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

[FlorenceArt]

Originally Posted by obs20

I just finished Wolf Hall by Hillary Mantell, which was a book I really had to take my time with, However it was worth it.

I've been on the verge of buying this book a couple of time, but I'm not sure I will like it. Of course, you're never sure until you try it, are you? Maybe I'll just take the risk some day.

I'm not crazy about the idea of a novel based on historical facts. This is the fictional biography of a real historical character, right? I like to know, when reading a biography, how much is established fact and how much is speculation. That's why I feel a bit uneasy about that book, although all the reviews seem very good.

[obs20]

Originally Posted by FlorenceArt

I've been on the verge of buying this book a couple of time, but I'm not sure I will like it. Of course, you're never sure until you try it, are you? Maybe I'll just take the risk some day.

I did some fact checking. If it wasn't 100% accurate at least it was plausible. We have to keep in mind that this is still a novel written from the perspective of the low born Thomas Cromwell, a Protestant leaning adviser to Henry VIII.

[Xenophon]

Originally Posted by FlorenceArt

[SNIP]
I like that FW is publishing many old science-fiction books in multiformat, though I feel uneasy that those are probably out of copyright in the US and the author won't get a cent from those sales. On the other hand, I wish there were more books from the recent past (after WWII) available in e-format, and not just sci-fi...

Almost nothing since the mid-1920s is out of copyright in the US. The exceptions (for SF, at least) mostly arise from the failure of various magazine publishers to renew the copyright on the contents of their magazines. So we find the magazine version of lots of 40s-60s SF up at Project Gutenberg (for example).

If you're worried about whether the author is getting money, check for the book over at PG. If it's at PG, save your money and download for free. If it's NOT at PG, then there's almost certainly a rights-holder somewhere who is getting a royalty payment from your purchase. And that rights-holder is most likely the author.

Xenophon

[lilac_jive]

I've only read two books this month (bad for me) but for some reason I just haven't been in the mood. So finally I just picked up "The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Nighttime" (in pbook, borrowed from my mom) and I think now I'll be back in a reading mood.

[Ea]

Originally Posted by lilac_jive

I've only read two books this month (bad for me) but for some reason I just haven't been in the mood. So finally I just picked up "The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Nighttime" (in pbook, borrowed from my mom) and I think now I'll be back in a reading mood.

That's a great book. I hope you'll like it.

[FlorenceArt]

Originally Posted by lilac_jive

I've only read two books this month (bad for me) but for some reason I just haven't been in the mood. So finally I just picked up "The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Nighttime" (in pbook, borrowed from my mom) and I think now I'll be back in a reading mood.

Originally Posted by Ea

That's a great book. I hope you'll like it.

What Ea said. Happy reading! Or not-reading, which can be just as good sometimes

[recluse]

Just finished "Conspiracies" by F.Paul Wilson, the third book in the "Repairman Jack" series. I was going to take a break from the series after this one, but I can't wait to find out what's next! The series is that good! Starting book four, "All the Rage" today.

[L.J. Sellers]

I'm reading THE LOCK ARTIST by Steve Hamilton and loving it. The voice reminds me of BEAT THE REAPER by Josh Bazell, which I also really enjoyed.
L.J.
[Promotional link deleted - MODERATOR]

[FlorenceArt]

Originally Posted by FlorenceArt

On a whim I bought The Tomorrow People by Judith Merril at FictionWise. From the excerpt on the site, it looks well written.

I like that FW is publishing many old science-fiction books in multiformat, though I feel uneasy that those are probably out of copyright in the US and the author won't get a cent from those sales. On the other hand, I wish there were more books from the recent past (after WWII) available in e-format, and not just sci-fi...

Originally Posted by Xenophon

Almost nothing since the mid-1920s is out of copyright in the US. The exceptions (for SF, at least) mostly arise from the failure of various magazine publishers to renew the copyright on the contents of their magazines. So we find the magazine version of lots of 40s-60s SF up at Project Gutenberg (for example).

If you're worried about whether the author is getting money, check for the book over at PG. If it's at PG, save your money and download for free. If it's NOT at PG, then there's almost certainly a rights-holder somewhere who is getting a royalty payment from your purchase. And that rights-holder is most likely the author.

Xenophon

Thank you Xenophon. I still had some doubts after reading your post (especially since most or all of these old books republished by Fictionwise seem to be either SF or fantasy) so I checked the copyright notice in the book, and it is copyrighted to the author, so I suppose that means she gets something out of this if she is alive.

By the way, my guess was a bit off, it's not that well written, but it's a good story and I'm enjoying it so far. It's also amusing to see the "future" (1976) seen from 1960. You can fly from Mexico City to New York (who are in the same country in 1976) by rocket in 1.5 hour, but you still have to go through an operator to make a phone call

It's also interesting to see a female take on a usually all-male subject, at least at the time this was written (space exploration).

[WT Sharpe]

Finally finished The Origin of Species, 6th Ed. by Charles Darwin. It was slow going, but the final chapter contained some really nice prose. If Darwin had been less concerned with scientific accuracy and more focused on readability, it would have made for easier reading, but it wouldn’t have been the foundational scientific classic that it is.

My favorite line is that with which the book closes:

Thus, from the war of nature, from famine and death, the most exalted object which we are capable of conceiving, namely, the production of the higher animals, directly follows. There is grandeur in this view of life, with its several powers, having been originally breathed by the Creator into a few forms or into one; and that, whilst this planet has gone circling on according to the fixed law of gravity, from so simple a beginning endless forms most beautiful and most wonderful have been, and are being evolved.
— Chapter XV: Recapitulation and Conclusion

[pdurrant]

Originally Posted by pdurrant

Asimov's, June 2010 by Dell Magazines

Also a solid issue, but nothing outstanding.

Now onto a freebie, A Matter of Oaths by Helen S. Wright.

[L.J. Sellers]

'm picking up A DARKER DOMAIN by Val McDermid today. I've heard such great things about this book (and author). An online group I participate in is reading it for discussion and that motivated me to finally get it.
L.J.
[Promotional link deleted - MODERATOR]

[DixieGal]

I'm finally almost finished with Nora Roberts' Blood Brothers trilogy on audiobook that I started a couple of months ago. It is simple, predictable, and totally corny. And i have enjoyed it very much.

Would be a fun beach read.

[Bluesman7]

Darkness, Take My Hand by Dennis Lehane. (Second book of the Kenzie-Gennaro series.)

[MickeyC]

Downloaded and started 61 Hours by Lee Child this morning about five hours after it was released. So far (three chapters), it looks like a great Jack Reacher novel.