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

[shuke 22,238]

6 hours ago, Buckychudd said:

Stephenson could use a much better editor. His rambling Into the pure science of everything gets a bit much. 

When I read something like this, I think to myself, "I'm not really as smart as I think I am".

 

[KarmaPolice 14,652]

The son got me The Outsider for Christmas, so I started reading that.   I really need to get to The Handmaid's sequel too.  It's been sitting on the shelf for a bit now as I wanted to re-read the original to separate out the show before going onto book 2.  

[bigmarc27 4,162]

46 minutes ago, KarmaPolice said:

The son got me The Outsider for Christmas, so I started reading that.   I really need to get to The Handmaid's sequel too.  It's been sitting on the shelf for a bit now as I wanted to re-read the original to separate out the show before going onto book 2.  

The first 2/3 of the Outsider was amazing and I was hooked. The last third is ok, but gets a little strange. The miniseries coming up on HBO should actually be really good. That last third that’s ok on page should actually translate pretty well on screen. 
 

-

I was gifted the entire Dark Tower box set so I’ll be on that well into 2020. 

[facook 5,079]

37 minutes ago, bigmarc27 said:

The first 2/3 of the Outsider was amazing and I was hooked. The last third is ok, but gets a little strange. The miniseries coming up on HBO should actually be really good. That last third that’s ok on page should actually translate pretty well on screen. 
 

-

I was gifted the entire Dark Tower box set so I’ll be on that well into 2020. 

Have you never read it?

[bigmarc27 4,162]

5 minutes ago, facook said:

Have you never read it?

Nope, new to me. I’ve been on a King kick in 2019.  This year alone I did The Stand, 11.22.63, The Shining, Salem”s Lot, IT, Dead Zone, The Institute, The Outsider, Different Seasons, and The Long Walk. 
 

Im looking forward to it. 

[facook 5,079]

1 and 2 are great, bordering on AMAZING.  3 builds the plot.  4 is very VERY good.  Persevere through 5-6.  7 is a perfect ending to the series, which as we all know is not Steve's strength.  He nailed the ending to an epic series, though, in this case.

[KarmaPolice 14,652]

I feel like The Dark Tower series is the book version of something like Fury Road or Goodfellas for me.  Hella popular and highly regarded, but nothing clicked when i read it.  I think I bailed about 1/3  through Book 3.  

[facook 5,079]

18 minutes ago, KarmaPolice said:

I feel like The Dark Tower series is the book version of something like Fury Road or Goodfellas for me.  Hella popular and highly regarded, but nothing clicked when i read it.  I think I bailed about 1/3  through Book 3.  

You bailed early imo.  3 was just ok.  4 was very VERY good.  7 was a great, maybe BRILLIANT, ending.  It's actually how the tv show LOST should have ended.

[KarmaPolice 14,652]

4 minutes ago, facook said:

You bailed early imo.  3 was just ok.  4 was very VERY good.  7 was a great, maybe BRILLIANT, ending.  It's actually how the tv show LOST should have ended.

Didn't figure there was a point if I didn't like the 1st two, and those are the ones that people seem to hold in the highest regard.  

[facook 5,079]

16 minutes ago, KarmaPolice said:

Didn't figure there was a point if I didn't like the 1st two, and those are the ones that people seem to hold in the highest regard.  

Fair enough.

[cap'n grunge 7,305]

2019 was a very poor year of reading for me as I only finished 3 books. 2020 will hopefully be much better.

Just started Recursion by Blake Crouch. I enjoyed Dark Matter and the concept in this one looks pretty cool as well.

[Uruk-Hai 7,256]

10 hours ago, facook said:

1 and 2 are great, bordering on AMAZING.  3 builds the plot.  4 is very VERY good.  Persevere through 5-6.  7 is a perfect ending to the series, which as we all know is not Steve's strength.  He nailed the ending to an epic series, though, in this case.

