It’s time for the most expensively enjoyable open thread of the month: Whatcha Reading?
Sarah: You guys, I have a legitimate reason to be on Pinterest. I have justifiable research to be done on Pinterest.
It’s like the worst time slurp EVER. It’s not even a slurp. It’s a gobble. A Time Feast, if you will.
Plus, I feel guilty AND I’m enjoying it AND I have a reason to pin the crap out of everything, so yeah, I’m reading a lot of Pinterest.
But I’m also indulging in manga and comics, too, because my brain is still very tired and doesn’t want to do the words thing where there are lots of words to look at. Pictures, yes. Words, not too many, please. (I think my brain might have its own word limit, and I’ve used it up for the month writing too many lists).
Right now, I’m reading DENDO: One Year and One Half in Tokyo Vol. 1: Month 1: February. It’s a digital comic about a girl who goes on a mission to Japan as part of her 18 months of service in the LDS church. I found it browsing on Comixology, which is almost as tempting to me as Pinterest at this point. (NB: the above link to Comixology should include an option to get $5 off your first order of $10 or more if you’re a new account subscriber.)
I like DENDO so far, particularly because it’s visually adorable, and because it explains the author’s love for her faith and the culture in which she lives as a member of the Church of Latter Day Saints.
I also bought myself Spell of Desire Vol 4 because I read volumes 1-3 and it’s not over and the heroine’s eyes are still getting bigger so I couldn’t stop after book 3. Kaoruko’s hair is becoming increasingly more intricate, too Like, she doesn’t have a lot of time to learn all the magic she needs as a witch, but she has extended time with the flat iron, clearly. Or maybe the flat iron is magic?
Now I’m going to look for magic flat irons on Pinterest.
RedHeadedGirl: I’m reading Bella and the Beast, by Olivia Drake. It’s a Beauty and the Beast story where he’s an Egyptology-obsessed duke and she was raised by an archeologist adventurer.
I’m reading Bound by Bliss by Lavinia Kent (saw it in the sales post and couldn’t resist).
And I’m reading The Sport of Baronets by Theresa Romain. Because HORSIES.
Carrie: I just finished A Colored Woman in a White World by Mary Church Terrell and I’m moving on to Newt’s Emerald by Garth Nix ( A | K | G | AB ).
Amanda: Foreplay by Sophie Jordan. Shout out goes to Elyse for helping me tackle my indecisiveness on what to read next. This is a new adult book, but Elyse has enjoyed Jordan’s historicals, so we’ll see how it goes.
After that, Nuts by Alice Clayton ( A | BN | K | G | AB ). I loved her Cocktail series and think her writing is just hilarious. I also love foodie/chef characters in my romance and come on…that cover.
Elyse: I’m reading Deadly Strain and Lethal Game ( A | BN | K | G | AB ) by Julie Rowe based on Meka and Sassy Outwater’s recommendations on the podcast. It’s romantic suspense with a biological warfare component, totally my catnip
So, what about you? Tell us what you’re reading! What books are you currently enjoying, or about to start? We’d love to hear about them.
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I finished A Head Full of Ghosts. It was disturbing, which I pretty much expected. I then turned around and started A Curious Beginning by Deanna Raybourn. It has been some time since I read Raybourn and I think I forgot how much I like her style.
Also, I think I might be needing to get on that Last Chance Llama Ranch. I am always looking for something funny (funny is so underrated) and I am always here for llamas.
Just read Cherie Priest’s Jacaranda; it’s a fine creepy story with a really interesting main character.
I had a pretty great reading month!
Great
– The Library at Mount Char by Scott Hawkins (library) – SO GOOD SO WEIRD. Neil Gaiman meets Clive Barker. So. Weird.
– Rooms by Lauren Oliver (library) – A haunted house story perfect for October
– A Curious Beginning by Deanna Raybourn (Overdrive) – made me think of 30’s screwball comedies even though it’s a mystery… in 1890’s England
Good
– A Moveable Feast by Ernest Hemingway – had some clear portraits of fascinating people but the overall vibe bummed me out
– The Suffragette Scandal / Talk Sweetly to Me by Courtney Milan (Kindle) – All her books are so sweet!
