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

[richvalle]

I haven't posted about what I'm reading here in ages. But I always get good ideas from you guys... so I figure I should try to share again.

I usually have an ebook and a pbook (just saw that word used here last week for the first time. Love it!) going at the same time. Which on is dominant depends on location, how good the place I left off is and how close to the end I'm at.

ebook - I just finished up The Guardian by Michael Clary (https://www.amazon.com/Guardian-Interviews-Book/dp/1618682865/ref=sr_1_3?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1474149432&sr=1-3&keywords=The+guardian+clary) (so I can't seem to get nice pretty links. I'll have to figure that out) a modern day urban zombie story with some fantasy thrown it. Pretty good, a few editing errors near the end.

I've moved to Hunted - book four of the League of Peoples by James A Gardner. I found this series on Hoopla a while back and I've been pleasantly surprised by them. So far each book in the series follows a different main character with almost no overlap.

My pbook is Horizon Storms book 3 of The Saga of Seven Suns by Kevin J. Anderson. I've read the first 2 books twice now and I'm going to try and finish up the series. It's a good story but not exactly light reading.

Oh, and I'm also about half way done with General Lee's Army by Joseph T. Glatthaar. An in depth look a the men who fought in the Army of Northern Virginia. Quite good though it's getting set aside because I own it and I need to get Horizon Storms back to the library.

[Hampshire Nanny]

Originally Posted by richvalle

I've moved to Hunted - book four of the League of Peoples by James A Gardner. I found this series on Hoopla a while back and I've been pleasantly surprised by them. So far each book in the series follows a different main character with almost no overlap.

I'm also working my way through the League of Peoples books. Having read the first 3 books, I'd logically move on to Hunted, but I read books 3 and 1 (in that order) in 2009, not realizing they were part of a series. So when I found the entire series at my library earlier this year, I started over from the beginning. I'll re-read Vigilant in the next couple of weeks and then move on to the remaining books in the series. I don't re-read much -- there just seem to be so MANY books out there, but even with re-reading, I've very much enjoyed this series. Highly recommended to SF fans.

[Luffy]

Originally Posted by pdurrant

Why? If it's that bad, just abandon it!
Leisure reading time is too limited to spend it on things you don't enjoy!

I took your advice, Mouse, and have duly DNF it. The one reason I was persevering is that I expect too much from my books, and as a consequence, I abandon a large array of books that in other hands would be appreciated. I also DNF Death by Tiara.

I still am trying to read The Deed of Paksenarrion. I'm re reading a book called Last Writes, by Laura Levine, and have begun on yet another book, Germany 1866-1945.

[Luffy]

Originally Posted by HarryT

My sympathies - that's 3 days' reading time you'll never get back. To call it "rubbish" would be unfair to honest decent rubbish.

It was rubbish wasn't it? The Great Zoo of China was a flash in the pan for Matthew Reilly, his other books being unreadable for me.

[Rev. Bob]

Originally Posted by richvalle

ebook - I just finished up The Guardian by Michael Clary (https://www.amazon.com/Guardian-Interviews-Book/dp/1618682865/ref=sr_1_3?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1474149432&sr=1-3&keywords=The+guardian+clary) (so I can't seem to get nice pretty links. I'll have to figure that out)

Amazon URLs are easy. Take that one, strip out "/ref=" and everything after, then kill everything between ".com/" and "dp/". Thus, https://www.amazon.com/dp/1618682865 - nice and short.

As for me, I finished Babylon Steel earlier and am indeed looking forward to the sequel. Unfortunately, there doesn't seem to be a third book in the series.

[CRussel]

Originally Posted by CRussel

Great book, a real find in an otherwise predictable Baen Monthly Bundle. Women of Futures Past had some stories I knew, and several that I didn't, including ones from authors I didn't know. All the stories were at least enjoyable, and several were excellent. My only disappointment was that there were no Kristine Kathryn Rusch stories in there -- I was hoping for an introduction to her writing as well.

Now reading, from the same bundle, Project Elfhome. I'd read the eARC, but now I'm reading and mostly listening to the final version. And enjoying it just as much this time as I did the first.

Devoured and thoroughly enjoyed. Highly recommended for those who have read even one of the Tinker/Elfhome books. Though a warning that there are some spoilers if you're still in the middle of the series.

Next up, a pBook from the library, Eric Wright's A Fine Italian Hand. This is #4 of his Charlie Salter mystery series, and one which has never been converted to eBook format, unfortunately. The first three are available in A Charlie Salter Omnibus. If you've never read any of these books, I highly recommend them. Charlie Salter is a Toronto police detective and the books, while not "cozies" in the traditional sense, are very "comfortable". We discovered these long before we moved to Canada, and enjoyed them immensely then, and I'm now working my way through them again. Sadly, only the first three, in this very reasonably priced omnibus, and the last, The Last Hand, are available electronically, and I'm not sanguine that the others will ever be digitized. Eric Wright was never a blockbuster seller -- not enough violence or evil or sex for that -- and now that he has died, I'm not seeing any movement to do anything with the remaining volumes. Fortunately, being a Canadian author, I can generally get his books from a library here. Again, Highly Recommended.

