Nathan Bransford - The Forums

Done with the TWILIGHT series. Started off well, and nosedived in terms of character continuity, but got interesting at the very end when we started to get a glimpse of the lives of vampires. Too bad she's stopped writing them; she was just into the romance hook, I guess.

Am now reading MILLICENT MIN, GIRL GENIUS by Lisa Yee, ARTEMIS FOWL by Eoin Colfer, and the first of THE CHRONICLES OF VLADIMIR TOD by Heather Brewer. I'm really interested in what teens are buying right now. Next on my list are the first of the HARRY POTTER series, because I still haven't gotten around to them, and THE HUNGER GAMES.

Am also reading the MAGIC TREE HOUSE series, because my 6-yr-old is devouring them. (He read 32 of them in a week.)

Crime and Punishment by Fyodor Dostoevsky and A Companion to Jane Austen Studies edited by Lambdin and Lambdin.

I've just started 'the book of lost things' by john Connolly, who i've never read before. Already the writing feels warm and deep and it reminds me a little of Atonement by McEwan. Before that i had read Miranda July-'No one belongs here more than you'-a collection of her short stories. Has anyone read her? i think her writing is really sharp and sweet and hard and beautiful. Really great.
thank, kerem.
http://www.keremmermutlu.tumblr.com

I've just finished reading David Gemmell's Whitewolf and The Swords of Night and Day.

Currently reading Brandon Sanderson's Final Empire.

I recently finished THE GHOSTS OF BELFAST by Stuart Neville - great crime thriller if you're into those - and am currently reading BLEEDING VIOLET by Dia Reeves.

Flashman is the first of the late George MacDonald Fraser's "Flashman Papers" series. 'Kin 'ell, it's terrific. And funny? Funny as a parade in Funnytown on Funny Day.

Flashman! Holy Hannah I just about forgot about that series. Now to browse my collection to find the last one I own...

As to what I'm reading at present,
The Grave Tattoo and flicking idly through some old Saint stories when I get bored. Presently contemplating re-reading Meet The Tiger, as it's been quite a while since I read it.

I went to the used bookstore the other day and stocked up on a variety of books. I haven't had a chance to read them yet though. My second novel is a romantic suspense, so I bought three or four of those, a couple of sci-fi (Ender's Game and Red Lightning) and a few others. All together, I got 10 paperbacks for me, and 5 for my nine year old, for a grand total of $6.99. How awesome is that? However...while browsing, I came across a few books in the hardcover section. They were all brightly, brand new looking with the dustjackets still in perfect condition. They were two Destroyermen books by Taylor Anderson. I'd read those last spring and then lent them to my dad. Curious, I took the books off the shelf and opened them. Staring at me from the inside cover were my dad's initials. He'd donated them! Now the used bookstore was selling them for $7/apiece. I'd have to pony up $14 to get my books back. Grrr...

I plan to go to my dad and ask him for my books back because the fourth in the series is coming out soon. I want to refresh my memory. I wonder what he'll say? hehe

Trying to finish muscling through GAI-JIN by James Clavell. Started it because I loved SHOGUN but this one is not nearly as good. Seems to be overly long just so it can be called an epic. There are great parts but so much of it could go. Next up is THE KIDS ARE ALRIGHT by Diana and Liz Welch with Dan and Amanda Welch.

Matthew Rush wrote:Trying to finish muscling through GAI-JIN by James Clavell. Started it because I loved SHOGUN but this one is not nearly as good. Seems to be overly long just so it can be called an epic. There are great parts but so much of it could go. Next up is THE KIDS ARE ALRIGHT by Diana and Liz Welch with Dan and Amanda Welch.

I loved ShoGun too, read it at least 3-4 times, and like you, tried to read another Clavell novel, in my case, it was Tai-Pan. I just could not get into it. However, I did read King Rat, which is almost a novella, I think. That was good, if quite depressing. lol

mmcdonald64 wrote:

Matthew Rush wrote:Trying to finish muscling through GAI-JIN by James Clavell. Started it because I loved SHOGUN but this one is not nearly as good. Seems to be overly long just so it can be called an epic. There are great parts but so much of it could go. Next up is THE KIDS ARE ALRIGHT by Diana and Liz Welch with Dan and Amanda Welch.

I loved ShoGun too, read it at least 3-4 times, and like you, tried to read another Clavell novel, in my case, it was Tai-Pan. I just could not get into it. However, I did read King Rat, which is almost a novella, I think. That was good, if quite depressing. lol

I heard about King-Rat and do want to check that one out. I heard it was based on his real experience in an asian prison somewhere as a sort of POW. Can't remember where I read that though.

Update: Almost done with GAI-JIN and it gets much better right at the end, but there still are so many unnecessary LONG parts in the middle.

Lol, the funny thing is that I also read Shogun (when I was a young tyke), and loved it. And then I tried to read Gai Jin and... nope. Wasn't gonna happen. Let's say... not up to the same standard. Something like King Rat didn't interest me at the time, but it does now, so I have a copy of that one on my shelves for sometime in the future. Hoping it's more Shogun than Gai Jin.

Just finished a YA - ANGEL BLOOD. About a group of kids in a hospice for children born grotesquely deformed - no eyes / tissue skin/ fingers on spine. (Sounds horrid, but it's not gratuitous horror). Instead of providing a hospice, the authorities are conducting experiments.
This book is unique. I's the book that answers the question - 'I wonder if anyone's written anything that's never been done before?'
The author has created a language that the kids use because they have never been exposed to education or outside stimuli. 'Dozies'= sleep / takeaway = dead body / get tranked = tranquillizer, etc. The kids have named themselves - the authorities use numbers. X-Ray is the paper-thin skin boy / Angel Wings is the fingers on spine girl / Lights Out has no eyes.
This book left me angry, uplifted, laughing, and sad.
U.K author. Book is upstairs, & don't feel like climbing, but if anyone wants author's name, I can post it later.

I just started BONESHAKER by Cherie Priest.

Reading HANNAH'S GARDEN by Midori Snyder.

On Audio Book THE RANSOM OF MERCY CARTER by Caroline B. Cooney.

Both YA books. Reading more YA this year to better know my genre.