What's top of your reading list?

[jsorensen]

Started reading Joe by Larry Brown.  'Bout 20% through on teh Kindle scale and it's been pretty good so far...

[delboy]

Just finished Absolute Power by David Baldacci. In some parts this was a masterclass in suspense writing, although the outlandish plot meant I never quite bought into it as a whole. Still, I'm glad I read it for what I learned about the aforementioned suspense writing.

Kind regards,
Derek

[Pharosian]

Just finished Absolute Power by David Baldacci. In some parts this was a masterclass in suspense writing, although the outlandish plot meant I never quite bought into it as a whole.

I can't stand reading (or listening to) books by Baldacci for two reasons: the outlandish plots and his overuse of "said bookisms" in the dialog tags. He explained, he retorted, he confirmed... he did every bloody thing except SAID his lines!   

[delboy]

This was only the first one I'd read by him so it would be a bit premature of me to form too many opinions - also I understand it was his first book (although I also understand that he'd put in many thousands of hours before becoming an overnight success). I agree re. the plot - but it was positively realistic compared to some other thrillers I've read recently, so I guess it's a requirement of the genre. Can't say I noticed the use of any great variety of speech qualifiers (if that's the right term) but maybe I missed it because I was focusing on what he was doing suspense-wise and figuring out how I could use some of those tricks in my own work. I did find him guilty of what I'm often accused of - that of making many of the character's speech all sound the same.

Interestingly, the book I'm reading now (another thriller) is chock full of adverbs, and this time it's very noticeable. Same plot issues as already mentioned above, but a very gripping story nonetheless. Like I said, it seems to be a requirement of the form that story takes precedence over all else in the thriller genre.

[Rev. Austin]

I decided to give 77 Shadow Street by Dean Koontz a go. It starts with loads of cool weird stuff straight away, which worries me when there are several hundred pages left...

[marc_chagall]

Am reading a pre-publication review copy of a collection of short stories by Charles Christian, whom some of you will know. They are gob-smackingly good. I'll post a review in due course.

[Grillmeat]

I'm reading "Best Served Cold" by Joe Abercrombie. Just finished his series: The First Law a couple of weeks ago.

[Caz]

Been a bit hit and miss on the book front lately. I read a time travel story that was written well enough but just wasn't very good. Characters that all sounded the same no matter where and when they were suppose to be from and a narrator who was more interested in giving me a physics lesson than telling a story, that kind of thing. So after that one I moved on to a favourite and reliable author, Dean Koontz, bless him, he never fails to tell me a good tale. And then I dived into the unknown again. A book that was slow and an author for who no detail was to small not to described in great depth, yet I kept reading, something intriguing about the story and the MC.

'Time And Again' by Jack Finney was worth reading for me even if I did feel as if I was wading through a thick word soup at times. The action's a bit thin on the ground but when it arrives I was sure swept up by it and the ending's one that I never saw coming and is as smart as any I've ever heard. There's also some great old pictures of 1880s New York in the book. My favourite one has got to be where the arm of the statue of liberty is rising out of the ground like a scene from a bad b-movie. Great stuff, and real as well.    

[delboy]

Been a bit hit and miss on the book front lately.

Seems like ages since I've lucked into a decent novel. So I'm reading some non-fiction at the mo', starting with The Forgotten Soldier (albeit there is a body of opinion that much of it is fiction).

http://www.amazon.com/The-Forgotten-Soldier-Guy-Sajer/dp/1574882864

 Very good and more harrowing than any horror novel I've ever read.

Derek

[jingold]

I'm in the middle of The Night Circus, which is being billed as the 'next' Harry Potter.  Kinda torn on how to feel about it.  It has beautiful description and forms a lovely portrait of a mystical circus.  However, the plot--which sounded wonderful in the book blurb--borders on silly.  Too many POVs make it feel unfocused, the conflict doesn't feel real, and I don't care about any of the characters.

The mood of this novel reminds me very much of Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell, which was a door-stopper of a book, but so, so enchanting.  One of my favorite fantasy novels in the past few years.

[Rev. Austin]

I'm now over halfway through 77 Shadow Street by Dean Koontz, and I'm really enjoying it. What I feared might be a quick plateau of horror has ended up being a constant (eurgh I hate saying this) thrill ride (but it is haha). I've just got to a point where my favourite type of horror, 'becoming' (ie changing from human to....something else!), has reared its delightfully ugly head. Plus, Koontz has just introduced two new main characters, one of which is utterly brilliant, and I can't wait to see how they end up!

[starktheground]

I just got 77 Shadow Street along with some other books, and was thinking of waiting on it, but your post has made me excited to read it! Don't get me wrong; I love all things Koontz and read everything he writes, but I haven't gotten as into his books as much as I did a few years ago.

[Caz]

‘Mister Shivers,’ now there’s a good book. The cover got me interested, the blurb sold me on the idea. I walked into the tale hoping to be impressed, maybe find a gem, something that would be firing on all cylinders. I lit the touch paper and a smooth time machine took me back to a hard and dusty world.

Set at the time of the great depression this is a story about the hunt for a killer and the growing band of vengeance seekers who pursue him. The narrator portrays the land that this desperate band travel through with the lightest of touches. Never bogging the reader down with too many words but always providing enough so that each scene - whether it be riding the rails in a empty cattle truck, or resting the night away in a camp for the displaced - is clear to the mind’s eye. 

Spartan, I’m not sure if that’s the correct word to describe the writing in this book but I think it might be close. I was never bored, I always wanted to know more, I felt connected to the characters and the world that had fallen to its knees and was dying around them.

Yeah, a definite spark of the magic to this one, so damn fine show I say.

BTW, Robert Jackson Bennett's 'Mr Shivers' isn't a story about time travel, it's just that lately I've been thinking that some books act just like a time machines should and whisk me back to a place that I could never have hoped to visit.

[Rev. Austin]

Sounds really good, Caz!

[delboy]

I'm now onto the Girl With The Dragon Tattoo - and absolutely loving it. First book for a very long time that's had me reading into the early hours when really I should be sleeping.