Sablemage
Demi-God
Absolutely. IIRC people used to read them out loud to each other in salons - 18th/19th century maybe? - which supports that argument.
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[reading] What have you read recently? (continued)
- Thread starter Guvnor
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grufflehead
Novice
Racing through John Connolly's 'The Instruments of Darkness' having got through the last Rebus in about a day and a half. Normally I read slowly but with these I just can't help myself. Just one more chapter...
Maddz
Demi-God
Something to add flavour: https://greensdictofslang.com/
I read the Traveller comics from Markosia.
Far Trader #1-4 &
Riftbreaker #1-2 (so far).
Generally I enjoyed the stories, the integration with the RPG and Charted Space.
Far Trader was a bit anticlimactic in it's payoff, but worth the read.
Riftbreaker is shaping up well, I hope it runs for more than four episodes.
The quality of the artwork in the first two comics was poor, but it got better, and the appendices with RPG useable material was very good.
If you are a Traveller fan then I recommend these.
Far Trader #1-4 &
Riftbreaker #1-2 (so far).
Generally I enjoyed the stories, the integration with the RPG and Charted Space.
Far Trader was a bit anticlimactic in it's payoff, but worth the read.
Riftbreaker is shaping up well, I hope it runs for more than four episodes.
The quality of the artwork in the first two comics was poor, but it got better, and the appendices with RPG useable material was very good.
If you are a Traveller fan then I recommend these.
Red Seas under Red Skies
Scott Lynch
Gentlemen Bastards #2
This is one of the very few DNF (did not finish) books I have encountered. I found the first book in the series a bit humdrum and derivative, add chaotic, unfocused and boringly rude for no good reason; I just couldn't be bothered to read this poor sequel past 35%.
1/10
Scott Lynch
Gentlemen Bastards #2
This is one of the very few DNF (did not finish) books I have encountered. I found the first book in the series a bit humdrum and derivative, add chaotic, unfocused and boringly rude for no good reason; I just couldn't be bothered to read this poor sequel past 35%.
1/10
Satsuma Complex
Bob Mortimer
This is a truly awful book.
I mean I could say that once the main character starts talking to a squirrel I knew it was dreadful.
Not because of the idea of a chat with an animal but the leaden text, flat delivery, and misjudged humour.
I like Bob Mortimer on the telly but he can't write. It's just awful.
Oh, and the plot is amateurish and unsatisfying.
I stuck it out to the very end and goodness knows why - it never got better - just worse.
Avoid.
Bob Mortimer
This is a truly awful book.
I mean I could say that once the main character starts talking to a squirrel I knew it was dreadful.
Not because of the idea of a chat with an animal but the leaden text, flat delivery, and misjudged humour.
I like Bob Mortimer on the telly but he can't write. It's just awful.
Oh, and the plot is amateurish and unsatisfying.
I stuck it out to the very end and goodness knows why - it never got better - just worse.
Avoid.
Sablemage
Demi-God
Early Riser by Jasper fforde. A supernatural alternate history comedy thriller. In an ice-age Wales, a newly recruited Winter Consul must deliver a bouzouki-playing zombie to a research station in Sector 12 before everyone goes into hibernation for the winter; but in Sector 12, nothing is quite what it seems. Good world-building, genuinely funny in places.
Currently finishing off Adrian Tchaikovsky's The Final Architecture trilogy. Very enjoyable space opera with weird aliens, interstellar war, enigmatic ruins left by a vanished precursor civilisation, political intrigue, genetically-engineered female warriors in powered armour... The main characters are a ragtag bunch of weirdos in a falling-to-bits salvage hauler who get caught up in all of the above; they feel very Traveller-like, and I know the author played RPGs in college (not sure if he still does) so I can't help but wonder...
Currently finishing off Adrian Tchaikovsky's The Final Architecture trilogy. Very enjoyable space opera with weird aliens, interstellar war, enigmatic ruins left by a vanished precursor civilisation, political intrigue, genetically-engineered female warriors in powered armour... The main characters are a ragtag bunch of weirdos in a falling-to-bits salvage hauler who get caught up in all of the above; they feel very Traveller-like, and I know the author played RPGs in college (not sure if he still does) so I can't help but wonder...
