Finished Later by Stephen King.

I picked this one up from the free library on our street, and while it wasn't one of his strongest, it was enjoyable.

It got better as the book went on, and he was well on his way to a surprisingly strong ending and then…he slipped incest into the story. It was a "twist" that, while unexpected, was completely unnecessary to anything, added no value, and left you with a "wtf…why". It's almost like he purposefully tanks the ending to his books.

Anyway…may dive back into Dark Age, or may pick another rando off the shelf. I'll let you know….later

Books read in 2026:

January
The Runaway Jury - John Grisham
The Hobbit - JRR Tolkien

February


March
The Fellowship of the Ring - JRR Tolkien

April
Dungeon Crawler Carl - Matt Dinniman
Red Rising - Pierce Brown (re-read)
Golden Son - Pierce Brown (re-read)

May
Morning Star - Pierce Brown (re-read)

June


July
Iron Gold - Pierce Brown

August


September
Later - Stephen King

Trajan88 said:

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htxag09 said:

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Just finished Comanche Moon which wrapped up the Lonesome Dove series for me.

Not sure what I'm going to read next, maybe The Pillars of the Earth by Ken Follett

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Read Pillars circa 1991 ... got it as one of those 10 books for a dime or something. Still have that hardback book.

Such a good read... Ken Follett is a master story teller.

Read the Man from St. Petersburg... epic story, awesome ending.

I have a lot of Follett's books on my to-read list. Next is Eye of the Needle.

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Eye of the Needle is really good and much easier to read than his usual tomes because it's relatively short...for him.

I never read beyond Pillars of the Earth which was awesome. If I read the subsequent books, I would have to reread Pillars.

Wolfpac 08 said:

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Finished Later by Stephen King.

I picked this one up from the free library on our street, and while it wasn't one of his strongest, it was enjoyable.

It got better as the book went on, and he was well on his way to a surprisingly strong ending and then…*****************. It was a "twist" that, while unexpected, was completely unnecessary to anything, added no value, and left you with a "wtf…why". It's almost like he purposefully tanks the ending to his books.

Anyway…may dive back into Dark Age, or may pick another rando off the shelf. I'll let you know….later

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I've read so many books that later occupy no space in my brain. I can't remember the characters or specific plot points from them, I just enjoy them while I'm reading them. But I remember right where I was when I finished "Later". It was like being in church and getting a giant wet willy from an old man sitting right behind you.

Maybe that's why Stephen King does it.

A Midsummer Night's Dream by William Shakespeare. First time ever reading this classic.

I've never read it, but will definitely give it a go! I always think of my bourbon A midwinter nights dram when I hear that book title.

About 85% done with COMC. It's taken about 8 weeks. The middle 40% of the book is a wild slog of interesting writing that is stand alone fun to read but almost advances the plot at a snail's pace.

Things are really heating up though!! Now it's flying and showing some real payoff.

I'm also listening to Napoleon by Andrew Robert's and I'm 5 hours in. It's really good to listen to the history of the time along side reading COMC. It adds a lot of texture and it's fun.

Shadow of The Gods (book one of Bloodsworn trilogy - John Gwynne) done. Started out a little slow but second half picked up and got much much better. Finished up with a bang and stoked to jump into number 2. First John Gwynne book I've read (hear Malice series is also solid) and so far liking his writing.

Once you finish, if you haven't see the BBC/PBS series, it is worth watching. The show cleared up some confusion from the book.

Will do!

I read that trilogy earlier this year and loved it. First time I've read his books as well. I found the 4 books in his other series at HPB so bought them and am trying to get to them after I finish Wind and Truth.

What is COMC?

YouBet said:

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What is COMC?

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The Count of Monte Christo. Seriously, one of the greatest books I have ever read.

lurker76 said:

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YouBet said:

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What is COMC?

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The Count of Monte Christo. Seriously, one of the greatest books I have ever read.

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Ah. Yes. I own it but haven't read it yet.

