Whatcha readin now? (book, books, reading, read) (3 Viewers)

[kupcho1]

I keep a list of books that I want to read, but unfortunately, I don't note where I got the book from.
I just finished reading Rabbits by Terry Miles (2021). I could have sworn that I got this book from this thread. In fact, if asked, I'd have said it was an @shuke recommendation. But a search of the thread reveals that that was not the case.

In any case, it was a pretty good book. "A deadly underground game might just be altering reality itself"

It's got a little Ready Player One feel to it, but much darker. In fact, one of the back-of-book blurbs states: "Rabbits is a remarkably assured debut, deftly written and laced with intrigue. It combines Haruki Murakami's slice-of-life surrealness with the thrilling pace and pop-culture throwbacks of Ready Player One."

Well, it does have that slice-of-life aspect, but nowhere near as well written as anything by Murakami.
Anyway, pretty good book and a very quick read.

 

[shuke]

I just finished reading Rabbits by Terry Miles (2021). I could have sworn that I got this book from this thread. In fact, if asked, I'd have said it was an @shuke recommendation.

Never heard of it. Adding to my list.

 

[shuke]

Read both A Visit From The Goon Squad and its sequel Angry Candy by Jennifer Egan. I love Egan's style and really enjoyed both of these books. However I admit that I had trouble keeping track of all the characters and connections.

 

[TheFatKid]

I keep a list of books that I want to read, but unfortunately, I don't note where I got the book from.
I just finished reading Rabbits by Terry Miles (2021). I could have sworn that I got this book from this thread. In fact, if asked, I'd have said it was an @shuke recommendation. But a search of the thread reveals that that was not the case.

In any case, it was a pretty good book. "A deadly underground game might just be altering reality itself"

It's got a little Ready Player One feel to it, but much darker. In fact, one of the back-of-book blurbs states: "Rabbits is a remarkably assured debut, deftly written and laced with intrigue. It combines Haruki Murakami's slice-of-life surrealness with the thrilling pace and pop-culture throwbacks of Ready Player One."

Well, it does have that slice-of-life aspect, but nowhere near as well written as anything by Murakami.
Anyway, pretty good book and a very quick read.

Read it. Really liked some aspects of it. Liked old video game and technology references. However, it was hard to tell what was real and what wasn’t real, in my opinion it got out of hand towards the end of the novel. I didn’t love it. It was different, so I don’t mind that I spent my time on it.

 

[TheFatKid]

Light Bringer in the Red Rising series came out this week, 132 pages in not bad so far. Read the last book back in 2019ish so it takes a little bit of reading the synopses of the previous books to remember who all these Roman named characters are.

Finished it, Pierce is writing one more novel, Red God, to bring the series to conclusion. As far as space operas go, I now favor the Red Rising series over James S.A. Corey’s Expanse series. Expanse starts out strong and Peter’s out, but Red Rising starts out juvenile and gets stronger in my opinion.

 

[TheFatKid]

Now that book 6 is coming out in July I'm revisiting the first 5 books of Dungeon Crawler Carl. Listening this time instead of reading. There is actually a good bit of detail in the first couple of books that keep popping up (more complex than you'd think of the genre).

Still absolutely hysterical. I'm the idiot in the car you look at driving who's laughing his *** off for no apparent reason. Love these books. 11/10.

You have my interest in Dungeon Crawler Carl. Are these only available on Kindle? Book 6 I’ve found in paperback on Amazon.

 

[Sand]

Now that book 6 is coming out in July I'm revisiting the first 5 books of Dungeon Crawler Carl. Listening this time instead of reading. There is actually a good bit of detail in the first couple of books that keep popping up (more complex than you'd think of the genre).

Still absolutely hysterical. I'm the idiot in the car you look at driving who's laughing his *** off for no apparent reason. Love these books. 11/10.

You have my interest in Dungeon Crawler Carl. Are these only available on Kindle? Book 6 I’ve found in paperback on Amazon.

