Good Books
 

Anybody read any good books lately? I've read a crapload, and thought I'd pass the titles on for anyone who loves to read as much as I do:

Historical Novels (these are only considered novels because the conversations are recreated. Othewise, they're historically accurate)

by Colleen McCullough:

The Grass Crown
The First Man in Rome
Caeser's Women

By Bernard Cornwell (who has researched King Arthur and uses the most recent discoveries)

The Winter King
Enemy of God
Excalibur


Then, there's fantasy:

Robert Jordan"

The Wheel of Time series (it's long, but it's SO worth it. These books are addictive.)

I just got finished reading "A Dangerous Fortune" by Phillip Margolin, "Timeline" by Michael Crichton, and "Gone But Not Forgotten" by Phillip Margolin. The first was a "family epic" kinda, and was very good. The other two were thrillers, and I liked them a lot.

There's a good gothic novel, if you can find it, called "We Have Always Lived in this Castle." Very strange book, but I thought it was pretty good. Then there's "Ken's Guide to the Bible." Excellent book.

I'm reading "The Third Twin," a medical thriller by Ken Follett right now. So far, it's been really good.



Sidhe

I read The DaVinci Code.

I usually avoid the book that everybody's talking about ... largely because I expect it to be disappointing on some level.

It was.

The plot was thin, the puzzles weak, and the ending was downright stupid. I have specific problems about the book, but I have this thing about posting spoilers, so I'm just going to leave it at that.

A friend of mine has written a review, which he expects to be published in Skeptical Inquirer.

If it's viewable online without a subscription, I'll post a link when it's published.

Perfectly Legal by David Kay Johnston is pretty eye-opening - plus, my dad is mentioned twice. :)

I'm also reading a translation of 1001 Arabian Nights.

I'm looking forward to the latest book in "A Song of Ice and Fire", by George R. R. Martin.

Re: Good Books
 

read everything you can find of his.

i read those three and loved them..I love it that lancelot was really a coward. he also has a series about the 100 years war that i'm 2/3 of the way through, 1st one is "an archer's tale"...., and one about the revolutionary war called redcoat.

"stonehenge" was also excellent.
what a great writer.

Those are the only three I've read of his...but I read each of them three times, they were so good. I'll check out his other stuff. If it's as good as the Aurthur set, I'll have something to read while I'm waiting for the new Wheel of Time book to come out.

:D

Sidhe

Just finished reading "The Jester" by James Patterson. It was a pretty good book. Of course, all of James Patterson's stuff is good.

This one is about a peasant who goes on the Crusades in order to win his freedom. He ends up with "the holiest relic in Christendom," though he doesn't know it. A particular noble is killing off people who've come back from the Crusades, because he's looking for this relic...the peasant's family is killed over it. He goes to take revenge, and he gets it, in spades.

I don't want to ruin the book for anyone who likes James Patterson and hasn't read the book yet, so that's all I'll say.

Sidhe

Harry Turtledove, alternative historian extrordinaire. The "World War' series was awesome. Imagine the middle of WWII aliens show up. His characterizations are incredible, you feel like you're standing in the same room as Churchill, Roosevelt and all of the rest.

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Barry Sadler. mercenary, singer, writer. He has an action series about a mixed historical figure. He combined the concept of the wandering jew with the legionnaire who stabbed Jesus in the side. "Content as you are now, so shall you remain until I return." Or something ot that effect. As a mercenary he could really bring the battles to life.

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John Steakly, one shot wonder. Armor is a great book.

"It was then, for Felix, it began. The hatred for the briefing officer had expanded to include his superiors, the captain of the ship, the commanders of Fleet itself, and finally the thick-headed idiot humans who had undertaken something as asinine as interplanetary war in the first place. The hatred blazed brightly, then vanished. From somewhere inside came a shock of all-consuming rage, the nova-like intensity of which startled even him. But then the rage was gone, too. It seemed to shoot away like a comet. What replaced the loathing and fury was something very different, something cold and distant and . . . only impersonally attentive. It was an odd being which rose from Felix and through him. It was, in fact, a remarkable creature. It was a wartime creature and a surviving creature. A killing creature.

The Engine, Felix thought. It's not me. It's my Engine. It will work when I cannot. It will examine and determine and choose and, at last, act. It will do all this while I cower inside."

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Robert Jordan, with the now colloquialized "Whale of Time" series

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Michael Shermer. "Why People Believe Weird Things", and he has a new one out called "The Science of Good and Evil" which I am looking forward to.

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More to come...

Any of Patricia Cornwell's books....any of John Sandford's books....any of James Patterson's books....any of Dean Koontz's books, and anything by Stephen King or Peter Straub.


Yeah, I know that's kind of general, but they're all such good writers. Patricia Cornwell writes books about forensics and serial murderers, tracked down by the FBI and a Medical Examiner; John Sandford writes books about a detective who tracks down serial killers; James Patterson writes, I guess you'd call them suspense....but they're excellent, and varied in their themes, from modern to medieval; and Dean Koontz is pure horror....Stephen King is terror, pure and simple. I like him. Some people don't. I like the way he can build up the suspense, only to have nothing happen, then hit you out of the blue with something just when you've become complacent. Peter Straub is a bit more subdued than King, but still as horrific.

Stephen King wrote The Talisman and Black House with Peter Straub. Straub also wrote a book called Shadowlands that rocks. If you've read The Talisman and Black House, you can tell where Stephen King stops and he starts....

I think there's a definite line between horror and terror, and Stephen King and Peter Straub are terror. Horror is seeing something and going "ewwwww, gross!" Terror is wondering if something is going to jump out at you as you round the corner....Your heart's pounding, your breathing is quick, but the surprise you fear doesn't happen..then, just when you think you're out of the woods, and safe, BOOM! That's terror. And it ain't easy to write.

Sidhe

I just finished "the bride stripped bare" by anonomous , its a little R rated but it was such an identifiable story line. i enjoye dit a lot,

Just starting "thai die" now, a comedian who got kidnapped by thai gangsters whilst travelling. should be fantastic.

I've often wondered, but I'm too damn lazy to just go and check ... as to what the reading preferences in other countries are like ... I've never, for example, checked the Australian or English best seller lists ... is it like the other entertainment industries, where things are dominated by American product or are there more local authors read than foreign?

There's a few prominent Australian authors who command premium shelf space ( Maureen McCulloch- The Thorn Birds, Thomas Kanealy-Schindlers list) but in general the cardboard bookshelves poised to pounce at the entrance are chockers with King, Cussler (ugh), Ludlum, Clancy, Koontz etc.
Not much individuality down here i'm afraid.
I'm not suggesting we don't have a fantastic pool of talent, merely the funds don't exist for competitive publicity and the general population (myself included for the most part) are an apathetic bunch. Devil you know and all that.