Finished Shattered Sword and started The Uncool, A Memoir, by Cameron Crowe. He's the inspiration for the movie Almost Famous.
To those that recommended Shattered Sword, thank you very much. That was a real eye-opener. Now I want to rewatch both of the Midway movies.

Sea Speed said:

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Thank you. The end goal this year is to make a pretty big step in career progression to the position I will have until I retire, and getting on top of this stuff is a huge part of it. I appreciate the kind words and definitely thought it was sarcasm at first.

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Nah, you have a super interesting job. One of those "If I how to do everything over again, I'm going to look into that really, really closely" kinda thing for me. Love seeing the stuff you need to read to keep abreast with it.

I haven't visited this thread in ages. Just now catching up. Been dredging through some rereads of old guilty pleasures. Mainly old Feist and David Webers. Nothing really worth mentioning honestly.

I've had Shattered Sword for years now though and finally feel spurred on to actually read the damn thing!

boy09 said:

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Blood Over Bright Haven - M.L. Wang

Overall i really enjoyed it. I thought the magic system was really cool and the twist was pretty good. The first 90% of the book was great, the ending was just a little underwhelming i thought.

Fun little detour. Anyway, back to Sun Eater. Up next: Demon in White

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I was pleasantly surprised with Bright Haven. Really cool concept. The ending did feel a little abrupt to me but I chalked it up to me being so damned use to series in this genre and Wang likes to write one offs. I enjoyed Sword of Kaigen so much I basically just YOLO'ed Bright Haven even though Kaigen kinda suffers from the same thing of just being a single one off and it's disappointing we don't get more and probably why the ending feels abrupt or meh there too.

If you liked Haven though, I imagine you'll like Kaigen as well. A lot more action oriented though.

Needful Things by Stephen King. Very gripping book with a memorable and frightening villain. Ending was a little meh in my opinion though.

Isle of the Emberdark by Brandon Sanderson -- completed the Cosmere to date. This one was good but opens all kinds of questions on where things are headed.

Eliminatus said:

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Sea Speed said:

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Thank you. The end goal this year is to make a pretty big step in career progression to the position I will have until I retire, and getting on top of this stuff is a huge part of it. I appreciate the kind words and definitely thought it was sarcasm at first.

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Nah, you have a super interesting job. One of those "If I how to do everything over again, I'm going to look into that really, really closely" kinda thing for me. Love seeing the stuff you need to read to keep abreast with it.

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One of my life goals is to shepherd young men in to this career. I've 'mentored' several and am always trying to find others who are curious and put them on this path. We used to be a seafaring people and the young men need to RETVRN.

Completed 8th book of the year: Tom Clancy's Act of Defiance. Authors Wilson and Andrews have picked up the Jack Ryan series now and this is one of the better books in the series in the last 10 years. It is tied strongly to the first Ryan book, The Hunt for Red October, and has some cameo appearances from several key characters in that novel. I highly enjoyed it.

Next up, the new Gray Man novel by Mark Greaney: The Hard Line.

Just completed Heretics of Dune. It took me a bit to immerse myself into the new characters that came as a result of the time jump from God Emperor of Dune, but I eventually re-oriented myself and sped right through this one. I appreciate what Herbert has done by moving away from the initial core characters, the Atreides in particular, while not totally abandoning that lineage. It is actually what Lucasfilm needs to do with Star Wars.

Next up: ChapterHouse: Dune.

Completed: Whispers in the Tall Grass by Nick Brokhausen. Second part of the memoirs of a Special Forces dude in Vietnam. Fascinating book and a great read. Highly recommend.

Up next: Plutarch's Lives by...Plutarch. Not sure I'll make it all the way through, but I figured I'd give it a go.

The Four Winds by Kristin Hannah

My favorite genre is historical fiction, but generally I stick to WWII era books. First book I've read that's Great Depression era, which I'm pretty ignorant of. Will need to check out more and adding Grapes of Wrath to the list, haven't read it since high school.

Finished Devils by Fyodor Dostoevsky

5/5

The Great Train Robbery.

Up next: Gai-Jin

Finished Twelve Months, now I'm getting back into the Laundry Files books. Delirium Brief is the last one I remembered reading years ago, so I'm rereading that to pick back up with the remaining books.

