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

[bfisher]

Originally Posted by WT Sharpe

That sounds interesting. I read his In Search of Time: The Science of a Curious Dimension a few years ago and enjoyed it immensely. I'll have to download a sample to remind myself to buy the book when I have a chance to read it. Dan Falk is a very good writer.

Finished "In Search of Time". Quite interesting and very readable considering the subject matter. Thanks very much for the recommendation.

[WT Sharpe]

Originally Posted by bfisher

Finished "In Search of Time". Quite interesting and very readable considering the subject matter. Thanks very much for the recommendation.

You're welcome.

[Yapyap]

Originally Posted by Yapyap

I've also started The Silkworm by Robert Galbraith / JK Rowling, which has been slow going due to aforementioned lack of time, but I'm enjoying it so far (~55% in). I suspect it'll be similar to my reaction to the first Cormoran Strike book, i.e. enjoyable but not outstanding - this seems to be turning into a series I can solidly rely on to give me several pleasant (if occasionally gory) hours of reading, but not necessarily something I'll be jumping at on the day of release.

And done with it, and my above comment is pretty much how I feel about it also after finishing it.

Actually, I think I liked the first book a little more, in spite of The Silkworm feeling a little more polished than The Cuckoo's Calling. I don't think it was the writing; I just think the central mystery in the first book "hooked" me more. Some nice character development for both Strike and Robin in this one, though.

[Rps]

I am in the process of developing grammar learning materials for ESLLs and have been researching various grammar books ....... I know about as exciting as watching paint dry, right! But I came across a great book by C. Edward Goode called "A Grammar Book For You And I (oops, me!). It is actually one of the best books I have read on the subject and is fun to read.........who knew.

[HarryT]

Just finished "The Forlorn", by Dave Freer. I bought this from Baen in September 2000.

Baen description:

The relentless search is on: Find the opal-like sections of a matter transmitter, scattered across a continent. Without them the only human colony-planet dies. The pieces are hidden in the vast deserts, tangled jungles, medieval cities and stark fortresses of this world. They are defended by fanatics. The fifteen sections are technological miracle-workers, more precious than fist-sized diamonds in a colony regressed to the 14th century level. Yet, the various hunters will let nothing in their way.

Against humanity's questers race the Morkth, space-traveling xenophobic alien destroyers of Earth. They are determined to destroy all these human vermin, soon. But first they want the matter-transmitter. They want it badly, and they destroy anything that tries to stop them. They have nukes and lasers to the colonists' swords and spears. It's no contest.

All that stands between the Morkth and the destruction of the planet are three unlikely heroes A street-child thief, a dispossessed and totally spoiled brat of a sixteen year-old princess, and a confused, amoral, Morkth-raised human. If they can gather all the transmitter sections before the Morkth do, then there is a chance of survival. But the Morkth already have several sections, and the others are lost, or guarded and hidden It seems like a lost cause... a Forlorn Hope. But it's all humans have.

I enjoyed this on the whole, but the ending seemed extremely rushed, and rather unsatisfactory.

[little and large]

Drama City by George Pelecanos. It's tremendous. GP manages to weave stories together with invisible stitching and seems to do things that go outside of the norm - there's a literary feel to this one.

[Yapyap]

Started Skulduggery Pleasant: Last Stand of Dead Men by Derek Landy - re-reading it (this time in hardcover) in anticipation of The Dying of the Light, the final book in the series, coming out in 17 days.

I considered re-reading the entire series but decided against it this time; might do it after the last book is out. Depending on just how crushed/heartbroken it will leave me, really.

[bfisher]

Originally Posted by Apache

I just finished the four books in David Aaronovitch's Peter Grant Series. I thought the were a very good read and especially loved the character's and the humor.
Apache

Thanks, just finished Midnight Riot Yes, the humor and the characters were great.

on to Moon Over Soho

[MickeyC]

Just finished Ready Player One by Ernest Cline and it was a great and very fast read. Next up Drama City by George Pelecanos based the above reco by little and large

[alansplace]

Originally Posted by CRussel

I'll be interested to hear what you think of it. I've only read the first four of them, and only as audio books, but I did enjoy them. A bit more BDSM than I would prefer, but one can fast forward through it. I'm very interested to see how well the series follows the books.

Originally Posted by alansplace

I've only read part 1 (12%) of the first book and so far have experienced no occurrences of BDSM! So far it's keeping my interest quite well. Of course I've not yet seen any of the episodes of the new STARZ series, as episode 1 premieres this weekend. More later.

I've gotten up to one third of the way through Part Three, On the Road so far, but I only needed to have finished Part One, Inverness, 1945 before seeing this STARZ debut. Oh, and now I understand Charlie's BDSM comment.

