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Just started the 800-lb gorilla of a book The Three-Body Problem. It's pretty good so far...

I've been listening to Thomas Cromwell: The Untold Story of Henry VIII's Most Faithful Servant by Tracy Borman

NC wrote: "Just started the 800-lb gorilla of a book The Three-Body Problem. It's pretty good so far..."

Added to my TBR pile. Thanks!

Beauty

Ozsaur wrote: "Beauty"

You'll have to let us know how that is! I've been curious about it for some time.

I finished Tarashana the other night. Although it had a bit of a different tone than Tuyo, I really enjoyed it. I then started the second in Ben Kane's Eagles of Rome series, Hunting the Eagles, and it's actually better than the first book.

In a very different genre, read How Iceland Changed the World: The Big History of a Small Island by Egill Bjarnason, a rather whimsical history from the early saga days up to the current pandemic. I happen to love Iceland and have visited many times going back to the early eighties. This book was a quick and enjoyable read with sections featuring aspects of the country that don't making the standard texts, everything from Iceland's involvement in the Apollo program, to Bobby Fischer, to feminism. Recommended to anyone who has been there, or might go there, or just wonders what it's really like.

The Annihilation Score bu Charles Stross

The Laundry Files #6, recommend the series be read in order. This one is written from the viewpoint of Bob's wife Mo. We're still fighting demons but we're also staffing up a new department and that's not the stuff that raises the hair on the back of your neck. Great series but this one's a bit of a letdown. 2 stars.

Ack! Sorry, just finished Deerskin which is based loosely on the old fairy tale, Donkeyskin by Charles Perrault. It's fairly dark, and heartbreaking.

I'll be reading Beauty next. I'm reading both books for the the quarterly challenge in the Read Women group. Robin McKinley is one of my favorite writers when it comes to retellings of fairy tale stories.

YouKneeK wrote: "The Stand...1348 page book"

All of my friends in real life and here on ŷ������ have all given The Stand five stars. I need to get around to reading it.

I just finished a Stephen King too...or I mean "Richard Bachman". I read The Regulators. The story was, um, f*'d up? I don't know how else to describe it. It was good, but bordered on insanity.

It's crazy the amount of stuff King puts out eh? A 1348 page book! I love the story of his alias Richard Bachman - that he wrote too much, the standard was one book a year per writer, so he had to invent another name to get his work published.

A bit like Eleanor Alice Burford Mathew. She wrote way more than the one a year and published under a number of names.
From Wiki
Eleanor Alice Hibbert (née Burford; 1 September 1906 �� 18 January 1993) was an English historical romance author. She was a prolific writer who published several books a year in different literary genres, each genre under a different pen name: Jean Plaidy for fictionalized history of European royalty, Victoria Holt for gothic romances, and Philippa Carr for a multi-generational family saga. She also wrote light romances, crime novels, murder mysteries and thrillers under pseudonyms Eleanor Burford, Elbur Ford, Kathleen Kellow, Anna Percival, and Ellalice Tate.

Mathew wrote: "I love the story of his alias Richard Bachman - that he wrote too much, the standard was one book a year per writer, so he had to invent another name to get his work published."

Barbara Cartland published almost 20 romances in 1980, so maybe the brits are a bit different about that rule....

Georges Simenon published 2-3 books a year also but his books are much, much better than Cartland's

Yeah maybe Chessie but to be fair she is Barbara Cartland. They wouldn’t stop her from publishing everything she wrote. She made too much money for them lol Seanan McGuire writes under a heap of different names too.

Barbara Cartland wrote one story. Then she repeated the one story in dozens of separately published books, all with unique titles. Not my cup of tea.

I read Ariadne last summer. Earlier this month I read The Echo Wife (comments in the BOTM thread). This is the first time in awhile I've read both of the BOTM books!

Currently reading The Invisible Library. I'm about halfway through. So far it's info dumps & action. I've read on goodreads that the sequels are more involving than the first book in the series, so we shall see.

Deedee wrote: "This is the first time in awhile I've read both of the BOTM books!"

Nice, Deedee! I haven't managed that in their own month yet, though I've filled in both BOTMs after the fact a few times.

Deedee wrote: "Barbara Cartland wrote one story. Then she repeated the one story in dozens of separately published books, all with unique titles. Not my cup of tea.

I read Ariadne ..."

