What Are You Reading?

I know Sheri was reading Evanovich's Plum series from the beginning last month (sorry I goofed on your name originally, Sheri, my apologies), as was Alina, and Booklight said Amanda Quick's backlist was on the reading schedule – how are you enjoying them?

This week I've tried to read two self-published works, one full length and one short story, and had problems with both. But this weekend I'm spending about 10 hours in the car, and it's audio book time for me, which I'm looking forward to more than I expected. I am curious to see if I recall the story enough to review it when I'm done listening. 

So what are you reading this week? Are you embarking on a massive backlist read-a-thon? What books are you loving right now? 

Comments are Closed

  1. Kate4queen says:

    I’m just about coming to the end of ‘Heat’ that massive self-published word-defying epic that was reviewed on DA a week or so ago. Riveting, uncomfortable and imo needing about 100 pages in the middle edited out for pacing purposes, but a fascinating read and not my usual cup of tea at all. 🙂

  2. Becca says:

    I’m in a reading slump right now – nothing seems to be catching my erratic fancy (although I’ve got a lot of books lined up). I may break down and re-read Three Fates by la Nora – it’s been awhile since I read it, and Nora is always good for a comfort read. I do need to stock up my kindle and my iPod (for audiobooks) for a trip next week to visit my parents – a 7 hour flight (what with layovers and all that).

  3. Sam says:

    I’m reading The Desert Spear by Peter V. Brett. It’s pretty dark, like the previous book in the series…only darker, actually. But it’s good, so I’ll keep reading it until I’m in the mood for something else. (And I’m enjoying the fact that it’s well-edited, unlike one of the other books I just read, which annoyed the hell out of me it was so poorly proofed.)

  4. ECSpurlock says:

    I tried reading Book of the Dead by Preston & Childs because I’d heard so much good about it, but couldn’t get very far into it—WAY too many POVs, way too many incidental characters, and a positively cartoonish villain made it a DNF for me. So now I’m reading an old Phillippa Carr, Miracle at St Bruno’s, just because I’ve never read her before. I’m enjoying it more than I expected; very angsty in a Norah Lofts/Anya Seton way.

    Enjoyed Redeeming the Rogue by Donna MacMeans quite a lot; I could wish she had done more with period detail since it’s one of my favorite eras, and I had a little “Wait—what??” moment at the end when it was revealed that the villain had been hiding in plain sight the whole time (dude, you’ve been hunting this guy for how many years and you didn’t recognize him when he was in your house?) but I liked the H/H quite a lot and enjoyed watching them get through their respective anxieties.

  5. Char says:

    I just finished the Plum series two nights ago. I started on January 30th. I was still in a cozy mystery mood after Plum so I am now reading K. J. Larsen’s Liar, Liar. It’s book 1 of a series and no where near as crazy as Plum but maybe after having Plum in my head for two weeks I need a break from crazy.

    This might sound kookie but while reading the Plum novels. I gained 5 pounds by book 12 *grumble* fell in the kitchen by slipping on a cucumber slice my husband left. (I haven’t fallen since I was a teenager.) and while reading Smokin’ Seventeen… the house on the next street started smoking! It caught fire! No one hurt and the Fire Department arrive quickly and 3 hours later the smoking stopped but I was a little cautious reading Explosive Eighteen after that.

  6. Hannah E. says:

    I realized recently that I simply have not read enough Jennifer Crusie.  Some of my all-time favorite contemporaries are Manhunting, Bet Me, and Anyone But You, so clearly I need to try more of this author’s works.  So now I’m listening to Faking It on audio.  Welcome to Temptation was not one of my favorites.  Phin was such a jerk, Sophie was such a doormat, and Amy was such a brat, but I loved Davy.  So now I’m giving the Dempsey’s another chance, and loving it so far.

  7. LauraN says:

    I’m reading The Reckless Bride by Stephanie Laurens.  I’m not sure why I stuck with this series.  It’s my first by Laurens, and I’m not impressed.  It’ll probably be my last.  For one thing, whenever I encounter a period novel with a virgin heroine who wants to sexually “try on” a man before deciding whether or not to marry him, I just roll my eyes.  I mean, how ridiculous is that?  A modern heroine with the same idea?  Sure.  But in a regency novel?  That’s just plain stupid.  One word: pregnancy.  How about another one: social ruin. 

