What book are you reading?

[Skinsfan1311]

1 hour ago, The Evil Genius said:

 

So it's Mr. Baseball set in Italy, but about American Football? 

Not even close.   

[PleaseBlitz]

Is it worth it to read the Game of Thrones books given that the author appears dead set on not finishing the series?

[The 12th Commandment]

26 minutes ago, PleaseBlitz said:

Is it worth it to read the Game of Thrones books given that the author appears dead set on not finishing the series?

Yeah.  They are a salacious smorgasbord of entertaining awfulness and more fun than the show, I thought.  Got over expectations for the final book long ago.  

 

Be prepared to skip through large chunks of IMO inane scenery descriptions that don't advance the story.  But the story is very compelling.

 

 

 

[Mr. Sinister]

Bought this book called "The Simpleton," By Barbara Avon. Not going to read it until September tho. I always get in my Horror/Thriller reading from September to Halloween.

[PleaseBlitz]

So I started ASOIAF.  Finished Fire & Blood, about halfway done with AGOT.  

 

Fire & Blood was great for the first 2/3, which covered the Targaryen conquest and then the war between the greens and the blacks.  Then the last 1/3 was like, just, random stuff that happened with no clear path to a point.  It was essentially the longest epilogue I've ever read, but ultimately the book just ended abruptly because it wasn't driving towards anything anyways. I understand this is because Fire & Blood was several shorter stories compiled into one book, but it was kinda weird.  

 

AGOT so far is exactly the same as the TV series, except the characters are described as looking slightly different than they appeared in the TV show.  In my mind I just picture them as they were in the show. 

[The 12th Commandment]

The story really is so different from any other fantasy stuff I've read, and having a mom who was a librarian I've read A LOT.  It makes up for some really serious shortcomings in his style. 

 

I wonder if the part of the story where Brienne is wandering and meets up with Jamie is in that last third.  It's been some years and the show in-between so my recollection of the books aren't so fresh.  I remember just being irritated and skipping through pretty large chunks for a bit.

[Mr. Sinister]

On 4/11/2023 at 12:03 AM, Mr. Sinister said:

Been reading Craig Alanson's sci fi "Expeditionary Force" Saga on Audible for a minute. I'm on book 5 ("Zero Hour") presently.

 

It's good. Reads sort of like a cross between Mass Effect and Lost In Space. Very Gung ho military theme. Also narrated by RC Bray, a very familiar name in the sci fi realm

 

So I've been on a tear reading these, especially since I am now hospitalized 🤕. Currently on Book 14, Match Game. Love how there are so many inescapable parallels with Mass Effect, ESPECIALLY between some of the factions and races  (Battarians/Kristang, Asari/Rindalu, Protheans/Elders, Reapers/Sentinels), and even some of the protagonists, like Skippy resembling unshackled EDI.

 

If there's one thing I will say I don't like, it's the annoying  repetitiveness that every book has. Basically, bumbling doofus army soldier Joe Bishop thinks up a dumb moronic plan that onky a dumb moron could come up with, and his Elder AI (capable of running circles around every other system in the known galaxy) makes it happen, to keep aliens from finding out that humans are traveling the galaxy.

 

The logical framework provided starts to really not hold up by Book 8-9, and by now, it's just been blown to bits. It's good, don't get me wrong, but we're at the "Suspension of belief* point.

[@DCGoldPants]

Just finished Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow. Mostly about two friends in the 90s and 2000s who make video games together, and there is a love/tragic twist. It was ok. I liked the video game references that many of us grew up with. Oregon trail, Doom, Kinga Quest etc. 

 

Dialog was meh. 

[Skinsfan1311]

 

6:20 Man

Dave Balducci 

[ixcuincle]

[Die Hard]

I tend to read non-fiction exclusively. I prefer my entertainment/media in TV/video format.

 

Last book I read was ‘Mating in Captivity.”

 

Anyone in long-term monogamous relationships - been with my wife for 27 years - would benefit. Fellas, this is a female doctor/author being your advocate to your wife. Highly recommend.

[AlvinWaltonIsMyBoy]

House on Needless Street by Catriona Ward. Great thriller/horror if that’s your thing.

[Destino]

Not sure if any of you watched Silo on Apple TV but I did and couldn’t just accept not having answers. So I read the series it was based on Wool, Shift, and Dust by Hugh Howey. Story didn’t go where I thought it would, and I enjoyed it. 
 

I’m currently working my way through some Noir books published long before my time. I just finished read The Big Sleep by Raymond Chandler (1939) and The Postman Always Rings Twice by James Cain (1934). I am currently reading Farewell, My Lovely by Raymond Chandler (1940).

