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[Taruranto]

Went to the library today, I got Carr' She Died a Lady. I was thinking of getting something from Asimov, but I haven't been in the mood for something heavy for a while now. I'll save War and Peace part 2 for the summer too.

I'm really thinking of investing into a Kindle, it's getting harder to find the stuff I want at the library.

 

[richardhawk]

Only a chapter into it but I was laughing pretty damn hard. Only 300 pages so I'm planning on picking up something else.

 

[Caleb187]

Just finished Dark Matter. Great scifi read, went by really fast. Some early parts felt like the main character took awhile to catch on to what the reader already knows but still overall highly recommended.

 

[Jimothy]

Best book on slavery I've ever read.

 

[HamPster PamPster]

I finished Leviathan Wakes and The Dragon's Path and thought both were strong openings to their respective series. I'll give Daniel Abraham credit since writing good fantasy and good sci-fi (even with a second person) is probably harder than it sounds. I think Leviathan Wakes is the better book (much cooler setting, stronger themes/message, and I liked having just two viewpoints) but I preferred The Dragon's Path. Cithrin was an enjoyable character to follow and bankers aren't your typical fantasy protagonists so that was nice. Book 1 sets the stage for the series' overarching good vs. evil story line and I'm interested to see how Cithrin's banking talent stands up to "ancient magic." Magic default swaps!

One of my goals this year is to read both series

 

[TestMonkey]

Only a few chapters in but it's pretty interesting so far. Didn't know this was such a big thing.

 

[Necrovex]

Completed A Brave New World. Pheomonal first quarter and the debate in the end was sublime. Everything else bored me to tears. Oh well, guess I'm in the 1984 camp after all. We'll see how I like The Handmaiden's Tale after I read some more trite Witcher novels.

 

[Ratrat]

Finished Silence of the Lambs. I really loved and will definitely read the other books. Lector is awesome!

reading:

 

[TTG]

Check out Charles Cumming, he writes tightly plotted seemingly very realistic modern spy fiction

I also like Alan Furst's historical spy fiction

Just finished Night Soldiers and like I said in the review, it's legit. Thanks so much for the recommendation.

 

[ClosingADoor]

The Kindle First options looked good this month. Grabbed Only the Truth for something in a current day setting after reading science-fiction, fantasy and historical. About a man who finds his wife death in his hotel room and goes on the run.

 

[Maklershed]

Only a few chapters in but it's pretty interesting so far. Didn't know this was such a big thing.

I'm from rural Appalachia. It seems like everyone here is either on meth or oxys .. or both. :/

 

[sparky2112]

Only a few chapters in but it's pretty interesting so far. Didn't know this was such a big thing.

HIs episode on Marc Maron's WTF was really good. Maron is a huge fan of the book. The whole subject is kind of mind-blowing.

 

[sparky2112]

Finished:

Pretty good, isn't it? Last 30-ish pages blew my mind...

 

[Atraveller]

I'm currently having a blast with Undermajordomo Minor. The dialogues are just a delight to read.

Completed A Brave New World. Pheomonal first quarter and the debate in the end was sublime. Everything else bored me to tears. Oh well, guess I'm in the 1984 camp after all. We'll see how I like The Handmaiden's Tale after I read some more trite Witcher novels.

I never could get past the first quarter. The Handmaiden's Tale is fantastic, it's more focused on the people, and the Christian right wing rather than totalitarian regime's machinations.

 

[Mike M]

Just started Last Call by Tim Powers.

I'm not even that far into it, but it's hitting a lot of my buttons and I'm having a great deal of difficulty in putting it down. It's got a heaping helping of secret world of supernatural forces stuff wrapped up in the world of professional poker. And maybe some mob stuff; it was in the prologue, we'll see if it comes back later. While not exactly analogous, it has the sort of appeal of watching a heist or a con unfold through the perspective of the perpetrators.

Really digging it.

Finished this up. It was... Pretty decent, over all. It wasn't quite up to my expectations built up by the prologue, but it wasn't bad.

Moved onto (and am almost finished with) Fluency by Jennifer Foehner Wells.

