What are you reading? What was the last book you enjoyed?

[RoyalSubject]

Either I read a lot or I have an affinity for these books....

Same here. I read 7 1/2 of them. (Couldn't stand The Road)

 

[orpheus]

Living with a Wild God: A Nonbeliever's Search for the Truth about Everything by Barbara Ehrenreich

I thought this book was going to be about exploring religion and one's faith based beliefs and it is, but it works more as a memoir in which Ehrenreich explores her early life as a whole. Nothing earth shattering, but I enjoyed reading this and the writer's style and thought about religion and the issues she dealt with while growing up.

Annihilation (Southern Reach Trilogy #1 ) by Jeff VanderMeer

This is a pretty creepy story about a group of women with different expertise explore a remote and abandoned area, Area X, which is filled with strange goings and comings. Not the ideal eco tourist experience, haha. This is a short book, but effective nonetheless. I am certainly looking forward to reading the second book in the series.

The Diviners (The Diviners #1 ) by Libba Bray

YA novel set in the roaring twenties about a teen with possible paranormal abilities who moves with her uncle in NY and ends up helping him solve a series of murders in the city. Somewhat creepy for a YA novel. I did enjoy this, but with that being said, I've read two other of Bray's YA novels, and this one is my least favorite. It was strange, but not as much or as funny as the other two books.

Seed to Harvest (Patternmaster #1 -4 omnibus) by Octavia E. Butler

This contains 4 of Butler's SciFi Patternmaster novels. All four are good, the last one in the book is the shortest and weakest. Wild Seed and Mind of My Mind revolve around the same characters while Clay's Ark goes into really creepy and disturbing post apocalyptic territory. :O I am quite fond of Butler's work because she's so imaginative and wrote stories that get under your skin.

Little Black Book of Stories by A.S. Byatt

I tried to read this a while ago, but didn't finish it. It contains "fairy tales are for grownups" which are pretty effective. "The Stone Woman" stands out (a story about a woman slowly turning into stone), but "Body Art" which has an erotic and disturbing Cronenberg feel, haha, was my favorite.


I think I read too much. *shrugs*

 

[jerseydevil]

Just got SK's Mr. Mercedes, and found out that George RR Martin's WILD CARD SERIES has 4 more books. Gotsta read.

 

[jerseydevil]

Man. Nothing like a King book to get me back reading again. Outstanding. I wish I had been able to hoover this before I read about how this is


SPOILERS

Book one in a trilogy.



END SPOILERS


So. It's something so generic...simple. Anti-hero-ish vs a serial killer. But the trappings matter not. The master could write shampoo instructions and have you hooked. Terrific read. LOVED it.

 

[kingkrazy]

Sat down and read this yesterday and was pretty disappointed. Not much to the story. That's all I have to say about that...

 

[jammer06]

Finally read Sherlock Holmes "The Sign of the Four"

Not sure how I ever missed this one but it was a very neat read going back to the very early history of Holmes.

 

[adgy-san]

The Likeness by Tana French - A sequel to the last book I read, In The Woods, this was pretty good, but not quite as good as that one. The premise was pretty fascinating, the cops find a dead body that looks exactly like Detective Cassie Maddox and the body has an ID card with a name Maddox used while undercover years ago. French is a smart writer and I'll continue to check out the rest of her books.

 

[jammer06]

The Likeness by Tana French - A sequel to the last book I read, In The Woods, this was pretty good, but not quite as good as that one. The premise was pretty fascinating, the cops find a dead body that looks exactly like Detective Cassie Maddox and the body has an ID card with a name Maddox used while undercover years ago. French is a smart writer and I'll continue to check out the rest of her books.

That sounds eerily similar to a Tess Gerritsen novel from a few years back. Wouldn't be the first time a plot got recycled.

 

[KingInTheWest]

Finally read Sherlock Holmes "The Sign of the Four"

Not sure how I ever missed this one but it was a very neat read going back to the very early history of Holmes.

I bought a 'complete Sherlock Holmes' for my tablet for my trip, because I think I had only ever actually read a couple short stories. Read a few, very entertaining and well-constructed. I was a little confused by the giant detour to Utah Mormons in the middle of the first book, until it connected.

Also read Ender's Game. A lot darker and deeper than I expected; I'm guessing the movie really cut down on both. Having seen the trailers, I was picturing Harrison Ford the whole time. The big twist was great and really made sense. Ender's age felt a little too young.

Many months ago, someone posted links to lists of 'top 100 fantasy / sci-fi novels' and 'top 100 mystery novels', so I decided to use those for travel reading. Good so far.

 

[New User Name]

Reading Shift, the follow-up to Wool. Favorite series of books are The Dark Tower and Game of Thrones.

 

[RoyalSubject]

Watched the movie, then grabbed the book. My recommendation is to just watch the movie unless you're really into this stuff.

 

[adgy-san]

Fatima: The Blood Spinners - I've tried in the past to get into the works of the Hernandez Bros with little success, but every couple of years or so I want to try again because it seems like so many people whose work I admire are such big fans. Well, I bought this in a comic shop a couple weeks ago thinking that the subject of the book (zombies being shot in the head by a female ass-kicker) made it as close to perfect for my tastes as possible. One last shot for me and the Hernandez Bros. And it went about as well as the last few. I really like the artwork, still, but the story completely does nothing for me. It's not bad, but there isn't a single point in which I actually care about what's going on. So I guess it's just not meant to be.

