It’s that time again where I ask:
Hey, whaddya reading?
What was the last book you read (and how was it)?
What are you reading right now? Er, beside this post, I mean.
Me, I just finished:
Delilah S. Dawson’s HIT — a YA about a girl who takes on the debt of her mother and has to pay it back in a rather unconventional way: kill or recruit other debtors in service to the bank that just secretly took over the US government. It’s fucking rad, this book. It’s like, the metaphor of a teenager taking on the burden of her parents is right on. And Patsy is in some ways a cousin to my own Atlanta Burns* (an heir to the problems her not-great mother brought to bear, uses a gun, Southern, drawn into a conspiracy larger than she cares to handle, small town, unexpected dog).
Christopher Golden’s TIN MEN — doesn’t come out till the end of June, but this is a bad-ass near-future war thriller worth checking out. Terrorists and presidential assassinations and cool bleeding-edge tech and oh yeah soldiers controlling robot drone bodies with their minds. I read it and I thought, “This reads like Terminator plus Saving Private Ryan,” and then I went back and saw that Scott Sigler said exactly that in his blurb. Thus proving that I am secretly Scott Sigler.
Speaking of Scott Sigler —
I am presently reading his own: ALIVE. Which is so far taut as a choking rope and mysterious as the strange rash I have on my left buttock in the shape of Cousin Balki of Perfect Strangers. The book stars teenage protagonists but I don’t think is YA? Whatever, it’s great. Not out till July. I also, rather foolishly, haven’t read enough Sigler in my life, so this goes toward correcting it.
I’m also reading Adam Christopher’s MADE TO KILL — which is, what exactly? Robot pulp noir? I dunno what to call it, but I know I’m loving it so far. (Adam is, of course, my co-writer on The Shield, which hey did you see Drew Johnson’s jumping on board the book and hey look at that art that I’ve posted at the bottom of the page because I’m totally shameless and isn’t it cool?)
Oh! Also, a couple quick administrative notes:
a) I’m gone from Wednesday this week to Monday of next week. Because of Phoenix ComicCon, which is awesome and you should go and I’ll see you there. But that means posting might be light.
b) I feel like some folks haven’t yet seen the winners of the STORY IN SEARCH TERMS contest — but hey, the winners are picked, and if you are a winner, contact me, will ya?
Anyway.
Your turn.
What did you just read?
And what are you reading now?
Time to share the book-love.
Or I guess the book-hate if you didn’t like it, but pssh, whatever.
* by the way, Atlanta Burns is on sale this week at Amazon — the Kindle is at $3.99, and the trade paperback has dropped to $7.50, should you be so inclined to check it out.
Sharon Joss says:
Just finished THE GOBLIN EMPEROR by Katherine Addison. I cannot say enough wonderful things about this lovely story. I’ve just started Devon Monk’s TIN SWIFT (volume 2 of her Age of Steam series). Fun fun.
May 25, 2015 — 10:45 AM
warjna says:
YAY Devon Monk fan! Hoping she will have another in this series soon, definitely jonesing for some more Cedar Hunt!
May 26, 2015 — 5:45 AM
Miri says:
I also just finished Delilah S. Dawson’s Hit, which I picked up thanks to her guest postings here and the snippet of it on her website. (These things sell books! Can confirm, bought book.) Tons of fun, loved the characters, waiting for a sequel.
Next up is The Promise of Blood, another of your guest-blogger rec’s (though, uh, it also has a blurb reading “Absolutely fantastic!” from Brandon Sanderson stapled to the cover, so it had a heck of a leg up already).
May 25, 2015 — 10:47 AM
Crissy M says:
I just finished reading DREAMS OF THE FORGOTTEN by Lexi Ander, the third book in her Sumeria’s Sons series. I love this series so damn much. Before that I read FINDING THEIR WAY by A.M. Arthur, and as always she won me over with her guys. Next on the table, QUINN’S GAMBIT by Angel Martinez and Bella Quinn… I love a little bit of UF with my morning coffee 🙂
May 25, 2015 — 10:58 AM
Jacey Bedford says:
To be honest I’m reading my own historical fantasy novel, Winterwood, because I just delivered my second book, Crossways (out August) and immediately got the edits for the third one (scheduled for feb 2016).Due to the vagueries of publishing this was the completed book that got me my three book deal with DAW, but it’s actually the last of the three to be published. It was finished in 2012 and sold in 2013, so I haven’t read it for 2 years and I need to remind myself of the detail before I start on the edit. I’m pleased to say that I’m far enough distanced from it to enjoy reading it again, having forgotten some of the fine detail.
