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

[DiapDealer]

Originally Posted by Dngrsone

so I switched over to some science fiction, namely The Real Story: The Gap into Conflict by Stephen R. Donaldson. First of a series of I think five books which I pull out every decade or so to read again.

I've always considered The Gap Cycle Donaldson's finest work ... by far (though I've always found the tiny first book/intro The Real Story to be an odd way of kicking off such a massive epic).

[Dngrsone]

I enjoy most of his work. I think Mordant's Need is up there, too.

Right now, I have 175 books on my reader; that's more than a years worth of reading for me, and I have this tendency to get more every month. I am trying to balance new with old, read something different between books in a series so as to not get burned out (especially as I am trying to catch up on the Foreigner books), and train myself to abandon ones that become too ponderous.

[Fbone]

Originally Posted by Fbone

Next, is a free book from Harper Voyager, The Rogue Retrieval by Dan Koboldt.

This was interesting but thought it fell short of its potential. Much of the story line was left unfinished so I expect (and hope) a sequel to appear in the future. The author is a genetics researcher so maybe he will incorporate that into his next book. A few sudden conveniences to explain the unbelievable. Competent writing skill on the YA side. Rated C- [3 stars]. Update: After reading The Island Deception, the next in series, I decided to upgrade my rating to B- [4 stars].

Next, I'll finish David Weber's Dahak series with Heirs of Empire. I delayed reading this as the blurb really didn't grab me and at 544 pages there is an expectation of info dumps.

[DrNefario]

Originally Posted by DiapDealer

I just now cracked Senlin Ascends. First in the "Books of Babel" series by Josiah Bancroft. A self-pubbed venture (two books released so far) that seems to be making a bit of a splash here and there.

I read this not long ago. It is well-deserving of the praise it's been getting and is a properly good book, not just a good-for-self-pub book.

[DiapDealer]

Originally Posted by DrNefario

I read this not long ago. It is well-deserving of the praise it's been getting and is a properly good book, not just a good-for-self-pub book.

Good to know. Several of my online friends are of the same opinion, but it's always good to get an outside opinion, too.

[Rev. Bob]

Well, having been busy during Halloween, I was a bit late with my zombie/horror binge. (I needed something upbeat after the election!) Down the gullet went pretty much the entire Marvel Zombies metaseries - all five "core" miniseries, Return, Supreme, Destroy, and the three one-shots. Enjoyable enough for what they were, but basically fluff.

After that, I went on to read the first collection of the Chilling Adventures of Sabrina series (issues 1-5), followed by issue six. This is not something I'd ever expected to see from Archie Comics, and it's certainly not a series I'd hand to the stereotypical Archie reader. This Sabrina doesn't live in a wholesome, innocent world where magic is a neutral force, consequences never amount to much, and everything has a happy ending by the end of the issue. No, this Sabrina's origin was heavily (and explicitly) inspired by Rosemary's Baby, with a coven of Satan-worshipping witches bestowing fertility on an innocent woman in exchange for custody of her firstborn child... Sabrina. Betty and Veronica are also witches, but in a coven led by Miss Grundy, and their botched ritual summons the woman Sabrina's father was intended to marry.

It's heavy stuff, and sometimes gruesome, but it's a fine example of the genre. Whereas Marvel Zombies is basically "supers turn evil, stupid, and hungry," Sabrina's genuinely unsettling in several places. My biggest complaint is the slow pace of the Archie Horror release schedule; I've got five unread issues of Afterlife with Archie, but there are two more in the story arc and the second of those isn't due out until February.

At any rate, I'm almost at my end-of-year goal; I think I lack three books, so I'm sure I'll hit that. I'm not sure which books those will be yet, but that's okay. I might kick back with Explaining Cthulhu to Grandma, a comedic short story collection.

[mewmartigan]

Just finished the 5 book "The Dagger and the Coin" series by Daniel Abraham. It was quite good and I will definitely give his "Long Price Quartet" a read.

But first, I am going to read Rogue One: Catalyst in preparation for the movie.

[DiapDealer]

Originally Posted by mewmartigan

Just finished the 5 book "The Dagger and the Coin" series by Daniel Abraham.

Is that series done, now? I'm interested in reading it, but only if it's complete.

[Dr. Drib]

Originally Posted by Rev. Bob

Well, having been busy during Halloween, I was a bit late with my zombie/horror binge. (I needed something upbeat after the election!) Down the gullet went pretty much the entire Marvel Zombies metaseries - all five "core" miniseries, Return, Supreme, Destroy, and the three one-shots. Enjoyable enough for what they were, but basically fluff.

After that, I went on to read the first collection of the Chilling Adventures of Sabrina series (issues 1-5), followed by issue six. This is not something I'd ever expected to see from Archie Comics, and it's certainly not a series I'd hand to the stereotypical Archie reader. This Sabrina doesn't live in a wholesome, innocent world where magic is a neutral force, consequences never amount to much, and everything has a happy ending by the end of the issue. No, this Sabrina's origin was heavily (and explicitly) inspired by Rosemary's Baby, with a coven of Satan-worshipping witches bestowing fertility on an innocent woman in exchange for custody of her firstborn child... Sabrina. Betty and Veronica are also witches, but in a coven led by Miss Grundy, and their botched ritual summons the woman Sabrina's father was intended to marry.

