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December 2018 Reading


williamjm

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10 hours ago, Darth Richard II said:

Is it a bad time to mention its December?

It is definitely time for a new thread.

I'm currently reading GRRM's Fire and Blood. So far I think the histories probably work better when collected together like this, it's more coherent than reading some of the bits that have previously appeared in short story collections.

Since I was travelling earlier this week and the book was a bit large to carry around easily, I've also started Lisa Tuttle's second Victorian detective story, The Witch at Wayside Cross, which is fun so far.

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1 hour ago, williamjm said:

It is definitely time for a new thread.

I'm beginning to wonder if it would be prudent to start having each thread cover two or three months...  A 3 or 4 page thread each month is a little depressing.

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5 minutes ago, RedEyedGhost said:

I'm beginning to wonder if it would be prudent to start having each thread cover two or three months...  A 3 or 4 page thread each month is a little depressing.

We could in theory have Winter 2018 Reading etc., although then we'd have to agree on when seasons started and ended.

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25 minutes ago, williamjm said:

We could in theory have Winter 2018 Reading etc., although then we'd have to agree on when seasons started and ended.

And our southern hemisphere boarders would have something to say about that.  I don't know what the best fix is, but remembering the days when we had 15+ pages each month makes me a little sad.  I know I'm part of the problem too, as I have less time to read and even less to then post about what I reading.

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So far in December I've read Rachel Aaron's Minimum Wage Magic, which was a fun quick read as her books tend to be, and I'm about halfway through Miles Cameron's Cold Iron. I'm enjoying Cold Iron so far but it's a bit of a contrast from his Red Knight books which featured a protagonist who was exceptional in pretty much every way and seemed central to everything while the main character in this book seems to be only peripherally involved in what I'm presuming are going to be the major events of this series so far.

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3 hours ago, RedEyedGhost said:

And our southern hemisphere boarders would have something to say about that.  I don't know what the best fix is, but remembering the days when we had 15+ pages each month makes me a little sad.  I know I'm part of the problem too, as I have less time to read and even less to then post about what I reading.

A running thread similar to Watch, Watched Watching could work

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6 hours ago, HelenaExMachina said:

A running thread similar to Watch, Watched Watching could work

Agreed.  It feels too short to change thread after just four pages, plus it’s difficult currently to glance back at prior recommendations. 

And my compulsion to follow rules made it feel wrong all week to keep posting in a November thread. 

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6 hours ago, Iskaral Pust said:

Agreed.  It feels too short to change thread after just four pages, plus it’s difficult currently to glance back at prior recommendations. 

And my compulsion to follow rules made it feel wrong all week to keep posting in a November thread. 

You're all wimps! ;)

But yes, I use this thread as my only real source of reccs these days. It would be better if it were easier to glance back through it.

 

In other news, I have nearly finished Dry by Jarrod and Neal Shusterman. I'm enjoying it. It's YA for those who fear that sort of thing.

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19 hours ago, RedEyedGhost said:

And our southern hemisphere boarders would have something to say about that.  I don't know what the best fix is, but remembering the days when we had 15+ pages each month makes me a little sad.  I know I'm part of the problem too, as I have less time to read and even less to then post about what I reading.

I have clocked up 65 books this year (so far!) which is a record for me. But, what with logging them on GR and doing #justread posts for them on FB and twitter, I no longer have time to post about them here as well. It's just too many platforms for me now.

OT: I'm halfway through Dogs of War by Adrian Tchaikovsky. I was getting a strong Watreship Down vibe off it within the first few pages; it's going to take hold of my heart and crush it before the end I suspect.

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3 hours ago, Isis said:

I have clocked up 65 books this year (so far!) which is a record for me. But, what with logging them on GR and doing #justread posts for them on FB and twitter, I no longer have time to post about them here as well. It's just too many platforms for me now.

Not to seem judgey but my prioritizing of platforms is the exact opposite. 

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Just read the last two Saxon books by Cornwall.  I've felt for the past several books that they've been running out of steam sonewhat, but still readable. To be fair, the series imho has never lived up to the Warlord Chronicles.

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Re-read THE SCORPIO RACES by Maggie Stiefwater a YA novel about racing the mythical water horses, known in this book as the capail uisce.

Good read, the story progressed well with an exciting finale. The horses were well written as were the characters.   Enjoyed reading it again. 

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On 12/9/2018 at 7:32 AM, ljkeane said:

I finished Cold Iron. It's definitely more low key than his Red Knight books and the antagonists being quasi fascists and mistreatment of refugees as a bit of a theme is a little pointed but it but I really liked it.

I read Cold Iron in November, found the story and characters very similar to those in his Chivalry Series,  (historical fiction as Christian Cameron)  with the addition of magic and the other fantasy elements, so had a little bit of deja vu reading it, but still enjoyed it.

Currently finishing up Children of Time by Adrian Tchaikovsky.    Amazing book, coming up on finale as the Gilagamesh returns to the planet.

Also reading both Fire and Blood by Martin and Sapiens by Yuval Noah Harari in spurts, a couple chapters at a time.  

 

 

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I started and then abandoned King Solomon's Carpet by Barbara Vine, a.k.a. Ruth Rendell.  I have no prior experience with this author but this was an absolute mess.  It's a genre and style I expected to enjoy, but 10% into the book it was still dithering about with zero narrative or character focus.  It seemed to want to make the abandoned school and the underground rail system the central focus/characters of the book, but without ever giving the reader a reason to care or evoking any sense of character or significance in them.  I kept expecting it to find its feet but I ran out of patience.

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On 12/8/2018 at 3:35 PM, ljkeane said:

So far in December I've read Rachel Aaron's Minimum Wage Magic, which was a fun quick read as her books tend to be, and I'm about halfway through Miles Cameron's Cold Iron. I'm enjoying Cold Iron so far but it's a bit of a contrast from his Red Knight books which featured a protagonist who was exceptional in pretty much every way and seemed central to everything while the main character in this book seems to be only peripherally involved in what I'm presuming are going to be the major events of this series so far.

The Red Knight was such a riff on Arthuriana (among other things) and accordingly heritage played a role for a number of characters--although not all the major players.  The themes in Cold Iron are very deliberately timely, and one of the big ones is precisely that talent and will come from unexpected sources, hence the naive protagonist, who is a thoughtful creature to begin with but comes to know both himself and the world better as the book goes on.  I found some of the tricks of limited POV well-done in the book, definitely more deft than your average YA.

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After re-reading Perdido Street Station, I'm about 20% into China Mieville's The Scar. So far, it hasn't exactly hooked me in. I know it's popular and well-reviewed so I intend to power through it, I just hope it gets more compelling.

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5 hours ago, Gorn said:

After re-reading Perdido Street Station, I'm about 20% into China Mieville's The Scar. So far, it hasn't exactly hooked me in. I know it's popular and well-reviewed so I intend to power through it, I just hope it gets more compelling.

I read The Scar over the summer, and it definitely took some time to hook me.  It had a long setup phase.  But after that, its almost as amazing as PSS.

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