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

[drofgnal]

Originally Posted by Kindleing

Are you reading this on an e-ink reader? I see from the Amazon description "... but the book is leavened by vivid descriptive passages, as well as hundreds of hand-drawn diagrams.". I was wondering how well the "hundreds of hand-drawn diagrams" render on e-ink. My experience has generally not been positive.

No, It was a gift of a print book. Although not heavy in mathematical derivation, It does rely on mathematical equations (and physicists use some strange symbols) which would be distracting. The diagrams would also be distracting on an e ink reader as well. If I were to read it as an ebook, it would have to be on a full size iPad,not e-ink. I have a few textbooks as ebooks, and those are used on an iPad Pro only.

[svenlind]

Originally Posted by Kindleing

Are you reading this on an e-ink reader? I see from the Amazon description "... but the book is leavened by vivid descriptive passages, as well as hundreds of hand-drawn diagrams.". I was wondering how well the "hundreds of hand-drawn diagrams" render on e-ink. My experience has generally not been positive.

I became interested and bought the book as an EPUB.
It looks very well on my iPads and I will read it there using the Marvin or Mapleread app.
I tried it on my Kobo Sage as KEPUB, and it looked much better than I expected, certainly readable, but will still read it on an iPad.

[pdurrant]

Originally Posted by pdurrant

Next up: Cold Welcome by Elizabeth Moon. A very recent purchase, under one of Amazon's "Spend £10, get £5" deals

Which was excellent, and followed by Into the Fire, the second part of the Duology.

Next up: Brave New World by Aldous Huxley. I might be going along to a book club where this is the next book to discuss, so I thought I'd read it, just in case. A freebie I got back in 2011!

[Quizlit]

Just finished Atonement by Ian McEwan, really enjoyed it, now onto Deborah Levy's new book August Blue

[rainerm]

Returned to TC Boyle after a long while. I was thumbing through Outside Looking In, a book I've read a couple of times, then went back and read The Shape of a Teardrop, published in The New Yorker (a couple-three years back), and decided to take the plunge with his collected stories (Stories II); he has two volumes (that's a lot of writing, esp. given the number of novels he's written too); there are a fair bit of zoological and even chemistry-related terms in the stories, which then got me reading about biological magnification, which others call a "metabolic shift" on the planetary level.

[Number9]

Originally Posted by DiapDealer

I recently finished up Terry Brooks' final Shannara series "The Fall of Shannara". I've not really been that excited about many of these later series', but after an investment of 40+ years, I felt compelled to at least see it through.

Much like the other Shannara series of recent years, this last four-book installment played out like a greatest hits album of Brooks' favorite rehashed plotlines and magical conundrums from his older Shannara books (only the characters' names are changed to confuse the innocent).

Simon Vance did an excellent job of narrating the audio books, but even he couldn't make it all very meaningful. Make no mistake: this was no triumphant finale, 40+ years in the making. It was a commercially-baked chocolate-chip cookie. OK, but nothing to get excited about.

He may write more prequels and gap-fillers in the Shannara universe, but I'm done. Happy memories for a younger me and these books, but older me is just tired of giving the newer stuff a chance to break out of Brooks' own quagmire of canon and plot rehashes. R.I.P Shannara.

I got a bit intrigued to read the Shannara series, but I have no idea where to start? Can you please send me in the right direction? 😊

[DiapDealer]

Published order is always my recommendation. Others' mileage may vary.

The first list on this site is publication order.

[Number9]

Originally Posted by DiapDealer

Published order is always my recommendation. Others' mileage may vary.

The first list on this site is publication order.

Great! Thank you 👍🏻

[Tarana]

Originally Posted by DiapDealer

I recently finished up Terry Brooks' final Shannara series "The Fall of Shannara". I've not really been that excited about many of these later series', but after an investment of 40+ years, I felt compelled to at least see it through....

I do agree more or less. I did a reread of all the series (mostly via audiobook) and finished up the Fall of Shannara in 2020. I still enjoyed it, but I had problems with some of the plot points in later series.

I am currently reading and listening to War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy. I bought both book and audiobook via Whispersync which turned out to be necessary as I kept losing track of all the Russian names. I'm about 1/3 of the way through. Good story so far.

[gmitchell]

I just started Night Probe! by Clive Cussler on Audiobook -- for some reason, the first three Dirk Pitt books (in publication order) are available on Kindle, and then 4-12 aren't, then 13-27 are. I listen to audiobooks while doing my daily walk, so I'm listening to these one at a time. They're decent technothrillers with nostalgic appeal for me, and the fact that I read these thirty years ago means I don't have to pay strict attention to every detail to follow the story.

I just finished The Last House on Needless Street by Catriona Ward, and it was fantastic. It's one of those books where knowing what the actual premise is would be a spoiler. Also, it has alternating narrators, one of which is a cat, which was fun.

I've been reading a lot of horror and psychological thrillers lately, so tomorrow I'm going to switch genres, go with something a little more literary. I'm thinking Remains of the Day or Klara and the Sun by Kazuo Ishiguro or Atonement by Ian McEwan. The Caine Mutiny by Herman Wouk is also on the short list.

[drofgnal]

I’m currently reading The Romanov Conspiracy by Glenn Meade. It’s pretty good. Started slow with a lot of different folks in different places, like some spy type novels do, but seems to be honing in now to the main theme, rescue the Romanovs.

I may return to Shannara after this with the two books following the Genesis trilogy. They seem to be a good follow on to Genesis.

[Fbone]

Originally Posted by Fbone

Next, Diane Duane's So You Want to be a Wizard.

Enjoyable but did think the main characters becoming overnight experts were far beyond belief. Some of the elements in the alternate universe were creative with built-up tension. A nice cast of "players".
Will continue the series in the future. Rated B- [4 stars].

Next, The Witch King by Martha Wells.

[Quizlit]

Some recent reads.
Victory City by Salman Rushdie
Rum Punch by Elmore Leonard
Dalva by Jim Harrison
Dead End Memories by Banan Yoshimoto
Enjoyed them all.

[pdurrant]

Originally Posted by pdurrant

Which was excellent, and followed by Into the Fire, the second part of the Duology.

Next up: Brave New World by Aldous Huxley. I might be going along to a book club where this is the next book to discuss, so I thought I'd read it, just in case. A freebie I got back in 2011!

I read it twice. Still not very good, IMO!

Then I read Xenowealth by Tobias S. Buckell, an excellent set of short stories set in his SF universe.

And I followed that by The Silver Branch, the seocnd in Rosemary Stucliff's Eagle of the Ninth series set in Roman Britain. It covers a small bit of Roman British history I had no knowledge of. Excellent.

Then came Tales from the New Worlds by Tobias S. Buckell, a collection of his short fiction, mostly outside his SF universe. Good fun.

And now I'm onto How to Raise an Elephant by Alexander McCall Smith. the 21st(!) in his No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency series.

[pdurrant]

Originally Posted by pdurrant

And now I'm onto How to Raise an Elephant by Alexander McCall Smith. the 21st(!) in his No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency series.

Which was good, but perhaps running out of steam.

Next up: The Burning Issue of the Day by T E Kinsey. The fifth in their Lady Hardcastle series.