What are you currently reading?

[Martin]

Nice grab bag items. I also passed on Sky as Lansdale’s more bizarro stuff doesn’t always connect with me as well as his other fiction does.

Jane Goes North does not fall into the bizarro stuff. It is much closer to Hap and Leonard. I do believe The Sky Done Ripped will, I believe, fall into that category.

[Martin]

I'm reading Red Hands by Christopher Golden and the Transmetropolitan comic series.

Please let us know about the Golden book. My limited reading of his work has left me wanting more.

[khaos]

Please let us know about the Golden book. My limited reading of his work has left me wanting more.

I'm enjoying it so far. Continues the Ben Walker character from The Pandora Room and Ararat. That's what made me order it and moved it up my list. I didn't realize that when it came out so I didn't order it until several months after release.

[sholloman81]

Recently received the limited edition of Robert McCammon's "Usher's Passing" from CD and just finished giving it a read. I enjoyed it much more this time around than when I first read it many years ago. Doubt McCammon would ever write a sequel as that doesn't seem to be his sort of thing; however, the conclusion of this book definitely left room for it. I would love to see what these characters are now up to now. In terms of the book's production, I enjoyed every aspect of it except for the slipcase. I really wish CD would have chosen something more unique than a standard black slipcase. I also wish that CD had printed the title of the book on the spine of the slipcase rather than leave it blank. I display my books spine-out; however, with there being no indication of the title or author on the spine of the slipcase, one would have to pull the book out of the slipcase to really know what they are looking at. I would probably know since it is my library and I arranged it; however, any guests who are looking at my collection would have no idea of what I am displaying. Still, overall, I am very glad to have added this book to my collection.

[sholloman81]

I'm enjoying it so far. Continues the Ben Walker character from The Pandora Room and Ararat. That's what made me order it and moved it up my list. I didn't realize that when it came out so I didn't order it until several months after release.

I've also really enjoyed the Ben Walker series of books so far and am hoping that Golden will keep it going. I also think that someone should do a limited edition of Ararat asap as that book truly deserves it.

[sholloman81]

Recently picked-up the Tolkien's Classics set from Easton Press which includes: The Hobbit, The Lord of the Rings Trilogy, & The Silmarillion. Have been wanting a nice set of these books for a while. Just finished reading The Hobbit. Been a few years since I last read it and it still holds-up as one of my favorite fantasy reads of all-time. It always makes me a bit sad when I run across people who only know this book via the recent movie trilogy. They are truly missing out as this is a fantastic book and considered a classic for a reason. Not to mention that the movies were completely Disneyfied and managed to leave out lots of plot points even though they broke a single book into a trilogy of movies.

[Martin]

Finished the Owen King Little Book, I find the books with assorted random writings to be hit and miss. This one was no exception but there were more hits than misses.
I will give thoughts on each section.
Fiction: 4 Short stories and I enjoyed them all.
Reviews: 2 Bookreviews that I enjoyed but will add they are not spoiler free.
Introductions: 2 Book introductions that both were interesting.
Essays: 6 Non fictions essays that make up the best section of the book. At this point I was really digging the book.
Baseball: 5 essays about baseball. I love reading about baseball but these stories did nothing for me. I really did not need to know what Mr. Kings predictions for the 2011 season were or how he did. I will add that this appears to be the section that began losing the proof readers as the errors in text picked up here.
Music: 9 short essays that tied in some way to music or a musician. Again, I love reading about music but I did not care for these essays.
Lists: 2 strange lists. I will admit that the list of movies that would have been better with Steve Buscemi was entertaining. I did not need to know about his top ten 'Stutter' songs.

Over all i really enjoyed this. I gave it four stars. If they left out the Baseball and Music sections it would have been a five star read.

[brlesh]

Half way through Those Across the River by Christopher Buehlman and really liking it so far.

It has a strong southern gothic feel to it, and is genuinely creepy at times.

Buehlmam also writes with a definite sense of humor.

Hope the second half maintains the momentum of the first half.

B

[Martin]

Many years ago Paul at Thunderstorm gifted me two books for something I had done for him. One of those books was 'Timber Gray' by Ronald Kelly. As much as I enjoy Ronald Kelly the idea of a western from him kept this one on the shelf for a long time. Some recent Lansdale reads got me thinking about this book so I decided to give it a read. about half way through I am really enjoying this tale.

[mhatchett]

Many years ago Paul at Thunderstorm gifted me two books for something I had done for him. One of those books was 'Timber Gray' by Ronald Kelly. As much as I enjoy Ronald Kelly the idea of a western from him kept this one on the shelf for a long time. Some recent Lansdale reads got me thinking about this book so I decided to give it a read. about half way through I am really enjoying this tale.

That one is still in the TBR list. Thanks for the Nudge!

[brlesh]

Finished Those Across the River the other night. Liked it a lot, though the ending felt rushed.

It was a great book for the first 250 pages.

The last 80 pages were a good book.

Started Exorcisms & Ecstacies by Karl Edward Wagner the other night.

120 pages in and enjoying this one a lot so far.

B

[Martin]

That one is still in the TBR list. Thanks for the Nudge!

On the home stretch and still loving the story.

[khaos]

Please let us know about the Golden book. My limited reading of his work has left me wanting more.

I liked the book a lot, the middle was a little slow for a few chapters. But I think this is my 2nd favorite of the Ben Walker books. Ararat being my favorite.

I just finished Dead Girls Club by Damien Angelica Walters. Really good book only detracted by some similar books I've read fairly recently.

Planning to start the new Joe Lansdale, Moon Lake, but I think Amazon doesn't really want me to. Release day delivery is not working so well this time.

[Martin]

I liked the book a lot, the middle was a little slow for a few chapters. But I think this is my 2nd favorite of the Ben Walker books. Ararat being my favorite.

I just finished Dead Girls Club by Damien Angelica Walters. Really good book only detracted by some similar books I've read fairly recently.

Planning to start the new Joe Lansdale, Moon Lake, but I think Amazon doesn't really want me to. Release day delivery is not working so well this time.

Thanks for the information. I did not realize it was part of an existing series. Ararat has been on my radar for a long time. I will probably go with that one soon.

[khaos]

Thanks for the information. I did not realize it was part of an existing series. Ararat has been on my radar for a long time. I will probably go with that one soon.

I'd say it's a light series. You could read the books out of order with only some light spoilers. There is less tie between them than a typical series. That said I would read Ararat first. I keep hoping Golden comes back to some stuff from this book.