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

[CRussel]

Originally Posted by CRussel

Just finished reading Hunter by Mercedes Lackey, the first in a new series/world. Rather better than several of her recent books, which I've found more than a little annoying and 'rushed'. This is a post-apocalyptic, parallel-world, creatures coming through, fantasy, with a youngish female protagonist whose powers keep getting better. (Hmmm, haven't we seen this before from her?) IAC, so far I've enjoyed the first one, going on to the second one.

And finished Elite, the second in this new series. Still enjoying it, but I don't mind waiting for the third, which is due soonish but not immediately.

Meanwhile, enough of this sort of thing, and back to reading mysteries. Currently reading a Margery Allingham Campion mystery -- The Beckoning Lady, gotten as a Kindle Unlimited ages ago, but not read yet. And since I'm going to drop KU, I figured I should read all the ones I have. And, I must say, a delightful read.

Also reading, via Audible, P.D. James' An Unsuitable Job for a Woman, narrated by Katie Scarfe. (This is also available from Audible in the US, but with a different narrator, so I went with the UK version. ) A delightful re-read. I had read this back in the 70's, but had forgotten nearly everything, so it's really a completely new book to me.

[DiapDealer]

Originally Posted by DiapDealer

Next up: more rollicking adventure with Neal Stephenson's and Nicole Galland's The Rise and Fall of D.O.D.O.

There were many fun moments in this epistolary, alt-history, time-traveling tale. Unfortunately, its hectic nature (multi-narrators telling the story through brief memos, emails and transcripts) didn't allow me to love it. It got off to great start, stumbled through the middle and then ended a bit abruptly (though it seems possible to me that this book could be setting the stage for further tales).

I've read epistolary novels before that I've really enjoyed, so I know it's not the format itself that caused me trouble. Stephenson's works usually resonate quite strongly with me, so I was a bit disappointed in that regard.

[Dngrsone]

Just finished Command Decision by Elizabeth Moon. Liked it a lot. Also found out that Ms. Moon was once (and always) a Marine.

I've begun Salt: A World History by Mark Kurlansky. One of the shortest titles for a non-fic I've seen in quite a while.

[astrangerhere]

Originally Posted by astrangerhere

<snip> reading We Are All Completely Beside Ourselves on the KA1.

Finished this last night. Still not sure what I think of it. Started off really strong, but somewhat lost the plot for me about 2/3 of the way through.

Moving on to Lindsey Davis' The Silver Pigs - the first in her 20ish mystery novels set in ancient Rome.

[JSWolf]

I'm currently reading Pale Kings and Princes by Robert B. Parker. It's the 14th book in the Spenser series. So far, it's quite good.

When a young journalist researching the cocaine trade in a small Massachusetts town is found murdered, private detective Spenser is called in to find out who is responsible. Wheaton isn't just any small town though - Spenser soon discovers it's one of the biggest cocaine distribution centres in the Northeast. But the local drugs cartel are not the only suspects—did the journalist get too close to the truth, or too close to the wife of a very jealous man?

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by pdurrant

Which was the usual fun with Sharpe. A nice afterword.

Are these recent downloads or older downloads? I read the first Sharpe eBook some time ago and it was full of errors. I think more recent versions have some/most of the errors fixed.

[pdurrant]

Originally Posted by JSWolf

Are these recent downloads or older downloads? I read the first Sharpe eBook some time ago and it was full of errors. I think more recent versions have some/most of the errors fixed.

I bought them in December 2013, but I'm reading newly downloaded copies. I didn't notice lots of errors.

[pdurrant]

Originally Posted by pdurrant

Next up: All the Birds in the Sky by Charlie Jane Anders. Looking good so far.

And it was good. A weird mixture of super science and magic. 4/5. Would have been 5/5 except that I felt the ending was a bit weak and rushed.

Next up: The Day After Never by Nathan Van Coops. The third in his time travel series.

