What book is on your nightstand? Readers!

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Folks here have mentioned Bernard Cornwell. He writes historical fiction from old England and is best known for his books on The Last Kingdom. I am reading one of his about the Elizabethan theater called Fools And Mortals. So far very engaging. I'm about 30% in.
 
soccerdad said:
Folks here have mentioned Bernard Cornwell. He writes historical fiction from old England and is best known for his books on The Last Kingdom. I am reading one of his about the Elizabethan theater called Fools And Mortals. So far very engaging. I'm about 30% in.
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His sharpe series is also quite good.
 
JPBowden said:
Like Falstaff I'm reading (actually re-reading) the Dune series, but I'm stopping after #4 (God Emperor of Dune). I think the series started going a bit downhill after that.
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The end of the series was actually rather good - a few of the books in between were not...
 
RevA said:
The end of the series was actually rather good - a few of the books in between were not...
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I'm not saying the last couple of books were bad, just a bit less engrossing than the first four. I'm a huge Frank Herbert fan and have read almost everything he wrote. For anyone who would like to try some non-Dune Frank Herbert I highly recommend The White Plague, Soul Catcher and Under Pressure (originally named The Dragon in the Sea.
 
soccerdad said:
For anyone interested in culture and cuisine, I recommend a novel called The Last Chinese Chef. It's not a fast read, but a good one.
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betarhoalphadelta said:
Thanks. Probably not my usual genre, but I bought it for the food 😂
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soccerdad said:
And you'll stay for the eels and the tofu sponge I am certain. Also a very interesting comparison of the 1990's 2000's developing China to Mao's cultural revolution.
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Just wanted to say thanks for the recommendation. Not my usual genre, but I really enjoyed it. I even recommended it to my wife, since she's not exactly into all the typical sci-fi that I read lol...
 
Books to re-read before I die. I don't typically re-read books, though there are some (including some in the list below) that I have re-read. If I spent another minute, I could probably double this list. As I get older, I start considering the risk of jumping into a new book of questionable quality vs re-reading one of known enjoyment.
  • Les Miserables
  • Jonathan Livingston Seagull / Illusions of a Reluctant Messiah
  • John Dies at the End
  • The Pillars of the Earth
  • Far From the Madding Crowd
  • How Green was my Valley
  • A Tale of Two Cities
  • Bridges of Madison County
  • McCarthy's Bar
 
Pillars of the earth great book! the whole Kingsbridge trilogy is excellent, also loved eye of the needle, jackdaws and hornet flight. Ken Follett is one of my favorites.

I'm not much for cheesedick vampire trash but Anne Rice's vampire chronicles is anything but cheesy.

"Never have your dog stuffed and other things I've learned"; Alan Alda's autobiography was a fun read as was Keith Richards'.
 
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Busy with Anthony Ryan's The Pariah - currently very good. I constantly have to remind myself not to compare with his other series.
 
Visions From A Foxhole and Not In Vain. Memoirs by riflemen of the 94th Infantry Division. Finished the first, at a big turning point in the second. The German forces in Lorient have surrendered and the 94th is about to join Patton's line at the Siegfried Switch.
 
Just received this from Amazon.
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I recently finished a book called The Last Dog on Earth. It's set in the near future in a post civil war England and the chapters are written from both the human's perspective and the dog's perspective. The dog's chapters are usually better if for no other reason than he swears like a drunken sailor and shares some amazing insights into the way dogs think (true or not, I don't know).
 
Leezer said:
On re-reading books, years ago I was a huge Stephen King fan and loved Salems Lot and The Shining when they came out. Could not put them down. Recently re-read them and still found them very enjoyable. Like visiting an old friend you haven’t seen in awhile.
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The only SK I have re-read was The Stand (twice, maybe 3, can't remember). I love that book!

I'm reading this right now and it had me literally LOL last night. Oddly, wasn't available in Kindle format, so I'm back to turning on the reading lamp next to my bed. Dude takes a bet to hitchhike around ireland with a fridge haha.

https://www.amazon.com/Round-Irelan...d=1647742798&sprefix=round+irel,aps,97&sr=8-1
1647742820913.png
 
Verett said:
Just finished The Nature of Oaks: The Rich Ecology of Our Most Essential Native Trees by Douglas Tallamy. Just started reading The Twenty-Ninth Day: Surviving a Grizzly Attack in the Canadian Tundra by Alex Messenger.
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I read this and immediately bought the book. I love trees, especially Oak trees.

