ignite the books discussion

Finally stared Raven Boys, so far so good!

i'm reading The Storyspinner by Becky Wallace and it may just be one of the worst books i've read this year. it's a bit of a nightmare.

Just started reading Queen of Shadows by Sarah J. Maas and am on the third Mercy Thompson audiobook. The second MT book was much better than the first!

I'm hoping my copy of Winter will get here tonight. I need that book NOW.

Emily wrote: "i'm reading The Storyspinner by Becky Wallace and it may just be one of the worst books i've read this year. it's a bit of a nightmare."

Considering some of the books you've read this year that is impressive.

Victoria wrote: "Emily wrote: "i'm reading The Storyspinner by Becky Wallace and it may just be one of the worst books i've read this year. it's a bit of a nightmare."

Considering some of the books you've read thi..."

i've been on a roll this year. i've read some really bad stuff.

Reading #2 in Ilona Andrews' Innkeeper series and very very happy with it so far :D

Reading Ancient Appetites by Oisín McGann, so far it's curious(but then again I'm only 30 pages in...)

So Ancient Appetites was actually quite interesting, it went to some cool places in the Steampunk world and I'm curious enough to try out the rest of the books.

Now I'm starting Silver in the Blood by Jessica Day George (Dracula strikes again!!)

i'm gonna start the Mistborn trilogy (finally) after finals week!

Leah wrote: "i'm gonna start the Mistborn trilogy (finally) after finals week!"

yessssss Mistborn <3

I'm listening to The Appearance of Annie van Sinderen and it's.... mind numbingly boring. I'm READING Sorcerer to the Crown by Zen Cho and it's delightful so far. Very much in the style of Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell

Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe was SO CUTE, Y'ALL. I really loved it. Now onto Devil In the Valley, which...cool set-up, but I feel nothing for the main character and I'm about halfway through the book. It feels more like a thought experiment than a novel, but is there really any point to more thought experiments on deals with the devil if you don't have anything new to add?

Also just started Black Iris.

I just read The Thief which was delightful and exactly the kind of read I needed. Now I'm onto either Vicious or The Young Elites depending on how much I can keep my eyes open with this cold.

About halfway through Robert Galbraith's Career of Evil audiobook. Wish I had another long drive coming up so I could finish it faster!

i have fallen right back into audiobook hell and am listening to Super Mario: How Nintendo Conquered America by Jeff Ryan. It's very listenable!

i have also acquired a bunch of Tudor and Plantagenet history books that i plan on listening to over the next few months, because i need some history back in my life tbh and it's SO MUCH EASIER to consume via audiobook than to actually read.

i'm also reading a collection of essays on veronica mars because that's how i roll

Hannah, I am very interested in this collection of VM essays.

So Shadows of Self is kind of amazing and I'm not even a 100 pages in yet. Damn you Sanderson!

There are so many throwbacks to the first Mistborn trilogy in Shadows of Self, and I loved it so much! So glad the third book is coming out in January.

I just finished The Heir by Keira Cass, which was boring and superficial, just like the other three books in The Selection.

Picked up Illuminae by Amie Kaufman from the library. I've heard nothing but good things about this one. She also put out the third book in the Starbound series this week that I'm dying to read.

Diana wrote: "Hannah, I am very interested in this collection of VM essays."

the collection is Neptune Noir: Unauthorized Investigations into Veronica Mars! i'm finding it a really interesting read because it was actually put together before the series ended? so it's interesting on one level for the writing about VM, but also interest as an insight to like...how people were viewing the cultural context nearly a decade ago.

Currently reading the Sevenwaters series by Juliet Marillier-- binged Daughter of the Forest and am now starting Son of Shadows

Thanks, Hannah! Leah, looking forward to your Sevenwaters thoughts. Kind of a Marillier obsessive.

I gave up on Devil in the Valley but Black Iris is straight addictive.

Diana wrote: "Thanks, Hannah! Leah, looking forward to your Sevenwaters thoughts. Kind of a Marillier obsessive.

I gave up on Devil in the Valley but Black Iris is straight addictive."

well i basically INHALED daughter of the forest and am about 1/2way through son of shadow. i looooooooooooooooooooooooove liadan as a protagonist (no-nonsense healer lady @ignitesthestars) and i love the romance so far but i am really bummed about sean & niamh--they feel like prop!siblings, which is especially disappointing because of how much i enjoyed the sibling relationships (BETWEEN 7 SIBLINGS!!!) in daughter of the forest.

