My reading tends to swing from short fiction to long and back; recently I've been reading novels almost exclusively. Below are some thoughts on a few - no plot recaps, just my reactions.

Cory Doctorow's
"Makers" (serialized
here; for sale
here): A fresh, inventive and poignant look at a DIY future. 3D printers, hardware modding, locked down vs. open hard- & software -- familiar debates extrapolated to new and interesting places. Also, Doctorow revisits the world of Disney (previously featured, in a very different incarnation, in Down and Under in the Magic Kingdom). It's a smooth, engaging and emotionally powerful read. There's a fresh idea on every page, and they're all presented via a story about people I could care for. The characterization did strike me as false in a few places, but that's my only complaint. There's so much sheer
truth in this book, anyone serious about SF -- or interested in, well, the future -- should read it. A choice quote:
“[...] Turn the place around?” He snorted. “It’s like turning around a battleship by tapping it on the nose with a toothpick.”
“I hate working with assholes.”
“They’re not assholes, that’s the thing, Perry. They’re some really smart people. They’re nice. We have them over for dinner. They’re fun to eat lunch with. The thing is, every single one of them feels the same way I do. They all have cool shit they want to do, but they can’t do it.”
“Why?”
“It’s like an emergent property. Once you get a lot of people under one roof, the emergent property seems to be crap. No matter how great the people are, no matter how wonderful their individual ideas are, the net effect is shit.”
So true! Get it, read it.

Terry Pratchett's
"Unseen Academicals": A worthy continuation of the Discworld saga, much stronger than the previous installment, "Making Money". One of Pratchett's greatest strengths is his mix of outrageous hilarity with serious moments that can be bittersweet and true. This book really delivers in that way.

Also by Pratchett,
"Nation", a young adult piece _not_ set in the Discworld universe. It's an intelligent alternate history tale set on an exotic island in the 1870s. Imaginative, engaging and, again, bittersweet. Pratchett's skeptic beliefs come across loud and clear (see
here for a recent summary of his views on religion), but not in a terribly didactic way. His narrative style has some of the same humor as in the Discworld series, but overall there are fewer outright jokes here - the humor is more situation- and character-driven. Very enjoyable.

Robert Jordan & Brandon Sanderson's
"The Gathering Storm", Book 12 in the Wheel of Time series. For all its flaws, the WoT series has always had a dear place in my heart. After Robert Jordan's passing, I, like many fans, was afraid no writer would be up to the task of finishing his work. Perhaps we needn't have worried. With TGS, Brandon Sanderson has pulled off a monumental task -- a strong continuation of the series that maintains not only a familiar voice but also integrity of character and world. The plot moves along handily, plot arcs are satisfactorily -- and very, very satisfyingly -- resolved, and the story lives on. Yes, there were a few moments where the characterization seemed a bit off, a few lines of dialogue here and there that didn't seem to ring true to the world, but for the most part I could have thought Robert Jordan wrote this. (It did also help that I listened to the audiobook version, which was read by the same readers -- Michael Kramer and Kate Reading -- as the previous 11 volumes. They did a fantastic job as always).
I've read a few other books recently, but this is all I have time for now. I'm currently in the midst of enjoying Ian McDonald's
"Brasyl", which I may or may not end up writing about -- pick it up if you haven't yet; it's a blast.
---
In other news, I'm hard at work outlining my brainpunk novel. It's set in a much, much evolved version of the world featured in the story I won Writers of the Future with. It will feature hive minds, Escherian landscapes, organic quantum computers and other delights, all against the backdrop of a post-oil, "travel-free" world. I'm on schedule to start writing Jan 1. I may or may not mention it again before it's done, but I won't be doing wordcount updates.