What are you reading now?

I just bought a used copy of The Alchemist. I believe the 'gift edition', I'll post a picture of it. 

Ian F (Forum Supporter) said:

David S. Wallens said:

Last night, I finished the third in Arthur C. Clark's Space Odyssey series.

3001 arrives today. We'll see if it answers some questions that I have.

It's been many years since I read the first 3 - I need to go back and read them again.  I have 3001, but I don't think I've read it yet (I have so many books in my "need to read" pile/list).

Currently, I'm reading Ghost Train to New Orleans (The Shambling Guides, 2) by Mur Lafferty. It's a fun read.

I read the first two books a long time ago, and glad I went back to the start. They read quickly, and I find them enjoyable. 

In reply to David S. Wallens :

I read 2001 back in high school. I think I actually ended up reading it like 4 times, since I'd read so far past each weekly assignment that I'd have to go back and re-read the chapters we were going over for that week. Needless to say, I aced the test for that book; partly because I knew the book so well and had so many thoughts about it and partly because the test was an in-class essay and at the time I had mastered the 5 paragraph essay format. 

Current read:  The Book Of Night by Holly Black

First 'adult' novel by 'young adult' author Holly Black, published in 2022.  I haven't read any of her other work but they appear to be set in the intersection of the faerie and contemporary worlds.

This one is set in the contemporary real world, about 5-10 years after the discovery of 'magic' via the direct manipulation of people's shadows as an entity distinct from the physical body.  The main character is a young marginal / lowlife type woman who is attempting to straighten up her act amidst her cohort of young marginal / lowlife types.

So far it is pretty good, though I am not yet convinced I actually like any of the characters.  I'm not too far into it.

Previous read:  Singularity by Bill DeSmedt

Debut novel (2004-ish) by an older gentleman putting together a lifetime of his amateur interests in a variety of fields.  I picked this up at random out of the sf section at my local library.

I grabbed it after seeing that it centered around the Tunguska cosmic event of 1908.  I have a minor fascination with this event and the mystery that surrounds it.  It made a decent basis for an entertaining contemporary science fiction thriller that contained enough actual hard science to provide a little depth.  A bit amateurish in the characterizations and dated by its attempts to throw in every bit of the very latest in high tech offered by 2004.

Caveats aside, it was a fun and easy read.

In reply to Ian F (Forum Supporter) :

Cool. You might enjoy the later books. 

Last week or the week before I read Edward Snowdons Permanent Record. I knew going in that it was more of a memoir leading to the leaks, but I was hoping for more. More information, more detail, more something, it left me lacking. 

After that, I read The Disturbance (hard science fiction), no really that's how it's title is listed on Amazon,  I think by Miles Roberts. That was a quick read. I think he didn't know how to end it because the last third just kind of went sci-fi cliche. But leading up to that final third was a really interesting story on a long term journey to alpha centauri. 

Now, in into the first book of a trilogy, the Black Badge series. It's a magical kind of fantasy, heaven vs hell, but set in the wild west. I wanted something different, and it's definitely different. I like it so far, but I'm not deep enough to really pass judgement.

Finally reading Franny and Zooey.

Hopefully some reading this time later today. 

Finishing "Surprise, Kill, Vanish" by Annie Jacobsen.  It's about CIA assassination programs and is fascinating.

Just finished Band of Brothers and have moved on to How to draw cars the Hot Wheels Way. I just realized that I haven't changed in 50 years. (Although I did recently read Man's Search for Meaning by Victor Frankyl, so maybe there's hope)

Just finishing "How to Build a Car" by Adrian Newey.  It's excellent. 

stroker said:

Just finishing "How to Build a Car" by Adrian Newey.  It's excellent. 

 

Excellent! I read it a few years ago. I shared it with a friend. We were both educated as engineers. We both appreciated it and loved it.

Finished the Odyssey series last night, with the final book answering some questions I had from the earlier ones. (No spoilers, of course.)

This will likely be next. 

And on the way: The Collected Stories of Arthur C. Clarke. It's 976 pages long. 

I'm trying once again to get through The Silmarillion by Tolkien. I'm further than ever before, but still not far enough to be interested. This might be the 8th time I've tried in 40 years.

In reply to llysgennad :

The Silmarillion was really nothing more than an excuse for Tolkein to invent the Dwarvish and Elvish languages.  It's really no surprise you've never made it through.

Duke said:

In reply to llysgennad :

The Silmarillion was really nothing more than an excuse for Tolkein to invent the Dwarvish and Elvish languages.  It's really no surprise you've never made it through.

 

Not worth it, it's on my shelf and I've never tried a second time.

just finished a David Baldacci book, the newest in the Archer series called Dream Town that was an OK read.

In reply to Duke :

Since the new Amazon series is (loosely?) based on it, I thought I'd give another try before (if?) I watch that.

