Q&A with Patty Jansen discussion

What are you reading, what should I read?

Currently reading Phoenix Rising by Tee Morris and Pip Ballantine. Yes, I'm a shamefully slow reader.

The Little White Horse - classic kid's fic.

Currently dipping into Dreaming Again which is proving to be a really good collection of shorts by Aussie authors

Where was that published, Sean?

Myself, I'm trying to make my way through a pile of Asimov's (pity they don't get listed here)

Next I should read Winds of Change, and finish some of my non-fiction reading.

I'm deep into Charles C. Mann's 1493.

Patty wrote: "Where was that published, Sean?

Myself, I'm trying to make my way through a pile of Asimov's (pity they don't get listed here)

Next I should read Winds of Change, and finish some of my non-fictio..."

2008 By Harper Collins Aus http://www.harpercollins.com.au/books...

Patty, I am reading Winds of Change! Only two stories in, so far. Another one tonight :)

I wonder why Asimov's aren't listed here?

I just finished Treespeaker by Katie Stewart, she lives nearby in the WA Wheatbelt. It was a good story with a (perhaps slow and) considered start, but was a solid read. I'll probably move onto Dance With Dragons or a Wise Man's Fears. I'm also working through a pile of non-fiction, most of which is North American history.

I've been making my way through some YA fantasy books I got for reviewing (reviews up on my blog), most recently Alyxandra Harvey's Bleeding Hearts, which is part of the only vampire series I've read (and when you're a teacher-librarian you have to read them) that is actually god fun, with a sense of humour. I've read two of Barbara Hambly's Benjamin January books, historical crime fiction, and I'm just beginning Rowena Cory Daniells' new novel The King's Bastard and Melina Marchetta's Froi of the Exiles (sequel to Finnikin Of The Rock).

Whoops, that's "good fun" not "god fun". Oh, and I've gleefully discovered in a second-hand bookshop a copy of Murray Leinster's "Time Tunnel" - quite unconnected with the TV series of the same name.

The War of the Flowers - Tad Williams

Two completely different novels: The Last Albatross by Ian Irvine and Voss by Patrick White. I am still slowly getting through the Macquarie Pen Anthology of Australian Literature too.

@Lily the way goodreads picks up books is through Amazon. If something is listed there, it will authomatically appear here. Asimov's (and Analog, of which I have a much smaller backlog) is only sold through Fictionwise.

@Sue omigod I'd hate having to read avmpire series. Yes, I read Twilight, but that was enough.

@Colin Treespeaker, is that the book featured on Victorine's site a while back. Didn't know she was Australian

@Susan Tad Williams is Canadian, no? I'm pretty sure I've read books by him, but it was a long time ago. There are also altogether too many Wiliiamses in SFF

@Patty, that's the one. I quite enjoyed it. The beginning almost has the feel of an Aesop tale. Would also be a good read for the followers of all thing Young Adult.

I thought GR also picked up books through Barnes & Noble, which I believe recently bought Fwise.

Oh, OK, I don't know about that, but I do know that sometimes companies are owned by others, but still function as completely separate entities.

Patty wrote:@Colin Treespeaker, is that the book featured on Victorine's site a while back. Didn't know she was Australian

Er...yes,it was and yes, I am! (Thanks, Colin.)

I'm just about to start reading 'The Book Thief' by Markus Zusak. I've heard a lot of good reports on it, so I'm looking forward to it.

I've long meant to read The Book Thief, but am yet to get around to it. When I worked at Borders we sold hundreds of it (and each store was doing the same). I have only ever met one person who did not like it. That's as good a strike rate as you can get, basically the same as Kite Runner.

Patty wrote: "Where was that published, Sean?

Myself, I'm trying to make my way through a pile of Asimov's (pity they don't get listed here)"

You can add any books that you think are missing. I was automatically made a librarian when I added my own book, but I think you need to request that status now.

I am a librarian, but have never bothered to add a book, only to edit one (and then only to add author names, if they weren't added by the publisher).

I felt kinda 'meh' about the Book Thief. I think if it hadn't been hyped up as OHMYGODTHEBESTTHINGEVVAH! I'd have enjoyed it more. As it was, I didn't feel the love.

I've read about the hype, but I've seen nothing as yet to tell me why I should read it.

I think it would have been more interesting if the book had explored the Germans who were Nazis, rather than ones who weren't. But I don't think that would be a YA book.

I'm reading Nightingale by David Farland, and skimming A LOT.

Ooh, that's interesting, because I met him, and *blushes* up until that time had never heard of him. *g* too many writers around.

Myself, I finished reading the latest issue of Analog. I particularly enjoyed the second instalment of Robert Sawyer's novella, Triggers.

Analog is the only magazine that gets unwrapped and read the moment it hits the letterbox, and I am so full of awesome that my leeeeetle self is going to have a story on those pages.

I am really surprised about Farland because I read his daily kick and he insists on stellar prose. I know he's a WotF winner and judge, and he has written fifty books.

Nightingale starts with a bang, but then the great, intriguing character disappears (I'm 75% into the novel--a percentage because I'm reading it on the Kindle). The idea and the setting are formulaic (orphan with unknown powers; evil, evil baddies), but not uninteresting in the way he deals with them.

Still, a lot of the story is made of digressions about 1) what it takes to be cool in high school--answer: you must have costly, fashionable clothes and the latest gadgets (really? I had no clue ;-)--the above explained in detail --but I prefer a fish out of water anyway); 2) playing the guitar (I used to play in a band, but the lengthy expository passages bore me) and having a romance that reads as banal and... what can I say, banal.

The online reviews seem to spring all-of-five-stars-clad right from the press book (sometimes with a few specific lines), and India Press' publicist seems to be the active type.

I don't know how the enhanced version is because only a few drawings (too small on the screen) are visible on the Kindle. There's music, too, and endnotes, I heard.

Amazon lists this ebook well below the 100,000th rank.

Maybe the cliff hanger (I learned there's one) will be great?