Books: What have you been reading?

[Ragdoll]

So I'm skipping Vampire Chronicles 8-10 and going straight to the new book, Prince Lestat. I hear it is a sequel to books 1-5 and is probably a good idea to ignore all those other books and Mayfair Witches crap. Hopefully this book redeems the series for me. Reviews are positive so I'm excited for it.

Also finished Wheel Of Time 4. Perrin seemed to be the star of this book and is quickly becoming the most prominent WoT player. Nynaeve is still my favorite, though.

Another note, 8 days til the new Stephen King book! Has anyone else read the first 2 books of the Mr Mercedes trilogy?

Been re-reading the Harry Potter series.

Speaking of, what's the deal with the new book? It's written as a play? Is there a major storyline being started with the next generation of Potter kids? Will this have sequels, or is it a one-shot?

[Bradley]

Just finished reading Richard Russo's Everybody's Fool, which was quite good-- Russo's best for at least the past 15 years. Also, Patrick Madden's essay collection Sublime Physick was excellent. Just started Karen Russell's Vampires in the Lemon Grove, too.

[John Ossie]

Just started reading ''Conspiracy'' by S.J Parris. It's set in Paris in 1585. It's about heretic-turned-spy called Giordano Bruno who arrives in Paris to find the city on the edge of catastrophe, King Henry III lives in fear of a coup by the Duke of Guise and his fanatical Catholic League, and a massacre on the streets.

Won't say much else but it's started off pretty interesting and looks like my kind of book so far. Not bad for a fiver LOL.

[Ragdoll]

The Bird Eater by Ania Albhorn
Okay, but I feel like every modern haunting novel is exactly the same these days, just pale imitations of The Shining.

Demon Road by Derek Landy
This was fun but unfortunately the sequel isn;t available in audiobook in America! What's with Amazon and iTunes only having UK audiobooks available in the UK store?

Dresden Files #1: Storm Front by Jim Butcher
This was fun. Hopefully the rest of the series is worth a read.

[Hiromi]

Just finished Son of the Black Sword by Larry Correia, first book of the a new interesting series

Currently half way through the second book of the Cycle of Galand, the Silver Thief

Dresden Files #1: Storm Front by Jim Butcher
This was fun. Hopefully the rest of the series is worth a read.

Butcher's great, really enjoyed his new series The Aeronaut's Windlass: The Cinder Spires

[Ragdoll]

The Prince Lestat by Anne Rice.
SO GOOD. A return to form for the series. One major complaint: the name of the book is a spoiler. They should have called it something else so when Lestat becomes a Prince near the end, it is a surprise. Call the next book The Prince Lestat, which will likely be all about his new Prince duties, the name straight up gives away the ending.

Also, I'm officially done with Jonathan Maberry books. Horror sites need to stop putting Young Adult books on lists for Books Like Stephen King.

[JediMindTrick]

Dresden Files #1: Storm Front by Jim Butcher
This was fun. Hopefully the rest of the series is worth a read.

If you actually liked the first book then your going to love the rest of the series. Most, even Butcher himself, state that the first few books are pretty weak as they were the first books he ever wrote. The series gets really great along the way. I don't know if your doing this on audio book or not but they are really good as James Marsters (Spike from Buffy) reads them and is really good. One side note, don't be confused by the beginning of book three (I think its three) where Harry Dresden and a character named Michael that you've yet to meet keep talking about past events as if there was a book involving them that you missed. Its a narrative choice that Butcher made to put you in the middle of the story whiel only telling the beginning in the vaguest of references which leaves things confusing.

[JediMindTrick]

Out of curiosity, does this franchise ever kill central characters (no names, please)? I don;t need a Game Of Thrones style bloodbath of main characters every book, but so far, no major players have been struck down yet. These books need to kill some superfluous main cast members, like Matt or Min could get whacked. I'd be super sad and it would get me hooked in to wait for Rand to avenge his fallen comrades.

Nothing on a Game of Thrones level though there will be some deaths. I kept thinking of how to even talk about one of them without being spoilerish and I realized I can't so I won't.

