What are you reading now?

Making another attempt at DFW's "Infinite Jest". I like the story, and I like his writing style, but it's...a lot. 

"First You Write a Sentence" by Joe Moran. It's making me think more about how I communicate - I'm very intolerant of poor writing from others, especially in professional settings, but my own "style" is more stream of consciousness than anything else.

"Mine! How the Hidden Rules of Ownership Control Our Lives" by James Salzman and Michael Heller. It's a really interesting exploration of the concept of ownership and how that leads to conflict. 

I guess I need something light in here, that's probably why I've been reading less than usual.

Just finished the Cussler book The Saboteurs (latest Bell book), typical Cussler, fast, fun read.  Now I'm up to date, have read all his (and the franchise's) fiction.  Trivia note:  Clive is buried here in Ridgway, Colorado in our town's tiny Dallas Park cemetery next to his first wife.  I bet no more than 10 % of our residents know this.  Anyhow, like Margie, just started Andy Weir's Hail Mary, 50 pages in and it's great.  I love his books.

Went to the mall for the first time in a year.  My Books-A-Million was still open, so I showed them a little love.  Found the clearance section.

Currently reading The Faceless Old Woman Who Secretly Lives In Your Home - Joseph Fink & Jeffrey Cranor, one of the Welcome to Night Vale novels.  Its kinda creepy and interesting.

Next: Highfire - Eoin Colfer

Then: The Girl Who Could Move Sh*t With Her Mind - Jackson Ford

In between I'm reading some David Vizard while I'm concentrating in the throne room

In reply to BenB :

I am been curious about that murder bot series. Did you like it?

I really liked The Last Watch and Exiled Fleet. Both in the same series of space sci-fi. I was a fan of Clancy novels and am about to read Dune. I read it once before and was kind of me about it. I read an article where someone in the comments suggested to read it with the satire of starship troopers in mind. So I am about to dive in. 

Advan046 said:

In reply to BenB :

I am been curious about that murder bot series. Did you like it?

I really liked The Last Watch and Exiled Fleet. Both in the same series of space sci-fi. I was a fan of Clancy novels and am about to read Dune. I read it once before and was kind of me about it. I read an article where someone in the comments suggested to read it with the satire of starship troopers in mind. So I am about to dive in. 

Murderbot is awesome.  The only downside is that the cost is kind of high for the novellas if you aren't getting them through a library .

Dune the novel is a pretty good read.  As far as Dune the series of novels, per my recollection, the third one is pretty rough sledding, but at least the original run gets better after that.  

Advan046 said:

with the satire of starship troopers in mind. 

They must've been talking about the movie.

Check our abebooks.com for a great source of used (and new) books.  They are a connection to more than 2000 bookstores worldwide.  I've bought probably 50 books from them in the last three years in excellent condition for really good prices - like around 1/3 of the cost of e-books.  No affiliation with me, just a great source of books, including hard to find books.

In reply to Mr_Asa :

I only read maybe half the book before (a long time before) seeing the movie. The movie is more obvious about it but also very different I think the book also can be read that same satirical (not the right word but I can't think of a better one) way. The humans are almost portrayed in the book as a mirror to the insect species they fight. The "queen" humans send the male army "ant" humans in exoskeletons to battle the other army ants. Simply a difference in language/perspective separates them but, as we are humans reading the book, do we automatically assume humans would have the better social/moral construct of society?

So I'm 300 pages in to Andy Wier's new book Hail Mary (of 476), and I have to give it a big plug.  I'm 75 and was raised on Heinlein, Asimov and Clarke, and I think this may be the best hard-SF book I've ever read, and that includes Niven and Pournelle.  This book is just outstanding.  Highly recommended.

In reply to Jim Pettengill :

<jazz hands>

Karacticus said:

Advan046 said:

In reply to BenB :

I am been curious about that murder bot series. Did you like it?

I really liked The Last Watch and Exiled Fleet. Both in the same series of space sci-fi. I was a fan of Clancy novels and am about to read Dune. I read it once before and was kind of me about it. I read an article where someone in the comments suggested to read it with the satire of starship troopers in mind. So I am about to dive in. 

Murderbot is awesome.  The only downside is that the cost is kind of high for the novellas if you aren't getting them through a library .

Dune the novel is a pretty good read.  As far as Dune the series of novels, per my recollection, the third one is pretty rough sledding, but at least the original run gets better after that.  

