What book is on your nightstand? Readers!

SSBrew - 728
Homebrew Talk - Beer, Wine, Mead, & Cider Brewing Discussion Forum

Help Support Homebrew Talk - Beer, Wine, Mead, & Cider Brewing Discussion Forum:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.
All the Pendergrast series by Preston and Child. LOTR Trilogy, Inheritance series by Chrisopher Paolini, alot of gardening and brewing books and my kindle is loaded with alot of postapocalyptic fiction.
 
boxboybrewing said:
All the Pendergrast series by Preston and Child. LOTR Trilogy, Inheritance series by Chrisopher Paolini, alot of gardening and brewing books and my kindle is loaded with alot of postapocalyptic fiction.
Click to expand...

Oh man I love all post-apocolypse stuff. SO many good ones (I got a few here I think, Wool series, The Girl with all the Gifts, maybe more). I think The Road was the best and most disturbing too. I'm pretty sure my infatuation began with Steven King's The Stand.
 
estricklin said:
51vvOvHZ8jL._SX348_BO1,204,203,200_.jpg


Just finished this. Mehhhh.

Started reading Christine by Stephen King.
Click to expand...

I don't actually remember anything about this book, other than the fact that we had to read it in high school and I don't recall enjoying a single bit of it.
 
passedpawn said:
Oh man I love all post-apocolypse stuff. SO many good ones (I got a few here I think, Wool series, The Girl with all the Gifts, maybe more). I think The Road was the best and most disturbing too. I'm pretty sure my infatuation began with Steven King's The Stand.
Click to expand...

If you've read the "Wool" series, have you also read "Dust"?
 
estricklin said:
51vvOvHZ8jL._SX348_BO1,204,203,200_.jpg


Just finished this. Mehhhh.
Click to expand...

I did not read this. But I just looked at the synopsis; if you'd consider a similar book describing a relationship in a bucolic setting, (different period), I would highly recommend Thomas Hardy's Far From the Madding Crowd. It's one of the finest books I've ever read. Bathsheba's dialog in that book was just genius.
 
passedpawn said:
I did not read this. But I just looked at the synopsis; if you'd consider a similar book describing a relationship in a bucolic setting, (different period), I would highly recommend Thomas Hardy's Far From the Madding Crowd. It's one of the finest books I've ever read. Bathsheba's dialog in that book was just genius.
Click to expand...

Absolutely agree on Hardy's novel. I actually love all of them. Can't even recall which one it was now, but description of fires on the hillside; and the smallhold dairy life - absolutely beautiful.

Actually, reminds me of Tolstoy's Anna Karenina in that he, too, has one of the most beautiful descriptions of one of the ugliest livelihoods then known - serfdom farm labor (I think they're still serfs in the novel - again, damn memory) at the end of their working day. You can just feel the sweat on their bodies and the warm and lengthening shadow of the setting summer sun. Drinking together, their only real solace. Deeply moved by the scene.
 
Several by William Golding. Lord of the Flies, obligatory; Pincher Martin (English sailor marooned on a small rock at sea, as his ship was torpedoed by a Japanese sub, WWII); The Inheritors (Neanderthal, meet Homo Sapiens); The Double Tongue (priestess of Apollo at the Temple of Delphi, during Rome's ascendancy over the Greek city-states); To the Ends of the Earth: A Sea Trilogy (well, a sea trilogy.).
 
In the middle of 2 books now. Non beer reads - "Devil in the White City" and for my beer reading - "Designing Great Beers"

Glad i stumbled on this thread, so many good recommendations up above. I know i'm not alone in this, but there seems to be so little time to read these days. Time to plan a vacation or a long weekend at the beach.....
 
Should have added. most recent read "A Brave Vessel" great book on the Jamestown settlers and the "real story" behind Shakespeare's The Tempest. My son had to read this along with a bunch of other staples of reading for middle school. Had real all the other classics he was reading except this one. Fascinating story, highly recommend this book if you like history reads.
 
passedpawn said:
I think dust was the last book in the series. (I think). So, I read Wool, Silo, but not Dust. The latter is on my kindle, waiting patiently in line.
Click to expand...

Sorry, was thinking of Sand. It's a standalone book also by Howey. Similar in style to the Wool series, but a different premise and story.
 
Last edited by a moderator:
bwarbiany said:
Sorry, was thinking of Sand. It's a standalone book also by Howey. Similar in style to the Wool series, but a different premise and story.
Click to expand...

You just want me to fill my kindle with more than 1 lifetime of books, don't you? Well, I am definitely game for that :)

When my dad retired, he sat in his lazy boy and read all day long, until the Tigers (baseball) game on. Every single day. He's dead, and I have his kindle now, and it is full to the brim with good reads. I don't use that, I use an iPad. My point is that with just his kindle alone I have a library.
 
