I hope to finish Wool tonight (got derailled from reading during vacation) and have Shift waiting on my dresser. So far Wool is pretty dern good.
Just finished Shift... awesome. I started Dust today... so far so good. Going down a different path once I finish Dust... Fallen Angel: The Passion of Fausto Coppi
Damn, your catching me. Shift was awesome. I went into Keto Clarity afterwards, so I'm not too far into Dust yet.
Dust was a great book as well... definitely a good finish to the series. I saw there's like a billion other books in the "series", but I have no intention on reading them. Three is more than enough for me. Shit gets real about half way through Dust...fyi. I'm about halfway through The Martian now too. Great book so far, and amazingly funny. I like that Matt Damon plays the main character, I bet he's gonna be kickazz in the movie (when I decide to watch it). He definitely fits the part well...
So I finished Wool, Shift and Dust. They were all good books, but I have to say I was a little underwhelmed with how the series ended. I was kind of hoping for something a bit more dramatic/suspenseful, but it was still enjoyable nonetheless. I think the series peaked with Wool. I could have just read that one and felt like I got a great story. I've now read 5 Hugh Howey books and they have all been good reads, he's definitely towards the top of my favorite authors list. Last week I read Fallen Angel: The Passion of Fausto Coppi. That was a really interesting read about one of cycling's all time greats. It was really an eye opening book regarding cycling in the 40's and 50's as well as a great look into Italy's war torn past and how important cycling was for them. I wish they gave more indepth details about his racing exploits and less about his personal life, but it was still a good book. The weird thing was that the book didn't really follow a timeline all that well, so it bounced around quite a bit which made it kind of hard to get a clear picture on when he was truly dominant. I will say this, he was a messed up dude. For someone who was as apparently as incredible and dominant on a bike as he was, he was mentally a glass figurine... weak and easily broken! For my next book I decided to shift gears again and go with something a bit different: The Rising by Brian Keene. It's basically a book about a Zombie Apocalypse. Which may or may not have been caused by the use of flu shots by millions of unsuspecting individuals @d0n
So I finished The Rising last Friday. It was pretty mediocre. It's apparently a bit of a cult classic, but I didn't really get into it too much. I like the idea behind the story, but it just wasn't executed well. The funny part is that this is the author's first published book and he admits in the foreword that he would do certain things differently if he was writing it now. I started Lexicon by Max Barry yesterday and am really enjoying it.
I'm about half way through reading The Eye of the World by Robert Jordan. So far, it's okay pace-wise (not too fast and not too slow) and the author makes it easy to visualize what is happening to the good guys.
Finished Lexicon by Max Barry yesterday. Super cool book with a really interesting plot about the power of spoken word. It's clearly fiction, but perhaps it was even a bit further 'out there' of an idea than I originally anticipated... but still very enjoyable and really well written. Highly recommend. Started The Crystal Cave by Mary Stewart this morning. It's apparently about the back story behind Merlin the wizard. I've never read a fantasy style novel but I wanted to switch things up a bit and it came on a recommendation from my dad. So we'll see how it goes...
On the way from Seattle we listened to Atlas Shrugged on audio book. I don't know why I put off reading this book for so long. It was a very good book. It reminded me a lot of the comedy show "Last Man Standing", it wasn't funny but a lot of digs were made against the government. If you're a liberal, socialist, or someone who is anti-business this would probably not be a good book for you. If you are a little fed up with what seems to be a pussification of the general public, a non-logical reasoning that everyone can equally accomplish the same things, and a lack of accountability throughout our society, this might be a good read for you. As for the Jungle. The first 1/3 of the book was great. The rest kinda faded off as it turned in to a call for socialism. It's definitely a good read if you think your life sucks and you can't catch a break, the main charector has the worst luck of any human. If you eat potted meat, sausage, or are on the fence about eating meat, this book will probably influence your future decisions on said habits. If you're anti-union and anti-socialism, this book will help you understand why people find the two as options. Pretty interesting look (though fiction) of what the poor go through.
I recently heard about Atlas Shrugged and added it to my list of 'must read' books... it sounds very interesting.
I read about 1 book a year(doesn't take a year to do it but just don't read too many). Check out The Harbinger by Jonathan Cahn. Couldn't put it down.
So over December I got quite a bit of reading in with finishing The Crystal Cave and The Hollow Hills by Mary Stewart. They are both part of a fictional series about Merlin and King Arthur. They were good reads but not really my type of genre so i decided to skip the last book in the series and get back to my more modernist/futuristic preference. The first book I picked up was call Machine Man by Max Berry. I read another book of his earlier in 2015 call Lexicon and really liked it so I had high hopes for MM, but unfortunately it didn't live up the standards in Lexicon. At least it was a really quick read and I was able to get through it in just a few days. I've since started a new book written by my favorite author, Alastair Reynolds, called On The Steel Breeze. I've been a huge Reynolds fan for years so I'm really looking forward to getting further into this book. So far I'm about 50 pages in and it's great, but still a bit cryptic.
