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

[astrangerhere]

I was not really enjoying The Children's Book, so I have put it on hold and started listening to Marisha Pessl's Night Film.

I am still reading Ada Palmer's third installment in her Terra Ignota series The Will to Battle on my Kobo.

Also working through Naoki Urasa and Macoto Tezuka's fantastic Pluto series in paper.

[PurpleStar]

Gave up on Promise of Blood and started a romance novel Love in Catalina Cove by Brenda Jackson. Already enjoying it. Guess I'm not into fantasy books much lately.

[Greg Anos]

Reading a few old Doc Savages. . .

[CRussel]

Originally Posted by CRussel

Currently reading (and mostly listening to) a Georgette Heyer Regency -- The Foundling. A delightful break from more dark and realistic stuff, and very well read by Phyllida Nash in the Audible version.

Well, that was fun! What a delightful romp, right up there with Heyer's best. Next up, Travels with Charley in Search of America, by John Steinbeck. This has been on my TBR for ages, but issybird's review got it pushed to the top of the list.

[SeaBookGuy]

Originally Posted by Fbone

Abandoned after 100 pages. Nothing much happened and it didn't hold my attention especially for a murder mystery.

Next, Outbound Flight by Timothy Zahn. A 2016 purchase.

I like the Medicus books, but perhaps because I listen to the audio edition? I tend to give the first book a bit of a break in terms of plotting, as it's function is to introduce the series in addition to presenting a mystery.

Re-reading Kim was an interesting experience. The story was as much fun as the first time, but I was much more aware of the duality of Kipling's relationship with India. Now into Elizabeth von Arnim's The Adventures of Elizabeth in Rügen. I like her bright, breezy style, but I'm curious about the translation. I assume she did it herself, but the constant use "the gracious one" to refer to her threw me at first. Then I realised it was a translation of "gnädige". In the context, I would have thought "Madame" would have been a better fit.

[pdurrant]

Originally Posted by pdurrant

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

Still reading this, although I find the order is a bit odd - they have chronological order within thematic sections, so we zip through the decades, and then we're back in the 1940s again. I think it would have been better to be purely chronological.

For a bit of light relief, I've also read Paddington at Work by Michael Bond. The seventh book, first published in 1966. Much more fun than the later one.

[HarryT]

My recent reading:

"Chasm City" by Alastair Reynolds. The 2nd book of the "Revelation Space" series, and expands into a whole book a minor point in the first book. I thought this was way better than the first book, "Revelation Space". That, though, was his first book, so he'd gained considerable expertise in his craft by the second book. This book was also free of the typos which plagued the first book.

Amazon description:

Tanner Mirabel was a security specialist who never made a mistake - until the day a woman in his care was blown away by Argent Reivich, a vengeful young postmortal. Tanner's pursuit of Reivich takes him across light-years of space to Chasm City, the domed human settlement on the otherwise inhospitable planet of Yellowstone.

But Chasm City is not what it was. The one time high-tech utopia has become a Gothic nightmare: a nanotechnological virus has corrupted the city's inhabitants as thoroughly as it has the buildings and machines. Before the chase is done, Tanner will have to confront truths which reach back centuries, towards deep space and an atrocity history barely remembers.

Very highly recommended!

I've also read the first two books of the "Radio Boys" series, published by Grosset and Dunlap in 1922, and downloaded from the MR library. Classic early 20th century American juvenile fiction (which I have a liking for) set against the backdrop of early experiments with radio. The usual formula of clean-living "wide awake" (an adjective much in vogue at the time, it seems!) American boys having adventures against a backdrop of the classic "school bully", local villains, etc. The publisher's description of the series is:

Here is a series that gives full details of radio work both in sending and receiving--how large and small sets can be made and operated, and with this real information there are stories about the Radio Boys and their adventures. Each story is a record of thrilling adventures--rescues, narrow escapes from death, daring exploits in which radio play a main part. Each volume is so thoroughly fascinating, so strictly up-to-date, and accurate that all modern boys will peruse them with delight. Each volume has a forward by Jack Binns, the well known radio expert.

