What are you currently reading?

[Aremag]

Currently reading Rosemary's Baby as I finished Different Seasons this morning and forgot how good those novellas are.

Is it your first read of RB? I absolutely love that book.

Yes it is. I don't think I would have actively sought it out but getting the beautiful Suntup AGE made me move it to the front of my to read list.

I hope you enjoy it as much as I did.

It was an fast, enjoyable read that had me thinking I would have been fine if I hadn't read it until the ending where my appreciation for it went up. I'm now reading The Shuddering by Ania Ahlborn and hoping it is as enjoyable to me as Seed and Brother were.

[Hunchback Jack]

Just finished Gwendy's Magic Feather. A fast and moderately entertaining read. Chizmar was certainly channeling his inner SK political leanings with the President Hamlin/Donald Trump character. Not sure what the point was other than an opportunity to inject an unnecessary rant. I also wasn't enamored with the recycled SK Castle Rock twist taken to resolve the abduction/murder mystery.

I think he may have been planting seeds for the third installment in the series. Time will tell.

Meanwhile, I've finished I am Legend by Richard Matheson (outstanding) and Seed by Ania Ahlborn (very good). Now reading The Bone Tree by Greg Iles, the middle novel of his recent Penn Cage trilogy (itself part of a larger series).

With all this talk about Expanse, that series might need to be my next SF read. Although Gibson's Agency is also waiting in the wings.

HBJ

[Garrell]

Finished my reread of On Writing, love that book. My first reread ever.
Started Black Mad Wheel by Josh Malerman today.
Aremag, let me know if The Shuddering is good. Thanks.

[WeDealInLead]

William Ollie - Killercon. Ollie came onto the small-press scene out of nowhere and disappeared just as fast. No reason, no explanation, one day the new books just stopped coming. I'd like to know why he stopped writing but I'm not going to pry - if he wanted to explain himself, he would've.

Killercon is the last of his books I haven't read and that's that. Bummer.

[ur2ndbiggestfan]

Believe it or not I am reading FIRE AND BLOOD and THE BIBLE (New World Translation). Both are throwing a whole lot of names at me in the beginning pages. I hope I can keep track of all of them.

[St. Troy]

Believe it or not I am reading FIRE AND BLOOD and THE BIBLE (New World Translation). Both are throwing a whole lot of names at me in the beginning pages. I hope I can keep track of all of them.

I almost gave up on A Game Of Thrones because of this; for 50 pages or so, I took notes to keep track, spending almost as much time typing into my phone as reading.

Assuming F&B isn't your first GRRM, perhaps this didn't come as a surprise.

[ur2ndbiggestfan]

It's my first Game of Thrones based GRRM, but it's still not a surprise. It's getting easier now.

[Brian861]

The Chain. Good premise but the story fell flat for me.

[St. Troy]

I didn't want to give this its own thread but wanted to bring it to people's attention:

Taschen (a publisher known for distinctive, often art-oriented books, including design, film, architecture, the human body (including something called Forever Butt!), you name it) is having a sale (up to 75% off): https://www.taschen.com/pages/en/catalogue/sale/all.htm

[Aremag]

Finished my reread of On Writing, love that book. My first reread ever.
Started Black Mad Wheel by Josh Malerman today.
Aremag, let me know if The Shuddering is good. Thanks.

I loved The Shuddering....Ania is three for three so far with me. I found it a tense and fast moving creature story with characters I cared about. Not wholly original but I loved it. Now reading Gwendy's Button Box.

[Brian861]

Finished my reread of On Writing, love that book. My first reread ever.
Started Black Mad Wheel by Josh Malerman today.
Aremag, let me know if The Shuddering is good. Thanks.

I loved The Shuddering....Ania is three for three so far with me. I found it a tense and fast moving creature story with characters I cared about. Not wholly original but I loved it. Now reading Gwendy's Button Box.

I enjoyed Button Box. Magic Feather, not so much.

