What are you currently reading?

Stepping away from Dandelion Wine for a bit. I'm finding it hard to lock into the feel (or whatever) of the book. It's not really about a boy's thoughts and ruminations on life, it's really just Bradbury in the driver's seat aka the 12-year-old kid. Maybe this is how he wants to have remembered his childhood. Kids aren't typically this introspective nor are adults this sugary and infantile. I will definitely finish the book but for now, I need a little break because it's not hitting all the right spots the way it did the first time.

I did finish Thomas Ligotti - Death Poems, and Tom Piccirilli- The Dog Syndrome and Other Sick Puppies. The former isn't Ligotti's best work (there is zero plot, it's all just prose poems about how much existence sucks and is pointless), the latter was a fantastic read with one of the heaviest final lines after an already tragic story ("There must be a sequel to my life.") Damn. The stories are definitely horror but are still very human(e) and I think the theme in most of these is how much we're willing to debase ourselves for a little human touch/caring/love/attention/whatever.

Reading: Karen Hall - Dark Debts

Dark Forces

This book is in the time capsule, right?

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by WeDealInLead

Stepping away from Dandelion Wine for a bit.

---

I enjoy listening to the audiobook in August while mowing the yard.

Playing a little catch up here.

Brave New World by Aldous Huxley. The story is great even if it is a little tame compared to today's stories of the future.

The Disappearance by Bentley Little. Why isn't this a movie? Blumhouse could do it.

Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas by Hunter S. Thompson. It's a Classic! Hard not to picture Depp.

The Policy by Bentley Little. Another one I liked, especially the ending.

All the Pretty Ponies by Cormac McCarthy. I enjoyed it, but it was a little long in the tooth.

Rant by Chuck Palahniuk. If you can, listen to the audiobook version. It's a full cast. This was a reread. It had been so long that I forgot some of the key things. Chuck writes some crazy stuff.

Immortality, Inc. Robert Sheckley. This came out in 1959! It must have influenced several sci-fi writers. Very cool.

The Neverending Story by Michael Ende. This is the book I'm currently reading aloud for my kids. Fantastica is written in such detail!

Victor Lavalle - Lone Women. This guy gets it.

I'm about to start The Ferryman by Justin Cronin. The premise is a little simple and familiar, but the cover is hinting there's more to it than just what's alluded to in the blurb. If I'm still punishing myself with each new King book out of some mindless loyalty, then Cronin certainly gets a fair shake.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by WeDealInLead

Victor Lavalle - Lone Women. This guy gets it.

I'm about to start The Ferryman by Justin Cronin. The premise is a little simple and familiar, but the cover is hinting there's more to it than just what's alluded to in the blurb. If I'm still punishing myself with each new King book out of some mindless loyalty, then Cronin certainly gets a fair shake.

---

IT was OK... but VERY predictable.

So far behind in my reading, but now that school is over I'm diving into Fairy Tale - about 1/3 in so far. Enjoying it.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by DoctorZaius

So far behind in my reading, but now that school is over I'm diving into Fairy Tale - about 1/3 in so far. Enjoying it.

---

I liked the initial story with the kid and the old man. Once they go down the rabbit hole, so to speak, I felt like I was reading something I had already read before. King can always keep my attention, but I thought this one was pretty weak.

I’m currently reading (listening to) The Terror. It is my first Dan Simmons. The narrator is top notch, and I love the setting. Such a hopeless anxiety to be trapped in a frozen wasteland. I also just started reading Friday by Heinlein.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by BROWNINGS CHILDE

I’m currently reading (listening to) The Terror. It is my first Dan Simmons. The narrator is top notch, and I love the setting. Such a hopeless anxiety to be trapped in a frozen wasteland. I also just started reading Friday by Heinlein.

---

The Terror is brilliant - not the best by Simmons, but it's up there. My heat still belongs to the Hyperion quartet.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by BROWNINGS CHILDE

I’m currently reading (listening to) The Terror. It is my first Dan Simmons. The narrator is top notch, and I love the setting. Such a hopeless anxiety to be trapped in a frozen wasteland. I also just started reading Friday by Heinlein.

---

The Terror is one of my all time favorite books. I can't even begin to imagine what it was like for the real men on that journey and similar expeditions. Hope you enjoy it!

Winterset Hollow... what a strange.. well written book. A lot of fun.

If anyone happens to be in Delaware next month, I'm doing a signing on July 8th at Browseabout Books in Rehoboth--come on down!

I finished reading The Strange by Nathan Ballingrud and I'm conflicted by it. I liked the story and the setting but I don't understand why it takes in an alternate past but is set on Mars. Nothing about that played any part in the story.

Annabelle (the protagonist) was really hard to swallow. No one is particularly likeable (not a necessary requirement) but no one is particularly interesting or charismatic (a definite requirement). At best I felt indifference for all of them, at worst I wanted Annabelle to "Fucking Die Already.*" Her big mouth got a lot of people killed but she grew as a person so it's okay, I guess?