Otherwise I’ve just finished C.E. Murphy’s Heart of Stone, which I thoroughly enjoyed – an urban fantasy with gargoyles and an excellent narrative voice. Before that was Ian Whates’ Pelquin’s Comet, a rip-roaring space opera with a bunch of misfits in a flashy spaceship on a slightly dodgy adventure. And the other biook I’ve loved recently has been Judith Tarr’s Forgotten Suns which mixes future archaeology with an ancient alien, corrupt intergalactic governments, space ships and psi powers. Right up my street. Highly recommended (all three of them).
May 25, 2015 — 11:01 AM
Joe H. says:
Currently in the third of Martha Wells’ excellent Raksura books; then it’ll be Three Body Problem, followed by … something else. Probably the latest Witcher book to be translated from Polish to English.
I also preordered Wylding Hall by Elizabeth Hand, and ordered Electric Eden (a history of the British folk rock scene in the 1960s/1970s) after hearing Hand’s interview on the Rocket Talk podcast.
May 25, 2015 — 11:16 AM
brucearthurs says:
About 140 pages into Ken Liu’s Grace of Kings. The story speeds along; a lot of other writers would have spent two or three times, or more, the number of pages telling the same story. Liu trusts the reader to understand and fill in the parts of the story that are implied, not spelled out or detailed. (Example: A character goes on a killing rampage through a palace, leaving over a hundred corpses behind. The rampage takes a couple of paragraphs, and I found it perfectly satisfactory.)
Last completed book read was Highfell Grimoires by Langley Hynde, an interesting steampunk/aetherpunk novel that also includes a gay romance.
I also listen to audiobooks. Most recently: Annihilation by Jeff Vandemeer, Wits End by Karen Joy Fowler, and Red Harvest by Dashiel Hammett.
May 25, 2015 — 11:17 AM
Alyson Hart says:
Just finished Half Wild by Sally Green and I have to say that it’s *the best* YA I’ve read in a LONG time. I’m pulling my hair out waiting for the next book to come out. But right now I’m in the middle of Let Me In, which is pretty awesome despite the weird translation errors I’ve been finding (my favorite is policemanman). It’s about vampires but it’s also about neglected kids and urban decay and unhappy people with empty lives. Thought-provoking and gory and very atmospheric.
May 25, 2015 — 11:19 AM
Kaleb J.D Russell (@TheKalebRussell) says:
Right now, I’m reading Uprooted by Naomi Novik and I am riveted by it. Before this, I was hesitant to read her Temeraire series due to my apprehension to long running series. Now that I’ve had the chance to read her work, I’ll definitely be picking the series up.
May 25, 2015 — 11:19 AM
tfalbb says:
I’ve just finished 12 by David Wright and Sean Platt. Excellent book that steadily builds tension as it goes. Highly recommended.
The next book I started reading is so dull I won’t give it the benefit of publicity.
May 25, 2015 — 11:22 AM
familyfieldguide says:
I appreciate your comment about the dull book. I’m reviewing one that is so poorly written that I can barely finish.
May 25, 2015 — 11:50 AM
aileenmiles says:
The Moonstone by Wilkie Collins: First detective story in the English language.
May 25, 2015 — 11:26 AM
Brandy says:
You know when people ask you what your favorite book is? After telling them it’s a stupid question, I will usually say The Moonstone.
May 25, 2015 — 12:07 PM
thelizwithzombies says:
I just finished reading The Book of Kindly Death by Eldritch Black. It was amazing. The visceral detail, the world and the characters. It’s MG, about a girl who finds out her grandfather is some sort of monster hunter, and she travels to the monster’s world…I loved this book so very much. If you liked Coraline, or anything by Holly Black, I would read this book.
