Books - what are you reading just now?

[SwingsitlikeHogan]

I was enjoying reading the 3 minute search thread, but it gone down the tubes

You could start up another to debate how close your 'Place' should be to your 'Pick' point when P&P is active under a winter rule - and whether another player could pull you up if he felt your ball was placed too far from where it was picked (or marked and picked as the case might be)

Meanwhile enjoying Pied Piper by Nevil Shute. I enjoy reading authors and their books I might have read when younger, and reading the 'classics' - especially Victorian era classics. I've little inclination to read such as James Patterson, Tom Clancy, Lee Child, David Baldacci etc - maybe one day.

 

[Lazkir]

On the second book of Brent Weeks 'Lightbringer' Series, now that all 5 are now out. Fantasy book with a twist where the main characters can use light to craft and destroy things using the different colours of the spectrum.

Any good? I'm fed up of fantasy aimed at teenagers.

Currently listening/reading World Engines Destroyer by Steven Baxter, it's interesting but a bit slow.

For anyone who likes proper Sci-fi stuff, try the expanse series by S.A.Corey or any of the Iain M Banks Culture series.

 

[SwingsitlikeHogan]

Any good? I'm fed up of fantasy aimed at teenagers.

Currently listening/reading World Engines Destroyer by Steven Baxter, it's interesting but a bit slow.

For anyone who likes proper Sci-fi stuff, try the expanse series by S.A.Corey or any of the Iain M Banks Culture series.

Or if you fancy reading of what Sci-Fi authors of the 1950s and 60s thought of the future given their 1950s understanding of such as computing and space travel...try the master of the genre from back then - Robert Heinlein.

Some of what he writes would have seemed truly Sci-Fi and incredible at the time - but we can recognise it as being real today - way ahead of the timescales he set his stories in. And when you read of in the here-and-now you are set thinking of the stuff he writes of that isn't with us - yet...and with some you recognise the seed with us today.

 

[Paperboy]

Any good? I'm fed up of fantasy aimed at teenagers.

Currently listening/reading World Engines Destroyer by Steven Baxter, it's interesting but a bit slow.

For anyone who likes proper Sci-fi stuff, try the expanse series by S.A.Corey or any of the Iain M Banks Culture series.

Yes I'm quite enjoying it, it is a bit more adult based then some of the other fantasy books I read.

https://www.fantasticfiction.com/w/brent-weeks/

Link to his books with a description, his Night Angel books are also very good. If you say what Fantasy you've enjoyed I might be able to recommend some other series.

 

[Lazkir]

Or if you fancy reading of what Sci-Fi authors of the 1950s and 60s thought of the future given their 1950s understanding of such as computing and space travel...try the master of the genre from back then - Robert Heinlein.

Some of what he writes would have seemed truly Sci-Fi and incredible at the time - but we can recognise it as being real today - way ahead of the timescales he set his stories in. And when you read of in the here-and-now you are set thinking of the stuff he writes of that isn't with us - yet...and with some you recognise the seed with us today.

Oh definitely, have read quite a few of his along with the other master (Asimov). I do enjoy the odd nostalgia trip and enjoy re-reading some of the classics!

Yes I'm quite enjoying it, it is a bit more adult based then some of the other fantasy books I read.

https://www.fantasticfiction.com/w/brent-weeks/

Link to his books with a description, his Night Angel books are also very good. If you say what Fantasy you've enjoyed I might be able to recommend some other series.

Thanks for that will give it a try after I'm done with my next few books.
Obviously I've read all of the Tolkien stuff, as well as the SOIAF stuff. I've even enjoyed that pompous ass Rothfuss's Name of the Wind and it's follow ups, shame he'll never ever finish the third and final book.
Also have read Robin Hobb, Sanderson, Michael Sullivan, Jordan Roberts, Anne McCathrey and loads more that I've forgotten. More than happy to hear some recommendations though!

 

[Paperboy]

Thanks for that will give it a try after I'm done with my next few books.
Obviously I've read all of the Tolkien stuff, as well as the SOIAF stuff. I've even enjoyed that pompous ass Rothfuss's Name of the Wind and it's follow ups, shame he'll never ever finish the third and final book.
Also have read Robin Hobb, Sanderson, Michael Sullivan, Jordan Roberts, Anne McCathrey and loads more that I've forgotten. More than happy to hear some recommendations though!

The third Rothfuss book is out next year according to Fantastic Fiction website August 2020, I really enjoyed those two books.

If you liked most of the ones above then you should enjoy the authors below.

Jim Butcher - The books would be classed as young adult, very easy reading at times very dark and humorous.
Anthony Ryan - I enjoy his books, the one critism is they can end a bit abruptly at the end of the series.
Peter V.Brett - One series so far with a totally new theme for fantasy, Loved the series and he is now writing a follow up trilogy. Set 15 years after the last series.

 

[patricks148]

Barnet and Tewkesbury by PW Hammond

 

[Lazkir]

The third Rothfuss book is out next year according to Fantastic Fiction website August 2020, I really enjoyed those two books.

