Garett Hornwood Posted December 29, 2016 Author Share Posted December 29, 2016 I finished Voices of the Rocks by Dr. Robert M. Schoch, an interesting read but primarily scientific through some theorizing on the rise and fall of ancient civilizations and societies. I've started The Hitler Options: Alternate Decisions of WWII edited by Kenneth Macksey, who also contributed one of the 10 scenarios. 4 hours ago, Triskan said: I am now about 150 pages into TH White's Once and Future King for the first time and I am really not liking it too much but feel obligated to soldier on. I felt the same thing when I read it as well soldiering through it.. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HexMachina Posted December 29, 2016 Share Posted December 29, 2016 Starting my reread of The Liveship Traders. It's always funny reading the starting points and personalities of the characters when you know how they end up. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Knight of Ashes Posted December 30, 2016 Share Posted December 30, 2016 I'm trudging through Stephen King's Tommyknickers. Be finished soon, and then, dunno. Eta: Oh yeah, Macbeth graphic novel; second take of Mac in this form that I've seen. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Marquis de Leech Posted December 30, 2016 Share Posted December 30, 2016 Finished off Notes from Underground. It's the first Dostoyevsky I've ever read, and I loved it. It actually felt empowering to encounter a literary character far more screwed up than I could ever be (I'm sure the narrator would analyse that at some length). Completed reads for December: Collected Ghost Stories, by M.R. James Flashman on the March, by George MacDonald Fraser Futility, or the Wreck of the Titan, by Morgan Robertson A Song for Arbonne, by Guy Gavriel Kay The Augur's Gambit, by Stephen Donaldson The Woodcarver and Death, by Hagar Olsson People in the Summer Night, by Frans Eemil Sillanpää Notes from Underground, by Fyodor Dostoyevsky Next up is another Dostoyevksy, The Double. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jo498 Posted December 30, 2016 Share Posted December 30, 2016 Notes from the Underground is fairly extreme, even for Dostoevsky (I think I have read the Doppelgaenger as well, but I am not sure, looking at the wiki summary it looks vaguely familiar but I am still uncertain and might be confusing it with Gogol's "Diary of a madman"). His "big five" are not of the kind one can read 100 a year of (or if you do this, I'll actually be impressed) but except for "The Adolescent" they are among the greatest books I ever read. Admittedly, I have not read all of the shorter ones (I really should read them, have several on my shelves but for some reason...) but of them I'd recommend "The Gambler" also very highly although it lacks the political/philosophical depth of some of the others. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SkynJay Posted December 30, 2016 Share Posted December 30, 2016 19 hours ago, Darth Richard II said: I can usually get 70ish books a year down, but my god, back in HS i used to go through 6-7 a week. Ahhhhh youth. I was in the 120 range for a while. Changed jobs and now I am around 60. I must have read at work quite a bit in my last job. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Marquis de Leech Posted December 30, 2016 Share Posted December 30, 2016 Finished off The Double. Not as hard-hitting as Notes from Underground, it actually slips into outright comedy for a while. Good fun though. My New Year reading looks to be pretty fantasy dominated. Next up is I Shall Wear Midnight, by Terry Pratchett. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guinevere Seaworth Posted December 30, 2016 Share Posted December 30, 2016 I just finished Spellbreaker by Blake Charlton. I found it the weakest of the Spellwright trilogy. Shakespeare's The Tempest will be my last read of 2016. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Joe Pesci Posted December 31, 2016 Share Posted December 31, 2016 Starting Benjamin Ashwood by AC Cobble, after finishing The Wolf of the North by Duncan Hamilton (pretty good) and Echoes of Atlantis by David S. Brody (also good and the fifth book of a series that can be ready independent of each other if one so chooses). I have to say, Kindle Unlimited has far surpassed what I was expecting from it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Isis Posted December 31, 2016 Share Posted December 31, 2016 7 hours ago, Joe Pesci said: I have to say, Kindle Unlimited has far surpassed what I was expecting from it. I keep thinking about it but the titles on offer don't really appeal to me. I spend a fair bit on kindle books each month so I'm in the market for this sort of thing but the fact that only certain titles are available makes it pointless for me. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Marquis de Leech Posted December 31, 2016 Share Posted December 31, 2016 Finished off book #103 with forty minutes left in the year. I Shall Wear Midnight is definitely good for later Pratchett (it might even be the best of the Tiffany Aching books), though it could probably do with an edit in places. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
