What are you currently reading?

[RonClinton]

Finished off in one night (last night) the new novella from Lawrence Block, RESUME SPEED (Sub Press). Not earth-shakingly original, by any means, but entertaining and well-done...reminds me a bit of a novella one might have found in the old Manhunt mystery magazine (man-on-the-run-with-a-secret trope)...and that's a good thing.

[mhatchett]

I just finished off The Last Argument of Kings and started up Great Expectations by Charles Dickens. For good measure I am keeping my expectations low.

Love Joe Abercrombie!

[Theli]

It was a great trilogy!

[Daninsky]

It was a great trilogy!

My wife and I read them together and had very mixed feelings. I thought the series started off like wildfire and I was thrilled reading the first book, as was she. By the time we'd finished, however, we were both pretty disappointed. Felt like neither the writing nor the characters developed much at all over the course of the whole trilogy and it wound up leaving both of us feeling a bit cold. As such, it remains squarely in the camp (for me) of "missed potential." I guess I just wanted it to be so much more than it was. In fairness, though, it is still better than a lot of 'epic dark fantasy' being marketed at present.

Just our personal opinions, though! And I know we're largely in the minority as far as that goes. Glad you loved them!

[Theli]

I have to agree with you, but to a lesser degree of severity. By the time I finished The Last Argument of Kings I also felt a bit like the characters and writing had not developed much. The odd thing about the characters was that you felt there was some personal growth going on, but by the end they were all right back to where they were when they started. I suppose that was Abercrombie's intention, but it left me a bit cold as well. For that reason I would say The Last Argument of Kings was the weakest effort of the three, as by the end it felt predictable, like it was just "more of the same". However the first two books completely engaged me, and I loved the dark, cynical and yet at times humorous edge to the series. Also worth note is that it is better than most others in the same category. Even comparing it to Martin's A Song of Ice and Fire series, it too started strong (possibly even stronger than this series) and then really sputtered out on the last two... and it's still not done! Abercrombie at least had a concise story and wrapped it up.

[Daninsky]

Abercrombie at least had a concise story and wrapped it up.

You better believe it and he gets major points for that.

[mhatchett]

Just finished Thomas Perry's Old Man and a baseball book, Odd Man Out: A year on the Mound with a Minor League Misfit, enjoyed them both. Old Man is sort of a Bourne Identity story for seniors LOL!! I love Perry's first book, The Butcher's Boy, one of the best Hit Man books ever written!

[bookworm 1]

104 pages into The Twelve. So far this is even better then The Passage.

[Theli]

^ I still have yet to get to that series. Sounds promising.

Just finished Thomas Perry's Old Man and a baseball book, Odd Man Out: A year on the Mound with a Minor League Misfit, enjoyed them both. Old Man is sort of a Bourne Identity story for seniors LOL!! I love Perry's first book, The Butcher's Boy, one of the best Hit Man books ever written!

Butcher's Boy sounds interesting. Might have to look into it.

I just finished Great Expectations then The Old Man and the Sea. I really enjoyed both. I'm about to tackle Moby Dick. Trying to work my way through more classics this year.

[thelion]

^ I still have yet to get to that series. Sounds promising.

It's an excellent series and I think The City of Mirrors is the best book in the trilogy. Definitely worth reading...

Butcher's Boy sounds interesting. Might have to look into it.

I haven't read Butcher's Boy, but I read the sequel Sleeping Dogs (I didn't know it was part of an ongoing series) and it was outstanding. I'll have to give Butcher's Boy a try as well one of these days.

- Brian

[daverob]

Finished Nathaniel West's Miss Lonelyhearts yesterday and almost done now with The Year of Magical Thinking by Joan Didion. It's been weekend of heavy reading.

[mhatchett]

It's an excellent series and I think The City of Mirrors is the best book in the trilogy. Definitely worth reading...



I haven't read Butcher's Boy, but I read the sequel Sleeping Dogs (I didn't know it was part of an ongoing series) and it was outstanding. I'll have to give Butcher's Boy a try as well one of these days.

- Brian

There is a 3rd book in the series, The Informant 2011. I have all 3 books, but I'm missing a good 1st edition of Butchers Boy. I have a serviceable Ex-library edition.

[Sock Monkey]

104 pages into The Twelve. So far this is even better then The Passage.

I need to get to this. I loved the first book. Kinda thinking about doing a reread before tackling the other two books.

[c marvel]

I'm reading The Best Of Dark Moon Digest. I'm on the fourth story-Pearls by Ed Kurtz. This collection is really awesome. The stories are short and this book really is laid out well. I wish I'd grabbed this as my next-to-be-read a while ago.


Cap

[mhatchett]

Just finished Tom Bouman's sequel to Dry Bones in the Valley, Fateful Mornings. Set in rural Pennsylvania, poor rural, fracked Pennsylvania, Bouman's books are full of pain and longing, but also hope, a very small measure of hope. Really enjoyed it, watch for the clues, they're there, but don't look for an easy solution, it's not.