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Let's hear what's keeping you engaged this month! Any and all genres welcome in this topic.

I finished reading Fire & Blood by George R.R. Martin. The MAX show House of the Dragon is based on about a fourth of this book. I also read Fuzzy Nation by John Scalzi. It is a rewriting of the novel Little Fuzzy by H. Beam Piper using contemporary sympathies. I am reading Knife of Dreams by Robert Jordan, book #11 of the Wheel of Time Series. I plan to read Good Omens: The Nice and Accurate Prophecies of Agnes Nutter, Witch by Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman next.

Well I lied. Its October and I'm in a horror mood.

Starting Inspection tonight

Possibly The September House after. Seed might be in there somewhere as well.

I'm also a day late starting A Night in the Lonesome October. I'll be reading the first two chapters tonight and trying to stay with one chapter a day until the 31st. :)

I just finished The Wishing Game by Meg Shaffer. It's been described as Willy Wonka for adults, and it's an apt description, although I don't think it's quite as well done as Roald Dahl's book. It was very much a feel-good kind of story with a few problematic things that are easy to overlook as long as you don't think too hard about them. I enjoyed it for what it was.

I've started The Best Minds: A Story of Friendship, Madness, and the Tragedy of Good Intentions, a memoir that won all sorts of awards last year, but it's not really grabbing me. I have to return it to the library on Monday and I don't think I'm going to bother renewing it.

Also, I've tried doing A Night in the Lonesome October one chapter at a time, and I always get through the first few days and then give up and race ahead :D

Maybe I'll read it to my kids one day at a time next year.

Shel wrote: "Also, I've tried doing A Night in the Lonesome October one chapter at a time, and I always get through the first few days and then give up and race ahead :D

Maybe I'll read it to my k..."

I know what you mean. For me, its especially a struggle early on when the chapters are so short and a little easier later when the chapters take more than two minutes to read.

Other than that first night where I got swept up and read 3 chapters in a row, I am behaving myself. I even made myself back up and read the correct chapter for the correct day, even though I had already read them. :)

I’ve done the day by day read for A Night in the Lonesome October, I think with this group! It’s the only time I’ve read it.

After Moses by Michael F. Kane

Kathi wrote: "I’ve done the day by day read for A Night in the Lonesome October, I think with this group! It’s the only time I’ve read it."

If anyone is interested, the old thread is here!

I've just finished To Shape a Dragon's Breath which I enjoyed and recommend. I wish I had know in advance that it is the first of an unknown number of books which have not yet been published

I finished The Sea Watch by Adrian Tchaikovsky, 6.5/10, comments in our series discussion topic thread.
I also listened to Scorpions by Rachel Howzell Hall, 3.75/10. Other than the epilogue, the story was rather predictable. Poor choices all around.
I’m now reading the last book in the Greatcoats series, Tyrant's Throne by Sebastien de Castell.

I spent most of yesterday immersed in The Book of Love by Kelly Link. I don't really know how to describe it - it's deeply weird and eerie - but it's beautifully written and I loved it. I read a bunch of the reviews and it seemed a lot of people found it slow going, and I can see why because the plot did move kind of slowly, but I'm mostly a character reader so it was right up my alley.

I have Provenance waiting on my kindle, but first I need to read A Ruse of Shadows (the latest of the Lady Sherlock series by Sherry Thomas) because I need to get it back to the library soon.

Just finished Inspection

You know, I wouldn't call this horror at all. In fact it really felt a lot like science fiction, it was just missing a few of the superficial outer trappings.

So I called it science fiction. :)
I recommend. Wow, there is just so much that could be discussed.

Oh, and on to The September House

I've got both Provenance and Heirs of the Blade waiting for me on my kindle, and I do plan on reading both, but I had a stressful week and decided to retreat into some mindless re-reads instead. I've just finished The Rowan and am about to move on to the sequel Damia. The series is an old favorite that I haven't read in a while. Vintage Anne McCaffrey and not without its flaws but good for nostalgia!

Tower of Silence by Larry Correia

Finished Tyrant's Throne by Sebastien de Castell a while back, 9/10. A excellent final book in the Greatcoats series. The author wraps up the major plot lines and resolves the personal and secondary stories as well, but manages to leave the door open for future stories involving the main characters. The author has a talent for balancing witty banter and dark humor with serious deadly danger, duels and battles, sinister plots and betrayals, and unlikely heroism. It makes for an interesting mix but he pulls it off quite skillfully.

Then I continued working my way through Anne Perry’s books featuring Charlotte & Thomas Pitt with The Whitechapel Conspiracy, 8.5/10. Perry manages to weave together a story involving old flames and budding love, class, ethnic, & religious prejudice, revolution, republicanism, and Jack the Ripper, along with a seemingly motive-less murder. Somehow she pulls it off, mixing familiar characters with memorable new ones.

I also continued reading the World of Tiers series & finished Behind the Walls of Terra by Philip José Farmer. 5/10. Well, yes, the plot does zip along like an action movie, with lots of fighting, shooting, & chasing (on motorcycles, in cars, on foot). The story mostly takes place in our world (Earth), which makes it slightly easier to follow. Still, I find I don’t much like or care about any of the characters, most of whom are interchangeable beyond the few main ones (Kickaha, Anana, Red Orc, & Urthona). And what should have been a huge shock of a plot twist in the story ((view spoiler)[finding out our Earth & its universe are a mere creation of the one the immortal, constantly-quarreling, amoral, mostly-mean-spirited & cruel Lords (hide spoiler)]) was instead almost a ho-hum moment. I guess classic sci-fi pulp fiction may not be my thing. I like more character in my characters. I feel like the world-building, while very creative, was done on the fly (ooh, let’s stick this creature in here…and what about trying a world with this weird feature? Etc.). This will sound contradictory, but for all the bells & whistles & gates & beasts & odd sky colors, for all the beamers shooting & good guys chasing bad guys who are chasing good guys, the story itself lacks complexity.

Currently reading this month’s installment in our series read, Heirs of the Blade by Adrian Tchaikovsky.

I also listened to The Other Side of the Road by Andrea Bartz, 6/10. A little predictable but an OK story. (view spoiler)[I wonder how long the main character will be able to live with what she discovered. (hide spoiler)]

I’m planing to start listening to All My Darkest Impulses by Lisa Unger since I have several hours of driving coming up this week on Monday & Thursday. It’s one of four connected stories in the House Of Crows serial, and I have the others downloaded as well, so I may be able to knock off a couple of them.

Just finished The September House
Absolutely not what I expected going in, but it turned out to be quite enjoyable.

And now I have to figure out what's next.