What book are you reading...

Not so much reading but listening to Beggars In Spain by Nancy Kress, a bit of Sci-Fi about a new group of advanced humans who don't sleep and their effect on society.
 
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I'm towards the end of the first Sherlock Holmes book, but I didn't quite read them in order and reads the Adventures of... first. Enjoying them a lot though.
 
Day Four - Sarah Lotz

Sarah Lotz's extraordinary, unmissable follow-up to the book that made headlines around the world, The Three - perfect for fans of The Shining Girls, The Passage, and Lost. Four days into a five-day singles cruise on the Gulf of Mexico, the ageing ship Beautiful Dreamer stops dead in the water. With no electricity and no cellular signals, the passengers and crew have no way to call for help. But everyone is certain that rescue teams will come looking for them soon.
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About half way through, enjoyable so far, nothing stunning though.

Got Present at the Creation: The Story of CERN and the Large Hadron Collider up next.
Continuing my 1 science/biography book, followed by a novel.
 
Stovepipes said:
Not so much reading but listening to Beggars In Spain by Nancy Kress, a bit of Sci-Fi about a new group of advanced humans who don't sleep and their effect on society.
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First of a trilogy IIRC. I read it a long time ago. Kress is highly rated by other writers, but not so popular with the general SF reader crowd.


I'm currently reading The Paying Guests by Sarah Waters. I've just got to the sudden change in direction at the middle. Before that was the first two of Joe Abercrombie's "Half a..." series. It's interesting to note the changes to style forced on him by writing for teenagers. Although I note that the publishers make no mention whatsoever of the target audience. Of course it could be argued that most fantasy is aimed at teenagers...


Before that was "Leviathan Wakes by "James S A Corey" (in inverted commas because it's a pseudonym for two writers), the first of The Expanse series. And my heart sank when I found out that there is intended to be nine of these books. The first is fun, although hardly great SF (never mind literature), but nine books is about six too many for any series.

Before that was Arkady and Boris Strukatsky's "Hard to be a God", which I last read about forty years ago. For those not aware, they wrote the book "Roadside Picnic" which is the basis of the film "Stalker", which in turn inspired the game. And before that was Ruth Rendell's second last book, "The Girl Next Door" - her best for a while. Halfway between a Rendell and a Vine, it's how the discovery of a long-dead body changes the lives of various people.
 
Meridian said:
Before that was "Leviathan Wakes by "James S A Corey" (in inverted commas because it's a pseudonym for two writers), the first of The Expanse series. And my heart sank when I found out that there is intended to be nine of these books. The first is fun, although hardly great SF (never mind literature), but nine books is about six too many for any series.
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Rest of the books remain enjoyable and they do seem to be churning them out one a year which is a plus. No GoT wait.
Each has it's own self contained story with the overall arc running throughout. You're right, no story needs that many books to be told (WoT anyone?!) but so long as it remains enjoyable I'll pickup the rest for the journeys into work! Only one of them dipped off for me a little (3rd or 4th I think off the top of my head) but the most recent one was... explosive. Also had one exchange of dialogue between two characters that's one of my favourites.

Won't say too much but a mother telling her son after he helped commit a pretty bad act of terrorism, of which he's quite proud, that when the guilt finally catches up to him that he should come see her before he kills himself.
 
csrogue said:
Currently re-reading The Last Chronicles of Thomas Covenant. Great series of books.
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Same here. :D

I read these when they first came out and still love them to this day. This is my third read of the First and Second Chronicles. Started about a week ago and I'm now half way through The One Tree. The last time I read these was over 20 years ago.
Amazed at how much of the story I remember and at how much I had forgotten. Also realising some parts I have gotten confused, some other important aspects I have no recollection and so it's like learning the story all over again.
I have not read the last 2 books for one reason or another, so looking forward to the conclusion of a really remarkable journey. No other series of books has held my attention or captivated my imagination, with the exception of Fire and Ice.
 
GRRM A Dance with Dragons.

Enjoyed the whole series so far, don't really want to finish it as I know it will be a while before the next one due to all the delays.
 
csrogue said:
Currently re-reading The Last Chronicles of Thomas Covenant. Great series of books.
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my dad has been recommending this series to me.
he read a few of them years ago, then asked me to see if there were any more that i could order from the library.

i told him there were LOADS more since the early 90's since he last read them!

HUGE ponderous tomes apparently :)

i'm generally into sci-fi, but have been reading lots of neil gaiman but at moment i'm reading john wyndhams' 'the midwich cuckoos'.
it's a bit stiff with the characters at times. stuff like " good-oh, time to get a spot of tea on in a jiffy!" throughout the passages.
i just want to read it before watching the black and white film.

would you recommend the thomas covenant stuff then, i like some fantasy.
is it fantasy?

Meridian said:
Before that was Arkady and Boris Strukatsky's "Hard to be a God", which I last read about forty years ago. For those not aware, they wrote the book "Roadside Picnic" which is the basis of the film "Stalker", which in turn inspired the game.
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wow!

i still haven't read the book 'stalker'. i've watched the film and loved it, but i reckon i need to watch it again and really indulge in it. it's one of those very philosophical films that will reward the viewer with repeated viewings.

how is the book in your own experience?
 
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JOSH86 said:
GRRM A Dance with Dragons.

Enjoyed the whole series so far, don't really want to finish it as I know it will be a while before the next one due to all the delays.
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Well I've been waiting since 2011 for Winds Of Winter and I only started reading them after watching the show. I dread to think how long the wait has been for people who started before the show :eek:

Hopefully this year for book 6 but probably longer knowing Mr Martin...

I've started reading the Mistborn books after taking a little break from Mr Sanderson after reading Stormlight and Warbreaker. I don't know why but he's books are just so readable.
 
peter tron said:
how is the book in your own experience?
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Very different. And a lot shorter.


As for John Wyndham, I'd actually suggest The Crysalids as his best book. Wyndham was master of the "cosy catastrophe" (and the term was mainly aimed at him): where some disaster wipes out all the plebs and allows all the nice Middle Class people to start again from scratch in a nice agrarian fantasy. From the same period, John Christopher was much better: start with The World in Winter (long out of print though) rather than his better-known The Death of Grass.
 
I couldn't get away with Thomas Covenant. I loathed the protagonist, he just spends the book whining about his lot in life and after a while I was so fed up of him I couldn't read any more.
 
"What If?: Serious Scientific Answers to Absurd Hypothetical Questions" by Randall Munroe (of xkcd.com fame). Utterly hilarious answers to some staggering odd questions. It's one of those books composed of short sections (a few pages long) that you read on the loo and just think "maybe just one more" until your legs have gone numb. :)

Even better when you get it for 99p and then use some credit that you got for opting for the "no rush" delivery option on a previous order = free. :)
 
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