What books are you reading?

[Vent Noir]

Finished Perdition - not bad, and I wouldn't mind reading a sequel. Now onto Kris Longknife: Defender.

[Zeonista]

Well, I knocked out The Battle of Mogadishu pretty quickly. It's really a must read for anyone who also liked Black Hawk Down and I enjoyed it.

Now, I'm going to reread William Gibson's Neuromancer. I first read it two years ago and loved it, and I recently picked up the two sequels (Count Zero and Mona Lisa Overdrive), which I've never read, so I figured I might as well go through the whole trilogy.

Also, RIP Tom Clancy.

Thanks to Tom Clancy, for getting me to like thrilling high-tech action & intrigue enough to allow me to becomes a serious mecha anime fan.

I sympathize with you in your reading Philip K. Dick, who is interesting, and throws up many creative concepts, but who is not so good in following an organized plot outline. Listening to Rush (as opposed to El Rushbo) while reading his novels sounds like an interesting multi-sensory experience! I will have to read The Battle of Mogadishu now, since I own Black Hawk Down (book & film), and have read some memoirs by personnel involved thereof.

I really enjoyed Gibson's Cyberpunk trilogy, which really got me into that SF sub-genre. The second reading of Neuromancer, following a reading of Burning Chrome, the short stories which got Gibson started on it, really paid off. His story of the fractured perception of the abandoned Gernsback-inspired future circa 1935 was mighty, a fitting tribute to an optimistic era of SF that Gibson knew had been set aside for good. That story ought to have been filmed by Oshii. Another story from Burning Chrome, "Johnny Mnemonic", was clumsily adapted into a Keanu Reeves vehicle, proving that Hollywood had no abiding interest in taking Cyberpunk seriously as a genre, even as its reality became more solid with each passing year. Count Zero is my #2 favorite Cyberpunk novel, behind only Walter Jon Williams' Hard Wired. (I could read the chapter about Cowboy's panzer run again & again and never grow tired of it.)

[YokozunaBulldozer]

Ninja Slayer volume 1

[mcred23]

Listening to Rush (as opposed to El Rushbo) while reading his novels sounds like an interesting multi-sensory experience!

A lot of their stuff, particularly the mid-80's stuff that was more synthesizer based which is what I had going at the time, can really fit in as the soundtrack to all sorts of science fiction stuff, but I literally did just sit there for a minute thinking "...What the hell just happened?!"

Anyway, the Episode II novelization was quite a bit better than Episode I as I expected it to be. The only thing that felt odd, for lack of a better term, was that quite a few scenes read a fair bit different in terms of dialogue or action than the film itself, more so than the other Star Wars novelizations.

That brought me to Episode III, by Matthew Stover, which really was the impetus for this whole thing, because I've been hearing how good that it was basically since it came out... and it actually lived up to that. I really enjoyed Stover's style, and the various references to things like the original Clone Wars shorts and other stuff. Perhaps the most interesting part of the whole thing was the book spent something like 150~ pages covering what amounted to the first 15 or so minutes of the movie in amazing detail and elaboration, so the whole thing was well worth it to me as an avid Star Wars fan.

Keeping with the movie tangent, I read Guts & Glory: The Making of the American Military Image in Film by Lawrence H. Suid, which is kind of hard to sum up but is basically a history of movies about the American military and how Hollywood worked (Or didn't) with the military to make them, as well as an analysis of some of the movies themselves in various ways. I stumbled on to it a few years ago, rediscovered it a few weeks ago, ended up reading chunks of it online and had to go and order the actual thing for myself. Keeping it simple, it was really interesting in all sorts of ways and I really enjoyed it.

That knocked out, I'm now reading Ian Fleming's Casino Royale. I've been a huge James Bond fan since I was about six, but have never read any of the novels until now (Mainly because I've never been able to find them in any bookstore whenever I've gone browsing ). I'm about a quarter of a way through it and finding it very interesting and entertaining so far, although the frequent use of French has had me turning to Google a few times just out of curiosity.

[Darkhound Noir]

Been reading the Jeff Shaara WWII novels. I'm on the 3rd part of his WWII European Theater trilogy, No Less Than Victory. I've got The Final Storm (Pacific Theater) and To The Last Man (WWI) in the wings waiting to be read.

Been enjoying them thus far.

[Zeonista]

That knocked out, I'm now reading Ian Fleming's Casino Royale. I've been a huge James Bond fan since I was about six, but have never read any of the novels until now (Mainly because I've never been able to find them in any bookstore whenever I've gone browsing ). I'm about a quarter of a way through it and finding it very interesting and entertaining so far, although the frequent use of French has had me turning to Google a few times just out of curiosity.

The original Ian Fleming novels (and 1 short story collection) had not been in print for a while, but with the Casino Royale movie a new edition was printed in a minimalist b&w format. Amazon has 'em in hard, paper, and Kindle versions right now. I recommend Fleming's novels due to their economically worded, fast-moving style. Bond is a well-schooled man, and the ladies love him, but he is a very tough guy & crossing him is a short way to the graveyard. Not so many toys as the movies of course; Bond uses his smarts and ability to manipulate people instead.

For myself, I've been reading Scoundrels by Timothy Zahn; Han Solo does Ocean's 11, what's not to like? Also 1066: The Year of Three Battles, which is a good update on the events of a certain year, the best since 1066: the Year of Invasion, which predates most of the forum members.

