So what are you reading this year 2021?

[Zaukrie]

Just finished Well of Ascension. I like to be surprised......very good book.

 

[dragoner]

I just finished Brin's Sundiver, and I am starting Startide Rising; you can definitely feel the late 70's in Sundiver, we will see about Startide.

 

[Richards]

I finished Find Me by Carol O'Connor, featuring Detective Kathy Mallory, an NYPD officer who's a bit of a sociopath herself. While I enjoyed the previous Mallory book I'd read earlier (Winter House), this one blew it out of the water - it was firing on all cylinders, with a good plot, great characterizations, and a final "didn't see that coming" plot line that hit you hard at the very end. I'll definitely keep an eye out for other books in this series.

So now I'm reading Find Me by Debra Webb. Despite the identical title, this one is about a woman investigative reporter looking into a murder and kidnapping (of two different victims) in a small town in Maine. And I have to admit, I bought both books not only because the blurbs on the back of each sounded interesting but because I couldn't pass up the opportunity to read two completely different novels with the exact same title back to back. I'm only about 40 pages in and so far it's pretty interesting, but Debra's got her work cut out for her if she's going to try to top Carol's novel. We'll see how it goes.

Johnathan

 

[AmerginLiath]

After last year’s delve through the complete works of Aristotle, I’m continuing my survey of (the surviving works of) the classical Neoplatonists this year. Most of 2021 has been spent with Proclus, not surprisingly, but I’m maybe a thousand pages away from moving on from the Hellenistic pagan to patristic Christian philosophers (where, after Origen and the Cappadocian Fathers, I’ll likely spend a few months working through Augustine).

 

[francisbaud]

I was reading principles of anatomy and physiology. And interesting book!

 

[Nellisir]

Wish I could help, my favorite new novels of the past few years didn't include any high fantasy. Have you tried Fifth Season?

Read it as it came out. NK Jemisin is excellent.

 

[Nellisir]

Have you tried The Stormlight Archive? That's the hottest epic fantasy out there, and it is Brandon Sanderson. Newest book just came out in November.

I'm holding off for the moment only because I might already have some of the books in the unread boxes. I estimate I've got about 30 boxes of books and 10-15 of them are unread books. The trouble is I don't have shelf space to get them out. I haven't read it earlier because I'm leery of starting a mega-series until it's at least a few books in. Sanderson does have a really good track record though, so I'm willing to give it a whirl.

 

[Nellisir]

The first two or so books are good and servicable and then it starts coming together and ramps up even more. But I can't recommend skipping those first books - the whole series has a truely wonderful amount of callbacks, recurring characters, and important plot points that come back around.

It's climbing up my list of books to look for. I'll have to note which ones to grab first.

That series is also well connected to the earlier books, not a standalone read. While I enjoy the series, it's a particular Venn diagram of British humor, IT, Cthulhu horror, and government bureaucracy that if you are not in all of the circles can easily not be to taste.

It's possible I'll enjoy it more if I read the earlier books, but seriously, the part of it I got through was like going to party with 20 people who know each other, and me. I don't mind a few callbacks, but these were neither subtle nor infrequent. Or maybe I'm just bitter and cynical?

 

[Richards]

I took a brief timeout from the novel I was reading for a higher-priority action: my comic shop got in the trade paperback of Dear Becky, the 8-issue follow-up miniseries to The Boys. It was good, but didn't go over that much new territory - still, it was nice to revisit those characters for a bit. Monday I'll be bringing it into work, as I have four co-workers who have also read their way through The Boys who I know will want to borrow the book.

Johnathan

 

[Blue]

It's possible I'll enjoy it more if I read the earlier books, but seriously, the part of it I got through was like going to party with 20 people who know each other, and me. I don't mind a few callbacks, but these were neither subtle nor infrequent. Or maybe I'm just bitter and cynical?

Yeah, that was a real rogue's gallery tying together threads from a bunch of other books. Not the norm, but the norm does have a high level of callbacks. Heck, there's a short story all about a throwaway line in an earlier book about getting audited on the number of paperclips they have.