bangobango said:

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bluefire579 said:

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Finished The Poppy War the other night. That book definitely puts the grim in grimdark fantasy. Well written, though there were jumps that I wish were a bit more fleshed out. Like I said earlier in this thread, definitely going to need a palate cleanser before the next one in the series.

Up next is The Splendid and the Vile by Erik Larson

Currently Reading:
The Last Kingdom by Bernard Cornwell
The Splendid and the VIle by Erik Larson

Finished:
The Library by Casey White (3/5)
Black Hawk Down by Mark Bowden (4/5)
City of Brass by S.A. Chakraborty (3.5/5)
The King of Elfland's Daughter by Lord Dunsany (3/5)
The Eyre Affair by Jasper Fforde (4.5/5)
Snow Crash by Neal Stephenson (3.5/5)
Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad (4/5)
Hunter's Run by GRRM, et al (4/5)
The Poppy War by R.F. Kuang (4.5/5)

---

How is Last Kingdom?

---

I'm enjoying it. It's written like a man writing out his own biography, so it kind of has this flow of more detailed events happening between summarizations of the time between, but Cornwell manages to write it in a very engaging way, weaving it into a very fascinating and tumultuous time in British history. It's also interesting having fairly recently played Assassin's Creed Valhalla, which has a lot of overlap in both time period and characters, and seeing both the parallels and deviations between the two.

bluefire579 said:

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bangobango said:

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bluefire579 said:

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Finished The Poppy War the other night. That book definitely puts the grim in grimdark fantasy. Well written, though there were jumps that I wish were a bit more fleshed out. Like I said earlier in this thread, definitely going to need a palate cleanser before the next one in the series.

Up next is The Splendid and the Vile by Erik Larson

Currently Reading:
The Last Kingdom by Bernard Cornwell
The Splendid and the VIle by Erik Larson

Finished:
The Library by Casey White (3/5)
Black Hawk Down by Mark Bowden (4/5)
City of Brass by S.A. Chakraborty (3.5/5)
The King of Elfland's Daughter by Lord Dunsany (3/5)
The Eyre Affair by Jasper Fforde (4.5/5)
Snow Crash by Neal Stephenson (3.5/5)
Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad (4/5)
Hunter's Run by GRRM, et al (4/5)
The Poppy War by R.F. Kuang (4.5/5)

---

How is Last Kingdom?

---

I'm enjoying it. It's written like a man writing out his own biography, so it kind of has this flow of more detailed events happening between summarizations of the time between, but Cornwell manages to write it in a very engaging way, weaving it into a very fascinating and tumultuous time in British history. It's also interesting having fairly recently played Assassin's Creed Valhalla, which has a lot of overlap in both time period and characters, and seeing both the parallels and deviations between the two.

---

Have you watched the TV series? How does it compare to that?

bangobango said:

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bluefire579 said:

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bangobango said:

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bluefire579 said:

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Finished The Poppy War the other night. That book definitely puts the grim in grimdark fantasy. Well written, though there were jumps that I wish were a bit more fleshed out. Like I said earlier in this thread, definitely going to need a palate cleanser before the next one in the series.

Up next is The Splendid and the Vile by Erik Larson

Currently Reading:
The Last Kingdom by Bernard Cornwell
The Splendid and the VIle by Erik Larson

Finished:
The Library by Casey White (3/5)
Black Hawk Down by Mark Bowden (4/5)
City of Brass by S.A. Chakraborty (3.5/5)
The King of Elfland's Daughter by Lord Dunsany (3/5)
The Eyre Affair by Jasper Fforde (4.5/5)
Snow Crash by Neal Stephenson (3.5/5)
Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad (4/5)
Hunter's Run by GRRM, et al (4/5)
The Poppy War by R.F. Kuang (4.5/5)

---

How is Last Kingdom?

---

I'm enjoying it. It's written like a man writing out his own biography, so it kind of has this flow of more detailed events happening between summarizations of the time between, but Cornwell manages to write it in a very engaging way, weaving it into a very fascinating and tumultuous time in British history. It's also interesting having fairly recently played Assassin's Creed Valhalla, which has a lot of overlap in both time period and characters, and seeing both the parallels and deviations between the two.

---

Have you watched the TV series? How does it compare to that?

