What Are We Currently Reading?

[Sharpie66]

Now reading Jean Thompson's The Witch: And Other Tales Re-Told. As you might expect from the title, it's a collection of short stories that are reworkings of fairytales. I'm always a sucker for that.

 

 

Have you read the short-story collection Don't Bet on the Prince: Contemporary Feminist Fairy Tales? I read it for my feminist lit class in college 25 years ago, and the stories are still great today. It's edited by Jack Zipes, who also edited my collection of Grimm's Fairy Tales. It is definitely more aimed at adults than children, and includes a selection of feminist literary criticism at the end of the book.

[Black Knight]

I have not - thank you for the recommendation! Adding it to my to-read list...

[scatteroflight]

Dennis Lehane's latest World Gone By.

 

It's the third installment in the Coughlin family saga and as with many series, I like each book a little less than the one that came before.  I'm halfway through and so far, I might as well be reading about a kid on his paper route as there is very little story arc, just the recounting of a gangster's day to day visits to fellow crooks.  Yawn.  Good thing it's short.

 

I'm disappointed to hear that. I loved The Given Day, but I didn't like Live By Night nearly as much, so I was hoping that the third book would be more like the former than the latter. To be honest, though, Joe was never my favourite character and I was never thrilled that Lehane chose to follow him in the subsequent books.

[Mars477]

Just wrapped up book five of the Ellie Hatcher series by Alafair Burke.  Now I'm bummed out because I can't find a confirmation that there'll be book six.  Very good detective fiction, and Ellie and her partner Rogan have a highly enjoyable (platonic) chemistry that pretty much carries the series.  If there's a major flaw it's that major parts of each book are kind of "Ripped from the headlines" in a pretty major (but not complete) way.

[OakGoblinFly]

I just finished The Jakarta Pandemic by Steven Konkoly based on nothing more than it was a free book deal of the day from Book Bub; while the characters were flat and at times highly predictable, I thought the premises plausible and horrifying enough to keep my attention.

 

I just started Red Rising by Pierece Brown (another free book deal of the day); 20-pages in and I really like the author's writing style - the plot hasn't really kicked in yet, just a lot of world/mood building.

 

As far as mood building, I thought Attrition by S.G. Night did a remarkable job, I found myself fully engaged from the first sentence.

[Rick Kitchen]

Just picked up "The Goblin Emperor" in paperback.  I held off when it came  out in hardback originally, can't wait to get to sit down and read it.

[GaT]

I'm reading Ready Player One even though when I asked here, I decided not to based on the response I got. Then I had a 20% off Barnes & Noble coupon & nothing to buy with it, so I took the plunge & got it. Anyway, I'm actually enjoying it. I was worried I wouldn't because I'm not a gamer at all, but the gaming stuff isn't bothering me. I have to admit that I'm not really sure who this book is intended for though, it's supposed to be a YA novel, but it's all about 80s gaming & media, not something YAs today would really be familiar with.

Edited April 22, 2015 by GaT

[Black Knight]

I've never heard the "Ready Player One is a YA thing" until your post, GaT. I suspect it arose among people who haven't actually read the book and just automatically categorize anything that has minors as the protagonists as being YA. I love YA, so I'm not offended by the idea of the book being categorized that way or anything, it just seems incorrect to me. In the bookstores I go to, I have never seen it shelved in the YA section.

 

And it was totally written for my age range IMO - I was born in 1977, the TRS-80 was my first computer, it's total nostalgia. Although, the descriptions of what VR gaming has become are super cool (I'm closely following VR development nowadays and really hoping to hear of the day it reaches the levels described in this book - I just read today about one company that's developed something you can walk/run on, so we're getting nearer!) and I can see that part appealing to gamers of any age. The quest in general, too - even if they don't necessarily understand specific references (hey, I grew up during that time and I didn't catch nearly everything either - for one thing, I didn't watch most of the TV shows referenced), the quest itself will appeal to gamers.

