The Official "What are you reading" Thread

AllieMackie

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Just finished books 2 and 3 of the Stone Moon Trilogy by M.C.A. Hogarth. She is a... friend? Acquaintance? Somewhere in the middle... she's an illustrator/author and writes some incredible fantasy and sci-fi.

The Stone Moon Trilogy is about a humanoid alien race called the Jokka, who live in a harsh environs and have the interesting trait of not only having three genders (male, female and neuter) but also go through two puberties in their young lives - both of which can possibly turn them to a different gender.

On top of that, each gender is very specific in terms of physical traits, genitalia aside. The males have very dextrous hands and feet, and thus are excellent crafters and creators. The females are generally sensitive to weather and can succumb to "mind-death" (a stroke) during their pregnancies. Neuters are the strongest and require the least sleep of the three, and so they work to keep the breeder genders safe.

All of this entwined with turmoil makes for a darn good trilogy. I recommend them to anyone who likes a good fantasy/sci-fi tale, a love story, a tragedy, and an ethical/political drama. :D
 
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Just finished "Don't Breathe a Word" by Jennifer Mcmahon. I really like her style, and I think this was my favortie of her books. Certainly much creepier then her others
 

HayleyMarie

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I'm currently on the first book Outlander by Diana Gabaldon and I love it. Love the characters and everything else. They are starting a TV series. Watched the pilet and I love it as well so far, hopefully it keeps with the books.

And Jamie....hmmmm Jamie...
 

*blackrose

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Rereading The Name of the Wind by Patrick Rothfuss.

So much love for these books. So much love.
 

Kootenay

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I'm currently on the first book Outlander by Diana Gabaldon and I love it. Love the characters and everything else. They are starting a TV series. Watched the pilet and I love it as well so far, hopefully it keeps with the books.

And Jamie....hmmmm Jamie...
YES I love to hear this :D The Outlander books are my favourite of all favourites, and I'm absolutely LOVING the show so far (just watched the 2nd episode today). I've been waiting for these books to be adapted for a LONG time, and I'm so incredibly happy it's being done in such an excellent way!

And yeah Jamie is pretty much just the king of men.
 

eddieq

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I am always the first person to say that the books and the movies/shows based on them should be taken as separate items, but a couple of things bothered me after watching the first two Outlander episodes:

Jamie isn't tall enough. Yes, he's taller than Claire, but seems about average/slightly above average compared to the rest of the men. The books always seemed to depict "Red Jamie" as being huge and towering over others. I know the actor is 6'3". Maybe it's just me, but my wife said the same thing.

Claire's hair is wrong. Jet black and fairly straight (slightly wavy) in the series. Not at all like described in the books.

Isn't Jamie left-handed? He came back from that one battle in the pilot with his sword in his right hand.
 

Kootenay

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I am always the first person to say that the books and the movies/shows based on them should be taken as separate items, but a couple of things bothered me after watching the first two Outlander episodes:

Jamie isn't tall enough. Yes, he's taller than Claire, but seems about average/slightly above average compared to the rest of the men. The books always seemed to depict "Red Jamie" as being huge and towering over others. I know the actor is 6'3". Maybe it's just me, but my wife said the same thing.

Claire's hair is wrong. Jet black and fairly straight (slightly wavy) in the series. Not at all like described in the books.

Isn't Jamie left-handed? He came back from that one battle in the pilot with his sword in his right hand.
I think it's less that Jamie isn't tall enough and more that the rest of the actors are also tall...Jamie in the books is 6'4'' and the guy playing him is 6'3'', so pretty darn close. The girl they cast as Claire is an ex runway model though, so she is extremely tall (I think 5' 10'' at least), so yes, she doesn't look tiny next to him. Back in those days 6'4'' would have been a giant because the average height was much smaller, but I'm sure due to logistical reasons, the rest of the cast isn't super short :) I wasn't totally fully sold on the Jamie casting until I saw the episodes, now I am completely - I think he really embodies the character, and it was a pretty crazy transformation for him from when he was first cast (he had dark hair and was quite slight, he put on a LOT of muscle for this role).

