Which book are you currently reading?

[GBO Possum]

I have three streams going:-

1. A re-read of the George Smiley series of novels by John Le Carre, this time to read to my wife at bedtime.
2. "My Promised Land" by Ari Shavit (Because the Israel situation is very interesting. A great read.)
3. "Mein Kampf" by Adolf Hitler (Which might help me understand where my country could be going. Only just started.)

 

[DesertPenguin]

I decided to finally start this series that I've had for awhile. It's an Apocalypse Triptych. The first book is called The End Is Nigh. Book 2 is The End Is Now and Book 3 is The End Has Come. I'm reading through to see if any of the stories are of a pandemic-style event to see what happens there. Here's the description:

Famine. Death. War. Pestilence. These are the harbingers of the biblical apocalypse, of the End of the World. In science fiction, the end is triggered by less figurative means: nuclear holocaust, biological warfare/pandemic, ecological disaster, or cosmological cataclysm.

But before any catastrophe, there are people who see it coming. During, there are heroes who fight against it. And after, there are the survivors who persevere and try to rebuild. THE APOCALYPSE TRIPTYCH will tell their stories.

Edited by acclaimed anthologist John Joseph Adams and bestselling author Hugh Howey, THE APOCALYPSE TRIPTYCH is a series of three anthologies of apocalyptic fiction. THE END IS NIGH focuses on life before the apocalypse. THE END IS NOW turns its attention to life during the apocalypse. And THE END HAS COME focuses on life after the apocalypse.

THE END IS NIGH features all-new, never-before-published works by Hugh Howey, Paolo Bacigalupi, Jamie Ford, Seanan McGuire, Tananarive Due, Jonathan Maberry, Robin Wasserman, Nancy Kress, Charlie Jane Anders, Ken Liu, and many others.

 

[zzz_pt]

 

[kikie]

I'm not reading any books right now but I have been thinking of getting this book. Maybe a little bit more advanced but not much though. Seriously.

 

[Matej]

Could someone recommend me a good fictional street / circuit racing read? I can only find autobiographies and guides.

 

[Team THRT Drift]

Could someone recommend me a good fictional street / circuit racing read? I can only find autobiographies and guides.

Aidy Westlake series by Simon Wood. More of a murder mystery series in a circuit racing setting than a fictional racing plot.

Did Not Finish, and Hot Seat.

I'm reading this gem. Always been fascinated by the Huey and hoped of owning one until I read that they're not only rare, but also unavailable to civilians :/

There's maybe only a handful of ex-medevac Hueys for sale, the rest are sold for parts only.

 

[W3H5]

I can’t see a Vietnam era chopper without Flight of the Valkyries playing in my head.

 

[Team THRT Drift]

I can’t see a Vietnam era chopper without Flight of the Valkyries playing in my head.

For me it's Fortunate Son.

 

[VBR]

A State of Fear.

 

[Tired Tyres]

Gilles Villeneuve The life of the legendary racing driver. By Gerald Donaldson.

The prologue caused tears to land on the screen of my kindle paper white. It took me back to that day when I watched my childhood hero die. I can remember every little bit of that day, from playing with some cars on the floor at the end of my bed when the news came on the radio. I stopped and listened and felt sick. I walked downstairs and stood in the doorway staring at the television until the grandstand announcer confirmed that Gilles was dead. Before showed the sodding crash again complete with Gilles cartwheeling through the air into the catch fencing.

I then went back upstairs as I really needed to be very alone.

 

[CyborgGT]

Now this is my kind of thread! Currently have two going:

 

[W3H5]

I just finished this, and with it, the full trilogy of five.

 

[Roo]

Just finished this. It's written by Sir Terry's PA and latterly business manager Rob Wilkins, but Pratchett had a big hand in it as it was being written as an autobiography when he died. It's hard to read in places, particularly towards the end as Alzheimer's slowly claimed him, but it's still a great read for any fan of Discworld or Pratchett's other works as it has clearly been written by someone who spent a lot of time with Sir Terry.

 

[W3H5]

Halfway through this awesome story.

 

[SPhilli911]

I enjoy sci-fi books and I made it a goal to read all (or as many as I can) of the Alien(s) books this year, not including the movie adaptions.

 

[W3H5]

I enjoy sci-fi books and I made it a goal to read all (or as many as I can) of the Alien(s) books this year, not including the movie adaptions.

