YouBet said:

---

StinkyPinky said:

---

YouBet said:

---

StinkyPinky said:

---

YouBet said:

---

My pace this year continues to suck. Since my last post I have finished:

Dungeon Crawler #6
Dungeon Crawler #7

So this catches me up to DCC. Fantastic series.

Looking back to the beginning of 2024....70% of the books I've read are Dresden Files or Dungeon Crawler Carl. lol.

I'm mixing it up with my next book.

---

My pace has faltered as well, mainly due to picking up the pencil and drawing again

---

That's a hobby tradeoff though. I have no such cool excuse.

---

Means you need something different to suck you back in. Usually when I'd do a genre change

Edit: May I suggest 'Boys Life' by Robert McCammon.

---

I'm actually reading one of my wife's favorite books. The Night Circus.

---

I remember it being OK and liking it, but I couldn't tell you now what even happened in this book other than recollecting the setting.

Before They Are Hanged(First Law trilogy Book 2). Action picked up big-time in book 2, really enjoyed it.

The Marksman said:

---

Before They Are Hanged(First Law trilogy Book 2). Action picked up big-time in book 2, really enjoyed it.

---

Yea, I struggled with book one, so the second book definitely saved the series. Character development was off the charts

Finished DCC 6; "Eye of the Bedlam Bride". On to #7

In the last 6 weeks gotten through 5 and half of Dungeon Crawler Carl. What a wild ****ing ride

My next look is the Murderbot Chronicles.

Saxsoon said:

---

In the last 6 weeks gotten through 5 and half of Dungeon Crawler Carl. What a wild ****ing ride

My next look is the Murderbot Chronicles.

---

If you haven't Red Rising, would highly recommend.

The other day I finished the Rob Halford autobiography. ''Twas a good read.

Finished Echos of Reckoning by Ron Shaw. Ron's debut novel and the first book of what looks to be a trilogy.

Solid concept here: Guy dies and enters Purgatory. Sets out to find his previously deceased fianc and works against death in an attempt to escape back into the world of the living.

Pretty easy read and I loved the concept. Give this idea to Stephen King and it's a novel people are talking about.

I don't know if I'm going to jump immediately into book two, get back on the Red Rising train, or go in a completely different direction. I suppose I have until bedtime tonight to decide.

Books read in 2025:

January
Slaughterhouse Five - Kurt Vonnegut (re-read)
A Wrinkle in Time - Madeleine L'Engle (re-read)
The Silent Patient - Alex Michaelides
Project Hail Mary - Andy Wier
Pines - Blake Crouch
Wayward - Blake Crouch

February
The Last Town - Blake Crouch

March
Dark Places - Gillian Flynn
Sharp Objects - Gillian Flynn

April
Red Rising - Pierce Brown
Golden Son - Pierce Brown

May
Morning Star - Pierce Brown
Echos of Reckoning - Ron Shaw

On deck:
Broken Reflections - Ron Shaw
Iron Gold - Pierce Brown
Light Bringer - Pierce Brown
Dark Age - Pierce Brown
Dune - Frank Herbert

If you've never read Dune, you truly can't go wrong with it. Of course, that's my opinion, and some on here may disagree, but there's a reason it is considered one of the sci-fi greats.

lurker76 said:

---

If you've never read Dune, you truly can't go wrong with it. Of course, that's my opinion, and some on here may disagree, but there's a reason it is considered one of the sci-fi greats.

---

It's the first sci-fi great, at least first one to be a best seller. That said, it's a great story but not an "easy" read given the style. The one give-away I noticed that it was written in the 60s was the time when someone escaped by "giving him the slip."

I haven't read Dune and it's been "on deck" for like a year now…might be time to pull the trigger

Love Dune. Dune Messiah, not as much. But Dune is fantastic.

Dune Messiah is a bridge to Children of Dune and makes a lot more sense in hindsight. God Emperor of Dune gets polarized reviews for sure.

Children of Dune worth the read?

To me, any of the Dune books written by Frank Herbert are worth the time to read them. After his books, I don't care for the ones co-written by his son, Brian.

Children of Dune is great. Dune and Children of Dune are tied at the top for me. I'm currently reading Heretics of Dune (#5), and I've slowed down considerably from my pace through the first 4. Dune Messiah and God Emperor of Dune are good but different kinda of books. More philosophy than story-driven.

