M.C. Swag said:

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YouBet said:

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Empire of Silence (The Suneater #1) - Christopher Ruocchio

Took me some starts and stops to get through it, but I loved this. Looking forward to the next one. This first book may be one of the longer origin stories I've read.

Taking a break for a short vacation this week and will knock out a shorter historical novel since I don't own Suneater 2 yet.

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If you loved Empire of Silence, prepare to find a level beyond 'love.' The series ramps up each of the next 4 books in ways I can't describe.

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Good, I'm currently reading this one as well after re-reading the Dunk & Egg novellas. Enjoying it so far, but it's definitely been a slower burn than some of my previous reads this year

Pac1698 said:

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Finished Dark Age yesterday and now on to Light Bringer (Red Rising Series). That was a tough book with a lot of emotions, loss and brutality. I can't remember a character that I was pulling for to end up being someone that I absolutely hated.

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Prepare yourself for Light Bringer.

Finally finished American Buffalo by Steven rinella, it was struggle to read. Interesting, but not my favorite.

Just started The Hobbit for the first time, almost a quarter of a way through it.

Just finished The Devils by Joe Abercrombie and loved it (got the recommendation from this board, so thank you). Would love to see a second book in this series as long as we get to see the same characters. Vigga was hands down my favorite as well as my favorite ever depiction of a werewolf.

I see that James Cameron has bought the rights to make a movie out of it. I'm a little wary, after all his time stuck in his Avatar world, that he'll be able to focus on anything besides the special effects and that he'll miss the small character traits and nuances that make these characters great.

Happy you liked it! Not sure if it was my post you read but that was one of my favorite books from last year and I really hope it turns into a series.

I remember reading the First Law series and laughing out loud while reading on my lunch break at work, and I had the same feeling reading this book.

Well, I tried getting into Odd Thomas by Koontz and just couldn't get into it so now I've started the Gideon Crew series by Preston and Child. And I really like how it's starting!

I finished reading Swimming Against the Current by Riley Gaines, and I loved it.

I only recall one recommendation for The Devils and it was likely yours, so thank you very much! And it's good to hear that The First Law series is just as good, because that's on my list to try soon as well.

I have The Devils with me on vacation. I'll likely start it before we leave but knocking out Isaac's Storm first.

I did read the prologue of Devils. Looking forward to it as a massive Joe Abercrombie fan.

RIP Dan Simmons

https://arstechnica.com/culture/2026/02/hyperion-author-dan-simmons-dies-from-stroke-at-77/

krosch11 said:

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For all of those who kept putting The Count of Monte Cristo on here, thank you. I've never been a classics reader and decided to try it. About of a 1/3 of the way through and it is excellent

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You're reading it at the right time, too. Our family is at about the same spot, it was unintentional but we're staring Lent and they're ending carnival in the book.

Damn, arguably the greatest sci-fi novel every written, Hyperion. It's been awhile since I read that book but i remember it wrecking me. RIP to one of the greats.

Just finished Ben Shapiro book Lions and Scavengers: The True Story of America. It wasn't what I expected but a very thought provoking and full of great quotes from a variety of books. I have marked some of those to read later main one being Eric Hoffer's The True Believer: Thoughts on The Nature of Mass Movements. Rate the book an A

krosch11 said:

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For all of those who kept putting The Count of Monte Cristo on here, thank you. I've never been a classics reader and decided to try it. About of a 1/3 of the way through and it is excellent

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Also, for anyone that has read it, the Masterpiece presentation on the PBS app will start on Sunday, March 1. There doesn't appear to be a cost to watch it, and the app is free to download. I'm looking forward to this as much as Project Hail Mary later in March.

