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

[LovesMacs]

I'm concentrating mostly on The Brothers Karamazov, or as this translation has it, The Karamazov Brothers. I am enjoying it much more now than when I first tried to read it, when I was about 18 or 19.

[caleb72]

Originally Posted by LovesMacs

I'm concentrating mostly on The Brothers Karamazov, or as this translation has it, The Karamazov Brothers. I am enjoying it much more now than when I first tried to read it, when I was about 18 or 19.

I really enjoyed that book. I read it earlier this year.
I found myself note-taking and highlighting passages all over the place.

[alansplace]

Originally Posted by alansplace

I really enjoyed reading Joyland even though it was only available as a paper book! I'm so.. not a fan of reading books that are not digitally published.

Now on to Christopher Buecheler's new offering, The Broken God Machine!

Christopher Buecheler's The Broken God Machine gave me a fantastic ride through a very distant Post-Apocalyptic Earth. It made several turns that I just wasn't expecting and it was also quite a divergence from Buecheler's previous work, The II AM Trilogy which was a highly complex vampire story.

Next I'm giving Darcy Chan's The Mill River Recluse a read. I decided on this book when Darcy Chan appeared in a panel discussion along with Hugh Howey and some others about independent publishing titled, How Authors Are Becoming Entrepreneurs which I posted in the Wool 1,2,3,4,5 forum.

[Dazrin]

Originally Posted by Dazrin

Next up is World War Z since it came in at the library. Should be a fun, quick read.

That was a good read, I can see why it was so popular.

I am going to start Blockade Billy by Stephen King since none of the books I have on reserve are ready and this should be short enough to finish in time for the next one that is available.

[Lady Blue]

I’m currently reading Mistress by James Patterson & David Ellis that I got from one of my Overdrive e-book libraries.

Quoting the library blurb (bold text is mine):

James Patterson's scariest, sexiest stand-alone thriller since The Quickie.

Ben isn't like most people. Unable to control his racing thoughts, he's a man consumed by his obsessions: movies, motorcycles, presidential trivia-and Diana Hotchkiss, a beautiful woman Ben knows he can never have.

When Diana is found dead outside her apartment, Ben's infatuation drives him on a hunt to find out what happened to the love of his life.

Ben soon discovers that the woman he pined for was hiding a shocking double life. And now someone is out to stop Ben from uncovering the truth about Diana's illicit affairs.

In his most heart-pumping thriller yet, James Patterson plunges us into the depths of a mind tortured by paranoia and obsession, on an action-packed chase through a world of danger and deceit.

Spoiler:

Ben is telling the story in the first person present tense in a way I find annoying. It just inhibits the flow of the read when the protagonist is speaking directly to the reader in an ongoing one-sided conversation. It reads like: “I am seeing …, I am looking …, I am running …, I am driving …, I jump …, I hear …, I climb …, I stop ….” All the while, he’s spouting trivia about movies and presidents in the midst of most thoughts, even as people are trying to kill him. Which causes him to keep saying “Focus, Ben.” Really?

He seems more like an eccentric 2 year old with ADD on crack. Makes me jumpy just reading it.

I almost pay more attention to the trivia than I do the storyline. The trivia has more substance than what Ben is currently doing. If it wasn’t for all the trivia, this would probably be a very short story.

As for being the scariest, sexiest, most heart-pumping thriller yet … not so much. In the 88 chapters I’ve read it’s been mostly silly (without the ha-ha), disjointed and ridiculous. Maybe within the remaining 100 pages it will get scary, sexy and get my heart pumping. One can only hope.

But that's just me. Results may vary.

(Maybe this belongs in the Vent and Rant Thread.)

[Apache]

Originally Posted by pdurrant

That was fun. Not that I'd like to watch a movie of it. I find visual gore much harder to take than verbal gore.

Next up: The Undead Hordes of Kan-Gul by Jon F. Merz. The last of September's Baen Bundle that I've never read before. I'm planning on re-reading the Heinlein at some point too.

I feel the same way. I would not enjoy it as a movie.
I have The Undead Hordes of Kan-Gul on my TBR. When you finish it let me know if you enjoyed it please.
Apache

[Apache]

Originally Posted by Dazrin

Next up is World War Z since it came in at the library. Should be a fun, quick read.

Originally Posted by Dazrin

That was a good read, I can see why it was so popular.

If you liked it try Under a Graveyard Sky by John Ringo.
Apache

[Dazrin]

Originally Posted by Apache

If you liked it try Under a Graveyard Sky by John Ringo.
Apache

Unfortunately, none of his books are available as e-books at my library and are too much $$ for my budget. Maybe some day though.

[CRussel]

Originally Posted by Dazrin

Unfortunately, none of his books are available as e-books at my library and are too much $$ for my budget. Maybe some day though.

