In fact, books are not only the tits, but it’d maybe be neat if tits were also books, because then in addition to playing with them, you could also read them.
No, I don’t know what I’m talking about.
What I do know is this: I’ve had some good weeks of reading, and I know I’ve got good weeks coming up. First, I read Stephen Blackmoore’s DEAD THINGS, which is a book you can’t buy yet and will be available in… erm, 2012? But fuck it, you need to know about it now. It is urban crime fantasy that is brutal, bloody, and pretty damn hilarious. A very cinematic book, too. Opens with a bang, ends with… well, let’s just go with a much bigger bang. It’s got mages, ghosts, Santa Muerte, fire elementals, murder, Tasers, and snark.
Then I just read Joe Lansdale’s DEVIL RED. Hap and Leonard, the two protagonists, are the clown princes of moral darkness. If you haven’t read any Hap and Leonard, well, what the hell is wrong with you? Do you hate fun? Are you allergic to good books? C’mon. Go grab SAVAGE SEASON and read the — what’s he got, now? Ten books about those two good ol’ boys? Hap is kind of a… what, a liberal softie who can’t help but be a bad-ass, and Leonard is his gay black vet buddy who breaks even worse bad on folks and is twice as funny as any other protagonist you’ve read. DEVIL RED, like VANILLA RIDE, gets back to the darker heart of these two characters. Funny. Sad. Violent as fuck.
Then, after that, I’ll soon get to read the newest from Robert McCammon: THE FIVE. Been eager to read this for a long time, since it’s his first horror book in a good while. McCammon, if you don’t know, is my favorite writer. If you tell me you haven’t read anything of his, beware. I may push you down some steps.
Anyway. I like sites like Goodreads well enough, but I never really use or explore the site to its maximum — social networks with such specificity are very cool, but they sometimes lack in context.
So, here we are. And here I am, asking you: what are you reading right now? Are you digging it? Or, what did you just finish reading? Give recommendations if you care to. Let’s talk the books that currently exist in your ecosystem. Fiction, non-fiction, whatever. Hell, if you’re reading something self-published or “indie,” share that, too. Anything you got, we want to know about it.
Andrew Jack says:
I just remembered I wanted to put a good word in for Joe Hill’s book Horns. Scary, twisted and very very clever.
March 24, 2011 — 9:38 PM
Saladin Ahmed says:
I’m reading/playing a blast from the past made new again – The Warlock of Firetop Mountain Fighting Fantasy gamebook from the 80s as redone for the Kindle. As fun as I remember.
And, what the hell, I’ll go ahead and self-promote here, too: all of my short fiction is online and free here http://www.saladinahmed.com/wordpress/bibliography/ and most of it is also available in podcasts and/or ereader formats. Muslim gunslingers vs. zombie-raising preachers, disgruntled Chicano supervillains, fat old monster-hunters – we’ve got it all, folks. And in 2012 ‘all’ will include an Arabian Nights-inspired epic fantasy from DAW Books.
March 24, 2011 — 9:47 PM
ChiaLynn says:
I’m hip-deep in a reread of Wheel of Time, but now that the (OMG, I can’t believe it) *very last book* probably isn’t coming out for another year, I’ve been debating whether to press on or take a short break and dive into Name of the Wind.
I think y’all just answered that for me.
Chuck and I have already discussed my inexplicable failure to have read Dan Simmons, so that’ll be remedied soon. I just got a hardback of Richard Adams’ “Maia” through a Goodreads swap, which I’m really looking forward to. I read it last when I was 16 or 17 and far more interested in the (often nasty) sex scenes than the politics. I’ve also got a copy of his “Shardik,” which I haven’t read and which is set in the same world, coming.
My two favorite books of the past year were Mary Robinette Kowal’s “Shades of Milk and Honey,” which is straight-up Jane Austen with a magical overlay, and Ian Tregillis’s “Bitter Seeds,” which is alt-history horror fantasy. (Unfortunately, there’ve been delays publishing the next book in the series, but the entire triptych is written – it’s just a question of getting it into stores.)
March 24, 2011 — 9:56 PM
Gregor Xane says:
BLUE WORLD, it is.
March 24, 2011 — 11:25 PM
AB says:
You…F’ing…Rock!!! Swan Song by McCammon, I read it when a friend in high school loaned me the book. I absolutely loved the story, but I could never remember the author’s name. Back then we didn’t have the nifty internet (insert “you kids get off my lawn” joke here). I think I asked every librarian and book store clerk in my state about the book, and they all stared at me with a blank expression. I’ve been periodically searching on-line (woot, internet!) for years and years, but somehow have never found it, probably because I didn’t have the author name. Now I have it! I found it thanks to you awesome people. I’m gonna take some mad money and order that baby. I’m looking forward to the re-read.
