View Full Version : What's the title of the last good book you've read?
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bettysstoker
01-13-2020, 03:10 AM
I do not have time to read right now. I am preparing my dissertation and it takes all my free time. I have even hired such services as to make this process faster.
WendiStarr
01-14-2020, 03:25 PM
Hearts in Atlantis by Stephen King
Aurora43
01-18-2020, 08:10 PM
My genius girlfriend
Raziel
01-21-2020, 10:27 AM
Starting 'Tiamat's Wrath (https://www.amazon.com/Tiamats-Wrath-Expanse-Book-8-ebook/dp/B07BVNVWL6/ref=sr_1_1?keywords=Tiamat%27s+Wrath&qid=1579627633&sr=8-1)' today.
Ifyouseekamy
01-23-2020, 04:10 PM
Women’s reality- an emergency female system
whirlerz
02-08-2020, 11:34 AM
Getting ready for some light reading : Bloodlands, Europe between Hitler & Stalin.
NatalieCentro
02-14-2020, 04:54 AM
Hatty Potter and the Order of the Phoenix
I Love HP... Read them all while I was preggers. :)
I want to put in a suggestion to please leave comments about the books you read, I've used this thread for years to help find new reads and it just helps a lot to have some first-hand, real-person, not sponsored reviews.
My updates so0so, few of the recent books were any good.
I've read through Ursula Leguinn's Hainish Cycle - a bit drawn out and I don't really like series with one theme but not really an overall plot. I guess I should have known since it's called "Cycle" but I kept hoping to see the continuation of each story in the next book, to no avail. It gets better by the end, and novellas are better than stories, except "The word for World is Forest", that one's pretty good.
Five senses by Andre Norton had the same problem - entirely unrelated even in terms of setting, too. They were ok standalone books though, not hot about them though.
One good one lately was Glory Season by Brin, it's a pretty cool read being about a world of women who decided to change things in the world order of men and went into exile on another planet, to build a society that caters to them and not men. There's also lot of adventures and the main character is quite lovable. I wish there was a sequel.
Oh oh... had to get my reader to pull up that one... Gatefarther series by Orson Scott Card were good. That one I'd recommend for sure. I think I got that recommendation of this thread, like all the good stuff I read :D
Now on Heart of the Comet by Brin, took that up as an intermediary as I can't decide whether to get the Witcher series or embark on (all of) Tolkien, which to my horrible shame I've not read one book of, sigh. Would appreciate feedback/comments on either. I feel like Tolkien will be a 1-year commitment and am not really ready to start it. Witcher is just a tidbit disturbing in plot from what I've heard/read/surmised from the PS4 game. Not a big fan of abundance of blood, guts, and crunching bones.
Spirketting
02-20-2020, 08:50 AM
I just finished reading The well-tempered garden by Christopher Lloyd.
SeminoleScam
02-22-2020, 08:37 AM
You could read the book I wrote about a stripper who got life in prison:
seminolescamDOTcom
But with one warning: I don't know if it is "good". What are the odds that a strip-club junky can actually write a good book?
Titus23
02-22-2020, 09:35 AM
A girl I've been talking to loaned me her copy of We Are Water by Wally Lamb. I haven't read anything like that in a long time, but it was really good. A simple exploration of a broken family, the things that broke them apart, and their attempts to find healing.
SnuffleUffleGrass
03-08-2020, 09:14 AM
"The Talisman" by Stephen King and Peter Straub
R-209
03-15-2020, 08:33 AM
I have completed the entire "Song of Ice and Fire" series. It's much more different from the show than I thought.
I am currently trying my library's e-book borrowing system with "The Martian."
R-209
03-21-2020, 12:35 PM
Finished "The Martian" (good book) and am trying to find something else. What I'd planned to read has a fifteen-week wait. For an e-book. Most others have weeks-long waits. I have an enormous hardcover edition of "The Stand," but I'm thinking of re-reading "On the Beach." Still have my copy from high school.
danep
03-21-2020, 01:09 PM
I just started reading Roger Zelazny's Chronicles of Amber again on my kindle.
Always wanted to read it again in English and not the Hebrew translation I read as a kid.
Probably the only fantasy author I actually like.