 

I've finished The Witch: And Other Tales Re-Told. The quality of the stories range from ok to effectively disturbing, so overall I give it a thumbs-up. I'm now reading the first in Cara Black's Paris mystery series, Murder in the Marais. I've been given to understand that the concept of her series is that each book is set in a different neighborhood in Paris. The Marais is the Jewish district, and yes, so far the plot of the book has been as you would suspect - a murder that appears to have its roots in the past of Vichy France. I like the writing and so far the female lead detective is interesting.

Edited April 22, 2015 by Black Knight

[GaT]

I've never heard the "Ready Player One is a YA thing" until your post, GaT. I suspect it arose among people who haven't actually read the book and just automatically categorize anything that has minors as the protagonists as being YA. I love YA, so I'm not offended by the idea of the book being categorized that way or anything, it just seems incorrect to me. In the bookstores I go to, I have never seen it shelved in the YA section.

 

 

Well, it's technically science fiction, but the protagonist is still in high school when the story starts, that's typical YA stuff, plus, it won an Alex Awards which is given out by YALSA "The Young Adult Library Services Association (YALSA) is a national association of librarians, library workers and advocates whose mission is to expand and strengthen library services for teens, aged 12-18." Also, I happened to run across this, it's on a grade 11 summer reading list, so it may not technically be called YA, but it's YA.

[Black Knight]

It's such a murky thing, YA definitions. I looked it up on Amazon, along with Divergent, just for comparison's sake. For the latter, the list of categories starts with "Teen & Young Adult" and then every single category on the list after that starts with "Teen & Young Adult" and then adds "Science Fiction" "Romance" "Dystopian" etc. Ready Player One, on the other hand, doesn't have a single Teen & YA category listed - it's all "Science Fiction Adventures" and "Dystopian" and so on without Teen & Young Adult preceding those terms.

 

It just doesn't feel like a YA book to me. Able to be enjoyed by young adult readers, absolutely, but that's not exactly the same thing.

[GaT]

I guess we just see it differently because it definitely feels like a YA book to, I can't imagine who would categorize it as "dystopian" though, it's not dystopian at all.

[Mars477]

I'm reading the Bill Gastner/Posadas County series by Steven Havill.  It's much better than the Walt Longmire series by Craig Johnson, and not just because it's a hell of a lot less fucked up and creepy in a wish fulfillment way.  At least in this series about a 60 something, aging and aching rural county sheriff, the hero's young and superhot brunette Sheriff's deputy is his friend, surrogate daughter, and mother of his beloved godchildren, not his love interest.

 

Speaking of that young and superhot Sheriff's Deputy, the series takes a pretty sizable leap in quality when she steps into the lead role.  Havill is probably not at his best when writing in first person. 

[Cobalt Stargazer]

I'm reading Ready Player One even though when I asked here, I decided not to based on the response I got. Then I had a 20% off Barnes & Noble coupon & nothing to buy with it, so I took the plunge & got it. Anyway, I'm actually enjoying it. I was worried I wouldn't because I'm not a gamer at all, but the gaming stuff isn't bothering me. I have to admit that I'm not really sure who this book is intended for though, it's supposed to be a YA novel, but it's all about 80s gaming & media, not something YAs today would really be familiar with.

 

I've read Ready Player One, and it sort of is YA because the protagonist is a teenager, but that's really the only similarity.

[Rick Kitchen]

I am loving "The Goblin Emperor".  The depth of background and the thousands of characters (even with unpronounceable names) really have me interested.  It reminds me of "Titus Groan" for its depth and intrigue.

[Black Knight]

I guess we just see it differently because it definitely feels like a YA book to, I can't imagine who would categorize it as "dystopian" though, it's not dystopian at all.

The world is very grim, with rampant poverty and other problems, leading humanity to spend most of their waking hours in OASIS. That's why it's a dystopian novel and commonly described as such.