The tones are VERY different across the books. King kinda rewrote Volume 1 to bring it more in line with the others, but they still vary wildly in atmosphere and writing style from book to book. 5-7 feel pretty much the same since he wrote them in a rush. I know folks who have quit on 1, since it's just.....odd. I'd power through it, even if you don't like it, and see how 2 &3 fit.

7 has some of King's best writing ever, IMO. I'm not talking about plot points, but just the writing itself.

[Buckychudd 873]

Finished The Handmaids Tail. It was well written, she created a plausible well crafted world but a bit boring and slow overall. 

Needed something more entertaining before I start on The Testaments so I’m rereading The Murderbot Diaries. Really entertaining set of books if you haven’t read them. 

[prosopis 1,404]

On 12/29/2019 at 8:57 PM, bigmarc27 said:

Nope, new to me. I’ve been on a King kick in 2019.  This year alone I did The Stand, 11.22.63, The Shining, Salem”s Lot, IT, Dead Zone, The Institute, The Outsider, Different Seasons, and The Long Walk. 
 

Im looking forward to it. 

Enjoy it!!!!

Dark Tower is my favorite. The dog sitting next to me is named Sheemie. That wont mean much to you for quite a while but when you get there you'll recall the name.

 

[prosopis 1,404]

On 12/29/2019 at 9:22 PM, KarmaPolice said:

I feel like The Dark Tower series is the book version of something like Fury Road or Goodfellas for me.  Hella popular and highly regarded, but nothing clicked when i read it.  I think I bailed about 1/3  through Book 3.  

blasphemy. I have read the series twice and listened to it at least three times. I can't get enough of it.

[prosopis 1,404]

On 12/29/2019 at 9:48 PM, KarmaPolice said:

Didn't figure there was a point if I didn't like the 1st two, and those are the ones that people seem to hold in the highest regard.  

I don't know of anyone who holds one in high regard. It took me three attempts to get through one but after that I was off and running. Dark Tower 4 is a big fan favorite and you could read that one on its own as much of it is Roland telling a tale of the past. It's very good and I still cry at points of that story. 

[bigmarc27 4,162]

4 minutes ago, prosopis said:

Enjoy it!!!!

Dark Tower is my favorite. The dog sitting next to me is named Sheemie. That wont mean much to you for quite a while but when you get there you'll recall the name.

 

I actually ran through the Gunslinger already and am maybe 5 pages into Book 2.  I liked the Gunslinger, it was a pretty quick read. 

[prosopis 1,404]

I just finished Blaze by S King. It was good enough, maybe a little to on the sad side? It was no Of Mice and Men, that's for sure.

Moving onto a nonfiction book about the history of Arizona.

[facook 5,079]

3 hours ago, prosopis said:

On 12/29/2019 at 8:22 PM, KarmaPolice said:

I feel like The Dark Tower series is the book version of something like Fury Road or Goodfellas for me.  Hella popular and highly regarded, but nothing clicked when i read it.  I think I bailed about 1/3  through Book 3.  

blasphemy. I have read the series twice and listened to it at least three times. I can't get enough of it.

I was probably the perfect age to start DT.  I read Gunslinger for the first time as a freshman in high school.  Totally weird and unlike anything I'd read till then.  Quickly gobbled up DT2 and then read them as quickly as I could when they came out.  I stand by my original statements of each book/tier, but realize that they were/are thoughts of a super young dude.

[bigbottom 10,391]

On 12/29/2019 at 9:57 PM, bigmarc27 said:

Nope, new to me. I’ve been on a King kick in 2019.  This year alone I did The Stand, 11.22.63, The Shining, Salem”s Lot, IT, Dead Zone, The Institute, The Outsider, Different Seasons, and The Long Walk. 
 

Im looking forward to it. 

I just finished The Institute and really liked it a lot. 

[Jefferson the Caregiver 924]

On 12/29/2019 at 10:46 AM, shuke said:

Half way through Snow Crash.  Totally uninterested at this point.  May be the first book I ever stop reading.  

I finished it but definitely didn't get what everyone loved about it.  Not my type of fiction I guess.  