I think it was three stacks of 2-3 items to pull selections from:

one for heroine (feisty, meek, shy, orphan, spoiled, etc)
one for hero (ditto)
one for situation

before she became so formulaic, her romances/gothics weren't really bad; just kinda generic cozy romances

I know this isn't what you were going for, CB, but a meek or spoiled hero in an otherwise formulaic romance would be pretty funny. ;)

Just finished Starfarers over lunch break. The ship Starfarer and the occasional scenes in the Pacific Northwest shone brighter than the rest, but as a whole this didn't go beyond "decent" and I don't plan to continue the series. (Sorry, Letitia and Diane!) (review)

ETA: what's next? I'm not sure yet. Probably something shorter than 350 pages because depending on which book gets picked for this or that March read, I'll need some catch-up-in-advance time. Karen Memory is a strong contender at the moment.

shy or reclusive maybe?

Deedee wrote: "Barbara Cartland wrote one story. Then she repeated the one story in dozens of separately published books, all with unique titles. Not my cup of tea.

I read Ariadne ..."

Not exactly mine either (even though I did go through a Mills and Boon phase for a while) but she did have quite a following.

Welp, started Beauty by Robin McKinley, but got sidetracked by The Inheritance of Orquídea Divina. Such a pretty cover. I'm only a few chapters in, and I want to know more about all the characters especially Orquidea. Does have a bit of a fairy tale quality, but more real, and grounded.

I'm about halfway through James Rollins' fantasy The Starless Crown. So far there are 4 subplots and the book is very interesting. I highly recommend it to fantasy fans for great writing!

Now reading

A Darker Shade of Magic by V.E. Schwab = it's OK
Cash Crash Jubilee by Eli K.P. William = very different but I'm hoping it doesn't end on a cliffhanger
Rewired: The Post-Cyberpunk Anthology edited by James Patrick Kelly = some of these stories have been pretty good
The Old Kingdom Collection: Sabriel, Lirael, Abhorsen, Clariel by Garth Nix and I'm on part 3 of Lirael = very YA
The Murder Stones: A gripping Polish crime thriller by Hania Allen = I like her books so this one should be good and I'm starting it tonight

I'm not overtly thrilled by any of these books except maybe for the Hania Allen one. Cash Crash Jubilee has promise, but i see that the third book in the series has yet to garner any ratings... Hmmm, it's a pre-order Kindle book for $16.99 (a bit high)

ETA: Book 2 is the same high price. I'd expect those prices for a major best selling author, but for a relative unknown....

I was listening to Darker Shade of Magic a year or two ago and got probably halfway through and never went back. Picked up a cheap dead tree copy at the end of last year so I might get back to it at some point.

Beth wrote: "Just finished Starfarers over lunch break. The ..."

Not to worry, Beth. I recognize that it's not for everyone.

I just started Redshirts. I usually enjoy Scalzi, and this book (at least the first 20%) is no exception.

Phillip wrote: "I just started Redshirts. I usually enjoy Scalzi, and this book (at least the first 20%) is no exception."

I really enjoyed Redshirts, listened to the audiobook narrated by Will Wheaton made it even more fun.

I just finished Empire of Wild it's based in first nation's rougarou mythology but it's not scary. Fun characters and hard to put down!

Phillip wrote: "I just started Redshirts. I usually enjoy Scalzi, and this book (at least the first 20%) is no exception."

I've been eyeing that one for some time.

Ann, I just read The Marrow Thieves by Cherie Dimaline (finally!) and will immediately proceed to the sequel (Hunting by Stars) tomorrow! I've been planning on reading Empire of Wild since it was released, but I wanted to get to Marrow Thieves first, since it's been on my TBR for years.

I finally got it, thanks to the generosity of a group member! ^_^ (Thanks again so very, very much!)

edit: I meant to say it was excellent. It was excellent!

Anna wrote: "Ann, I just read The Marrow Thieves by Cherie Dimaline (finally!) and will immediately proceed to the sequel (Hunting by Stars) tomorrow! I've been ..."

Oh! Thanks for the reminder about the sequel, I just put it on my list to check out! She is turning into one of my favorite authors!

Agreed, I'm very impressed!

Doing Time by Jodi Taylor

Time Police #1. This one is a very disappointing spin-off from the wonderful Chronicles of St. Mary's series. We're now about 20 years after the end of the St. Mary's series and we're following the adventures of 3 young trainees who have just joined the time police. Sorry -- just not much here. Bland and obvious and the humor isn't humorous. 2 stars, not recommended.

Library only had physical copies of the next fantasy read Daughter of the Forest, so when I went by today to pick one up, I went back to an old routine and decided to grab a random book that I thought I might like but wasn't sure of. (By which I mean fairly randomly picking something off a shelf, and unless it's clear I probably wouldn't enjoy it, giving it a shot.) So now I have All Men of Genius by Lev A.C. Rosen.

