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

[Rev. Bob]

I'm following the two King books with one, maybe both, of the Clifford Simak books on my challenge list. I've started A Heritage of Stars, and may follow it with Time and Again.

[alansplace]

Originally Posted by alansplace

Still, because of the holidays, I'm kinda' stalled, but a bit further on (56%) in Death Before Wicket! Also I can blame it a little on finding a $.99 special (good through Friday Jan 9th) on Moriarty: Anna Kronberg Trilogy (Kronberg Crimes #1-3) by Annelie Wendeberg. I've read the first 25 pages of the first of the three included novels, The Devil's Grin.

Originally Posted by alansplace

I completed my read of Death Before Wicket this evening. It was quite as enjoyable a read as the first 9 books in the series and I look forward to the last 9 that are still left. Now on to the Moriarty Trilogy and its first novel, The Devil's Grin.

Originally Posted by alansplace

I finished reading the Moriarty Trilogy's first novel, The Devil's Grin and since I enjoyed it immensely am launching directly into the second novel in the trilogy, The Fall!

I borrowed my one monthly Free Lending Library selection. I chose The Case of the Violent Virgin (Ed Noon, #7) by Michael Avallone. I'll fall back on this if I need a break from the Trilogy or will read it after I've completed reading the Trilogy.

Originally Posted by alansplace

I've now finished reading the Moriarty Trilogy's second novel, The Fall and it was also a highly enjoyable read! So I'm excitedly launching into the final novel, The Journey!

The Journey! was as compelling a read as the other two and with some sadness at leaving the world and characters that Annelie Wendeberg created for this story, I'm finished and I must. Here's what I wrote about it over in GoodReads:

alansplace's review

Read from January 04 to 11, 2015

A great read! Neatly fills the time period between THE MEMOIRS OF SHERLOCK HOLMES' The Final Problem and THE RETURN OF SHERLOCK HOLMES' The Adventure of the Empty House, the period of time when Holmes was thought to be dead. Exciting, dramatic, and touching. A super read! A fantastic story!

Now on to The Case of the Violent Virgin (Ed Noon, #7) by Michael Avallone.

[pdurrant]

Originally Posted by pdurrant

I'm a fair way in now, but Hogan pushes his 'scientific' and political opinions rather hard in this book and series. I'll probably finish it, but if it starts getting worse I'm going to abandon it.

It just managed to avoid being abandoned, but I now rather wish I had bailed earlier. If one knows very little of actual science, history and palaeontology, or if one can ignore what one knows, one might enjoy this, if it wasn't for the fairly frequent info-dumps or lectures.

SIgh. I'd hoped I'd remembered incorrectly, but later Hogan just isn't for me.

Next up: The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction, January 2015.

[EDIT: Also read freebie short story Bernado's House by James Patrick Kelly]

[Lin2412]

Anna Dressed in Blood by Kendare Blake.
It's how I spend bonding with my 13 year old niece who likes horror stories. Apparently she has good tastes in books. I find the story very appealing and I'm drawn especially to the ghost (never thought I'd ever say that!)

[HarryT]

Two books recently completed:

Wool by Hugh Howey.

Excellent "distopian" SF about people living in a "silo" - an underground city - in the US, centuries after what appears to have been a nuclear or chemical warfare attack. Speculating about the outside world or expressing a desire to leave is strictly forbidden, the punishment being expulsion from the silo into the toxic outside world where life expectancy is only minutes. Very, very good indeed. Extremely highly recommended!

Stars Over Stars by K.D. Wentworth.

I bought this from Baen in 2001. A sequel to the earlier "Black on Black". Baen description:

Raised by a human, Heyoka Blackeagle thinks like a human, even if he is a typical hrinn—seven feet tall, covered with fur, retractable claws. In the war against the insectlike flek, Heyoka distinguished himself in the Ranger Corps. Now, on a planet from which the flek have been driven, he's leading a group of humans and hrinn, trying to prove that hrinn can make proficient rangers in spite of their disdain for following orders.

Then a hidden, fully functional flek stargate is found, ready to transport flek hordes. And word comes of a flek advance. The planet must be evacuated, but rather than abandon his team in the jungle, Heyoka stays behind, only to find that his human partner Mitsu, once a flek POW, is hallucinating, seeing nonexistent flek. And then the real flek arrive. . . .

Excellent, although I'd recommend reading "Black on Black" first.

[Dngrsone]

Finished the Mistborn trilogy... just in time for school to start.

Need to find something light and fast until I find out what my workload/reading list will be in class.

[Quake1028]

I am engrossed in two books right now:

Darknet - Matthew Mather
This is a follow-up, not a sequel, to his novel Cyberstorm from a year or so ago. It comes out in March, but I have an ARC of it thanks to Mr. Mather. 51% right now and struggling to find time to read, but I am really enjoying it.

The Empty Quarter - David L. Robbins
Currently at 46% on this one, and it just hit a huge plot line that should escalate things quite quickly, but I have moved it aside for the time being since I was so excited for Darknet.

Hopefully I can finish these up in time to squeeze in a re-read of The Hobbit, but I have to be done with that by February 6th, so it will be close. If I can't get to it before, I will move Hobbit to after the Powder Mage series concludes.

[Luffy]

Death Masks (The Dresden Files #5)
by Jim Butcher - 2/5

I won't linger too much on the autopsy of what I read. This book died on me. It came as unexpected. Someone told me that Summer Knight was a disappointment and Death Masks its superior. The fact that for me the reverse was true shouldn't have been a surprise. But books' reputations cannot be counted on. They are unreliable.