View attachment 1235603

I’ve read precisely one of the Aliens books.

 

[CyborgGT]

^ Coincidentally, I just watched the first movie again last night. I never knew it was based on a book.


Girlfriend got me this one for Valentine's day. If you have a dark and cynical sense of humor, I can't recommend it enough. It's an easy read (a fictional story), but the laughs are non-stop:

Other recents:

Researching my social shortcomings with this one. It really just ended up teaching me more about extroverts than revealing anything about myself that I didn't already know (naturally, as a serious introvert, I spend a ton of time in my head analyzing myself), but still a really good read.

I've been loving Joe Abercrombie's whole 'First Law' dark fantasy series, currently on the last of the stand-alone books outside of the two main trilogies:

 

[Bealdor]

^ Coincidentally, I just watched the first movie again last night. I never knew it was based on a book.

It wasn't. The books are based on the movies + additional expanding content.
Similar to the Star Wars Expanded Universe books.

 

[Def-Infinity]

Currently finishing up The Elusive Balance. Cold War. Yippee.

The next book on the list is supposed to be On Justice, Power and Human Nature, but I might just skip it for something else. Thinking The Professor and The Madman or Red Nile, since Ive had them sitting in my bookshelf for a few years now...

 

[Com Fox]

Was an idiot and missed that this was the main Book thread for a post like this trying to find a Book thread .

Over the course of the last year, I got really moved by the Wings of Fire book series which got more into Books in general. My initial interest was all the major characters are Dragon but it goes into some serious heavy personal subject matter with the first 5 main characters in the first 5 books about child abuse and differing trauma effects it has, got me crying throughout Books 1, 4 and 5 but I also really enjoyed the entire Pentology.

Also got into Book 6 and 7 and I'm enjoying the main characters and the first villain being a 1st Book villain, Scarlet coming back for petty revenge and being absolutely terrifying with nothing left to lose though the 2nd villain they are building up to Darkstalker, is kind of boring.

I did read the prequel Book, Legends Darkstalker to see if it makes him more interesting but while Darkstalker is interesting in the Book as a naturally born Psychopath who doesn't see himself as evil (which hits home a theme of some people are just born evil but you might not notice until its too late because they don't think they are), it doesnt make him interesting as this Voldemoort like figure who'll come back and kill everyone in the 2nd pentology.

Been more into the Graphic Novel adaptations as I do love the visual expressions of the characters, but so far its been an amazing series, though I'm worried once Scarlet goes down, the series goes downhill fast (theres already retcons from the 1st pentology that hurt)

Just to add, so this isn't a redundant post, I hear about a Book Series called Temeraire. A friend recommended it to me, referring it to as like the Napoleanic Wars but with Dragons, has anyone had any experience with this series?

 

[Brett]

I did not read enough in 2023. I need to pick it up this year. I may kick it off with Killers of the Flower Moon.

 

[zzz_pt]

 

[skydragon49]

I'm reading "The Hollow Hills" by Mary Sweart. It is the 2nd book of a trilogy about the Arthurian legends but the focus here is Merlin's story and background.

I'm almost half way through and there has been a lot of travelling and conversations and schemes being arranged. Kind of a slow book. I hope it picks up the pace in the 2nd half.

The first book of said trilogy, "The Crystal Cave" was much more of an enjoyable read.

 

[RetroVelocity]

I’m currently reading “Holes” by Louis Sachar (Very intriguing young adult detective novel that discusses themes such as poverty, injustice and racism) and “How to be an F1 Driver” by Jenson Button (Hilarious autobiography/ memoir about how life as an F1 driver isn’t all it’s cracked up to be)

 

[Fezzik]

I've completely run out of space for physical books. Whilst I wait for Kindle sales on my wishlist of new stuff I'm revisiting a couple of old favourite series' - alternating Discworld and Sharpe (in chronological order to fit the newer ones in the correct parts of the timeline).

 

[W3H5]

I’m rereading The Silmarillion for the 3rd time.

I’ve always put it down after the main story and ignored the appendices on bloodlines and pronunciation, this time I will attempt to complete the whole thing.

Then I’ll go back to Unfinished Tales which I’ve read half way through. It’s quite clear that Christopher Tolkien didn’t have the same writing prowess as his father.

 

[Liquid]

Books I've recently read:

The Looking Glass War
John le Carre

Atypical of the Smiley le Carre that I enjoy, it's a good book but the resolution feels flat but it's supposed to because the whole point is that the group are woefully unprepared and completely irrelevant in the grand scheme of things.

