What book are you reading?

[The Evil Genius]

7 minutes ago, Riggo-toni said:

Is this the book the new Amazon series is based on?

 

Yep. Wanted to read it before watching. 

Edited October 28, 2022 by The Evil Genius

[Destino]

1 hour ago, The Evil Genius said:

Trying to read The Peripheral by William Gibson but I'm not sure I'm cut out to read his stuff. 

What about it is giving you trouble?  
 

I have a hold on the audiobook through my library app, but it’s going to be a long while before it’s available.  I’m 7th in line.  

[The Evil Genius]

3 hours ago, Destino said:

What about it is giving you trouble?  
 

I have a hold on the audiobook through my library app, but it’s going to be a long while before it’s available.  I’m 7th in line.  

 

Granted I'm only a few chapters in but when books start with a lot of made up tech jargon with no backstory of its meaning I feel like I'm reading in a foreign language and only getting about 60% of what is being said.

 

Maybe it's just me though. 

Edited October 29, 2022 by The Evil Genius

[Ball Security]

On 7/14/2022 at 5:41 PM, The Evil Genius said:

Just  finished this...hooo boy. 

 

Great recommendation.  I’m hanging on to this ride.

[Thinking Skins]

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Spaceman Spiff]

I read Jeff Pearlman's latest book on Bo Jackson.  Fun read, well researched.  It's not authorized by Bo, but in the afterword Pearlman talks about how Bo called him and kind of gave him his blessing to write it.  

 

Breezed through it in a couple of days.  Really good stuff.

[Destino]

read The Night Parade.  I saw that @Mr. Sinister was reading it and it came available on the library app.  Wasn’t a huge a fan. I found the father in the story annoying.  Not a bad premise but I spent the whole book thinking “is there anything this guy does confidently?”  
 

I’m reading Cryptonomicon by Neal Stephenson and I am struggling to stay with it.  This book wanders in circles constantly, and it really feels like 80% of what I’ve read should have just been edited entirely out.  

 

Next on the list is Memory of Empire by Arkady Martine.  

[Riggo-toni]

I am almost all the way through The End of the World is Just the Beginning by Peter Zeihan. Fantastic book. Not only is it well researched, but it's written in such a casual tone, like you're sitting at a cafe with the smartest guy you've ever met and he's giving you a rundown of everything.

[Mr. Sinister]

On 11/10/2022 at 4:43 PM, Destino said:

read The Night Parade.  I saw that @Mr. Sinister was reading it and it came available on the library app.  Wasn’t a huge a fan. I found the father in the story annoying.  Not a bad premise but I spent the whole book thinking “is there anything this guy does confidently?

 

Yeah I sort of had the same problem with it. That, and the supernatural element seems hastily thrown in, with not much explanation to go along with it.

[Ball Security]

Comedy, Comedy, Comedy, Drama! - Bob Odenkirk.

 

As a big Mr. Show fan, I thoroughly enjoyed this memoir.

[Spaceman Spiff]

Reading Five Decembers, based on recommendations in here. 
 

****ing fantastic.  A little slow to start but It’s one of those books where you want to keep reading but don’t want it to end. Have about 25% to go. 

[PleaseBlitz]

3 hours ago, Spaceman Spiff said:

Reading Five Decembers, based on recommendations in here. 
 

****ing fantastic.  A little slow to start but It’s one of those books where you want to keep reading but don’t want it to end. Have about 25% to go. 

 

This is next on my list.  

 

Got a subscription to Wondrium for my bday, so working my way though a half dozen The Great Courses.  I love them so much, but it will soon be high time for some noir crime fiction.. 

[TheGreatBuzz]

Buzzette realized recently that she had a bunch of Audible points to burn.  So she started gifting me stuff I'd ask her for.  That has been a way more convenient way to get through books.  I've restarted my campaign to read the Jack Ryan books in order.  After that, I'll start getting recommendations here.

[PleaseBlitz]

28 minutes ago, The Almighty Buzz said:

Buzzette realized recently that she had a bunch of Audible points to burn.  So she started gifting me stuff I'd ask her for.  That has been a way more convenient way to get through books.  I've restarted my campaign to read the Jack Ryan books in order.  After that, I'll start getting recommendations here.

The Jack Ryan books are excellent. My favorite is Without Remorse, which is sort of outside the Ryanverse, but very related. John Clark is an awesome character.  Read that one first, even though it is not technically a Jack Ryan book.  Debt of Honor is a ****ing slog but the ending is awesome (and, turns out, prophetic).  Let us know how it goes. 

[TheGreatBuzz]

1 hour ago, PleaseBlitz said:

The Jack Ryan books are excellent. My favorite is Without Remorse, which is sort of outside the Ryanverse, but very related. John Clark is an awesome character.  Read that one first, even though it is not technically a Jack Ryan book.  Debt of Honor is a ****ing slog but the ending is awesome (and, turns out, prophetic).  Let us know how it goes. 

 

I've read them all before over the years.  It was just all out of order.  So a few years ago, I started from the beginning during deployment.  I'm finishing up Executive Orders now.  

[Destino]

Finished Memory of Empire by Arkady Martine.  Bleh.  There was a great story to be found in the ideas of this book, but it got buried in constant dwelling on insecurities and introspection.  Feels like the writer ran out of steam before the plot finally moved forward and very little actually happens.  Upon reflection it also appears to me that the overarching story would have resolved almost exactly as it did, if the main protagonist had died on the first page.  
 

