What are you reading in March?

[Antonius Pius]

Reading Leviathan Wakes by James S A Corey, maybe halfway through.

Oddly enough, I am also about halfway through Leviathan Wakes, and I just read the "man with the hat" part. Liking it so far.

I agree that some things are just left hanging, the one I found most vague is the heigth-thing. Apparently different gravity environments lead to greatly differing standard heights (Earthers are short, Belters are tall and thin, etc.), but I have a hard time imagining that,* and the concept isn't really worked out other than one person making an occasional observation.

The romancy-bits don't throw me as much, but you're right that they're a bit out of place. Or that they feel a bit off.

* couldn't really picture it in Vlad Taltos, either.

[williamjm]

Iain M. Banks Culture novel Player of Games. I read on TV tropes that this is the best place to start reading.

Loved it! Great story, very interesting concepts, the game tournament was exciting and at the end I wanted to learn more about the Culture so I will be reading the rest. Not sure about reading order.

You could either read Consider Phlebas, the first Culture novel published which wasn't the best but it's still a decent read, or Use of Weapons which was the next book published after Player Of Games, which I think is the best of the Culture books.

[AncalagonTheBlack]

Finished reading The Grim Company (by Luke Scull) , thought it was a decent debut,nothing special though,some of the dialogue comes across as trying too hard to sound gritty.

Now i've started another debut book,Fade to Black (Rojan Dizon #1) by Francis Knight.

[Eponine]

Finished Foundation by Isaac Asimov. I've pretty much committed myself to the entire trilogy at this point. I enjoyed it, once I got past the somewhat ridiculous premise of the predictability of universal events on such a precise scale. I think it's to the stories' benefit that no one has tried to explain that it any detail. But honestly, I could probably stop here and be happy without feeling like I have to read the rest. (I have to read the rest. I entered it as the trilogy on Goodreads instead of as individual books, which is inviolate).

[RedEyedGhost]

I finished The Daylight War by Peter V. Brett last Thursday, and I liked it quite a bit - for what it is. Renna definitely had a lot of character growth over the course of the novel (I really hope we don't get flashbacks from her pov in the next book though), as did Inevera. And with Inereva's flashbacks we were introduced to some very interesting expansions on the magic system. Fun book and a very easy read, but Inevera's flashbacks were a bit too long and threw off the pacing of the novel. Arlen and Jardir were treading water for the whole book, and that was pretty disappointing.

After that I read the novella Winterfair Gifts by Lois McMaster Bujold, and it was really fun. The perspective of the recently introduced and quite insecure about his position, Armsman Roic, was very refreshing. It was also nice to see Sgt Taura, Elena, Baz, and Arde (although the latter three only had a token appearance).

Now I'm about 2/3 through Diplomatic Immunity also by Bujold, and Yay! another returning character

Bel!

I've been looking forward to more quaddie action ever since I read Free Falling last March, and I have not been disappointed.

[Happy Ent]

Finished A Shadow in Summer by Abraham and didn’t like it much.

[Gigei]

You could either read Consider Phlebas, the first Culture novel published which wasn't the best but it's still a decent read, or Use of Weapons which was the next book published after Player Of Games, which I think is the best of the Culture books.

Use of Weapons, I think. The summary of Phlebas I read on Amazon didn't inspire me to read.

[Greg]

Listening to Neal Stephenson's Quicksilver and reading Gunter Rothenberg's The Art of War in the Age of Napoleon.

[Alytha]

Finished Jasper Fforde's latest Thursday Next novel; The Woman Who Died a Lot. Quite liked it. It's much better than the last one before that, although the ending feels a bit too rushed to be emotionally satisfying.

Dunno what I'm going to read next. Maybe London Falling by Paul Cornell.

[deleted01]

Started The Hobbit, seriously struggling to get through it, can't say I'm too keen on it. So I started reading The Sealed Letter by Emma Donoghue last night.

[Isis]

I think I may even finish Dhalgren this month - 82% finished. If this wasn't an e-book I'd probably have given up already. Speed-reading is way easier on the Kindle. Pretty sure I won't be recommending this to anyone once I'm finished. :)

I am 50 pages into Waking Beauty by Paul Witcover. It's been on my to-read list for years ever since Liz Hand said how great it was. I am fascinated by it but it is heavy going. Partly because the only copy I could get was a big chunky hardback, partly because it's pretty densely written and there just 'seems' to be a lot of text on each page, and partly because you're busy trying to get your head around the setting and how it all works. I do desperately want to understand the setting. It's also a difficult book because of the apparently breath-taking level of misogyny. I say apparently because I'm trying to withhold judgment on that aspect as it is obviously written that way for a reason... hence I want to read on and see what that is.

It seems to be a polarising book. I see 4/5 star and 1 star reviews on GR. Has anyone else read it? If so could you say how you felt about it afterwards?

Thinking about polarising books - I finished The Magicians and I have to say I don't feel that strongly about it. I just have a vague dislike of it. I found it unsatisfying. I'd give it 3 stars.