He does.
steveh
Rune Priest
With the seventh book in John Scalzi's Old Man's War series published next month (The Shattering Peace), I have been rereading (and enjoying the earlier books).
So far I've read Old Man's War, The Ghost Brigades, and The Last Colony. I'm in the middle of Zoe's Tale, and I'm looking forward to The Human Division and The Shattering Peace.
One advantage of reading them in close succession is that I can keep the characters in my head - there are lots of recurring characters. (The downside is the inevitable exposition needed to bring new readers up to speed.)
So far I've read Old Man's War, The Ghost Brigades, and The Last Colony. I'm in the middle of Zoe's Tale, and I'm looking forward to The Human Division and The Shattering Peace.
One advantage of reading them in close succession is that I can keep the characters in my head - there are lots of recurring characters. (The downside is the inevitable exposition needed to bring new readers up to speed.)
dpmcalister
Acolyte
The main series of books I've been reading this year are the Rivers of London, Jack Ryan, and John Milton ones. I don't think I need to explain the Rivers of London or Jack Ryan ones but John Milton may be under most people's radar. They are written by Mark Dawson and, without being rude or mean, Milton is a British Jack Reacher but with some character flaws and history. I actually like these more than the Reacher novels.
Audiobook-wise I've been listening to Sherlock Holmes (ready by Stephen Fry) and the Slough House series.
Audiobook-wise I've been listening to Sherlock Holmes (ready by Stephen Fry) and the Slough House series.
Give me an elevator pitch!
dpmcalister
Acolyte
Perhaps not 
steveh
Rune Priest
It's a hostile universe out there, and the Colonial Union recruits 70 year olds from Earth and give them new bodies to defend the colonies. John Perry is just one recruit, and the book follows him through enlistment, training and then into battle. Later books focus on other characters.
It's a good mix of military SF and intrigue - things are rarely exactly as they first appear.
It ws nominated for a Hugo, if that means anything.
Sablemage
Demi-God
The Good Soldier Švejk by Jaroslav Hašek. Švejk is a Czech fence who specialises in stolen dogs, and when World War I breaks out he enthusiastically re-enlists, having been medically discharged as an idiot some years earlier. The novel follows his encounters with numerous bureaucrats and military officers on his way to the front, the vast majority of whom are some combination of arrogant, incompetent, and corrupt, triumphing because his idiocy gets him out of scrapes as often as it gets him into them; it's never quite clear whether he really is an idiot, or putting on an act. I found the book genuinely laugh-out-loud funny, which is not bad for something a century old and translated from the Czech.
MartinP
Demi-God
While moping around recently with a nasty cold I finally got around to reading Some Desperate Glory by Emily Tesh, last years Hugo winner. As anticipated it was a good read and a worthy winner, which totally sold me the dummy half way through as I was trying to work out how the book wasn't about to end. An interesting take on "humanity fought a war with the aliens, and humanity lost", with perhaps a few pointed things to say about saving your Confederate money because "the South will rise again".
I also read Assistant to the Villain by Hannah Nicole Maehrer which is, erm, light reading? I'm sure it is shelved under Romantasy, although there isn't an awful lot of heaving bosoms going on by that standard (I think). The stand out feature to me was the heroine's total belief in the black and white morality of the world, when it was blindingly obvious that everyone around was being painted in shades of grey. I don't regret reading it, and I will seek out the further volumes in the series in the charity shop I got this one from or in the library ebook collection.
I also read Assistant to the Villain by Hannah Nicole Maehrer which is, erm, light reading? I'm sure it is shelved under Romantasy, although there isn't an awful lot of heaving bosoms going on by that standard (I think). The stand out feature to me was the heroine's total belief in the black and white morality of the world, when it was blindingly obvious that everyone around was being painted in shades of grey. I don't regret reading it, and I will seek out the further volumes in the series in the charity shop I got this one from or in the library ebook collection.
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