[YokozunaBulldozer]

Wolf of Wall Street

JJBA Jojolion arc

JJBA Stardust Crusaders arc

Year Zero

[Antares]

Classics that I got for Christmas:
Ursula Le Guin The Dispossessed,
Olaf Stapledon Star Maker,
Roger Zelazny Lord of Light.
Yes, I'm going for the Classics (of SF) in a big way this spring.

[mcred23]

Well, Casino Royale was as good as I expected it to be, and I was a bit surprised at how relatively close the film stayed to the story. At some point, I know I'll have to look up the other Fleming books, but I've still got a bit of a backlog to go through.

The next up was The Bedford Boys by Alex Kershaw. I've heard about the book for years, and knew generally what happened since almost any account of Omaha Beach touches on it to some extent, but the details (Particularly the reactions of the town itself when news started coming back) were quite gut wrenching. It was excellent, and is a must read for anyone interested in D-Day or that sort of stuff.

Since the end of that was pretty depressing, I decided to read something lighter next: Those Guys Have All The Fun, Inside the World of ESPN, by James Andrew Miller and Tom Shales. I normally watch tons of ESPN (Although I've avoided it entirely after the Broncos lost the Super Bowl ), and a few people have been recommending the book to me for a while, so I'm looking forward to it.

EDIT 2/12: So I utterly raced through Those Guys because it was amazing and excellent. It had pretty much everything I expected it would have, from the history of the place and many little stories of the goings on there (Bits and pieces of which I'd heard of). It's really a must read for almost anyone who likes sports and watches ESPN with any kind of regularity (Even if they don't like much of their programming nowadays).

Next up, another book I've heard lots about but never read; Slaughterhouse Five by Kurt Vonnegut. I know some vague bits about it, but really I don't know what to expect going into this...

[Vent Noir]

Going slow on Kris Longknife: Defender (about 3/4 of the way through), but have started on the Percy Jackson and the Olympians series, which I'm really enjoying. I've read the first two books and started on the third.

[Vent Noir]

Finished Kris Longknife: Defender, the first book in the series that I didn't really like - it felt that there was too much setup for too little payoff at the end. On the other hand, I was thoroughly entertained by Percy Jackson and the Titan's Curse.

Now onto Crown of Dreams, the third book in Katherine Roberts' Pendragon Legacy series, while I wait for Percy Jackson and the Battle of the Labrynth to come in at the library.

[Zeonista]

Since Books-A-Million closed their store in my neighborhood, I went out and grabbed some things. I got Heretic by Bernard Cornwell, so I can finish his Grail series, and then move on to the not-a-sequel 1356. Also picked up Mecha Corps by Brett Patton, which looks like an American attempt to write some mecha fiction.

[mcred23]

Slaughterhouse Five is another that lived up to what I was expecting, and very much enjoyed it. Currently, I'm reading another well known World War II story I've heard about over the years but never read but don't really know what to expect: Catch-22 by Joseph Heller. I'm about 30 pages in and pretty much enjoying it.

[ShadowCell]

Catch-22 is fantastic, especially if you have friends in the military who complain about the mind-bending bureaucracy of killing people for a living.

God Knows, by the same author, is equally worth a read. It's the life of King David, as humorously and anachronistically narrated by David.

[Vent Noir]

Well, haven't been keeping people posted here, but since last time, I've finished the Percy Jackson series and am now 2/3 of the way through the first book of the sequel series, The Heroes of Olympus. I've also read the first book of The Kane Chronicles by the same author (which is set in the same world, and apparently has a crossover with it).

[mcred23]

Updating time: Catch-22 was good. I thought it dragged a bit at points in the first half, although that may have just been my reading it in brief spurts, but the second half, and particularly the last few chapters, were excellent stuff.

After that, I breezed through Slow Getting Up by Nate Jackson, which basically tells of his six years being a backup and practice squad guy in the NFL. It was well written with a good bit of humor in it, something any football fans would probably enjoy (It's also not very long and flows along very quickly).

Right now, I'm just starting Star Wars: Darth Plagueis by James Luceno. It's one of the Star Wars novels I've heard is very good, and I think I may have read a short story by the author in some other Star Wars book, so I'm curious how this will turn out.

[Vent Noir]

Finished The House of Hades, so I'm caught up with The Heroes of Olympus for now and waiting with anticipation for the final book in the series later this year. Now onto Blades of the Old Empire by Anna Kashina.

[Vent Noir]

Finished Blades of the Old Empire. Well, on one hand, it kept me reading, and I will definitely be picking up the sequel. On the other hand, I was disappointed that there was less focus on one character than the blurb made it seem like there was going to be, and the climactic fight seems to have a large chunk missing out of it (I literally turned back to try and make sure I hadn't turned over an extra page by mistake).

Next up, The Assassin's Blade by Sarah J. Maas.

[Kratos]

Just finished Leviathan Wakes, by James SA Corey. Wasn't wowed by the prologue (or the ending), but everything in between was great stuff. It has some genuinely excellent world-building and some seriously intense set-pieces. I'm definitely gonna be reading more of this Expanse series.

[Newtype Omega]

Currently I'm reading the Legacy of the Force series. I just finished book 8: Revelation and I'm moving on to the conclusion: Invincible. Great story, now I want to read some of the other books that take place before this so I know what went on before this series takes place.