I think they all have paperback versions. Since it's part of Kindle Unlimited I think the electronic is limited to that. Calibre can convert to EPUB if your wanted.

 

[Sand]

Light Bringer in the Red Rising series came out this week, 132 pages in not bad so far. Read the last book back in 2019ish so it takes a little bit of reading the synopses of the previous books to remember who all these Roman named characters are.

Finished it, Pierce is writing one more novel, Red God, to bring the series to conclusion. As far as space operas go, I now favor the Red Rising series over James S.A. Corey’s Expanse series. Expanse starts out strong and Peter’s out, but Red Rising starts out juvenile and gets stronger in my opinion.

I thought the first book was awesome.

 

[kupcho1]

I just started my Pulitzer project in earnest (pun intended, see below).

There have been 97 Pulitzers award for fiction since the first one in 1918. There have been 10 instances where no prize was awarded. The first time was 1920; the most recent 2012.
In 1974 "all three members of the Pulitzer Fiction Jury publicly expressed “distress and bewilderment” when their unanimous recommendation for Gravity's Rainbow by Thomas Pynchon was rejected by the Pulitzer Advisory Board. The Jurors were further dismayed when no explanation was given for the rejection." (google)

I've read Gravity's Rainbow. I can see where it might upset people. And confuse them.

But guess what? I'm counting it anyway. So make it 98 Pulitzers.

Yep, I'm going to read all of the Pulitzer prize winners for fiction. Out of the 98, I've already read 26 of them. Including the very first one, His Family by Ernest Poole. I thought this was going to be a slog. In fact, my library didn't even have a "real" copy. From the library website: "This scarce antiquarian book is a facsimile reprint of the original. Due to its age, it may contain imperfections such as marks, notations, marginalia and flawed pages."

His Family really surprised me given the scarcity of the novel. It takes place just before WWI and focuses on a NYC family, a widower with 3 daughters. Nothing earthshattering happens, but it was an interesting window into the time period.

Anyway, off to reserve:

1919	The Magnificent Ambersons	Booth Tarkington
1921	The Age of Innocence	Edith Wharton
1922	Alice Adams	Booth Tarkington

I've heard of the first two, but have never read them. BTW, Booth Tarkington is one of 4 authors to have won more than once.
The others are William Faulkner, John Updike and Colson Whitehead.

 

[TheFatKid]

I just started my Pulitzer project in earnest (pun intended, see below).

There have been 97 Pulitzers award for fiction since the first one in 1918. There have been 10 instances where no prize was awarded. The first time was 1920; the most recent 2012.
In 1974 "all three members of the Pulitzer Fiction Jury publicly expressed “distress and bewilderment” when their unanimous recommendation for Gravity's Rainbow by Thomas Pynchon was rejected by the Pulitzer Advisory Board. The Jurors were further dismayed when no explanation was given for the rejection." (google)

I've read Gravity's Rainbow. I can see where it might upset people. And confuse them.

But guess what? I'm counting it anyway. So make it 98 Pulitzers.

Yep, I'm going to read all of the Pulitzer prize winners for fiction. Out of the 98, I've already read 26 of them. Including the very first one, His Family by Ernest Poole. I thought this was going to be a slog. In fact, my library didn't even have a "real" copy. From the library website: "This scarce antiquarian book is a facsimile reprint of the original. Due to its age, it may contain imperfections such as marks, notations, marginalia and flawed pages."

His Family really surprised me given the scarcity of the novel. It takes place just before WWI and focuses on a NYC family, a widower with 3 daughters. Nothing earthshattering happens, but it was an interesting window into the time period.

Anyway, off to reserve:

1919	The Magnificent Ambersons	Booth Tarkington
1921	The Age of Innocence	Edith Wharton
1922	Alice Adams	Booth Tarkington

I've heard of the first two, but have never read them. BTW, Booth Tarkington is one of 4 authors to have won more than once.
The others are William Faulkner, John Updike and Colson Whitehead.

Cool idea, thanks for sharing. I’ll look into some of the books on the list.

