# [June] What are you reading?



## Mark CMG (Jun 1, 2013)

Well, I've just finished the third book in Bernard Cornwell's Grail Quest series, Heretic.  And even though I had taken the fourth one, 1356, out of sequence just a short while ago, I think I will take it on again and see if it benefits a great deal (since it is my contention thus far that it stands alone quite well).


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## Lindeloef (Jun 1, 2013)

I started the Name of the Wind from Pat Rothfuss. Not far into it, so cannot comment how good it is but what i really like is, that he made the chapters short and other parts where you can easily stop reading. Nowadays it is really hard to find time to read, so I appreciate that. I don't like stopping in the middle of a page, somewhere in a sentence.


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## EricNoah (Jun 1, 2013)

Print: just finished up Methland (depressing!), in the middle of Cornwell's Saxon series.
ebook: still making my way through Return of the King - only now and then when I'm stuck in line somewhere without a book.
audiobook: about halfway through Anathem. Things make a lot more sense the second time through.


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## Nellisir (Jun 2, 2013)

After throwing out _The Left Hand of God_ and its sequel, (2/5, ?) I read _Roseanna_ by Maj Sjowall and Per Wahloo. (4/5)  I'm currently reading its sequel, _The Man Who Went Up In Smoke_.  Really good books. (4/5)


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## MercenaryfromLimbo (Jun 2, 2013)

_The Dragons of Babel _by Michael Swanwick. I've had this on my shelf since 08; I wish I had gotten around to it sooner. The storyline has me rethinking my opinion on the traditional fantasy fixtures--elves and dwarves--and considering the fact that I can throw out madeup races with unique names and still have a readable story. The tone is fairly gritty; a dwarven-built war dragon crashes in a fey village. Our protagonist, Will, is one of the few who can touch the dragon. Will's halfhuman, and that human blood allows him to touch iron without being burned. So Will becomes a sort of Chosen for the war dragon.

I like Swanwick's style because he has yet to bog himself down with extraneous details about the novel's setting.


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## delericho (Jun 2, 2013)

I finished "Treason's Harbour" by Patrick O'Brian yesterday, which was very good. The next volume is "Far Side of the World", which I should get to soon. I'm rather enjoying the Aubrey/Maturin series, though they're not the easiest books to read.

I've just started "Blood of the City" by Robin Laws - his second entry in the Pathfinder Tales. I'm actually enjoying these, too - they're definitely game fiction, but they do mostly seem to be on the top edge of the quality scale for game fiction.

Next up is probably "The Long Earth" by Pratchett and Baxter. Unless the next Pathfinder Adventure Path drops through my mailbox first.


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## Nytmare (Jun 2, 2013)

I'm just about to finish Mark Hodder's third Burton and Swineburne novel "Expedition the the Mountains of the Moon."  The series isn't really "spectacular" per se, and I feel like a lot of the action sequences were written in an effort to attract a random Hollywood executive's eye, but I've read through three of them now and the fourth is sitting in my Amazon shopping cart.

"Reamde" has been sitting unfinished on my cellphone for almost a year now.  I'm not really sure why I stalled out on that one, but I should start reading that again.

"The Stand" was just moved off the shelf and into my paper back book protector thingy.  My girlfriend and I had been talking about what books really stood out in our minds from our highschool years, and so I've been slowly working my way back through my old favorites.  It's amazing to me how many pages of those books have concrete memories attached to them as to where I was when I read them and what had been going on in my life.  

I also just started re-reading Larry Niven and Steven Barne's "Dream Park" series.  I pawned the first book off on my nephew last Christmas after I finished Ready Player One.  Now I'm checking to see if it'd be a good fit for my son.  If memory serves, I was about his age when I first read them.


[EDIT]  Whoa!  Looks like a new Dream Park novel came out in 2011?!


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## Zaukrie (Jun 3, 2013)

Just finished superfreakonoics. Just started "Jhegaala"by Steven Brust. I just found out I am several books behind....


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## Nellisir (Jun 3, 2013)

_Absolution Gap_, by Alastair Reynolds.  Wanted to finish the trilogy before I forgot all the characters.


