What are you reading in October 2012?

Just finished Liar & Spy and posted a quickie review. 3½***

And now to put my mind to The Mark of Athena that I just started last night -- before even finishing Liar & Spy, but I just had to see if Clarisse would be making an appearance, and so far it looks like she isn't <grrr>.

I just finished Viva Jacquelina -- first time I've ever been even somewhat dissatisfied with a Bloody Jack book. Perhaps it's time to bring the series to a close. Now I'm reading Crown of Embers. The Mark of Athena is up next, though I really feel that I should reread the other two books first.

I just got Insurgent and Glass. I just finished both Divergent and Crank last week and am starting my October with sequels.

Just finished Graceling which was good, but not really for me I guess. 3.5 Stars. Also read Promise which I loved. 4.5 Stars, and I just started Purpose though I'm not sure if I'm likeing it as much as Promise.

@LaurynApril: You're not the only one who wasn't blown away by Graceling. I liked it fairly well when I read it the first time, but listening to the full-cast audio book made me absolutely hate it. Such a whiny narrator for Katsa. I loathed Fire with a flaming passion (pun definitely intended).

@Cailiosa: My library just called me two days ago to tell me I could pick up Crown of Embers, WOOOHOOO!! I'm so glad you loved the book. I have to read A Game of Thrones first because it's due back to the library soon Gaah!! And I like the love for strength of character part too, although being hot doesn't hurt *wink wink*

I just read Pink and really enjoyed it. At times, the man character's cluelessness regarding those around her was a bit much, but I think if I were still a teen I'd have seen things the way she did. I loved the stage crew kids, and that the mean-girl types turned out not to be so mean after all. A very cute and fast read.

I've just finished Song of the Quarkbeast which was quirky and fun.

I've just started Gone as a holiday from my required reading The Divine Comedy. Too soon for me to give an opinion but I like the premise (excluding the fact that I would be 'gone').

I'm reading Liar & Spy mainly because I found it on the new book shelf. It's not YA and not really my kind of book but I can't fault it. I also have on hand Violins of Autumn but haven't started it. When I saw it I immediately thought Code Name Verity rip off but it must have been in the pipeline even before the latter came out. I hope it's good...if I can swallow the idea of 17 year old girls being sent out at SOE operatives during wartime.
ETA: Correct touchstone.

I am currently reading Insurgent

I just read The last dragonslayer, which was excellent. I love Fforde's books, but this one reminded me of Diana Wynne Jones too - double win!

Well, I never finished A Game of Thrones. I felt like I just didn't have the smarts for it. Either it's that or I'm just not patient enough for the storyline to unfold. I got to page 117 and I felt like I had been reading for hours and hours and houuuuuuurrrrrrssssssss. So I gave up and I went out and bought the DVDs. The second episode ended where I stopped. Then I watched episodes 3 & 4 last night. But from what I've seen so far, the tv show stays pretty darn close to the actual storyline in the book.

But! I did finish The Crown of Embers by Rae Carson and OH MY GOSH IT IS SO DARN GOOD!!!!!!!!! I can't say enough good things about that book. I really just can't. Because there are so many good things about it!

And I got in another haul from the library so I'm currently reading Defiance by C.J. Redwine, Sweet Evil by Wendy Higgins, and Mystic and Rider by Sharon Shinn.

I'm so glad you liked Crown of Embers @Danielle.Montgomery! It's such a great book.

I finally received my copy of Quintana of Charyn and I've read it twice already. It was totally worth staying up until three in the morning to finish. The perfect ending to a perfect series, though if we're being honest, I'm really hoping Ms. Marchetta is going to say "Hey, just kidding, there's another installment in the works!" I am excited to see what storyline she's going to come up with next.

I just finished The Dark Unwinding, which, judging by the cover, I thought would be some sort of Regency steampunk mash-up, but was more like a gothic Victorian novel. I'm not complaining one bit, because it was great fun -- the kind that I really didn't want to put down and couldn't stop thinking about when I was working. Highly recommended.

I'm currently reading City: A Guidebook for the Urban Age, which is neither fiction nor young adult, but it sounded cool, so I ordered it for my library. It's basically a history of cities and urban living and seems quite readable and engaging from what I've read so far.

I just read Toby Alone and enjoyed it. It's for middle readers, I guess, and is an allegory of the harmful effects of greed on the environment. Tiny people live in our trees (made me think of The Borrowers), and 13 year old Toby is one of them. His scientist father gets the whole family in trouble by telling the truth about what will happen if the community tolerates the trashing of the tree in the interests of "development". There's romance and adventure as Toby roams the tree trying to resolve the situation. There's more to come in a sequel.

I was bummed out because I had forgotten to bring my book to work today to read during my lunch break, but then one of the circulation clerks told me I had a book on the hold shelf, which turned out to be Unspoken by Sarah Rees Brennan. I regretted only having a half an hour for lunch today, because I did not want to put this book down. Kami, the main character, is absolutely hilarious.

I am reading The Great Gatsby, Five Flavors of Dumb by Antony John, Nocturne by Christine Johnson, and The Heart is a Lonely Hunter by Carson McCullers.

14> I just picked up the audio version of A Game of Thorns from my library. It's 28 cds!! So I guess I'll be listening for hours and hours, or should I say weeks and weeks?

How would that take weeks? I'd be listening to it all the time. haha

I've just finished Divergent. It was entertaining, but not highly memorable.

