Books, Books, Books

[Sondi]

I want to leave a shoutout to the Shannara Chronicles on here... My husband and I watched the TV show (cheesy AF, still enjoyed it), which inspired me to start reading the first book series. The first one (Sword of Shannara) is like a blatant copy of LoTR for the first half or so and then picks up, but the second one (Elfstones of Shannara) is awesome, and now I'm 1/3rd of the way through Wishsong of Shannara and really enjoying that as well.

It scratches that cozy-fantasy not-too-dark & gritty itch that I seem to get in the fall. Plus there are tons and tons of books, so I can stay in the same world for a while

 

[Vanyanka]

I'm finishing up Snow Crash by Neal Stephenson. It's an iconic cyberpunk novel and I'm really liking it even though his writing is a little strange to me. It has a huge amount of information to absorb but it's all interesting so I don't see that as a negative.

Worth giving it a shot even if it isn't your usual genre of choice.

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/830.Snow_Crash

 

[Vanyanka]

Carl Hiaasen just released a new book! His later ones generally aren't quite as funny as his earlier classics but still definitely worth reading. My favorites by him are probably Sick Puppy and Striptease. That changes though depending on my mood.

He and P.G. Wodehouse are the two authors that have made me laugh out loud so hard, I couldn't continue reading for awhile.

 

[Kerek]

@Riss

Nothing I've read recently stands out, but some stuff from the last few years:

Fantasy

Erikson, Steven - Gardens of the Moon
Scholes, Ken - Lamentation
Bakker, R. Scott - The Darkness That Comes Before
Brett, Peter V. - The Warded Man
Ryan, Anthony - Blood Song
Stover, Matthew Woodring - Heroes Die
Sanderson, Brandon - The Way of Kings
Donaldson, Stephen R. - Lord Foul's Bane
Jordan, Robert - The Eye of the World
Wight, Will - Unsouled
Sullivan, Michael J. - The Crown Conspiracy

Sci-Fi

Howey, Hugh - Wool
Donaldson, Stephen R. - The Real Story
Lee, Patrick - The Breach
Naam, Ramez - Nexus
Winters, Ben H. - The Last Policeman
Tregillis, Ian - Bitter Seeds
Gregory, Daryl - Pandemonium

Modern Fiction

Coupland, Douglas - Hey Nostradamus!
Haddon, Mark - The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time
Loory, Ben - Stories for the Nighttime and Some for the Day
Miller, Keith - The Book of Flying

 

[Sondi]

@Riss

Nothing I've read recently stands out, but some stuff from the last few years:

Fantasy

Erikson, Steven - Gardens of the Moon
Scholes, Ken - Lamentation
Bakker, R. Scott - The Darkness That Comes Before
Brett, Peter V. - The Warded Man
Ryan, Anthony - Blood Song
Stover, Matthew Woodring - Heroes Die
Sanderson, Brandon - The Way of Kings
Donaldson, Stephen R. - Lord Foul's Bane

Sci-Fi

Howey, Hugh - Wool
Donaldson, Stephen R. - The Real Story
Lee, Patrick - The Breach
Sigler, Scott - Alive
Naam, Ramez - Nexus
Winters, Ben H. - The Last Policeman
Tregillis, Ian - Bitter Seeds
Gregory, Daryl - Pandemonium

Modern Fiction

Price, Daniel - Slick
Coupland, Douglas - Hey Nostradamus!
Haddon, Mark - The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time
Loory, Ben - Stories for the Nighttime and Some for the Day
Miller, Keith - The Book of Flying

I've tried to start Gardens of the Moon twice already -- I've heard the payoff is well worth the initial investment of the first book, but things keep coming up and then I have to take it back to the library. I guess I should just buy a copy so I can take my sweet time!

 

[El Pablo]

Carl Hiaasen just released a new book! His later ones generally aren't quite as funny as his earlier classics but still definitely worth reading. My favorites by him are probably Sick Puppy and Striptease. That changes though depending on my mood.

He and P.G. Wodehouse are the two authors that have made me laugh out loud so hard, I couldn't continue reading for awhile.

This is actually a sequel to Bad Monkey, both are great.

 

[El Pablo]

I've been reading Life and Death in the Andes: On the Trail of Bandits, Heroes, and Revolutionaries by Kim MacQuarrie. It's a fantastic read that should spark your interest into learning more about the people he seeks out in his 4400 mile trip through the Andes. I've pretty much stopped after each chapter to either read more about people or watch movies/documentaries.

 

[Thegross_1]

I've read every single one of these and I wish he'd hurry up with the next one! Have you read his other series?

I know, I started reading them 2 years ago, so I had over a dozen books to read, and now I wished I would have spaced them out.
I have been meaning to but haven't gotten around to it.
Have you read the Cal Leandros series by Rob Thurman? I would put them up there with The Dresdan Files.

