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

[jgaiser]

Finished a reread of The Blade Itself by Joe Abercrombie in preparation to read books 2 and 3 of the series. Originally read in February of 2011. Amazing how some of the details have disappeared from my memory. A great dark fantasy.

[lionelsnod]

For fans of Stieg Larson I recommend Henning Mankell. He's a Swedish author with some similarites. I should say the Kurt Wallander series to be precise. He has other books, but the Wallander series are the only ones that I've read. They are kind of heavy, you may want to read something a little lighter after you're done, but I really like them. I just finished The Dogs of Riga.

[HarryT]

Originally Posted by Hamlet53

My only exposure to the Inspector Morse books is from the wonderful series of TV adaptions. From your description I would love to read the books. Unfortunately it seems that some of the ebooks are available for purchase in the US, while some are not. It appears Last Bus to Woodstock is not.

Oh dear, I'm sorry to hear that. Presumably it's the usual case of the UK publisher releasing the eBooks and the US publisher not doing so. What a nuisance. I do hope you they become available to you before too long.

[alansplace]

Originally Posted by alansplace

I'd rather read them as eBooks as well, maybe they'll be available as Ebooks by the next time around. But since I have the hardbacks and they are reading just fine, they'll just have to do (since Pottermore is dragging its collective feet). I'd forgotten just how full of important story arc info it was. I've enjoyed this reading immensely and am now done and on to Year 5, Order of the Phoenix!

I'm finished with my re-read of Year 5, Order of the Phoenix and just put it back on the shelf and grabbed up Year 6, Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince!

[lemurfist]

The film adaptation of Order of the Phoenix was the one that finally pushed me to read the books.There were such blatant holes in plot/characters that I could tell they'd excised plenty of material. Was going to say the book was such an improvement that I never watched the other three films. Then the wife reminded me that we did sit through it about six months back. She fell asleep and seems to have found the whole experience far more memorable than I.

[alansplace]

Originally Posted by lemurfist

The film adaptation of Order of the Phoenix was the one that finally pushed me to read the books.There were such blatant holes in plot/characters that I could tell they'd excised plenty of material. Was going to say the book was such an improvement that I never watched the other three films. Then the wife reminded me that we did sit through it about six months back. She fell asleep and seems to have found the whole experience far more memorable than I.

Yeah, the first two books were relatively easy on the omissions and alterations, probably due mostly to their size as novels. The third one was not quite as easy on the omissions, (it failed to make clear just who the creators of the Marauders Map were, a terrible omission, IMHO) as it was a bit longer novel than the first two. But making a single movie from the next three was a really big problem (IMHO). But at least they did learn of the error in their thinking in time to make two movies out of the last novel. This adaptation was certainly not perfect, but better.

I just finished reading my favorite chapter of all the novels, the first chapter of Half Blood Prince. I really wish it had been filmed and included in the movie. Oh well, nuff' said!

[MickeyC]

Originally Posted by bcgirl

Am going to see here what everyone's reading to get an idea. How is Stephen Kings 11/22/63? Good?

I liked it. Much better than The Dome although not quite as good as It or The Stand

[Fbone]

Originally Posted by killdanzig

just got into "Divergent" by veronica roth.

so far this has me just as captivated as the hunger games did.

i went into it thinking it would be another quickly written hunger game-ish derivative, though i am VERY pleasantly surprised at its originality.

hopefully this trilogy can hold up over the long haul.

I thought it started well but fell quickly. Overall, I gave it 1 out 5 stars on GR.

[pdurrant]

Originally Posted by ATDrake

Finished Fellowship of Fear by Aaron Elkins, 1st in his Gideon Oliver, Intrepid Globe-Trotting Forensic Anthropologist series. I got this from Fictionwise for the low, low price of $1.60 during one of their previous 60% off coupon weekends and went back and bought the rest during their most recent one after having read the first half of this.

I added them to my wish list, and I think with the current 60% off sale (coupon code 021012), I must buy the first one and see how I like it.

