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

[orangedotgreen]

Originally Posted by Latinandgreek

I hope that you are enjoying The Way of Kings. I plan on rereading it this month in preparation for the soon to be published sequel. Enjoy!

I love The Way of Kings. For me, reading it is a strange mix between wanting to know what will happen and enjoying each part and getting to understand as much as I can. I have a feeling that very soon I'll reach the point where I won't be able to put it down and my sleep time will go down drastically

And speaking of less sleeping, last night I finished The Mystery of the Blue Train. I liked it a lot and I was quite happy that Hastings wasn't involved in any way. Of the Poirot books I read, the ones he didn't narrate were my favourites, so I think I'll skip the ones where he appears.

[pdurrant]

Originally Posted by pdurrant

Now onto more short works, with last month's issue of Asimov's SF, March 2014. (Yes, the March issue comes out in January!)

A very good issue for me. I liked all the stories.

Next up: The Tower of Glass by Robert Silverberg. I suspect I've read this before. It's a purchase from December 2003 or January 2004.

[Yapyap]

Hmm. I seem to have neglected this thread for a bit.

Since my previous post, I've read a few more books: Under a Graveyard Sky (zombie apocalypse) by John Ringo, which I ended up enjoying more than I'd expected; Poison Princess (YA supernatural/paranormal apocalypse) by Kresley Cole, which I also ended up enjoying more than I'd expected; The Pirate's Wish (YA fantasy - magic, pirates, assassins, romance) by Cassandra Rose Clarke, which I enjoyed just like I'd expected to; and finally Last Scene Alive, the seventh in Charlaine Harris' Aurora Teagarden cosy-ish mystery series, which was enjoyable, but not in any way outstanding.

Last night I picked up The Explorer by James Smythe but didn't get very far into it yet (it's a paperback! eek! I keep forgetting just how much I always disliked reading paperbacks, even when there was no other choice - they're just so cumbersome to hold open).

It seems potentially interesting so far - it's a near-future (I think?) science fiction story that starts off with the only survivor of a deep-space mission talking about how everyone else died (this is pretty much what is in the book blurb/description, so not really a spoiler), but I'm assuming there's more to the story than that, considering I gather it's the first book in a series, and while a lone survivor narrating his lonely days on spaceship might, maybe, at a stretch, work for one book, I can't really imagine it's all that there is.... I've done my best to avoid spoilers beyond what I already knew from the blurb!

[CRussel]

Originally Posted by pdurrant

I finished Crocodile on the Sandbank, which I enjoyed a lot, although the villain and motives were obvious from about half way through. I'm looking forward to reading the rest over the next few years.

Now to finish up my anthology of short stories.

Originally Posted by HarryT

Yes, as I said when you initially asked, it's really not the mysteries which make this an enjoyable series - you don't have to be Sherlock Holmes to figure out "whodunnit" . It's the atmosphere and characters that make them worth reading.

Originally Posted by CRussel

FWIW, I was just able to buy the first four books in the series, as an omnibus, from Kobo. The price was $13.04, and it was Coupon-able with a 50% off coupon. Making the price per book ~$1.51. The Canadian price was a few cents more, but also accepted coupons. The omnibus was NOT available from Amazon.

I'm about halfway through Crocodile on the Sandbank, by Elizabeth Peters, and I'm enjoying it a lot. You guys are doing nothing to shorten my TBR.

I've got the first four in the omnibus, so I won't have to purchase any more for a while, but I'll keep my eyes open for some deals on later ones. And some of them may be available from the BC Library, so that's an option.

[HarryT]

Originally Posted by CRussel

I'm about halfway through Crocodile on the Sandbank, by Elizabeth Peters, and I'm enjoying it a lot. You guys are doing nothing to shorten my TBR.

I've got the first four in the omnibus, so I won't have to purchase any more for a while, but I'll keep my eyes open for some deals on later ones. And some of them may be available from the BC Library, so that's an option.

I'm pleased to hear you're enjoying it - I think it's a thoroughly enjoyable series. The author was (she died only last year) a professional Egyptologist, who wrote fiction as a "sideline", so all the Egyptological details are correct.

[CRussel]

Originally Posted by HarryT

I'm pleased to hear you're enjoying it - I think it's a thoroughly enjoyable series. The author was (she died only last year) a professional Egyptologist, who wrote fiction as a "sideline", so all the Egyptological details are correct.