[Fbone]

Originally Posted by Fbone

Next is another library book (they're coming in hard & fast), Ranger's Apprentice by John Flanagan. The first in his Ruins of Gorlan series.

Enjoyed this one. I felt the author had just the right amount of world building for a fantasy novel; no long descriptions. There was enough action and suspense to keep me turning pages. Lost just a little sleep. Since this is a YA fantasy, things were sometimes over-simplified and always politically correct. The bad guys aren't even human. Still, this was very nice and I put a library hold on the next in the series. Rated B- [4 stars].

Next, is another library book Airborn by Kenneth Oppel.

[polarsuds]

I am reading JA Jance Downfall, the new Joanna Brady novel.

[Luffy]

I have abandoned Germany 1866-1945. I found it too complex for me. Boring and numbing are the words that I'm looking for. My loss, but after the opening paragraphs, I couldn't help but DNF it.

[DiapDealer]

Originally Posted by covingtoncat73

To Say Nothing of the Dog by Connie Willis. Time travel and homages to Victorian comic novels. I wasn't sold at the very beginning but, once the protagonist was in Victorian Oxford, I was having a great time.

Thanks for the rec. I just finished this up and really enjoyed it. It's one of those books where you're not fully aware of how invested you've become in the characters/story until it wraps up.

I think I need a "Speculative Fiction with Heart (and some humor)" thread. Slapstick/wacky humor is OK (but I have to be in the right frame of mind for it), and gallows or buddy-cop humor tends to get old very quickly. But both of those seem to represent the majority of the humor found in SFF. I need a guide to speculative fiction that bridges that gap and includes heartfelt, everyday humor (while telling a compelling story). I assume it's hard to pull off successfully (consistently anyway).

[HarryT]

Originally Posted by DiapDealer

I think I need a "Speculative Fiction with Heart (and some humor)" thread. Slapstick/wacky humor is OK (but I have to be in the right frame of mind for it), and gallows or buddy-cop humor tends to get old very quickly. But both of those seem to represent the majority of the humor found in SFF. I need a guide to speculative fiction that bridges that gap and includes heartfelt, everyday humor (while telling a compelling story). I assume it's hard to pull off successfully (consistently anyway).

I think you're describing the difference between "humour" and "wit". I think it was W.B. Yeats who said "The funny man makes me laugh, but the witty man makes me think."

[DiapDealer]

Originally Posted by HarryT

I think you're describing the difference between "humour" and "wit". I think it was W.B. Yeats who said "The funny man makes me laugh, but the witty man makes me think."

Sort of. But I'm OK with laughing out loud at humor in books, too. I do appreciate sharp wit, it's just that sometimes I want simple humor, as well. With SFF, though, it seems (to me anyway) that humor is either left out completely (which is a huge turnoff), or it's relegated to either slapstick zaniness or snark between badasses. I've found very little middle-ground.

[ATDrake]

Originally Posted by CRussel

My only disappointment was that there were no Kristine Kathryn Rusch stories in there -- I was hoping for an introduction to her writing as well.

It's not as convenient as having an ebook, but she's got some freebie short stories online, as listed on the Free Speculative Fiction Online website. And most weeks, she rotates a weekly free short story on her blog on Monday, from all the genres she writes (also mysteries, and fantasy romances under pseudonyms), as well. The new story is up for the next week, if you're interested in reading it.

As for me, I managed to fail reading anything during National Read A Book Day on the 6th, and then Read an Ebook Day on the 16th, mostly because I finally discovered how to make that "Your application is damaged and cannot be opened." Mac error message that I'd gotten for a number of my Humble Bundle DRM-free games go away*, so that's been the new timesink.

But I did manage to finish all three of Norwegian author Thomas Enger's Henning Juul novels out in English thus far, which I picked up on sale at Kobo for the equivalent of less than $2 CAD each, and quite liked. These novels are unusually written in the present tense, and star the eponymous intrepid crime reporter for a plucky online news site trying to compete with the established papers, returning to work after experiencing a personal trauma (the nature of which is initially unspecified, but slowly unfolded over the course of the 1st novel and apparently the rest of the series, which is planned to be 6 books long according to the original Norwegian publisher's website, as well) for which he was taking compassionate leave, and getting dumped into the deep end with a very changed work environment as well as the obligatory horrific crime for his homecoming story.

Enger has been on my wishlist for a while, ever since Barry Forshaw, I think it was, who wrote an academic book on the Nordic crime fiction phenomenon, mentioned that he had a sharp sense of humour in his writing. It turned out to not exactly be what I was expecting, but still enjoyable anyway in a deadpan fashion which contrasts a satirical depiction of the Norwegian media industry with the obligatory hard-boiled sort of damaged protagonist with stuff lurking in his past.