January
1) A Team For America: The Army-Navy Game That Rallied a Nation at War by Randy Roberts (B)
2) Dune Messiah by Frank Herbert (B+)
3) What Christians Believe: Understanding the Nicene Creed by Bishop Robert Barron (A)

February
4) A Gentleman in Moscow by by Amor Towles (A)
5) The Wingmen: The Unlikely, Unusual, Unbreakable Friendship Between John Glenn and Ted Williams by Adam Lazarus (C) - Not a bad book by any means but nothing spectacular either. Easily the best part of the book is that in which covers their time in Korea. The details in the rest of the book are pretty well documented already.

Next up: The Library at Mount Char by Scott Hawkins

Audiobooks
1) The Silmarillion by J.R.R. Tolkien - A mixture of listening and reading the text in an attempt to actually finish the book after many failed attempts in the past. I think listening to the stories comes across as the telling of lore instead of a dry history.
2) Frankenstein (or, The Modern Prometheus) by Mary Shelley (B)

I'm about 1/3 of the way through the Don Quixote audiobook.. Parts of this novel are laugh out loud funny.

Please tell me about this book:

4) A Gentleman in Moscow by by Amor Towles (A)

Just finished A Gentleman in Moscow as well based on recommendations here and from other people.

I had no idea what it was about and had no expectations, and I really enjoyed it. Lots of highlights on my kindle app to remember the way he viewed the world and our place in it.

That must be a rare one, Anna's archive has a lot of David J House but I couldn't find that one

Sea Speed said:

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Next up. I ordered this book online ($249) twice but my order was canceled both times. It's essentially impossible to get I reckon. I found a scan online but it unfortunately was not the full book, but has what I need.

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You need to find a shady book dealer by the docks!

I stopped reading almost anything for about 5 years. I don't know why but it seemed like many factors including pandemic killed my reading habit. You would think I would have had more time then but with college kids and everyone stuck at home we played board games, puzzles, I played online poker and just a lot of stuff. Something was always going on and there was no quiet. I also started a new job in 2023 and just focused on that which required some reading not for fun but for work.

Anyway. I decided to make an effort his year to get back in the habit. I have some time as one kid is gone and the other is working fulltime.

So for 2026 I started catching up on my favorite author first Stephen King and I have read:
Holly
You Like It Darker - short stories I had read a few in the interim but I finished it now
Fairy Tale

And I'm currently reading
If It Bleeds - also short stories


But I'm also currently reading this non fiction book. I gave it to my dad for xmas and when he was done he said I needed to read it.

Victory '45: The End of the War in Eight Surrenders
It details the eight surrenders of WWII - 6 different german surrenders in different places between May 2 and May 9: berlin, southern germany, italy, russians in berlin, etc. and 2 for japan the initial and then the singing on the Missouri with detailed stories behind the people and events involved in them. Fascinating so far.


I'm alternating between SK stories and the WWII book chapters since they are both kind of collections.

Wading through the classics. I read Virgil's Aeneid. It's pretty good. It's historically important, so I'm glad I read it.

You have to compare it to Odyssey and Iliad. I liked Homer's work way more. Homer reads like book with some poetry. Virgil is 100% a poem with some story.

The language is lyrical. Lovely. But I guess I prefer reading at my own rhythm. Poetry forces a timing on me.

krosch11 said:

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For all of those who kept putting The Count of Monte Cristo on here, thank you. I've never been a classics reader and decided to try it. About of a 1/3 of the way through and it is excellent

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This is next on the list for me and it's because of this thread.

Finished Brother Odd, a re-read from 20 years ago.

It's a good story, even the 2nd time around. I have a pretty good memory, but 20 years makes everybody forget a bit. Especially when hundreds or thousands of books have intervened.

Odd Thomas is a character easy to like, and easy to relate to. He's slightly irreverent, almost always humorous, even in dangerous situations. He's loaded with quips, but not annoyingly so. The supernatural set up for all the stories is interesting as a backdrop against which we get to see his full, honorable, and decent character emerge.

He's the kind of person you could see almost anybody becoming friends with, if they can abide the stuff that makes him "odd". He's unpretentious, humble, and simple in the best ways.

