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When you're done, find some Heinlein. The Moon Is A Harsh Mistress is a good place to start.

His political philosophy and his writing are both much better than Rand :D

This is truth! And follow The Moon Is A Harsh Mistress up with Starship Troopers. There was a POS movie of the same name that came out some years ago. DO NOT confuse the two.
 
This is truth! And follow The Moon Is A Harsh Mistress up with Starship Troopers. There was a POS movie of the same name that came out some years ago. DO NOT confuse the two.

I actually enjoyed the movie quite a bit, but it barely even resembles the book.

One is a socio-political essay disguised as a science fiction novel.

The other is a campy sci-fi action movie that merely borrows the title, some character names, and a few vague plot points at the beginning before quickly diverging entirely into something utterly unrecognizable. Apparently the film's director claims to have never finished the book, but I'm not convinced he made it past the first chapter. But the film appears the satirize the very concepts that the novel promotes, so in a way it's actually a counterpoint to the novel, rather than an earnest film adaptation.

I thoroughly enjoyed them both, but for VERY different reasons. :D
 
Finally started Dune, approximately 100 pages in (mass market paper back).

So two things.

1. Only 100 pages in and I can say fairly certainly that the movie does not do it justice at all.

2. Loving the mixture of high and low tech.
 
Just finished Alloy of Law, by Sanderson. Need another book. Not sure what I want this time. I've got plenty of Brooks fantasy series I could get back into. I just got done with the prequel trilogy, so I could maybe hit up some of the other Shannara books.
 
Just finished Alloy of Law, by Sanderson. Need another book. Not sure what I want this time. I've got plenty of Brooks fantasy series I could get back into. I just got done with the prequel trilogy, so I could maybe hit up some of the other Shannara books.

I enjoyed it, but liked the original mistborn triolgy better. It is cool what he did with the powers though. Stormlight Archive is awesome, cant wait for the next, the reckoners books are a pretty cool take on 'superheroes' and the main character is kinda funny because he cant tell a simile or metaphor to save his life.

I am trying to figure out a book to read now myself. I just started The Forever War by Joe Haldeman, but am not sure if I want to stick with it or not yet.
 
I decided on The Martian, because I want to see the movie soon, and I could just download this "free" right to my phone, so when I took the kid to dance and had 45 minutes to kill, I decided to see what I could download.

BAM! 2 minutes later I'm starting Chapter 1!
 
Just picked up "The Plot Against America" by Philip Roth. I'm through the first part and already want to find a statue of Lindbergh and deface it. I left it on the shelf for years and now I wonder why I waited so long - it's like reading a Potok novel, only if he were non-practicing and had a subtle sense of humor. I'll still take Potok over Roth most days, but they're both pretty dang good.
 
Is it good so far? I've been on my library's eBook waiting list for a couple of weeks now to read it, and holding off on seeing the movie until I do.

It's pretty good. The writing style is a bit different from what I'm used to. It's more modern and straight forward with lots of dialogue directed at the reader (as to be expected when reading mostly journal entries.)

I've been enjoying the things he does to try to survive with his engineering background, and what NASA is doing to get in touch with him and rescue him.

Plenty of that to go yet. I'm at the point where NASA discovered he is still alive.
 
I just found The Girl With All The Gifts by M. R. Carey
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00CO7FLFG/?tag=skimlinks_replacement-20
I'm about 1/2 way through it at the moment & I'm liking it quite a bit. I really like the author's style of writing & the story is told in a different way; I don't want to say too much, cuz it'll give away the twist, but so far, it's DEFINITELY worth reading.
Regards, GF.
 
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I am currently reading my first Jack Reacher novel by Lee Childs.

He uses "and" WAYYY too much. I get that he's going for something when he does it - he just does it too much. Minor pet peeve, that. Otherwise, so far, not bad.
 
The First Law trilogy by Joe Abercrombie. The Blade Itself, Before they are Hanged, and currently Last Argument of Kings.

