While She Knits - Summer Reading

[checkers65477.livejournal.com]

It's Summertime Summertime Sum Sum Summertime, hooray!



I am in a reading slump. I've reread some of my favorites--Brat Farrar, A Town Like Alice, The Goblin Emperor--but need something new.  I keep staring at Gentleman Jole and the Red Queen but am, quite frankly, terrified to read it.

What have you read lately that you've loved? Let's have some recommendations.

Comments

[ibmiller.livejournal.com]

I just started The Awakening of Miss Prim, and am loving it (oddly enough, for the same reason I loved The Just City - though both are radically different politically/philosophically/religiously, they are both radically committed to the love and pursuit of wisdom as contrasted with the love of knowledge). There's also my ever-present love of comics - the new DC Rebirth line is quite exciting, especially Detective Comics by James Tynion IV (art by Eddy Barrows and Alvaro Martinez).

[peanut13171.livejournal.com]

Illuminae by Amie Kaufman and Jay Kristoff. First book in a trilogy. Fast-paced action, lots of plot twists and turns, and snarky humor. It was one of my 2 favorite books written in 2015.

I also liked Sleeping Giants by Sylvain Neuvel. First book in a series, it is written as a series of interviews conducted by a mysterious figure.

I am currently listening to David Rosenfelt's Andy Carpenter mystery series. Good mysteries, likable characters, and good plotting. What I like most is the author's voice. He manages to insert small dollops of humor into the story, even in grim situations.

I got to his mysteries via his book Dogtripping, where he and his wife and assorted friends move his 25 dogs from California to Maine in three RVs. Yes, they rescued 25 unwanted dogs and treat them with love. A lot of the dogs are older or have health issues. At times, they've had as many as 40! Apparently they are quite well off because vet bills and feeding that many dogs must cost a fortune!

[jenn hilgeman (from livejournal.com)]

I heartily second Illuminae. I absolutely adored that book, though I think it might have stressed me out a bit too much for a second read. It is quite intense.

I ordered Sleeping Giants for my library and I have been tempted to read it. I might have to give it a go.

[checkers65477.livejournal.com]

I just put a reserve on Illuminae AND ordered it for my school library. Thanks for the recommendation.

[jenn hilgeman (from livejournal.com)]

I've been in a bit of a reading slump myself. I've checked out a bunch of books from the library, but nothing seems to be what I want to read.

I have recently got hooked on Ben Aaronovitch's Peter Grant/Rivers of London series. They are police procedurals, but with magic, and Peter Grant is absolutely hilarious (if you enjoy a sarcastic sense of humor).

[peanut13171.livejournal.com]

I also love the Aaronovitch books! The next one is due out soon and I've got it on hold.

[checkers65477.livejournal.com]

Oh, I love them, too! I didn't know the next one was due out soon, so that's good news.

[jenn hilgeman (from livejournal.com)]

Ingram is saying January of next year for book six.

[(Anonymous)]

So I just read the Red Queen. It was OK. It was fast, easy, and fun. However, it wasn't very original and the main character was a little annoying. It did help me get out of my reading slump, though.

[(Anonymous)]

Read the Red Queen! I loved it.

Have you ever read Hotel Under the Sand or I Capture the Castle? Also, The Summer I Became a Nerd. It's right in the title!

-Lady Jane (too lazy to log in)

[checkers65477.livejournal.com]

I've read the Hotel Under the Sand (MWT actually recommended that one to me, I think) and also I Capture the Castle. Both are great!

[aged-crone.livejournal.com]

Love Hotel Under the Sand. Hate I Capture the Castle. Refuse to read Red Queen.

[rabid-bookwyrm.livejournal.com]

The Raven Cycle by Maggie Stiefvater! This will totally fix your reading slump problem because I recommend going through the series and then immediately reading it a second time. You'll pick up on sooooooo much the second time through. The series just finished in April:
The Raven Boys
The Dream Thieves
Blue Lily Lily Blue
The Raven King

Also, same author, standalone book The Scorpio Races.

[checkers65477.livejournal.com]

I've read Scorpio Races but not the Raven books. They are going on my TBR list!

[(Anonymous)]

Have you read The Traitor Baru Cormorant? I bought it the first day it came out (September 2015) and it has been my favorite ever since. The writing is beautiful and poetic and the story is thrilling and deep and full of feels, and has some huge twists and an unreliable narrator like The Thief. The author also stated The Queen of Attolia as one of the influences. Everyone should read it!

