Current Reads

Let's build this puppy back up! What is everyone reading? I just finished A Brief History of Montmaray, which is a YA book that reminded me of the Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie society -- it's not as good as that book, but it has the same feel and is from the same general era (right before WWII instead of during), and is set on a tiny island. In this book, the tiny island isn't a real one, and it's about the impoverished royalty who live on that island, all of whom are teenagers except for the crazy PTSD stricken King. Lots of fun.

I just finished all of Deanna Raybourn's Lady Julia Grey novels in like, two weeks, and really enjoyed them. The books are so not my usual style, but cheesy and fun nonetheless.

I recently finished Caitlin Moran's "How to be a woman". I highly recommend it, because I laughed so much during it that my stomach hurt. There are parts that are more serious too. I feel like she managed to capture many of my own experiences, just way funnier. All in all just a good read about how it is to be a woman.

Jasmine, there is a sequel to the Montmaray book called...The FitzOsbournes in Exile, I think? Something like that. Anyway, I thought it was great -- superior to the first. If you liked the first at all, I think you'd really like the second.

Jessica wrote:Jasmine, there is a sequel to the Montmaray book called...The FitzOsbournes in Exile, I think? Something like that. Anyway, I thought it was great -- superior to the first. If you liked the first at all, I think you'd really like the second.

Yeah, I think I saw that on Goodreads or Amazon or something, yay. I'm glad I saw that before finishing the book, because otherwise I would have been upset that it ended like that (not that the ending is bad or cliffhangery, it's just set up for a sequel). I'm excited for the next one!

I finally got around to Bossypants and read it in one day. My favorite parts were Tina's chapters on body issues and the frequent references to how awesome Amy Poehler is. I also liked her compliments of Donald Glover.

I am absolutely loving "Ready Player One" by Ernest Cline. It takes place 30 years from now and the world is not a delightful place, so most people spend most of their time immersed in a huge virtual reality system that encompasses thousands of virtual worlds. You can hang out on a Ringworld planet, a Discworld planet, or a planet named Gygax. And so on. The creator of this system, who was obsessed with the 1980s, has died and left a series of encrypted puzzles. The first person to solve them all wins his entire fortune. It is chock-full of 80s pop culture, science fiction, movie and gaming references. It has a vague Charlie and the Chocolate Factory feel to it as the protagonist is a poor kid who hopes to be the one out of billions to win the prize. I'm amazed it's a first novel.

zoot that does sound good! I'm going to see if my library has it.

Jasmine wrote:

Jessica wrote:Jasmine, there is a sequel to the Montmaray book called...The FitzOsbournes in Exile, I think? Something like that. Anyway, I thought it was great -- superior to the first. If you liked the first at all, I think you'd really like the second.

Yeah, I think I saw that on Goodreads or Amazon or something, yay. I'm glad I saw that before finishing the book, because otherwise I would have been upset that it ended like that (not that the ending is bad or cliffhangery, it's just set up for a sequel). I'm excited for the next one!

Michelle Cooper has just sent the last book in the trilogy to her publishers and she says it's going to be twice as long as the first book. And there is kissing and several weddings.

I'm sort of in a readng rut at the moment but right now I'm reading Endless Summer by Jennifer Echols. Fluffly YA chicklit.

I'm reading The Princess Bride for only about the second time. I'd forgotten how very very wonderful the book is as its own entity. The backstories of Fezzik and Inigo in particular are such a great addition, and I love Goldman's asides about the abridgements he made.

That's one of my top five favorite books (the movie is of course fab and we all know that). I think I first read it when I was ten or so and I read it every couple of years. I have the re release with that Buttercup's baby chapter. Goldman is such a troll. Just in general. I remember for five years when I read that I totally thought Morgenstern was real, that Goldman had a son, that Florin was a country. In fact I think I found out when I was 16 or so on the fametracker boards. I felt both stupid and devastated.

