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

[HarryT]

Very quiet day at work today, so another book read: "Deadly Decisions", by Kathy Reichs. This is the third book in the "Temperance Brennon" series of detective stories about a forensic anthropologist working in Montreal, Canada. Very good story about a gang war between rival biker gangs. Recommended.

[Dngrsone]

Just finished Freelancer by Jake Lingwall. Nice read, reminiscent of Cory Doctorow's Little Brother

I need to reload my reader... not enough scifi on it.

[Hampshire Nanny]

Originally Posted by Hampshire Nanny

Now I'm reading Winter. The Earth and the Moon are still at war, but Cinder and her Prince Charming (Kai) are lip-locking at every opportunity.

It took me a long time, but I finished reading Winter this morning. (It is over 800 pages long, but I also had a lot of distractions in the past week.)

Now I'm having trouble deciding what to read next. I think maybe Death of a Snob by M. C. Beaton. It's the next book in the Hamish Macbeth series.

.

[CRussel]

Well, I've finished reading the Vatta's War series from Elizabeth Moon. Overall, I enjoyed it, and it will be interesting to see what Ms. Moon does with it now. It was a series that was "complete", but is being resurrected. (The fifth book, Victory Conditions, was one that could easily be considered the end of the series, but also left just enough detritus around that one can see where it could be resurrected. I'm looking forward to that.)

Next up is causing me some grief. I've started and abandoned 4 or 5 books in the last 24 hours, in addition to officially and finally abandoning any attempt to finish Red Mars. This was a 600 page book that should have been 350 pages, and it just wasn't good enough to put up with that.

[drjd]

Originally Posted by drjd

Finished You Can Die Laughing. Detective Donald Lam clashes with a lying client, with whom he has a written contract to locate a certain woman. When Donald notifies the client that he has located her, the client drives all the way from Los Angeles to Banning, California, in record time, hoping to speak to the woman. When the client shows up, Donald rips a blanket off the nude, dead, and hideously bloated form of the woman - murdered by her husband and secreted in a dry well. After the client has finished vomiting, Donald tells the man to "come in tomorrow and settle up on your contract". The client ends up paying in full.

Next up : The Time Machine by HG Wells. A re-read after around 35 years.

PS: Can anyone please suggest me a publisher where I could buy the Doug Selby - The DA series by Erle Stanley Gardner, 9 books' set, at a reasonable price?

Just finished The Time Machine by H.G. Wells. Old classic marvel.
Next up : The Count of Nine by Erle Stanley Gardner, another Bertha Cool and Donald Lam novel.

[pdurrant]

Originally Posted by pdurrant

Next up: Lightspeed Magazine #70 edited by John Joseph Adams. This is the March issue. I'm trying to catch up before the May issue comes out!

A good collection of stories, and I hadn't read any of them before, which is a bonus. (Some are reprints).

Next up: Quantico by Greg Bear. I bought this back in October 2007!

[pdurrant]

Originally Posted by CRussel

Next up is causing me some grief. I've started and abandoned 4 or 5 books in the last 24 hours, in addition to officially and finally abandoning any attempt to finish Red Mars. This was a 600 page book that should have been 350 pages, and it just wasn't good enough to put up with that.

I made it all the way through a Red Mars/Green Mars omnibus. 1158 pages. It was certainly no more than average, and I've felt no urgent desire to go on to the Blue Mars/The Martians omnibus (a mere 1062 pages!).

[CRussel]

Originally Posted by pdurrant

I made it all the way through a Red Mars/Green Mars omnibus. 1158 pages. It was certainly no more than average, and I've felt no urgent desire to go on to the Blue Mars/The Martians omnibus (a mere 1062 pages!).

I'd quote Kipling (you're a better, etc), but actually I don't regret abandoning it at all. I had actually read Red Mars years ago, when it first came out. And made it all the way through, I think. It was so memorable that I had almost no memory of the first read when I took up this re-read for the Book Club. And I never read any further in the series after reading the first, a pretty sure indictment.

I finally decided to read a Temeraire book by Naomi Kovik. In this case, #5, Victory of Eagles. No better than 3.5 stars, but at least it isn't boring. And the Audible book is read by Simon Vance, so that's worth something right there.

