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

[MonaLS]

Fire Touched by Patricia Briggs

[CRussel]

Originally Posted by CRussel

Meanwhile, primarily on the audiobook side, I'm in the middle of a re-read of the Vorkosigan Saga from Lois McMaster Bujold. Just finished Memory, the book that transitions Miles from his Admiral Naismith character to his new role as Imperial Auditor. I'm really enjoying the re-read, especially since the narrator, Grover Gardner, is one of my favourites.

Finished Memory, along with Komarr and A Civil Campaign. I found this last one a bit weaker than the rest, and didn't enjoy it nearly as much. Not that I didn't enjoy it, but it never quite got up to earlier books, somehow.

Next up, a shorter work in the series, Winterfair Gifts. After which, it's on to read this month's Book Club selection, The Night Life of the Gods.

[pdurrant]

Originally Posted by CRussel

A Civil Campaign. I found this last one a bit weaker than the rest, and didn't enjoy it nearly as much.

I wouldn't say it's weaker, but a different genre to the others. Much more towards romantic comedy, and almost farce at some points.

[pdurrant]

Originally Posted by pdurrant

Next up: Asimov's SF, March 2016 by Sheila Williams.

Also a good edition.

Next up: Royal Escape by Georgette Heyer. One of her historical novels, featuring Charles II.


(Oh, and sometime this year I've also read another book - An Excellent Mystery, the 11th Brother Cadfael mystery by Ellis Peters.)

[Dngrsone]

I've finished The Man Who Broke Napoleon's Code by Mark Urban. This was very interesting to me in a few ways-- first, I'm almost always up for a good history, and I am entirely unfamiliar with Napoleon (other than I recall that he sold Louisiana to the US for cheap), and so this was a good introduction for me to learn about Waterloo, et al.

Second, I like to learn about codebreaking, which is a major feature of this narrative. Granted, it doesn't do a case-by-case breakdown of the cracks, but it gives enough information on how the codes were designed and how they were broken; and it also illustrates how Wellington benefited immensely from the intelligence gathered.

Third, it did a fair job of describing the battles fought by said General Wellington against the French. It seems obvious (hindsight is 20/20, after all) that Napoleon was peaking anyway, and without Wellington (or should we say, without the intelligence that allowed Wellington to dominate?) he would still have fallen but perhaps that failure would have taken several more years and countless more lives to occur.

Overall, a great read, and well worth the $0.99 I paid for it.

Meanwhile, I am gleefully digging into Please Don't Tell My Parents I Blew Up the Moon Richard Roberts. I am sure this sequel will be just as fun as its predecessor was.

[drjd]

Just finished The Sicilian by Mario Puzo. This is the second book of the author I've read. The other one was The Godfather. Two more books The Family Corleone and Omerta are pending in the TBR, which I do not plan to read soon. I'm returning back to Donald Lam and Bertha Cool series by Erle Stanley Gardner, for the present.

[CRussel]

Originally Posted by pdurrant

I wouldn't say it's weaker, but a different genre to the others. Much more towards romantic comedy, and almost farce at some points.

Certainly it's a farce -- what else could it be with a scene like that with Armsmen Roic? And a romantic comedy, with the trials and tribulations of the various romances. And while I admit, farce is not my favourite form of humour, I quite like romantic comedies when well done. But I just didn't think that this book was as well done as some of the others. Not that I didn't enjoy it, just that it didn't stand up to the re-read nearly as well as a couple of earlier ones.

Meanwhile, I just finished Winterfair Gifts, a short work in the series that falls just after A Civil Campaign. This, I confess, I quite enjoyed. It fulfills the requirements of a shorter work well.

Next up in the series is Diplomatic Immunity, but it will have to wait until I finish reading The Night Life of the Gods, this month's MobileRead Book Club selection from the Patricia Clark Memorial Library.

For an audio title, I think I might do Sharpe's Eagle next. Give me a bit of a break from Miles and a good excuse to listen to another of my favourite narrators, David Case, reading as Frederick Davidson.

[orlok]

I'm really pleased to see that the Don Camillo Series of books by Giovanni Guareschi are finally available in ebook form. Last time a looked, two or three years ago, this wasn't the case. I have very fond memories of reading about the antics of the Italian priest who converses with Jesus. "In the Little World, eternal forces grapple with the absurd drama of everyday life, and hilarious and unearthly things can happen."

