Read any good books, lately?

[gothicmist]

I just finished rhe selection series. They were quick and fun.

 

[Toa and Ross]

A old book but still so beautiful:

To kill a Mockingbird!

 

[Gesundheit]

old thread, but...

I hate having multiple threads of the same nature floating around, especially when the original hasn't seen much attention, and if both are started by me. I figured there was no harm in digging this one up.

Finished Howl's Moving Castle. I need to watch the movie again to see what Miyazaki was trying to get at in his interpretation.

 

[ZiggyStardust]

I anxiously await the newest book in the Dresden Files series.... Harry Dresden is my hero!! May 27th can't come any sooner.

I recently started listening to (I'm an audio book person):

-- the Dresden Files by Jim Butcher (read superbly by James Marsters... yes, that would be Spike of Buffy fame) -- Wizard detective with a colourful cast of cohorts! @Fester, you might enjoy this if you haven't read it already

OVE this series! I listen on audiobook too because of my commute, and am now relistening to 2the whole series waiting for the next book to come out. Currently back on book 4 of 16. @Xandria - watch out for book 13, though, and make sure you get the one read by James. Originally that one was recorded by John Glover because James was busy, and they've only recently re-released it with James Marsters reading it. I've got to get that one myself, 'cause I have the one John read. It really throws you out after hearing Dresden in James' voice for 12 books.

 

[Yoda mom]

Saw this but don't own a kindle
Anyone read ? or perhaps it's a lairian's book?

(Did peek at the look inside icon on amazon)

 

[Xandria]

OVE this series! I listen on audiobook too because of my commute, and am now relistening to 2the whole series waiting for the next book to come out. Currently back on book 4 of 16. @Xandria - watch out for book 13, though, and make sure you get the one read by James. Originally that one was recorded by John Glover because James was busy, and they've only recently re-released it with James Marsters reading it. I've got to get that one myself, 'cause I have the one John read. It really throws you out after hearing Dresden in James' voice for 12 books.

Thank you so much for that info. James is a great narrator. I have a lot of catching up to do! Lol and I still need to replace my ipod...

 

[Fester]

Thanks, @Fester, that's a great list. Appreciate the recs.

[...snip...]

-- the Dresden Files by Jim Butcher (read superbly by James Marsters... yes, that would be Spike of Buffy fame) -- Wizard detective with a colourful cast of cohorts! @Fester, you might enjoy this if you haven't read it already

I've been a fan of Jim butcher for quite a bit!, It's been a while since I last posted so I'll update my current reading list:
Gödel, Escher, Bach: An Eternal Golden Braid 1/4 done
Model Engineer's Handbook by Tubal Cain -- in progress, along with a couple of other reference books for machining

Delilah Dirk graphic novels by Tony Cliff
Parasol Protectorate Series, & The Finishing School Series by Gail Carriger
Cold Burn of Magic by jennifer Estep
Uprooted by Naomi Novik
and re-reading everything by Seanan McGuire -- the Aeslin mice in the InCryptid series are perhaps my favorite things ever...

I'm looking forward to the upcoming releases by Wen Spencer, particularly the next Tinker book

 

[Amanda Arnett]

I recently plowed through three books and need to decide what to read next. I read the Y/A sci-fi novel Cress (book 3 of the Lunar Chronicles, with more installments forthcoming), and the latest two Sevenwaters books.

I'm not necessarily asking for suggestions, seeing as I've got plenty in the communal shelves to choose from, but what are your favorites? Are you anxiously awaiting a new publication?

OMG!!!!! I love the Lunar Chronicles! Have you read the 3 1/2 book Fairest?! So good, and makes me want the final book to come out NOWWW! The Matched Series by Ally Condie is great, along with the Selection series by Kiera Cass. I have a kindle and recently put 100$ into my amazon cart and have been trying to save it, spending some here and there on books. I just haven't had a lot of time to read....

