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[Nov] What are you reading?
- Thread starter Krug
- Start date
TheAuldGrump
First Post
Reread a whole bunch of R.A.Macavoy. I wish she were still writing and Sorcery & Cecilia, or the enchanted Chocolate Pot by Caroline Stevermer and Patricia C. Wrede. Fun book written as a series of letters between the two POV characters, (the book started as a letters game between the two authors). The sequel just came out. Merelon the Magician and The Magician's Ward both by Patricia C. Wrede.
For Fantasy I have read Ghosts in the Snow by Tamara Siler Jones (I have been going through a lot of fantasy/mystery novels, and this was one of the best.), Dragon Precinct by Keith R.A. DeCandido (another fantasy/mystery not a great book, but lots of fun.), A College of Magics by Caroline Stevermer, and The Grabd Tour by Caroline Stevermer and Patricia C. Wrede (equel to Sorcery & Cecelia, or The Enchanted Chocolate Pot.
For S.F. I finally read 1634: the Galileo Affair, and the Grantsville Gazette.
Other than that I have been reading mysteries, largely by Archer Mayor.
The Auld Grump, the only good thing about being sick is that you can read a lot...
For Fantasy I have read Ghosts in the Snow by Tamara Siler Jones (I have been going through a lot of fantasy/mystery novels, and this was one of the best.), Dragon Precinct by Keith R.A. DeCandido (another fantasy/mystery not a great book, but lots of fun.), A College of Magics by Caroline Stevermer, and The Grabd Tour by Caroline Stevermer and Patricia C. Wrede (equel to Sorcery & Cecelia, or The Enchanted Chocolate Pot.
For S.F. I finally read 1634: the Galileo Affair, and the Grantsville Gazette.
Other than that I have been reading mysteries, largely by Archer Mayor.
The Auld Grump, the only good thing about being sick is that you can read a lot...
KnowTheToe
First Post
Just Finished a few really good reads.
First is THe Eagle has Landed by Jack Higgins.
This is an excellent historical Fiction book about a group of German paratroopers who are sent to England to assassinate Churchhill. This was a book that I could not put down from page 1. I suggest that you do not read too many reviews because IMO spoilers could hurt the story. I enjoyed not knowing what was going to happen. Really an excellent book.
Second one was Hitler's Scientists by John Cornwell.
It is a book that describes the social and scientific revolutions that occured during the war. I will admit that I do not understand Quantum Physics and that much of the scientific jarble went over my head, but the book is still very interesting. If you like science and WWII then this is a must read.
Fighter Squadron at Guadalcanal by Max Brand
Another great WWII read. This is a historical naration of the struggles of gaining a foothold in the Pacific after Pearl Harbor.
I have been on a WWII kick recently and am starting a book on Rommel.
First is THe Eagle has Landed by Jack Higgins.
This is an excellent historical Fiction book about a group of German paratroopers who are sent to England to assassinate Churchhill. This was a book that I could not put down from page 1. I suggest that you do not read too many reviews because IMO spoilers could hurt the story. I enjoyed not knowing what was going to happen. Really an excellent book.
Second one was Hitler's Scientists by John Cornwell.
It is a book that describes the social and scientific revolutions that occured during the war. I will admit that I do not understand Quantum Physics and that much of the scientific jarble went over my head, but the book is still very interesting. If you like science and WWII then this is a must read.
Fighter Squadron at Guadalcanal by Max Brand
Another great WWII read. This is a historical naration of the struggles of gaining a foothold in the Pacific after Pearl Harbor.
I have been on a WWII kick recently and am starting a book on Rommel.
Pielorinho
Iron Fist of Pelor
Finished Scaramouche: I read the first chapter and immediately fell asleep for twelve hours. It gets more exciting after the first chapter 
.
Now i'm on Devil in the White City, an account of the building of the Chicago World Fair and the exploits of one of the world's first recognized serial killers. The fairbuilding stuff is not especially exciting, and the author far overdramatizes the serial killer stuff, leading to all kinds of eyerolling hyperbole, but it remains readable somehow.
