# April '08: What Are You Reading?



## Angel Tarragon (Apr 1, 2008)

I picked up In the Shadow of the Moon: A Challenging Journey to Tranquility, 1965-1969 at the library yesterday, an I am enjoying it quite a bit.


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## Blackrat (Apr 1, 2008)

_Theology: Introduction to Research_ - Yeah, I'm reading for an exam that's in early june .
For fun: _The Orc King_ - I started this in christmas but the move to new flat made me misplace it and I just recently found it again.


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## GoodKingJayIII (Apr 1, 2008)

Finally started reading some _Dresden Files_.  Working on _Fool's Moon_ right now.  Also found my old copy of _American Gods_, so I'll probably start working on that again (never finished it).  Also _On the Road_.  And I think I'd like to read _Snow Crash_ next.  How I missed Neal Stephenson I don't know.

Oh, and LSAT test prep!  Does that count?


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## EricNoah (Apr 1, 2008)

Still listening to _Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell_, and started reading _Post Captain _ (Jack Aubrey book #2).


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## HeavenShallBurn (Apr 1, 2008)

_Hate: Why Everything Sucks_...April Fools

What I'm actually reading is _The Making of Modern Japan_ and _The Chinese_


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## Banshee16 (Apr 1, 2008)

She is the Darkness, by Glen Cook..

Banshee


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## Ebon Shar (Apr 1, 2008)

I'm reading Inside Straight, the new Wild Cards Anthology.  It's good, but much weaker than earlier Wild Card books.


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## Steve Jung (Apr 1, 2008)

I'm reading_ Murder on K Street_ by Margaret Truman.


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## Crothian (Apr 1, 2008)

I just started Guard Guards today.


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## Darkwolf71 (Apr 1, 2008)

Mostly Conan comic reprints.

Dark Horse seems determined to reprint every Conan book Marvel ever published in collection form. Fine by me, most of my collection disappeared during the time I was in the Navy. Currently paging through the first two collections of Savage Sword of Conan, 1974-1976 or so. And the color Conan the Barbarian set is up to #14.


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## Wombat (Apr 1, 2008)

EricNoah said:
			
		

> Still listening to _Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell_, and started reading _Post Captain _ (Jack Aubrey book #2).




Huzzah for both choices  

Just finished _To Kill A Mockingbird_ and am now picking up _Vienna 1814_.


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## Croesus (Apr 2, 2008)

_Physics of the Impossible_ by Michio Kaku. Fascinating book.


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## Fallen Seraph (Apr 2, 2008)

Finally got around to buying and starting to read William Gibson's _The Difference Engine_.


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## Storm Raven (Apr 2, 2008)

I just got my June issues of _Analog_ and _Asimov's_, so those are at the top of my reading list right now. After that, Clarke's _Expedition to Earth_ and Asimov's _The Bicentennial Man_. In between I'm going through _Bruce Coville's Book of Monsters_ (yes, I do read through all my kids' books before they get them).


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## trancejeremy (Apr 2, 2008)

*The Horror in the Museum* by HP Lovecraft and Others. I had read it years ago, but decided to buy it since I have most of his other work in some book or another.

Basically it's the stories he revised for other writers.  Mostly it's pretty bad, actually, but a few are decent.  The Mound, Out of the Aeons, The Diary of Alonzo Typer stand out as good. A few more are decent.

It's interesting though to see how the revisions are different than what he'd normally write, but at the same time, it's got a lot of his writing style. For instance, a lot of dialogue in some of them. Or actual female characters. (I mean, there's like one in all of his other stuff, almost, and she was really a he in a woman's body. And I guess a couple landladies get brief mentions in a couple others).


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## bento (Apr 2, 2008)

More than half-way through *The Anubis Murders * by E. Gary Gygax.  After that I'll be reading *The Five Love Languages * by Gary Chapman that my wife recommended.


