I just finished "White Knight" which is book 9 of the Dresden Files. Another great volume in what I consider to be a great overall series. I love the characters, the interaction and the story-telling. Jim Butcher writes great battle scenes and loves to throw in humorous pop culture references when it fits into the situation. Really liking this and I have the next book, "Small Favor" in my reading que
This is likely my next read. Want to get caught up before the next novel comes out.
Just wrapping up The Long Way, To a Small Angry Planet which is a subversive Star Trek of sorts. Fun enough to get me to read the sequel later.
Started Scourged which is the final book in the Iron Druid series. It's been a good series in the sense that you get to visit all of the major pantheons and see it through a different scope than a comic reader, or historian might see it. It'll be interesting to see how it all ends.
I'm about 150 pages into Leviathan Wakes by James Corey
This is a good book. I sure wish you guys had mentioned it before
Finished and it was a really good book. I'm going to continue with the series.
Space Opera by Catherine Valente I got 50 pages into this over written, overly descriptive, comma laden run on sentences that want to be cool like The Fonz but in reality are Richie Cunningham in freshman English having just discovered Hunter s Thompson, Chuck Klosterman, a cool set of blogs and good music, we remember that guy, peice of garbage. Space Opera has some good reviews (my only guess is that were paid for by the publisher) and compares itself to Douglas Adams. that is a good comparison because they are books about space stuff. However hitchhikers galaxy was great and this is a pile of old hard dog pooh (there is nothing fresh in this book). The most remarkable feat of Space Opera was Ms. Valente fitting "5000 words of story into an 80,000 word book". This book needed a real editor and at least a second draft. Space Opera was bad.
Actually picked up Space Opera from the library a few days ago. I'll give it a few chapters, but if it is as overwrought and amateurish as you say @mwhitt80 then I'll likely drop it.
The Rise and Fall of Kray Twins Chronicles the story of Ronnie and Reggie Kray's stint as London's most notorious villians in the 1960s. It's a decent book that gives a good account to what happened, but it also whitewashes the twins brutality (like Ronnie being a pedophile and rapist) while not trying to show them as anything other than were. Some of it has to do with when the book was written 1972 and some of it might be implied (but I didn't get because of age and I'm not British).
Overall I would say if you are interested in London's villians give it a shot. If not you aren't missing anything.
Bedtime reading association: The Princess Bride S. Morgenstetn's Classic Tale of True Love & High Adventure by William Goldman What a fantastic book; the 4 year old loved it. She really cried and tried to get me to stop reading Everytime she thought Westley was about to die ( the zoo of death and as the time ticked off the miracle pill); she pretends to be buttercup. She thinks fezzik and inigo are awesome she loves " I am inigo Montoya. You killed my father; now prepare to die". This was a hit in our house. Next we are moving to puppies long stockings book
For @nweathington we ended at Princess Bride, but I'm reading the buttercup's baby shirt story. I'll let you know how it is.
This is an odd selection for the JAABC. It's not fiction and doesn't involve Mack Bolan (his friends), Remo Williams, or a one man army. The Man-eaters of Kumoan by Jim Corbett. This is a fantastic autobiography of a man protecting the people of Kumoan region of India against man-eating tigers between 1906 and 1938. He explains the jungle, it's wildlife, and the animals he is hunting (including why tigers and leopards are forced to turn to eating humans). The hunts are difficult and frustrating with more than a few close calls. Jim describes the people of India in a way that is loving and compassionate and helps us understand the terror and helplessness that a maneater instills over people it uses as food. The Man-eaters of Kumoan is a dramatic picture of a world that no longer exists in place that is dangerous and exotic. 4.5 out 5 Jane Austins.
I was looking for through the thread, I feel like there were several posts about The Expanse from different people. After going a few pages back with no luck I conceded that the punchline wasn't worth all the effort.
By chance, have you been watching the formerly SyFy and soon to be Amazon series?
How was the Gundam book? I have been on the fence about getting them for a while.
I'm now on Volume IV. I should note that these are the Gundam Origin manga. Continues to be pretty engaging, but it's not something that one should spend too much time thinking about - it's got Independence Day sized plot holes.
My daughter found a complete set of Time-Life WWII books for my birthday. I'm presently wallowing in the 5th volume of fluffily written history bits wrapped around lots of photo goodness. I remember checking these out constantly when I was in grade school, but I don't really recall reading that much of the text content.
I've learned (or been reminded of a thing or two so far.
