It's January. What are you reading?

[Victoria Silverwolf]

On the way back home on an overnight trip to the north/central part of Tennessee (where we enjoyed short hikes through very scenic areas, one full of gigantic rock formations, and the other with a large waterfall opposite a cave) we stopped at a funky "general store" (tourist trap). This place had all kinds of stuff, from antiques to tacky souvenirs to fudge to unopened geodes. (We bought one, and now we have to find somebody who can open it for us.)

A corner of the store was devoted to used books. Oddly, many of these seemed to be old British editions. We picked up Russell Harty Plus (1974), which is a series of transcripts of television interviews between Mr. Harty and various celebrities. It's quite a mixed bag of folks, from Gary Glitter to Gore Vidal, along with some names I do not recognize. The style of the interviews seems to be mostly joke-filled and informal. The most eloquent so far, no surprise, is David Niven.

 

[vanye]

Just finished The Iron Jackal by Chris Wooding. The Tales Of The Ketty Jay are first-class examples of what I consider a fun read. And they get better with each new installment.

Before that, Hidden by Benedict Jacka. Also a fun series, if not quite as elaborate.

 

[thaddeus6th]

Vanye, I really like The Tales of the Ketty Jay as well. For a rollicking romp style story, there's also a surprisingly large amount of character development as well.

 

[vanye]

Yes, the characters really are alive - and more so with every book in the series. If the characters live, so does the story.

Just finished the first in the Aurora series by Ryk Brown which makes this point in a rather sad way. It doesn't really have characters as such, just cardboard avatars. And I won't even start on physics. This is easily one of the worst SF I've ever read.

The writers amongst y'all might want to check this one out. As an example of how not to write.

As a reader I can only say yikes.

 

[Gnrevolution]

Been reading The Moon is a Harsh Mistress over Christmas, not finished yet but thoroughly enjoying it, it still amazes me how some of this Classic SF still stands up to the modern audience. Looking forward to Half a King afterwards, hearing nothing but good things about it.

 

[Randy M.]

Finished Nicholas Blake's Thou Shell of Death just before New Year's Eve (quite good old-fashioned British mystery novel; amazing what a jaunty, witty adventure those writers could make out of someone being murdered!) and found I still had a taste for mysteries. I'm about 2/3s through P. D. James' first novel, Cover Her Face and finding it very good reading. Really so far, a very well-written and well-conceived first novel.

Randy M.

 

[The Judge]

I'm about 2/3s through P. D. James' first novel, Cover Her Face and finding it very good reading. Really so far, a very well-written and well-conceived first novel.

I picked that up last year and raced through it. I'd never thught of her as a Country House Murder Mystery author so the setting was a bit of a shock to the system!

 

[vanye]

Recently also read Miles Cameron's The Red Knight and its follow-up The Fell Sword. I liked the first one alright: interesting characters, interesting system of magic and lots of things going on. The second one, though, to me had a more and more Arthurian feel. So I probably will not read more of the series.

 

[Victoria Silverwolf]

I'm almost done with Steel and Other Stories (2011) by Richard Matheson, a collection of stuff mostly from the 1950's, with two pieces from the 21st century through in. This book is a tie-in with the movie Real Steel, very loosely based (from what I can tell; I have not seen it) on the title story.

 

[Extollager]

Bellaris's The Spell of the Sorcerer's Skull

Sorry -- I meant John Bellairs. I expect to start another of his books tonight or tomorrow. I've also started Asimov's Mysteries, which I will read in from to time, in no hurry to finish.

 

[Hex]

Finally finished Awaken to my enormous relief (I feel a bit out on a limb because almost all the reviews rave about it, but it didn't work for me). Now I'm reading Wool by Hugh Howey and I have high hopes. At least there won't be a flying car. Or an mc so ditzy she spends all her time mooning around after a beautiful rebel with no apparent interest in her. Fingers crossed.

 

[Cascade]

Currently reading'God Emperor of Dicot', entirely due to having joined this forum. Having said that I am getting a fairly regular 'have I read this before?' vibe from parts, and wondering if excerpts had been previously published in F and SF Magazine.

I'm also half way through 'In Dreams Begin' -by Skyler White. Which is not a book I would have found (or chosen) on my own but that is not a bad thing.

 

[oorang]

Trying to close out the books I had missed in this list of distant future sci fi books- http://sciencefictionlist.com/books/best-distant-future-science-fiction.php

Currently on the last one I had left- Consider Phlebas by Iain Banks. Awesome, as they all were.

 

[j d worthington]

Continuing my reading of Smith's poetry. At this point, I've reached such tings as "Ode to the Abyss" and "The Star-Treader", both of which were written before he had reached age 19. My god, that man could write.....

http://www.eldritchdark.com/writings/poetry/399/ode-to-the-abyss

http://www.eldritchdark.com/writings/poetry/577/the-star-treader

And even his lighter, briefer pieces are often quite exquisite:

http://www.eldritchdark.com/writings/poetry/303/a-live-oak-leaf

http://www.eldritchdark.com/writings/poetry/682/wind-ripples

 

[Parson]

Just finished the last of The Giver Quartet.... "Son" It was the weakest of the series. If felt like a rehash of most of the ideas (and they were brilliant ideas) of The Giver with the ending borrowed from Messenger. I can't recommend The Giver highly enough, Gathering Blue was a better story, but a less important one, Messenger stepped up nearly as high as The Giver but Son was largely a disappointment. On the whole I feel the story should have ended with Messenger and this might have been the best trilogy I've ever read. Still the whole quartet has to be considered a triumph for Lois Lowry.

 

[Bick]

Started "Nova" by Samuel R. Delaney. Terrific so far. He's clearly a bit of a stylist in his writing, but this is pretty fast paced and engaging.

I finished Simak's "All Flesh is Grass". I thought it was very good, but will reserve a longer review for the Simak thread once I'm back from my summer camping holiday with the family, later in the month.

 

[Allegra]

My last year's reading was dedicated to P.G. Wodehouse, 20+ novels and few others here and there, nothing of the genre, unless you count Wodehouse as fantasy, I do actually. This year more or less will be the same. Right now I'm reading Pigs Have Wings and Charles Rosen's Piano Notes.

 

[Vince W]

Started "Nova" by Samuel R. Delaney. Terrific so far. He's clearly a bit of a stylist in his writing, but this is pretty fast paced and engaging.

I finished Simak's "All Flesh is Grass". I thought it was very good, but will reserve a longer review for the Simak thread once I'm back from my summer camping holiday with the family, later in the month.

Nova is one of Delaney's best. I love that book.

 

[Randy M.]

I picked that up last year and raced through it. I'd never thught of her as a Country House Murder Mystery author so the setting was a bit of a shock to the system!

My first book by her so I hadn't really expected a Country House mystery, either. You can see that the novel comes from the English mystery traditions set up in the 1920s and 1930s, playing a bit with the form. But what has really been working for me, aside from James' ability to write, is her observations of the landed gentry circa 1960, their precarious position post-WWII, the social dynamics in their contact with the nearest village, and the family interactions. Probably won't do this immediately, but sometime soon I'll pull out one of her later books to see how she developed.

Randy M.

 

[kythe]

I've been reading "A Princess of Mars" by Edgar Rice Burroughs. It's a fast-paced adventure story, but without much substance. John Carter reminds me a bit of Captain Kirk, maybe how he would have been if he didn't have Spock and McCoy to temper him.

I prefer Leigh Brackett's world building and more insightful character motivation. On that note, I think I'm reading my classics out of order, since Brackett actually refers to Burroughs in her short story "The Tweener". If I had read about John Carter first I would have caught the reference.