Just finished The Theory of Poker by David Sklansky.

Reading Dune for the second time (first read was in 2021) after finally seeing Dune part 2 in theaters.

I finished M Scott Peck's People of the Lie. Very good, easy to read, but very thoughtful consideration on evil. I finished it two days ago and have been thinking of it ever since. Interesting deductions and conclusions, and lots that make you cringe because you realize that at times in your life, you have been the agent of or a part of evil.

I am a sinner like everyone, but I never thought of myself as evil. Dang it, the shoe fits a bit too well. I love books that linger unconsciously long after you finished the book.

Half way through Open Curtain, by Brian Evenson.

In the second chapter of Count of Monte Cristo!

Thank God for books. I hope heavens library is open late. If I can make it, that is.

Just finished Midnight Tides, book 5 of the Malazan series. This may be my favorite so far. Like a Shakespearen tragedy with a healthy dose of comedy

I'm on book 1 of Malazan, and I think I like it? I feel like the world is just absolutely massive that it's a lot to take in by listening to it on audio.

Definitely Not A Cop said:

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I'm on book 1 of Malazan, and I think I like it? I feel like the world is just absolutely massive that it's a lot to take in by listening to it on audio.

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Not only is it massive, but it drops you in the middle of things. The local history of the current state of events is a couple of decades old, plus the world itself is like 100 million years old and there are beings still around that go back that far. You have to pick up a lot as you go, and some things aren't explained till later. I'm thoroughly enjoying the ride so far

Lords of the North(Saxon Stories Book 3) by Bernard Cornwell. Really loving this series.

Completed The Open Curtain by Brian Evenson.

That guy is weird, but in a good way.

Very bizarre, though. Quirky. I like it.

Now in COMC!

I e been on a Biography kick lately

Andre (Agassi)
Will (Will Smith)
The Art Thief
The Escape Artist
The Son of Hamas

All were great. Will is extremely vulgar. I have read many books through my life and Will was the most profane. Very good book but if you do audio, like me, and have kids in your vehicle, beware.

Welcome to an awesome world. I started reading these when I got a Kindle in 2021 (or 2022, don't recall) and read each book back to back!

Just finished Duma Key by Stephen King and really enjoyed it. I have trouble sticking with long books but this one was able to keep my attention.

I've never read any James Bond books and just started Casino Royale.

Decided to try something different than my normal genres, so I started the audio book of The Killing Floor. Holy **** it's terrible , like "threat level midnight" bad.

Finished Richard Chizmar's Chasing the Boogeyman.

It a weird fictional take on a true crime format, based in the guy's real life, but fictionalized.

Weird meta-fiction take, but very engrossing and captivating. Read it very quickly.

Recommend.

Still in COMC . . .

. . . It's a long book.

Sword Song(Saxon Stories Book 4) by Bernard Cornwell. This series is amazing, quickly becoming one of my all-time favorites.

Another Doug said:

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Decided to try something different than my normal genres, so I started the audio book of The Killing Floor. Holy **** it's terrible , like "threat level midnight" bad.

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That series is so popular I didn't understand why I couldn't stand this book when I read it years ago. Glad I'm not the only one.

G.I.Bro said:

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Just finished Midnight Tides, book 5 of the Malazan series. This may be my favorite so far. Like a Shakespearen tragedy with a healthy dose of comedy

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Forgot to mention last week that I finished The Bonehunters.

Make that at least three that don't like the Reacher books. I read one back in '05 and can't even remember which one it was because it was so bad. I tried another one and quit due to not liking it either. I never understood the popularity either.

Been awhile since I last posted. I've been on a crime novel kick lately and it shows


Currently Reading:
The Bookseller of Inverness-S.G. MacLean
Deadman Deep (book 2)-Lynne McEwan

Read so far:
1. Cultish: The Language of Fanaticism-Amanda Montell
2. Clanlands: Whisky, Warfare, and a Scottish Adventure Like No Other-Sam Heughan and Graham McTavish
3. Waypoints: My Scottish Journey-Sam Heughan
4. Raw Dog: The Naked Truth About Hot Dogs-Jamie Loftus
5. The River Runs Red: Stories from Highland Perthshire's Dark past-Mark Bridgeman
6. Pine-Francine Toon
7. The Blackhouse (book 1)-Peter May
8. The Lewis Man (book 2)-Peter May
9. The Chessmen (book 3)-Peter May
10. In Dark Water (book 1)-Lynne McEwan

lurker76 said:

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Make that at least three that don't like the Reacher books. I read one back in '05 and can't even remember which one it was because it was so bad. I tried another one and quit due to not liking it either. I never understood the popularity either.

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Here is my impersonation of what little I listened to....

The two thugs approached me. The guy on the left was a towering 6 foot 3, but still 11 inches shorter than me. He was a lean fellow with a crooked noses, so I could tell he had been a fight before. He walked forward with determination and his head was properly crooked a 22 degree angle. I thought, "wow... this guy is good". Based on the way his shirt was buttoned, my 25 years of being a MP told me that this guy was definitely a botanist.

