What are you reading [Jun 2017]?
Hrothgar Rannúlfr
Explorer
Right now, I'm reading Necronomicon: The Best Weird Tales of H.P. Lovecraft. Currently exploring At the Mountains of Madness.
I'm alternating between Lovecraft and Robert E. Howard (not just Conan, but Kull, Kane, Morn, ext...).
I'm alternating between Lovecraft and Robert E. Howard (not just Conan, but Kull, Kane, Morn, ext...).
I started reading the 'Tales from the Loop' RPG which I received a while ago, after backing the kickstarter project (a first for me!).
Apparently it uses the 'Mutant: Year Zero' rules. All I've seen about it in the book is rather unexciting, though: rolling a bunch of d6 with one or more sixes meaning 'success'. Yeah, well. That sure means rolling a lot of dice for a simple binary result - I think I'm not a fan. Maybe I'm spoiled by FFG's Star Wars system.
The setting seems interesting, though. Apparently it's meant to be created 'collaboratively', as well, with every other 'scene' being suggested by one of the players. I'd be willing to give that a try.
Apparently it uses the 'Mutant: Year Zero' rules. All I've seen about it in the book is rather unexciting, though: rolling a bunch of d6 with one or more sixes meaning 'success'. Yeah, well. That sure means rolling a lot of dice for a simple binary result - I think I'm not a fan. Maybe I'm spoiled by FFG's Star Wars system.
The setting seems interesting, though. Apparently it's meant to be created 'collaboratively', as well, with every other 'scene' being suggested by one of the players. I'd be willing to give that a try.
Nellisir
Hero
Finished Wolves Eat Dogs and the next book in the series, Stalin's Ghost. Not sure what I'll read next.
I'm reading Silver Pigs by Lindsey Davis, another mystery set in a different time period: this time ancient Rome circa AD 70. I'm four chapters in and already captivated; the protagonist, Falco, is described on the back cover as "Sam Spade in a ratty toga" and so far the description is pretty apt. He's a low-life, but likable.
Oh, and the pigs in the title refer to ingots of silver that have gone missing.
Johnathan
Oh, and the pigs in the title refer to ingots of silver that have gone missing.
Johnathan
Argyle King
Legend
I recently picked up The Complete Works of Lao Tzu; it contains both the "Tao Teh Ching" and "Hua Hu Ching".
Blue
Ravenous Bugblatter Beast of Traal
Okay, I finished six books (and a short story) in Wearing the Cape. The last book was a lot more experimental - it was crossovers and team-ups, and included (with permission) dimension traveling to team up with supers written by others. UIt was more short stories/novellas with a framing story, and played with the writing style.
I first want to call out that I'm glad he did it. He took a chance, including a Shakespearean-style play with Midsummer's Night Dream that I quite enjoyed. Changing up your writing style, point of view, and whole setting for a sixth book in a series takes guts.
On the other hand, I was less thrilled with it because I was unfamiliar with every single one of the team-ups (except Shakespeare), so I missed all the "woo!" points of them. I think it was several modern books plus one web comic.
I don't know if book 7 is out, but I finally got back to what I had been reading when I started that as a "portable" book, which was The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms, first of four stories in The Inheritance Trilogy by N.K. Jemisin. I finished that. It was enjoyable, I give it good grades for world building and also making a plot involving the fate of gods work well on a human level. Call it 8/10. It didn't blow me away the same way her The Fifth Season did, but it was far from "same old same old".
I've now started the next book in the series, not too far into it though I've hit some laugh-out-loud moments I needed to read to my wife, such as how the PoV character learned to read. Like her other works, she paints realistic people with flaws that you can empathize with.
I first want to call out that I'm glad he did it. He took a chance, including a Shakespearean-style play with Midsummer's Night Dream that I quite enjoyed. Changing up your writing style, point of view, and whole setting for a sixth book in a series takes guts.
On the other hand, I was less thrilled with it because I was unfamiliar with every single one of the team-ups (except Shakespeare), so I missed all the "woo!" points of them. I think it was several modern books plus one web comic.
I don't know if book 7 is out, but I finally got back to what I had been reading when I started that as a "portable" book, which was The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms, first of four stories in The Inheritance Trilogy by N.K. Jemisin. I finished that. It was enjoyable, I give it good grades for world building and also making a plot involving the fate of gods work well on a human level. Call it 8/10. It didn't blow me away the same way her The Fifth Season did, but it was far from "same old same old".
I've now started the next book in the series, not too far into it though I've hit some laugh-out-loud moments I needed to read to my wife, such as how the PoV character learned to read. Like her other works, she paints realistic people with flaws that you can empathize with.
Well, I just spent Tuesday and Thursday of this week traveling to and from Albuquerque, so I managed to start and finish two entire books while sitting at airports and on planes. The first of these was the latest Agent Pendergast novel, The Obsidian Chamber, by Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child. It was far from the best in the series but still an enjoyable read. Then I read Rain Storm by Barry Eisler, the third in a series of novels about a modern-day Japanese-American assassin named John Rain. It was up to the level of the first two books in the series.
Next up, I'll probably start The Colorado Kid by Stephen King. For a 25-cent library book sale purchase, I'm pretty sure I'll get my money's worth. (Silver Pigs and Rain Storm were similarly 25-cent purchases; I paid full price for The Obsidian Chamber at an airport bookstore, after deciding on a whim to check to see if it was out in paperback yet.)
Johnathan
Next up, I'll probably start The Colorado Kid by Stephen King. For a 25-cent library book sale purchase, I'm pretty sure I'll get my money's worth. (Silver Pigs and Rain Storm were similarly 25-cent purchases; I paid full price for The Obsidian Chamber at an airport bookstore, after deciding on a whim to check to see if it was out in paperback yet.)
Johnathan
I'm enjoying the Hell out of a first volume of an omnibus release of James White's "Sector General" stories about a far-future intergalactic space hospital where everyone sounds very British. They're grand, old-fashioned, largely pacifist space opera, centered around heroic medical staff solving problems & saving individual lives. Even though the series is, like 50+ years old, it has some of the best aliens in SF. Wonderful, solid traditional storytelling.
After that, Ive got Raven Stratagem, the sequel to Ninefox Gambit by Yoon Ha Lee, which is the best SF book I read last year. Also space opera, but one where the physics is indistinguishable from Korean mythology and half of everything sounds like poetry.
After that, Ive got Raven Stratagem, the sequel to Ninefox Gambit by Yoon Ha Lee, which is the best SF book I read last year. Also space opera, but one where the physics is indistinguishable from Korean mythology and half of everything sounds like poetry.
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