R-209
03-21-2020, 01:42 PM
Missed the bonus chapters in "The Martian" because I couldn't tell they were there in the e-book version. Then I looked all over for "On the Beach," not believing I could have lost it. Found it much later on top of another book. I also dug up "Fast Food Nation," which sounds interesting. Of course, it's one of the very few e-books available for immediate loan.
EastCoastDancer01
03-24-2020, 11:05 AM
My new ebook on Amazon! It’s called ‘’Short and Sweet: The Sugar Daddy Dating Success Guide’’ and my pen name is Bebe Jaymes. If you’re bored and looking for something new to read, or if you’re looking for a Sugar Daddy and haven’t had much success...this book is for you! I wrote it very candidly and it includes EVERYTHING you could ever wanna know about Sugar Dating! I don’t mean to sound like I’m pushing it at all lol I just wanted to get the word out there for anyone who is interested :-) xoxo
R-209
05-01-2020, 05:29 PM
Starting "Sapiens (https://www.amazon.com/Sapiens-Humankind-Yuval-Noah-Harari/dp/0062316117/ref=sr_1_1?dchild=1&keywords=sapiens&qid=1588379111&sr=8-1)." Very interesting so far.
Yayayasmine
05-01-2020, 05:52 PM
I’m tied between the Kybalion and the 48 Laws of power. Both of those books will change your perspective on everything in life.
R-209
05-16-2020, 09:13 AM
The library had "Lincoln's Melancholy" without the usual 10-week wait. Been meaning to read this one for a long time...
Elektra Luxx
05-16-2020, 09:38 AM
I'm almost done with Station Eleven by Emily St. John Mandel. It's a story set in a post apocalyptic world after a flu pandemic. It's follows the lives of certain characters, but doesn't talk about the pandemic itself so much. It's well written and engaging and entertaining. I like it. Below is a description from Amazon.
An audacious, darkly glittering novel set in the eerie days of civilization’s collapse, Station Eleven tells the spellbinding story of a Hollywood star, his would-be savior, and a nomadic group of actors roaming the scattered outposts of the Great Lakes region, risking everything for art and humanity.
A National Book Award Finalist
A PEN/Faulkner Award Finalist
Kirsten Raymonde will never forget the night Arthur Leander, the famous Hollywood actor, had a heart attack on stage during a production of King Lear. That was the night when a devastating flu pandemic arrived in the city, and within weeks, civilization as we know it came to an end.
Twenty years later, Kirsten moves between the settlements of the altered world with a small troupe of actors and musicians. They call themselves The Traveling Symphony, and they have dedicated themselves to keeping the remnants of art and humanity alive. But when they arrive in St. Deborah by the Water, they encounter a violent prophet who will threaten the tiny band’s existence. And as the story takes off, moving back and forth in time, and vividly depicting life before and after the pandemic, the strange twist of fate that connects them all will be revealed.
moneybags
05-19-2020, 08:48 PM
Finally reading something non-work or school related. I’ve been eyeing this book and finally bought it. Got it this morning and can’t put it down. Many Roads, One Journey Charlotte Davis Kasi. I love philosophy.
StellaRose
05-20-2020, 07:33 AM
Stellar Transformations by IET. It’s a Chinese fiction novel.
R-209
05-31-2020, 11:24 AM
"Lincoln's Melancholy" is an excellent book. Not only do you learn about the history of the time, but also get a brutally realistic depiction of what it's like to live with depression.
What really struck me was that Lincoln didn't encounter the stigma that we do today. His friends and colleagues supported him, even forming a suicide watch at one point.
R-209
06-05-2020, 02:46 PM
Now reading "Artemis" by the author of "The Martian." It's a pretty sold "meh" so far.
ETA: Definitely a "meh," unless you enjoy vivid descriptions of welding.
Think I'll check out one of Carrie Fisher's books next.
Elektra Luxx
06-08-2020, 04:58 AM
Now reading "Artemis" by the author of "The Martian." It's a pretty sold "meh" so far.
ETA: Definitely a "meh," unless you enjoy vivid descriptions of welding.
Think I'll check out one of Carrie Fisher's books next.
Agreed. It's no where as good as "The Martian".
R-209
06-08-2020, 12:27 PM
Agreed. It's no where as good as "The Martian".
It felt like it was written very quickly, without time for the plot or characters to be fleshed out. Characters do things that make no sense and have no consequences. What irked me the most was that the smart phone equivalent is called a "Gizmo." This gets very old after 700 or so times.
