2021 Books Read

41,983 Views | 382 Replies | Last: 2 yr ago by 13B
C1NRB
How long do you want to ignore this user?
AG
Life Moves Pretty Fast: The Lessons We Learned From '80s Movies
(And why we don't learn them from movies anymore)-Hadley Freeman
Eleven chapters, each focusing on a different movie and the sociological themes it addresses. A good nostalgia trip that brings up some interesting points you might have missed originally.
mrsbeer05
How long do you want to ignore this user?
AG
Finished Project Hail Mary by Andy Weir and definitely enjoyed it. Thanks for the recommendation y'all A+

I felt like this book went back to Weir's original fun,light take on fairly dramatic science problems. I didn't feel like Artemis was quite as funny and this made me laugh out loud several times.

I'm already missing Rocky.

BigJim49 AustinNowDallas
How long do you want to ignore this user?
AG
AZAG08 said:

AgGrad99 said:

Im currently reading The Terminal List

Couple questions:
Has anyone read the rest of the series? Are they as good as the first book (I'm really enjoying it).
Anyone know when the TV series comes out on Amazon? I dont want to miss this one.

Ive read them all and I think they are all as good and continue to build on each other


Just finished Savage Son - ok but the Epilogue leads the reader breathtakingly towards a finish - then

leaves the reader hanging ----until the next book Like a tv series. Isn't this too cheap for a writer?
13B
How long do you want to ignore this user?
FYI, the guy that reads (narrates) Dusty's Diary is the same guy the did Project Hail Mary (Ray Porter?).
Boomhauer89
How long do you want to ignore this user?
AG
Ray Porter also does the Terminal List series, it was odd hearing him go from Navy Seal badass to Astronaut Scientist.
13B
How long do you want to ignore this user?
I like that he has a sarcastic kind of tone to his readings.
Definitely Not A Cop
How long do you want to ignore this user?
AG
BigJim49 AustinNowDallas said:

AZAG08 said:

AgGrad99 said:

Im currently reading The Terminal List

Couple questions:
Has anyone read the rest of the series? Are they as good as the first book (I'm really enjoying it).
Anyone know when the TV series comes out on Amazon? I dont want to miss this one.

Ive read them all and I think they are all as good and continue to build on each other


Just finished Savage Son - ok but the Epilogue leads the reader breathtakingly towards a finish - then

leaves the reader hanging ----until the next book Like a tv series. Isn't this too cheap for a writer?


I mean, GRRM ended his last book with Jon Snow stabbed repeatedly, and still hasn't followed up on it 10 years later. I think it's up to the authors prerogative.
Diggity
How long do you want to ignore this user?
AG
Sign me up


NColoradoAG
How long do you want to ignore this user?
mrsbeer05 said:

Finished Project Hail Mary by Andy Weir and definitely enjoyed it. Thanks for the recommendation y'all A+

I felt like this book went back to Weir's original fun,light take on fairly dramatic science problems. I didn't feel like Artemis was quite as funny and this made me laugh out loud several times.

I'm already missing Rocky.



Just finished it as well. Really enjoyed the book.
dc509
How long do you want to ignore this user?
AG
Just finished Deadhouse Gates (Malazan Book of the Fallen #2) by Steven Erickson.

I like these, but I'm still not sure what I'm reading. I'm starting book 3, and I'm planning to keep going, but does the story become coherent at some point? The first two are good, but they read like stand alone novels.
mrsbeer05
How long do you want to ignore this user?
AG
The Lost Apothecary by Sarah Penner - C+

The story alternates between a modern day London tourist and an 18th century apothecary. It took 25 chapters for it to get good and that's just too long in my opinion. It was also a little to "chick lit" for my taste.
dc509
How long do you want to ignore this user?
AG
mrsbeer05 said:

