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

[pdurrant]

Originally Posted by pdurrant

Next up: I was reading an anthology of essays by lesswrong. But I might take a break and look at LightSpeed Magazine before their kick-starter offer runs out.

Still reading the anthology, but I forgot to mention that I also read the University of Chicago freebie for January, Murder in Ancient China: Two Judge Dee Mysteries by Robert van Gulik.

It was excellent, and the Judge Dee novels/collections are now on my wishlist. Certainly too pricy without a good special offer!

[bfisher]

I'm currently reading "The Broken Road: From the Iron Gates to Mount Athos", the third part of Patrick Leigh Fermor's description of his walk from The Hook of Holland to Constantinople in the early 1930's. This volume carries him through Bulgaria, Rumania, and European Turkey, followed by a side trip to Mount Athos.

Thanks for recommending Patrick Leigh Fermor, Mike L. It's a wonderful description of an amazing journey through a vanished world.

[Fbone]

Completed Ian Tregillis' Bitter Seeds yesterday. This was a hard book for me to rate as it's the first in a trilogy. There were a lot of background info and investigation before you got to the meat of the plot. It's an alternate WW2 tale with the Germans creating "super humans" with science and the British receiving help from an alien race but at great cost. A few interesting dilemmas are presented for the characters to work out. For example, what extreme would you go to to end a war? The writing level was quite simplified (about 7th grade) except for the (probably) made up German words. It ends on a soft cliffhanger. Not sure I'll continue. Next book is priced rather high by Tor (ebook version) and doesn't encourage continuance. I gave it a C- [3 stars].

Next is Resonance by Chris Dolley published by Baen in 2005.

[alansplace]

Originally Posted by alansplace

I completed reading Dance of the Winnebagos and enjoyed reading it a lot! I've just gotten a new Amazon freebie named Origins (Origins #1) by Mark Henrikson and I've begun reading it. It appears that it should be quite interesting!

I very much enjoyed my read of the Amazon freebie, Origins! This was the fist published book written by Mark Henrikson and I'm afraid it shows quite glaringly in his writing. The concept and the story made it very very interesting and kept me wanting to continue despite the flaws. And boy oh boy the book sure was full of flaws! There were quite a few misspellings. For instance, thought instead of though, of instead of off, that kind of thing. Also almost 1/3 of the chapters were not in the TOC, it just skipped them. Thankfully these chapters weren't missing from the book. He sprinkles his dialog that is supposedly ocurring 5000 years ago in Egypt with wording and phrasing that reads like it's being spoken today. Anyway despite all of this I thought it quite worth reading.

Next, a rest. Then maybe back to Harry Potter and the Methods of Rationality for a while.

[orlok]

Yay! Just got Barry Eisler's latest John Rain novel Graveyard of Memories free via Amazon Prime lending library. Was about to buy it too.

Currently reading Bull River, the latest in the Virgil Cole and Everett Hitch series by Robert Knott, who is carrying on the series since Robert B. Parker's demise. Not too bad so far, and better than his previous effort Ironhorse, but it's just not Parker.

[pdurrant]

Originally Posted by pdurrant

Still reading the anthology, but I forgot to mention that I also read the University of Chicago freebie for January, Murder in Ancient China: Two Judge Dee Mysteries by Robert van Gulik.

It was excellent, and the Judge Dee novels/collections are now on my wishlist. Certainly too pricy without a good special offer!

Finished the anthology of essays. The version I had wasn't well formatted, not converted very well from the on-line version. Perhaps it would have been better to read on-line, or do my own conversion. But it was very interesting.

Next up: Lord Darcy by Randall Garrett. My oldest unread, from Jan 2004. Well, I've certainly read some Lord Darcy stories before. If it was this collection, they're certainly good enough to bear a re-read. Once I've read this, I won't have any unread ebooks bought more than ten years ago!

