I am wondering, now that I'm 12 books over 10 years or so in, if a reread of the Toby Daye books from the beginning would be rewarding. Has anybody read a bunch of them in a row? Do they hold up to the binge treatment?

I read them all in a row, though I can't compare to reading them slowly? I'd say it highlights both some of the repetitiveness, but also that there's a pretty big change from the first book or two to the next few—they get much better, I thought? Not sure about the last couple because I'm some ways I feel like the issue with so many books that involve magic or whatever, where the hero or heroine keeps having to get implausibly better or make more powerful friends and have more powerful enemies/raise the stakes/etc, which kind of irks me sometimes? But all that said, I think I only picked them up last fall, read them all in a row, and do have the latest one on hold at the library.

There's a pretty big change from the first book or two to the next few—they get much better, I thought?

Absolutely agree! I had a hard time getting through the first two, but I adore the series from book three on. She's such a prolific author, and it's really clear how much her writing improved from those earliest books to the later ones.

I just finished The Essex Serpent, by Sarah Perry, and I really enjoyed it. The prose was beautiful, and I enjoyed the character development.

I am currently reading Melmoth by the same author and it is nicely creepy.

Gris: how cool that you are living in Brazil!!

I also loved the Chronicles of Prydain. So many characters that I loved in those books.

My library's "Off the Beaten Path" book club read Guards! Guards! this month. So much fun. And we discussed the coming BBCA Night Watch series.

One of my morning tasks at the library is to check in the overnight bookdrop books and one of them was Lethal White and I was the next person on the hold list!! (I only know of "Lethal White" as a genetic disorder in Quarter Horses but I am guessing that is not what the title refers to.)

I also just picked up Shadow of the Fox by Julile Kagawa and it is good so far.

My library's "Off the Beaten Path" book club read Guards! Guards! this month. So much fun. And we discussed the coming BBCA Night Watch series.

I need to see where I was in the Discworld and resume reading those. They are among my favorite prior to sleep books. I have found I need and appreciate laughter as an element of my late night reading. I'm on #20 now of the Stephanie Plum series by Janet Evanovich. Reading a few from Pratchett will be delightful before I go back and finish off the Plum series. They both make me laugh!

I'm not going to suggest that Evanovich provides the same type of prose as Pratchett! I have to insist that my family listen while I read aloud a paragraph from a Discworld book because I am so delighted, while I never have that level of joy with a paragraph from Evanovich. In fact, she rather annoys me at times with repetitiveness. Yet, the books are soap opera level of easy distraction reading that I can read with my limited amount of focus late night.

Oh! Just got an email tempting me with Louise Penny's newest Three Pines book. On the list!

Sweet! The latest Rivers of London just dropped. Not that there is any connection other than I like both series.

I'm just a big fan of series. Once I get to know my characters I'd like to continue spending time with them.

Margaret Atwood is coming out with a Handmaid's Tale sequel.

There's also a Handmaid's Tale graphic novel coming out, by an artist I like very much.

I'm not sure how to feel about that. The sequel, I mean. Graphic novel sounds swell.

But I came here to talk about Fire and Blood. I just got to a passage that includes "Kermit Tully was...'green as summer grass'....His brother Oscar ... was still greener" and I had to tell someone: I see what you did there GRRM