Probably the best place to read New Spring is after book 5 or book 6. It doesn't ruin anything about Morianes background and by those books your as well versed in the history of the Aiel and the Aiel war as your going to be so it won't spoil that either. Basically the book starts out with Moriane and Siuan as Accepted and their trials to become Aes Sedai. and then how they learn of the impending birth of the Dragon Reborn and their quest to find them. It sprinkles a little bit of a young Lan before he met Moraine during this time. The book then follows Moraine on the beginning of the quest and tells how she meets Lan and they team up. There is nothing you don't already know as Lan and Moraine have talked about it enough that you know the highlights already, the book just fills in the details.

[Ragdoll]

3/4 into Gravity's Rainbow.
I've been reading this for a looong time, but want to finally finish it up. It's the trickiest book I've ever read, my head hurts.

If you actually liked the first book then your going to love the rest of the series. Most, even Butcher himself, state that the first few books are pretty weak as they were the first books he ever wrote. The series gets really great along the way. I don't know if your doing this on audio book or not but they are really good as James Marsters (Spike from Buffy) reads them and is really good.

Yeah, Spike read it to me, and I hear he reads them all. Very cool.
And I read up on Butcher's beginnings, it's a cool origins story on how his college teacher helped him get the first Dresden book conceived, written, and edited to be publishable. I need to find someone like that to help me polish my own writings up. It sounds like he was writing convoluted high-fantasy before then, and she convinced him to write something that he initially thought was too generic and would be selling out. I've heard the first three books are like watching someone learn how to write.

[Ragdoll]

STEPHEN KING - END OF WATCH (Mr. Mercedes #3)
Aw yeah, it's a day of a new Stephen King book. I just finished the audiobook and must say, this was a damn fine book. A great capstone on the trilogy. I loved Brady as a villain and was glad to see him again with even crazier plans than ever now that he has gone from "normal serial killer" to "supernatural force to be reckoned with". I was still crying as the book ended, lots of feels come up near the ending. King also toned down the obnoxious parts where Jerome (the black character) does impressions of what he would sound like if he were "street black" instead of "middle class black", it only happened one time, I was impressed with King's restraint. Anyone who liked the first 2 books won't want to miss the big climax of Bill Hodges Vs Mr. Mercedes.

That aside, here's a couple other books I finished...
I read my first teo Dean Koontz novels, Odd Thomas and Watchers. They were decent, but not mind blowing or anything, and I hear they are Koontz best books, so if this is the best he's got, I doubt I'll be reading more of his stuff.
I also finished Gravity's Rainbow, the toughest read of my life. The ending was beautiful and worth the work to get there.

[JediMindTrick]

STEPHEN KING - END OF WATCH (Mr. Mercedes #3)
Aw yeah, it's a day of a new Stephen King book. I just finished the audiobook and must say, this was a damn fine book. A great capstone on the trilogy. I loved Brady as a villain and was glad to see him again with even crazier plans than ever now that he has gone from "normal serial killer" to "supernatural force to be reckoned with". I was still crying as the book ended, lots of feels come up near the ending. King also toned down the obnoxious parts where Jerome (the black character) does impressions of what he would sound like if he were "street black" instead of "middle class black", it only happened one time, I was impressed with King's restraint. Anyone who liked the first 2 books won't want to miss the big climax of Bill Hodges Vs Mr. Mercedes.

That aside, here's a couple other books I finished...
I read my first teo Dean Koontz novels, Odd Thomas and Watchers. They were decent, but not mind blowing or anything, and I hear they are Koontz best books, so if this is the best he's got, I doubt I'll be reading more of his stuff.
I also finished Gravity's Rainbow, the toughest read of my life. The ending was beautiful and worth the work to get there.

I'll get to End of Watch as soon as I can get the audio from my library. I enjoyed the first two well enough but not enough to pay for this one. Not sure how I feel about the series going supernatural (as it obviously was going to given the end of book two) as I kind of liked King writing a straight forward crime detective book.

Dean Koontz . . . . . I really enjoyed him when I was in my 20's and read everything of his I could. I seem to remember really liking Watchers though I can't remember right now what its about though I'm sure it involves a smart dog (more on this in a second). I didn't try Odd Thomas until a few years ago and quit the audio version after a few hours as I just couldn't get into it. I forced my way through the audio of Midnight, another book I really enjoyed some 20 years ago, not long ago and for the life of me couldn't figure out why I once liked it. I think my problem with Koontz is that at some point I realized how formulaic he was . . . . .you have your protagonist who will face some supernatural threat and along the way will meet the love of his life with whom he discovers a special bond beyond what anyone else feels and they'll be accompanied by either a special child who is smart and verbose beyond their years or a dog who uncannily seems to express human like emotions. Every single book seems to follow this formula. I enjoyed the supernatural stuff well enough but eventually the formula began to wear on me. Still wish though that he'd finish up the Moonlight Bay trilogy of which he wrote the first two books and its now 15 or more years and we are still waiting on the third.