Last edited by a moderator:
passedpawn said:
I did not read this. But I just looked at the synopsis; if you'd consider a similar book describing a relationship in a bucolic setting, (different period), I would highly recommend Thomas Hardy's Far From the Madding Crowd. It's one of the finest books I've ever read. Bathsheba's dialog in that book was just genius.
Click to expand...

I added it to my wish list, I am a sucker for books set in that time period. My Antonia had an awesome setting, I felt like the plot was a little light though. Another good book also set in the country side and set close to the same time period, (1900-1930) is The Big Rock Candy Mountains by Wallace Stegner, titled after a very popular song of the era. It is somewhat of a longer book though.

If your into post apocalyptic, you must have read The Postman? I'm always looking for books in that genre but after the Stand and The Road you kind of feel like there can't be anything better!
 
passedpawn said:
Oh man I love all post-apocolypse stuff. SO many good ones (I got a few here I think, Wool series, The Girl with all the Gifts, maybe more). I think The Road was the best and most disturbing too. I'm pretty sure my infatuation began with Steven King's The Stand.
Click to expand...
If you have a Kindle Unlimited account (it's like 11 bucks a month), you can get alot of postapocalytic (and other genres) and read them for free. You can have up to 10 free books in your account at one time. When you finish one, you turn it back in and get another. Really nice when you're reading a series.
 
I received a copy of Mark Manson's The Subtle Art Of Not Giving A F*ck as a gift last year. I finally got around to cracking it open. A few chapters in and I couldn't read any more. The basic premise: pick your battles and let everything else go. Which is good advice, but I don't need a 200-page book to expound on that concept, ad nauseam.

5763428843_ce57f1f3a9.jpg


I knew this wasn't going to be a serious book, but jeebus, it's the dumbest damned thing I've read in a long time. I feel a little dumber having read that.

My to-read stack is depleted and I need a few decent books. Going to sift through back pages of this thread in search of ideas for something good to read, then off to the library.

</end of rant>
 
My Kindle is heavy on Anne McCaffrey and Rita Mae Brown. On my nightstand right now is 101 Dalmatians by Dodie Smith (the original) and my go-to is Vision Quest by Terry Davis. Yes, these are technically "youth" or "teen" books but I don't care. About every 6 months I'll go through the Harry Potter series, and about once every two years I have to read The Stand by King (the unabridged version). When I first read that, I imagined Jodie Foster as Frannie, and watching the TV version with Molly "Can't Act her Way out of a Wet Paper Bag" Ringwald in that role pissed me off. And they should have got Chris Walken as the Walking Dude. But, I digress.
 
seatazzz said:
About every 6 months I'll go through the Harry Potter series, and about once every two years I have to read The Stand by King (the unabridged version).
Click to expand...

I can't re-read books. In fact, there have only been a few books I've ever read more than once, and often in those cases they were books I read when I was younger (like Lord of the Rings, read first at ~13 yo and then re-read before the movies came out).

How do you do it? Is the experience different for you each time you read Harry Potter as you pick up things that maybe you missed the first time around, or is it a comfort thing to go back to something you enjoyed before?
 
bwarbiany said:
I can't re-read books. In fact, there have only been a few books I've ever read more than once, and often in those cases they were books I read when I was younger (like Lord of the Rings, read first at ~13 yo and then re-read before the movies came out).

How do you do it? Is the experience different for you each time you read Harry Potter as you pick up things that maybe you missed the first time around, or is it a comfort thing to go back to something you enjoyed before?
Click to expand...

Find a way to obliterate your memory. Awesome for experiencing the same crap over and over.:ban:
 
bwarbiany said:
Is the experience different for you each time you read Harry Potter as you pick up things that maybe you missed the first time around, or is it a comfort thing to go back to something you enjoyed before?
Click to expand...

I can't re-read either, but I must have read 1,000 Harry Potter stories on fanfiction.net. It was cool to see everyone's slightly different spin on the same thing. My favorites were the ones that put together 100 different details from the story (that I hardly noticed) to show how evil Dumbledore was, or whatever else they were spinning.
 
bwarbiany said:
I can't re-read books. In fact, there have only been a few books I've ever read more than once, and often in those cases they were books I read when I was younger (like Lord of the Rings, read first at ~13 yo and then re-read before the movies came out).

How do you do it? Is the experience different for you each time you read Harry Potter as you pick up things that maybe you missed the first time around, or is it a comfort thing to go back to something you enjoyed before?
Click to expand...

