Currently Reading

[Alex79]

I'd fallen off reading for a long time. I had an OG Kindle which I used a lot ~15 years ago but it had no built in light so wasn't much use in bed.

We went to Spain in May and I thought I'd treat myself to a new Kindle (with a built in light, no less!) and haven't stopped reading since! I've read 14 books on it in the last few months. I read the first Discworld novel (my first time reading it) and really enjoyed it so plan to slowly make my way through the series.

I've also really been getting in to is Japanese crime fiction, mainly Keigo Higashino at the moment. His Detective Kaga series is really readable and I love the way the stories are almost presented as a puzzle, inviting the reader to solve it too.

I've read some Cormac McCarthy; All The Pretty Horses, The Road and started The Crossing. I really like his writing style.

But most recently I've just finished Blake Crouch's Wayward Pines trilogy: Pines, Wayward and The Last Town. I can't tell you how much I loved this series, it's instantly become one of my favourite of all time. You might have heard of the TV show (I've not seen it), but by all accounts it's not as good as the books. Basic premise, US agent wakes up in a strange town, no memory other than he knows who he is, can't leave the town, mysteries ensue. Any more would be spoilers, but it's really, really good. I thought so, anyway.

[Maturin]

A series I have tried to get into on a few occasions now but have always put the first book down before the halfway point.

Almost everything good in that book is in the 2nd half, so I can understand some frustration reading the first half.

Some fans of the series even tell people to start with Deadhouse Gates and skip Gardens of the Moon completely. It's sort of like a loose prologue to everything else that follows.

Personally, I still think it's worth persevering with. I've ended up vastly preferring the series to ASOIAF for example - not just because the author could be bothered to finish it, but because he kept things fresh all the way through. (I got utterly bored with ASOIAF after book 3, GRRM completely lost the plot IMO).

[Snowy]

A series I have tried to get into on a few occasions now but have always put the first book down before the halfway point.

It is worth sticking with, I have made my way through most of the series and enjoyed it. It remains hard work, but is also a fantastically woven story.

I have recently discovered M R Carey. I picked up the first book in The Books of Koli series, set in a post-apocalypse England, and absolutely devoured the trilogy. Really enjoyable and inventive story. From there I have moved to The Girl with all the Gifts and follow up The Boy on the Bridge, which are an interesting (and fairly Last of Us) zombie apocalypse story. Also read Once Was Willem by the same author, which is an unusual fantasy story. All very good, he is a very talented writer and worth a look.

[Hatredsheart]

Have read all of those too, LOVED The Books of Koli.