What have you been reading lately?

[carddoug]

Eat of Eden and im about to start Child 44 by Tom Rob Smith.

 

[Chemyst]

I've been reading investment books lately.
Currently reading How to Make Money in Stocks by Wm. O'Neil.

Previously read The Complete Turtle Trader by Michael Covel
and Reminiscences of a Stock Operator by Lefevre.

All three of the above books are excellent.

Next up is How Legendary Traders Made Millions by John Boik.
I think it's like "The New Market Wizards" by Schwager.

BTW, did you guys know that Frank Frazetta died in mid-May? He illustrated
a lot of sci-fi/adventure/fantasy book covers back in the 50s and 60s.
He did a lot of Edgar Rice Burroughs paperbacks (Tarzan, Pelucidar, etc.)
Also the Mastermind of Mars books, Conan the Barbarian, etc.

There are several artists that follow in Frazetta's style. The one I
know off the top of my head is Boris Viejo.

Cheers!

Chemyst

 

[kcben]

Just got done re-reading "Under and Alone" by William Queen. This is an autobiography of an ex-ATF agent who infiltrated the Mongol biker gang in East LA back in 1998. He went undercover for 28 months, becoming a full-patch member of the Mongols. You want a book to really kick your ass, this is for you.

 

[MIke73]

Just finished Nelson Demile's lion. good book

 

[gtadroptop]

The Little Giants. It's the story of the US Navy's World War II escort carriers in the Pacific.

 

[Jonesy]

[

I'm not familiar with Brad Thor (have to look those up, as I love this type of book), but I've always thought of Tom Clancy when reading Flynn. Both are great story tellers, with similar characters and plot lines. Clancy's books are a bit dated due to the end of the Cold War, but if you've never read them, you'll be in for a treat. Start with the earliest book you can find with Jack Ryan as the protagonist, and go from there.


Has anyone ever read anything from Charlie Huston? I stumbled across this guy about 6 months ago and have read everything he's written. Very excellent story teller, whose writing packs a hell of a punch. The Hank Thompson trilogy was so good, I even ventured into the Joe Pitt series. A bit of forewarning: Joe Pitt is a vampire (yeah, I know, but trust me...) Start with the Hank series, and just move on from there if you like it.

Hank Thompson trilogy

* Caught Stealing (2004)
* Six Bad Things (2005)
* A Dangerous Man (2006)

Joe Pitt Casebooks

* Already Dead (December 27, 2005)
* No Dominion (December 26, 2006)
* Half the Blood of Brooklyn (December 26, 2007)
* Every Last Drop (September 30, 2008)
* My Dead Body (October 13, 2009)

Thanks for the info Steve.

Have you read any of the Jack Reacher series by Lee Child? It's not exactly the same kind of thing, but I really enjoy the character and the storylines. He's kind of like Mitch Rapp in that he's a one man ass kicking machine. Start with Killing Floor if you can find it and go from there. It's kind of hard to find older stuff locally here, so you may have to order it if your situation is the same. If you have one of those fancy, new-fangled reading jalopies, it should be cake to get a copy.

I've read two of Thor's books and I just can't get into them. I read each Flynn novel the day it comes out and once more 6 months later. I've never enjoyed Clancy's stuff. He gets too bogged down in minutiae for my tastes. I find reading him to be tedious.

I've actually picked up a Jack Reacher book in Books a Million and flipped through it, but didn't buy it. I may have to go ahead and buy one.

 

[pak1351]

Foreign Influence by Brad Thor.

Gotta have a good book when working a 12 hour night shift!

I finished this one over the 4th of July weekend. I was disappointed.... and I like Brad Thor a lot. It was short and unoriginal.

I have to agree with you on this one. It was good, but certainly wasn't as good as the previous books.

Does anyone have any recommendations on an author (or books) that have similar storylines to Brad Thor or Vince Flynn? I have a hard time putting down a book by either guy and would like to find something similar while waiting on their next books to come out.

