What are you reading?

Something really exciting (not), New Voices in the Nation: Women and the Greek Resistance, 1941-1964.

Sadly I never seem to have any time for anything but research for my writing.
Other than procrastinating on assorted forums ;)

Luckily I like history.
 
I read it few months ago but will probably re-read it in the next few days: Water by the Spoonful by Quiara Alegria Hudes (and a reading recommendation by a mentor). Most of the play happens in a virtual world (online message board), I often wondered how I would ever depict my virtual experiences in a text. And the characters have weird nicknames such as Chutes&Ladders, Orangutan and Fountainhead.
 
I finished both A Spell for Chameleon and Into Africa: The Epic Adventures of Stanley & Livingstone, and I’ve moved on to these:

Shadow & Claw: The First Half of The Book of the New Sun - Gene Wolfe

World War I - S.L.A. Marshall

I’m also chipping away at (it’s comically large) my DC Comics Infinite Crises omnibus.
 
I've been on a sci-fi kick recently. I just reread some Heinlein novels I enjoyed as a teen, namely, Have Space Suit - Will Travel and Podkayne of Mars. I'm going to start Between Planets tonight. It's nice reading his YA books since they don't take a lot of brainpower compared to some of his other stuff.
 
CdnWriter said:
I have a tendency to re-read stories or writers that I enjoyed. For example, I'm a huge fan of Larry Correia's "Monster Hunter International" series and I've been re-reading the series from the beginning. In that case, I like both the author and the series.

I mentioned in the prior forum the Stephen King short story, "Apt Pupil" so I recently re-read that as well. It's strange because I don't like all of Stephen KIng's stories and that one - "Apt Pupil" - isn't one of his "better" ones but I enjoyed it more than the "Dark Tower" series. It's also strange that I didn't like the written "The Shawshank Redemption" even though I LOVED the film. "Apt Pupil" was the opposite for me, I LOVED the written story but the film was horrid. Yes, they're opinions but they're all stories from the same author.

I used to read Tom Clancy and I know he's deceased but his estate has writers carrying on the series and I've read a few of those books....it's amazing how many pages they are! I don't think they're as good as the original stories though.

Popular fiction like C.J. Box, Lee/Andrew Child, Jeffery Archer. I saw someone mentioned James Clavell and that's another one that is interesting - I didn't like the ShoGun book but I did enjoy "Tai-Pan" and "Noble House." The last book in the series, "Whirlwind" I think is the title.....I couldn't get past the 3rd chapter before throwing it away. Did the author have a stroke while writing that or what?????

I work with kids so I also try to read authors like Susin Nielsen, Andrew Clement, Eoin Colfer, etc.

Anyways....getting too long, so off I go.
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I like the Monster Hunter books, even if I've only read the first two. I prefer my vampires and werewolves evil, and that's what Correia gives. With a notable exception . . . 😜
 
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Just finished Ian Rankin's Hide and Seek. Not trying to put out any spoilers, but I found it disappointing. I was waiting for the big finish, but at the end everything just fizzled.

Maybe he was going for cop fiction hyper-realism? Maybe it's just me. Other people seem to like it a great deal.

I've got the next-in-series, Tooth and Nail, in my TBR pile. I'll read it, because it's there waiting, and I hope I'll be more satisfied. I want to like Rankin's work. Why? Because I attended a few lectures he gave in December 2022 during a shared transatlantic crossing? Probably.

We'll see.
 
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thirdwind said:
I've been on a sci-fi kick recently. I just reread some Heinlein novels I enjoyed as a teen, namely, Have Space Suit - Will Travel and Podkayne of Mars. I'm going to start Between Planets tonight. It's nice reading his YA books since they don't take a lot of brainpower compared to some of his other stuff.
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I've also been on a SF binge. I can tell I've been stressed and needed the escapism of distant planets and different ideas. I'm currently on Jack McDevitt's Engines of God on Audible. I'm quite enjoying the xenoarchaeology and sense of fun, although the inter-personal relationships do leave a little to be desired. This follows on from listening to Adrian Tchaivovsky's latest, Shroud, and a revisit to The Day of the Triffids. Plenty to take my mind away from the marking mountain I'm still working on.

I'm currently reading Excalibur, the third in Bernard Cornwell's Warlord Chronicles. I've found the whole series to be excellent. I'd not read Cornwell until about this time last year, when I gave Sharpe's Tiger a go, and didn't enjoy it very much. But I then got my teeth into Uhtred of Bebbanburgh and subsequently Arthur. While The Last Kingdom books are an ongoing concern, I'm finishing off Arthur this week and I have to say it has been a really good visit to the Dark Ages. The series builds on myths and places them into a real historical setting that feels real. I have to say I disagree with Cornwell on the existence of Arthur - he didn't exist, sorry; at best he's a medieval romance based on earlier folk tales - but in this setting, with this storytelling, it is so easy to believe in his existence.
 
I hit a few bumps in the road. I DNF’d both World War I and Shadow & Claw: The First Half of The Book of the New Sun. Then I grabbed Bernard Cornwell’s Rebel off my bookshelf, only to quickly DNF it.

On the plus side, I’m burning through my TBR pile. 😁📚 I’ve moved on to two others: Dark Harvest by Norman Partridge — meh so far — and When London Was Capital of America by Julie Flavell — so far so good.
 
Bone2pick said:
I hit a few bumps in the road. I DNF’d both World War I and Shadow & Claw: The First Half of The Book of the New Sun. Then I grabbed Bernard Cornwell’s Rebel off my bookshelf, only to quickly DNF it.

On the plus side, I’m burning through my TBR pile. 😁📚 I’ve moved on to two others: Dark Harvest by Norman Partridge — meh so far — and When London Was Capital of America by Julie Flavell — so far so good.
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Book of the New Sun is my absolute favorite
 
I'm listening to Toni Anderson's thriller Cold Light of Day. It's pretty good. There was a time in my life when I would have burned through it by now, but short vids have destroyed my attention span and I listen to a couple-three chapters, pull off, watch something else, do something around the house, play some Solitaire, listen to a dumb story on Facebook, come back to the book, listen to a couple chapters more . . .
 
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