I read each night and go through 6-8 books a year (because I fall asleep so fast). Primarily sci-fi fantasy. - I think when this thread got started, I was reading The Martian in anticipation of the movie - I can recommend them both! - I also read something mentioned in this thread but didn't realize it- the first two books of Red Rising (and the third one showed up from Amazon a couple of weeks ago) - READ THESE THEY ARE VISUALLY GREAT! - Nick, I've read all of The Wheel of Time series and while I kind of think it's a bit too romantic or maybe sophomoric fantasy, I still enjoyed it on the whole. - Based on this thread, I read Wool (finished last night). I hate to go against the grain, but I found it a bit boring. With that said, the way the novel came about is pretty interesting - apparently first written as a short story and then added to later based on reader input. - Dune. All of them. OK, it's like 15-20 books or so, but damn some the stuff from the Butlerian Jihad "era" is freakin' graphic! Detailed evisceration while the subject is alive, comes to mind. Awesome! The later novels are pretty tame by comparison, and frankly boring in the writing style. - The Saga of Seven Suns - based on the fact Kevin J. Anderson wrote this - coauthor of most of the post Herbert Dune books mentioned above, I read this series a few years back. Great, great visuals! - Do NOT read Hellhole or its sequels, also written by Kevin J. Anderson and Frank Herbert's son (can't remember his name). They did not do as good a job as they did collaborating on Dune. - Ready Player One - I agree with the above. It was fun. - Ender's Game - Also fun, and I read all of the sequels and enjoyed them. Off the sci-fi and fantasy stuff for a bit, y'all need to read the Liz Salander books - if you can get through the first ~1/2 of The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, you'll be hooked. Warning, the first 1/2 is some kinda slow reading, but totally needed and totally worth it. Erik Larson writes some cool stuff. The Devil in the White City depicts 1890's World Fair in Chicago and all of the trials and tribulations associated with getting it done and outdo to the previous WF in Paris - the one in which they unveiled the Eiffel Tower! But there was a plot twist - a serial killer set up shop near the WF. Really historically interesting with a touch of sinister! Along with this one, I recently read his novel Dead Wake about the sinking of the Lusitania. He really writes in a way that keeps you engaged, and while apparently historically accurate, he brings to light new dimensions that nobody has really put together in a meaningful manner. My wife didn't like Devil in the White City (and therefore chose not to read Dead Wake), but she loved In the Garden of Beasts about Nazi's and such. I plan to read that one soon. If you like Knights Templar stuff, I loved a book called The Last Templar by Raymond Khoury. Really interesting and action packed. Back to the sci-fi - Starship Troopers by Robert A. Heinlein is even better than the movie if that's possible. I have read 3 of his other books, The Puppet Masters being the only other one I would recommend. - For some really funny fantasy, read some of the Discworld series by Terry Pratchett. You don't need to go in order (there may not be an actual order to the books - but they do connect sort of). Try for starters, The Fifth Elephant. You'll laugh and be intrigued. - Of course, I read all of the Lord of the Rings and Hobbit books and that's where I got my start loving this stuff. - Terry Brooks first ~7-8 Shannara books are great as well. I've read them all, but admit they lost their way as the series dragged on, but you've got to read at least through the Wishsong of Shannara (so the first 4). - Oh yeah! A Game of Thrones - I've read all 5 of them and can't wait for another one!! - One of my first and still a favorite is The Integral Trees by Larry Niven. Also Ringworld and a Mote in God's Eye, but if you read anything from him, read The Integral Trees. And finally, but not really in any order (none of this was), I read all of the Star Wars books that became movies up through Episode 3 (so 6 books). I didn't go into any offshoots. They're fast and easy reads if you like that kind of stuff. Not sure why I wrote all of this, but hopefully somebody can get some enjoyment out of some of the suggestions and avoid some time wasting by not reading some of the stuff I've read but didn't really like.
Oh geeez. I know where to go next I want to tune out. When I pickup even mediocre sifi series I can't put it down. Ruins my life/training for weeks. Thanks!
Hooray! I love when this thread gets traffic... If you guys haven't checked out any Alastair Reynolds stuff, I highly recommend it. Especially if you're interested in more of the realistic side of science fiction. He's an astrophysicist by trade and an smazing author and, as far as I'm concerned, does as good a job as anyone when it comes helping the author visualize what he's writing about. But he keeps things in a solid realm of possibility due to his background. I've also just finished the last of the Old Man's War series from John Scalzi. It's another great set of books, he's a real solid author. Though I couldn't pit any of his stuff against Reynolds. Same genre, extremely different execution. @dirtbag I agree about Starship Troopers. Awesome book. Another great sci-fi military style book is Armour by John Steakly. It's one of my all-time favorites. Unfortunately now that i'm driving into work everyday instead of taking the bus I'm not reading as much. So I haven't gotten made as much headway in my 'must read' list as I'd liked.