---

I found them pretty similar in quality. Nothing that blows your socks off, but extremely entertaining. I think Uthred is funnier in the books.

bangobango said:

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bluefire579 said:

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bangobango said:

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bluefire579 said:

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Finished The Poppy War the other night. That book definitely puts the grim in grimdark fantasy. Well written, though there were jumps that I wish were a bit more fleshed out. Like I said earlier in this thread, definitely going to need a palate cleanser before the next one in the series.

Up next is The Splendid and the Vile by Erik Larson

Currently Reading:
The Last Kingdom by Bernard Cornwell
The Splendid and the VIle by Erik Larson

Finished:
The Library by Casey White (3/5)
Black Hawk Down by Mark Bowden (4/5)
City of Brass by S.A. Chakraborty (3.5/5)
The King of Elfland's Daughter by Lord Dunsany (3/5)
The Eyre Affair by Jasper Fforde (4.5/5)
Snow Crash by Neal Stephenson (3.5/5)
Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad (4/5)
Hunter's Run by GRRM, et al (4/5)
The Poppy War by R.F. Kuang (4.5/5)

---

How is Last Kingdom?

---

I'm enjoying it. It's written like a man writing out his own biography, so it kind of has this flow of more detailed events happening between summarizations of the time between, but Cornwell manages to write it in a very engaging way, weaving it into a very fascinating and tumultuous time in British history. It's also interesting having fairly recently played Assassin's Creed Valhalla, which has a lot of overlap in both time period and characters, and seeing both the parallels and deviations between the two.

---

Have you watched the TV series? How does it compare to that?

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I haven't watched the show yet, myself, so defer to the person above me. Wanted to see how I liked the book before diving in there.

I'm hitting a struggle. Lots of miss-starts this month.

Chuck Cunningham said:

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I'm hitting a struggle. Lots of miss-starts this month.

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You should read Geoff Dyer's But Beautiful as well as The Last Days of Roger Federer: And Other Endings. The former was an assigned reading in college and is enthralling. The latter is a bit less so, and the title is purposely misleading as you'll discover if you read it, but it's still excellent. I have a few other works of his on my list lengthening by the day.

Capybara said:

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Chuck Cunningham said:

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I'm hitting a struggle. Lots of miss-starts this month.

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You should read Geoff Dyer's But Beautiful as well as The Last Days of Roger Federer: And Other Endings. The former was an assigned reading in college and is enthralling. The latter is a bit less so, and the title is purposely misleading as you'll discover if you read it, but it's still excellent. I have a few other works of his on my list lengthening by the day.

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Thanks for the recs.

Chuck Cunningham said:

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Capybara said:

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Chuck Cunningham said:

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I'm hitting a struggle. Lots of miss-starts this month.

---

You should read Geoff Dyer's But Beautiful as well as The Last Days of Roger Federer: And Other Endings. The former was an assigned reading in college and is enthralling. The latter is a bit less so, and the title is purposely misleading as you'll discover if you read it, but it's still excellent. I have a few other works of his on my list lengthening by the day.

---

Thanks for the recs.

---

He'd be more of a public figure if we still had a healthy literary culture. It's a shame, but what can you do?

Elantris by Brandon Sanderson
Mistborn #1: The Final Empire by Brandon Sanderson
Mistborn #2: The Well of Ascension by Brandon Sanderson
Mistborn #3: The Hero of Ages by Brandon Sanderson
Mistborn Era 2 #1: The Alloy of Law
Mistborn Era 2 #2: Shadows of Self
Mistborn Era 2 #3: The Bands of Mourning
The Eleventh Metal (Arcanum Unbounded short story)
Allomancer Jak and the Pits of Eltania (Arcanum Unbounded short story)
Mistborn: Secret History (Arcanum Unbounded short story)
Arcanum Unbounded short stories related to Elantris in-progress

The first 2 of the Mistborn short stories were okay. Not very long and didn't have much impact. Mistborn: Secret History was good though. Definitely recommend for those that have read Mistborn since it actually provides some info into some of the unseen things going on.

One thing it confirmed for me was whether the mist spirit was always Preservation or whether it was one more than entity. Was good to get confirmation that it was a combo of Preservation, Ruin, and even Kelsier.

Was also nice to get a brief explanation about shards since I had seen the term in my limited googling but didn't delve deeper into it for fear of spoilers. Interested to see how Drifter and the Ire play more into things. There was really a lot of information thrown out which was just as confusing as it was for Kelsier.