[Ragdoll]

The Croning by Laird Barron was an amazing literary horror novel. It's like if Hemingway wrote a Lovecraftian horror. I also read a few of Barron's short horror stories from his collection Occultations. The guy is a great writer, bringing insane literary skills to a genre that is usually written in very straight-forward prose.

The Way Of Kings by Brandon Sanderson. I'm almost finished with this one. It has major Wheel Of Time vibes, and I see how he got the job of concluding the WoT series.

I seem to remember really liking Watchers though I can't remember right now what its about though I'm sure it involves a smart dog

The thing that peeved me was that Koontz didn;t seem to know anything about real dogs. Like, the character was feeding the dog chocolate in the book, IRL you would have just poisoned to death the worlds smartest dog.

[JediMindTrick]

My library only allows two week checkouts on audio books done via their online site (overdrive app where you download the audio to your smartphone). I didn't quite finish Red Rabbit by Tom Clancy in time and now someone else has it though I have a hold on it.

So I tried to find some short filler books. Did Cross Justice by James Patterson which is the latest in his Alex Cross series. More and more his books are becoming paint by the number types and I'm finding myself actively rooting against Alex Cross and his family.

Then I tried doing Dolores Clairborne by Stephen King. Its the one King book I'd never read. Its only a 9 hr book which only amounts to about six hours since I listen at 1.6 speed but I just couldn't take it. The woman narrating the book was using a typical Maine accent and since the whole thing seems to be told in a first person dialogue it was all this screechy old lady Maine accent and it was giving me a headache. So I quit.

Then again trying to find another short filler book that was available and wasn't a mid series book I finally settled on One For the Money by Janet Evanovich, an author I'd never tried before. I think though I ended up with an abridged version because it feels so rushed. Thats why I hate abridged versions. And the narration isn't very good. Its by the actress Lori Petty and I've never liked her voice. So even though its only a 3 hr book (like I said abridged) I'm doubtful I'll finish.

May have to actually go to the library and get an audio book on CD as that selection is completely different than the Overdrive ones.

[JediMindTrick]

The Way Of Kings by Brandon Sanderson. I'm almost finished with this one. It has major Wheel Of Time vibes, and I see how he got the job of concluding the WoT series.

I loved Way of Kings but really struggled with its sequel Words of Radiance as it seemed to be soooo fillerish for Kaladin and the people while pushing Shallan's story.

Plus much as I love Sanderson's ideas, he is starting to wear on me as all his females feel the same to me and Shallan is no exception. Smart, quirky, attractive, and yet somehow offputting to boys.

[Malvolio]

My library only allows two week checkouts on audio books done via their online site (overdrive app where you download the audio to your smartphone). I didn't quite finish Red Rabbit by Tom Clancy in time and now someone else has it though I have a hold on it.

So I tried to find some short filler books. Did Cross Justice by James Patterson which is the latest in his Alex Cross series. More and more his books are becoming paint by the number types and I'm finding myself actively rooting against Alex Cross and his family.

Then I tried doing Dolores Clairborne by Stephen King. Its the one King book I'd never read. Its only a 9 hr book which only amounts to about six hours since I listen at 1.6 speed but I just couldn't take it. The woman narrating the book was using a typical Maine accent and since the whole thing seems to be told in a first person dialogue it was all this screechy old lady Maine accent and it was giving me a headache. So I quit.

Then again trying to find another short filler book that was available and wasn't a mid series book I finally settled on One For the Money by Janet Evanovich, an author I'd never tried before. I think though I ended up with an abridged version because it feels so rushed. Thats why I hate abridged versions. And the narration isn't very good. Its by the actress Lori Petty and I've never liked her voice. So even though its only a 3 hr book (like I said abridged) I'm doubtful I'll finish.

May have to actually go to the library and get an audio book on CD as that selection is completely different than the Overdrive ones.

Try reading Dolores Claiborne some time in print. There are no chapter breaks and the first person narrator often goes off on tangents that she later apologizes for. Not for those with short attention spans.