What are you reading? Declaratory December 2018 edition

[Jhaelen]

When I'm down with a cold/flu, I typically don't manage to concentrate long enough to actually read a book. I quickly get a headache or nod off. So, I either try to watch tv or read a comic/graphic novel instead. If I have trouble keeping my eyes open, audio books are the perfect solution.

 

[Richards]

I'm reading another Far Frontiers collection, this one Volume VI from the fall of 1986. It's science fiction short stories and the occasional science article. It started off strong with a story from David Drake's "Hammer's Slammers" series of futuristic hover tank combat.

Johnathan

 

[Ralif Redhammer]

I finished GRRM’S Fire & Blood. It was…okay. Good, but not great. It started off really strong, and I was loving the history and details. But around the Dance of Dragons, it started to wobble. The ending was abrupt and arbitrary. And honestly, the last time GRRM published a book solely written by him was 2011. A lot has changed in the world since then, and what was once gritty and grimdark felt more misogynist than anything else.

I wouldn’t say it was terrible, but like Martin’s last few books, it needed an editor with a stronger hand to chop it down and focus it, I think. The book does provide some insights into the main series, which is nice. But much of the worldbuilding falls into "the great clomping foot of nerdism" category.

Now I’m going to a quick re-read with C.S. Lewis’ The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe.

 

[Blue]

Hey, anyone have experience if the Oz books have held up? I've never read them, having grown up with the movie, yet I find references to them every once in a while that sound intriguing.

 

[Ralif Redhammer]

I read the first one recently. It’s a lot darker than the movie. The Tin Woodsman is a murder-machine, for example. But, it was still enjoyable.

Finished The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe re-read. Good stuff. Now I’m onto Eoin Colfer’s Artemis Fowl. Been meaning to read it for a while. Saw the trailer for the Kenneth Branagh adaptation and it made no sense to me, so I figured now was the time.

Hey, anyone have experience if the Oz books have held up? I've never read them, having grown up with the movie, yet I find references to them every once in a while that sound intriguing.

 

[Ryujin]

"The Stray and the Hole in the Stars" (former working title "Hopjockey") by Matt Vancil, who is best known as the writer of the web series "JourneyQuest", "The Gamers", etc.. Supposed to be the first in a series.

 

[Richards]

While still reading my short story collection, I'm now also reading Art & Arcana: A Visual History, dealing with the artwork used throughout the history of the D&D game in its various iterations. (Thanks, Secret Santa!)

Johnathan

 

[Ralif Redhammer]

Idly working through this one as well. It really is an amazing treasure trove of artwork and ephemera. The level or research is just amazing, too. Like, I didn't even know that there was once a D&D lizardman belt buckle!

While still reading my short story collection, I'm now also reading Art & Arcana: A Visual History, dealing with the artwork used throughout the history of the D&D game in its various iterations. (Thanks, Secret Santa!)

Johnathan

 

[Richards]

I'm now reading the latest Agent Pendergast novel by Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child, City of Endless Night. There's a series of murders involving decapitation (three in two weeks) in NYC, and FBI agent Pendergast and NYPD investigator D'Agosto are on the case. I'm 150 pages in and loving it.

Johnathan

 

[dragoner]

I just finished All the Pretty Horses by McCarthy, there is a great part, where the Aunt is talking to the protagonist, very quotable -

“In the end we all come to be cured of our sentiments. Those whom life does not cure death will. The world is quite ruthless in selecting between the dream and reality, even where we will not. Between the wish and the thing the world lies waiting."
- Cormac McCarthy, All the Pretty Horses

Now I am on to The Crossing, the second book of the Border Trilogy by McCarthy.

Next, I received the first three books of the Polity series by Neal Asher for Christmas.