What are you reading now?

RevRico said:

Toyman01 (Moderately Supportive Dude) said:

1634, The Baltic War by Eric Flint and David Weber. Historical fiction/fantasy at its best.

 

Oooh I have some of those in actual book form....somewhere. It's been close to 15 years since I've opened them, but they were seriously good reads

What's the story with those Eric Flint books?  I see them all the time when I'm browsing at the local library (yes, I'm old!) but haven't tried one.  Don't know where to start, and there's a ton of them.

In reply to Benswen :

Start with 1632. That is book one of the series. They read in this order. 

1632

1633 (with David Weber)

1634: The Baltic War (with David Weber)

1635: The Eastern Front

1636: The Saxon Uprising

1636: The Ottoman Onslaught

1637: The Polish Maelstrom

Another good series from him and David Drake is The Belisarius Series. It starts with the Oblique Approach. Also a alternate history series in the days of the Roman Empire. Also outstanding books. Probably my favorite book series ever written. 

Currently reading Stonehenge Complete by R A Chippendale.  It's a history of the history of Stonehenge.  He basically summarizes what the current understanding and interpretation of the site was in each era from the 1500s through the present day. 

I just got a group of 4 old Allistair MacLean books out of dead storage at the library:

Ice Station Zebra

Bear Island

Where Eagles Dare

Night Without End

I've read some of these before but its been 40 years.  Some of those I haven't read but you really can't go wrong with MacLean.

Just finished The Saints of Salvation by Peter F. Hamilton.  IMHO he's one of the top two space opera writers today (can't pick between him and Alastair Reynolds), and this is the 3rd book in the "Salvation" trilogy.  Highly recommended if you like space opera. :)

In reply to codrus (Forum Supporter) :

I'm about 10 pages shy of finishing the Night's Dawn series.  Hamilton is definitely a great read.

I'm not much of a reader, but I stumbled onto a YouTube vid discussing a chapter of this book where Carl pretty much nails our current sociopolitical climate, so I put it on my Xmas list. 
 

Just finished the first book of this: https://www.amazon.com/Death-Cursed-Wizard-Snarky-Sword-Sorcery-ebook/dp/B08BJCZBLK/ref=sr_1_1?dchild=1&keywords=bill+mccurry&qid=1609359883&sr=8-1

The first one is available free through ads from the author, but after it, I ended up purchasing the set. So far, engaging & well worth it. 
...and here's the free link: https://dl.bookfunnel.com/yrih4aqhw0?__s=36chdi0c006543j0ut56

Benswen said:

Considering a deep dive into the Star Wars EU again, just figuring out which ones are worth the time besides the Zahn/Thrawn books.

I just finished the "Aftermath" trilogy by Chuck Wendig, it's set between Return of the Jedi and The Force Awakens.  I would give it a 5 out of 10.  The first book was incredibly cheesy, with a lot of ridiculous, extremely over-the-top solutions to problems so it almost seemed like a parody of Star Wars.  For instance, a spaceship is taking off and a 14 year old absolutely has to sneak on board, so he jumps onto the outside after it has taken off.  The pilot says that one of the gauges is showing increased drag and instead of just heading off to space she instead sends stormtroopers to check it out.  A stormtrooper opens a window and looks out (kind of like the old Batman TV show when Batman and Robin would climb up a building and residents would pop their heads out to say something cheesy) and the 14 year old kid grabs the stormtrooper and pulls him out, then climbs in the window.  More cheesiness: everything, absolutely everything in the book, is referred to as a "durasteel hyper-wrench" or "atomic vibroplast butter knife", there's never just a thing, everything has to be super-futuristic.  There's a chapter where two bounty hunters are fighting, and the older one says to the younger one "give up, I've been fighting since you were still in space diapers".  Instead of telling the story he just made it as cheesy as possible to keep reminding us this is the future (or a really, really long time ago, I guess).  There's a random chapter where Jar Jar Binks shows up - he's not in the same place as any of the other characters in the book, he doesn't interact with any of the other characters, he doesn't do anything that has any remote impact on the book, it's just a random chapter showing what Jar Jar is up to now.  There are a couple of random chapters devoted to Cobb Vanth, the guy in the Mandalorian who had Boba Fett's armor.  He has nothing to do with the overall story, there's just a chapter about him here and there.  He tones down the cheesiness a lot in the second and third book. 

For the good, it does a decent job showing the issues the rebel alliance has going from being the rebels to being a legitimate government and it does have some good stories, but it doesn't really lead into The Force Awakens very well, there's still a lot left unexplained.