[Bellis]

The Magicians is definitely a meh book, Isis.

So I sped through The Twelve by Justin Cronin. First - the good. The story is overall an interesting and sorta original one, one that kept me reading for the large arcs. The broken characters - Grey, Lila, Wolgast, Carter, even Guilder - are well-written and touching. The bad - anything not involving those characters is cliche, sentimental, overly family-values focused and oh! So! very Christian. Am I the only one who notices that in a post-apo (or even peri-apo) epic with a cast of tens of different skin hues and Jaxon hair and what have you - no one acknowledges any religions but Christianity? Are all the multiracial people, even those with mysteriously Asian or otherwise ethnic names, just mainstream Christian now? Is the Bible the only mythology anyone remembers? Furthermore, for a cast of tens if not hundreds, it's also annoyingly heteronormative. Yes, like Harry Potter, everyone pairs up forever with their true love at a very very young age, but even Harry Potter felt less... Christian family values about it. I almost threw the book against the wall when I learned Michael was straight (or closeted).

Ok so the author is a consevative Christian (and apparently pro-gun), and I wouldn't have a huge problem with this, and it really didn't bug me so much in The Passage. The bigger problem are the plot contrivances and cliche writing. He's a self-characterized author of literary fiction and teacher of creative writing? Sad. The prose is often painful. I think even Stephen King pulls this stuff off better.

But, in conclusion, will I be reading the third book. Yes, yes, I will. In the same way I'll be watching the next seasons of Mad Men and House of Cards. It's a great... yarn.

[pat5150]

I just finished James Clavell's Shogun and it was by far one of the most memorable reads of my life! :)

Set in feudal Japan, as a tale of love and war so vast in scope, I feel that it's something that most fantasy fans could enjoy.

Check out the Hotlist for the full review. . .

Cheers,

Patrick

[Starkess]

Just finished the Abhorsen trilogy by Garth Nix. Lived up to my memories, I enjoyed it quite a lot. Now I'm impatient for Clariel! Although it is a prequel, which I always find a little disappointing because you a) don't get to see the characters you already love and B) have an idea where the ending is going to put you.

Anyway, next up is Lamb by Christopher Moore. I've heard good things and it was a Kindle deal, so why not?

[Eponine]

Anyway, next up is Lamb by Christopher Moore. I've heard good things and it was a Kindle deal, so why not?

Oooh thanks for the heads up. I'll have to wait to read it, but yay for Kindle deals.

[Lord Womble]

Just finished the Abhorsen trilogy by Garth Nix. Lived up to my memories, I enjoyed it quite a lot. Now I'm impatient for Clariel! Although it is a prequel, which I always find a little disappointing because you a) don't get to see the characters you already love and B) have an idea where the ending is going to put you.

Anyway, next up is Lamb by Christopher Moore. I've heard good things and it was a Kindle deal, so why not?

It's a fantastic story! I first read it when I was about 12 and only reread it last summer and like you it more than lived up to my memories! One of my favourite magic systems in fantasy with bells, pipes, free magic and charter magic.

I only discovered last night Nix was doing a prequel and that it was well into editing stage (and did indeed put a wee page of the manuscript onto facebook in order to tease readers). Certainly will be looking out for this one...it will be great to see how kerrigor/rogirek came to be consumed by free magic and the battle between him and 'clariel' (presumably). Although we already kinda know what happens....

To add to the conversation, I've started 'the stand'. First time reading this, but I've picked up the unedited version. It's certainly a pretty hefty tome!

[kingofashes]

After Memorie of Ice I want to finish the Wheel of Time, Lions of Alrassan, The Last Kingdom and Before They are Hanged. I also want to finish or atleast start King of Thorns, Lords of Slaughter, the Red Knight and The Book of the New Sun.

Well if I can make a dent in that list I'll be happy. You know after spending a few years bored with fantasy and sci-fi I'm shocked at the quality of writting at the moment and that of older books I'd never heard of.

[TheDanish]

Finished reading The Grim Company (by Luke Scull) , thought it was a decent debut,nothing special though,some of the dialogue comes across as trying too hard to sound gritty.

I felt the same way. It's like Scull wanted to add grit and dumped a bucket of gravel over the book.

Currently reading Consider Phlebas by Iain M. Banks, as well as (slowly) The Black Company by Glen Cook. For non-fiction, reading Empires of the Silk Road by Christopher Beckwith, and The Diary of a Manchu Soldier translated by Nicola di Cosmo.

[Yana]

Started reading Tropic of Cancer by Henry Miller. Not a bad read, but it just makes me craving a nice juicy fantasy series with lots of dragons and swords. This "one man and his thoughts" type of books are really not something I enjoy particularly, no matter how clever they may be.

[Procrastimancer]

I am reading The Age of Ice by J.M. Sidorova, an upcoming debut (I believe) due out this July. I haven't heard a thing about this book before now, which is surprising given how good it is.