It's not the greatest. I was hoping for something along the lines of Arrival, but this is far from it. There's no real sense of exploration or mystery, and the threats facing the characters never feel that threatening. The aliens are a massive disappointment too:

Spoiler

The aliens who flew the ship are literally hominids distantly related to humans. It's navigated by a literal squid. The nuisance "space rat" creatures are a bit more imaginative, but still essentially scorpions

. All in all, really "meh."

Ship of Magic!

It's a bit like Pirates of the Caribbean meets HP lovecraft style baddies, with a hearty dash of colonialism-era historical fiction. It's really fucking good, but a bit slow at times. It fleshes out Robin Hobb's world begun in the Farseer Trilogy, so if you are a fan of those books, you should def check this trilogy out before moving on to other Fitz trilogies.

So far, the story virtually stands on its own. You could probably read it on its own, except there are some fairly brief but substantial spoilers for the Farseer trilogy. So far there has been no character overlap, but I'm loving the entirely new cast. Wintrow and Kennit especially...

Def read Assassin's Apprentice if you haven't already. Does anyone else have this love-hate relationship with Hobb? I love 50% of her writing, but the other 50% feels slow as molasses.

I've only read the Farseer Trilogy and Ship of Magic. I guess I liked 3/4ths of them? Assassin Quest kind of left me cold with its plunging off the deep end into high magic stuff when everything up until that point had been magic limited to mostly what could be described as applications of telepathy.

Ship of Magic has a lot going for it, but I found the ending to be incredibly lacking, as practically nothing is resolved. I get that it's part of a series, but I frown upon books that don't have a self-contained arc of their own.

 

[TwntyOneTwlv]

Last week I decided I was going to read Time and Again, by Jack Finney. I searched the Kindle store for "Time and Again", saw it was on sale for Kindle, and bought it without thinking twice. Turns out I bought the wrong book.

Same title. Same genre. Same premise (time travel). I think I can be forgiven for buying the wrong book!

I gave it a shot because why not? Turns out it wasn't too bad. Simak's prose is wonderful. The time travel is wonky (when is it not), and the characters are a bit thin. But it was worth the $1.99 I spent on it. I'd love to read more of this author in the future. On purpose, next time!

 

[angrylamp]

The First Crusade by Thomas Asbridge

 

[Therin]

Zelazny's Chronicles of Amber.

 

[brawly]

Started The Last Wish. It's good but I feel like you can definitely tell that it's translated. The character Nivellen is really good, such a shame that he's not in the games.

 

[SixStringFanatic]

Dangerous - Milo Yiannopoulos. At least I will be when it arrives.

 

[dakini]

About 1/3 of the way through The Brothers Karamazov. The thing is, I can see why it's considered a classic, but my god is it boring. It's disappointing because I've enjoyed Russian literature from Tolstoy and Bulgakov, but this is a struggle to get through.

 

[Tragicomedy]

If it's in reference to what I think it is... definitely not a good way.

That sucks. Finished it today and no idea what people are loving about this series.

Dangerous - Milo Yiannopoulos. At least I will be when it arrives.

If you're in the mood for fantasy, there are far better choices out there.

 

[Elwainen]

Unfortunately reading the news has taken up 110% of my reading time recently. At this point i guess ill just wait till spring break to read some books. I'll be looking to gaf for recommendations.

 

[Tragicomedy]

Unfortunately reading the news has taken up 110% of my reading time recently. At this point i guess ill just wait till spring break to read some books. I'll be looking to gaf for recommendations.

I'm hopeful we'll be reading about Trump impeachment proceedings before year's end. Remember when Clinton was impeached for telling a single lie? LOL.

I'm in a similar boat right now. Washington Post is my daily realty check.

 

[kswiston]

My reading rate is terrible so far this year. I am almost done book 3 for 2017, which puts me behind schedule on my 36 book goal. Last year I hit 56. I'm sure that things will pick up at some point this year, but between a change in my working schedule, more news than normal to read, and now Fire Emblem Heroes, I am getting next to no reading done (by my standards during the past 3 years).

If you're in the mood for fantasy, there are far better choices out there.

Not that I am interested in it, I couldn't in good consciousness give that guy the dollar or two he'd get from buying his book. Even borrowing a library copy is too much support.

