For those that are not already dead, it is a written or printed work consisting of pages glued or sewn together along one side and bound in covers. And for the dead not sitting on a cloudy cushion, I read dead people.
Billy Summers - Afghan war sniper who is a hit man Revelator - backwoods Tennessee family and their "god". The author wrote Spoonbenders which I highly recommend.
I think King shines when he doesn't have supernatural elements, or those elements are carefully hidden in the background. If he wanted to, he could write the next Great Gatsby, but thats just not how he's wired.
Agreed.... I enjoy reading those with the supernatural, but I really like those that are just good stories that are plausible.
Lifespan by David Sinclair It's been a long time since I've read about genetics and molecular biology and chemistry and all that shizz so I'm reading it slowly. After I finish I'm gonna reward myself and read How To Lose The Time War, which is apparently a great short scifi.
Midnight in Chernobyl by Adam Higginbotham. Outstanding, 8/10. Incredible technical detail described in a digestible way, builds a sense of drama and, tells personal stories.
In Sum of All Fears, Tom Clancy spent 5 pages in technical detail explaining one split-second — the failure (how a fizzle happens in “digestible terms”) of the nuclear bomb explosion at the Super Bowl ... pretty captivating
That's the copy I have, the dictionary at the back helps but it does get a little annoying having to flip back and forth. Nah, the 2nd book (Messiah) was lit. The foreword for it kinda gave away a main plot point of the book but also the explanation regarding why FH wrote it was intriguing. Honestly, seeing the alternative as Paul just gaining more and more power and being a comically perfect hero character would've been really dumb. I'm on the 3rd installment now (Children of Dune) and I'm pretty happy with it too. The "power" that the characters can obtain and the world building as mentioned above is great. Will probably switch it up after this one instead of continuing with the rest of the series though. I got John Dies at the End and want to give it a go.
I was sick and more or less bedridden for a week and continued on my Laird Barron tear. I pointed out before but it bears mentioning again that this guy was a heavy influence on True Detective's creator Cary Fukunaga. It becomes more and more obvious the more of Barron's books you read. It's also really weird to mix cosmic horror with fever dreams. X's for Eyes was a book about two teenage Johnny Quest types in the 1950's and how they discover some cosmic horror stuff. Very adult- they score with some prostitutes at the beginning of the book. The Croning is told from the point of view of a doddering old man in flashbacks as he slowly pieces together a lifetime of puzzles that come together in a fairly scary climax. It's also a vague retelling of Rumpelstiltskin. I then read Barron's Isaiah Coleridge series (3 books). They're about an ex-hitman turned private detective. It's very well done, very hard boiled, lots of action and great prose. Characters are well fleshed out and the stories are very riveting. Coleridge is a badass but he is mortal. I think it's a series that the CF Hangout crowd might enjoy. Something to note with these books is that they all seem to happen in the same general world/universe. All I have left for Barron is short stories so I might skip over to a new author for a while. I like longish books that take me a few days to finish.
I've been a big book reader most of my life and would try to teach myself practical things to help in whatever I was focused on. Mostly do audio books now due to time and currently reading/listening ot Atomic Habits by James Clear. It's a pretty well known book and I do some of these things he's listed but he really gets into tactics and a few new ones which I liked. Atomic Habits Audiobook Amazon regular book or Kindle
Really enjoying the fantasy series Stiger by Marc Edelheit that combines human legionaries, elves, dwarves, and magic into a Roman like military thriller. There's a total of seven books that are separated into two series, Stiger's Tigers and Tales of the Seventh. Pretty fast-paced with a focus more on legionary life, legionary maneuvers, and legionary battles with a decent amount of world building.
Interesting. I'll have to check it out. I listened to the audiobook of Throne of Bones by Vox Day a few months ago. Very similar premise- Roman setting for humans with other classical fantasy races in the background. The political intrigue wore me down and I eventually got in to it by the end of the book.
Sounds like a trip. I'm a longtime fan of SF and fantasy, but also really into historical fiction. While I haven't read this, not yet, for "pure" historical fiction, set back in the early days of the Empire and fact based, it's hard to beat Ben Kane's The Eagles of Rome series. It's a trilogy of novels that revolves around the epic battle that literally changed history, the Battle of the Teutoburg Forest in the year 9 C.E., which saw the destruction of three Roman legions, and it's aftermath. Rome sought it's revenge, which isn't nearly as well known. An excellent read.
I'm reading the Three Body Problem series and the Stormlight Archives series. A lot to consume on both levels, but enjoy them both. On book 3 of 3BP and book 4 of SA.
Just finishing the novel Double Blind by St Aubyn. A little pointy-headed in that all the characters are unbelievably smart and curious about big questions, but a fun read. Just wickedly funny in parts, and a few of the characters are really compelling.