Elektra Luxx
06-08-2020, 01:26 PM
I suspect his book publishers were in a hurry to capitalize on the success of "The Martian ". And it worked on me, I bought the audiobook version.
R-209
06-09-2020, 09:27 PM
Think I'll check out one of Carrie Fisher's books next.
Well, that was a fast read. I picked "Wishful Drinking," thinking it would be about her substance abuse issues and mental health battles (we have the same diagnosis!), but it's mostly about her early life and Hollywood tales. The last couple chapters where she does talk about that are very good, and very sad.
R-209
06-15-2020, 09:08 PM
Just finished "Ready Player One." Not bad. I didn't know it was absolutely crammed with 80's references; I got most of them. The author seems to have been born a couple of years earlier than me, judging by the near-total failure to mention Transformers/G.i. Joe/He-man/Thundercats.
NatalieCentro
06-16-2020, 07:34 AM
I just started reading Roger Zelazny's Chronicles of Amber again on my kindle.
Always wanted to read it again in English and not the Hebrew translation I read as a kid.
Probably the only fantasy author I actually like.
I may have started out with the wrong book but I took up Zelazny's "Changeling" and it's just SO BAD. The characters, the dialogues, the descriptions, the plot - all of it explains to me why some people wrinkle their nose when you tell them you enjoy reading fantasy. I'm sorely disappointed. It may be that Amber is better, but honestly it'll be some time before I take anything of Zelazny's again.
Between Naomi Novik's Temeraire series and Zelazny, I also took up Novik's Uprooted, and read that in 36 hours. VERY good though I needed some sleep badly by the time I was getting done.
NatalieCentro
06-16-2020, 07:36 AM
Oh and the Temeraire series will forever have a place in my heart. It's amazing, one of those series that I wish I could unread to read again, but of course second read-throughs are never as good.
R-209
06-17-2020, 08:06 PM
Just finished "Ready Player One." Not bad. I didn't know it was absolutely crammed with 80's references; I got most of them. The author seems to have been born a couple of years earlier than me, judging by the near-total failure to mention Transformers/G.i. Joe/He-man/Thundercats.
Watched the movie, not realizing it a) existed and b) was produced by Steven Spielberg. Very different from the book, but fun as its own thing. Very impressive visuals with a lot of surprising cameos. Unfortunately, it's not as 80's-centric, but at least the ending involves an honest-to-god Atari 2600.
Re-reading my high-school copy of "On the Beach" and thinking the print is smaller...
Carmen Elixer
06-23-2020, 01:12 PM
"Wild Swans"
personal account of Chinese history during the last century. Everything from a personal account of footbinding (ugh! ow! are we really did this?) to the horrifying reign of Mao Zedong ~ psychopathic megalomaniac. Book is riveting. Well worth a read. Makes you feel something. Makes you realize how things could get a whole lot worse. Makes you see how slowly these dictators creep in & take over. Highlight: The part during the 1950's where Mao outlawed femininity. Started making women dress the same as men: in soldier's uniforms, with zero makeup and short buzzcuts. Author: "...we knew that this was the beginning of women being forced to do the same backbreaking labor in the fields, and in the mountains, as men. Despite that our bodies were not equipped for it, and despite the fact that we still had to care for the children and the elderly." You would work through the entire pregnancy, go have the baby, and immediately be called back out onto the field, right after the baby dropped. Mao ordered that the LAND be stripped of femininity ya'll. All people became soldiers. They were all under governmental orders 24/7. Everyone became a narcissist. Job #1 was to rip out all of the grass from the fields. And chop down all of the trees. And shoot birds down out of the sky. TEARING THE GRASS OUT OF THE LAND. The only reason no one knows about this crap, is that China is so restrictive that they still have not allowed Mao's reign to be discussed. His face still remains on all of the buildings, and sculptures & statues of him everywhere. His big face everywhere on all the billboards, etc. They tore down all the art. There's more. But I'm going out of the breath just talking about it. Some parts are hard to read, and some people might think it's slow.
R-209
06-26-2020, 08:40 PM
I highly recommend "On the Beach." Definitely one of the best end of the world stories, with some parallels to our world today.
It is not a cheerful book.
Think I'll read "Ender's Game" next. I once found a lost black lab whose name was Ender.
