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

[pdurrant]

Originally Posted by pdurrant

Next up: Dear Mr Holmes by Steve Hockensmith. A collection of short stories about Big Red and Old Red.

A splendid set of short stories, covering the period from before the first novel to just a little past the second novel. The others are on my wish list.

Next up: The Mages Wars by Mercedes Lackey and Larry Dixon. (The Gryphon books.)

I read these once long ago, and I'm looking forward to reading them again.

[ReadingManiac]

Reading some Hunter Shea, We Are Always Watching. Finding it enjoyable, though I haven't got to the exciting parts yet.

[gmw]

I've been a fan of Clive Cussler's Dirk Pitt novels for years. When you're in the mood for some escapism a touch of indestructible, gung-ho American hero stuff can be just the thing. It is true that these books have never been very respectful of women - gung-ho American heroes often aren't. The women are mostly to be saved, to look gorgeous, and to find the hero irresistible.

But, after all these years, I had never read the first published of the series, "The Mediterranean Caper". Maybe the title had kept me away. I mean, "Caper" - seriously?

In this, Dirk Pitt's introduction, you find a very different Dirk Pitt. A brusque, moody and thoroughly unlikeable character. You don't get to far into the story before you find Dirk striking a woman for being sulky, then being intimate (this is a family forum) and expecting her to be thankful - and she is! As it turns out we end up with some explanation (albeit not entirely consistent with the plot) for the woman's behaviour - but Dirk receives no such redemption.

The rest of the book is more convoluted and predictable than necessary - all too obviously a first attempt.

I am thankful I had not sought out this book earlier. I doubt - even in my younger, less aware/sensitive, days - if I would have bothered reading any more. So you are warned: if you are interested in chasing up some Dirk Pitt novels, stay away from the first. You miss nothing (none of the books really rely on anything that's gone before), and most of the books that come later are much better. (I did give up on them once Cussler started co-writing.)

[CRussel]

I just finished reading A Peace Divided, the second in the Peacekeeper series from Tanya Huff. (A spinoff/followon from her Confederation series.) I admit to being a bit disappointed. I gave it 4 stars, but honestly, that was a stretch. Just not up to earlier books in the two series. I won't abandon Gunnery Sargent Kerr, but I'm really hoping the next one improves.

Next up, The Templars' Last Secret, #10 in the delightful Bruno, Chief of Police series by Martin Walker. These are cozy mysteries sent in the French Dordogne, and I quite enjoy them. Both for the history of the region, and the food and wine references. But also for the quiet way that Bruno Courrèges, the local municipal policeman, goes about ensuring the safety and well-being of his town.

[Apache]

Originally Posted by CRussel

I just finished reading A Peace Divided, the second in the Peacekeeper series from Tanya Huff. (A spinoff/followon from her Confederation series.) I admit to being a bit disappointed. I gave it 4 stars, but honestly, that was a stretch. Just not up to earlier books in the two series. I won't abandon Gunnery Sargent Kerr, but I'm really hoping the next one improves.

Next up, The Templars' Last Secret, #10 in the delightful Bruno, Chief of Police series by Martin Walker. These are cozy mysteries sent in the French Dordogne, and I quite enjoy them. Both for the history of the region, and the food and wine references. But also for the quiet way that Bruno Courrèges, the local municipal policeman, goes about ensuring the safety and well-being of his town.

My wife is reading it right now and I am going to start as soon as I finish A Sailor of Austria by John Biggins.
Apache

[astrangerhere]

Just finished my ARC of Andrew Wilson's A Talent for Murder. The fictionalization of Agatha Christie's famous disappearance had potential, but did not quite live up to it. It was somewhat anti-climactic and did not have much complexity. There was a preview for the forthcoming second novel in the series, but unless I get an ARC for it, I am not sure I would buy it.

I am still working my way through the Wonder Woman Ominubus as well.

