Finished:




Reading:

I've just started Tim Powers' "Last Call".

Silver Linings Playbook.

Finished:

I really liked it, even though there wasn't any true resolution. Judging from the quick synopses of the sequels, I don't think I'll read any, just enjoying the mystery left from the first.

Started:

Being a fan of Firefly, I read this was supposed to be good, even though it is fanfic (which I don't read, as it's too hard to find something good). So far (15%), it's okay. I obviously read it in the actor's voices, which is sort of fun, but as a novel, it's not all that great.

Finshed The Silkworm. Next up:

The Purpose of Driven Life.. Try to read this

Finished:

My opinion didn't change. It was sort of fun, but not a very good read.

Started:

Finished:

Took me forever to get through the middle but it picked up in the end and overall it wasn't too bad.

Starting:

Just finished:

Reading:

Finished:




Reading:

Finished:


It was torture trying to finish reading this one. Avoid it at all costs.

I think this book and the immediate sequel (Fall of Hyperion) were intended as one giant book (the next two form their own little duology). If you really liked the first, I'm not sure why you wouldn't give the others a chance. They're all worth reading, even if none live up to the first book.

I finished earlier in the month the latest Robin Hobb fantasy series (4 books this time):






A good story, but far too much padding (a trend shared by too many fantasy series for my liking). Could have easily been two books instead of four.

Currently, I'm biting the bullet and finally reading GRRM's "Feast for Crows" (after having finished the first 3 books a decade ago, but tiring of waiting for him to finish the series). The tv series has served well helping me to remember the main character and stories, even if some of the differences between tv and books are a bit jarring at first. I just wanted to make myself immune to all the spoiler-monsters lurking out there on the web. About 350 pages in and ...

Every year I like to break away from my pulpy crime novels and comedian-penned books and read something of epic length, to me anyway. This year it's The Terror, which came highly recommended by some people I trust. (It's my nephew's all time favorite book and he's read it three times.) I'm a few hundred pages into now and enjoying it so far. It was great reading something set in temperatures of 60 below zero when I was on vacation at the beach last week.

Probably because I recently read the Rama series. While I loved the first book, each subsequent book degraded how I felt about the premise. At the moment, I don't want that to happen to Hyperion. As I mentioned, the synopsis presented for the sequel didn't leave me with the impression that it was going to improve the series. I may someday feel differently, and I haven't completely written it off yet.

Will like to know what you think when you end up finishing it. I read it over the winter and absolutely loved it -- one of the more memorable stories I've read in quite some time.

Finished:



Reading:

Ughh ... I made the same mistake with the Rama series. Should've stopped with the original. Though there were some warning signs ... the follow-up books came years after the award-winning original and Clarke was suddenly working with a co-writer (who didn't have much in the way of fiction-writing credentials).

Finished:




Reading:

I set the Silkworm aside and starting reading this because my hold on it came in from the Library:

From Scratch: Inside the Food Network by Allen Salkin

DUPLEX, Kathryn Davis.