 

[beer 30]

One of you book nerds will know this, been driving me nuts for a while now. Back around 7th or 8th grade we read a book about a future dystopian society that rather than have huge wars between countries, each country sent it's best warrior to fight against others and whoever won got to rule the world for 5-10 years or something like that. The book centered around the warrior who won who became something of a god like persona. The winner could basically do whatever they wanted with no repercussions and the book highlights him walking into this girls house and raping her with no one being able to do anything about it.

Been forever since I read it but for the life of me can't remember the title. Any help appreciated.

 

[Uruk-Hai]

Sorry, @beer 30 - that one isn't ringing any bells.

I recently read Justin Cronin's The Ferryman. Cronin's a great writer, but the way he structured this book is really weird. As such, it was a disappointment - just too disjointed for my feeble brain.

I'm on David Grann's The Wager. It's a non-fiction historical book about a British ship trying to capture a Spanish galleon but instead gets shipwrecked on an island near Chile. Grann wrote The Lost City Of Z (which I read and was awesome) and Killers Of The Flower Moon (which I haven't read, but will; I believe it has been made into a movie getting released soon). He's similar to Erik Larsen in taking journals, newspaper reports, court records, etc....and weaving it all into something like a novel. It's been a blast so far.

 

[kupcho1]

Finished the 1919 Pulitzer winner, The Magnificent Ambersons by Booth Tarkington. It was a very good book and provided some fascinating insights into the evolution of a midwestern city.
It also had the 2nd most hateful child character, George Amberson Minafer, 1st runner-up to Joffrey Baratheon. Mind you, it's a distant 2nd, but still.

On to 1921's The Age of Innocence by Edith Wharton (recall there was no prize awarded in 1919). I'm actually about 2/3s through and it is becoming apparent that most writers of the day (at least as far as I can see) where wealthy, or at least came from wealthy families. You write what you know, and so far, the first 3 Pulitzers all involve wealthy families, two based in NYC. It will be interesting to see when this changes.

 

[kupcho1]

Completed Alice Adams (1922), Booth Tarkington's 2nd Pulitzer winner. Old Booth sure knows how to write some dysfunctional families. Alice Adams, the title character, is a pretentious young woman from a poor family, trying to hide her poverty as she searches for a wealthy man to marry. Other than the one plot twist you could see from a mile away, it wasn't too bad.

29 down/69 to go.

Next up: 1923's One of Ours by Willa Cather.

 

[kupcho1]

I just finished One of Ours by Willa Cather, the 1923 Pulitzer Prize winner. This is the first one that truly felt like a Pulitzer winner. Excellent writing and a compelling story. This one was a joy to read.

30 down/68 to go.

Next up: 1924's The Able McLaughlins by Margaret Wilson.

 

[shuke]

Looking for good horror recommendations. I want something to scare the **** out of me.

 

[facook]

Looking for good horror recommendations. I want something to scare the **** out of me.

Currently re-reading The Talisman. Forgot how much I HATED the middle third of this book (because it made me so mad/uncomfortable).

Last book I can remember actually scaring me was Bag of Bones. My wife agrees. That was 20ish years ago.

 

[NajehHejan]

Trying to get back into reading. Streaming and the iPhone make it hard for me. Just read Post Office, and now have the strong urge to read more Bukowski. So good. Definitely a man for his time, as I couldn’t see anyone nowadays getting away with a lot of what he wrote.

 

[Hov34]

The Blade Itself trilogy- Abercrombie. Gritty (and awesome), and Logen is one of my favorite literary characters ever.

Started this about 3 weeks ago and am 1/3 of the way through the 2nd book. Absolutely love it. Better than Game of Thrones - IMO.

About to finish everything in this universe and absolutely still love it. Hope it continues, but if not I'll just re-read.

Reading Order if you want all 9 books:

The First Law Trilogy aka The Original Trilogy

1. The Blade Itself
2. Before They Are Hanged
3. Last Argument of Kings

The Great Leveler aka The Standalones

4. Best Served Cold

5. The Heroes

6. Red Country

The Age of Madness Trilogy aka the New Trilogy

7. A Little Hatred

8. The Trouble With Peace

9. The Wisdom of Crowds

 

[KarmaPolice]

Looking for good horror recommendations. I want something to scare the **** out of me.

