The "What are you reading?" Thread

[Ohdang]

I've covered this in the ASoIaF thread, but if you like stuff like Game of Thrones, read Joe Abercrombie's First Law trilogy (and the three follow-up books). He's probably the best fantasy author writing right now aside from Martin. Mistborn by Brandon Sanderson is a pretty good trilogy too. Also anything by Daniel Abraham.

Just picked up the Shattered Sea trilogy and am liking it so far. About halfway through book 2. Will probably get these next, thanks for opening my eyes to Abercrombie. Never heard of him before this thread.

 

[MD13]

The Power of the Dog and it's sequel The Cartel by Don Winslow. Incredibly powerful and eye-opening novels that follow the history of the drug trade in Mexico. A bit of a Moby Dick story as well with a fictional El Chapo and the DEA agent who chases him over the years.

 

[Jack Brickman]

Just picked up the Shattered Sea trilogy and am liking it so far. About halfway through book 2. Will probably get these next, thanks for opening my eyes to Abercrombie. Never heard of him before this thread.

Shattered Sea is great as well, especially for a YA series. It's not as good as First Law and the three subsequent kinda sorta stand-alone books (they tell compact stories but a lot of characters from First Law show up so you definitely should read that first), but it's a very quick, easy read. I crushed the third book from Shattered Sea in like three days. The best part of Shattered Sea is that Abercrombie wrote it while he was supposed to be on a sabbatical from writing. If only Martin had that kind of work ethic.

You should check out Sanderson as well. A lot of people don't like him, but I'm not really sure why. I've enjoyed everything I've read from him. He's not on the level of Martin or Abercrombie or even Abraham, but he pumps out material at an insane pace and everything is basically good or better.

 

[MalTalm]

Here's my pantheon, though you may already have read or heard of many of these (Not included is the Kingkiller Chronicles,as you've already dug into those, but they would definitely be on this list):

ASOIaF series by George RR Martin
Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams
American Gods by Neil Gaiman
Catch-22 by Joseph Heller
Dune by Frank Herbert
Ender's Game by Orson Scott Card
The Magicians by Lev Grossman
Good Omens by Neil Gaiman and Terry Pratchett

I think I'd also include the Golden Compass by Phillip Pullman, though I wouldn't necessarily recommend the other two books in the trilogy, they don't hold up to the original IMO.

Book tastes tend to be personal, but all of those books were absolute page turners for me, the kind of book that after reading, you're trying to get other people to read as well just so you can talk about it.

 

[FiveThous]

I've been slacking these last couple weeks. The good news is I've finished 21 books this year. I set a goal for myself to read 25, so I'm on a good pace. Should easily be able to finish the Martian this week and then I'll be tackling A Wise Man's Fear to get caught up on that series.

I'd like to thank everyone again for keep this thread active, there are a lot of great posts in here to pull from for 2016 and beyond!

I still have The Black Company, The 500 and a few other books on my shelf I need to tackle this year. I'd also like to restart the 4 Hour Chef by Tim Ferriss since my cooking skills have improved immensely this year.

 

[Jack Brickman]

The Black Company is a great series. It's no ASoIaF, but it's just so different from most other fantasy series.

 

[macbdog]

The Revenant by Michael Punks

Fictionalized account of Hugh Glass, fur trapper in 1850s who was mauled by a grizzly bear and left to die by a pair of his trader team mates. Crazy story and recently made into a movie steering Leo DiCaprio.

The Devil in the White City by Erik Larson

Excellent history novel intertwining the story of the 1893 Chicago Worlds Fair and the murderous rampage of America's first serial killer, H.H. Holmes. I found the story of the fair- it was a watershed moment for the US on the world stage- was more interesting than the gory tale of Holmes but if you want a guide to being a more effective sociopath then read up.

Heart of the Sea by Nathaniel Filbrick

A good historical review of the true story that inspired Herman Melvilles Moby Dick. Surprise! Also being made into a movie, only with Surpise! Less history and more embellishments. Fascinating and sad story.

In the Kingdom of Ice: The Grand and Terrible Polar Voyage of the USS Jeannette
by Hampton Sides

Story of a 1879 polar expedition. Sad story- spoiler alert, trying to sail directly to the North Pole ends badly- told well by the author.

 

[brownindian]

 

[FiveThous]

It starts off a little slow but Emergency by Neil Strauss is a good read.

The chapters are short and the book focuses on his immersion into a survivalist culture.

 

[FiveThous]

Switching gears, any one have any recommendations for Philosophical readings? I just bought Meditations by Marcus Aurelius to start looking into Stoicism.

 

[FiveThous]

I've now read a couple books including Meditations by Marcus Aurelius and The Obstacle Is The Way. I'm looking at ordering Letters From a Stoic by Seneca next. Is anyone else familiar with stoicism?

Also if anyone is on Goodreads and wants to connect, PM me and we can.

 

[KI4MVP]

I am reading the jack reacher series by Lee child? The book is way better then the movie.

Two of my daughters love to read and many of the books she reads become movies. They say the movie ruins the book. I tell them not to read the book until after rate movie because the book ruins the movie because all through the movie I hear them complain about things that are different. Sometimes they complain about significant plot changes, other times it's the actor has the wrong color of eyes.

 

[Rookie]

I've covered this in the ASoIaF thread, but if you like stuff like Game of Thrones, read Joe Abercrombie's First Law trilogy (and the three follow-up books). He's probably the best fantasy author writing right now aside from Martin. Mistborn by Brandon Sanderson is a pretty good trilogy too. Also anything by Daniel Abraham.

Spoiler

Just got to the end of Before they are hanged. Kinda went ahead and read some spoilers on the 3rd book by mistake and I gotta say I'm not too excited about reading it. Some of those conclusions to some of the stories are questionable. I enjoyed the first two quite a lot and it'd be ashamed to see a greet story end like that.

 

[Lionheart]

Ernest Cline:
Ready Player One
Armada

- Sci-fi + fantasy, both chock-full of 80s references.

John Scalzi:
The Old Man's War series

- Sci-fi, stories about human and alien colonies plus politics. Explains a lot of the science stuff without making them sound boring.

 

[FiveThous]

Ready Player One is the book I have on deck