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

[MickeyC]

Just finished Gone Girl and didn't care for it. It was like the author crammed 100 pages into 400. And it didn't end dramatically as I had anticipated. Rather it just, well, stopped.

[alansplace]

Originally Posted by alansplace

The Murder on the Links was a really really good read.

Now on to a new (for me) author, Seanan McGuire with an urban fantasy series called October Daye. The first one of 8 books so far written is Rosemary and Rue.

Holy Moly! I thought that Jim Butcher has treated Harry Dresden, as a matter of course, quite brutally, but Seanan McGuire treats her protagonist, Toby Daye twice as badly as Butcher does. She does this while telling a tale (a mystery) that tightly holds my interest while entertaining and enchanting me. I'll for sure be reading more of these urban fantasy tales. Yessir...ready to start reading A Local Habitation (October Daye #2) by Seanan McGuire!!

[pinklotus]

I'm reading Beloved Strangers by Maria Chaudhuri, a memoir. I'm enjoying it so far.

[Dazrin]

Originally Posted by Dazrin

Next up is The Black Echo by Michael Connelly, the first in the Harry Bosch series. I haven't read these before and it was available for immediate checkout at my library. Should be a good change of pace.

I really enjoyed that. Interesting twist at the end. Now for the next one, The Black Ice also from my library and available without a waiting list.

[Luffy]

Originally Posted by MickeyC

Just finished Gone Girl and didn't care for it. It was like the author crammed 100 pages into 400. And it didn't end dramatically as I had anticipated. Rather it just, well, stopped.

I started reading Gone Girl confident that I would like it and that it would get at least 4/5 stars. After all I liked Dark Places to bits. But I hated the characters in Gone Girl and gave up on it early on. I intend to retry reading many books that I've ditched (I, robot, Les Miserables, The Shining) but Gone Girl I consider an irrecuperable book.

[CharredScribe]

I'm continuing my journey through the DCI Banks series by Peter Robinson. I am now on Innocent Graves, which I am enjoying. I'm just about halfway. Robinson really is a superb writer - this is one of his best, thus far (though you never know, I may hate the ending!). I feel like this may be one that I have read already but can't remember the plot or ending.

[Luffy]

Originally Posted by Melon Soda

Currently on the Iron Druid Chronicles series by Kevin Hearne. Now at book 3 and it has been a fun ride so far! :thumbsup

The first 5 books are ace. You might even like the 6th one. This book made me stop having any interest in book 7 which came out this year. I couldn't bear to read that dog Oberon's 'thoughts'. The latter kept on taking up more space in the books and it was distracting. Also the lack of development with Graunaille(sp?) was the final nail in the coffin.

[MickeyC]

Originally Posted by Luffy

I started reading Gone Girl confident that I would like it and that it would get at least 4/5 stars. After all I liked Dark Places to bits. But I hated the characters in Gone Girl and gave up on it early on. I intend to retry reading many books that I've ditched (I, robot, Les Miserables, The Shining) but Gone Girl I consider an irrecuperable book.

Smart girl!

[pdurrant]

Originally Posted by pdurrant

Next: The Holmes-Dracula File by Fred Saberhagen

Another excellent tale. A couple of typos and the dreadful cover can't hide the fun of the mixture of Holmes and Dracula.

I was pleased to find that Kobo have an on-line reading website, read.kobo.com, which I used to finish this book when I'd left my ebook reader at home.

Hey - that was my 175th book for the year!

Next up: My Real Children by Jo Walton. I know nothing of this book except that it's by Jo Walton, and so I am certain to enjoy it.

[BenG]

Here's my list of books I read this summer. I don't keep track of re-reads so I may have forgotten a couple.

The Code of the Woosters and Thank You, Jeeves by P.G. Wodehouse
Loved these. I had watched the TV series and the old film with David Niven and Arthur Treacher but had never read any of the books.

The Accidental Time Machine by Joe Haldeman
OK, nothing special but no regrets reading it.

Dust Devil on a Quiet Street by Richard Bowes
Liked this one a lot. A semi-autobiograhical series of episodes in New York after 9/11 and flashbacks to the 60s and 70s with ambiguous brushes with the supernatural.