I’m in the middle of Lauren Beukes’s The Shining Girls, and it’s breaking my heart in all of the right ways. A time traveling serial killer and the girl that got away…
May 25, 2015 — 11:29 AM
portlandorange (@portlandorange) says:
The Eldritch Black books look interesting; I’ll check them out.
I finished The Shining Girls last month; it was the best book I’ve read in at least a year. I also love this video interview with Lauren Beukes. She says that serial killers are “not sophisticates. They are awful, vile losers. And they’re actually not very interesting.” It’s a really timely message before Hannibal starts up again in a couple of weeks!
May 26, 2015 — 5:16 PM
Rachel Wood says:
I actually just finished Scott Sigler’s Ancestor this morning. Love reading all his work. Now it’s onto Steve Alten’s Resurrection. Good fun action.
May 25, 2015 — 11:32 AM
David Baur says:
Almost feels sort of weirdly sycophantic to post it here, but the last book I finished was Blackbirds and I moved right into Mockingbird. I’ve been ripping through the Sandman graphic novels too, which is long overdue. I am also knee deep in The Stand. I was/am enjoying it, but I needed a breather and Miriam Black has been an ideal respite.
May 25, 2015 — 11:36 AM
Mark says:
Just finished The Spear by James Herbert, part thriller, part horror, with neo-Nazis, the Spear of Destiny, and a cabal of Brits out to restore order and discipline to their country. Then I read Oklahoma Justice by Dean Morgan, a 1952 British pulp adventure about covert US operatives chasing atomic secrets in the American west on horseback, six-guns a-blazing, and no thought given to innocent bystanders who get in their way. Really!
May 25, 2015 — 11:41 AM
familyfieldguide says:
I’m reading We Were the Mulvaneys, by Joyce Carol Oates. (“A prosperous and close-knit family living in an idyllic farm community is forever changed by the shocking rape of their only daughter. The event is hushed up, and the daughter is sent away; a decision which ultimately tears the family apart.” – mylifetime.com)
Sheesh! I thought I’d never sink my teeth into this thing.
Probably because Oates doesn’t make her mind up about whose story it is until way late in the book, but drags the reader into the vast muck hole of background and description ad infititum. And she changes POV frequently. While she establishes the the youngest son as narrator, his voice disappears and only reappears on occasion. Mostly, Oates gets in everyone’s head. Until – wait – one of her characters finally gets some huevos on him, picks up a strong thread, and runs with it. But not until well after the half-way point. Some of her character descriptions are great, though. Here’s the mother, Corinne Mulvaney, a woman in her mid-40s: “She would have been an attractive woman except for something too eager, too hungry and almost haggard in her face, and her lunging, oddly cranelike posture that made others draw back.”
So, now I’m hooked. Got it read the rest.
May 25, 2015 — 11:47 AM
reggielutz says:
Julie Doherty’s Scent of the Soul. It’s marketed as historical romance set in Scotland but then SURPRISE! NORSE DEMON-GODS AND MAGICAL POWERS! I’m still pretty early in but so far this is a fun read.
May 25, 2015 — 11:57 AM
abillyhiggins says:
Kind of surprised I won the competition, especially seeing as how I didn’t get to use what I thought was my killer combo:
Liza Minnelli
Lizard People
Someone tell me how to put THAT into a story.
Anyway, I just finished Dave Barry’s Big Trouble, which was fun. Even though it was a short book, it felt a little long, because he was constantly switching characters and dragging out jokes. But it still felt worth my time.
Meant to go to the library, but then realized it wasn’t open on Memorial Day. So I’ll probably just catch up on some web serials.
May 25, 2015 — 12:08 PM
David Corbett says:
True Grit by Charles Portis. Should have read it ages ago. Loving it. Perhaps worthy of being called, dare I say it, the Great American Novel.
May 25, 2015 — 12:10 PM
miceala says:
In the background of the rest of what I’m reading is WORM, the parahumans web serial. It’s a superhero/supervillain sort of story, but where the bad and good is between those two terms is less clear in the story than you would typically delineate. Which means that pretty much every character is super complex (ba dum tsh), and has their own arc, and at one point there’s even a chapter from the point of view of dog and it’s absolutely amazing. I really like the logic that’s put into the superpowers – they all crop up in people for specific reasons (though there’s debate within-world as to what exactly that is) and have well-defined boundaries.
