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What are you Reading Now?

Just picked up Isaac Asimov's Foundation and Empire, though I haven't read any other book from the Foundation series. This reads well as a standalone, and there is plenty of food for thought.
Also almost done with Ray Bradbury's Fahrenheit 451: been wanting to read this for so long, but only took the plunge last week. I might have enjoyed this more as an early teenager. Not saying this is a bad read, just that I no longer have the same type of wonder. Which is sad. Baudelaire said "Genius is childhood recovered at will," and he may be right.
 
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skip.knox

toujours gai, archie
Moderator
But wait! You are reading Volume 2 of a trilogy. You really, really need to read the first one first. This isn't so much a trilogy as it is a single story divided into thirds.
 

Svrtnsse

Staff
Article Team
I'm reading Kingdom of Essence, by Holly Karlsson. It started out as a rather ordinary fantasy story, but things took an unexpected and chilling turn, and now I'm curious to see what else is going on with it.
 

ThinkerX

Myth Weaver
Was reading (among multiple other works) the 'Nightshade Forensic Files' series by AJ Scudiere. Kind of like 'CSI' having a head on collision with the paranormal. Features (biologically credible) werewolves, folks with psionic abilities, and voodoo that works. Also, lots and lots of tedious medical terminology and mundane investigative work. Not all the villains are paranormal; the first book centers on an apocalyptic cult and the bad guy in another is a serial killer. I do have issues with 'Nightshade' (a sort of 'black ops' FBI division), the boss deliberately withholds vital info from his agents and *expects* them to straight out kill troublesome felons. There is also the small matter of what amounts to a miniature supernatural war that somehow manages to escape the attention of all sorts of police forces and alphabet agencies.
 

MommaKat

Acolyte
*looks around on the desk, in the Kindle, and on the browser tabs*
Diana Gabaldon, James Frey, Sharon Pace MacLeodthe AACN (studying for certification in my field) several books on druidry to cross reference to. tabs open to grammar/wordsmithing sites, as well as the forums.
 

skip.knox

toujours gai, archie
Moderator
Reading The Fall of Babel by Josiah Bancroft. I still rate it the most wildly inventive story I have read in a very long time. Lovely prose. The story itself lags in places, at least for me, but the prose carries me forward, along with an eagerness to see what surprising invention he has in store next. This is the fourth and last book in the story. Fingers crossed for a strong ending.
 

Insolent Lad

Maester
I'm dipping into 'Flower Fables,' teenage Louisa May Alcott's foray into fantasy. Very juvenile, to be sure, but I've read far far worse. I'm sure Tolkien would have hated the tiny fairies.
 

ThinkerX

Myth Weaver
Currently on the second book in the 'Kingsfall' series. Lots of action, but I find it a bit disconcerting that almost all of the POV characters are either royalty or directly connected to royalty. Some of the characterization is pretty good.

Prior to that, I read the first three books of the 'Twinborn' series, which centers on a concept I've considered employing in the past: the dreams of one person is the waking life of another person on a different world. The 'twins' use the dream media to exchange information to assist in goals political, military, and technological.

Worth mentioning - the first two books of the 'Conclave' series, a present day Lovecraftian tale that centers more on academic investigation than horror.
 

skip.knox

toujours gai, archie
Moderator
I tore through Leviathan Falls. I'm still very impressed by anyone who can write a nine volume series that has such consistent quality. This one (The Expanse) ranks among the best SF I've read.
 

ThinkerX

Myth Weaver
I tore through Leviathan Falls. I'm still very impressed by anyone who can write a nine volume series that has such consistent quality. This one (The Expanse) ranks among the best SF I've read.

Well, it did get made into a television series.

I think I made it to book four or five of that series.
 

Insolent Lad

Maester
I'm well into The Elements of Typographic Style by poet and typographer Robert Bringhurst and it is a great read for anyone at all interested in how books are created. I understand it is considered 'the' book on this and it is certainly well written. Poetic, even, and thoroughly understandable.
 

Mothyards

Scribe
Going through Brandon Sanderson work rn. Finished Mistborn era 1 last week and just got through Elantris. Moving onto Warbreaker next =)
 

skip.knox

toujours gai, archie
Moderator
It's been a good reading month and we're not quite half-way. Have read The Fall of Babel and Leviathan Falls. Both excellent. Currently reading In a Lonely Place. Whether or not you've seen the film adaptation with Bogart and Grahame, I recommend this book. Well-written, suspenseful, and exceedingly creepy.
 
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