Right now I am reading "Red Heat" by Alex Von Tunzelmann (not to be confused with the movie!). It is pretty interesting so far. It is about the espionage and the mystery that went into the Cold War and the Cuban Missile Crisis. I got it while I was at the International Spy Museum in DC.
Sorry must have forgotten, Since I heard Patrick I think mention it in a mailbag video or something I have been reading Inside Scientology the story of America's most secretive Religion it's pretty interesting and on sale at amazon for like $11 and also re-reading the Dark tower series
I just got finished rereading Codex Alera by Jim Butcher (the writer of Dresden Files), and am now reading Zero Sight which I thought would be cheesy and lame but has turned out to be as good as the reviews say it is.
Codex Alera is a fantastic series spawned off a writing challenge where Butcher was to write based off two disparate ideas. In this case it was The Lost Roman Legion and Pokemon. The result is some pretty great fantasy with strong elements of militaristic fantasy, political intrigue and espionage with a very interesting and unique magic system.
Zero Sight so far seems to be boy-meets-girl mixed with gory supernatural stuff, harry potter and gang violence. The odd grouping is rendered compelling, however, thanks to some pretty smart writing.
If you like hard fantasy like The Dark Tower, though, I recommend The Blade Itself and the rest of the The First Law trilogy.
Funny you should mention the dark tower (and have that profile pic). I started on the series some months back, and Im almsot finished with the 7th book.
@jouseldelka: How is the Witcher books I've been thinking of getting into that?
Very charming and immersive, but I'm probably biased because I love the games to death. I really enjoy reading Sapkowski's original vision of the White Wolf (Geralt), the adventures are dark and tasty.
@thrillhouse87: The series is really good I mean people do have problems with the last few books but I still hold it as one of the better/best fantasy series out there
@jrinswand: After Clash of Kings you should read. Ready Player One. Song of Ice and Fire will be there when you finish it.
It has a slow start since it has to introduce a lot of concepts right off the bat, but after the first 25-50 pages it gets really good. It's nice to read a book that is made up of so many video game related pop-culture references. If any thing was gonna make video games feel 'socially relevant,' I would say that book definitely does.
I finished reading Snow Crash a couple of days ago. It was both hilarious and captivating. I think the Cyberpunk elements weren't as interesting as they were in Neuromancer, but it was a good read overall.
The last book I read was 'Roadside Picnic' by Arkady and Boris Strugatsky. It's basically the book that inspired the S.T.A.L.K.E.R. series and a staple in post-apocalypse literature. I came by this book when it was referenced in Metro 2033. It's a great book and a must read if your a fan of dark sci-fi.
Because of the TV series "Homicide," I read that book in Junior High. Fantastic piece of non-fiction. Rob Base's "It Takes Two" was the summer jam of 1988, so practically every murder scene the Baltimore detectives rolled up to, someone was blasting it. I love the real-life absurdity of the soundtrack to murder being this:
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It might be a low-brow cheat, but I picked up and read the first trade paperback of Brian K. Vaughan and Tony Harris's comic "Ex-Machina" this weekend. Very promising start. Basically, it's the story of a guy who tries to be a superhero, saves the second tower on 9/11, retires, then wins the election for mayor of New York. So it's like The West Wing/Veep with a side dish of superpowers. I just got into Brian K. Vaughan this year through the Saga series, and I'm catching up.
I'm reading/listening to A Dance with Dragons right now. I've been making myself through the Song of Ice and Fire over the last few years, getting kind of sad knowing I will not be waiting on Mr Martin to finish the next book.
@galacticpunt: I know you have probably heard this, but if you like Brian K Vaughan You have to read Y the Last Man it is really good also I'm reading Saga also and I really like it. How are you liking it?
I'm reading Shadow & Claw by Gene Wolfe. It's been called the best science fiction series ever written (The Book of the New Sun, the series name) and it's phenomenal so far.
I finished reading Snow Crash a couple of days ago. It was both hilarious and captivating. I think the Cyberpunk elements weren't as interesting as they were in Neuromancer, but it was a good read overall.
One of my favorite books. If you haven't read it, you should also check out Anathem, which probably is my all time favorite book.
Making my way through Moneyball, all of Philip K. Dick, and The Communist Manifesto at the moment. Should be done with them in a week or so. Dunno what is up after that.
Just finished Blood Meridian the other day after putting it off for a while, and man, that book is something else. It took me a while to get used to McCarthy's writing style in the book, but I'm really glad I stuck with it. The way he describes the scenery and horrific acts of violence, it's definitely a book I would like to go back to and read again someday. Now I'm jumping back into The Wheel of Time series with The Great Hunt.
Currently The Big Short by Michael Lewis. It's a great book detailing the subprime mortgage crisis from the perspectives of people who saw it coming but couldn't do much to stop it, so they made sure to get rich off it at least.
I recently finished Under the Dome by Stephen King. Partly since the TV series is coming out this summer, mostly because I lived in that area of Maine for 7 years, which added an extra layer of creepiness to the story whenever King mentions towns or local landmarks/buildings I know of personally.