    Reckless sexuality is a theme that’s run through this whole series, and in regency novels, I have a hard time buying it.  If you haven’t read it, there are these four friends on a dangerous mission to bring down a dangerous Indian cult (Is there racism?  The descriptions of “dark hands” and “dark faces” appearing alarming says yes.)  The cult is ludicrous, the plan is too.  Suspend disbelief!  Suspend it!  I try.  But then, each man ends up traveling with a lady (surprise!) and they eventually jump into bed (surprise!).  The men are all “I’d like to ask her to marry me, but I might die or be crippled for life or something and then that would suck for her.”  But they keep doing the deed.  Which makes me think, you know what would be even worse than being a widow?  Being an unwed mother.  Again with the social ruin.  Also, the entire world knows they’re sleeping together.  But nobody cares?  I guess I require more realism in my historical fiction.  I’ll suspend disbelief as far as I’m able, but when I don’t find the rest of the story charming, my willingness to just go along with things starts to wane.

    And then the descriptions of the sexytimes: “He racked her and ruined her, lubed her and grooved her, mated her and sated her.”  Or something like that.  I try to see it as enjoyably stupid, but I’m struggling.  Goodbye, Stephanie Laurens. I’ve tried you on but we just don’t suit.

  8. April V says:

    I’m reading an indie book that isn’t romance (though the main couple and their kids are awesome) that is funny and fun and interesting and quite one of the best indie reads I’ve ever read.  It is called Unicorn on Speed Dial and despite the horrendous covers (she just switched from a childish looking one to one that is just plain bad) is an excellent read and even though I haven’t finished it yet, I’d definitely recomend it if anyone is in the mood for a fun fantasy.  The author is Jeanette Cottrell.

    I’ve had bad luck recently with independently published books that are loaded with typos and errors and just bad writing.  This one has a few typos and misplaced words but is such a good story that they’re forgiveable.

  9. Unimaginative (Wahoo Suze) says:

    What bugs me is when the library or bookstore has books 2 and 5 in a series, but none of the rest.  Or 1 and 3, but not 2.  Incomplete series, is what I’m getting at.

  10. I read The Magicians and The Magician King. Really well written and riveting but still, weird in parts.

  11. JenniferH says:

    I am listening my way through Nora Robert’s backlist while in the car or commuting to work on the train – currently its Heaven and Earth, the second in the Three Sisters Island trilogy.  Also, I have just finished The Forbidden Rose by Joanna Bourne (and enjoyed it so much I have just asked my library to purchase The Black Hawk).

  12. Kristen says:

    Exciting! I read that series in high school and my friend could not pull me away from it for the life of her. It gets soooo good! I’m jealous. Maybe I should reread it… hmm… 🙂

  13. Fran says:

    Wait ‘till you get to the end!  The last one’s FANTASTIC!

  14. Fran says:

    I just turned 18, and I read the the Hunger Games a little while ago as I had to wait for Mockingjay to come out. I read it as part of my school book club 🙂 Recently its come up more and more in conversations with my friends because the movie is coming out.  It actually made me think of a mix of Theseus’ story in Greek mythology crossed with the American Revolution when first started. In terms of the society I thought it was a good example of why the higher classes have to be particularly careful of how they treat the much more populous lower classes. (actually upon further reflection it’s making me think of a sort of Communist thing with the Proletariat just waiting to rise up).  I also liked the idea that just because someone was on the side of freeing/equalizing the districts they weren’t necessarily good people.  Nothing is black and white.

    In terms of characters I was really concerned because Katniss couldn’t seem to work up LURRRVE for Peeta or Gale, just vaguely romantic feelings, and I felt like she just kept hurting them both.  The hardest thing about Katniss (for me) was her coldness about almost everything.  I get why she acts that way(she certainly has reason to) but it didn’t feel totally right.  And of course my favorite character is Finnick so you can imagine my feelings on that score 😉

    Most of my friends love the nature of the characters, how brave they are and how they manage to bond together to triumph.  We don’t overly concern ourselves with the setting I think as a rule, analyzing it to match society.  While reading it I kept it separate from any ideas about the real world, as did my friends.  I would say the brutality involved grabs our attention the most in the setting/plot——that kids are being forced to murder each other in a demonstration of their District’s subservience and to entertain.  Then, of course, all of us are horrified by Finnick’s past and how wonderful he turned out in spite of it. 

    If anything, I’d call it a testimony that teens (anyone) can tackle the world and come out all right in the end if they work and push for it.  Also, possibly more importantly, survival is possible.  We don’t want to be in perpetual stupor, wasting our lives away, like Hamish at the beginning of the book,  but like Finnick, Katniss, and Peeta actively taking on the world. 

    Sorry if I say anything incorrect about the content in the books.  It’s been a while since I last picked them up, so its possible something didn’t stick.

  15. PamG says:

    Love the Inspector Chen series, though I always feel slightly confused when I finish one.  I think that Williams just bombards the reader with sensation and event of surpassing strangeness that I lose track of the action at times.  I do have the last one, The Iron Khan, on my Kindle.  Is this a geographic problem?

