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

[WT Sharpe]

Originally Posted by samhy

I'm about 30% into it and so far this is very funny, the witty sort of funny. Last night I woke up around 1:30 and couldn't go back to sleep because I was coughing too much when laying down. I picked up the Aura HD to read another chapter, even though I had an early meeting. After that I was ready to sleep.
Right now, I'm looking forward to shutting down the computer and go (going???) read that book. This book is a catchy one, I tell you

I bought it and have read the first chapter. I'm signing off now to get back to it.

[pdurrant]

Originally Posted by pdurrant

Next up: Changespell by Doranna Durgin.

That was fun. They would certainly have been better in the proper order, but it was good as a fairly light fantasy. I'll get to the prequel sometime this year, I expect.

Next up: Hour of the Gremlins by Gordon R Dickinson and Ben Bova. Three unconnected books by the same author(s). The oldest book on my TBR. The first one is very light and more a YA humorous fantasy than SF. Perhaps the other two will appeal more.

[CRussel]

Originally Posted by CRussel

Well, that definitely was not to my taste. I quite after about 50 pages, I think I'll pass on the rest of them and stick the Amelia Peabody books.

Meanwhile, reading Owner's Share, by Nathan Lowell. And very much enjoying it.

Finished Owner's Share, and also just finished an Audible reading of The Gods of Guilt, by Michael Connelly, read excellently by Peter Giles. I'll give Owner's Share 5 stars, but The Gods of Guilt only 4.

Next up, an Audible read of Amelia Peabody #2 The Curse of the Pharaohs, read by Barbara Rosenblatt. And, on the eBook side, A Duty to the Dead, by Charles Todd. The first in the Bess Crawford series. I read this when it first came out, but hadn't followed the series since, but my DW has read them all and I just bought her A Question of Honor, the latest, from her Wish List while I could get it really, really cheap. I'm well into the first in the series, and I must say, I had forgotten most of it, but I'm enjoying it quite a bit.

Bess Crawford is an English nurse in WWI, and I'm reminded and a bit horrified to realize just how little our understanding of PTSD (known in WWI as shell shock), or the treatment of those with it, has improved. We really should be doing better than we are.

[Strether]

Originally Posted by CRussel

Finished Owner's Share, and also just finished an Audible reading of The Gods of Guilt, by Michael Connelly, read excellently by Peter Giles. I'll give Owner's Share 5 stars, but The Gods of Guilt only 4.

I finished Owner's Share and enjoyed it a lot, too, though I thought the foreplay was too long, and I wasn't prepared for the ending few chapters. I suspect we'll get another one of these, which suits me just fine.

I've also read Sharon Lee's Carousel Tides, which I've resisted for a long time, and I guess rightfully so, at least for me. It was OK until about halfway through, and then the fantasy elements started predominating over the realistic ones, and though I finished it, I didn't enjoy the last part and wouldn't read a sequel. Even often having visited Old Orchard Beach, which was her model for her seaside town in the novel didn't help.


Jim

[bfisher]

I've finished reading "Strange Rebels: 1979 and the birth of the 21st century" by Christian Caryl. His thesis is that the world took a significant turning not, as usually thought, at the end of the 20th century, but earlier, in the 1970s, as signified by the rise to power or influence of a disparite set of actors - Khomeini , Deng, Thatcher, John Paul II, and by the struggles in Afghanistan.
Halfway through my goal of reading all of the 2013 Cunliff Prize shortlist :-)

[Yapyap]

I'm done with Red Mars at last! I sort of feel like a small celebration.

It picked up a bit towards the end, and there were things I liked about it - why I persisted even when it dragged - the descriptions of Mars and the big ideas (the macro level?) were fascinating and well researched (or at least it seemed so to me, the lay person). It's the micro level, the characters, the writing style (sentence construction), the pacing that didn't really work for me all that well.

I'm glad I made my way through it - I don't regret spending the time to read it - but I'm pretty sure I'm not going to continue with the rest of the trilogy.