The other one was a black guy.

"Who are you?", the botanist said
"Nobody" , I said
"We don't take kindly to nobodies around here" , he said
"that so", I said
"yeah", he said
"hmm", I said
"you don't say much", he said
"no", I said
"hey black guy, what should do with mr. quiet here", he said
"well sa, I thinks we needs to done rape him, because that be what people like us do, yessa ", black guy said.

I obviously knew that this where what this was going from the start. But while they were wasting time trying to intimidate me, I had planned out every punch and roundhouse kick I would use to send the black guy to the infirmary and the botanist to the morgue, Jack Reacher style.




*For the record, I am not exaggerating the minstrel show talking habits the narrator used

Just finished The 3 Body Problem. On to The Dark Forest.

What did you think? I considered starting it earlier in the year, but read mixed reviews online. Curious how it stands up.

Just finished Casino Royale and while it was a pretty easy read, I did not particularly enjoy it. I can't quite put my finger on it but I don't think James Bond is a series I'll be picking up.

Wolfpac 08 said:

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What did you think? I considered starting it earlier in the year, but read mixed reviews online. Curious how it stands up.

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I actually quite like it. I was hesitant based on mixed reviews as well, but found it interesting (being an engineer may play into that as well). Different then most everything else you'll read. I recommend it but to each is own. It clearly doesn't resonate with a lot of readers.

Books read so far in 2024, along with my Goodreads star rating (out of five):

A Little Life by Hanya Yanigihara ***
Lincoln in the Bardo by George Saunders ****
Hillbilly Elegy by J.D. Vance ***
There There by Tommy Orange ****
Paved Paradise: How Parking Explains the World by Henry Grabar *****

I am slowly making my way through all the paperbacks I have acquired over the years. Reading The Name of the Rose by Umberto Eco now.

Wolfpac 08 said:

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frenchtoast said:

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Wolfpac 08 said:

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Just curious…

2.5 bc the story was bad/it was boring…or 2.5 bc the subject matter was mentally taxing? Or am I way off?

Just curious bc I have it on my night stand to start in the next day or so

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My main issue is that I thought the story would be focused on the group of friends, the concept of found family, how they grew together, etc., but it was mainly about the suffering of one of the characters - and the tragedy of his life is so exaggeratedly over-the-top that it was unbelievable. I have other problems with it, but don't want to give away any spoilers. It wasn't boring, but it was definitely repetitious and could have been edited down maybe 25%.

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Finished A Little Life over the weekend and couldn't agree more with your assessment. Was unnecessarily long…mostly because she went into backstories that added nothing to the overarching story - just backstory for the sake of backstory. Also the interactions between the friends was just not real-world.

Agreed - beautifully written, and definitely made an impact on me, but not one I would ever recommend to anyone.

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Sorry you had to experience that.

Almost done with a complete Expanse re-read. Only 1.5 books left. And the novellas.

Congrats. That is a lot of re-reading, although enjoyable.

Finished Hyperion yesterday, so figure it's time to jump into this year's thread.

Absolutely loved the book, super interesting . I've got the sequels on deck, but had internet issues Sunday and yesterday, so started Frankenstein again, will pick them back up when I'm done with that. Also reading The Burning God by R.F. Kuang.

Finished:
Wintersteel by Will Wight (4/5)
Bloodline by Will Wight (4.5/5)
Reaper by Will Wight (4.5/5)
The Dark Forest by Cixin Liu (3/5) (I loved the ending, but the rest was a bit of a slog)
Dreadgod by Will Wight (4/5)
Waybound by Will Wight (5/5)
Shogun pt. 1 by James Clavell (5/5)
Shogun pt. 2 by James Clavell (5/5) (They sold it in 2 parts, so I'm counting it as 2 books dammit)
The Invincible by Stanislaw Lem (4/5)
Star Maker by Olaf Stapledon (3/5)
The Last Command by Timothy Zahn (4/5)
Hyperion by Dan Simmons (5/5)

G.I.Bro said:

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G.I.Bro said:

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Just finished Midnight Tides, book 5 of the Malazan series. This may be my favorite so far. Like a Shakespearen tragedy with a healthy dose of comedy

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Forgot to mention last week that I finished The Bonehunters.

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Book two was a slog for me and just finished it. Kept getting pulled into other books.

I finally diagnosed my problem with Malazan. I have a very analytical mind. I am absolutely no stranger to long series but Erickson is the first to have a scale of this magnitude with no constant reinforcement of a central theme in every book. (At least so far as I can tell) My mind likes hierarchical and sequential worldbuilding with constant reinforcement. He is soo broad it hurts my brain.

I know the instructions for Malazan are just shut up and read it and don't over think and it will make sense at the end and even more so on the second reread and so on. Well, I finally internalized that and am forcing myself to view the books as standalones now. And when I did that, it got a lot better for me and crushed the last third of the second book I was struggling with and enjoyed it.