  16. PamG says:

    I had the same impression of the last few Pratchett novels—just that they were not up to his best.  However, I find even his most recent stuff is like slipping between the flannel sheets on those first crisp winter nights, cozy and comforting.  To tell the truth, like most writers with a vast backlist, he has his ups and downs. (Don’t like Rincewind a-tall.)  Sometimes, I’ve wondered if knowing about his condition simply makes me more sensitive to possible flaws.

  17. I finally decided on my book for the foreseeable future (I’m a VERY slow reader): 11/22/63.  I’ve wanted to read it for awhile (I have this fascination with Kennedy—probably because I was born 23 years to the day of his assassination later), but I am not really a Steven King fan, so I’ve been reluctant to try it.  Plus, it is a monster of a book.  I’m really glad I decided to try it because I am loving it.

  18. Three Fates is my favorite Nora book.  I’ve been thinking about reading it again too.

  19. PamG says:

    Excellent analysis of a wonderful series.  I read them because one of our students was over the moon about the first one—said it was the first book he ever loved. I’m not crazy about dystopias, but i thought The Hunger Games trilogy was so much more—so many layers of meaning.

  20. cleo says:

    I’ve mostly been reading student projects this week, but I did finish Copper Beach by JAK and boy howdy did it remind of why I started reading her in the first place.  So glad to see her returning to her strengths.  Also read All They Need by Sarah Mayberry and I’m a convert – it was so, so good.  And now I’m off to stare into space for awhile.

  21. PamG says:

    I am trying very very hard to read The Night Circus.  The buzz was so enthused, and it had magic! and romance!  If I don’t finish it over this weekend, it will be a DNF.  As it is the only reason I’m sticking with it is so that I’ll have a legitimate right to proclaim its suckage to one and all.  It isn’t just that I hate present tense and second person narration or tiny little episodic chapters scattered randomly through the late 19th and early 20th century.  It isn’t even that I hate the circus—particularly the creepiness that is Cirque de Soleil.  I enjoyed Water for Elephants, was cool with Toby Tyler and Circus Boy in my childhood. But I am halfway through this book and it still smells pretentious and coy and offensively manipulative.  I feel like I can just barely make out the story on the other side of the tent, but between me and it, the author in sparkly black, of course, is jumping up and down, waving her hanky, and shrilling “Look at me!  Look at meeee!”  I think I’ll be taking a vacation in the Ministry of Peculiar Occurrences for awhile.

    So, do any of you all have a recommendation as to whether I should stick with it or not?  If I make it to the end, will I care about what happens to these people?

  22. RITA books.  Down to my last one and I’m enjoying it, but I can’t mention it.  O.o Also reading Blood and Bullets by James R Tuck.  Enjoying that, too.  And I have Melissa Marr’s Graveminder to read.  And edits on my next RS.  Does that count?  Even though I’ve read it a bajillionty times…

  23. Sycorax says:

    I’m reading ‘An Abundance of Katherines’, by John Green, which I’m liking, but not as much as ‘Paper Towns’. I’m not sure where I’ll go next, but I have a feeling there’s a Cat and Bones book I haven’t read yet.

  24. Karin says:

    LauraN, that trio was NOT one of her better efforts. Try her first Cynster book, “Devil’s Bride” before you give up totally on Laurens.

  25. Karen says:

    I’ve been on a massive backlist binge for the past month, primarily thanks to my phenomenal library system. I’ve read these series in order———Deirdre Martin’s Blades (some I loved, some were eh, one I didn’t finish), Cindy Gerard’s Black Ops (enjoyed all), Mary Margaret Daughtridge’s SEALed books (really liked one), and the two contemporary trilogies by Julia London (the Lear sisters and Thrillseekers Anonymous———thought they’d be enjoyable bits of fluff but were so much more!)

    I’ve also been reading Inez Kelley, all except for the latest that I’m saving. The library had Turn It Up as an ebook. I devoured the book, walking around the house with my Kindle, and promptly bought her entire backlist. She has been added to my list of favorite authors.

    Finally, this week I read Ride With Me by new author Ruthie Knox. LOVED. I purchased the ebook on Tuesday then won a print copy from Romance At Random on Wednesday (it’s only available as an ebook now). My sister is now reading the print copy 🙂

    But now I have a huge problem! I don’t know what I should read next! I only read contemporariesjogging to stretch my boundaries w that paranormal Suzanne Brockmann and Rainshadow Road). My favorite authors are Jill Shalvis, Victoria Dahl, Shannon Stacey, Lisa Kleypas, Suzanne Brockmann, and now Inez Kelley. Any contemporary suggestions for me?

  26. cleo says:

    Almost forgot. Also read Alisha Rai’s second Veiled story and really liked it.  This was my third book by her and I really like her worldview.