The Lost Apothecary by Sarah Penner - C+

The story alternates between a modern day London tourist and an 18th century apothecary. It took 25 chapters for it to get good and that's just too long in my opinion. It was also a little to "chick lit" for my taste.
That's too bad because there's a world where that is a very interesting premise.
mrsbeer05
How long do you want to ignore this user?
AG
I agree. This is the author's first novel and it very much read like it.
Potcake
How long do you want to ignore this user?
AG
About to finish On the Plain of Snakes: A Mexican Journey.
American Dirt is next.
13B
How long do you want to ignore this user?
For those that listened to the audio version of Project Hail Mary, When Stratt talks do you picture Edna from "The Incredibles" or is it just me?
Boomhauer89
How long do you want to ignore this user?
AG
Haha I didn't until you mentioned it, and now that is all I can picture!
alexinior
How long do you want to ignore this user?
The Copenhagen Trilogy, by Tove Ditlevsen
Klara and the Sun, by Kazuo Ishiguro
StringerBell
How long do you want to ignore this user?
AG
Finished project Hail Mary and it was fantastic. Great recommendation

Also finished the Underground Railroad by whitehead and was underwhelmed

Starting "and the band played on" as well as "what can a body do: how we meet the built world"
StringerBell
How long do you want to ignore this user?
AG
Wrong emoji
rynning
How long do you want to ignore this user?
AG
Just finished Stephen King's "Later" published in March. If he had written it 20 years ago, it would have been a great sequel to The Sixth Sense since it's literally about a boy who sees dead people. Spoiler alert: none of the main characters is already dead. Other than that, it was a pretty fun ride and short enough to keep my attention. Weird ending though...
Definitely Not A Cop
How long do you want to ignore this user?
AG
dc509 said:

Champ Bailey said:

Through book 8 of Wheel of Time. I heard the series drags in the middle, and I tend to agree. When does it start picking back up? Once Sanderson took over? Starting Book 9 now.


The middle books are a little bit slow, but once you get past them they make sense in regard to the whole picture. It's a series worth finishing.


Just started Book 12, and it's apparent already how much better this one will be vs the last 4 or 5. Plot development, conflict resolution, character development etc. Seems to me like Jordan had some of the same issues GRRM had, where he got his characters spread out so much across the world that it became tedious to satisfactorily resolve all their storylines until he started wrapping things up.
dc509
How long do you want to ignore this user?
AG
That's probably an accurate assertion. Jordan (and Sanderson) resolve all of the storylines beautifully.
K Bo
How long do you want to ignore this user?
AG
I'm not typically a big reader of fiction, but picked up Project Hail Mary based on this thread and can't put it down!

Also, I've been listening to The Terminal List while running and the story line and intensity thus far have been captivating and have provided for a welcome distraction from the Houston heat.
mrsbeer05
How long do you want to ignore this user?
AG
Where'd you go, Bernadette by Maria Semple B-

A misanthropic matriarch leaves her eccentric family in crisis when she mysteriously disappears.

The story telling is unique- narrative, emails, interviews. However, I felt like the format caused holes in character development.
NoahAg
How long do you want to ignore this user?
With audio books I've gotten through a lot more books than usual the first half of the year:

Killing the Rising Son - Bill O' Reilly
Killing the SS - O' Reilly
Shoe Dog - Phil Knight
1984 - Orwell
Atlas Shrugged - Ayn Rand
Live Not by Lies - Rod Dreher
Killing Crazy Horse - O' Reilly
Hillbilly Elegy - JD Vance
Dad is Fat - Jim Gaffigan
Hiding Place - Corrie ten Boom
American Dirt - Jeanine Cummins
Seeking Allah, Finding Jesus - Nabeel Qureshi

A couple hours left of Brave New World.
Reading chronologically through the Bible. Should finish around Sept/Oct.
SquirrellyDan
How long do you want to ignore this user?
AG
I finished Project Hail Mary based on recs here.fantastic read. Looking forward to the movie although I'm not sure how they'll capture many details from the book.