The web serial is incredibly long and detailed, which is why it’s difficult to write a synopsis without talking about EVERYTHING EVER THAT EVER HAPPENS, but just image a New Jersey mid-range socioeconomic city, YA casts of characters, logical superpowers, and too many things that are trying to end the world. Only some of them for reasons.
May 25, 2015 — 12:14 PM
Jen Donohue says:
I just finished reading WOMEN IN CLOTHES. I have CASH CRASH JUBILEE on deck, but haven’t opened it yet.
May 25, 2015 — 12:19 PM
Andrea Stanet says:
Right now, I’m reading A Clash of Kings by George R.R. Martin, and Mr. Mercedes by Stephen King (audio). Enjoying both. Attempted to read Diana Gabaldon’s Dragonfly in Amber (2nd in the Outlander series) and just couldn’t make myself keep going. On deck after Mr. Mercedes will be Maze Runner by James Dashner and X: A Novel by Ilyasah Shabazz. Over the summer, I’m going to attempt to finish the Game of Thrones series, but not too hard pressed about it.
May 25, 2015 — 12:25 PM
Dan Dan The Art Man says:
Love the Mr. Mercedes audiobook.
May 25, 2015 — 5:01 PM
EMM says:
I am currently reading Station Eleven (finally)… I heard about this book way back when Erin Morgenstern gushed about it on her blog after reading (I think) an ARC, but then I didn’t read it right away, and then the hype… and I got nervous that it wouldn’t be good… but so far, it’s SO GOOD.
Also, if you haven’t read Sword by Amy Bai, you should read it. Epic Fantasy but throwing genre tropes on their heads a bit… very good.
May 25, 2015 — 12:29 PM
Ashlie says:
Just finished Station Eleven and was SO pleased it stood up to the hype. Loved the cyclical nature of it! Also constantly convinced the apocalypse is starting this instant. I’ve read a lot of dystopian stuff so I think that really speaks to how much she nailed that aspect of it.
May 25, 2015 — 8:50 PM
Dangerous Bill says:
Padua, “The Thrilling Adventures of Lovelace and Babbage”. A semi-graphic novel done up as an alternate history where Babbage’s Analytical Engine was actually built (by him) and worked. Loads of great historical footnotes, unfortunately in 2 point font.
May 25, 2015 — 12:29 PM
Hermgirl says:
Just got through reading Deepak Chopra’s Lords of Light, and Ronald Gross’ The Independent Scholar’s Handbook. I’m currently reading (among other stuff I don’t wanna tell everyone about) Anne Rule’s The Stranger Beside Me–which is about how she knew Ted Bundy as a fairly close friend way before he became known as a serial killer. And also Will Durant’s The Story of History.
May 25, 2015 — 12:55 PM
Len Berry says:
The last book I finished was Robert Jordan’s The Eye of the World. Currently working my way through Anne McCaffrey’s The Dragonriders of Pern. Not sure what I’m going to read next.
May 25, 2015 — 1:08 PM
N. Pivonka says:
I just finished Dragon Thief by S. Andrew Swann, which was the second book of a body swapping hijinks fantasy filled with a lot of laughs. The first was Dragon Princess by the same author, which I found earlier this year and loved.
Just before that one I finished The Bullet Catcher’s Daughter by Rod Duncan – wonderful steampunk in a beautifully crafted world. I couldn’t put that one down. The main character is amazing and real; I wanted to know more and follow her around. I’m looking forward to the next book in that series as well.
May 25, 2015 — 1:24 PM
wendybarronwrites says:
Recently finished the audiobook of PROVEN GUILTY, book 9 in the Dresden Files series. It was fantastic, both story and performance. These books are my audiobook crack.
Currently reading Alexander McCall Smith’s modern retelling of Jane Austen’s EMMA (part of The Austen Project), and it’s pretty bloody awful. I’m reading with a friend, another Austenophile, and we are both officially hate-reading to the end.
May 25, 2015 — 1:29 PM
Azuaron says:
Most recently finished The Last Continent by Terry Pratchett, which was one of his poorer books (which is still to say it was better than most other books because it is still, after all, Pratchett).
