I got halfway through book 9, then quit, for exactly the same reason you're citing. Nothing friggin' happened. I doubt I'll ever finish that series.
Counting down the days until Words of Radiance is release. In the meantime, I'm back on The Way of Kings.
PACIFIC CRUCIBLE War at Sea in the Pacific, 1941-1942 By Ian W. Toll I just finished this history of the early days of the Pacific War, from Pearl Harbor to the Battle of Midway. A very enjoyable read. Not a ground breaking book, but for those who don't know much more about that theater than what they've seen in the movies, this is an excellent way to learn more. I've read a great deal about the war in the Pacific, and could have easily become bored, but didn't. Toll is an excellent writer. I can also suggest his history of the early days of the US Navy, Six Frigates. Fiction? What can be better historical fiction that Bernard Cornwell? I'm halfway through The Pagan Lord, and it's another terrific novel in his series about the days around the time of Alfred the Great, King of Wessex, who was crucial to the formation of what we know today as England. Seen through the eyes of a Saxon pagan, a believer in the gods of the Danes and the other Norsemen, it covers decades. This just might be Cornwell's best series yet. I'm beginning to think so. The first novel is The Last Kingdom. If you love historical fiction, and I do, you can't do better than this, particularly if you like action. Cornwell is one of the best at describing battles, possibly the best. Check it out!
Suarez rocks. If you haven't read Daemon or Freedom, I would recommend those as well. Influx is supposed to be released this month.
After getting interested in reading again, I decided to give The Black Echo by Michael Connelly a read. It's pretty dang interesting so far.
I am reading a rare and strange historical book, in German. It is the Brieftagebuch of Max Planck, Carl Runge, and two of their college friends. it spans 47 years from the late 19th century to the early 20th century in Germany, and it is both heartbreaking and amazing. Just to watch famous (science) people getting old, changing, sharing their thoughts and family tragedies with one another. It reminds me of my favorite movies, the Seven Up / Fourteen Up / etc. series. I'm using it, in part, as background reference for a book I'm writing.
I went on a marathon Michael Connelly binge after reading The Black Echo. Superb isn't too strong a word to use in praise of Connelly's Harry Bosch novels. I ended up reading every one of them, as well as his other works. Enjoy! -
I read the first three Bosch novels in a marathon reading session late last year. I'll get back to that series at some point. I'm reading The Janissary Tree by Jason Goodwin. This has been in my read pile for a long time.
I have just re-read the entire Saxon Chronicles series. Highly recommend it, especially the first one, The Last Kingdom, which I consider the best in the series. Cornwell is the master of pace, which makes for very enjoyable reads.
I put Last Kingdom in my read stack a few years back on Deckard's recommendation. I'm going to have tackle that one soon. I've heard nothing but rave reviews.
I've been on a serious reading blitz, mostly sci-fi, since 2014 started: ***************************** I read the entire 'Milkweed Triptich' trilogy: Bitter Seeds, Coldest War and Necessary Evil, by Ian Tregillis. Most of the action happens during WWII in Great Britain and Europe and concerns two competing groups: Nazi supermen v.s. British blood magicians. Via the world changing powers these two groups create, the story eventually delves into alternate timelines and time travel. The timelines are very well written and researched as there are small tidbits and era colloquialisms skillfully interjected throughout the books that kept my e-book's dictionary busy. The Milkweed Triptich trilogy utterly fascinating and the best written piece of literature I've read since I discovered the Silo Saga series by Hugh Howey. Tregillis is a very well rounded and intelligent writer, and it shows. Very dark, but a must read for any Sci-Fi lover. A+ ***************************** I also read the 'Dire Earth Series': The Darwin Elevator, The Exodus Towers, and The Plague Engine, by Jason M. Hough. This series is set 200 years in the future and deals with a mysterious alien race that set up a space elevator in Darwin, Australia. Several years later, the aliens return and drop a virus on the planet that kills most of the people, with most of the remainder being turned into animialistic beast men called subhumans. A very, very tiny fraction of humanity is immune to the virus. The area around the space elevator is the only pocket of earth that is protected from the virus by a mysterious aura. The stories center around the main character and his band of immune scavengers. The covers to these books are a little hokey and I wouldn't have given them the time of day if I saw them in a bookstore...but who goes to bookstores any more? I usually read reviews for books before reading these days and these books were fairly highly rated. I enjoyed them to a point, but what kept me coming