What is PCF reading? (4 Viewers)

[bonesnjnts]

i liked it--not as much as the first book, but still satisfying

Neil Stephenson- Seven Eves--- interesting sci-fi

A Doubter's Almanac by Ethan Canin--really enjoyed

now reading Heroes of the Frontier by Dave Eggers--also excellent

 

[detroitdad]

My boy just ordered the first two Preacher books. Looking forward to reading those

 

[Trihonda]

Currently reading "The Hyperion Cantos" series by Dan Simmons

My go to genres are sci-fi and fantasy. However, I like a good crime/mystery novel.

I'll post a more comprehensive list of my faves/authors once I'm not on my phone at work, but to name a few:

Sci fi fantasy:

GOT
Shinara Chronicles
Dragon Riders/Pern "McCaffrey"
Myth series
LOTR
Xanth series

Mystery/crime:

Reacher series
Prey series
Grafton Alphabet series
Jack Ryan series

Great thread BTW

 

[Ghoti]

Currently reading "The Hyperion Cantos" series by Dan Simmons

My go to genres are sci-fi and fantasy. However, I like a good crime/mystery novel.

I'll post a more comprehensive list of my faves/authors once I'm not on my phone at work, but to name a few:

Sci fi fantasy:

GOT
Shinara Chronicles
Dragon Riders/Pern "McCaffrey"
Myth series
LOTR
Xanth series

Mystery/crime:

Reacher series
Prey series
Grafton Alphabet series
Jack Ryan series

Great thread BTW

LOTR will always have a special place in my heart--such well written books. The Fellowship is one of my favorites ever.

Also read the first 2 Hyperion books (I believe there's a third? But I think I heard that it was terrible so I didn't read it). I enjoyed them a lot. Was one of the first books I read when I started getting into sci fi.

 

[Trihonda]

LOTR will always have a special place in my heart--such well written books. The Fellowship is one of my favorites ever.

Also read the first 2 Hyperion books (I believe there's a third? But I think I heard that it was terrible so I didn't read it). I enjoyed them a lot. Was one of the first books I read when I started getting into sci fi.

I'm just starting the 3rd book (I have the 4-book bundle). I actually heard it was quite good (first two reviews I read). However, we shall see.

LOtR is epic, and is the gold standard.

GOT was epic. However, it can drag on (see what I did there, lol). I started book 5 a while back, and despite being very much into the characters, I couldn't get through it... It got very tedious.

So many great S I fi fantasy novels I read as a kid. I inherited all my mothers collection of books, enough to fill a library, lol. We got ride of so many books, but I cherry picked the books/authors of note to save. McCaffery, Norton, Brooks,

 

[Ghoti]

GOT was epic. However, it can drag on

Well done.

I quite liked the 5th, almost as much as I liked the 3rd. For me the 4th was the one that dragged on--I'd say it was tough to get through, but that's relative as I read them all in one go (think it took me about 4 months to read them all) and the others were just so incredibly good.

Let me know what you think about the 3rd in the Hyperion series. If you like it I'll just buy it and give it a shot.

I'll check out the other authors you mentioned. Wish I would have gotten into sci fi earlier.

 

[Max D]

Neil Stephenson- Seven Eves--- interesting sci-fi

A Doubter's Almanac by Ethan Canin--really enjoyed

now reading Heroes of the Frontier by Dave Eggers--also excellent

Really enjoyed Seven Eves, slow start but gets really good. From the same author Snow Crash was great.

 

[Max D]

I am currently reading:
- The Magic of Math (Benjamin, Arthur) - Math in interesting
- Ghost Run (Day by Day Armagedon book 4) - Zombie stories...
- Kill switch (Joe Ledger series) - fun fast series.

 

[texasrambler]

Anyone read Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind by Yuval Harari?

I have it cued up.

I have just read it, very good interesting read.

 

[ohio3302016]

I have just read it, very good interesting read.

I'm a quarter of the way through. Thought provoking thus far.

 

[Trihonda]

Robert Asprin's MYTH series. A quick, whimsical read. Very punny. Asprin is quite accomplished in other novels. Thieves World, for example. Plot summary: Young magician's apprentice from a backwards world, is thrown into a crazy epic of real magic, demons, and lots of puns.

Terry Brooks' Shannara Chronicals. Most famously, "The Elfstones of Shannara". Which was recently made into a Netflix TV series. I caught this a few weeks back, and marathoned through the entire first season. Very well done for Netflix. Impressed, worth a look while it's still on Netflix. Plot = elven tree is the barrier holding back tides of demons, the tree is dying, and an Elven princess and company quest to save the tree (and the world).

Grafton collection. Plot: Kinsey Milhone is a witty private detective, who lives a simple life, and solves crimes in the small town of Santa Teresa, CA.

Partially shown is my extensive Anne McCaffrey collection. My mother's favorite author. Creator of the Dragon Riders of Pern series. I have 15-20 McCaffrey novels. Plot = All over the place. Alien race from the stars sets out to populate other planets, and finds their way to the planet of PERN. Shenanigans ensue, technology dies off, dragons are born, and adventures abound.