This story was a nice 3rd step in the series, where we get to see him grow and change according to the things that have happened to him across 3 books.

I think 20 years ago I made it through this, and maybe the 4th, but Koontz hadn't written more than that when I picked them up. Looks like it's new territory for me from here on out!

Light reading, but fun and engaging.

Recommend!

Malachi Constant said:

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krosch11 said:

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For all of those who kept putting The Count of Monte Cristo on here, thank you. I've never been a classics reader and decided to try it. About of a 1/3 of the way through and it is excellent

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This is next on the list for me and it's because of this thread.

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Good call. Easily one of the top 10 books I've ever read. Not to oversell it but I doubt that would happen.

I read it at age 15 - my mom made me read in the summer - stayed with me for a long time. Reread it at age 30. I'd read it again but I have a lot to catch up on right now.

Finished:
The Silmarillion
Unfinished Tales of Numenor and Middle Earth
Beren and Luthien

Now reading:
The Fall of Numenor

KentK93 said:

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Please tell me about this book:

4) A Gentleman in Moscow by by Amor Towles (A)

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A historical novel about an aristocrat that is spared execution and sentenced instead to house arrest at the hotel in which he was residing due to a poem published under his name prior to the Revolution. The story tells about his life between these walls and the changing Russian political landscape that occurs around him from the early '20s through the '60s.

Philo B 93 said:

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Has anyone here read "A Confederacy of Dunces"? I started it once decades ago, but I didn't get very far. It may be a book that I needed a few more years on me to appreciate.

I may be ready to try it again unless I'm strongly warned off of it.

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It's one of my favorite books of all time, lol. READ IT! It won the Pulitzer Prize.

I mentioned elsewhere in this thread Don Quixote joined a very small list of books when have literally made me laugh out loud. A confederacy of dunces is one of them.

Maybe it's because I know or have known a lot of Ignatius' in my life, so it hits close to home. Toole's ability to capture the absolute absurd in Confederacy is poignant and hilarious.

The author was a real "troubled artist" - he committed suicide young and this was his only book. A posthumous book he wrote as a teenager was later released to lukewarm reception.

krosch11 said:

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For all of those who kept putting The Count of Monte Cristo on here, thank you. I've never been a classics reader and decided to try it. About of a 1/3 of the way through and it is excellent

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When you're done, check out the 2024 French film. 3 hours long, and so much better than the Hollywood one.

ENJOY! I LOVED Count of Monte Cristo so much. A real "page turner" once it sucked me in that was it, and I think of Edmond often now even after having finished it. What a great character.

Have a few going on right now -

Romans: An Expositional Commentary by RC Sproul. This one will take me forever as it should.

Devils by Fyodor Dostoevsky (also known as The Possessed or Demons). On part 3 of 3 now. I have a lot to say about this one. But not yet.

And my current audiobook is Peter the Great: His Life and World by Robert K Massie.

I typically get bored with books that have endless dialogue , without moving plot along or developing character depth.


But every exchange is an imprint on the characters motivations, and tie to the story, plus, the verbal jousting is hilarious. Without spoiling , the count just met a someone from a previous time, an essentially strung him up
By his toes in the exchange. Hilarious.

Feb books read:

"Orphan X" by Gregg Hurwitz
"The One" by John Marrs
"Two Girls Down" by Louisa Luna
"The Hunter" by Tom Wood
"Some Shall Break" by Ellie Marney
"None Shall Sleep" by Ellie Marney

jkag89 said:

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KentK93 said:

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Please tell me about this book:

4) A Gentleman in Moscow by by Amor Towles (A)

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A historical novel about an aristocrat that is spared execution and sentenced instead to house arrest at the hotel in which he was residing due to a poem published under his name prior to the Revolution. The story tells about his life between these walls and the changing Russian political landscape that occurs around him from the early '20s through the '60s.

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Thanks I will check it out!