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

[ATDrake]

Finished Elizabeth Peters' Borrower of the Night, 1st in the Vicky Bliss series which was a rather good read.

Though it started off somewhat slowly (at certain points I was pretty blank on exactly what the characters were doing and why because I'd vaguely skimmed the library catalogue blurb and couldn't remember what the book was supposed to be about) it did pick up and become a quite entertaining untangling the aristocratic family mystery/historical treasure hunt novel.

It was almost a non-murder mystery, which was fairly refreshing, given that I was expecting the characters to trip over and/or provide freshly-killed corpses every few chapters the way that most mysteries consider de rigueur*.

Fun enough for me to pick up the other books from the library (I currently have 2 more out and will shortly figure out which comes where in the series, something that HC has not seen fit to print in the front of the book, so I guess I'll be comparing copyright dates). I should mention that the PDF e-book edition of this had a small number of typos, which must be rather irritating for people who paid for that version and can't fix them short of copy-pasting hand-assembed replacement images of the "corrected" text on top of the mistakes.

Incidentally, this seems to mark the halfway mark for the 100 books in 2011 challenge for me. The list says it's #50 of the new reads (re-reads I mark with roman numerals or alphabetical suffixes, depending on whether I do them in paper or e-).

* Some authors seem to think that the sleuthiness of their sleuth is judged by the size of his/her inadvertent body count. Bonus points if extra people were killed because they were getting too close to the truth.

Doubleplus bonus points if the killer who seems about to get away with it all due to a lack of concrete evidence is accidentally killed by the sleuth who's just figured everything out and stupidly gone to accuse the killer without proper backup while the killer is trying to kill the sleuth to get rid of the final piece of evidence.

[maianhvk]

I stayed up late yesterday to finish Riyria Revelations' first book. 2am. and I'm definitely going to the next one in the series love it, Iridal

[phenomshel]

Originally Posted by ATDrake

Going through my Read an E-book Week Smashwords specials to decide which, if any, sequels to get.

Finished Elizabeth Ann Scarborough's The Drastic Dragon of Draco, Texas, one of her previously printed 80s backlist books which I freely admit I just picked up because there was a dragon involved, according to the blurb and cover art. It turned out to be a fairly funny comedic period fantasy, with a re-awakened alien dragon god raiding cattle in the Wild West and expecting sacrifice, though not of the sort you might expect.

Scarborough's use of dialect is much more tolerable in this book than in The Godmother's Apprentice. More naturalistic use of quaint folksy vocabulary and fewer teeth-gritting phonetic misspellings to indicate "foreign" speechifying.

Fun light mock-western fantasy romp, mildly recommended if you like such (a bit reminiscent of Alan Dean Foster's Mad Amos stories, come to think of it). I enjoyed it enough to go and buy the sequel in my 2nd batch of Smashwords purchases this afternoon after skimming the sample, which seems to set things up promisingly.

Currently moved on to Scarborough's Channeling Cleopatra, which seems to be a relatively newly written small-press book about using genetic material to recreate the personalities of famous historical personages within donor hosts.

Mildly interesting so far, but not really grabbing me. Unless it becomes very compelling within the next few chapters, I think I'll leave off getting the follow-up until the next round of sales.

Oh. My. I read this YEARS ago in paperback (my mom had it) and ADORED it. I had forgotten all about it until just now when you mentioned it. I HAVE to have this...

Originally Posted by jgaiser

Started The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society this morning and have managed to knock almost half of it off.

Thanks to a recommendation from bevdeforges after I read 84, Charing Cross Road.

Book lovers will love this novel.

I did totally love it. Read it twice, as a matter of fact.

Originally Posted by ATDrake

Finished Elizabeth Peters' Borrower of the Night, 1st in the Vicky Bliss series which was a rather good read.