Also, part of my Piers Anthony collection. He's most noted for his Xanth novels. Adventures take place in the mythical land of Xanth, which looks suspiciously like Florida... Plenty of puns and magical mahem abound.

Obviously not ALL the novels shown. I just wanted folks to get a feel for the covers.


As for some of the ones not shown. I really enjoyed the Jack Reacher novels. I also really enjoyed the movie, despite Tom Cruise not fitting the part physically. Looking forward to the second movie coming out soon. For those that don't know. Plot = super bad ass ex-military super-cop, who was the guy they sent to capture/find the bad-ass military criminals. Now out of the military, roaming the country vagabond style (with nothing holding him down). Everywhere he goes, trouble follows, and often people decide to mess with him (much to their dismay) when all he wants is to be left alone.

The Prey series is good too. Similar to the Reacher novels, however, I found these to be a bit more dark and harder to read than the Reacher novels. But still good. Plot = wealthy cop with sketchy integrity. Uses his lack of integrity (and wits) to thwart the bad guys, and there are some very nasty bad guys (serial killer types) that he runs across.

 

[jbutler]

And just like the summer music list, the White House published the President's summer book list.

I would say that, like the music list, I doubt he's actually reading these, but I can't imagine anyone would pretend to be reading The Girl On the Train. Spoiler alert: it blows. Put it down, Mr. President. Seveneves much better. H Is for Hawk is good in an if-Sylvia-Plath-wrote-when-she-wasn't-depressed kind of way.

I don't read about barbarians or railroads, so I dunno about the other two.

 

[JoseRijo]

Colson Whitehead wrote a fair-to-middling poker book, "The Noble Hustle: Poker, Beef Jerky and Death". It was OK if you like that kind of stuff.

I just finished Wool, which was awesome. I also liked Ready Player One, which my son had to read. But I'm biased as I grew up in the dark times.

 

[jbutler]

Colson Whitehead wrote a fair-to-middling poker book, "The Noble Hustle: Poker, Beef Jerky and Death". It was OK if you like that kind of stuff.

I just finished Wool, which was awesome. I also liked Ready Player One, which my son had to read. But I'm biased as I grew up in the dark times.

Co-sign on the Wool endorsement. Really fun read.

 

[Ghoti]

Enjoying this in the train right now. Off to a great start (50 pages in).

 

[detroitdad]

Just finished Preacher, volume 1. Loved it. Very weird and fucked up

 

[stocky]

I've just started reading Nevernight by Jay Kristoff

It's about a young girl who becomes an assassin. I can't help but think it was written off of the popularity of Arya from Game of Thrones, but besides this it is very well written and actually pretty funny.

I've only read about 7 chapters and already wanted to suggest it here.

 

[pltrgyst]

....Prey series....

Sandford's other books are excellent, too -- the Virgil Flowers and Kidd series. All interact with the Prey series.

 

[pltrgyst]

Reading the most recent Christopher Moore novel at the moment. Most based in San Francisco, lots of netherworld creatures, mostly based on Celtic mythology. Best read in order, beginning with Practical Demonkeeping.

I'm not normally interested in anything supernatural -- nothing beyond the fantasy of Terry Pratchett -- but Moore is a *great* writer. He makes you laugh out loud about once every couple of chapters, and brings a tear every now and then as well.

His book about Biff, Christ's childhood friend, is very good, but an outlier to his other books.

 

[tommythecat]

Reading the most recent Christopher Moore novel at the moment. Most based in San Francisco, lots of netherworld creatures, mostly based on Celtic mythology. Best read in order, beginning with Practical Demonkeeping.

I'm not normally interested in anything supernatural -- nothing beyond the fantasy of Terry Pratchett -- but Moore is a *great* writer. He makes you laugh out loud about once every couple of chapters, and brings a tear every now and then as well.

His book about Biff, Christ's childhood friend, is very good, but an outlier to his other books.

Christopher Moore's books are amazing. All have plenty of laugh out loud moments and lots of great characters. Definitely best read in order by location (Pine Cove, San Francisco, etc.) though they all stand alone quite well (with maybe the exception of the vampire books).

 

[slisk250]

Collapse: How Societies Choose to Fail or Succeed by Jared Diamond

I'm a bit perplexed that I never discovered this book considering my views about deforestation, abuse of natural resources, and the probability of our society collapsing (depending on your definition of the term).

Diamond is a very respected scientist currently teaching geography (last I checked) at UCLA. I really like the format of the book. He goes into great detail during the introduction to lay out how he went about planning the book and also comments on both the praise and critical views regarding the subject. I'm still at the beginning of the Montana section and am very excited to read about the various societies that he analyzes (Easter Island, Greenland Norse, Rwanda, Mayan, etc.)

