What are you currently reading?

[Sock Monkey]

Six months after I started it, I finally finished Ellroy's The Black Dahlia today. I started this way back in July of last year. Part of the reason it took me so long to finish it, as I've previously mentioned, was because I paused to join my wife in a read of A Head Full of Ghosts. Another part was school. I think I read something like a dozen books this past semester. I can't complain too much because there was some fantastic reads--Mona Susan Power's The Grass Dancer was my favorite from the semester--but it does cut into recreational reading. All that being said, I wound up liking the book quite a bit. The huge pause in reading really hurt some of payoff in the book because I had forgotten some of the details, but it wraps up well. And, man, Ellroy can write.

Not too sure what I'm going to read next. I don't have any literature classes this next semester, which starts on Tuesday. My overall school reading should be somewhat lessened, at least fiction-wise, so I'm hoping to get more of my own book picks knocked off the list.

[dannyboy121070]

I've been on a short-story kick for a while...I just finished Lisa Morton's NIGHT TERRORS & OTHER TALES, which was really good. Morton is so underrated, especially as a short-story author. I enjoyed every story in this collection.

Started Gahan Wilson's THE CLEFT AND OTHER ODD TALES, which I am enjoying so far.

[Ben Staad]

Book 1 of Dungeon Crawler Carl. It's a fun read for the most part. It's a little hipper than I usually like but I'm finding it a nice reprieve from the heavier stuff I'm into.

What is gnawing at me is the number of books in the series. Does the story ever end? Will I like it enough to keep purchasing these? Does the shtick become redundant?

[brlesh]

Finished up Slaughterhouse Five, which ended up being another 60’s era sci-fi classic that completely fell flat for me.

Next up, American Cannibal edited by Rebecca Rowland.

Finished the first story, Candace Nola’s take on the infamous Roanoke colony mystery, which I liked quite a bit.

B

[brlesh]

Finished The House by Bentley Little.

This was an entertaining enough story filled with a ton of horrific imagery, but a convoluted plot line lessened my enjoyment of the second half.

Up next, starting Slaughterhouse Five by Kurt Vonnegut.

I haven’t read anything by Vonnegut since having to read Cat’s Cradle in my junior year of high school. Slaughterhouse Five seems to be his most well known novel.

B

[dannyboy121070]

If a fire struck my library and I only had time to grab one book from five authors among the thousands of books in it, a book by Charles Beaumont would be in the mix. His work is just outstandingly and timelessly good, one of my all-time favorites. There's a full-length biography upcoming from Centipede Press at some point, and I can't wait to get my hands on it...the rememberances from his friends in the Dark Harvest collection and William F. Nolan's short bio-bibliography are both nice, but Beaumont deserves a full-length exploration of his life and work.

Wow, high praise, indeed! The introduction to this book includes an overview of Beaumont's life, which served to really up my interest in the Centipede biography. Haven't heard any updates on that one in a long while, it seems...

[RonClinton]

I have one story left in the Charles Beaumont collection, A TOUCH OF THE CREATURE. I was a bit disappointed to find out that there IS no creature to be found in these pages (Meaning there are no Horror stories...), but the stories are so well-written that I stopped caring almost immediately. There's a lot of touching slice-of-life stuff on display here, and Beaumont writes in such an insidious way that you could easily miss a nasty plot turn if you aren't paying careful attention to everything he says. Highly recommended if you're looking for something a little different.

If a fire struck my library and I only had time to grab one book from five authors among the thousands of books in it, a book by Charles Beaumont would be in the mix. His work is just outstandingly and timelessly good, one of my all-time favorites. There's a full-length biography upcoming from Centipede Press at some point, and I can't wait to get my hands on it...the rememberances from his friends in the Dark Harvest collection and William F. Nolan's short bio-bibliography are both nice, but Beaumont deserves a full-length exploration of his life and work.

[dannyboy121070]

I have one story left in the Charles Beaumont collection, A TOUCH OF THE CREATURE. I was a bit disappointed to find out that there IS no creature to be found in these pages (Meaning there are no Horror stories...), but the stories are so well-written that I stopped caring almost immediately. There's a lot of touching slice-of-life stuff on display here, and Beaumont writes in such an insidious way that you could easily miss a nasty plot turn if you aren't paying careful attention to everything he says. Highly recommended if you're looking for something a little different.

[sholloman81]

Just finished reading the Thunderstorm LE of Chad Lutzke's "Bruises on A Butterfly". Really enjoyed this one but do wish it had been a bit longer as I think it could have benefited from a bit more room to breathe. Either way, this book had a ton of heart. Lutzke is fast becoming a favorite of mine!

Am now reading the SST LE of Stephen Graham Jones' "The Angel of Indian Lake". I have been looking forward to this one big time as I loved the first two books in the series. Can't wait to see how this series ends!!

[Sock Monkey]

I started reading the new edition of Centipede's 'SALEM'S LOT: STUDIES IN THE HORROR FILM. I think I'll start a new thread called "What book are you currently reading that you're afraid to touch?", lol.

LOL. This cracked me up. That should absolutely be a new thread!

[dannyboy121070]

I started reading the new edition of Centipede's 'SALEM'S LOT: STUDIES IN THE HORROR FILM. I think I'll start a new thread called "What book are you currently reading that you're afraid to touch?", lol.

[brlesh]

Finished up Patreon Stories by Philip Fracassi, which I liked a lot.

Next up, finished a short novella by Sara Tantlinger, To Be Devoured, which was a very dark & twisted read. Still trying to process this one.

Up next, will probably start a reread of The House by Bentley Little.

It’s probably been 20 to 25 years since I first read The House, though I do remember liking it at the time. As I recall, it’s one of his less formulaic novels.

B

[sholloman81]

Just finished reading the Thunderstorm LE of John Baltisberger's "No Guilt of Bloodshed", a part of the splatter western series. This was my second Baltisberger read and I liked it a lot. It was fun to see him mix Jewish mysticism with the West/Splatter side of things. Didn't really enjoy the main character as he's pretty unlikeable, but he did grow on me by the end of the book, and boy what a neat ending! It hints at a very cool crossover book with another author that I would definitely be down to read if it happens! Overall, glad to have read this book and added it to my collection.

Am now reading the Thunderstorm LE of Chad Lutzke's "Bruises on A Butterfly". Have never read this story but have high hopes as Lutzke's stuff has really grown on me over the last year.

[brlesh]

Williams is on my ever-expanding list of authors that just don't work for me, unfortunately. I haven't read anything by him that hasn't bored me and left me scratching my head.

The first thing I remember reading by Williams was The Unblemished, which I think was an early Halloween book from Earthling, so this would have been around 20 years ago. I really like The Unblemished (though at this point I don’t remember anything about that book).

But everything I’ve read after The Unblemished has either just bored me to tears or been WTF did I just read.

Honestly, I gave Remnant a chance just because the synopsis sounded interesting (I’m a sucker for arctic horror stories) but I think this will be the last I read by Williams.

Somewhere on the shelf I have an anthology of western stories that he edited. I may give that a try one day, though lord knows I certainly have more anthologies laying around than I‘ll ever read, so who knows at this point.

B

[dannyboy121070]

Finished up Remnant by Conrad Williams, which was an interesting story that ultimately left me feeling, as most of Williams’ work does, WTF did I just read.



B

Williams is on my ever-expanding list of authors that just don't work for me, unfortunately. I haven't read anything by him that hasn't bored me and left me scratching my head.