stephen Baxter
On Deck: Crocodile on the Sandbank by Elizabeth Peters

[WT Sharpe]

Originally Posted by pilotbob

I started reading _The Colour of Magic_ and taking my first dive into Discworld.. and so it begins.

BOb

That's the only one I've read, and I've heard it's the weakest of the series.

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by WT Sharpe

That's the only one I've read, and I've heard it's the weakest of the series.

Actually, it's far from the weakest. The people who say that are so very wrong.

I've read up to Hogfather so far and I've found Maskerade to be very weak. I got no real out loud laughs from it. And it was just OK at best. It's by far much weaker then The Colour of Magic. If it wasn't for the fact that you might need to know stuff that happens in Maskerade later on, I'd suggest to skip it.

[orlok]

Originally Posted by JSWolf

Actually, it's far from the weakest. The people who say that are so very wrong.

I agree (if a little less stridently). I also very much enjoyed the follow-up The Light Fantastic. Ahhh, Rincewind, I remember him well.

[Marrella]

Originally Posted by orlok

I agree (if a little less stridently). I also very much enjoyed the follow-up The Light Fantastic. Ahhh, Rincewind, I remember him well.

I also have a soft spot for the first two Discworld novels. And The Luggage is just hilarious. So far, I thought the weakest book in the series that I have read was Pyramids. I remember thinking of giving up on it, but then I finished it anyway. (Donated it to the library later.) I just couldn't get anything out of it. Overall, I seem to like the "stand-alones" least (other examples: Small Gods and Moving Pictures).

[pdurrant]

Originally Posted by Marrella

I also have a soft spot for the first two Discworld novels. And The Luggage is just hilarious. So far, I thought the weakest book in the series that I have read was Pyramids. I remember thinking of giving up on it, but then I finished it anyway. (Donated it to the library later.) I just couldn't get anything out of it. Overall, I seem to like the "stand-alones" least (other examples: Small Gods and Moving Pictures).

OTOH, I really liked Pyramids and Small Gods.

To get the most out of "The Colour of Magic" you really need to know the fantasy that he's referencing.

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by pdurrant

OTOH, I really liked Pyramids and Small Gods.

To get the most out of "The Colour of Magic" you really need to know the fantasy that he's referencing.

I too rather liked Small Gods and Pyramids. I need to get bck to reading Discworld.

Next up on the Discworld list is Jingo and from the description, it sounds like a really good one.

A weather cock has risen from the sea of Discworld, and suddenly you can tell which way the wind is blowing.

A new land has surfaced, and so have old feuds.

And as two armies march, Commander Vimes of Ankh-Morpork City Watch has got just a few hours to deal with a crime so big that there's no law against it. It's called "war".

He's facing unpleasant foes who are out to get him... that's just the people on his side. The enemy might be even worse. And his pocket Dis-organiser says he's got Die under 'Things To Do Today'.

But he'd better not, because the world's cleverest inventor and itsmost devious politician are on their way to the battlefield with alittle package that's guaranteed to stop a battle...

Discworld goes to war, with armies of sardines, warriors, fishermen, squid and at least one very camp follower.

[DrNefario]

Colour of Magic and Light Fantastic are more Douglas Adams-like, I think. Lots of ideas and footnotes and so on. The later books are a bit more cohesive, as Pratchett finds his own voice.

(I have mysteriously lost my copies of the first four books. I think I must have lent them out many years ago and never got them back. It's a bit of a shame: I think the first two might have been signed first editions.)

I finished Mr Midshipman Hornblower last night, and started straight in on Lieutenant Hornblower. I only have this library ebook for another two weeks, and it's an omnibus.