 

I finished Cara Black's Murder in the Marais. The murderer becomes obvious at a certain point if you just sit back and look and see that given the circumstances, there is only one person it can be. But the book is well-written, I enjoyed the exploration of the neighborhood, so I'll definitely continue to her other books in the series. But I'm not feeling the need to rush out and read them all immediately. Good, not great.

 

Now I've started on Mary Roach's Gulp: Adventures on the Alimentary Canal. Her writing is funny and accessible, and interesting enough to keep me turning the pages quickly.

[Joe]

I read the Silmarillion recently. It's a good book, but I had to put it down for a few days after Turin's chapter. It was just so painful that I needed a break before continuing. Basically, I don't plan to ever read the fleshed out version, the Children of Hurin. I couldn't handle that story as a novel.

[Danny Franks]

Just finished The Emperor's Blades by Brian Staveley. Book one of another new fantasy trilogy. I really enjoyed it. Three distinctly different, sibling protagonists, with their own stories and diverse experiences. A Byzantine (in both senses of the word) conspiracy to end the royal line, and the requisite age-old evil forces gathering.

 

It hits a lot of predictable tropes, such as the 'clearly marked for death because she's introduced right at the beginning as a potential love interest for our hero' character and the 'obviously evil, smug shit of a character who ends up being more than the petty bully the hero thinks he is'. But it's all done well, and I liked the worldbuilding and the style of Staveley's writing.

 

Trouble is, I no longer buy hardbacks, so it'll be months before I can read the second part. Dang.

[Cobalt Stargazer]

Just finished The Emperor's Blades by Brian Staveley. Book one of another new fantasy trilogy. I really enjoyed it. Three distinctly different, sibling protagonists, with their own stories and diverse experiences. A Byzantine (in both senses of the word) conspiracy to end the royal line, and the requisite age-old evil forces gathering.

 

Danny Franks, if you like fantasy, might I suggest the Abhorsen series by Garth Nix? I finished it a few months ago and found it really enjoyable, which is perhaps the wrong word to use given what the books are about, lol.

[hendersonrocks]

The Royal We, by Fug Girls Heather Cocks and Jessica Morgan, came up for me at the library so I set aside my (important, excellent, timely) nonfiction read on 1964's Freedom Summer in Mississippi to read a fictionalized version of Prince William & Kate Middleton's courtship. And you know what? It's great. Super frothy, fun, light but well written and not brainless--I would totally recommend it. 

 

I plowed through it in a day. Back to Freedom Summer and the real world tonight.

[M.F. Luder]

I'm currently reading The Sirens of Titan by Kurt Vonnegut. I'm a little less than halfway through and so far I'm loving it. I've read Vonnegut before (Slaughterhouse 5, Blue Beard, Cat's Cradle, Breakfast of Champions) and have LOVED every single one. I love the fact that they're rather bizarre, but at the same time, kind of profound.

[Mountainair]

On a whim I picked up Janet Evanovich's Stephanie Plum series from the library. I remember a girl at work years and years ago reading it and so far I'm on book six. Has anyone ever read these? It's like able, easy reading, however dated. Why can't she just pick up her smart phone and take care of this or that, etc..... Duh! They didn't exist! How can she get the banker to look up random info on someone's account? Duh! Pre 9-11! I'll probably see the series through to the end as long as I'm able to find copies at the library.

My library actually had the first book highlighted last week in the "librarians picks" section complete with DVD. I didn't check it out but I thought it was interesting that Katherine Heigel with a brown hair dye job was Stephanie in the movie. Not how I have been picturing Stephanie, that's for sure.

[Rick Kitchen]

I love the Eve Plum books and her crazy family.  I do wish she'd pick one boyfriend and stick to him.

[OakGoblinFly]

Since it was a free book of the day (via Bookbub) I picked up Rondol Allergro by Sherwood Smith as I enjoyed her A Stranger to Command.

