What Are You Reading?

[Ironclad Alibi]

I am presently reading A Higher Call by Adam Makos. A fantastic WW2 true-life story.

CNN Article

Prior to that I read Noir: A Novel by Christopher Moore.

[greek_jester]

There are currently 6 books in the series as well as a Novella and a 7th book due out this November.

Don't forget the comic series, which has a handy graphic novel anthology.

You might like Kevin J. Anderson's "Dan Shamble, Zombie PI" series. In a world where "unnaturals", such as zombies, werewolves, vampires, ghosts, etc., are an accepted fact of life and there's no masquerade in play to hide them, the title character does things like solve his own murder, and can be rather amusing in the process.

Ooh, that sounds fun. Thankfully it's on Kindle (lately I've been having trouble reading black-on-white text, so most of my reading has been on my phone/tablet where I can set it to sepia).

At the moment I am re-reading Laurell K Hamilton's Anita Blake series, Ilona Andrew's Kate Daniels series and Anne Bishop's whatever I can find at the second hand shops.

I used to enjoy the earlier Anita Blake books, but they kind of devolved into badly-written BDSM. I gave up on the series when the blurb on the back of the book had a really interesting plot, but only most of the first chapter and most of the last chapter even mentioned it. The rest of the rather large book was devoted to Anita's relationships and sex scenes. As I pointed out to a friend who also read the series, if I wanted to read badly-written BDSM I could get it for free on the internet.

I just reread through the majority of the Dresden Files since there is the new short story anthology coming out soon.

*snip*

For our Urban Fantasy fans, I would recommend checking out RL King's Alastair Stone series.

Dresden files was good, but I haven't re-read it in years, and I know I don't have the last 3-4 books in the series as it stands. Maybe if the optician can do anything about this black-on-white issue I have I'll be able to have another crack at it.

The Alistair Stone series sounds interesting. I've just downloaded a box set of the first 4 books on Kindle Unlimited. Looks like I've got a lot of reading to do!

[mjr]

What I'm currently reading...

"Algorithms to Live By: The Computer Science of Human Decisions".

[DGoddessChardonnay]

I stumbled across a book series recently when I signed up for Freebooksy.com's deals.

The first in the series (by Jane Steen) is House of Closed Doors. I'm currently on the 2nd book in the series, Eternal Deception.

This trilogy follows the life of a young woman named Nell Lillington, who was born into a prominent family in the late 1800s. In the first book, she became pregnant out of welock and, in defiance of the day's convention, refused to name the father and have her baby on her own. Her stepfather (who was a political wanna-be) sent her away to a poor farm to hide her out of sight.

In this one, she's working as a seamstress in a boy's seminary school in the middle of the Kansas prairie a couple of short years later, with her baby and a friend from the poor farm (who she had taken under her wing) in tow. And things aren't what they seem there, especially after the President of the school dies unexpectedly.

I've been on a kick of reading books on my Kindle app that's on my phone and I've found some really good deals through Amazon. Got the entire North and South trilogy a few months ago for a few dollars.

Next project is to go back and download the 4th and 5th books in John Jakes' Kent Family Chronicles . . . . I plan to have the rest of that series pretty soon (8 books in all IIRC.)

[Chanlin]

The Alistair Stone series sounds interesting. I've just downloaded a box set of the first 4 books on Kindle Unlimited. Looks like I've got a lot of reading to do!

I think the first book was a little weak compared with the rest. I don't think she had quite got the full grasp of the universe she wanted yet. The first is very Cthulhu-esque in some respects. That sort of outside type being is pretty absent for most of the rest of the series, but she has some very interesting concepts and even better, she has been putting out a book every 6-9 months like clockwork.

[Javarod]

Not counting way too many stories on FimFiction, I'm currently reading The Eads Bridge which is about the first bridge connecting St Louis to Illinois designed by James Eads.

[Deserted]

I'm currently re-re-re-reading Jack Chalker's Well World series. I'm in the middle of the final book, Ghost of the Well of Souls. Not sure what I'm going to read next. Probably the user manual for my cab.

[Blue Ginger]

I used to enjoy the earlier Anita Blake books, but they kind of devolved into badly-written BDSM. I gave up on the series when the blurb on the back of the book had a really interesting plot, but only most of the first chapter and most of the last chapter even mentioned it. The rest of the rather large book was devoted to Anita's relationships and sex scenes. As I pointed out to a friend who also read the series, if I wanted to read badly-written BDSM I could get it for free on the internet.