Sanderson isn't guaranteeing that he will ever write more Secret History to talk about what Kelsier and Spook do together or what Kelsier is doing during Wax and Wayne, but I really hope he does. I guess he could reveal more in one of the main stories instead, but I doubt it would be to the same degree as this was.

Finished The Last Kingdom this morning (the ending didn't really change my perspective above, an enjoyable read start to finish). Was going to start on the next book in the series, but decided to detour and read the original Thrawn trilogy since the Ahsoka show is coming later this summer and I never got around to reading them back in the day.

Currently Reading:
The Splendid and the VIle by Erik Larson
Heir to the Empire by Timothy Zahn

Finished:
The Library by Casey White (3/5)
Black Hawk Down by Mark Bowden (4/5)
City of Brass by S.A. Chakraborty (3.5/5)
The King of Elfland's Daughter by Lord Dunsany (3/5)
The Eyre Affair by Jasper Fforde (4.5/5)
Snow Crash by Neal Stephenson (3.5/5)
Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad (4/5)
Hunter's Run by GRRM, et al (4/5)
The Poppy War by R.F. Kuang (4.5/5)
The Last Kingdom by Bernard Cornwell (4/5)

Finished a re-read of In Cold Blood, the best true crime novel ever, last night. I need to read through the rest, or at least most of the rest, of Capote's bibliography.

Haven't been reading as much this year but so far:

Finished:
Zorrie - Laird Hunt (3/5 - Meh)

The Brothers: John Foster Dulles, Allen Dulles, & Their Secret World War - Stephen Kinzer (4/5 - Very interesting analysis of our awful foreign policy in the 20th century)

Project Hail Mary - Andy Weir (3/5 - Fun book but was just a bit too cheesy for me)

Demon Copperhead - Barbara Kingsolver (5/5 - Really enjoyed this modern retelling of David Copperfield in rural Virginia, basically foster care and drug use)

Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy - Douglas Adams (4/5 - Quick and fun read that you can finish over a weekend)

Up Next:
The Bad-Ass Librarians of Timbuktu and Their Race to Save the World's Most Precious Manuscripts - Joshua Hammer

[url=https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/6333.Stephen_Kinzer][/url]

Capybara said:

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Finished a re-read of In Cold Blood, the best true crime novel ever, last night. I need to read through the rest, or at least most of the rest, of Capote's bibliography.

---

Interesting, will check it out.

Good to know on Project Hail Mary. Even though I had already watched the movie The Martian, I went ahead and read the book based on all of the raving reviews (some people say its the best book they've read). While it was entertaining, far from an awesome book and found it a slog to read since I had seen the movie (admit would have been better if I hadn't see the flick). Project Hail Mary was also up there on their list. Think I'll give it a miss.

StinkyPinky said:

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Capybara said:

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Finished a re-read of In Cold Blood, the best true crime novel ever, last night. I need to read through the rest, or at least most of the rest, of Capote's bibliography.

---

Interesting, will check it out.

---

He's a brilliant writer. Similar to Nabokov, his words have a lyrical quality that makes even the most quotidian parts of his stories flow. I'm not a writer, yet anyway, but I'm trying to release that into my own writing while retaining my voice.

Capybara said:

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StinkyPinky said:

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Capybara said:

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Finished a re-read of In Cold Blood, the best true crime novel ever, last night. I need to read through the rest, or at least most of the rest, of Capote's bibliography.

---

Interesting, will check it out.

---

He's a brilliant writer. Similar to Nabokov, his words have a lyrical quality that makes even the most quotidian parts of his stories flow. I'm not a writer, yet anyway, but I'm trying to release that into my own writing while retaining my voice.

---

Perfect. A writers prose style is important to determining liking a book or not. Also love True Crime, but it has been awhile since reading (been on a fantasy kick). Sounds like a good opportunity to cross back over. Thanks for the input

Books 4-5 of Jack Carr's Terminal List series:
-True Believer
-Savage Son
-The Devil's Hand
-In the Blood

Also:

The Return of the God Hypothesis
The Maze Runner
The Sociopath Next Door
Killing the Killers: The Secret War Against Terrorists
The President and the Freedom Fighter

13B said:

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13B said:

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13B said:

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Blood of Elves: The Witcher Book 1, Andrzej Sapkowski: A-
Brotherhood of the Wolf: The Runelords Book 2,David Farland: B+
Wizardborn: The Runelords Book 3, David Farland: B+
The Lair of Bones: The Runelords Book 4, David Farland: A-
Son of the Black Sword: Saga of the Forgotten Warrior Book 1, Larry Correia: A
Crystal City:Tales of Alvin Maker Book 6, Orson Scott Card A-
Homeland: Legend of Drizzt Book 1 (Audible), R.A. Salvatore: A
The Bone Witch: The Bone Witch Book 1 (Audible), Rin Chupeco: A
The Heart Forger: The Bone Witch Book 2 (Audible), Rin Chupeco: A
The Shadow Glass: The Bone Witch Book 3 (Audible), Rin Chupeco: A- (She tried to ruin a really good Trilogy but overall the story was really good, just this last book had some unnecessary crap that added nothing to the story)
Ghosts of Zenith: Lost Planet Homicide (Audible Novella), Larry Correia: A

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The Time Traveler's Wife, Audrey Niffenegger: A-
Rogue Heroes: The Histories of the SAS, Britain's Secret Special Forces Unit That Sabotaged the Nazis and Changed the Nature of War, Ben Macintyre: A (It's a wonder that they ever got the unit off the ground)
Pilgrim: Pilgrim Book 1: Harmon Cooper: B
Blackbeard (Audible): Angus Konstam: A
The Witcher: Season of Storms: Andrzej Sapkowski: A
The Witcher: The Last Wish (Audible): Andrzej Sapkowski :A (a re-listen because I am starting to read the series in order)
The Witcher: Sword of Destiny: Andrzej Sapkowski: A
The Legend of Drizzt: The Collected Stories (Audible): R. A. Salvatore: B+ (worth listening to just to hear how Ice T pronounces "sword" and Weird Al Yankovic reading fantasy books)
He Who Fights With Monsters: Book 6: (Audible) Shirtaloon: B+
The Witcher: The Time of Contempt: Andrzej Sapkowski: A
House of Assassins: Saga of the Forgotten Warrior Book 2: Larry Correia: A
Shoeless Joe: W. P Kinsella: B+/A- (The book that Field of Dreams was based on)

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Destroyer of Worlds: Saga of the Forgotten Warrior Book 3: Larry Correia: A
He Who Fights With Monsters 7: (Audible) Shirtaloon: A-
He Who Fights With Monsters 8: (Audible) Shirtaloon: A-
Arcanum Unbounded: The Cosmere Collection: Brandon Sanderson: A- (Most stories were really good, some eh)
Columbus Day: Expeditionary Force Book 1: (Audible) Craig Alanson: A++
The Witcher: Baptism of Fire: Andrzej Sapkowski: (in progress)
Dawnshard: Brandon Sanderson: A

Demon Copperhead by Barbara Kingslover

Based on Charles Dickens David Copperfield and really freaking good. Some of the best writing I've read in a long while.

Elantris by Brandon Sanderson
Mistborn #1: The Final Empire by Brandon Sanderson
Mistborn #2: The Well of Ascension by Brandon Sanderson
Mistborn #3: The Hero of Ages by Brandon Sanderson
Mistborn Era 2 #1: The Alloy of Law by Brandon Sanderson
Mistborn Era 2 #2: Shadows of Self by Brandon Sanderson
Mistborn Era 2 #3: The Bands of Mourning by Brandon Sanderson
The Eleventh Metal (Arcanum Unbounded short story) by Brandon Sanderson
Allomancer Jak and the Pits of Eltania (Arcanum Unbounded short story) by Brandon Sanderson
Mistborn: Secret History (Arcanum Unbounded short story) by Brandon Sanderson
The Emperor's Soul (Arcanum Unbounded short story) by Brandon Sanderson
The Hero of Elantris (Arcanum Unbounded short story) by Brandon Sanderson
Warbreaker by Brandon Sanderson in-progress

Both of the Elantris short stories were great. Hero wasn't very long, but finding out that the main character was an homage to a student of his wife's (then girlfriend's) who did a book report on Elantris was pretty cool.

The magic in the Emperor's Soul is really really interesting. I love how she can do something like fix a broken window by discovering what it "wants" to be. It took her a while to discover that it used to be a stained glass window, so she had to rewrite its history to say that it was repaired by a master craftsman rather than crudely replaced with normal glass. I think a lot about tv/movie adaptations lately when reading, and I could see this one being interesting since Forgery would be easy to do and could look great on screen.

The Arcanum Unbounded collection in general was really great in terms of providing more info about the different worlds and the Cosmere. The few pages to start this section (Selish system) mentioned the following. None are spoilers really but still tagging them.