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## EricNoah (Jun 3, 2013)

Nytmare said:


> "Reamde" has been sitting unfinished on my cellphone for almost a year now.  I'm not really sure why I stalled out on that one, but I should start reading that again.




Allow me to encourage you to pick this up again - I found it excellent.


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## Nytmare (Jun 3, 2013)

EricNoah said:


> Allow me to encourage you to pick this up again - I found it excellent.




I was thoroughly enjoying it, I just had a run of work at almost the exact middle of the book, and never picked up the reins again.


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## Jhaelen (Jun 4, 2013)

EricNoah said:


> Allow me to encourage you to pick this up again - I found it excellent.



I'm a big fan of Neal Stephenson but I thought it was rather meh. It started off really interesting but soon got bogged down, imho, because he added too many groups to the stew: gold farmers, hackers, terrorists, spies, ... 



Spoiler



In particularly the convenient coincidence of one of the world's most wanted terrorists living upstairs from the gold-farmers gone hackers in was a bit too much for my taste.


 I would have preferred a more focused story.


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## Jultach (Jun 4, 2013)

Jig the Dragonslayer... just started and its fun and very D&Dish.


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## Callahan09 (Jun 4, 2013)

Been reading Gardens of the Moon off and on for months.  I just for he time to really devote to reading sessions with it and its a book you can't appreciate or easily follow without devoting a fair amount of attention to it.  I like it but I just can't devote myself to it the way I need to to finish it.  Every time I get fair time to read a full chapter I'll go online and read the recap of everything that came before so I can recall what's going on and who's who, but it's not a great way to read that particular book.  Someday if I find myself with some more me time on my hands I'll probably just start it over.


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## Zaukrie (Jun 4, 2013)

The Jig books are very fun books.


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## LeStew (Jun 4, 2013)

It's a toss up between three or four titles right now.

The Lazy DM by Mick Shea (slyflourish.com)
The Neverwinter Campaign setting.  Again.
The Alexandria Link by Steve Berry
Inferno by Dan Brown

Plus I'm still doing daily bible readings.


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## Mallus (Jun 5, 2013)

I dropped the other books I was reading and am now tearing into the latest book in the Expanse series: _Abaddon's Gate_, by James S.A. Corey (who is really Daniel Abraham and Ty Franck writing together).   

The series really strikes a cord with me. The best way I can describe them is they're like the books that made me fall in love with cience fiction as a kid, but written for the middle-aged me, ie a guy who appreciates good writing but isn't out to prove how sophisticated their tastes are.


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## Mark CMG (Jun 5, 2013)

I've stumbled across an audiobook copy of R.A. Salvatore's The Ancient.  Should I put in the time?  (Especially since I haven't read/heard The Highwayman, which it follows.)

http://www.amazon.com/The-Ancient-Saga-First-King/dp/0765357445

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Ancient_(novel)


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## Nellisir (Jun 5, 2013)

Finished _Absolution Gap_.  It was good. 4/5 
Reading _Wolf to the Slaughter_, by Ruth Rendell.


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## EricNoah (Jun 9, 2013)

Setting Cornwell aside. Reading Year's Best Sci Fi 28 and Echo by Jack McDevitt.


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## Nellisir (Jun 10, 2013)

Finished _Wolf to the Slaughter_, which was decent but not great. 3/5.  
Stayed up too late just now and read _Still Water_, by Nigel McCrery, which was much better. Still an English Murder Mystery, with the Inspector and his dogged assistant, but a bit more up-to-date and with a bit of the bleak Scandinavian thriller thrown in. 4/5. The prologue is certainly twisted enough to be Scandinavian.

Not sure what I'll read next, but the next Nigel McCrery book is apparently called _Tooth and Claw_. I don't have that book, but I do have a well-reviewed book of the same title by Jo Walton, so maybe I'll take it as a sign.  Or I'll jump across the Irish Sea and read _Bleak Harbor_ by Tana French.

Edit: I took _Tooth and Claw_ off the shelf, so I guess that's up next.  Haven't opened it yet.