Still working my way through that essay collection, but i am at least satisfied that i am not the only person in the world who reads too much into symbolism. there is an essay on cars (it's great).

i'm also listening to the audiobook for Clean Sweep. it's...idk i'm enjoying it and i love the mc? but holy shit i could not give any less fucks about the dude characters if i tried.

i am wondering if it's a function of listening to the book via audio? it automatically slows everything down, i think this book is better served by binging it in a 4 hour chunk instead of stretching it out over a couple of days.

i'm also listening to the audiobook for Clean Sweep. it's...idk i'm enjoying it and i love the mc? but holy shit i could not give any less fucks about the dude characters if i tried.


NOT EVEN THE SPACE VAMPIRE?

So finished Shadows of Selves and OMS what a ride, and can I say I think Steris is one of my fave secondary characters? Especially after the final scene. The last book (if indeed that's what it is) is going to ruin me isn't it?

Now to finish my Holly book, and hopefully get my hands on this month's book.

the space vampire is fun, but honestly I'm so tired of dudes being all up in ladies faces in paranormal stuff. ~I am a sexy vampire swoon already.

Curran I think was easier to deal with because the narrative straight up treats him as an asshole and doesn't expect us to think otherwise. with both Sean & space vampire I felt too much like the book was pushing them at me all 'swoon, bitch'

Reading Queen of Shadows by Sarah J. Maas this week. Finally getting around to tackling all the brick sized books I collected this year.

Is anyone else doing the GR reading challenge? My annual goal is 100 books. I'm sitting at 78 right now, so I don't think that's happening. I'll be happy if I get to 90 by the end of the year.

Jess wrote: "Reading Queen of Shadows by Sarah J. Maas this week. Finally getting around to tackling all the brick sized books I collected this year.

Is anyone else doing the GR reading challenge? My annual g..."

i had mine set to 100 but stopped reading (for some reason???) a few months ago. so i've revised it to 75 because i don't think 100 is a feasible number for me anymore anyway :'D

Reading Sandman Slim, by Richard Kadrey, as the current fiction book. It is hilarious.

And Zinky Boys: Soviet Voices from the Afghanistan War, by Svetlana Alexievich, as I just finished her Voices from Chernobyl: The Oral History of a Nuclear Disaster and wanted to read something else by her. The author won the Nobel prize in Literature this year, which is how I heard of her. Warning though, I would not read either of these if you are in an emotionally fragile state.

Jess wrote:
Is anyone else doing the GR reading challenge? My annual g..."

I am! So far I think I'm on track. I've only got seven books left until I reach my goal.

Dreams At Dusk wrote: "Reading Sandman Slim, by Richard Kadrey, as the current fiction book. It is hilarious.

I love Sandman Slim and always happy when new people discover it. Still haven't read the newest one yet though, need to get on that. (also that series has some of the best covers I've ever seen)

So Finished Catching Midnight, and started Furies of Calderon (because I'm apparently in a Roman high fantasy sort of mood). Still not having any luck finding this month's book *crosses fingers*.

Also decided to give up on First Time is the Sweetest. It just wasn't grabbing me the way Leaf's other book had, so moving onto Tart on the ebook front.

I'm reading Headless Horsemen: A Tale of Chemical Colts, Subprime Sales Agents, and the Last Kentucky Derby on Steroids for research for my NaNo novel revisions and it's NUTS. Thoroughbred racing, cartoonishly corrupt in every direction!

Also working my way through All Our Pretty Songs, which is pretty...pretty. I feel like I'm almost done with it but am not sure where it's going?

And, I got this month's book waiting for me at the library!

I'm starting Vicious tonight and I just put The Queen of Attolia and this month's book on hold at the library.

If I read really fast I'll get to 50 books read this year, which would be a new record for me :D

I'm almost done with the semester. Once I am, I am greatly looking forward to inhaling all the Juliet Marillier i can get my grubby hands on

just finished blackbirds by chuck wendig and

hated it? mostly

which i'm upset about because i like chuck wendig a lot and his advice has been extremely helpful to me

but god that book was not even a little bit for me

Started Their Fractured Light by Amie Kaufman and Meagan Spooner last night. The Illumniae Files was super good and got me in the mood for more SPACE stories, so I had to jump on this one ASAP.

