What Are You Reading?

[Ghel]

My partner bought me The Name of the Wind by Patrick Rothfuss for Christmas, so I'm currently reading that. I feared such a long book would be a slog, but I like the storytelling style so far.

[Pixelated]

Forgot to add to that last list a mystery novel titled "Fools and Mortals" by Bernard Cornwell, whose work I really like. It's set in Elizabethan England and the narrator is Richard Shakespeare, younger brother of playwright William.

One of Shakespeare's manuscripts goes missing, and Richard is a suspect -- he's always been complaining about getting poor parts with correspondingly low money, and when the manuscript vanishes, it's believed he's been going to the competition in hopes of getting a better deal.

My only complaint about the novel is that William obviously has some kind of major feud going on with Richard and unless I missed something, it's never explained what's at the bottom of it.

[Ironclad Alibi]

This past weekend I read two books:

The Immortality Option by James P. Hogan (sequel to Code of the Lifemaker)

The Cradle of Saturn by James P. Hogan

And started on V-3 by Ib Melchior

[Pixelated]

I've uncovered a few of my Harry Potter books so have reread them.

Also I'm about 10 pages away from the end of Harry Turtledove's "Ruled Britannia," in which he speculates about life in England if the Spanish Armada hadn't been smashed to matchsticks by a raging sea and howling winds.

I also re-read Ben Aaronovitch's "Midnight Riot" in which a young PC based in London finds a witness to a murder ... unfortunately, the witness is himself a ghost. He ends up working in a one-man unit (now a two-man unit) that investigations crimes involving magic and the uncanny in general. I liked it; there's more books in the series and I look forward to reading them.

Also re-read Anne Ursu's "The Shadow Thieves," technically a Young Adult novel about a young girl whose cousin comes from London to stay with her family and unfortunately brings a nasty guy from the Greek Underworld (named Phil) trailing after him ... Phil's goal being to depose Hades and take over the Underworld himself.

Just started re-reading one of my numerous historical mysteries: Michael Jecks' "The Mad Monk at Gidleigh." It's one of his series involving Baldwin Furnshill, former Templar (this is after the destruction of the Templar Order, so he is of course keeping very quiet about this part of his background) and now Keeper of the King's Peace; and Bailiff Simon Puttock. In this book a young woman, reportedly made pregnant by the local priest (and no, it's made very clear it wasn't rape) is found murdered, and the young priest is on the run. Her family and villagers believe the priest is guilty; Furnshill and Puttock aren't so sure.

[AnaKhouri]

I started keeping track on Goodreads. This year I have read The Exorcist, Anno Dracula, A Record of Our Debts, and The House in the Dark of the Woods. I specifically disabled some of my social media so I would have more time to read without being tempted to the Internet. It's working! I am currently reading Triumph of the Moon, a history of modern-day pagan witchcraft (something like that is the subtitle). The author traces most of the rituals performed by modern pagans back to a movement in the late 19th-early 20th century. It's very scholarly and I think it will take some time to read but it's interesting so far. I'm reading it in case it has some ideas I can use in my Iron Age fantasy.

[Pixelated]

I was on Goodreads but found the site confusing. Hmm ... someday I should maybe try it again.

[Jay 2K Winger]

Finally picked up Brief Cases, the second collection of Dresden Files short stories.

The very first story is set in the 19th Century and features Warden Anastasia Luccio hunting necromancers with Wyatt Earp. I was grinning like a fool at the mere prospect of it all.

[It's me]

I just started reading Oliver Twist. The phrasing takes a bit getting used to (long sentences with commas in odd places make for slow reading!) I am quite enjoying it it... been a long while since I've read any classical literature....

[mjr]

Well, my glasses came in yesterday, so now I'll have to work on "catch up" reading. I bought myself a book on the Czech language, and I still have some other techie books (like "Clean Architecture" and "Language Implementation Patterns") to read as well.

[Maria Evance]

I am presently reading The Lord of the Rings. It is an epic fantasy novel written by English author and scholar J. R. R. Tolkien.

[Nunavut Pants]

I also re-read Ben Aaronovitch's "Midnight Riot" in which a young PC based in London finds a witness to a murder ...

Note that the original title was "Rivers of London"; for some reason they decided to change the title for the US market or some such.

One friend of mine described it as "Harry Potter grows up and joins the Met." (London's Metropolitan Police force, for colonists like me who don't know what that is.)

[Pixelated]

I just started reading Oliver Twist. The phrasing takes a bit getting used to (long sentences with commas in odd places make for slow reading!) I am quite enjoying it it... been a long while since I've read any classical literature....

That makes me think of "Ruled Britannia," the book I mentioned earlier (in which the Spanish Armada succeeds in conquering Britain). The author uses what sounds to me like fairly legitimate Elizabethan-era English. It's not something you can just skim through.

Well, my glasses came in yesterday, so now I'll have to work on "catch up" reading. I bought myself a book on the Czech language, and I still have some other techie books (like "Clean Architecture" and "Language Implementation Patterns") to read as well.

You're intending to learn the Czech language? I've got German and Russian novels and "English to [language]" dictionaries, but with the Russian ones, I will have to start from Square One.

Note that the original title was "Rivers of London"; for some reason they decided to change the title for the US market or some such.

One friend of mine described it as "Harry Potter grows up and joins the Met." (London's Metropolitan Police force, for colonists like me who don't know what that is.)

Dammit! I thought the cover art looked familiar, but was duped by the new title! I hate it when they do that.

It's a bit similar to the Potter books, but only in the sense there's magic and occult stuff in it. The main character is well past 11 when he finds out that he has magical capabilities (unless the London Met is hiring really young ). They're a bit drier in humour than the Potter books, perhaps because they're written from the POV of the main character. Like Potter he does have to have training in the magical arts, but he has to squeeze that training in with his police duties. Oh, and we're not entirely sure just how old his trainer is ...

[greek_jester]

Like Potter he does have to have training in the magical arts, but he has to squeeze that training in with his police duties. Oh, and we're not entirely sure just how old his trainer is ...

Well, we do know he fought in WW1...

[mjr]

You're intending to learn the Czech language? I've got German and Russian novels and "English to [language]" dictionaries, but with the Russian ones, I will have to start from Square One.

Yes. I have some Czech ancestry in my background, and thought it might be interesting to learn.

[Nunavut Pants]

It's a bit similar to the Potter books, but only in the sense there's magic and occult stuff in it.

Good point, but that's the short-one-sentence description. A slightly longer description would add "...as written by a Doctor Who writer."