Dominion and Devotion were two shards that went to Sel. They were very influential over society with many traditions and religions being traced back to them. A unique aspect is that their language and alphabet was directly influenced by the shards. In the distant past though, they were destroyed with their Investiture/power being splintered. The bulk of the Investiture that made up their power is trapped in the Cognitive realm. Language and location impact magic there, and the land itself seems to possibly have a growing self-awareness not seen elsewhere. The person writing these notes (from Silverlight university) thinks the Ire could possibly know more, but they don't speak of it and reject offers to collaborate.

Seons and the skaze are splinters of self-aware Investiture that have developed human like mannerisms/

My reading pace this year is horrific. I just finished my first two books of this year:

The Last Resort: Adrian's March Part Two (AUD Book #10)
No God: Adrian's March Part Three (AUD Book #11)

These continue Adrian's Undead Diary...the best zombie series ever written. He is now in the UK battling the evil undead. I'm going to pivot back to another book I almost done with though. Took a break from that to get some quick zombie action in.

APRIL 2023

GREAT!
- The Fault in Our Stars by John Green

Really Good
- Dry by Augusten Burroughs
- Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow by Gabrielle Zevin

Good
- The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo by Taylor Jenkins Reid
- The Duke and I (Bridgertons #1) by Julia Quinn
- The Boxing Baroness by Minerva Spencer
- An Offer from a Gentleman (Bridgertons #3) by Julia Quinn
- First Love, Take Two by Sajni Patel

Okay
- Even Though I Knew the End by CL Polk
- The Viscount Who Loved Me (Bridgertons #2) by Julia Quinn
- Greenlights by Matthew McConaughey

Read:
The Gray man books 9-12 by Mark Greaney:

• One Minute Out
• Relentless
• Sierra Six
• Burner

Listened To:
Sober on a Drunk Planet by Sean Alexander
Sons of Valor I and II by Andrews and Wilson
The Concrete Blonde, Harry Bosch book 3 by Michael Connelly
The Last Coyote, Harry Bosch book 4 by Michael Connelly
The Martian by Andy Weir

Currently Reading:
Outlive by Dr Peter Attia
Die With Zero by Bill Perkins

Currently Listening To:
Trunk Music, Harry Bosch book 5 by Michael Connelly
Outlive by Dr Peter Attia

Chuck Cunningham said:

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Chuck Cunningham said:

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Anything I read gets 4 stars minimum. 3 starts or below I quit reading.

January:

• The Street Lawyer: John Grisham. Somehow I missed this one. I've always enjoyed JG.

Gary Paulson Hatchet series. I love a good YA novel, don't know why. Love the survival aspect.

• The River
• Brian's Winter 5*
• Brian's Return
• Brian's Hunt
• Waxing On: Ralph Macchio. Listened to it, but it counts. Some good behind the scenes of the Karate Kid.

February:

• Sparring Partners: John Grisham. I really liked 2 of the 3 short stories.
• Never: Ken Follett: Brilliant. Loved it. These are events where WW3 starts and is global nuclear and no one wants it. 5*
• The Apollo Murders; Biggest piece of crap I've read out of a major publisher. Quit 10 chapters in. Negative infinity stars.
• Stories I only Tell My Friends: Rob Lowe. He's actually a really good writer, better than Macchio. He tells some great stories. I'd recommend if you're a fan of his or 80s movies. 5*
• Hatchet: Gary Paulsen. Book 1 wasn't available in January. 5*
• Deacon King Kong: James BcBride: I was pressed for time and returned after 2 pages. Going to try again.
• The Family Fong: Kevin Wilson Very good. Very funny. 5*s
• The Best of Adam Sharp: Graeme Simision: One of the best books I've read in a long time. Probably since his Rosie Series. 5*

March:

• Long Shadows: David Baldacci: Book 7 in the Memory Man. It was ok.
• Biloxi Boys: John Grisham. Meh?? 4*s. The whole book just tells what happens rather than describes it.

Currently reading:

• Now is Not the Time to Panic: Kevin Wilson: So far so good, will update.

Up Next: Order depends when they're available from my 4 e-libraries.

