What are you reading this year 2020?

[Blue]

Jim Butcher's Peace Talks came. I reread the preceding book, Skin Game, which I enjoyed - I remember when I first read it that I felt it was a pulling back of the sphere of important of what Harry was doing compared to the book before and had some reservations, but when I read it by itself just now I enjoyed it.

Anyway, I then read Peace Talks. I won't post any spoilers except to say that I am expectantly waiting for the next book, which I believe is this November. And I have a guess about why it was delayed so long.

After that I read some short stories in the collection The Ogre's Wife. The author has "fable" down pat as a story type - and I find that I'm not into fables. It's not that they are bad, short stories aren't my thing to start with, and this format isn't for me. It's not the stories in the book.

(Yes, I just did a "It's not you, it's me" for a book.)

 

[Eyes of Nine]

I finished the urban fantasy novel I'd been reading and picked up another one by a different author but it looks like it's got another "sexy good vampire love interest" so I'll put that one on hold for awhile. So instead, I started the first of three novels (I'll bet there are more) by Deborah Blake in her "Baba Yaga" series. This one is called "Wickedly Dangerous," and in it Baba Yaga isn't just an individual, it's a title. Baba Yagas are women who deal with the weird stuff; the main character in this novel goes by Barbara "Baba" Yager, lives in an extradimensional Slipstream trailer, and has a large white mastiff who's really a shapechanged dragon in charge of the Water of Life and Death (which grants Baba Yagas their longevity; Barbara's apparently 81 years old or something despite looking like she's in her 30s). The plot involves a search for some missing children, in which she's helping to the local Sheriff in the small New York county where the kids went missing. I'm hoping it's good, because I've got Wickedly Wonderful and Wickedly Powerful lined up behind this one, in my waiting-to-be-read pile, each featuring a different Baba Yaga. (I got them for 50 cents each at a library book sale some months back - a small investment on my part.) But so far, so good; I'm several chapters in and the characters are interesting, the worldbuilding's intriguing, and I'm eager to see what happens next. What more can you ask for in a fiction novel?

Johnathan

That sounds awesome. I just read all the novel descriptions on GoodReads, and Barbara Yager returns in Book 4 (as do the other 2 BY's from books 2 and 3). Need to get an income stream that gives me 8 hours a day to read books that I want to read...

 

[trappedslider]

Anyway, I then read Peace Talks. I won't post any spoilers except to say that I am expectantly waiting for the next book, which I believe is this November. And I have a guess about why it was delayed so long.

September 26th,and the initial draft of Peace Talks turned into a David Eddings level Doorstopper. The publisher gently suggested to Butcher that perhaps it would be better served as a two-part story. Butcher split up the character developments, came up with a second Action Plot and re-wrote both parts into the final Peace Talks and Battle Ground.

The other reasons behind the gap between Peace Talks and Skin Game were Jim had gotten divorced, his dog had died, he'd remarried and moved to another state but then got stuck living in a crappy apartment with no writing space for years while an even crappier contractor failed to build him a house.

 

[Nellisir]

Finished Gypsy in Amber/Canto For A Gypsy, by Martin Cruz Smith. They're early books by him (1971/1972 respectively), but still really enjoyable/good reads. (And yes, he deals with the gypsy stuff respectfully and, insofar as I can tell, well.) I really like his stuff.

Probably Sister Alice, by Robert Reed, next.

 

[carrot]

Anyway, I then read Peace Talks. I won't post any spoilers except to say that I am expectantly waiting for the next book

Me too
It was nice to get a Dresden fix. I'm glad its not too a long wait for the next one though.

 

[Eyes of Nine]

Was going to take a break from novels for a bit and read some game books (hello Eberron HC!) and graphic novels. But then some books I had reserved at the library came in so...

 

[Blue]

September 26th,and the initial draft of Peace Talks turned into a David Eddings level Doorstopper. The publisher gently suggested to Butcher that perhaps it would be better served as a two-part story. Butcher split up the character developments, came up with a second Action Plot and re-wrote both parts into the final Peace Talks and Battle Ground.

The other reasons behind the gap between Peace Talks and Skin Game were Jim had gotten divorced, his dog had died, he'd remarried and moved to another state but then got stuck living in a crappy apartment with no writing space for years while an even crappier contractor failed to build him a house.

That was my guess - that it ended up getting split.

I had heard some of his trials and tribulations but not all of them. That sucks. Thanks for the info.

 

[KahlessNestor]

Finished Terry Pratchett's Snuff. Have to wait for payday (Friday) to get Raising Steam.

Finished William Tecumseh Sherman: In Service of My Country by James Lee McDonough.

Still reading Alexander Hamilton by Ron Chernow.

Finished Don't Burn This Book by Dave Rubin.

Starting The War on Cops: How the New Attack on Law and Order Makes Everyone Less Safe by Heather MacDonald.

 

[Eyes of Nine]

Read several graphic novels this weekend.

Invisible Kingdom Vol 2 by G. Willow Wilson and art by Christian Ward

Ether Vol 3 the Disappearance of Violet Bell by Matt Kindt and David Rubín

Usagi Yojimbo Bunraku and other stories by Stan Sakai

Listed above in the order I enjoyed them from least enjoyable to most.

Just started:
An Unkindness of Ghosts by Rivers Solomon
Glass Houses by Louise Penny
Mouse Guard RPG by David Peterson and and Luke Crane

 

[Ralif Redhammer]

I finished Weis and Krammes Spymaster. A quite enjoyable read, and a world apart from Dragonlance, with its Golden Age of Piracy meets Dragons meets magic meets airships. There's a lot going on, but it all flows together pretty seamlessly. Will definitely be following up on this series.

Next up is back to something older, with Gardner Fox's Kyrik: Warlock Warrior.