What are you reading?

I finished book four of the Outlander series and quite enjoyed it. Most of this novel takes place in the American colonies, roughly seven to eight years before the revolutionary war will be taking place. It does a great job of portraying just how rough life must have been back then, certainly when you compare it to how easy we have it nowadays, in some respects.

Now I'm onto a book called Witch of Tin Mountain.
 
Joined
Oct 18, 2011
Messages
18,795
Location
Holly Hill, FL.
I am 3/4 of the way through the monster known as Dust of Dreams, which is itself essentially only half of a 800k+ word behemoth of a novel that ends the Malazaladingdong series.

I was expecting it to be disappointing. The author even states in a foreword that it might be, but to "have faith" because the pay off is in the next volume.
But still, he could have seriously gutted more than half of what I've read so far and there be no difference. He's topped himself when it comes to self-indulgent blather.
 
Joined
Oct 18, 2006
Messages
2,245
Location
New Zealand
I just started reading a book I've always meant to and just never got around to it, Jefferson: the Art of Power. I'm a huge fan of Jon Meacham so I'm pretty certain I'll thoroughly dig this.
 
Joined
Oct 18, 2011
Messages
18,795
Location
Holly Hill, FL.
I breezed through that Jefferson book far quicker than I thought I might. Meacham writes in a way that keeps a reader interested, even when reciting history and facts he does it in a way that's not dry or boring. An excellent read, if anyone should be interested in one of the founding fathers of early America.

Now I'm back to the Outlander series with book five, A Fiery Cross.
 
Joined
Oct 18, 2011
Messages
18,795
Location
Holly Hill, FL.
Wrapped up A Fiery Cross today, another great entry in the Outlander series. All of this volume takes place in North Carolina and, while the homestead area is fiction, much else is based on reality so I enjoyed reading content taking place in an area that I lived in a few decades back. I've already requested the next book!

Right now I'm about a third of the way through another Connelly book, Void Moon. This one features a new protagonist, Cassie Black, an ex-con with some serious baggage. So far it's pretty good.
 
Joined
Oct 18, 2011
Messages
18,795
Location
Holly Hill, FL.
Finished with Void Moon, and it was pretty good. I like this new character in the lead, and will gladly read more novels featuring her, should they be forthcoming.

Now I'm back to the Dublin Murder squad series with book two, the Likeness. Hooked me in under five pages!
 
Joined
Oct 18, 2011
Messages
18,795
Location
Holly Hill, FL.
I wrapped up the Likeness this morning, a very different read from the first book in the series yet totally enjoyable. I like how the focus this time was on Maddox and some of her thoughts about the prior case and people involved were intriguing, to say the least. I wonder if each book will have different points of view, that could be really good, assuming the rest are like the first two.

Now I'm on to book fourteen of the Bosch series, Nine Dragons.
 
Joined
Oct 18, 2011
Messages
18,795
Location
Holly Hill, FL.
Last night I finished reading Nine Dragons, a solid entry in the Bosch franchise. This book, roughly a third of it, moves the action to Hong Kong for a bit, which was a nice change of pace, seeing Harry out of the country.

Now I've started with my next book, Daisy Jones and the Six. I've been a fan of the band for decades, the real band that the book is about, Fleetwood Mac, so I'm curious to read how the progress will translate into a book, and I believe also it's supposed to be a telly series at some point.
 
Joined
Oct 18, 2011
Messages
18,795
Location
Holly Hill, FL.
I completed Daisy Jones and the Six, it was a decent read. The perspective was a bit unusual, basically told in paragraphs from several different points of view, yet it made for a comprehensive narrative, though at times you'll be questioning the accuracy. I look forward to seeing what the telly version will look like, when it airs.

Next up for me is a nonfiction account of the life and times of Daniel Boone. I've read several of these years ago, this one is more recent and so far seems to have a lot more detail.
 
Joined
Oct 18, 2011
Messages
18,795
Location
Holly Hill, FL.
I wrapped up the Boone book this morning, by far the best look at his life yet that I've encountered. The only skimpy part seemed to be his political endeavors, yet that's somewhat understandable, given what he was truly known for.

Now I'm reading Cherry, by Nico Walker, on the recommendation from a classmate.
 
Joined
Oct 18, 2011
Messages
18,795
Location
Holly Hill, FL.
Ugghh, that Cherry book, perhaps some might care for it, not my cuppa at all. One never to re-read and I'll likely avoid the author in the future.

I started Not That Kinda Girl earlier today, I suspect I'll be through it rather quickly.
 