[Strether]

Originally Posted by CRussel

I'd quote Kipling (you're a better, etc), but actually I don't regret abandoning it at all. I had actually read Red Mars years ago, when it first came out. And made it all the way through, I think. It was so memorable that I had almost no memory of the first read when I took up this re-read for the Book Club. And I never read any further in the series after reading the first, a pretty sure indictment.

Like you, I read Red Mars and part of the second one when they were fairly new. I always think of the series as being the epitome of hard sci-fi: no character in it you can remember 5 minutes after you've closed the book.

Jim

[Dngrsone]

Started and finished A Curious Man: The Strange and Brilliant Life of Robert "Believe It or Not!" Ripley by Neal Thompson.

Going to start The Unseen by Jake Lingwall, the sequel to Freelancer. Then it'll be the third Odd Thomas book, Brother Odd.

[HarryT]

Two more books read:

"The Sleeping Dragon", by Joel Rosenberg. The first volume of the "Guardians of the Flame" series, and the first third of the Baen omnibus also called "The Guardians of the Flame", which I bought from Baen in 2003. Fairly standard "D&D players find themselves for real in the world of their game" fantasy, but well done. Not terribly taxing, but nonetheless enjoyable. (Joel Rosenberg is not to be confused with Joel C. Rosenberg, who writes Dan Brown-style thrillers.)

"Eater", by Gregory Benford. Excellent hard SF by one of the best living exponents of the genre. Astronomers detect a small black hole passing through the outer reaches of the solar system, but then receive intelligent communications from it. Very well written and intelligent SF. Highly recommended!

[pdurrant]

Originally Posted by pdurrant

Next up: Quantico by Greg Bear. I bought this back in October 2007!

It's not looking too good. It appears to be a near-future Techno-thriller. If it doesn't hook me on my way home this evening, I'll probably abandon it.

[Hampshire Nanny]

Originally Posted by CRussel

Well, I've finished reading the Vatta's War series from Elizabeth Moon. Overall, I enjoyed it, and it will be interesting to see what Ms. Moon does with it now. It was a series that was "complete", but is being resurrected. (The fifth book, Victory Conditions, was one that could easily be considered the end of the series, but also left just enough detritus around that one can see where it could be resurrected. I'm looking forward to that.)

Glad to hear that the series is being revived. I enjoyed these enough for a full re-read several years ago.

Originally Posted by CRussel

Next up is causing me some grief. I've started and abandoned 4 or 5 books in the last 24 hours, in addition to officially and finally abandoning any attempt to finish Red Mars. This was a 600 page book that should have been 350 pages, and it just wasn't good enough to put up with that.

Ah, I do this when I'm thrashing around trying to get into my next read -- though most of the abandoning is just temporary. It's a sense of "not now" rather than "never".

[Hampshire Nanny]

Originally Posted by Hampshire Nanny

Now I'm reading Winter. The Earth and the Moon are still at war, but Cinder and her Prince Charming (Kai) are lip-locking at every opportunity.

Finished Winter on Saturday and grabbed a short book, Death of a Snob by M. C. Beaton, a Hamish Macbeth mystery. Finished it on the airplane yesterday and now I'm reading Abaddon's Gate, the third book in The Expanse series by James S. A. Corey.

[CRussel]

Originally Posted by CRussel

Next up is causing me some grief. I've started and abandoned 4 or 5 books in the last 24 hours, in addition to officially and finally abandoning any attempt to finish Red Mars. This was a 600 page book that should have been 350 pages, and it just wasn't good enough to put up with that.

Originally Posted by Hampshire Nanny

Ah, I do this when I'm thrashing around trying to get into my next read -- though most of the abandoning is just temporary. It's a sense of "not now" rather than "never".

Yup. Most of these are simply "not now". I'm in a bit of a rut, nothing is really crying out to me to read, and I'm stressed enough with work, my server crash, and the agreement to write two books this summer, that my reading time is precious and limited. Most of the reading I'll be able to do will be the kind where you're reading in 10-20 minute increments. Not the choice for any book that requires "getting in to". I'll need good books with either well known and loved characters, or a very fast pace. Or both. No time for long buildups or authors who can't write tight. (As a point of pride, I've never had an editor tell me to tighten-up because I was going over the page count. If you stick to writing cleanly and accurately, you don't need to blather and run on. As true in fiction as in technical writing.)