What are you currently reading?

[brlesh]

Finished up Tidepool by Nicole Wilson the other day.

While Tidepool borrows heavily from Lovecraft’s Shadows Over Innsmouth, Wilson throws in a major new twist and makes the story her own.

It did start to get repetitive in the second half and probably ran a little longer than it needed to, but overall I enjoyed Tidepool and would certainly read something else by Wilson.

Next, I’m about 80 pages into If You See Her by Ania Ahlborn, a creepy haunted house / ghost story that I am thoroughly enjoying to this point.

B

[sholloman81]

Just finished reading the Thunderstorm Black Voltage Private Reserve of Matt Serafini's "Rites of Extinction", a first time read & author for me. Had no idea what to expect going into this one and ended up being pretty surprised by the story. The beginning was a bit slow, and there were sections where I was completely confused as to what was happening, but eventually everything clicked into place and the story went from ok to very good. This is one of those stories that begs to be read more than once, if only to pick-up all the clues you miss the first time around. This story also had lots of genuinely creepy and gruesome scenes. Not sure if this story would have worked better as a novel or not, but I definitely would have loved to know a bit more about the mythology in the book, and also would have loved a bit more time with some of the side characters and town. Overall, I enjoyed this story and will be on the lookout for more of this author's works.

Am now reading the Thunderstorm Black Voltage VS of Brian Keene's & JF Gonzalez's "Clickers Vs. Zombies", a first time read for me. Have only read one previous Clickers book, but I remember it being very fun.

[Ben Staad]

Whalefall was a big MEH. I finally slogged through the last 100 pages last night and, to be honest, skipped/skimmed big chunks of the back story segments. I finally hit that point where I thought the structure of the story slowed down the narrative to a point it became boring.

It was well written however the story itself, and in particular, it's inability to create character(s) which I cared for very much hurt its ability for me to care about the interpersonal dialogue.

Hope you post a review at the end. That book has been on my radar for a while as it has gotten tons of praise from authors and reviewers that I respect. That being said, it also seems like I keep finding reasons to pass on it for something else. Not sure why. The only other book that I've read by Kraus was the Romero collab "The Living Dead" which I did enjoy.

 

[Ben Staad]

Now the exciting part. I can look through my TBR and start reading something else.

[sholloman81]

Whalefall was a big MEH. I finally slogged through the last 100 pages last night and, to be honest, skipped/skimmed big chunks of the back story segments. I finally hit that point where I thought the structure of the story slowed down the narrative to a point it became boring.

It was well written however the story itself, and in particular, it's inability to create character(s) which I cared for very much hurt its ability for me to care about the interpersonal dialogue.



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Thanks for posting! Maybe I'll read it at some point but I'm in no hurry at the moment as my TBR stack is huge!

[RonClinton]

Whalefall was a big MEH. I finally slogged through the last 100 pages last night and, to be honest, skipped/skimmed big chunks of the back story segments. I finally hit that point where I thought the structure of the story slowed down the narrative to a point it became boring.

It was well written however the story itself, and in particular, it's inability to create character(s) which I cared for very much hurt its ability for me to care about the interpersonal dialogue.



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I had the same reaction. Many seem to love the book, based on the social media hype I’ve seen, but it just didn’t click with me.

[DanFranklin]

May not be relevant, but we have a paperback of a short story collection by Kraus coming out in a few months, and it might scratch the itch without taking as much of an investment! Also, some of y'all talked about posting reviews--I know no one ever has a TBR run empty, but if you enjoy digital copies and want free access to any of the upcoming CD trades, you can absolutely reach out to Lisa Lebel or me (if it's to me, I'll forward you her way!).

[Ben Staad]

Thanks for the update and offer. Hopefully someone here can take you up on that.

May not be relevant, but we have a paperback of a short story collection by Kraus coming out in a few months, and it might scratch the itch without taking as much of an investment! Also, some of y'all talked about posting reviews--I know no one ever has a TBR run empty, but if you enjoy digital copies and want free access to any of the upcoming CD trades, you can absolutely reach out to Lisa Lebel or me (if it's to me, I'll forward you her way!).