Yes, I knew that. Funny thing is, my wife has been reading Elizabeth Peters for years and years, and at some point I tried one and it didn't click. So I just blew her off and never tried again. So there are several of her books that are in her Audible library that I may try to read that way. Of course, right now I have WAY more Audible books than I have time to read, and am currently sitting on 4 credits, so I don't really need any more audio books to read. Which is why I started this as an eBook, frankly.

[HarryT]

The audiobooks are very well done. The woman who reads them has a wonderful range of voices, including an amazing "baritone" voice for Emerson!

[CRussel]

Good to know, Harry. As I said, there are several of them here, and I think I've even already converted them to DRM-free m4b, but if not that's easy enough to do. My iPhone gets cranky if I try to put books from all three of our accounts on it. So I convert the ones from her account and just put my US and my Canadian account on unconverted.

Hmmm. I just looked and there are two narrators who appear to have done the Amelia Peabody books - Barbara Rosenblat and Susan O'Malley. Which narrator were you referring to? (It looks like the ones we have are Barbara Rosenblat.)

[HarryT]

The ones I've heard are the Barbara Rosenblat ones. She is an excellent narrator.

[CRussel]

Originally Posted by HarryT

The ones I've heard are the Barbara Rosenblat ones. She is an excellent narrator.

Good, that's what we have. And I just went and listened to samples of the two, and I certainly wouldn't buy the Susan O'Malley ones as a first choice.

But now, back to work. And when I finish this Heyer (The Nonesuch) I'm listening to, I think I'll listen to The Curse of the Pharaohs.

[Gazella]

Currently reading Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children. I'm on chapter five. It's okay so far. I hope it gets better. The photographs in the book are very peculiar.

[Tarana]

I did not know that Elizabeth Peters was an egyptologist. That explains the interesting locals. I started with Deeds of the Disturber, but did not finish because while I enjoy the writing, it was too complex for me at the time (long story). I did not give up on it, because I enjoyed it and will return to it perhaps in the spring.

Anyway, I'm currently reading <b>Twelve Drummers Drumming<b> by C C Benison. I'm about halfway through. There are some aspects that annoy me, and it does tend to be more descriptive than action oriented. So far the characters are enjoyable and the plot has continued to thicken (another body just discovered!). I am also listening to <b>A Christmas Carol </b> read by Tim Curry. I put it off because I always listen to Patrick Stewart's version of the story.

[pdurrant]

Originally Posted by pdurrant

Next up: The Tower of Glass by Robert Silverberg. I suspect I've read this before. It's a purchase from December 2003.

I had read it before. I'm not surprised I'd almost completely forgotten it. Unconvincing in almost every way - technology, plot, characters, society.

Now for something completely different: The Unfinished Clue by Georgette Heyer. Her 17th novel, and part of my bulk buy when they were on offer at BooksOnBoard in August 2012.

[Dazrin]

Originally Posted by Dazrin

Still don't have my next library book available, so I am probably going to try Sandstorm by James Rollins, the first "Sigma Force" book. It was cheap today at Amazon ($2) and has been on my "want to try" list for a long time. My library only has an audio book for #1, but has ebooks for at least #2 and 3 in this series.

Sandstorm was entertaining but I had a hard time reading parts of it. I was not able to suspend my disbelief entirely in some cases and he kept using one phrase to describe other character's feelings that really bothered me. If this had been a first book (rather than just first in the series) I wouldn't have as many issues with the repetitive phrase, but it looks like he had several books published earlier, so I have a little less leeway. I may still read the next one, but it will be a while.

Next is Steelheart by Brandon Sanderson, another book purchased in January during one of Amazon's sales.

[CRussel]

Originally Posted by pdurrant

I had read it before. I'm not surprised I'd almost completely forgotten it. Unconvincing in almost every way - technology, plot, characters, society.

Now for something completely different: The Unfinished Clue by Georgette Heyer. Her 17th novel, and part of my bulk buy when they were on offer at BooksOnBoard in August 2012.

You know, I never quite got Silverberg. I tried several of his in my youth, and they just didn't work. Then I tried one again 15 years or so ago, and it still didn't work. Gave up and decided he just wasn't my cuppa.

Heyer, OTOH, is always a pleasure, even the mysteries.