[mostly.harmless]

Target: about 35 books
So far have read the following 5:
- Koko the mighty - Kieran Shea: Liked it but didnt love it. No thinking required, fun read. A bit short and the ending leaves too much unresolved.
- Fool's Quest - Robin Hobb: Despite Fitz's occasional dumbass thinking I liked it a lot. It's a good sequel. Looking forward to the final book.
- Spin - Robert Charles Wilson: A different kind of sci-fi, enjoyed it. Built up the suspense rather well and left a door open for a sequel or 2.
- Furiously Happy - Jenny Lawson: A different kind of autobiography. Kind of like a collection of anecdotes, a la Tucker Max, but written by a person who has phobias, depression, and manias. Pretty funny.
- Made to Kill - Adam Christopher: Last robot in existence becomes PI. Starts off really good, but after the midway point becomes a bit silly or underdelivers, I'm not sure. Still entertaining but I'd not recommend it unless it comes cheap

Currently reading:
The Thing Itself - Adam Roberts: a tale that discusses the Fermi paradox through it's protagonists. So far I'm liking it, about 30% through.
The power of Now - Eckhart Tolle: stopped reading about 10% in. Was recommended by a colleague, but not my cup of spirituality.
City of Blades - Robert Jackson Bennett; really liked City of Stairs so excited about this sequel, 3% in.
the Warrior-Prophet: Behind on my re-read, but taking it slow in case the Great Ordeal is delayed...

[Alia]

Finished reading Harari's Sapiens. A really interesting book, recommended to me by an archeologist friend. It really covers the history of humankind, from its beginnings to present and (tenatively) future, dealing with various topics including agrarian, indurstrial and scientific revolution, religions and ideologies, politics and economy, as well as things such as whether human happiness has increased over time. And even though it covers controversial topics, its tone remains cold, detached - the author presents different theories and different sides of the coin, but mostly without judgment. Definitely worth reading.

[SilentRoamer]

Good work everyone - I'll spend sometime updating targets and totals.

I finished Hamiltons Abyss of Dreams last week - really good read, I really enjoy Hamilton and this seemed to cut a lot of bloat I have seen in previous novels - it probably helps that as this is the 6th book in the chronology a lot of the tech is already explained.

Currently reading Zelazny Guns of Avalon the 2nd book in the Corwin cycle. I just find Zelazny effortless and so enjoyable. Hard to place my finger on what exactly he does right but he just does it, whatever it is!

[MSJ]

Target- 20-25

What I've read so far- Reread of TWP, The Fifth Season, by N.K. Jemisin and am currently reading Low Town, by Daniel Polanski and TTT.

I've started off kinda slow because of the re-read and various other things in my life at the moment. I plan on giving the sequel to Low Town, Tomorrow the Killing a go next. Never read or even heard of Polansky before, it was rec'd through Kindle. But, I am enjoying it immensely. Its a murder mystery, with magic and all kind of dark demons and secrets. Never read anything like it before. I plan on giving K.J. Parker a go some time in the near future. I've heard a lot of good stuff about his books.

Looking forward to TGO obviously, but one book that really has me foaming at the mouth is Dancer's Lament, by Ian Esslemont. Its supposed to give the back story as to how the Malazan Empire came to be. What's not to like about that, huh?

[Alia]

Currently reading Zelazny Guns of Avalon the 2nd book in the Corwin cycle. I just find Zelazny effortless and so enjoyable. Hard to place my finger on what exactly he does right but he just does it, whatever it is!

Yeah, had the same feelings when I did a re-read last year. Maybe it's his putting a whole book with a (sorta) completed plot in just 200-300 pages, not 600+, as it is typical nowadays? As a result, the whole is more packed with action. And then of course, he's famous for his wham lines that make you go: "Wow, you wicked author, how did you do it?"
However, I had several problems with the Merlin cycle. Some things were simply OTT for me, and there were some problems that I noticed only on re-read.

[SilentRoamer]

So I finished Sign of the Unicorn on Monday and was really impressed.