 

[Gesundheit]

OMG!!!!! I love the Lunar Chronicles! Have you read the 3 1/2 book Fairest?! So good, and makes me want the final book to come out NOWWW! The Matched Series by Ally Condie is great, along with the Selection series by Kiera Cass. I have a kindle and recently put 100$ into my amazon cart and have been trying to save it, spending some here and there on books. I just haven't had a lot of time to read....

I pre-ordered Fairest and devoured it as quickly as I could! When I heard that she was writing a book from Levana's point of view, I was sooo disgusted! I am SO sick of Wicked and all its facsimiles. I enjoyed the musical; loosely based on the book, it is harmless fun. However, it is so flaming LAZY to just make all the "evil" characters "misunderstood", and turn all the "good" characters into thoughtless, back-stabbing brigands.

And yet, I pre-ordered Fairest, which wasn't like that at all!

You do realize that, for the final book, we need to usurp the tag WINTER IS COMING.

 

[Amanda Arnett]

A hahaha aaaahhhhmazing! I love all those books, can't wait!

 

[Gesundheit]

I saw a friend of mine reading Mercedes Lackey's The Fairy Godmother, so I've picked up a copy of my own. She doesn't read much, so I want to have a book that I can discuss with her. I haven't cracked it, yet, but she doesn't know that it's on my TBR, and I can read quickly enough, so we'll see how this goes. Anyone read anything of this series or author?

 

[Gesundheit]

I've tried starting The Fairy Godmother a couple of times, but I just can't get into it. I guess my suspension of disbelief ends at entire kingdoms actively participating in living out fairytales.

I am reading The Artist's Way with a group, though. Full title includes "A Spiritual Path to Higher Creativity". It is largely secular, I think. The spiritual part is our own creativity, which she wants us to respect. How often to we shelve our own interests for the sake of others (or others')? I just started Week 2 and felt incriminated while reading the part about crazymakers:

A related thing creatives do to avoid being creative is to involve themselves with crazymakers. Crazymakers are those personalities that create storm centers. They are often charismatic, frequently charming, highly inventive, and powerfully persuasive. And, for the creative person in their vicinity, they are enormously destructive. You know the type: charismatic but out of control, long on problems and short on solutions.
   Crazymakers are the kind of people who can take over your whole life. To fixer-uppers, they are irresistible: so much to change, so many distractions. . . .

I've known this about myself, but seeing it print makes me feel accountable. That's kinda what this book is for, I suppose.

 

[Xandria]

I always forget about this thread.

Here's a blurb from my facebook that I just wrote the other day:

QUICK BOOK REVIEWS:

Feed: The Newsflesh Trilogy, Book 1 Written by: Mira Grant (http://www.audible.com/…/Sci-Fi-F…/Feed-Audiobook/B003K28EP8) was a pretty good book.

I think I was expecting a little more, and it took some time for me to "get into" it. However, I found myself enjoying the story, the pace, and the characters about a third of the way through, almost right up until the end. To be honest, I find the backdrop of this zombiefied world not as engrossing as I'd hoped, and therefore am not sure if I'll read the others. HOWEVER, if they do go on sale, I think I'll still read them. Rather, listen to them -- I quite enjoyed the narration!

---

The Perseid Collapse: The Perseid Collapse, Book 1 Written by: Steven Konkoly (http://www.audible.com/…/The-Perseid-Collapse-A…/B00I3TBB9E/) was well-paced, and I took delight in revisiting the characters from "The Jakarta Pandemic". Despite some of the cliched moments, the story had me captivated and I look forward to the next book.

The narration was acceptable, but at times lacked the punch of the more entertaining narrators.

---

Johannes Cabal The Necromancer Written by: Jonathan L. Howard (http://www.audible.com/…/Johannes-Cabal-The-Necr…/B002V8OCR6) was wickedly delightful. I loved the writing, the story, and the narration.

Looking forward to the next one.

---

The Gone-Away World Written by: Nick Harkaway (http://www.audible.com/…/The-Gone-Away-World-Aud…/B002V0M4ZG) is one I've just begun. I LOVE LOVE LOVE the writing style, and the narrator is FUN FUN FUN. So far this is a delicious book, and I hope I'm still as enthralled by the end.

