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NFT: Haven't seen a book thread in while - what're you reading?

bc4life : 6/11/2021 11:16 am
Just finished - "Masterless Men: Poor whites and slavery in the antebellum south."
Guadalcanal Diary, by Richard Tregaskis.  
Klaatu : 6/11/2021 11:28 am : link
I've always liked the movie (imdb.com link below) based on the book written by War Correspondent Tregaskis, but for some reason I never got around to reading the book itself...until now.


Guadalcanal Diary (1943) - ( New Window )
Star Wars: Thrawn  
Jints in Carolina : 6/11/2021 11:28 am : link
.
Voices from the Korean War...  
BamaBlue : 6/11/2021 11:33 am : link
by Richard Peters and Xiaobing Li. It chronicles unpublished stories compiled from American, (North and South) Korean and Chinese Soldiers. Individual stories in first-person document their accounts and perspective on the Korean War.

Very interested in the Korean War, since I had two Uncles who fought in that war (Army 7th Division and 5th Marine Division) and I was stationed on the DMZ with the Army in the 1980's.
History of Byzantium by John Norwich  
Metnut : 6/11/2021 11:41 am : link
Author does a great job giving a narrative history and really throws in a ton of cool background stories that make the narrative great to read.

Roman Empire didn’t fall in 476, and there’s a whole load of wild action for the next thousand years regarding the later empire.
For 2nd time, "Blue Gemini" series  
D HOS : 6/11/2021 11:49 am : link
Fictional story taking place during Nasa Gemini and Apollo space programs about a parallel Gemini powered program to disable Russian satellites. Very boring/interesting. I like the historical descriptions and references, especially about the space stuff. I can almost believe we had something like this in reality - maneuvering off the books Gemini capsules near to Russian satellites to either destroy them or put a little random thruster box on them to keep changing their position and orbit to make the Russians focus on nonexistent issues with nav and control.
RE: Star Wars: Thrawn  
superspynyg : 6/11/2021 11:49 am : link
In comment 15284561 Jints in Carolina said:
Quote:
.


Love these books
Have you read
The Thrawn trilogy
Palpatine
Or the Bane series?
The Three Body Problem  
JerseyCityJoe : 6/11/2021 11:53 am : link
It is a stunner.
RE: RE: Star Wars: Thrawn  
Jints in Carolina : 6/11/2021 11:59 am : link
In comment 15284582 superspynyg said:
Quote:
In comment 15284561 Jints in Carolina said:


Quote:


.



Love these books
Have you read
The Thrawn trilogy
Palpatine
Or the Bane series?


Working on the trilogy....great stuff.
Just finished  
BigRoss71 : 6/11/2021 12:03 pm : link
Hiroshima by John Hersey. Originally published in 1946 but added a follow up chapter in the early 80s on the six survivors originally profiled. Although straightforward and not a long read, it definitely makes you think about the human cost of war.

At the moment ...  
River Mike : 6/11/2021 12:06 pm : link
Too Much and Never Enough
...  
SFGFNCGiantsFan : 6/11/2021 12:08 pm : link
Caro's 'The Passage of Power', chronicling Johnson's time as VP/elevation to President after Dallas. It's a great series.
Project: Hail Mary  
Fat Wally : 6/11/2021 12:20 pm : link
By Andy Weir who wrote The Martian.

Fantastic book, humanity is on the brink of collapse due to a cosmic algae that's gobbling up sunlight. (writing that out now, makes it sound dumb.. but it's not)

If you like pseudo realistic sci fi like The Martian than this one is fantastic. I can't put it down.
Killing the Mob  
Jimmy Googs : 6/11/2021 12:22 pm : link
Bill O'Reilly...
I have three books right now I'm reading  
pjcas18 : 6/11/2021 12:30 pm : link
Sooley by John Grisham

Blackout How Black America Can Make Its Second Escape from the Democrat Plantation by Candace Owens

and

Discrimination and Disparities by Thomas Sowell

they're all riveting and enlightening in their own ways.

RE: Just finished  
BamaBlue : 6/11/2021 12:36 pm : link
In comment 15284596 BigRoss71 said:
Quote:
Hiroshima by John Hersey. Originally published in 1946 but added a follow up chapter in the early 80s on the six survivors originally profiled. Although straightforward and not a long read, it definitely makes you think about the human cost of war.


This is one of those books that stays with you. I read it at a much too early age in the late 60's. My dad drove a bus in the city and people left books on the bus that he gave to me (he never read a book in his life). There was nothing at that time that could desensitize a 9 year old to the descriptions in that book. I don't for one second regret reading it, but it sure played a role in shaping my perceptions of the world.
RE: Project: Hail Mary  
D HOS : 6/11/2021 12:38 pm : link
In comment 15284614 Fat Wally said:
Quote:
By Andy Weir who wrote The Martian.

