Books What Are You Reading or Listening To?

[CastlevaniaNut18]

Okay, taking a break after reading like 5 sapphic novels in the last week. 
 

Now reading Lost Heirs of the Medieval Crown by JF Andrews(nonfiction) and Old Country by Matt Query and Harrison Query(fiction). 

[Commissar SFLUFAN]

Non-Fiction: The Wager by David Grann (The Lost City of Z, Killers of the Flower Moon)

 

The Wager by David Grann: 9780385534260 | PenguinRandomHouse.com: Books

WWW.PENGUINRANDOMHOUSE.COM

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#1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • From the author of Killers of the Flower Moon, a page-turning story of shipwreck, survival, and savagery, culminating in a court martial that reveals...

 

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On January 28, 1742, a ramshackle vessel of patched-together wood and cloth washed up on the coast of Brazil. Inside were thirty emaciated men, barely alive, and they had an extraordinary tale to tell. They were survivors of His Majesty’s Ship the Wager, a British vessel that had left England in 1740 on a secret mission during an imperial war with Spain. While the Wager had been chasing a Spanish treasure-filled galleon known as “the prize of all the oceans,” it had wrecked on a desolate island off the coast of Patagonia. The men, after being marooned for months and facing starvation, built the flimsy craft and sailed for more than a hundred days, traversing nearly 3,000 miles of storm-wracked seas. They were greeted as heroes.

 

But then … six months later, another, even more decrepit craft landed on the coast of Chile. This boat contained just three castaways, and they told a very different story. The thirty sailors who landed in Brazil were not heroes – they were mutineers. The first group responded with countercharges of their own, of a tyrannical and murderous senior officer and his henchmen. It became clear that while stranded on the island the crew had fallen into anarchy, with warring factions fighting for dominion over the barren wilderness. As accusations of treachery and murder flew, the Admiralty convened a court martial to determine who was telling the truth. The stakes were life-and-death—for whomever the court found guilty could hang,

 

 

As someone who is a huge fan of "Master & Commander" and other nautical tales from the Age of Sail, it should come as no surprise that I'm VERY much enjoying this one, especially since the vocal performance audiobook's narrator (Dion Graham) is highly engaging!   The vividly detailed descriptions of life aboard an 18th century Royal Navy warship practically compel the reader/listener to sympathize with the unrelenting hardship and toil of the crew.  And when things start going wrong when they reach Cape Horn at the tip of South America, I promise that as a reader/listener, you will experience at least a fraction of sheer terror that the crew experienced.  I promise that this one is well worth your time!

 

Fiction: The Ferryman by Justin Cronin (The Passage)

 

The Ferryman by Justin Cronin: 9780525619475 | PenguinRandomHouse.com: Books

WWW.PENGUINRANDOMHOUSE.COM

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NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • “Next to impossible to put down . . . exciting, mysterious, and totally satisfying.”—STEPHEN KING   From the New York Times bestselling...

 

 

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Founded by the mysterious genius known as the Designer, the archipelago of Prospera lies hidden from the horrors of a deteriorating outside world. In this island paradise, Prospera’s lucky citizens enjoy long, fulfilling lives until the monitors embedded in their forearms, meant to measure their physical health and psychological well-being, fall below 10 percent. Then they retire themselves, embarking on a ferry ride to the island known as the Nursery, where their failing bodies are renewed, their memories are wiped clean, and they are readied to restart life afresh. 

 

Proctor Bennett, of the Department of Social Contracts, has a satisfying career as a ferryman, gently shepherding people through the retirement process—and, when necessary, enforcing it. But all is not well with Proctor. For one thing, he’s been dreaming—which is supposed to be impossible in Prospera. For another, his monitor percentage has begun to drop alarmingly fast. And then comes the day he is summoned to retire his own father, who gives him a disturbing and cryptic message before being wrestled onto the ferry.

 

Meanwhile, something is stirring. The Support Staff, ordinary men and women who provide the labor to keep Prospera running, have begun to question their place in the social order. Unrest is building, and there are rumors spreading of a resistance group—known as “Arrivalists”—who may be fomenting revolution. 

 

Soon Proctor finds himself questioning everything he once believed, entangled with a much bigger cause than he realized—and on a desperate mission to uncover the truth.

