March 2018 reading thread

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Read Rosemary and Rue by Seanan McGuire, which is an UF. Started really interestingly as the heroine was put under a spell and spent 14 years trapped as a fish in a pond before escaping and trying to get back to her old life, but sadly tailed off after that and I probably won't read more in the series. Then I read the Sea King by C.L Wilson which is a fantasy romance. Have read a lot of her other books (Tairen Soul series) and really enjoyed them but this wasn't quite at that level, although the hero was basically aquaman and I will continue with the series when the rest of the books come out. Now reading Phasma by Delilah S Dawson and I'm enjoying this a lot - it's Phasma's origin story, but it's told in an interesting way.
 
Just finished Something Wicked This Way Comes, a book I've wanted to read since I first heard of it. Loved the story, the carnival people were creepy as hell, and the whole thing reads almost like poetry. I was not disappointed. (y)
 
I'm on Fool's Fate by Robin Hobb. Third book in the third series (so 9th book?) set in the same world. I find it riveting reading - it's hard for me to go about my daily life instead of curling up and smashing through the book in one go. I read the previous two books over the last week or so.

It can be a bit exhausting - it's the kind of story where the protagonist may only reach the finish line by crawling - but it's a great world with engaging plot and characters.

I had much the same problem with the Liveship Traders trilogy. A week of my life gone while my inner world remained locked in the saga. For this reason I have not felt able to read the other series.
 
I'm on Fool's Fate by Robin Hobb. Third book in the third series (so 9th book?) set in the same world. I find it riveting reading - it's hard for me to go about my daily life instead of curling up and smashing through the book in one go. I read the previous two books over the last week or so.
Just wait until you read the seventh book in the seventh series. The mojo will never let you escape again. :eek:
 
Reading Skyfarer by Joseph Brassey.

On the plus side, it's got a lot of charm and is unabashedly fun.

On the minus side... a lot. I'm still reading, but somewhat in disbelief. I'll revisit when done.
 
Just finished listening to Battleship Indomitable by David Van Dyke and B. V. Larson. This is an enjoyable Military Science Fiction/Space Opera book. It will never be considered great literature, but it does present a number of ethical and relational questions which made me think about them. Something I find very enjoyable in a book. Next up for listening, Legacy by Ken Lozito book 3 in the First Colony series.
 
I've not updated my progress for a while, so to bring things up to date:

I finished Something Coming Through - Paul McAuley, very good indeed. Followed it with The Enemy Stars - Poul Anderson, which I liked though it showed its age a little.

I'm currently a good way into The Atrocity Archives - Charles Stross and enjoying it very much.

Finished The Atrocity Archives - I liked it a lot, but thought that it lurched quite alarmingly from the first story to the second, before discovering that they were two separate stories that had been put together for the book - which made a lot of sense ;)

I've now started The Fifth Season - N K Jemisen because my four-year old daughter read the title out from my pile of waiting books and told me to read it next. :)

I reflected again on what I made of The Enemy Stars, and realised it was yet another book which was a good read up to near the end, but which seemed poorly concluded. It rushed to the finish with a lot less detail than it deserved.
 
I’m currently reading

Exemplary Novels by Miguel de Cervantes (physical book)
Brittle Innings - by Michael Bishop (kindle)
and
A Storm of Wings - by M. John Harrison (audiobook)
 
@Caliban .... Wow, impressive low number of posts for someone who's been here longer than I. Your avatar causes me to do a double take almost every time I look at it.
 
Er... Parson, I think you’d better put your glasses on! Caliban joined us only in 2016, not 2006! (I agree about the avatar, though!)
 
@Caliban .... Wow, impressive low number of posts for someone who's been here longer than I. Your avatar causes me to do a double take almost every time I look at it.

I joined in 2016 and you’d profile says you joined in 2006? That’s 10 years longer than me you’ve been on here.

Sorry about the avatar. It’s just an image of the Shakespeare character but I can change it if you like.
 
Ah, yes, sorry. I just was informed of that major glitch in thinking and reading a minute ago! In fact I was on my way to edit when I was informed of your response to this post. And don't edit your avatar! I think he's cool in funky kinda way. I first thought it was a bug, but when I looked closer, Oh wow! that's a head hunter of some sort.
 
It’s by an online aquataintance who did her reimagined artwork of the character.

I’ll bring us back on topic by mentioning that the Exemplary Novels by Cervantes are really really un politically correct. A lot of it is uncomfortable to read but it’s fascinating as a look back on the Golden Age of Spain.
 
I agree with Her Honor. Your acquaintance does remarkable work.
 
Gone Girl, by Gillian Flynn. This is a disturbing and ultimately rather depressing book, although a well-written and well-constructed one, that gives the impression that the author just doesn’t like humans very much (she actually seems quite reasonable). On first glance, it feels like a swipe at the sort of man who wants a woman to be a sidekick that he can sleep with: it is, but it is also an attack on a certain sort of “you can have it all” dream of female empowerment, and what that would do to someone who felt pretty entitled to begin with. All the way through, I was trying to think what this book reminded me of: it turned out to be the speech that Joan Cusack’s serial killer makes at the end of Addams Family Values. Good, but hard to recommend.

It is a good picture of Caliban. It reminds me of John Blanche's drawings.
 
"All the Pieces Matter: The Inside Story of The Wire"- Jonathan Abrams

Bought as a birthday present a couple of weeks ago, and I have to say I am hugely engrossed in this behind-the-scenes look at one of HBOs greatest TV police dramas from the early 00s. This book gives in-depth and quite candid interviews withe some of the key players both in front and behind the camera.

I already have the DVD boxset uploaded to my NAS box, and I don't think a month goes by without me watching one or more of the five seasons. Up until then I always ranked "The West Wing" as my favourite TV drama, but "The Wire" now takes on that mantel, and well deserved it is so.
 
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