[Qoass]

Candice Bergen's second memoir A Fine Romance.  I'm only fifty pages in but, jeez, I want her life, warts and all.  Her descriptions of her homes in New York City and rural France have me drooling.

 

Her first book Knock Wood was also enchanting.

[Crs97]

I read Life after Life.  Didn't love it.  Just finished The Wives of Los Alamos.  It was enjoyable, but I don't know if I would recommend anyone go out to get it.  If you have to read it (like I did for book club), then you have worse ways to spend your time.  Wow, that's quite a ringing endorsement!

 

I am halfway through Jeff Shaara's American Revolution series.  Just finished Rise to Rebellion and will start Glorious Cause soon.  I love this time in history and these types of novels!

[Rick Kitchen]

Love all of the books by both Shaaras.

[hendersonrocks]

I just started Prudence  by David Treuer, and it sucked me right in even as I wanted to punch one of the main characters in the face multiple times. I'm kind of in awe of how the author did that. I requested it from the library after reading a number of really positive reviews--it seems to be getting great buzz and has a cover blurb from Toni Morrison.

 

It's really, really good so far.

[Danny Franks]

Onto The Circle by David Eggers. About 100 pages in, and it's not really about anything yet other than a girl who's managed to find herself in a job that's way too good to be true (but that also sounds incredibly dull). Her only concerns seem to be pleasing everyone she comes across (not like that).

 

I'll stick with it for now, because it's simple enough going, but it's hardly grabbing me.

Edited May 4, 2015 by Danny Franks

[Qoass]

Spinster by Kate Bolick.  I'm disappointed-- the author isn't doing a great job of selling her personal heroes to me and given that she never seems to have struggled to find a date or a job, her choice to live independently comes across as almost capricious.  

[Black Knight]

I finished Mary Roach's Gulp: Adventures on the Alimentary Canal. She's so funny, and I love the way her inquisitive mind works. Then I read Jacqueline Winspear's latest installment in her Maisie Dobbs mystery series, A Dangerous Place. Winspear has never really seemed to have her heart in writing romance for Maisie (and I don't care one way or the other, myself), but I had to laugh at how she set a new personal best for Authorial Indifference in this book. The mystery was just okay, and overall I would say this is a forgettable volume in the series.

 

I've now started Alex Marshall's A Crown for Cold Silver, as the local indie SF&F bookstore recommends it for GRRM fans. Opening line: "It was all going so nicely, right up until the massacre."

[AuntiePam]

I finally finished the bio of Florence Harding, wife of Warren, the philandering President most well-known because of the Teapot Dome scandal.  Almost 600 pages, lots of detail but it needed more context, a sense of what was happening in the rest of the world, not just Ohio and D.C.

 

But it was interesting.  Highlights:  Florence was into astrology, her best friend was Evalyn McLean, a wealthy socialite who was the last private owner of the Hope Diamond, and she and Warren relied on a hometown homeopath for their medical care.  That didn't turn out so well for either of them.  Warren died in office of an untreated heart condition (and food poisoning), and Florence died about two years later of nephritis.  Warren fathered at least one child with another woman and never stopped ogling the ladies.  There was a rumor that he had three testicles, so maybe there was a medical reason for his behavior. ;-)

 

One thing I did get from the book was a look at a busy First Lady's daily life.  The woman was an engine of activity and accomplished some good things on her own.

 

Next up -- I'm going to try to finish Steven Erickson's Malazan Empire books -- again.  I've read the first one twice, and the next three or four.  I'll just start over.  I have the hardcovers but they're on Kindle Matchbook for $2.99.  The books are way too heavy so I'll get the Kindle versions.

 

 

[barbedwire]

I just finished Dead Wake by Erik Larson.  True story of the sinking of the Lustania, which happened 100 years ago this month.  He is a great writer and even though I didn't care for some of the deep detail on how a ship runs it was a very good book.

