Jump to content

What are you reading now?


grawk

Recommended Posts

Finished Parasite -- probably my least favourite book she's written, because

I saw the ending telegraphed a mile away

-- but I'll probably still continue to read that series, too, since I'm now over it already.

 

Finished The Winter Long -- probably my most favourite book she's written, but I feel that way about every October Daye book when I'm reading it, I just love that series.

 

Started the fifth book in the Night Watch series (Sergei Lukyanenko) and The Runestone Incident (Neve Maslakovic).

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 4 weeks later...

Finished The Runestone Incident -- gave it 5 stars on Amazon, but would wish to give it 4.5, as it's not quite up there with the best, but I enjoyed it heroically, and I really like her well-thought-out mythology on time travel ("history protects itself").  There's room for a lot of stories there.

 

Started Indexing (Seanan McGuire) -- loving it already.  It's not quite as comedic as Discount Armageddon (largely because all the characters are angry all the time), but the material is funny which gives it a nicely different flavour from her other novels.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Finished The Runestone Incident -- gave it 5 stars on Amazon, but would wish to give it 4.5, as it's not quite up there with the best, but I enjoyed it heroically, and I really like her well-thought-out mythology on time travel ("history protects itself").  There's room for a lot of stories there.

 

Started Indexing (Seanan McGuire) -- loving it already.  It's not quite as comedic as Discount Armageddon (largely because all the characters are angry all the time), but the material is funny which gives it a nicely different flavour from her other novels.

 

Added those two to my list.  I'm currently reading Sparrow Hill Road and enjoying it quite a bit.

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 1 month later...

Had a chance to cash in a number of books on my Trip. Nothing better for burning though books than 12+ hour flights in the back of the plane in coach.

 

American Gods

 

American_gods.jpg

 

My first Neil Gaiman book. I've dabbled in the Sandman and read some of his shorter stuff, but this was my first novel of his. It took me a while to get in to it, but once I did it was very enjoyable. It is a good story, and fun to read, though I found the side-cuts to the historical stuff distracting and I didn't think they added that much to the the main story threads or the points the book made. Gaiman is clearly a good writer. If you enjoy his type of stuff at all, check this one out. 4/5. I think I have to pick Sandman back up and start working through that.

 

 

The Martain

 

Screen-Shot-2014-11-16-at-1.51.07-PM-640

 

Hopefully Cute will agree with me, this is a hell of a fun read. I basically got through it in a single sitting. For you engineer-types this is sci-fi page-turner to read. The story is very fun, and (from my experience playing Kerbal Space Program on the PC) the science seemed to be pretty spot on. I'll be looking forward to the Ridley Scott movie, thats for sure. As a book, the writing isn't a whole lot better than what you'd find in a high-school english class, but that doesn't distract that much from how enjoyable the book otherwise is. Very recommended to the HC crowd, 4/5. I'll be picking up Andy Wier's next book for sure.

 

 

The Name of the Rose

 

The_Name_of_the_Rose.jpg

 

I'm more than halfway done with this one, but I can already tell it is a masterpiece and lives up to the hype. Eco is a genius. It is not an easy read as it is really a philosophy, religion and semiotic treatise wrapped in a whodunit murder in a 14th century abbey, but it really is great. Thinking this one will be a 5/5 for me once I finish it.

Edited by TMoney
Link to comment
Share on other sites

I've been reading a bunch more since getting the 6+, since it's always with me and the size is perfect. 

 

The last two were:

 

Night Film by Marisha Pessl - I thought it was excellent.  Not without its faults, but one of the most entertaining reads I can remember.  One that is better the less you know, but a pretty thrilling ride.

 

Red Sparrow by Jason Matthews - An odd novel about Russian/US spy games with some interesting choices... Not sure how else to describe it without giving anything away.  That said, I'm looking forward to the next one he has due out in May. 

 

Currently reading:

 

Symbiont by Mira Grant - I wish I could say I was more excited about this, but this new series really does pale in comparison to the Newsflesh books.  So far, so OK... We'll see where it goes.

 

Edited by en480c4
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Finished Parasite -- probably my least favourite book she's written, because

I saw the ending telegraphed a mile away

-- but I'll probably still continue to read that series, too, since I'm now over it already.

I had a conversation with Ian shortly after we both read Parasite and I said something along the lines of, "It's as if she said, "Fuck, if only

I hadn't made those two pseudo-siblings and then had them fuck

and it hadn't been about zombies I could have made a kajillion dollars." So she started another series with a slightly different end of the world scenario and so far did some other stuff with the main charaters. But one book in and it'll never be Newsflesh. I'm not sure I'll even bother with the rest of the series, honestly. Now based on what you guys are saying about her other work, I will probably read that so thanks for pointing that stuff out.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

That still bothering you, Nate?  Lollers, I got over it.  If anything, it made the mopiness of Deadline make that much more sense.

 

Oh, and spoiler alert:

she hasn't ruled out it being a prequel, but neither has she promised the classic ending that will tie to the beginning

.

 

Didn't realize Symbiont was out, I thought I preordered it...(wanders off to find out cheapest way to read it)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

That still bothering you, Nate?  Lollers, I got over it.  If anything, it made the mopiness of Deadline make that much more sense.

I think you misunderstood me, I loved everything about Deadline and the Newsflesh trilogy. None of the content bothered me and I agree with you that it made the whole premise that much more believable. The Parasite story just kind of strikes me as a cheap knockoff, does that make sense?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Had the time over the Holiday to finish reading Cryptonomicon yesterday. Heavy on the tech side, but the quick pace and comedy kept me burning through pages (ended up buying 2 physical copies and 1 digital once I got tired of not finding a copy on hand when I found the time). Definitely on another level from the other several novels I've read from Neil Stephenson. Greatly enjoyed it.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 1 month later...

Sparrow Hill Road by Seanan McGuire -- superb so far.  It's a collection of stories with a single main character -- a ghost.  And an over-arching story.  (You can tell she's a big fan of television serials like Whedon and Doctor Who.)

 

I really liked that one.

 

Currently waiting for One Salt Sea to become available at the library.  October Daye is an outstanding series.

 

I just finished this, and I highly recommend it:

 

13538873.jpg

 

I guess I'll start on another Mira Grant novella while I wait for my Seanan McGuire book.

 

13641101.jpg

Edited by acidbasement
  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

×
×
  • Create New...

Important Information

By using this site, you agree to our Terms of Use.