Four of his books are available in the Baen Free Library, and even more of them are available as part of Baen CDs, including the Prince Roger series.

[Apache]

Definitely get the free Prince Roger Series.
Apache

[Yapyap]

Hmm. Done with The Screaming Staircase - not bad, but for me at least, not even close to the awesomeness that was the Bartimaeus series.

Interesting enough that I'll likely want to read more in the series once the next book is out, though.

[orange!]

Originally Posted by pdurrant

Since I know that you have a large TBR pile, I'd recommend reading the last few pages for the whodunnit, and abandoning it. There's no point wasting your leisure time on something you're not enjoying.

Don't you think that sometimes you have to struggle (at least a little) to get the most out of some books? And by "struggle", I mean, by definition, you're not enjoying it. Well, to bring this down from the abstract to the concrete, I'm trying to decide whether or not to stick with From Here to Eternity. It was one of the daily specials a couple of days ago on Amazon, and since I love to read long books, I bit. But I'm really having a hard time getting into it.

Originally Posted by LovesMacs

I'm concentrating mostly on The Brothers Karamazov, or as this translation has it, The Karamazov Brothers. I am enjoying it much more now than when I first tried to read it, when I was about 18 or 19.

Speaking of one that's been hard for me to get into, I've probably started this book a half dozen times and never gotten very far. Maybe it's time for me to try again.

[Dazrin]

Originally Posted by Dazrin

I am going to start Blockade Billy by Stephen King since none of the books I have on reserve are ready and this should be short enough to finish in time for the next one that is available.

That was a good little story.

As it always appears to happen, when I get a book not on my waiting list one of the ones from my waiting list immediately appears. In this case Consider Phlebas by Iain M. Banks. I haven't read anything by him before, so I am looking forward to this.

CRussell and Apache: Thanks for the heads up about the Baen CDs/Prince Roger series, I will definitely look them up at some point.

[orlok]

Originally Posted by Lady Blue

I’m currently reading Mistress by James Patterson & David Ellis that I got from one of my Overdrive e-book libraries.

Quoting the library blurb (bold text is mine):

James Patterson's scariest, sexiest stand-alone thriller since The Quickie.

Ben isn't like most people. Unable to control his racing thoughts, he's a man consumed by his obsessions: movies, motorcycles, presidential trivia-and Diana Hotchkiss, a beautiful woman Ben knows he can never have.

When Diana is found dead outside her apartment, Ben's infatuation drives him on a hunt to find out what happened to the love of his life.

Ben soon discovers that the woman he pined for was hiding a shocking double life. And now someone is out to stop Ben from uncovering the truth about Diana's illicit affairs.

In his most heart-pumping thriller yet, James Patterson plunges us into the depths of a mind tortured by paranoia and obsession, on an action-packed chase through a world of danger and deceit.

Spoiler:

Ben is telling the story in the first person present tense in a way I find annoying. It just inhibits the flow of the read when the protagonist is speaking directly to the reader in an ongoing one-sided conversation. It reads like: “I am seeing …, I am looking …, I am running …, I am driving …, I jump …, I hear …, I climb …, I stop ….” All the while, he’s spouting trivia about movies and presidents in the midst of most thoughts, even as people are trying to kill him. Which causes him to keep saying “Focus, Ben.” Really?

He seems more like an eccentric 2 year old with ADD on crack. Makes me jumpy just reading it.

I almost pay more attention to the trivia than I do the storyline. The trivia has more substance than what Ben is currently doing. If it wasn’t for all the trivia, this would probably be a very short story.

As for being the scariest, sexiest, most heart-pumping thriller yet … not so much. In the 88 chapters I’ve read it’s been mostly silly (without the ha-ha), disjointed and ridiculous. Maybe within the remaining 100 pages it will get scary, sexy and get my heart pumping. One can only hope.

But that's just me. Results may vary.

(Maybe this belongs in the Vent and Rant Thread.)

I've completely given up on Patterson. Quantity has definitely won the day over quality, and his output now is risible drivel (I'm thinking of registering that two-word epithet ).

Currently reading the second in the Wilt series by Tom Sharpe (no relation to our much loved moderator...), The Wilt Alternative. Wilt has a great penchant for taking awkward situations and turning them into mayhem on a stick. Hasn't been quite as laugh-out-loud as the first in the series, but still an enjoyable read.

[caleb72]

Originally Posted by Dazrin

As it always appears to happen, when I get a book not on my waiting list one of the ones from my waiting list immediately appears. In this case Consider Phlebas by Iain M. Banks. I haven't read anything by him before, so I am looking forward to this.

Ooh - I loved that book! It convinced me to start collecting all of his sci-fi books.