• Apollo 8: Jeffrey Kluger
• Hyperion: Dan Simmons
• All Together Now: Matthew Norman
• Domestic Violets: Matthew Norman
• Holdout: Jeffery Kluger
• The Darkest Winter: Lindsey Pogue
• True Believer: Jack Carr
• Red Shirts: John Scalzi
• One Second After: William Forstchen
• A Man Called Ove: Fredrik Backman
• Beartown: Fredrik Backman

Honestly, ordinary people in books like Matthew Norman, Kevin Wilson, Grame Simision are my favorites.

---

March:

• Long Shadows: David Baldacci: Book 7 in the Memory Man. It was ok.
• Biloxi Boys: John Grisham. Meh?? 4*s. The whole book just tells what happens rather than describes it.
• Now is not the Time to Panic: Kevin Wilson: Very good and then it just fizzled out. It's not for everyone but was enjoyable.
• True Believer: Jack Carr. Book 2 of the Terminal List Story. Very fast paced. Very believable. It's more like I would've read in my younger years but I am liking this series.
• Apollo 8: Jeffery Kluger: Very good historical account of the first trip to the moon. I knew most of the stories.
• Redshirts: John Scalzi: It was...meh?? I liked it to some extend. Would make a great movie. Not sure why it hasn't been made. Things tell me I should like everything by Scalzi, but there's something missing. Not sure what it is.
• Hyperion: Dan Simmons: Made it thru the prologue and Chapter 1. Not a fan.
• Holdout: Jeffery Kluger: it's his first attempt fiction. Nothing interested me at all. Gave up 53%. Life's too short to read books that aren't doing it for you.

Currently Reading:

• A Man Called Ove: Fredrik Backman

Up Next: Order depends when they're available from my 4 e-libraries.

• Savage Son: Jack Carr
• Vanished: Joseph Finder
• All Together Now: Matthew Norman
• Domestic Violets: Matthew Norman
• Holdout: Jeffery Kluger
• The Darkest Winter: Lindsey Pogue
• True Believer: Jack Carr
• One Second After: William Forstchen
• Beartown: Fredrik Backman
• How to Mars: David Ebenbach
• This Bird Has Flown; Susanna Hoffs (yes, from the go-gos)
• A Visit form the Good Squad: Jennifer Egan
• John Irving: A Prayer for Owen Meany (One of my top 5 ever)
• The Time Travelers Wife: Audrey Niffenegger
• The storied Life of A. J . Firkey: Gabrielle Zevin
• The Color of Magic: Terry Pratchett
• The Switch: Joseph Finder
• The moviegoer: Walker Percy
• A Confederacy of Dunces: John Kennedy Toole
• Last Couple Standing: Matthew Norman
• Avenue of Mysteries: John Irving
• The Last Chairlift: John Irving
• Imaginary Friend: Stephen Chbosky
• Perfet LIttle World: Kevin Wilson

---

April was a slow month. Tons of false starts and a few books I didn't dig and either stopped or it took a while.
April Completed:

• A Man Called Ove: Fredrik Backman - This book was great. Movie was good too.
• Savage Son: Jack Carr - This was good. His books are entertaining. He was influenced quite a bit by WEB Griffin. Lots of rich ex-military with all the toys do whatever they want.
• How to Mars: David Ebenbach. - I really wanted to like this more than I did.
• Vanished: Joseph Finder - I started and stopped this like 12 years ago and it was good. Not great.
• Project Hail Mary: I listened to the Audio book for the 4th or 5th time. I really love it. Its great to fall asleep to.

April Failures:

• The Moviegoer: Walker Percy: Nothing wrong with this really, but the format was on LIbby which I'm not a fan of.
• This Bird Has Flown: Susanna Hoffs It was about a breakup and romance...blah.
• A Visit from the Goon Squad: Jennifer Egan- It wasn't a novel, it was a collection of short stories about inter-related characters. Not may thing. The short stories were good, but I don't want to read that.

Currently reading:

• One Second After: William Forstchen - So far so good. Very predictable so far but I'm enjoying it.

The Passenger and Stella-Maris - Cormac McCarthy

Almost done with The Passenger.

I completed Dracula. In all my years I had never read it. Well that's crossed off my list. Great and engrossing work which laid all vampire lore and theory.

On to the Complete Sherlock Holmes collection by AC Doyle.

Still in progress: House of Leaves, The Magus (I keep putting these down to pick up more!)