I re-read big stories with tons of detail (think Lord of the Rings or bigger) and do find that I pick up on different nuances each time. That said, I only do it if I love the read the first go, so it is a limited set if books here.
 
bwarbiany said:
I can't re-read books. In fact, there have only been a few books I've ever read more than once, and often in those cases they were books I read when I was younger (like Lord of the Rings, read first at ~13 yo and then re-read before the movies came out).

How do you do it? Is the experience different for you each time you read Harry Potter as you pick up things that maybe you missed the first time around, or is it a comfort thing to go back to something you enjoyed before?
Click to expand...

Ever read most of the way through a book before you realize you've read it before? Haha, I have. I think it was a Grisham book.

There's only a few I've reread. Les Mis, Atlas Shrugged, HHGTTG, The Hobbit. The Steven Hawking one, maybe a couple more that aren't coming to me. I'd like to reread the Richard Bach books, really loved them and they'd be better now that I'm older.

I read for entertainment, like most of you. Sometimes for education. But occasionally a book is a cathartic experience, and that's something worth repeating.
 
passedpawn said:
Ever read most of the way through a book before you realize you've read it before? Haha, I have. I think it was a Grisham book.
Click to expand...

I did that once. Even worse, I actually bought the book a second time, at a garage sale. I didn't realize I had bought--and read--that book several years before. Maybe the cover was different the second time. I just didn't recognize the title, so I picked it up. It was a Clive Cussler novel and I didn't make my realization until I was well into the book. At that point I decided that Cussler books, while fun to read, seem to have the same formula. :)



This is my current read. The story of Michael Swango, a doctor who had a habit of killing his patients all over the world. It's amazing how some people in the medical community can cover for a bad doctor. Over and over again.

51uNsqECW5L._SX351_BO1,204,203,200_.jpg


I lived in one of the towns where this doctor was working in the early '90s. The local media was buzzing about it and some of the radio hosts in town were calling him "Dr. Death." Years later, the law caught up with him and he's now sitting in the supermax in CO.
 
passedpawn said:
Ever read most of the way through a book before you realize you've read it before? Haha, I have.
Click to expand...

HAHAHAHAHAHA!!!! Reader after my own heart, Passed. :D

Except you are a serious reader. I admire that.

Reading Reading Between the Wines, by Terry Theise. As far as I know, still the husband of Odessa Piper, my wife used to work for her. Odessa was a pioneer chef, along with Alice Waters, of the American farm to table movement. Also in helping to open the doors to the Boys Chefs' Club, long overdue.

Theise has done a lot to bring Austrian wines to our attention here in the States. The book is more a meditation, than anything else. Guy loves his German Riesling (so do I, mad for it), and gives his respect to Pinot Noir. So I can like him.:D
 
Most of what's on my nightstand (and the end table at my end of the couch) is magazines - I'm a couple months behind on Brew Your Own, Premier Guitar and WoodenBoat magazines, plus the stuff I picked up at Free Comic Book day a couple weeks ago.
I get most of my reading done at work - kindles and the like are great for that. I'm currently reading Armada, by Ernest Kline, same author as Ready Player One (that one's on deck the library, as is King's Dark Tower #1.) Also on there is Robert Jordan's Eye of the World, Ada Palmer's Too Like Lightning, Huxley's Brave New World, and a few others.
I like having the capability through my library to borrow books onto my Kindle, though I don't usually finish them before the loan's up - I just keep the Wi-Fi off on it, it doesn't register to the machine and I have as long as I need to finish the books.
Its about time that I reread Lord of the Rings, probably starting with The Hobbit. I've read it every year or two since I was in college, mid nineties or so. Same with Hitch Hiker's Guide to the Galaxy, and a few others (Good Omens, Joshua Slocum's Sailing Along Around the World, Neil Peart's series of travel lit, Harry Potter series.) I like rereading books, partly because if I'm watching TV or something at the time, If I miss a passage, I'm still OK, and I do catch things that I haven't caught before, even if I've read it a dozen times or more. I should also probably reread the Fire & Ice series. Maybe by the time I finish up book 5, GRR Martin will get book 6 out. Then I get to wait 10 more years for the presumed last one, book 7... if he makes it that long...
 
So, recently I finished Brave New World. Generally I prefer to read paper books, but in this case I had electronic version for my iPad. I regret that I did not read this great book before, it was amazing. In fact, this book seemed terrible to me, because the described by the author can become reality. The people of this society are happy, but seem stupid.

Anyway, now I'm more interested in novels of Aldous Huxley.
 
