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jwcarlson
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Trying to finish the robot series by Asimov, currently on The Robots of Dawn.

Since we're talking about him, I haven't read much Stephen King but I did really enjoy 11/22/63.

Also a fan of Terry Pratchett and Neal Stephenson, but these types of books it seems like you really need to be willing to learn about the world(s) the stories exist in. 

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  • 7 months later...

Well... it's been a minute.  I've read:

Training Days in Japan - My Journey by Oliver Knott

The Hexologist by Josiah Bancroft

Blood on the Tracks Volume 1 by Shuzo Oshimi

Upgrade by Blake Crouch

One Piece Volumes 1-3 by Eiichiro Oda

Desert Places by Blake Crouch

Locked Doors by Blake Crouch

Vinland Saga Books 8-13 by Makota Yakimura

Guards! Guards! by Terry Pratchett

The Wheel of Time 6 - Lord of Chaos by Robert Jordan

Sixteen Ways to Defend a Walled City by K.J. Parker

Kings of the Wyld by Nicholas Eames

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A week or so ago I noticed my copy of Friday by Robert Heinlein on the shelf.  I remembered not liking it much when it first came out, but didn't remember just why, and it was a long time ago, so I decided to give it another try.

I still don't like it.  It will be going to the used book store the next time I go.  I enjoy his earlier novels, even though they were mostly written for a young audience, but he really went off the rails with his later stuff (definitely not for a young audience).

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On 12/12/2023 at 11:43 AM, jwcarlson said:

Is The Moon is a Harsh Mistress an early or later work, @JettsPapa?  I always mean to read it, but never get around to picking it up.

I may need to backtrack.  I found my copy last night and read the first few chapters.  From reading that much it doesn't appear to be written for juveniles, like most of his early work, but so far I haven't found anything in it that most people would find offensive.  Much of the dialog is a little difficult to follow, because apparently he wrote it like he imagined people would be speaking in 2075, with words like "the" and "a" often left out, and with words that he made up.

I assume I've read it before, since I had a copy, but I have zero memory of it, so maybe not.  If I have read it it was at least 30 years ago, and maybe 40.

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On 12/13/2023 at 9:11 AM, Katherine said:

I'm reading Jurassic Park right now.

Our library is doing a mystery book sort of thing. They've wrapped some books in wrapping paper with a short bullet point description. I grabbed this one, and I'm liking it more than I thought I would.

Michael Crichton is, in my opinion, grossly underrated as an author.  Blake Crouch feels a bit like his successor in a lot of ways.  Jurassic Park is solid.

Edited by jwcarlson
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On 12/13/2023 at 10:01 AM, jwcarlson said:

Michael Crichton is, in my opinion, grossly underrated as an author.  Blake Crouch feels a bit like his successor in a lot of ways.  Jurassic Park is solid.

I've never read anything else by Michael Crichton or anything by Blake Crouch.

Do you have a favorite by either of them?

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On 12/13/2023 at 10:06 AM, Katherine said:

I've never read anything else by Michael Crichton or anything by Blake Crouch.

Do you have a favorite by either of them?

Jurrasic Park might be my favorite Crichton.  The Andromeda Strain is also pretty good.  I think I've also ready Prey and State of Fear.  I'm not super well read in his stuff and some of them are pretty plodding in my experience.

For Blake Crouch - Dark Matter is my favorite.  But I haven't read a Crouch book that I didn't get was very very good.  They're fast paced and (in my opinion) more enjoyable than Crichton books.  Recursion is another great one.  Upgrade is good as well in SciFi.  I just read the first in his Wayward Pines trilogy book 1 is called Pines.  Also good.  He has also written some more books that are strictly "thrillers" a series starting with Desert Places then Locked Doors.  I liked those, but they're far more violent and not SciFi related at all.  Overall, I think the best jumping in point for Crouch is Dark Matter and if you don't like that he's probably just not for you.  It was my first and I've just been working backwards though his stuff.  He hasn't had a miss yet for me.

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  • 3 weeks later...

Blood on the Tracks Volumes 3 and 4 by Shuzo Oshimi

Wayward by Blake Crouch (book 2 if Wayward Pines trilogy)

Just picked up Of Blood and Fire by Ryan Cahill, about 100 pages in and enjoying it.  First in a series.

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On 1/9/2024 at 4:50 AM, Katherine said:

I'm trying to read Pride and Prejudice for a book club and I'm really not enjoying it. I don't understand why so many people love this book.

When it comes to that era of authors you either really like them or you don't which is totally okay. Personally I enjoyed Pride and Prejudice mostly because of Jane Austen's dry witty remarks which had me laughing at points. I have recently read The Tenant of Wildfell Hall by Anne Bronte.

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I was at a Goodwill yesterday and saw some books by WEB Griffin and his son.  They were $1.99, so I bought them, but I saw another book in one of his series that had his name on the cover, but when I looked at the title page it was written by two other authors.  I left them.

This practice seems to have become fairly common in recent years.  I know there are still books being written and published with Tom Clancy's name on the spine, even though he died in 2013.  Am I the only one who avoids these?

(And don't get me started on Lee Child's recent collaborations with his brother.  There's a reason his brother hadn't been very successful writing alone.)

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So years ago, 2006, I picked up a book called The Book of Lost Things by John Connolly. My imagination was so sparked by this book that it is among a very few books that I hold as most treasured and have read it more than once- ever time a similar effect has occurred. I don't reread the vast majority of books I pick up. This book is only surpsassed by one other that I've read around 4 or 5 times. Anyhow, while travelling this last fall in Ireland I went into a book store. Behold I saw The Land of Lost things by the same author- a NEW book all these years later. Weirdly I also had no idea that I was also in John Connolly's native home and he'd just been at the bookstore recently SIGNING the books! Now while I am sad to have missed the man himself I was more than happy to pick up this new book and have been reading it. Halfway through I already know it to be just as endearing as the first book will be. image000000(91).jpg.4df97daddbe5193141db2e0ba5c9ceba.jpg

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I am currently waiting for the following books to have something to read:

stone door

The winds of winter

The navigator children

Light Bringer (i think i read this); and red god.

--

It is hard to find good stuff to read; esp when some of these series take 20+ years.

 

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