 

 

I've heard fairly decent things about Cronin's post-apocalyptic zombie/vampire virus novel The Passage so I decided to give this one a shot because the concept does sound pretty intriguing in a "Logan's Run"-ish kinda way and so far it is!  I wouldn't describe this as "high literature" in any way, shape, or form, nor are the characters drawn with any significant degree of complexity, but it is entertaining and I'm moving through it at a pretty good clip so I do recommend it if you're looking for something that won't strain those neurons too much!

[CastlevaniaNut18]

I ALMOST bought The Wager yesterday while book shopping. Kinda wish I had now. It’s on my wish list. 
 

I read The Passage earlier this year and want to finish that trilogy and The Ferryman at some point. I liked Cronin’s style. 

[CastlevaniaNut18]

Now reading Up Country by Nelson DeMille(fiction) and Freezing Order by Bill Browder(nonfiction).

[CastlevaniaNut18]

Still reading Up Country, but I've also started Weyward by Emilia Hart(fiction) and Hell and Other Destinations by Madeleine Albright(nonfiction).

 

Freezing Order was fantastic. Read like a thriller, but nonfiction.

[thewhyteboar]

On 5/16/2023 at 2:47 PM, thewhyteboar said:

Finished that, I had planned on reading something else but Lonesome Dove was so good that I immediately started the sequel, Streets of Laredo. 

Staying with westerns, reading Shane, something I haven’t read since college. The movie is incredible of course. 

[EternallDarkness]

just finished up reading T.J. Newman's new book Drowning. It comes out this week and if you are looking for an excellent thriller this is one to get. It's about a plane that crashes into the ocean just minutes after take off with a number of survivors locking themselves inside as the plane begins to sink. How was it...well I started it this morning and finished it up about an hour ago...so I'd say I found it pretty damn gripping, lol. 

[CastlevaniaNut18]

28 minutes ago, EternallDarkness said:

just finished up reading T.J. Newman's new book Drowning. It comes out this week and if you are looking for an excellent thriller this is one to get. It's about a plane that crashes into the ocean just minutes after take off with a number of survivors locking themselves inside as the plane begins to sink. How was it...well I started it this morning and finished it up about an hour ago...so I'd say I found it pretty damn gripping, lol. 

I'll probably end up buying that one. I read her first book and it wasn't bad.

[thewhyteboar]

On 5/28/2023 at 2:14 PM, thewhyteboar said:

Staying with westerns, reading Shane, something I haven’t read since college. The movie is incredible of course. 

Shane is so good. Damn. Can’t wait til my daughter is a bit older so I can read it to her. 
 

Will start an older one of SA Cosby’s, My Darkest Prayer. 

[CastlevaniaNut18]

Starting Hitler: Ascent 1889-1939 by Volker Ullrich for nonfiction. This will probably take me a while to get through.

 

On 5/29/2023 at 3:06 AM, thewhyteboar said:

Shane is so good. Damn. Can’t wait til my daughter is a bit older so I can read it to her. 
 

Will start an older one of SA Cosby’s, My Darkest Prayer. 

I still need to read that one, but I'm anticipating his newest next week. Got it preordered.

[gamer.tv]

So, I finished the book I was reading Milkman. It was a book I can recognise as well written, interesting, possibly insightful into the day-to-day of the troubles - it was also quite odd, difficult to remain engaged in, so what shallow? I’m not quite sure how it won an award if I’m honest - but maybe I’m just not the right person for it. I then read This is Going to Hurt, which is a diary of a doctor working in the NHS as they profess from a junior doctor up to the point they leave the profession. It might be the funniest book I’ve ever read- especially if you like a very ‘English’ sense of humour (dry and vaguely dark). 
 

I’ve just picked up the God Delusion, which I’ve never touched, so I’ll try that out… 

[Nokra]

The book club I'm in is reading The Invisible Life of Addie Larue by V.E. Schwab. I haven't started it yet but it looks like it was a Goodreads nominee for Best Science Fiction in 2020 and several people I know seem to have read it and rated it highly.

[thewhyteboar]

9 hours ago, CastlevaniaNut18 said:

Starting Hitler: Ascent 1889-1939 by Volker Ullrich for nonfiction. This will probably take me a while to get through.

 

I still need to read that one, but I'm anticipating his newest next week. Got it preordered.