Avengers: Ultron Unlimited - Got this on eBay in a lot with a bunch of other stuff. Figured I'd read it to familiarize myself a little more with the villain of the next Avengers movie. I remember when this was coming out that Wizard magazine was raving about it, so I went in with pretty high expectations. Sadly, they were not met.

There's such a huge, distinct difference in the way that most comics are written today when compared to how they were written just 12 years ago (when this came out) that it's kind of mind-boggling. There's so much exposition and extraneous (in my opinion) dialogue that it really makes portions of the book almost a chore to get through. I have this problem with a lot of older comics, even ones I love. Maybe if I'd had read this as it came out I'd like it better today. As it is, though, I have a lot of trouble buying Ultron as a villain who twirls his metaphorical mustache as he, literally, cackles to himself about his evil genius plan.

Sex Criminals Vol. 1 - One Weird Trick - One of the best, if not THE best, comics on the stands today in my opinion. On the surface, it's about a couple who stop time when they orgasm and decide to rob a bank while time is stopped to help save their local library. Beyond that, it's probably the single most frank and unassuming book about sex, for both men and women, that I've come across outside of my Pyschology Of Human Sexuality college class. It's also funny as hell. Sadly, the trade collection does not reprint the letter columns from the single issues, which are just as amazing. I still recommend it highly, though. You can buy Volume 1 for less than $8 on Amazon, too.

 

[Front row]

Man. Nothing like a King book to get me back reading again. Outstanding. I wish I had been able to hoover this before I read about how this is


SPOILERS

Book one in a trilogy.



END SPOILERS


So. It's something so generic...simple. Anti-hero-ish vs a serial killer. But the trappings matter not. The master could write shampoo instructions and have you hooked. Terrific read. LOVED it.

Just finished it, I enjoyed it, not the typical SK, especially the ending. Gave it to my wife, she sat down and read it in 24 hours. Couldn't put it down.

 

[motalare]

Finished this a month ago, but it took me this long to write as I have mixed feelings about it overall. Granted, I think it would be difficult to try to describe the initial invasion in any kind of detail in only 320 pages, but Hastings attempts to include all the action up to and around Falaise (Jul.6 to roughly Aug.21), so a lot gets glossed over. A highlight is the personal recollections from veterans that he collected thru interviews and correspondence (book was published in 1984). His previous book was Das Reich, and it seems Hastings continues with a reverence for the martial prowess of any ss division and the german army in general; often to the detriment of the allied infantry. Just my opinion, and I am no jingoist, but Hastings seems almost infatuated with them, while the allies are the gang that couldn't shoot straight. Anyway, there it is.

 

[Hkyfmly]

I just finished Little Fuzzies by H. Beam Piper. Great book. I read it because I read Fuzzy Nation by John Scalzi. Which I enjoyed and he said it was an homage (spell) to the H. Beam Piper book. I need to find more by Piper.

 

[RoyalSubject]

Trying to fill gaps in my electronics knowledge so I can build some more sophisticated circuits. I'm just reading through the first few experiments since I learned all those basics a long time ago, and I still need to pick up supplies for the later chapters. Looks pretty good so far. Can't wait to get to the stuff on IC's.

Reading this book also prompted me to finally replace my 20+ year old malfunctioning Radio Shack meter with a Fluke 87. I've been salivating over those for a long time. Found a great deal on ebay for a used v3.

 

[kingkrazy]

This is the first book I've read by Clegg and only stumbled upon him by accident. Very Stephen King"isn". The story was pretty good but I did see a lot of similarities to "It". Almost the same story. A writer going back to a small town where as kids, he and his friends were terrorized by something that lived underground and he was returning as an adult to finish it off, although he was going back on his own free will, the "evil' starts up when he returns as an adult. In fact at a few points they even call what they are chasing "it". I would imagine a tip of the hat to King. I do like his style and will definetly give one of his other books a try

 

[adgy-san]

Shockwave by Andrew Vachss - The second book in a relatively new series. It's taken me a while to kind of adjust to Vachss books that are not from his Burke series, which ran for 18 books over 23 years. His writing style hasn't changed that much in what he's done since the Burke books ended, but just dealing with new characters and getting used to the fact that they're different has been strange. I feel like I've made it, though, because I've really enjoyed both of the Aftershock novels and this one more than the last. Vachss' novels always have a message behind them, and that's never been hard for me to pick up on, but I really like the characters here. Liked this book a lot.

Bravo by Greg Rucka - The second in his new series, about a military unit dealing with terrorist issues at home. The first book was tense as **** and this one, which picks up about 72 hours after the last one ended was, as well. At this point, I think Rucka may be my favorite writer in any medium, period. His procedural stuff is top notch, you can tell he does his research, and his depiction of action is as good as any I've read. ****ing great book.

Colorless Tsukuru Tazaki And His Years Of Pilgrimage by Haruki Murakami - Loved the **** out of this book. Among my favorites of his, and I like ALL of his books a lot.

Confessions by Kanae Minato - ****ing FINALLY they do an english translation of the book that one of my favorite movies of the last few years was based on. The movie was a ****ed up gut punch and I'm happy to say the book was, too. This is one of those rare cases, maybe, where the movie was better than the book, but the book was still fantastic. I just finished this a couple nights ago and am eager to watch the movie again. So ****ing good.

 

[KanesGirl]

I am reading Inferno by Dan Brown currently.

 

[jammer06]

I am reading Inferno by Dan Brown currently.

If you've ever been to the places that he writes about in that book, I think he did an exceptional job in this one.