What Are You Reading?

[Free]

He spent at least a half dozen pages on eating a bowl of captain crunch cereal in Cryptonomicon.

That may be my favorite part of that book. Sometimes, verbosity is worthwhile.

 

[Rose Karuna]

Yeah, Stephenson is famously long winded. I remember reading an essay from him once where he bemoaned what he referred to as the 'cult of brevity'. I mean, I do like his style, but it's a lot to get through sometimes. He spent at least a half dozen pages on eating a bowl of captain crunch cereal in Cryptonomicon.

Anyway, right now I'm reading Crisis in the Red Zone. It's Richard Preston's sequel to The Hot Zone. It came out less than a year ago, so it's more up to date, and focuses on the 2013-14 ebola outbreak. It's a bit of a gut check, because it's gory as hell, and he spends too much time on characterization and plot for my taste, because I like my non-fiction dry, but it's a good read.

I'm still reading Crisis in the Red Zone. I will read some and then put it down and read something else. For me, it's not because it's dry, it's because it's damned frightening and it freaks me out. It is a good read though.

 

[Innula Zenovka]

Fans of John Connolly's Charlie Parker series , which I can never really categorise -- noir, hard boiled PI thrillers with a distinct occult twist, maybe, but they're a lot more than that -- will be pleased to know he's publishing a novella, online, one chapter a day (up to chapter 28 now).


If you've not yet discovered Mr Parker and his associates, he's well worth a look, particularly if you like very dark, deadpan, dry humour.

 

[Dancien]

The Witch: A History of Fear, from Ancient Times to the Present: Hutton, Ronald: 9780300238679: Amazon.com: Books

 

[Zaida Gearbox]

I just finished An Easy Death and A Longer Fall by Charlane Harris of Sookie Stackhouse infamy, and now I'm bummed out because there's no more to read in this series for awhile. I don't know how often she releases books, but I hope it's not a two year cycle like JK Rowlings. I keep promising myself that I won't start a series that isn't finished, but then I totally do.

Now, I am reading Devoted by Dean Koontz. I think the Golden Retriever in the book must be a descendant of the dog in The Watchers.

 

[Aribeth Zelin]

I'm currently re-reading Narnia for the umpteenth time, and then I'm going on to the Lord of the Rings, also for the umpteenth time - I stopped reading for a while because I didn't have good lighting, but now I've got a newish bulb next to the bed so.... and I really want to go to places I love really well before bed, not to new places that won't let me actually go to sleep. 'And then what happened'

 

[Dancien]

Do Audible Books count?
I'm listening to this
The Power of Vulnerability

 

[Free]

Do Audible Books count?

Why not? They're just audio of people reading *from* books.

 

[Book_Thief]

Just finished my second read of The Prisoner of Heaven, the third part of The Cemetery of the Forgotten Books series. The story follows a man named Daniel, since his very childhood in Barcelona just recovering from the terrors of WW2 and Spanish Civil War, so the books are soaked with magical realism and the atmosphere lulling the reader into a melancholic dream-like state. The story, by the way, is also full of action, the first book does a fantastic job building up the anticipation before the events start unfolding and the action grips you, and the characters as well as dialogues and so rich and filled with witty humour, humble human suffering and simplicity. Much recommend!

 

[Book_Thief]

"Myths and Legends" by Philip Wilkinson. I want to get acquainted with mythology as I am very interested in analythical psychology, archetypes and how myths and religions around the world express archetypal patterns of behaviour in a symbolic way.

 

[Myradyl Muse]

Thoroughly enjoying 'The Immortalists' by Chloe Benjamin, a tale about how family members respond to knowing the dates of their own deaths. It's a well crafted blend of mysticism, family relations and tensions, indelible fate versus self-determination.

 

[Isabeau]

Just finished my second read of The Prisoner of Heaven, the third part of The Cemetery of the Forgotten Books series. The story follows a man named Daniel, since his very childhood in Barcelona just recovering from the terrors of WW2 and Spanish Civil War, so the books are soaked with magical realism and the atmosphere lulling the reader into a melancholic dream-like state. The story, by the way, is also full of action, the first book does a fantastic job building up the anticipation before the events start unfolding and the action grips you, and the characters as well as dialogues and so rich and filled with witty humour, humble human suffering and simplicity. Much recommend!