 

I enjoyed the Murderbot books, even though they were a tad expensive for the length of the books. It would make a great Netflix series. If you want a good book series with epic space battles, The Lost Fleet books, by Jack Campbell, are pretty good. The Cassandra Kresnov series, starting with Crossover, is another one about a killer android. I think they tend to get dragged down a bit by political and philosophical discussions, but they're still worth a read. I'll check out the Exiled Fleet books. I read a couple of his Honor Harrington books and they were pretty good.

I read Dune years ago, but never was able to warm up to it.

Jim Pettengill said:

So I'm 300 pages in to Andy Wier's new book Hail Mary (of 476), and I have to give it a big plug.  I'm 75 and was raised on Heinlein, Asimov and Clarke, and I think this may be the best hard-SF book I've ever read, and that includes Niven and Pournelle.  This book is just outstanding.  Highly recommended.

I was curious about whether you’d like it as much as I did. Glad to see you did! Yeah, highly recommend.

Margie

I'm reading the sequel to "The Andromeda Strain".  It's "The Andromeda Evolution".  Don't know how much was contributed by Michael Crichton before he passed but it's better than I expected.  I'm enjoying it.

I'm reading "Stardust" by Neil Gaiman as a pallet cleanser between two books of another series.  I'm two chapters in and absolutely LOVE IT.  It is so well written, I just get lost in my imagination... 




Would strongly recommend.

In reply to Hungary Bill (Forum Supporter) :

Good movie and graphic novel adaptations of that, too.

Hungary Bill (Forum Supporter) said:

I'm reading "Stardust" by Neil Gaiman as a pallet cleanser between two books of another series.  I'm two chapters in and absolutely LOVE IT.  It is so well written, I just get lost in my imagination... 




Would strongly recommend.

Love love love Neil Gaiman. Try "The Ocean at the End of the Lane" next. His writing is so fluid and descriptive, it makes for a good reset to clear your brain of bad prose.

I've been doing lots of reading, but can't recall any real highlights... which reminds me: Anyone else here use Goodreads? I don't keep it totally up to date, but do try to log the good ones.

Margie

In reply to Marjorie Suddard :

Just added it to my list, thanks!

Duke said:

In reply to Hungary Bill (Forum Supporter) :

Good movie and graphic novel adaptations of that, too.

 

I have the movie in my cue on Netflix.  Now that I'm on a work trip to Germany, I thought I'd watch it...

It's gone 

Duke said:

In reply to Hungary Bill (Forum Supporter) :

Good movie and graphic novel adaptations of that, too.

 

I have the movie in my queue on Netflix.  Now that I'm on a work trip to Germany, I thought I'd watch it...

It's gone 

In reply to Hungary Bill (Forum Supporter) :

Honestly, read anything he's written.

I have to ask, have you read Good Omens?

Halfway through book one of Game of Thrones. Unlikely I'll finish the series this year. 

So far this year, I've read all of Harry Potter, Dark Tower series by Stephen King, and I believe another 5 books. Very close to my 20 book goal for the year. 

True story of a double agent in ww2. 
 

bat.  E36 M3.  Crazy. And all true. 
 

https://www.thriftbooks.com/w/agent-zigzag-the-true-wartime-story-of-eddie-chapman-lover-betrayer-hero-spy_ben-macintyre/250199/item/2620203/?gclid=Cj0KCQjw-4SLBhCVARIsACrhWLV8v_NUm-9OEl2oEDdx4LNvL_GhYf4nKkcFC1c1jgbIkkOzyVFMbkYaAqU0EALw_wcB#idiq=2620203&edition=4643285

I read a really interesting reference to Lord Byron so right now I'm reading Childe Harold's Pilgrimage. It is not exactly easy for me to read long form poetry / verse, so we'll see. I'm about 10% in and having a little trouble following it.

I've added Stardust to my Overdrive queue, thanks for the recommendation!

With three more books left after the one I'm on, most series would just be getting going. But with the Discworld books, it feels alarmingly close to running out after finishing the other 37...

I'm onto the third book of the primordial earth series. It's interesting. I still haven't decided if I like it, and I'm annoyed with the love affair/romance side story because I want time traveling dinosaurs in a book series about such things, but it's a good different I guess. 

I've been using good reads since I got the kindle. It's missing a lot because it turns out most of the stuff I want to read isn't on prime reading or kindle unlimited, which is annoying.