SS-GB
Len Deighton

A very good book that I thoroughly enjoyed. The dynamic between the two German superiors was a bit tough to follow but overall I really enjoyed this; speculative fiction about a post-Axis win is always interesting and it's up there with one of the better ones. It's not as good as Fatherland in that sense but it's written from a different perspective.

The IPCRESS File
Len Deighton

On the back of enjoying SS-GB, I was recommended to read IPCRESS having been told it's a spy classic. I really didn't like this one. The whole brainwashing explanation at the end was too confusing and it just didn't grip me.

Man In The High Castle
Philip K. Dick

Another axis victory story but another book I found disappointing. The world building was great, I really liked the idea of the Pacific States under Japanese suzereinty and the United States under Nazi suzereinty but I was really expecting the story to go somewhere. Apparently Philip Dick was really into eastern mysticism but I'm not and I just found the constant use of taoism and parallels to Chinese and Japanese mythology really boring and taking away from what could have been a much better story. The end was also exceptionally anti-climactic and the fading in and out of reality, ooh is this the way the universe should be??? was just too weird.

---

Book I am currently reading:

Crime And Punishment
Fyodor Dostoevsky

 

[David]

Man In The High Castle
Philip K. Dick

Another axis victory story but another book I found disappointing. The world building was great, I really liked the idea of the Pacific States under Japanese suzereinty and the United States under Nazi suzereinty but I was really expecting the story to go somewhere. Apparently Philip Dick was really into eastern mysticism but I'm not and I just found the constant use of taoism and parallels to Chinese and Japanese mythology really boring and taking away from what could have been a much better story. The end was also exceptionally anti-climactic and the fading in and out of reality, ooh is this the way the universe should be??? was just too weird.

I bought a PKD collection a few years back which contains quite a few of his novels and novellas and your last two sentences are more or less the underpinnings of most of them. I think he was just into various forms of spirituality/theology/mythology in general and it does permeate a lot of his works. If you read more you would also find that most of them end similarly. Sometimes drugs are involved, sometimes the supernatural or technology, but in the end reality is blurred. The end . His real life struggles and paranoias were very evident. There are thought-provoking elements, but it's pretty easy to understand why film adaptations took the liberties they did for the sake of story.

 

[W3H5]

I bought a PKD collection a few years back which contains quite a few of his novels and novellas and your last two sentences are more or less the underpinnings of most of them. I think he was just into various forms of spirituality/theology/mythology in general and it does permeate a lot of his works. If you read more you would also find that most of them end similarly. Sometimes drugs are involved, sometimes the supernatural or technology, but in the end reality is blurred. The end . His real life struggles and paranoias were very evident. There are thought-provoking elements, but it's pretty easy to understand why film adaptations took the liberties they did for the sake of story.

The story with the alien dinner party and the alien kids is kind of weird.
And the boar captain is even weirder.

 

[Com Fox]

Cobra

An old Sci-Fi supposedly a trilogy (in a trilogy) and is the first entry.

It's an interesting read. Jonny is a fascinating protagonist in a similar vein to Katniss from Hunger Games where his initial objective spirals completely out of control due to the terrible world he lives in. Wanting to join the War, coming out of it scarred and unable to fit back into society and forced into colonisation and having to prevent a 2nd War from happening. Its hard not to feel bad for the guy and want him to get closure.

Unfortunately none of the other characters really stand out beyond their connection to Jonny. The 2nd best character is Deutsch and his compelling nature makes the 2nd Chapter but he completely disappears and I question why they brought Macdonald back from a previous chapter to be a meat shield when Deutsch would have been much more heartbreaking.

It comes across an idealist take of anti-war and anti-extremist and does that job well with Jonny having to stop a Cobra uprising on the colony planet which came about from wanting independence from the Dominion only for Jonny to seek independence years later and gain it via diplomatic albeit flawed means as the planet being part of the Dominion was the issue for the 2nd War to start, they just need to talk it out and not assume.

I would not recommend reading multiple chapters in one sitting, it time skips a lot as it goes through Jonnys military and political career and it can be exhausting to suddenly jump into the next chapter and so many things change.

Overall, decent Book with an interesting protagonist dealing with a very horrible political scenario. Id give it a read if youre into Sci-Fi and/or Politics