Just finished up Saga, read all 3 volumes over the last month. If you enjoy graphic novels, it's great, basically a really crazy version of Romeo and Juliet in space.

Completed A Walk Through Hell too, from Garth Ennis, that one is really ****ing dark and crazy if you want to get into good vs evil, God vs Devil stuff. Was kind of like if you crossed Se7en, True Detective, and The Outsider.

Now I need to pick my next one, thinking Preacher, Sandman, or Y: The Last Man.

For the first time in probably 10 years I'm super apathetic to anything fantasy... just in time for the next storm light. I had preordered three other books that are in my library waiting and I can't bring myself to want to read them.

Read Empire Of The Summer Moon: Quanah Parker and the rise and fall of the Comanches

Great book if you're into TX history. A young Sul Ross makes an appearance.

Starting Dune for the first time.

Carol Baskin said:

---

For the first time in probably 10 years I'm super apathetic to anything fantasy... just in time for the next storm light. I had preordered three other books that are in my library waiting and I can't bring myself to want to read them.

Read Empire Of The Summer Moon: Quanah Parker and the rise and fall of the Comanches

Great book if you're into TX history. A young Sul Ross makes an appearance.

Starting Dune for the first time.

---

Read Empire a couple of years ago and loved it!

Champ Bailey said:

---

I've officially read everything Brandon Sanderson has written for The Cosmere, outside of his graphic novels.

Going back through the Stormlight Archives to pick up hints now.

---

That was me last year.

Decided to take on WoT instead.

Wheel of Time #1 (The Eye of the World)
Wheel of Time #2 (The Great Hunt)
Wheel of Time #3 (The Dragon Reborn)
Wheel of Time #4 (The Shadow Rising)
Wheel of Time #5 (The Fires of Heaven)
Wheel of Time #6 (Lord of Chaos)
Wheel of Time #7 (A Crown of Swords)
Wheel of Time #8 (The Path of Daggers)
Wheel of Time #9 (Winter's Heart)
Wheel of Time #10 (Crossroads of Twilight)
Wheel of Time #11 (Knife of Dreams)
Wheel of Time #12 (The Gathering Storm)
Wheel of Time #13 (Towers of Midnight)
Wheel of Time #14 (A Memory of Light)
Wheel of Time prequel (New Spring)
Ready Player One in-progress


Haven't read as much after my WoT binge, but I finally finished the prequel. It was a nice little story and was interesting to see early Lan, Moiraine, and Siuan. The glimpse of Elyas was also a nice touch. I didn't realize that they discovered proof of the Black Ajah that early either.

I picked up the WoT Companion (encyclopedia) as well and plan to peruse that over time. For now, I'm planning to shift back to sci-fi for awhile. Going to start with a re-read of RPO since the second comes out in November. After that, I have a few stand-alones I plan to read, along with the Interdependency trilogy by Scalzi.

For the last few years, I've picked a particular series to get through in a given year, and I'm considering Dune for next year, especially now that the movie has been pushed to Oct. 2021. Even though I said I wouldn't read it until it was finished, I'll also likely do Kingkiller since my wife keeps bugging me to read them. At some point, I'll need to read more Sanderson as well (may save that for 2022).

Carol Baskin said:

---

Get ready for multidecade blue balls if you start kingkiller

---

Yeah. I love king killer but I would never recommend it based on The loser that wrote it

mpl35 said:

---

Carol Baskin said:

---

Get ready for multidecade blue balls if you start kingkiller

---

Yeah. I love king killer but I would never recommend it based on The loser that wrote it

---

He seems to have no intention of finishing it.

The Dog Lord said:

---

Wheel of Time #1 (The Eye of the World)
Wheel of Time #2 (The Great Hunt)
Wheel of Time #3 (The Dragon Reborn)
Wheel of Time #4 (The Shadow Rising)
Wheel of Time #5 (The Fires of Heaven)
Wheel of Time #6 (Lord of Chaos)
Wheel of Time #7 (A Crown of Swords)
Wheel of Time #8 (The Path of Daggers)
Wheel of Time #9 (Winter's Heart)
Wheel of Time #10 (Crossroads of Twilight)
Wheel of Time #11 (Knife of Dreams)
Wheel of Time #12 (The Gathering Storm)
Wheel of Time #13 (Towers of Midnight)
Wheel of Time #14 (A Memory of Light)
Wheel of Time prequel (New Spring)
Ready Player One in-progress


Haven't read as much after my WoT binge, but I finally finished the prequel. It was a nice little story and was interesting to see early Lan, Moiraine, and Siuan. The glimpse of Elyas was also a nice touch. I didn't realize that they discovered proof of the Black Ajah that early either.

