RIP (Read In Progress) Wednesday

[quillpunk]

It's Wednesday! What are you reading?

Comments

[althea_valara]

I am slowly reading Carl Sagan's Contact for the page-a-day January reading challenge at StoryGraph. It's a reread but it's been a long time since I've last read it, so it's been nice to revisit it.

That wasn't my first choice for this reading challenge, though. I wanted to reread Connie Willis' To Say Nothing of the Dog but I've misplaced my copy, alas. I hope to find it soon, because I think I could use a bit of silliness right now.

[hafnia]

Ahh, I love Contact, but it is pretty serious when compared to To Say Nothing of the Dog! I hope you find your copy :)

[vamp_ress]

I started "The Grapes of Wrath" a few days ago and so far it's really tedious. Additionally, the German translation is pretty bad as well. Both facts are really shocking, because I read "Of Mice and Men" as a teenager and absolutely loved it. So I was expecting that this book would blow my mind.

[valoise]

It's been a very long time since I read The Grapes of Wrath, but I do remember thinking the movie was better. Since then I've watched it many times (even made a fanvid) but was never tempted to return to the book.

[vamp_ress]

Thanks for the tip! I just checked the IMDB and from looking at the stills and the cast list I don't think I've ever seen this. Maybe I'll give it a go.

(There are very few examples, IMO, where the movie is better than the book. I wouldn't mind finding another one.)

[pauraque]

My reading kind of fell off a cliff with the end-of-year hecticness, but I hope to get back in the saddle soon. I have The Eye of the Heron by Ursula Le Guin out of the library, which will be a re-read... once I actually crack open the book. /o\

[screechfox]

I've not been reading much lately because I'm trying to catch up on Critical Role, but my current reads-on-the-go are:

Nona the Ninth, which I'm rereading. I was intending to finish my reread last year to try and manifest Alecto the Ninth news in the new year. If you believe Tumblr conspiracy theories, it may have worked anyway. We'll see!

This Way Up by Jay Foreman and Mark Cooper-Jones, aka the Map Men off Youtube. It's a fun read but honestly just makes me wish I was watching it in video form instead. I'm tempted to pick up the audiobook at some point to see how that is.

Duets, a short story collection published by Scratch Books. Every story is written by two authors. I've enjoyed the stories so far, although none have really stuck around, but I like how there's author commentary at the end on how they felt about the process.

[xwyndx]

*manifesting Alecto with you from the distance*

[hafnia]

I am about halfway through Bel Canto, after taking a brief pause to read a library hold (A Sorceress Comes to Call, which was meh).

Right now I'm mostly like, "ah okay this is the kind of literary fiction that wins awards because it's Weird and About Love", and...I mean, I am seriously thinking that's going to be the whole of it. I'm fine with that.

[mxroboto]

I dropped John Blackburn's A Scent of New-Mown Hay a little over halfway through because I couldn't stand his terrible writing anymore. Which was a pity, because it was the first scifi book to heavily feature fungus as an "antagonist." Supposedly. There was not a lot of fungus but there was a lot of repeating what they've learned at each other.

Moseying through a library copy of The Complete Gardener's Guide by DK Publishing and jotting down all my gardening dreams and things I'm learning.

Got another library hold that just arrived, eager to start that whenever I make my way over there.

Here's to a year of reading <3

[petrea_mitchell]

Since last time, I went back to the Dragaera books, reading Orca, Issola, and Dzur. Issola is where it really starts engaging with what originally got me interested in Dragaera in the first place, the business of aliens and the possibility that this is all science fiction underneath. Orca was pretty good too, though-- mostly about dealing with a potential financial crisis that I thought for sure was modelled on 2008 until I saw that the book was published a couple years too early.

A small resolution: I recently filled out a survey that asked how many books I read in a year, and I realized I have no idea anymore. I think it might be around 40-50. So I'm going to number them as I report them here and find out!

1. The Lost History of the New Madrid Earthquakes - a long, dense book that I'll probably still be reading next week, but a fascinating one as it deals with the aftermath of events that are barely remembered today.

[inchoatewords]

Wrong Place Wrong Time by Gillian McAllister for our nerdy book club; this is more "psychological thriller" than sci-fi/fantasy/what we usually read, but there is a time travel element.

[cornerofmadness]

Murder in the Ranks - a mystery set in WWII with the WAACs where one of the women is killed, it's quite good so far

[flareonfury]

Currently Reading:
+ A Mannequin for Christmas by Timothy Janovsky, bought it because it was Timothy Janovsky and I've loved several of his books and also for my love of the 1987 Mannequin movie (plus its sequel). I'm enjoying it so far, but it's taking me longer to read it since I'm only reading it at work.
+ Voidwalker by S.A. MacLean, really enjoying this one, I would have been done this ages ago but I didn't want it to end. I'll probably finish it this month though. I think I'm in the last part of the book.
+ Game Changer by Rachel Reid, I have the audiobook version and the accent that the voice actor does for Kip is horrible? Or like, just makes me cringe so I kinda keep backing out of it. I have read all the other books so they were fine and I love them, and I hate that I can't get through this book. I love Scott/Kip's episode in the Heated Rivalry show & I wanted more of them. I'm probably going to have to get my hands on a physical copy of that book to get through it.
+ Knot Her Shot by Ari Wright, a Kindle why choose romance that I bought forever ago and just now got around to it? So far it basically sucks. I like tiny parts of it? And I'm powering through it since I really don't want to start the year DNF anything but it's a battle. I'm so close to being done too.
+ What If... Wanda Maximoff and Peter Parker Were Siblings by Seanan McGuire, So far not bad? But I'm not in very far though, only reading it a few times a week for the last month.
+ Meg by Steve Alten, mostly because I really liked the movie and it was picked out for me by a bookclub. I am not really enjoying it though, it's a little too dry for me and it can't hold my attention (I haven't even gotten to point where they actually dive yet although he just arrived at the location). I'm going to try again maybe after watching the movie, maybe that might help? I think I'm more into movie/show horror genre than the book horror genre I guess.