It's no GoT, but it's pretty darn good. Plus, no waiting on books that may or may not ever come to get closure.
 
The First Law trilogy by Joe Abercrombie. The Blade Itself, Before they are Hanged, and currently Last Argument of Kings.

It's no GoT, but it's pretty darn good. Plus, no waiting on books that may or may not ever come to get closure.

I liked that series. It was pretty enjoyable.

I'm currently reading Philip Pullman's His Dark Materials trilogy. Read the first two when I was younger, but never finished the set. So I've started it again from the beginning.
 
I recently read the first Book of Deacon in the series by Joseph Lallo. Really entertaining, just haven't had time to get into the next book. Also recently read The Picture of Dorian Gray, which was really good. I read an abridged version in middle school and figured it was past time I read the real thing. Way better, obviously.
 
Just started Island of the Sequined Love Nun by Christopher Moore. So far so good. Pretty much fits all the expectations for a book by him.

Just finished Dance with Dragons. Getting to the point with this series where I just want the next book to be the last. Actually the last, not just because GRRM dies.
 
Just started Island of the Sequined Love Nun by Christopher Moore. So far so good. Pretty much fits all the expectations for a book by him.

Just finished Dance with Dragons. Getting to the point with this series where I just want the next book to be the last. Actually the last, not just because GRRM dies.

That was the first Christopher Moore book I read. I think I have read all of his books. sometimes I just want something easy to read. Fun easy stuff.

Another fun easy read is anything by Carl Hiaasen. Funny stuff.

Nice break for the academic stuff I have to read all the time for work.
 
Trying Fountainhead for the first time. This Ayn Rand sure knows how to write!
 
Almost halfway through the Shannara series. I'm reading each one in chronological order. Kid and I are watching the new MTV (yes, MTV) series based on the books. Got me thinking about when I read the original trilogy back when I was young.
 
I recently finished the "Red Mars" trilogy by Kim Stanley Robinson.

Very well done. It's sci-fi, but it's got great, three-dimensional characters, the plot actually seems realistic, and well there are some advanced technologies employed, they're not used as "deus ex machina" quick fixes to get characters out of a jam.

Highly recommended.
 
Almost halfway through the Shannara series. I'm reading each one in chronological order. Kid and I are watching the new MTV (yes, MTV) series based on the books. Got me thinking about when I read the original trilogy back when I was young.

Just started watching the series too. I have the first book on hold at the library, should have it in a few more weeks. Does it follow the books or is it like GoT?
 
I recently finished "All the light we cannot see" by Anthony Doerr; I can't recommend it enough. Fantastic book.

For fantasy (since lots of folks here seem to enjoy the genre), I'm assuming most of you are familiar with Patrick Rothfuss' books; the first being Name of the Wing. One of the best authors in the genre in recent years.

I also finished Neil Gaiman's latest (I think?) book recently, The Ocean at the End of the Lane. Good read.
 
Just started watching the series too. I have the first book on hold at the library, should have it in a few more weeks. Does it follow the books or is it like GoT?

Well, the show starts off based on the second book. Then, yeah, it's based on the book, with lots added & expanded for the show.
 
Trying Fountainhead for the first time. This Ayn Rand sure knows how to write!

Yep, I liked that one. Not a fan of the scene (on a train I think) where Roark more or less rapes Dominique. Rand was odd in her way of creating submissive female characters (although, if you get to Atlas Shrugged you find that Dagny Taggert is not submissive).

Rand loved the idea of an ubermensch. It's always a guy. He's ideal, not affected by the looters of the world in the media and in politics. I think certain people are drawn to this. I know I was.

If I could name two authors who created the way I think today, I'd say Ayn Rand and Victor Hugo - yin and yang. I read Atlas Shrugged twice, and I think I'll do it once more before I croak. I've read Les Miserables 3 times, and I hope to knock it out once more, but I'm going to finish Hunchback finally (started it twice, never finished).
 
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