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

[Elsi]

Originally Posted by Elsi

For the next week or two, I'm going to concentrate on the bookring books that I need to read and get on their way to the next readers. The Girl Who Stopped Swimming by Joshilyn Jackson, Change of Heart by Jodi Picoult, and the Fear Trilogy by Kay Hooper (Hunting Fear, Chill of Fear, and Sleeping With Fear.) These are, of course, paper books.

Urp! While I did get started on the Fear Trilogy, I haven't touched the rest of the bookring books. Since I've been concentrating on books that I owe in various book swaps, I haven't been reading too much on either the Kindle or the Sony reader. I've been stuck reading *paper* books!

• 130. After Long Silence by Sherri S Tepper (7 Dec, MMP) - owed in a swap
• 131. MaidenFlight by Bianca D'Arc (10 Dec, Kindle)
• 132. Master of the Night by Angela Knight (12 Dec, MMP) -owed in a swap
• 133. The Parting by Beverly Lewis (14 Dec, TP) - owed in a swap
• 134. The Forbidden by Beverly Lewis (16 Dec, TP) - sequel to The Parting and I'm sending it as a bonus
• 135. Kingdom of Cages by Sarah Zettel (19 Dec, MMP) - owed in a swap

Of these books, the only ones that I really enjoyed were After Long Silence and Kingdom of Cages, both superb SF novels.

MaidenFlight was a novella offered for free at Amazon.com; the print edition contained the first two novellas in this series. The story line was fair, the premise was promising, but the explicit sex scenes ruined the book for me. I won't spend anything to obtain the rest of the series.

The Parting and The Forbidden were disappointing. The setting is an Amish community in 1966 and the author used this context for (in my opinion) blatant evangelization as her primary characters leave their strict community and its Ordnung in favor of a salvation-based New Order. I prefer the approach that Jodi Picoult took in Plain Truth which based the plot more heavily on the conflict between an Amish way of life and that of the modern world.

I'm currently reading Chill of Fear by Kay Hooper; second in the Fear Trilogy. I'll then finish this trilogy, read the other two bookring books, and then I'm going to pick out some books that I want to read just for the heck of it. One good thing about participating in the bookrings and swaps is that it does guide my choice of next book(s) to read.

[Todd A Fonseca]

All, Just finished "The Jade Owl" by Edward C Patterson. Very good read especially if you like Chinese Culture.
See full review below...

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Rating: 4.5 of 5
Author: Edward C. Patterson
Available: Paperback, Kindle

After relocating from New York City to take on the position of a lifetime, sinologist Professor Rowden Gray learns upon his arrival that his position at the San Francisco Museum of East Asian Arts and Culture has been eliminated. Furious with the last minute turn of events, Gray stumbles upon Nick Battle who is none other than the son of Gray’s long time mentor – John Battle. Gray finds that Nick possesses The Jade Owl an ancient Chinese relic previously believed to be the stuff of legend. They discover that The Jade Owl may open a sister relic The Joy of Finches held captive in the Museum’s Asian display. Together they find The Jade Owl to be more than a relic, but the key to finding the lost tomb of the only empress to rule over the middle kingdom – Wu Tze-t’ien.

An eclectic expedition team including Gray, Nick, Nick’s life partner and drag queen – Simone, a one-eyed Cherokee – Griffen, and Chinese American martial arts expert – Audrey, set out to return The Jade Owl to the empress. However, the Owl reveals itself to be much more than a relic, but a vessel for controlling, channeling, and altering Chi creating unspeakable power. These China Hands must return the Owl in time or unleash it’s dangers to the world.

In The Jade Owl, Edward C. Patterson does a masterful job at taking the reader deep into a journey of China’s cultural treasures. The history, foods, people, architecture, politics, even aromas of Hong Kong, Canton, Shanghai, Beijing, Guilin, are carefully and beautifully conveyed and Patterson’s expertise in this area shines. He has also created characters so real that one feels they are reading a diary of life experiences as opposed to fictional fantasy. As a result, The Jade Owl has all of the intrigue and interest of an Indiana Jones mystery but is grounded in the reality of true to life characters making it more satisfying in the end.

My only hesitation to giving this novel 5 stars was the lack of conflict and action driving the first half of the book. While the mystery of The Jade Owl is the backbone of the story, it seemed to fade to the background in the first half in favor of the rich cultural excursions the expedition team took as they traveled China. None-the-less, this is a very satisfying read and Patterson is a very accomplished writer.

For those looking for the cultural intrigue of the middle kingdom and a fantastical mystery involving ancient relics of a long forgotten empress, The Jade Owl delivers. It is the first of the five book Jade Owl legacy.

[pilotbob]

Originally Posted by Todd A Fonseca

All, Just finished "The Jade Owl" by Edward C Patterson. Very good read especially if you like Chinese Culture.
See full review below...

Hey! Why are you reading? You need to be writing the sequel to The Time Cavern!

BOb

[Gibbo]

I've started reading the Star Trek: Gateways septuple series.

[nekokami]

Re-reading Five Twelfths of Heaven by Melissa Scott.

[pilotbob]

Originally Posted by Gibbo

I've started reading the Star Trek: Gateways septuple series.

That's a good series, if I remember it correctly.

BOb

[lilac_jive]

Now I'm reading "Matter of Scandal" by Suzanne Enoch. I did just get these books from the library though:

Remember Me by Sophie Kinsella
The Snowball by Alice Schroeder
The Little Prince by St. Exupery

I want to read those next, good thing for a holiday!

