March 2018 reads: share your latest books read

[TheRevanchist]

 

Finished 'Dagger and the Coin' and while I liked it, I didn't like it as much as Long Price Quartet. In general, I disliked most of the characters.

And Singh from the Expanse seem to have been heavily inspired from Geder Palliako.

[Mlle. Zabzie]

On 3/5/2018 at 4:21 PM, Lily Valley said:

I agree, but keep going.  The Stone Sky was incredible.  

Just finished Kameron Hurley's The Stars are Legion.  There is some HORRIBLE and DISGUSTING imagery in that book.  Mil-Sci and borderline horror.    Really liked it.

I had to put this down.  I just couldn't do it.  I promise I will try Baru Cormorant again though.  Currently reading The Rift by Nina Allen - love an unreliable narrator story.  It's one of my favorites of recent memory.  Also reading A Taste of Marrow.  It is, of course, great fun.

[Ser Kafka]

I'm currently reading The Silent Companions. A bit slow to start, hoping it'll pick up.

[unJon]

Started the Red Knight first book in the completed Traitor’s Son Cycle. Really enjoying the book. I have to wonder if @Happy Ent has read it as I would love to know his take on the portrayal of flora. 

[Peadar]

I'm reading Inglorious Empire: What the British Did to India by Shashi Tharoor. Excellent, so far.

[williamjm]

I just finished N.K. Jemisin's The Stone Sky, which I thought was a good conclusion to the trilogy. I thought the final book continued to introduce some interesting new elements to the story with the inclusion of the Syl Anagist flashbacks which did a good job of both showing how the world got into the state it did and showing how some things don't necessarily change no matter how much the world might. I thought the finale came to an appropriate conclusion, although I might have preferred a few more scenes between Essun and Nassun. I think it was a great series overall, the experiences the characters go through are so different to anything we might have experienced that it could have been difficult to relate to them but I think Jemisin still manages to make them compelling and believable.

[Astromech]

Geoffrey Wawro's A Mad Catastrophe: The Outbreak of World War I and the Collapse of the Habsburg Empire. Primarily a military history of the Eastern and Balkan Front in 1914 to early 1915 from the Austro-Hungarian perspective, with a brief detailing of politics and conflicts from the defeat in the Austro-Prussian War of 1866 to the Balkan Wars and the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand and the July Crisis leading to World War I. Wawro didn't pull any punches when chastising the leaders of the Austro-Hungarian Empire from  Franz Joseph to Conrad von Hoetzendorf. The levels of delusion and incompetence are truly remarkable.

[Peadar]

Shashi Tharoor's Inglorious Empire was excellent. I might have a go at Children of Blood and Bone next by Tomi Adeyemi.

[Garett Hornwood]

*Attempted to post yesterday, but didn't go through*

Finished Second Foundation by Isaac Asimov on Thursday and it was a good as the first book of the original trilogy, especially as the "meh" of Foundation and Empire.

I finished The Seven Secrets of Somewhere Lake by Sam Campbell, the seventh book of his Living Forest series, and found it as enjoyable as the first six.

I started Snuff by Terry Pratchett as part of my read through of Discworld, somewhat sad that this is the last Vimes book and I have only two more in the series after this book.

[maarsen]

On 3/28/2018 at 2:14 PM, Mlle. Zabzie said:

I had to put this down.  I just couldn't do it.  I promise I will try Baru Cormorant again though.  Currently reading The Rift by Nina Allen - love an unreliable narrator story.  It's one of my favorites of recent memory.  Also reading A Taste of Marrow.  It is, of course, great fun.

Nina Allen is some one I stumbled upon and am I ever glad I did. I have a tendency to glom onto a writer and read everything they wrote once I do so. Damn but she is good. 

[Little Valkyrie]

On 3/29/2018 at 8:58 PM, Triskele said:

I'm about 2/3 through this, and while my copy is about 630 pages I swear it's got a really dense word count.  Book is taking a surprisingly long time to finish.  Looking forward to checking out the thread when I'm done.

I found Red Knight choppy and very slow going at first and then something kind of clicked and it flowed along.  But I can't think of anything I've read recently that packs in as much meaningful detail about the world and the rhythms of life--Cameron's re-enactor background really shows there.   You know he's actually worked out all of those distances and logistics.

[redjako]

On 3/7/2018 at 4:45 AM, ljkeane said:

Recently I've read Iron Gold by Pierce Brown, which was a little more downbeat than I was expecting.

I enjoyed Red Rising and the rest of the novels. Since I haven't read them in a while, should I look at a re-read before picking up Iron Gold, or were you able to hop right into it?

Edit: Didn't see a Pierce Brown thread to peruse.

[Iskaral Pust]

16 minutes ago, redjako said:

I enjoyed Red Rising and the rest of the novels. Since I haven't read them in a while, should I look at a re-read before picking up Iron Gold, or were you able to hop right into it?

Edit: Didn't see a Pierce Brown thread to peruse.

No re-read needed.  The story picks up ten years later.  If you remember a rough outline, that’s enough. 

[Kyoshi]

Reading The Long Price Qaurtet for the first time. Really good series. But also really frustrating because (as far as I can tell) the series isn't tremendously popular and copies of the books are very hard to get hold of. I'm afraid I'll end up getting spoiled as I search for the books.

[shortstark]

On 6/7/2018 at 1:08 PM, Kyoshi said:

Reading The Long Price Qaurtet for the first time. Really good series. But also really frustrating because (as far as I can tell) the series isn't tremendously popular and copies of the books are very hard to get hold of. I'm afraid I'll end up getting spoiled as I search for the books.

You might be forced to go the ebook route if physical copies are unavailable, small price to pay for not being spoilt.. These books will reward you for any investment of time you make.. 

[James Arryn]

Serious question. I have never read any of the Harry Potter books. Should I? Am I missing out, or did I just miss the chance as a kid?

[Starkess]

I think it's worth giving them a shot. The first couple are very short so it wouldn't be much time to see if you enjoy them and want to continue on.

[RedEyedGhost]

Why does this March thread keep getting bumped?  

[Jo498]

10 hours ago, James Arryn said:

Serious question. I have never read any of the Harry Potter books. Should I? Am I missing out, or did I just miss the chance as a kid?

Not easy to answer. I wasn't a kid but in my late 20s when I read them (around 2000 when the 4th book was due) but I found them very enjoyable. In hindsight with some re-reads during the years and waits until 2007 the first 3 books are maybe more successful than the remainder because they are not as ambitious.

[williamjm]

2 hours ago, Jo498 said:

Not easy to answer. I wasn't a kid but in my late 20s when I read them (around 2000 when the 4th book was due) but I found them very enjoyable. In hindsight with some re-reads during the years and waits until 2007 the first 3 books are maybe more successful than the remainder because they are not as ambitious.

I read them about the same age, after having seen most of the films. As an adult read I thought the first book was something I'd probably have loved if I'd read it as a child but wasn't really the target audience for, but I thought the later books got more interesting. I thought they were an enjoyable series of books to read.