I’m currently reading The Bonehunters by Steven Erickson, book 6 of the Malazan Book of the Fallen. I really can’t say enough good things about the world-building, plot structure, and character arcs in the Malazan books. Erickson is truly a master of his craft.
I’m also reading out-loud with my wife Firefight by Brandon Sanderson. I think it’s been six years since there was a time when I wasn’t in the middle of a Sanderson book (that’s how good–and prolific–he is), and the announcement of the dual-release of the next two Mistborn books has me champing at the bit.
If you REALLY want to keep up to date on what I’m reading, well, that’s what Goodreads is for. 😉
May 25, 2015 — 1:35 PM
Nick Nafpliotis (@NickNafster79) says:
I recently finished ‘Hit’ as well and loved it.
Last book I finished was ‘Cell’ by Stephen King. The opening third was an abosulte thrill ride. The rest was very good, but never quite regained the wonderful momentum that it started with.
Currently reading ‘Watchers’ by Dean Koontz. So far I’m enjoying it. Also reading ‘New Cthulhu: The Recent Weird’ anthology. Great collection.
Too many comics to name, but Nailbiter might be my current favorite.
May 25, 2015 — 1:36 PM
Ben says:
Am currently reading “Men At War”. It’s a massive (1000+ page) book with 82 short stories, with writers like Hemingway, Faulkner, Tolstoy, and Theodore Roosevelt. I don’t think it’s in print anymore, the thing’s pretty old (I believe like 50+ years), and I picked it up at a pretty awesome location. Faulkner House Books, which is a really small bookshop in the French Quarter where Faulkner used to rent rooms. Yes, this comment is a slight brag about my ‘new’ book and my dorky excitement at where I found it.
May 25, 2015 — 1:43 PM
Stephen McClurg says:
Good to know that place is still there. You kind of look through a cage to see his writing desk, right? It was like that before Katrina anyway. I hadn’t had the nerve to look it up since then.
May 25, 2015 — 2:02 PM
literarilyjess says:
I just finished a few recent releases:
Sarah J Maas’ A COURT OF THORNS AND ROSES: new adult fantasy retelling of Beauty and the Beast with faerie lore. I would have read it for that combination alone, but the writing is gorgeous. Totally lived up to the hype, in my opinion.
MAGONIA by Maria Dahvana Headley: YA contemporary fantasy (kind of?) about a girl drowning in oxygen until she’s taken to live above the clouds. This book is so unique I can’t really describe it (in a good way). Rich worldbuilding. Funny dialogue. Sassy heroine. Just excellent.
May 25, 2015 — 1:52 PM
Stephen McClurg says:
Just finished Annie Dillard’s The Writing Life, which I found useful in parts more than the whole. It’s very short though (about 120 pages) and a quick read with some parables/aphorisms that will make for good re-reading and contemplation.
Currently reading Going Clear: Scientology, Hollywood, and the Prison of Belief, some literary essays by Walter Benjamin, and The Dead Zone by King, which I haven’t read in more than two decades.
May 25, 2015 — 2:00 PM
thedebc says:
Just finished “The Troop” by Nick Cutter.
I’d say it’s like “Lord of the Flies meets Alien.”
Pretty good if you like that genre.
May 25, 2015 — 2:32 PM
Anna says:
I’m reading It by Stephen King, and I’m having a hard time understanding the book’s structure, I’m about 40% in and it still feels very random, like reading a bunch of short stories with It as the monster. I’m hoping that the plot gets going soon…
I’m also re-reading the Sandman comics for the nth time, and discovered Gaiman’s script for ‘Calliope’ as a bonus at the end of Dream Country. Fascinating.
On the non-fiction side, there’s Dr Tatiana’s Sex Advice to All Creation by Olivia Judson. It’s about evolutionary biology. Why? What did you think it was about?
But seriously, if you write science fiction, you need to read this. It’s a goldmine of fun facts for creating interesting aliens. And really funny, too.
May 25, 2015 — 2:33 PM
portlandorange (@portlandorange) says:
Totally agree about It; Chuck’s writing books helped me diagnose the plot as the result of too much pantsing. But I love the time-traveling glimpses of Derry in 11/22/63, and I really admire the ways King has been exploring plain old human psychopathy in the past few years. (E.g., in Joyland and Mr. Mercedes.)
