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What are you Reading Now?

Mythopoet

Auror
RAWR! SHE'S MY ABSOLUTE FAVORITE!!!

Ahem.

If you need more recommendations, let me know. I've read all of her books lol. Her very first, And Then There Were None, is perhaps one of her best. She also wrote several novels under pen names, keep that in mind during your search. You rarely ever catch on to what she's doing which is so freaking awesome.

Before reading Death Comes As An End, I had only read one of her books before. Murder on the Orient Express, some years ago. I thought it clever enough, but now I'm thinking that despite its fame it might not actually be one of her better books. Death Comes As An End was just so much better. (Or perhaps it's just my obsession with ancient Egypt talking.) And according to wikipedia it was the first novel length "historical whodunit" which is pretty neat. It doesn't look like she wrote any others, but I picked up The Pale Horse and And Then There Were None. I've seen an old movie version of And Then There Were None before so I'm already familiar with that story, though I think the movie didn't follow the book faithfully. I'm reading The Pale Horse now and it's once again very different from Death Comes As An End, but very enjoyable so far. I can see that I have been underestimating Agatha Christie my whole life. Her writing is superb.
 
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Chessie

Guest
I can see that I have been underestimating Agatha Christie my whole life. Her writing is superb.
She's supremely underrated far as master status goes. The Pale Horse is pretty good but not as good as And Then There Were None. Orient Express is okay imo. Another good one is Halloween Party, along with the ABC Murders and Death On The Nile, which might just be up your alley.
 

Mythopoet

Auror
I finished The Pale Horse and enjoyed it. I'm reading And Then There Were None now. Also very good. After this one I've got to stop buying new books and go back to LOTR though. lol My wallet is not happy with me.
 

AndrewLowe

Troubadour
Just stated the Brothers Kamarov by Dostrovesky (I'm sure that I spelled something wrong) and The Magician King by Lev Grossman. I think I'm maybe gonna start on Prince of Thorns soon...
 
Although I haven't got much time to read, I'm working my way through Ben galley's Bloodrush. It's got some problems, in my opinion, but I adore the setting and wild west tone. Plus, it's fun to read about gunslingers and fae in the same chapter. :p
 
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Chessie

Guest
Last night, I devoured Kathryn Rusch's "Pursuit Of Perfection". My husband had to pry me away for movie time but eventually I was able to return to it and finish. I seriously recommend it to anyone wanting to pursue a career in publishing. Like, read it.
 

kennyc

Inkling
Last night, I devoured Kathryn Rusch's "Pursuit Of Perfection". My husband had to pry me away for movie time but eventually I was able to return to it and finish. I seriously recommend it to anyone wanting to pursue a career in publishing. Like, read it.

Agreed!



.
 
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Chessie

Guest
Our library is currently under renovation, so it took me an hour to find what I wanted. Ended up coming home with 5 books to keep me busy for a couple of weeks. I finally decided to give Mercedes Lackey a try and got 2 of her novella collections: Harvest Moon and Winter Moon (made me think of Nimue heh), another M.C. Beaty mystery The Faeries Of Fryfam and of course 2 Agatha Christie novels, one of which I surprisingly haven't read Caribbean Murder and Death On The Nile because it's been 20 years and I can't remember how it ends. Meaning it's as good as new. :D
 

Mythopoet

Auror
Well, I finished And Then There Were None maybe a couple days after I last posted. It was very good. The book ending is, of course, much better than the movie.

I've been reading some manga in the mean time. Volumes 1-4 of Tokyo Babylon by CLAMP. As usual, their art is amazingly gorgeous. Also read volumes 1 and 2 of Kamisama Kiss by Juliette Suzuki. I've got volume 7 of Blood Blockade Battlefront and volume 6 of Spice and Wolf to read now and also more volumes of various things in the mail.

I also got back into my reread of the Anne of Green Gables series. I had stopped after Anne of Ingleside a while back because I was getting through them so fast. So I read Rainbow Valley last week and now have started Rilla of Ingleside which is the 8th and last book of the series. Rilla of Ingleside is a very curious book because it tackles the subject of WWI through the lives of the people left behind at home while their sons and brothers and lovers go off to war. None of the other books in the series deal with anything so weighty.
 

koen-hagens

Acolyte
I'm reading The harry Potter series for the third time, I've already read it in Dutch twice and im now reading it in English.
 
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Deleted member 4265

Guest
Deathless by Catherynne Valente. Its only the second fantasy book I've come across that features Koschei (I became enthralled with him after reading The Last Guardian of Everness) and I definitely wish there were more. He is one of my favorite mythological characters.
 

Geo

Troubadour
After a quick re-read of Fahrenheit 451, what a master piece it is, I'm know reading The Ugly Little Boy (Asimov and Silverberg). I got the book long time ago (5 years maybe) but forgot about until now.
 

Russ

Istar
So I just finished The Entropy Exhibition, by Colin Greenwood. It is a historical/literary review of New Worlds Magazine during the period in the 60's and 70's that is was under the editorship of Michael Moorcock. I feel that it is sometimes good to step back and look at the history of the Spec Fic genre to try to understand the big picture and then think about where my WIP fits within it. The analysis of Aldiss', Ballard's and Moorcock's work in this book is very good, and Greenwood's thoughts on how this "New Wave" deflected the path of Spec Fic was very interesting.

Then I stated Billy Idol's autobiography "Dancing with Myself." I started reading it because my wife and I are going to see and meet him in Vegas in about 10 days so I thought it would be cool to know a bit more about him. So far it is far better written than many celeb biographies.

The reason I mention it here is that Billy talks about how profoundly influenced by Tolkien he was as a young man and the he tried to write epic fantasy when he was young but none of it was ever published.
 

skip.knox

toujours gai, archie
Moderator
Reading The Ministry of Fear, by Graham Greene. A very odd book, but Greene's prose gets me through it reliably.

Also reading another installment in O'Brian's naval adventure series. The best descriptions of (Napoleonic) naval battles you are likely to find anywhere.
 
Re-reading Dragonlance Legends at the moment. My dear wife brought a copy with her from the US when she visited there last fall, and I finally had the time to sink into it. I read it in my native language fifteen years ago, and it's been a blast to experience it in its original form. Very educating and inspiring as well since I write in English.
 
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Deleted member 4265

Guest
Well, I'm trying to read Gardens of the Moon by Steven Erikson right now. This is my second attempt, and honestly I have mixed feelings about this book. I know the Malazan books have a reputation for being obscure and all, but sometimes I get really confused by all the jargon getting thrown at me.

Also, this is one of those surprising books where I'm actually liking the female characters better than the male ones (let's face it, a lot of writers write female characters poorly). So far (I'm only about 100 pages in) I love Tattersail but I'm not much of a fan on Paran. He just seems kind of bland.
 

Tom

Istar
Taking another shot at The Silmarillion. (Now that spring break is almost over, of course.) Wish me luck!
 
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