I can't promise anything that will literally scare you, but a few recent horror novels that popped in my head that I remember liking:

A Head Full of Ghosts
Heart-Shaped Box
The Hunger
Let the Right One In
My Best Friend's Exorcism

An older one I recommend a bit is Summer of Night in case you haven't read that one.

 

[TheFatKid]

Just read the Magicians by Lev Grossman. The last 25% of the book made it worthwhile and I am going to continue the series.

But reading Nettle and Bone by T Kingfisher first . Described as a dark fairy tale. So far a couple of chapters in and I find it interesting.

 

[shuke]

A Head Full of Ghosts
Heart-Shaped Box
The Hunger
Let the Right One In
My Best Friend's Exorcism

An older one I recommend a bit is Summer of Night in case you haven't read that one.

Really liked the bolded, so will try the others, thanks.

 

[KarmaPolice]

A Head Full of Ghosts
Heart-Shaped Box
The Hunger
Let the Right One In
My Best Friend's Exorcism

An older one I recommend a bit is Summer of Night in case you haven't read that one.

Really liked the bolded, so will try the others, thanks.

There might be others with the same name, so The Hunger is by A.Katsu involving the Donner Party. I got sucked into the atmosphere big time. Exorcism might play a little more like an 80s High School flick, but I had fun with it.

 

[Sand]

Listening to Dungeon Crawler Carl 6. Still friggin hysterical. Next up I'm split between finishing The Expanse, continuing WoT (book 5 next), or starting The First Law series over as there were only three available when I read them.

 

[TheFatKid]

Listening to Dungeon Crawler Carl 6. Still friggin hysterical. Next up I'm split between finishing The Expanse, continuing WoT (book 5 next), or starting The First Law series over as there were only three available when I read them.

Are you considering starting First Law over because of the 3 Age of Madness books? I don’t think you need to start over. I mean who wouldn’t want to read about Logen Ninefngers again, but I think you could pick up the age series even after a considerable gap.

 

[Sand]

Listening to Dungeon Crawler Carl 6. Still friggin hysterical. Next up I'm split between finishing The Expanse, continuing WoT (book 5 next), or starting The First Law series over as there were only three available when I read them.

Are you considering starting First Law over because of the 3 Age of Madness books? I don’t think you need to start over. I mean who wouldn’t want to read about Logen Ninefngers again, but I think you could pick up the age series even after a considerable gap.

I've read the first three. Maybe this time I listen to them. It's been quite a while, so memory has hopefully faded enough.

 

[kupcho1]

Blew right through The Able McLaughlins (1924) by Margaret Wilson. Started slowly but got really interesting about 1/3 of the way through. Scottish immigrant family in Iowa, whose oldest son comes home from the Civil War, falls in love and tries to do the right thing. This was a pretty good book.

Heading out to the library to pick up So Big (1925) by Edna Ferber. Hopefully Arrowsmith (1926) by Sinclair Lewis is ready as well. My Pulitzer list has Lewis declining the prize. I'll have to look into that after I finish it.

Unfortunately, my massive library system does not have a copy of Early Autumn: A Story of a Lady (1927) by Louis Bromfield but Google does, so I may have to read that one on-line.

31 down/67 to go.

Year	Title	Author
1918	His Family	Ernest Poole	✓
1919	The Magnificent Ambersons	Booth Tarkington	✓
1920	no award
1921	The Age of Innocence	Edith Wharton	✓
1922	Alice Adams	Booth Tarkington	✓
1923	One of Ours	Willa Cather	✓
1924	The Able McLaughlins	Margaret Wilson	✓

 

[ipljeff]

Jack Carr. The Devil's Hand

 

[TheFatKid]

Nettle and Bone by T Kingfisher
A dark fairy tale for grown ups. It wasn’t predictable, 9 out of 10 plot twists were good and only one felt like Deux Ex Machina. It kind of reminded me of Neverwhere or the Grave Yard Book by Neil Gaiman.