 

[Vanyanka]

Interesting...

http://fiftybooksproject.blogspot.com/

 

[Melancholy]

Rereading The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath. It's my favourite book :smile:

 

[Vanyanka]

I know, I started reading them 2 years ago, so I had over a dozen books to read, and now I wished I would have spaced them out.
I have been meaning to but haven't gotten around to it.
Have you read the Cal Leandros series by Rob Thurman? I would put them up there with The Dresdan Files.

Just bought the first book in this series. Thanks for the recommendation!

 

[Thegross_1]

Just bought the first book in this series. Thanks for the recommendation!

Any time! Let me know what you think!

 

[Jaded]

@Riss

Nothing I've read recently stands out, but some stuff from the last few years:

Fantasy

Erikson, Steven - Gardens of the Moon
Scholes, Ken - Lamentation
Bakker, R. Scott - The Darkness That Comes Before
Brett, Peter V. - The Warded Man
Ryan, Anthony - Blood Song
Stover, Matthew Woodring - Heroes Die
Sanderson, Brandon - The Way of Kings
Donaldson, Stephen R. - Lord Foul's Bane

Sci-Fi

Howey, Hugh - Wool
Donaldson, Stephen R. - The Real Story
Lee, Patrick - The Breach
Sigler, Scott - Alive
Naam, Ramez - Nexus
Winters, Ben H. - The Last Policeman
Tregillis, Ian - Bitter Seeds
Gregory, Daryl - Pandemonium

Modern Fiction

Price, Daniel - Slick
Coupland, Douglas - Hey Nostradamus!
Haddon, Mark - The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time
Loory, Ben - Stories for the Nighttime and Some for the Day
Miller, Keith - The Book of Flying

/me sighs and writes all of this down.

 

[Vanyanka]

I'm diving into Team of Rivals tonight. Anyone read it?

 

[Jaded]

http://www.cbc.ca/news/entertainment/miranda-kingkiller-chronicles-1.3873034


Hmm.

edit: When I saw Kingkiller Chronicles trending on twitter I got really excited that it was the third one.

 

[BirdPerson.]

There are a few i've been swapping between pretty frequently the past few weeks, really... I only ever read when i'm on the train any more sadly, but i've been mostly back and forth between "civilizations" by Felipe Fernandez-Armesto and "Knights of Charlemagne", which is just a collection of stories about Charlemagne and, you guessed it, his knights (but paladin sound at least 3 times as cool so i dunno why they never went with that).
I read "Samurai William" a few months ago, which is supposedly a reasonably accurate true story (as much as it can be, being set in the late 1500s to early 1600s) about a ship builder from London called William Adams who ends up living in Japan and it is awesome. If you're into that kind of thing i guess.
Also i know this is going to be new to very few people, but Lovecraft is great, especially as audio books when you're half asleep and get some dude with a creepy ass voice over some crackly old-style recording. Try it if you will. Remember to hail Azathoth.

 

[Vanyanka]

The researchers found that becoming engrossed in a novel enhances connectivity in the brain and improves brain function. Interestingly, reading fiction was found to improve the reader's ability to put themselves in another person’s shoes and flex the imagination in a way that is similar to the visualization an athlete would do while mentally rehearsing a motion in sports.

"Our study suggests that exercising your brain by taking part in activities such as these across a person's lifetime, from childhood through old age, is important for brain health in old age," concluded co-author Robert S. Wilson, PhD.

I thought this was an interesting quote from "Psychology Today." I thought it was a good excuse to read instead of turk, especially on days like today.

 

[electrolyte]

Does anyone use Overdrive? My public library offers access to it but I've never tried it. I have a Kindle Fire. My project today is to figure out how to set it all up. Are there any good books on Overdrive? Do they have recent publications or just older stuff? Any thoughts on the Overdrive thing and how to best use it?

 

[broomperson]

Does anyone use Overdrive? My public library offers access to it but I've never tried it. I have a Kindle Fire. My project today is to figure out how to set it all up. Are there any good books on Overdrive? Do they have recent publications or just older stuff? Any thoughts on the Overdrive thing and how to best use it?

I use it occasionally. Most library websites will have a help site with a tutorial. (If you haven't figured it out by now; I'm just now seeing the thread). I think it might be different for Kindle than other readers. They definitely have recent stuff; I'm about to use it to get the Carrie Brownstein memoir which came out in the past few months. More recent stuff you may have to get on a waiting list, though. I'd highly recommend it especially if you read a lot or read a lot of ebooks.

 

[Vanyanka]

Does anyone use Overdrive? My public library offers access to it but I've never tried it. I have a Kindle Fire. My project today is to figure out how to set it all up. Are there any good books on Overdrive? Do they have recent publications or just older stuff? Any thoughts on the Overdrive thing and how to best use it?

It's extremely simple. You basically just enter your library card. I use it constantly.