I am reading Son by Lois Lowry the last book in the Giver series.

22> I've got Son but I'm thinking I want to re-read Gathering Blue and Messenger first. I've re-read The Giver in the past few years.

Anyway, I've just started on Insurgent. I wasn't that crazy about Divergent (decent enough, but I thought the premise was awfully strained), but I do want to see how things turn out.

23> Divergent didn't wow me either, but let me know how Insurgent compares. If it's better, I may want to give it a go.

23: My thoughts exactly on Divergent. I'm actually a bit surprised at how many people seem to think it's such a fantastic book.

25> The rating is surprisingly high.

Divergent was a definitely a disappointment. I 've just started The False Prince, only a few chapters in, but it's good so far. A touch of humour here and there.

I just finished Insurgent (3***) and I rate it a bit better than Divergent (2½**). Insurgent does end in a cliffhanger (more so than Divergent) that does make me want to read the third book. Insurgent's largely an action-story, with Tris getting even moonier about Four/Tobias, but there's at least some purpose that it's moving toward, even if only toward the cliffhanger ending.

If this thing were going to be a lengthy series, I'd drop it; but considering it's only a trilogy, I do want to see how it wraps up in the end. Obviously, the big question is, "What's outside the fence?"

SLIGHT SPOILER

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ETA: Somehow this thing is starting to remind me of The Maze Runner trilogy.

28: I guess comparison to The Maze Runner is a positive. I liked the first one in that series more than Divergent.

Next up for me is The Bridge by Jane Higgins, an Early Reviewer book.

@Cailiosa: Finnikin of the Rock is on my TBR list!! And my library just bought it so now I can go pick it up!

Insurgent was good and I enjoyed it and there was definitely a twist at the end that I was not really expecting, so at least you have something to look forward to!

@donnao Yes! I know it would take me AGES to listen to all of those CDs. I think I spent 3 hours just reading up to page 117. Took me FOREVER and I can only assume the CD's will take longer. But I'm wishing you an enjoyable couple of weeks of listening ^_^

28 & 30 Insurgent. I can see the comparison with The Maze Runner, but a lot of YA dystopia strikes me that way.

Whereas I liked Divergent much more than The Maze Runner. I think dystopian is a genre where I quickly get genre fatigue -- they all start to sound alike, they all start to sound contrived, etc. I read Divergent at a time when not much of my recent reading had been dystopian, so I was able to appreciate it for what it was without comparing it in my mind to a dozen other books I'd read in the past few months.

30> It takes a lot longer for me to "listen" to a book than to read it. I read pretty quickly. And my time for listening is quite restricted.
I have the audio books Neverwhere by Neil Gaiman, Great Expectations and two Conan Doyle books (A Study in Scarlet and The Sign of Four on loan from my library as well and can't possibly finish them all before they are due.
I'm currently listening to Dune, Murder on the links and Ender's Game. Not to mention several reaI books on my TBR shelf.
I think I may have over extended myself.

32: It took me a while to get genre fatigue, because there's so many ways to imagine a dystopia. With the recent YA craze, though, I'm starting to get tired because there's a lot of mediocrity and, most recently, a lot of crossovers with paranormal romance. I think a lot of the dystopias of the past few years have, in general, become more romance-oriented than true explorations of dystopian themes.

Going to start Bunheads on the train ride home.

>35 SaraHope:: That's on my tbr pile. I look forward to finding out what you think of it.

I just finished Sweet Evil and if you like Angel/Demon reads, this was a really good one. Now on to Starling.

I have mixed feelings upon finishing The Bridge, and next up is The Hollow Earth by Rudy Rucker.

I've finished Insurgent. It was certainly better than Divergent, but I'm still not a fan of the romance element. It is also really obvious who the author's going to kill off. If you're not the narrator or the love interest, you're probably going to die.

39>>@pwaites: Haha I do have to say that I wouldn't mind some characters getting killed off. I don't feel like the side characters really offer much. This whole story could be told with just the two main characters and some narration.

40> I don't care about the characters that got killed off either, but I don't think that's a good thing. It also starts to get annoying at some point...

I'm writing up my review of Kresley Cole's POISON PRINCESS and E.G. Foley's THE LOST HEIR: The Gryphon chronicle #1. E.G Foley is helping RCJR eZine debut their Young Adult blog ABRACADABRA on November 1st

Been reading I'm a Stranger Here Myself. I normally enjoy Bryson quite a bit, but I'm finding this hit or miss. Definitely not recommended to people who've never read him before.

I really enjoyed Bunheads, which felt like an honest portrayal of the highs and lows of chosing art as a career, and a physically grueling career at that. It's also nice to periodically read YA that isn't paranormal, dystopian, futuristic or what have you. I'll definitely keep my eye out for more books by Sophie Flack.

>44 SaraHope:: Thanks for the feedback! I'll move it up the tbr pile. I've always loved ballet books and it will be good to see a modern take on the genre.

Just started The Crown of Embers and am loving it so far (130 pages in).

Finished Starling and Throne of Glass. I couldn't stand Starling, not even one little bit. There were so many darn discrepancies in the story telling. But I LOVE Throne of Glass. Seriously can't wait for the next book. If you enjoyed The Girl of Fire and Thorns series, then I think you'll love Throne of Glass. I highly recommend ^_^

Will start Timepiece by Myra McEntire, the sequel to Hourglass, on the train ride home today.