TSF Book Club
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The third book in the current trilogy-Angels of vengeance comes out tomorrow.For those of you who havn't got into it yet the basic story is on the eve of the second Gulf War an energy wave wipes out pretty much every living thing in the US apart from part of Wshington state, Hawaii and the base at Guantanamo bay .It leads to all kinds of global chaos plenty of shooting etc for Crucial who was disappointed with the amount of gore in the last trilogy.The second book is a cross between the tv series After People and Stalingrad with Jihadis instead of germans.<br />
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[url]http://www.cheeseburgergothic.com/archives/2785[/url] -
am about to start on A Game of Thrones (book with audio given I drive a bit) have watched the series, so will get through this one and likely the next few before the 2nd tv series (as I see no reason why I wont like them...)
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[quote name='NTA']Just got my Kindle for father's day. Any advice, hints, tips, tricks?[/QUOTE]<br />
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There are quite a few places that spotlight the freebies and deals.<br />
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Kindle on the Cheap is one of my favourites - [url]http://www.facebook.com/pages/Kindle-on-the-Cheap/183663855030523[/url] or [url]http://kindleonthecheap.wordpress.com[/url] if you're not a FB user. <br />
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Another I use is Free Kindle Books and Tips - http://fkbt.wordpress.com<br />
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There are also plenty of places to download out-of-copyright books. Too many to list actually. Google's your friend on that score.<br />
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As for Dance With Dragons .... I personally wanted to start a fucking witch hunt when i finished it. Won't say any more though - as Melody Pond says ... "Spoilers". -
Crap, doesn't get released till April 2012 in the US.<br />
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Without Warning was excellent, but I thought the second book was kind of weak. Nothing really happened to advance the plot after the first 50 pages or so. Filler book. -
I am the world's lasiest reader of fiction. Non-Fiction and me, we're mates. Fiction bores me normally. This is shit hot though.<br />
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Here's the blurb <br />
"[I]Imagine a near future where a cure for aging is discovered and-after much political and moral debate-made available to people worldwide. Immortality, however, comes with its own unique problems-including evil green people, government euthanasia programs, a disturbing new religious cult, and other horrors. "<br />
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[/I]I liked it, future stuff and science fiction is my most [I]Hatey [/I]genre of anything, but I just thought this came with such good dilemmas to figure when you read it. Maybe I've just got shit taste in books though -
I romped through Martin's works after it was recommended on here. They have been great. I read Dance as an ebook. Will definitely get a hard copy, but I couldn't wait for it. <br />
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At first I was disappointed with it because it left so many threads hanging, but on reflection, it was a good read. Can't wait for the next one. -
Along with the audio version of Game of Thrones, am reading The Negotiator by Ben Lopez (a psuedonymn) which is a true account of a guy at the heart of the hostage trade, some of the numbers are scary!<br />
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More than 20,000 kidnappings are reported each year, only 1 in 10 of these reported to authorities, there has been a 100% increase in kidnappings in the past 12 months. Over 50% happen in Latin America. <br />
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There are 10 kidnappings per day in Colombia, with 3% of the kidnappers prosecuted, in contrast, 95% of the US kidnappings result in prosecutions.<br />
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90% of the kidnappings are locals.<br />
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Insurance premiums for K & R (Kidnap and Ransom) bring in over $130,000,000 annually (assume in USD and this is with Lloyds as it says in London) <br />
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21% of the kidnappings in Latin America survive rescue attempts.<br />
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HAve also just finished the latest installment from Terry Brooks; Measure of Magic, which is set about 500 years or so post apocolypse and about 500 years before the first Druid Council is formed (The First King of Shannara) -
Nerds...<br />
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Bernard Cornwall - historical fiction, good easy 'shoot em ups' based on real events. He's pretty good I reckon.<br />
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John Birmingham - hes the world was 1.1 etc series - I have read the first two of that - love it, must get the third and read more of his.<br />
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Game of Thrones - just had a mate recommending that series.<br />
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Pretty much I read anything and everything I can lay my hands on. Love military history too - any era.<br />
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Hmmm, my name is Jason, and I too am a book reading nerd... -
I am probably going to read World War Z soon, heard good things about it.
