What are you currently reading?

[Ben Staad]

Last night I started Station 11 by Emily St. John Mandel. I'm in the shallow end of the story and finding it well done so far. The author is doing a very good job at setting scenes, tone, and letting me be inside the narrative.

Edit: FYI. I purchased a large print, used HC edition, from Walmart. The condition was listed as good. As expected it was a discarded library edition that is readable but pretty far from good condition.

[brlesh]

Started The Withering Hours, a short story collection by Morgan Sylvia.

To my recollection this the first thing I’ve read by Sylvia, and at the half way point I’m really enjoying this collection of mainly folk horror stories.

B

[jeffingoff]

This may make jeffingoff happy. I'm just about ready to skim read the last third or so of Bentley Little's new one, CITY HALL. I think I may have finally gotten my fill of his trademark surreal/satire/horror take on institutions. That exhaustion started to a degree with DMV, his book previous to this one (I didn't care at all for BEHIND, his non-satire novel between DMV and CITY HALL), but feels full-blown on this new one. After reading all his books (not all of them adopt this approach, but those that do) that take this approach, CITY HALL feels far too familiar, too rote, too step-by-step, even down to the basic cast of evil characters and the types of bizarre actions they take. It feels like a book I've read repeatedly, and this kind of numbing familiarity snaps me time and again out of the story.

This brings me no joy. I want more happiness in the world even if I don't understand how anyone could have derived happiness from a Little read. This is a bummer, Ron! I guess you just need to know it has to be something you're in the mood for before you pick up another Little.

[sholloman81]

This may make jeffingoff happy. I'm just about ready to skim read the last third or so of Bentley Little's new one, CITY HALL. I think I may have finally gotten my fill of his trademark surreal/satire/horror take on institutions. That exhaustion started to a degree with DMV, his book previous to this one (I didn't care at all for BEHIND, his non-satire novel between DMV and CITY HALL), but feels full-blown on this new one. After reading all his books (not all of them adopt this approach, but those that do) that take this approach, CITY HALL feels far too familiar, too rote, too step-by-step, even down to the basic cast of evil characters and the types of bizarre actions they take. It feels like a book I've read repeatedly, and this kind of numbing familiarity snaps me time and again out of the story.

Too funny! I came to this same conclusion a good while back. I had picked up a large box of Bentley Little books from a yard sale. I believe it was around 20 books and had to have been pretty much everything that he had written up to that point. I stupidly made the mistake of reading them back-to-back to plow through the box. After a handful of reads, I started to feel like a bunch of them were almost written via template, especially the "institution messing with people" types that you mention. Once my mind saw that, I couldn't unsee it which ruined future books for me. I still love a few of his early books such as The Mailman but the idea of reading anything new by Little leaves me cold.

[RonClinton]

This may make jeffingoff happy. I'm just about ready to skim read the last third or so of Bentley Little's new one, CITY HALL. I think I may have finally gotten my fill of his trademark surreal/satire/horror take on institutions. That exhaustion started to a degree with DMV, his book previous to this one (I didn't care at all for BEHIND, his non-satire novel between DMV and CITY HALL), but feels full-blown on this new one. After reading all his books (not all of them adopt this approach, but those that do) that take this approach, CITY HALL feels far too familiar, too rote, too step-by-step, even down to the basic cast of evil characters and the types of bizarre actions they take. It feels like a book I've read repeatedly, and this kind of numbing familiarity snaps me time and again out of the story.

[sholloman81]

Finished up Project Hail Mary, which ultimately I ended up liking quite a bit, though there were a couple of times throughout the book where I zoned out on the story. Looking forward to seeing the movie.

B

Glad to hear that you liked this one as it's still sitting in my TBR pile! Perhaps the movie will prompt me to move it up the stack. It's gotten great reviews.

[sholloman81]

Just finished reading the Thunderstorm LE of Tim Waggoner's "Like Death", a first-time read for me. I really liked this one. I enjoyed the way the author went about setting up and exploring some of his Shadow mythos which has continued in a handful of his other novels. It was very weird and creepy. There were also some very cool extreme horror scenes that really worked well for the story and characters. My only small complaint for the book would be that the main character is a bit unlikeable; however, that aspect actually fits the plot well. Overall, I'm glad to have finally read this book and can't wait to read the sequel soon!

Am now reading the Thunderstorm LE of Bridgett Nelson's "Blossoming Decay", a first-time read and author for me. Have high hopes for this one as the story descriptions seem right up my alley.

[brlesh]

Finished up Project Hail Mary, which ultimately I ended up liking quite a bit, though there were a couple of times throughout the book where I zoned out on the story. Looking forward to seeing the movie.

Currently half way through the second novella of Windhaven by Martin & Tuttle.

Similar to the first novella; nothing groundbreaking going on, but it is a very well told & entertaining story.