I finished up the audiobook of Salt: A World History and started the audio of Kevin Anderson's Forest of Stars.

[pdurrant]

Originally Posted by pdurrant

Next up: The Mages Wars by Mercedes Lackey and Larry Dixon. (The Gryphon books.)

I read these once long ago, and I'm looking forward to reading them again.

And the first was good, and was complete in itself. But I think I'll finished the trilogy anyway.

[Rev. Bob]

Originally Posted by Rev. Bob

I've been slogging through Cassandra Rose Clarke's Star's End, which was pitched to me as being space opera.

It isn't. Like, at all. [...]

Instead, we get enough cold, clinical information to see it coming hundreds of pages in advance, so that when the emotional climax finally arrives, it packs no punch. The heart of the story is reduced to the last piece in a puzzle we've already assembled.

Finally finished this one. I do have to correct the paragraph above; the author did manage to pull some plot tension out of the climactic events... but only in terms of what happened, not its emotional impact. We already knew - almost from page one - that this event ripped the family apart, so there's no shock in seeing that actually come to pass.

The switch from first-person "then" to third-person "now" is pointlessly baffling, given that it's the same main character in both modes. Key scientific assertions are ludicrous on their face, which yanked me out of the story not simply because That Doesn't Do That, but because a purportedly bright character actually falls for a transparently awful and stupid lie related to one.

I'm giving it two stars, because it was generally written well and I liked what I could see of the setting. I just wish the story told in it had been about more sympathetic characters.

[Cinisajoy]

Ok last night I read All Cooked Up. I did find one interesting recipe too.
The main author is Donna Presley Early.

[Dngrsone]

Okay, survived my road-trip, finished Protector and began Trail of Dead by Melissa F. Olson.

[MickeyC]

Just finished Frozen Hours by Jeff Shaara; a riveting account of the Korean War. Although it was historical fiction, it was, typical of Jeff Shaara, extremely accurate.

Next up The Road to Damascus based on reco from by Harry T.

[CRussel]

Originally Posted by MickeyC

Next up The Road to Damascus based on reco from by Harry T.

I started it, for the same reason, but am having some issues getting in to it. I keep dropping it to read something else. But I haven't taken it off my list, so I expect I'll finally get thoroughly into it.

Currently finishing up Longitude, since we'll start discussing it tomorrow.

[Luffy]

I'm reading Every Which Way But Dead (The Hollows, #3), it's leaning a bit towards Urban Fantasy Romance, and that shouldn't bother me. But there was one or two pretty stupid facts about the book. But I'm reading it because it's averaging 3 stars. Plus the series is done, so that's another motivator.

[JSWolf]

I finished The Creative Fire by Brenda Cooper. It was enjoyable. I'm trying to decide if I should read the next book next or the current Star Trek book before the next book.

[DiapDealer]

I recently finished Robin Hobb's "Fitz and the Fool" Trilogy. It was definitely the ending these two endearing characters deserved. I'm a little embarrassed at times to admit how fond I've become of them over the years. "I laughed; I cried" sounds trite, but it's true.

I'm following up heartfelt and emotional with some rollicking silliness in Sarah Gailey's debut - "River of Teeth". An alternate history novella (first in a series) where hippos were introduced into the Louisiana bayous. While the book itself is quite ridiculous (in a fun way), the premise supposedly almost came to pass in reality. From the foreword:

In the early twentieth century, the Congress of our great nation debated a glorious plan to resolve a meat shortage in America. The idea was this: import hippos and raise them in Louisiana’s bayous. The hippos would eat the ruinously invasive water hyacinth; the American people would eat the hippos; everyone would go home happy. Well, except the hippos. They’d go home eaten.

Much to everyone’s disappointment, Congress didn’t follow through on the plan, and today America lives a cursed life—a beef life, with nary a free-range hippo within the borders of our country.

Feel free to google "american hippo" if you doubt the veracity of the author's claim.