What are you reading in March?

[TheEvilKing]

Finished The Lions of Al-Rassan by Guy Gavriel Kay, my first novel by the author. It was great, one of the best standalone fantasies I've ever read. My only issue would be that I have a penchant for flawed characters, and this novel was populated by Mary Sues. I get it though - it's kind of the whole point of the whole novel - great men and women doing great deeds. But if all Kay books are like this it may wear thin on me.

Next up: Corvus by Paul Kearney. It's been about 4 years since I read the previous book but hopefully that shouldn't matter too much.

[deleted01]

Just started The Lies of Locke Lamora by Scott Lynch. Very enjoyable so far.

[Zorral]

1356 by Bernard Cornwell.

Cornwell does work for me much of the time. I tried more than once to enjoy the Sharpe series which so many love, but no go. The same for any of his books set within United States or colonial history -- his US Civil War series is poor in every way.

But Uthred and The Saxon Tales (the middle books sagged, but he got back to form by the most recent installments), I've liked very much, as I've also liked The Warlord Chronicles.

So far 1356 is doing very well by me, on these days and nights of hard rain!

[Theda Baratheon]

Currently reading Douglas Coupland's Generation X

great stuff.

Finished it. Loved it.

Now reading Last Exit to Brooklyn - Hubert Selby, Jr.

[williamjm]

Finished The Lions of Al-Rassan by Guy Gavriel Kay, my first novel by the author. It was great, one of the best standalone fantasies I've ever read. My only issue would be that I have a penchant for flawed characters, and this novel was populated by Mary Sues. I get it though - it's kind of the whole point of the whole novel - great men and women doing great deeds. But if all Kay books are like this it may wear thin on me.

I think Lions is probably the worst of Kay's books in terms of the lead characters being brilliant at everything they do, although many of his other books have some similar characters they do tend to have a better mix of characters in them.

[3CityApache]

I'm reading The Blink of the Screen, Pratchett's short fictions. Just finished the one that evolved into The Long Earth (after almost 30 years!) and I'm amazed at how little is new in the novel itself. And what exactly was the Baxter collaboration for? It's almost everything in this short story!

[deleted01]

1356 by Bernard Cornwell.

This has been on my to-read pile for a while, please let me know how you get on with it :)

[Mikkelinski]

I feel weak, chickened out on my planned read (aka delayed it) and started re-reading The First Law Trilogy again. In my defense, it's been a few years since I read it and I've only read them once previously.

Then Moby Dick (or so I tell myself).

[Sun]

When Christ and His Saints Slept by Sharon Kay Penman

I like it a lot and will continue the Eleanor of Aquitaine Series.

While I enjoyed Pillars of the Earth, I find this to be more readable, more casual? I guess. (they cover the same time periods)

I love Sharon Penman. Have you read The Sunne in Splendour? It's to my mind her best novel.

[peterbound]

Reading Ex-Heroes right now, moving onto Wool next

[MisterOJ]

Reading Ex-Heroes right now,

I read a description of that a while back. I thought it sounded like it would either be really cool, or really stupid.

What do you think of it so far?

[peterbound]

I read a description of that a while back. I thought it sounded like it would either be really cool, or really stupid.

What do you think of it so far?

I like it. I thought it was going to be cheesy, but it's turning out to be pretty good. Zombies and Superheroes, and it's written well. What's not to like?

[Eponine]

moving onto Wool next

The author is going to be at the Tattered Cover on Friday evening - I'm going to be out of town though.

***

Finished Lamb by Christopher Moore - it was my vacation reading. It started funny, got ridiculous, and ended pretty straightforward Biblical plus some extra plotting and characterization. Almost finished with the Foundation Trilogy by Isaac Asimov - most of it has been good but there were some really draggy parts in the second book. Then, I guess I'm trying Donaldson again, goddammit.

[RedEyedGhost]

I like it. I thought it was going to be cheesy, but it's turning out to be pretty good. Zombies and Superheroes, and it's written well. What's not to like?

My brother read that a year or two ago and loved it. I keep meaning to kindle borrow it, but there's always something else to read (and the last superhero novel I read really soured me on the genre - Seven Wonders ).

[TempusFugit]

I'm almost finished Barbara Tuchman's A Distant Mirror, her narrative history of 14th Century Europe with particular emphasis on The Hundred Years War. She has a marvelously deft ability to present enormous amounts of information without bogging down the narrative. Good stuff.

Recently finished CV Wedgwood's The Thirty Years War, mostly on audiobook in the car though I have a physical copy at home that I would read along with the audiobook in the evenings. I'm not usually a fan of audiobooks but this one definitely added to my enjoyment of the book.There's nothing wrong with Wedgwood's writing but the narrator seemed to delight in sinking his teeth into some of the German and eastern European names and place names

I'm currently reading Bernard Cornwell's Vagabond, the second book in his Thomas of Hookton Grail Quest series and The Happy Return by C.S. Forester, the first of his classic Horatio Hornblower series.

[Brendan Moody]

I just finished Jake Arnott's The House of Rumour, which was one of the best new novels I've read in a long time. It plays with the form of the "secret history," mixing historical events with possibly supernatural invention, but it's less about clever twists than about exploring the ways in which forces like esoteric religion, political radicalism, science fiction, and espionage can simultaneously feed and stave off human longing and despair. The twenty-two chapters, each titled after a tarot card from the Major Arcana, are more like interlocking short stories with diverse settings and styles. Well worth reading if you're interested in World War II, mysticism, or the history of science fiction, or just looking for a rich, ambitious literary novel with some genre trappings.

Now I'm on to lighter fare: Down and Out in Beverly Heels, a romance novel by Kathryn Leigh Scott, an actress best known as Maggie Evans on the original Dark Shadows. As a Dark Shadows fan I picked it up out of a mild, why-not curiosity. I've only read about twenty pages; so far it's solid, with a couple cute jokes.

[peterbound]

My brother read that a year or two ago and loved it. I keep meaning to kindle borrow it, but there's always something else to read (and the last superhero novel I read really soured me on the genre - Seven Wonders ).

I just finished it. Loved it. Buying the sequel as we speak.

[SkynJay]

The author is going to be at the Tattered Cover on Friday evening - I'm going to be out of town though.

Id go, but I bought that for Kindle, so got nothing for him to sign.

I finished Martha Wells new YA book, it was OK. My third and last try, she is a good writer but her books leave me cold. Oh, Emily and the Hollow World was the title.

[gordonah]

.... and The Happy Return by C.S. Forester, the first of his classic Horatio Hornblower series.

Let me know how you find Hornblower novel please.

I've got the final (completed) Patrick O'Brian Aubrey / Maturin novel on my too read pile, and will probably read it next. I've often thought of reading a few Hornblower books as well, but didn't want to be reading the two series in parallel.

[Winter's Knight]

I've been circling Les Mis for a few months now and think I'll actually read it this month.

The best laid plans of mice and men often go astray.

I discovered Ellen Kushner and read (and reread) both Swordspoint and Promise of the Sword, along with Death of the Duke and the Man With the Knives. Then came across Mary Renault's the Persian Boy.

Currently reading Tamora Pierce's Song of the Lioness quartet and Malinda Lo's Ash.