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## Lindeloef (Jun 10, 2013)

Finshed "Word of the Wind" from Patrick Rothfuss and started his 2nd Book "A Wiseman's fear"

My comments on Word of the Wind (spoiler free):
The book tells the story of Kothe who, in the book tells the story of his life. I really liked the Books except for 2 small parts. The first part was, when I realised that the book will tell us his life story and not about the events in the ""now"" time and the other is a story regarding the wedding. Oh and Kothe is kinda a Mary Sue, but in this case it didn't bother me.

In one chapter Kothe is really nervous and man, the author wrote it so well, that I was at least as nervous as Kothe, if not more. So Kudos to Pat.


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## true-darkmoon (Jun 10, 2013)

The Davincci code, I cant believe I havent gotten around to it before now


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## Nellisir (Jun 10, 2013)

Lindeloef said:


> Oh and Kothe is kinda a Mary Sue, but in this case it didn't bother me.



It will bother you more in the second book.


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## Lindeloef (Jun 10, 2013)

[MENTION=70]Nellisir[/MENTION]
thanks for the heads up


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## Nellisir (Jun 10, 2013)

true-darkmoon said:


> The Davincci code, I cant believe I havent gotten around to it before now




It was a huge bestseller, millions of people bought it, it's spawned two (?) movies and is a household name.

I thought it was a wonderful example of write-by-numbers, but I am snarky and cynical.  Your mileage may vary.


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## Nellisir (Jun 10, 2013)

Lindeloef said:


> <!-- BEGIN TEMPLATE: dbtech_usertag_mention -->@_*Nellisir*_<!-- END TEMPLATE: dbtech_usertag_mention -->
> thanks for the heads up



It's still a good book, and I'm still going to read the third one, but if you picked up on the Mary Sue issue in the first one, it's gonna put on a skirt and pom-poms for you in the second book.  I just pretend that Kvothe can't really read a calender, and when he says "day", I think "week", and when he says "month", I think "year".


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## Nellisir (Jun 12, 2013)

_Tooth and Claw_ was very good.  Different, very different, and also very good.  I'd give it a 4/5 without a qualm, and it came very close to 5/5.


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## Argyle King (Jun 12, 2013)

The Necronomicon H.P. Lovecraft Collection


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## Nellisir (Jun 12, 2013)

Started _The Immortality Engine_, by George Mann, last night.  It's OK so far; neither memorable nor terrible.  It does does have the stereotypical Victorian Steampunk characters from Central Casting: the Bold And Forthright Gal Friday Who Goes Into Dens of Iniquity With Aplomb In Search of Justice And Her Employer; the Opium-Addicted Genius Detective Who Employs the Gal Friday And Is Secretly Happy That She Goes Into Dens of Iniquity Looking For Him; and the Upright And Proper Detective From Scotland Yard Who Goes Hrumph And Has A Mustache And Does Not Think It Is Proper That Gal Friday Should Go Into Dens of Iniquity.

Just once I'd like to see a central female character walk into a Den Of Iniquity, roll her eyes, and say something like "This is it?  Six kids with the trots and no washing machine; THAT'S a proper mess"  or "Is that a dead body? That's hardly nothin' at all!  My Uncle Dafydd was dead in his barn a week in August heat; THAT'S a proper stink".

*Edit: *As it is Wednesday, I'm mostly reading comics.  _Fearless Defenders_, _Uncanny X-Force_, _Wolverine and the X-Men_, _Astonishing X-Men_, _Astonishing X-Men: Monstrous TPB_, _New Mutants: Date with the Devil TPB_, and a bunch of freebies/leftovers the store owner threw in my bag.


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## Elodan (Jun 14, 2013)

Finished _Gunmetal Magic_ by Ilona Andrews.  It's set in the Kate Daniels universe and centers on her best friend Andrea.  While the series had a bit more romance than I care for (borrowed from the wife), the characters and world are interesting.  Another good book in that world.

Currently 1/3 of the way through _Shadow Prowler_ by Alexey Pehov.  It bears a lot of similarities to the Lord of the Rings in that a great evil is returning and that there are elves and dwarves, but there's enough of a difference between these and the standard.  Fun read so far.


