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

[Apache]

Originally Posted by Fbone

That's rather typical for Simak. He often leaves things hanging. Some mysteries unexplained. He encourages the reader to meditate and explore his book's themes. Promotes critical thinking with human emotions even for his dog and robot characters. His Way Station is a really good novel.

I loved Way Station. It is one I like to reread occasionally.
Apache

[CRussel]

Originally Posted by HarryT

Cassidy is living proof that it's not too much for some people. I see that it's out in trade paperback next month, and normal paperback in November; I'd expect a small drop in the eBook price next month, and a significant drop in November.

Yup, not too much for some people. Too much for me, however. I simply won't pay that much for what he produces. I enjoy his books. But there are LOTS of books on my TBR, and if I wait a bit, it should come down at least a bit. I may well wait until November -- we'll see.

[alansplace]

Originally Posted by alansplace

I Just finished re-reading Year 6, 'Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince' and tomorrow I'll begin re-reading Year 7, 'Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows'.

I just finished re-reading Year 7, 'Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows'. This concludes my current re-read of the 7 Harry Potter books. I really enjoyed them all (again) and am probably going to begin a re-read of the 3 James Potter novels (by G. Norman Lippert) while I'm in this Potterverse mindset.

[tecweston]

Just Finished:

- Beekeeping for Beginners by Laurie R. King (short story) - This was 99¢ and shows how Sherlock Holmes met his apprentice Mary Russell (the protagonist of King's "beekeeper's apprentice" novels), from Holmes' point of view. I've never read any of these books but I enjoyed the short story quite a bit. I will be purchasing the first book in the series once I clear some other stuff off my list.

Currently reading:

- A Feast for Crows by George R.R. Martin (53%)

- The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald (38%)

- A Dance with Dragons by George R.R. Martin (34%)

- The Further Adventures of Sherlock Holmes: The Angel of the Opera by Sam Siciliano (33%)

- Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World That Can't Stop Talking by Susan Cain (~20%) [on hold]

[bcgirl]

Originally Posted by Dr. Drib

I'm half-way through "The Night Circus," by Erin Morgenstern.

I like the writing and the subject matter, but the book itself seems to be a mess and is poorly constructed, in my opinion.



Don

I totally agree. I wanted to pick up again, but got so lost in the timeline. It is interesting but I really get confused Stuck halfway.

[Fbone]

Originally Posted by Apache

I loved Way Station. It is one I like to reread occasionally.
Apache

The book is so unique. It holds its own even today despite being written 50 years ago.

[The Terminator]

Originally Posted by CRussel

Yup, not too much for some people. Too much for me, however. I simply won't pay that much for what he produces. I enjoy his books. But there are LOTS of books on my TBR, and if I wait a bit, it should come down at least a bit. I may well wait until November -- we'll see.

That's a rip off.

[SeaBookGuy]

Currently reading:

The Warmth of Other Suns (audiobook) - story of black migration north in the USA since WW I. Powerfully written, difficult to put down.

Pictures from Italy (ebook) - Charles Dickens' time in that country in the 1840's - funny without being at all over-the-top.

The Third Coast (hardcover) - author travels the entire Great Lakes clockwise from Chicago - he's just crossed over from Minnesota to Ontario after doing Wisconsin and the Upper Peninsula of Michigan.

Unwasted (paperback) - memoir of deciding to stop drinking, that I thought I might not be able to get into, but am finding interesting.

[WT Sharpe]

I just finished reading Appointment With Death: Hercule Poirot Investigates by Agatha Christie. Enjoyed the characters, but I didn't feel she played quite fair with the reader in this one.

[coderserdar]

from sir arthur conan doyle

the adventure of the norwood builder
the adventure of the dancing men

[pdurrant]

Originally Posted by pdurrant

Chronospace by Allen Steele

An interesting, if ultimately not very satisfying, time travel story.

Next: The second in the Petaybee series by Anne McCaffrey, Power Lines

Another I bought back in 2008. I read the first a while back, and it was OK, but not so good as to make me read the rest immediately. However, I generally like Anne McCaffrey, so it's time to give the others a go.

[poohbear_nc]

Originally Posted by Dr. Drib

I'm half-way through "The Night Circus," by Erin Morgenstern.

I like the writing and the subject matter, but the book itself seems to be a mess and is poorly constructed, in my opinion.



Don

I enjoyed this book very much - the writing is lyrical, and the imagery was breath-taking. I thought the book's construction was purposely "swirling" - to match the events at the circus, and in the lives of the characters.

This is one book that I think merits a re-reading -- many details in the early chapters would acquire more weight/significance - if you had some notion of their importance in later chapters.

[poohbear_nc]

I'm currently reading the Sergeant Struder mysteries by Friedrich Glauser, who is frequently described as the Swiss Simenon. If so, he was Simenon on drugs - literally. Glauser was a morphine addict who began writing whilst incarcerated in psychiatric asylums and prisons, and created marvelously odd casts of characters that are highly reminiscent of the townspeople Maigret encountered on his trips into a provincial backwater to solve a crime. In Matto's Realm is even set in a psychiatric hospital, where no one notices the hospital director lying dead at the foot of a staircase, although everyone heard him scream. And a nurse lying about his bruises. And an escaped child murdered that no one wants returned. Not to mention the missing money.

This type of "hot house" setting for a crime, where everyone knows each others' secrets & foibles, which must be painstakingly ferreted out by the detective, closely mirrors the Maigret mysteries in which Maigret enters a small village in which everyone knows who the killer is and lies to hide him because he is the brother of the mayor and is the only butcher in 50 miles who can get you a pork roast for Sunday ...... you get the picture.

If you enjoy Maigret, I think you will also enjoy Struder.
The translation (from colloquial Swiss German) is a bit odd in places [every time you read 'bacon' substitute 'ham' to make sense], and the nuances of "du" versus "Sie" in characters addressing one another are lost, but the books are quite readable in English.
Highly recommended for mystery buffs.

[CRussel]

Originally Posted by pdurrant

An interesting, if ultimately not very satisfying, time travel story.

Next: The second in the Petaybee series by Anne McCaffrey, Power Lines

Another I bought back in 2008. I read the first a while back, and it was OK, but not so good as to make me read the rest immediately. However, I generally like Anne McCaffrey, so it's time to give the others a go.

Don't bother would be my comment. These just never lived up to my hopes.

[CRussel]

Originally Posted by CRussel

Started No Mark Upon Her by Deborah Crombie, the latest Duncan Kincaid/Gemma James novel. I've had it here for a couple of weeks now, and my wife finished and really liked it, so I decided to jump on it and hold the Weber book as incentive.

Finished No Mark Upon Her by Deborah Crombie. This book was a bit of a slow start the first chapter or so, and I was annoyed at the who the victim was. But the book kept building and building for me, and I ended up reading until 1AM this morning to finish it.

The book features the ongoing relationship between the now married DCI Duncan Sinclair and DI Gemma James. In this case the victum is a singles sculler, working out of the Leander Club in Henley. And for rowing, it doesn't get any better than that. As someone who grew up around rowers and scullers, I found the backdrop very well done and compelling and the whole book gets a definite 5 out of 5. Highly Recommended.