I read "Dark State" by Jack Slater. It popped up on Amazon as a suggestion recently. It is one of thousands of "Bourne" or "Mission Impossible" type of rogue agent books by one of thousands of authors writing such books. I'd never heard of Slater. The book was so formulaic that I wonder if this author and many others aren't some kind of AI or writing sweatshop where these stories are mass produced. "An ex CIA agent saves the country by uncovering a plot by a secret domestic terrorist group to overthrow the government".

Anyway, the book dragged a little in the middle, but was a quick and enjoyable read otherwise. It scratched my itch for this type of read.

Trajan88 said:

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Never read a "fantasy" genre... I have read reviews that Forth Wing by Rebecca Yarros is excellent.

Anyone read it? Is it as good as the reviews I have read on Amazon?

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Almost done with it. Very good Excellent book with one exception, I could do without the chapter's worth of porn. It adds zero to the book. Very oddly placed.

Trajan88 said:

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Never read a "fantasy" genre... I have read reviews that Forth Wing by Rebecca Yarros is excellent.

Anyone read it? Is it as good as the reviews I have read on Amazon?

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My wife just read this and enjoyed it. It's hot in the female crowd but then they mostly own the Fantasy genre these days. I'll probably read it here at some point.

It's consistent with the author's other works and the romantasy genre.

And it's okay that it doesn't add anything for you. It adds a lot for me!

Just finished The Road by Cormac McCarthy. First time reading it. Much like No Country for Old Men, I just sat there for a long time after finishing this one. Beautifully devastating.

The Marksman said:

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Just finished The Road by Cormac McCarthy. First time reading it. Much like No Country for Old Men, I just sat there for a long time after finishing this one. Beautifully devastating.

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Anytime a person says they read The Road, first time is a implied, as is "only time" and "last time"

Empire of Silence by Christopher Ruocchio.

Really good. Definitely had to be inspired by Dune. World building is great and plot is pretty tense. Book two is on the way.

Dr. Mephisto said:

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The Complete Stories of Sherlock Holmes.

1408 pages, or 70+ hours on Audible.

Took forever.

But so great!

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I've been trying to read more classics and have been thinking about starting Sherlock Holmes soon.

Question: Do I need to read Sherlock Holmes books in a certain order? A Study in Scarlett is the first book that was published, I believe. Do I need to read it first or what is the recommended reading order of all of the books by Doyle?

If you have a Kindle or Amazon subscription, you can get a very inexpensive copy of the complete works of Sherlock Holmes by Sir ACD. I recommend doing that, as it has all of the short stories and novels, in the best order to read them. It is also a great way to read Jules Verne, Mark Twain, Edgar Rice Burroughs and other classics. They can be had for a few dollars or less, sometimes even free.
You don't have to have a Kindle device; most electronic devices, if not all, have an app available to use.

Thanks for the information and/or recommendation! I actually do not have a Kindle or Amazon subscription and have been just doing the old school library book check-out thing (LOL). I'm sure my phone has an app, but I've never really used it for reading novels or longer books. I just read a lot of TexAgs on it (LOL). Maybe I need to look into a Kindle. Thanks again for the suggestion and advice!

You can use the Kindle app on your phone in combination with the Libby app to check out e-books from the library, too. Never have to leave your house.

Eliminatus said:

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Empire of Silence by Christopher Ruocchio.

Really good. Definitely had to be inspired by Dune. World building is great and plot is pretty tense. Book two is on the way.

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Reading this after some strong recommendations on the youtube book reviewers I watch, but man, the continuity errors are driving me crazy. I really hope those get cleaned up in future novels.

It's also not nearly as good so far as was advertised, but I'm still interested to see where it goes.

713nervy said:

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You can use the Kindle app on your phone in combination with the Libby app to check out e-books from the library, too. Never have to leave your house.

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Shhh, don't tell people. Especially if they have a Houston or CS library card.

Another Doug said:

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713nervy said:

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You can use the Kindle app on your phone in combination with the Libby app to check out e-books from the library, too. Never have to leave your house.

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Shhh, don't tell people. Especially if they have a Houston or CS library card.

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the waiting list is usually brutal in my opinion for popular books. I tried that for a while and got one or two of The Expanse books, but if you want something like The Martian, Hail Mary, etc, I just said F' it and bought it.

Another Doug said:

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The Marksman said:

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Just finished The Road by Cormac McCarthy. First time reading it. Much like No Country for Old Men, I just sat there for a long time after finishing this one. Beautifully devastating.

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Anytime a person says they read The Road, first time is a implied, as is "only time" and "last time"

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Even though I love the genre, hated this.

The Marksman said:

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Just finished The Road by Cormac McCarthy. First time reading it. Much like No Country for Old Men, I just sat there for a long time after finishing this one. Beautifully devastating.

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Oof. I made the mistake of reading this while in the nursing home keeping my granddad company in his final days.

Tabasco said:

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Another Doug said:

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713nervy said:

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You can use the Kindle app on your phone in combination with the Libby app to check out e-books from the library, too. Never have to leave your house.