 

[Number45]

The Kindle First options looked good this month. Grabbed Only the Truth for something in a current day setting after reading science-fiction, fantasy and historical. About a man who finds his wife death in his hotel room and goes on the run.

Been a Kindle/Prime member for years and have somehow only just discovered this scheme!

 

[Ravensmash]

Been a Kindle/Prime member for years and have somehow only just discovered this scheme!

I only discovered it recently too!
Really cool idea and I bet it helps the authors with exposure too.

Im gonna finish Along Came a Spider this weekend I think. Enjoyable overall, love the pacing.

 

[Alucard]

Reading Prince of Thorns by Mark Lawrence. It's okay. 50 pages in, and I haven't been a fan of the super short chapters and location changes. I don't get a sense of place with the author's writing, and I'm hoping that changes the further I go. Also, Jorg is written like a kid, which is appropriate, but it doesn't make his shitty angry personality any less grating.

Thoughts?

 

[ATF487]

Still reading Blood Meridian.

I do like it but find it slightly more impenetrable than other McCarthy stuff. The Judge is such a cool character though.

Going to try and finish it this week, and maybe not read right before bed since I'm not remembering as much when doing that.

 

[lawller]

I am making an effort this year to read more about history and various historical figures. Last night, I started Hero of the Empire: The Boer War, a Daring Escape, and the Making of Winston Churchill by Candice Millard. Not too far in to it so far but I am really enjoying it.

 

[bidguy]

haunted by chuck palahniuk

about 80 pages in and that first story is probably one of the weirdest things ive ever read

 

[AngmarsKing701]

Reading Prince of Thorns by Mark Lawrence. It's okay. 50 pages in, and I haven't been a fan of the super short chapters and location changes. I don't get a sense of place with the author's writing, and I'm hoping that changes the further I go. Also, Jorg is written like a kid, which is appropriate, but it doesn't make his shitty angry personality any less grating.

Thoughts?

I found myself reading this and wondering what everyone else had been talking about in reviews and descriptions of it. Claims that it's dark and whatnot. I'm not saying it isn't those things, but it's nowhere near as dark as other fantasy I've read. Or hell, even history. I mean shit, raping and pillaging was part of a victor's spoils. I will say I think it improves. I mean I liked it, but I had to set aside all the ridiculous praise it got, because I think I had to assume people who were reading it and commenting on it hadn't read much else. If that makes sense.

I will say while I have the other two books on my wish list, I wasn't so enthralled by Prince that I felt an urgent need to read the rest of the trilogy.

 

[thomaser]

Two thirds through Gregory David Roberts' "Shantaram". The more I read of it, the more I am bothered by its flaws, such as the overly flowery language, the romanticization of everything Indian, and the author's portrayal of himself as being excellent at everything he does. But the book is still extremely captivating, and its high points are extraordinary.

 

[Maklershed]

Finished Disrupted. Very entertaining. I'd recommend it to anyone that likes the show Silicon Valley. Now for a change of pace with Confederates.


Confederates by Thomas Keneally

 

[Servbot #42]

“Come, let us hasten to a higher plane
Where dyads tread the fairy fields of Venn,
Their indices bedecked from one to n
Commingled in an endless Markov chain!

I'll grant thee random access to my heart,
Thou'lt tell me all the constants of thy love;
And so we two shall all love's lemmas prove,
And in our bound partition never part.

Cancel me not — for what then shall remain?
Abscissas some mantissas, modules, modes,
A root or two, a torus and a node:
The inverse of my verse, a null domain.

- Love and Tensor Algebra”
― Stanisław Lem, The Cyberiad

I finished The Cyberiad. I think it's my favorite Lem book so far. It's a series of short stories and each one is unique and wonderful. I found the clever wordplay and the thought provoking stories simply astounding. Who knew that absolute happiness could be such a deep and convoluted conundrum? Or the trouble that non-existent dragons could create? I recommend this book wholeheartedly if you enjoy fantastical books with a heavy dose of philosophy.

Still reading Swan Song by Robert McCammon (I know, I know!), but I'm getting there. It hit a bit of a lull for me so I trailed off for a bit there and started reading other stuff. Now I'm back on track.

