I like to ask this question every few months.
Currently reading Life of Pi by Yang Martel. Saw the movie a few months ago and wanted to read the book. The one I just finished was called Black Ice by Michael Connelly. It’s one of the Bosch books.
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Recently finished the 2018 sci-fi novel The Gone World, by Tom Sweterlitsch. Very mixed fellings on it, on the whole.
Without spoilers, it has some major plot elements regarding time travel that really don't sit right with me on a moral basis, and I thought the ending was weaker than the rest of the book.
But it's refreshing in the sense that it reads like 1970s science fiction: the big looming threat is totally alien, the mechanics of the universe are consistent and well-thought-out, and the storyline isn't composed thinly veiled $CurrentYear themes.
So, take that mixed bag for whatever it's worth.
I’ll check it out. Thanks!
I finished "The Wine Dark Sea," the 16th book in the Aubrey/Maturin series by Patrick O'Brian. The movie "Master and Commander" with Russell Crowe is loosely based of 3 or 4 of the books.
They are the best nautical fiction I've read, share my top spot for historical fiction with the Saxon Stories by Bernard Cornwell, and I'd actually recommend them to someone who likes Jane Austen too. The series is more of a story about the friendship and lives of the two main characters rather than a nautical adventure. If you just want swashbuckling read Bolitho, if you want the spying read Ramage, if you want something that feels like a period piece theres Hornblower, but I honestly feel like O'Brian did all of those things better.
I would recommend anyone thinking of reading them to get two companion books. The first is "A Sea of Words: A Lexicon and Companion to the Complete Seafaring Tales of Patrick O'Brian" and "Harbors and High Seas".
The first will explain the words and provide general knowledge about the period. The second allows the reader to see the route the books follow and gives information about the places they visit.
I'm taking a break from my third time reading though O'Brian's masterpiece to read "Gin & Cologne in the Wearable Tech Apocalypse" by RT Swindoll (grandson of THAT Swindoll). Its a scifi romp, a bit farcical. There are some references to Asimov's Foundation Series that scifi fans will enjoy. Im about halfway though and the book has been quite enjoyable so far. There are a robot with a cowboy's personality that thankfully gets the treatment of Chekov's Gun, a megalomaniacal titan of industry, the Singularity, along with murder, mayhem and a fair bit of cynical humor.
My wife just finished reading the print and I'm going though the audiobook read by the author on Spotify. She's a published author herself and said it was well written and I have to say Swindoll performs it well too.
I just got the entire series for 10 cents recently. I should sit down sometime.
10 cents?!?!?! I picked mine up cheap but not that cheap. That's insane!
The library closest to my house has a section near the front for books on sale. They regularly go for 25 cents or less. The Aubrey and Maturin novels were rubber banded together to count as one book.
I really need a lot more bookshelves is what I'm saying.
My wife worked at Half Price Books before we got married. They shut down a location near by. Employees were allowed to come in and take shelves if they wanted to. We have 28 7-foot shelves and a handful of halves and narrow ones. They are all filled. I really shouldnt complain about the books we have paid for since we have thousands that she got for nothing or next to nothing.
You are living the dream. My first dream house was a giant library with a kitchen here and bed there.
Thanks! I have some Jane Austen so I’m sure I’d like it
I'm currently reading The Night Land by William Hope Hodgson. A strange and dense novel written in 1912 detailing a man's journey across an earth of eternal darkness to rescue his reincarnated love from the 17th century. He's got a powered saw like weapon he uses to dispatch twisted soul stealing monsters. The remnants of humanity live in a gargantuan pyramid called the Last Redoubt. The novel is written in an overly stylized "17th century" fashion and features no dialogue as it's laid out as if it is his diary (of course).
The book I finished previously is called Brother Assassin by Fred Saberhagen. A man is tasked with traveling to key points in time to prevent the malicious machine intelligences called Berserker probes from using their own time infiltrators to disrupt humanity's past. Whether acknowledged or not I'm fairly certain that this is the book that inspired Terminator and not Harlan Ellison's Outer Limits episodes.