I just finished Dead Wake by Erik Larson.  True story of the sinking of the Lustania, which happened 100 years ago this month.  He is a great writer and even though I didn't care for some of the deep detail on how a ship runs it was a very good book.

Edited May 6, 2015 by barbedwire

[Sharpie66]

I'll have to look at that Larson book. One of my favorite Nora Roberts romances is Three Fates, which starts on the Lusitania just as it's torpedoed and continually references the ship and its destruction throughout.

[Sandman87]

I just finished The Greek Myths by Robert Graves, who also wrote I, Claudius. It's a semi-scholarly work that details all of the myths, including alternate versions, and gives an analysis of each one. It's a bit dry, but Graves managed to liven it up a bit by presenting each myth in the style of a story being related by an ancient Greek storyteller. The two volumes make for an excellent reference despite the mild eccentricity of the writing. It's also good bedtime reading, because it's interesting without being "keep you awake into the wee hours" interesting.

Edited May 7, 2015 by Sandman87

[EighteenTwelve]

I'm reading HHhH by Laurent Binet.  (I'm reading it in French, which is its original language, because I wanted to prove I can still read French.)  It's about Reinhard Heydrich, so it's not supposed to be funny, but the narrator referred to Heinrich Himmler as a hamster and I cracked up laughing.

[Rick Kitchen]

Next up -- I'm going to try to finish Steven Erickson's Malazan Empire books -- again.  I've read the first one twice, and the next three or four.  I'll just start over.  I have the hardcovers but they're on Kindle Matchbook for $2.99.  The books are way too heavy so I'll get the Kindle versions.

 

You can't.  The books never stop coming.

[OakGoblinFly]

I just started Neal Shusterman's Challenger  Deep, a novel that explores the inner working of a teenage mind as it descends into mental illness. 

[GHScorpiosRule]

I'm not attached to the series, because I think the author isn't a very good writer, but I like the story, and yes, the 18th century hero. I'm speaking of Diana Gabaldon. Just finished Outlander and started the next one, Dragonflly in Amber.

I tried to read these books over 12 years ago, but only made it partway through the third.

I will admit the show on Starz got me to read them again. I just hear and see the actors while I'm reading and it helps a little. A little because like I said, she's not a good writer. But I've been told by people who love her that she gets better.

So far, I'm not seeing that.

[AuntiePam]

You can't.  The books never stop coming.

Are you serious?  I thought they were finished!  I'm not reading the Esslemonts -- just the Eriksons.  Please don't tell me there's more.  [sob] ;=)

[Qoass]

I just started House of Echoes by Brendan Duffy.  I like the central character  and his family very much so I'm dreading the point at which the story will take a turn for the creepy.  So far, a nice fill-in while I wait for the new Stephen King novel.

[Rick Kitchen]

Are you serious?  I thought they were finished!  I'm not reading the Esslemonts -- just the Eriksons.  Please don't tell me there's more.  [sob] ;=)

 

There are currently 16 in total.

[bmasters9]

The Falcon Crest novel from 1984

 

[Crs97]

No way, bmasters! I am jealous!

[Danny Franks]

There are currently 16 in total.

 

Jeez. I only made it about 100 pages into the first one, before the magic system explanation just made me roll my eyes and give up. I'm a huge fan of fantasy literature, but I really don't like magic. It's fine as a low key, almost background aspect of the world, but when the story is about wizards and warlocks and enchanters and runic sorcerers? I will always check right out.

 

Same with dragons, actually. Whenever I read the back of a book and see that it revolves around dragons, I put it back down and move on.

 

I wish there were more fantasy stories that stuck more to the idea of being alternate history stories, in relatively normal worlds.

[AuntiePam]

Jeez. I only made it about 100 pages into the first one, before the magic system explanation just made me roll my eyes and give up. I'm a huge fan of fantasy literature, but I really don't like magic. It's fine as a low key, almost background aspect of the world, but when the story is about wizards and warlocks and enchanters and runic sorcerers? I will always check right out.