After I finish the Dresden Files, my next book will be between the Count of Monte Cristo or Lonesome Dove. Based on what I've read here, I can't go wrong with either!

A Trade of Blood by Robert Jackson Bennett - Best book of the newly named Ana and Din Mysteries. Sherlock inspired, the world and magic are interesting and different.

The Bound and the Broken Series by Ryan Cahill
1 - Of Blood and Fire - Classic tropey fantasy that sets the stage.

.5- The Fall (Novella) Shows an event that happened several hundred years before book 1, short version of The Heroes by Abercrombie, but just as enjoyable from my standpoint.

2- Of Darkness and Light - Story starts to differentiate itself in to its own thing.

The Bound and the Broken borrows a lot from some fantasy classics and favorites, but it feels like more of an homage than the stealing of ideas. It's more like a person asking, why not have a series of dragons, fades, trollocs, elves, dwarves and shards?

Not counting it's inspiration, the writing and style seem more similar to John Gwynn and his Faithful & The Fallen series where Gwynn leads slightly more modern and Cahill leans a little more classic.

I finished Book 1 of the Suneater, Empire of Silence, on Thursday. iPad but physical read.

I'm now going to read the idiot by Dostoevsky before starting the next book.

You're right, you can't go wrong with either. I would suggest Lonesome Dove due to the amount of time you'll invest in The Count. I 100% agree with Malachi Constant; the middle can be a slog, but the payoff is worth all of the time invested. It is not a quick read by any means.

Just finished The Tawny Man trilogy by Robin Hobb.

First book finished this month and the 37th for the year, The October Country by Ray Bradbury (A-). Bradbury is one of the authors that turned me into a reader in my early teens (Something Wicked This Way Comes, Dandelion Wine, The Illustrated Man, The Martian Chronicles, Fahrenheit 451, "The Sound of Thunder" "All Summer in a Day") and this collection of macabre, eerie, and grotesque short stories are for the most part as strong as any of these.

Next up, Candlelight by D.L. Tolin.

Finished up The Adventures of Tom Sawyer by Twain and started the next Sharpe book by Cornwell, Sharpe's Eagle (Book 8).

Wrapped up Midnight in Chernobyl. Long overdue and was a fascinating read. I can definitely recommend to any interested in the topic or large scale industrial accidents in general. Though I will say this book focuses mainly on the human side of the event and not as much the technical aspects of it. In how the Soviet structure led up to it and how it dealt with it.

LB12MEEN said:

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Just finished The Tawny Man trilogy by Robin Hobb.

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They're good books, but they are so depressing.

They are not depressing to me. I prefer fantasy with depth such as this because it makes the highs higher. It showed that in this series with Fitz doing just that once his own memories of pain/hurt were restored. While fantasy it is more true to real life in that nature.

The character develop is so well done you feel their pain and their joy more.

Kingdom of Ash by Sarah J Mass
Kings of the Wyld by Nicholas Eames
The Name of the Wind by Patrick Rothfuss
The Wise Man's Fear by Patrick
Murder at the ABA by Isaac Asimov
Blacktail by Scott Hawkins
The Songs of Distant Earth by Arthur C. Clarke
The Library at Mount Char by Scott Hawkins
Parable of the Sower by Octavia E. Butler in-progress

I remembered liking The Library at Mount Char the first time I read it, but I really enjoyed it this time (maybe more than before). Just a really interesting weird read all around, although there are definitely some things in it that many may not like reading about. I didn't realize that his recent book, Blacktail, actually has references to some things from Library. It's been so long since I read Library that I didn't pick up on it when reading Blacktail. They aren't closely connected, but they must exist in the same universe at least.

For Library, about the only bad thing is that I just want more. It leaves things open for more in that universe, but he has said he would only do so if the story fit. Part of me also thinks it should potentially be left alone.

About 75 pages into Parable of the Sower now. Has been sitting on my bookshelf for a long time. I wasn't sure what type of book I was getting with the first 2 chapters, but it quickly picked up.