Books: What have you been reading?

[Jackmando7]

Hoo buddy, welcome to Jurassic Park. Rated R.

It's nice to finally, after all these years, learn what was up with that sick triceratops in the movie. That part always felt incomplete and left me confused.

Dino... droppings??

[MajorHoy]

The High Window by Raymond Chandler
(orig. © 1942 / Vintage Crime/Black Lizard edition 1992)

[The Darknight Detective]

Now reading Nemesis (1971), one of the last Miss Marple stories by Agatha Christie. Still only half way through The Dream of the Red Chamber's 2,400-something pages on my Kindle, though.

[MajorHoy]

Just started
Vengeance is Mine! by Mickey Spillane
{Mike Hammer} (orig. © 1950)

[Jopi]

Currently reading Kim Stanley Robinson - Red Mars

[The Darknight Detective]

Currently reading Kim Stanley Robinson - Red Mars

I read that a few years ago and enjoyed it.

[The Darknight Detective]

New book I'm reading: The Chase (2007), the first Isaac Bell novel by Clive Cussler. Surprisingly, I believe it's the first Cussler novel I have read since 10th grade 37 years ago (Raise the Titanic, FWIW).

[John Ossie]

Bit of a goldie oldie but I've been reading William Shakespeare's ''Othello'' recently.

[MajorHoy]

Currently reading

Red Harvest by Dashiell Hammett
(orig. © 1929 / first Vintage Crime/Black Lizard Edition 1992)

[Darkspellmaster]

The Arkadians by Lloyd Alexander. Fun little adventure with enjoyable characters. I've always been into Greek mythology so I love how influenced the novel is by those stories.

Have you read his Chronicles of Prydain series? He was influenced by his time stationed in Wales and the various mythology there as well. The Arkadians is a fun read, and full of a lot of cool aspects. I always go back to him and Diana Wynn Jones for strong myth based influenced stories.

Just recently started a novel called "Crap Kingdom" where it takes the tropes of falling into a world and being a chosen one and turns that on it's head as it's the worst place you could possibly want to become a ruler of.

[Amacent]

Have you read his Chronicles of Prydain series? He was influenced by his time stationed in Wales and the various mythology there as well. The Arkadians is a fun read, and full of a lot of cool aspects. I always go back to him and Diana Wynn Jones for strong myth based influenced stories.

The Prydain series is on my to buy list. I've heard nothing but great things of that series. I bought Lloyd Alexander's Westmark series recently so that's the next one I'm going to tackle. I'll definitely look into Diana Jones too.

Currently reading : The Death and Life of Superman by Roger Stern. I'm a huge Superman fan but I never actually read all the issues associated with this massive story. Aside from a couple of issues, I completely ignored this story for no reason at all and while this isn't the same thing I hear it's a faithful and excellent adaptation of a classic comic story.

[Darkspellmaster]

The Prydain series is on my to buy list. I've heard nothing but great things of that series. I bought Lloyd Alexander's Westmark series recently so that's the next one I'm going to tackle. I'll definitely look into Diana Jones too.

Currently reading : The Death and Life of Superman by Roger Stern. I'm a huge Superman fan but I never actually read all the issues associated with this massive story. Aside from a couple of issues, I completely ignored this story for no reason at all and while this isn't the same thing I hear it's a faithful and excellent adaptation of a classic comic story.

Prydain is amazing, and it's a shame it's overlooked in favor of LotR and Narnia a lot of the time. I haven't read the Westmark series, I heard it was good though. For Diana jones, I would say try out the Crestomanci series, The Dalmark quintet, her Howls moving castle series. She was actually a mentor and friend to Neil Gaiman and knew Terry Pratchett. Also, funny story, she and one other student were the reason why Lord of the Rings may have been delayed, as she was taking a class under Tolkin and they were the only two students who stuck it out for the whole semester with him, and kept asking him questions about literature and writing, delaying him from getting back to his writing because, he was a good teacher, and never felt it was right to leave a question unanswered for his students. Also apparently C.S. Lewis had the more exciting class because he was bombastic and loud and always energetic, while Tolkin was a lot more serious and quiet.

[Amacent]

Prydain is amazing, and it's a shame it's overlooked in favor of LotR and Narnia...

Thanks for the recommendations. I've added all three of the series to my (never-ending) buy list.
I have no opinion on Hobbit/LotR as I have yet to read them but I have read the Narnia series and while I enjoyed it years ago it never really stuck out to me like certain other classic fantasies.

[MajorHoy]

I noticed this in the library and thought I'd give it a try:

The Hammett Hex by Victoria Abbott
(Fifth in the Book Collector Mystery Series)

So far, not really my cup of tea . . .

[Tien Long]

Currently reading two books at the moment. One is Tong Wars: The Untold Story of Vice, Money, and Murder In New York's Chinatown:



And the other (which is my second read through) is New York At War: Four Centuries of Combat, Fear, and Intrigue In Gotham:



As someone born in the NY/NJ area and a lover of history, I'm always a huge fan of anything that has to do with NYC. Tong Wars definitely appeals to my East Asian Studies background. I always wanted to know more about NYC's Chinatown, and this book is certainly enlightening. The theme that's sticking out to me is just how interrelated the Chinese were to non-Chinese. There's always been this belief that the Chinese were always closed off to others, but I'm seeing how the Tongs kept control of their criminal activities through dealing (and bribing) government officials.

New York At War shows how intimately tied NYC has been with events around the world which makes sense considering the city's history of having people from around the world. Reading the chapter about what happened in the city during Vietnam, and how issues relating to race, class, politics, and socioeconomic status led to a lot of conflicts was sobering. Like any good work of history, the book allows one draw parallels with events today.

Highly reccommend both of these books!