Whatcha Reading?
- Thread starter dave350
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ironpony
Professional Pot-Stirrer
"The Lakotas and the Black Hills" by Jeffrey Ostler (Kindle app,) "The Monuments Men" by Robert Edsel (just started,) "Soldiers and Ghosts" by JE Lendon (a different chapter/century when I get tired if other stuff,) "KL" by Nikolaus Waschmann (finishing - it's a hard read - history of the German WWII concentration camp system.)
Recently finished "Marching Orders" by Bruce Lee (how Magic/Ultra intercepts influenced Allied strategy in WWII,) "Enemy at the Gates" by William Craig (Stalingrad,) "The Fall of Japan" also by William Craig, "What Now Lieutenant?" by William Babcock (a personal Vietnam memoir.)
Recently finished "Marching Orders" by Bruce Lee (how Magic/Ultra intercepts influenced Allied strategy in WWII,) "Enemy at the Gates" by William Craig (Stalingrad,) "The Fall of Japan" also by William Craig, "What Now Lieutenant?" by William Babcock (a personal Vietnam memoir.)
Ontario Outlaw
Hozer Witta Hood
The maze runner series
I don't read much unless I'm sick, because I can't put a book down and end up short on sleep. As a teenager, I went though at least 3 novels a week, and often one a day. But the last few have been Jack Reacher novels. They're decent reads, my only real complaint is the author's tendency to fiddle with geography (or more likely his slim grasp of it,) which sets off the alarm bells in my internal GPS.
I've been through all the Clancy stuff, Dick Francis is surprising good ( I lean more towards the techno-thrillers,) Michael Crichton, the earlier (more believable) Jake Grafton books by Coonts. Haven't read any in a while, but Grisham and Turow write good legal thrillers. If you've not read Steinbeck, you should, and beyond just Of Mice and Men and Grapes of Wrath, his short works are just as good. Most of that is fairly mainstream.
Then you get into Asimov, which is very wide ranging from non-fiction to sci-fi (I wish we had someone today with his gift for writing on particle physics.) Laumer's Retief series pokes serious fun at the folly of diplomatic protocols, among other topics. I know reading is very personal taste, but any of the top 25 writers in Sci-fi are well worth the read. From the strangeness of Philip K Dick to Adam's Hitchhiker comedy or Heinlein's thought provoking stories about cultural issues. Of course Stephen King should get a mention, although his earlier works (say, Needful Things and earlier) are better IMHO.
And non-fiction is even more of a personal taste than fiction, as it almost requires some prior interest to be readable and not sleep material. Ignition! by John D. Clark is my latest read, the story of the development of rocket fuels. You can find the pdf for free.
I've been through all the Clancy stuff, Dick Francis is surprising good ( I lean more towards the techno-thrillers,) Michael Crichton, the earlier (more believable) Jake Grafton books by Coonts. Haven't read any in a while, but Grisham and Turow write good legal thrillers. If you've not read Steinbeck, you should, and beyond just Of Mice and Men and Grapes of Wrath, his short works are just as good. Most of that is fairly mainstream.
Then you get into Asimov, which is very wide ranging from non-fiction to sci-fi (I wish we had someone today with his gift for writing on particle physics.) Laumer's Retief series pokes serious fun at the folly of diplomatic protocols, among other topics. I know reading is very personal taste, but any of the top 25 writers in Sci-fi are well worth the read. From the strangeness of Philip K Dick to Adam's Hitchhiker comedy or Heinlein's thought provoking stories about cultural issues. Of course Stephen King should get a mention, although his earlier works (say, Needful Things and earlier) are better IMHO.
And non-fiction is even more of a personal taste than fiction, as it almost requires some prior interest to be readable and not sleep material. Ignition! by John D. Clark is my latest read, the story of the development of rocket fuels. You can find the pdf for free.
ironpony
Professional Pot-Stirrer
Agreed... long winded basterd. His short stories under the pen name Bachman were awesome reads.
dave350
Well-Known Member
I haven’t been reading a lot of fiction lately. Every now and then I pick something up. Grisham is hit or miss for me but I did like Rogue Lawyer. Micheal Connelly I read both the Harry Bosch and Lincoln Lawyer series. I like John Sanford also, I tend to favor the Virgil Flowers series over the Prey series.
James Lee Burke is one of my favorites. I’ve read a good bit of the Robicheaux series and I also like the Holland series.
James Lee Burke is one of my favorites. I’ve read a good bit of the Robicheaux series and I also like the Holland series.
see the thing is, reading a book, you have to use your imagination about how things look. i just personally don't like using my imagination, so (no joke) i wait for the movie. i like seeing things unfold as the story goes on. now of course, if the book to movie is lousy, i will most certainly fall asleep.
which is why i do not go to the movies, it's money wasted. at home and the plethora of movie channels i have, i have so many opportunites to see that movie again, and again.
i cannot tell you all the book writers that their works went into movies, i know Grisham, and Steven KIng, but since i am not a reader, i gotta think many others work is indeed turned into a movie.
Electric Chicken
Well-Known Member
ironpony
Professional Pot-Stirrer
Anything on video based in "fact" almost always has said "facts" altered for "dramatic effect."
if i were running the road, and not wanting to spend money on satellite radio, then i may have given audio books a try. as sometimes trying to find anything on the radio, when out in the boondocks is tough.
but for me, video books work best.
as well as characters ( i think they are called composite characters) to enhance the movie to ...move along.....Danny DeVito in the Hoffman movie,(with Jack Nicholson) is a prime example...
tommyh
Well-Known Member
Crimes Of The Civil War, And Curse Of The Funding System Henry Clay Dean
finished quite a few Diaries of the Civil Way Soldiers,both North and South
finished quite a few Diaries of the Civil Way Soldiers,both North and South
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