What is it that worked so well for you in the Inheritance trilogy but not the others?
1 Like
I think the other books I tried, I just didnāt get grabbed by the plot at all. It just seemed to meander nowhere and wasnāt a big fan of it.
I did just finish the book āsplit secondā which I found quite enjoyable
1 Like
Rrcently read:
The Fire Next Time, by James Baldwin
Recursion; by Blake Crouch
The New Jim Crow, by Michelle Alexander. A must-read
A couple of management books for work
1 Like
Alright Iām back in a reading phase so time to pay attention to this thread again. Iām pretty into shorter novels or possibly non-fiction (I usually like true crime or interesting historical events) that I can read over a reasonably short time frame, so no 500+ page books or trilogies for me at the moment. Currently reading Underground Airlines which I think someone recommended on 22 or maybe on here. Itās a good thriller and well-written although itās a little bitā¦idk what the right word is, maybe slightly pulpy? for my taste. Like the last book I read, itās exciting but feels a little too much like it wants to be adapted into a movie. I guess the universe - a United States where the Civil War was never fought and slavery still exists - is sort of interesting but I have a hard time swallowing a lot of it. I think afterwards Iām going to go through some of the books I have at home that Iāve never read or, maybe read a while back but would like to read again, so I can clear out some space if Iām not planning on keeping them long term.
@TheHip41 and @fidgetUK - I didnāt want to clutter up the other thread. I loved The Things They Carried, too. Have you ever read Matterhorn by Karl Marlantes? Heās a Vietnam vet, he worked on the book for 30 years, itās outstanding - and brutal.
1 Like
Iāll add to my library list today
So much to read.
Itās already on my āwant to readā Goodreads shelf
Also NOS4A2 by Joe Hill. (Havenāt seen the TV series. Book was better than I anticipated)
Akata Witch, by Nnedi Okorafor. Not bad
Thanks - Iāll check those out.
Some folks hatinā on Tale of Two Cities in the Trump thread. I didnāt read it as a high schooler, read it a few years ago and loved it. Dickens is funny! And this line is the best Iāve ever read about depression:
āSadly, sadly, the sun rose; it rose upon no sadder sight than the man of good abilities and good emotions, incapable of their directed exercise, incapable of his own help and his own happiness, sensible of the blight on him, and resigning himself to let it eat him away.ā
1 Like
I liked this line from the Hours-
But still there are the hours, arenāt there? One and then another, and you get through that one and then, my god, thereās another"
How I get on bad days. Just the unyielding yawn of time on the horizon.
1 Like
For fantasy fans the Powder Mage trilogy and the follow up trilogy are great. I was in a reading rut for a couple months but Iāve been blowing through these. Industrial revolution type background and technology combined with a cool magic system and some memorable characters. Not amazing worldbuilding or writing but theyāre fast paced and well plotted,
I heard they are making a tv series out of this which could be fantastic, if done right the action sequences could be amazing
3 Likes
Sounds interesting, thanks for the pointer. I put the first one on hold at my library.
Iām most of the way through Legacy of Ashes and would highly recommend for the folks here. Itās a long look at the CIA and its history of being hopelessly incompetent at doing intelligence work.
6 Likes
I randomly picked that up on a visit to the Spy Museum in DC a few years ago. Kind of ironic because the museum is all about making spies and intelligence agencies seem cool, while this book does the exact opposite.
DC Spy Museum is run by the FBI though, right? Standard interagency rivalry shenanigans right there.
I just started this about a guy who grows up in Togo in West Africa in the late 50s and manages to eventually fulfill his lifelong dream of visiting Greenland. So far I canāt put it down.
Just his stuff about growing up in Africa in a polygamous household and all the Africa superstitions and slice of life stuff is incredible. It actually gives me some insight into the animist beliefs of the Mesoamericans that Iān trying to write about - hearing a first hand account of growing up like that.
1 Like
Yeah, you should include West Africa when you go globe trotting. When they travel people get fixated on the South and East and ignore the part where the west had the most destructive influence (maybe because of that?), but which has influenced it (via music and art) the most.
Thanks - Iād never heard of this, Iām going to give it a go.
The Industrial Revolution angle is similar to Joe Abercrombieās second trilogy of First Law books (that sentence was a mouthful). That second trilogy is similarly set during an industrial revolution, so thereās some great discussion of striking / inequality / class warfare that doesnāt feel at all out of place in a fantasy novel. Iāve only read the first one āA Little Hatredā - I just saw book two came out in September.
Big Abercrombie fan. Iāve read both of the Age of Madness books, youāll like the new one. If you havenāt read all of the First Law standalone books youāll like those too.
Also this is not really a spoiler because its included in the book summary but the first book of the Powder Mage series opens with a powerful sorcerer military leader
Guillotining the king and entire ruling class to give his country back to the people, seems like a popular thing around here
Iām on book 3 of the 2nd Powder Mage trilogy and it is better than the 1st one, they introduce a few awesome characters including one that is very similar to Logen Ninefingers. Iād say that Promise of Blood is actually the weakest of all of them
1 Like