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

[bfisher]

Originally Posted by LovesMacs

Didn't McPhee write a big book called Annals of the Former World? Is that book an omnibus containing the book you read, or a separate work?

Annals of the Former World is an omnibus containing the four previously published books plus additional new material to complete the cross section. I believe that he got a Pulitzer for the omnibus. All of the individual books are short (about 125-250 pages each). I've been reading the individual books from the library, but I think I shall buy the omnibus, as I'm sure I will re-read the books, which are wonderful but dense reading.

[CRussel]

Originally Posted by CRussel

on the eBook side, A Duty to the Dead, by Charles Todd. The first in the Bess Crawford series. Bess Crawford is an English nurse in WWI, and I'm reminded and a bit horrified to realize just how little our understanding of PTSD (known in WWI as shell shock), or the treatment of those with it, has improved. We really should be doing better than we are.

Excellent book, very much enjoyed. And the best part is, I have 4 more by Charles Todd on my TBR, thanks to Kobo coupons. If you haven't given this series a try, I'd recommend it.

[PurpleStar]

Currently reading She Returns From War by Lee Collins, the 2nd book in the series. Kick-ass woman hunting supernatural monsters in a western setting. What's not to love?? The only problem is there's only the 2 books so far. I want MORE MORE MORE!!!!!

[Bilbo1967]

I'm reading my way through Michael Connelly's Harry Bosch books (currently up to Nine Dragons). So far though, a couple have actually been Mickey Haller books in which Bosch appears fairly fleetingly.

I'm enjoying the Bosch books; not so much with the Haller ones, even though it's the same author.

[Apache]

I just finished the first two books in Tanya Huff's Confederation Series, Valor's Choice and The Better Part of Valor. This is Science Fiction and I enjoyed them so much I am off to get the other three. Why have a budget when you never follow it any way.
Apache

[pdurrant]

Originally Posted by pdurrant

Next up: Alloy of Law by Brandon Sanderson.

Excellent. I look forward to the next one.

Next up: F&SF for March/April 2014, edited by Gordon Van Gelder

[CRussel]

Originally Posted by CRussel

Excellent book, very much enjoyed. And the best part is, I have 4 more by Charles Todd on my TBR, thanks to Kobo coupons. If you haven't given this series a try, I'd recommend it.

Read Endeavors of Will, a collection of early Sharon Lee short stories. These had all appeared in print at some point, but mostly in obscure or dead magazines. An interesting tidbit.

Now on to Barnburner, the first of two Jen Pierce mysteries by Ms. Lee.

[Lin2412]

I'm currently reading The Thief by Megan Turner. I love the characterizations of the book, especially Gen, who's very witty and cunning. I'm still halfway through the story and I wish the turn of events doesn't drag out by the second half! *fingers crossed*

Ok, back to reading.

[Rev. Bob]

Originally Posted by Apache

I just finished the first two books in Tanya Huff's Confederation Series, Valor's Choice and The Better Part of Valor. This is Science Fiction and I enjoyed them so much I am off to get the other three.

I've got that series in a stack that I might actually get to this year!

Well, once I get rid of some Ent corpses and make room to rearrange some books, that is. That could pose a problem; this set of five stacks is barely stable...

[samhy]

I'm on the second book in The Hunger Games series. So far, Catching Fire is difficult to stop reading.

[CRussel]

Originally Posted by CRussel

Read Endeavors of Will, a collection of early Sharon Lee short stories. These had all appeared in print at some point, but mostly in obscure or dead magazines. An interesting tidbit.

Now on to Barnburner, the first of two Jen Pierce mysteries by Ms. Lee.

Finished. Enjoyed. Not 5 stars, but a solid 4, assuming you're willing to cut it a bit of slack for the era. (A fair amount of BBS stuff in there that feels really dated now.) But like all of Sharon Lee's books, well written and character driven.

Next, I think I'll devour the second (and last) Jen Pierce mystery - Gunshy. As a light alternative to my other current read, The Autistic Brain, by Temple Grandin. A book I've been on the waiting list for at the library for quite a while, but my number came up last night, so I'm going to dive right in.

[Stitchawl]

I've just finished an excellent book on Kinisics by Joe Navarro, a retired FBI interrogation specialist called "What Everybody is Saying." This is one of the most readable, to say nothing of the most rational approach to understanding Body Language that I've come across so far. None of the 'this is the magic key' sort of things you find in so many books on the subject, only good basic understanding of the body's Limbic system and how it manifests itself when under both positive and negative stresses.


Stitchawl

[bfisher]

2014 is the centenary of the extinction of the passenger pigeon, the last known passenger pigeon died at the Cincinatti Zoo on Sept 1, 1914. I'm currently reading a book written to commerate the passenger pigeon's extinction - "A Feathered River Across The Sky" by Joel Greenberg, which attempts to explain how a species which still numbered in the thousands of millions in the 1860s became extinct within 50 years. Quite interesting - I learned the meaning of "stool pigeon", among other things, and a caution against the things we are still doing 100 years on.

[xg4bx]

Just finished 25 Perfect Days by Mark Tullius. I'd put it up there with Wool as one of my favorite indie sci-fi novels, I couldn't put it down.

Will you follow The Way or be crushed by the Controllers?
A totalitarian state doesn't just happen overnight. It's a slow, dangerous slide. 25 Perfect Days chronicles the path into a hellish future of food shortages, contaminated water, sweeping incarceration, an ultra-radical religion, and the extreme measures taken to reduce the population. Through twenty-five interlinked stories, each written from a different character's point of view, 25 Perfect Days captures the sacrifice, courage, and love needed to survive and eventually overcome this dystopian nightmare.

[Gazella]

Just started The Three Musketeers by Alexandre Dumas. I'm at the chapter where d'Artagnan bumps into the three musketeers; Athos, Porthos, and Aramis while running after the man who stole his letter and is challenged by a duel by each of the musketeers. A very enjoyable and fun read so far.