MrDuckie
07-18-2020, 04:56 PM
Anthony Ryan’s Draconis Memoria series is comprised of three books: The Waking Fire, The Legion of Flame, and The Ashes of Empire. It takes place on a world where dragons still exist. There are different types: greens are mostly land based, reds are airborne, blues live in the sea, blacks are generally most feared, and there is the white drake. The books follow the intersecting lives of about a half dozen people. In this world there are sea-going paddle ships, gondola carrying aerostats, and even a submersible from ancient times. There is Action going on everywhere all the time, with the White wanting an end to mankind and mankind in general ignoring the danger… except for that small group of adventurers and inventors.
It’s an epic like HP, LotR, and the whole Marvel series. I like it a lot and was sorry for it to end, so I’ve started another series by the same author.
eagle2
07-21-2020, 02:13 PM
Just read "Too Much and Never Enough" by Mary Trump. Very interesting book!
sarah101
07-23-2020, 09:45 AM
I grabbed a copy as well but haven't started yet.
R-209
08-03-2020, 04:45 PM
Trevor Noah's "Born a Crime." Very interesting so far, much less comedic in tone than I thought.
danep
08-04-2020, 12:18 AM
“Drug Lord: The Story of Pablo Acosta” By Terrence Poppa. This is a good Narco Non-Fiction book for anyone who wishes to learn from facts and not just from Netflix imposed images about a global problem that has way more effect on us than any virus:)
sarah101
08-08-2020, 11:35 AM
Reading Mary Trump's 'Too Much and Never Enough'. I'll let you know how the read goes but we all know how it ends.
Raziel
08-08-2020, 11:57 AM
Reading Mary Trump's 'Too Much and Never Enough'. I'll let you know how the read goes but we all know how it ends.
I want to get that book.
Raziel
08-08-2020, 11:59 AM
I may have started out with the wrong book but I took up Zelazny's "Changeling" and it's just SO BAD. The characters, the dialogues, the descriptions, the plot - all of it explains to me why some people wrinkle their nose when you tell them you enjoy reading fantasy. I'm sorely disappointed. It may be that Amber is better, but honestly it'll be some time before I take anything of Zelazny's again.
Between Naomi Novik's Temeraire series and Zelazny, I also took up Novik's Uprooted, and read that in 36 hours. VERY good though I needed some sleep badly by the time I was getting done.
Try N.K. Jemisin's "Broken Earth" trilogy. It is fantastic!
I like that you read Fantasy. So do I. Ever read Wheel of Time?
whirlerz
08-12-2020, 05:30 PM
Im about to read, "Killers of the Flower Moon", by David Grann..
The Osage murders, & birth of FBI.
Soon to be made into a movie, by Martin Scorsese.
R-209
09-22-2020, 05:34 PM
"The Hilarious World of Depression" by John Moe.
NatalieCentro
11-09-2020, 02:57 PM
Anthony Ryan’s Draconis Memoria series is comprised of three books: The Waking Fire, The Legion of Flame, and The Ashes of Empire. It takes place on a world where dragons still exist. There are different types: greens are mostly land based, reds are airborne, blues live in the sea, blacks are generally most feared, and there is the white drake. The books follow the intersecting lives of about a half dozen people. In this world there are sea-going paddle ships, gondola carrying aerostats, and even a submersible from ancient times. There is Action going on everywhere all the time, with the White wanting an end to mankind and mankind in general ignoring the danger… except for that small group of adventurers and inventors.
It’s an epic like HP, LotR, and the whole Marvel series. I like it a lot and was sorry for it to end, so I’ve started another series by the same author.
And here I was hoping I'll eventually stop with the dragons. I've had the Temeraire and all of Dragonriders of Pern (which is very good by the way) this year and honestly have gone a bit dragon-crazy :) That said, they've helped me get through the madness that's 2020. I don't know how I'll feel about dragons being the antagonists, but it's now on my to-read list :)
Try N.K. Jemisin's "Broken Earth" trilogy. It is fantastic!
I like that you read Fantasy. So do I. Ever read Wheel of Time?
Always good to find a fellow dork :) I'll have to check both out - never even heard of them, looks like both are exactly what I'd like :) They are now at the top of my to-read list, thank you!