 

[TheFatKid]

Possible next reads:

Leech by Hiron ennes

Ninth house Leigh bardugo

Perilous times by Thomas D Lee

the ferryman Justin Cronin

The bone shard daughter by Andrea Stewart

The book of koli M. R. Carey

 

[Bogart]

I keep a list of books that I want to read, but unfortunately, I don't note where I got the book from.
I just finished reading Rabbits by Terry Miles (2021). I could have sworn that I got this book from this thread. In fact, if asked, I'd have said it was an @shuke recommendation. But a search of the thread reveals that that was not the case.

In any case, it was a pretty good book. "A deadly underground game might just be altering reality itself"

It's got a little Ready Player One feel to it, but much darker. In fact, one of the back-of-book blurbs states: "Rabbits is a remarkably assured debut, deftly written and laced with intrigue. It combines Haruki Murakami's slice-of-life surrealness with the thrilling pace and pop-culture throwbacks of Ready Player One."

Well, it does have that slice-of-life aspect, but nowhere near as well written as anything by Murakami.
Anyway, pretty good book and a very quick read.

Picked up Rabbits based on this reco. Also started Fourth Wing, because every employee on my team has read it and I'm feeling left out. The sequel presale is number two on Amazon, only because there is an Untitled book from the same Red Tower publisher at number one.

 

[kupcho1]

Polished off (look at me; I'm the Doc Emerick of different ways to say I finished a book!) So Big (1925) by Edna Ferber.

I thought it was pretty good, but it was confusing. "So Big" is what Selina DeJong (nee Peake) calls her son. Interesting to note that asking babies how big they are ("soooo big") was not invented by me in the 1990s. But I digress.
I found So Big confusing in that the book was much, much more about the mother than the son. Not a big deal but I was wondering as I got halfway through and So Big (Dirk) was still a child and not really a main character of the novel. Also, I think she referred to him as So Big maybe half a dozen times throughout.

Anyway, one other thing I found interesting, and an innate bias in me, was that I kept waiting for the other shoe to drop w/r/t the economy as they referenced how well the economy was doing (and Dirk's role, albeit minor, in it). Then I remembered the book was written 4 years before the start of the Great Depression.

32 down/66 to go. On to Arrowsmith (1926) by Sinclair Lewis

 

[shuke]

We Begin at the End by Chris Whitaker. I think recommended here. Have to admit I slogged through the first half and found it rather boring. But the second half was beautifully constructed and written, and his style really grew on me. A heartfelt, touching story with a murder mystery thrown in.

 

[facook]

Polished off (look at me; I'm the Doc Emerick of different ways to say I finished a book!) So Big (1925) by Edna Ferber.

I thought it was pretty good, but it was confusing. "So Big" is what Selina DeJong (nee Peake) calls her son. Interesting to note that asking babies how big they are ("soooo big") was not invented by me in the 1990s. But I digress.
I found So Big confusing in that the book was much, much more about the mother than the son. Not a big deal but I was wondering as I got halfway through and So Big (Dirk) was still a child and not really a main character of the novel. Also, I think she referred to him as So Big maybe half a dozen times throughout.

Anyway, one other thing I found interesting, and an innate bias in me, was that I kept waiting for the other shoe to drop w/r/t the economy as they referenced how well the economy was doing (and Dirk's role, albeit minor, in it). Then I remembered the book was written 4 years before the start of the Great Depression.

32 down/66 to go. On to Arrowsmith (1926) by Sinclair Lewis

I really admire your dedication to this bit/effort. Have you considered reading Masochism?

 

[beer 30]

Just started The Great War for Civilisation by Robert Fisk. Only 100 pages into this tome but what a read so far. Fisk starts off by detailing his 3 in person meetings with Osama bin Laden and it goes from there, documenting Fisk's living through just about every major historical event that's occurred in the Middle East over the last 40-50 years. So much information on every page, going to take me a while to get through this one.