All You Zombies and Other Stories by Robert Heinlein
Nice collection of short stories that I hadn't read before.

Warlord Of Mars by Edgar Rice Burroughs
John Carter returns to Mars

Mr Penumbra's 24 Hour Bookstore by Robin Sloan
Really liked this one too.

Only You Can Save Mankind by Terry Pratchett
Nice early Pratchett. I prefer the Discworld novels though.

Desolation Road by Ian McDonald
Good story set on the Mars frontier.

The Mysterious Affair at Styles by Agatha Christie
Classic Christie and the introduction to her most famous detective.

The Gods of Mars by Edgar Rice Burroughs
Continues the Warlords of Mars story.

The Travels of Jaimie McPheeters by Robert Lewis Taylor
Pulitzer Prize winning novel about a boy's travels with his physician father from Louisville to the California gold rush. Excellent.

The Dispossessed by Ursula Le Guin
Good novel but not my favorite Le Guin

The Silver Stallion by James Branch Caball
A re-read of this classic fantasy.

At The Mouth of the River of Bees by Kij Johnson
Excellent collection of SF and fantasy short stories

The Belgariad by David Eddings
Audiobooks. The first five books. I liked them better than when I tried to re-read them in 2000, but not as much as when I first read them in the 80s.

The Sot Weed Factor by John Barth
Audiobook. I'm enjoying it but I'm only half way through when it seems I should be approaching the end.

[astrangerhere]

Originally Posted by MickeyC

Just finished Gone Girl and didn't care for it. It was like the author crammed 100 pages into 400. And it didn't end dramatically as I had anticipated. Rather it just, well, stopped.

I agree. I also just did not like the book. While I can admit her characterizations were good, I actively hated the characters.

[tilia]

When I've posted in this tread earlier, I've ended up in a reading slump. Hope the same thing doesn't happen this time

After finishing the 13th Kate Shugak book, A Grave Denied, I'm now reading Murder on the Ballarat Train by Kerry Greenwood. I started the Phryne Fisher series this summer, and so far they have been entertaining.

A few of the books I've read this summer:

Broken Homes by Ben Aaronovitch
I love this series so much I ended up saving this book for almost a year It was great when I finally read it.

Just One Damned Thing After Another by Jodi Taylor.
A fun time-travel I picked up as a freebie thanks to someone at MR. I'm looking forward to book 2.

Shades of Grey by Jasper Fforde.
My first book by him. Quirky, but in a fun way. Sounds like there's no hope of a sequel soon. I've read a few pages of Thursday Next, should probably try again. Or try one of his other series.

The Girl with All the Gifts by M.R. Caray.
Heartwarming and heartrending. I loved this book, one of the best books I've read this year. I haven't read a lot of zombie books, but this was more dystopia than splatter.

[Rev. Bob]

Originally Posted by tilia

Shades of Grey by Jasper Fforde.
My first book by him. Quirky, but in a fun way. Sounds like there's no hope of a sequel soon. I've read a few pages of Thursday Next, should probably try again. Or try one of his other series.

"Soon" is the key there; he's got two more planned, but they're a couple of years out. He's been busy with the Chronicles of Kazam (aka Last Dragonslayer) books for the past couple of years, and of course Thursday Next is his big series.

[MickeyC]

Originally Posted by astrangerhere

I agree. I also just did not like the book. While I can admit her characterizations were good, I actively hated the characters.

And there's a movie version opening in Oct. think I'll be busy doing something else that day.

[WT Sharpe]

I just finished Darwin's Dangerous Idea: Evolution and the Meaning of Life by Daniel C. Dennett. The last couple of chapters were enjoyable, but the rest of the book seemed to be in competition with his hero's Origin of Species for the dryness award. The science was solid, but the presentation was lackluster. The most enjoyable passages, with the exception of those final two chapters in which he truly seemed to come alive, was when he was quoting other scientists and authors.

It took me forever and a day to get through that book, and now I'm rewarding myself with another Brother Cadfael tale: Saint Peter's Fair by Ellis Peters (the fourth Brother Cadfael book) .