In place of detailing some of what I have learned, I'll reference the following link by a staff writer from The New Yorker.

http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2005/01/03/the-vanishing-2

I wish that I could ask Dr. Diamond what his views are regarding Saudi Arabia. It is a country quite like no other. They cannot feed their own population and require huge imports. The unemployment is huge but the Royal family that owns Saudi Aramco takes care of the populous with social welfare programs. Things are changing rapidly. I'm of the opinion that I will live long enough to see their collapse. It may be due to economic and civilian unrest and not necessarily have a environmental cause. What happens when the oil runs out? Will their attempt to reinvent themselves as a petrochemical or alternative energy supplier be successful? Will they be able to handle the population growth that their religious beliefs seem to promote?

Perhaps there are recent written works out there on the subject? I would appreciate anybody pointing me towards them.

Give this one a read.

 

[pltrgyst]

Christopher Moore's books are amazing.... though they all stand alone quite well (with maybe the exception of the vampire books).

"Sacre Bleu" certainly does, especially if you have an interest in French impressionist art. I must have loaned or given copies of that book to two dozen people -- all loved it.

 

[jbutler]

Collapse: How Societies Choose to Fail or Succeed by Jared Diamond

I'm a bit perplexed that I never discovered this book considering my views about deforestation, abuse of natural resources, and the probability of our society collapsing (depending on your definition of the term).

Diamond is a very respected scientist currently teaching geography (last I checked) at UCLA. I really like the format of the book. He goes into great detail during the introduction to lay out how he went about planning the book and also comments on both the praise and critical views regarding the subject. I'm still at the beginning of the Montana section and am very excited to read about the various societies that he analyzes (Easter Island, Greenland Norse, Rwanda, Mayan, etc.)

In place of detailing some of what I have learned, I'll reference the following link by a staff writer from The New Yorker.

http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2005/01/03/the-vanishing-2

I wish that I could ask Dr. Diamond what his views are regarding Saudi Arabia. It is a country quite like no other. They cannot feed there own population and require huge imports. The unemployment is huge but the Royal family that owns Saudi Aramco takes care of the populous with social welfare programs. Things are changing rapidly. I'm of the opinion that I will live long enough to see their collapse. It may be due to economic and civilian unrest and not necessarily have a environmental cause. What happens when the oil runs out? Will their attempt to reinvent themselves as a petrochemical or alternative energy supplier be successful? Will they be able to handle to population growth that their religious beliefs seem to promote?

Perhaps there are recent written works out there on the subject? I would appreciate anybody pointing me towards them.

Give this one a read.

Haven't read this since it was released, but I remember enjoying it quite a bit at the time, but not as much as Diamond's previous book, Guns, Germs, and Steel. That one was a blockbuster upon its release, but if you missed it, definitely go back and check it out. I'm sure you'll love it.

 

[MD Mike]

I think I may have mentioned earlier that I was reading through all of Stephen King's works.

I'm on "Doctor Sleep".

Good book. Will probably be a movie someday.

I'm getting a little tired of fiction though.

 

[jbutler]

I think I may have mentioned earlier that I was reading through all of Stephen King's works.

I'm on "Doctor Sleep".

Good book. Will probably be a movie someday.

I'm getting a little tired of fiction though.

If you mentioned it I didn't see it. Stephen King was absolutely huge for me growing up. Started reading it literally as soon as I could read and read straight up through my late teens. It's a real chicken or the egg thing for me. I don't know whether I loved his work because I think like him or I think like him because I loved his work, but his dark nostalgia resonates so strongly with me.

Did you start chronologically? What have been the highlights so far for you?

My opinions of his entire bibliography aren't unique. My favorite stuff is the Castle Rock material, but mostly anything to do with adolescence and lost innocence. I'm still waiting for someone to perfectly capture the themes and tone of his work on film. Probably the closest anyone has come in my opinion are Carrie by Brian De Palma, Christine by John Carpenter, and Stand By Me by Rob Reiner with honorable mentions to Misery also by Rob Reiner, The Dead Zone by David Cronenberg, and The Dark Half by George Romero.

 

[tommythecat]

"Sacre Bleu" certainly does, especially if you have an interest in French impressionist art. I must have loaned or given copies of that book to two dozen people -- all loved it.

Sacre Bleu is the latest I have from Moore. I am having trouble getting started with it as I am not all that familiar with the subject matter. I am sure if I can get past the opening of the book I will enjoy it but haven't got that far yet.

 

[jbutler]

I haven't read a new Christopher Moore book since You Suck, but the one that...uh, sucked me in was Lamb. I guess just in case anyone is looking for a very welcoming starting point.

 

[tommythecat]

I haven't read a new Christopher Moore book since You Suck, but the one that...uh, sucked me in was Lamb. I guess just in case anyone is looking for a very welcoming starting point.

I'd love to make a movie for Lamb. I imagine his stuff is optioned well before it's published though. Almost all of his stuff would transfer to the big screen fairly easily and would be very entertaining.