Sad news this morning. I think I will restart his series this summer.

Carlos Ruiz Zafón, author of The Shadow of the Wind, dies aged 55

The bestselling novelist, frequently described as the most-read Spanish author since Cervantes, had been diagnosed with colon cancer in 2018

www.theguardian.com

 

[Myradyl Muse]

Sad news this morning. I think I will restart his series this summer.

Carlos Ruiz Zafón, author of The Shadow of the Wind, dies aged 55

The bestselling novelist, frequently described as the most-read Spanish author since Cervantes, had been diagnosed with colon cancer in 2018

www.theguardian.com

Sorry to hear this. I will miss his writings. I was on vacation in Mexico several years ago, sans reading material, and found his book Shadow of the Wind at a book exchange kiosk for travellers. It was a delightful chance find in a faraway place when one's thirst to read outstrips one's thirst for imbibing.

 

[Book_Thief]

Sad news this morning. I think I will restart his series this summer.

Carlos Ruiz Zafón, author of The Shadow of the Wind, dies aged 55

The bestselling novelist, frequently described as the most-read Spanish author since Cervantes, had been diagnosed with colon cancer in 2018

www.theguardian.com

Still coping with this. He was an idol to me in the world of writing

 

[Free]

I've been reading The Memory Police by Yōko Ogawa. It's definitely good, and something very different and odd. I've been needing that.

 

[Rose Karuna]

I just finished An Easy Death and A Longer Fall by Charlane Harris of Sookie Stackhouse infamy, and now I'm bummed out because there's no more to read in this series for awhile. I don't know how often she releases books, but I hope it's not a two year cycle like JK Rowlings. I keep promising myself that I won't start a series that isn't finished, but then I totally do.

Now, I am reading Devoted by Dean Koontz. I think the Golden Retriever in the book must be a descendant of the dog in The Watchers.

I just stumbled on to Devoted, it's a pretty good read.

 

[Veritable Quandry]

I just finished An Easy Death and A Longer Fall by Charlane Harris of Sookie Stackhouse infamy, and now I'm bummed out because there's no more to read in this series for awhile. I don't know how often she releases books, but I hope it's not a two year cycle like JK Rowlings. I keep promising myself that I won't start a series that isn't finished, but then I totally do.

Now, I am reading Devoted by Dean Koontz. I think the Golden Retriever in the book must be a descendant of the dog in The Watchers.

Not sure about her recent series, but when True Blood was her primary series, I managed to have a new book for Mrs Quandry on her birthday every year.

 

[Rose Karuna]

Hollow Kingdom by Kira Jane Buxton

I picked it up because the it features a crow and I absolutely love crows and ravens, they are so, so smart!

Anyhow, it is sort of like ""the secret life of pets" meets "the walking dead"". Good read and narrated in a very unusual and amusing way.

Hollow Kingdom

"The Secret Life of Pets meets The Walking Dead" in this big-hearted, boundlessly beautiful romp through the Apocalypse, where a foul-mouthed crow is humanity's only chance to survive Seattle's zombie problem (Karen Joy Fowler, PEN/Faulkner Award-winning author).S.T., a domesticated crow, is a...

www.google.com

 

[Maggy Hazelnut]

I just started reading "The Ten Thousand Doors of January" by Alix E. Harrow. It grabs you right from the first page! Even tho I've just started it I already feel like it deserves more than 5 stars. Absolutely incredible writing.

 

[Innula Zenovka]

I have just finished A Memory Called Empire, by Arkady Martine, and I've fallen for it in a big way.

It's a beautifully-written space opera that considers themes of identity, culture, memory and colonialism, and is also a great story with some very engaging characters, and I'm really glad there's a second volume expected next year.

A Memory Called Empire (Teixcalaan #1)

Ambassador Mahit Dzmare arrives in the center of the multi-system Teixcalaanli Empire only to discover that her predecessor, the previous...

www.goodreads.com

A Stunning Debut: Arkady Martine’s A Memory Called Empire

In this stunning debut, Mahit Dzmare is the latest in a long line of free peoples who have had to live under the influence of the one of the largest imperial powers in the known galaxy: the Teixcal…

www.tor.com