Claire's hair might be a bit darker than described in the books for sure, but it's pretty curly I thought - especially in the second episode when she's first waking up, she has pretty good Claire-hair going on...I suspect as the series goes and her hair grows out, it will get curlier - I've seen some photos from later in the production and it's very curly.

As for Jamie being left handed - yes! However he explains at one point in the first book that he sword fights right handed because to do so left handed would expose his heart side, so he only fought left handed with Dougal (who is also left handed). He's pretty ambidextrous due to lefties being looked so poorly upon in those days - he even writes right handed, though it's hard for him.

ETA: This was one of the photos I was thinking of from later, her hair looks pretty curly to me here.



And this was the "Claire hair" scene from 102, that's some pretty good bedhead I think!

 
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eddieq

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I'm realistically probably just nit-picking. The height thing that's throwing me off is probably the actress that plays Claire being taller.

I like the series and think they've done a good job so far after watching the first two episodes.
 

Kootenay

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I'm realistically probably just nit-picking. The height thing that's throwing me off is probably the actress that plays Claire being taller.

I like the series and think they've done a good job so far after watching the first two episodes.
Yeah I get that. I really like her for Claire but it is unfortunate that she's so tall! I think Claire in the books is 5'6'' so Jamie towers over her.
 

eddieq

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Yeah I get that. I really like her for Claire but it is unfortunate that she's so tall! I think Claire in the books is 5'6'' so Jamie towers over her.
I've been hanging around you ladies too much. My first reaction to the height difference was that Jamie is too short when it should have been Claire is too tall.

First reaction - blame the man :rofl1:
 

Kootenay

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I've been hanging around you ladies too much. My first reaction to the height difference was that Jamie is too short when it should have been Claire is too tall.

First reaction - blame the man :rofl1:
:lol-sign:

To be fair, though, the rest of the cast seems pretty tall too so I can see how overall it could just seem like Jamie isn't tall enough :)
 

Jules

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I just started reading "The Colorless Tsukuru Tazaki and His Years of Pilgrimage" by Haruki Murakami. It's wonderful so far.
 
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I currently reading three books. I am just about done with City Of Heavenly Fire (Mortal Instrustments #6)...I am pretty much reading that because I was obsessed with the series when it first came out and own all the other books...While I love the character interaction in this book the story/plot itself is just kinda "meh".

I am also reading "Elegy" by Amanda Hocking and that is the 4th and final installment in her "Watersong" series. Yeah it's another YA novel lol sue me. I actually really enjoy all of Hockings work.

And last but not least I am rereading "A Study In Scarlet" by Arthur Conan Doyle.:D
 

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I just finished the All Souls trilogy, now I'm starting on "Yellow Crocus".
Haha, I went to look up this trilogy because it sounded like something I would like...and I totally just finished it too! I had no idea that was the trilogy name :)
 

eddieq

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Just finished "Tiem Machine" by Alex Hansen. He's dating a friend of mine, so I was required to read it, but it was very enjoyable.

http://www.amazon.com/Tiem-Mechine-Alex-Hansen-ebook/dp/B00MVEWYES

And my review that I left on Amazon:
I downloaded this book the recommendation of a friend and was not disappointed. We meet Kenny, a normal guy with normal guy issues. He's insecure, has been dumped by his girlfriend and also lost his job. When given the opportunity, he attempts to go back in time to make a small change, hoping it will correct his situation. It doesn't work out that way, though. With multiple timelines merging together and Kenny's from all over the space-time continuum popping up at every turn, the author does a good job of painting a mental picture of the scene. At the same time, the author address Kenny's tendency to look backward instead of toward the future, giving the reader some "food for thought" in the midst of the entertainment. While time travel has been "done to death", the treatment of the subject is good. Hansen doesn't try to go into complicated explanations of quantum physics, he merely treats time travel as another character in the story, which is quite refreshing. I especially liked the way they treated the multiple timelines and reconciling changes in the past to the way the future plays out.

It's an easy read with humorous banter between the characters to keep the narrative moving. My biggest knock would be what I would deem gratuitous use of the "f bomb" throughout the book in the dialogue between the characters. I am an adult and not easily offended, but the course language would make me think twice about recommending this to younger teens, which is a shame because I think my 14 year old daughter would enjoy the story.

4 stars out of 5 for a very entertaining read
 

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