So is Ready Player One all that? I had gotten some sense that it was more Buzz Than Substance. I know the author got a ridiculously huge deal, the kind that means he must also get major marketing, and it is a great Buzz Concept. But I'm skeptical.

I enjoyed it. I would say it is a fun read, particularly if you enjoy things from the 80s. It's not a great work of literature or anything.

I would say it is a fun read

Yeah. It's not going to win a Pulitzer or anything, but I'm finding it a whole lotta fun. My husband read it first and he kept staying up way past his bedtime reading. He also understood way more of the gaming references than I do.

Kiran wrote:That's one of my top five favorite books (the movie is of course fab and we all know that). I think I first read it when I was ten or so and I read it every couple of years. I have the re release with that Buttercup's baby chapter. Goldman is such a troll. Just in general. I remember for five years when I read that I totally thought Morgenstern was real, that Goldman had a son, that Florin was a country. In fact I think I found out when I was 16 or so on the fametracker boards. I felt both stupid and devastated.

Whem I was 14, I totally believed that shit about Stephen King doing Buttercup's Baby and being Florinese. SUCH a troll.

Just finished Freedom by Jonathan Franzen. I feel kind of wiped out now.

I read Erin Morgenstern's The Night Circus and thought it was fun. It reminded me so much of seeing Sleep No More, even with the design of some of the rooms showing up in the circus tents, and then in the acknowledgements at the end she said that she'd seen SNM a lot while writing the book.

I just finished Snuff, which was prime Pratchett. Sam Vimes continues to be awesome and lovely and there's nothing like taking a cop and forcing him to go on vacation in the country for hijinks to ensue.

Per, Gen's recommendation, I'm now reading The Mysterious Benedict Society. I amused that with children's books, it seems like if you're going for mystery and adventure, everything sounds a bit more English to me.

I just finished the two books in the Spiritwalker trilogy by Kate Elliot. Here's the description

Read an Afro-Celtic post-Roman icepunk Regency fantasy adventure with airships, Phoenician spies, the intelligent descendents of troodons, and a dash of steampunk whose gas lamps can be easily doused by the touch of a powerful cold mage.

It is a bit crackers but awesome. I do wish authors would only release trilogies all together. Sigh, waiting.

I saw that Unshelved reviewed Ready Player One and got it from the library for my husband. He basically didn't talk to me for a week while he spend every spare minute reading it. Mr. Algae isn't a reader, but he is an 80s geek and he really liked this.

Plankton has seemingly begun reading overnight, so we've read books by David Shannon (which he read out loud to his whole class one day!) and some Spongebob Phonics books lately.

I've spent the last month working on a cross-stitch for my cousin's wedding gift, so I've not really read anything new.

I'm about half-way through Divergent. It's not bad, but I think I'd like it better if I hadn't read Delirium a couple of months ago. Tris is kind of dopey, and there's been more than one occasion when I wanted to shake some sense into her.

I just finished reading Fahrenheit 451 (for the first time, shamefully), and really enjoyed it. I do find it mildly irritating though that science fiction writers of previous generations could imagine all sorts of futures except one in which women have roles to play outside the home.

I recently read The Iron Duke by Meljean Brook and it was so great. It's set in Victorian England but an England that has just been freed from the control of the Horde, Mongols who conquered Europe using nanotechnology. It sounds kind of goofy but it really works in the book and I loved the characters, especially the main character Mina Wentworth, who is a police inspector. I can't wait for the next book (it comes out in November) but the first book stands alone.

HBO's adaption of Game of Thrones has gotten me hooked on the books. I liked the first book well enough, but found a lot of it boring because I knew the major plot points. I'm completely hooked on A Clash of Kings, though.

Has anyone read any of the Inheritance books by Christopher Paolini? Amazon keeps recommending them but I trust your opinions much more.

From what I understand they are rehashed Tolkien written by a 15 year old. I know a few people who read them, but they were not very positive about the books.

My copy of Snuff came in the mail! Now I just have to get through work so I can devour it.