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

[Luffy]

Originally Posted by Dngrsone

You do.

I am splitting time between Isaac Asimov's Gold, Cokie Roberts' Founding Mothers and Charlie Murphy's The Making of a Stand Up Guy.

I'll probably finish Charlie Murphy off first, it's a pretty quick read.

Tell us what you think about Gold. I recently tried to read Asimov's Buy Jupiter but didn't complete it.

[BenG]

I finished James S.A. Corey's Leviathan Wakes. It's a fairly long book (almost 600 pages) but its a quick read with good closure even though it's the first volume of a series.
http://www.amazon.com/Leviathan-Wake...=UTF8&sr=&qid=

I'm also reading The New Annotated Lovecraft edited by Leslie Klinger. I'm not reading it straight through, but just a short story or two between books.
http://www.amazon.com/New-Annotated-...=UTF8&sr=&qid=

And I'm starting Don't Point That Thing at Me, a Charlie Mortdecai novel by Kyril Bonfiglioli. The Mortdecai novels are black-comedy thrillers from the 70s and the basis for the recent Johnny Depp movie (the one with Depp giving us his best Terry Thomas imitation).
http://www.amazon.com/Kyril-Bonfigli...rnid=618072011

[pdurrant]

Originally Posted by pdurrant

Next up: Asimov's SF for March 2015. The latest issue.

Which was also very good. I just wish I could find a discounted subscription - B&N do one every so often in the US (a double subscription with Analog), but not in the UK .

And now I'm reading two books - my latest purchases:
How Lovely Are Thy Branches by Diane Duane
Rogues edited by GRR Martin and Gardener Dozois

Both are looking pretty good at present.

[ReneAZ]

Currently reading "The Whole Truth", another David Baldacci book :-) and really like it.
It's a very believable plot in today's world -- controlling people's perceptions through mass media, with (most) people just blindly accepting what they see/hear without question.
I sure do like Mr. B's books.

Rene

[pdurrant]

Originally Posted by pdurrant

And now I'm reading two books - my latest purchases:
How Lovely Are Thy Branches by Diane Duane
Rogues edited by GRR Martin and Gardener Dozois

Both are looking pretty good at present.

The Young Wizards short novel (95pp) was fun. A light holiday treat.

Rogues is shaping up well. It was well worth the price and worth my time.

[Dazrin]

I ended up re-starting Warbreaker by Brandon Sanderson for the fourth time and this time I have stuck with it. So far so good.

The first three times I started it I read the prologue and quit, the last time was in 2012. It wasn't bad, just didn't suit my mood at the time.

If you are very sensitive to wrong words and typos, I would skip the free copy on his site since there are several in the copy I have.

[WT Sharpe]

Just finished The Age of Innocence by Edith Wharton. Not the happiest love story I've ever read, but any further comment will have to wait for the MR Book Club discussion on the 20th.

Now on to His Brain, Her Brain by the Editors of Scientific American. Oh, and if you're reading this, Dr. Drib, I feel I should warn you before you rush out and buy this book thinking it's about something other than what it is: This is not a book about zombies!

[Luffy]

Originally Posted by ReneAZ

Currently reading "The Whole Truth", another David Baldacci book :-) and really like it.
It's a very believable plot in today's world -- controlling people's perceptions through mass media, with (most) people just blindly accepting what they see/hear without question.
I sure do like Mr. B's books.

Rene

I'm a an avid reader of his books. Haven't read The Whole Truth however. I am reading a book of his currently; First Family.

[DrNefario]

Originally Posted by Dazrin

I ended up re-starting Warbreaker by Brandon Sanderson for the fourth time and this time I have stuck with it. So far so good.

The first three times I started it I read the prologue and quit, the last time was in 2012. It wasn't bad, just didn't suit my mood at the time.

If you are very sensitive to wrong words and typos, I would skip the free copy on his site since there are several in the copy I have.

I read the PDF version, which was fine. Except for being a PDF.

The prologue is kind of off-putting, it makes the magic seem a bit weird and maybe unworkable, but I enjoyed the book a lot.