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## delericho (Apr 2, 2008)

"The Last Kingdom" by Bernard Cornwell. I've only read the prologue so far, but it seems very much like his other books. Which suits me fine.

Some time this month, I'm also going to try to finish off "Monte Cook's World of Darkness", which I started late last year but never quite got through.


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## Shade (Apr 2, 2008)

_Elantris_ by Brandon Sanderson.


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## Angel Tarragon (Apr 2, 2008)

bento said:
			
		

> More than half-way through *The Anubis Murders * by E. Gary Gygax.



How is this bento? I've been mulling over buying it.


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## atom crash (Apr 2, 2008)

I've been reading a lot lately, something I haven't had an opportunity to do since getting married nearly 2 years ago. Yay!

I'm working my way through Paizo's _Planet Stories_ line. I've read _Black God's Kiss_ by CL Moore and _City of the Beast_ by Moorcock. I just finished _Elak of Atlantis_ by Henry Kuttner a few minutes ago, and I intend to read Gygax's _The Anubis Murders_ next week.

I'm also working my way through Clark Ashton Smith's short stories -- found them online at www.eldritchdark.com. So far my favorites are "The Beast of Averoigne" and "The Ice Demon." And I recently finished the first Robert E Howard's Conan collection, _The Coming of Conan the Cimmerian_.

Yeah, I've been devouring old sword & sorcery stories lately.

Now I'm trying to decide what to start next. The books I have and am itching to start are China Mieville's _Perdido Street Station_, Jim Hines' _Goblin Quest_, and three anthologies from Elder Signs Press: _High Seas Cthulhu: Swashbuckling Adventure Meets the Mythos_, _Frontier Cthulhu: Ancient Horrors in the New World_, and _Hardboiled Cthulhu: Two-Fisted Tales of Tentacled Terror_.


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## Orius (Apr 3, 2008)

Rereading Eddings' _Belgarath the Sorcerer_.  Been busy with lots of other things lately, so just reading some light stuff to pass the time.


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## AdmundfortGeographer (Apr 3, 2008)

Three books on my nightstand for reading this month.

*Nonfiction*
_The Forgotten Man: A New History of the Great Depression_ by Amity Shlaes​
*Fiction* (both reprints by Nightshade Books)
_The Dragon Never Sleeps_ by Glen Cook
_A Passage At Arms_ by Glen Cook​


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## BadMojo (Apr 3, 2008)

I'm reading Del Rey's last Conan collection, _The Conquering Sword of Conan_.  This one has some of the very best of the best Conan stuff.  They certainly got the good stuff in the last book, including "Red Nails" and "Beyond the Black River".

I'm also reading _Realms of War_, a collection of Forgotten Realms short fiction.  I've only read the first story so far, Paul Kemp's "Continuum", but it bodes well for the rest of the book.


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## BadMojo (Apr 3, 2008)

atom crash said:
			
		

> I
> I'm working my way through Paizo's _Planet Stories_ line.




Any favorites so far?

If you do decide to read "Perdido Street Station" next, you'll find that it's a big change of pace from the pulp and S&S stuff.  By pace, I really do mean _pace_.  Perdido Street is excellent, but the pace is leisurely to say the least.  Still a very rewarding book.  There are bits of that book that will be seared in to my brain forever.


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## bento (Apr 3, 2008)

Reveille said:
			
		

> How is this bento? I've been mulling over buying it.



You know, I've been pleasantly surprised.  

It's a murder-mystery wrapped in a fantasy setting - much like our own world but with magic and mythological gods.  The book centers around Setne Inhetep, an Aegpytian detective who travels  to Loundon on behalf of the country's top mages to solve a mystery.  The characters are likable and Gygax's writing style is clear and with just enough flavor to bring the setting to life, without taking away from the plot.  Chapters are about 7 to 10 pages in length, making it perfect bed time reading.

I'm planning on picking up the other EGG's books in this series.


