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

[pdurrant]

Originally Posted by Apache

Boy the year just flew by didn't it?
Apache

A 95% off coupon at Kobo had something to do with that.

[Apache]

Originally Posted by pdurrant

A 95% off coupon at Kobo had something to do with that.

You have to love those coupons.
Apache

[Rumpelteazer]

Last night I started Shadow Unit 1 by Emma Bull, Elizabeth Bear, Sarah Monette and Will Shetterly. It's describes as a paranormal version of the tv show Criminal Minds. It's also set up as a tv series, with each book being a season with several episodes. I haven't read much but it looks promising so far.

[Apache]

I finished The Martian and highly recommend it to everyone. I am now reading Murder in the Ballpark by Robert Goldsborough. This is his newest Nero Wolfe book. So far I am enjoying the antics of Nero Wolfe and Archie Goodwin.
Apache

[MickeyC]

Originally Posted by Apache

I finished The Martian and highly recommend it to everyone.
Apache

I'm about two thirds through and, so far, totally agree with Apache. It is un-put-down-able

[CRussel]

Originally Posted by Apache

I finished The Martian and highly recommend it to everyone. I am now reading Murder in the Ballpark by Robert Goldsborough. This is his newest Nero Wolfe book. So far I am enjoying the antics of Nero Wolfe and Archie Goodwin.
Apache

The Goldsborough versions are pretty good, IME. Purists have pointed out a few places where Goldsborough has a continuity problem with the Rex Stout versions (but then, Stout had a few with himself.) IAC, if you haven't read the originals, most of them are moderately priced, though they're not, sadly, subject to Kobo coupons.

[Gronk]

Originally Posted by CRussel

The Goldsborough versions are pretty good, IME. Purists have pointed out a few places where Goldsborough has a continuity problem with the Rex Stout versions (but then, Stout had a few with himself.) IAC, if you haven't read the originals, most of them are moderately priced, though they're not, sadly, subject to Kobo coupons.

I look at those Kobo coupons as a joke anyway. They never apply to anything I want. I've had to empty an entire cart.

[CRussel]

Originally Posted by Gronk

I look at those Kobo coupons as a joke anyway. They never apply to anything I want. I've had to empty an entire cart.

A lot easier to tell now. Do a search for what you're looking for, and then click "Items Eligible For Promo Codes" in the left hand pane. Makes it much easier!

[Gronk]

Originally Posted by CRussel

A lot easier to tell now. Do a search for what you're looking for, and then click "Items Eligible For Promo Codes" in the left hand pane. Makes it much easier!

Thanks.

[missimpossible]

Originally Posted by Yapyap

Looking at the reviews on Goodreads, a lot of people think it was awful.

I think it's going to depend a lot on people's expectations and whether one is predisposed to feel okay about the whole concept or not - if you think the entire idea is stupid, this probably won't be a lot of fun; if you're curious and have no inherent issues with the idea, it should be at least moderately enjoyable, I think.

Joanna Trollope is an experienced, competent writer (I haven't actually read her other books, but she seems to be popular and has been for a long time), so .. writing-wise, while it's not Austen, it came across as a perfectly fine (if not particularly deep or literary) modern novel.

I just finished this last night, and I pretty much agreed with your assessment. It was a light, fun read, and it didn't stray as much from the original story as I would have expected. Of course, it's not the original, but I'm surprised so many people had such vitriolic reactions to it. It probably just depends on whether you're predisposed to like that sort of thing or not - I like pastiches on Austen just fine, as long as they're done well (I loved Clueless and Lost in Austen, but Austenland not so much...)

Spoiler:

I also agree with you regarding the modernisation - having read a couple of reviews beforehand I was expecting it to be chock-full of swearing and sex and so on (and not in a good way) and it really, really wasn't. I really thought it was pretty tame in that regard, which isn't a complaint, but it made some of the stuff surrounding Marianne's "disgrace" harder to swallow.

[bfisher]

I finished "The Black Count: Glory, Revolution, Betrayal, and the Real Count of Monte Cristo" by Tom Reiss, for which he won the 2013 Pulitzer Prize for Biography.

An interesting read on the career of the father of Alexandre Dumas pere. Many of the elements of "The Count of Monte Cristo" were probably drawn from his life.

Now 2/3 of the way on my goal to read the 2013 Cundill Prize shortlist.

[Yapyap]

I originally picked up The Night Watch by Sergei Lukyanenko last night but realised only a few pages in that this wasn't what I'm currently in the mood for, so that went on hold. (I've heard enough praise for the series that I'm certainly going to give it a proper go some day!)

So instead I opted for something lighter, which turned up to be the second kids' book in a row - this time Switchers by Kate Thompson, a YA modern day shapeshifter fantasy set in Ireland & in the Arctics. Well, I think it's supposed to be YA anyway, but I felt it aimed more at the younger end of that age range - pre-teens and younger teens, possibly.

In any case, this was a book I'd have adored as a child; for adult-me, it was a little too simple and straightforward, but it was fast-paced and fun, with just enough depth to it to still be enjoyable. I'm glad I bought the entire trilogy as an omnibus at some point, as I'll be wanting to read the next books too whenever I'm in the mood for a quick and light read.

And now I started The Plague Forge - the last book in the Dire Earth Cycle by Jason M. Hough. As usual with sequels, it took me a bit to get up to speed again but now that I am, I'm enjoying it, like I did the first two books.

Originally Posted by missimpossible

I just finished this last night, and I pretty much agreed with your assessment. It was a light, fun read, and it didn't stray as much from the original story as I would have expected. Of course, it's not the original, but I'm surprised so many people had such vitriolic reactions to it. It probably just depends on whether you're predisposed to like that sort of thing or not - I like pastiches on Austen just fine, as long as they're done well (I loved Clueless and Lost in Austen, but Austenland not so much...)

Spoiler:

I also agree with you regarding the modernisation - having read a couple of reviews beforehand I was expecting it to be chock-full of swearing and sex and so on (and not in a good way) and it really, really wasn't. I really thought it was pretty tame in that regard, which isn't a complaint, but it made some of the stuff surrounding Marianne's "disgrace" harder to swallow.

Agreed, with both.

Spoiler:

Considering that these are supposed to be 21st century Western young people living in a world where pre-marital sex stopped being a big taboo at least during their parents generation, if not before, I felt Marianne and Willoughby - two passionate, beautiful modern young people infatuated with each other - giving in to their desires didn't seem out of place at all. And it was handled carefully and completely non-gratuitously.

[Gazella]

Currently reading:

The Shadow of the Wind by Carlos Ruiz Zafón

The Blade Itself by Joe Abercrombie

[pdurrant]

Originally Posted by pdurrant

And now I'm reading Like a Mighty Army by David Weber, the latest in his Safehold series.

Which certainly does have a lot of action in it (and I'm only 1/3rd of the way in), but the names are just as annoying as ever.

[HarryT]

I'm currently reading "Time Scout" by Robert Asprin and Linda Evans; the first book in the "Time Scout" series. This is one of my oldest Baen eBooks. I probably bought it some time in the 1990s.

An orbital accident in 1995 created "time gates" which open randomly to different time periods. Time Scouts are the people who go through those gates and explore them - a highly hazardous occupation. The granddaughter of the famous retired scout Kit Carson wants to become a time scout, and, much against his better judgement, he trains her for the job.

An excellent book. About half way through it and really enjoying it.