It's September - what are you reading?

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Just so. Hornblower and the Atropos. He lets himself relax ... realizes he's trapped and facing disaster ... castigates himself unmercifully ... produces a daring plan of escape.
 
Just finished:

  • Rick Yancey's THE 5TH WAVE - Good Dystopian YA fiction and good springboard for discussion about what it means to be human for teens.
  • Max Gladstone's TWO SERPENTS RISING and THREE PARTS DEAD - Excellent worldbuilding and engaging storytelling.
  • Georgette Heyer's THESE OLD SHADES - Witty and hilarious as usual though am a tad uncomfortable with the huge age gap between her protagonists (heroine is 19 and hero is 40).
  • Jim C. Hines' CODEX BORN and UNBOUND (from his MAGIC EX LIBRIS series) - Engrossing and entertaining.

Still reading:
  • Rick Yancey's MONSTRUMOLOGIST series - This one is rather hardcore Horror for YA. There are total gross-out scenes in there.
  • Tad Williams' SLEEPING LATE ON JUDGEMENT DAY - Bobby Dollar is consistently entertaining.
  • Becky Chambers' THE LONG WAY TO A SMALL ANGRY PLANET - So far, so good. I don't usually go for Space Opera but this is promising.
  • Molly Tanzer's VERMILLION - Unique worldbuilding and a smooth read. As an ethnic Chinese person, I am amused at how accurately she describes some of the Chinese ghosts and supernatural traditions.
 
A couple of shorts:

Bit Rot by Charles Stross: This is a short by Stross that's free to download (http://www.antipope.org/charlie/blog-static/2013/06/short-story-bit-rot.html) and sits between Saturn's Children and Neptune's Brood. Enjoyable little story I read to see if I'm going to pick up Neptune's Child, which I probably will sometime.
Winterfair Gifts by Lois McMaster Bujold: described as a novella it's really not a lot more than a short story. Enjoyable taking a rather different POV to the usual Miles Vorkosigan books. But still a little too much of a romance for me, but I'll probably still read CryoBurn sometime as I already have it.
 
I finished Blue at the Mizzen yesterday evening. Considering it wasn't meant to be the last one, it does actually have a pretty satisfying ending, so much so that I'm putting off reading The Final Unfinished Voyage of Jack Aubrey for a while so as not to diminish it :)

Decided on a complete change of pace instead, so this morning I started reading Hannu Rajaniemi's The Quantum Thief. It's bonkers :D
 
Vertigo said:
A couple of shorts:


Winterfair Gifts by Lois McMaster Bujold: described as a novella it's really not a lot more than a short story. Enjoyable taking a rather different POV to the usual Miles Vorkosigan books. But still a little too much of a romance for me, but I'll probably still read CryoBurn sometime as I already have it.
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I found Cryoburn a weaker story than most of the rest, but the last chapter was worth reading to. :)
 
Right now I'm reading or listening to:

Shadows of Sherwood by Kekla Magoon - just started so not too many impressions yet though I like the main.
Listening to (in the car for the commute) Agatha H. and the Clockwork Princess which is flipping awesome and I don't want it to end.
Listening to (on the ipod when I work out) Brian Staveley's Emperor's Blades which is good but tense so far.

Just finished a re-read of the Outlander books and had to DNF American Craftsman because I couldn't handle the mental torture and didn't like the puritanical prayer used as a weapon. Just not my thing.
 
The Bluestocking said:
Just finished:

  • Rick Yancey's THE 5TH WAVE - Good Dystopian YA fiction and good springboard for discussion about what it means to be human for teens.
  • Max Gladstone's TWO SERPENTS RISING and THREE PARTS DEAD - Excellent worldbuilding and engaging storytelling.
  • Georgette Heyer's THESE OLD SHADES - Witty and hilarious as usual though am a tad uncomfortable with the huge age gap between her protagonists (heroine is 19 and hero is 40).
  • Jim C. Hines' CODEX BORN and UNBOUND (from his MAGIC EX LIBRIS series) - Engrossing and entertaining.

Still reading:
  • Rick Yancey's MONSTRUMOLOGIST series - This one is rather hardcore Horror for YA. There are total gross-out scenes in there.
  • Tad Williams' SLEEPING LATE ON JUDGEMENT DAY - Bobby Dollar is consistently entertaining.
  • Becky Chambers' THE LONG WAY TO A SMALL ANGRY PLANET - So far, so good. I don't usually go for Space Opera but this is promising.
  • Molly Tanzer's VERMILLION - Unique worldbuilding and a smooth read. As an ethnic Chinese person, I am amused at how accurately she describes some of the Chinese ghosts and supernatural traditions.
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didn't liked rick's book. :) finished benedict jacka series for now and found it interesting the 6 books so far :). now Reading the anhilation score :)
 
tobl said:
didn't liked rick's book. :) finished benedict jacka series for now and found it interesting the 6 books so far :). now Reading the anhilation score :)
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Benedict Jacka's ALEX VERUS series is fabulous. Alex is a much better protagonist than Harry Dresden IMHO. Far less arrogant and sexist in his interactions with the women and girls and non-human females in his life. He's pretty much egalitarian and treats the female characters in his world as his equals.

I was discussing Alex Verus with a friend (also female) and she observed that in her workplace (where all of them are geeks), fans of Alex Verus and Harry Dresden seem to be divided along gender lines - male colleagues prefer Harry and female colleagues prefer Alex.
 
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Jo Zebedee said:
I found Cryoburn a weaker story than most of the rest, but the last chapter was worth reading to. :)
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Well as I said I have that one already so... But not sure how many more I'm going to read. I know there's only Captain Vorpatril's Alliance left in the series, but there's another due out in 2016 and, as there's really no single plot thread spanning the while series, I suspect the series could run and run. The thing is that whilst I find her writing smooth and slick I'm just not as attached to her main themes especially now they seem to have turned away from the space opera so prevalent in the early books.
 
I finished The Elementals by Michael McDowell. It was a pretty good book, with a great feel of southern USA. It had the Stephen King style of floating POV which I didn't really mind for this story. It took a while to get to the baddies part of the book but it fed you bits of ominous tension like the 'sands of an hourglass'. I will probably try something else by him in the future. Thanks for the recommendation @Phyrebrat

I've moved on to The Martian by Weir. I've only read the first small section but the voice is really strong so far and I'm looking forward to this.
 
The Bluestocking said:
Benedict Jacka's ALEX VERUS series is fabulous. Alex is a much better protagonist than Harry Dresden IMHO. Far less arrogant and sexist in his interactions with the women and girls and non-human females in his life. He's pretty much egalitarian and treats the female characters in his world as his equals.

I was discussing Alex Verus with a friend (also female) and she observed that in her workplace (where all of them are geeks), fans of Alex Verus and Harry Dresden seem to be divided along gender lines - male colleagues prefer Harry and female colleagues prefer Alex.
Click to expand...
alex verus is interesting but i do prefer Harry.charles stross is always a blast. now Reading the brothers cabal series.Quiet taken with the tom of the books. very sarcastic and amusing. hope it continuous that way
 
You've all got better books than me... I picked up Abe Lincoln: Vampire Hunter a few years ago and just got round to starting it a couple of days ago. Its not great, written wierdly, but i like vampires and I like history... I just hope most of the history facts (undead aside) are correct, cause then I learn as well :)
Historical Fiction is something I've found I really like... Just some are more fictional than others.
 
Yesterday I finished The Quantum Thief. Completely bonkers, that book, and I had no idea what was going on half the time, but I still rather enjoyed it.

Now reading King of Ithaca by Glyn Iliffe.
 
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