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Just finished the latest S.M. Stirling emberverse book, The Tears of the Sun. I really liked the first few books in the series (and the Island in the Sea of Time one), but the last couple books have really dragged a bit. The initial concept of the series was awesome (the survival aspect and wars), but once he got more into the Wicca and mythology as the series progressed, I started to lose interest. I am still reading though, because 8 books in, I just wanna know how the bloody series ends. Two more books to go. <br />
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Also picked up Harry Turtledove's third book in the War that Came early series. Another of my favorite alternative history authors. -
[quote name='rustycruiser']Just finished the latest S.M. Stirling emberverse book, The Tears of the Sun. I really liked the first few books in the series (and the Island in the Sea of Time one), but the last couple books have really dragged a bit. The initial concept of the series was awesome (the survival aspect and wars), but once he got more into the Wicca and mythology as the series progressed, I started to lose interest. I am still reading though, because 8 books in, I just wanna know how the bloody series ends. Two more books to go. <br />
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Also picked up [B]Harry Turtledove's [/B]third book in the War that Came early series. Another of my favorite alternative history authors.[/QUOTE]<br />
I loved Guns of the South but have not been able to read any of his other stuff. I think I prefer the single focus story as opposed to his large alternative histories.<br />
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I haven't been able to read fiction for a while - but I read non fiction constantly. Although I think I might try the novel that Gibbit suggested.<br />
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I've just finished reading Freakanomics and Super Freakanomics which were both interesting. <br />
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Too Big To Fail is a really dry book about the Lehman Brothers collapse and sub-prime mortgage leading to financial crisis debacle. But if you watch the movie first then the book is actually pretty interesting.<br />
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I'm about to fully nerd out and read Machiavelli's The Prince. I try to force myself to read 'older' stuff and occasionally find a gem. -
It's taken me half a year, but I am halfway through Plutarch's Lives. (I was intrigued to learn that Shakespeare used Plutarch as his reference for Julius Caesar, and jumped on a Folio Society offer.) It's sometimes pretty tough sledding, and I fear I have forgotten way more of it than I can recall. Two more volumes...<br />
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Took a breather between the first two volumes to read F. Scott Fitzgerald's "Tender Is the Night," which is on the one hand over-written, contrived and pithy, and then outta nowhere he'll dazzle with a mindblowing paragraph or sentence that I want to commit to memory. Recommended for guys who can't figure out the other sex and want to make an effort to learn, but sadly, too much psycho madness to find any solutions. Still doing a postmortem on it. -
[quote name='red terror']<br />
Took a breather between the first two volumes to read F. Scott Fitzgerald's "Tender Is the Night," which is on the one hand over-written, contrived and pithy, and then outta nowhere he'll dazzle with a mindblowing paragraph or sentence that I want to commit to memory. Recommended for guys who can't figure out the other sex and want to make an effort to learn, but sadly, too much psycho madness to find any solutions. Still doing a postmortem on it.[/QUOTE]<br />
I tried reading The Great Gatsby and found it tedious and as such I haven't tried his other three (or is it four?) novels. -
[quote name='Baron Silas Greenback']I am probably going to read World War Z soon, heard good things about it.[/QUOTE]<br />
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I quite enjoyed it. Though I did find the mind started to wonder towards the end. May have been the way it's written.<br />
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Also, Brad Pitt is currently making it into a movie.<br />
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If you do enjoy zombie books I highly recommend [URL="http://www.amazon.com/Day-Armageddon-J-L-Bourne/dp/B003E7ET58/ref=cm_lmf_tit_9"]Day by Day Armageddon[/URL]. It's a journal type story of a guy trying to survive a zombie war. -
I'm quite into my psychology stuff so some cool books I've read this year in that regard:<br />
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Paranormality: Why we see what isn't there (Professor Richard Wiseman). This was quite a cool read, basically goes into explaining the functioning of the brain behind all the supernatural stuff floating about.<br />
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Couple of Malcolm Gladwell books - "Blink: The power of thinking without thinking" and "The Tipping Point: How little things can make a big difference". Blink is well worth a read if you're into these kinds of books and is very interesting. Tipping Point I'm only halfway through and has some interesting parts but not quite as good as Blink so far.<br />
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Also read Empire of Silver, the fourth in the Khan dynasty set of Conn Iggulden books. Once again a fantastic read. -
[quote name='rustycruiser']Crap, doesn't get released till April 2012 in the US.<br />
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Without Warning was excellent, but I thought the second book was kind of weak. Nothing really happened to advance the plot after the first 50 pages or so. Filler book.[/QUOTE]<br />
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It did plod a bit but I think he was setting up more for the third book, I'm keen to see what the vengeful Mexican has planned for a start and I really enjoyed the battle for new York.The couple of chapters he posted on his blog suggest that the Southerners have made a deal with a foreign power to well............. I don't know how to do spoilers if you can wait till april have a quick look .<br />
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If they made a movie of it who would play the part of Rhino? -
I don't know if this would be everyone's cup of tea, but Mrs Jury bought a book called Wulf Hall. I saw the title, picked it off the book shelf and started reading it. I thought she must have got some fantasy fiction that I hadn't heard of. Anyways, it's about Cromwell's rise to power under the Tudors. It's written from Cromwell's point of view and when Henry first meets Anne Boleyn. I really enjoyed it and I thought the writer did well because ... well, we all know how it turns out, but I give her props for writing events as they unfolded from Cromwell's point of view without letting future events cloud the work.<br />
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There's going to be a sequel and I'll grab it. If you like historical fiction, this might interest you. -
[quote name='NTA']Yep agree with Toddy. Books give you full grounding in Westeros, and allow you to relax into the series I reckon[/QUOTE]I never read a book before watching a film because i almost always wind up disappointed with the movie.