I'm reading the first Dragon Age novel. I actually had no idea there was such a thing until I saw it in a used bookstore last week. It is actually quite entertaining so far. I'm not done but it seems like it is worth a read if you were into the game.
@jrinswand: A heads up about Ready Player One...if you aren't really, really big into 80s nostalgia, don't bother. Unless it makes a drastic turnaround after the hundredth page (I couldn't bring myself to read any further), it's basically a bunch of "hey, remember this thing?" masturbatory bullshit grafted over a cyberpunk concept that Neal Stephenson did way better in Snow Crash. I'm sure a lot of people on here will disagree with me, but that's my two cents.
Religion and the Decline of Magic. Extremely well written. Enjoying it thoroughly. Picked it up when I went to Plimoth Plantation. Living museums creep me out, but it was worth the day trip. Listened to Bombcasts all the way there.
I finished reading Snow Crash a couple of days ago. It was both hilarious and captivating. I think the Cyberpunk elements weren't as interesting as they were in Neuromancer, but it was a good read overall.
One of my favorite books. If you haven't read it, you should also check out Anathem, which probably is my all time favorite book.
I enjoyed Neal Stephenson's writing so I will definitely check it out at some point.
For now though I'm looking to read some fantasy stuff. Maybe the A song of Ice and Fire series.
@galacticpunt: I know you have probably heard this, but if you like Brian K Vaughan You have to read Y the Last Man it is really good also I'm reading Saga also and I really like it. How are you liking it?
Saga is so much fun twelve issues in. Unless it takes a very bad turn in the future, it will probably unseat James Robinson's Starman as my favorite ongoing comic ever. This year I checked the free first issue of Y: The Last Man through Comixology. I dug it, but I filed the series into the "will buy and read this series at some indeterminate date in the future" pile. This BKV guy is pretty darn good!
@jrinswand: A heads up about Ready Player One...if you aren't really, really big into 80s nostalgia, don't bother. Unless it makes a drastic turnaround after the hundredth page (I couldn't bring myself to read any further), it's basically a bunch of "hey, remember this thing?" masturbatory bullshit grafted over a cyberpunk concept that Neal Stephenson did way better in Snow Crash. I'm sure a lot of people on here will disagree with me, but that's my two cents.
On the one hand, I fucking hate masturbatory nostalgia bullshit, but on the other, I fucking love the 80's. I'm torn!
At any rate, it's a moot point. First things first, I have to re-read A Song of Ice and Fire so that I can finally read A Dance with Dragons.
@jrinswand: A heads up about Ready Player One...if you aren't really, really big into 80s nostalgia, don't bother. Unless it makes a drastic turnaround after the hundredth page (I couldn't bring myself to read any further), it's basically a bunch of "hey, remember this thing?" masturbatory bullshit grafted over a cyberpunk concept that Neal Stephenson did way better in Snow Crash. I'm sure a lot of people on here will disagree with me, but that's my two cents.
On the one hand, I fucking hate masturbatory nostalgia bullshit, but on the other, I fucking love the 80's. I'm torn!
At any rate, it's a moot point. First things first, I have to re-read A Song of Ice and Fire so that I can finally read A Dance with Dragons.
FWIW, I totally agree with banefirelord on this one. I've read some crappy books in my day, but RP1 is one of those rare books that actually made me feel angry about its combination of ineptitude and popularity. And I read Twilight.
And as far as I'm reading, I'm halfway through The Pale King, need to finish up re-reading All The King's Men, just downloaded an e-book of The Count Of Monte Cristo which should take me a couple months to get through. Never read it; hear good things!
@rorie: The Count of Monte Cristo is one of, if not my favourite book. It's good to read in sections, because it breaks of into so many story tangents. I think it blows out to such a crazy length because Dumas (and his huge writing team) wrote it as a serialised story for French newspapers at the time. The more story, the more money he got. It's still fantastic though.
The last book I read was Ready Player One. Holy shit I loved that book, although I kind of felt like it got way too far up the ass of everyone other than itself by the end. What I mean is that the fictional world Cline created for that book with the Oasis and James Halliday and IOI and all of that stuff was so fascinating and well-written to me that the giant cluster-fuck of Japanese robots fighting at the end and (SPOILERS) the Holy Grail recreation and all that got tiresome. The hyper-referential humor was fascinating and novel at the beginning, but I got really sick of it especially after he infiltrated the IOI debtors prison thing. Why not just set the rest of the book in that fascinating dystopia you've already got me hooked on?
Ready Player One is basically an 80's movie about the 80's, expect it to be cheesey and you'll be fine. I mean it's got a training montage in it! I finished it about a week ago myself, I usually hate pandering but I enjoyed it.
Otherwise I'm continuing my long slow trek through Terry Pratchet's Discworld series, I'm about 10 or 12 books in now. They aren't all Amazing but they've got some pretty redeeming parts and a lot are amazing. Also every summer I pick my way through some of the Sherlock Holmes stories. I'm considering starting up the Wool books, but dunno if I'll bother with it yet.
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