As far as books I’m reading right now…I actually a list of 100 books I want to read in seven years. I’ve given myself a time limit, if you can believe it. Right now I’m working on the original Frankenstein by Mary Shelley. The last one I read, which was surprisingly good, was Ender’s Game by Orson Scott Card. If you like Sci-Fi, it’s really a must read.
March 24, 2011 — 11:51 PM
Sonia M. says:
I’m reading some book called Irregular Creatures by this guy Chuck somebody. Har har har.
I just finished Cat-Bird and am almost afraid to read the second story. I may not be able to pee or eat or sleep or breathe until I finish ’em all. And I’ve got my own short story to revise, you know. Dagnabit.
March 24, 2011 — 11:58 PM
Saladin Ahmed says:
One more suggestion for fantasy and mystery fans alike: Howard Andrew Jones’ excellent DESERT OF SOULS:
http://www.amazon.com/Desert-Souls-Howard-Andrew-Jones/dp/0312646747
March 25, 2011 — 9:15 AM
Tiger Gray says:
The funny part is even though I write urban fantasy I almost always read nonfiction. To that end I am currently reading Dalton Fury’s Kill Bin Laden, which is an account (or as much of an account as he is allowed to give) about Delta Force’s mission to take out the terrorist leader. At the time of the mission, Bin Laden is believed to be in the Tora Bora mountains. Delta is forced to deal with a number of frankly embarrassing administrative decisions as they fight not just human enemies but terrain and weather on top of that. It’s a great look in to as much of Delta as a civilian will ever know about, and if you happen to be writing about this kind of “super soldier” the little details are invaluable.
March 25, 2011 — 4:15 PM
Karin says:
I’m reading The White Tiger by Aravind Adiga, and really enjoying it. Man Booker winners can be a little hit and miss, I find. I just love some and hate others. But this is keeping me chuckling and is written in an interesting epistolary style. Much better than Arundhati Roy’s effort — couldn’t wade through the purple there!
March 26, 2011 — 4:46 AM
CMStewart says:
I came back here to read the recommendations and you asked me, for the 50th time, to do it. So I did it. I purchased and will be reading “Irregular Creatures.”
March 26, 2011 — 12:00 PM
terribleminds says:
@CM:
Woo! Thank you. I hope you enjoy it, of course.
— c.
March 26, 2011 — 4:40 PM
MageMaster says:
Anyone who has not read “The Name of the Wind”, (I’m looking at you Chuck!), really needs to right that terrible wrong. I just finished finally reading it myself and I absolutely loved it. Starting to read “The Wise Man’s Fear” straight away!
The characters and world he created are extremely rich, and the way he handles magic is nothing short of brilliant. Not overly complicated, but not too simplistic either. Pure awesome.
March 26, 2011 — 12:24 PM
Travis says:
I just finished “Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close”, which is officially on my favorite books of all time list, behind “Fahrenheit 451”, but in front of Vonnegut’s “Galapagos”…
I loved the book by the awesome Hamlet joke on the third page, and it just got better and better… and better and better and better…
March 27, 2011 — 1:44 PM
Kate @ Candlemark says:
Coming late to the party here, but at least I showed up, and I come bearing gifts of book reccs.
I’m tearing through the Dresden Files series right now, and I just finished up Margaret Ronald’s “Hunt” series, starting with Spiral Hunt. Damn good stuff, good Celtic/Boston urban fantasy. Digging “Empire in Black and Gold” and “Midnight Riot,” too, although the original UK title of that one is better – “Rivers of London”.
Oh, and reading “Hickey of the Beast” as a serial as I publish it…I’ve already read the damn thing six times and I keep cracking up when I reread chapters to post them…
April 5, 2011 — 12:42 PM
Angela says:
Being the chick-flick junkie that I am, I just finished reading ‘A Bride Most Begrudging’, and have started reading ‘Chasing Harry Winston’, which is by the same author as ‘The Devil Wears Prada’. Also just finished ‘Hannibal’ (me of varied tastes), and absolutely LOVED it. Just the way Thomas Harrison writes, and the plot twists… I absolutely loved it to death, and am contemplating reading it again.
April 17, 2011 — 8:00 PM
Kris Tebbs says:
Reading ‘The Naked Lunch’ by William Burroughs. Dunno if I will be able to stick with it as it is MAD.
June 15, 2011 — 9:47 AM