Beyond Reality discussion

It’s May, and time to let us know what you’re reading this month. Tell us about your reads - all genres welcome here!

I'm in re-reading mode right now and am on book 3 of the Hyperion cantos, Endymion. Love these books.

I have A Gathering of Shadows to read next, but I have to refresh my memory on the first book before I read it - I remember the setting and the characters, but not much about the plot.

Of Breaking Waves by George Phillies

I’m re-reading The Murderbot Diaries. These stories are just as much fun the second time around! I’m currently reading ‘Fugitive Telemetry’.

Rising Tides by Marion Harmon

So a title jump jumped out at me and demanded I pay attention to it.
Vera Wong's Unsolicited Advice for Murderers

Cozy mysteries can be fun. While it wasn't really my thing, it was enjoyable.

My hold for Welcome to the Hyunam-Dong Bookshop finally came in. So far, so charming.

Witch Hat Atelier Kitchen Vol. 3 by Hiromi Satō

I (finally) finished Mississippi Blues by Kathleen Ann Goonan, book 2 in her Nanotech Cycle, 7.5/10. (I did go back and “downgrade” book 1 to 6.5/10.) 7.5/10. A somewhat more coherent, focused story than the first book in the Nanotech Quartet, but there still are a lot of tangents. The author doesn’t mind leaving a number of things without explanations; I realize there are 2 more books in the series, but there is more “glossing over” than I like. Still, the characters are fascinating, as is the assortment of scientific, technological, & medical developments that permeate this future earth. It ended on a more positive, hopeful note than I’d expected.

Edited to add that I learned a lot about the blues and the roots of this music in our country.

My Status as an Assassin Obviously Exceeds the Hero's Manga, Vol. 5 by Hiroyuki Aigamo

I just finished The Road to Roswell by Connie Willis. What fun!

Started Ink Blood Sister Scribe. Only about 4 months late for the group read. :)

I'm about 40% through and have managed to enjoy at least one big AHA! moment.

Ghost in the Veils by Jonathan Moeller

I finished A Gathering of Shadows (made some comments on the spoiler thread) and went right on to A Conjuring of Light, which I'm about halfway through right now. Hard to put down!

Invincible Under Heaven by Kit Sun Cheah

I finally got around to reading Babel-17 and also snacked on 'Lucian's A True Story', which apparently is 'the first sci-fi ever written' (unless somebody can point me to an even older 'SF' tale?).

I'm currently two-thirds of the way through Exhalation, a collection of sci-fi short stories and I have to say I'm really enjoying them!

I'll probably pick up Neuromancer as my next book for May.

Alexander wrote: "I'm currently two-thirds of the way through Exhalation, a collection of sci-fi short stories and I have to say I'm really enjoying them!"

Exhalation is one of our Books of the Month for July, so be sure to chime in to the discussion which will be posted then!

(Exhalation, an absolutely terrific book, is also currently being read in SFFBC. So I'm rereading it very carefully to participate in both discussions. ;)

Finished Ink Blood Sister Scribe and made a comment in the discussion thread. It was a really fun read.

Also finished Walking to Aldebaran which was utterly fascinating. I think I need to give it a week and read it again.

I was killing time at the library, browsing, and I took home a cozy mystery that looked entertaining - Die Laughing by Carola Dunn. It was exactly the sort of mindless fun that I was in the mood for!

I've just picked up Godkiller for next month's read, and next up will be Dragonfly Falling when spouse finishes it so it'll be my turn.

I read A Gathering of Shadows by V.E. Schwab, 9/10. My comments are in our BotM topic thread.

Then I returned to Victorian England with another Charlotte & Thomas Pitt mystery, Pentecost Alley by Anne Perry. 7.5/10. Although this mystery was somewhat complicated—(view spoiler)[3 murders with 3 different murderers made to look like one serial murderer (hide spoiler)]—I thought some of the clues to unraveling it were somewhat obvious and yet overlooked by the usually very astute Thomas Pitt.

Still slowly listening to Under the Whispering Door by T.J. Klune. And hoping to start Dragonfly Falling by Adrian Tchaikovsky for our series read tonight.

Witch Hat Atelier, Vol. 12 by Kamome Shirahama

I'm reading System Collapse; early on, I'm a bit confused since its been a while since I read the last book (and this one takes place immediately after that one)

Just finished Perilous Times for another book group discussion. A book that we all liked!

I just finished Godkiller for the June discussion and look forward to hearing what everyone thought of it!

I tried to start Dragonfly Falling last night but the print was tiny and I need new glasses...so I just purchased it on kindle so I can make the font bigger.

Finished Dragonfly Falling by Adrian Tchaikovsky and added some comments to our group discussion of the Shadows of the Apt series.

Also finished The Five People You Meet in Heaven by Mitch Albom, 8/10. This is a book that easily could be cloyingly sweet, unbearably trite, or overwhelmingly pretentious. Thanks to the author’s clear vision and honest voice, it’s not.

I’m about half finished with Crescent City Rhapsody by Kathleen Ann Goonan, book 3 in her Nanotech series. I likely won’t finish it before the end of this month.

Just finished Starling House by Alix E. Harrow. An artfully told story that just pulls you in. It's more horror than fantasy, in a chilling-but-not-gory way.