You can do it Kevin! I'm looking forward to hearing your thoughts!

 

[Tragicomedy]

Took my boy to Barnes and Noble today and saw several copies of Norse Mythology by Neil Gaiman. I came home to pick it up on my Kindle...and then realized it doesn't release until 7 Feb.

Looks like they broke the street date. I should have grabbed a copy.

 

[Spectone]

Aspects of the Novel by E. M. Forster

I've never been really interested by the study of English Literature before but my interest was kicked off by watching Dr Corey Olsen talk about the Lord of the Rings while playing Lord of the Rings Online.

 

[Maklershed]

Is the Lightbringer series by Brent Weeks good? I see book 1 (The Black Prism) is a kindle daily deal today.

 

[Morat]

Seems like a good history so far.

 

[aidan]

Is the Lightbringer series by Brent Weeks good? I see book 1 (The Black Prism) is a kindle daily deal today.

The first book is okay. It feels like Weeks spends the whole book feeling his way through the world and magic system. The second book, however, is terrific. I haven't read past that, but I've heard good things about the third and fourth.

 

[mu cephei]

Is the Lightbringer series by Brent Weeks good? I see book 1 (The Black Prism) is a kindle daily deal today.

The first book is decent, nothing amazing. Second and particularly third books imo are excellent (though not perfect). The magic system is ace and I loved the politicking. I haven't read the fourth, I think it's supposed to be pretty good but more a set-up for the fifth and final book. From what I've read I would recommend the series to fantasy fans, yes.

 

[GK86]

I'm reading "Nightmares of Caitlin Lockyer."

Brought this randomly a while back when it was on sale for $1. Decent so far.

After that, I'm going to read "The Return of George Washington: Uniting the United States."

 

[kmax]

Looking forward to sink my teeth into this one. It's been getting rave reviews, very impressing considering that it's coming from a young, debut author.

 

[Easystride]

I've started Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell, and I'm hooked. Very refreshing take on fantasy, which I've been burnt out on for the last couple of years.

 

[zeioIIDX]

I saw the original film but I'm reading Let The Right One In, a Swedish vampire story by John Ajvide Lindqvist. I'm reading it for a podcast I run with my best friend called Dead and Gone Horror Show where we watch a horror film as well as its remake and we discuss and compare both. This will be our Valentines Day episode and since LTROI is a romance novel (in a twisted sort of way), we decided that not only are we going to watch Let The Right One In and its remake Let Me In, we are going to read the novel as well to discuss and compare that to the films.

I'm halfway through the book and I just can't put it down. I absolutely love the interactions between the main character Oskar and his vampire neighbor Eli. I can't delve too much more into that aspect without giving anything away but don't be fooled by the fact that this is partly a romance novel!

I'm also multitasking and reading one of my favorites called A Wrinkle In Time by Madeleine L'Engle. Read it back in 5th grade and I was always majorly into science and physics so this book was right up my alley. I absolutely love Meg, Calvin, and Charles Wallace.

 

[Protome]

I just started A Closed and Common Orbit by Becky Chambers

I loved the first book and i was bit bummed when it was announced the second book wouldn't be about the same cast I had gotten so attached to, but a chapter in and i'm already hooked.

Looking forward to sink my teeth into this one. It's been getting rave reviews, very impressing considering that it's coming from a young, debut author.

This is next on my list! I saw a couple of people mention it and Uprooted in the same breath and that was was enough to sell me.

 

[kswiston]

I finished Born a Crime yesterday by Trevor Noah. My first 5 star book in awhile on Goodreads (when I get around to updating). I highly recommend it.

I started the Johnstown Flood by David McCullough. I'm not too far in, and the author is mainly describing the city prior to the flood. I have heard good things about the book though.

I'm not sure if I will return to fiction after this. I have been watching Babylon 5 for the first time, and that has been doing a good job of scratching my sci fi itch.

 

[CaptainofIndustry]

Anybody read Orphan X by Gregg Hurwitz?

 

[Alienfan]

I bought Master and Margarita after hearing so many good things, can't wait to start it

 

[Servbot24]

Just finished Mastery by Robert Green. Enjoyed it quite a bit.