Just picked up Artemis as well.if it's anywhere near as good as Weirs other two books I'll be happy.

Also just started True Believer by Jack Carr.pretty good page turner so far.
StringerBell
How long do you want to ignore this user?
AG
Oh shoot they're making a movie?!
SquirrellyDan
How long do you want to ignore this user?
AG
StringerBell said:

Oh shoot they're making a movie?!


Indeed

https://www.google.com/amp/s/variety.com/2020/film/news/ryan-gosling-astronaut-movie-hail-mary-1203547436/amp/
StringerBell
How long do you want to ignore this user?
AG
Very curious how they portray rocky
Clavell
How long do you want to ignore this user?
AG
1st Quarter:
1) John Berendt's "Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil" (A-)
2) - 6) Layton Green's The Blackwood Saga "The Brothers Three", "The Spirit Mage", The Last Cleric", "Return of the Paladin", " A War of Wizards" (B)
7) Garth Nix's "The Left-Handed Booksellers of London" (B-)
8) Bernard Cornwell's "Sharpe's Tiger" (B)
9) James Jones "From Here to Eternity" (A)
10) Bernard Cornwell's "Sharpe's Triumph". (B)

2nd Quarter:
11) & 12) Ransom Riggs' Miss Peregrine's Peculiar Children series -#5&6 -"The Conference of the Birds" & "The Desolations of Devil's Acre". Ok, but probably should have stopped after first trilogy. (B-)
13) - 20) Bernard Cornwall's Sharp Series #3 to #10 "Sharp's Fortress", Sharp's Trafalgar". "Sharp's Prey", Sharp's Rifles", "Sharp's Havoc", "Sharp's Eagle", "Sharpe's Gold", "Sharpe's Escape" - Ok, quick reads. They do get a little repetitive in almost always a officer trying to kill him and a girl that he some how comes across in the middle of a war and falls in love with. (B)
21) James Jones "The Thin Red Line" - Book 2 in WWII trilogy. Basically war is hell. (A-)
22) James Jones "Whistle" - Book 3 in WWII trilogy. Survival after the War was most difficult read (B)
23) Joe R. Lansdale's "Edge of Dark Water" East Texas Huckleberry Finn. (A-)
24) & 25) Dyrk Ashton's The Paternus Trilogy books 1&2 "Rise of Gods", "Wrath of Gods". Uneven read with so many characters of mostly every god, demigod, mythical creature ever dreamed up thrown together. What the hell, currently reading the 3rd book anyway "War of Gods".
Topher17
How long do you want to ignore this user?
AG
Finished recently:
The Nightengale by Kristin Hannah - really enjoyed it.

Beartown by Fredrik Backman - enjoyed this one way more than I expected to. Excited to read the sequel.

American Dirt by Jeanine Cummins - saw this one on lots of lists in the last year, but was really disappointed. It just missed the mark for me and felt like it was trying too hard to make the point the author was trying to make.

Lean on Pete by Willy Vlautin - another Vlautin book for me and as always I love his writing. Beautiful and heartbreaking.
mrsbeer05
How long do you want to ignore this user?
AG
Us Against Them is better and I loved Beartown.
Ol_Ag_02
How long do you want to ignore this user?
AG
SquirrellyDan said:

I finished Project Hail Mary based on recs here.fantastic read. Looking forward to the movie although I'm not sure how they'll capture many details from the book.

Just picked up Artemis as well.if it's anywhere near as good as Weirs other two books I'll be happy.

Also just started True Believer by Jack Carr.pretty good page turner so far.


Artemis is okay. Two outta three for Wier ain't bad.
mrsbeer05
How long do you want to ignore this user?
AG
Second that Artemis is not as good as they others. The story line is different and it's less science problem solving as the others.
StringerBell
How long do you want to ignore this user?
AG
I started Artemis a while ago and couldn't get into it
 
×
subscribe Verify your student status
See Subscription Benefits
Trial only available to users who have never subscribed or participated in a previous trial.