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

[Uncle Robin]

About to start Death At The Duomo by Ann Reavis, the first of a detective series set in Florence. Hopefully an entertaining way to mark upping my StoryGraph reading goal to 220.

[kyrilson]

Originally Posted by pdurrant

I'm moderately fast reader (ca 400 wpm). You'll see my time to complete a book varies a lot - sometimes a book doesn't grab me, and then it can drag as I don't make time to read it. On the other hand, a book I'm really enjoying will be read very quickly.

Interzone seems to be dragging a bit. I've found I really prefer longer works to short stories.

I usually go through a book or magazine of short stories very slowly, reading one every now and then at bedtime, usually, after I've finished a longer work and I'm not quite ready for bed. The only short story magazine I subscribe to at the moment is Analog, which is print, but I'm starting to not like the small font and not reading it as much anymore. I may have to either move to a kindle subscription or stop reading it. I'm not sure how the kindle subscription would even work, though, with how it's laid out.

[pdurrant]

Originally Posted by kyrilson

I usually go through a book or magazine of short stories very slowly, reading one every now and then at bedtime, usually, after I've finished a longer work and I'm not quite ready for bed. The only short story magazine I subscribe to at the moment is Analog, which is print, but I'm starting to not like the small font and not reading it as much anymore. I may have to either move to a kindle subscription or stop reading it. I'm not sure how the kindle subscription would even work, though, with how it's laid out.

The Kindle subscription depends on which device you read it on. With the iOS or Fire/Android apps, you can either read it in page-layout format, or read the stories as reflowable text. It works quite well. On an E-Ink kindle, only as reflowable text.

Last I looked, it was cheaper to buy the individual issues than to get a subscription.

[PurpleStar]

Just started Magic Bites by Ilona Andrews. It seems like something I'd enjoy!

[pdurrant]

Originally Posted by pdurrant

Next up: Interzone #216. Bought way back in July 2008 from Fictionwise!

It was OK. An experiment with having only Mundane science fiction. I definitely prefer long-form.

Next up: Daniel Deronda by George Eliot. For the Classics Book Club. This is certainly long-form, weighing in at around 800 pages! (Pages calculated with calibre).

[Uncle Robin]

Currently reading Elizabeth Speller's The Return of Captain John Emmett, shaping up to be my 40th completed book in April. An interesting mystery set in 1920, very much focused on the after-effects of WWI, which makes reading it at the same time as the mammoth Australian poetry anthology quite timely approaching the anniversary of the Gallipoli landings this weekend.

[astrangerhere]

Originally Posted by pdurrant

Next up: Daniel Deronda by George Eliot. For the Classics Book Club. This is certainly long-form, weighing in at around 800 pages! (Pages calculated with calibre).

It will only take you a few days at your clip! I am slow reading this one while I have some other things on the boil.

[gmw]

Journeys to the Other Side of the World by David Attenborough. This is effectively the second half of a collection that started with Adventures of a Young Naturalist which I read a bit over a year ago. My review this time is almost identical, I really liked both these books...

A 2018 republication of his accounts from the late 1950s and early 1960s, of expeditions on behalf of the BBC (this time not all were "Zoo Quest" expeditions). The black and white images embedded in the ebook don't show up very well on an e-reader, but I just looked at them on the PC - it's not essential that you have them as you read. There are also some colour plates at the back. This was very enjoyable. It was both interesting and entertaining, and David Attenborough's distinctive voice shines through and makes it very easy reading. 4/5.

[Uncle Robin]

4.25/5 for The Return of Captain John Emmett, a murder mystery that was much more about the aftereffects of the Great War. I don't think I'll read the next in the series though for the simple reason that the lead character is not a very good detective.

[Uncle Robin]

Currently reading I Never Knew that about the English by Christopher Winn. It's an easy skim read of factoids - some interesting, some bombastically jingoistic, and one is DOWNRIGHT ASTONISHING - I'll wager no one knew this about the Englishman in question #therecanbeonlyone

[j.p.s]

Originally Posted by Uncle Robin

Currently reading I Never Knew that about the English by Christopher Winn. It's an easy skim read of factoids - some interesting, some bombastically jingoistic, and one is DOWNRIGHT ASTONISHING - I'll wager no one knew this about the Englishman in question #therecanbeonlyone

I think 1594 is more like it. Raleigh died in 1612.

[Uncle Robin]

Originally Posted by j.p.s

I think 1594 is more like it. Raleigh died in 1612.

That was kind of the point of my post.

[Uncle Robin]

2.5/5 for I never knew that about the English. There was a lot of interesting information, but the whole book read like a UKIP proganda piece. I should have been tipped off by the absurd statement in the very first paragraph:

A Yorkshireman is instantly recognisable from a Cornishman, a Geordie from a Man of Kent, by accent, by outlook, by appearance.

(e.a)

It went downhill from there sadly. Legends presented as fact, at least implicitly by the omission of standard disclaimers like "the story goes", "according to the legend", etc. Also, the constant use of "we", "us" and "our" made it sound like the author was writing much more FOR the English than ABOUT them. And the example given above, which I found amusing, was by no means the only such evidence of sloppy proofreading

[Fbone]

Originally Posted by Fbone

Next, The Liar's Key the second book in The Red Queen's War series by Mark Lawrence. I read the first three years ago. It's nice that the author reminds us of the events in the preface.

First half was slow but got better. More engrossing. More of Jalen and his family's history is revealed. This I thought was the most interesting part of the book. Plotline still strong. I put the next installment on my TBR list. Hopefully, I won't wait three years to read it! Rated C [3 stars].

Next, freebie, The Gun Seller by Hugh Laurie.

[DiapDealer]

I picked up Leo Perutz' By Night Under the Stone Bridge on a whim, basically, and ended up really enjoying it. It's a series of tales set in Old Prague (before the Thirty Years' War) that link together to form a slightly metaphysical and non-linear whole.