So what are you reading this year 2021?

[Marc_C]

I've really been grooving on Harry Harrison's short stories of late. They're sharp and punchy, Deathworld being no exception.

I miss old school writing that was about a 'cool sci-fi idea' that didn't take 450 pages to read.

 

[Ralif Redhammer]

It's intense and throws a lot at the reader, but very good.

After years of dancing around it, I'm finally taking the dive into Dostoievski with The Brothers Karamazov. I'm very excited.

I've been growing increasingly fond of shorter works under 200 pages. I used to be all about the 500+ page fantasy novels, but there's something to be said for the economy of storytelling, for getting your point across without padding, while still giving the reader vivid worldbuilding and characters.

I miss old school writing that was about a 'cool sci-fi idea' that didn't take 450 pages to read.

 

[Khelon Testudo]

I've started reading a compilation of the first 3 Garrett PI books by Glen Cook. Entertaining mostly, but yeesh, the sexism/misogyny! These were written in the late 80's, it looks like he decided Heinlein wasn't sexist enough.
So far though it's mostly background. He's not here to write about how bad women are. Just mentioning it when women do show up now and then.

 

[Ralif Redhammer]

Finished reading You Died, and sure enough, I went back to my replay of Dark Souls 1 on the Switch before I was done. The book did a great job of capturing what makes the game so special.

I then read Philip K. Dick's Second Variety. Written 30 years prior, it feels like such a strong precursor to Terminator.

Now, I'm onto re-reading Lloyd Alexander's The Book of Three, for the ENworld Summer Book Club.

 

[Marc_C]

I've started reading a compilation of the first 3 Garrett PI books by Glen Cook. Entertaining mostly, but yeesh, the sexism/misogyny! These were written in the late 80's, it looks like he decided Heinlein wasn't sexist enough.
So far though it's mostly background. He's not here to write about how bad women are. Just mentioning it when women do show up now and then.

Cook himself is not mysogynstic judging from his body of work. Some of the characters are. Was it a good idea to do that? For me it's no. I couldn't finish the first book.

 

[KahlessNestor]

After years of dancing around it, I'm finally taking the dive into Dostoievski with The Brothers Karamazov. I'm very excited.

My favorite book! It's amazing! It did help me to read it twice. The first time you get down all the characters and everyone's three names, and the plot. The second time you can focus on the deeper themes of the novel (death of God, redemptive suffering, etc).

I need to put Crime and Punishment on my stack.

 

[KahlessNestor]

Still reading Rhythm of War by Brandon Sanderson.

Still reading Titan: The Life of John D. Rockefeller, Sr. by Ron Chernow.

Still reading Night of the Hunter by R. A. Salvatore.

Still reading Bobby Fischer Goes to War: How a Lone American Star Defeated the Soviet Chess Machine by David Edmonds and John Eidinow.

Still reading Turn Coat by Jim Butcher.

Still reading Emma by Jane Austen.

Still reading Discount Armageddon by Seanan McGuire.

Still reading The Strange Death of Europe by Douglas Murray.

Still reading Rosemary and Rue by Seanan McGuire.

Still reading The Battle for Spain by Antony Beevor.

Still reading Tasha's Cauldron of Everything by Wizards of the Coast.

Still reading The Burning Bridge by John Flanagan.

Still reading The Doomsday Book by Connie Willis.

Started reading Beyond Order: 12 More Rules for Life by Jordan B. Peterson.

 

[Richards]

I finished Generations and I wouldn't have expected a Firefly novel taking place in one of the Arks that took humanity from Earth-That-Was to their present system to be so boring, but it was. Definitely a letdown. Now I'm starting up the first of three (seemingly unrelated) novels by Lisa Gardner: The Third Victim, about a police detective investigating her first homicide in a small town and finding out the guy confessing to the crime likely wasn't the one who did it; the back-cover blurb hints that the real murderer is somehow tied in to the detective's past. I'm hoping it'll be good, and I'm taking comfort in the fact that the other two of the author's novels I picked up (having been written over a decade later) are in that "overly tall" paperback format that are usually reserved for best sellers.

Johnathan

 

[Eyes of Nine]

Put The Promised Land and Four Hundred Souls on pause since they had to go back to the library. I have re-reserved, but each has long waiting lists.

Meanwhile, I inhaled Piranesi in one setting and LOVED it. Then I read v5 of the Lady Sherlock series (Murder on Cold Street), which I forgot I had already said to myself that I wasn't very interested in continuing. Now reading the most recent Arkady Martine book, A Desolation called Peace.

Waiting in the wings is the first Mary Robinette Kowal Lady Astronaut books, The Calculating Stars. I'll read that and the next two, hopefully by end of summer, including The Relentless Moon 2020 Hugo nominee. That will mean that for first time ever I will have read all of the Hugo nominees prior to the award being given.

 

[Blue]

Just finished the first book of Deathworld by Harry Harrison. It's a great 60s sci-fi concept that could be turned into a campaign using a sci-fi rpg. The first book is a short, action pack read. It's a series of 3 books and a short story. Started book two last night. Each book takes place on a different planet.

Gosh, I haven't read those in a while, after multiple reread when I was younger. Got into them aftter reading some of his Stainless Steel Rat series.