It's an odd series for me, in that I don't really like the protagonist. But the ideas are interesting.

[astrangerhere]

Originally Posted by pdurrant

And it was good. A weird mixture of super science and magic. 4/5. Would have been 5/5 except that I felt the ending was a bit weak and rushed.

<snip>

That's interesting. I read it last year and I think it scrounged 2.5-3 stars from me. I'm not sure what rubbed me the wrong way, but it just didn't agree with me. I remember commenting to my wife that I thought it felt a little YA-ey, which is not a knock on it, but definitely means it was not for me.

I do agree about the end. I think it suffered pacing problems. There was a lot of time in the middle of the book that could have more constructively gotten us to that rushed ending.

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by pdurrant

I bought them in December 2013, but I'm reading newly downloaded copies. I din't notice lots of errors.

Thanks. I don't want to continue reading the Sharpe series if they are still full of errors.

[CRussel]

Originally Posted by CRussel

And finished Elite, the second in this new series. Still enjoying it, but I don't mind waiting for the third, which is due soonish but not immediately.

Meanwhile, enough of this sort of thing, and back to reading mysteries. Currently reading a Margery Allingham Campion mystery -- The Beckoning Lady, gotten as a Kindle Unlimited ages ago, but not read yet. And since I'm going to drop KU, I figured I should read all the ones I have. And, I must say, a delightful read.

Also reading, via Audible, P.D. James' An Unsuitable Job for a Woman, narrated by Katie Scarfe. (This is also available from Audible in the US, but with a different narrator, so I went with the UK version. ) A delightful re-read. I had read this back in the 70's, but had forgotten nearly everything, so it's really a completely new book to me.

Still reading the Campion, and enjoying it quite a bit. Very droll. Very British. And I love the characters.

Finished An Unsuitable Job for a Woman. I quite enjoyed this audio book, so I'm moving on immediately to the second and last in the series, The Skull Beneath the Skin.

[JSWolf]

I've finished Pale Kings and Princes by Robert B. Parker and I did enjoy it.

Now onto Star Trek: Department of Temporal Investigations: Shield of the Gods By Christopher L. Bennett

The stalwart agents of the Department of Temporal Investigations have tracked down many dangerous artifacts, but now they face a greater, more personal challenge: retrieving a time-travel device stolen from their own vault by a rogue agent of the Aegis, a powerful, secretive group that uses its mastery of time to prevent young civilizations from destroying themselves. Blaming the Aegis itself for a tragedy yet to come, this renegade plans to use the stolen artifact to sabotage its efforts in the past, no matter what the cost to the timeline. Now the DTI’s agents must convince the enigmatic Aegis to work alongside them in order to protect history—but they must also wrestle with the potential consequences of their actions, for preserving the past could doom countless lives in the future!

[poohbear_nc]

I'm not sure how it happened, but I am re-reading in tandem the Gervase Fen mystery novels by Edmund Crispin and the Philip Marlowe mystery novels by Raymond Chandler. Both authors were brilliant wordsmiths and stylists, in each their own distinctive fashion. And both were enamored of convoluted plots populated by memorably eccentric characters.

I began this reading adventure after completing a re-read of the Hilary Tamar mystery novels by Sarah Caudwell.

[pdurrant]

Originally Posted by astrangerhere

That's interesting. I read it last year and I think it scrounged 2.5-3 stars from me.

Sometimes that can happen. There are stories in the SF magazines that I hate because of the writing style or topic, but I know that they must have some merit or the editor wouldn't have selected them, even if they're not for me.

[Luffy]

Originally Posted by CRussel

Still reading the Campion, and enjoying it quite a bit. Very droll. Very British. And I love the characters.

Finished An Unsuitable Job for a Woman. I quite enjoyed this audio book, so I'm moving on immediately to the second and last in the series, The Skull Beneath the Skin.

I loved the first Cordelia Gray mystery, having given it 4 stars. But the sequel eked only 2 stars from me.