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

[WT Sharpe]

Just now finished Executive Dirt: A Sedona O'Hala Mystery (#4) by MobileRead's own Maria Schneider. I loved this book, and not just because I'm a member of MobileRead and one of the characters is named Kovid. It had humor, heart, and action. This is the first Sedona O'Hala Mystery I've read, but it won't be the last. Being a Johnny-come-lately to the series and jumping in with #4, I plan to go back now and read the first three, starting with Executive Lunch. Highly recommended.

[cromag]

Originally Posted by pilotbob

There's no "science" to this item. I'm just saying, a hard SF book where I expect fairly accurate science, like how a nuclear rocket would work, surprised me when such a simple thing was wrong.

Sure, alternate history and all, but I still don't think Chevy releases a 4 seater, even

Spoiler:

if JFK didn't die.

(Sorry for the lag -- I only stop in here sporadically.)

I kinda like the idea of the 4-seater Corvette as a device. After all, Ford's Thunderbird was originally a 2-seater when it was introduced in '55 and became a 4-seater in '58.

[pdurrant]

Originally Posted by pdurrant

Next up: The Republic of Thieves by Scott Lynch. I resisted buying this when it came out (it's not as if I'm short of good books to read!), and now I have it at a very good price, and I'm really looking forward to reading it.

And it was most enjoyable. Better than the second, IMO. And it introduces lots of new complications to be sorted out in future novels.


Next up: Lightspeed Magazine #63.

[Dngrsone]

Finished 1491; now reading Bruce Sterling's Schismatrix Plus.

Oh, and somewhere in there I read Todd McCaffrey's Dragonholder; a scrapbook-style biography of his mother, Anne.

[Gazella]

"The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind" by William Kamkwamba

[HarryT]

I'm a little behind in updating my reading progress list!

Recent books:

"Waking in Dreamland", by Jody Lynn Nye.

The first book in her "Dreamland" fantasy series, bough from Baen in 2001. The Dreamland is a world which is created by the dreams of people in the "Waking World" (ie our world), and everything in it is in a constant state of flux as a result.

Baen description:

In a strange realm, Roan was the strangest of all -- because he always looked the same: normal. Dreamland was the place where sleepers in the "real" world went when they dreamed, and the permanent residents might change their form without warning. In dreams, there's nothing unusual about talking to a giant rabbit who suddenly turns into a living fire hydrant without missing a beat in the conversation. But Roan was always...Roan. And that was very bizarre.

But something sinister is going on in Dreamland. Their constantly changing world is created by the Seven Sleepers, and will continue to exist so long as at least one of the Sleepers is asleep and dreaming. Now someone is out to destroy Dreamland by eliminating them. And unless the nightmare plot is foiled, Dreamland and its inhabitants will vanish like a blown-out candle flame, bringing an end to all dreams....

Highly original and excellent fantasy. Highly recommended.


"Lifeboat", by Harry Harrison and Gordon R. Dickson.

Moderately decent SF about a group of people on board a poorly-equipped lifeboat following a disaster on a starship. I wouldn't particularly recommend it.


"School of Light", by Jody Lynn Nye.

The second book in the "Dreamland" series. Baen description:

Juele is the youngest and most promising new student to enter the strange new world of the School of Light. At this legendary institution, she will learn how to master illusion, the highest form of art in the Dreamland. Her talent has excited the interest of many of the senior students, the professors, but most important of all, the Idealists. They are the elite of the Illusionists, a tightly knit group of talents who admit Juele to their mysterious circle in the Ivory Tower.

Her mentor, an Idealist named Rutaro, has embarked upon a project to surround the Castle of Dreams with an image of perfection, in which Juele will play a key role. But other students who are jealous of Juele's good fortune set out to pervert Rutaro's design. What they have in mind bears no resemblance to reality. The worst part is that no one, not Rutaro, nor the King, the ministers, or even Roan, the King's Investigator, seems to notice that the government of the Dreamland is plunging into deadly chaos. Juele is faced with having to find the reality within the fantasy with the only skill she has at hand: illusion.

Very different to the first book in the series, but equally good. Highly recommended.


"The Hammer of Eden", by Ken Follett.

Thriller about a group of environmentalists who hold the state of California to ransom by threatening to trigger earthquakes. Enjoyable nonsense.

[silverraven]

"Lifeboat", by Harry Harrison and Gordon R. Dickson.

Moderately decent SF about a group of people on board a poorly-equipped lifeboat following a disaster on a starship. I wouldn't particularly recommend it.

Is that the book the movie is based on? If so, it was a very disturbing movie for me.
S

[HarryT]

I'm afraid I'm not familiar with the movie you're referring to. Sorry.

[Dazrin]

Originally Posted by Dazrin

Next up: Pyramids by Terry Pratchett as I slowly work my way through the Discworld.

I didn't like this one as much as some of the other Discworld books but it was still fairly good.

Next up: The Case-Book of Sherlock Holmes by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. Thanks HarryT!

[silverraven]

Originally Posted by HarryT

I'm afraid I'm not familiar with the movie you're referring to. Sorry.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0037017/?ref_=nv_sr_1
I watched it years ago. It is an Alfred Hitchcock movie. Good, but it disturbed me. Like Cujo, a very good movie, but I will never watch it again.
S
Actually, after looking, I may have my movies confused. It might be http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0050091/?ref_=ttmd_md_nm I am thinking of. Sorry about that!

[Dryhte]

Originally Posted by Dazrin

I didn't like this one as much as some of the other Discworld books but it was still fairly good.

Wasn't that the one that focused on the Assassin's guild? If so I found it interesting

I just finished (maybe for the last time) Stephen King's Dark Tower 'heptalogy' and I couldn't help myself - I started Robin Hobb's latest trilogy - Fitz and the Fool - even though that means I'll have to wait halfway through for her to finish it

Afterwards I'll look into some classics that I've never read (I recently found a survey that contained quite some books that I felt one should've read)

[HarryT]

Originally Posted by silverraven

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0037017/?ref_=nv_sr_1
I watched it years ago. It is an Alfred Hitchcock movie. Good, but it disturbed me. Like Cujo, a very good movie, but I will never watch it again.
S
Actually, after looking, I may have my movies confused. It might be http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0050091/?ref_=ttmd_md_nm I am thinking of. Sorry about that!

I think it extremely unlikely that films made in 1944 or 1957 were influenced by a novel written in 1976 .

[pdurrant]

Originally Posted by pdurrant

Next up: Lightspeed Magazine #63.

Which is a little disappointing so far, but I'm also still reading the Jeeves omnibus I mentioned some time ago, and it is absolutely splendid.

[Dazrin]

Originally Posted by Dryhte

Wasn't that the one that focused on the Assassin's guild? If so I found it interesting

I wouldn't say it focused on the assassin's guild but it was certainly there. It was an interesting read but I didn't enjoy it as much as most of the others I have read. Still, a "bad" Terry Pratchett is still better than "good" books by many other authors.

[MickeyC]

Finished Bill Bryson's A Walk in the Woods just in time to see the movie which opens tomorrow. Typical Bryson well written and interesting book.