On Thursday I finished Just Out of Jupiter's Reach in The Far Reaches collection, by Nnedi Okorafor, and if you are interested in reading that collection, this book is the most woke of them. Of the seven people in the story, four are women, and one of the men is trans. One is from Mumbai, one from Nigeria, three from Carribean islands, one is Asian, and I don't remember where the last one was from.

This morning, I finished The Wizard of Oz (100 Eternal Masterpieces of Literature) by L. Frank Baum, and started The Border Legion by Zane Gray, also in the 100 Eternal Masterpieces collection.

The Night Circus - Erin Morgenstern

Not a book I would have normally read but it's one of my wife's favorite books so I gave it a shot. And I wanted to switch things up since I was so heavy with Dresden and Carl the last 1.5 years. I actually started this some time ago and put it down after watching The Prestige with my wife because this book had some very loose parallels to that movie early on.

I enjoyed this. It's very vivid in its descriptions and I liked the time jumps which can sometimes wear on me. In this case, it was a pretty small gap that closed over the course of the book. I felt it ended a little weak but it was a good read overall.

Gonna revisit an older and oft overlooked sci-fi series next.

HawthornAggie said:

---

Children of Dune worth the read?

---

The first three books are a trilogy. That gets overlooked.

Dune is by far the best of the first four books. I don't think any of the other books are close to the first. As someone else said, Dune Messiah, Children of Dune, and God Emperor of Dune go hard into philosophy. They can be interesting but don't expect much action.

I have not read past God Emperor yet so can't speak to the one after. All of the prequels written by his son are pulp sci-fi action stuff.

Edit: I think you can read Dune and stop. Zero reason to read the others unless you want to get into Franks philosophy.

Started Dune this morning.

My brother in law said the same thing about being able to read the first and end it there. That's my plan at the moment.

Have I complained lately about the almost total death of real sci-fi and fantasy being available to peruse at book stores? Our local bookstore only carries Romantasy in the Sci-Fi & Fantasy section and a stroll through the Hudson in Love Field this morning was the same experience. The entire sci-fi and fantasy section was Romantasy except for one copy of Dune which was only there because it was recently a movie.

It's gotten so absurd that I picked up some series labeled as "Tik Tok Dark Romance". What the ever living f* is that?

So, as a dude, I've been totally relegated to Kindle Unlimited and no longer really have the option of handing a physical book IRL before purchasing. Really sucks.

The only book store I ever go to is B&N, the one by me at least has a pretty good selection of stuff.

Read Dune previously, finished up books 2-6 earlier this year.

It DEFINITELY goes in a totally different direction, but I enjoyed it. I could have read just book 1 and been totally satisfied, but I don't see how you can stop at any point after that without finishing up the story. I wanted to know where all the craziness went.

So far this year I've knocked out (with some rereads):

A Separate Peace - John Knowles
Surprised by Joy - C.S. Lewis
The Picture of Dorian Gray - Oscar Wilde
The Lion, The Witch, and the Wardrobe - C.S. Lewis
War and Peace - Leo Tolstoy
Frankenstein - Mary Shelley
The Remains of the Day - Kazuo Ishiguro

Really, REALLY enjoyed The Remains of the Day. Easy read and very thought provoking.

Last Argument of Kings(First Law trilogy book 3) by Joe Abercrombie. Excellent end to the trilogy, really enjoyed these books. Not sure if I'll keep reading Abercrombie's work in this universe. Any recommendations from others who have read his works? Are you supposed to read the standalone novels before the second trilogy?

On Democracies and Death Cults: Israel and the Future of Civilization, Douglas Murray

On Democracies and Death Cults: Israel and the Future of Civilization - Kindle edition by Murray, Douglas. Politics & Social Sciences Kindle eBooks @ Amazon.com.

I'm 450 pages into "The Stand" by Stephen King. I wanted to update with my status since the book has over 1,300 pages. If I wait until I'm done, you won't hear from me again until the weather starts cooling in the late fall.

To offer something entertaining, Chapter 38 has been one of my favorites. Its a random chapeter describing several random deaths of survivors who were immune to the killer superflu virus. A young child falls down a well, breaks both legs, and starves; a woman locks herself in a large freezer where her dead husband and baby are kept; a man gets an infected leg and dies trying to saw it off..... various things like that. Somewhat dark, if I'm being honest.

Philo B 93 said:

---

I'm 450 pages into "The Stand" by Stephen King. I wanted to update with my status since the book has over 1,300 pages. If I wait until I'm done, you won't hear from me again until the weather starts cooling in the late fall.