Sounds very interesting. Especially to have been written in 1912
Indeed, there's a lot of interesting parallels with 40k in the book. It's a hard read though, you have to get in the groove of reading the repetitive 17th century diary style. His novel House on the Borderland is an easier read, and highly influential to the likes of H.P. Lovecraft and Clark Ashton Smith.
Ahhh. I though I recognized the name. I have read House on the Borderlands when I was trying to read pre-Lovecraft sci-horror. It was enjoyable.
You'd be surprised - a hundred years earlier, inspired by the Year Without a Summer of 1816, Lord Byron wrote a poem called "Darkness", that I've frequently seen quoted as a possible inspiration for Hodgson:
The Night Land is a weird book, in that it's incredible despite its prose and writing style, not because of it. Even a hundred years later, it stands out for not being like our world and culture with one or two sci-fi changes, but being something else.
Cool!!
I’ve heard of this book and it sounded so weird I assumed someone was shitting me and it wasn’t real.
When you finish The Night Land, I highly recommend John C. Wright's continuation of it, Awake in the Night Land. Of the various fanmade sequel stories, I think the four stories in that book are by far the best continuation of the world and setting.
I was wondering if those were any good. I normally discount non author continuations of a universe, but I'll give this a try, thanks.
Listening to the Unabomber Manifesto after a coworker recommended it, during my commutes, its a short (<4 hours) listen but just started it this morning so should finish it this week.
Before that I was reading the book of Enoch out of general interest and curiosity, didn't finish it but did enjoy quite a few passages.
These days I mostly listen to or read philosophical stuff, if you can call the two above part of that genre.
Have you ever come across anything my Michael S. Heiser? He has a companion to Enoch that is excellent.
Also, Industrial Society and Its Future should be required reading. It is in my house. We homeschool.
I read the book of Enoch a while back and want to reread along with other apocryphal books. What did you find most interesting? I’ve heard unabomber manifesto is actually very good. Nothing wrong with philosophical stuff
I'll probably pick up Enoch at some point too. I bought a cool reproduction of the original King James bible at an antique junk market for cheap last month. I just saw it and thought it was cool. It's basically the original book as it was printed with all the margins, the fancy letters, etc. It had the apocrypha in it (not Enoch, but the apocrypha as printed in the original KJ bible. To this point I had no idea that was even a thing. I grew up going to church and had never heard of that in my life.
Mein Kampf? ;)
The Ruby Knight. Book 2 of the Elenium, one of David Eddings' older series. His late work is mostly ghostwritten and trends into being goofy, but the Elenium is some of his best work imo.
My thoughts exactly. He eventually gets overly predictable and his protagonists are never really challenged but he gets it most right in this series.
I don't remember the name of the book but he had a one off that involved time travel. It was nothing except the heroes essentially playing tricks on the bad guys and they were never in any serious danger the whole time. No stakes despite all of history being theoretically at stake.
It feels almost nothing like his early work.
I'm fairly sure the book you're talking about is the Redemption of Althalus and it's the book that convinced me to stop reading Eddings. Many of his worst excesses were becoming apparent in his later series like the Mallorean and the Tamuli but they became truly egregious in that book.
Ha - I just posted about this book before getting this far down the thread
That sounds about right, and yeah it was garbage.
I have some of his books. Will have to check that out
Oh man, I read those years ago and LOVED them. I should reread.
I read everything Eddings did in the 80's and 90's but only recently read the redemption of Althalus - which whilst I loved the setup of the magic mechanics for the war I still thought was a bit juvenile in places - but I think that's because it was co-written by Leigh Eddings
To be frank I think it was entirely Leigh. I think he was trying to boost her career by lending his name to it, Clancy style.
Yeah it definitely had a different feel to it than the Belgariad
Even bigger gap between that and the Elenium. Which remains a favorite of mine until this day, unlike a lot of sci-fi I read when I was younger.
Terry Brooks for example. I might one day pick up one of his older books again, but it took me two decades to realize that he secretly sucks.
I agree with you about his wife, once she became his official co-writer everything got noticably worse.