I'm still on my Time-Life WWII series bender, though I paused to read the first volume of the Gundam: Origins manga (my first time reading an actual, non-reformatted for Western audiences manga).
So far, I'm on Vol. 8 of the WWII books, having gotten through Prelude to War, Blitzkrieg, Battle of Britain, The Rising Sun, The Battle of the Atlantic, The Attack on Russia and The War in the Desert. Currently starting The Home Front: USA.
Overall, the production values for the books are great and I'm continuing to pick up interesting nuances to the war and enjoy the journey.
Continuing on this line. Have now completed China-India-Burma and the Island War and am working my way through the Italian Campaign. Currently, I'm about to get to Monte Cassino and Anzio.
My daughter found a complete set of Time-Life WWII books for my birthday. I'm presently wallowing in the 5th volume of fluffily written history bits wrapped around lots of photo goodness. I remember checking these out constantly when I was in grade school, but I don't really recall reading that much of the text content.
I've learned (or been reminded of a thing or two so far.
I wish I had more awesomes and likes to give.
We found a set last year. They are awesome; all those pictures! The covers are incredible too.
Do you remember the West series from time life? I love that series too, but the covers are not nearly as good as Ww2.
My daughter has done it again. While we were at a local art festival, she popped into an adjacent used bookstore and found a complete set of Time-Life Old West books and promptly picked them up. They most certainly do have the look and feel of hand tooled Corinthian leather. Somewhere, a Cordoba is missing its upholstery.
My daughter found a complete set of Time-Life WWII books for my birthday. I'm presently wallowing in the 5th volume of fluffily written history bits wrapped around lots of photo goodness. I remember checking these out constantly when I was in grade school, but I don't really recall reading that much of the text content.
I've learned (or been reminded of a thing or two so far.
I wish I had more awesomes and likes to give.
We found a set last year. They are awesome; all those pictures! The covers are incredible too.
Do you remember the West series from time life? I love that series too, but the covers are not nearly as good as Ww2.
My daughter has done it again. While we were at a local art festival, she popped into an adjacent used bookstore and found a complete set of Time-Life Old West books and promptly picked them up. They most certainly do have the look and feel of hand tooled Corinthian leather. Somewhere, a Cordoba is missing its upholstery.
+1 and you don't have to tell me; a poor cow sacrificed herself to set. I hope her hamburgers went to a good family.
Want to know oddly expensive volumes? The master index (one all the series). No one bought them so they are more rare. If you have one you might want to undercut some suckers; I bet you could finance your next Time Life series. No joke.
As is normal with me I am reading 2 books at once. Started American Psycho back in January. Good book,but it gets bogged down by the long passages with piles of details about various clothing.
Started reading Pimp by Iceberg Slim last week. Been wanting to read this book since the late 80s,after hearing Ice T mention the book. Stumbled on a copy cheap. Was racked in Wal-Mart's Black History Month area. Really good so far. But not a book for everyone.
It's been a while since I have posted what the night time reading was, but it has been really fun. The little girl and I are reading the Marvelous Land of Oz. Wizard of Oz was good but I am adoring this book. It is so funny, and has this humor that just destroys everyone. If you remember it was written in 1904 it is so much funnier.
The fun part. I pulled down my teacher is an alien one night because my son was being a chaos monster. A few days later my daughter sees the book and decided that was next on the night time reading. We read book1, go into book 2; I visit Bruce coville's website order some books and he sends me a text message about the order. My daughter gets fired up; all of a sudden the person who wrote a book she really loves became a real person! We read book 3 and she asks if we can message Mr. Coville. so we send him a tweet (not going to abuse the fact I have his cell) and a day or two later he messages her back. She was on top of the moon then we finish book 4, and I made her take a small break from reading his other books.
Have fallen back into a reread of the Thomas Covenant books by Stephen R Donaldson. I'm a big fan and have read them many times, but this read is definitely a result of the political and personal life $#!+show that was 2020.
I'm currently reading Fletch by Gregory MacDonald.
I'm not sure yet.
I love the Fletch books. I burned through the whole series (well, all of them that were available at the time) back in the summer of 1985 right after seeing the movie. I mean, they aren't as good as Christie’s Poirot novels, of course, but I found them to be, on the whole, a lot of fun, with only one or two clunkers in the bunch.
Comments
Started Scourged which is the final book in the Iron Druid series. It's been a good series in the sense that you get to visit all of the major pantheons and see it through a different scope than a comic reader, or historian might see it. It'll be interesting to see how it all ends.