– First Grave on the Right by Darynda Jones (Audio) – Light and funny, even if I didn’t buy the romance
Meh
– Luckiest Girl Alive by Jessica Knoll (library) – Ignore the blurbs, this is not anything like Gone Girl and was such a bummer that I was actually angry by the time I finished
Currently Reading
– City of Nets: A Portrait of Hollywood in the 1940’s by Otto Friedrich (Kindle) – SO GOOD. Very chatty. Like, you’re having a drink with the guy and he’s telling you every Hollywood tale he knows. If you like the podcast, You Must Remember This, “about Hollywood’s first century”, you’ll love this book!
Johanna Lindsey’s ‘Warrior’s Woman’.
I joined a romance group on FB and it was one of the titles chosen to read for October. (I had the first two novels in the series so I thought why not.) I’m up to Chapter 14 and struggling with it. The only thing keeping me from quitting is the humor. Maybe if real life can back off a bit, I can get more into it or least be further along than I am now.
@ RedHeadedGirl – I am jealous. I am so looking forward to reading The Sport of Baronets. I loved Theresa Romain’s holiday books and have a feeling I’ll love her horsie books.
I’m not a big reader of romantic suspense, but I have been drawn to suspense stories lately. I found historicals with suspense (whoo hoo) and most recently read I Spy a Duke by Erica Monroe and thoroughly enjoyed it. This is first in a series called Covert Heiresses where the ladies do some spying along with the heroes. The spy hero notices the governess heroine and decides he must protect her. Sigh. Force of Attraction by D.D. Ayres was a second chance story and there are doggies and plenty of suspense and interesting secondary characters. I’ve read the first two of Sandra Owens’ K2 Team books and the third, Falling for Her is my favorite. Not as suspenseful as the first, which had me chewing nails, but the chemistry between the hero and heroine, two damaged souls, was strong.
The holiday books I’ve pre-ordered or requested through the library are showing up on my Kindle. I’ve resisted, except for Susan Mallery’s Marry Me at Christmas, with was Susan Mallery good, but not my favorite. The hero is a celebrity and I did love the way the Fool’s Good residents treated him throughout the story.
Next up for me is an ARC of Matched by Jamie Farrell. Her previous books have been laugh out loud funny (I think I hurt myself laughing while reading Southern Fried Blues) and I expect the same with her latest. I ended up working this weekend and I can use a good laugh or three.
I DNF’d “The Highwayman”, in fact I didn’t get past the prologue and the 1st chapter, just too much graphic violence for me. Luckily it was a library book. I’ve still been finding lots of stuff to read on Scribd, including Miranda Neville’s “Never Resist Temptation” and “Lady Windermere’s Lover”. Her books have been consistently excellent and enjoyable. I just finished a Christmas anthology called “The Last Chance Christmas Ball”, also on Scribd, by the Word Wenches(Jo Beverly, Mary Jo Putney, Joanna Bourne, and 5 others). Every story was good, and several were quite touching.
In print, I finally read “Fool Me Twice” because I realized I had 3 Duran books on the TBR pile. So now I can move on to the 2 “Lady” books. I am really loving her heroines in this series.
@Vasha, The City and the City is one of my favorite books. I love the way it flips everything upside down.
I’m still obsessed with The Martian. After seeing the movie, I decided to listen to the audiobook again. 🙂
I just finished Elizabeth Chadwick’s For the King’s Favor. I liked it. I really like historical fiction that doesn’t focus solely on the major figures of history, but rather has those characters as secondary characters.
I’m starting Jackie Collins’ Hollywood Wives. Her death reminded me that I haven’t read much of her work (lots of Judith Krantz, though), so I picked one up at the library. It’s fun, so far, but I’m only 100 or so pages into it.