I also struggle with not being told explicitly how things work. I don't mind it for suspense sake and "learn as you go" works too to an extent but by the end of the second book I still don't have a clear picture in my head of what a "Warren" is or how any of the magic works really for example. Which bothers me. It's a nitpick but it also pulls me out of the story every time it comes up. I also am refusing any outside sources on the lore and trusting Erickson to give me a better picture which I assume he will but man, taking a bit.

All that to say, I am starting book three tonight and looking forward to it.

I agree with you. I think this is also a series (like Dune) where it's much better served by reading the physical book versus listening to the audiobook (what I'm doing).

Eliminatus said:

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G.I.Bro said:

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G.I.Bro said:

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Just finished Midnight Tides, book 5 of the Malazan series. This may be my favorite so far. Like a Shakespearen tragedy with a healthy dose of comedy

---

Forgot to mention last week that I finished The Bonehunters.

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Book two was a slog for me and just finished it. Kept getting pulled into other books.

I finally diagnosed my problem with Malazan. I have a very analytical mind. I am absolutely no stranger to long series but Erickson is the first to have a scale of this magnitude with no constant reinforcement of a central theme in every book. (At least so far as I can tell) My mind likes hierarchical and sequential worldbuilding with constant reinforcement. He is soo broad it hurts my brain.

I know the instructions for Malazan are just shut up and read it and don't over think and it will make sense at the end and even more so on the second reread and so on. Well, I finally internalized that and am forcing myself to view the books as standalones now. And when I did that, it got a lot better for me and crushed the last third of the second book I was struggling with and enjoyed it.

I also struggle with not being told explicitly how things work. I don't mind it for suspense sake and "learn as you go" works too to an extent but by the end of the second book I still don't have a clear picture in my head of what a "Warren" is or how any of the magic works really for example. Which bothers me. It's a nitpick but it also pulls me out of the story every time it comes up. I also am refusing any outside sources on the lore and trusting Erickson to give me a better picture which I assume he will but man, taking a bit.

All that to say, I am starting book three tonight and looking forward to it.

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I've cheated myself a couple of times and looked stuff up on the malazan wiki page, whether it was a better explanation of a warren or spoilery stuff like "I'm pretty sure this guy is using an alias and I think I figured out who he is but I'm too impatient to wait for confirmation"

Finished Toll the Hounds last night.

Eliminatus said:

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G.I.Bro said:

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G.I.Bro said:

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Just finished Midnight Tides, book 5 of the Malazan series. This may be my favorite so far. Like a Shakespearen tragedy with a healthy dose of comedy

---

Forgot to mention last week that I finished The Bonehunters.

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Book two was a slog for me and just finished it. Kept getting pulled into other books.

I finally diagnosed my problem with Malazan. I have a very analytical mind. I am absolutely no stranger to long series but Erickson is the first to have a scale of this magnitude with no constant reinforcement of a central theme in every book. (At least so far as I can tell) My mind likes hierarchical and sequential worldbuilding with constant reinforcement. He is soo broad it hurts my brain.

I know the instructions for Malazan are just shut up and read it and don't over think and it will make sense at the end and even more so on the second reread and so on. Well, I finally internalized that and am forcing myself to view the books as standalones now. And when I did that, it got a lot better for me and crushed the last third of the second book I was struggling with and enjoyed it.

I also struggle with not being told explicitly how things work. I don't mind it for suspense sake and "learn as you go" works too to an extent but by the end of the second book I still don't have a clear picture in my head of what a "Warren" is or how any of the magic works really for example. Which bothers me. It's a nitpick but it also pulls me out of the story every time it comes up. I also am refusing any outside sources on the lore and trusting Erickson to give me a better picture which I assume he will but man, taking a bit.

All that to say, I am starting book three tonight and looking forward to it.

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I will eventually come back to it (too many people enjoy it for it not to be good) but I agree it is painful. It's worse than GoT! Just when you get to liking or understanding a character, whoosh, off with their head. I also have to use Wiki Fandom just to understand what is going on sometimes. I really want to enjoy it but man it's a bit of work.

I started reading Martin Chuzzlewit but after the first page my copy somehow got thrown out the window, possibly on account of it being so boring and awful. Truly vexing!

Completed YTD:

Fugitive Telemetry (The Murderbot Diaries #6)
Supernova in the East IV
Blood Rites (The Dresden Files #6)
Dead Beat (The Dresden Files #7)
Proven Guilty (The Dresden Files #8)
White Night (The Dresden Files #9)
Small Favor (The Dresden Files #10)

Newly Completed
Turn Coat (The Dresden Files #11)
Changes (The Dresden Files #12)
Side Jobs (Stores from the Dresden Files #12.5)

Just keep thinking I'm going to get bored with this series and I keep not getting bored.

Side Jobs is an anthology of short stories that take place in between several of the books leading up to Changes. The final short story takes place immediately after Changes.

James Marsters kills the audiobook for Changes. The way he reads those lines at the end... damn.

The Burning Land(Saxon Stories Book 5) by Bernard Cornwell