I picked up the WoT Companion (encyclopedia) as well and plan to peruse that over time. For now, I'm planning to shift back to sci-fi for awhile. Going to start with a re-read of RPO since the second comes out in November. After that, I have a few stand-alones I plan to read, along with the Interdependency trilogy by Scalzi.

For the last few years, I've picked a particular series to get through in a given year, and I'm considering Dune for next year, especially now that the movie has been pushed to Oct. 2021. Even though I said I wouldn't read it until it was finished, I'll also likely do Kingkiller since my wife keeps bugging me to read them. At some point, I'll need to read more Sanderson as well (may save that for 2022).

---

Don't forget the new stormlight archive book comes out in November if you've been reading that series.

Carol Baskin said:

---

Get ready for multidecade blue balls if you start kingkiller

---

That's honestly why I was not planning on reading it, but my wife keeps begging me to. I am already a huge ASoIaF fan, so I really didn't want to get into the same situation with a different series.

And he is such an ass. Every video I see him in, he seems to just love to hear himself talk.

Thank God for Sanderson and Butcher being, seemingly, such better guys.

My goal this year was to read 30 books, and I have read 20 so far. I have the list of the books I've read this year followed by my Goodreads star rating:

Amaro by Brad Parsons 5*
Long-Distance Real Estate Investing by David Greene 4*
Pac h i n k o by Min Jin Lee 4* (letter spacing to avoid dirty word filter)
The Master and Margarita by Mikhail Bulgakov 5*
Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of NIMH by Robert C. O'Brien 4*
The Millionaire Real Estate Investor by Gary Keller 5*
The Book on Estimating Rehab Costs by J. Scott 4*
The Book on Tax Strategies for the Savvy Real Estate Investor by Amanda Han 4*
The Overstory by Richard Powers 5*
Tales from a Goth Librarian by Kimberly Richardson 3*
Turkey Creek by W.S. Hendrichovsky 3*
The Floating Opera by John Barth 4*
Death in Venice by Thomas Mann 4*
The Violent Bear It Away by Flannery O'Connor 4*
Emma by Jane Austen 4*
The Color Purple by Alice Walker 4*
The Fellowship of the Ring (LOTR #1) by J.R.R. Tolkien 5*
Jackie Verona: A Murder of Gypsies by Kimerly Richardson 4*
The Two Towers (LOTR #2) by J.R.R. Tolkien 5*
The Postman Always Rings Twice by James M. Cain 4*

I am currently reading Timothy Egan's The Big Burn, and it is fantastic so far. I will follow that up with the third LOTR book.

Creating a list of what I think I've read this year, in no particular order

7 - Harry Potter books (reread)
3 - Way of the Kings series (reread)
1 - The Martian (reread)
1 - Midnight Sun (not a good book)
2 - Mistborn Trilogy (just started book 3) (all rereads)
1 - On the Bondage of the Will (reread)
2 - Theological Commonplace (good will and free choice).

Not many new books this year, though I'm waiting on book 4 for Way of the Kings series and will read that quickly when it gets out.

The Trouble With Peace - The Age of Madness #2 - Joe Abercrombie

I think these books are absolutely awesome. For anyone looking for a new series to begin this is my top recommendation.

On a side note, I think The First Law would make an awesome TV series. The way the story flows, the amount of POV characters, etc all seem ready made for TV. Maybe that's intentional. I hope someone makes that happen.

Max Power said:

---

Just finished up Saga, read all 3 volumes over the last month. If you enjoy graphic novels, it's great, basically a really crazy version of Romeo and Juliet in space.