Mrs P3PPY and I decided midday Thursday to leave town. As it started getting tired outside a few hours into an all-night drive I pulled up Audible and for a change I knew exactly what I wanted: Clear and Present Danger by Tom Clancy. 
I just recently re-read Hunt for Red October (also after a 30 year gap) and this is noticeably more well written with interesting character backstories and all. A good yarn. 
There's so little I retained from CaPD, it's almost a new read for me. 
 

From my recollection, CaPD was also even better as a movie, just like HfRO

P3PPY said:

Mrs P3PPY and I decided midday Thursday to leave town. As it started getting tired outside a few hours into an all-night drive I pulled up Audible and for a change I knew exactly what I wanted: Clear and Present Danger by Tom Clancy. 
I just recently re-read Hunt for Red October (also after a 30 year gap) and this is noticeably more well written with interesting character backstories and all. A good yarn. 
There's so little I retained from CaPD, it's almost a new read for me. 
 

From my recollection, CaPD was also even better as a movie, just like HfRO

I'm repeating myself, but I really wish somebody like HBO would do a single season miniseries of "Red Storm Rising" and "Hunt for Red October" so they could have plenty of time to put the whole book in...  

Duke said:

In reply to llysgennad :

The Silmarillion was really nothing more than an excuse for Tolkein to invent the Dwarvish and Elvish languages.  It's really no surprise you've never made it through.

 

My experience with the Silmarillion was my ex- listening to it as an audio book while she was doing something else.  Sounds like a good way to "read" it. 

Just finished The Lions of Al-Rassan by Guy Gavriel Kay. I highly recommend it.

It's like if George RR Martin were a good author.

Historical based fiction with a quarter-turn towards the fantastical. Not actually our world, but a pretty obvious analogue based on a historical period in which to tell an original story. This one is based on a stand-in for the Spanish peninsula after the fall of the Khalifate, as Spanish analogues gear up for war with Muslim analogues.

Take a story like GoT and boil it down to just the good stuff, discarding all the rest. Make it a self-contained story that wraps up in one book.

The writing and pacing are excellent. So many of his scenes play out like thrillers where you know things are on the verge of going VERY WRONG for someone, but you're not sure how, to whom, or when. You'll be surprised though. He knows exactly how long to follow a thread before throwing in a twist. Imagine the verbal sparring of Jane Austen, only not dragged out for as long, and the threat of being murdered as a consequence for missteps in conversation.

stroker said:

P3PPY said:

Mrs P3PPY and I decided midday Thursday to leave town. As it started getting tired outside a few hours into an all-night drive I pulled up Audible and for a change I knew exactly what I wanted: Clear and Present Danger by Tom Clancy. 
I just recently re-read Hunt for Red October (also after a 30 year gap) and this is noticeably more well written with interesting character backstories and all. A good yarn. 
There's so little I retained from CaPD, it's almost a new read for me. 
 

From my recollection, CaPD was also even better as a movie, just like HfRO

I'm repeating myself, but I really wish somebody like HBO would do a single season miniseries of "Red Storm Rising" and "Hunt for Red October" so they could have plenty of time to put the whole book in...  

YES! I cannot get enough Red Storm Rising. 
I'm 2/3 through Clear and Present Danger and have to retract my statement that it might have been better as a film. The movie was great but there's just so much more to the book, like the whole subplot with the dirty cops and the Coast Guard. 
 

I have simultaneously started in on Empire Rising by Rick Campbell. It's probably a schoolboy crush at work, but it's hard for me to read anyone else's technothriller and not feel like it's a ripoff of Clancy's work. I'm trying to suspend disbelief on this one. The characters are mostly as little developed as in Red Storm Rising, so hopefully Campbell isn't later in the book going to try to leverage concern about their fate. 
I'll report back about how it goes. 

Is there anyone reading the "Reality Bleed" SciFi series...?  Local library doesn't have it so I suggested it for purchase.

I just realized that I've read over 80 books this year alone.  For me, the Kindle Unlimited has been great.  My local library digital selection was OK, but I found it kinda lacking.  The KU has lots of b-list authors and tons of mainly mind candy space opera books series.  So, I've just been consuming series like popcorn. Sadly, I'm pouring through them so quickly, that they're all starting to munge together for plotlines and characters. And, TBF, they're not quite up to things like The Expanse series, so my retention is limited. But, it's better than watching tv.

Couple of standouts, though.  The Bobby Adair Slowburn series is good.  It's a zombie series based in Austin, TX, so I may be a bit biased on that one.  Daniel Arenson's Earthrise series's are decent, too.  

-Rob

I just re-read Dave Barry Big Trouble. This and Insane City are the only books that I can read again and still giggle uncontrollably after multiple reads. I'd forgotten the movie adaptation of Big Trouble was supposed to have a huge release but that was planned for 9/21/01 and because part of the plot had "terrorists with a plane" it got pushed off and off and finally released only to bomb.