In fiction: The Aubrey-Maturin series by Patrick O'Brien. A series of stories about a British naval captain and his best friend during the Napoleonic era. "Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World" was based on these books, and if you enjoyed the movie at all I highly recommend the books. A few things that set it apart from the movie is the constant peppering of both dry and absurd humor and that Dr. Maturin's character is far more developed. If you're into audiobooks the recordings by Patrick Tull are so good as to elevate the material, a good option for commuting or as an alternative to screen time.
The Brother Cadfael Mysteries by Ellis Peters. A rather comfy murder mystery series set during 12th century England about a Benedictine monk figuring out who done it. Amusingly because Peters wound up writing about of dozen of the books, its hard not to wonder if the little town its set in was not the murder capital of Europe ate the time, a common problem with mystery series.
In nonfiction: The Last Superstition by Edward Feser. A response to the 'New Atheist' movement (Hitchens, Dawkins, Dennet, et al.). I'm a friendly audience, but there is a great deal to be learned even is Feser is preaching to the converted, as it were. One odd thing if someone picks it up as a skeptic: skip the first chapter. Fesser attempts to imitate the snarky style of the New Atheists in the first chapter but doesn't really have the chops for it, and he cops to this in the chapter itself. Unless of course your an Atheist and still like to see someone crap on the likes of Dawkins or Hitchens anyways.
The Patrick Tull recordings are certainly the best. I'm glad to see another O'Brian fan here. I've read quite a bit of nautical adventures and his are certainly the best.
Starship Troopers. Before that, Atlas Shrugged.
Heinlein is one of my all time favorite authors and Starship Troopers is my favorite. I’m fascinated by the idea that only veterans can be full citizens. Atlas Shrugged is in my massive pile of books to read. I have read The Fountainhead
With Atlas Shrugged - I would not bother with the films. THey are so disjointed. But do read the book.
Not to mention confusing -- every part has different actors, so you spend the first half of parts 2 and 3 trying to figure out who everyone is again.
I am about to start my 7th or 8th read through of Starship troopers. I've read all of Heinlien. His juveniles are definitely my favorite and Starship Troopers is at the top of that list. The Man Who Sold the Moon, The Moon is a Harsh Mistress, The Red Planet, and Farmer in the Sky are also ones I reread from time to time.
I heard they were gonna make a Moon is a Harsh Mistress mini series
I'm surprised this hasn't been done before. On the surface its about polyamorous commies fighting the man, you'd think that would probably get some attention on Hollywood writing rooms.
"Have Spacesuit - Will Travel" should be added to to list for anyone who likes Heinlein. Its about a boy who refurbished an old spacesuit as part of his fascination with spaceflight and is subsequently abducted by aliens. The suit comes in handy.
I'd just say start with his Juveniles: Rocketship Galileo, Space Cadet, Red Planet, Farmer in the Sky, Between Planets, The Rolling Stones, Starman Jones, The Star Beast, Tunnel in the Sky, Time for the Stars, Citizen of the Galaxy, Have Space Suit - Will Travel, and Starship Troopers.
I loved the Tom Swift books when I was a little kid. Heinleins juveniles are a rather based nod at them
We will encourage our kids to read all of them but probably only have Starship Troopers as required reading.
All good ones. Dont forget Podykane of Mars
Oh sure. I'm just saying I usually start people, especially kids with his Juveniles. They're not a series like most people think of them. There are no returning characters (other than heinlein writing himself in a few times). He said he had set out to write those ones specifically for boys and young men.
If you could adapt anything by Heinlein ( without current year nonsense interfering) what would you adapt? I think a Space Cadet movie or series aimed at boys/young men would be cool. J.O.B or Moon is a Harsh Mistress. You already have diversity and polyamory with Moon so not sure how they could mess that up
someone call mister flynt.
Did you read any E.E Doc Smith?
I enjoyed the Lensman series. You can tell exactly when it was written. I loved all the "ultra ray" beam weapons and such.