It's heavy stuff, and sometimes gruesome, but it's a fine example of the genre. Whereas Marvel Zombies is basically "supers turn evil, stupid, and hungry," Sabrina's genuinely unsettling in several places. My biggest complaint is the slow pace of the Archie Horror release schedule; I've got five unread issues of Afterlife with Archie, but there are two more in the story arc and the second of those isn't due out until February.

At any rate, I'm almost at my end-of-year goal; I think I lack three books, so I'm sure I'll hit that. I'm not sure which books those will be yet, but that's okay. I might kick back with Explaining Cthulhu to Grandma, a comedic short story collection.

Thanks for the heads up on that book about Grandma's hangups!

Here's the link:

https://www.amazon.com/Explaining-Ct...grandma+kindle

[mewmartigan]

Originally Posted by DiapDealer

Is that series done, now? I'm interested in reading it, but only if it's complete.

Yes, it's done now. The fifth book is the end. Good stuff.

[Dazrin]

Originally Posted by Dazrin

Next up: The Dark Forest by Cixin Liu, book 2 in the Three-Body Problem/Remembrance of Earth's Past series.

I didn't like this as much as the first one but I really did enjoy it. I look forward to the third book which my library just got and I am first in line for.

Right now I have 2 books out from the library, it seems like they all came in at once. So I am starting Casino Royale by Ian Fleming, the first James Bond book, and then will move onto Soul Music by Terry Pratchett.

[gmw]

Originally Posted by DiapDealer

I've always considered The Gap Cycle Donaldson's finest work ... by far (though I've always found the tiny first book/intro The Real Story to be an odd way of kicking off such a massive epic).

Indeed. This is a fantastic series. But you're right, the opening book is truly disturbing, and I imagine some people never get past that. As strange a choice as it was, it really did set up well for what was to come. The series, it seems to me, turns out to be constructed as one large story that just happened to be split into five books - with the last long book one very big climax. When seen in that light, the short first book becomes almost just a prelude to the "real story".

[Dngrsone]

Read Till Death Do Us Part: True Stories of Newlywed Murder Cases by J. J. Slate. Not compelling, but interesting (if not a bit sad-- a lot of messed-up people out there).

About 44% of the way through Carrie Brownstein's Hunger Makes Me a Modern Girl, Brownstein was a co-founder of the band Sleater-Kinney, but is probably now known better for her work in the show Portlandia.

I didn't pay much attention to the Riot Grrl side of punk, though I do have some albums from at least one of the bands so far mentioned, Lunachicks (Mmm, Donuts! being a favorite track), but I will likely listen to a few if only to get a feel for what she is writing about.

Originally Posted by gmw

Indeed. This is a fantastic series. But you're right, the opening book is truly disturbing, and I imagine some people never get past that. As strange a choice as it was, it really did set up well for what was to come. The series, it seems to me, turns out to be constructed as one large story that just happened to be split into five books - with the last long book one very big climax. When seen in that light, the short first book becomes almost just a prelude to the "real story".

The Afterword does help explaining the whole concept of the series and how The Real Story fits into the entire scheme. Speaking of, after a slight hiccough in transferring the book to my tablet, I do have Forbidden Knowledge: The Gap into Vision queued up next.

[DiapDealer]

Originally Posted by gmw

Indeed. This is a fantastic series. But you're right, the opening book is truly disturbing, and I imagine some people never get past that. As strange a choice as it was, it really did set up well for what was to come. The series, it seems to me, turns out to be constructed as one large story that just happened to be split into five books - with the last long book one very big climax. When seen in that light, the short first book becomes almost just a prelude to the "real story".

I'd forgotten about the disturbing part, to tell the truth. But you're right. Some may struggle getting beyond it (as they did for Thomas Covenant). I was indeed referring to the decision to start a five-book epic series with what amounted to (or at least felt like, to me) a novella.

Don't get me wrong--it worked out just fine for me. But reading it before any of the other books were published, I had concerns about the direction and scope of the venture. Once the second book was published, those concerns disappeared rather quickly, of course, so I'll shut up now (after mentioning that Hashi Lebwohl was one of the most memorable characters I've ever read--both the name and the personality).

[Loosheesh]

Originally Posted by Loosheesh

I'm already well into my current next-up list: Artistic License by Julie Hyzy, The Reluctant Widow by Georgette Heyer, and That Sleep of Death by Richard King. Again, these are all 2011 purchases.

I completed all of these: The Reluctant Widow was one of my most entertaining Heyer reads (favorite character is Bouncer, the dog - "He is not a good dog! He is an excessively bad dog!"); That Sleep of Death was slow-paced but OK; Artistic License was meh (heroine too foolish, IMO). I also read The Mystery of the Hasty Arrow by Anna Katharine Green; wonderfully convoluted plot, as usual.

Next up are more 2011 purchases: Black Sheep by Georgette Heyer, Dead Ball by Michael Balkind, and Doubleback by Libby Fischer Hellmann.