Yeah I'm looking forward to his new one too. Love his writing.

[thewhyteboar]

On 5/29/2023 at 5:06 PM, thewhyteboar said:

Shane is so good. Damn. Can’t wait til my daughter is a bit older so I can read it to her. 
 

Will start an older one of SA Cosby’s, My Darkest Prayer. 

That was good, but you could tell it was an earlier one. Just felt a bit rough around the edges.

 

Next up some nonfiction: The Summer of 1876: Outlaws, Lawmen, and Legends in the Season That Defined the American West

[EternallDarkness]

for those audiobook listeners Audible is having another of their massive sales where everything is on sale, some as much as 86% off, I think it goes through friday 

[TwinIon]

Only half way through, but I can very much recommend American Prometheus, the Oppenheimer bio that the upcoming film is based on. He's a really interesting figure and the book is incredibly sourced, at least in part thanks to Oppenheimer being so heavily surveilled. It can be a bit dry at times, and it's rather lengthy, but I'm enjoying it. It's nothing if not comprehensive, and it's easy to see why it won a Pulitzer.

 

I will warn that I went into it largely hoping for a bunch of insight into the Manhattan Project, and that's really not what this book is about. I think that ends up being the shortest of the five parts of the book. Not that it's ignored, Oppenheimer's life during that time is well detailed, it's just that it only lasted a few years and the authors don't overly dwell on it. They also don't stray too far for context. This is Oppenheimer's story first and always.

[thewhyteboar]

On 6/5/2023 at 10:48 PM, thewhyteboar said:

That was good, but you could tell it was an earlier one. Just felt a bit rough around the edges.

 

Next up some nonfiction: The Summer of 1876: Outlaws, Lawmen, and Legends in the Season That Defined the American West

Hmm this was ok. Not the best written. The cavalry stuff dragged a bit, I would have liked more about Deadwood.

 

I started James Michener's Centennial. 

[CastlevaniaNut18]

Finished the Hitler bio last night. Surprised I got through it that fast. I'll probably read  the second volume soon, but I decided to switch gears for now and started The Bright Ages: A New History of Medieval Europe by Matthew Gabriele and David Perry.

 

For fiction, I also read Adelaide by Genevieve Wheeler, didn't like it, but it was a quick one at least. Now I've started All the Sinners Bleed by SA Cosby and I can tell this is gonna be gooooood.

[EternallDarkness]

currently reading The Quiet Tenant. It comes out next week and dang it's twisted. A story about a serial kidnapper/killer told from the POV of the women in his life. 

[CastlevaniaNut18]

On 6/1/2023 at 1:46 AM, thewhyteboar said:

Yeah I'm looking forward to his new one too. Love his writing.

Just want to let you know, All Sinners Bleed is fucking great. I’m still early, but it’s got me hooked. I can already see it being my BOTY. 

[thewhyteboar]

1 hour ago, CastlevaniaNut18 said:

Just want to let you know, All Sinners Bleed is fucking great. I’m still early, but it’s got me hooked. I can already see it being my BOTY. 

Ugh. Don't tell me that, I just started a 1000 page book. And I want to reread some Cormac McCarthy.

[CastlevaniaNut18]

47 minutes ago, thewhyteboar said:

Ugh. Don't tell me that, I just started a 1000 page book. And I want to reread some Cormac McCarthy.

Well, prioritize it soon at least. This is feeling like his best yet. Gonna be competing with Zelda for my two off days. 
 

I think I’m going to read McCarthy next. I have Blood Meridian, The Road, and No Country for Old Men on my shelf. Which should I make my first?

[thewhyteboar]

42 minutes ago, CastlevaniaNut18 said:

Well, prioritize it soon at least. This is feeling like his best yet. Gonna be competing with Zelda for my two off days. 
 

I think I’m going to read McCarthy next. I have Blood Meridian, The Road, and No Country for Old Men on my shelf. Which should I make my first?

No Country for Old Men. Blood Meridian is the best but not the most accessible. No Country is both incredible and a pretty fast quick read.

[CastlevaniaNut18]

All the Sinners Bleed gets 5 stars from me. Favorite book this year. It's a good bit more gruesome than his prior books, but I love a good procedural thriller. MC was compelling and I didn't really see that ending coming. SA Cosby is definitely an auto-buy author for me.