Current: Extra Virginity, the Sublime and Scandalous World of Olive Oil Previous: Fat Land, How Americans Became the Fattest People in the World
Was the book about America becoming fat what you expected?
I didn’t really have any expectations. Mostly about food regulations and culture changing to allow for the abundance of high fructose corn syrup and ever-increasing portions. Then it gets into a lot of detail about what Type 2 diabetes is.
My grandparents grew up on farms and they always told me about the meals they had with lots of meat and vegetables but they grew their own food and slaughtered their own animals so eating bacon everyday wasn’t so bad. I imagine working on a farm burns a ton of calories
I remember the first time I went to Europe I came back and got something sweet and it about knocked me down with how sweet it was.
Recently have cut almost all that uber-processed shit in American food to near zero, and I feel like a different person. American food standards are just bad.
Romance of the Three Kingdoms. I found an unabridged version, Sanquozhi Yanyi something. I read the abridged version years ago after playing some of the strategy games based on the warring states period.
Before that I read Monster Hunter Inc 1 and 2 by Larry Correia.
I just added Romance of the Three Kingdoms to my reading list. Looks interesting.
I absolutely love Larry Correia. Have you read any of his other stuff? The Forgotten Warrior is epic fantasy set in a world with a caste system like the hindus. Then there are The Grimnoir Chronciles, diesel punk with an interesting magical system. Oh and samurai in magical tech armor fighting side by side with a WW1 machingunner/mage/detective/bounty hunter along with a genius little austisic girl from a dairy farm to bring down a pre-WW2 ascendant Japanese Empire and then save the world from an alien menace.
Hes got other scifi, military scifi, and military fiction too.
I first picked him up because Baen publishes him. They publish good scifi. They dont care about politics. That means they mostly end up publishing stuff from people right of center or libertarians. Tor and the rest are completely cucked and won't publish unless you check all the diversity and degeneracy boxes as a person or with your book.
The only other book I'd read of his was: Servants of War. It was like a.. It felt like a grimdark fantasy set in fuedal Slavic motif. Then all of a sudden it's 40k style dreadnaughts fighting hordes of nightmare creatures. I liked it, just took a little bit to get going.
I'll check out Grimnoir Chronicles, that sounds fun.
Romance of the Three Kingdoms is a strange read, but I enjoy it. There's A LOT of names that sound similar bombarding you. It's written in an epic history / poem style like The Odyssey. The dialogue is dramatic and over the top, but fun. Pretend it was written for some stage 1000 years ago.
If you end up liking it, there's another Chinese epic that got made into games, but hasn't been popular in the West since the 80's-90's. Over here it gets called Bandit Kings of Ancient China or Outlaws of the Marsh, but most places sell it now as The Water Margin or Outlaws of the March. It's ancient Asian style Robin Hood. Wars, feasts, cannibals.
I read Servants of War when it came out. The transition from something that reminded me of The Witcher to 40k was pretty jarring. I enjoyed it and I'm definitely going to read the next one.
I need to read the Deep Six stuff next
I read I Ching a few years back. The names are rough.
I love the Dynasty Warrior games and need to get that strategy game. I think I’d enjoy that book. I need to get some Correa
I read it many years ago when I was on a huge Dynasty Warriors kick. Some of the names are spelled differently but you'll start making sense of it in no time.
The book is definitely interesting. Some parts are a little weird, like the men doing a lot of "hand holding" and "weeping" (it's meant to be dramatic I guess?) and then there are some hardcore parts to it. Was hoping to find a way to spoiler text but I'm not seeing it, so I can't share the one thing that stuck with me.
I think the book has been written and re-written so many times, it reads like it has been on a stage from village to village. The face-palming and hollaring is so over the top. The fights are 'bouts' where they hit each other simultaneously until one guy wins or runs away. There's betrayal, fake out deaths, casual cannibalism. It's super dramatic and epic. I love it. But, you can easily imagine it being on a small stage for a crowd of peasants. Ribbons for blood and entrails, drums and fireworks for the exciting parts.
DISC WORLD (all of them) and previously the Legend of Drizzt (all of them).