[ATDrake]

Originally Posted by pdurrant

I added them to my wish list, and I think with the current 60% off sale (coupon code 021012), I must buy the first one and see how I like it.

There's a 60% off? Whee! George Alec Effinger shopping spree, here I come!

The 1st Gideon Oliver is not really all that representative of the series although you'll get enough of a gist of the forensic anthropologist content to see if it's science-y enough if that was the main appeal and Oliver's basic personality to see if his quirks are endearing, annoying, or neutral enough to live with. Elkins kind of went in a direction in that 1st book that he'd later devote to the Chris Norgren, Intrepid Globe-Trotting Art Curator books, the 3rd of which I shall now be picking up on sale (also a recommended series if you want to know about Baroque art and how art forgeries/thefts are done, but not as good quality as the Olivers, IMHO).

I'd suggest perhaps you might want to consider picking up the 3rd or 4th as well, which are where the series direction really begins (Murder in the Queene's Armes, the 3rd is set in England and involves an archaeological dig and Old Bones, the 4th, is the Edgar Award-winning one which is really good) and you can read the books standalone since they don't spoiler previous cases or have much in the way of major character interaction changes (kind of like Christies, in a a way).

But otherwise, they are quite fun and educational at points.

Oh, and you may want to take a look at George Alec Effinger's works if you haven't already. FW has added a lot to the catalogue since last year's early 60% off, and if you like a slightly quirky semi-satiric style (a little like the good Frederik Pohl stories in his Best Of short story collection) the late GAE seems to be very good indeed.

I just decided to scoop the lot of his works after recently finishing A Thousand Deaths and starting in upon Irrational Numbers, which I really ought to comment upon after I've gotten something to eat, and the stories were generally unusual, imaginative, varied, and enjoyable and I give a high recommend to what I've read thus far.

[jgaiser]

Originally Posted by ATDrake

Oh, and you may want to take a look at George Alec Effinger's works if you haven't already. FW has added a lot to the catalogue since last year's early 60% off, and if you like a slightly quirky semi-satiric style (a little like the good Frederik Pohl stories in his Best Of short story collection) the late GAE seems to be very good indeed.

I just decided to scoop the lot of his works after recently finishing A Thousand Deaths and starting in upon Irrational Numbers, which I really ought to comment upon after I've gotten something to eat, and the stories were generally unusual, imaginative, varied, and enjoyable and I give a high recommend to what I've read thus far.

Thanks for that. His books look interesting. Was hoping I wouldn't have to pass up this 60% discount.

[DiapDealer]

Originally Posted by cassidym

I liked it. Much better than The Dome although not quite as good as It or The Stand

That's exactly how I'd rank it as well.

I'm currently reading Teresa Frohock's Miserere. A strange, alternate reality, magical/religious, almost—but not quite—horror/fantasy thingy. It took me until about the one/third mark to commit, but I'm starting to be glad I did. It's probably not going to win any awards, but the author definitely has a way (at times) of inspiring some very creepy, goose-pimply imagery in my head. I like someone who manages to do that. Definitely someone I'll look for more books from in the future.

I have Paul Kearney's Corvus on deck. It's the sequel to The Ten Thousand (a fictional retelling of Xenophon's Anabasis). Although not really directly based on anything, the character of Corvus in this second installment of his Macht Trilogy is purported to have been markedly influenced by the historical figure of Alexander the Great. The final installment (Kings of Morning) looks like it's due to be released very soon(ish). So I'm trying to time the finish of this one to coincide with the new one's release.

[WT Sharpe]

Just finished one that I'm still trying to get a grip on: How the Hippies Saved Physics: Science, Counterculture, and the Quantum Revival by David Kaiser.

[Apache]

There's a 60% off? Whee! George Alec Effinger shopping spree, here I come!

I just had to get them too with the discount.
Apache

[Latinandgreek]

I'm reading Livy (book 21) and also the Steve Job's biography. I'm not one for biographies, we'll see if it will hold my interest.