Looking to reread from the beginning and see if they have stood the test of time (possibly 35 to 40 years since I read them ).

Don Camillo is the hotheaded priest of a small town in the Po valley in northern Italy. Don Camillo is a big man, tall and strong with hard fists...Don Camillo is constantly at odds with the communist mayor, Giuseppe Bottazzi, better known as Peppone (meaning, roughly, Big Joe) and is also on very close terms with the crucifix in his town church. Through the crucifix he hears the voice of Christ. The Christ in the crucifix often has far greater understanding than Don Camillo of the troubles of the people, and has to constantly but gently reprimand the priest for his impatience.

[Dngrsone]

Devoured Please Don't Tell My Parents I Blew Up the Moon... undecided what I want to read next, before picking up the third book in that series.

[fantasyfan]

Nightwings by Robert Silverberg

Robert Silverberg (born 1935) is a remarkably prolific science fiction writer who is always competent but also capable of genuine beauty. This novel from 1969 portrays an Earth of the very distant future in which human society has become frozen into a rigid inflexible guild system devoted to being on watch for an alien invasion. While Silverberg's ironic edge is never far away, the book presents a fascinating future history and has moments of beautiful lyricism and humanity.

I should add one more thing about this fine writer. Here is an assessment of him from the Science Fiction Encyclopedia

" For more than half a century, his productivity has seemed almost superhuman, and his abrupt metamorphosis from a writer of standardized pulp fiction into a prose artist was an accomplishment unparalleled within the field. He was elected to the Science Fiction Hall of Fame in 1999, and in 2004 received the SFWA Grand Master Award. In the early twenty-first century, he remains one of the most imaginative and versatile writers ever to have been involved with Genre SF, which he was instrumental in transforming after about 1970. His relegation to the sidelines by the American literary establishment is scandalous". [BS/JC] - See more at: http://www.sf-encyclopedia.com/entry....H2Ao1GXB.dpuf

[HarryT]

Just finished "More Work for the Undertaker", by Margery Allingham, the 13th book in the "Campion" series. Campion is called in to assist in the investigation of the mysterious death of a member of a once-prosperous family who have now fallen on hard times. As always with Campion books, it's not the plot (which is wildly improbable) that's the reason to read it, but the interesting characters and entertaining dialogue. Recommended.

[Dr. Drib]

Originally Posted by orlok

I'm really pleased to see that the Don Camillo Series of books by Giovanni Guareschi are finally available in ebook form. Last time a looked, two or three years ago, this wasn't the case. I have very fond memories of reading about the antics of the Italian priest who converses with Jesus. "In the Little World, eternal forces grapple with the absurd drama of everyday life, and hilarious and unearthly things can happen."

Looking to reread from the beginning and see if they have stood the test of time (possibly 35 to 40 years since I read them ).

Here's a link to Amazon for those who are curious (which includes me):

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00...al-text&sr=1-1

[orlok]

Originally Posted by Dr. Drib

Here's a link to Amazon for those who are curious (which includes me):

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00...al-text&sr=1-1

Thanks. I guess I should have done that . Following the link, and reading the reviews has given me pause, as one reviewer said this:

KINDLE: I have checked back repeatedly for Don Camillo on Kindle. Same art work but a *different* translator from my "hardback" Don Camillo book. This translation is DREADFUL - it has none of the grace & charm of the original.
Ghastly.

Now I don't always believe a single review, particularly when the overwhelming reviews are 5 star, but I do wonder if there might be a grain of truth in this one, which would push me towards reading older paper versions.

[Dr. Drib]

Originally Posted by orlok

Thanks. I guess I should have done that . Following the link, and reading the reviews has given me pause, as one reviewer said this:


Now I don't always believe a single review, particularly when the overwhelming reviews are 5 star, but I do wonder if there might be a grain of truth in this one, which would push me towards reading older paper versions.

The older translated version is not in ebook format, then?

Do you know if volume 2 and 3 are newer translations?

Thanks!

[Pulpmeister]

The new translation of "little Word" is by Adam Elgar.

My hardback "Little World" (1950), in The "Don Camillo Omnibus", was translated by Una Vincenzo Troubridge