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

[lilac_jive]

I'm about halfway through "If Books Could Kill" by kate Carlisle, which is the second (new) book in her Bibliophile series. If you like antiquarian books and cozy mysteries, check this one out.

[MelC]

Finished the Spellman series three books, It Shouldn't Happen to a Vet (favourite reread) and have now started this months possible bookclub pick Gone with the Wind (also a reread but a long time ago).

Mel

[mores]

True Blue by David Baldacci

Very good so far. But I like all of Baldacci's books, except for Christmas Train.

[Crusader]

I'm busy with 'The Lake House' by James Patterson. Raided our local public library and have finished '2nd Chance, 4th of July, 6th Target and When the wind blows'. His writing style makes for fast reading.

[drmaxx]

Just finnished 'Litte Brother' by Cory Doctorow. Somewhat geeky and there is a strong teeny feeling about the book. Nevertheless, I enjoyed i tremendously and the storyline is strong and drives you through the book. Very impressed.

You can get a free download on:
http://craphound.com/littlebrother/

(And no: I am in no way affiliated with anybody relevant to the book - I really just enjoyed reading it. And I will donate a copy of the book to a library).

[pdurrant]

Originally Posted by pdurrant

Fantasy now, The King of Elfland's Daughter by Lord Dunsany from the mobileread library.

It was an interesting read. I'm glad I read it, and I might come back to re-read it at some point. But it's certainly something to be read for the experience of reading it, and to have read it and to be able to compare it with later fantasy books, rather than for any interest in the plot as such.

The way Elfland was treated was interesting. I haven't seen the time difference explained in such a clever way before. Not that it's crudely set out, the 'mechanism' (although that's hardly the right word for something in this decidedly unmechanistic book) has to be inferred from how things are described.

On the whole, I'd recommend it to anyone interested in fantasy.

I'll have a think about what to read next while I get on with some work.

[camino real]

Reading Harvest Home by Thomas Tryon. A lovely old fashioned gothic thriller. It reminds me of The Wicker Man movie (the original not the bastardised Nic Cage version).

[Dr. Drib]

Originally Posted by thinkpadx

I see several users in here reading the Millennium trilogy by Stieg Larsson.

Another very appreciated author back here in Sweden is Jan Guillou who has written everything from spy/thriller books to historical fictions.

One especially good series is about the crusades circling around the Knight Templars in the 1100s spanning over 3 books:
# The Road to Jerusalem, originally Vägen till Jerusalem, (1998)
# The Knight Templar, originally Tempelriddaren, (1999)
# The Kingdom at the End of the Road

More info can be found here:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arn_Magnusson

You will certainly get a lot of Sweden's medieval history if you decide to pick it up.

Thank you for the heads-up on this writer.

Have they been translated into English, do you know? And are any available as ebooks?


Don

[kennyc]

I've gotten off into non-fiction. Reading in paper Carl Sagan's - The Demon Haunted World, and semi-simultaneously "The Evolution of God" by Robert Wright as well as catching up on the last three years of The Best American Science and Nature Writing.

Gearing up to get back to some article/essay writing.

[Dr. Drib]

Originally Posted by pdurrant

It was an interesting read. I'm glad I read it, and I might come back to re-read it at some point. But it's certainly something to be read for the experience of reading it, and to have read it and to be able to compare it with later fantasy books, rather than for any interest in the plot as such.

The way Elfland was treated was interesting. I haven't seen the time difference explained in such a clever way before. Not that it's crudely set out, the 'mechanism' (although that's hardly the right word for something in this decidedly unmechanistic book) has to be inferred from how things are described.

On the whole, I'd recommend it to anyone interested in fantasy.

I'll have a think about what to read next while I get on with some work.

I love Lord Dunsany's work and can recommend all of his fantasies.


Don

[neilmarr]

Put aside King's *Under the Dome* for a while because it became a drag after four hundred or so pages, then laid aside *Dark Mysteries of the Vatican* because it was superficial and I could have done a better job myself after a week's web research. Ended up re-reading one of my own edits (a rare thing), Steve Attridge's *Bottom of the List*. Was highly entertained and stayed awake all night until I'd finished it. Don't want this to appear a blatant ad, so if anyone wants to share the fun, drop me a line and I'll send you the PDF for free -- you've got to pay for other formats and paperback, though. Cheers. Neil

[neilmarr]

Two cracking good books there, Kenny. We share very similar taste in non-fiction as well as in fiction. Sadly most of my non-fic in this area is in treebook form. Best. Neil

[pdurrant]

Originally Posted by pdurrant

I'll have a think about what to read next while I get on with some work.

At lunch I thought I'd try a modern fantasy, Daughter of the Blood by Anne Bishop. I bought it in June last year from fictionwise, thankfully in one of their 100% rebate sales, so I can count it as half price.

Because, although I'm only a little way in, I'm decidedly unimpressed.

Ok, first page after the front matter, there's a list of jewels, apparently in order of colour, from white through gradually darker stones to Black. I'm not sure why it's there. It's 13 items long. Am I expected to remember the order, so I can instantly know whether Tiger Eye is lighter than Sapphire*? Or whether Purple Dusk is darker than Green**?

I don't mind this too much. It gets quickly worse - we get some complicated rule about how far a person can descend from their birthright jewel (sorry, Birthright Jewel). (Three ranks at most, it seems.)

And then what almost made me stop reading before hitting the first chapter

'AUTHOR'S NOTE: The "Sc" in the names Scelt, Sceval, and Sceron is pronounced "Sh".'

WHAT! Can the author possibly be serious? There's no justification given for this weird pronunciation, no indication why it matters at all to the author how a reader chooses to pronounce a name. And no reason at all given for why these three names aren't just spelt Shelt, Sheval, and Sheron.

And then we're given a list of personal rank, five for each male, six for female, from "landen", (commoner, apparently, "of any race") up. Oh - and one is "Blood male" and one "Blood female" Ummm.... why not just "Blood" for both? Do people in this fantasy really go around saying things like "What rank are you? I'm a Blood male." :-)

And then the first few pages of the prologue didn't grab me. (No, I haven't got to the first chapter yet!)

In fact, in writing this, I realise I should just cut my losses and stop reading.

Unless anyone can tell me that this series is actually rather good, despite this inauspicious start?


* It is.
** It isn't. Obvious, eh?

[brookietx]

Just finished the P. C. Hodgell series on Rathalien, and am rereading Hokas Pokas by H. Beam Piper,(also 40 Years of Ink) and reading for the first time Highly Selective Dictionary for the Extraordinarily Literate (a hoot), Eat Right for Your Type, and Resonance by Chris Dolley. I love Baen Free Books, Gutenberg projects, the Internet Archive and all those marvelous free sites!

[mores]

Let me chime in on Stieg Larsson ... I've heard great things about him. Now, I tend to read things in their original language, but since I don't know any swedish I am wondering if the english translation or the german one is better. Anyone read both?