I’ve read one Disc World book and loved it.
The last fiction book that I read was "The Hunt for Red October". Fantastic novel.
Have that one in my pile to read. Last year I was at an estate sale and the guy’s dad was a huge Clancy fan. I bought over 20 hard backs super cheap (50 cents a piece)
My dad's got a bunch of his books, I'm definitely going to work through them.
The King in Yellow by Robert Chambers
Before that I was reading Roadside Picnic by Strugatsky brothers
Dune, again. I think it's my favourite book, at this point.
Before that, the first Shanarra trilogy by Terry Brooks. Hadn't read them in over a decade and I was happy to find they still hold up well.
I have book 1 of Shannara but haven’t read it yet. I heard Netflix did a terrible job adapting it. Dune is a great book. I need to read the next two
I fell like if someone was a fan of the books then they'd probably think the show was terrible. I thought the books were pretty bad though. I made it through the original trilogy and didnt bother picking any of the rest up. I've gone through Wheel of Time twice and I dont recommend people read it for the same reason I tell them to skip Shanarra. They're too derivative and slow.
I expected the show to be retarded and it was but it was brainless fantasy. Babylon 5 quality.
I had a lot of trouble with shannara. The first one seemed way too lord of the rings. I did actually enjoy the tv show though. I was sick and watched a marathon.
Blood Meridian, good so far. Very brutal, could make a good film. Before that, Magician. It was good enough, I'm told the sequels are better.
Shattered skies by I can't remember. It's not great.
Waiting for 12 Miles Below book 4 to hit z-library. For a self published book it's surprisingly well written and fun. More science fantasy than the scifi I normally read.
Previous was Line of Polity by Neil Asher, next will be Brass Man also by Asher unless the other book arrives. They're a lot like Banks's Culture lite. But Asher loves multiple perspective / character shifts per chapter which is a bit jarring.
Seward's Journey Around the World
previously, Lodge - Alexander Hamilton (part of his Statesman series)
The Never Ending Story, previous was Flashman and the Tiger. The first half of Never Ending Story is the basis for the first movie, the second half is more or less the second movie. Flashman and the Tiger is probably the least of the Flashman books, but they are all solid historical fiction with notes concerning the real events they were based on. Harry Flashman is a man you would hate IRL, but is quite fun to read about.
I’ve had the Neverending Story for a few years but still haven’t read it. I’ll get to it. Loved the movie
Flashman. These are greate recommendations. That's solidly going back on my "reread" list. I learned a ton of history from those books!
I enjoyed Flashman more than I thought I would. I've read quite a bit of historical fiction set in the Napoleonic and Victorian eras. Flashy is definitely one of those "yeah hes an total asshole by he's our asshole" types.
I'm currently reading "Across South America" by Hiram Bingham III (published in 1911). It's the first hand account of Bingham's first trip across South America.
He visited most of the eastern seaboard of south america (which is basically the Brazilian coast) by boat, and eventually landed on Argentina, whence he travelled overland across the Andes through Bolivia and Peru, finally arriving in Chile (where he represented the US as a delegate in the first Pan American convention).
It's a FANTASTIC account of the economic, social and political situation of most South American countries. Intelligent, and brutally honest. This trip would plant the seeds of Bingham's love for exploration and for Peru's pre Columbian civilizations (which would culminate with him discovering the last Inca lost city: Macchu Pichu).
Before that I read Inca Land, also by Hiram Bingham III, which is about his later exploration trips (from 1911 to 1916) where he identified the sites of several Neo-Inca cities that had been talked about in the Spanish chronicles of the XVIth Century (but the locations' true identities had been forgotten over time). He also misidentified a few sites (hey, nobody's perfect). But most importantly he discovered the best preserved city of the Neo-Inca empire which at that point was basically forgotten and unknown, even to the people that lived in the area (due to the INSANE geography of the region).
I am working my way through the Area 51 series by Bob Mayer and the Secret Histories series by Simon R Green.
