What I've been reading

"The Mambo Kings Play Songs of Love" by Oscar Hijuelos. This book about two brothers who immigrate from Cuba to the U.S. to become music stars is not heavy on plot or suspense, and the brother whose life is covered in more detail is actually kind of a pig to women, but the author does some kind of word magic that makes you want to keep reading anyway.

Book #24 was "Metatropolis," an anthology of novellas all set in the same near-future world, by authors Jay Lake, Tobias Buckell, Elizabeth Bear, John Scalzi and Karl Schroeder. This was fantastic as an audiobook, read by three actors from the newer Battle Star Galactica cast and two legendary audiobook readers (Stefan Rudnicki and Scott Brick).  I liked all five pieces, but Scalzi's humorous piece, read by Alessandro Juliani, was my favorite, followed closely by the Shroeder piece. Now I have to track down more books by all these authors...

My full comments on both books here.