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

[pshrynk]

Daybreak 2250 AD by Andre Norton.


Ain't sayin' how I got it.

[Steven Lyle Jordan]

Just finished the novelization of Battlestar Galactica (the reboot). Having recently re-read The War of the Worlds, I was going to give a crack at Edison's Conquest of Mars. But after a few pages, I don't seem to have it in me to get through it. (Sometimes that old-style writing and dialogue just beats on you too much, especially if immediately following up-to-date material littered with words like "frak"...)

I'll see if I can pick up McDevitt's Odyssey instead...

[Londoner]

Just finished reading The Lies of Locke Lamorra by Scott Lynch. I absolutely loved it, and have put the sequel onto my new reader as it's first ever book download
It's set in a fantasy land not a million miles dissimilar to Venice, and was a great read.
I'm working on my last two paper copy books now, then it's on to the reader and ebooks all the way.
The next book to read is the last in the Robert Jordan Wheel of Time series (with the exception of No. 12 which is being written by somebody else for next year as Robert Jordan died, sadly). That series is awesome, though I have found that the detail everything is described in can get a bit tedious. It's a very good set of books, but I get the impression that it could've been a bit shorter or maybe faster paced and not lost too much.
That could be heresy in the eyes of Jordan fans, but it's just my opinion. I felt I got a lot more out of David Gemmel's books in a shorter period of time.

My last paper book to read is the new Jeffrey Deaver, The Broken Window. Every one of the Lincoln Rhyme books so far has been very well done, so I'm looking forward to it.
I didn't bother with the Sleeping Doll as I felt the Rhyme book that introduced the new franchise character was a bit crap. It was poorly done and very obvious to anyone that's read them all from start to finish that Deaver was shoe horning in a character for a spin off series and the plot/interaction was a bit poor compared to the Rhyme only books.

Bit of a lengthy post there, but one thing I love is my reading!

[Duodora]

Originally Posted by Londoner

The next book to read is the last in the Robert Jordan Wheel of Time series (with the exception of No. 12 which is being written by somebody else for next year as Robert Jordan died, sadly). That series is awesome, though I have found that the detail everything is described in can get a bit tedious. It's a very good set of books, but I get the impression that it could've been a bit shorter or maybe faster paced and not lost too much.
That could be heresy in the eyes of Jordan fans, but it's just my opinion. I felt I got a lot more out of David Gemmel's books in a shorter period of time.

I'm with you on Robert Jordan. I read the first 5ish books and loved them--but there's only so much of the same thing you can read at once! By the time I wanted to come back to them--I'd forgotten many of the details and had to start over ...and then still only made it through about the first 5 books. As much as I can respect and admire any author who can create that kind of saga--I just don't know if I'll ever make it to the end *sigh*

[Slite]

Originally Posted by Duodora

I'm with you on Robert Jordan. I read the first 5ish books and loved them--but there's only so much of the same thing you can read at once! By the time I wanted to come back to them--I'd forgotten many of the details and had to start over ...and then still only made it through about the first 5 books. As much as I can respect and admire any author who can create that kind of saga--I just don't know if I'll ever make it to the end *sigh*

Agreed, I loved the Wheel of Time series at first. But couldn't keep up wit it cause it got tedious after a while. To much of the same, and way to "describy" (I know that is not a real word).

Finished the Callisto series though. So I have no idea what to read next, still feel an urge to go back over the Barsoom-series for the umpteenth time. But we'll see what happens, have a pretty busy week ahead of me, so maybe the BeBook will have to be put on backburner for a while.

[DMcCunney]

Originally Posted by Slite

Currently re-reading Lin Carters Callisto series. And it still amazes me how such a blatant plagiarism of E.R. Burroughs Mars-series could possibly be written and published

Back in the day, you could do that. Lots of stuff used Burroughs as inspiration, even when he was alive. See Otis Adelbert Kline as a good example.

I knew Lin and his wife Noel, back when. He was an interesting guy, and I always wondered if he were capable of better than the hackwork he normally produced. I suspect it was a case similar to the late Robert Moore Williams, widely considered the preeminent SF hack writer. Williams once commented in a fanzine: "I write what the editors pay me to write. My work sells, and I have the royalty statements to prove it! It takes talent to stink 'em up just right!"

