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February 2018 Reads


Astromech

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I read The Scorpio Races by Maggie Stiefvater and liked it better than The Raven Boys.  Her take on water horses and horse racing was different and enjoyable.  I have also found out that The Raven Boys is the first of a four part series, so have the next three on hold at the library.  

edt; am currently reading Life of Pi and am not quite sure of it yet. 

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Having finished Codex Alera (disappointed with the final two books, after the heights of books 3 and 4), I started this weekend reading The Dagger and the Coin. It seems more complex than anything I've read by Abraham so far (LPQ and the Expanse). Liking the beginning of it.

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Finished Eugene B Sledge's WWII memoir, With the Old Breed, detailing his experiences with the 1st Marine division at the battles of Peleliu and Okinawa. It deserves all the praise it has received over the years. Brutally honest, horrifyingly detailed. A surreal nightmare at times.

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10 hours ago, TheRevanchist said:

Having finished Codex Alera (disappointed with the final two books, after the heights of books 3 and 4), I started this weekend reading The Dagger and the Coin. It seems more complex than anything I've read by Abraham so far (LPQ and the Expanse). Liking the beginning of it.

I’m reading the Dagger and the Coin at the moment too, currently up to #3. For some reason I read the first book then set it aside for a long while, but I’m glad I picked it back up, I love the series thus far.

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11 hours ago, TheRevanchist said:

Having finished Codex Alera (disappointed with the final two books, after the heights of books 3 and 4), I started this weekend reading The Dagger and the Coin. It seems more complex than anything I've read by Abraham so far (LPQ and the Expanse). Liking the beginning of it.

 

50 minutes ago, HelenaExMachina said:

I’m reading the Dagger and the Coin at the moment too, currently up to #3. For some reason I read the first book then set it aside for a long while, but I’m glad I picked it back up, I love the series thus far.

I liked The Dagger and the Coin better than LPQ, which I liked a lot and more than the Expanse.  It's a good series. 

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Finished As Far As The Eye Can See by Robert Bausch, historical fiction set in 1870s during the westward expansion into the northern plains and along the Oregon Trail.  Less violent than The Sisters Brothers (which was a very good read) and better written and with a more coherent narrative than Little Big Man, this is a very enjoyable read that captures a good blend of historical setting and character-driven narrative.  Recommended.

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Finally finished Gaiman's "Norse mythology" and it was fun. I liked the crude humour of the mythology and the almost panto feel in places.

Started "the wake". Initially I wanted it to give up straight away with the "olde" english but it's actually quite fun figuring it out (think my basic german helps). Definitely a book where the reading/deciphering is part of the experience.

Also listening to "the mad ship". It's been a year since I read the last one but I've slipped back into the groove fairly easily.

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Finished with Eco's The Name of the Rose. Equal parts historical fiction, murder mystery and philosophy, this is a really unique beast of a novel. At first I was quite put-off by all the latin and the long exchanges on heresy, poverty and laughter, but they soon grew on me and I finished the book a lot quicker than anticipated. Worthy of its reputation as a modern classic.

Now on to Elmet. Then I think I'll try to jump on the Nemisin bandwagon.

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20 hours ago, Paxter said:

Finished with Eco's The Name of the Rose. Equal parts historical fiction, murder mystery and philosophy, this is a really unique beast of a novel. At first I was quite put-off by all the latin and the long exchanges on heresy, poverty and laughter, but they soon grew on me and I finished the book a lot quicker than anticipated. Worthy of its reputation as a modern classic.

That's a great book.  And you've reminded me that I meant to re-read Foucault's Pendulum soon.

Just finished Ross O'Carroll-Kelly: PS, I Scored The Bridesmaids by Paul Howard, #4 in his humorous satire of Celtic Tiger Ireland.  Still funny -- more laugh out loud moments in this one -- but the character is getting a bit tired now.  I probably returned to this one too quickly.  I'll take a longer break before I return to this series.

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On 2/12/2018 at 10:35 AM, Astromech said:

Finished Eugene B Sledge's WWII memoir, With the Old Breed, detailing his experiences with the 1st Marine division at the battles of Peleliu and Okinawa. It deserves all the praise it has received over the years. Brutally honest, horrifyingly detailed. A surreal nightmare at times.

It's been a few years since I've read it but I did like watching Band of Brothers: Pacific after and getting a visual representation of Leckie's experience (though Pacific is also based on Helmet for my Pillow). The thing I found most notable was Leckie's description of the mud, rain and the overall swampy conditions he and his fellow Marines had to endure. Even having read it, I was still not prepared for the absolutely muddy visuals they presented in BoB: Pacific .. between the book and the show, it really hit home the idea of having to fight a savage war while also living in squalor. 

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1 hour ago, WarGalley said:

It's been a few years since I've read it but I did like watching Band of Brothers: Pacific after and getting a visual representation of Leckie's experience (though Pacific is also based on Helmet for my Pillow). The thing I found most notable was Leckie's description of the mud, rain and the overall swampy conditions he and his fellow Marines had to endure. Even having read it, I was still not prepared for the absolutely muddy visuals they presented in BoB: Pacific .. between the book and the show, it really hit home the idea of having to fight a savage war while also living in squalor. 

I haven't read Leckie's, Helmet for My Pillow, but I'm interested since he was in earlier battles than Sledge (Guadalcanal and Cape Gloucester) while both fought at Peleliu and Sledge later fought in Okinawa. Yes, the vivid descriptions really leave their mark. The descriptions of the dead and dying are what left the largest impression on me from Sledge's memoir.

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31 minutes ago, Astromech said:

I haven't read Leckie's, Helmet for My Pillow, but I'm interested since he was in earlier battles than Sledge (Guadalcanal and Cape Gloucester) while both fought at Peleliu and Sledge later fought in Okinawa. Yes, the vivid descriptions really leave their mark. The descriptions of the dead and dying are what left the largest impression on me from Sledge's memoir.

Dang it, I mixed up my authors. Sledge was the one who emphasized the mud and jungle conditions in With the Old Breed. I remember Leckie's experiences in Australia was an interesting dimension to World War II that isn't really portrayed much in media.

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1 hour ago, WarGalley said:

Dang it, I mixed up my authors. Sledge was the one who emphasized the mud and jungle conditions in With the Old Breed. I remember Leckie's experiences in Australia was an interesting dimension to World War II that isn't really portrayed much in media.

I'm currently reading Mark Thompson's The White War: Life and Death on the Italian Front 1915-1919 and it's amazing how much the mud is mentioned in that as well. Really the conditions for the soldiers were piss poor overall.

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9 hours ago, Peadar said:

Inspired by this thread, I am now reading With the Old Breed by Eugene B. Sledge.

:thumbsup:

Finished Mark Thompson's The White War: Life and Death on the Italian Front 1915-1919. Interesting read. It's amazing how the Italian Supreme Command was so arrogant, obstinate, incompetent and cruel. Cadorna was a real piece of work.

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34 minutes ago, unJon said:

Just finished Ada Palmer’s third book in the Terra Ignota series, The Will to Battle. I thought it was an improvement over he second book and I’m looking forward to the conclusion.  

I think I liked the second slightly more, the Hobbes/Reader interruptions got on my nerves a bit.

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29 minutes ago, Darth Richard II said:

I think I liked the second slightly more, the Hobbes/Reader interruptions got on my nerves a bit.

I can see that. Though I appreciated the in text explanation of:

 

Spoiler

9A editing out Mycroft’s madness for the first two books that were for public consumption, but not doing so for this third book that wasn’t for contemporary public consumption.

 

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