Though it started off somewhat slowly (at certain points I was pretty blank on exactly what the characters were doing and why because I'd vaguely skimmed the library catalogue blurb and couldn't remember what the book was supposed to be about) it did pick up and become a quite entertaining untangling the aristocratic family mystery/historical treasure hunt novel.

It was almost a non-murder mystery, which was fairly refreshing, given that I was expecting the characters to trip over and/or provide freshly-killed corpses every few chapters the way that most mysteries consider de rigueur*.

Fun enough for me to pick up the other books from the library (I currently have 2 more out and will shortly figure out which comes where in the series, something that HC has not seen fit to print in the front of the book, so I guess I'll be comparing copyright dates). I should mention that the PDF e-book edition of this had a small number of typos, which must be rather irritating for people who paid for that version and can't fix them short of copy-pasting hand-assembed replacement images of the "corrected" text on top of the mistakes.

Incidentally, this seems to mark the halfway mark for the 100 books in 2011 challenge for me. The list says it's #50 of the new reads (re-reads I mark with roman numerals or alphabetical suffixes, depending on whether I do them in paper or e-).

* Some authors seem to think that the sleuthiness of their sleuth is judged by the size of his/her inadvertent body count. Bonus points if extra people were killed because they were getting too close to the truth.

Doubleplus bonus points if the killer who seems about to get away with it all due to a lack of concrete evidence is accidentally killed by the sleuth who's just figured everything out and stupidly gone to accuse the killer without proper backup while the killer is trying to kill the sleuth to get rid of the final piece of evidence.

Vicky at least admits when she's been stupid. (Yes, I talk about her like she's a real person...read a few more and you'll know why!). The order is this:

Borrower of the Night
Street of the Five Moons
Silhouette in Scarlet
Trojan Gold
Night Train to Memphis (there's a story about the song in this one...ask me when you get to it and I'll explain.)
The Laughter of Dead Kings.

[Fbone]

Originally Posted by pdurrant

Oh. I'm sorry to hear that. I rather liked it myself. I suppose the one thing that discussions like this thread help us to understand is that taste in literature varies a great deal.

That's ok. It was a library book anyway. I am a bit of a literary snob. I finish very few of the books I start.

This is why I didn't care for the ending ...

Spoiler:

The person who was "murdered" was the murderer. I really don't like for people to return from the dead. It's a cheap way to keep readers from figuring out whodunit. Also, the AIsource mind control angle was strange. Rogue computers and politics within computer minds? A downer.

[pdurrant]

Originally Posted by Fbone

This is why I didn't care for the ending ...

Spoiler:

The person who was "murdered" was the murderer. I really don't like for people to return from the dead. It's a cheap way to keep readers from figuring out whodunit. Also, the AIsource mind control angle was strange. Rogue computers and politics within computer minds? A downer.

Yeah, granted it's an old plot device.

Spoiler:

Although the convenient absence of a body should have made me much more suspicious. I rather liked the whole AI take on things, even if they are (almost literally, not just literarily) deus ex machina.

[pdurrant]

Originally Posted by pdurrant

MYTH-Interpretations: The Worlds of Robert Asprin by Robert Asprin.

Well. Lighter, but one or two of the stories are a little grim in a blackly humorous way. A fun read in general.

Next, another from the October 2010 webscription: Monster Hunter Vendetta by Larry Correia

This is his second novel, following on from Monster Hunter International. I enjoyed the first, and hope the second is equally enjoyable.

[Iridal]

Originally Posted by maianhvk

I stayed up late yesterday to finish Riyria Revelations' first book. 2am. and I'm definitely going to the next one in the series love it, Iridal

If you liked the first book, you're going to love the rest of the series I can't take all the credit by the way, I started reading this series because Latinandgreek recommended them.

The Hunger Games was superb! I'm going to start the next one in the series (Catching Fire) tonight.

[Cyclops]

Having enjoyed Aldiss's Greybeard (see here http://sfaddict.blogspot.com/2011/03...oud-beard.html I'm going to read a similar book by J.G.Ballard, The Wind from Nowhere, his debut novel from 1962!