 

[Boggle Champion]

Read Come Closer by Sara Gran on Friday, loved it. Great one-sitting book that really creeped me out.

Currently reading Odd Hours by Dean Koontz, the 4th Odd Thomas book. It's been about 2 years since I was last reading the series, but I find it enjoyable (didn't like book 2) and would like to maybe finish it this year.

[brlesh]

About 30 pages to go in The Outsiders by SE Hinton. Thoroughly enjoying this YA classic, though I’m several decades beyond the target audience.

B

[sholloman81]

Just finished reading the Thunderstorm Black Voltage VS of Brian Keene's & JF Gonzalez's "Clickers Vs. Zombies", a first time read for me. Had previously read a few of the other books in this series and always found them fun; so, I decided to give this one a try. Very glad that I did as this book was a blast. If you've enjoyed other Clicker books, then you will enjoy this one too. Even though I'm not as huge a Keene fan as others, I have read a handful of his books; so, it was fun seeing some of the characters from those books appear in this one, although I'm sure that I missed as many connections as I noticed. It was also very cool seeing some of his Labyrinth mythos laid out in this book. Definitely made me wany to read some of his backlist. Also really enjoyed the production values that Thunderstorm used for this one. The art fit the story, the binding and endpapers were great, etc. I hope Paul keep going with the VS line of books as I've enjoyed every entry so far!

Am now reading the Thunderstorm Black Voltage of Brian Everson's "Redemption", a first time read for me. I have high hopes for this one as I've enjoyed the previous entries in this series of books and can't wait to see how the story ends.

[sholloman81]

Just finished reading the Thunderstorm Black Voltage of Brian Everson's "Redemption", a first time read for me. Redemption is the end of a trilogy of books and sticks the landing in good fashion. There are lots of truly unique and quite horrific scenes in this one and all the main characters get a resolution to their stories. Much like King has his Dark Tower and Keene has his Labyrinth, Everson has his Carburide mythos, and it continues to get expanded in this one which was also very enjoyable as a long-time reader. Also, as usual, Thunderstorm's production values for the book were great. Especially like those endpapers, which fit well with the cover design. Overall, I'm glad to have finally read this story and added this book to my Thunderstorm collection.

Am now reading the Thunderstorm Black Voltage of Michael Seidlinger's "Anybody Home?", a first time read and author for me.

[brlesh]

Finished up The Outsiders by SE Hinton. Thoroughly enjoyed this YA classic about high school kids and class distinctions in a small Oklahoma town in the 60’s.

After The Outsiders, finished up Riding the Nightmare by Lisa Tuttle, another very good collection from this underrated author.

Later tonight I’m starting Rolling in the Deep, the final novella in the Mira Grant collection Apocalypse Scenarios: These are the Ways the World Ends. Really liked Into the Drowning Deep when I read it a few years ago, and the chance to read this prequel novella was my main reason for picking up Apocalypse Scenarios.

B

[sholloman81]

Just finished reading the Thunderstorm Black Voltage of Michael Seidlinger's "Anybody Home?", a first time read and author for me. While the idea behind this story is cool, I can't lie, this was a tough book for me. I'm not the biggest fan of books written in the second person; so, that took me a bit to get used to. I also thought the book's tone was a bit too meta/slick for my taste and that a lot of the characters' actions seemed unlikely. That being said, there was always something happening that seemed to keep me reading, and there were some seriously upsetting scenes sprinkled throughout the story. I think that I might have enjoyed this story better if it was a novella rather than a novel. Overall, glad to have read the book as the author had a cool idea (and the reference to the Saw movies in the story was quite funny), but I doubt that I will be rereading it any time soon.

Am now reading the Gauntlet LE of Blake Crouch's "The Last Town". I'm super excited to finally be reading this book and to see how the Wayward Pines trilogy wraps up!

[Halaineza]

Currently reading Atomic Habits and I love it.