Joined
Oct 18, 2011
Messages
18,795
Location
Holly Hill, FL.
Just finished reading book 9 of the Expanse series. A solid read and I find it quite impressive that they could maintain such a decent quality for all 9 books. Most fantasy/sci-fi series I find that the first 3-4 books will be good and then they decend into repetition. They largely managed to avoid that by constantly keeping the story moving - it does maintain a good balance between character building and plot though. In a way it also made me see that it was good that they wrapped up the tv series on book 6 because there is no way they could of delivered book 8 in that format after they cut one of the most important characters due to alleged sexual harrasment. The relationship between Bobby and Alex was of central importance in book 8.
 
Joined
Oct 18, 2006
Messages
3,086
Location
Sigil
Agreed, the Expanse novels are all quite good, even the collected short stories are well worth reading. The telly show is slightly enjoyable, the books are much more in depth, and I know I'll be re-reading them often.
 
Joined
Oct 18, 2011
Messages
18,795
Location
Holly Hill, FL.
That Kinda Girl I wrapped up early yesterday, it was ok. Way too much whinging for my liking, though it might appeal to others.

I'm now reading a book on George Washington, as I've a report to do on him in two weeks. I've of course read books on him before, yet in the past twenty to thirty years it seems much more now is known about many historic figures, so I'm always running into new details.
 
Joined
Oct 18, 2011
Messages
18,795
Location
Holly Hill, FL.
I have bought myself the second book of the series "Mishap's Heroes", the first was "Magic and Misuse", the second one is called "Death and Devotion".
I have oly read the first book so far, but I like it.

It is a fantasy series, with a typical fantasy adventurers group, consisting of Paladin, Magician, Monk, Ranger.
The book's writing is modern, one can read that the author is experienced, yet the setting is a typical fantasy one - albeit with more swamp than expected - similar to Dungeons & Dragons' Saltmarsh, maybe.

Apparingly it had been on Kickstarter, and I'm a bit sad that I didn't read about it here.

The heroes of the book are ... as the series' title suggests ... "Mishap's Heroes". They've got to go through some serious mishaps, but suceed in the (unlikely) end.
It has imho everything a good book has, but please don't expect it to be a bestseller. It's just good, and it entertained me well.
Therefore, I plan to read through the rest of the series.
 
Joined
Nov 5, 2006
Messages
21,908
Location
Old Europe
A few days ago I had to dip out of the Washington book that I'm doing research on because another book came in, so I knocked that one out which was a Breath of Snow and Ashes, book five in the Outlander novels. Again, all of this story takes place in colonial America, mostly in the North Carolina area near the piedmont, an area I lived in for a while so it's interesting to read about. The character cast is getting huge, with lots of children coming along as well as more colonists being involved. It ended on a pretty intriguing point so I'll be curious to see what happens in the next book.

Now I'm onto a Bosch book, the Drop. I've chugged through a third of it so far and, just like all the other books in the series, it's pretty good!
 
Joined
Oct 18, 2011
Messages
18,795
Location
Holly Hill, FL.
I wrapped up the Drop this morning, a more dour Bosch book, considering his interactions with many of the characters within. Many of his issues, at least I believe, are of his own creation in how he treats/interacts with others. I'll look forward to the next Connelly book, as I'm always intrigued to see who the protagonist will be in each volume.

Now I'm back to the Washington: A Life book, as I've a paper due on him in under two weeks!
 
Joined
Oct 18, 2011
Messages
18,795
Location
Holly Hill, FL.
I finished the Washington book this afternoon, and it was both delightful and informative. The author does a superb job of giving you tons of information without making the book too dry. There was plenty I already knew yet lots of new information as well.

And now I'm on to the next Outland novel, An Echo in the Bone.
 
Joined
Oct 18, 2011
Messages
18,795
Location
Holly Hill, FL.
Disworld. I plan on binge-reading the entire series. Just started The Color of Magic, about the failed magician Rincewind, and the tourist likely to, during a thunder storm, stand at the top of a hill, wearing bonze armour and yelling "All the gods are bastards".

My favourite Discworld novels in no particular order:

1. Pyramids.
About the assassin wannabe Teppic who by going to the somewhat egyptian Djellibelly is "encouraged" to become the king Pteppic. It is also about mathematics.

2. REAPER MAN
Where DEATH takes a couple of days off. I'd definitely like to hire him to mowe my lawn. Also introduces the Death of Rats (the Grim Squeaker).

3. Men at arms.
Where we learn that attacking a werewolf is regarded as self inflicted injury. And the importance of cooling for (brain) computing.

pibbuR who admits that most of these references are likely to cause confusion among Discworld unconnoiseurs, but claims that there is an obvious solution for that.

PS. Finishing the series will take me more than a year. I'm a slow reader, unlike the Carnifex which no doubt will get the job done in a couple of weeks. DS
 
Joined
Nov 11, 2019
Messages
2,097
Location
beRgen@noRway
Back
Top Bottom