Fantastic book, humanity is on the brink of collapse due to a cosmic algae that's gobbling up sunlight. (writing that out now, makes it sound dumb.. but it's not)

If you like pseudo realistic sci fi like The Martian than this one is fantastic. I can't put it down.


I read that one not too long ago. One of my favorite books! I love things in sets of threes.
I'm reading a lot of  
Bill in UT : 6/11/2021 12:43 pm : link
David Baldacci consecutively on audio books when I walk. Also sneaking in a Willow Rose book on my Kindle when I'm home
Fire and Blood  
jvm52106 : 6/11/2021 12:53 pm : link
right now.
RE: I'm reading a lot of  
pjcas18 : 6/11/2021 12:54 pm : link
In comment 15284631 Bill in UT said:
Quote:
David Baldacci consecutively on audio books when I walk. Also sneaking in a Willow Rose book on my Kindle when I'm home


Just finished a Gambling Man. sort of a new series from him about Aloysius Archer (One Good Deed is the other), but it was very good and I like the character,.
"The  
AcidTest : 6/11/2021 1:21 pm : link
Little Ice Age, How Climate Made History, 1300 - 1850," by Brian Fagan.
I recently burned through Mark Nolan's Jake Wolfe series.  
Klaatu : 6/11/2021 1:25 pm : link
Non-stop action, couldn't put 'em down. The adventures of Marine (and CIA) veteran Jake Wolfe and his "partner," Cody, the war dog that served alongside one of Wolfe's now-deceased ex-Marine buddies.
Baldacci  
Hazlet Giant's Fan : 6/11/2021 1:25 pm : link
Gambling Man and new book by Jonathan Kellerman.
Just finished Peter F. Hamilton's "Salvation Sequence" trilogy  
NYerInMA : 6/11/2021 1:33 pm : link
Amazing stuff. He's definitely one of the best sci-fi writers out there.
Just finished Confederacy of Dunces this week  
mfsd : 6/11/2021 1:54 pm : link
one of the best I’ve ever read. Laugh out loud funny, with a satisfying ending.
Just finished book 4 of the Stormlight Archive Rythem of War  
Larry from WV : 6/11/2021 2:12 pm : link
And I'm almost done with Small Teaching as I prep for the start of grad school in the fall.
At the recommendation from a friend,  
Ceez2.0 : 6/11/2021 2:13 pm : link
I just bought "Live on the Margin".
I've been reading  
Bubba : 6/11/2021 2:41 pm : link
several novels by Kyle Mills. Among others he took over the Mitch Rapp series after Vince Flynn passed away. Some of his stuff is wild. He wrote a book about 6 years ago featuring Mitch Rapp based on a global pandemic started by a group of terrorists.
A couple of years ago someone  
Gene : 6/11/2021 2:48 pm : link
gave a heads up for novels written by James Rollins. His books (both the Sigma Force series and his stand alone's) are a lot of fun. Right now I'm about halfway through "Ice Hunt".

I've also started/getting ready to start several new series that I'm looking forward to. . . . Jack Reacher, Inspector Troy, Maigret, etc.

Has anyone read "The Yalta Boulevard Sequence", by Olen Steinhauer? It's about a police detective squad in a fictional capital city in Eastern Europe during the mid-50's. I've read the first installment (Bridge of Sighs) and it looks to be a good series.
RE: History of Byzantium by John Norwich  
thomasa510 : 6/11/2021 2:52 pm : link
In comment 15284575 Metnut said:
Quote:
Author does a great job giving a narrative history and really throws in a ton of cool background stories that make the narrative great to read.

Roman Empire didn’t fall in 476, and there’s a whole load of wild action for the next thousand years regarding the later empire.


Sounds like someone is about to read way too much about Iconoclasts and Anti-Iconoclasts.

Always left the period thinking - did people really care about this or was it really about grazing rights or something financial?
Flavia de Luce series  
GrMtWoods : 6/11/2021 2:57 pm : link
By Alan Bradley.
Fine summer reads
RE: The Three Body Problem  
Zeke's Alibi : 6/11/2021 2:58 pm : link
In comment 15284587 JerseyCityJoe said:
Quote:
It is a stunner.


I tried starting that one, but the writing style turned me off, seemed very dry. Then I read Netflix was picking it up and just put it down. Love science fiction and certainly feel I"m in the minority on that one.

Currently reading The Soldier by Neal Asher which is very good.