Dunno. Maybe I just can't take angsty teens as characters anymore. I felt the same about Zoe's Tale. You know...just stop talking and doing idiotic things for a single chapter, I double dare you.

Edit: I just looked at the Goodreads reviews. It's good to know I'm not alone in my dislike for Annabelle/general misgivings about the book.

*an upper mid-tier Tom Piccirilli story

I made the mistake of reading S.A. Cosby's book "All the Sinners Bleed" after King wrote a review. The plot is wildly implausible. Like something a teenage Thomas Harris would write after receiving a lobotomy. And page after page is filled with race baiting commentary. Literally every single event is conveyed in the context of race. It was like being forced to watch MSNBC for a week.

The Groomer by Jon Anthan. I have to say I cannot put this down... even though I am sickened by it. This is HANDS DOWN the most violent, disturbing book I have ever read. I cannot even understand how it was allowed to be printed!! BUT why am I glued to the book? Well its a revenge book... and I am ready for that now. I have never met a villian in any book or movie I wanted revenge on so bad. Its hard to explaine but if you want to read it.. try it. GET by Chapter 3... its hard... REALLY hard (I think thats the one) but when you do you REALLY feel what the author wants you to feel.. you are out for blood as well as the father in the book. I will say no more...

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by RichardX

I made the mistake of reading S.A. Cosby's book "All the Sinners Bleed" after King wrote a review. The plot is wildly implausible. Like something a teenage Thomas Harris would write after receiving a lobotomy. And page after page is filled with race baiting commentary. Literally every single event is conveyed in the context of race. It was like being forced to watch MSNBC for a week.

---

That must be your privilege talking. (joke)

Alastair Reynolds - Eversion
Bruce Sterling - Gothic High-Tech

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by St. Troy

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by RichardX

I made the mistake of reading S.A. Cosby's book "All the Sinners Bleed" after King wrote a review. The plot is wildly implausible. Like something a teenage Thomas Harris would write after receiving a lobotomy. And page after page is filled with race baiting commentary. Literally every single event is conveyed in the context of race. It was like being forced to watch MSNBC for a week.

---

That must be your privilege talking. (joke)

---

My favorite scene is when the black Sheriff goes into the woods and encounters an old tree. His first thought is to destroy it because it is old and he therefore associates it with lynchings. I've heard a lot of things called racist but the trees are a new one. I'll never read another of his books.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by RichardX

...the black Sheriff goes into the woods and encounters an old tree. His first thought is to destroy it because it is old and he therefore associates it with lynchings.

---

Fantastic! I suppose the tree was "complicit."

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by WeDealInLead

Alastair Reynolds - Eversion
Bruce Sterling - Gothic High-Tech

---

Reynolds was fantastic, Sterling was a DNF. I read almost half of the stories and tapped out. There's dry and then there's Bruce Sterling dry, yeesh.

I'm still enjoying Dark Forces, and I picked up The Eater of Gods by Dan Franklin when the ebook was on sale for a buck. 15% in and it's pretty good so far.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by webstar1000

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by WeDealInLead

Victor Lavalle - Lone Women. This guy gets it.

I'm about to start The Ferryman by Justin Cronin. The premise is a little simple and familiar, but the cover is hinting there's more to it than just what's alluded to in the blurb. If I'm still punishing myself with each new King book out of some mindless loyalty, then Cronin certainly gets a fair shake.

---

IT was OK... but VERY predictable.

---

I’m nearing the end and I didn’t predict it at all……maybe I’m just slow.

John Crowley - Beasts

Jack McDevitt - Deepsix. Here's what Uncle Steve has to say about McDevitt: "Jack McDevitt is that splendid rarity, a writer who is a storyteller first and a science fiction writer second ... I simply could not put it down. You're going to love it even if you think you don't like science fiction." I can't disagree much with that except I'd say he's both. Think Alastair Reynolds and Greg Bear and you're pretty close. It's the kind of science that makes you go Ah, neat and not whaaaa?

Just finished the anthology Prime Evil. It's neck to neck with Dark Forces as my favourite anthology. My favourites were stories by Barker, Morrell, Liggoti, Straub and Jack Cady. The dissociation scene in Juniper Tree and pretty much every word of "By Reason of Darkness" (Cady) is why I read horror.

I've had this book for 15 years. I don't why it took me this long to read it. I guess it all worked out because now I'm looking up used books by Jack Cady on eBay and definitely will have to read more Straub and Morrell in the future.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by ajw2910

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by webstar1000

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by WeDealInLead

Victor Lavalle - Lone Women. This guy gets it.

I'm about to start The Ferryman by Justin Cronin. The premise is a little simple and familiar, but the cover is hinting there's more to it than just what's alluded to in the blurb. If I'm still punishing myself with each new King book out of some mindless loyalty, then Cronin certainly gets a fair shake.

---

IT was OK... but VERY predictable.

---

I’m nearing the end and I didn’t predict it at all……maybe I’m just slow.

---

Yeah, I didn't like the ending but I definitely didn't predict it.

The book eventually had more in common with a certain Ellison book and PKD than Logan's Run. I liked it until the reveal. Oh well.