Oh, and does anyone have any suggestions that aren’t Scribd for borrowing audiobooks? I listen during my commute (2 hours/day) and listen to far more than one a month, so I’m pretty sure I’m going to cancel. I’m back to Overdrive, but the romance selection can be kind of slim.
@Algae, see if your library has OneClickDigital. They offer Recorded Books audiobooks and have a good romance selection (titles that aren’t on Overdrive too). I have the first Destiny book by Beverly Jenkins on the ONeClickDigital app now.
This month, I finally finished Beauty and the Bounty Hunter by Lori Austin. Good read overall but the story is kind of slow-paced in the first half, despite the h/h being on the run from the beginning. Then I read Love and other Scandals by Caroline Linden which I loved, Craving Flight, Everything Everything by Nicola Yoon, and Romancing the Duke by Tessa Dare.
Algae: Also see if your library has access to Hoopla audiobooks. It won’t include the big titles necessarily, but it has a decent romance selection, including all or most of Nalini Singh.
Finished Seth Dickinson’s Traitor Baru Cormorant, a fantasy novel with a queer POC accountant. It *is* the start of series, but really doesn’t feel like a first book. Interesting ideas on imperialism and what would you sacrifice.
Readathon meant catching up with Ms Marvel tpbs 2&3, Seanan McGuire’s Indexing Reflections serial chapters, and finishing off MJ Scott’s Shattered Court. Still unsure what I think about that last — interesting magic system/worldbuilding, curious where it’s going, but not sure I like some of the approach?
I’m coming to the end of a wolfie reread binge: I’ve glommed Vivian Arend’s Granite Lake Wolves, Takhini Wolves, and Takhini Shifters series. I’m on Laird Wolf now and am feeling comfortably replete. Wolfies FTW!
Audiobook-wise, I’m re-listening to the Phryne Fisher series. Stephanie Daniel is an amazing narrator. She sings when the book calls for it, and does it really well! I highly recommend the audiobooks. (I’ve decided not to watch the Miss Fisher Murder Mysteries until I’ve read all the books first. My memory’s a sieve and I don’t want to start confusing canon…)
Thanks to whispersync (all glory be to Amazon?)(seriously, whispersync may be the only way I can reduce my TBR) I’ve listened to Octavia E. Butler’s Dawn and Adulthood Rites. OMG, they blew. My. Mind! Riveting. Thought-provoking. (Humanity sucks so much!) No HEAs but tentatively hopeful futures for some parts of humankind…? I’m waiting for the right mood to listen to Imago, and I can feel my anticipation building. (SRSLY OMG Ms. Butler is amazing and everyone should read her!) Also, great narration.
Next, I think, is Nalini Singh’s Rock Redemption in audiobook form. (Yes, I did just read the kindle book the other week, and no, it’s not too soon to re-experience it.)
And I stopped by the library today and picked up a comfort reread Agatha Christie (just because), the first Percy Jackson book (because SB Sarah), and a 125-page Kaari Utrio historical romance, Porvarin morsian (because Kaari Utrio, and because a short Kaari Utrio novel is rarer than a unicorn…).
Just finished Robin Schone’s ‘The Lover’ which part of me enjoyed and the other part of me has no idea what I just read. Anne was a great heroine, taking charge of her sexuality and making no apologies for her needs but the mystery was soooooo drawn out and the vague allusions to what the hero was hiding were soooo vague and confusing so that when we finally do get the big reveal at the end I was still left so confused and spending most of the last few chapters rereading passages going ‘wait, what? Seriously what’s going on?’ And then there was that part with the banana…
Just read Kristen Callihan’s The Friend Zone and The Hook Up. Dear Gawd, those were way better than any sports book I’ve read before. The characters were too young to be believable in my mind but her ability to fully develop a love story and have tension is really good. Sometimes I wish I could merely say to them before they’re done…this needs to be a bit longer to develop different personalities. She did that thing writers do where she gets so into the love story she forgets that they’re two different people that would act, talk and be different humans. That part isn’t very developed but she’s got the writing chops to pull it off. I enjoyed the overall and read a book a day. I liked that part and a genre I never read.