Jumped straight into The Hand of Oberon and should have this finished later today which puts me at 5/25 so far for the year - on target.

[MSJ]

Finished TTT and just started Tomorrow the Killing, by Polansky. After that, I'm gonna delve into some authors I have yet tried. Looking for a good "grimdark" fantasy, if anyone has any suggestions. Oh, I've read Abraham's Long Price Quartet, any thoughts on his Dagger and Coins series?

[Wilshire]

Finished TWP finally, trying to finish TTT before next tuesday's cast.

[MSJ]

Oh, finished Low Town by Polansky. Was going to start the sequel but ice decided to go with The Mechanical, by Ian Tregellis.

[Alia]

Finished reading Brunner's Stand on Zanzibar. Written almost 50 years ago and set in 2010, the book contains a fascinating futuristic vision. Brunner did not predict Internet and almost ubiquitous mobiles (but then again, nobody did) but he did predict total information overload that everyone faces nowadays. He also got some other things very well, like random acts of violence and racial unrest in the US - and he even predicted that Poland would be part of the EU. In late 1960s. And then there is the structure of the book, which mixes two main story lines tracking two main characters with episodes devoted to other people and the world in general. Chapters are very short and dynamic, there are some interesting narrative tricks - in short, highly recommended.

I've started on a book that will not be translated into English. It's a fantasy/horror story written by my high school friend (who published her first short stories in a magazine before she was 18 - and I was one of the people who encouraged her to send the stories in the first place) and it's set in my home town, which gives me additional fun, as I recognize some places very well. It's much shorter than Brunner so maybe it won't take that long to read, especially as Easter break is coming.

[Madness]

I finished Glen Cook: The Black Company about a week or so back.

I've basically stalled on my reading since mid-February. Not good. Must finish books.

EDIT:

Updated SilentRoamer's second post score-sheet for everyone as they've posted. Sorry about that delay.

Let me know if we've missed anyone or counts are wrong. Some books on people's lists have books that aren't marked as complete as no date was given.

[Wilshire]

Well I did finish TTT, on to TJE.

Also started DoD, hopefully I'll work my way through that one quickly, though it is a hulk of a book.

[Bolivar]

Only a few books I hope to get to this year outside of the slog and The Great Ordeal:

Daniel Abraham - The Spider's War
Maurice Druon - The Lion & The Lily and The King Without a Kingdom
Steven Erikson - The Bonehunters and possibly Reaper's Gale
Ian C. Esselmont - Night of Knives
Andrzej Sapkowski - The Sword of Destiny

Sent from my SCH-I605 using Tapatalk

[SilentRoamer]

Thanks for posting everyone. Hopefully I'll be about more in the near future. Since last posting I have finished Hand of Oberon and also Amber Chronicles #5: Courts of Chaos which is the last book in the Corwin cycle. I really recommend Zelazny to those who haven't read him, I find him effortless and the prose gorgeous.

Recently finished Dave De Burghs@ Betrayals Shadow which is book 1 in the Mahaelian Cycle. This is a new author with TicketyBooPress (a small publishing house) and I expect this to do really well. In terms of tone and style it reminded me of Sanderson. Definitely worth a read and if the series keeps the quality it could be a very good epic.

Due to start book 8 this evening just not sure what to read.

[Alia]

Since I spent most of the weekend on the train or standing in lines (reading - I went to the biggest s-f convention in Poland), I finished reading the book by my high-school friend. It's really strange - a bit of fantasy, a bit of horror, a bit of magical realism - and a lot of truth about depression and all those little hurts that we carry on from our childhood and that influence our lives, unless we finally come to terms with them.
I had one small problem with the book. It's written mostly from the protagonist's PoV and in first person - and I couldn't help but see my friend in those parts, so many things about her life that I know of overlapped. Still, a very good book.

I've already started another one, a novel by a Polish philosopher, who started out writing folklore-based fantasy and now writes something I have no name for. It's not realistic prose, although actually there are no fantastic elements in it. But the language, the language is beautiful and captivating. So captivating that in fact after reading each of his novels so far I had bouts of thinking in his phrases.