December Reading Thread

[Garett Hornwood]

Surprised this month's thread hasn't started yet...

I'm 80 pages from finishing Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell, first getting use to the 1830/40 style prose and then dealing with being sick got me off to a slow start but with the end in sight I have no prediction on what's going to happen so I'm getting excited.

I'm through Aegon II's reign in The World of Ice & Fire and I'm still bogged down in "North of Boston" in The Poetry of Robert Frost.

[Eponine]

I'm reading a translation of Haft Paykar, semi-supplemental to the plan to read a book from every country. I want to balance between getting a sense of the literature that's important to the area, reading modern/contemporary writers but not only writers educated in Western countries writing *about* a country they left as a child, and reading books that are personally interesting/entertaining to me rather than getting bogged in a pseudo-scholarly slogfest. I read Atiq Rahimi for Afghanistan, and he mentions Haft Paykar and some other writings in passing (the way that an American author might make a casual reference to Moby Dick or Tom Sawyer). Haft Paykar was written in Persian in 1197 (according to Wikipedia) and is appreciated in Afghanistan, Azerbaijan, Iran, the Kurdistan region and Tajikistan. So I mean for this reading to get a little background of the type of poetry valued by several countries while going on to read more recent authors from those countries for the "official" list.

I need to push through and finish The Theoretical Minimum - it occupies that weird space of trying to educate ordinary people in a fairly rigorous way without going all the way into textbook mode. It would be a good book on physics for someone who is already capable of understanding the math and principles (perhaps through having taken first year physics courses years ago with no follow-up) but doesn't have a really firm grasp or didn't retain very clear memories. I don't think I'd recommend it for someone who has never approached physics on any level before.

I'm going to utilize the library as much as possible for the next set of books.

[aceluby]

Finished Endymion last week and started up Rise of Endymion over the holiday. Absolutely LOVING these books on my re-read. Forgot a lot over the past 10 years. Will try to get my hands on Memories of Ice after since I can't make up my mind what I want to read next. May just hit up half priced books and see if I can find something.

[RedEyedGhost]

I'm about 85% through Foxglove Summer; it's my favorite in a series I really enjoy. Not sure what will be next, either Red Rising or The Crown Conspiracy.

[Guinevere Seaworth]

I finished Republic by Lindsay Buroker. I was disappointed. Even though it features the characters from the Emperor's Edge series which I adored, this standalone felt just tacked on.

Just 50 pages into Vengeance by Ian Irvine. My library has all of The Tainted Realm series in an ebook format. I have no idea about Ian Irvine as I never read him and the board has never/rarely mentioned him IIRC.

[Arbor Gold]

Wrapped up November with a couple of quick reads:

Mr Penumbra's 24-Hour Bookstore - heard about this one from kair's FB and checked it out from the library without knowing anything about it other than it had a cool title. I was immediately into it because I'm a sucker for any story set in San Francisco but by the end it got a little cheesy. Overall a good read with a fun cast of characters suitable for a cozy winter night but ultimately a little 'meh' by the time everything wraps up.

Nothing to Envy: Ordinary Lives in North Korea - this one showed up as a random rec via Amazon and available in ebook format through my library so I gave it a risk-free shot. I've been kind of into North Korea lately after watching The Interview and this book was incredible. The author tells the stories of six different North Korean defectors, tracing their experiences through Japanese occupation, the Korean war, the rise of Kim Il Sung, communism, famine, prison camps, the death of Kim Il Sung, the rise of Kim Jong-il, and new lives as defectors living in South Korea. Fascinating stuff; feel like I learned a lot.

Currently 20% into The Martian. It's fairly tech-heavy but I'm not getting overly bogged down in the details and thus far I'm enjoying the situation that's been set up.

[Inigima]

It took me four fucking months, but I finally made it through Styron's Lie Down In Darkness. What a sad book of unlikable people.

[Garett Hornwood]

Finished Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell and was completely satisfied with how the novel finished. A wonderful mixture of genres and prose by Susanna Clarke.

I'm now onto Helsinki Noir edited by James Thompson, this is a short story anthology of noir-genre mysteries in and around Helsinki, Finland. This is one of the latest installments of Akashic Books Noir series which is set in a different city around the world. I have no idea what to expect since I've had to look up what the 'noir' genre actually entails, but I'm open to new experiences so I'm happy to received this via LibraryThing's Early Reviewer's program.