Maybe it's just me, but the bit where there's a typical office meeting where the staff is discussing their plans for upcoming website feature articles and how best to cater to the Gentle Readership was utterly hilarious: there's some tragic foreign news they could run, but Norwegians don't really care about sad things that happen to foreigners unless Norwegians are involved or affected in some way ; the most important parts of the news site are the celebrity gossip and sex advice sections, because that's what their hits stats say everybody reads avidly, even if they don't admit to it, and putting a poll up for people to share their opinions about their sex lives reliably brings in the traffic ; the very best stories feature some combination of Norwegians, celebrities, sex, and exotic foreign interests that involve Norwegians, and it is a frabjous day indeed when they can run an interview with an American minor talkshow celebrity of Norwegian immigrant descent who is visiting Oslo on a book signing tour to promote her brand-new sex advice guide .

Enger himself is an award-winning journalist according to his Wikipedia entry, and the rest of the books are filled with that kind of not-sure-if-serious sort of observation about the news media in general, and the Norwegian news industry in particular, which gives the books a certain added cultural background sort of interest which I found rather entertaining. The 3rd novel has some sort of promo blurb circle on the cover which says that it's perfect for fans of Borgen (the Danish TV drama, which coincidentally has a spin doctor named Kasper Juul; presumably no relation outside of fanfiction crossovers), and that one did indeed combine a depiction of politics and news coverage in a way that was entertaining and mildly insightful about the interaction of them both.

Aside from that, the actual story and casework are pretty good for what's a debut novel series from a regular non-fiction (one hopes!) writer. They are ambitiously complicated, usually featuring not just an A and a B crime case for Henning Juul to follow (which are sometimes somewhat related, but sometimes very tangential to each other), but also a C backstory where he's looking into the causes behind the traumatic event which caused him to have to take time off of work, the effects of which still run through his narrative and inform many of his personal decisions (and then sometimes even D and E and F story threads following developments with other characters related to the A, B, and C cases). This is probably mildly realistic in a way, as even despite Norway's statistically low violent crime rate which often makes Scandicrime stories kind of unrealistic†, there's probably a bunch of stuff going on at once and a reporter wouldn't be able to dedicate himself to a single case.

Despite all the stuff packed into them, the first novel initially unfolded rather slowly, gradually building up the character of Henning and the world surrounding him for quite a while before getting into beginning his coverage and eventual solving of the crime in a way that was an interesting change of pace from the way these things often dump their sleuth protagonists immediately into things. Mind you, it takes a more conventional sort of action thriller-y turn with dramatic culprit chases and mildly improbable last-minute saves, but the slow burn character work continuing throughout is a nice touch.

Medium recommend. I turned out to like these even more than I was expecting after they didn't initially meet my original expectations, but some parts of them do feel a little overstuffed plot-wise and not quite carrying it off, and the stylistic choice of present tense narration might put off some readers. Aside from that, the storylines are interesting, and cases and character work do build from book to book, as it turns out that something revealed as part of investigating one crime unlocks another path for Henning to follow, so you have to read them in order. But for the £0.99 a pop that Burned, Pierced, and Scarred are currently going for from Faber in the UK (apparently #4 is slated to be out from new publisher Orenda next year, and eventually #5 as Cursed and Killed, respectively, following the single-word titling theme), it's certainly worth a try, especially if you think you might be interested in probably-less-exaggerated-than-I-think-they-are depictions and observations about Norwegian news media and its interaction with society.

* Apparently it happens with a number of otherwise perfectly cromulent unsigned developer applications which are resistant to the ctrl-click open anyway workaround, and you have to go into the System Preferences to temporarily turn off the security settings for long enough to launch the app the first time.

† Though as a result of Googling a case mentioned in the 1st novel (for which I have now seen the words "murder sock" used in a headline by a serious publication; one begins to understand how Enger got that impression of his own profession), I found an interesting article in The Telegraph co-written by Norwegian "Queen of Crime" Anne Holt and British crime novelist Peter James about the respective art imitates life aspects of their countries.

Apparently stealth serial killers aren't really all that uncommon in the UK, sadly, while the sort of elaborate scheming plots so often depicted in Nordic Noir but which rarely occur in a land where the most common cause of violent death is drunken fight-stabbing actually do occur on occasion, and sometimes truth really is stranger than fiction.

[covingtoncat73]

Originally Posted by DiapDealer

Thanks for the rec. I just finished this up and really enjoyed it. It's one of those books where you're not fully aware of how invested you've become in the characters/story until it wraps up.

I think I need a "Speculative Fiction with Heart (and some humor)" thread. Slapstick/wacky humor is OK (but I have to be in the right frame of mind for it), and gallows or buddy-cop humor tends to get old very quickly. But both of those seem to represent the majority of the humor found in SFF. I need a guide to speculative fiction that bridges that gap and includes heartfelt, everyday humor (while telling a compelling story). I assume it's hard to pull off successfully (consistently anyway).

Absolutely, Diap. I ended up loving this book. I dare say it is now a favorite.

I loved my re-read of Slaughterhouse Five. So it goes.

Next up was Nutshell by Ian McEwan and I was glad I did. I finished it in a trice and thought it was excellent. It was a very interesting concept, expertly executed.

Now I am reading Mislaid by Nell Zink. I picked this one up as a Kindle Daily Deal awhile back and it is a hoot.

[Dngrsone]

Finished Marvel Comics: The Untold Story by Sean Howe. Much more engaging than that other thing...