The books make it clear just how amazing the idea of radio was to a world which had never encountered it before. Imagine living in a small town all your life, and suddenly being able to hear an orchestral concert or the commentary of a baseball game from a city hundreds of miles away. It was completely revolutionary!

The first two books are "The Radio Boys' First Wireless" and "The Radio Boys at Ocean Point". Great fun!

[Fbone]

Originally Posted by Fbone

Next, Outbound Flight by Timothy Zahn. A 2016 purchase.

Abandoned this after 100 pages also. I didn't like the main character and I already knew what happened to him from books written earlier.

I've now abandoned three books this year.

I did finish my next book, Blood Eye by Giles Kristian. Although the author researched the Norsemen history and culture, I found somethings beyond belief particularly the fictionalized characters and logistics. How does a novice 17-year old consistently defeat seasoned warriors in battle? It seems possible to sail from Norway to Scotland in a day or two but weeks from Kent to Wessex? Marching through countryside is fast or slow depending on author's preferences. And did the ancient Norsemen really engage in so many suicidal battle with little or no care for wife and children at home? And there were too many vulgar insults. They seemed to be pages full of them throughout the book. However, the writing was competent and professional. Rated C- [2 stars].

Next will be The Neon Rain by James Lee Burke. My oldest unread book from 2014.

[HarryT]

Just finished "Conrad's Quest for Rubber" by Leo Frankowski. This is the 6th book in the "Conrad Stargard" series, and comprises the final third of the Baen omnibus titled "Conrad's Lady".

I didn't enjoy this nearly as much as the previous books in the series; it seems to have been written almost as a "filler". The first half of the book essentially repeats the events of the earlier books in the series from the viewpoint of a Polish peasant, and the second half of the book is a story of an expedition to South America to find rubber (hence the title).

If you've bought the omnibus, it's an engaging way to spend an afternoon, but not worth buying on its own, for me.

[MickeyC]

Just finished The Devil’s Star by Jo Nesbo and it was a typically great read. And just started Mission Critical by Mark Greaney which I hope to finish by next week as he is doing a book signing at our local book store here.

[Dngrsone]

Finished Leviathan Wakes by James S. A. Corey.

Now thinking about reading Codename: Lise

I'd be finishing The Girl Who Played with Fire on audio about now, but my car is in the shop.

[haertig]

Finished West of Eden by Harry Harrison. A unique story, well written. I'd give it a 3.5 out of 5 star rating.

Sixty-five million years ago, a disastrous cataclysm eliminated three-quarters of all life on Earth. Overnight, the age of dinosaurs ended. The age of mammals had begun. But what if history had happened differently? What if the reptiles had survived to evolve into intelligent life? In West of Eden, Harry Harrison has created a rich, dramatic saga of a world where the descendants of the dinosaurs struggled with a clan of humans in a battle for survival.

Next up? Not sure yet. I'm thinking about Eye of God by James Rollins.

[edit]

Scratch that. Changed my mind before starting the Rollins book. I'm now reading Burial Ground by Michael McBride

When the body of Hunter Gearhardt washes up on the banks of a seasonal river outside of Pomacochas, Peru, with only samples of vegetation, a handful of feathers, two black- and gray-streaked rocks, and a golden headdress of indeterminate origin in his possession, his grieving father launches an expedition to determine how his son died. The party uses these clues to divine Hunter’s route into the jungle, where they find a surviving offshoot of a primitive tribe, long thought to be extinct, and something far more sinister, something that’s been able to avoid discovery for eons for one simple reason: No one leaves the rainforest alive.

[/edit]

[HarryT]

Finished “The Radio Boys at the Sending Station”, by Allen Chapman, downloaded from the MR library. The third book in the “Radio Boys” series. Very enjoyable early 20th century juvenile fiction.

[RobertLCollins]

Yesterday I finished The Calculating Stars by Mary Robinette Kowal. It was entertaining but also had important things to say about prejudice and mental illness. I'd like to start on the follow-up novel, but as a third is due later this year, I'll wait to get at both then. For now I want to read another book on wish list. Just not sure what that book will be...