What are you reading in April?

[beniowa]

....I may have to read this. Is it as astonishingly terrible as it looks?

Actually, no. You can put that down to bad '70s cover art. While the cover is technically accurate, the scene is not really important to the plot. As for the story itself, I thought it was good. It's a fairly straightforward military sci-fi story, though it also has some philosophizing on war and the nature of mankind. Not too surprising since it was published as the Vietnam War was winding down. It's not my favorite Howard Waldrop book, but since it was co-written with another author it's necessarily a blend of styles.

[Broken Fox]

Right now: A Dance With Dragons, The Pessimist's Guide to History, and Batman and Psychology: A Dark and Stormy Night.

[Zar Lannister]

I'm going to read the third of Dan Simmons' Hyperion Cantos Saga: Endymion.

[Definitely Mayhaps]

Re-reading 'The Hobbit' after absolutely ages and ages, then LOTR all over again. After that, 'Left Hand of Darkness' and 'Life of Pi' (I've been meaning to read this one in ages; the film turned out to blow me away).

So, not the most explorative month for me...

[Darth Richard]

I read Falls the Shadow years ago and enjoyed it but it was a bit of a pain finding her other books, I suppose it'd be easier to get them on my kindle now. Is The Sunne in Splendour a good point to start?

Really? I can't go into a book store without tripping over piles and piles of her books. And I'm not talking about used books either.

[TrackerNeil]

I just finished "Heads in Beds: A Reckless Memoir of Hotels, Hustles and So-Called Hospitality", by Jacob Tomasky, and I recommend it highly. Tomasky's a great writer who tells a story about an industry with which we've all interacted. It's practical, too, if you ever need to wrangle with a hotel about something. A five-star book, in my view.

[ljkeane]

Really? I can't go into a book store without tripping over piles and piles of her books. And I'm not talking about used books either.

It was about 15 years ago. I remember not being able to find the book I was looking for but I'm not really sure how much effort I put into it at this point, :dunno:

[Brendan Moody]

I recently finished The Bleeding Horse and Other Ghost Stories and Old Albert: An Epilogue by Brian J. Showers, and started Peter Bell's Strange Epiphanies. I'm also reading Erika Robuck's Call Me Zelda, a novel allegedly about Zelda Fitzgerald, but so far more concerned with its narrator, a troubled nurse whose stilted, tell-don't-show narration is making the book a difficult read.

[kingofashes]

I just got Rubicon by Tom Hollard today. It's about Roman history, specifically the Roman Republic. I've read the sample on kindle and I liked it enough to buy it. It dunno about reading such a large history book, but I reckon I can read a couple of chapters in between finishing the First Law (the 2nd book is amazing so far) and Malazan books.

Anybody read Rebicon? am I right in thinking the name is a river that was on the border of the Roman Empire?

[BigFatCoward]

i'm in the middle of 3 amazing books at the minute, since i got my kindle i'm never sure exactly what books are called but something like 'the 100 year old man who climbed out a window' 'night circus' 'the unlikely pilgrimage of harold fry'. absolutely loving all 3.

[SkynJay]

Too funny. I often have to look up titles now too. I don't see it every time I pick up the Kindle like I did with a book.

[Darth Richard]

I'm reading The Mortal Instruments, I'm on the third book. Actually I don't like it although I'm a fan of fantasy but I keep reading 'cause I don't know I just want to know how it ends and I'm not the kind of person that skips everything and goes to the end.

Arrrghhh.

God, I don't want to start any shit, but, those books have...issues regarding which content is the authors own work.

I can pm you more info if you like or you can Google. Don't want to post links. That way leads to madness.

[Serious Callers Only]

There is a new Sword Dancer book coming out, which i didn't expect. The 80's are back.

[Sansa_Stark]

Now on The Dragon Reborn

[Khal Pono]

I'm slowly, gingerly getting into the Cthulhu mythos and amazed by the sheer quantity of Lovecraft-inspired fiction by notable authors. Right now, I'm not terribly interested in the original HPL stories (although I enjoyed "Pickman's Model" which seemed to me like a 20th Century tribute to Poe), but I am very fascinated by what contemporary writers do with his universe of monsters and cosmic terror.

I'm reading a collection of Lovecraftian short stories called Cthulhu 2000 mostly written in the 90s. I'm about 80% of the way through the Kindle version, and most of the stories are quite good. My favorites have been those by F. Paul Wilson, Lawrence Watt-Evans, Basil Copper, Michael Shea and Joanna Russ. A story by Esther M. Freisner was unbelivably silly but good for a few chuckles.

[dagreat1]

about 85% done The Way of Kings, started off slow with a lot of world building, but, I'm really looking forward to finishing it now. I've grown to be pretty invested in it (although I'm not sure if I'll be able to commit to another 9 books at a 1,000+ pages each...), and i'm about 1/3rd of the way through a Casual Vacancy, which i've really been struggling to finish. it's rather dull.

[Ghey4Renly]

I'll be reading As Far As My Feet Will Carry Me by Josef M. Bauer and then I will probably move on to Stalingrad by Anthony Beevor.

[Ghey4Renly]

@kingofashes, the Rubicon is a river the upper north of Italy. It's historically significant as it was the river Julius Caesar crossed to declare war on the senate and start the civil war. I haven't actually read the book but I have always heard it's a very good and informative read.

[Bellis]

I finished my re-read of Zen and the Art of Motocycle Maintenance. I find this book interesting to read every once in a while because it's just philosphically deep enough to get me thinking. But the main character who is actually the author is kind of an asshole, especially to his son, and I don't agree with about 25% of what he says. As in it's easier to read as a novel with an unrealiable narrator than any deep treatise on life or philosophy. Still it kind of works because it's not as godawful as the sequel, Lila.

I don't know what I'll read next. Probably way too many HBO Game of Thrones reviews.

[Eponine]

Finished The Gospel According to Jesus Christ by Jose Saramago. 4.5 stars - Almost all of it was great but the pacing was a bit off for me. I thought in particular that the ending, which was extremely satisfying and kind of funny, was kind of rushed, whereas a (mostly) monologue from God, which was a purposely long list displaying some great black humor, then got over the top with how much it was dragged out. The only thing I actually disliked was Mary Magdalene, insofar as if they'd had email, her address would have been [email protected], and that's all you need to know about that.

No offense, but fuck you guys for including a comic book on the rec list. I really really don't want to have to buy a hard copy. REG or PB or Denver people - Hellblazer by Garth Ennis? (Of course it's possible to buy an ebook of the series under other writers, but not Ennis.)