Completed A Walk Through Hell too, from Garth Ennis, that one is really ****ing dark and crazy if you want to get into good vs evil, God vs Devil stuff. Was kind of like if you crossed Se7en, True Detective, and The Outsider.

Now I need to pick my next one, thinking Preacher, Sandman, or Y: The Last Man.

---

Saga is great but I've lost sight of it over last couple of years. Need to pick that back up and knock it out.

Y: The Last Man is FANTASTIC. Highly recommend. I have the hard back anthologies of that whole series.

Completed
Black Cross - Greg Iles
Sharp Ends (First Law World Book 7) - Joe Abercrombie
Norse Mythology - Neil Gaiman
Babylon's Ashes (The Expanse #6) - James S.A. Story (Audible)
Stormchild - Bernard Cornwell
The Last Wish (The Witcher #0.5) - Andrzej Sapkowski
Strange Dogs (The Expanse #6.5) - James S.A. Story
Adrians Undead Diary Omnibus Volume 1 (Books 1-4) - Chris Philbrook
Adrians Undead Diary Omnibus Volume 2 (Books 5-8) - Chris Philbrook
The Hero of Ages (Mistborn #3) - Brandon Sanderson
Dead Wake: The Last Crossing of the Lusitania - Erik Larson
The Dealer of Hope: Adrian's March Part One (Adrian's Undead Diary #9) - Chris Philbrook
Unhappy Endings (Tales from the World of Adrian's Undead Diary #1)
London Burning (Tales from the World of Adrian's Undead Diary #2)
Only the Light We Make (Tales from the World of Adrian's Undead Diary #3)

Saga (Vol 7-9)
A gonzo, graphic novel sci-fi version of Romeo and Juliet...loosely speaking. Graphic violence and sex with an assortment of characters straight out of a Stefon SNL Weekend Update skit. If you want to spin off into something really weird and entertaining this is a great graphic novel series. Fair warning - it will push your boundaries if you are more conservative in nature. Volumes 1-9 collect 54 issues.

It looks like they went on a 1 year sabbatical in writing this around a year ago and are about to return. I buy these issues as they are released through Comixology app via Amazon but register as read through the collected volumes for efficiency. Max Power's earlier post reminded me to go finish these.

Currently reading And The Mountains Echoed

Completed
Black Cross - Greg Iles
Sharp Ends (First Law World Book 7) - Joe Abercrombie
Norse Mythology - Neil Gaiman
Babylon's Ashes (The Expanse #6) - James S.A. Story (Audible)
Stormchild - Bernard Cornwell
The Last Wish (The Witcher #0.5) - Andrzej Sapkowski
Strange Dogs (The Expanse #6.5) - James S.A. Story
Adrians Undead Diary Omnibus Volume 1 (Books 1-4) - Chris Philbrook
Adrians Undead Diary Omnibus Volume 2 (Books 5-8) - Chris Philbrook
The Hero of Ages (Mistborn #3) - Brandon Sanderson
Dead Wake: The Last Crossing of the Lusitania - Erik Larson
The Dealer of Hope: Adrian's March Part One (Adrian's Undead Diary #9) - Chris Philbrook
Unhappy Endings (Tales from the World of Adrian's Undead Diary #1) - Chris Philbrook
London Burning (Tales from the World of Adrian's Undead Diary #2) - Chris Philbrook
Only the Light We Make (Tales from the World of Adrian's Undead Diary #3) - Chris Philbrook
Saga (Vol 7-9) - Brian K Vaughn

Salvation Lost (Salvation Sequence #2) - Peter F Hamilton
If you are a Peter F Hamilton fan this is good, but it's my least favorite of his books. I've read all of his stuff except for his debut series (Greg Mandel) and this one has been a slight struggle for me. This book in particular compared to the first book in the series was so overly descriptive with the hard science technical stuff that it took away from the story. It was almost as if he was trying to impress the reader with his knowledge (real or otherwise) of how stuff works in space. Just tell the story dude. Hoping the third book focuses a bit more on the narrative.

