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Interesting that the first guy quoted is John Dos Passos, since he is now a guy whose work I would put at the top of my list of "Good Books That Almost Nobody Has Read."Back in the day, he was considered one of the Big 4 - along with Hemingway, Faulkner, and Fitzgerald. But he fell out of critical favor in the late 30s. His major work is the U.S.A. trilogy, made up of The 42nd Parallel (1930), 1919 (1932), and The Big Money (1936). I highly recommend it.
Ended up with "Smiley's People" by John LeCarre I like his writing style.
thanks for the tip. this is a great website for readers. liked some of the other parts of the site much better than the link above.
I'm gonna try to read Gusher but it will be difficult for me to keep an open mind. Too often the naysayers focus on current, not future costs of alternatives. It took 50 years after the advent of the computer for us to have a powerful and affordable desktop computer in our home offices; one would think that we could also make similar steady yet incremental advances in the field of renewable energy.
He's not really a naysayer in that regard - more presenting it as we need to be honest about it. Explore other things, but be realistic about their limitations and how much we'll still need foreign oil for the next 20-30 years.
I wrapped this one up yesterday. I liked it better even than "Queen of Bedlam". It's not for the faint of heart, though - there are some brutal scenes in there that are hard to forget. I read somwhere that McCammon is working on the next in the series - "The Providence Rider", I think it's called.I bought McCammon's "Swan Song" for my Kindle awhile back so I think I'm doing a reread of it next. It's been 15-20 years since I last read it.
Yea, this was mentioned before. I just finished reading it - I thought the beginning was incredibly boring (and it seemed a bit sensationalist IMO) but I really got into the book as it went on. You certainly learn a lot about Pakistan and its culture.
Reading this now. Very good story.
Just started this and I'm liking it so far.
I'll agree that they're not tremendously deep, but I've enjoyed all of the Allon series. I do think the Allon character become more interesting as the series progresses.MacArtist said:I'm with you on that. All of Daniel Silva's books are the same. The only difference is that the plot slightly changes.
Once you've read a couple of the Allon books, they tend to be pretty predictable. But if you want a mindless read, this is definitely the author for that.
Thanks to both of you. I'll probably give it the rest of this book and determine if I want to keep reading them. I'm just wore out on the standard spy thriller, though at least it's not either a WWII or Cold War spy novel.I'll agree that they're not tremendously deep, but I've enjoyed all of the Allon series. I do think the Allon character become more interesting as the series progresses.MacArtist said:I'm with you on that. All of Daniel Silva's books are the same. The only difference is that the plot slightly changes.
Once you've read a couple of the Allon books, they tend to be pretty predictable. But if you want a mindless read, this is definitely the author for that.
I started it this morning while at Jury Duty. I put it down an hour ago. I'm on page 323. Believe the hype.
Sold. Just bought it for my Kindle. Finishing up a re-read of Swan Song, then onto Cronin.
Been reading about this one and it definitely sounds like my type of book. My only hesitancy is that it's the first part of a projected trilogy and I hate starting series before they are finished. The other knock I am hearing is that there is a big time jump at some point in the novel and that the first part is much better than the second part.
After setting this book down for a week or so, I knocked thelast 50 pages or so off in one itting. It actually picked up a little for me at the end, but still not as good as previous Preston & Child efforts.Was happy to see that they are starting a new series with a new protagonist.
I read part and then listened to most of it driving this weekend, pretty good read.
Finished World War Z not too long ago and just started "The Road". Also have read The Stand, I Am Legend, Cell, etc...
"Swan Song" by Robert McCammon. It gets compared to "The Stand" all the time, but in a lot of ways I prefer it to "The Stand". It's grittier, for one. And it's post-nuke instead of post-virus, so the landscape/climate plays a much larger role. I'm 3/4 of the way through a re-read right now and, not having read it in 20 years, think it holds up really well.Jumping on "The Passage" when I get done with McCammon.Lehigh98 said:Finished World War Z not too long ago and just started "The Road". Also have read The Stand, I Am Legend, Cell, etc...
Think I may have a morbid obsession with the end of civilization, why do I find that so interesting?
Any other good ones in that vein to recommend?
Warday by Whitley Streiber and another dude is worth a read."Swan Song" by Robert McCammon. It gets compared to "The Stand" all the time, but in a lot of ways I prefer it to "The Stand". It's grittier, for one. And it's post-nuke instead of post-virus, so the landscape/climate plays a much larger role. I'm 3/4 of the way through a re-read right now and, not having read it in 20 years, think it holds up really well.Jumping on "The Passage" when I get done with McCammon.Lehigh98 said:Finished World War Z not too long ago and just started "The Road". Also have read The Stand, I Am Legend, Cell, etc...
Think I may have a morbid obsession with the end of civilization, why do I find that so interesting?
Any other good ones in that vein to recommend?
Finished Under the Dome, summary: pretty good book, average ending. One of, if not the best, villain he's done in Big Jim with other minor henchmen that were also good. Loved him as a character and he stayed true to himself from start to finish.Now reading "the China Study" by T. Collin Campbell that has a bunch of data and studies that show a plant based diet is way better than omnivore diet. My wife buys it, but as an informed athlete with generally good nutritional education, there are some broad-based results based on specific studies that may or may not fully apply. Not a bad book and educational in the studies conducted showing solid evidence on the benefits of plant diet.
Yes it is a very good book. You can get it at the library free. I read that and then I read Boots on the Ground by Dusk. It was an interesting contrast to read those two books back to back.
This was a great read, I highly recommend. Pulitzer winner centered on characters in a small Maine town.Now onto The Echo Maker by Richard Powers, a National Book Award winner. Yeah, I pretty much allow the big awards committees to pick my contemporary fiction for me.
You could do worse.
Started it yesterday and am about 4 chapters in. So far, each chapter has focused on a different character(s). They're still separate strands right now. Chapter Two is what has really sucked me in - it's one of those that's just a series of e-mails that get progressively stranger. The writing's pretty good so far, but I haven't gotten far enough to get a sense of how good Cronin is at characterization.
Canticle for Liebowitz. Other than The Road...it's the best piece of post-apocalyptic literature I've read.
Think I may have a morbid obsession with the end of civilization, why do I find that so interesting?
Any other good ones in that vein to recommend?