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## Jhaelen (Jun 19, 2013)

After finishing Peter Hamilton's 'Great North Road' which, as usually, didn't disappoint, I've now started reading 'Children of the Sky' by Vernor Vinge. It's a sequel to 'Fire Upon the Deep' one of the most intriguing sci-fi novels I've ever read. Unfortunately, it's been _ages_ since I read it (well, 20 years) and my memories of it are a bit hazy and slow to return.


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## Nellisir (Jun 19, 2013)

Started _Broken Harbor_ by Tana French. It's been a few years since I read the first three, so was wondering if maybe my memories were a little rose tinted.  Not so.  Am loving this book.  

Although it was creeping me the f*ck out last night, enough so I had trouble going to sleep.

Have not finished _The Immortality Engine_.  Later.  Have a better book for now.


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## Nellisir (Jun 20, 2013)

Finished _Broken Harbor_.  Excellent, excellent book, 5/5.  Tana French once again looks at family, friendship, and going well and truly batshit insane.


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## Everett (Jun 21, 2013)

Nellisir said:


> Finished _Broken Harbor_.  Excellent, excellent book, 5/5.  Tana French once again looks at family, friendship, and going well and truly batshit insane.




I loved Tana French's first 3, but couldn't get into Broken Harbour for some reason.  I read maybe half of it.  Maybe the narrator this time around just wasn't a headspace I wanted to be in, maybe the book seemed needlessly dense.


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## Nellisir (Jun 22, 2013)

Everett said:


> I loved Tana French's first 3, but couldn't get into Broken Harbour for some reason.  I read maybe half of it.  Maybe the narrator this time around just wasn't a headspace I wanted to be in, maybe the book seemed needlessly dense.




Interesting.  I loved the first one, really liked the second one, and the third one didn't quite catch for me.  Good, but not memorable.


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## Everett (Jun 22, 2013)

Nellisir said:


> Interesting.  I loved the first one, really liked the second one, and the third one didn't quite catch for me.  Good, but not memorable.




You'll notice how much more ornate the style of _In The Woods_ is, comparatively, than the latter three books.  That's because she didn't hit on the tack of switching narrators every book until after writing it; thus it ends on a flat note, central mystery unresolved; she figured she'd just finish Rob's story in the next book.  She may yet get back to him eventually.

Frank Mackey in _Faithful Place_ is by far my favorite of her characters; the guy's just 150% believable.


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## Nellisir (Jun 22, 2013)

Everett said:


> You'll notice how much more ornate the style of _In The Woods_ is, comparatively, than the latter three books.  That's because she didn't hit on the tack of switching narrators every book until after writing it; thus it ends on a flat note, central mystery unresolved; she figured she'd just finish Rob's story in the next book.  She may yet get back to him eventually.
> Frank Mackey in _Faithful Place_ is by far my favorite of her characters; the guy's just 150% believable.



I read them a few years ago, and I've read a lot of books since then, so I don't really remember how ornate it was.

I liked how _In The Woods_ ended. It was different, and...the "current" mystery; the impetus for the story, was solved.  I'm not sure I'd call the earlier one the central mystery, although it's certainly the backdrop against which everything plays out. (Maybe the core mystery? I dunno.  The story doesn't break because it's unsolved.)  _Broken Harbor_ does something similar.


There's a book...frack, I can't remember the name right now, but it's sci-fi, cyber-punkish, and it ends on a total downbeat.  The protagonist basically gets roped into doing the devil's work, and by the end of the book, while he's overcome his "current" obstacles, he's fallen into the employ of the one person he'd always avoided. His friends have deserted him, and no one trusts him.  Won the battle, lost the war.
It's a very good book. Fairly well known, actually, and I'm totally blanking on it and the author.  Anyways, it & _In The Woods_ remind me of each other.  Win the battle, lose the war. 

But, everyone likes what they like, or not.  I recommended _In The Woods_ to a really good friend, and she hated it with a passion.


