April Reading Thread

[biodroid]

My least favourite Lee Child book.

So according to Lee Child you can read his books in any order, I guess he forgot about the relationship part in this one.

 

[Danny McG]

I'm not sure what I'm going to read next. I'd like to read King's latest collection, If It Bleeds, if I can get my hands on it

I got it today, I've put Neal Asher's The Human on hold at halfway through until I read this (Stephen King is always priority)

 

[elvet]

I finished The Crippled God last night, and the tears flowed, even on this reread. Such a powerful story. For anyone with a liking of military fantasy, you must give Malazan Book of the Fallen a try.
There are still some loose ends to be picked up by Esslemont in his books, so onto Blood and Bone.

 

[Garfunkel]

I got it today, I've put Neal Asher's The Human on hold at halfway through until I read this (Stephen King is always priority)

Nice! I'm waiting for a local indie bookshop to get back to me about it, as I'd like to support them if I can. I've started a re-read of 'Salem's Lot to tide me over until then.

 

[dask]

Finished this excellent best of the year anthology and starting this, an actual bestseller:

 

[HareBrain]

I've just started Bring It On Home, a bio of Led Zeppelin manager Peter Grant,

Finished this. An easy read, interesting in parts, but a bit repetitive. Also a lesson that self-contradiction doesn't necessarily indicate complexity.

Now, eloquently persuaded by The Big Peat's blog, I'm on Thief of Time by Terry Pratchett. I haven't been bowled over by a Pratchett story since I read The Colour of Magic as a student, but if any of his books are doing to do it, it sounds like it should be this one.

 

[biodroid]

Sticking to old faithful. Cold Fire - Dean Koontz. Liking it so far.

 

[Danny McG]

I'm not sure what I'm going to read next. I'd like to read King's latest collection, If It Bleeds

Story one of the four was mediocre IMO. So that's a quarter of the price wasted!
Let's see how it goes with story two

 

[williamjm]

I finished The Curse of Chalion by Lois McMaster Bujold. It was a joy to read because of the hero. Cazaril is the kind of hero that should be written about more often. His character is wise, humble, brave, and giving. Although he is thrown into the deep end by life he manages to come out the other side, no scathed, but better for it.

You might also like the Penric and Desdemona stories set in the same world (but a long time earlier so there's no direct plot connection). Your description of Cazaril's qualities also fit Penric very well.

Not sure what I'm reading next. It will not be The Paladin of Souls by Lois McMaster Bujold. This is the sequel to the The Curse... but in reading the blurb Cazaril is not a main character. It seems a quest story about one of the minor players and I'm not nearly interested enough in the world she's creating to continue the series.

Cazaril barely appears in it. It's an unusual fantasy novel, there aren't many where the protagonist is a middle-aged woman trying to find her place in the world. I thought it was excellent, but it is significantly different to Chalion.

 

[Danny McG]

Story one of the four was mediocre IMO. So that's a quarter of the price wasted!
Let's see how it goes with story two

If it bleeds - Story two
Slightly better, more like a Stephen King story, a disappointing ending however

 

[Ian Fortytwo]

I have finally found a book which I enjoy, Home Work. A Memoir of my Hollywood Years, by Julie Andrews, with Emma Walton Hamilton. A great and easy read of Julie Andrews life from Mary Poppins onwards.

 

[Randy M.]

If it bleeds - Story two
Slightly better, more like a Stephen King story, a disappointing ending however

King often has trouble sticking the landing.

Less than 150 pages left in The Good House by Tananarive Due. Good story, well-written so far, even somewhat King-like, but I'm scattered enough it's taken most of this month to get this far. I could see myself breezing through this at a different time.

Randy M.

 

[Extollager]

Starting a second reading of Evelyn Waugh's Sword of Honour.

 

[Elckerlyc]

Finished Earth Abides.
I liked the way it approached the collapse death of civilization and its impact on not only the few survivors but also on nature, or rather the restoration of nature once civilization was gone. Put differently, Earth Survives. Will there ever be a time when humanity can live in harmony with nature?
The story dragged a little here and there, but I suppose that was its age showing,

Next came A Memory Called Empire.
No dragging in this one. It has been a while since I read anything so engaging, gripping, intriguing, clever and witty. This is the kind of stuff I like. Quite rightly a Nebula nominee.

Not sure yet what I shall read next. Always a bit tougher after you have read something that will take a year to be surpassed.

 

[Simbelmynë]

Finished The Three Body Problem. Very good, some of the hard science was a little dense for me so it was a challenge but the concepts were captivating and the story was very well told. Use of both Chinese and European history in the narrative was nicely done. Great hard sci-fi: 4/5

Been reading short stories by Poe. Particularly enjoyed The Island of the Fay and Ms. In A Bottle amongst others.

Now onto Madam Bovary by Flaubert. The descriptive text is very elaborate, the prose is lavishly sumptuous, the moods evocative. Enjoying so far.

 

[HareBrain]

Alas, Terry Pratchett's Thief of Time has not worked its magic on me. Not sure what's next. My copy of Ancient Echoes by Robert Holdstock was winking at me last night, but I might go for more of a classic.

 

[Elckerlyc]

Alas, Terry Pratchett's Thief of Time has not worked its magic on me.

Perhaps you are magic-resistent.

 

[HareBrain]

Perhaps you are magic-resistent.

I honestly don't know what it is. Many people whose judgement I respect really like him. He can make me laugh out loud, but overall his stories leave me cold.

 

[Elckerlyc]

Well, if you put it that way, I think I have to agree with you. I like TP's approach of a theme and what he does with it, turning it upside down or inside out, but it doesn't make me feel involved. But then that's not why I read and enjoy his books.

 

[Simbelmynë]

Alas, Terry Pratchett's Thief of Time has not worked its magic on me. Not sure what's next. My copy of Ancient Echoes by Robert Holdstock was winking at me last night, but I might go for more of a classic.

This was the first Pratchett I read due to it being the latest one at the time. I was about 14 and I thought it was great, like nothing else I’d ever read. I obsessed with discworld for a bit but I still have yet to read most of them. I returned to it in the last twelve months or so and neither of the books I picked up really did it for me. I wonder if it was just the two I read being weaker - Moving Pictures (great concept, very on point but didn’t really enjoy it) and Reaper Man (didn’t even finish it) - or is Pratchett’s humour and style, which is popular rather than literary, fast becoming too dated? Or maybe my tastes have changed. I know I once adored Pyramids, the Rincewind stories and characters like Death, Granny Weatherwax and Vimes, but it was a while back.