The best I've read recently was a two-book series by Arkady Martine, The Memory Called Empire and a Desolation Called Peace. Just unbelievably fantastic. Even more so when you consider it's her first two novels. She was previously a historian for the Byzantine empire and a city planner. Extremely impressive woman, before those two novels she wrote like 4 or 5 short stories. Unbelievable you can just be that talented, it's almost fishy!
RE: Just finished Peter F. Hamilton's  
Zeke's Alibi : 6/11/2021 3:00 pm : link
In comment 15284675 NYerInMA said:
Quote:
Amazing stuff. He's definitely one of the best sci-fi writers out there.


Excellent series.

I really like the Culture series by Ian M Banks, really unfortunate he kicked the bucket early.

I have super high hopes for Arkady Martine moving forward, her books had it all. Tremendous world building, well written, and great characters.
I tried Demille's new book The Deserter and put it down  
Zeke's Alibi : 6/11/2021 3:03 pm : link
1 chapter in. John Corey is my favorite character in all of fiction, but Demille just sounds like an angry old man now. Rereading the series I could see Corey series I could see the pieces getting there. Almost feels dated and the guy definetly grew up in a different time.
RE: Just finished Confederacy of Dunces this week  
thomasa510 : 6/11/2021 3:05 pm : link
In comment 15284694 mfsd said:
Quote:
one of the best I’ve ever read. Laugh out loud funny, with a satisfying ending.


It came highly recommended to me but when I read it was a bit lukewarm to me. It was hard to like a character like that, partially as I know several people who are close to him in personality, but there were parts that were funny.

Not my favorite but a decent book.
‘Alien Oceans: The Search for Life in the Depths of Space’  
Trainmaster : 6/11/2021 3:17 pm : link
By Kevin Hand

I’m about 3/4 through it.

A very well done study of the possibilities of life in the theorized oceans under the ice on Europa, Enceladus, Titan, as well as Triton, Ganymede, Callisto and Pluto.


Alien Oceans: The Search for Life in the Depths of Space - ( New Window )
Frank McCourt's  
Marianne at PSU : 6/11/2021 3:52 pm : link
Angela's Ashes
Finding Tessa: Jaime Lee Hendricks  
ATL_Giants : 6/11/2021 4:15 pm : link
it's in the Gone Girl genre, I'd recommend it.
Also, the Three Body Problem  
ATL_Giants : 6/11/2021 4:16 pm : link
Trilogy of books.

Science Fiction, physics heavy, Chinese author but the English translation works pretty well.
RE: Just finished  
rebel yell : 6/11/2021 4:22 pm : link
In comment 15284596 BigRoss71 said:
Quote:
Hiroshima by John Hersey. Originally published in 1946 but added a follow up chapter in the early 80s on the six survivors originally profiled. Although straightforward and not a long read, it definitely makes you think about the human cost of war.
It's a great book. Should be required reading.
RE: Just finished Confederacy of Dunces this week  
rebel yell : 6/11/2021 4:24 pm : link
In comment 15284694 mfsd said:
Quote:
one of the best I’ve ever read. Laugh out loud funny, with a satisfying ending.
If only JKT had lived to write more than that and "The Neon Bible." He was incredible.
I should be reading  
pjcas18 : 6/11/2021 4:55 pm : link
Winds of Winter, but instead I get to hear about a George RR Martin Elden Ring video game and several GOT spinoffs/prequels for HBO.

I'm finally beginning to come to terms with the possibility I will never read the end of that story in my lifetime (or more likely not in George's lifetime but probably neither of ours).
RE: RE: Just finished Confederacy of Dunces this week  
mfsd : 6/11/2021 5:02 pm : link
In comment 15284761 thomasa510 said:
Quote:
In comment 15284694 mfsd said:


Quote:


one of the best I’ve ever read. Laugh out loud funny, with a satisfying ending.



It came highly recommended to me but when I read it was a bit lukewarm to me. It was hard to like a character like that, partially as I know several people who are close to him in personality, but there were parts that were funny.

Not my favorite but a decent book.


All good, to each our own of course. Ignatious was bizarre, but he cracked me up, and I thought the writing was superb. Having spent a lot of time in New Orleans, I enjoyed all the references to the environment there

John Kennedy Toole’s story is a damn shame, that’s for sure
RE: Also, the Three Body Problem  
Zeke's Alibi : 6/11/2021 5:11 pm : link
In comment 15284841 ATL_Giants said:
Quote:
Trilogy of books.

Science Fiction, physics heavy, Chinese author but the English translation works pretty well.


That's the main reason I had to put it down, the plot and character development seemed excellent, but something about the writing style turned me off. I was in the beginning of reading it (I think I got 1/3rd through first book) when it was announced there was going to be a TV adaption. I was stoked about because I thought it was bit of a chore to read and put the book down.
Code Breaker  
DonQuixote : 6/11/2021 5:57 pm : link
Walter Isaacson

History of the recent Nobel Prize winner and genome editing tech...
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