[williamjm]

I finished reading Brandon Sanderson's The Hero Ages, the final book in the Mistborn trilogy. I'd probably say the same sort of thing about it that I said about the previous two books, there is a lot I like about it, it's an interesting and distinctive world, the plot had plenty of intriguing mysteries (although by the third book I'm starting to get used to some of his attempts at misdirection) and it's an entertaining story. However, I'm not sure I could really say it was anything more than 'reasonably good', the characters are likeable but most of them feel a bit lacking in depth, the prose is competent but unexceptional and some of the subplots aren't that compelling, such as Sazed's struggles with religion or Spook's rebellion in Urteau which feels like a pale imitation of the rebellion in the first book.

Now reading Patrick Rothfuss' The Slow Regard of Silent Things. I'm not sure starting your book with a foreword warning the reader they might not like the book is necessarily a good strategy but I've enjoyed the book so far.

[Starkess]

Still reading There Are Two Errors in The The Title of This Book. It's interesting, but as someone with a pretty good background in logic and philosophy, not exactly revelatory. Which makes it a slow read! But I'm about halfway through so should be done soonish.

[SkynJay]

To stick with the theme of last months thread I am currently reading the newest Fortitude Scot book, Tainted Blood. Just as addictive as the first two.

[A True Kaniggit]

Been rereading Harry Potter for the first time since I last read it 7 years ago and currently on the fifth book.. Gotta say, I enjoyed it a lot more when I was a kid/teenager.

p.s. I never notice til now how much of a dick Harry is throughout the first half of the fifth book.

[deleted01]

Been rereading Harry Potter for the first time since I last read it 7 years ago and currently on the fifth book.. Gotta say, I enjoyed it a lot more when I was a kid/teenager.

p.s. I never notice til now how much of a dick Harry is throughout the first half of the fifth book.

Yup, that was my thought when I reread them last year. No wonder I stopped reading the series when I was a kid. Bloody Harry.

Still rereading the magnificence that is The Crimson Petal and the White. But I have a pile of books to review, and I've come down with a sniffle, so today I'm starting Wolf Winter by Cecilia Ekback. Looks fascinating, and if it's anything like Burial Rites by Hannah Kent, I'm definitely going to enjoy it.

[scotcat]

Currently reading The Scottish Prisoner by Diana Gabaldon and Hunting Ground by Patricia Briggs.

[Leofric]

Finished the Firestar Series by Michael Flynn over Thanksgiving, both Lodestar and Falling Stars due to a lot of time on airplanes and in airports. Really enjoyed this series showing private enterprise pushing man into space and how it might work.

Then read the first Lockwood & Co. book by Jonathon Stroud. Liked it a lot.

Read The Martian by Andrew Weir in one night. Excellent book, not at all surprised it's already being made into a movie.

[all swedes are racist]

Just finished "The Darkness That Comes Before". Not surprised, but I really fucking enjoyed it, though I guess with all the hype around it, I expected to have a lot more trouble with it. Maybe all the real brain smashing stuff comes after? (Heh)

But as much as I want to continue with "Prince of Nothing", I'm think I'm not going to shell out for "Warrior Prophet", and actually try to work through my gigantic to-be-read pile that I already own. Think I'll start in on "The Black Company" now, as I just found a nice collection of the first three books at Boomerangs.

[mashiara]

Ancillary Sword by Ann Leckie was a great read, as good as the first one. I thoroughly enjoyed it and can't wait for the next book.

Ruin and Rising, Leigh Bardugo's last book in the Grisha trilogy, was OK. I had great hopes for this YA series when I read the first book, the second wasn't necessarily my favorite thing ever and this one... well, at least the story is over. I don't feel like using spoiler tags, let's just say I felt it was cheap and disappointing to go with the ending she did, and leave it at that.

I also read Burning Girls, a novella by Veronica Schanoes. A great little read.

I'm hoping to start An Instance of the Fingerpost by Iain Pears next.

[Er Rn]

I finished Assassin's Apprentice yesterday and I loved it. Now moving right on to Royal Assassin.

[Peadar]

I'm hoping to start An Instance of the Fingerpost by Iain Pears next.

Don't hope. Read! Read!

[Spockydog]

Started Song of Kali by Dan Simmons last night. Decent enough story, not sure about all the racism though.