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## atom crash (Apr 3, 2008)

> Any favorites so far?




I've enjoyed them all so far. Moorcock's book is basically his own version of John Carter of Mars; Kuttner's book is reminiscent of Howard's Conan stories. Moore's _Black God's Kiss_ is one of the few sword & sorcery tales with a female protagonist, and I especially liked it for that.

I've found them all so far to be very light, fun reading. If you like other sword & sorcery stuff, you'll love these.

Bento's description of _The Anubis Murders_ makes me even more eager to read that one.

And I'm interested in _Perdido Street Station_ primarily for the change of pace.


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## S. Baldrick (Apr 4, 2008)

I just started "Small Favor" (The Dresden Files, Book 10) by Jim Butcher.


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## mrtauntaun (Apr 4, 2008)

S. Baldrick said:
			
		

> I just started "Small Favor" (The Dresden Files, Book 10) by Jim Butcher.




Just finished tha the other night.  It does NOT disappoint.  Loved it.


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## S. Baldrick (Apr 8, 2008)

I just finished up "Small Favor" by Jim Butcher and I have moved to "Almuric" by Robert E. Howard


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## Ebon Shar (Apr 8, 2008)

S. Baldrick said:
			
		

> I just finished up "Small Favor" by Jim Butcher and I have moved to "Almuric" by Robert E. Howard




I read Almuric as a kid, when I had no idea how to pronounce Esau.  I've got fond memories of that book, as well as Lin Carter's Thongor series.  Sadly, Not sure how either of them would hold up today.


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## Relique Hunter (Apr 8, 2008)

I'm a World War II history buff.

I've been reading The Library of Congress World War II Companion.


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## Exquisite Dead Guy (Apr 9, 2008)

Books read this month:
_Damned Nation_ edited by Robert N. Lee & David T. Wilbanks 
_Logan's Run_ by William F. Nolan and George Clayton Johnson
_To Your Scattered Bodies Go_ by Philip Jose Farmer
_The Fabulous Riverboat_ by Philip Jose Farmer (in progress)
Next up, _The Dark Design_ by Philip Jose Farmer

Audio books listened to this month (I drive a lot for work):
_Blaze_  by Steven King
_Duma Key_ by Steven King (in progress)
Next up, ???


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## noretoc (Apr 10, 2008)

Fallen Seraph said:
			
		

> Finally got around to buying and starting to read William Gibson's _The Difference Engine_.




I just picked up neuromancer.  I am impressed.  I have always been a fan on the genre, but never had a chance to read it.  It's awesome.


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## Graybeard (Apr 10, 2008)

Currently reading the Eberron novel Voyage of the Morning Dawn.


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## Crothian (Apr 10, 2008)

I just finished Blindness the book a new movie is based on of the same name.  I'm betting the movie will be better then the book because the book was just that bad.

I'm in the middle of the Charles Schulz biography which is very good.

I finished Watchman graphic novel yesterday.  I try to read the comics my friend designs the toys for.


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## Hand of Evil (Apr 10, 2008)

Ancient Blood by Robert Earl, a Warhammer novel.


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## evildmguy (Apr 10, 2008)

Finished Butcher's Small Favor.  

Finished Armstrong's Personal Demon.  

Reading Tanya Huff's Blood Trail.  

Also reading a few books from mental_floss, like the beginning of everything.  Usually read these before going to sleep.  

Waiting for the next Sookie Stackhouse book.

edg


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## Eridanis (Apr 10, 2008)

Finished _Ghost Rider_ by Neil Peart (see sig). Now reading _The Art of Travel_ by de Button; a surprisingly interesting little book about the interaction of art and travel, with philosophical thoughts on how travel improves the soul and mind.


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## JoeGKushner (Apr 12, 2008)

Daniel Hood: A Familiar Dragon. Low fantasy dark ages material that's part adventure part mystery. City based so good for many of the campaign types I tend to run. A three part hardcover collection from the old-sci-fi bookclub. There are two books out that take place after this but as they're both long out of print, I don't hold a lot of hope of getting them.