[CRussel]

Originally Posted by CRussel

Finished off Wolf Who Rules, and enjoyed this reread. It had been long enough since the original read that I was actually surprised a couple of times with things I'd forgotten. The Tinker series is enjoyable, so long as you're willing to completely suspend disbelief regularly. Yeah, I know it's Fantasy, but sometimes the magic seems to invent itself to fit the situation. I got over it, you can too. It's worth it to watch Tinker kick butt.

Next up, Cockroaches, the second book in the Harry Hole series by Jo Nesbo. I really enjoyed The Bat, and this one is going well. This is a Library eBook, since it only just became available in the US, and I was willing to wait for my hold to come up at the BC Library site.

This second book in the Harry Hole series from Jo Nesbo was excellent, and fulfilled the promise of the first in the series. Best part is, most of them are available from the library so I just have to play my Holds right and I won't have to buy them.

Harry is a very flawed character, but we're getting more information about why he's flawed and how he works through it and/or uses it to his advantage. These are darkish mysteries, but very much worth the read. I'm looking forward to The Redbreast, the third in the series. I got this at a great price from Amazon, discounted down to $2.99. (It's back up to $6.76.) But it will have to wait a bit, I need a break between books.

I'm going to read a bit of basic SF - Sassinak by Elizabeth Moon and Anne McCaffrey. I read this many years ago as a pBook when it first came out, but have completely forgotten it, so looking forward to it.

[Ranny]

I to enjoyed The Bat and have Cockroaches ready to start in next week or so.

Reading the third Logan McRae, Broken Skin by Stuart McBride, another excellent series. I was lucky enough to pick up books 3-8 all at 99p each in one of the amazon sales.

[Yapyap]

I just finished an ARC of Emilie and the Sky World by Martha Wells, sequel to last year's Emilie and the Hollow World.

These are great adventure stories for the younger (or young-at-heart) readers - they're published by Strange Chemistry, which is Angry Robot's YA imprint, but going strictly by "feel", I'd classify them as more middle-grade/tween than really YA.

Anyway, these are pretty good adventures (action/exploration) in the vein of Jules Verne or Arthur Conan Doyle's Challenger stories, except that they're set in a world that quite obviously isn't supposed to be our Earth as we know it, so it's sort of fantasy with a science fiction-y feel.

There really is a lack of "girl adventure" books of this sort, i.e. with a girl as the protagonist, so I've been very happy to find them - I gobbled down all the boys' adventures as a kid, and I loved them (still do), but I do have a soft spot for adventurous girls getting to have adventures and explore stuff, too!

[Latinandgreek]

I'm about halfway through Brandon Sanderson's "The Rithmatist". Very fun. Next up is a reread of "The Way of Kings" by the same author, in anticipation of the sequel.

[MickeyC]

Just finished Crocodile on the Sandbank by Elizabeth Peters and it was an excellent read.

Next up Dover Beach by Richard Bowker.

[cromag]

Originally Posted by pdurrant

Still reading the anthology, but I forgot to mention that I also read the University of Chicago freebie for January, Murder in Ancient China: Two Judge Dee Mysteries by Robert van Gulik.

It was excellent, and the Judge Dee novels/collections are now on my wishlist. Certainly too pricy without a good special offer!

I've been a huge fan of Robert van Gulik's Judge Dee stories since I first encountered them in the 70s. I got the UC freebie as well, and they were good, but I think the longer books are better.

[Apache]

And make sure you download them in mobi format for your kindle.
Apache

[orangedotgreen]

I finished The Iron Hand of Mars, the fourth Marcus Didius Falco book. It was ok, but I prefer the other books where the focus is on the mystery.

I'm currently reading The Information: A History, a Theory, a Flood by James Gleick and am trying to decide what fiction book to start next. I thought that with a 100+ TBR list I wouldn't always have something to choose, but right now nothing seems interesting enough.

[mewmartigan]

Finished up Sand by Hugh Howey. Really like the concept of sand diving with tanks and regulators.
Now starting Robin Hobb's Liveship trilogy, first up Ship of Magic.