 

I like Malazan for the characters -- I just wish there weren't so many to keep track of.  It doesn't help that some of them are known by more than one name, and that the names aren't identifiers.  A female might have a masculine name.  And there are apostrophes in some names,  I want to be able to pronounce in my head.

 

It also doesn't help that characters die but don't stay dead, and that some of them come back as gods. 

 

Shoot.  Now I'm talking myself out of reading these books!

[Cobalt Stargazer]

I wish there were more fantasy stories that stuck more to the idea of being alternate history stories, in relatively normal worlds.

 

Have you tried Harry Turtledove's books?

[Danny Franks]

Have you tried Harry Turtledove's books?

 

I've read a few, and enjoyed some of them. The Gladiator was good, and a rather cool idea (that of capitalism being spread through the communist world via a Railroad Tycoon style board game). The Days of Infamy books were really good as well. I wasn't such a fan of the American Empire books, as I felt they were a bit too on the nose regarding the supposedly inevitable rise of fascism.

[Joe]

 

I wish there were more fantasy stories that stuck more to the idea of being alternate history stories, in relatively normal worlds.

Have you tried Tom Holt's stuff under the name KJ Parker? I've read a couple, and didn't pick up any magic at all. Just make sure the first one you read isn't The Hammer.

[DimaTheRussian]

    The Physics of Wall Street by James Owen Weatherall is a intellectual history of mathematical innovation in finance.I come at this review as a person in the financial world and a former mathematics guy,so I'm a bit biased to the subject.

 

The good: the author has some excellent historical material on Bachelier, MFM Osborne and Ed Thorp, who are (mostly) unrecognized giants in the field. I learned a few things, and think the author had some real insights into the contributions made by these men. Frankly, I'd have bought the book for the Thorp and Osborne anecdotes. Someone really needs to do an authorized biography of Thorp, and one of Osborne would be pretty neat as well. Some of the material on Mandelbrot and the prediction company guys was also amusing, though I have always considered these folks overrated. This book is extremely well written, and despite the problems I had with it, I found myself enjoying the reading.

 

The bad: The subjects of this book are not all people a working practitioner of finance would have chosen. Most of subjects of the book are *known.* Many practitioners of finance (and mathematics) are only famous because they like publicity and talking to journalists, or because there is somehow a popular book associated with them. I mentioned Mandelbrot and the prediction company guys above: these are accomplished, interesting and talented men. Do they belong in the same league as Ed Thorp or MFM Osborne? I think they'd agree the answer to this question is "no." I've read most of the popular books the author used as raw source material, so most of this book wasn't new. He did reach out to some of the protagonists, and managed to dig up a few things I wasn't familiar with, but the meat of this book exists in several other books out there. Not that there is anything wrong with that; it summarizes about a dozen other books, and does so with considerable style. But if you already know about this sort of thing, you're only getting a few new Thorp and Osborne stories.

 

I'm not sure I agree with the author's prescription at the end of the book, but new ideas are presently urgently needed, so I'll make supportive noises at all new ideas whether I agree with them or not. For a popular book on this subject, a subject which is the source of much hysteria and popular caterwauling, it isn't half bad. I'd suggest it to the layperson, and short it for the informed practitioner.

[Danny Franks]

Have you tried Tom Holt's stuff under the name KJ Parker? I've read a couple, and didn't pick up any magic at all. Just make sure the first one you read isn't The Hammer.

 

I read the first two books of The Fencer Trilogy, many years ago. I thought they were decent, but I never bothered tracking down the third one, when it came out. I seem to remember a couple of truly weird, grim twists in the second book that put me off.

 

Those books actually aren't easy to find, it seems. I've not noticed KJ Parker at any Waterstones I've been to in a long time.