[WeDealInLead]

Philip K. Dick - We Can Build You

This seems like it could be a loose prequel to Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep.

[Garrell]

Finished my reread of On Writing, love that book. My first reread ever.
Started Black Mad Wheel by Josh Malerman today.
Aremag, let me know if The Shuddering is good. Thanks.

I loved The Shuddering....Ania is three for three so far with me. I found it a tense and fast moving creature story with characters I cared about. Not wholly original but I loved it. Now reading Gwendy's Button Box.

I enjoyed Button Box. Magic Feather, not so much.

Agree sadly

[Kongo]

I'll definitely be checking out The Shuddering now as well, thanks to the recommendations in here.

I just finished The Sword of Destiny, which is the 2nd collection of short stories in The Witcher Series. I'm loving these books so far, and am now ready to move on to the "core saga" of books

[Heather19]

I read The Shuddering last winter and really enjoyed it.

Can I ask you guys a question about Brother. I started it awhile back and couldn't quite get into it. Does it read like a slasher flick? I love those types of movies, but not sure about book form for some reason. I know it's gotten a lot of love so I'll have to go back and give it another try sometime.

[Kongo]

I read The Shuddering last winter and really enjoyed it.

Can I ask you guys a question about Brother. I started it awhile back and couldn't quite get into it. Does it read like a slasher flick? I love those types of movies, but not sure about book form for some reason. I know it's gotten a lot of love so I'll have to go back and give it another try sometime.

It's a tough book to describe. I wouldn't necessarily call it only a "slasher". It's more of a game of cat and mouse, and it poses questions like "is it possible to change?". It's definitely worth sticking it out to reach the ending, which genuinely surprised me.

[Heather19]

Ok, thanks. I'll try to give it another shot.

[WeDealInLead]

Tapped out on PKD - We Can Build You. Picked up Brian Hodge - Dark Advent, and Tim Lebbon - Mesmer.

[Aremag]

Finished and enjoyed Gwendy's Button Box and was tempted to start Magic Feather but I really want to reread King's novels in between new ones so started reading 'Salem's Lot.

[ur2ndbiggestfan]

I think that was named after King's brand of smokes at the time.

[Aremag]

Punctuation is my friend.

[Hunchback Jack]

I’ve just finished Ayoade on Top, written and narrated by Richard Ayoade.

It’s a satirical faux-critique of “View from the Top”, a mediocre 2003 rom-com starring Gwenneth Paltrow and Mark Ruffalo. The joke, of course, is that no one would treat such an unremarkable flick with the seriousness and reverence that Ayoade does. It’s the sort of gag that you might see in an Onion article.

What sets this book apart from the obvious gag, however, is that Ayoade employs his encyclopedic knowledge of film to great effect, and he commits to the bit for an entire book. What might be considered mean-spirited in a shorter form becomes something significant in its own right - almost a true homage to the film, just from the efforts Ayoade goes to to remain completely dry and deadpan in his overeffusive praise.

It’s not for everyone, and it helps greatly that Ayoade narrates his own work. Not only would it be unthinkable for another narrator to do so, the humor wouldn’t possibly work, particularly if you are familiar with Ayoade’s other work.

HBJ

[Brian861]

Finished and enjoyed Gwendy's Button Box and was tempted to start Magic Feather but I really want to reread King's novels in between new ones so started reading 'Salem's Lot.

You're not missing anything if you skip Feather. SL is a classic.

[Brian861]

Ok, thanks. I'll try to give it another shot.

I've hated on the poor lady enough. I'll let her be.

[WeDealInLead]

Finished Mesmer, just started Only Forward by Michael Marshall Smith. Not the style I expected at all. I'm not usually into the quirky humour and dialogue being a little too perfect/silly (later Lansdale, all Warren Ellis, some Gaiman) but the story has caught my attention and I'm sticking with it. Like that Ollie I just finished reading, this is one of the last Smith books I haven't read yet.