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

I've started David Crystal's The English Language: A Guided Tour of the Language for intermittent light breaks from the denseness of Judas Unchained. Hamilton's work is very engaging, but having reached 51% of the way, a little break courtesy of something more down-to-earth is nice.

[Dngrsone]

Finished The Beastie Boys Book. Need to listen to more of their music.

Maybe.

I think I may read White Russian next, finish out the "Jack" Daniel omnibus I have on my reader.

[HarryT]

Just finished "The Flying Warlord" by Leo Frankowski. This is the 4th book in the "Conrad Stargard" series, and comprises the first third of the Baen omnibus called "Conrad's Lady" that I bought in 2005. A very good time-travel romp. Recommended.

[HarryT]

I'm having to attend hospital for a significant proportion of each day at the moment (and will be for the next 5 weeks), which is giving me an awful lot of reading time .

Today I finished "Gently Sahib", the 12th book in the George Gently series by Alan Hunter. This was an excellent read: Gently is called in to investigate when a local man (who turns out to have been a blackmailer) is eaten by a tiger in a small English village. There's no shortage of suspects - all the blackmailer's victims - but can Gently persuade anyone to tell the truth? Very good indeed, and not just for the creative use of a tiger as a murder weapon!

[bfisher]

Originally Posted by HarryT

I'm having to attend hospital for a significant proportion of each day at the moment (and will be for the next 5 weeks), which is giving me an awful lot of reading time .

Today I finished "Gently Sahib", the 12th book in the George Gently series by Alan Hunter. This was an excellent read: Gently is called in to investigate when a local man (who turns out to have been a blackmailer) is eaten by a tiger in a small English village. There's no shortage of suspects - all the blackmailer's victims - but can Gently persuade anyone to tell the truth? Very good indeed, and not just for the creative use of a tiger as a murder weapon!

So sorry for your medical situation.
I do find having a good book on hand makes it easier to deal with the interminable waiting in an uncomfortable room.

[DiapDealer]

Just starting Jasper Fforde's newest stand alone novel: Early Riser.

[ReadingManiac]

Originally Posted by HarryT

I've just finished "Revelation Space, by Alastair Reynolds. The first book of his that I've read, and a very enjoyable example of hard SF "space opera" on an epic scale.

Amazon description:



Highly recommended. My only complaint is the rather lax editing of the book. Numerous typos, and in several places the protagonist "Dan" becomes "Don".

Thanks for the warning! This book is high up on my tbr. I've heard good things.

[ReadingManiac]

Originally Posted by ReadingManiac

I've been reading a Dickens character spin-off, A Far Better Rest by Susan Alleyne. It's really good! Set against the background of the French Revolution, it's the back story of Sydney Carton from A Tale of Two Cities. Very well done!

There are a lot of books about Dickens characters out now. A few of them are very good!

Just finished this one and gave it 4 stars. Thought it was well done. Jack Maggs is in my near future, but first back to my go to genre, Fantasy. Black Wings by Megan Hart, new release.

[HarryT]

Just finished "Conrad's Lady" by Leo Frankowski, the 5th book in the "Conrad Stargard" series, and the middle third of the Baen omnibus which is also called "Conrad's Lady". Excellent time-travel story. Highly recommended!

[Dazrin]

I just finished A Delicate Truth by John Le Carre for the NLBC, my thoughts in that thread. Please come join us if you have read it or are reading it, but do watch out for spoilers in the discussion thread if you haven't read it and are interested.

I took a short break while reading that to read Mono No Aware by Ken Liu. This is a fantastic short story and as always very enjoyable to listen to if you listen to the Levar Burton Reads podcast or it is available online at Lightspeed Magazine (which I would suggest for the kanji images even if you listen to it). I highly recommend both this short story and The Paper Menagerie (text, audio) if you haven't read them before. The Paper Menagerie was the first work of fiction to win a Hugo, Nebula, and World Fantasy Award. Both are excellent. Mr. Liu seems to excel at short stories and translations (The Three Body Problem books 1 and 3) but I didn't enjoy his (very long) novel as much.

[pdurrant]

Originally Posted by pdurrant

Next up: Last Seen Wearing by Colin Dexter. The second in his Inspector Morse series.

It was good. But not quite the brilliant Inspector Morse we're hoping for. Better to come, I expect.

Next up: Grumbles from the Grave by Robert A. Heinlein, edited by Virginia Heinlein. Mostly a collection of letters. Looking interesting.

[binaryhermit]

I found a deal on a two year subscription to Kindle Unlimited that I don't think I can share because I think it's an affiliate link (but I digress) and just started the Legacy Fleet series by Nick Webb.

The promo blurb from the first book

The year is 2650
75 years ago, an alien fleet attacked Earth.
Without warning. Without mercy.
We were not prepared.
Hundreds of millions perished. Dozens of cities burned.
We nearly lost everything.

Then, the aliens abruptly left.

We rebuilt. We armed ourselves. We swore: never again.
But the aliens never came back.

Until now.

With overwhelming force the aliens have returned, striking deep into our territory, sending Earth into a panic. Our new technology is useless. Our new ships burn like straw. All our careful preparations are wasted.

Now, only one man, one crew, and the oldest starship in the fleet stand between the Earth and certain destruction:

ISS CONSTITUTION

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B074CHHFHG/

[gmw]

Last night I finished The Clockmaker's Daughter by Kate Morton. I loved it! Stunning. 5/5.

A literary ghost story. Stories of people linked by a house and a fairytale across 170 years. Told in an intricately woven pattern, each piece is its own beautiful and very human tale but also an essential part in the mysteries that link all the pieces together. A large cast of diverse characters, wonderfully and deftly portrayed. It is not fast paced, but flows in deceptively gentle currents that sweep you along until the links start to drop into place and the whole remarkable story becomes clear and quite devastating. It does become quite a complex story but it is clearly told and very satisfying. I'm looking forward to revisiting it, as I think that will add even more.

Finally making serious headway on my reading of Khushwant Singh's Celebrating the Best of Urdu Poetry. While most of the big names are interesting for their devout worship of wine and their concomitant doubts about the Deity, Bahadur Shah Zafar is a tragic exception. His poetry seems often to express a faith that must have been a strength to him through the humiliations and horrors he suffered.

[orlok]

Originally Posted by HarryT

Just finished "Conrad's Lady" by Leo Frankowski, the 5th book in the "Conrad Stargard" series, and the middle third of the Baen omnibus which is also called "Conrad's Lady". Excellent time-travel story. Highly recommended!

I've started The Cross-Time Engineer (I bought the Radiant Warrior omnibus which has the first 3 novels included) and am enjoying it a lot so far. Thanks again for the recommendation. I do like a good time travel tale.