We do owe him a debt as the editor of the Ballantine Adult Fantasy series, released in the wake of Tolkien's Lord of the Rings trilogy, which introduced E.R. Eddison, William Morris and others to a wider audience.
______
Dennis

[DMcCunney]

Originally Posted by Londoner

The next book to read is the last in the Robert Jordan Wheel of Time series (with the exception of No. 12 which is being written by somebody else for next year as Robert Jordan died, sadly). That series is awesome, though I have found that the detail everything is described in can get a bit tedious. It's a very good set of books, but I get the impression that it could've been a bit shorter or maybe faster paced and not lost too much.
That could be heresy in the eyes of Jordan fans, but it's just my opinion. I felt I got a lot more out of David Gemmel's books in a shorter period of time.

I'm a Jordan fan, and largely concur. I believe the series was intended as a trilogy, but became what Tolkien said of _The Lord of the Rings_ - "a tale that grew in the tellling". The more Jordan wrote, the more he discovered he had to write to tell the story. He got progressively farther behind, and at one point Tor put him up in a hotel where he could write with no outside distractions.

I met hm a few years back on a signing tour for the then current WoT book. In response to a question of mine, he said he knew what the last scene in the last book was, but not exactly how he was going to get there. He was adamant it would not be a twelve book series.

I read the book he was then promoting, saw how much it didn't advance the plot, and said "He's right. this won't be a twelve book series. It will take at least thirteen!"

The final book, being finished posthumously by Brain Sanderson, will be number twelve...
______
Dennis

[nekokami]

Re-reading Summon the Keeper by Tanya Huff. I felt like some light humor, and have read (and re-read) all the relevant Pratchett too recently to go through them again just yet.

[Peadar Ó Guilín]

Reading Eifelheim by Michael Flynn.

[pilotbob]

So, I started Starfish... and it is just boring me to tears. So I stopped. I think I'll try Spin next, or maybe Fountain Full of Blood because I like Bleak Midwinter.

BOb

[BlackVoid]

I am reading Strange Attractors by Jeffrey A. Carver.
Before that I read the prequel: Neptune Crossing

Quite good, but not the best.

I am also reading a non-fiction book: The Selfish Gene by Richard Dawkins.

Prior to that, I read the Snowqueen trilogy by Joan D. Vinge (first book is the best) and the Realtime series books by Vernor Vinge (good).

My favorite in the past year remains the Revelation Space series by Alastair Reynolds. Any recommendation for similar books?

[BlackVoid]

Originally Posted by pilotbob

So, I started Starfish... and it is just boring me to tears. So I stopped. I think I'll try Spin next, or maybe Fountain Full of Blood because I like Bleak Midwinter.

BOb

Spin is good. The sequel is less so.

[GingerTez]

Reading Singularity Sky by Charles Stross

I recently read Halting State by him from my local library and thought it could have done with being more 'sci-fi' so when I heard about his SciFi books I thought I'd give one a go.

Enjoying it so far - no striking new ideas but very enjoyable (only on p41 so far).

Cheers,
Terry.

[Londoner]

Originally Posted by DMcCunney

I'm a Jordan fan, and largely concur. I believe the series was intended as a trilogy, but became what Tolkien said of _The Lord of the Rings_ - "a tale that grew in the tellling". The more Jordan wrote, the more he discovered he had to write to tell the story. He got progressively farther behind, and at one point Tor put him up in a hotel where he could write with no outside distractions.
_____
Dennis

Yeah I agree with what everybody's saying, it's a mammoth of a series. I've read them back to back up to this one (with a brief break between 10 and 11 for the rather excellent Lies of Locke Lamorra) and it's been a bit of a labour of love.
To be honest, you'll struggle if you take too many breaks because there are so many characters ( although it only follows about a dozen closely) that you inevitably get names confused. Especially considering the way most of them are in almost every book!
It's worth sticking with right the way through, but I now have a hell of wait for the final conclusion. Halfway through 11 now as I type this, and struggling to figure out how the massive conclusion to 11 books of build up is going to be achieved with just number 12.

[bbusybookworm]

Well, not being in the mood to start a new author, I've started to reread Ann McCaffrey's Talent Series.

I've just finished all three of the earlier Pegasus Books, and am currently slowly working my way through the third book in the series Damia's Children.

Rereading these reminds me how I got hooked on reading her work, as I started to really get into her work with this series, only later getting into Pern, Planet Pirates, etc.Would hearty recommend it to everyone.