[Dazrin]

Originally Posted by Dazrin

Now back to Red Seas Under Red Skies which is ~40% done, let's see how much more Mr. Lynch can pile on them, 4 groups and counting. So far it has been entertaining if not quite as good as the first.

I finished this today and enjoyed it quite a bit. I hope the next book becomes available at my library soon.

On Sunday I read an excerpt from Hugh Howey and John Joseph Adams' new short story anthology The End is Nigh with a pre-apocalyptic theme, Heaven is a Place on Planet X by Desirina Boskovich. It was interesting but not really my type of work. I will need to track down the Silo story from the anthology someday.

Next appears to be The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo since it was available with now wait time from my library. I am also on hold for The Golem and the Jinni which is about 3 weeks out.

[pdurrant]

Originally Posted by pdurrant

Next up: Hour of the Gremlins by Gordon R Dickinson and Ben Bova. Three unconnected books by the same author(s). The oldest book on my TBR. The first one is very light and more a YA humorous fantasy than SF. Perhaps the other two will appeal more.

The remaining two were both "humans meet aliens and turn out to be better than the aliens". Not very impressive.

Next up: Alloy of Law by Brandon Sanderson. I accidentally (through a mistaken coupon code and a server bug) got this as a freebie from Diesel ebooks, who told me to enjoy my free book when I asked them about it.

[HarryT]

Originally Posted by pdurrant

Next up: Alloy of Law by Brandon Sanderson. I accidentally (through a mistaken coupon code and a server bug) got this as a freebie from Diesel ebooks, who told me to enjoy my free book when I asked them about it.

I really enjoyed this one. It starts off slowly, but stick with it. Do make sure you've read the "Mistborn" trilogy first, though.

[bfisher]

Finished "In Suspect Terrain" by John McPhee, the second book in his series about the geology of North America. This book describes the geology between the Delaware Water Gap and Lake Michigan, and includes the Ridge and Valley province, and the Pliestocene Ice Age. It's -21C here this morning, so just a little bit easier trying to visualize having 2 miles of ice above me

[Glorfindel]

Tales From the Perilous Realm - JRRT

[orlok]

Getting Off: A Novel of Sex and Violence (Hard Case Crime #69) by Lawrence Block. I'm pretty sure someone here recommended it recently, and as a fan of Block I was intrigued, and when I saw the cover I was hooked

Spoiler:

About a female serial killer with a lot in common with the black widow spider and the praying mantis... Like all of Block's books, it is a fun read.

When I've finished this, I'll be moving on to Just One Damned Thing After Another by Jodi Taylor, as recommended by Samhy.

[samhy]

I've just finished One Damned Thing After Another. I really liked it. To me there's room for improvement, mainly in the timeline progression (a four-year gap?!? Come on!!! The main character and her love interest must be the slower in book history then). The chapter nine felt very long.
But apart from that this is a page turner and I've spent way too much time on it today than I should have. For a first book, this is a good one. Oh and I love when the main character is a kick-ass woman
Once my review will be written I may update those first thoughts a little. I would rate it 4 stars.

[orlok]

Originally Posted by samhy

I've just finished One Damned Thing After Another. I really liked it. To me there's room for improvement, mainly in the timeline progression (a four-year gap?!? Come on!!! The main character and her love interest must be the slower in book history then). The chapter nine felt very long.
But apart from that this is a page turner and I've spent way too much time on it today than I should have. For a first book, this is a good one. Oh and I love when the main character is a kick-ass woman
Once my review will be written I may update those first thoughts a little. I would rate it 4 stars.

Looking forward to giving it a go. And I'm all for kick-ass women. I married one, after all .

[LovesMacs]

Originally Posted by bfisher

Finished "In Suspect Terrain" by John McPhee, the second book in his series about the geology of North America. This book describes the geology between the Delaware Water Gap and Lake Michigan, and includes the Ridge and Valley province, and the Pliestocene Ice Age. It's -21C here this morning, so just a little bit easier trying to visualize having 2 miles of ice above me

Didn't McPhee write a big book called Annals of the Former World? Is that book an omnibus containing the book you read, or a separate work?