[NickyJ]

After a cleansing of my mind by reading happy stories from the All Creatures Great and Small novels, I decided take up what I had been told was a solid adventure novel with Shogun by James Clavell. It's....... something.

 

The book is 1474 pages long. If I had a dime for every page that doesn't reference seppuku, "pillowing", or urinating, I'd have 20 dimes, and 10 of those would come from a 15 page chapter that went into detail about what everyone was doing or feeling when one of the main character's crew members was being boiled alive.

 

I paid $7.37 for this book, and I'm going to get my money's worth out of it. But I can't wait for it to end.

Edited October 12, 2023 by NickyJ

[gbear]

I am reading The Happiest Man on Earth by Eddie Jaku.  He is an Auschwitz survivor who swears a key to a long happy life is not holding grudges.  Now if anyone should be allowed to be bitter towards people, I would think he would after he and his family were sent to Auschwitz. However, he seems to think most of the people were weak minded and allowed themselves to be led to do horrible things.

 

In any event, it is refreshing to read somebody who seems so grateful for all he was given and all those people who kept him alive.  If you need a pick-me up, I would ordinarily not reccomend where the protagonist spends a lot of the book in a concentration camp, but this book has the same sort of relentless positive outlook as my all time favorite movie, Life is Beautiful only without quite as much humor.  The book is a refreshing quick read.  

Edited October 12, 2023 by gbear

[PleaseBlitz]

Still working my way through the Game of Thrones books.  About to wrap up the third one.  I like them!  Different from the TV show in important ways but mostly pretty much tracks, but with WAY more detail and descriptions.  One takeaway so far is that GRRM  loves loves loves going into excessive detail describing (1) meals and (2) sex acts.  Probably a good insight into his psyche lol. 

[Destino]

I’m finally reading the Count of Monte Cristo, and I’m loving it.  It’s significantly longer than I thought it would be. 

[Long n Left]

On 9/3/2023 at 1:42 PM, Destino said:

Not sure if any of you watched Silo on Apple TV but I did and couldn’t just accept not having answers. So I read the series it was based on Wool, Shift, and Dust by Hugh Howey. Story didn’t go where I thought it would, and I enjoyed it. 
 

I’m currently working my way through some Noir books published long before my time. I just finished read The Big Sleep by Raymond Chandler (1939) and The Postman Always Rings Twice by James Cain (1934). I am currently reading Farewell, My Lovely by Raymond Chandler (1940).

Watched the first season, and just picked up the trilogy. About halfway through “Wool” now, and have had a few questions answered, and suspicions verified. Pretty well written IMO.

[PleaseBlitz]

16 hours ago, Destino said:

I’m finally reading the Count of Monte Cristo, and I’m loving it.  It’s significantly longer than I thought it would be. 

 

This is my favorite fiction book of all time.  What part are you at?

[Destino]

1 hour ago, PleaseBlitz said:

 

This is my favorite fiction book of all time.  What part are you at?

The middle where he’s arrived in France and is using the social scene and some extravagant spending to weave himself into the lives of his enemies.  

[Ball Security]

On 10/15/2023 at 7:59 PM, Destino said:

I’m finally reading the Count of Monte Cristo, and I’m loving it.  It’s significantly longer than I thought it would be. 

I’ll need to pull that off my shelf sometime soon.

 

Currently reading Rogues by Patrick Radden Keefe. It’s a collection of a dozen pieces he’s written for the New Yorker over the years.

Edited November 4, 2023 by Ball Security

[Corcaigh]

[Destino]

4 hours ago, Long n Left said:

Watched the first season, and just picked up the trilogy. About halfway through “Wool” now, and have had a few questions answered, and suspicions verified. Pretty well written IMO.

Yeah it’s a fun series, and the twist I was expecting was very different than the one I found waiting. I enjoyed it. 

[Destino]

On 10/16/2023 at 12:08 PM, PleaseBlitz said:

 

This is my favorite fiction book of all time.  What part are you at?

I can see why this would be your favorite fiction book. Truly excellent. The whole ending with Haydée is probably a bit problematic by todays standards but amazing read. Dantės was a lot less heroic than I expected having seen the movie.
 

Ali, his servant, was scheduled to have his tongue cut off, be tortured, then executed. Dantės, wanting a servant that could not speak, waited until after they cut his tongue off to intercede on his behalf. Right there I knew this guy was not the same dude that went into prison. 

[Skinsfan1311]

Jim Butcher's "White Knight" which is book 9 of "The Dresden Files"   The series is about the travails of a private investigator in Chicago, who happens to be a wizard.  It's got it all....vampires, demons, faeries, werewolves.....it's magic, fantasy, mystery, humor  and a lot of fun to read.   Sometimes, you need some good old-fashioned light, fun reading and this fits the bill.