Fear not, you'll take something from reading Death Masks. I did too. But, such rewards were too few.I think that the presence of a character such as Shiro complicated matters. The two major happenings to Shiro were treated shallowly. I mean Dresden got over the first Shiro event by making out with his belle(more of that later, or that's what I'd say if I wanted to write uselessly about Jim Butcher's love litanies), and got over the second by bellowing out a big yee-haw! I thought Bob's complete and utter disappearance was a non sequitur. I thought the Dresden world got bigger. I thought the magic was nothing new. The little kids like Molly and "Ivy" added little. The one with the best role in the end was Marcone. I don't want to like a drug baron. But in the end, the things that can please me were simply in short supply here. Reading is, for the discerning, a gamble. That's how it should be. I'll be there when it pays off.

[sakura-panda]

Originally Posted by sakura-panda

I just finished Delivery by Diana Prusik, a Kindle freebie that I've had for about three years. I enjoyed it but don't think I will read it again. I have not chosen my next book yet.

Going through the unread books on my Sony, I've decided to read The Professor by Charlotte Bronte. I'm not reading the one from Sony though; I'm reading a copy downloaded from Feedbooks. (I couldn't find an epub version in the MobileRead library.)

[CRussel]

Originally Posted by CRussel

Next up, #11 in the Campion series, Traitor's Purse. I'm about half way through (had to stop for the Ava Lee), and I'm enjoying it, but it's definitely not the action level of an Ava Lee book.

Finished. Somehow, this was a struggle for me, even though I've enjoyed pretty much all of the Campions so far. I don't think the issue was the book but too many distractions as I tried to read it, including a short hiatus while I read the latest Ava Lee book.

Next up, another KU freebie, Protocol for a Kidnapping, a Ross Thomas book featuring Philip St. Ives, a professional go-between. These books were originally published under the pseudonym "Oliver Bleeck". Should be fast, fun read.

[Dazrin]

Originally Posted by JSWolf

I just finished reading Molly Fyde and the Parsona Rescue by Hugh Howey.

If you have not read this, go to Hugh's website and buy it. It's $2.99 there instead of $4.99 (for example at Amazon). It's an excellent book. Well worth reading and while you are there, pick up the other three as well since chances are more then very good that they will all be worth reading.

Interesting, I didn't realize his DRM free versions were less than Amazon. I will have to make sure I check his site next time I want to get something of his, such as book 2.

I finished the Harry Potter series on Friday but rather than re-starting the James Potter series like I had anticipated I am going to take a break from the Potterverse with NOS4A2 by Joe Hill. Should be a good change of pace. I haven't read anything from Joe Hill before so this should also give me an idea of whether more is worth it or not.

I really want some espionage/military/special forces thriller novels, but couldn't find anything on my wish list at my library. I would like something similar to the early Jack Ryan books or a Mitch Rapp or ??? I don't care much for Jack Reacher or James Rollins (Sigma Force). I have read the Ludlum Bourne books (couldn't get into Van Lusterbader.) Any suggestions that might be available at the library? I have a couple Baldacci titles (Camel Club, Split Second and The Innocent which are the starts of 3 different series) and Point of Impact by Stephen Hunter on hold but I am a ways down the list. These titles were from the FAQ thread, Espionage authors you (and I) should read, but I am hoping for something that is available sooner.

[Rev. Bob]

Originally Posted by Luffy

The little kids like Molly and "Ivy" added little. The one with the best role in the end was Marcone. I don't want to like a drug baron.

Oh, Marcone's far more complicated than a simple "drug baron" - and Molly comes to play quite a major role in the series. You have to plant seeds if you ever want to harvest the fruit, and Butcher has a long plan.

[Luffy]

Originally Posted by Rev. Bob

Oh, Marcone's far more complicated than a simple "drug baron" - and Molly comes to play quite a major role in the series. You have to plant seeds if you ever want to harvest the fruit, and Butcher has a long plan.

I'm looking forward to the rest of the books, despite this stumble.

[alansplace]

Originally Posted by alansplace

The Journey! was as compelling a read as the other two and with some sadness at leaving the world and characters that Annelie Wendeberg created for this story, I'm finished and I must. Here's what I wrote about it over in GoodReads:


Now on to The Case of the Violent Virgin (Ed Noon, #7) by Michael Avallone.

The Case of the Violent Virgin was, as it usually is for the Ed Noon books, a really enjoyable reading experience for me (also quite a quick read). Now on to a prequel I just found to Moriarty: Anna Kronberg Trilogy called, The Lion's Courtship (Kronberg Crimes 0.5) by Annelie Wendeberg. I'm looking forward with anticipation for more from this author and now I don't have to leave the world and characters created by her quite so soon after all).

[cromag]

Originally Posted by cromag

I'm reading hard copy right now. I took advantage of some free time to make a trip to my favorite used book store. I found a few issues of Fantasy and Science Fiction from the 60s -- including one that I remember buying from a drug store magazine rack in 1969 (the cover story was Keith Laumer's Once There Was a Giant, and even as a senior in high school I had been a fan of Laumer's for years). But I had completely forgotten that there was also a Fred Saberhagen non-Berserker story, etc., etc.!

I'll be back on battery power soon!

That was fun! I still like Laumer's story, although I approach it from a different perspective at 62 than I did at 16. This story is included in Odyssey, available from Baen.

The Saberhagen story, Young Girl at an Open Half-door was a great time travel short! I vaguely remembered the setting, but had completely forgotten the storyline and details. Today's me would rank it the best story in the magazine. It appears that this story was reprinted in a paperback anthology of Saberhagen's entitled My Best, but it doesn't look like it has ever been reissued as an ebook. Which is a shame.

I haven't completely read the issue, but I rarely read magazines or anthologies in one go.

Now, I've started Lovers & Fighters, Starships & Dragons, an anthology of stories by Tom Purdom -- on my ereader. The opening story, Fossil Games, was very good!