Which is something I don't do enough of. I can scan through non-fiction pretty quickly, but I tend to take my time when reading a novel. Part of the problem is that I tend to read mostly when on the train to and from work. I really should take more time to read when I'm at home.
My current favourite is The Dresden Files. I absolutely love this series, and I want to keep reading even when I don't feel a given title is up to the caliber of others in the series. Jim Butcher has created one of my favourite heroes in Harry Dresden. I'm a bit jaded from seeing so many heroes whose flaws are all traits that actually make me like them less. It's great to see a hero who is at heart a decent guy, but who makes mistakes and takes the wrong course of action from time to time, instead of being an unbeatable badass whose biggest flaw is an antisocial personality. Butcher's characters, even the ones who are faeries or vampires, feel human. They have a spirit that shines in the writing and makes me care for them.
At the moment I'm reading Book of Jhereg, by Steven Brust. Normally I find it difficult to attach myself to assassins and other characterss who are drawn into the story primarily by profit. They generally have little emotional attachment to the plot and even less to lose. It's an interesting read so far, though.
Once I'm done with it I'll be reading a friend's ms for the second book in a series she's working on. Then I'm moving on to The Pain Merchants (UK title of The Shifter) by Janice Hardy.
What're you guys currently reading?
Apr 21, 2011
R is for Reading
Paul Anthony Shortt believes in magic and monsters. In ghosts and fairies. The creatures that lurk under the bed and inside the closet. The things that live in the dark, and the heroes who stand against them. Above all, he believes that stories have the power to change the world, and the most important stories are the ones which show that monsters can be beaten.
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I'm reading some of RD Wingfield's Frost novels. And I have Hannah Moskowitz's Invincible Summer waiting for me next - I loved her first book, she's like a funky teen female Chuck Palahniuk, but whose characters are capable of actual love :)
ReplyDeleteEveryone seems to have chosen this topic today! It's certainly a good one.
I love reading, too. I just finished Julie Cohen's 'Getting Away with It' and now I'm casting about for something new!
ReplyDeleteI know how you feel on not reading as often as you'd like. I'm currently reading Grave Peril by Jim Butcher. I have to say, Harry Dresden is quickly becoming a favorite.
ReplyDeleteI've never read the Dresden Files, but I have watched the series--and I loved it. IT's too bad they cancelled it after one season.
ReplyDeleteGreat meeting you through the A-Z!
nutschell
www.thewritingnut.com
Currently reading Adrian Magson's 'Red Station' - spy thriller.
ReplyDeleteI like thrillers/mystery/suspense and have a TBR pile that looks like a mini-Matterhorn! Now I've taken early retirement I ought to be making in-roads on the reading matter...... ;-p
Lets see...I'm reading:
ReplyDeleteA Study in Scarlet (a Sherlock Holmes mystery)
On Writing by Stephen King
Yoga: Rest and Relaxation by Judith Lassiter
Big Man an autobiography by Clarence Clemons