March 2016: What Have You Been Reading?

[GOLLUM]

Hi everyone.

Please let us know all of the cool stuff you are currently reading as we kick off another month.

Cheers.

 

[Cathbad]

Actually, I'm finishing "Low Country Boil", by Susan M. Boyer. My third mystery in a row. When I'm buckling down on my own writing, I read mysteries; they make me think and put my mental activity in overdrive.

 

[Classic_SF]

Just finished High Rise by Ballard.
Its not as good as Earth Abides, Path To Savagery or Alas, Babylon.
I will give it 3.8 out of 5 stars.

 

[Classic_SF]

Classic Alert! Classic Alert! errr errr errr

Now starting Cloud on Silver by John Christopher. (1966)

A luxury cruise in the South Pacific comes abruptly to a halt when the yacht catches fire and sinks, leaving all passengers marooned on an island totally isolated and inhabited only by mutated and deformed animals.

 

[thomas sweetman]

Currently empire of silver. Book five of a Genghis Khan collection. Do you know. Shame on me. Never considered old classics. Massive fan of old music and movies too

 

[The Bluestocking]

Here's what I've been reading:

• Claudia Gray's EVERNIGHT and STARGAZER
  
• Kelley Armstrong's CITY OF THE LOST
• Elliott James' CHARMING
• Colin Wilson's POLTERGEIST - A CLASSIC STUDY

All pretty good reads!

Just waiting for Jonathan Maberry's THE DOGS OF WAR to come out soon!

 

[Ajid]

I finished my feb reading list early and have finally gotten round to reading the wasp factory.

For me this was an incredibly hard read. As an animal lover there were a few moments when I wondered if I could continue, and as a human being there were moments I was sure I could not. I am however glad that I did.

The duality of man has been explored extensively in literature however Ian banks has presented it in a fairly unique way with the wasp factory. As a fan of the books published under Iain M Banks I naturally expected greatness and a degree of the honesty, realism and unrealenting willingness to "go there" that I've expected from Mr Banks. I wasn't let down. When I say this was a hard read, it was a hard read because there were elements that made me extraordinarily uncomfortable. But it was this that made this book an incredible experience to read.

I don't want to write a full review in this post but I will go as far as to say, it made me uncomfortable in places, it consisted of some of the most wonderfully written prose, and i felt glad I had read it. I will also say this, I recommended it to my mother and she looks at me a little differently now, she has mentioned I designed a fly prison out of lego as a child and once you read the book you'll understand her concern.

 

[Mbabaoye]

Just finished Armor, by John Steakley. The story was NOT quite what I was originally expecting.

 

[nixie]

John Gwynne, Ruin.

 

[ratsy]

@nixie how are you liking the series? I read Malice recently and liked it quite a bit.

 

[nixie]

Excellent I came across Malice a couple of years back, enjoyed it at the time but forgot about it then seen Valour in Waterstones a few month ago and that is even better. Ruin is shaping up nicely.

 

[Randy M.]

Currently reading,

1) A friend's manuscript. So far, so good.

2) Fen Country by Edmund Crispin. Story collection, mainly very short stories, mysteries with fun little gotcha twists. Not substantial, but enjoyable bedtime reading.

3) What Makes This Book So Great by Jo Walton. A compilation of pieces she wrote for Tor.com around 2009 with brief explanations for why she loves the books she loves, with occasional side-tracks into issues associated with reading and with reading genre works. For me reading this is a form of masochism: I can't match her reading speed so I'll never get around to all these books and she makes them sound terrific and absorbing and ... and ... and I want to be home reading now!

Randy M.

 

[pambaddeley]

Finished:

Millennial Women, edited by Virginia Kidd which includes first publication of Joan D Vinge's Phoenix in the Ashes, and Ursula K Le Guin's Eye of the Heron.
Joan D Vinge's collection Phoenix in the Ashes, containing the title story plus a number of others, mainly SF, including Mother and Child.

 

[Caliban]

Transfigurations by Michael Bishop

 

[Grimward]

Revolutions Anthology, by the Manchester Speculative Fiction group (featuring our very own harbinger of the apocalypse, TEiN). Have only just cracked the cover...

 

[Bick]

Still reading Harry Harrison's West of Eden, and enjoying it very much. I did break briefly to re-read some of the Jeeves short stories of Wodehouse though.

 

[svalbard]

Reading Soldaten by Sonke Neitzel and Harald Welzer. I cannot say that I am enjoying it, the material, transcripts of German POWs talking amongst themselves, is grim reading. That said I think it should be required reading for anyone who is under any illusions about what happens in war.

 

[Victoria Silverwolf]

I am about to start Leonard: My Fifty-Year Friendship With a Remarkable Man (2016) by William Shatner with David Fisher. I assume that really means "by David Fisher." In any case, this is an account of Shatner's relationship with Leonard Nimoy. Yes, another book for us Trekkers.

 

[Classic_SF]

Just finished Cloud on Silver by John Christopher (1966) - (256 pages)

It was an easy read with a very interesting plot.
I'm not going to ruin it for anybody but that last page of the book was a doooozeeee!

This book is definitely a keeper and to be read a 2nd time at some point.
I will give it 4 stars out of 5

 

[Classic_SF]

Now starting... The Purple Cloud by M.P. Shiel (1901) - (small print & 191 pages)

A deadly purple vapor passes over the world and annihilates all living creatures except one man, Adam Jeffson.
He embarks on an epic journey across a silent and devastated planet.