If you liked most of the ones above then you should enjoy the authors below.

Jim Butcher - The books would be classed as young adult, very easy reading at times very dark and humorous.
Anthony Ryan - I enjoy his books, the one critism is they can end a bit abruptly at the end of the series.
Peter V.Brett - One series so far with a totally new theme for fantasy, Loved the series and he is now writing a follow up trilogy. Set 15 years after the last series.

Bib, I admire your optimism.. that site has been saying it's out the following year for the last seven years I think

Thanks for the recommendations, I'll look them up!

 

[HomerJSimpson]

About to revisit The Practice Manual by Adam Young and some NLP stuff I have knocking about

 

[Deleted member 16999]

Just finished The First Casualty, the untold story of the Falklands War and NP8901, superb reading.

 

[SwingsitlikeHogan]

Finished Pied Piper by Nevil Shute this morning. That it's Armistice Day made the concluding few chapters very poignant.

I first read this as a school reader in the early 1970s - I recalled I read it but couldn't recall the story nor how I felt about it. For it paints a rather unexpectedly graphic picture of an elderly English gentleman travelling with a group of young children across France in the summer of 1940 as Hitler's armies drove into and across the country towards the channel. That it is quite as graphic as it is, is hardly surprising since it was written in 1942 - and it is odd, today of all days, reflecting that I first read this story not much more than 30yrs after it was set - and there have been many more than 30yrs passed since that first reading - and 1990 seems not that long ago.

It's short novel at 250 pages - but I suggest worth reading as a simple reminder of some of the horrors of that war, and why today we can remember with gratitude the lives of those who fought and died for the peace across Europe that most of us have been fortunate to have lived our whole lives.

 

[patricks148]

just fin Substance inside new order by Hooky

 

[Wolf]

Currently reading Fear Bubble by Ant Middleton. Really good read so far abiut how to face fears and improve mindsets whilst following his journey up Everest.

 

[SwingsitlikeHogan]

Got Billy Connolly’s Tall Tales and Wee Stories from Santa. Dipping into it i read it with his (and my own) Glaswegian voice and i just love it. When I read it aloud to my wife with his voice she cracks up ? - more so perhaps because she loves Glaswegians and how chatty and open they are to strangers - even English ones like herself ?

 

[Norrin Radd]

Got Billy Connolly’s Tall Tales and Wee Stories from Santa. Dipping into it i read it with his (and my own) Glaswegian voice and i just love it. When I read it aloud to my wife with his voice she cracks up ? - more so perhaps because she loves Glaswegians and how chatty and open they are to strangers - even English ones like herself ?[/QUOTE)

That's on my shopping list to buy,love the big yin ,he cracks me up big time ,exceptionally funny man[

 

[Fade and Die]

Any good? I'm fed up of fantasy aimed at teenagers.

Currently listening/reading World Engines Destroyer by Steven Baxter, it's interesting but a bit slow.

For anyone who likes proper Sci-fi stuff, try the expanse series by S.A.Corey or any of the Iain M Banks Culture series.

Thanks for the steer on this, downloaded the 1st book and am throughly enjoying it.
Don’t know if you have read Adrian Tchaikovsky “Children of time”?.... Highly recommended.

 

[Norrin Radd]

Currently reading Martina Cole ,THE TAKE , London gangster stuff ,very gritty and nothing left to the imagination ,she really knows what it's all about

 

[srixon 1]

Because it was free I downloaded the complete works of Charles Dickens onto my Kindle. I tried to read A Tale of Two Cities but had to give up after just a couple of chapters. Not sure if I will bother with anymore of his stuff if they are all similar to that.

 

[Lord Tyrion]

Just finished the latest Bernard Cornwell, The Sword of Kings. I've loved this series but this book showed the first signs of tiredness.

Next up is Mortal Mischief by Frank Tallis. It is the detective the recent Vienna Blood TV show is based on. I enjoyed the show so I am trying the books.

 

[SwingsitlikeHogan]

Because it was free I downloaded the complete works of Charles Dickens onto my Kindle. I tried to read A Tale of Two Cities but had to give up after just a couple of chapters. Not sure if I will bother with anymore of his stuff if they are all similar to that.

I’ve read a lot of Dickens the last 5yrs. I find that you have to read it slowly to take it in - I think we actually skim read or only half read much of what we read today - you just can’t do that with Dickens. And you have to accept that the way Dickens writes in serial chunks you’ll often have to be going back to find out who’s who and what he or she was last doing - his stories have dozens of characters - some matter more than others, some don’t really matter at all - they are there to build a picture. As he wrote in serial format his readers had plenty of time to read each ‘episode’ - so give yourself plenty of time - give your read as long as it takes. Last I read was Barnaby Rudge - all 800 pages of it - it’s all there to be savoured.

I find the experience of reading Dickens all-enveloping and marvellous when you immerse yourself in the world he creates. My advice is to take it easy, enjoy the detail of the description, and persevere.