Cryptonomicon was awesome though

[shuke 22,238]

Taking a break from Snow Crash to get through Watchmen because I'm obsessed with the show.  I guess I'm a comic book guy now.

[Ilov80s 27,229]

The Power and the Glory, Graham Greene never disappoints. One paragraph in and you know it’s going to be great. 

[SouthJersey 267]

Just finished "Norco '80" about the bank robbery/shootout in Norco, CA.  It was decent.

Also recently read "Who is Michael Ovitz" about the agent who founded CAA.  The last 25% was boring, but most of the book was entertaining as he talked about his involvement in  '80-'00's Hollywood, such as negotiating Letterman's deal to CBS, facilitating a trade between Scorsese who had the rights to Schindler's List to Spielberg who originally had the rights to Cape Fear, etc.

 

[prosopis 1,404]

I am reading The Beautiful Ones which is about Prince. I was/am a giant Prince fan. I saw this book in Costco and it looked fantastic. I dropped every hint I could to get it for Christmas but the hints fell on deaf ears. When I decided I had to get it for myself it was gone. I bought it on Kindle and I hope all the pictures will be in there. So far I have not come across any pictures and that was a big part of the book. Hopefully they will be there. So far I am enjoying it. Prince was a musical genius and I am really enjoying the behind the scenes look at him.

[Buckychudd 873]

Finished my reread of Murderbot Diaries.  Great sci-fi novellas about a maladjusted rouge security robot (cyborg contruct?).  I highly recommend, funny and irreverent these novellas are pure fun and great for light reads if you want to tear through a couple.  Downside is they pretty much charge the same as a price of a full book for each.  They really should have combined the four into one novel.

Started The Outsider last night.

[E Street Brat 1,524]

I'm about 50 pages into "Brave new World" and I'm completely lost.

 

There is like 5 conversations going on at once and I have no idea who is talking to who....

 

Does this "Classic" ever get better? I'm ready to punt. This damn thing is giving me a headache.

[ncmagistrate 11]

11 hours ago, prosopis said:

I am reading The Beautiful Ones which is about Prince. I was/am a giant Prince fan. I saw this book in Costco and it looked fantastic. I dropped every hint I could to get it for Christmas but the hints fell on deaf ears. When I decided I had to get it for myself it was gone. I bought it on Kindle and I hope all the pictures will be in there. So far I have not come across any pictures and that was a big part of the book. Hopefully they will be there. So far I am enjoying it. Prince was a musical genius and I am really enjoying the behind the scenes look at him.

A decent read, but oh what could have been had he lived long enough to really finish the book.

[shuke 22,238]

7 hours ago, E Street Brat said:

I'm about 50 pages into "Brave new World" and I'm completely lost.

 

There is like 5 conversations going on at once and I have no idea who is talking to who....

 

Does this "Classic" ever get better? I'm ready to punt. This damn thing is giving me a headache.

Haven't read it since high school but remember really liking it.

[Spike 731]

On 12/10/2019 at 2:49 PM, Senor Schmutzig said:

Love reading Nelson DeMille novels. His protagonist always has a witty, snarky sense of humor that I enjoy.

Saw that Nelson was in Coral Gables a few weeks back for a book signing so I was able to by his new one, The Deserter, that he co-wrote with his son, get it signed and get a photo. 

That was cool.

It was a good read.

Tell me more. 

[Joe Mammy 969]

If you wish to be blown away by a serial killer thriller, this is the best I've encountered:

By Reason of Insanity by Shane Stevens (found at my local library)

Very collectible author and he only has about 5 and a couple are very hard to find. I read "Dead City" (also very good) first and just bought "The Anvil Chorus" for next.

-----------------

One of the finest novels ever written about perfect evil . . . I recommend it unreservedly.”  —Stephen King

“Compelling and genuinely frightening. You have to keep remembering it’s only a story. You won’t be able to put it down.”  —The Boston Globe

“Extremely effective.”  —The New York Times

“Irresistible, unrelenting suspense . . . Stevens creates a ‘monster’ for our time.”  —Chicago Tribune

“One of the five greatest crime novels of the century.”  —Mystery Scene

[KarmaPolice 14,652]

The Outsider was OK.   I am lukewarm on late stage King.  