passedpawn said:
Books to re-read before I die. I don't typically re-read books, though there are some (including some in the list below) that I have re-read. If I spent another minute, I could probably double this list. As I get older, I start considering the risk of jumping into a new book of questionable quality vs re-reading one of known enjoyment.
  • Les Miserables
  • Jonathan Livingston Seagull / Illusions of a Reluctant Messiah
  • John Dies at the End
  • The Pillars of the Earth
  • Far From the Madding Crowd
  • How Green was my Valley
  • A Tale of Two Cities
  • Bridges of Madison County
  • McCarthy's Bar
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@passedpawn I thought I was the only person who had read John Dies at the End, what a great book! I've had Les Miserables on my bucket list for years and years, I'm a little gun shy because of the length, but it looks right up my alley; I'm a sucker for the classics.

I've been reading a lot of books for work, but I've managed to find time for myself as well. I read All Quiet on the Western Front and I'm only sorry I didn't read it sooner.

This book was absolutely PHENOMENOL! Possibly the best book I've read in years. Great character development, amazing ending, adventure, romance, sci fi, comedy, it has it all.
510hvy0SCML.jpg
 
Just finished Don Quixote and now reading The Illiad & The Odyssey. They're all surprisingly good, much more captivating than I expected. I can get caught up for hours in the Illiad battle passages (Stephen Mitchell's translation).

But they are a lot more wordy than modern writing so I have some Carl Hiaasen pulp fiction stuff to read when I need a break. His stuff makes me laugh.
 
... I read All Quiet on the Western Front and I'm only sorry I didn't read it sooner.

This book was absolutely PHENOMENOL! Possibly the best book I've read in years. Great character development, amazing ending, adventure, romance, sci fi, comedy, it has it all.
510hvy0SCML.jpg
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When you say it was the best book you have read in years, are you referring to "All Quiet on the Western Front" mentioned above that comment or "The Hike" shown below it?
 
agentbud said:
When you say it was the best book you have read in years, are you referring to "All Quiet on the Western Front" mentioned above that comment or "The Hike" shown below it?
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Pretty sure there was no sci-fi in AQOTWF... ;-)

And it would have been a little progressive for that to turn into a romantic book too...
 
I re-read Stranger in a Strange Land a bit back. I loved it as a late teen when I was in the Army the first time. Now, a few decades later it's even better.

I'm currently reading the Craig Johnson series about Sheriff Walt Longmire. I love it. It's set in Wyoming which is my second favorite behind my home of northern New Mexico.
 
Winston Churchill's The Gathering Storm. I actually started reading it in late January but now I see signs of WWII appeasement and wishful thinking taking center stage again
 
I'm mostly listening audible audiobooks nowadays, since I can do that at work easily.

Now listening to the "he who fights monsters" litrpg/isekai series, that's a lot of fun, ausie dude gets transported to another world with magic and "game-mechanic" abilities. Good humor, but serious enough not to get annoying.
 
betarhoalphadelta said:
WTF did I just read? It was The Dark Tower crossed with John Dies At The End...
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Pretty good comparison, I would have gone with A Hitch Hiker's Guide but that one works too. Glad I found a pearl, because since then it's been slim pickins for me, can't seem to find any good fantasy or sci fi as of late.
 
passedpawn said:
I should add, after that critical review of the movie, that the story was compelling and I WISH I had read the book first. I'm sure you'll love it.
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I first heard of the story a few months ago while watching something about it on PBS. And thinking what a crazy but brilliant plan. I found the book on Amazon and ordered it. It's next in line on my reading stack.
 
estricklin said:
Pretty good comparison, I would have gone with A Hitch Hiker's Guide but that one works too. Glad I found a pearl, because since then it's been slim pickins for me, can't seem to find any good fantasy or sci fi as of late.
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I had some good luck for a while looking through the last 5-6 years of Hugo Award finalists and winners in the novel category.

A few I've liked recently:

  • The Inhibitor trilogy by Alistair Reynolds.
  • Harbinger by Olan Thorensen (sadly it's the first of a series and book #2 release date is unknown)
  • The Final Architecture trilogy books 1-2 by Adrian Tchaikovsky (book #3 not yet released)
  • The Broken Earth trilogy by N.K. Jemisin (more fantasy than sci-fi)

If you haven't read any of those, give them a try.

If you want some easy-reading pulp sci-fi, look up the Silver Ships series by Scott Jucha. They're a little formulaic in the construction of each book, but it's interesting and quick reading, and I grew attached to the characters. Between that and two offshoot series, it's something like 28 books, but all quick reads.
 

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