[Harry001]

Right now i am reading: Red Rabbit from Tom Clany.
After that I will finish the whole "Jack Ryan Series" from Tom Clancy (without the last one, because thats too bad).
When finished, I will start over to Ken Follett, beginning with "Pillars of Earth" and ending with "World without End" (bridges and Vatikan in between)
And after that i probably start Wilbur Smith with all his books, James Clavell or all of Michener.
take care

Harry

[MonaLS]

I'm on a P.D. James kick right now. Started with The Private Patient, then The Lighthouse, Death in Holy Orders and now on The Murder Room. Interspersed with Mort, Maskerade, Reaper Man and Soul Music by Terry Pratchett, and preceded by Neuromancer by William Gibson.

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by Gibbo

I've started reading the Star Trek: Gateways septuple series.

I've read that and I found it very good overall. But don't forget What Lay Beyond. It is the last book that has the endings to all the main books in this series. The SCE book Creative Couplings is a sort of epilogue that you can read for this as as well.

[Sparrow]

I'm leaving my CyBook at home while I'm away for Christmas (to keep it safe from hyperactive nephews).

I'm taking a couple of pbooks instead - 'The Ice Schooner' by Michael Moorcock; and Pratchett's 'Colour of Magic' as back-up.

[ErwinOtten]

Just read a Wodehouse...... The Swoop!, or How Clarence Saved England.

Little satire about the invasion of England by 9 different armies. Interesting story seen in the light that it's written before the two world-wars.

[nekokami]

Interrupted Five Twelfths of Heaven to read a pbook loaned by a friend: Graywalker, an urban fantasy by Kat Richardson. I rather liked it. A bit of a gritty noir P.I. sort of feel, with ghosts, etc. Probably back to Five Twelfths now, though I might get distracted by some Garth Nix. Oh, and the library called to tell me a book I was on the waiting list for has become available (I presume it's Brisingr), but I won't have a chance to pick it up until Friday, and I don't know if they'll hold it until then.

[Dr. Drib]

Originally Posted by Sparrow

I'm leaving my CyBook at home while I'm away for Christmas (to keep it safe from hyperactive nephews).

I'm taking a couple of pbooks instead - 'The Ice Schooner' by Michael Moorcock; and Pratchett's 'Colour of Magic' as back-up.

I saw a paperback book once -- at an antique shop. Unfortunately, it didn't have a back/side light, so I decided not to buy it.

I love Moorcock's work. Right now, unfortunately, what's available seems to be agressively priced. The book you have, I read years ago and loved it.

Don

[Todd A Fonseca]

All, I just finished one of the most unique books I've read. I didn't think I'd like it but the author sent me a copy to review and I must say it was one of the best (though clearly offbeat) reads I've had all year.

See full review below!

************************************************

Cluck: Murder Most Fowl – Where Evil Comes To Roost!

Rating: 5 of 5
Author: Eric Knapp

Somewhere outside of Detriot Michigan, a spectral cosmic light lasting only moments, intersects the souls of a young suburban boy named Arnold and a fabulously large Rooster. Afterward, Arnold is imbued with a second sight allowing him to see the souls of those around him, including animals – especially chickens. Seeing souls gives Arnold a slight glimpse into the future as the souls actions occur just before those of their corporeal hosts. Though an advantage in sports where Arnold can anticipate his opponents every move, it also sets him apart from the rest of humanity causing his eventual banishment by his parents to a home for boys. Recognized by Father Beau as gifted in second site, Arnold is sent to France where he joins a secret order of those men charged with banishing the souls of trapped fowl to the next life. However, though the order exists, none have the site of Arnold who quickly demonstrates his. He eventually becomes Armand - the Exorciste de Volaille - the poultry exorcist!

Meanwhile, across the world, the Rooster has also been forever changed by the light. Capable of thought and even speech, the Rooster becomes king of an ever expanding farm owned an operated by Bobby Garfundephelt and his wife. However, all is not well on the farm and without giving too much of the plot away, evil takes route on the farm and Bobby is forever haunted by the undead chickens and their Rooster king. Only Armand, now aged and scared with the wounds from setting straight the worlds “fowl” wrongs, can save Bobby. Or can he?...

Eric Knapp’s Cluck: Murder Most Fowl is a masterpiece. I honestly did not believe I would like this book as much as I did. Reminiscent of the Rod Serling’s Twilight Zone or even the best of what Tales from the Crypt had to offer, Knapp creates a intriguing and engaging tale of three lives intertwined and changed forever. This is an incredibly creative piece of fiction that in lesser hands would have come across at best campy and at worst just plain stupid. Rather, Knapp has pulled off an amazingly entertaining novel. The graphics by Ian Richard Miller at the onset of each chapter are perfect and are displayed in the oval shape of an egg. Completing the professional and all encompassing feel for the story is the unique font titling each chapter.

I don’t give out 5 stars easily and never expected to do so when I started this book. But truthfully, this is one of the most creative, different, offbeat funny, and intriguing books I’ve read this year. It is definitely not mainstream and one might have to be in the right mood to appreciate it’s brilliance, but I believe few would be disappointed in reading Cluck (I can’t believe I’m actually typing this). Good luck Mr. Knapp and congratulations on an extremely well written tale.