Now I feel like I owe you a reverse recommendation, but most of what I've read in the past 7 years have all been recommended in this thread somewhere, in fact, @ErikaLux, I wanted to take a moment to thank you very much for starting this thread - I've been using it to find the most amazing book suggestions for nearly a decade :)
Besides the Temeraire and Pern series mentioned above, some of the ones that I would very much recommend are:
(some might be SciFi)
The Vorkosiagan Saga by Bujold
Uplift Series by Brin
Pathfinder series by orson scott card
Butcher's Dresden Files
Raziel
11-09-2020, 03:11 PM
Uplift is good. I read it a long time ago.
I have not read Pathfinder, but I don't really like anything by Card, he's really only had one good book. Ender's Game.
Dresden Files is a GREAT series.
Seriously though, check out the Wheel of Time. There's like 15 of them, and they are all very good. If you're a person like me, you'll be in Heaven. I actually envy you, because you get to read them for the first time. It's like Lord of the Rings on STEROIDS.
He also writes Women very well. A lot of people showed up to book signings and and expected to see a Girl up there just based on how well the Women are written in this series. But nope, it's a Guy. That's the series that taught ME how to write Women. (Back in the day, I also read a bit of Female work that featured Women, Emma, Sense and Sensibility, Pride and Prejudice, a few Romance novels written by Women (which was murder), Sara Douglass books. You know the score. I had to learn how to write Women, I wasn't very good at it, at least back then, I'm a lot better now)
https://www.amazon.com/Eye-World-Book-Wheel-Time/dp/125025146X/ref=sr_1_1_sspa?dchild=1&keywords=The+eye+of+the+world&qid=1604960019&sr=8-1-spons&psc=1&spLa=ZW5jcnlwdGVkUXVhbGlmaWVyPUEzM0JHRzkwN1owSTJTJ mVuY3J5cHRlZElkPUEwODU5MTkyMUdEMk9OUlZEMTdTRyZlbmN yeXB0ZWRBZElkPUEwNjQxMzIyMUJHNU1PRlNONkFWMiZ3aWRnZ XROYW1lPXNwX2F0ZiZhY3Rpb249Y2xpY2tSZWRpcmVjdCZkb05 vdExvZ0NsaWNrPXRydWU=
Raziel
11-09-2020, 03:38 PM
I also read an ASSLOAD of Mary Shelly. The Last Man is a fantastic book. Then, of course, there's the Elephant in the room, Frankenstein... But she's got a lot more books than just that, that's just the one she's most known by. The Last Man is about a Pandemic... And Frankenstein might be the earliest example we have of modern Science Fiction, which makes Shelly the MOTHER of Science Fiction.
Raziel
11-09-2020, 04:05 PM
BTW (sorry about the three posts)
https://www.amazon.com/Wayfarer-Redemption-Book-One/dp/0765341301/ref=sr_1_1?dchild=1&keywords=The+Wayfarer%27s+Redemption&qid=1604960986&sr=8-1
NatalieCentro
11-10-2020, 09:49 AM
I think you'll be surprised by Pathfinder. The one comment I can make is that it's a series that keeps expanding beyond what you expected from it. Card also has Alvin the Maker series which are meh. They start well but dwindle - as if the author ran out of what he was trying to say. The setting is the best part about Alvin, I like things set in the early exploration/first settlement of America.
Raziel
11-10-2020, 10:43 AM
I think you'll be surprised by Pathfinder. The one comment I can make is that it's a series that keeps expanding beyond what you expected from it. Card also has Alvin the Maker series which are meh. They start well but dwindle - as if the author ran out of what he was trying to say. The setting is the best part about Alvin, I like things set in the early exploration/first settlement of America.
Maybe, but I really dislike Orson Scott Card. His books are terrible other than Ender's Game. Ender's Shadow is a shitty book. I could run circles around that thing. He's just not that good of a writer. Plus he is a Misogynist whom also hates Gay folks.
Mary Shelly however, without her we wouldn't have Star Trek. King Kong wouldn't exist. No Predator. No Terminator. No Star Wars. She's the one that started this all. Shelly was the one that created it in it's present form. And it was a Girl that did it. I will always respect Mary Shelly, as a Science Fiction writer. She's the one that paved the way for me.
Oh, and Orson Scott Card wouldn't have a career without Mary Shelly. Which would probably rankle him, IF he ever bothered to look back on it (considering he's a Misogynist). Without Mary Shelly He'd be cleaning pools.