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

[pdurrant]

Originally Posted by pdurrant

And now for my very latest purchase: The Golem and the Djinni by Helene Wecker.

Originally Posted by HomeInMyShoes

^I've heard a lot of positive vibe from that book. I'll be curious how it goes.

Originally Posted by Nyssa

I have to remember to bump this back up on my TBR. I started it in November or December, but set it down as I was still in my reading slump.

I liked this book a lot. Enough to give to give it a solid 5/5. A bit more concerned with exploring the character of the people in the book than most fantasy novels, but with enough solid fantasy elements and background to satisfy me very well on that score. I have one or two quibbles about details of the ending, but they are minor in comparison to the novel overall and most of the ending, which was very satisfying.

I'm delighted that I decided to buy this book, and it was a bargain at £1.49. I shall certainly look out for the next book from this author.

And now: one of my last books to come in in 2014: Asimov's SF magazine, dated February 2015. I'd better read this (and Analog SFF for March) before the next issues come out later this month!

[Dngrsone]

My first assignment for World Literature class is Voltaire's Candid.

Don't know if I should count these shorts in the reading goals thread, since I am counting 'books'...

[covingtoncat73]

I finished The Rosie Effect in very quick time for me and found it an enjoyable escape.

I am now reading Making History by Stephen Fry.

[Hampshire Nanny]

Originally Posted by Dazrin

I really liked the Alec Baldwin and Harrison Ford adaptations, they didn't match the books exactly, but they were good movies in their own rights. I didn't realize Ben Affleck played Jack Ryan though.

Pretty sure that never happened. (Sticks fingers in ears)...I CAN'T HEAR YOU....

Well, I was talking about the physical appearance rather than their acting prowess or the story adaptation. Harrison Ford came closest to looking like the Jack Ryan in my mind. And yes, Ben Affleck played Jack Ryan in The Sum of All Fears.

[Hampshire Nanny]

Originally Posted by pdurrant

I liked this book a lot. Enough to give to give it a solid 5/5. A bit more concerned with exploring the character of the people in the book than most fantasy novels, but with enough solid fantasy elements and background to satisfy me very well on that score. I have one or two quibbles about details of the ending, but they are minor in comparison to the novel overall and most of the ending, which was very satisfying.

I'm delighted that I decided to buy this book, and it was a bargain at £1.49. I shall certainly look out for the next book from this author.

I bought The Golem and the Jinni (note the US spelling!) in January of 2014, but still haven't read it yet. I'm moving it up the TBR list based on your assessment.

[speakingtohe]

I read Dune first and saw the movie about 10 year later I think. I enjoyed them both, but was still a bit puzzled about the movie. Tried rereading the book, which I still had, but that didn't work out for me. Found it tedious. Same with rewatching the movie a few years ago.

Still both have their strong points and I enjoyed both the first time around.

Helen

[Dazrin]

Originally Posted by Hampshire Nanny

Well, I was talking about the physical appearance rather than their acting prowess or the story adaptation. Harrison Ford came closest to looking like the Jack Ryan in my mind. And yes, Ben Affleck played Jack Ryan in The Sum of All Fears.

I know, I just refuse to accept it as a Jack Ryan story with all the changes they made to fit Ben Affleck in the role.

Similar to how there is only one Matrix movie, despite the rumors of a couple sequels.

[alansplace]

Originally Posted by alansplace

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).

The Lion's Courtship turned out to be a very exciting read (but without Sherlock Holmes), just like the trilogy, Moriarty that follows it was! I'm going to read next, a novel that Annelie Wendeberg has just recently (August/September 2014) published, 1/2986, a post-apocalyptic scifi thriller:

Remnants of humanity are scattered high in the mountains, far from the deadly disease that wiped out ten billion lives. While everyone claws for survival, Micka cuts lines and numbers into her skin. The day she decides to press the blade deeper, a stranger steps into her life and makes an offer she finds hard to decline.

Warning: This book is not for the faint of heart. Do not buy if you abhor violence, intense language, and non-explicit sex.

[Hampshire Nanny]

Originally Posted by Hampshire Nanny

Now I'm bouncing back and forth between Time Voyage, a mid-grade time-travel adventure by Steve Brezenoff and Unbreakable by W C Bauers, a military SF novel.