 

[kupcho1]

I really admire your dedication to this bit/effort.

I just finished Arrowsmith (1926) by Sinclair Lewis. It was a very interesting book, and I struggled at times with whether it was truly a novel, or a (barely) fictionalized account of a doctor's experience in the early 20th century.

I'll leave it to someone much more literate than I to capture what I was experiencing - E. L. Doctorow - who wrote the Afterword.

Arrowsmith is structured as a bildungsroman, a novel of its here's sentimental education. ... The overall feel of this bildungsroman is of a running montage, to which even detailed scenes are subsumed so that the author's driving intentions are never absent from view.

The novel traces the title character's evolution from small town boy helping the local doctor, to medical college, private practice as a country doctor, big city group practice, large research institute (modeled on the Rockefeller Institute) to ... well, I won't spoil it for you. It is a very satirical novel, which isn't unexpected given Lewis also wrote Babbitt. (I've added Babbitt to my "to be read" list.) BTW, Lewis relied heavily on input from Paul De Kruif, a bacteriologist and immunologist who had worked at the Rockefeller Institute, so much so that he gave him 25% of the earnings from the book.

33 down, 65 to go.

However, there will now be a short interlude so I can read The Maltese Iguana by Tim Dorsey, the likely 2024 Pulitzer Prize winner. After that, Early Autumn: A Story of a Lady (1927) by Louis Bromfield.

 

[TheFatKid]

Finished Perilous Times by Thomas D Lee.

Unless you really, really like King Arthur and modern reimaginings of Arthur I would pass.

Communists, eco feminist terrorists, everyone white is an assumed Nazi make the book really hard to like. But Kay and Lancelot keep it interesting enough to finish. There are some humorous moments like what happens after a white nationalist is turned into a squirrel by Morgan Le Fey.

Next up
The Ferryman by Justin Cronin

 

[facook]

Finished Perilous Times by Thomas D Lee.

Unless you really, really like King Arthur and modern reimaginings of Arthur I would pass.

Communists, eco feminist terrorists, everyone white is an assumed Nazi make the book really hard to like. But Kay and Lancelot keep it interesting enough to finish. There are some humorous moments like what happens after a white nationalist is turned into a squirrel by Morgan Le Fey.

Next up
The Ferryman by Justin Cronin

Did you enjoy reading it? Was it worth the time? (These might be two different answers.)

 

[TheFatKid]

Finished Perilous Times by Thomas D Lee.

Unless you really, really like King Arthur and modern reimaginings of Arthur I would pass.

Communists, eco feminist terrorists, everyone white is an assumed Nazi make the book really hard to like. But Kay and Lancelot keep it interesting enough to finish. There are some humorous moments like what happens after a white nationalist is turned into a squirrel by Morgan Le Fey.

Next up
The Ferryman by Justin Cronin

Did you enjoy reading it? Was it worth the time? (These might be two different answers.)

if I had to do over I would have held out for something else. I took a risk based on a review that was positive and the concept of King Arthur’s knight’s rising from the grave when the realm was in peril sounded interesting.

 

[Joe Bryant]

Sorry if discussed earlier.

Finished A Visit From The Goon squad and loved it. The perfect blend of fun and intrigue and skillful writing without being too much. Just a fun ride.

Half way through Pillars Of The Earth and I love it. I don't normally like fiction about that long ago (set in 1400's) but it's fascinating and so well done. Characters are engaging and the writing is strong.

 

[kupcho1]

Here Comes The Goon squad

I'm gonna assume this was A Visit from the Goon Squad by Jennifer Egan. A big (and it might even interest those non-readers in the other thread )
I think I've mentioned it before, but if you weren't aware there is a sequel entitled The Candy House. It is also worth checking out.

 

[Joe Bryant]

Here Comes The Goon squad

I'm gonna assume this was A Visit from the Goon Squad by Jennifer Egan. A big (and it might even interest those non-readers in the other thread )
I think I've mentioned it before, but if you weren't aware there is a sequel entitled The Candy House. It is also worth checking out.