Just Finished:
+ Jingle Spells by Emily Grimoire, a MF Christmas Witch book that I really hoped I'd enjoy a lot more than I did. I feel like it was way to long. And had a lot of annoying moments that made me walk away from the book a few times (I started this back in November or December). I think it was too long? And I don't normally say that about a book. There was just a lot of secondary characters and a lot of different plots, that if they cut back on some of them I think I might have enjoyed this more. Minus the forgetting spell. Also there's no clear reasoning behind the hate between withes & magicians? It's a trilogy and it's apparently book 2 of it, so maybe I missed some plot points in Book 1, but I don't really want to read it honestly - that sister didn't seem very likeable.
+ Blizzards and Bastards by C.M. Stunich (reread technically, re-started the reread in December and just finished), a why choose FMMMM Christmas book with lots of Christmas puns and curse words & tropes. I liked it so much back in December that I immediately started listening to it again (I have the audiobook - I LOVE THE DUET STYLE). Is it cheesy? Yeah. Is it highly unlikely to ever happen/unrealistic? Yes. Should the FMC have been aged up from 22? Yeah, definitely (I think besides her age and her horrible family are basically the only things I dislike, but you kinda are meant to hate her family). But I like it, and I'll probably listen to it again. Oh and fair warning that although it's basically said outright (or heavily implied) in the book that all the men are also implied to be in a relationship with each other - it's not actually shown in the book. Would I read a sequel? Yes. Am I going to check out the author's other works? Yes... but I'm not sure if I'll like them as much but we shall see. This book definitely isn't for anyone though, it has mixed reviews on Goodreads.

Finished within the last week:
Get Frosted by Amy Aislin & Silent Knight by Beth Bolden - basically a MM Hallmark Christmas small-town low stakes book series that takes place in the same town all by different authors. I wanted to like them a lot more than I actually did.

I feel like Get Frosted was the better out of the two? Would I probably grab the books in the series? Maybe? I liked the small-town romance and the setting and most of the characters. I do feel like Silent Knight was the weaker one out of the two, mostly because the author kept referring to her MAIN characters thoughts as their friends and that was so freaking annoying. I can understand doing that maybe once, but it's basically EVERY single time until the very end. Also the writing was not great? Not sure how to describe it, but both seemed off a little bit. Also Get Frosted seemed to be a closed-door book while Silent Knight was smuttier of the two? Not sure how the rest of the series is.

[xwyndx]

I just finished reading "Katabasis" by R. F. Kuang, it was a great exploration of academia, inequality and abuse, but sometimes the worldbuilding felt inconsistent. I liked it a lot but Babel remains my favorite book of hers.

Now I've started "Murder at Spindle Manor", which I'm listening to in original version (Katabasis I read translated). The English is a bit difficult but I'm loving it so far, it's presented a set of very different and fun characters all staying at the same boarding house and I guess now the murder part will start.

[hexmix]

a lil late but: just started reading Dune for a book club and while i don't think i'm far enough in to make any meaningful judgements yet i have taken issue with a few stylistic choices lol. also still technically reading Danielewski's Tom's Crossing, and still liking it, but it's just so dang long -_-

also just finished Jean Rhys' Wide Sargasso Sea for a diff book club, despite not having read Jane Eyre, and thought it was interesting. would like to reread it after reading Jane Eyre, but i also think it stands strongly enough on its own.

finished two other short reads which i enjoyed: Colm Toibin's A Long Winter and Katherine Addison's Witness for the Dead. i only recently discovered Addison and Sarah Monette were the same person, which was an absolute delight bc i love her Doctrine of Labyrinths series. going to continue working thru the Goblin Emperor novels c:

[sonotadream]

Starting the year with Pilgrim of Hate, part of the Brother Cadfael Mysteries and Water Logic by Laurie J. Marks. Enjoying both so far.

[valoise]

My son has just launched an online bookstore and over the holidays I accompanied him on several trips rummaging for books. I picked up a copy of Just Kids by Patti Smith at a thrift store because it looked interesting. I hadn't realized she wrote books. It's an account of the relationship/close friendship between her and Robert Maplethorpe. So far it's been really good, starting from their meeting in late 1960s NYC before she became a successful punk singer and before Maplethorpe began his career as a renowned photographer. I'm only a third of the way through and it is excellent.

[aflaminghalo]

The Silver Skull by Les Daniels. It's the second Don Sebastian story, and it's been a pretty slow start but I found the first one like that and then the second half flew, so I'm sticking with it.

[mistressofmuses]

I finished Through Gates of Garnet and Gold yesterday, and tonight I plan to start Ninth House. :)