Last edited:
jrgtr42 said:
Most of what's on my nightstand (and the end table at my end of the couch) is magazines - I'm a couple months behind on Brew Your Own, Premier Guitar and WoodenBoat magazines, plus the stuff I picked up at Free Comic Book day a couple weeks ago.
I get most of my reading done at work - kindles and the like are great for that. I'm currently reading Armada, by Ernest Kline, same author as Ready Player One (that one's on deck the library, as is King's Dark Tower #1.) Also on there is Robert Jordan's Eye of the World, Ada Palmer's Too Like Lightning, Huxley's Brave New World, and a few others.
I like having the capability through my library to borrow books onto my Kindle, though I don't usually finish them before the loan's up - I just keep the Wi-Fi off on it, it doesn't register to the machine and I have as long as I need to finish the books.
Its about time that I reread Lord of the Rings, probably starting with The Hobbit. I've read it every year or two since I was in college, mid nineties or so. Same with Hitch Hiker's Guide to the Galaxy, and a few others (Good Omens, Joshua Slocum's Sailing Along Around the World, Neil Peart's series of travel lit, Harry Potter series.) I like rereading books, partly because if I'm watching TV or something at the time, If I miss a passage, I'm still OK, and I do catch things that I haven't caught before, even if I've read it a dozen times or more. I should also probably reread the Fire & Ice series. Maybe by the time I finish up book 5, GRR Martin will get book 6 out. Then I get to wait 10 more years for the presumed last one, book 7... if he makes it that long...
Click to expand...

Re-reading GRRM is tempting fate.
 
fourfarthing said:
Re-reading GRRM is tempting fate.
Click to expand...

What's the over/under on that series being done? GRRM looks like he could go keel-up any minute. And, regardless, he doesn't seem to want to do it, and the massively popular HBO show is going on without it. And, he's got all the money in the world, which was his ambition when he was broke and went to Hollywood.

GRRM is an interesting dude. Read up on how he got into the novels.
 
passedpawn said:
What's the over/under on that series being done? GRRM looks like he could go keel-up any minute. And, regardless, he doesn't seem to want to do it, and the massively popular HBO show is going on without it. And, he's got all the money in the world, which was his ambition when he was broke and went to Hollywood.

GRRM is an interesting dude. Read up on how he got into the novels.
Click to expand...

I put it at less than 50%. He is definitely not planning ahead a la Jordan. And yeah, he is a crazy dude, though he does own a movie theater now...
 
fourfarthing said:
I put it at less than 50%. He is definitely not planning ahead a la Jordan. And yeah, he is a crazy dude, though he does own a movie theater now...
Click to expand...
I always heard he had a rough outline of how he wanted things to go, including the last chapter or so, and was always planning on 7 books. He keeps teasing about book 6 release, then gets involved in other things.
 
jrgtr42 said:
I always heard he had a rough outline of how he wanted things to go, including the last chapter or so, and was always planning on 7 books. He keeps teasing about book 6 release, then gets involved in other things.
Click to expand...

I think he always new the beginning and the end but is making the middle up as he goes. Based on the ‘Myrenese knot’ I believe that he never sorted the structure or arcs out.
 
DaddyDanny said:
So, recently I finished Brave New World. I regret that I did not read this great book before, it was amazing. And now I'm more interested in novels of Aldous Huxley.
Click to expand...

My daughter had to read this in high school. When I bought her the book, I read several of the opening chapters and was blown away. Seemed VERY cool. One day, I'll finish it.
 
@bwarbiany....it's kind of both, comfort and getting something new (especially with The Stand) out of a book every time I read it. Or maybe I remember something happening in a certain book, and go back to refresh my memory.
 
I can't re-read, but I have read Harry Potter twice, and a few others that I read the first time when I was 12-14, an example would be SK's It. I have read Huck Finn many many times though, not sure why I don't mind reading it every couple of years, it's my all time favorite book.

I read Brave New World a couple of years back, pretty good book. Oh ye!

I just finished Christine, and the Immoral Irishman. Both good reads. Started Dreamcatcher yesterday and I have Far From The Madding Crown on deck and Forgive Me: Leonard Peacock in the hole.
 

Similar threads

MaxStout
Preventing O2 ingress when cold-crashing for lagering - ideas?
2 3
Replies
81
Views
4K
jerrylotto
jerrylotto
K
Hop collection/ wort chilling solution for 1BBL setup
Replies
2
Views
337
Want2Brew
Want2Brew
J
Time to transfer to secondary? to crawl space?
Replies
1
Views
565
Rish
R
agentbud
HBT inspired me to write a book.
Replies
10
Views
1K
agentbud
agentbud
SBENCIV
iSpindel Review
Replies
8
Views
370
redrocker652002
R

Latest posts

Back
Top