May 26, 2015 — 5:39 PM
Gareth Skarka says:
Been reading THE MINISTRY OF THUNDER by Davide Mana. Entertaining neo-pulp novel set in 1930s Shanghai.
May 25, 2015 — 2:54 PM
Paul Callaghan says:
Re-reading Consider Phlebas by Iain M Banks. Great world (galaxy) building and amazing characterisation.
May 25, 2015 — 3:55 PM
Catkins says:
Just finished reading Johnathan Strange and Mr Norell. Sort of magical realism/fantasy set in England during the napoleonic wars.
People believe that practical magic is gone from England and magicians are people who study the history of magic and don’t perform it. But then a rich, reclusive Yorkshireman, Mr Norell, reveals his magical powers and becomes a celebrity overnight.
Meanwhile the young and daring (and endearingly clumsy) Johnathan Strange becomes a magician on a whim and ends up apprenticed to Mr Norell.
Together they fulfill a weird prophecy about two magicians who bring magic back to England.
There’s faerie balls and mad cat ladies and war and African Kings and politicians and love and death and friendship, and the story manages to be enthralling and funny and dark all at the same time.
Seriously, it’s a great book, go and read it right now.
May 25, 2015 — 4:04 PM
Pimion says:
Just have finished “Paper towns” by John Green. Real disappointment.
May 25, 2015 — 4:22 PM
Terri Elders says:
Just finished Harriet Lane’s Her…about two women whose lives intersect at two far-apart intervals, with unexpected consequences. It has a lot to say about relationships among women, and mother’s and children. But there’s an underlying sense of horror throughout. Next is William Hjortsbert’s “Falling Angel,” according to the book jacket, “a spellbinding novel of murder, mystery and the occult.” It’s the book that the film “Angel Heart” was based on, a couple of decades back.
May 25, 2015 — 4:34 PM
SamKD says:
Hey thanks for mentioning _Falling_Angel_! Didn’t know till right now that _Angel_Heart_ had been based off a novel but it’s now at the top of my wish list since I loved that movie back in the day. (_Her_ sounds pretty good too.)
May 26, 2015 — 10:25 AM
Dan Dan The Art Man says:
I just finished The Gunslinger. It’s the first Stephen King book in his Dark Tower series. Honestly I was super bored but intrigued for book two by the end. I also just read Dead Untik Dark (Sookie Sackhouse #1) and was pleasantly surprised. Lastly I finally finished Words of Radiance by Brandon Sanderson. It’s the 2nd book in his epic fantasy series The Stormlight Archive. It was epic. A great read and I liked it way more than the first one.
As for what I’m reading now it’s Jurassic Park. It hasn’t been available as an audiobook until now and it’s read by Scott Brick who is my favorite narrator so it’s perfect. I’m really enjoying it now that al the chaos theory info dumping is over and the dinosaur action is taking center stage. Some pretty exciting stuff and Michael Crichton writes moody environment really well.
May 25, 2015 — 4:51 PM
clubfredbaja says:
Currently reading YES PLEASE! by Amy Poehler because Amy Poehler. So far, so wonderful.
The last book I finished was 1632 by Eric Flint, which is not a new book but one that I enjoyed much more than I thought I would. It’s shamelessly positive and shiny about its heroes but that’s actually refreshing.
Next up is REVERSAL by Jennifer Ellis, which is part of the multi-author Apocalypse Weird series. Knowing Ellis’s background in environmental science, I have a feeling it’s going to be fantastic.
May 25, 2015 — 5:00 PM
Barbara Huntington says:
With thousands of books in the house (no exaggeration–my late hubby counted 7,000 of them many years and many trips to bookstores ago), and a tower of them by the bed that will quickly end my existence in the event of an earthquake, I have plenty of books I haven’t read to read. However, after visits to bookcases in every room in the house a few days ago, I once again settled down with Marion Zimmer Bradley’s Mists of Avalon and once again am severely sleep deprived.
May 25, 2015 — 5:28 PM
S. Kay Nash (@Gnashchick) says:
Just finished Half Resurrection Blues by D.J. Older. If you like paper copies, get 2 because you will wear one out.
I’m fixin’ to crack into The Goblin Emperor, one of the Hugo nominated novels I haven’t read yet.