B

[dannyboy121070]

I finished Luigi Musolino's A DIFFERENT DARKNESS AND OTHER ABOMINATIONS last night, which I ended up (mostly) loving, The first three stories were grouped in an unfortunate way, since they were all what I think of as "nonsense stories", where a man/woman/child takes a wrong turn or wrong exit and finds themselves in a familiar, yet different, world. (Oooohhhh!!) I've read too many of these displaced person tales, and they're all the same. There's even a story later on in the volume where an entire town finds itself displaced. Not a fan of these types of stories. Musolino has an undeniably strong writing style, though, and even the predictible stories were literate enough to keep me interested. He really shines with the two novellas that close out the collection, though. Given more time and space, he really excels at characterization. I hope Valancourt publishes more from him.

[sholloman81]

Just finished reading the Thunderstorm LE of Rebecca Rowland's "White Trash & Recycled Nightmares", a first time read and author. For me, this collection was solid but not special. You can tell that the author really knows her craft as all of the stories were put together well and were interesting; however, none of them ever rose to the truly special level for me. Some readers may also not like that the majority of the stories' endings tended to happen "off screen" requiring your imagination to fill in the blanks.

Am now reading the Thunderstorm LE of Tim Waggoner's "Like Death", a first-time read for me.

[Ben Staad]

I've stopped reading JH novels. I haven't liked any in many years.

- 20th Century Ghosts (One of my favorite collections ever)
- HSB (Very good and I liked this a lot)
- Horns (Okay and enjoyable)
- NOS4A2 (Hated it but read it)
- The Fireman (DNF)
- Strange Weather (DNF)
- Full Throttle (DNF)
- King Sorrow (Didn't purchase)

So you are not alone. I so very much want to like him but it just isn't working for me.

Ended up -- as I suggested I might earlier in this (?) thread -- DNFing KING SORROW by Joe Hill at around page 250. Just couldn't do it anymore. I can objectively see why many (most?) folks are digging this one since Hill can obviously write, but there were too many issues that ran counter to the type of story I enjoy at the moment and it became abundantly clear that that wasn't going to change, so I finally threw in the towel. Given how much I enjoy Hill's other work, I'm still really looking forward to his next release (a historical horror novel) and just calling KING SORROW a one-off disappointment (well, if one forgets about THE FIREMAN, I suppose).

Read a couple very short novellas to counter the massive tome size of Hill's book: DISPLACED PERSON by Lee Harding and THE STAR OF THE SHOW by Kealan Patrick Burke. The first -- a 1979 novella written, I believe, for the Australian YA market -- was a bit meh and certainly didn't rival Bentley Little's THE IGNORED as the final word on the theme, though it had some interesting scenes. Kealan's novella was, of course, great...each time I read him I'm reminded how his work sings.

[RonClinton]

Started CITY HALL by Bentley Little.

[brlesh]

Finished up Little Horn by Gemma Files. I liked more than I disliked in this uneven collection.

After Little Horn, I read the first novella (Storms) in Windhaven by George R. R. Martin and Lisa Tuttle. A fantasy coming-of-age story about a young girl who cannot be a flier, but falls in love with flying anyways. A rather predictable plot line, which I enjoyed nonetheless.

This morning I started Project Hail Mary by Andy Weir. Want to read this before the upcoming movie opens. This is the first thing I’ve ever read by Weir. I have high hopes for this one. My last couple of science fiction reads have not gone very well.

B

[RonClinton]

Ended up -- as I suggested I might earlier in this (?) thread -- DNFing KING SORROW by Joe Hill at around page 250. Just couldn't do it anymore. I can objectively see why many (most?) folks are digging this one since Hill can obviously write, but there were too many issues that ran counter to the type of story I enjoy at the moment and it became abundantly clear that that wasn't going to change, so I finally threw in the towel. Given how much I enjoy Hill's other work, I'm still really looking forward to his next release (a historical horror novel) and just calling KING SORROW a one-off disappointment (well, if one forgets about THE FIREMAN, I suppose).

Read a couple very short novellas to counter the massive tome size of Hill's book: DISPLACED PERSON by Lee Harding and THE STAR OF THE SHOW by Kealan Patrick Burke. The first -- a 1979 novella written, I believe, for the Australian YA market -- was a bit meh and certainly didn't rival Bentley Little's THE IGNORED as the final word on the theme, though it had some interesting scenes. Kealan's novella was, of course, great...each time I read him I'm reminded how his work sings.

[sholloman81]

Just finished reading the Lividian LE of Justin Cronin's "The Ferryman", a first time read for me. Absolutely loved this one! While I was able to figure out the mystery aspect of the plot fairly early, it didn't detract one iota from my enjoyment of the story. I truly loved the ideas and philosophical musings enmeshed in the plot, and pretty much all of the characters felt fully fleshed out and real to me. I also really loved the ending and how full of hope and joy it was while still tinged with the bittersweet. Totally had me in my feelings. Overall, while not as groundbreaking as The Passage, this book still totally rocked and will be one that I reread in the future for sure. Very happy to have this edition on my shelf!

Am now reading the Thunderstorm LE of Rebecca Rowland's "White Trash & Recycled Nightmares", a first time read and author for me. Hope I like it!