 

Next up, I'm gonna try No Country for Old Men. I'm way over due on starting McCarthy.

[CastlevaniaNut18]

I finished No Country for Old Men last night. It was good. Really bleak, though. But I guess that’s par for the course. I have it 4/5. I will say his writing style takes some getting used to. But I’ll be reading more of his books for sure. I’ve never seen the movie, so I’ll be watching that soon. 
 

Next up is The Woman in Cabin 10 by Ruth Ware(fiction) and Mindhunter by John Douglas(nonfiction). 

[Dre801]

Hour of the Assassin, by Matthew Quirk(“The Night Agent”).    So far, I liking it even more than “The Night Agent”

[CastlevaniaNut18]

Finished Mindhunter, that’s going into the donation pile. Show was more compelling. The book is just Douglas stroking his ego for 400 pages. And a lot of questionable “science.” 
 

Just finished The River by Peter Heller. Now that was a beautiful, lyrical story. I love survival stories and that ranks high on my list. Seems like something @thewhyteboar would like. You ever read him?
 

Next up I’m going for The Nightmare Man by JH Markert(fiction) and When Evil Lived in Laurel by Curtis Wilkie(nonfiction). 

[thewhyteboar]

3 hours ago, CastlevaniaNut18 said:

Finished Mindhunter, that’s going into the donation pile. Show was more compelling. The book is just Douglas stroking his ego for 400 pages. And a lot of questionable “science.” 
 

Just finished The River by Peter Heller. Now that was a beautiful, lyrical story. I love survival stories and that ranks high on my list. Seems like something @thewhyteboar would like. You ever read him?
 

Next up I’m going for The Nightmare Man by JH Markert(fiction) and When Evil Lived in Laurel by Curtis Wilkie(nonfiction). 

Never heard of it, but sounds interesting. Added to the list. But I'm almost done with Centennial and will be reading S. A. Cosby's newest next!

[CastlevaniaNut18]

23 minutes ago, thewhyteboar said:

Never heard of it, but sounds interesting. Added to the list. But I'm almost done with Centennial and will be reading S. A. Cosby's newest next!

He’s got a new one coming in a few weeks. This was my first from him, but I’ll definitely be reading more. 

[thewhyteboar]

On 6/14/2023 at 7:12 AM, thewhyteboar said:

Hmm this was ok. Not the best written. The cavalry stuff dragged a bit, I would have liked more about Deadwood.

 

I started James Michener's Centennial. 

Centennial is now one of my favorite books of all time. Just a gorgeous portrait of the West and what went into it. The parts about how America betrayed so many treaties with Native Americans were just heartbreaking. I will want to read more by him but that will have to wait, because it’s time for:

 

All the Sinners Bleed. 

[Remarkableriots]

I would like to start reading Stephen King again. I sold my collection when I moved, unfortunately, because I didn't have a place to keep them.

[CastlevaniaNut18]

38 minutes ago, Remarkableriots said:

I would like to start reading Stephen King again. I sold my collection when I moved, unfortunately, because I didn't have a place to keep them.

He’s my fave. I own all of his books. 

[Nokra]

I've been listening to the Audible version of Guns, Germs, and Steel. It's an interesting topic but maybe a little dry for listening in the car. I bought the book a long time ago (2008 maybe?) and got distracted and never finished. I'm at least getting further in the audio version. 

[thewhyteboar]

On 6/17/2023 at 9:02 AM, CastlevaniaNut18 said:

All the Sinners Bleed gets 5 stars from me. Favorite book this year. It's a good bit more gruesome than his prior books, but I love a good procedural thriller. MC was compelling and I didn't really see that ending coming. SA Cosby is definitely an auto-buy author for me.

 

Next up, I'm gonna try No Country for Old Men. I'm way over due on starting McCarthy.

I just finished it. Really good. I don’t think it’s my favorite of his but I liked it a lot. 
 

I started The Bad Lands, another Western by Oakley Hall, who wrote the incredible Warlock. 

[CastlevaniaNut18]

Read The Whispers by Ashley Audrain in one work night this week. 
 

Now started The Stolen Hours by Allen Eskins. Also still working on When Evil Lived in Laurel for my nonfiction.