I agree that Bleak House is his best. Great Expectations, A Tale of Two Cities, and A Christmas Carol are up there too. One of the rare British male writers I've ever enjoyed reading.

I actually didn't enjoy Bleak House as much as y'all. It's a great book for sure, don't get me wrong, but I'll take A Tale of Two Cities, A Christmas Carol, David Copperfield, Nicholas Nickleby, and Oliver Twist over it any day.

I have been thinking about reading The Great Gatsby, so thanks for posting what you did. I know many read it because it is often required reading for school, but I never have.

I also want to get into Charles Dickens. Where should I start with him, though? He seems to have to many works. I will appreciate any recommendations and/or advice.

Awesome! I'd start with A Christmas Carol if I was new to Dickens. It's fairly short and easy to read. Oliver Twist also comes to mind as a fairly easy Dickens read(it was the first Dickens I ever read). A Tale of Two Cities is my personal favorite Dickens, and I think it has some good action and suspense if you are interested in that. So I'd probably start with one of those three. Hope that helps!

That definitely does help! Thanks very much. I think I'll go The Great Gatsby followed by A Christmas Carol. I appreciate it!

Of course! Happy reading!

1. "Furious" by T.R. Ragan 4*
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/26818805-furious

2. "Listen for the Lie" by Amy Tintera 5* (ARC) (Aggie Author)
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/127279000-listen-for-the-lie

1) "To the Edge of the Sky" by Anhua Goa. A memoir that gives good look at life in Communist China from 1930s to 1990s. Made me think about the "Gulag Archipelago" by Alexander Solzhenitsyn that I read about 30 years ago on the USSR, but an easier read. Highly recommend - A

Books Read Since Xmas 2023:

Limitless - Jim Kwik - B - Good, but most of what he says in the book isn't anything new
Endure - Cameron Hanes - B- - Kind of all over the place in terms of how he wrote it…
6:20 Man - David Baldacci - B+
Career of Evil - Robert Galbraith - B
The Silent Patient - Alex Michaelides - A - Good twists throughout
Never Lie - Freida McFadden - B - Decent quick read

Zombie Jon Snow said:

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Just finished Holly by SK. Decent entry in the SK bibliography. Always enjoyed Holly Gibney involved stories of which this is the 6th I think. Yes it is a little preachy in the COVID aspects which King claims it is not (just grounded in real world events of the time period it is set). But it did not distract me much.

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just started this one. Preachy doesn't begin to describe it. SK can't help himself these days.

I'm just hoping the mask **** lightens up or I'm going to have to pull the cord.

Today I read "An Inheritance of Magic" by Benedict Jacka. Now I have another series to wait on books for.

Read brave new world the other day. Knocked it out in one day. Need to do that more often.

Finally finished Fairy Tale by Stephen King. I was truly blown away by the novel; it's quite honestly one of the best books I've ever read. King just knocked it out of the park coming up with this one.

Return to the Black Farm
Episode 13
Mister Magic
The Cipher

The Marksman said:

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Finally finished Fairy Tale by Stephen King. I was truly blown away by the novel; it's quite honestly one of the best books I've ever read. King just knocked it out of the park coming up with this one.

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It is good and different. I felt the first third had great character development, the middle third was good but lagged a little, and he hit a home run with a page-turner conclusion.

G.I.Bro said:

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Today I read "An Inheritance of Magic" by Benedict Jacka. Now I have another series to wait on books for.

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Have you tried The Powder Mage trilogy? Brian McClellan has a continuation trilogy called Gods of Blood and Powder also. Both are complete with some accompanying novellas.

Since Xmas '23

Read all the Murderbot Diaries books. So sad I'm caught up with the author... hope she cranks out more soon! Hoping to get my wife reading these. Loved them so much!

Couldn't sleep the other night and started Werewolf Cycle by Stephen King. Got a third of the way thru it or so and quit. So formulaic and low effort on his part. Worst (and shortest, had I finished) of his I've ever tried.

Started another King book last night and can't remember the name or even the theme, but it has a chance to be good, iirc. Based on recs above, I hope to get to Fairy Tales next.

Finished Descent into Hell by Charles Williams. It's an odd book - Christian paranormal with doppelgngers and a succubus. The people I'm reading it with don't really like the prose - two sentence paragraphs with lots of punctuation that makes it difficult and verbose. I enjoyed it because it's outside the typical Christian fiction of Left Behind and Mennonite romance novels. He was a lesser known inkling and had a background in the occult before Christianity.

Just finished Beneath a Scarlett Sky per some recommendations on TexAgs to check out Mark Sullivan. Enjoyed it, will definitely be reading more from him.

Just finished Cultish: The Language of Fanaticism Amanda Montell.

I really like this as it dives into the linguistics of the language used by cults to manipulate their members. It covers all sorts from Jonestown, Heaven's Gate, NXIVM, Lululemon, Crossfit, MLMs, etc.


Up next is Raw Dog: The Naked Truth About Hot Dogs by Jamie Loftus

Read so far:
Waypoints: My Scottish Journey-Sam Heughan
Clanlands: Whisky, Warfare, and a Scottish Adventure Like No Other-Sam Heughan and Graham McTavish

Read in 2023:

Billy Summers - Stephen King
Gray Man - Mark Greaney
Misery - Stephen King
Kite Runner - Khaled Hossenini
Invisible Life of Addie LaRue - V.E. Schwab
7 and 1/2 Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle - Stuart Turton
The Devil and The Dark Water - Stuart Turton
Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone - JK Rowling
Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets - JK Rowling
Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban - JK Rowling
Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire - JK Rowling
Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix - JK Rowling
Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince - JK Rowling
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows - JK Rowling
Verity - Colleen Hoover

Read in 2024:

The Handmaid's Tale - Margaret Atwood
Fairy Tale - Stephen King (currently reading)

On Deck:

The Shining - Stephen King
A Little Life - Hanya Yanagihara
Supermarket - Bobby Hall
Dune Series
A Song of Fire and Ice - George RR Martin

A few others in my queue that I can't think of. Like somebody else mentioned...goal is to get caught up on what's currently unread on my shelf..

