What are you reading right now?

[GormanGhaste]

I mentioned earlier in this thread how much I enjoyed reading Seraphina, and I just realized I've missed the publication date of its sequel, Shadow Scale, by over a month. I think it's an interesting take on dragons, and I know there are a lot of dragon fans here!

[Ana]

I just finished reading "The Hobbit" which i found to be really like the movie (except that Gandalf and the Dwarves knew about the ring the whole time).. ANd now im into chapter 8 of the first "lord of the ring book" sooooo UNLIKE the movie... part of me is going hmmm why make the movie SO much different from the book!! I really love the movie dont get me wrong.. but man its different from the book!!

[Karathyriel]

It's different because it had to be shortened.
I love to read TLotR, but I always skip things like songs or poems.
I think they are boring and bring no info for the story whatsoever.

[Rawr]

So after I found the joy and wonder of Audible, I have been eating up books left and right. Recently I finished the Divine Dungeon Series as well as the first two books of the Completionist Series, both written by the say guy.

[Ana]

I set a goal to read the bible in a year. I started january 1st and atm I am almost through the book of Joshua. I think I will try to do this every year. I meditate in what I read and study too so I get the meaning of the things I read.

Previouslly I have read the bible once every 3rd year but I wanted to do it once a year and I really enjoy it

[Dewclaw]

Stephen King Desperation.

[GormanGhaste]

Just finished reading Hilary Mantel's Wolf Hall and am in the middle of the sequel, Bring up the Bodies. They take place during the reign of Henry VIII from the perspective of Thomas Cromwell. Recommend.

Also reading Semiosis by Sue Burke. Science fiction on a planet with intelligent plants.

[Wain]

Just finished reading Hilary Mantel's Wolf Hall and am in the middle of the sequel, Bring up the Bodies. They take place during the reign of Henry VIII from the perspective of Thomas Cromwell. Recommend.

Also reading Semiosis by Sue Burke. Science fiction on a planet with intelligent plants.

Wolf Hall sounds pretty interesting! I'll look for it.

I'm currently reading The Faerie Queene by Edmund Spenser, which is slow reading but I have a weird interest in earlier English literature, and this poem was deliberately archaic even for its time (late 1500s). Until you get used to it the spelling makes reading cumbersome - for example Spenser frequently uses "u" for "v" and vice versa, "y" is used in some places we'd use an "i", extraneous final "e"s (that often don't seem to have a historical basis), and many other oddities. Like, I had to stare at the word "yuie" for a minute before I realized it was "ivy" (!). But once you get used to that, it gets easier. It's also cool in that Spenser uses a number of English words that haven't survived to modern times, but are related to words in other Germanic languages, like "eke" for "also" (like German auch, Dutch ook, etc.), and "hight" for "named" (Dutch "heet", German "heisse"). It's weird, but I enjoy that kind of thing

[GormanGhaste]

Mantel update: now that I've finished Bring up the Bodies, I would recommend reading Wolf Hall and just stopping there

I like reading older works too--I'd like to sit down and read Canterbury Tales all the way through someday.

[Wain]

Mantel update: now that I've finished Bring up the Bodies, I would recommend reading Wolf Hall and just stopping there

I like reading older works too--I'd like to sit down and read Canterbury Tales all the way through someday.

Please do! If you love that kind of thing it's a great experience It's also a pretty amazing depiction of the different social and religious strata of the 1300s. Chaucer seems to have had a very good understanding of people from all walks of life in England, as well as being a very talented storyteller, in a time when neither would have been common. Granted, he did borrow a lot of his story ideas from the Decameron

[GormanGhaste]

Just finished re-reading Hurley's Bel Dame Apocrypha trilogy (starts with God's War). Not sure what it says about me that I turned to those books when I needed a comfort read

Canterbury update: have a nice edition on my bedside table now--we'll see how long it takes me!

[GormanGhaste]

Yes, I also recommend Night Circus. I read her second book, The Starless Sea, and didn't like it as much as I had hoped I would.

[Wain]

I loved the Night Circus so much! I'd heard that her newer book wasn't as well liked, but haven't yet read it myself.

