Finished Horizon by Fran Wilde. It’s the final book in the Bone Universe fantasy trilogy. The first book Updraft, which can be read as a stand alone is excellent, mostly because of its fascinating world building. The second and third books, not so much.
Now I’m reading ReVisions, a collection of alternate history short stories with the theme of scientific discoveries being made at different times or different places, or both. It’s edited by Julie E. Czerneda and Isaac Szpindel.
I remember thinking the world was pretty interesting, but the plot and the characters were all pretty forgettable cliches, and I never planned to read sequels. Glad to hear I made the right call :).
Finished Exit Strategy the fourth in Martha Wells’ Murderbot series.These books are all very similar to each other, and Murderbot is a walking deus ex machina, but they’re fun reads anyway. Supposedly there are more coming; I’m hoping for the return of ART!
Next up, Fury, the last in a fantasy series by Rachel Vincent in which mythological creatures actually exist and are being oppressed by humans.
Finally completed Disappointment River by Brian Castner. I wrote about it in the previous thread. Alexander Mackenzie paddling down the Mackenzie in the late 1700s, Castner and a rotating cast of four friends repeating the journey in 2016. The book’s well written and quite well researched, and both voyages are interesting. Somewhat to my surprise I found myself more intrigued by Castner’s modern retracing than Mackenzie’s original, and I might argue that the historical parts included more detail than was necessary. Still, if you like adventure, and the history of exploration, and a little then and now, I’d absolutely recommend it.
Also read a novel, A Reliable Wife, by Robert Goolrick. I liked this one less well. Ralph, an insanely rich widower in a very small town in about 1907, advertises for a “reliable wife.” He eventually gets Catherine, who is not at all what she seems to be, but then again, Ralph isn’t quite who he seems to be either. The writing is generally good and the first half or so of the novel is intriguing as the pieces of the plot (and the characters) are slowly revealed…but the second half of the novel is overlong and very repetitive and takes forever to get us to the obvious ending. I skimmed the last 40 pages or so. --Also, hey, I like sex scenes as much as the next person, but there are like forty-eight of them in this book and they’re just not very interesting or erotic and don’t do much to develop the characters, so… A bit of a disappointment.
Finished 'em both. I had indeed figured out whodunit in March Violets, it turns out, and overall was underwhelmed by the book. Pretty good setting and atmosphere, but just not a very good detective story.
The Library Book, however, is excellent - highly recommended! Might even make my 2018 Top Ten list.
I’ve begun an audiobook of Tara Westover’s Educated, an autobiography by the barely-homeschooled daughter of fundamentalist Mormon parents in Idaho who eventually goes to college and learns just how much was kept from her throughout childhood. Pretty good so far.
Finished The Confessions of Nat Turner, by William Styron. A fictionalized account of the life of the Virginia slave Nat Turner and his life events that led to his 1831 slave revolt, which failed but was the only effective such uprising before the Civil War. Elendil’s Heir, that would be the Travis home. The book is based on Turner’s real-life 7000-word “confessions” dictated to his court-appointed attorney while he awaited execution.
In an interesting afterword to the 25th-anniversary edition, Styron notes that in the year of that rebellion, the Virginia legislature was actually debating full emancipation of the slaves. He said due to heavy antislavery sentiment in the Piedmont region and the western counties, where slaves were few, emancipation actually looked likely to become a reality. But then the revolt scared the bejesus out of the entire South, making everyone determined to clamp down tightly on the slaves. Interesting to think what it would have meant for American history had slavery been abolished in Virginia at that early date. Styron is probably best known for his novel Sophie’s Choice thanks to the film treatment, and Nat Turner is so good that I may have to look up that other.
Next up is The Brothers Karamazov, by Fyodor Dostoevesky.
Finished ReVisions, a collection of alternate history short stories with the theme of scientific discoveries being made at different times or different places, or both. It’s edited by Julie E. Czerneda and Isaac Szpindel. Not bad.
Now I’ve moved onto the next book in the Temeraire series by Naomi Novik: Crucible of Gold.
Okay, just finished it, and this is probably my book of the year. It’s simultaneously gentle and thrilling, and in its eschewing of Manly Heroes and Whip-Smart Super-Geniuses, manages to do something almost entirely new in the field. I strongly, strongly recommend it!
A week ago I finished Michael Connelly’s The Late Show, which is the first book where the Renée Ballard character appears, and have since gotten about 40% of the way through the recently released Dark Sacred Night (book #2 for the Ballard character, wherein she meets Harry Bosch). Both are pretty standard Connelly fare and I enjoyed/am enjoying the mysteries well enough (and I love Bosch), but it’s *really *starting to bug me how often Ballard leaves her dog at the kennel for days on end. It’s bordering on abuse, IMO. Unless there’s some kinda redemption before the end of this book where Ballard realizes the error of her ways (in terms of the dog), I can’t imagine wanting to read another story that features her.
Congrats! I got an M.A. in English while working full-time, and didn’t read a single book for pleasure during all four years. When I finally finished, being able to choose my own reading material again was almost overwhelming at first. 
I finished Fury, the last book of Rachel Vincent’s Menagerie series. I liked the first couple of books but this one was weak; I read the last few chapters while casting longing glances at the other stuff in my TBR pile. There were moments of interesting plot, buried in boring pregnancy stuff and blech! romance.
Next up, An Elderly Lady is Up to No Good, by Helene Tursten. Black comedy about a cute little old lady who kills people. I am paying close attention as I dream of how to spend my own sunset years.
That sounds awesome. 
I sent a sample to my Kindle!
Taking an involuntary break from Educated, about a third of the way through (the audiobook had to be “returned” to the library, and I’m waitlisted to download it again).
In the meantime, I’ve started another audiobook, Lincoln in the Bardo by George Saunders, about the President’s mourning for his son Willie, who died (likely of typhoid) in the White House. There’s an all-star cast providing the voices of ghosts in the cemetery, including Nick Offerman, David Sedaris, Julianne Moore, Don Cheadle and many others. So far I like it.
I loved Lincoln in the Bardo! It took a chapter or so to adjust to the book’s play-like format (not an obstacle for you, with the audiobook), but I adapted quickly enough. One of my favorite books that I read in 2017.
(P.S. Sorry to have every other post in this thread at the moment…work is quiet this week, and you guys are writing interesting stuff! :D)
“Sorry to have”?
Joe Gould’s Teeth, by Jill LePore, which required another glance through Up in the Old Hotel and My Ears Are Bent. Also rereading (I don’t think I’ve ever gotten all the way through it) Mathematics for the Million by Lancelot Hogben, and banging my head against What Is Mathematics Really? by Reuben Hersh. Also, Edna St. Vincent Millay’s Collected Poems, but I’ll probably have to stop, as always, at “Sonnets from an Ungrafted Tree.” Also, before bed, You Know Me Al by Ring Lardner.
I get self-conscious about the sound of my own voice (so to speak). But The King of Soup has broken the pattern! Long live The King!
I shall follow suit!
No, I mean I don’t understand that sentence.