 

[Gesundheit]

I don't know if I have the patience to read up to 1/3 of a book before losing interest, if the writing hasn't grabbed me. I have read books that I don't like just to argue about them, though. Latest one should be book 11 of The Wheel of Time, but I just can't care enough about the characters, anymore...

ETA: I did get around to watching Miyazaki's loose adaptation of Howl's Moving Castle (with husband and housemate). And I mean, quite loose. The family dynamic is scrapped. We briefly see one of Sophie's sisters in the bakery, and the other is just a throw-away name at the hat shop. Their mother gets to be all concerned when Sophie claims to have a cold (after she's been cursed), but the actual character is pretty much gutted. I think that sums up all of the characters. Movie Howl is bland by comparison, and Sophie is just plain, dry white toast. Miyazaki shoe-horns some sort of war conflict into the story, turns an ally into an enemy (not in the afore-complained Wicked sense), and dark 17ish-year-old Michael is turned into blond 7ish-year-old "Markl". It's a shame the beautiful animation didn't even come close to telling the story that the book has to offer.

 

[Gesundheit]

Latest Mercy Thompson book came out in March, and I completely forgot!!! :facepalm: Not that it came out in March, but that it was even coming out in the first place. I think I've been a little stressed.

 

[Gesundheit]

Housemate purchased You're Never Weird on the Internet [Almost] and Ready Player One. He has a crush on Felicia Day, so he's read the first one. I'll polish off the second before he's touched it twice.

 

[Xandria]

Felicia Day is awesome.

LOVE RPO. the audio book is read by our beloved geek, Wil Wheaton.

 

[Silke]

See, I can't stand audio books. I can't get into the story.
For me, I have voices in my head, pictures in my mind. I read the way I write. Full on surround sound movie.
And don't ask how distracting it is when you're at work and two characters are having an argument in your head. (Or do the "he said / she said" whining game. Yes. It happens. My heroes can outsulk most people.)

 

[Gesundheit]

I got a little lenient with audiobooks when I was working a menial, solitary job. I didn't like the narrators, for the most part, but I wasn't going to get around to reading the books on my own. Rob Inglis's reading of The Hobbit is nothing to sniff at, though. ♥ And I still gush about how neat it is to listen to an author narrate their own book (Neil Gaiman's Stardust).

Otherwise, I definitely prefer reading it myself.

 

[Xandria]

There is definitely a huge difference in quality of narrators. As I mostly listen to books, I've become accustomed to reading lots of reviews and previewing samples before buying. If I can't stomach the narrator, then I buy the hard copy. But there are some great narrators out there.

 

[Gesundheit]

I finished Ready Player One last week, and really enjoyed it. The author commits the writing sin of info-dumping, which can be fun if you're skimming for your favorite references, but that kinda takes me out of the experience. However, this is pretty damn solid for a first-timer! Success notwithstanding, I hope my first book reads as nicely as Cline's.

Since there's going to be a movie, that's all I'll say on RPO.

 

[Xandria]

I finished Ready Player One last week, and really enjoyed it. The author commits the writing sin of info-dumping, which can be fun if you're skimming for your favorite references, but that kinda takes me out of the experience. However, this is pretty damn solid for a first-timer! Success notwithstanding, I hope my first book reads as nicely as Cline's.

Since there's going to be a movie, that's all I'll say on RPO.

I loved RPO. I agree with your assessment, but as a geek and huge 80s teen, I truly enjoyed the detail which served as one huge flashback of fun for me.

 

[shutterbug55]

I am a Sci-Fi reader, and I have been trying to get my own stories published (what a pain!).
I am re-reading classics: Larry Niven Known Universe, Issac Asimov, Frank Herbert, Robert Heinlein, and Arthur C. Clarke. I have also been reading books by David Brinn.
I was given a book by David Webber "Out of the Dark". It is so-so. Fun read, until he wrote himself into a corner and brought in vampires.

 

[Gesundheit]

I am a Sci-Fi reader, and I have been trying to get my own stories published (what a pain!).

I'm taking the first step on that next month. NaNoWriMo, here goes nothing!