What are you reading?

It's a matter of priorities, I guess. I've been a heavy reader since childhood, so I tend to default to reading whenever I'm not actively doing something else. These days I do the bulk of my reading on tablet or Kindle, because it means I don't need to find physical storage for new books. There are a few series I still buy physically (e.g. Sanderson's Stormlight Archives books), and I tend to buy non-fiction in physical book form because it's easier to mark up and use for reference.

It helps a lot to not have kids, too. Those things are a massive time sink.

I, too, have the Stormlight Archive books in hardcover. Those books are tomes,
and I the art and maps really help understand the story.

Are there any series you enjoyed and recommend?
 
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This afternoon I completed "She is the Darkness", which is one of the Black Company novels, the second in the Glittering Stones series. I'm still getting used to the fact that Croaker is no longer the main protagonist, at least he's still a part of the story and I do like the new narrator, and the person he's grooming to replace himself at one point. Lots of stuff happens in this book, and most of it is pretty awful for the Black Company boys. I'm about thirty pages into the next book now, "Water Sleeps".
 
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Holy crap, dude. What's your secret? Do you prefer an eReader or physical book?

I’m about 250-300 per year, ereader as lighter and books cheaper than physical books. No kids, also unable to work through chronic illness, so leaves games and books as major recreation. Also, if you look on good reads I’m not close to the top!

In terms of book sizes etc., here is my year from goodreads (average book length is about 250 pages). https://www.goodreads.com/user/year_in_books/2019
 
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I just realised that link won’t work, my goodreads identity is Keith Frampton that may show you my stats for 2019. I can’t see as I am asked to sign as it knows(cookie?) it is me.
 
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Ulisses Games has made a few "Brevier" books for TDE, showintg the world of Aventuria through the eyes of adventurers there. They are also available in English language : This, for example : https://www.ulisses-us.com/product/the-dark-eye-heros-breviary-of-the-warring-kingdoms/

Apparingly the others are not translated yet, which is imho quite a shame, because they show Aventuria through the eyes of its inhabitants.

I had been reading through all of them (inclusive the one of the new sister-RPG system "The Dark Cat"), now the one about Havena, the huge town, is the last remaining. I do hope that there will be more in the future.
 
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I completed "Water Sleeps" early Christmas eve morning, and wow, what a read. This is the first book since the original trilogy that I believe compares favorably with those novels, and a huge part of that reason being that no one seems safe anymore. That's all I'm going to say on that book, as I'd not want to even come close to ruining it for anyone else. I'm already a hundred pages into the final novel, "Soldiers Live", and the flavour has changed dramatically.
 
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This morning I finished Soldiers Live, the final novel of the Black Company series. I'd never read past the fourth book before, and while some of them meandered a bit with weird prose and side-stories that baffled, I'm glad I've finally read them all. The series wraps up well, and no single person is safe as always in these books, no matter how long they've been part of the tale, a person can die at the drop of a hat. Anyone's hat!!
The ending is satisfying, as Croaker evolves into something that well suits him, and a few others also get finales that seem befitting. The company at the end is forever changed, still existing but will continue in an entirely new form. However, for the most part, many people die. Soldiers live. And wonder why.
 
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Finished Alien: Prototype and it turned out a lot better than I thought it would.

However, I'm now reading Alien: Echo and it's T E R R I B L E.

My own fault for not doing my research, but it's essentially a teenage romance set in the Alien universe.

Talk about an extremely poor combination.
 
So after spending the last month or so reading the entire Black Company saga, I wasn't sure what I wanted to read next. Then I was walking by my shelves and saw the Last Kingdom cover, picked it up, and that's what I read. I chugged through the first book in two days, this morning I grabbed book two, Pale Horseman, and have already made a dent in it. When you've not read some Cornwell for a bit, you can forget just how great the writing is, so now I'll be rereading this entire series.
 
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I blew through Pale Horseman fairly fast, likely due to just how good the book is, to the extent that you just cannot put it down. A lot of Alfred's early days are chronicled in this tome, and you can really see the type of man and king he is, if you read between the lines. I'd pay a great deal of money to see some of this tale with Alfred as the point of view character, because he really must have a seriously low opinion of Uhtred. Time is indeed a harsh mistress!
 
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And book three is done, The Lords of the North barely lasted a day in my greedy hands. My computer playing time is way down but reading time is soaring!! The third novels sees a few past situations fully resolved, and the stage set for some future intrigues. Alfred and the protagonist become even more intertwined, and how that will all play out is of course the stuff of which legends are made!
 
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Just completed the 3rd Harry Potter (Prisoner of Azkaban). Quite enjoying the books, for years I avoided it and thought it was for puberty audience only. How do other books in the series compare to the first three?
 
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Just completed the 3rd Harry Potter (Prisoner of Azkaban). Quite enjoying the books, for years I avoided it and thought it was for puberty audience only. How do other books in the series compare to the first three?

Context: I read the books aloud starting when they were above my kids’ reading level and turning into a fun family tradition (they re-read the first 6 books in a week before the last book arrived).

First off - all 7 books are excellent, and with each ‘year’ the kids age, subject matter ages with them, and the world gets increasingly dark. Well worth reading! In my opinion after the first three books JK Rowling was given too much freedom and too little editing. I really noticed it with Book #4 in certain sections - doing all the voices myself took its toll :).
 
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Just finished 26 Marathons by Meb Keflezghi, running legend and inspirational person. Loved the book overall - the structure is simply marathon by marathon, but inside there are tons of side-stories taking us on his family’s escape from violence in Eritrea when Meb was young, all the way through his retirement at 42 after the NYC marathon in 2017. I found it dragged a bit in the middle - was more about strategies, dealing with injuries and training that all bled together ... but the last 10 marathons were so full of great stories!

About halfway through Catch and Kill by Ronan Farrow, about Harvey Weinstein, looking at the incredible influence powerful people have to get away with crimes, influence news cycles, and make people fear for their lives. Reads like a spy thriller more than non-fiction (because of the subject matter, not because it doesn’t seem real)
 
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I finished Sword Song yesterday, which is book four of the Saxon Tales. In this book Alfred doesn't get a lot of coverage, the main focus is on the protagonist, which is ok but I really read these books to follow Alfred's tale. Still, it is a great story and growth in some characters which will become quite important in a few of the later novels. I've started on book five today!
 
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I finished Sword Song yesterday, which is book four of the Saxon Tales. In this book Alfred doesn't get a lot of coverage, the main focus is on the protagonist, which is ok but I really read these books to follow Alfred's tale. Still, it is a great story and growth in some characters which will become quite important in a few of the later novels. I've started on book five today!
Let it be said again I love that author and most of his novels.

Have you read his Warlord Chronicles or Grail Quest novels yet?

I'll even recommend his Civil War series called the Starbuck Chronicles.
 
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I've read most of the Sharpe novels, but I don't own them. I plan on picking those up at some point. I do own the Warlord Chronicles and reread them often, I consider them to be the very best of the Arthurian tales. I've not read the Grail series yet, another one on my radar. I've not even read all of the Saxon tales up to this point, I have read through book ten in the past and just ordered book twelve yesterday so this time through I'll own them all and finish the entire set.
 
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Today I finished the Burning Land, which is book five of the Saxon stories. Finally, finally in this book Uhtred has had enough of Alfred's stuff, hits the road and heads up north to take back his family property, except.....he doesn't. Another oath that he'd made comes back to haunt him, and instead of fulfilling his own personal quest, he's drawn back into the plot that will eventually result in the formation of England.

Of course, all that is still quite some years away.
 
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