*FINALLY* finished reading Unbreakable. This was a really good military SF novel -- supposedly the first in a series. I enjoyed the story, the characters, the setting, and the world-building. But the eARC I received was *FULL* of typos. (Well, I'll be generous and say they were typos, but in most cases, it was the wrong word.) "She didn't have the time or energy to give her suite a tongue lashing." -- should be "suit". "Grans is the only family I have let." -- should be "left". "You're clothing is a bit tight at the waist." "Private First Class Kandi Prichart smiled like she new something,"

And so forth. I highlighted 49 of these, and I may have missed a couple. I'm hoping that the fact I was reading an Advance Reader Copy means that further edits were done before publication, but I'm doubting it.

[Rev. Bob]

Originally Posted by Hampshire Nanny

And so forth. I highlighted 49 of these, and I may have missed a couple. I'm hoping that the fact I was reading an Advance Reader Copy means that further edits were done before publication, but I'm doubting it.

Normally the ARC is produced before the final edit, and as such it frequently carries a notice that it is uncorrected and/or may differ from the published version.

I know of one case where entire scenes got cut between the ARC and publication.

[Hampshire Nanny]

Originally Posted by Rev. Bob

Normally the ARC is produced before the final edit, and as such it frequently carries a notice that it is uncorrected and/or may differ from the published version.

I'm hoping this is the case. I've written to the publisher and author to ask if edits were done after the eARC was produced. Unfortunately most of the errors I noted appear in the "Look Inside" preview on the Amazon web site.

[CRussel]

Originally Posted by CRussel

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.

Finished, but again, I seem to be having problems getting motivated to read. I'm reading audio books OK, but getting bogged down with conventional books.

Next up, a short set in the Boundary universe of Ryk E. Spoor and Eric Flint. This is a free short work from the monthly Baen posting of a free fiction and non-fiction on their main website.

[Nyssa]

Originally Posted by Nyssa

Next up are: Clover (which has been begging for my attention for a little while now)

Ugh! I think this had potential, but the fact that it was cut two books short of its intended run ruined it. It was worse than ending on cliffhanger - one usually knows what is going on at that point! This was more like someone.


Yeah, see how annoying that was!?! They stopped in mid sentence! UGH!

Originally Posted by Nyssa

and then The Ultimate Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy:

Hoping to start reading this tonight!

[pdurrant]

Originally Posted by pdurrant

And now: one of my last books to come in in 2014: Asimov's SF magazine, dated February 2015.

Which was a good but not outstanding issue.

Next up: my oldest unread bought book: Imperium by Keith Laumer. From April 2005, an anthology of his Imperium stories edited by Eric Flint. Cross-time travel capers.

(I'm trying to read all my unread bought books from 2005 and 2006 this year - which is slightly over one per week. I'm a little behind, so I'd better catch up!)

[Luffy]

English Tea Murder (A Lucy Stone Mystery #17)
by Leslie Meier - 4/5

English Tea Murder is the kind of book that divides opinion. It's also an easy book to read and also to write. Despite the tired trick of the author to make us believe what's happening and despite the lack of tension in the book, I don't consider the latter a guilty pleasure. I give scores to books that I read based on how often my brain is inundated with niceness, comfort, anticipation, adventure, escapism, and its bitter enemy/double agent: realism.

I thought not many of the questions were fully answered. The whole stuff about Caroline's mishap was hardly addressed, unless the whole explanation was summed up in one phrase and I missed it. This book is not perfect and there was never a point where I went, yeah, five stars. Instead I believe, the book came from behind to get its 4 stars out of the blue. If only other books in the series shared similar characteristics. A couple of my favorite characters, Bill and Zoe, got simply some mentions, and they never appeared, even when Lucy had been back in her home town for two bloody months! But I admit Leslie Meier wanted to try different strokes. She maybe got fed up coming up with new, unlikely interactions among the Stone family. A word about the last victim in the book. It was her fate that sealed the high score for the book. All things considered, this book was enjoyable, especially compared to the books that I had to ditch this week. I enjoyed reading this, so I consider this mission, accomplished.