May 25, 2015 — 5:53 PM
portlandorange (@portlandorange) says:
I *loved* Half-Resurrection Blues. The cover is amazing — really worthy of Older’s prose, his storyworld, and his New York.
Can’t wait for Shadowshaper next month, or Midnight Taxi Tango in January!
May 26, 2015 — 6:03 PM
Jana Denardo says:
I just finished a regency mystery by C.S. Harris “Who Buries the Dead” which was excellent (but far along in the series. It’s not where I’d suggest trying to start the series) and I’m currently reading “Hollow City” by Ransom Riggs, a fantasy based on bizarre antique photos and the wild universe that’s been worked around them. And on the ereader I have “Hell and High Water, Thirds#1” by Charlie Cochet, an LGBT speculative fic. Too soon to say much about it but the first few pages have sucked me in.
May 25, 2015 — 6:32 PM
Sacha Jones says:
I am reading non-fiction memoir right now. Knausgaard, the naughty Norwegian, Penelope Lively, who is 80, and Bill Bryson’s 2002 Down Under, which is less memoir, more personal travel-log.
May 25, 2015 — 6:57 PM
Kristi S. Simpson says:
I’m rereading the Dragonlance Chronicles, half as research, half because it’s a fun read. I like series with a large cast of characters on a quest with magic involved somehow. Next up is The Belgariad. Then I’ll read something I haven’t ever read before.
May 25, 2015 — 7:33 PM
brdubard says:
I just finished Eighth Grave After Dark by Darynda Jones. Excellent series!
May 25, 2015 — 7:39 PM
Ashlie says:
Right now I’m halfway through Bitterblue by Kristin Cashore (medieval-type YA), Ready Player One by Ernie Cline (80s reference adventure) and Fearless #4 by Francine Pascal (what I think might be the first badass-girl-balances-world-saving-with-teenage-romance series, written by the Sweet Valley Twins author. I’m rereading after fifteen years).
This weekend I also finished Blightborn and spent any moments of yard work convinced that the vines were wrapping themselves around my ankles.
May 25, 2015 — 8:56 PM
totiltwithwindmills says:
Just recently finished The Way of Kings by Brandon Sanderson and it was A M A Z I N G. The best way I’ve found to describe it is: fantasy at its best. His worldbuilding, his characters, his. . . battle scenes. . . they’re all great. He hooks you and drags you along, and when things get revealed you’re just standing there with your mouth agape.
I’ll be reading the second book in Brandon Sanderson’s Stormlight Archive, the sequel to Way of Kings, called Words of Radiance in the near future. Right now though I just started Jackaby by William Ritter and am enjoying it a lot.
May 25, 2015 — 9:45 PM
Ryan Viergutz says:
Just read:
Captain Marvel Vol 1, Higher Further Faster More, by Kelly Sue Deconnick. It was… okay. Not really memorable but not boring. Pretty bland. I’d expected a rocketing pulp, didn’t get that, oh well.
Outcast Vol 1, Robert Kirkman. This was kinda blah, too, sure it had demonic possession and some freaky things, but I expected a good creepy disturbing story. Instead it was blah. Oh well.
Reading:
All Tomorrow’s Parties, William Gibson. Now HERE we are for a good crazy weirdo book. It’s a cast of drifters just making their way through life, a very transitory feeling book. It might be Gibson’s outright silliest book I’ve read. He has a weird sense of humor but oh man it is showing in this book like you wouldn’t imagine.
Akira Vol 4, Katsuhiro Otomo. I put a bunch of other comics in hiatus to finally dig back into Akira. This is the kind of book where you can either rocket through it, or take your time and admire the decaying and collaping scenery. Exploding heads. Rocket propelled grenade launchers. NUDITY! Lots and lots of drugs. Psychics love pills like colonels love laser orbital satellites.
A Deepness in the Sky, Vernor Vinge. Vinge has a pretty weird writing voice that doesn’t entirely jive with me but when I get into it I really do. It’s truly a gigantic book that plays with long, long stretches of time as much as anything else. You hear about the early origins of a project in one part and BOOM it’s years later. WTF? Bizarre. And Focus is very very scary.
May 25, 2015 — 9:53 PM