  27. MissB2U says:

    Just finished “Soulless” by Gail Carriger.  Really good!  Just enough romance and a really nice plot to keep things moving along at the perfect (for me) pace.  Very witty writing with a lot of delight and chuckles thrown in. Alexia Tarabotti would fit right in here at the Bitchery.  There are four more in the series and I’m going to check out the second book, “Changeless”.  I’m not looking at my Nook.  Nope, not looking.  Stop me before I click again!!!!

  28. Toni B says:

    There hasn’t been much lately in any genre to catch my eye, so I’m re-reading two favorites – ‘Salem’s Lot, and Mother of Storms (John Barnes). And I just finished ‘How to Archer’, because I am so seriously addicted to that show.

  29. Christina Auret says:

    Another thing to contrast the hunger games against is Lord of the Rings which is also aimed at teenagers, but which has a very high level of complexity when it comes to world building, but a very simple plot.

    It is strange that when you get into this type of debate people tend to think teens will only read and like one thing or the other. Like everyone else they read a spectrum of things from the very complex to the very simple. Most teens probably read wider than adults because they are still figuring out what it is they like and they are more open to new experiences.

  30. Aziza says:

    After hearing about it on the podcast, I picked up Shelly Laurenston’s Pride series. Although I have a few questions (How is an underground hockey league able to support multimillion dollar contracts for top players? Why are there so many humans who know about shifters AND want to hunt/kill them to merit a US military group to combat them?) it was good fun.

    I don’t have a particular interest in dragons, but liked the author’s style enough to give that series a whirl. It was probably a bad idea to start with the 5th one (Who ARE all these people? ARE they people? What form are they in right now? Etc.) but a few characters caught my eye. The dragon rebel fighter king with the eye thing and a twin sister being held captive by a nutty relative. Plus dragon rebel fighter king’s human good buddy. You know, they’re not merely friends or comrades in arms. They’re brothers, species differences be damned! Familiar. Vrai?

  31. cleo says:

    Karen – you might like Sarah Mayberry – she’s an Australian author and writes mostly Australian set contemporary categories.  I’ve just discovered her, so I can’t speak to her entire backlist, but I loved All They Need, and I’m going to read more. I usually read more single title books than categories, but she got a couple good reviews in a row at DA, and I thought All They Need was great.  I’m not sure that anyone else would see this, but I thought the heroine’s family kind of had a Kowalski family vibe.

  32. Michele says:

    I’m starting two books this weekend…one e-book and one paper.  I’m between Marjorie M. Liu’s latest Hunter Kiss book (The Mortal Bone) and Erica Orloff’s Illuminated (YA).  I’m thinking Historical for my e-book….either one of Anne Stuart’s back list or Deanna Raybourn’s Silent in the Sanctuary.  The reason I’m being so indecisive is because I know if I read the Liu book (or a Stuart historical, for that matter), I need something lighter to read to offset it.  Once I finally pick a book I want to commit to for the next couple days, the rest of the choice becomes much clearer.

  33. Lady T says:

    Oops,meant to write “Gabaldon”,honest!

  34. Jody Wallace says:

    I’m reading RITA books 🙂

  35. LauraN says:

    Ok, my library has an ebook of this and the excerpt sounded interesting . . . so I’m going to give Laurens another shot.  If I don’t like it I’m blaming you 🙂

  36. Jenny Dolton says:

    LauraN –

    I’m with Karin—Devil’s Bride is one of Laurens’ best. (It’s one of my re-reads when I’m sick or grouchy and always manages to cheer me up.) =) But if you end up not liking it, you should probably avoid all of her other stuff…

  37. Liz says:

    @Anna Piranha- I didn’t know about free friday books for nook. This is awesome! Thanks so much 🙂

  38. Liz says:

    Just finished an ARC of Rainshadow Road by Lisa Kleypas and was really disappointed by it. It almost sent me off on a Book Rant, but I resisted the urge (barely) and your inbox is safe Sarah.
    Now flipping around between Breaking the Silence by Katie Allen, and The Iron Duke by Meljean Brook. Love both of them!

  39. Wendy Cheairs says:

    Been working through the In Death series by J.D. Robb (Nora Roberts) of late. I have some of the books I have only read through once and some I have read several times.

  40. JL says:

    I really struggled with it too, but slogged through because so many of my trusted reviewers loved it. To me, the main characters were flat the entire way through, which is why I didn’t connect with it. And I never could figure out the ‘why’ of the whole plot. Why not just walk away from the whole thing?
    If you are like me and need to connect to the main characters (as opposed to the interesting secondary characters) and need a tight plot rather than incredible prose & description, then there’s no harm in walking away from this one.
    That being said, I don’t think that this book’s prose and the world-building of the circus can be over-praised. It’s pretty spectacular.

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