Next up I have short book about the filming of Back to the Future , then I grabbed a couple dystopian books at the library - The Feed and Robopocalypse.   Anybody in here read either of these?

 

[Buckychudd 873]

1 hour ago, KarmaPolice said:

The Outsider was OK.   I am lukewarm on late stage King.  

 

Agreed.  I really liked the first 2/3 but the last part was meh.

[TheFatKid 60]

2 hours ago, KarmaPolice said:

The Outsider was OK.   I am lukewarm on late stage King.  

Next up I have short book about the filming of Back to the Future , then I grabbed a couple dystopian books at the library - The Feed and Robopocalypse.   Anybody in here read either of these?

 

I’ve read both the feed and robopocalypse. They were entertaining enough and writing was good enough that I read at least one other book by each author. I really liked Daniel Wilson’s book 1 of clock work dynasty. I read the second feed book by mira grant but was zombie’d out and haven’t finished the series.

[Uruk-Hai 7,256]

45 minutes ago, TheFatKid said:

 I read the second feed book by mira grant but was zombie’d out and haven’t finished the series.

I was wondering if KP was talking about Grant's Feed because there's another PA novel out there called The Feed. I read Grants series (& really liked it). Haven't read the other.

[KarmaPolice 14,652]

1 hour ago, TheFatKid said:

I’ve read both the feed and robopocalypse. They were entertaining enough and writing was good enough that I read at least one other book by each author. I really liked Daniel Wilson’s book 1 of clock work dynasty. I read the second feed book by mira grant but was zombie’d out and haven’t finished the series.

 

29 minutes ago, Uruk-Hai said:

I was wondering if KP was talking about Grant's Feed because there's another PA novel out there called The Feed. I read Grants series (& really liked it). Haven't read the other.

I didn't realize there were so many - I was talking about THIS book.  

[Uruk-Hai 7,256]

4 minutes ago, KarmaPolice said:

 

I didn't realize there were so many - I was talking about THIS book.  

That's the one I haven't read

 

[SouthJersey 267]

Finished "The Art of Fielding" and really enjoyed it.

Tried the first 100 pages on "Lincoln in the Bardo" and thought it sucked and gave up. Too Avant garde for me I couldn't get into it.

Currently reading "Beastie Boys Book"

[sports_fan 2,685]

200 pages into The Way of Kings by Brandon Sanderson

Mixed feelings so far. It's been kind of a slog for the most part. The story seems to be jumping around too much. I'll finally get drawn in by a character and it will jump to someone else. There doesn't seem to be cohesion among the different characters or clear overall plot.

[Sand 5,452]

50 minutes ago, sports_fan said:

200 pages into The Way of Kings by Brandon Sanderson

Mixed feelings so far. It's been kind of a slog for the most part. The story seems to be jumping around too much. I'll finally get drawn in by a character and it will jump to someone else. There doesn't seem to be cohesion among the different characters or clear overall plot.

Oh, but it gets so damn good.   The second half of book 1 is better than the first - it takes a while for Sanderson to set the environment. 

I read a lot and I can honestly say that the last 1/3 of book 3 is the most compelling literature I've had the pleasure of taking in in at least the last decade.  

So damn good I pre-ordered the Book 4 audible as soon as it became available.

Edited February 18 by Sand

[shader 7,440]

1 hour ago, sports_fan said:

200 pages into The Way of Kings by Brandon Sanderson

Mixed feelings so far. It's been kind of a slog for the most part. The story seems to be jumping around too much. I'll finally get drawn in by a character and it will jump to someone else. There doesn't seem to be cohesion among the different characters or clear overall plot.

World building is so hard to do. He does an excellent job but you have to get through certain points of the book and there will always be story arcs you don’t care about

[shader 7,440]

Not sure if Red Rising has been mentioned here or not.

Its my favorite series since Game of Thrones and resembles that series if it took place in space.

