Almost finished with "Ancillary Justice" which is a fairly great space opera novel about hive-minds, sentient AIs, gender-bending, imperialism, war crimes and political intrigue. It was one of the more praised SF books from last year. The book has shades of classic SF / space opera stuff like Dune or Iain M. Banks' "The Culture" series. Also, the civilization it describes is highly reminiscent of the Romans at their height and then after the fall. If any of this sounds good to you, it's a good read. It's the first in a planned trilogy, apparently.

Also, just reread portions of Joe Abercrombie's "The First Law" trilogy. I may like those books better than A Song of Ice and Fire. They have a sharper sense of humor but at the same time may be even more cynical.

Finished

Other than the twist (which is good) and the ending (which is okay) it is very by-the-numbers. There's a stretch of it that is completely laughable and really brought the book down. Super fast read but pretty average thriller.

Finished:




Reading:

Finished:


And saw the movie for the first time after finishing the book. Was shocked by how dramatically different the two works are. Love the visuals of Kubrik's film, but so much of what is great about King's novel (the characterization of the leads, the "personality" of the house, the resolution, etc.) is completely absent from the film. Did some background reading as well and I'm not at all surprised that King was disappointed with Kubrik's adaptation.

Reading:

Finished:

Call Me! by John Locke


I liked it. Good first book in a new John Locke series.

Just Started:

Promise You Won't Tell by John Locke

Just finished:

I'm having a tough time with the Culture series from Ian M. Banks. The internet seems to regard them pretty highly, but I'm not getting it. I hated the first book (Consider Phlebas), really liked the second (The Player of Games), and am struggling through the third (Use of Weapons). If I hit the halfway mark of this one, and I still don't like it, I think I'm going to give up. Maybe even move on from the series altogether.

The Culture series is not for everyone. The Player of Games is the shortest and (one of the) most straight-forward of the series. While I think Consider Phlebas and Use of Weapons are better examples of what the series is like. I'd lean towards recommending you move on. Though a number of Banks' work (like Weapons) seems a struggle while you're going through it, but click together wonderfully by the end (at least for me).

Finished:




Reading:

Started reading "Dewey"

Just finished:



I enjoyed it, but guessed the killer and the method about 1/3 rd of the way through the book. So despite having figured it out, I still enjoyed it.

Still kicking around this one since I can't really get into it:



Plus my wife picked up a James Patterson book for reading on one of her flights. I read everything that James Patterson put out up to a couple of years ago, when he decided he wants to be a brand name that puts out crap instead of actually writing novels himself. I'll probably start it to see if it is worth finishing:

Just Finished:

Promise You Won't Tell by John Locke


I liked it. Lots of twists and turns. It's good to see John Locke write other characters beside Creed and Callie. I'm looking forward to reading his westerns and Bad Doctor series now.

Started:

Ender's Game by Orson Scott Card

Finished:




Reading:

Finished:




Reading:

I actually didn't mind the ending too much. I think it is consistent with most of the story. But I did find it hard to root for either of the main characters.

Finished reading:



Now reading:

Finished Armageddon: The Cosmic Battle of the Ages (Left Behind #11), don't have any more Left Behind books (thank god), started Ender's Game (for the very first time):

Been a couple decades since I first read this and been meaning to give it another go.

Finished:



Started:

Just finished:

About to start: