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

[Stitchawl]

Originally Posted by orlok

I can tell you who dunnit if you like, and save you some time....

Oh, thank GOD I checked my computer before we leave... There are just too few good Samaritans left in this world, and it's refreshing to know that we have at least one of them here in MobileRead. I shall leave knowing MR is in good hands.

(Go back and jump some more frogs...)



Stitchawl

[pilotbob]

I finished _The Color of Magic_... it was, well, ok I guess. Nothing brilliant that forces me to get the next book.

I then decided to continue reading Star Trek SCE books, and seriously the next one, Creative Couplings... $12.80 seriously, well, at least it is the same price as the print edition. But the next one, $12.99, but wait, the print edition is $6.40.

Argh... this is crazy stuff. I haven't complained about ebook prices in a while... but They are getting crazy.

BOb

[travger]

Originally Posted by CRussel

Hmmm. Sounds like it's time for a re-read pass through LMB's books. Or, if you've enjoyed these, give Sharon Lee and Steve Miller a try with their Liaden Universe books. Not at all alike in some ways, but the quality of the writing is very much at the same level and I find I look forward to both universes nearly equally. With maybe a slight edge to Liaden. Lots of places to start, if you haven't tried them before, but there's a lot to be said for written order, IMO. Which means starting at Agent of Change.

Thanks, I already had Liaden on top in TBR, now they're fairly jumping with impatience. Spent recently some hours determining correct reading order, seems like Baen omnibuses have it right. I'm firm believer in internal chronology, but in this case I learned that though Crystal books happen first, it's better to read them after having some aquitance with Liaden Universe.

[spindlegirl]

I finished Anne of Green Gables and am now reading Anne of Windy Poplars (It also gets titled Anne of Windy Willows) both books by L.M. Montgomery. Windy Poplars/Willows was one I never fully read because it was written in "Letter" format, but now I want to read it again. It looks really romantic. I found the book cover of the edition I owned in the 70s, and it's taking me right back.

Our Mutual Friend by Dickens and The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas are going to be next on my list between L.M. Montgomery reads.

[pilotbob]

I started a sample of _Song of Fire and Ice_ it's about time to see what all the fuss is about.

The last 3 or 4 books I have read have just been Meh. Perhaps I am getting jaded and only like really well written books. ??

BOb

[Marrella]

Originally Posted by pilotbob

The last 3 or 4 books I have read have just been Meh. Perhaps I am getting jaded and only like really well written books. ??

The older you get and the more you read, the pickier you will get in your choices of books. At least this is what I have been experiencing for several years now. Sometimes I wish I could get as absorbed in a story (even a mediocre one) as I could when I was young(er). Ah, back then, the world was new and exciting.

I finished reading The Library Book. This is a collection of essays about the love for books and reading, which I enjoyed very much. It also contains a short story by Kate Mosse and an extract of China Miéville's Un Lun Dun.

I have started The Long Earth by Terry Pratchett and Stephen Baxter (found it at the library). I like both authors a lot and I am enjoying it so far. It's a rather weird mix between those two, with Baxter's science and Pratchett's light and humorous style.

[Dazrin]

I am trying out some of the series that I have seen people mention here - just finished A Princess of Mars by Edgar Rice Burroughs (thanks for the omnibus HarryT!) and am now starting the first Kate Shugak novel A Cold Day for Murder by Dana Stabenow, which was free at Amazon the other day (maybe still)

I will likely go back to the Barsoom books at another time, but right now, I feel like variety.

[covingtoncat73]

I finished The Long Lankin. It was quite good, though I felt a little let down by the ending.

I'm now reading The Later On. I just started it but apparently it involves both the afterlife and time travel, two of my favorite things.

[maianhvk]

Originally Posted by pilotbob

I started a sample of _Song of Fire and Ice_ it's about time to see what all the fuss is about.

I bet you won't. Unless you already watched the series.

[pilotbob]

Originally Posted by maianhvk

I bet you won't. Unless you already watched the series.

I don't follow what you mean. Are you saying I won't like the book?

No, I haven't watched any of the series, I don't subscribe to HBO.

BOb

[covingtoncat73]

Originally Posted by pilotbob

I don't follow what you mean. Are you saying I won't like the book?

No, I haven't watched any of the series, I don't subscribe to HBO.

BOb

I really, really want to watch the series. I read the first three books but gave up as Martin appears to be going nowhere fast and he kills characters off before you can really get invested in them. However, my brother is angrier at Martin than I am and he loves the show. I may have to buy the first season on Amazon Instant Video (I don't have HBO either). Anyway, I think that is what the previous poster meant.

[Rumpelteazer]

I just finished James Clavell's Tai-Pan. Not as good as the first book in the Asian Saga, Shogun, but still very good and one of the best book I've read this year.

Up next is The Thorn Birds by Colleen McCullough.

[DrNefario]

I finally finished the last few short stories on the Hugo ballot and submitted my vote. I've only done the four fiction categories and one or two others, I don't think I'll have time for the rest, given that the deadline is in six days. It seems like a fairly poor year, if this is the best stuff. (And what's with all the present tense?)

I also started With the Lightnings by David Drake a couple of days ago, more or less by accident. Not sure about it so far. Not much is happening after the first 100 pages.

[fantasyfan]

If you like The Child's Garden of Verses by R.L.Stevenson and also love cats you might be interested in the delightful collection by Oliver Hereford The Kittens's Garden of Verses {1911} available as a free e-book from Project Gutenberg. It is a very fond pastiche of the Stevenson original. The gentle illustrations are by the author.

Here is the first poem by Stevenson:

In winter I get up at night
And dress by yellow candle-light.
In summer quite the other way,
I have to go to bed by day.

I have to go to bed and see
The birds still hopping on the tree,
Or hear the grown-up people's feet
Still going past me in the street.

And does it not seem hard to you,
When all the sky is clear and blue,
And I should like so much to play,
To have to go to bed by day?

And here is te opening poem by Herford:


In Winter when the air is chill,
And winds are blowing loud and shrill,
All snug and warm I sit and purr,
Wrapped in my overcoat of fur.

In Summer quite the other way,
I find it very hot all day,
But Human People do not care,
For they have nice thin clothes to wear.

And does it not seem hard to you,
When all the world is like a stew,
And I am much too warm to purr,
I have to wear my Winter Fur?

This pastiche is really very charming. I have a copy on my Kindle and Apple devices. The iPad gives the illustrations in colour.

[CRussel]

Originally Posted by CRussel

Time to read something completely different--David Weber's Oath of Swords, the first book in the Bahzell Bahnakson fantasy series. This series seems to have been mostly forgotten, and never sold as well as Weber's other books such as the Honor Harrington series. But it has been recommended, strongly, so I'm going to give it a try.

Well done. This is a straight-up fantasy, with good gods and bad gods; demons, wizards and mages; and super-heros, giants, and halflings. Well paced, minimal character development, but a good read regardless. Clearly written back in the days of Weber not being able to bully his editors. (I find his more recent books being several hundred pages longer than absolutely necessary or desirable.)

Next? Not sure. Not the next one in this series, though I'll certainly read that at some point. But possible a classic - I've been lazy about that.