What are you reading now?

In reply to Purple Frog (Forum Supporter) :

That sounds very cool. Will hit it. I really enjoyed earning about falconry with H Is for Hawk (which I highly recommend).

Right now I'm learning all about sailing ships with Master and Commander. I did not realize it was the first book in a series--anyone else read it and any of the others? I'm liking it, but not sure if I need another one just like it. There is a LOT of naval jargon to keep track of. On the other hand, I now know a staysail from a jib, so I got that goin' for me.

Margie

Marjorie Suddard said:

Right now I'm learning all about sailing ships with Master and Commander.

I read Master And Commander, and another title from the same series.  Given the sudden popularity of the Russel Crowe movie (when it came out) I was surprised to learn that these were written in the 1950s and 1960s.  I assumed they were much newer.

I was very disappointed in both of the Patrick O'Brien books.  They seemed oddly written and things just kind of happened.  Rather like if Jane Austen decided to write wooden-ships-and-iron-men books. 

I infinitely prefer the Horatio Hornblower books by C. S. Forester, which were written between the late '30s and the early '60s.  The Patrick O'Brien books seem like a pale imitation to me.  

You know, I did read Captain Horatio Hornblower a thousand years ago. Agreed about O'Brien--it's just kind of burping along with endless sentences about tacking, running before the wind, blah blah. Like, at this point dropping an anchor would be high drama, despite the fact that there have been a couple of naval battles. The 18 inches of water in the hold following one got more mention than the dead guys, btw, which should tell you something.

Margie

Yeah, Forester not only got all the maritime details perfectly right, but they were gripping stories with real personal and international drama, too.

I'm going to take a look at this book.

As a big time failure guy... 

... doing large bore cannon failure analysis; this is an interesting read.  Every failure, in hindsight, gives no less that five warnings.

I love the entire Aubriad (The Master and Commander series), though I'm only 6 books in or so, and those 6 books have taken me probably 15 years to read. If you're going to read more than one or two, I highly recommend that you get this reference book to help you along: https://www.amazon.com/Sea-Words-Third-Companion-Seafaring/dp/0805066152

I just finished Child 44, by Tom Rob Smith. Excellent book, fast read, very disturbing. Set in Stalinist Russia, an MGB agent hunting down a child killer. I just got the sequel, The Secret Speech. 

Also just finished Plainsong by Kent Haruf. Another excellent read, but the exact opposite of a thriller. I'll get its sequel, Eventide after I finish The Secret Speech.

In reply to 914Driver :

I read that maybe 5 years ago, and it was interesting.  It was a little light, maybe, but it wasn't aimed at the engineering nitty gritty.

In reply to mtn (Forum Supporter) :

Have you read any of Forester's Hornblower Saga?  If not, I strongly recommend them.

Duke said:

In reply to mtn (Forum Supporter) :

Have you read any of Forester's Hornblower Saga?  If not, I strongly recommend them.

 

I did... In 4th or 5th grade. Probably time to check it out again.

In reply to mtn (Forum Supporter) :

Definitely.  In fact I may dig my set out of the attic and revisit them now.

Along the lines of Hornblower and Master and Commander I would add the excellent Monsoon by Wilbur Smith.  I've hopped around in the Courtney series and always been impressed with the detail and storytelling of the author.

Just finished Cat's Cradle by Kurt Vonnegut. I think I'm a Bokononist now.

Javelin (Forum Supporter) said:

Just finished Cat's Cradle by Kurt Vonnegut. I think I'm a Bokononist now.

Starting in high school and continuing into the mid-late 1980's, I was a dedicated Vonnegut fan.  At one point, I had read everything the man had ever written, including some sketchy titles under a few different noms de plume.

Edit:  Eh, I may be mistaken about the noms de plume.  At least one of those books, Venus on the Half-Shell, is not attributed to Vonnegut.

I plan to get started on 'Mona Lisa Overdrive' since it arrived today and it was a name that came up in the Cyberpunk cars thread. I am looking forward to checking it out!

In reply to DjGreggieP :

Have you read the other 2 books in that series?  It's not exactly required but some points will make more sense if you have. MLO is actually the third part of a loose trilogy. 

[edit]  Apologies if you already knew that and I'm being condescending. 
 

when you've torn down and rebuilt enough that you could write the Haynes

Brother in Law got me into this one at Christmas https://www.amazon.com/Disappearing-Spoon-Adventure-Periodic-Elements/dp/0316388270/ref=sr_1_2?crid=1ESWXJMBDS2QV&dchild=1&keywords=the+disappearing+spoon&qid=1593162748&s=books&sprefix=The+disapp%2Caps%2C406&sr=1-2 It's all about the periodic table and how the elements were found, are grouped and lots of interesting trivia.

Nephew recommended  the "Stormlight Archive" series by Brandon Sanderson at the start of "home detention" - 3,000 pages later I can't wait for volume 4, due later this year. 

I just restarted reading The Expanse series by S.A. Corey.  Wrapping up "Caliban's War".   I like 'em.  :)

I'm about halfway through Ursula K LeGuin's The Farthest Shore, third book in the Earthsea trilogy.  I read them in high school, and recently read the 6th book of the series at random, but realized I should probably go back and revisit the rest of them.  They're pretty fast going, but enjoyable.

Last week I ran through Rudy Rucker the Ware Tetrology again, followed by Neuromancer. I'm now into the third book of Spider Robinson "Life house trilogy", which is the 4th time I've read the first two and the first time for the final book. The first two were better.

It's always refreshing to see this thread pop to the first page of the board and NOT be spam paddlers.

Since the pandemic started I've been rereading Tom Clancy's Jack Ryan novels. Right now I'm going through  Executive Orders. That's the one where the bad guy of the story uses Ebola as a weapon of mass destruction against the US, forcing a nationwide lockdown, etc.

It's... startling how different the book feels than the first time I read it years ago. It's a great novel, much like the rest in the series. But it hits closer to home than normal.

Recently finished "Space Team".  Its funny.  Its like a humorous combination of Hithiker's Guide (with some clever nods to it) combined with Star Trek/Star Wars.

Before that was "Death By Black Hole" by Neil Degrasse Tyson.  Very Good.  

Listening to another book by him& a couple of other professors right now ("Welcome To The Universe").  It is good so far, but he repeats himself a fair amount from book to book.

Killers Of The Flower Moon by David Grann about the Osage Tribe murders and the birth of the FBI in the 1920s

Charles Finch - A beautiful blue death.

kinda Sherlock Holmes-ish. Pretty good so far.