Always up for suggestions!

Currently reading "The Boys in the Boat" and "Masters of the Air (Audible)."

rynning said:

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The Marksman said:

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Finally finished Fairy Tale by Stephen King. I was truly blown away by the novel; it's quite honestly one of the best books I've ever read. King just knocked it out of the park coming up with this one.

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It is good and different. I felt the first third had great character development, the middle third was good but lagged a little, and he hit a home run with a page-turner conclusion.

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Reading this now! I've got about 200 pages left…agree that there are parts where it drags a bit and he gets a little long winded, but glad to hear it ends strong!

Just finished Shogun by James Clavell. I enjoyed it, looking forward to the upcoming tv series.

I do have a question, do the other novels in his Asian saga continue the story from Shogun or are they separate stories altogether?

If I don't continue Clavell's series I'm thinking about reading Winston Churchill's set of books on World War 2. Has anyone read Churchill's books?

brew82 said:

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Just finished Shogun by James Clavell. I enjoyed it, looking forward to the upcoming tv series.

I do have a question, do the other novels in his Asian saga continue the story from Shogun or are they separate stories altogether?

If I don't continue Clavell's series I'm thinking about reading Winston Churchill's set of books on World War 2. Has anyone read Churchill's books?

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Separate stories. While the novels follows future generations of some same families they are all stand alone novels. The only ones may want to read together are Tai-Pan and Gai-Jin since same time period (1800s). While Shogan was my favorite, I really enjoyed Noble House almost as much.

Current: Chain-Gang All-Stars - Prisoners fight gladiator style for a chance at freedom. Wild book that is a critique of the American prison system and race in America. About 1/3 of the way through and enjoying it.

Finished:
1. Beneath a Scarlet Sky - Based on a real Italian spy during WW2. Enjoyable read although parts of it seemed a bit cheesy to me which may not be a fair criticism as it's a true story.
2. Sea of Trainquility - Finally read the third novel in the somewhat trilogy. Enjoyed this one as well.

DG-Ag said:

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Currently reading "The Boys in the Boat" and "Masters of the Air (Audible)."

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Nice read Boys in the Boat last year before a trip to Seattle. Enjoyed it and it made me want to take a rowing class.

Books Read 2024:

- [ ] Endure - Cameron Hanes - B-
- [ ] 6:20 Man - David Baldacci - B+
- [ ] Career of Evil - Robert Galbraith - B
- [ ] The Silent Patient - Alex Michaelides - B+ - Good twists throughout
- [ ] Never Lie - Freida McFadden - B - Decent page turner
- [ ] Into Thin Air - Jon Krakauer - A - Mt. Everest disaster - True Story
- [ ] The Chemist - Stephanie Meyer - B - Good 1st half but weak 2nd
- [ ] The Inheritance Games - Jennifer Barnes - B+
- [ ] The Antisocial Network - Ben Mezrich - B - about the GME short squeeze
- [ ] Long Shadows - David Baldacci - B+ - memory man series
- [ ] Outliers - Malcom Gladwell - A - Solid book that provided a unique picture on what makes a person an "Outlier"
- [ ] Bomber Mafia - Malcom Gladwell - A - Great story about the "Bomber Mafia" during WW2 that i did not know about

210 said:

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DG-Ag said:

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Currently reading "The Boys in the Boat" and "Masters of the Air (Audible)."

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Nice read Boys in the Boat last year before a trip to Seattle. Enjoyed it and it made me want to take a rowing class.

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That's funny. We have a rowing machine in our gym here at work. Finally got on it the other day after I started reading the book!

Currently Reading:

The Three Body Problem - Cixin Liu, translated by Ken Liu (Trying to get ready for the Netflix series.)

Finished:

The Mountain in the Sea - Ray Nayler
The Book of Cocktail Ratios - Michael Ruhlman (Audible)

brew82 said:

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Just finished Shogun by James Clavell. I enjoyed it, looking forward to the upcoming tv series.

I do have a question, do the other novels in his Asian saga continue the story from Shogun or are they separate stories altogether?

If I don't continue Clavell's series I'm thinking about reading Winston Churchill's set of books on World War 2. Has anyone read Churchill's books?

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The Asian saga is awesome. They are all stand alone books. A couple of the books have different generations of same family. That is more an Easter egg than anything.

Just finished Raw Dog: The Naked Truth About Hot Dogs by Jamie Loftus

Jaime Loftus takes a cross country road trip to try some of America's best hot dogs. It's also a bit of personal journey as well. She has a very irreverent style and the book is pretty funny at times all while documenting her experiences along the way. Loftus is very progressive and that shines through in her writing. It might not be everyone's cup of tea.

Up next is: Actually I don't know. I need to find something soon because I leave for Mexico on Thursday. Maybe a pulpy action/adventure novel or something history related


Read so far:
Waypoints: My Scottish Journey-Sam Heughan
Clanlands: Whisky, Warfare, and a Scottish Adventure Like No Other-Sam Heughan and Graham McTavish
Cultish: The Language of Fanaticism by linguist Amanda Montell

Just finished The Green Mile by Stephen King. I didn't love the narration style for most of the book, but it really hit hard at the end. Very powerful and impactful ending to the novel.