Yes. Sorry. I updated.

And thank you, I bought Candy House but haven't started it yet.

 

[Uruk-Hai]

Half way through Pillars Of The Earth and I love it. I don't normally like fiction about that long ago (set in 1400's) but it's fascinating and so well done. Characters are engaging and the writing is strong.

I read this when it came out & enjoyed it a lot. I believe there's a sequel, but haven't picked that one up yet.

 

[Uruk-Hai]

Let's see what I've read recently........

Holly by Stephen King. I liked it but, if you don't like that character, I can see where it could get grating. Luckily, King shifts POVs to break it up some.

The Wager by David Grann. True-life tale of a British expedition and shipwreck in the early 1700s in South America during their war with Spain. Grann uses journal accounts to build his story. Excellent.

Killers Of The Osage Moon, also by Grann. The recent Scorsese film is based on this book. Kind of the same format as The Wager and also excellent.

I'm now on Wayward by Chuck Wendig. It's a sequel to his Wanderers from a few years ago. It's taken me a while to remember who some of the characters are, but I think I'm up to speed now. If you liked the first book, you should like this one.

 

[timschochet]

Sorry if discussed earlier.

Finished A Visit From The Goon squad and loved it. The perfect blend of fun and intrigue and skillful writing without being too much. Just a fun ride.

Half way through Pillars Of The Earth and I love it. I don't normally like fiction about that long ago (set in 1400's) but it's fascinating and so well done. Characters are engaging and the writing is strong.

Try World Without End next. I think it’s even better.

 

[Don Quixote]

Currently reading Jesmyn Ward’s Let Us Descend. Just came out out last week — loved Sing, Unburied, Sing and Salvage the Bones by her, which both won the National Book Award. Historical fiction about a slave’s journey from a North Carolina plantation to a Louisiana slave market. One of the best authors going today.

Before that was Abraham Verghese’s The Covenant of Water. Around 800 pages and spans around 100 years in a family in southern India. Usually enjoy multi-generational epics like that, but I was kind of meh on it and probably should have cut my loss earlier on.

 

[Sand]

Half way through Pillars Of The Earth and I love it. I don't normally like fiction about that long ago (set in 1400's) but it's fascinating and so well done. Characters are engaging and the writing is strong.

All three books are awesome and well worth the time to read.

Right now I'm reading Six of Swords. It's a fantasy book, but evidently at it's heart it's an intricate bank caper. Love the genre - Inside Man, The Italian Job, etc. Engaging so far.

On audio I'm listening to Leviathan Falls. Held off on this one for a while as I really don't want the story to end. Best space opera ever, by far. But end it must, so I'm closing it out.

 

[timschochet]

Half way through Pillars Of The Earth and I love it. I don't normally like fiction about that long ago (set in 1400's) but it's fascinating and so well done. Characters are engaging and the writing is strong.

All three books are awesome and well worth the time to read.

There’s actually 5 books now. I’ve only read 2

 

[TheFatKid]

Let's see what I've read recently........

Holly by Stephen King. I liked it but, if you don't like that character, I can see where it could get grating. Luckily, King shifts POVs to break it up some.

The Wager by David Grann. True-life tale of a British expedition and shipwreck in the early 1700s in South America during their war with Spain. Grann uses journal accounts to build his story. Excellent.

Killers Of The Osage Moon, also by Grann. The recent Scorsese film is based on this book. Kind of the same format as The Wager and also excellent.

I'm now on Wayward by Chuck Wendig. It's a sequel to his Wanderers from a few years ago. It's taken me a while to remember who some of the characters are, but I think I'm up to speed now. If you liked the first book, you should like this one.

Thanks for all of these especially Wayward, I definitely will read it.

 

[BobbyLayne]

On Veterans Day I recorded all 10 episodes of Band of Brothers - look forward to the rewatch the remainder of this month.

This morning I ordered Hang Tough: The WWII Letters and Artifacts of Major **** Winters from Amazon.