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

[Uncle Robin]

Halfway through A Memory Called Empire and I'm loving its emphasis on the role and importance of language. It reminds me of Embassytown and especially CJ Cherryh's Foreigner series.

[CRussel]

Originally Posted by Uncle Robin

Halfway through A Memory Called Empire and I'm loving its emphasis on the role and importance of language. It reminds me of Embassytown and especially CJ Cherryh's Foreigner series.

That's a good recommendation. I will have to take a look!

[covingtoncat73]

I finished Opium and Absinthe and it was a most fun historical fiction.

I am now well through the audiobook of Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes, which is quite good, actually, better than I expected so far. Like Margaret Atwoods excellent The Testaments, it is set in a famous dystopia and give you more of an idea of how the dystopias in question started as well as giving you a very different perspective of certain characters from earlier books set in said dystopias.

I have also just started the (text) eBook of The Angel of the Crows. It seems really good so far, with a premise that is shades of Neil Gaiman's Study in Emerald and Murder Mysteries but definitely its own thing as well.

[bizzybody]

Just starting book 4 of the Artemis Fowl series. If you didn't mind how far off The Dresden Files TV series was from the books, it shouldn't bother you to see the AF movie before (or after) reading the books.

[pdurrant]

Originally Posted by pdurrant

Next up, another random pick: Two for the Dough by Janet Evanovich. A freebie I picked up from Fictionwise in Febriary 2010. I enjoyed the first one earlier this year. Let's see how it continues.

It was OK. Not as good as the first, IMO. 3/5

Next up: Armada by Ernest Cline. A different universe to Ready Player One, but similarly packed with 80s video game references and another young hero. Many more plot holes than Ready Player One, and only OK, even though a quick fun read. 3/5

Now reading: The Snack Thief by Andrea Camilleri. An Inspector Montalbano mystery.

[CRussel]

Originally Posted by pdurrant

It was OK. Not as good as the first, IMO. 3/5

IMHO, they go downhill from here. Plus they become totally repetitive. It's too bad, really, because I quite enjoyed the first one. And the narration of the Audible books is quite good. I think I kept going until #6 or #7, but then gave it up. Tried a later one (#19 or #20??) and Ms. Plum hadn't grown up a bit, and the same gimmicks were still happening. (I mean really, just how many cars is she going to crash, get blown up, or otherwise destroy??)

Currently doing a quick re-read of Foreigner #20, Resurgence because the next one is due out next week.

Also, listening to the Patrick Tull narration of Around the World in 80 Days for the New Leaf Book Club. Quite delightful!

[Uncle Robin]

Originally Posted by CRussel

Currently doing a quick re-read of Foreigner #20, Resurgence because the next one is due out next week.

Oh wow! I need to get cracking! I read the first nine last year in a row, then needed a break from that world. I might see if I can close the gap by reading another 3 or 6 - assuming they're still 3-book arcs?

[CRussel]

Originally Posted by Uncle Robin

Oh wow! I need to get cracking! I read the first nine last year in a row, then needed a break from that world. I might see if I can close the gap by reading another 3 or 6 - assuming they're still 3-book arcs?

Yes, still three book arcs. Which is partly why I'm really eager to get #21 to fill out this arc.

[Uncle Robin]

7.5/10 for A Memory Called Empire, the second book in the series definitely on my watch list now. For now, back to C19 NZ to finish Not the Faintest Trace, and decide whether to continue with the series.

[Luffy]

My 3 star review of Around the World in Eighty Days (Extraordinary Voyages, #11) by Jules Verne:-

Spoiler:

Have been reading this in French, and I have to say, Verne's book gained in translation, instead of having lost, if you get my drift.

This was a reread. It held up well, and in the lack of otherwise, I must credit the pleasurable, and ingenious denouement to Jules Verne.

The book must have looked drop dead fresh, pardon the oxymoron, in its debut year. As you see, the English language has borrowed a lot from the French. It has gained in richness for that.

[Fbone]

Originally Posted by Fbone

Next, a library book, Spy School by Stuart Gibbs.

This was great. I thought it was quite intelligently written for Middle Grade/YA. Plot twists, red herrings, humor and varied characters. At first it seemed typical ho-hum YA but it quickly grew into something much better and enjoyable. The next in the series is on my TBR list. Rated B [4 stars].

Next is Soldier of Fortune by Kathleen McClure a book I picked up for free somewhere somehow.

[pdurrant]

Originally Posted by pdurrant

Now reading: The Snack Thief by Andrea Camilleri. An Inspector Montalbano mystery.

Which was a good plot, but I'm not sure I really like Inspector Montalbano himself. Perhaps he'll grow up a bit now.

Next up: The Secret History of Moscow by Ekaterina Sedia. NOT history, but a fantasy novel I bought from Fictionwise back in May 2011. I'd completely forgotten I'd bought this one, so +1 for random choices.

[Paperbackstash]

In between novels, I'm trying *crossing fingers* to get through a few anthologies in September and October, mainly horror themed. I have several themed ones ongoing.

[SeaBookGuy]

Originally Posted by pdurrant

Which was a good plot, but I'm not sure I really like Inspector Montalbano himself. Perhaps he'll grow up a bit now.

Next up: The Secret History of Moscow by Ekaterina Sedia. NOT history, but a fantasy novel I bought from Fictionwise back in May 2011. I'd completely forgotten I'd bought this one, so +1 for random choices.

I wouldn't exactly call Montalbano 'likeable', but more to be admired for his determination to get at the truth.

[cc_in_oh]

Just found this thread so it will take a while to catch up, but wanted to say that I recently finished the Montalbano series and really enjoyed it. The cases aren't very complex but are interesting, but it's the cast of zany characters that made them fun reads for me - Salvo's constant misadventures with Livia and other beautiful women. his antics with the commissioner and Lattes, his feud with the pathologist, Livia's feud with the housekeeper, his irrational fury when Fazio tries to give him background info or tells him something is already taken care of, Catarrelli smashing his office door and mangling the language - in fact I think the translator deserves some kind of award for bringing it all to English so colorfully...