Weekend Reading Roundup (31 July 2017)

[nanila]

How did your weekend reading go? If you planned on anything specifically, did you read it?

Comments

[nanila]

Am about 2/3 of the way through Blitzed: Drugs in Nazi Germany, hoping to finish this week.

[gool_duck]

I was suddenly ambushed -- I mean a book came to my attention suddenly, and I read it all on the weekend.
What It Looks Like by Matthew Metzger Which is a M/M romance with a cis man and a trans man. I liked it a lot.

[nanila]

Oh, what a wonderful surprise! So glad you enjoyed it.

[katherine]

I finished a library book in a series I've been enjoyed, peeked ahead at blurbs and decided the upcoming book focuses on a character I'm not interested in, so that's one less thing to keep track of.

[nanila]

Well done on finishing, and keeping Mount To-Be-Read in check. :)

[nou]

Since last report, I have read:

• The House of Shattered Wings by Aliette de Bodard. I decided about halfway through this that I wasn’t enjoying it, but persisted to the end in the hope of closure. Sadly it turns out that this is just the first in a series, so no payoff for me.
• Something Coming Through by Paul McAuley. A similar experience to the above, really, though I did at least make it further through the book before wondering if it was worth continuing.
• How to Live on Other Planets: a Handbook for Aspiring Aliens, edited by Joanne Merriam. Short story collection looking at the immigrant experience from an SF point of view.
• The Last Place you Look by Kristen Lepionka. A murder mystery with more dead women than ideal, but the reason I like it anyway is that the main character is a bisexual woman whose bisexuality isn’t made into a plot point. I don’t know if this is the first in a series, but I kind of hope it is.
• The Red Abbey Chronicles: Naondel by Maria Turtschaninoff, translated by Annie Prime. As previously mentioned, I don’t normally like Young Adult, which apparently this is, but I liked the first in this series, and I like this one too. It’s not exactly an easy read — some of the characters are really terrible people — but I’m keen to read the next one.
• My Name Is Leon by Kit de Waal. This is really good. I have some experience of a couple of its major themes, and it brought up some difficult memories for me, but it was very much worth reading.

[nanila]

Thank you, as always, for the thorough report and mini-reviews.

I have failed at finishing any of the Aliette de Bodard works I've tried. I can't get into the writing style and the characters have left me cold. :/

My name is Leon looks really good, though!

[nou]

Glad it’s not just me. I think I’ve given her a fair go, and hence can now give up!

[fox_confessor]

I finished the fourth Harry Potter book (in my attempt to reread the whole series this summer) then picked up Roxane Gay's Hunger just to read the first chapter to see if I would like it. Of course I was going to like it! I love her books. It was the easiest hard read I've read in a while and "read the first chapter" turned into a "devour the whole book in one night" scenario (and a rough next day at work on little sleep). Now I'm reading Paula Hawkins' Into the Water (which I keep calling The Girl in the Water) because it's due and there are no renewals. It's fine but I refuse to suffer a overdue fine for it so am reading as quickly as I can, which is hard because there are so many characters and I'm constantly forgetting who is who.

[nanila]

I wave my pom-poms to cheer you on in finishing the library book so you can get back to Hunger. :D

[azurelunatic]

I am working my way through the Song of Ice & Fire series, because there are new ones I haven't read and I want to have the rest of the series vaguely fresh in my mind before tackling it.

[nanila]

Ah, tactical re-reading! I hope it's enjoyable, too. :)

[azurelunatic]

Yes! Apparently I can take a greater amount of General Unpleasantness in a book than belovedest prefers. We're starting to calibrate what we share in common.