We’re reading some brand new books this week. Take a peek!
Bill: Not a lot of reading lately thanks to piles ‘o papers and sundry deadlines. But I did finish Black Leopard, Red Wolf by Marlon James, with mixed feelings as the end result. I also read a genial novella, The Haunting of Tram Car 015 by P. Djeli Clark. And I’m currently listening to Heart: A History by Sandeep Jauhar, a fascinating mix of memoir and scientific/medical history. In media, I’ve been rewatching The Magicians and confirming just why I love it (look for some upcoming commentary from Marion and me on the show). Meanwhile, The Gifted, which has been mostly disappointing this second season, redeemed itself a bit with its last two episodes and I’m hoping is turning in a better plot direction based on events.
Jana: This week has been a lot, just like last week, with not much free time for reading/writing. I finished Nicki Pau Preto’s YA debut Crown of Feathers, which shares a lot of DNA with Anne McCaffrey‘s DRAGONRIDERS OF PERN series (but with phoenixes instead of dragons), and I started Zen Cho‘s The True Queen, the second novel in her SORCERER ROYAL series. I may have (definitely) goofed by not reading Sorcerer to the Crown first, but I’m enjoying myself enough that I’ll double back to the first volume when I get a chance. Beyond that I’m looking for a free hour or two here and there to get some of my to-be-reviewed books off my desk so I can actually see the surface!
Kat: Last night I finished Sea of Silver Light, the final book in Tad Williams‘ OTHERLAND quartet. It was an exciting story, but twice as long as it should have been.
Marion: I finished Charlie Jane Anders’s brilliant SF novel The City in the Middle of the Night, and re-read Karen Joy Fowler’s We Are All Completely Beside Ourselves for FOGCon. I also started reading A Fire Story by Brian Fies. This is a graphic memoir of surviving the 2017 California firestorms, and the aftermath. It’s so heartbreaking I have to read it in bits.
Sandy: Moi? What could I possibly be reading now, after having read the first three books of E. E. “Doc” Smith’s famed LENSMAN series (Triplanetary, First Lensman, Patrol), but Book 4 of the legendary six-part space opera, entitled Gray Lensman (1939)? I am already nearing completion of this densely written thrill ride and hope to be able to report back to you shortly…
Terry: It seems like all I read this week was emails, trying to catch up from having been away for a few days. But I did start — and finish — The Wicked King by Holly Black, which is my first five star 2019 publication. I love the way Black can make Faerie seem simultaneously hideously ugly and dazzlingly beautiful. I’m now back to reading everything I mentioned last week, once again attempting to get my “currently reading” list under ten books, but Stain by A.G. Howard is at the tippy top of the TBR pile.
“Rock climbing, Joel”
Just ordered it!
I take it then, Marion, that you are NOT a Nancy Kwan completist? 😂
I love the original myths, and this artwork is amazing.
Think I'll pass on Night Creature!