Space Opera by Catherine Valente
I got 50 pages into this over written, overly descriptive, comma laden run on sentences that want to be cool like The Fonz but in reality are Richie Cunningham in freshman English having just discovered Hunter s Thompson, Chuck Klosterman, a cool set of blogs and good music, we remember that guy, peice of garbage.
Space Opera has some good reviews (my only guess is that were paid for by the publisher) and compares itself to Douglas Adams. that is a good comparison because they are books about space stuff. However hitchhikers galaxy was great and this is a pile of old hard dog pooh (there is nothing fresh in this book). The most remarkable feat of Space Opera was Ms. Valente fitting "5000 words of story into an 80,000 word book". This book needed a real editor and at least a second draft. Space Opera was bad.
The Rise and Fall of Kray Twins Chronicles the story of Ronnie and Reggie Kray's stint as London's most notorious villians in the 1960s. It's a decent book that gives a good account to what happened, but it also whitewashes the twins brutality (like Ronnie being a pedophile and rapist) while not trying to show them as anything other than were. Some of it has to do with when the book was written 1972 and some of it might be implied (but I didn't get because of age and I'm not British).
Overall I would say if you are interested in London's villians give it a shot. If not you aren't missing anything.
The Princess Bride S. Morgenstetn's Classic Tale of True Love & High Adventure by William Goldman
What a fantastic book; the 4 year old loved it. She really cried and tried to get me to stop reading Everytime she thought Westley was about to die ( the zoo of death and as the time ticked off the miracle pill); she pretends to be buttercup. She thinks fezzik and inigo are awesome she loves " I am inigo Montoya. You killed my father; now prepare to die". This was a hit in our house.
Next we are moving to puppies long stockings book
For @nweathington we ended at Princess Bride, but I'm reading the buttercup's baby shirt story. I'll let you know how it is.
This is an odd selection for the JAABC. It's not fiction and doesn't involve Mack Bolan (his friends), Remo Williams, or a one man army.
The Man-eaters of Kumoan by Jim Corbett.
This is a fantastic autobiography of a man protecting the people of Kumoan region of India against man-eating tigers between 1906 and 1938. He explains the jungle, it's wildlife, and the animals he is hunting (including why tigers and leopards are forced to turn to eating humans). The hunts are difficult and frustrating with more than a few close calls. Jim describes the people of India in a way that is loving and compassionate and helps us understand the terror and helplessness that a maneater instills over people it uses as food.
The Man-eaters of Kumoan is a dramatic picture of a world that no longer exists in place that is dangerous and exotic.
4.5 out 5 Jane Austins.
Want to know oddly expensive volumes? The master index (one all the series). No one bought them so they are more rare. If you have one you might want to undercut some suckers; I bet you could finance your next Time Life series. No joke.
Factually Fictional
Started reading Pimp by Iceberg Slim last week. Been wanting to read this book since the late 80s,after hearing Ice T mention the book. Stumbled on a copy cheap. Was racked in Wal-Mart's Black History Month area. Really good so far. But not a book for everyone.
I need to re-read those books; i enjoyed the first 11 or so
The fun part.
I pulled down my teacher is an alien one night because my son was being a chaos monster. A few days later my daughter sees the book and decided that was next on the night time reading. We read book1, go into book 2; I visit Bruce coville's website order some books and he sends me a text message about the order. My daughter gets fired up; all of a sudden the person who wrote a book she really loves became a real person! We read book 3 and she asks if we can message Mr. Coville. so we send him a tweet (not going to abuse the fact I have his cell) and a day or two later he messages her back. She was on top of the moon then we finish book 4, and I made her take a small break from reading his other books.
Trying some Neal Stephenson. I read The Rise and Fall of DODO a while back and enjoyed it, so started up one of his older books. Snow Crash.
I'm rereading the william shatner classic TekWar
I'm currently reading Fletch by Gregory MacDonald.
I'm not sure yet.
Twin Peaks The Final Dossier by Mark Frost
My 2021 fiction book reading has been exclusively Star Trek novels.
Picard: The Dark Veil (finished 9 Jan)
DS9: Enigma Tales (finished 21 Jan)
Enterprise: The Romulan War, To Brave the Storm (finished 28 Mar)
TNG: A Time To Love (finished 5 April)
Enterprise: A Choice of Futures (finished 12 April)
TOS: Probe (finished 18 April)
TOS: The Rings of Tautee (finished 20 April)
Finished Hollywood Babylon,was a good fast read,and currently 2/3rds of the way through Lobotomy,The Dee Dee Ramone bio.