The first book has a Hunger Games feel to it.  It’s limited in scope but sets the stage.  But where the hunger games books got exponentially worse with each book, this story gets exponentially better.  As an example book 5 starts off with an epic battle that lasts like 300-400 pages. (Don’t seem how that could be a spoiler) It blew my mind.

I can’t recommend enough 

Edited February 18 by shader

[sports_fan 2,685]

22 hours ago, Sand said:

Oh, but it gets so damn good.   The second half of book 1 is better than the first - it takes a while for Sanderson to set the environment. 

I read a lot and I can honestly say that the last 1/3 of book 3 is the most compelling literature I've had the pleasure of taking in in at least the last decade.  

So damn good I pre-ordered the Book 4 audible as soon as it became available.

Thanks for the input. I know it's highly regarded, which is why I picked it up. I'll stick with it. I don't often read books of this length. I probably just need to give it more time. 200 pages is not even 20% of the way in after all 

[The Man With No Name 971]

On 12/10/2019 at 2:49 PM, Senor Schmutzig said:

Love reading Nelson DeMille novels. His protagonist always has a witty, snarky sense of humor that I enjoy.

Saw that Nelson was in Coral Gables a few weeks back for a book signing so I was able to by his new one, The Deserter, that he co-wrote with his son, get it signed and get a photo. 

That was cool.

It was a good read.

Looked him up after reading the above post and thought I would like them. And I do.  Now on my third of the John Corey books. 

[TheFatKid 60]

On 2/17/2020 at 9:42 PM, shader said:

Not sure if Red Rising has been mentioned here or not.

Its my favorite series since Game of Thrones and resembles that series if it took place in space.

The first book has a Hunger Games feel to it.  It’s limited in scope but sets the stage.  But where the hunger games books got exponentially worse with each book, this story gets exponentially better.  As an example book 5 starts off with an epic battle that lasts like 300-400 pages. (Don’t seem how that could be a spoiler) It blew my mind.

I can’t recommend enough 

I’ve been putting this series off for a while, because I’m a little tired of dystopian novels, but your feedback is making me interested. 
 

Finished Scalzi’s Consuming Fire, 2nd in the collapsing empire series. I guess you would call it space opera. Quick read, good plot twists. Decent Scalzi snark, my favorite line “never bring a spoon shiv to a tooth brush shiv fight”.

Right now reading non fiction book on Alexander the Great by Anthony Everett. Not bad so far.

 

[bostonfred 28,855]

My recent favorites from audible

We are legion/we are Bob.  Loved this trilogy so much. 

The Martian - i saw the movie first and still enjoyed the book quite a bit. 

Children of Time - explores the way distant future of the human race. 

Apparently I'm just done with this place.  

[Senor Schmutzig 439]

13 hours ago, The Man With No Name said:

Looked him up after reading the above post and thought I would like them. And I do.  Now on my third of the John Corey books. 

That's fantastic! After finishing DeMille I was looking for something along the same lines and saw a post here about the Jack Reacher books. I'm on my 3rd also, reading them in chronological order.

[rockaction 20,767]

On 1/23/2020 at 1:11 PM, SouthJersey said:

Finished "The Art of Fielding" and really enjoyed it.

Read this a while back and enjoyed it. 

[heckmanm 4,179]

12 hours ago, TheFatKid said:

I’ve been putting this series off for a while, because I’m a little tired of dystopian novels, but your feedback is making me interested. 
 

Finished Scalzi’s Consuming Fire, 2nd in the collapsing empire series. I guess you would call it space opera. Quick read, good plot twists. Decent Scalzi snark, my favorite line “never bring a spoon shiv to a tooth brush shiv fight”.

Right now reading non fiction book on Alexander the Great by Anthony Everett. Not bad so far.

 

Big Scalzi fan here.  The Old Man's War series is excellent, as well.

[facook 5,079]

Finished The Institute by Stephen King.  Thought it was good, worth the read.  

Now on Full Throttle by Joe Hill (King's son).  Collection of short stories.  I think Joe might be more twisted than his old man.

Edited February 19 by facook