As someone who has been into UFOs/paranormal since 3rd grade my interest is piqued
I recently got the complete version of The Rocketeer, and have been rereading what was always one of my favorite superheroes. Very refreshing to look back on when things were better.
The movie was based on a comic book?
Yep, obviously covering a lot more than the movie though. But if you are interested in it, look for the Complete version by author Dave Stevens (since he wrapped up the comic when he found out he was dying of cancer). IDW since tried to reboot it and do the usual woke things to it, but it never took off and people still only know OG Rocketeer. Razorfist did a breakdown of the comic version if you are interested.
Thanks!
A data and statistics book through Python, and a Manga about a girl being raised by a demon
I just finished Akira. It is amazing, but not to be within reach of my kids any time soon.
Akira is based on a Manga? I need to get it!
It's $20 per book and 6 books. Just let your wallet prepare first.
It's even better, the director of the movie was the creator of the manga. Tons had to be left out to keep it at movie length.
I have the Epic Comics 38 issue run of Akira. Definitely hurt the wallet to collect it in the late 90s.
what's this demon book?
The girl from the other side. There's a lot of story to it, so I am just saying demon and little girl to keep it simple.
The Perfect Father
Nonfiction about Chris Watts, the guy who had an affair and wanted to start his life over so he murdered his pregnant wife and two young children. He strangled his wife to death and drove for an hour to his work site to bury her, he'd brought along his children who were crying, then he killed them too and stuffed their bodies in oil tanks. Then he went to work like nothing happened.
It got really famous because the wife's friend quickly realized something was wrong mere hours after she was killed, bringing the cops to the house for a welfare check and giving Chris zero time to set the stage for a cover story. There is police body cam footage and you can see Chris behaving guilty as hell and having an internal breakdown of how caught he is.
The Bosch books are really good. I think my favorite might be A Darkness More than Night but The Last Coyote is also great. I fell off the series after awhile because the author has the books set in "real time" so Bosch gets old, retires, comes back, retires, and new characters have to be brought in because he's too old, etc.
Tatami Galaxy by Morimi Tomihiko, the source material for the anime of the same name. It's a novel, not a manga or a light novel btw. I tried the anime but was put off by the outlandishness of the design, even if it was all stylish and unique or whatever. I did enjoy his other anime adaptations more than Tatami, such as Penguin Highway and Uchouten Kazoku/Eccentric Family, but really they've all each had a striking visual style which I felt distracted a bit from the background running themes, which seemed to be about fate, the meaning of life, growing older, coping with the inevitability of death and loss, etc... So I wanted to get at some of the source material directly and see how it felt without someone else's visuals dictating it. It's interesting that the visual picture I build in my head from a book is always very grounded in photorealistic Japan, compared to the kind of visuals you get thrust on you from an anime.
I'm not too deep into Tatami Galaxy yet, but basically it's about a sexually-frustrated, jaded uni student trying to get his rocks off while harangued by a cupid-style kami spirit. I'm not crazy about the premise, but it's clearly got some of the themes of fate and growing older, plus the usual Morimi folkloric surreality that you see in adaptations of his, like Uchouten Kazoku and The Night Is Short, Walk On Girl.
The previous book wasYoiyama Kaleidoscope (Yoiyama Mangekyou), by the same author, which was actually my catalyst for buying most of his books, since it was the most interesting sounding and it hasn't had any tv adaptation yet. It's a jumble of overlapping short stories, set during 'Yoiyama' which is the kind of warm-up festival, the night before Kyoto's famous Gion festival. The atmosphere is a soup of big strange shrines, glowing paper lanterns and ancient folklore (even irl) so the book piggybacks off this, into stuff with a hint of the supernatural and fantastical, in a very gently spooky fashion, all happening during the night of Yoiyama and centering around a missing girl.
I liked it a lot. I suspect Tatami galaxy will struggle to improve on it, given how I simply liked the Alice In Kyotoland setting of Kaleidoscope more. Morimi's atmos - less charitably, his gimmick, since it's in the majority of his stuff - of stuffing loads of Kyoto and festival-style paraphernalia into a setting, while having low-fantasy events happen around it, scratches an itch I can't really describe. I'm curious how his source material for Uchouten Kazoku will hold up, since the adaptation is my favourite of his and among my favourite anime in general, but at this rate I might not work my way around to those books for another year or two.