back was the mystery of the aliens. Worth a read if you want some action and light sci-fi. B+ ***************************** I discovered that the newest book in the 'Silo Saga' by Hugh Howey, Dust. Any sort of details I post here would be a major spoiler so I will just say that it's on par with the rest of the series. I suggest anyone who likes reading, period, pick up the first five books (which vary in length from short story to novel length) that have been bundled into the great Wool Omnibus. A+ for Dust, A+ for the Silo Saga/Wool series overall. ***************************** The next thing I read was recommended on several 'best sci-fi books of 2013' lists, Parasite, by Mira Grant. The story is based in the late 2020's and centers around a vastly popular biologically engineered tapeworm that the majority of humanity has gotten implanted to increase their overall health. Of course, something is going wrong and we see events unfold around a woman who woke up with absolutely no memory after being pronounced brain dead. The beginning of the book hooked me in with it's fun premise but I almost immediately started nit-picking the small nuances (cell phones with buttons 15 years from now?) that are left out of this 'sci-fi' book due to the dull writing. While not overly mushy, the book does focus a little bit too much on the romantic relationship of the protagonist. The book starts to fall apart as it draws to conclusion and the climax can be equated to getting away with stealing the daddy's car last night. I wouldn't recommend this book unless you know someone who is interested in parasites, bio-engineering or crooked pharma-corps. I really liked the premise but the execution mostly failed. I think I would have had better expectations had Parasite been pitched as a young adult book (it's not, but could have easily been re-worked that way). I can absolutely see this book being made into a movie...but it's not an automatic that I would see it. C- ***************************** I'm currently reading the first book in the Thomas Covenant fantasy series, Lord Foul's Bane, by Stephen Donaldson. So far it's pretty fantastic, although the anti-hero, Thomas Covenant, is grating on me...but that's intentional, I think, so I'm being patient. This book and most of the sequels came out in the 70's and 80's, and I have no clue how they passed under my radar as I was a rabid fantasy reader from age six when I first read the Lord of the Rings trilogy and The Hobbit. The book has held up pretty well and has some unique fantasy ideas, which is fairly shocking considering it's 35+ years old and there have been thousands of fantasy novels written since then. Some of the 1970's American colloquialisms seep through and strike me as incongruous, but I've always been hypersensitive about this sort of thing (I have a hard time reading older 'modern' fiction that takes for granted the reader's knowledge of the current socioeconomic awareness of the times....although I do applaud subtle interjections of the era memes currently written about past eras. But I will digress from this tangent). I love it when I can pick up a few new words from a book and Lord Foul's Bane delivers in spades as Donaldson's vocabulary is ample and he is generous with it's disbursement. I can't really grade this book as I'm around 60% in to it, but so far it's a solid A. I'll probably read Daemon next. It always seems to fall off of my radar when I'm looking for new books. Thanks for bringing it up.
I liked the two Thomas Covenant series. I know its a little weird since the protagonist does something amazingly horrifying in the first book (even though he thought it was a dream, its still messed up), but still I found the stories compelling. I never read the 3rd series...I just realized they existed a year ago. I read this book this weekend. I want to see the Clint Eastwood movie now. Its very 70s. Main character screws everyone without passion, just "releasing sexual tension so he can be prepped to kill his target." The author said it was meant to be a "spoof" of James Bond books.
Did you not read the Shift section of the series? Basically the lead up prequel to Wool that then ties into the beginning of Dust. The series was only ok for me. The writing wasn't great and there were too many impossible obstacles that were then fairly easily overcome. Not bad but I don't get the hype.
Yup- I only called it the wool series because that's what it's known as to a lot of people. I thought it was awesome but differen't strokes, knowwhatimsayin?
Oh I see I misread your ratings. Thought A+ for Dust and A+ for Wool Omnibus. I see now how I mixed it up. Sorry.
Who here as read Infinite Jest? How long did it take you and would you recommend it? I dont think I can dedicate all my reading time to one book of that length and depth, but I wouldnt mind reading it along side some other books that I wanted to check off my list.
I got about 100 pages in and had to quit. I'm sure I'll re-visit at some point in my life, like maybe when I win the lotto and don't have **** else to do all day for like 40 days straight. About halfway through The Plague by Albert Camus.