I'm about to finish Book 17 of Dresden Files: Battle Ground. I started at end of 2021 I believe. Thinking Malzahn series next...don't really know yet.

bluefire579 said:

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bangobango said:

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bluefire579 said:

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Finished The Poppy War the other night. That book definitely puts the grim in grimdark fantasy. Well written, though there were jumps that I wish were a bit more fleshed out. Like I said earlier in this thread, definitely going to need a palate cleanser before the next one in the series.

Up next is The Splendid and the Vile by Erik Larson

Currently Reading:
The Last Kingdom by Bernard Cornwell
The Splendid and the VIle by Erik Larson

Finished:
The Library by Casey White (3/5)
Black Hawk Down by Mark Bowden (4/5)
City of Brass by S.A. Chakraborty (3.5/5)
The King of Elfland's Daughter by Lord Dunsany (3/5)
The Eyre Affair by Jasper Fforde (4.5/5)
Snow Crash by Neal Stephenson (3.5/5)
Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad (4/5)
Hunter's Run by GRRM, et al (4/5)
The Poppy War by R.F. Kuang (4.5/5)

---

How is Last Kingdom?

---

I'm enjoying it. It's written like a man writing out his own biography, so it kind of has this flow of more detailed events happening between summarizations of the time between, but Cornwell manages to write it in a very engaging way, weaving it into a very fascinating and tumultuous time in British history. It's also interesting having fairly recently played Assassin's Creed Valhalla, which has a lot of overlap in both time period and characters, and seeing both the parallels and deviations between the two.

---

I'm playing AC:Valhalla right now and that has been interesting. Almost feels like you are playing a game in that book series.

Read

• The Last Resort: Adrian's March Part Two (AUD Book #10) - Kindle
• No God: Adrian's March Part Three (AUD Book #11) - Kindle

Finished
Heir of Novron (The Riyria Revelations #5-6) - Michael J Sullivan (On Audible)
Finally finished this six-book series and it's excellent. Have posted on the earlier books but if you like fantasy/adventure with some light magic with two excellent main characters this is a good read. It's fun and easy to read with not a ton of characters you have to keep up with.

YouBet said:

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Read

• The Last Resort: Adrian's March Part Two (AUD Book #10) - Kindle
• No God: Adrian's March Part Three (AUD Book #11) - Kindle

Finished
Heir of Novron (The Riyria Revelations #5-6) - Michael J Sullivan (On Audible)
Finally finished this six-book series and it's excellent. Have posted on the earlier books but if you like fantasy/adventure with some light magic with two excellent main characters this is a good read. It's fun and easy to read with not a ton of characters you have to keep up with.

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These are next on my list. I finished his Legends of the First Empire a couple of months ago and have heard his Riyria series is even better. I enjoyed his other work enough to get his special edition hardbacks directly from him so I have high hopes for his next series.

Eliminatus said:

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YouBet said:

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Read

• The Last Resort: Adrian's March Part Two (AUD Book #10) - Kindle
• No God: Adrian's March Part Three (AUD Book #11) - Kindle

Finished
Heir of Novron (The Riyria Revelations #5-6) - Michael J Sullivan (On Audible)
Finally finished this six-book series and it's excellent. Have posted on the earlier books but if you like fantasy/adventure with some light magic with two excellent main characters this is a good read. It's fun and easy to read with not a ton of characters you have to keep up with.

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These are next on my list. I finished his Legends of the First Empire a couple of months ago and have heard his Riyria series is even better. I enjoyed his other work enough to get his special edition hardbacks directly from him so I have high hopes for his next series.

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These are the only books of his I've read but I really enjoyed them. Not sure if there are others with these same characters. Haven't looked. Will check these out too.

RED AG 98 said:

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I've loved CS Lewis fiction stuff since early middle school years but somehow just never read much of his other stuff. I've tried a few times just never got into it. Well we recently watched the CS Lewis documentary and now some three weeks later can't believe it took me so long.

Mere Christianity - A+. Just an incredibly insightful, prescient book for our times today.

The Screwtape Letters - A+. Biting. Sadistic. Perceptive. It's like an expert class in psychoanalysis.

Read these if you are in need of humility. Then you will question if you're proud of your humility and need to examine your motives. And by you I mean me. These are incredible reads.

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I read Mere Christianity several years ago and it made me feel stupid. I think that is because my biblical knowledge is very lacking but I also recall there being a ton of allegory back to classic literature much of which I haven't read.

My wife has read The Screwtape Letters and enjoyed it. I just pulled it off the shelf so maybe I read that this week since it's short.