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Shhh, don't tell people. Especially if they have a Houston or CS library card.

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the waiting list is usually brutal in my opinion for popular books. I tried that for a while and got one or two of The Expanse books, but if you want something like The Martian, Hail Mary, etc, I just said F' it and bought it.

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Ditto this. I used the Libby app to read a bunch of the Jack Ryan books by Clancy that I have paperbacks of, and also a bunch of Conan books by Robert E. Howard. Anything that was popular took forever to check out, like the audio books in the Murderbot Diaries series.

Tabasco said:

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Another Doug said:

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713nervy said:

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You can use the Kindle app on your phone in combination with the Libby app to check out e-books from the library, too. Never have to leave your house.

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Shhh, don't tell people. Especially if they have a Houston or CS library card.

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the waiting list is usually brutal in my opinion for popular books. I tried that for a while and got one or two of The Expanse books, but if you want something like The Martian, Hail Mary, etc, I just said F' it and bought it.

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I used to have an account for Waco too, those people never read, rarely had a wait on anything. In general wait lists seem to go a lot faster now than they used to.

Back in the 80s,during my teen years, I always wanted to read a "Dragonlance" book from the Fantasy section. For some reason they always intimidated me. There were too many to choose from, I wasn't a big Dungeons and Dragons guy, and the names and references in fantasy seemed too complicated, compared to, say, a Douglas Adams book, which was my comfort zone.

Fast forward 40 years, and I've finally started the first Dragonlance book in the series. I'm very much enjoying the story. The plot is light, as in there are eight adventurers on a journey though "the land" and not much else. The names are story appropriate, which means no simple "Bobs" or "Daves". Why do they have to sound similar? Thanks a lot, Tolkien, with Sauron and Saruman.

Anyway, it feels good to finally be checking off a 14 year old me bucket list item. The book was published in the early 80s, but other than longer chapters than I'm used to, it could be a current publication.

Lisey's Story by Stephen King. I thought it was okay, probably my least favorite King novel so far, albeit I just got into him.

My wife likes fantasy books and I'm looking for a digital stocking stuffer. Any recommendations?

Frok said:

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My wife likes fantasy books and I'm looking for a digital stocking stuffer. Any recommendations?

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What are some of the books that she likes?

There's also a fantasy recommendation thread that should be on page 2 or 3 if you want to browse that as well

bluefire579 said:

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Frok said:

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My wife likes fantasy books and I'm looking for a digital stocking stuffer. Any recommendations?

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What are some of the books that she likes?

There's also a fantasy recommendation thread that should be on page 2 or 3 if you want to browse that as well

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I'll echo this. Hard to recommend without knowing what type of fantasy stories she is into.

bluefire579 said:

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Frok said:

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My wife likes fantasy books and I'm looking for a digital stocking stuffer. Any recommendations?

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What are some of the books that she likes?

There's also a fantasy recommendation thread that should be on page 2 or 3 if you want to browse that as well

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Fourth Wing, if she's into smut.

Frok said:

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My wife likes fantasy books and I'm looking for a digital stocking stuffer. Any recommendations?

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If she likes the twilight / 50 shades of Grey kind of books, I keep hearing/seeing every woman rave about A Court of Thorns and Roses by Sarah J Maas.

SO GOOD!!!

rynning said:

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bluefire579 said:

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Frok said:

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My wife likes fantasy books and I'm looking for a digital stocking stuffer. Any recommendations?

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What are some of the books that she likes?

There's also a fantasy recommendation thread that should be on page 2 or 3 if you want to browse that as well

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Fourth Wing, if she's into smut.

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Most women love written porn, but judge men for visual porn. It's the same, just different formats. Mix it into a decent story, and it's acceptable.

Definitely Not A Cop said:

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Frok said:

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My wife likes fantasy books and I'm looking for a digital stocking stuffer. Any recommendations?

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If she likes the twilight / 50 shades of Grey kind of books, I keep hearing/seeing every woman rave about A Court of Thorns and Roses by Sarah J Maas.

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She's already read the Maas porn, that's what I got her last year

Philo B 93 said:

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My favorite book of the year………. Drumroll please…….

The Expanse: Leviathan Wakes by James SA Corey

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I'm three chapters from finishing Leviathan Falls. You're in for a treat if you continue the series...

Frok said:

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Definitely Not A Cop said:

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Frok said:

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My wife likes fantasy books and I'm looking for a digital stocking stuffer. Any recommendations?

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If she likes the twilight / 50 shades of Grey kind of books, I keep hearing/seeing every woman rave about A Court of Thorns and Roses by Sarah J Maas.

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She's already read the Maas porn, that's what I got her last year

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How spicy do you want to go? My friend writes a lot of very spicy and sometimes taboo romance.

Her most popular series is probably Priest and American Queen. She also has a CO written series about a porn star who is accidentally cast in a Hallmark movie

I've read all of them. ALL of them. She's amazing.

I take it back - I've read all that I can get through the public library.