What are you Reading Now?

Hi, CatholicCrow! Long time no see. I also really enjoyed reading Gone Girl although it messed with my head quite a bit. It was good.

Appointment With Death was different than Christie's other novels. I'm still trying to wrap my head around it.

And I started reading Firebird by Mercedes Lackey. It's on loan from the library so I have a week to finish that tome. -_-

 

Is that her new one? I don't typically read in that genre so I haven't kept up with Flynn's output.

 

YES! I loved them both haven't gotten my hands on her first book yet (Sharp Objects) though it's supposedly not as good. The plot for Gone Girl was spectacular but I actually liked the characters in Dark Places better --also it was much cleaner so I don't feel as awkward recommending it to other people LOL.

To Chesterama ... yeah I kind of went into hiding while I've been working in the Mystery/Thriller genres. I still haven't published any of my own writing (I'm hypercritical and I want it to be perfect so I'm redoing my main WIP's ending ... again). I've decided to let it fallow a bit, maybe a bit more time will help me see things clearer. In the meantime I've been busy working. I've actually started ghostwriting (can you believe it? ME ... getting paid to write fiction) I just turned in my first manuscript today ... might pick up another contract next week, in which case, Vonnegut gets bumped from my reading list and will be replaced with the client's first novel.

 

Since I've finished the first draft of my WIP, I need to get back into reading. Yesterday I started Cormac McCarthy's Blood Meridian. Out of his work I've only read The Road and I loved it, so I decided to pick up this one. I'm loving it so far, just as much as The Road.

 

I am about half with through Greg Isles' Natchez Burning. It is fantastic. What is it about these natural story tellers from the Southern US? Maybe I need to move there.

Now I will have to buy his back list...

 

Just finished The Bands of Mourning by Sanderson. It was incredible. Arguably my favorite of his Mistborn books. Wayne's POV was incredible! Trek/Odium(in my head) is messing up all kinds of stuff in the cosmere. Marasi became a badass. Harmony was great. MeLaan was awesom. And Waxillium was one bad mother who didn't take no crap from nobody!

 

Finished Without Remorse by Clancy (started it before the Bands of Mourning) and am now reading the Aeronaut's Windlass by Butcher. It is pretty good so far and has an interesting world.

 

Finally finished The Brothers Karamazov the other day. It was a struggle through some of the earlier parts, but ultimately, I enjoyed it, though not as much as Crime and Punishment. It gets better as it goes and the courtroom drama at the end was my favorite portion.

I have a few shorts and odds and ends to read, then it's on to The Lies of Locke Lamora--

 

Been ordering a not quite steady stream of mostly Lovecraftian tomes over the past six or eight months. Most recent one was 'The Broken Hours' featuring HPL himself in a realistic setting, a year prior to his death. More sad than supernatural, though.

Far more disturbing - and interesting - is Thomas's 'Hades' series. Read 'Letters from Hades' and 'Fall of Hades.' He created an extremely twisted environment simply by taking fundamentalist Christian theology very literally. He did add a few things, mostly necessary logical extensions of that dogma. The hooded white robed angels (saved) scouring Hell on missions of murder may be a bit over the top, though.

'Sea of Ash' by Thomas's brother is both strange and fascinating; a quest taking place in three time periods, featuring an assortment of weird locals and strange people in the New England area (more or less). Supernatural things, some beneficial, some malevolent, just out of sight. More Clark Ashton Smith than HPL. I wouldn't mind a sequel.

F&SF has a 'Curiosities' column which deals mostly with books long out of print, sometimes for a century or more. A few months ago, I was sufficiently intrigued by one of these reviewed books to track it down: 'Monks Magic,' a well done charmer written back in the 30's. Features a young alchemist employed by an aging abbot who gets into ecclesiastical trouble and sets out to track down the sages who purportedly discovered the secret to eternal life. He meets a slew of interesting characters along the way: the youth Gabe, Thomas the drunken physician, a cabbalist, and assorted other folks. Includes a fair bit of racy humor...in appropriate places.

'The Broken Meats' and 'The Elder Ice' are part of a Lovecraftian series featuring an unusual protagonist - a former heavyweight boxer in late 1920's Britain, who does a bit of detective work on the side. Shows promise.

Most of the Lovecraftian material is on the shorter side: short stories, novelettes, and the odd novella. An exception is Alexander's 'Bell Forging Cycle,' apparently slated for six books, with three released. These tales are set in a far future earth devastated by a Lovecraftian (?) cataclysm. Strange place: beast drawn carts along ancient, crumbling interstate highways, yet the cities feature electricity, telephones, television, monorails, and elevators. Loads of Easter Eggs for those who know their Lovecraft. Yet these full length novels echo the same story three times.

 

Im currently reading The Dwarves: Book 1 by Markus Heitz but for the life of me I am struggling. It doesn't grip me the way Patrick Rothfuss or Brandon Sanderson does, but I will try and crack on with it.

 

That is a pretty high standard to meet. I think Dwarves was very good, but not at a Rothfuss or Sanderson level. It also has a very different feel to it, and I remain not in love with the translation.

 

Just finished the Aeronauts Windlass. It was a solid 4. It improved significantly at the end. My favorite character was the good ole Captain Grimm.

 

Finished Blood Meridian a few days ago and yesterday I started The Trial by Franz Kafka.

 

Currently almost done with Michael Sullivan's Age of Myth that I won through a Goodreads Giveaway.

Really enjoying it. His Riyria Revelations is in my top five series and this new one will be up there.

Next on the list will be Terry Brooks latest or The Grim Company.

 

I saw that when was looking through that forum. Great resource to have here.

 

I'm currently enamored with Lord Of The Fading Lands: Tairen Soul Book 1 by C.L. Wilson. One negative are the stupid apostrophe names which seem to be a requirement in every fantasy novel ever, but the story is so freaking good I'm letting it slide.

For those who like Fae and romance with their fantasy, this book is rad. I'll definitely be checking out book 2 from the library soon enough.

 

I am currently re-reading the Mistborn series.