So, what do you people read?

[Odolf]

Hello everyone, Odolf/Kisho/Curare/who cares here. I was just wondering to myself what everyone here enjoys reading for fun?

Recently i've been re-reading a lot of my old favorites, lots of science fiction with fantasy on the horizon. Currently re-reading Genesis Quest by Donald Moffitt, and reading for the first time The Long Hunt, of the excellent Mageworlds series, by Debra Doyle and James D Macdonald. If you like space opera i'd highly recommend Mageworlds, and you can get them all on kindle. (Inevitable kindle lovers vs haters war begins)

I'm also a huge fan of Terry Pratchett's Discworld series, and if you don't know what that is and you're interested in starting it i'd suggest reading "Small Gods" first, as it's probably the best one to start with (i keep several paperbacks in real life just to give to people).

As far as my background in reading goes, it's probably about 60/40 with sci-fi and fantasy. I've tried to branch out into military fiction, thrillers, and other stuff, but they just don't keep me reading like those two do, which is not to say that i don't enjoy them. I was very surprised that i actually really enjoyed a Jack Reacher book my dad gave me, but again, not enough to buy more.

So! That's a whole lot of pointless blather about my reading tastes and i could probably write another ten pages on them, but i'd really like to know what you guys enjoy reading! Anyone?

[Dracco]

I don't read anything other than occasional news and science articles. My ability to comprehend fiction stories is null.

[Arilou]

I've been largely focused on historical reading lately. I recently said in the chatbox that I was re-reading the Alexiad which a 12th century account of the Byzantine emperor Alexios' reign by his daughter, Anna Komnene. Since then I also re-read "Digenis Arkritas: The Two-Blood Border Lord" which is a Byzantine epic poem along the lines of "Beowulf" and I bought some new historical texts on Byzantine history (oh Frankopan - how you do so love to push the idea that the Venetian trade concessions happened in 1092 instead of in 1082).

I also got some of my old college anthologies out and have been re-reading a few stories/poems as well as looking for interesting things that weren't covered in my classes. For example, I've gone over "Sir Gawain and the Green Knight" again as it also reminded me a bit of Digenis Arkritas and I wanted to read all of Chaucer's the Canterbury Tales since the class that assigned it only did portions of it and I'm in that medieval/crusader mindset of late. But I was quickly reminded of how annoying it is to read and didn't get very far. At the moment I'm taking a writing break, so I'm not reading anything just this second. But I'll probably be turning to the fantasy books in my to-read pile shortly.

[Teshuvah]

How does one follow that? Wow!

Most of what I read wouldnt be of interest to most of you, I read mostly mysteries. But I also read a lot of victorian and steampunk fiction.
I just started "Cold Magic" (The 1st book in The Spiritwalker Trilogy), a 600+ page book. It is slightly verbose at the moment because the first book is setting up a lot of politics and an alternate timeline for the 1800s. (Including roman/phoenician back story etc).. But the story line so far is fascinating and unusual.

[Odolf]

Wow! Sheesh, Arilou, i had no idea you were such a history nut! I love history and i love learning about it, but the historical texts i've read are either too dry or too alien to hold my attention, admittedly though the last time i tried i was a teenager, so who knows now?

Tesh, that sounds really interesting, and as far as mysteries, do you like Agatha Christie? Or perhaps Dorothy Sayers? I love Agatha Christie's work, even though she tends towards the "Surprise, i never mentioned this before but it turns out to be a key part of the solution!" ending. I've had Nero Wolfe recommended to me many times, but my to-read pile is huge, any opinion on that?

[Teshuvah]

Originally Posted by Odolf

Tesh, that sounds really interesting, and as far as mysteries, do you like Agatha Christie? Or perhaps Dorothy Sayers? I love Agatha Christie's work, even though she tends towards the "Surprise, i never mentioned this before but it turns out to be a key part of the solution!" ending. I've had Nero Wolfe recommended to me many times, but my to-read pile is huge, any opinion on that?

Yes, I've read most of Dame Christie's work, she's a favorite, as well as Ms. Sayers! Many I've read more than once, they are old friends!

I haven't read Nero Wolfe but have had him recommended to me many, many times,also. But I have 40+ books on my kindle waiting for me to get through, (and several hundred others just waiting) so I'll get to him eventually! Maybe!

I am a fan of Cozy Mysteries in general, something relaxing to read at night before sleep. I read many more recent series in that genre. I love the Cat Who series, sadly the author of 30+ books in the series, Lilian Jackson Braun, passed away last year in her 90s.

I own every one of the "Murder She wrote" books (not the tv series lol)
I am a fan of long series with lots of character development so you get to know them.

Have you read "Wool"? That's a very unusual "series" of novellas that I enjoyed.. very unusual....

I hate Twilight, and the Harry Potter stuff, but I really enjoyed the Hunger Games even though I went into it not wanting to like it at all.

[Odolf]

My mother (whose bookshelves i thoroughly pilfered as a teen) had all of the Cat Who series, and i've always thought i should read them. I suppose now i finally will next time i'm down there! I've never heard of the Wool series before, are they mysteries too?

As far as Hunger Games goes, i had much the same experience. My girlfriend absolutely adored them, especially the first one, and so i read them. The first one really did blow my expectations away, and i suppose i enjoyed the other two as well, even though the author seemed to go off her happy pills between books one and two.