Update:
1st quarter:
1) Anne Rice's "Blood Communion" (B-)
2) - 6) Read Percy Jackson and the Olympians series at my granddaughters strong suggestion. Of course told her it was an A just below Harry Potter. In reality (B-)
7) Joseph Kanon's "The Prodigal Spy". (B+)
8) Greg Iles's "The Footprints of God" (A-)

2nd quarter:
9) Leon Uris's "The Haj" (B+)
10) Bernard Samson's "Winter: A Berlin Family, (1899-1945)" (A)
11) Mathew Mather's "Darknet" (A-)
12) Abbert Sanchez Pinol's "Victus: Barcelona 1714" (B-)
13) Kat Ross' "A Bad Breed" (C-)
14) Peter Duchin's "Ghost of a Chance: A Memoir" (B-)
15) Joe R Lansdale's "The Ape Man's Brother" (B+)

3rd quarter:
16) Ken Follet's "The Third Twin" Not bad, but pretty forgettable (B-)
17) Robert R Cammon's "Stinger". Typical alien horror book (B)
18) Preson/Douglas's "Crooked River", a sucker for the Pendergast detective novels (A-)
19) thru 25) Layton Green's Dominic Grey series "The Summoner", "The Egyptian", "The Diabolist", "The Shadow Cartel", "The Reaper's Game", and "The Resurrector". Think a bad-ass dude with martial arts skills dropped into Scooby Doo stories. Ok, maybe not quite. Fun series though (B+)
26) Neil Gaiman's "The Ocean at the End of the Lane". Ok, but not the impact of some of his others. (B)
27) Oahn Ngo Usadi's "Of Monkey Bridges and Bahn Mi Sandwiches: From Saigon to Texas" Memoir of young girl's life in Vietnam, post fall of Saigon, then escape to Port Arthur Texas and life there. (A)

Wheel of Time #1 (The Eye of the World)
Wheel of Time #2 (The Great Hunt)
Wheel of Time #3 (The Dragon Reborn)
Wheel of Time #4 (The Shadow Rising)
Wheel of Time #5 (The Fires of Heaven)
Wheel of Time #6 (Lord of Chaos)
Wheel of Time #7 (A Crown of Swords)
Wheel of Time #8 (The Path of Daggers)
Wheel of Time #9 (Winter's Heart)
Wheel of Time #10 (Crossroads of Twilight)
Wheel of Time #11 (Knife of Dreams)
Wheel of Time #12 (The Gathering Storm)
Wheel of Time #13 (Towers of Midnight)
Wheel of Time #14 (A Memory of Light)
Wheel of Time prequel (New Spring)
Ready Player One
Rendezvous with Rama in-progress


Had a long gap between starting RPO and continuing on with the remaining 90%. Work has been busy, and the first chapter or two were way worse than I remember. It was mostly an angsty rant followed by a list of pop culture references. Once the actual story got going, it improved dramatically. I know some people dislike the "nostalgia porn" throughout, but the later references at least have more of a purpose. I still like the book way more than the movie as well.

Overall, it's still a fun and entertaining read. I'm very curious to see where he takes the story in the second one. Probably going to limit myself to Rendezvous with Rama over the next 2 weeks since it's short and Ready Player Two arrives on the 24th.

Humorous Username said:

---

Humorous Username said:

---

Humorous Username said:

---

Finished the first book yesterday, and let them watch the first movie last night.

They think the owls and Neville/Trevor are funny. While I do try to emulate the actors' voices as best I can, they said I'm only really good at mimicking Hagrid and Filch.

We're starting Chamber of Secrets tonight.

---

Finished the second book a few days ago. They always get worried when Filch or Snape come around, and they literally jumped out of their seats when Harry and Ron were awarded hundreds of points.

Took a break so they didn't get burned out on HP. Tonight we're starting the best book of the entire series.

---

Finished Prisoner of Azkaban tonight.

After I read to them that Sirius AND Buckbeak were going to escape, my daughter asked me to stop reading, and then told my son they needed to high five since that was "awesome news".

She said this is her favorite book, so far. My son said he likes Sorcerer's Stone the most.

---

Finished Goblet of Fire tonight.

My son was Harry Potter for Halloween, and keeps yelling "Expelliarmus" when he wants me to leave him alone.

They both liked it, but I could tell that some of the chapters were too long for one sitting for the two of them.