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## Crothian (Jun 22, 2013)

I'm reading _Day by Day Armageddon: Exile _ the second book in a Zombie series but one of the better zombie books I've read.  I've been on a bit of a Zombie kick lately and read a lot of different zombie books but most have been mediocre to bad.


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## Everett (Jun 22, 2013)

I don't know how to do the buttons or blacked text to hide spoilers.  **SPOILERS HERE**




Nellisir said:


> There's a book...frack, I can't remember the name right now, but it's sci-fi, cyber-punkish, and it ends on a total downbeat.  The protagonist basically gets roped into doing the devil's work, and by the end of the book, while he's overcome his "current" obstacles, he's fallen into the employ of the one person he'd always avoided. His friends have deserted him, and no one trusts him.  Won the battle, lost the war. It's a very good book. Fairly well known, actually, and I'm totally blanking on it and the author.  Anyways, it & _In The Woods_ remind me of each other.  Win the battle, lose the war.




Except that in _In The Woods_ he loses the battle AND the war.  Loses his partner, his job, no closer to solving the mystery of his past and a psychopath goes free.  So... what did he win?  If she ever finishes Rob's story, he's got one hell of an uphill climb in front of him.



			
				Nelliser said:
			
		

> But, everyone likes what they like, or not.  I recommended _In The Woods_ to a really good friend, and she hated it with a passion.




While I enjoyed the book well enough, the style is so vividly impressionistic that it's sometimes hard to believe that the narrator is male; that's my only issue with it.


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## Nellisir (Jun 22, 2013)

Everett said:


> ...the style is so vividly impressionistic that it's sometimes hard to believe that the narrator is male; that's my only issue with it.




Huh.  That didn't even register for me.  I liked the viewpoint as male, and the fact that it wasn't stark, black and white, literal, and generic. Both Rob and Mick "Scorcher" Kennedy came across as having emotional depths & complexity that authors don't often portray for men; I think that's truer to life than not.  I don't recall whatshisface in the third book that way, though.


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## Elodan (Jun 23, 2013)

Finished _Shadow Prowler_ by Alexey Pehov.  Liked it well enough that I'll pick up the next in the series.  I knew it was part of a trilogy but the book pretty much just stops at a certain stage of the journey with no real climax to it.  A little weird.

Started _Tricked _by Kevin Hearne.  The forth book in the Iron Druid chronicles.  I almost put the first book down because it started really slow.  I'm very glad I pushed on because each book has been better than the last.


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## Everett (Jun 23, 2013)

Nellisir said:


> Huh.  That didn't even register for me.  I liked the viewpoint as male, and the fact that it wasn't stark, black and white, literal, and generic. Both Rob and Mick "Scorcher" Kennedy came across as having emotional depths & complexity that authors don't often portray for men; I think that's truer to life than not.  I don't recall whatshisface in the third book that way, though.




http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/08/08/AR2010080802334.html

The first paragraph is exactly how I felt, too, when I finished the book.

Sometimes Rob Ryan's voice rang true to me; sometimes I felt like I was reading someone who'd jumped straight into novel writing without ever trying her hand on the page before (which is true).  All the later narrators seem very real to me -- even Scorcher, who I just don't like enough to get immersed in his story.  Sometimes the imagistic "highs" and the poeticism of Rob's internal landscape -- the sheerly euphonistic way he talks about being a murder detective -- just seem off, to me.


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## Nellisir (Jun 24, 2013)

Everett said:


> http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/08/08/AR2010080802334.html
> 
> The first paragraph is exactly how I felt, too, when I finished the book.
> 
> Sometimes Rob Ryan's voice rang true to me; sometimes I felt like I was reading someone who'd jumped straight into novel writing without ever trying her hand on the page before (which is true).  All the later narrators seem very real to me -- even Scorcher, who I just don't like enough to get immersed in his story.  Sometimes the imagistic "highs" and the poeticism of Rob's internal landscape -- the sheerly euphonistic way he talks about being a murder detective -- just seem off, to me.




Basically, out of four books, you liked two a bit better, and I liked the other two a bit better.

I call that a win for Tana French.


