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

[beppe]

Originally Posted by ShortNCuddlyAm

About to read the Hugo-nominated novella Palimpset, currently free to read online here: http://www.antipope.org/charlie/blog...est-intro.html

Thank you. I downloaded it

[Scott Nicholson]

Simon Wood's WORKING STIFFS, a good Hitchcock-flavored mystery collection with a noir pulse, and John O'Dowd's MAHKO'S KNIFE, a tough-guy action thriller.

Scott

[pdurrant]

Originally Posted by pdurrant

Analog SF, May 2010.

A good issue. And now the April/May 2010 Asimov's

[columbus]

Just finished *All Gods Creatures* by Carolyn McSparren.
A delightfully entertaining and at times both hilarious and sad novel about the trials of a (I believe fictional) female country large animal vet. If you are an animal lover you will enjoy both the animal and people stories.

I picked this up when it was a Kindle freebie, but it is well worth the cover price, I rate it a good 4.5 stars.

Thanks to some clever people, (you know who you are), I was able to read it on my Sony. Amazon are getting more of my book $'s due to this.

My on & off read, because it's easy to pick up & put down and highly entertaining is *Blood Sweat and tea* reprinted from the blog by Tom Reynolds about life in the London Ambulance Service. It is available as a free download from Manybooks.

The follow on *More blood Sweat and tea* is currently a freebie from Amazon.

[Ea]

Finished "Desert Flower" - a biography of Waris Dirie, a Somalian girl who ran away from her nomad family at 13 because she was about to get married, then lived as a servant of the Somalian ambassador's private home in London for four years, until she managed to start a career as a model and slowly learned to live on her own in a western society. The structure of the book could have been better, but it was a great story to read, and a moving life story, nicely told. Recommended.

Have started "Good calories, bad calories" - a critical look at the science behind 20th century nutritional advice. Seems like a very serious, well-researched book. A little dry in places, but I think I'd count that as a recommendation. I'd very definitely recommend this.

[poohbear_nc]

I've been reading Georgette Heyer mysteries - well plotted (even if the introductions claim she got all her plots from her lawyer husband) and filled with wildly humorous characters that speak as if in a Noel Coward play. Fun!

[thinkpad]

Originally Posted by Ea

Finished "Desert Flower" - a biography of Waris Dirie

I've seen a TV interview with the woman. Perhaps it's time to pick up the book. Not to bad when it's available for around $10 bucks as an ebook.

[thinkpad]

Originally Posted by Ea

Scandinavian: Gloomy, moody, dark, scary dramatics, interspersed with black humour. Or sometimes a very light, gently ironic humour. I think it may very well depend on the time of year that it was written (summer or winter). Though Scandinavian writing tend towards darkness and gloominess overall in my opinion. Even the humour.

Not easy keeping the spirit up when it's pitch black most of the winter season, and the winters feel awfully long, but then again it gets so much better when we finally arrive in the summer, so I have to agree that the authors in question most certainly would be influenced by the changing seasons.

[pdurrant]

Originally Posted by pdurrant

April/May 2010 Asimov's

OK. One good 'mad scientist' story. The rest were OK. Nothing that really stood out for me. Except one, and not for a good reason. That was, rather weirdly, a completely non-SF story from Barry B. Longyear. I can't tell you what genre it is without giving away the ending, but it's not Science Fiction. It could just about fit in the "fantasy" of F&SF, but really belongs in whatever is the current 'weird tales' magazine. It's certainly not right for Asimov's.

And now to the seventh in the Southern Vampire series, All Together Dead, no longer available form fictionwise it seems. Hopefully that'll get sorted out soon.

[Ea]

Originally Posted by thinkpadx

Not easy keeping the spirit up when it's pitch black most of the winter season, and the winters feel awfully long, but then again it gets so much better when we finally arrive in the summer, so I have to agree that the authors in question most certainly would be influenced by the changing seasons.

Perhaps except Finnish humour.

[Bluesman7]

Finished Snow by Pamuk...just started Beloved by Morrison.

[WT Sharpe]

Just finished reading the very enjoyable Quirkology by Richard Wiseman.

Wiseman is a researcher who studies the often overlooked everyday aspects of human nature. He has learned that on average, people's ability to spot a liar is no better than chance; and he informs us that some researchers believe that the inability to detect lies is one of the main contributing factors of successful long-term relationships.

In the book, he tells how the eerie feelings in a "haunted" laboratory were found to be the result of a fan in the A/C system that produced sounds below the threshold of human hearing. Further investigation revealed that many churches and cathedrals also produced considerable levels of these low frequencies, causing him to wonder how much of the awe and wonder in holy places results from the acoustics.

His research shows that "Women van drivers are more likely than others to take more than ten items through the express lane in a supermarket, to break speed limits, and to park in restricted areas."

He says that while astrology is bunk, "People born during the summer are luckier than those born in the winter—temperature differences around the time of birth make summer-borns more optimistic and open to opportunities."

From explaining why people who have damage to the right hemisphere of their brains are more apt to laugh at Harpo than at Groucho to showing that the number of people who wear ball caps backwards is decreasing by 10 percent per year, this book is fascinating and thoroughly readable. I highly recommend it.

[ImogenRose]

I have just started reading Reining In by Dawn Judd. Great start!

[FlorenceArt]

Originally Posted by WT Sharpe

Just finished reading the very enjoyable Quirkology by Richard Wiseman.

Wiseman is a researcher who studies the often overlooked everyday aspects of human nature. He has learned that on average, people's ability to spot a liar is no better than chance; and he informs us that some researchers believe that the inability to detect lies is one of the main contributing factors of successful long-term relationships.

In the book, he tells how the eerie feelings in a "haunted" laboratory were found to be the result of a fan in the A/C system that produced sounds below the threshold of human hearing. Further investigation revealed that many churches and cathedrals also produced considerable levels of these low frequencies, causing him to wonder how much of the awe and wonder in holy places results from the acoustics.

His research shows that "Women van drivers are more likely than others to take more than ten items through the express lane in a supermarket, to break speed limits, and to park in restricted areas."

He says that while astrology is bunk, "People born during the summer are luckier than those born in the winter—temperature differences around the time of birth make summer-borns more optimistic and open to opportunities."

From explaining why people who have damage to the right hemisphere of their brains are more apt to laugh at Harpo than at Groucho to showing that the number of people who wear ball caps backwards is decreasing by 10 percent per year, this book is fascinating and thoroughly readable. I highly recommend it.

Thanks for the exerpts - I'm not sure I would enjoy a whole book of this, but they are fun

[dreams]

Originally Posted by Bluesman7

Finished Snow by Pamuk...just started Beloved by Morrison.

I'd be interested in what you think about Beloved. Sula was the most memorable to me.