[checkers65477.livejournal.com]

I have not heard of this one! My public library has it so I will toddle off to pick it up. Ha, the first review on Amazon says, "Like the Goblin Emperor if the main character was a sociopath."

[(Anonymous)]

Lol, that description is classic! Well, let us know how you like it! I won't say anything else, because it's the sort of story that is best left as a surprise. It defied all my expectations, personally, since all I read before buying it was the dust jacket flap.

[melita66.livejournal.com]

New visitor--I found your blog after re-reading James Nicoll's reviews of MWT (just the first 2 books) and then googling for more.

For comforting reads, my latest one (from last year) is Becky Chambers' A Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet.

The author I push the hardest is Martha Wells. Smart, often sarcastic characters. Read The Death of the Necromancer for a thief who has a long game to destroy the man who caused his stepfather to be killed. The plan gets derailed when he discovers that people are being tortured and killed.

Her current series about the Raksura is terrific. The main character, Moon, saw his family destroyed as a young child. Since then he's wandered the Three Worlds (ground, sea, sky) trying to find a home. Then he gets rescued, after being staked out by the people he's been living with, by a Raksura. Wells is quite good at making even minor characters interesting.

[ejmam.livejournal.com]

I had a lot of fun with Rachel Bach's space adventure trilogy, starting with Fortune's Pawn. The author is also Rachel Aaron, who wrote a fantasy series about a thief which I have high hopes for: The Legend of Eli Monpress. My older son (17) read it and recommended it.

[checkers65477.livejournal.com]

Oh my gosh, I've had that book sitting on my shelf for months and could not remember why I bought it. That explains it--I loved the Eli Monpress books! I will dust it off soon. Thanks for the jog to my feeble memory.

[manderelee.livejournal.com]

Oh man, *huge* fan of Rachel Aaron here! Her Nice Dragon series is awesome as well. Great follow-up to her Monpress books. I highly recommend them! They were actually the first books I read this year. The third book in the series is coming out later this fall I think.

I haven't tried her Fortune series, mostly because I'm not really into space opera, but I have heard good things about it.

[pianolise.livejournal.com]

My mission this summer is to read more books, now I'll have to look into these...
I'm currently reading Wolf Hall by Hilary Mantel. It's about the Tudor period/Henry VIII and his wife drama from the point of view of Thomas Cromwell. It's really good and I love the writing style so far (I'm only about 25% through, it's long). In a similar vein setting-wise, I totally recommend the Lymond Chronicles! I know there are other people on here who have read them, that's how I found out about them. Really intricate plots (at some points the way the author hides/hints at important information reminds me of MWT), great characters, and many points where you will want to cry/throw the book at the wall, but it's worth it in the end.

[ninedaysaqueen.livejournal.com]

Also, Bad Girls Don't Die, Ruby Red, and Rebel Belle. Okay, that all for now.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=36lBeqV7V00

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mgNSS79CR2Y

[aged-crone.livejournal.com]

I'm re-reading some of the Brother Cadfael mysteries by Ellis Peters. I love the way she writes about the Middle Ages in a matter-of-fact, everyday way; you see things as people of the time would have, rather than constantly explaining in detail with the attitude, "Look how exotic this is!"

I've also been reading biographies of Pope St. Pius X, and of his Secretary of State, Cardinal Rafael Merry del Val, and of Pope Pius XII.

[manderelee.livejournal.com]

I think this is the first year when I've basically been reading nonstop. It's great!! I don't know if I can keep up the momentum though.

Some of the things I've read an enjoyed this year so far:

Nice Dragons Finish Last and One Good Dragon Deserves Another by Rachel Aaron

Sorcerer to the Crown by Zen Cho (I did have a few qualms about the plotting, but it was very light and enjoyable overall)

Scarlet by Marissa Meyer, which is the 2nd book in the Lunar Chronicles

I'd sort of say that I enjoyed Uprooted by Naomi Novik, but I did find big parts of it to be a little underwhelming. Though that's me, and plenty of people from Goodreads seem to find it amazing.

And currently I'm reading The Winner's Kiss by Marie Rutkoski, the final book in the Winner's Curse trilogy, and holy moly, this series is going to be the death of me.