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## Krug (Jun 24, 2013)

Been reading Fearsome Journeys, an anthology of fantasy stories. An excellent Scott Lynch story in the same world as Gentleman Bastards. KJ Parker and Daniel Abraham's stories aren't too bad either.


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## Mage of Spellford (Jun 25, 2013)

Green Rider series by Kristen Britain, four books so far in the series. I am on book three, good series. Typical spunky female protagonist but the plots are original and the last book that I read "First Rider" has a back-story that is ready-made for a game world. Not what I would call adult fiction -- no graphic violence or sex -- teen friendly.

No spoilers but it is pretty cool!


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## Nellisir (Jun 26, 2013)

Finished _The Immorality Engine_ (not _The Immortality Engine_, as I thought, although frankly, either title works).  I would give this a strictly average rating, except for one thing.  When bombs are going off around you in the street, and you are blown off your feet, you fall to the GROUND.  You do not fall to the FLOOR.  Not the first time, not the second time, not any time.

So 2/5 for _The Immorality Engine_. Frankly, I powered through it last night just to finish it.  Read this if you need a nap, or love steampunk more than you love interesting characters, novel ideas, or intriguing plots.

Have started _The Laughing Policeman_, featuring the indomitable Martin Brek, if by indomitable one means mopey, sniffly, and of notable persistence only because he can't think of anything better to do.  These books have probably the most doggedly realistic policework of any series I've read.  Very good books, BTW.


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## Richards (Jun 26, 2013)

I'm reading _The Girl Who Loved Tom Gordon_, by Stephen King.  One of his I had never gotten around to reading, and I'm making up for that now.  So far it's been really good.

Johnathan


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## The Gibbergeist (Jun 26, 2013)

Silmarillion, just started...


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## Nellisir (Jun 27, 2013)

Stayed up waaay too late last night to finish _The Laughing Policeman_.  4/5.  I'm a little annoyed that the introduction spoiled the quasi-twist at the end; I don't know if I would have hated it or loved it if I hadn't known about it, and I rather resent not being given the chance to find out.

Probably going to read comics for a bit: I splurged and got _House of M: No More Mutants_ and_ House of M: Wolverine/Iron Man/Hulk_, and those just arrived today. Plus it's New Comics Wednesday, and today was a bumper crop - _Avengers Arena_; _Wolverine & The X-Men_; _All-New X-Men_; _Uncanny X-Men_; _X-Men_; & _Uncanny X-Force_.

I'm in the mood to read something longer when I do another book though, so..._House of Bedlam_?  _1493_?  _The Distant Hours_? _Tropic of Night_? _The Return of Captain John Emmett_? (I bought it so I assumed something about it looked interesting, though it hasn't caught my eye since then...).

Birthday on Friday.  (Also 10th wedding anniversary, but who's counting?)  Mother-in-law sent $$$.  She is an omnivorous reading machine that make me look like a remedial student, so in her honor I will probably go hit some used bookstores and find some more of the Martin Beck series, and stuff by Jussi Adler-Olsen.

(To be honest, if I were really to go shopping for me in the spirit of her, I'd have to buy myself a book of weird facts and something related to cats.  Fifteen years I've known her, and every year, I get the cat thing and my wife gets the dog thing. Just because I had two cats, and my wife had a dog when we met.  Household currently at one cat (same) & two dogs (different), at least for now.)


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## Hishen (Jul 28, 2013)

Richards said:


> I'm reading _The Girl Who Loved Tom Gordon_, by Stephen King.  One of his I had never gotten around to reading, and I'm making up for that now.  So far it's been really good.
> 
> Johnathan




i was searching for this book for sometime if you have any sort of link or pdf file please send me.. or contact me


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## Nellisir (Jul 29, 2013)

Hishen said:


> i was searching for this book for sometime if you have any sort of link or pdf file please send me.. or contact me




http://www.amazon.com/The-Girl-Love...sr=1-1&keywords=the+girl+who+loved+tom+gordon


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## megamania (Jul 29, 2013)

Trying something entirely different... James Patterson books.  Easy simple reads.   Not bad.


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