Last evening my wife and I viewed Outlander's debut episode, called Sassenach (the episode's title). It followed the Epigraph and Part One, Inverness, 1945 (the first 5 chapters) of the novel quite closely. It captured my wife's interest as she's currently looking forward enthusiastically to the next episode. Oh, so am I.

Here's the first paragraph of a review by Ed Miller from time.com:

Outlander's debut episode delivers on multiple counts

If you have a predilection for epic romances and the super-specific sub-genre that is historical time-travel fiction, then you’re likely to find Outlander to be a sensory feast. Superficially, Starz’s new show is a torrid romance primed for an eager fandom desperate to re-direct their Game of Thrones enthusiasm. But Outlander is more than a sweepingly cinematic bodice ripper: it manages to shroud what fans (myself included) guilt-love about the genre in the much broader themes of history, feminism and free-will.

Neither my wife nor myself are fans of HBO's Game of Thrones.

[Rev. Bob]

Finished Skin Game, then moved on to The Rhesus Chart and Poison Promise in quick succession. Trying something a bit different now: No Place Like Oz, the prequel novella to Dorothy Must Die (in which another girl from Kansas has to undo what Dorothy's done in Oz).

After that - or "those" if I go from the novella on to the book - Sparrow Hill Road is probably next, and maybe the short The Ink Readers of Doi Saket from the Hugo list as a palate cleanser. Following those, it's going to be a question of skimming my "now" list and seeing what jumps out at me. Limbus, Inc. has definite potential, but I've also got the last six "Paranormal Public" books waiting for me, and there's a nice Bova entry on the list...

[CRussel]

Originally Posted by alansplace

I've gotten up to one third of the way through Part Three, On the Road so far, but I only needed to have finished Part One, Inverness, 1945 before seeing this STARZ debut. Oh, and now I understand Charlie's BDSM comment.

Last evening my wife and I viewed Outlander's debut episode, called Sassenach (the episode's title). It followed the Epigraph and Part One, Inverness, 1945 (the first 5 chapters) of the novel quite closely. It captured my wife's interest as she's currently looking forward enthusiastically to the next episode. Oh, so am I.

Here's the first paragraph of a review by Ed Miller from time.com:



Neither my wife nor myself are fans of HBO's Game of Thrones.

I figured you'd understand when you got there.

Glad you liked it. Not sure when we'll be able to see it here, but I'm looking forward to it.

[samhy]

I finally found the time to start The Fault in our Stars by John Green. So far, I like it.

[Rev. Bob]

Originally Posted by Rev. Bob

Trying something a bit different now: No Place Like Oz, the prequel novella to Dorothy Must Die (in which another girl from Kansas has to undo what Dorothy's done in Oz).

This is definitely a different twist on Oz. More of a short novel than a "novella," NPLOz has Dorothy returning to Oz on her sixteenth birthday, two years after her original visit, along with her aunt and uncle. There are a few continuity problems for purists, in that some version of the events depicted in Baum's other Oz books took place during that two-year gap, but without Dorothy or any other Outsiders. In short, these stories are set up as a sequel to the movie that can use characters from the other books; don't look too closely at that aspect, and it works fine.

Anyway, Dorothy's return is not a good thing, for her or for Oz; she learns to use magic, and is corrupted by it. She deposes Ozma in all but name, and by the time Amy (a "trailer trash" girl from modern Kansas) arrives in Dorothy Must Die, Dorothy's influence has turned Oz into a dystopian wasteland. Amy is conscripted by the Wicked Resistance, and hence we get our story. To save Oz, Amy must take the Lion's courage, the Tin Man's heart, the Scarecrow's brain, and - of course - kill Dorothy.

It's a neat read, as long as you don't obsess over the "Dorothy came back to Oz in some of the other books, but not in this version of the timeline" factor. The books are certainly more grown-up than Baum's originals, YA rather than children's books, and some scenes get rather gruesome. Four more works have apparently been contracted - two novellas and two books - and I'm interested to see where they go. The CW is apparently considering a television series based on the books.

[alansplace]

Originally Posted by alansplace

Sigh! I'm sure getting flaky with what I'm reading. I just saw a netflix movie called Under the Skin and just had to read the book it was based on, also called Under the Skin by Michel Faber. I've read the first chapter thus far and it's quite intriguing (as was the film).

More flakiness on my part rears its ugly head again! I was watching the end credits on a cable movie called Next and noticed that The Golden Man (novelette) by Phillip K. Dick was credited as the story on which the movie was based. So I searched it out and read it (a very quick read). Enjoyed it a lot. Now back to the rest of my in-process reads!