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

[astrangerhere]

Originally Posted by PurpleStar

I started reading Beartown by Fredrik Backman. Good so far. Lot of talk about hockey so I should like it.

I read that last year. It will become much more about hockey culture than hockey. But it was good.

[PurpleStar]

Originally Posted by astrangerhere

I read that last year. It will become much more about hockey culture than ho key. But it was good.

Sounds great to me!

[pdurrant]

Originally Posted by pdurrant

Next up: Another random pick, Baen Free Stories 2011. A collection of short stories and srticles that appeared on Baen's web site in 2011.

An enjoyable set of stories set in the various Baen authors' universes. 4/5

Next up: Another random pick: Except the Dying by Maureen Jennings. The first in her Murdoch Mysteries. Bought back in January 2016.

[Tarana]

Finished a couple books and a novella yesterday. Do Androids Dream of Electric Sleep (Blade Runner) by Philip K Dick. Good story, but my heart was never drawn into it.

The Da Vinci Code by Dan Brown was pretty good. The end was actually a let down from the chase. Not for literary snobs.

Finally, an audiobook I've had forever is The Death of Ivan Ilyvitch by Leo Tolstoy. This was surprisingly good and well narrated by Simon Vance. Really, an outlier for what I normally read. I can't remember who on Mobilereads recommended it, but thanks.

I've already started audiobook Diplomatic Immunity by Lois McMaster Bujold, part of the Vorkosigan saga. On the ereader, The Hugo Winners Volume 1 by Mike Resnick.

[issybird]

Originally Posted by Tarana

The Da Vinci Code by Dan Brown was pretty good. The end was actually a let down from the chase. Not for literary snobs.

Well, I won’t say I don’t get what you mean, but I’m a scootch uncomfortable with disparaging other readers, as opposed to books. Drying my tears a little here, as I abandoned the book after a few pages. Abominably bad, IMO.

Not to worry. I’ll get over it. In time.

Originally Posted by issybird

On the other hand, I tore through two excellent memoirs:

Growing Seasons by Samuel D. Haynes, an account of his depression boyhood in the Midwest and, even better, Why Be Happy When You Could Be Normal? by Jeanette Winterson and her emotionally and financially impoverished upbringing in the Midlands. Both coincidentally dealt with the absence of the birth mother and a stepmother/adoptive mother who did not fill the void. Books would save them both.

I stayed on the memoir kick a while longer. Gweilo: Memories Of A Hong Kong Childhood by Martin Booth also was a terrific read, although I admit I wondered a little at Booth’s sophistication at the tender age of seven and I didn’t find his mother quite the paragon he did. But Spam Tomorrow by Verily Anderson was a pedestrian home front memoir and I found the author rather irritating. So I think that put an end to memoirs to me for now.

I’ve moved on to The Movie Musical! by Jeanine Basinger, which is tons of fun. She’s one of my favorite authors on Hollywood.

[John F]

Originally Posted by Tarana

... On the ereader, The Hugo Winners Volume 1 by Mike Resnick.

Any chance you could provide a link to this?

[Loosheesh]

Originally Posted by astrangerhere

I will still be starting Henry James' The Turn of the Screw for A Public Space's continued reading club on July 9th. At 15ish pages a day, I plan to make that my coffee reading in the mornings so that I can participate in the discussions all day long.

Do you have to be a subscriber to participate in the discussions? I'm interested in reading The Turn of the Screw and in the ensuing discussion; I found the reading schedule but I don't see where the discussion will take place (or how to locate it later).

[poohbear_nc]

I will still be starting Henry James' The Turn of the Screw for A Public Space's continued reading club on July 9th. At 15ish pages a day, I plan to make that my coffee reading in the mornings so that I can participate in the discussions all day long.

Audible has a wonderful version with Emma Thompson.

[Loosheesh]

Originally Posted by poohbear_nc

Audible has a wonderful version with Emma Thompson.

Oh, I have that one. As it's my first time, I plan to read the ebook, though, and will probably do a reread by listening to the audiobook.

[pdurrant]

Originally Posted by pdurrant

Next up: Another random pick: Except the Dying by Maureen Jennings. The first in her Murdoch Mysteries. Bought back in January 2016.

Which was OK. The setting is interesting, and I liked the detective. But I felt we were not introduced to the villain early enough in the book. I have some of the rest of the series, which I'll get to the next time one gets randomly selected.

Next up: A recent purchase: The Fowl Twins by Eoin Colfer. I really enjoyed the Artemis Fowl books. It'll be interesting to see how he does with different protagonists in this universe.

[mlewis78]

I finished The Great Influenza by John M. Barry and started The Sweeney Sisters by Lian Dolan. Both were borrowed from the NYPL.

[mewmartigan]

I finished "Fallen Dragon" by Peter F. Hamilton. It was good and one of his very few stand alone works.

Now starting "The Collapsing Empire" by John Scalzi.

[astrangerhere]

Originally Posted by Loosheesh

Do you have to be a subscriber to participate in the discussions? I'm interested in reading The Turn of the Screw and in the ensuing discussion; I found the reading schedule but I don't see where the discussion will take place (or how to locate it later).

Nope! The discussion happens on twitter, just following the hashtag.

[Loosheesh]

Originally Posted by astrangerhere

Nope! The discussion happens on twitter, just following the hashtag.

Ah, thanks! I was wondering what I was missing

[gmw]

So, since my last post, I've been continuing my re-read of Terry Pratchett, finishing Moviing Pictures, Reaper Man and Witches Abroad. Great fun as always.

I read the first three books (the original trilogy) of the YA series Chronicles of Ixia by Maria V. Snyder: Poison Study, Magic Study and Fire Study. The story and setting were both quite good and interesting enough that for the first two books I was content to overlook the stiffness in the prose and dialogue, so the first two got 3/5. However the quality seemed to decline in the third, with too much time reminding the reader about what happened previously. It came close to being dropped, so it only gets a 2/5.

Then I read The Lightning Thief (aka Percy Jackson and the Lightning Thief) by Rick Riordan, which we will be discussing next week in the New Leaf Book Club. I thought it was fun, but will reserve more comment for club discussion.

And today I dropped out of Map of Shadows by J.F. Penn. I liked the map magic idea, but the recital was flat. All the characters felt the same and the story flow felt forced. Very disappointing, so I gave up on it after 40%.


Not sure where to next.