Also picked up Rachel Caine's Ink and Bone last week. I haven't read any of Caine's stuff since the Morganville Vampires series started going downhill so we'll see how this one goes.

Annnd I started listening to the next Mercy Thompson book after finishing Career of Evil this weekend.

Finished Tart, and I really enjoyed it. Sometimes romances in which there aren't big problems are exactly what you want.

And while I should be reading five more books to reach my goal instead I'm reading fanfic, because Star Wars ZOMS.

Welp, guess I'm gonna read three books at once!

Tackling Academ's Fury, Labyrinth of Evil, and Welcome to Night Vale. We'll see how it goes.

(For now I'm gonna put Menage aside, I read the first chapter and IDK, something about it kind of bugged me. So leaving it alone for now and hopefully I can get more into it later)

I've been roaring through Leah Raeder books. About to start Unteachable. Also reading Duel for the Crown: Affirmed, Alydar, and Racing’s Greatest Rivalry because ~verisimilitude~

Slowly making my way through Inseparable: Desire Between Women in Literature. I need to make a reading list of stuff the author discusses (there's probably one floating around online already); some of the books I've read but didn't really grok as centering on lesbian relationships, some I've never heard of, and some sound downright wild.

I'm baaaaack~

That being said, here's what I've been reading part of last semester and this one:

- Games Wizards Play - I'VE WAITED SIX (?) YEARS FOR THIS BOOK. TOTALLY WORTH IT. Granted some parts of it felt more filler, but it was a nice break in the pace considering all the huge events that happened in the previous two. There is definitely a build up for something big and scary.

- The Foxhole Court - I wasn't expecting to like a sports book???? like, at all???? But the characters have great dynamics and backstories, and the the slow-burn was written pretty well.

- Lady Midnight - I am weak and this is my guilty pleasure. There were some major eye-rolling moments, but I think I'll be liking this installment the most. The word bisexual was actually used instead of hitting around, so that's a plus.

- Bands of Mourning - My emotions are a mess, and damn you, Sanderson. DAMN YOU!

- A Darker Shade of Magic - Sign me up!!! I really dig the alternate universes and the magic system. I can't wait to eventually get my hands on the second book.

So having finished Destroyer of Light (which was amazing, if you love Greek mythology and good writing you'll probably love this book) I'm on to The Name of The Wind.

My reading's been sort of slow these past few months so I'm hoping new books will help me out of that funk.

I went to my local indie bookstore last week to buy Beyond the Red and ended up with that AND an ARC of The Sport of Kings, which I'm reading right now and whew. Moral epic indeed. It's giant and full of horses and I love it.

I crashed through all of Ilona Andrews' Edge books while i was away and...they were great, but not up to Kate Daniels' adoration levels for me. I'm not a big fan in general of series that switch their main characters every book? LIKE i can enjoy them once i get into them, but there's always that wall to jump over for me to actually...get into them.

AND i just started Longbourn, which is a retelling of Pride & Prejudice from the POV of one of the housemaids. One day i'll read the actual P&P instead of one million adaptations, but not this day

I'm reading the Hundred Thousand Kingdoms :D

Hannah wrote: "I crashed through all of Ilona Andrews' Edge books while i was away and...."

Which was your favorite Edge book? I think two and three were the best. The Mar family was great.

Also, good look with Longbourn! I tried to do the audiobook a couple of months ago and it put me right to sleep.

Right now, I sort of put my read through of The Words of Radiance by Brandon Sanderson on hold - mostly because it's so so good and I don't want to blow through it quite yet.

I'm currently listening to Ready Player One by Ernest Cline. I'm not very far into it, but I've already got some mixed feelings about it. Pretty sure I'd be 1000 percent more interested in it if the protagonist was a lady and it wasn't a love letter to some aspects of geek culture I hate.

And I just started Flamecaster by Cinda Williams Chima, the first in the sequel series to her Seven Realms book. She threw down the gauntlet in the first two chapters, and I am NOT OKAY!

Taking a quick break from reading Wind to read Come as You Are, which I'm really enjoying so far (and highly recommend to everyone here).

Jess, I actively detested Ready Player One for the reasons you stated (and others), so I'm interested to hear what you think of it ultimately!

The Sport of Kings did not turn out to really be the book I wanted (which I guess isn't its FAULT), but still enjoyable in some regards. Now onto Beyond the Red and--as of tomorrow--THE RAVEN KING. :3