beniowa Posted December 31, 2016 Share Posted December 31, 2016 Been a while since I posted again. Yeah, I'm lazy. In reading order: The Bear and the Nightingale, Katherine Arden. A pretty good debut novel with its own take on Russian fairy tales. Black Panther, Volume 1, Ta-Nehisi Coates. Not perfect, but quite enjoyable. Definitely interested in reading more. Super Extra Grande, Yoss. A short comic science fiction story by a Cuban author. Not laughing-out-loud funny, but it certainly had me turning the pages. Arkwright, Allen Steele. Decent novel seriously considering how to colonize a nearby star system. I found a few things a bit dubious and too much time is spent on Earth. Frankly, this felt rather lackluster compared to Steele's previous works, especially Coyote. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Garett Hornwood Posted December 31, 2016 Author Share Posted December 31, 2016 Last night I finished The Waste Land and Other Poems by T.S. Eliot which contained the first three published volumes of Eliot's career. This is a book I'm going to have to re-read over and over again in the coming years to fully appreciate. Earlier today I finished my last book of 2016, The Hitler Options: Alternate Decisions of WWII edited by Kenneth Macksey. Ten scenarios were features, 8 of which focused primarily from the perspective of the Nazis while the other two were from the point-of-view of the Western Allies. See everyone next year... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Joe Pesci Posted December 31, 2016 Share Posted December 31, 2016 15 hours ago, Isis said: I keep thinking about it but the titles on offer don't really appeal to me. I spend a fair bit on kindle books each month so I'm in the market for this sort of thing but the fact that only certain titles are available makes it pointless for me. I guess it depends on what you like to read, it's been great for sci-fi/fantasy imo so far. I believe you can try it out for a month for free so that may be worth exploring. Granted, you aren't getting the big name series or authors, but it gives you a chance to uncover some books that you might not otherwise have given a shot. I've been pleased with every book I've tried so far. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Larry of the Lawn Posted January 1, 2017 Share Posted January 1, 2017 For January I'm probly definitely going with that new Tingler about pounded in the butt by the year 2016. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Teng Ai Hui Posted January 1, 2017 Share Posted January 1, 2017 On the last day of the year, I finished The Call by Peadar. That brings my total for 2016 up to 21 which is a little disappointing. Usually, my total is in the low 30s. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Joey Crows Posted January 1, 2017 Share Posted January 1, 2017 Just finished The Fifth Season by N.K. Jemison. Now on to the second one in the series The Obelisk Gate. Great stuff so far. Really approaches Sci-Fi/Fantasy from a different perspective. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lord of Oop North Posted January 1, 2017 Share Posted January 1, 2017 December was an excellent month of reading for me. 1) Blue Lightning by Ann Cleeves 2) Sword Song by Bernard Cornwell 3) Babylon's Ashes by James SA Corey 4) Dead Water by Ann Cleeves 5) Thin Air by Ann Cleeves 6) The Guards by Ken Bruen I was most surprised by The Guards. I really did not expect anything of it, but it had a certain charm and excellently potrayed it's protagonist. The setting was basically non-existent, but for an alcoholic that seems to make sense to me. Blue Lightning was my favourite of Ann Cleeves' Shetland mysteries. Sure, they are a bit formulaic, but she knows how to set a story and in Blue Lightning, the murders on lonely Fair Isle worked perfectly. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Marquis de Leech Posted January 1, 2017 Share Posted January 1, 2017 Technically January reading now, but I have now finished The Shepherd's Crown, by Terry Pratchett. Thus ends Discworld, after forty-one books. I have mixed feelings about this one: I never thought Pratchett would kill off one of the Big Three, but he did it. R.I.P. Granny Weatherwax: your passing felt strangely appropriate for the final Discworld book. On the other hand, while the book never slips into the abyss of Snuff or Raising Steam, I do feel it was living off past glories a bit - and those glories have faded. The Elves no longer feel like a meaningful threat, for example. Lords and Ladies does it much better. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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