Current Reads

QueenSix, there was something I read last year that I knew had a sequel due out but couldn't remember the title so thank you!

I thought I didn't care much about China Mieville after reading Kraken (which I liked but wasn't all that moved by), but The City and the City really lived up to its hype!

I finished Out of the Easy last week and thought there was a solid story and some lively characters at the core, but the prose and dialogue lacked subtlety and finesse. John Lockwell was pretty much a cartoonish, moustache-twirling villain.

Halfway through The Night Circus and the writing is so magical.

Finally got my hands on Quintana of Charyn! Also recently read When We Wake, which was fun, and I'm looking forward to the sequel.

I'm reading an English translation of the Spanish bestseller The Shadow of the Wind, and the writing is gorgeous! I'm also about to start Jurassic Park, which I've never read before.

Possibly reading Room by Emma Donoghue in the midst of all this press about the Cleveland kidnappings was a bad idea. But I couldn't put it down and I can't stop thinking about it.

Reading Jodi Picoult out of curiosity and it is just as Picoulty as I expected, if not moreso. Ugh, Handle with Care is the kind of story that could be really interesting if there weren't a zillion subplots thrown in there and all the drama dialed up to eleventy.

swsa wrote:Possibly reading Room by Emma Donoghue in the midst of all this press about the Cleveland kidnappings was a bad idea. But I couldn't put it down and I can't stop thinking about it.

I've been thinking about that book a lot with the news this week.

I tried reading Neuromancer by William Gibson and just couldn't do it. I got about half way through and still couldn't remember who all the characters were and basically gave no fucks about anyone or anything in the story, so I quit. I think part of the problem is that so many of the tropes in this book which were probably shiny and interesting in 1986 and were subsequently stolen wholesale from this book have been used in so many other books I've read that it just seemed irritating and tiring. Especially the part where people prefer to live in a virtual world and fetishize tech and have all this contempt for their "meat" bodies? Yeah, so sick of that shit. Have no patience for it.

Meh. Moving on.

swsa wrote:Possibly reading Room by Emma Donoghue in the midst of all this press about the Cleveland kidnappings was a bad idea. But I couldn't put it down and I can't stop thinking about it.

Oh, that book is so creepy! I had a lot of problems with it, but the premise itself is an absolute knockout!

I like Neuromancer. Even when I first read it in the 90's, I was familiar with the subject. Even so, I really enjoyed it. However, I haven't been able to finish anything else by Gibson.

I started Stephen King's Under the Dome last night, so I can have it read before the mini-series in June. It's pulled me into the story pretty quickly.

I'm also reading G.J. Meyer's The Borgias. When the people in the book have names like Borgia, Sforza, de Medici, and Mallatesta, you know you're in for some world-class skullduggery and mayhem. Ah, Renaissance Italy.

That's a shame, Raksha. Neuromancer is one of my favorites, but I read it in high school, before the cyberpunk craze, so it was so fresh and different. I wonder if I'd still like it if I read it for the first time now.

Just finished Reconstructing Amelia, which was really good and basically about every nightmare the parent of a contemporary teen could have. Amelia, a honors student at a prestigious private school, is accused of plagiarism on a paper and jumps off the roof of her school, killing herself. But then her mother gets an anonymous text saying, "Amelia didn't jump." There's Internet gossip and bullying and secret clubs and teen sex and love and more secrets. Big thumbs up.

I'm putting in a request at the library right now. Thanks, naughty_zoot!

Ooh, I just started that yesterday. Possibly a bad choice to read while pregnant!

I have it in my reading list but need to throw it into my library queue immediately!

Tabby wrote:I started Stephen King's Under the Dome last night, so I can have it read before the mini-series in June. It's pulled me into the story pretty quickly.

I'm also reading G.J. Meyer's The Borgias. When the people in the book have names like Borgia, Sforza, de Medici, and Mallatesta, you know you're in for some world-class skullduggery and mayhem. Ah, Renaissance Italy.

Is the Meyer Borgia book good? I've heard mixed things. I just finished up Christopher Hibbert's The Borgias and Their Enemies and Sarah Bradford's Lucrezia biography and liked both of those. (I may have gotten a little obsessed in light of the new season of The Borgias.)

naughty zoot wrote:Just finished Reconstructing Amelia, which was really good and basically about every nightmare the parent of a contemporary teen could have. Amelia, a honors student at a prestigious private school, is accused of plagiarism on a paper and jumps off the roof of her school, killing herself. But then her mother gets an anonymous text saying, "Amelia didn't jump." There's Internet gossip and bullying and secret clubs and teen sex and love and more secrets. Big thumbs up.

You are bad for my wallet. Just bought the nook edition, based on your recommendation.

The Girl Who Circumnavigated Fairyland in a Ship of Her Own Making was great. I love involved narrators.

Actually I've been rereading some YA that I haven't read since I was a kid as well. The Witch of Blackbird Pond and Catherine, Called Birdy both held up and I enjoyed them but I liked Catherine better. Witch of Blackbird Pond was good but the part where it being a YA book failed for me was I wished there was more of it, heh. I re-read Anne's House of Dreams too but I always re-read the Anne books.

You are bad for my wallet. Just bought the nook edition, based on your recommendation.

Ha! Cause I just picked up Going Clear based on yours.

Bitterblue took some time to bring me in but now I think I'm on board. Cashore does intrigue well.

ulkis wrote:The Girl Who Circumnavigated Fairyland in a Ship of Her Own Making was great. I love involved narrators.

Yay! I'm so glad you liked it!

I just finished What Matters in Jane Austen?: Twenty Crucial Puzzles Solved Read. Each chapter covers one question about Jane Austen's books, like "who doesn't speak" and "what does Jane Austen mean when characters blush?" It was a more scholarly approach to Austen, but I think it will make my next readings of her books, especially Emma, more interesting.