Which is why I've started at the beginning where she is still kick ass and will probably stop when it gets to be more sex scenes than kicking ass. I do like Edward, so I mostly just re-read the later books that have him in them.

When Anita got to be all whiny about relationships, I wanted to Gibbs' slap them all. It got even worse when Laurell couldn't move the characters past the angsty crap even after 2-3 books. 'We are all going to therapy... whine whine whine.....' 'Why can't person change everything about themselves for me? whine whine whine' Just give get back to solving cases with zombies, vampires, witches and were-animals.

I now actually have sections marked in my books so I can skip the annoying scenes and just read the solving the 'case' scenes.

But all of the above is possibly why I love Ilona Andrews & Patricia Briggs so much. Witches, vampires, weird-ass magic and the relationship stuff is not the main part. It's there, but it's not whine whine whine.

[Kit-Ginevra]

This...over your shoulder

[dalesys]

... my computer screen ... CS ...

There is always one.

This...over your shoulder

And there's the other one...

[Tama]

Sherlock Holmes vs. Cthulu, the Deadly Dimensions.

There's some chapters with written-out cockney accents harder to understand than a drunken Redwall mole. Thankfully those chapters are short...but unfortunately also rather violent. There's killings aplenty and Holmes refusing to believe there is not a scientific explanation for everything. Lots of mention of this dangerous machine and Dagon. Not so much Cthulu but the garbled R'lyeh speak is all over the place in ritual chapters.

[Ghel]

I'm currently reading the third book in the Star Wars Thrawn trilogy by Timothy Zahn. The first two were Heir to the Empire and Dark Force Rising. This third one is The Last Command. The first book was very slow, but the pace has picked up some in the second and third. The series is now considered Legends, and it's fun seeing where the story doesn't match up with The Force Awakens and The Last Jedi.

[TheSHAD0W]

https://reddit.com/r/HFY

Beware, there's more content posted here *every single day* than most people can possibly absorb. And the number of amazing stories in the archives is phenomenal.

[Mental_Mouse]

Seanan McGuire is also a reliable read. I've been reading her Incrypted series (undercover ecologist!), though I haven't gotten all of them. There are some nonhuman relationships involved, but generally not central to the plot, and she doesn't gloss over the "issues" thereof. She has another, elf-based, series that I haven't gotten to yet. And then there's her New Thing -- taking portal fantasy and going meta with it. (Centered around a Home For Young Wanderers...) Both books of that (Every Heart a Doorway, Beneath The Sugar Sky) are flat-out amazing. (Note to self: reclaim those books from my niece. ) She also writes as Mira Grant, and won a Hugo with that trilogy.

[Pixelated]

There are currently 6 books in the series as well as a Novella and a 7th book due out this November.

Whoa ... I have really fallen behind!

greek_jester: I had no idea there was a comic series associated with this series.

I very much enjoyed 'Kenobi' which is like a Western set on Tatooine while Ben tries to figure out what to do with himself while the Lars' raise Luke. It was a fun read.

That was one of the ones I just finished. Very well written, I thought! Right now I'm reading "Jedi Twilight" which occurs very shortly after the massacre of all the Jedis. One who escaped is now making a meagre living as a private investigator in Coruscant's Blackpit slums. It has VERY few of the original trilogy characters in it (Vader is there, as is the Emperor, but that's about it) and I'm having some trouble keeping the characters straight but I suspect that's just me. I'm still really enjoying it.

What I'm currently reading...

"Algorithms to Live By: The Computer Science of Human Decisions".

Never heard of it. But it does sound quite intriguing. And no, I'm not being sarcastic.

I'm currently reading the third book in the Star Wars Thrawn trilogy by Timothy Zahn. The first two were Heir to the Empire and Dark Force Rising. This third one is The Last Command. The first book was very slow, but the pace has picked up some in the second and third. The series is now considered Legends, and it's fun seeing where the story doesn't match up with The Force Awakens and The Last Jedi.

I've seen that trilogy but haven't started on it (yet).

I do like the inconsistencies between the books, though. A few authors took the characters off in one direction, then some others come in and take the characters off in a totally different direction ... pick a plot, any plot.

Also reading "Slave Ship," the second book in The Bounty Hunter Wars. I'm finding it a bit slow, but I'm not that far in, so we'll see how it goes.