There were several things I forgot happened in that book (Sirius in the cave near Hogsmeade, Rita Skeeter being an animagus, Minerva yelling at Fudge).

It's been years since I read them. Glad I get to do that with my kids now.

Giving us all a wizarding break, and starting Order of The Phoenix on Sunday.

Interesting on RPO. Felt the same and abandoned it after a few chapters long ago. It's collecting dust on my shelf.

I have since seen the movie so not sure I even want to go back and read it.

Listening to Dune on Audible. First time "reading" it, and I think i made a mistake getting the audiobook and not just physically reading it. There is just so much information it's hard to keep track of. Still liking the story, but I think I would be enjoying it more if I'd gotten a physical copy of the book.

Yea this is definitely a story that needs the text.

Champ Bailey said:

---

Listening to Dune on Audible. First time "reading" it, and I think i made a mistake getting the audiobook and not just physically reading it. There is just so much information it's hard to keep track of. Still liking the story, but I think I would be enjoying it more if I'd gotten a physical copy of the book.

---

Yes, I quickly discovered that larger, more complex books in the sci-fi and fantasy genres just aren't conducive to audio format. Actually, just killed my Audible membership because most of what I read is better consumed through the eyes.

Wheel of Time #1 (The Eye of the World)
Wheel of Time #2 (The Great Hunt)
Wheel of Time #3 (The Dragon Reborn)
Wheel of Time #4 (The Shadow Rising)
Wheel of Time #5 (The Fires of Heaven)
Wheel of Time #6 (Lord of Chaos)
Wheel of Time #7 (A Crown of Swords)
Wheel of Time #8 (The Path of Daggers)
Wheel of Time #9 (Winter's Heart)
Wheel of Time #10 (Crossroads of Twilight)
Wheel of Time #11 (Knife of Dreams)
Wheel of Time #12 (The Gathering Storm)
Wheel of Time #13 (Towers of Midnight)
Wheel of Time #14 (A Memory of Light)
Wheel of Time prequel (New Spring)
Ready Player One
Rendezvous with Rama
Ready Player Two in-progress


Rendezvous with Rama was interesting. Didn't realize it was actually part of a series though, so now I'll have to pick up the others to get some closure on the story. Started Ready Player Two since it was released today. Will likely finish by this weekend.

The deeper you go into the Rendezvous with Rama world the weirder it gets. Ending was... Not terribly satisfying.

DubFalls said:

---

The deeper you go into the Rendezvous with Rama world the weirder it gets. Ending was... Not terribly satisfying.

---

Hit me with some recommendations.
I've read the first three stormlight books. I love the story but they're just so long.
I've read the first two red rising books and enjoyed them.
I've read two of the mistborn books. They're good.
I've liked the Bourne series.
Jack Reacher.
I also like history- empire of the summer moon was good.
A good biography might be nice too.

Whatcha got?

You could read more of the series of storm light, mistborn, red rising....

Yeah sure. But I wanted other options. Stormlight books are really long. Red rising seems to be about right. What other options are out there?

https://texags.com/forums/13/topics/2328229

I'd read that thread for fantasy and science fiction.

Jim Butcher's Codex Alera series is a quicker fun read. I love Steven Erikson but that would be long and complicated considering your storm light complaint.

Other random one offs:
Fire season - the story of a summer fire ranger in NM non fiction.

Friday Night Lights - probably don't need to explain

I Hike - fun series of shorter stories from thru hikers.

Journey's North: The Pacific Crest Trail - most recent book I read. Really good look at several hikers that overlapped on the PCT. non fiction

Wild Turkeys Can Fly - fictional story set mainly in central texas about the coming of age boy..covers 20 years.

Last of the Breed - (lois layout) Native American pilot shot down of Russia. Must try to escape on foot through hostile territory.

Those are some of the ones I've liked across some genres.

discobrob said:

---

Yeah sure. But I wanted other options. Stormlight books are really long. Red rising seems to be about right. What other options are out there?

---

The Jim Butcher stuff is fun and quick and you really don't have to jump right into the next book since they are mostly self-contained stories each time (this is at least the case through the first 3-4 books which is as far as I've gotten).