[BenG]

Finally getting around to reading The Long Ships by Frans G. Bengtsson.
Here's a review by Michael Chabon:
http://www.theparisreview.org/blog/2...he-long-ships/

[kennyc]

Started a short(ish) story by Ted Chiang - The Lifecycle of Software Objects.

[poohbear_nc]

With more of the classic mystery titles finally acquiring (legitimate) ebook versions, I've been indulging in Ellery Queen, John Dickson Carr, and Elizabeth Ferrars. And marveling continuously at these authors' command of language, and the breadth of their vocabulary (I've changed my Kindle default dictionary to the Chambers Dictionary - has much more coverage of older British & Scottish vocabulary and idioms)

[januaryman]

Originally Posted by FlorenceArt

I tried to read Tom Sawyer recently and was not very impressed. I guess I should try again...

Tom Sawyer was more a children's book. Your adult tastes might enjoy Huckleberry Finn, but of course there is that N word issue that seems to bother folks. So The Mysterious Stranger would be best in that case. One of Twain's great commentary on us humans and a funny-tragic tale as well.

I just finished Agatha Christie's Mysterious Affair at Styles. Surprising things that lady could do to plots! It was a quick but engrossing read.

[Latinandgreek]

Originally Posted by Iridal

If you liked the first book, you're going to love the rest of the series I can't take all the credit by the way, I started reading this series because Latinandgreek recommended them.

The Hunger Games was superb! I'm going to start the next one in the series (Catching Fire) tonight.

I'm so happy that you both are enjoying the series so much!

I'm reading "Rats Saw God" (in p-book) by Rob Thomas. I had high hopes for this book, as I LOVE Thomas' t.v. series Veronica Mars and Party Down. So, far, it is not disappointing!

[jgaiser]

Finished The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society this morning. A quick read and a delightful book. It's a shame it's author didn't live to see how enthusiastically the reading world received her book.

[BearMountainBooks]

Originally Posted by ATDrake

Finished Elizabeth Peters' Borrower of the Night, 1st in the Vicky Bliss series which was a rather good read.

Though it started off somewhat slowly (at certain points I was pretty blank on exactly what the characters were doing and why because I'd vaguely skimmed the library catalogue blurb and couldn't remember what the book was supposed to be about) it did pick up and become a quite entertaining untangling the aristocratic family mystery/historical treasure hunt novel.

It was almost a non-murder mystery, which was fairly refreshing, given that I was expecting the characters to trip over and/or provide freshly-killed corpses every few chapters the way that most mysteries consider de rigueur*.

Fun enough for me to pick up the other books from the library (I currently have 2 more out and will shortly figure out which comes where in the series, something that HC has not seen fit to print in the front of the book, so I guess I'll be comparing copyright dates). I should mention that the PDF e-book edition of this had a small number of typos, which must be rather irritating for people who paid for that version and can't fix them short of copy-pasting hand-assembed replacement images of the "corrected" text on top of the mistakes.

Incidentally, this seems to mark the halfway mark for the 100 books in 2011 challenge for me. The list says it's #50 of the new reads (re-reads I mark with roman numerals or alphabetical suffixes, depending on whether I do them in paper or e-).

* Some authors seem to think that the sleuthiness of their sleuth is judged by the size of his/her inadvertent body count. Bonus points if extra people were killed because they were getting too close to the truth.

Doubleplus bonus points if the killer who seems about to get away with it all due to a lack of concrete evidence is accidentally killed by the sleuth who's just figured everything out and stupidly gone to accuse the killer without proper backup while the killer is trying to kill the sleuth to get rid of the final piece of evidence.

I think I have a list of the order on my blog, but even easier is to go to www.stopyourekillingme.com and plug in the series or author. It will list the order.

I LOVE that series. Remains one of my favorites!!!