Daniel
.Now i'm on Devil in the White City, an account of the building of the Chicago World Fair and the exploits of one of the world's first recognized serial killers. The fairbuilding stuff is not especially exciting, and the author far overdramatizes the serial killer stuff, leading to all kinds of eyerolling hyperbole, but it remains readable somehow.
Daniel
Eragon
Got a whole bag of bargain books at the Goddard-Riverside bookfair. So far I read Eragon by Christopher Paolin. Lots of inspiration for games there. Hard to believe it was written by a teenager who also did the maps and artwork. Check it out at www.alagaesia.com
Got a whole bag of bargain books at the Goddard-Riverside bookfair. So far I read Eragon by Christopher Paolin. Lots of inspiration for games there. Hard to believe it was written by a teenager who also did the maps and artwork. Check it out at www.alagaesia.com
Andrew D. Gable
First Post
H.H. Holmes, right? When exactly was he?Pielorinho said:
Quicksilver by Neal Stephenson. When are the paperbacks of the other two coming out?
Pielorinho
Iron Fist of Pelor
Holmes indeed. He was most active 1891-1893, I believe; certainly he was active during 1892 (the quattrocentennial of Columbus's landing in the Americas and the year of the Chicago World's Fair), and was caught in 1894.
For those of you that don't know him, he's like a supervillain only not the least bit romantic or exciting: he built a house that included a kiln in the basement where he would incinerate the bodies of his victims, vats of quicklime, surgical tables for their dismemberment, and most horribly an airtight, almost soundproof chamber in which he could trap victims and crouch by the door listening to them slowly suffocate, or else pump the room full of natural gas for a quicker asphyxiation. Some estimates for his final death toll range as high as 200 victims, with children amongst the confirmed dead. He's gruesome.
There's a short biography of him here.
The book itself--well, part of the fun of nonfiction is how well the characters are drawn, being real people and hence rough and imperfect and not cliches. The author, I think, was afraid that the World's Fair stuff was too dry, and so he shoehorned in a melodramatic Tale of Murder into his book to spice things up; instead of being interesting, it came across as cheap, tawdry, and false to me. Not overwhelmingly bad, mind you; it was certainly readable. But it wasn't nearly as good as it could have been. The stuff about Holmes ended up being less interesting to me than the stuff about the fair.
Daniel
For those of you that don't know him, he's like a supervillain only not the least bit romantic or exciting: he built a house that included a kiln in the basement where he would incinerate the bodies of his victims, vats of quicklime, surgical tables for their dismemberment, and most horribly an airtight, almost soundproof chamber in which he could trap victims and crouch by the door listening to them slowly suffocate, or else pump the room full of natural gas for a quicker asphyxiation. Some estimates for his final death toll range as high as 200 victims, with children amongst the confirmed dead. He's gruesome.
There's a short biography of him here.
The book itself--well, part of the fun of nonfiction is how well the characters are drawn, being real people and hence rough and imperfect and not cliches. The author, I think, was afraid that the World's Fair stuff was too dry, and so he shoehorned in a melodramatic Tale of Murder into his book to spice things up; instead of being interesting, it came across as cheap, tawdry, and false to me. Not overwhelmingly bad, mind you; it was certainly readable. But it wasn't nearly as good as it could have been. The stuff about Holmes ended up being less interesting to me than the stuff about the fair.
Daniel
nakia
First Post
I am having reading issues. I have been to the bookstore twice in the past week and just wandered around aimlessly. I ended up getting a couple of magazines (Men's Health and Filter in case you were wondering). I just cannot even come up with a genre to pursue, much less an indivdiual book. What's wrong with me? Maybe dissertation burnout.
Pozatronic
First Post
Elric said:
Oh, definetly finish the Sarantium Mosiac. I love the ending to that one. I highly recommand Kay's latest one, "Last Light of The Sun" (I'm pretty sure). As much as I love Tigana (and all his other books..well except for the last two Fionavar Tapestry titles), I think this one is my favorite of his.