I wouldn't recommend it unless you absolutely have to read some Star Wars books.  Have you read any of the Vader graphic novels?  I read one and enjoyed it but I can't remember which one.  I just realized that the library has a lot of them so I'm going to start going through those.

Christopher Farnsworth's Blood Oath

The world is full of dark and terrible things that hide in the shadows.  To combat them, the President has a vampire that he sends out on missions to protect the country and its citizens.

Pretty good

Hillbilly Elegy is on the reading list here.  Movie was ok, book is very good.  Not a feel good read by any means, but I find the history of migration thru the US around economic trends fascinating.

My christmas present from my wife was a copy of Labyrinth of Ice, by Buddy Levy. She's a regular at our local independent bookstore, and they wrap advance copies of books (being advance copies, they can't be sold) and put them out on a table with a small description (but no title or author). This was an amazing read!

It's the story of one of the most significant and difficult scientific expeditions ever undertaken, which gathered data that's still in use today.

From the review on the NPR website:

Labyrinth of Ice is an outstanding true story of heroism, discovery, bravery, and survival. The Greely Expedition faced "attacks by wolves; hurricane-force winds; temperatures approaching 100º below zero; and near insanity brought on by the months of total darkness." However, they persevered. They pushed forward, driven by an unquenchable thirst for fame and, later, by an unstoppable desire to live. Levy masterfully retells their story using letters, journals, other books, and telegrams. With cinematic prose, great economy of language, and vivid descriptions, Levy places readers in the middle of the action and makes them see the snow, feel the hunger and the tension, and hear the cracking of the ice, which the men called "the Devil's symphony."

Duke said:

I just got a group of 4 old Allistair MacLean books out of dead storage at the library:

Ice Station Zebra
Bear Island
Where Eagles Dare
Night Without End

I've read some of these before but its been 40 years.  Some of those I haven't read but you really can't go wrong with MacLean.

So it turns out I had already read Night Without End (which I didn't think I had) and had never read Where Eagles Dare (which I thought I had).  Bear Island was new to me as expected.  Jury is still out on Ice Station Zebra.

Just downloaded The Dream of the Iron Dragon, pretty entertaining so far.

SciFi book, it's about people from the near future getting sent back to Viking era. Sort of like Guns of the South if anyone here has read it

Just finished Brandon Sanderson The Way of Kings. Pretty good

Started re-reading The Expanse series (again).  It's not losing any appeal on the third reading...

Command Authority by Tom Clancy.

In reply to 914Driver :

I loved actual Tom Clancy books but I stopped reading them when they began ghost writing them.

Actually just finished my Mom's new book (shameless plug), but it really is an excellent mystery novel.  

I just finished Sea Hunters by Clive Cussler and Books 4-7 of the Dresden Files. Currently working on rereading Night Probe by Clive Cussler, with Patriot Games and Debt Of Honor by Clancy and Lions Of Lucerne by Brad Thor waiting in the wings. 

In reply to NickD :

Grew up on Clive Cussler novels. Wife is still confused as to why I want to live in an airplane hanger (answer: Where else will I store my Dusenberg?), but I did get my SCUBA certification.

I'm working through Tyrrany of Merit by Sandel. He's making the argument that living in a perfected meritocracy would be bad for everybody, and the shift to meritocratic norms over the past 30 years are the cause of some of the social unrest and populism that we're seeing now.

In reply to chandler :

And I'm in the middle the fourth book in the series, Rhythm of War. Sanderson is rad. 
I should have known not to start another series before the author finishes it though. 

I'm about halfway through. So far, so good. (I've gained an appreciation for Chopin). My only complaint so far is that the author writes in British dialect (every sentence ends with "then" as the Brits love to say). Germans didn't speak that way. But I can get past that. The plot is intriguing. And I've never read a novel that included cross country racing in Argentina in the early fifties. Or other road racing in Buenos Aries in the early fifties, for that matter.

Kevin Hearne's Iron Druid series.  On the third or fourth book right now.  I'm digging it

If you're a fan of Jim Butcher, you should pick it up

Simon R Greene the night side series again. I've been burning through v1.5 books a day, but it turns out I'm missing the final one

Mr_Asa said:

Kevin Hearne's Iron Druid series.  On the third or fourth book right now.  I'm digging it

If you're a fan of Jim Butcher, you should pick it up

Interesting, have to look it up