To offer something entertaining, Chapter 38 has been one of my favorites. Its a random chapeter describing several random deaths of survivors who were immune to the killer superflu virus. A young child falls down a well, breaks both legs, and starves; a woman locks herself in a large freezer where her dead husband and baby are kept; a man gets an infected leg and dies trying to saw it off..... various things like that. Somewhat dark, if I'm being honest.

---

Spoilers. I'm about 200-250 pages in. Guess I can't look at this thread, or I suppose it's one of those "it's been out for 100 years, so it's fair game" situations.

Philo B 93 said:

---

I'm 450 pages into "The Stand" by Stephen King. I wanted to update with my status since the book has over 1,300 pages. If I wait until I'm done, you won't hear from me again until the weather starts cooling in the late fall.

To offer something entertaining, Chapter 38 has been one of my favorites. Its a random chapeter describing several random deaths of survivors who were immune to the killer superflu virus. A young child falls down a well, breaks both legs, and starves; a woman locks herself in a large freezer where her dead husband and baby are kept; a man gets an infected leg and dies trying to saw it off..... various things like that. Somewhat dark, if I'm being honest.

---

The heroin overdose and the guy who ran himself into a heart attack were the more vivid ones I remember

Haha. There's really no spoilers there. You'll still enjoy that chapter if you're a Stephen King fan. But I'll be aware of not spoiling going forward. I'm really enjoying this book.

The Man Who Saved the Union - H.W. Brands
Charlie Hustle - Keith O'Brien
Pandora's Star - Peter F. Hamilton
Judas Unchained - Peter F. Hamilton
Mutiny on the Bounty - Peter FitzSimmons
Undaunted Courage - Stephen E Ambrose
The Dregs of Empire - Christopher Ruocchio
Of Blood and Fire - Ryan Cahill - very meh but it was free on Audible
Robert E Lee - Allen C. Guelph

I enjoyed them all except Of Blood and Fire. It's the first book in a series and I won't be continuing it.

I'm currently reading Anxious Generation by Jonathon Haidt.

YouBet said:

---

Have I complained lately about the almost total death of real sci-fi and fantasy being available to peruse at book stores? Our local bookstore only carries Romantasy in the Sci-Fi & Fantasy section and a stroll through the Hudson in Love Field this morning was the same experience. The entire sci-fi and fantasy section was Romantasy except for one copy of Dune which was only there because it was recently a movie.

It's gotten so absurd that I picked up some series labeled as "Tik Tok Dark Romance". What the ever living f* is that?

So, as a dude, I've been totally relegated to Kindle Unlimited and no longer really have the option of handing a physical book IRL before purchasing. Really sucks.

---

The local Barnes & Noble has a terrific selection of sci-fi. Lots of classics and plenty of new stuff too. I don't read many fantasy books, so I don't know if it's up to par.

I'm forgetting some books.

Frankenstein - I thought it was great, but overrated. Nowhere near the lofty ranking that it gets.
Scarlet Pimpernel - fun read.
Sound and the Fury - tough sledding for a while. Loved it. Will read more Faulkner.
Memoirs of a Geisha - excellent book. love the characters.
Tale of Two Cities - good classic, not exceptional. Not in top 5 Dickens books.
Hyperion - one of my favorite sci-fi books.
Woman in White - underrated classic. outstanding book.
Nightshade - newest Michael Connelly book. New characters which is nice. Good. Last 1/3rd seemed rushed.

Slowed down after the Pines trilogy and took my time with A Moveable Feast by Hemingway. My last unread of his books.

Just started Dungeon Crawler Carl. I have a feeling I'm going to blow through these.

Finished All-Star Superman last night. It's a comic book, or perhaps considered more of a graphic novel. Not really my thing. I'm certain it's the first time I have read such a book.

Next up is back to traditional reading. I will either start a re-read of Dune: Messiah (first read in 1986), or go with the next title in Alan Dean Foster's HumanX Commonwealth series, which is the second title, Cachalot. Read the first in the series, Midworld, about a year ago. Easy fantasy reading, reminded me of Avatar in a lot of ways.

The Marksman said:

---

Last Argument of Kings(First Law trilogy book 3) by Joe Abercrombie. Excellent end to the trilogy, really enjoyed these books. Not sure if I'll keep reading Abercrombie's work in this universe. Any recommendations from others who have read his works? Are you supposed to read the standalone novels before the second trilogy?

---

His published order is chronological order so I would read them as they came out. I've read all of them to date except the newest one that just came out.