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## Wombat (Apr 12, 2008)

On to Phil Rickman again for a while!  Just read _The Smile of a Ghost_ and am now reading _December_.

Great stuff.    I love the _subtler _end of horror/supernatural.


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## HeavenShallBurn (Apr 12, 2008)

Currently on _The Making of Modern Japan_ and _The Chinese_


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## Knightfall (Apr 13, 2008)

I sat in front of my computer reading Jack London's _The Call of the Wild_ until 3 a.m last night. I hadn't read it since school, so I thought it was time to refresh my memory.


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## Krug (Apr 13, 2008)

*Monster island* - Not bad so far.


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## sckeener (Apr 21, 2008)

*The Crooked Letter by Sean Williams*

I just finished reading the Crooked Letter by Sean Williams (Books of the Cataclysm 1).

I enjoyed it very much and plan on picking up book two this week.  

Hard to describe the book without giving things away...basically it is a modern fantasy dealing with two mirror twins that bring about a cataclysm.  The twins get separated, one in the new fantasy world made by the cataclysm and the other in the underworld.  It has a ton of gods and goddess as well as some farrealm-ish concepts...realms beyond realms...gods being just powerful individuals...and quite crazy.  fun stuff.


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## WayneLigon (Apr 21, 2008)

Just finished _Small Favors_, the latest Harry Dresden novel. Just as good as all the others. Mmmmm.

I also finished up _In the Courts of the Crimson Kings_, by SM Sterling. It's the companion book to _The Sky People_, about an alternate universe where the dreams of life on our nearest planets turned out to be true. The previous book featured a Venus of jungles, dinosaurs and women in fur bikinis. This book is about Mars.

Right now, I'm reading _Devil's Cape_ by Rod Rogers, one of WoTC's Discoveries books. It's a world of superheroes, and Devil's Cape is a town where evil has always won.


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## Starman (Apr 21, 2008)

I finally have some time to read, so I have picked up _The Warrior Prophet_ by R. Scott Bakker. The first book in the trilogy was great and I can't wait to see where this book goes.


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## EricNoah (Apr 21, 2008)

Finished my _Strange & Norrell _ audiobook.  Started _HMS Surprise_ (Aubrey/Maturin #3), and also have _Gentlemen of the Road _ to read as well.  I have _Almuric _ in my car to read on lunch breaks.


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## Mark Chance (Apr 22, 2008)

Not reading much right now. Just Chronicles of the Crusades by Jean de Joinville and Geffroy de Villehardouin, translated by Margaret R. B. Shaw.


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## sckeener (Apr 22, 2008)

Starman said:
			
		

> I finally have some time to read, so I have picked up _The Warrior Prophet_ by R. Scott Bakker. The first book in the trilogy was great and I can't wait to see where this book goes.





A good trilogy, but you can tell he had more time to write the first one that the other two.  They are still great.

I like the maps...
Eärwa Map 4109 Year-of-the-Tusk





The Western Three Seas Map 4109 Year-of-the-Tusk 





And then there is the glossary...(I love it when books include them)
http://www.princeofnothing.com/index.php?page=glossary


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## Eridanis (Apr 24, 2008)

Humphrey Carter's biography of Tolkien is on tap right now, as well as a book called the Listener's Guide to Choral Masterworks.

I'm also re-reading the 1E Player's Handbook and T1/I3-5/G1-3 in anticipation of starting a 1E campaign in the near-distant future. (My wife wants to try an earlier edition of D&D than 3E, and now looks like a good time to try it.)


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## Wombat (Apr 25, 2008)

Re-reading _Harry Potter & the Deathly Hallows_ so I can discuss it with my niece & nephew.

After that, I have Cokie Robert's book _Founding Mothers_ on dock.


