Finished Shadow Blade by Seressia Glass a mediocre urban fantasy - the first in a series. The protagonist is a shadow chaser who’s mentor was killed by an Avatar of a fallen angel.
Nothing new here, fairly predictable. The only thing to distinguish this from all the rest is the mythos - Egyptian.
I doubt I will pick up the others.
I read this ages ago, unfortunately it’s been so long that I don’t think I could discuss any specifics with confidence. I loved the concept, I loved Square, the religious allegory parts I was more “whatever” about.
I’m reading Grave Goods by Ariana Franklin, about a 12th-century female forensic investigator who has been enlisted by Henry II to identify the bones of what are possibly Arthur and Guinevere.
They’re not.
It’s not the kind of book I’d usually read but it got a good review in BookSense. It’s very slow but I do like the characters and the atmosphere, and I’ll finish it. It’s the third in a series and someday I may read the others. If you like this kind of book, I would recommend it.
Finished my audiobook, The Help, by Kathyrn Stockett. I shied away from it at first because it looks like the stereotypical Oprah-club-women’s-relationships novel, but it turned out to be a real jewel. I think that was mostly due to the readers, especially Octavia Spencer (voice of Aibileen). I don’t think I’d have enjoyed it half as much if I’d read it to myself.
New audiobook: The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-time Indian, written and read by Sherman Alexie.
I adore that book, and didn’t realize Alexie read the audiobook himself. If you like it, and haven’t read the hard copy book, it has neat illustrations that you might want to page through sometime.
Oh wait, what am I reading? (I was too excited about replying about the Sherman Alexie book).
Ah yes, The Magicians by Lev Grossman. I think I liked this, but felt it a little like junk food, as if I was liking it even though I could tell it maybe wasn’t that good. Adult book, it got a lot of comparisons to Harry Potter because it’s about a guy who suddenly gets a mysterious invitation to attend magical college. I know someone who read it, expecting it to be Harry Potter but with grown-ups, and was disappointed because it wasn’t. I started with the expectation that it would be more like Less Than Zero but with magic, and that seemed to work out for me.
Loved: the witty (too witty to be realistic) dialogue, it’s funny, keeping track of all the Narnia references.
Not so good: characters are frequently difficult to like, and if you think too hard on the structure of the book, it doesn’t really hold together.
Read:
The Many Deaths of the Firefly Brothers by Thomas Mullen ~ Not as fun a book as it should have been.
The Pillars of the Earth by Ken Follett ~ Reread. I love this book.
World Without End by Ken Follett ~ It was ok. Had pretty much the same ‘characters’ as the first book, it just took place 200 years later. The ending also seemed very rushed.
Heartsblood: Hunting, Spirituality, and Wildness in America by David Petersen ~ Wow. Very eloquent and it’s refreshing to know that there are others out there who feel as I do regarding hunting.
In the Heart of the Sea: The Tragedy of the Whaleship Essex by Nathaniel Philbrick ~ LOVED this book and could not put it down. I want to go to Nantucket to see their museum.
The Age of Innocence by Edith Wharton ~ Trying to work on the ‘classics’ again. This one was decent if frustrating.
The Riven Kingdom (The Godspeaker Trilogy) by Karen Miller ~ Second in the series. Working on the third one now.
Reading:
Hammer of God (Godspeaker Trilogy, Book 3) by Karen Miller
I also have Return to the Hundred Acre Wood kicking around somewhere but as usual, I set it down and can’t find it. (We’re still unpacking.)
I read it, years ago; justly, a classic. Real mind-bending stuff.
The truly jarring note was the discussion of the role of women. When I read it I was too young to appreciate that it was a social satire on Victorian society.
Picked it up on your recommendation, no doubt. 
I agree. I’ve recommended it before here on the Dope and elsewhere.
I’m now reading Hell to Pay by D.M. Giangreco, about the planned invasion of Japan at the end of WW2 that was averted by the surrender. I’ve long been interested in Truman’s decision to bomb Hiroshima and Nagasaki, and Giangreco makes a compelling case that not only were Japanese very unlikely to surrender otherwise, but that an amphibious invasion would have killed far, far more people on both sides, lengthening the war by up to two years.
I’m also reading the new Vanity Fair’s Presidential Profiles book, with pencil sketches of each U.S. president and a short essay about each. Pretty interesting, with a great cover: http://www.amazon.com/Vanity-Fairs-Presidential-Profiles-Americans/dp/0810984873/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1268241331&sr=1-1
I’m also skimming some of my favorite bits of Asimov’s first Foundation novel.
I’m reading the I, Robot stories to my kids. It’s been forever since I read them myself. The prose is very awkward, especially to read aloud, but the kids are intrigued by the logic puzzles centered on the Three Laws, and they’re very amused by the 1940’s image of the future. I’m amused myself to see that in the second story Asimov uses his chemistry background and manages to slip in a little Gilbert & Sullivan.
I’m really craving some good space opera. I wish I had held back a couple of the Vorkosigan books for a rainy day. I have something like 100 books in my to-read stack, and the only potential for space opera is Michael Flynn’s newest novel. There’s a David Weber book in there, too, but I’m still pissed at him over the last Honor book, so I don’t want to read it. I bet there’s a “Recommend Space Opera” thread around here somewhere, I’ll have to search for it.
I’m really enjoying A Shortcut in Time, by Charles Dickinson. This is the one Auntie Pam has been recommending for years, and I can see why. Auntie Pam, which of his other books do you recommend next?
I’m about half way through Peter Straub’s new book, A Dark Matter. It’s about a group of kids in the sixties, a guru and a Very Bad Event. Lots of fun, so far, except the characters strike me as very 21st century and their sensibilities are not particularly far out and psychedelic. Could be that that’s because the tale is unfolding through the eyes of a contemporary man (and/or that the author is a better writer and more subtle than I’m used to). Either way, I’m really enjoying it.
I urge you to read Harlan Ellison’s unproduced screenplay for an I Robot movie (not the Will Smith version). It’s very, very good.
Any of them, but his other books aren’t as “complete” as Shortcut. They’re more like character studies than stories. I think The Widows’ Adventures was the one that got me started on Dickinson. It’s about two sisters driving across country (the one driving is blind). But they’re all good, IMO.
He’s written a follow-up to Shortcut but can’t get it published, dammit.
I’ve finished Complexity: The emerging science at the edge of order and chaos, by Mitchell Waldrop. It was pretty good, though I would have liked more science and less human interest stories. Reading it I was curious how dated it was.
I’m not sure what I’ll read next. I’m on a bit of a pop science kick.
Started on Missing Abby, a YA novel, last night and got through about half of it. An interesting and fast-paced read about a teenage girl who was the last to see an old friend before the friend’s disappearance.
Finished Spider’s Bite: An Elemental Assassin Book the first in a new urban fantasy series. It was only OK, but might have some potential. If there are others I might give them a try.
I really like how Madness of Angels is starting out. It seems more literary than much of urban fantasy, and I happen to have a jones for dark angel stories just now, as I’m watching season 4 of Supernatural. The book I’m really looking forward to is Angelology, reviewed here by NPR.