In the mean time I'm still working through Magicien : L'apprenti. It has been a fun, albeit slow process going back through this in French. It was probably 10-15 years since I originally read the book in English, and it's kinda funny what details I do and don't recall. An entire chapter of details I'd forgotten, but one line in the middle that I could've recited word for word (well, in English) as soon as I remembered it was coming lol.

Pamela wrote: "I'm about halfway through James Rollins' fantasy The Starless Crown. So far there are 4 subplots and the book is very interesting. I highly recommend it to fantasy fans for great writing!"

The Starless Crown has been on my radar for awhile now. I was interested to hear your opinion!

59% through Project Hail Mary. Wow. This story is amazing. 🙏🏼💪🏼

Just finished a lot of books, novellas and shorter stuff that I haven't told you about. This year I'm attempting to do the Popsugar and Around the Year in 52 Books challenges again after a few years of not reading much after my initial 85 books for the year when I got back into reading. So far I've read 20 in the last month or so and here they are with the most recent first.
Akata Witch by Nnedi Okorafor 4 stars
The Last Emperox by John Scalzi 4 stars quite enjoyed this series. Not wowed by Scalzi's writing like others but it was enjoyable.
Agatha Raisin Hiss and Hers by M.C. Beaton 3 stars Love Aggie.
Snow, Glass, Apples by Neil Gaiman 4 stars
A Dead Djinn in Cairo by P. Djèlí Clark 4 stars will definitely be looking for Master of Djinn.
Princess Floralinda and the Forty-Flight Tower by Tamsyn Muir 4 stars weird just like you'd expect after Gideon and Harrow.
Killing Gravity by Corey J. White 3 stars not bad. I don't have 2 but I do have 3.
488 Rules for Life by Kitty Flanagan 4 stars Aussie comedian Kitty Flanagan started her Rules for Life on a local comedy current affairs show. some are stupid but others hit the nail right on the head.
Percy Jackson and the Staff of Hermes by Rick Riordan 4 stars Love Percy Jackson
The Ship of the Dead by Rick Riordan 4 stars Loved it but after some sea battles in Daughter of the Deep they were sounding the same.
Under the Whispering Door by T.J. Klune 5 stars Beautiful. I read this before his earlier one as people were disappointed in this after reading his earlier one. I loved it.
Reading Beauty by Deborah Underwood 4 stars This and Interstellar Cinderella were mentioned in something and they're only short so I read them.
Interstellar Cinderella by Deborah Underwood 4 stars
Precious Little Things by Adrian Tchaikovsky 4 stars The prequel to Made Things. I have Made Things at home but haven't got around to it yet.
You Have Arrived at Your Destination by Amor Towles 3 stars what if you could pick more than your child's sex and eye colour? An interesting look into IVF and just how much you could pick about your child's life.
A Witch’s Guide to Escape: A Practical Compendium of Portal Fantasies by Alix E. Harrow 5 stars
A Spindle Splintered by Alix E. Harrow 5 stars Sleeping Beauty fractured fairytale. Second one coming out this year.
Cinnamon by Neil Gaiman 4 stars
Daughter of the Deep by Rick Riordan 5 stars What if Captain Nemo was real? He was and she's his granddaughter.
The Galaxy, and the Ground Within by Becky Chambers 5 stars Becky Chambers at her best.

Read Cixin Liu's The Three-Body Problem trilogy last month (technically called the Remembrance of Earth's Past). Really liked it. One of my new favorite series, though it certainly had its problems, the ideas were so good that it was very worth it. It got bigger and better with every book.

Also read Madeleine Miller's Circe. I enjoyed it. I think it was probably a 3 or 4 star read for me. I was left wishing for a bit more, but also found it fairly moving. A very well done feminist retelling of an ancient greek myth.

Currently reading China Miéville's Perdido Street Station. Been wanting to read this author for a long time, as I've heard a lot of interesting things about his work and about this book in particular. A college prof said that PSS was the weirdest thing he'd ever read, which kinda just meant I had to read it after that. Enjoying it so far! I can see why people said it was weird, and can also see why people said it was a bit verbose. But I went in expecting it to be a little difficult, and am enjoying it a lot so far. First book in a while that I'm not in a rush to finish, and instead am just enjoying the sentences and the worldbuilding.

I'm re-reading C.J. Cherryh's Rusalka. I always liked this trilogy. It's very atmospheric.

I feel like this month is all SF reads, but I know there's other genres mixed in. I'm reading A Memory Called Empire, which I'm enjoying, but I had to pause it because library books. One of my other groups did a read of Butler's Exogenesis series, and we finished it with Imago this month, which was a challenging series for difficult themes. I read Binti, which I loved, the most recent Wayward Children books by McGuire. I just finished the Thirteen Gun Salute by Patrick O'Brian, which was just okay for the series, which is normally excellent. I'm reading one of these a month until I finally complete the series. I read Dune finally, and wonder why I hadn't before. I loved it and plan on continuing the series. Currently reading the Dispossessed by Le Guin.

