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

[astrangerhere]

Originally Posted by astrangerhere

I plan to start City of Miracles by Robert Jackson Bennett on my Kobo this evening.

I am currently reading The Complete Stories by Clarice Lispector in paper. I'm reading one story at a time, every few days or so.

I did start City of Miracles and it is flying by at a good clip.

I am about 100 pages into Lispector and feel like I am being rewarded for taking my time.

I started listening to James Herriot's All Creatures Great and Small this morning. I've never read it or seen the TV series.

[pdurrant]

Originally Posted by pdurrant

Next up: Gently Does It by Alan Hunter, which I got back in July 2013.

Which was delightful, and set (to my surprise) in Norwich! (OK, he's changed the place names, but it's clearly Norwich.)

Next I read The Deadly Mystery of the Missing Diamonds by T E Kinsey, which was almost perfect. I loved the characters and the setting, but I felt the reaction to the murder was a little muted. (It was a freebie from Amazon UK in their First Reads category in February - still time to get it if you have Prime and haven't chosen one yet.)

And now I'm starting Some of the Best of Tor.com, 2011. A freebie I picked up in 2012.

[Luffy]

Originally Posted by CRussel

Well, I don't think you are missing all that much. I liked the first one, was meh about the second, and never finished the third.

There's something plasticky and shallow about this series, to me at least. Sanderson has fast turned from favorite to unreliable.

[Luffy]

My 2 star review of Hold Tight, by Harlan Coben:-

Spoiler:

The plot plod like a plow in pudding. I'm off Harlan Coben. He's not the author to distract my attention when I need it.

I asked for the minimum and for a while things looked hopeful. But I think that it takes real hard work to write a story on multiple fronts.

Harlan Coben ought to think like a writer who wants us to enjoy his books, not merely buy them and then grow tired of them like a lamp from IKEA. He seems easily satisfied and I'm strongly deliberating that the genre is moribund to me.

[Kyle Connor]

Getting back to reading after ages, and I've decided to start with rereading Percy Jackson and the Olympians. Always loved teeny bopper adventure series with a mythological/magical twist! Guilty pleasure, I must confess.

[SeaBookGuy]

Almost finished with the novel A Gracious Plenty (library download), which I'm tempted to give five stars at Goodreads.

[pdurrant]

Originally Posted by Kyle Connor

Getting back to reading after ages, and I've decided to start with rereading Percy Jackson and the Olympians. Always loved teeny bopper adventure series with a mythological/magical twist! Guilty pleasure, I must confess.

No need to feel guilty about it! Read what you enjoy reading.

Have you real the Artemis Fowl books by Eoin Colfer? If not, I recommend them.

[PurpleStar]

I finished The Collapsing Empire by John Scalzi. Next up is Like, Follow, Kill by Carissa Ann Lynch. Just going to read a mystery in between the Scalzi books.

[pdurrant]

Originally Posted by pdurrant

And now I'm starting Some of the Best of Tor.com, 2011. A freebie I picked up in 2012.

Which was an excellent collection of shorter science fiction. Recommended.

Next up: A recent freebie, Skip Langdon, vol.1 by Julie Smith. Let's see if I like it. I have the next 8 volumes to add to my TBR if I like the first.

[Luffy]

My 5 star review of The Magician's Nephew (Chronicles of Narnia, #6) by C.S. Lewis:-

Spoiler:

I read the C.S. Lewis books when I was a child. I read one of the books in French, never knowing where to reach for its lost to me siblings.

Now that I've reread this book, I feel that reading was worth the weeds for flowers like this. It's often funny how the expensive e-books are the ones that prove costly and the classics, true to their reputation.

Beyond the Christian mythos in this particular book, I loved most when the boy, the girl, and the flying horse spoke the same words together. Read at your own leisure and to your own satisfaction.

[PurpleStar]

Originally Posted by PurpleStar

I finished The Collapsing Empire by John Scalzi. Next up is Like, Follow, Kill by Carissa Ann Lynch. Just going to read a mystery in between the Scalzi books.

I changed my mind. I'm just going to go ahead and read The Consuming Fire by John Scalzi.

[astrangerhere]

Originally Posted by astrangerhere

I did start City of Miracles and it is flying by at a good clip.

I am about 100 pages into Lispector and feel like I am being rewarded for taking my time.

I started listening to James Herriot's All Creatures Great and Small this morning. I've never read it or seen the TV series.

I will stick it out with All Creatures Great and Small because the narration is excellent, but I really, really dislike both Farnons.

[CRussel]

Originally Posted by astrangerhere

I will stick it out with All Creatures Great and Small because the narration is excellent, but I really, really dislike both Farnons.

I'm currently listening to it as well (the new version with Nicholas Ralph narrating), and I'm quite enjoying it. And while I originally found Siegfried seriously annoying, as the stories go on, he's growing on me. Tristan, on the other hand, is annoyingly callow.

The new TV series is good, though I'm not sure it's as true to the books as the original was. But certainly good enough that I'm hoping it returns for more.

[astrangerhere]

Originally Posted by CRussel

I'm currently listening to it as well (the new version with Nicholas Ralph narrating), and I'm quite enjoying it. And while I originally found Siegfried seriously annoying, as the stories go on, he's growing on me. Tristan, on the other hand, is annoyingly callow.

The new TV series is good, though I'm not sure it's as true to the books as the original was. But certainly good enough that I'm hoping it returns for more.

I'm nearly 2/3 of the way through and I am finding Siegfried rather beastly. Even through Herriot's "he is not a monster to me and wants me to learn" lenses, he is really quite awful to everyone in his own way. He takes just about as much responsibility for things as his brother does, he just does it with a more distinguished reputation so he gets away with it.

[CRussel]

You should give the TV series a try -- either the current PBS/Channel 5 version, or the older one. The Yorkshire dales and the animals are worth the watch, and even though the current remake isn't completely true to the original books, most of the stories come from them. And, after all, the stories themselves were only loosely based on the actual practice of Alf Wight (aka, James Herriott).