I'm actually just reading the Gormenghast trilogy for the first time. I'm only part way through the first book and am loving it. Everything is so cleverly described, with a great deal of nuance and metaphor. I'm finding it requires a lot more concentration than the average novel, which makes it a slightly slower read, but in an enjoyable way.

[GormanGhaste]

Scrolled up the thread a bit to refresh myself, and now have Spenser's Faerie Queene on my tbr list.

I'm not sure I've finished the third Gormenghast novel; I consider it a duology. The third novel was published posthumously, written from his notes. It just seems a completely different beast. I do love the books, they are rambling dilapidated building porn Combine that with quirky characters, and it's like they were written for me!

Just finished re-reading Walton's Tooth and Claw for our book club. It's like an Austen or Trollope novel, except the characters are dragons instead of humans

[Wain]

Scrolled up the thread a bit to refresh myself, and now have Spenser's Faerie Queene on my tbr list.

I'm not sure I've finished the third Gormenghast novel; I consider it a duology. The third novel was published posthumously, written from his notes. It just seems a completely different beast. I do love the books, they are rambling dilapidated building porn Combine that with quirky characters, and it's like they were written for me!

Just finished re-reading Walton's Tooth and Claw for our book club. It's like an Austen or Trollope novel, except the characters are dragons instead of humans

I bought an e-book version of the "illustrated" Gorgmenghast, which means it's sparsely peppered with doodles and sketches from the author's notes. It was packaged as a trilogy, so I guess I'll see how the third book compares

As for the Faerie Queene, I ended up reading the first two books (of 6), which were combined in the one volume. And I felt that was really enough for me. It was actually marketed as all six books but by half of the way through I came to the depressing realization I had barely made a dint in the entire set. It was interesting, but I also found it tiresome after a while and couldn't have endured finishing all six. Maybe you'll feel differently about it

[GormanGhaste]

Haven't made any progress with Faerie Queen Currently re-reading Dune in anticipation of the Villeneuve film.

Just finished Clarke's Piranesi. The novel was an auto-buy, because I loved Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell so much. I don't think it was as good and wouldn't really recommend, but I enjoyed it well enough.

Also just finished Nye's Hugging the Jukebox poetry collection. Definitely recommend--loved it start to finish. Unfortunately out-of-print.

[Wain]

Just finished Clarke's Piranesi. The novel was an auto-buy, because I loved Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell so much. I don't think it was as good and wouldn't really recommend, but I enjoyed it well enough.

Oh wow, I didn’t know she had a new book out! I *loved* Jonathan Strange (and the tv adaptation) and I must read this one, even if your review was lukewarm

I’m still reading Gormenghast. The descriptions are really dense but beautiful. I’m still really enjoying it, and its cast of awful characters.

[GormanGhaste]

Oh wow, I didn’t know she had a new book out! I *loved* Jonathan Strange (and the tv adaptation) and I must read this one, even if your review was lukewarm

I’m still reading Gormenghast. The descriptions are really dense but beautiful. I’m still really enjoying it, and its cast of awful characters.

Oh I get it, I had to read it too. It suffers in comparison to her first book. Without being spoilery, I can say I really enjoyed the way the main character interacts with his environment, and the ending of the book as well. I'm meh about the rest.

I also finished Fowler's we are all completely beside ourselves. For anyone who wants to read it, don't read reviews, or the book cover, or anything before the first chapter or you may be spoiled. The issues in the novel would probably be of interest to many petopians, but all I could think when I finished it was what a horrible decision her parents made in the first place.

About to start our book club's October book, Kingfisher's Wizard's Guide to Defensive Baking. Sounds like fun--the main character's familiar is a sourdough starter!

[GormanGhaste]

Currently reading Glukhovsky's Metro 2033, post-apocalyptic fiction that takes place in Moscow's underground. I'm also finally getting around to reading Corey's Leviathan Wakes. I've been watching The Expanse tv show, and a friend is letting me borrow her copies of the whole series. And I've downloaded Wecker's The Hidden Palace, a sequel to her The Golem and the Jinni. I liked the first novel, takes place in NYC in the early 1900s.

[Herness]

Robin Sharma - Monk who sold his Ferrari