Finished Iron Gold (finally). Love the series, this was easily the weakest book so far. Taking a break with book 5 and just started Project Hail Mary. I was on the fence if I was going to read it or just watch the movie, but opted to read the book based on all the fan fare. So far glad I started it, has my attention right out of the gate. Also will start The Book Thief. Comes highly recommended and my wife just read it before I got the chance. She also said it was great. Will knock those two out and then get back to Red Rising.

StinkyPinky said:

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just started Project Hail Mary. I was on the fence if I was going to read it or just watch the movie, but opted to read the book based on all the fan fare. So far glad I started it, has my attention right out of the gate.

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I know audiobooks aren't for everyone, but i would HIGHLY recommend it for PHM

StinkyPinky said:

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boy09 said:

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StinkyPinky said:

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just started Project Hail Mary. I was on the fence if I was going to read it or just watch the movie, but opted to read the book based on all the fan fare. So far glad I started it, has my attention right out of the gate.

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I know audiobooks aren't for everyone, but i would HIGHLY recommend it for PHM

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I hear that a lot. Just not a fan of audio. I've been tempted to listen to Dungeon Crawler Carl (I've read them all) because I hear what an amazing job Hayes does, but haven't found the time. Too big of a fan of the written word.

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I can't handle fiction on audiobook for some reason. Good for non-fiction.

Operation Bounce House by Matt Dinniman : B
Cool concept, C moments and A moments so B average.

The Tainted Cup by Robert Jackson Bennett: B+
The Sherlock character gave me an Avasarala (Expanse series by James S.A. Corey) with eccentricities vibe that I didn't know I was looking for in a character.

Like you, I'm not much for audiobooks, but for PHM, it is almost a must, and you'll understand why when you get there. I did the read first and when I saw the recommendations for audio, and why, I did a listen and it was great.

YouBet said:

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StinkyPinky said:

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boy09 said:

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StinkyPinky said:

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just started Project Hail Mary. I was on the fence if I was going to read it or just watch the movie, but opted to read the book based on all the fan fare. So far glad I started it, has my attention right out of the gate.

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I know audiobooks aren't for everyone, but i would HIGHLY recommend it for PHM

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I hear that a lot. Just not a fan of audio. I've been tempted to listen to Dungeon Crawler Carl (I've read them all) because I hear what an amazing job Hayes does, but haven't found the time. Too big of a fan of the written word.

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I can't handle fiction on audiobook for some reason. Good for non-fiction.

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Same here. I listen to nonfiction histories on audiobooks all the time, but audio books are no go for me on fiction. I think it's because the voice of the narrator never matches up with the voices I have in my mind for the characters. That was definitely the case for me with The Devils and with the Dungeon Crawler Carl books. Contrary to a lot of people on here, I can't stand the voices by the DCC narrator...his Donut voice is just totally wrong and sounds like what it really is... a man doing a poor imitation of a woman's voice.

Oh good Lord, I don't think I could take that screaming in my earbuds, lol!

Lehane is a great author, I highly recommend Live by Night and Mystic River

After finishing a Dostoevsky book, I was in the mood for something lighter and thanks to this thread and a trip to Barnes and noble I picked up "King Sorrow" by Joe Hill

I haven't read much horror since I joined this thread but it's my favorite genre. In 2025 I read Frankenstein, the Picture of Dorian Gray, The Narrative of Arthur Gordon Pym of Nantucket (Edgar Allan Poes only full length novel), a smattering of Lovecraft, and King's the dark tower series (I know he's joes dad).

So all this to say - a perfect fit and about 200 pages in, really enjoying it. I was worried based on the jacket that the plot would seem way too similar to IT. While obviously heavily inspired, I think it's at least so far distinguished itself.

Just finished The Will of the Many by James Islington. Really good first book of a trilogy. I enjoyed the Roman-ish fantasy tone. Can't wait to start book 2.

rich1232 said:

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Operation Bounce House by Matt Dinniman : B
Cool concept, C moments and A moments so B average.

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Just finished this morning and I would give it a B but it did have some great concepts.

I know it's supposed to be an "optimistic" ending but I actually found it pretty dark.

Just ordered Edge of Collapse and Edge of Madness (2 of 7), I'll take them offshore with me later this month, seem to have really good reviews for the most part.

My Antonia by Willa Cather. First time re-reading this one in many years. Much more moving and impactful on me this time than when I first read it.

Just finished Red Rising. It took me many months to slog through the first half. The writing is first-person, terse, and pretty dry. Yet another book about kids being selected into houses that compete with each other.

I almost put it down but glad I didn't! Read the second half in a few days. Reading the next soon.