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## Evilhalfling (Apr 25, 2008)

a compliation called the Great Book of Amber, books 1-10, on book 7,  I think. 
took a break from that to reread Fool Moon by Jim Butcher 

Next up Butchers latest Dresden Files book (if my gaming buddy remembers to bring it this time) 
or Bulfinches' Mythology - its waiting for me at the library, going to try for just book 3.  

Also reading a "special report on conducting citizen surveys" - 133 pg, before appendixies 
sometimes being an urban planner is less fun than others.


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## HeavenShallBurn (Apr 25, 2008)

Currently beginning _Absolute War_, it covers the Soviet war on the Eastern Front during WW2.  And in detail that probably won't be matched for some time as Putin closed access to the archives the author used for research in the last couple years.

After that, I've finally gotten _Sons of Oak_ and will be finishing the Runelords series I started quite a few years ago.


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## Asmo (Apr 28, 2008)

"The Curse of Chalion" by Lois McMaster Bujold. I´ve read 100 pages, and -to be frank- it doesn´t happen much. Please tell me that it´s getting better.

Asmo


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## GoodKingJayIII (Apr 28, 2008)

_Paladin of Souls_ by Lois McMaster Bujold
_Ilium_ by Dan Simmons
_Our Story Begins_ by Tobias Wolff


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## HeavenShallBurn (Apr 28, 2008)

GoodKingJayIII said:
			
		

> _Ilium_ by Dan Simmons



OOh that's a good one, the second in the series _Olympos_ only gets better.


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## Shade (Apr 28, 2008)

_Three Hearts and Three Lions_ by Poul Anderson.


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## GSHamster (Apr 28, 2008)

Asmo said:
			
		

> "The Curse of Chalion" by Lois McMaster Bujold. I´ve read 100 pages, and -to be frank- it doesn´t happen much. Please tell me that it´s getting better.




I adored that book, but it is slower-paced. It does pick up, but it's not extremely action-oriented.


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## S. Baldrick (Apr 30, 2008)

I just started *Arundel* by Kenneth Roberts.


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## Aus_Snow (Apr 30, 2008)

The Fionavar Tapestry, at the moment. Halfway through now.

It's that, and several RPG supplements, plus a couple of history books I put on the back burner some time ago.

Technically, it's May here. Oh well.


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## Krug (Apr 30, 2008)

Just finished *Stiff* by Mary Roach. About human cadavers and all the stuff that we do with 'em. Fun.


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## Starman (Apr 30, 2008)

HeavenShallBurn said:
			
		

> OOh that's a good one, the second in the series _Olympos_ only gets better.




After The Hyperion Cantos and Ilium/Olympos, Dan Simmons has become one of my favorite authors.


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## Phoenix8008 (Apr 30, 2008)

After a long spell not reading anything, I just recently finished reading *Star Wars- Exile* and *Sacrifice*, books 4 and 5 in the Legacy of the Force series. To sate my thirst for Star Wars until I get ahold of books 6-8, I'm now reading *Star Wars- Death Star*. It's okay so far, but the Legacy of the Force series is much better. I can't wait to get the other books and read them. I believe the final book in the series (#9) comes out in May.


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## Ebon Shar (Apr 30, 2008)

I just received The Last Argument of Kings by Joe Abercrombie, but I have to finish Feast of Souls by C.S. Friedman first!


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## Orc_Courtesy (May 1, 2008)

Inspired by some of what y'all are reading, I did a search for Night Shade Books at the NY public library and turned up all kinds of goodness - I quickly maxed out my 15 allowable inter-library loans. I'm particularly psyched about Liz Williams' Detective Chen books and the Manly Wade Wellman and David Drake fantasy short collections. I didn't recognize all of the Night Shade authors, but I know enough of what they're publishing is awesome that I'd take a chance on one of their books sight unseen.

Sadly, NYPL doesn't have many Planet Stories books, another publisher I feel the same way about.


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