I am reading "Multidimensional Man" which is basically a dream journal for the author's astral projections. After I read the books by Robert Monroe I had to find some other ones. It's very interesting at the very least.
I’m very interested in Paranormal stuff. I’ve read Journeys out of the Body by Monroe. I need to check that book out. I’ve read up on lucid dreaming
Yann Martel. Stupid autocorrect
"NO, RICHARD PARKER!!!"
I’m only a few pages in, what is that a reference to?
It's a line from the movie, I'm assuming it's in the book
Ohhh. Now I remember.
I've been reading The Dresden Files. They are... pathetic. Disappointing for how much they were hyped. I'm on the third one and I just can't be bothered to finish it. The last book that I read that was this bad was Tale of Two Cities.
I rather liked the Dresden files, but I listened to the recordings by James Marsters. He really leans in to the idea that Harry imagines himself to be some sort of film noir detective with a wand, and the first person narrative probably benefits from being read by a voice actor. I could actually see liking them less if i read narrative in my own minds voice. Either way they're defiantly the book equiv a a popcorn flick
I mean the books ARE noir detective stories, the problem is I probably just don't like noir detective stories. To much pretentiousness.
Only Dickens I’ve read is Christmas Carol and Great Expectations in school. Wow, I’ve heard great things about Dresden Files. Thanks for the heads up
Waiting on RC brays rendition of starship troopers to finally release after being delayed twice. Currently on Born in Blood, which is about the Freemasons being the descendants of the Knights Templar. UFO by Garrett Graff is on standby, it’s a historical piece on the alien craze in the US and the ties to the Cold War and space race.
Reading Now? NOFA's Crop Rotation and Cover Cropping. Wonderfully engrossing. (No, not really.)
Just finished Robert E. Howard's The Savage Tales of Solomon Kane. Read the entire omnibus in a day. Character resonated with me.
“Nay, alone I am a weak creature, having no strength or might in me; yet in times past hath God made me a great vessel of wrath and a sword of deliverance. And I trust, shall do so again.”
I have some Solomon Kane but haven’t read it yet. Recently read the Complete Conan by Howard.
You should hit Kane next. Kane is the perfect distillation of Howard's "man out of his time" gig, but amped up, because avenging, wandering Puritan.
Sounds great. I first heard of him from Razorfist. Been into Conan since I was a kid but never bothered to look up the author’s other characters. Shame on me
The Upright Man by Michael Marshall. This guy writes some great thrillers.
Last one was Machine Vendetta by Alastair Reynolds. He's one of the better sci-fi authors, though he's a leftist so stronk wahmen and gender fluid aliens have soured some later works.
I just finished The Land of Osiris and I'm now reading The Hermetic Art
atlas shrugged, previously finished the sword of truth books.
Sword of Truth sounds familiar. What are they about?
pretty based fantasy series
I think the last fiction book I read was the second Monster Hunter book. It's been a month or so. I've been reading the bible and some random short non-fiction things among being a bit busy.
I think I'm going to pick up The Hunt for Red October soon. I've been in the mood for some of that like military thriller stuff and I think that fits the bill. There was some obscure stuff I've read in the past but never really went into that genre a ton.
What did I finish -- "Assassin's Apprentive" series by Robin Hobb. Very fun. Without giving anything away, it's the story of an orphaned boy who is brought to the king's court and who...well...goes through a lot!
I think I'm going to start on "Lightbringer" by Brent Weeks next.
What is Lightbringer about?
Wikipedia page about the author: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brent_Weeks
Lightbringer. Unique magic system I think is maybe the biggest takeaway!
Lightbringer was quite good. The magic system is one of the most unique ones I've come across. My only quibble is that the the last book was a bit abrupt. Seemed like he had planned on it being another two or three books and his publisher told him to wrap it up in one.
Cool. Got a lot to look up