Also finished Ring World by Larry Niven.  This may be one of the most disappointing books in recent memory for me.  I’d heard about this book a million times and seen its ideas of a massive ring world borrowed by games and other books.  Naturally I wanted to read this book and finally had a chance to do so.  This book is flat out bad.  It’s almost stunning to see a book touch the edges of so many big ideas with zero interest in exploring any of them at all.  The cast seems about as interested to explore this incredible discovery as a teenager would be to tour a museum on historical tax system.  
 

Ring world is also laughably sexist.  Moreso than you’d expect from a science fiction book of the same era.  It really stands out.  
 

Too many mid to bad books back to back, might have to give up reading and take up screaming at clouds for a while.  

[gbear]

I am currently enjoying Stephen King's Fairy Tale.  I am about half way through it, and the build up is very well done.  So far, I have enjoyed this book as much as any of his since Needful Things and the Green Mile (tie for second).

 

The uncut version of The Stand is still my favorite for showing what it would be like if so many people we know died suddenly. He introduces dozens of characters, so many it is hard to keep track of who is who.  Then he kills almost all of them off...except a very few.  It really gives the feeling of what it would be like surviving an end of world event.    

[Skinsfan1311]

Just started Neil Gaiman's InterWorld trilogy.

[The Evil Genius]

9 hours ago, Destino said:

Finished Memory of Empire by Arkady Martine.  Bleh.  There was a great story to be found in the ideas of this book, but it got buried in constant dwelling on insecurities and introspection.  Feels like the writer ran out of steam before the plot finally moved forward and very little actually happens.  Upon reflection it also appears to me that the overarching story would have resolved almost exactly as it did, if the main protagonist had died on the first page.  
 

Also finished Ring World by Larry Niven.  This may be one of the most disappointing books in recent memory for me.  I’d heard about this book a million times and seen its ideas of a massive ring world borrowed by games and other books.  Naturally I wanted to read this book and finally had a chance to do so.  This book is flat out bad.  It’s almost stunning to see a book touch the edges of so many big ideas with zero interest in exploring any of them at all.  The cast seems about as interested to explore this incredible discovery as a teenager would be to tour a museum on historical tax system.  
 

Ring world is also laughably sexist.  Moreso than you’d expect from a science fiction book of the same era.  It really stands out.  
 

Too many mid to bad books back to back, might have to give up reading and take up screaming at clouds for a while.  

 

The answer is obviously read more werewolf porn.  😄

 

Although...fwiw the concept of the Last Werewolf series is well done I thought. Starting on the 2nd book (Talulla Riaing) this week. 

[Thinking Skins]

I just finished an autobiography of Alain Locke. I enjoyed it so much that I emailed the author to say thanks and he responded. So cool. 

[Destino]

6 hours ago, The Evil Genius said:

 

The answer is obviously read more werewolf porn.  😄

 

Although...fwiw the concept of the Last Werewolf series is well done I thought. Starting on the 2nd book (Talulla Riaing) this week. 

the strangest thing about the Last Werewolf is how well it’s written.  You don’t expect excellent prose in a horny werewolf story.  I might give the 2nd a shot eventually.

[Destino]

On 11/15/2022 at 12:09 AM, Mr. Sinister said:

 

Yeah I sort of had the same problem with it. That, and the supernatural element seems hastily thrown in, with not much explanation to go along with it.

I gave Ronald Malfi another chance and read Bone White.  I enjoyed it.  He still left some dangling plot threads but it was better than Night Parade.  Creepy ass book to read alone at night in the winter.  Not a great book you’ll treasure forever, but I couldn’t put it down.  Sometimes that’s exactly what you need.

 

 

other books ive recently finished:

The Sun Down Motel by Simone St James.  Quick easily read mystery with supernatural elements (ghosts).  I think she rushed the ending, which was a problem.  I also think she struggled to write male characters as anything other than two dimensional heart throbs that can barely speak.  Made an adult book feel very much young adult novel at times. 
 

My Heart is a Chainsaw by Stephen Graham Jones.  If you’re the kind of horror fan that is aware of weird **** like final girls, rules of horror, and different kinds of sub horror genres this is a book to consider.  The main character is an obviously struggling teen girl that has become obsessed with slasher films as a way of avoiding her own life and distract herself from her own pain.  She also has becomes fairly sure that a murder spree is about to kick off in her town.  This is normally where the protagonist aims to stop it…  but this girl just wants to make sure she’s well positioned to watch it all go down.  The plot itself isn’t all that unique in the horror genre, but the perspective and main character are very unusual.  Makes the story feel altogether different than what you’d expect.  People will either love or hate this one.  I’d avoid it unless you really enjoy horror.  (I would not avoid SGJ though, read The Only Good Indians.)
 

I also had to go with the audio book for My Heart is a Chainsaw, because it’s read by Cara Gee.  There’s no way I could pass up Camina Drummer (Expanse TV Series) reading me a story.  Loved it.
 

Bone Shaker.  I don’t know why I let myself get talked into reading young adult novels.  Bleh.
 

 

 

[Thinking Skins]

Imagine getting beat on your first acting job by Harry Belafonte and get a backup role, only for him to miss a night when talent recruits are out and you get the exposure. Then you get to Broadway and stumble over your lines you think you bombed it but critics loved it. Then you say no to a role repeatedly but for no real reason, and that determination gets you the best agent in Hollywood. I'm loving reading the autobiography of Sydney Poitier. 

[PokerPacker]

On 11/28/2022 at 10:16 AM, The Evil Genius said:

 

The answer is obviously read more werewolf porn.  😄

 

Although...fwiw the concept of the Last Werewolf series is well done I thought. Starting on the 2nd book (Talulla Riaing) this week. 

Hershel Walker has entered the chat.

[PleaseBlitz]

I randomly picked up 1984 and reread it in 4 days (assuming i finish the last 2 chapters today).