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

[Number9]

Originally Posted by Luffy

The third volume, Oathbringer, is not as good as the first two ones in the Stormlight Archive series.

I beg to differ. 😉

[Luffy]

Originally Posted by Number9

I beg to differ. 😉

Fair enough. I too beg to differ.

[pdurrant]

Originally Posted by pdurrant

Now I'm reading The Valley of Shadows by John Ringo and Mike Massa. Another viewpoint on Ringo's Zombie apocalypse series. I expect it to be a quick fun read.

And indeed it was. If you count extreme violence in a zombie apocalypse 'fun'.


Next up: Guilty Not Guilty by Felix Francis. A mystery/detective story set (somehow) in the world of horse racing. Should be fun.

[PurpleStar]

I finally finished The Institute by Stephen King. Good book!

Just started Polaris Rising by Jessie Mihalik. I'll try anything that has a space chick with a gun on the cover.

[pdurrant]

Originally Posted by pdurrant

Next up: Guilty Not Guilty by Felix Francis. A mystery/detective story set (somehow) in the world of horse racing. Should be fun.

And it was fun. Although I don't think the title or tag line did it any favours.

And Felix needs an editor to help him cut back on irrelevant info dumps. No need to show all your research.

But the story was good. The next one will be on my wishlist.

Next up: All the Plagues of Hell by Eric Flint and David Freer.

[ReadingManiac]

Well I meant to start The Way of Kings but somehow I started The Black Prism by Brent Weeks. No worries though, Way of Kings is definitely next!

[restinginlove]

Currently reading The Preacher's Wife by Kate Bowler, as someone who's been in and out of evangelical subcultures but doesn't know a lot about the megachurch world, it's been really interesting!

Also listening to the audiobook of Children of the Land by Marcelo Hernandez Castillo. I saw it recommended as something to read in lieu of American Dirt (as far as like, actually having migrants tell their own stories) and so far it's beautifully written and a little heartbreaking.

[gmw]

For one reason or another it's been a while since I posted on this thread. Since then my reading has included...

The Bookshop by Penelope Fitzgerald. This was a New Leaf Book club selection and you can read more about it here:


In the Lair a collection of short stories by various indie authors. I bought this ages ago but only just got around to reading it. As might be expected, some were something of a disaster, some were okay, and a small handful were very good. My pick of the bunch would be: "Whispering Willows" by Patty Jansen, but I also liked "The Song Her Heart Sang: A Story of Thera" by Steven Savile and "Pickaxe" by Rhett C. Bruno. The good stories rescue this to a 3/5 for the collection.


Looking for something a bit more bright and cheerful I read five books in a series: The Not So Secret Emails of Coco Pinchard & Coco Pinchard’s Big Fat Tipsy Wedding & Coco Pinchard, The Consequences of Love and Sex & A Very Coco Christmas (short story) & Coco Pinchard’s Must-Have Toy Story (short story) by Robert Bryndza. Bryndza is perhaps better known for his murder mysteries (I haven't tried those yet, though my wife says they are very good). These Coco Pinchard stories are generally classified as romantic comedies, but I'd be more inclined to simply classify them as contemporary comedies. They are all good fun and quite compulsive in the strange way - not, I hope, for the prurient interest in reading someone else's emails, but because the author has put the stories together very well. Great characters, lots of laughs - or at least lots of smiles. 4/5 the lot of them.


And mood swinging the other way, I headed to the end of the world with the trilogy: The Last Policeman & Countdown City & World of Trouble by Ben H. Winters. Excellent. Somewhat surprising because I thought the end of the world would be more of a thriller ride, each was a surprisingly gentle mystery (with occasional sparks of violence) set against the background of impending doom. And I thought it really worked well. The mysteries twisted around quite well, not necessarily surprising, but well done. The large cast of characters were diverse and well drawn. The slow but accelerating decline of civilisation was convincing and felt quite real. 4/5 for all - perhaps 4.5/5 for the last one, I thought it was particularly well handled.

[Fbone]

Originally Posted by gmw

F

And mood swinging the other way, I headed to the end of the world with the trilogy: The Last Policeman & Countdown City & World of Trouble by Ben H. Winters. Excellent. Somewhat surprising because I thought the end of the world would be more of a thriller ride, each was a surprisingly gentle mystery (with occasional sparks of violence) set against the background of impending doom. And I thought it really worked well. The mysteries twisted around quite well, not necessarily surprising, but well done. The large cast of characters were diverse and well drawn. The slow but accelerating decline of civilisation was convincing and felt quite real. 4/5 for all - perhaps 4.5/5 for the last one, I thought it was particularly well handled.

I read The Last Policeman some years ago and it often crosses my mind.

[Fbone]

Finally finished Old Bones by Preston & Child. While it was nice to see Nora take the lead, I thought there was a lot of time/pages before exciting things begin to occur. I guess that's archaeology, a lot of painstaking work before interesting items are revealed. Writing was solid but the story wasn't as riveting as their earlier books. Rated C [3 stars].

Next TBD.

[Luffy]

Originally Posted by ReadingManiac

Well I meant to start The Way of Kings but somehow I started The Black Prism by Brent Weeks. No worries though, Way of Kings is definitely next!

I hope it is. I myself am falling in love with my chunkster book, Black Lamb and Grey Falcon.

[Apache]

I am reading the second of three book The Complete Hammer's Slammers. I finished Volume 1 and will also read Volume 3. I think David Drake writes the best Military Science Fiction. He captures combat and the aftermath better than anyone else. Mostly because he has been on the sharp end of the stick. I wouldn't mind it at all if he wrote some more books or short stories about The Slammers.
Apache

[pdurrant]

Originally Posted by pdurrant

Next up: All the Plagues of Hell by Eric Flint and David Freer.

Which was an enjoyable continuation of the story.

Now reading: Death of Kings by Bernard Cornwell. The 6th in his Last Kingdom series.

[pdurrant]

Originally Posted by pdurrant

Now reading: Death of Kings by Bernard Cornwell. The 6th in his Last Kingdom series.

Which covers the death of Alfred the Great and the aftermath. Very good indeed.

And now straight onto the 7th in this series, The Pagan Lord.

[pdurrant]

Originally Posted by pdurrant

Which covers the death of Alfred the Great and the aftermath. Very good indeed.

And now straight onto the 7th in this series, The Pagan Lord.

The Pagan Lord was also excellent. I'll leave the rest of the series for a bit now.

Next up I read The Toll-Gate by Georgette Heyer. Which I bought way back in August 2012. A most enjoyable romantic drama.

And now I'm reading Some of the Best from Tor.com: 2019 edition.