Finished reading read The Last Unicorn by Peter S. Beagle. Always wanted to read it and I’m glad I did. I am reading The Obelisk Gate (The Broken Earth #2) by N.K. Jemisin. Great follow up and award winner. I plan to read The Sixth Wicked Child (4MK #3) by J.D. Barker next. I want to find out how it turns out.

I've been reading Stamped from the Beginning: The Definitive History of Racist Ideas in America by Ibram X. Kendi

Phillip wrote: "I just started Redshirts. I usually enjoy Scalzi, and this book (at least the first 20%) is no exception."

Scalzi is one of my favourite authors. Redshirts was the first book of his I read.
I have just been approved to receive a review copy of his new book. So excited.

Esther wrote: "Phillip wrote: "I just started Redshirts. I usually enjoy Scalzi, and this book (at least the first 20%) is no exception."

Scalzi is one of my favourite authors. Redshirts was the ..."

I loved Redshirts! Hilarous!

Currently actively reading
The Girl and the Mountain by Mark Lawrence and loving it so far but for some reason I can't read more than a few chapters at a time. Maybe it's because there are so many characters and they're all split up at the moment and I'm tired and keeping track of everyone is a bit too much after a while.
Shards of Earth by Adrian Tchaikovsky on my ipad and slowly getting there.
Caught in the Act by Shane Jenek Audjobook for a gender identity prompt for one of the challenges. Shane is one of Australia's best known and loved Drag queens Courtney Act. Shane is the narrator on the audiobook annd it's pretty good.
The Year of Magical Thinking by Joan Didion ipad again. It's pretty heavy going though.
Chocolate Chip Cookie Murder by Joanne Fluke Another prompt read on my ipad. I liked the Hallmark Murder She Baked movie better than the book though.

Unfortunately I don't feel like reading any of these today. Wonder what else I can read.....I do have Akata Warrior here and I want to get into A Desolation Called Peace. Oh and Empire of the Vampire. Yeahhhhh so many books and so little time.

This will doubtless make me unpopular but I just finished Ender's Game and was pretty disappointed, given all the hype.

Not sure whether we're allowed to link our reviews here so feel free to delete if inappropriate:

/review/show...

Currently "The Loch" by Steve Alten, interesting one.
After I plan "The History of Bees" by Maja Lunde.

I don't have a lot of time for reading, but have made myself take time for 1 book a week, and am working my way through the Stardoc series by S. L. Viehl. I read it many years ago, and recently saw there are new books out. So, I went back to the beginning and am reading them all again. I like that it's fast paced enough to keep me glued to the page, but also has enough substance that I can rehash the characters and plot line over the next few days while I'm busy working. There are some decisions the characters make in the beginning the of book that I question, but them understand their reasoning by the end.

C.E. wrote: "I don't have a lot of time for reading, but have made myself take time for 1 book a week, and am working my way through the Stardoc series by S. L. Viehl. I read it many years ago, and recently saw..."

that is an interesting series

I've been reading a lot recently. I finished:
The Hands of the Emperor - Absolutely loved it, searching for someone to discuss it with me, and excited to read more by this author.

Exit Strategy, Network Effect, and Fugitive Telemetry - Loved all of these, and am now sad I have to wait for more to be published.

Minor Mage and Silver in the Wood - two great novellas, though I liked Minor Mage a bit better (probably due to the sarcastic armadillo)

From Blood and Ash - the only one I didn't like, and I may have realized it wasn't for me if I'd read a few reviews first, but alas.

I also recently read two Susanna Kearsley books I hadn't read yet, Bellewether and The Vanished Days. Both were good, though I liked The Vanished Days better. I always enjoy this author and like that her historical fiction often has a touch of the supernatural.

That’s good to hear about Minor Mage, Stephanie! After reading and loving A Wizard’s Guide to Defensive Baking, I downloaded Minor Mage for my son to read, thinking he might like it.

Two completions over a long weekend. Well, sort of.

I Am Not Your Perfect Mexican Daughter: I liked how the tensions in Julia's family were depicted (basically the parts of the story directly connected to the title). The rest of it was a combination of too scattered and predictable. (review)

Slums: The History of a Global Injustice: I'm not a strong non-fiction reader to start with, and this was an unfortunate combination of being too academic--or that's what I perceive the whole "support every simple statement with dozens of citations going over several pages" is all about--and not focusing on the aspects of the subject I was interested in reading about. Or not doing so early enough to prevent my tapping out less than 100 pages in. (review which is shorter than this paragraph...)