[DiapDealer]

Finished up The Dark Horse; fifth in Craig Johnson's Longmire Mysteries. Always good to catch up with the Absaroka County gang. A&E can still kiss my butt for cancelling Walt on TV, but kudos to Netflix for rescuing him.

Now starting Katherine Addison's The Goblin Emperor. I've heard many good things and decided to give it a try (even though books featuring goblins/elves aren't my typical fare).

[Dazrin]

Originally Posted by DrNefario

I read the PDF version, which was fine. Except for being a PDF.

The prologue is kind of off-putting, it makes the magic seem a bit weird and maybe unworkable, but I enjoyed the book a lot.

That's good. I am reading the .prc (or .mobi?) copy from the site and it has had several misspelled words, a few missing words, and has used the wrong spelling of some words (their vs there type mistakes). Nothing that is unreadable to me though.

[BenG]

I finished the first Charlie Mortdecai novel Don't Point That Thing at Me and enjoyed it quite a bit. If Bertie Wooster were a slightly amoral, gentleman art dealer/thief with a thuggish bodyguard instead of Jeeves you might get someone like Mortdecai. The first book ended with a cliffhanger so I'm getting right into the second book, After You With the Pistol.

[Luffy]

First Family (Sean King & Michelle Maxwell #4)
by David Baldacci - 2/5

Completing this book made me reluctant to write a comprehensive review here. This shows my disenchantment with what is only the third failure of a book from David Baldacci. It's not really a flop as it gave pleasure to many fans and readers alike. But it could be that the things that worked in the book made people ready to overlook the snags.

I think that the author, because of his experience and intelligence, did all the little things right and bungled the supra stuff. The large details. That can mean the premise. It can also mean the pacing, which though depending on the little things that Baldacci got right, is not so reliant and has a life of its own.

The last few chapters were the book's best. They shifted the villainy from Quarry to an unlikely character. The sympathetic villain is a familiar and favorite trope of Baldacci. Unfortunately, Quarry's openly divulged motives is one of the major beefs I've got with the book. I went in thinking that this thriller would be a proper mystery, because of its predecessors and if it ain't broke, why fix it right? But no. Quarry is the villain. There'll be no pleasant curveball thrown at the reader, no twist. So fine. I decide to be neutral and judge the book on its merits. Then I start to get frustrated because the chapters dedicated to Quarry frankly sucked. Therefore I decided to skip Quarry's chapters and read only Sean and Maxwell's parts.

After a while, even during the revealing of the plot, I was not enjoying the book. That's when I thought the book would score a measly one star. Which it nearly did. Except for the last few chapters, this book would have been a dud. Curious and funny thing is that if you decide to ignore Maxwell's mother's case, you'll be missing nothing if you read the first five and last five chapters. That's how the plot worked. Like I said the small details were fine, but IMHO, Baldacci wasn't on top of his game.

[treadlightly]

I recently finished Peril at End House by Agatha Christie and Midnight Riot by Ben Aaronovitch. Midnight Riot was amusing but didn't make me want to delve into the rest of the series immediately.
I finished Transcendence by Shay Savage as my "Valentine's Day" read - it was very interesting. How do two people relate to each other when the idea of verbal communication is not an option? This was recommended in the Romance thread and would have been a good nomination for the book club in February. Because I'm in the middle of Age of Innocence and am finding it a slog.

[CRussel]

Originally Posted by CRussel

Wonderful, as expected. This book ties together and brings forward a whole raft of stories. There are lots of gems here, but I'll avoid overt snerkers, except to say that Kareen turns out to be a more interesting person, and more useful, than simply someone who yells at Val Con.

Next up, Edith Wharton's Age of Innocence, the MR Book Club selection this month.

Slight interruption while I read the latest Jane Whitefield novel from Thomas Perry - A String of Beads. I quite enjoyed this book, and was pleased to see that Jane is still at it. However, there remain unresolved issues in her marriage that need to get resolved. One way or another.

If you haven't read any of these books, I highly recommend the series. The first book is Vanishing Act. Jane is Seneca First Nations, and she helps people in lethal trouble to disappear. Completely and permanently, into a new life. The books are fast paced, exciting, and well written.