I'm a big fan of both, and Matthew Reilly spins some similar tales. Ice Station, Area 7, Scarecrow, and Temple are pretty good, though I'm not much of a fan of his newer works. I'll agree with the Baldacci, Ted Bell and early James Rollins recommendations as well. Stephen Hunter's Point of Impact, Blacklight, and Dirty White Boys are some favorites around my house.

I just got done reading Don't Look Twice and Reckless by Andrew Gross, thinking of re-reading the Wheel of Time Series.

 

[SeanShawn]

Foreign Influence by Brad Thor.

Gotta have a good book when working a 12 hour night shift!

I finished this one over the 4th of July weekend. I was disappointed.... and I like Brad Thor a lot. It was short and unoriginal.

I have to agree with you on this one. It was good, but certainly wasn't as good as the previous books.

Does anyone have any recommendations on an author (or books) that have similar storylines to Brad Thor or Vince Flynn? I have a hard time putting down a book by either guy and would like to find something similar while waiting on their next books to come out.

I'm a big fan of both, and Matthew Reilly spins some similar tales. Ice Station, Area 7, Scarecrow, and Temple are pretty good, though I'm not much of a fan of his newer works. I'll agree with the Baldacci, Ted Bell and early James Rollins recommendations as well. Stephen Hunter's Point of Impact, Blacklight, and Dirty White Boys are some favorites around my house.

I just got done reading Don't Look Twice and Reckless by Andrew Gross, thinking of re-reading the Wheel of Time Series.

Alan Furst is a great author along those lines, 'Dark Star' was amazing.

Personally I just finished 'The passage' by Justin Cronin. Which is a great yarn in the sense of Steven King's 'The Stand'. A great post apocalyptic dystopian fiction.

Read a couple Jim Bitcher Dresden novels, kind of underwhelming considering their popularity. But an easy fun read along the lines of say, Stephanie Plum novels.

Also started Far-Seer by Robert J Sawyer, which is pretty interesting. About a planet where Tyrannosaurs are of human level intelligence, their culture resembles earth circa 17th Century. The main character mirrors Galileo, when he begins discovering things about the planets in the sky. This goes against the religious norm among his world. Pretty interesting so far.

 

[Shamrocker]

I'm picking through the works of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. I'll take a break from that when it's study time, and when I get stevehawk's book...

 

[stevehawk]

I'm picking through the works of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. I'll take a break from that when it's study time, and when I get stevehawk's book...

Hmmmm... I sent you a signed copy last week. Should have already hit your doorstep?

 

[Shamrocker]

I'm picking through the works of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. I'll take a break from that when it's study time, and when I get stevehawk's book...

Hmmmm... I sent you a signed copy last week. Should have already hit your doorstep?

Customs is notoriously slow clearing packages coming to Canada. Typical shipping time is 2 weeks barring any extra delays. It's sad, I know. I sent a package to a BOTL over in the middle east and he had it in a 7 to 8 days.

 

[massphatness]

Stephen Hunter's Dirty White Boys

 

[Q_The_Cop]

I always read Douglas Adams... Who doesn't like The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy?!? Now I'm reading The Hobbit for the first time.

 

[vortex]

The Hittite by Ben Bova. A re-telling of the legend of Troy. Bova is an excellent author mostly known for his sci-fi works but spins a great yarn no matter the genre.

 

[PhatCat]

I always read Douglas Adams... Who doesn't like The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy?!? Now I'm reading The Hobbit for the first time.

You've never read The Hobbit before? How about The Lord of the Rings? The movies were pretty great but the books are classics to me. I read them first as a teenager. Like most people, I suspect. Great books even if you're not into the whole "fantasy" style stuff. I can't say I'm a big fantasy or sci-fi guy but Tolkien's books are wonderfully well written.

The Hobbit and LOTR hold up better for me as an adult than say CS Lewis's Chronicles of Narnia do. Gotta be a kid to really enjoy those.

What I admire about Tolkien is that he truly has this whole other world in his head. Every detail is there. It all fits together and seems like it really could exist somehow.

Plus Tolkien was a pipe smoker. Props for that.

 

[fca_blake70]

Last month I finally finished Superfreakonomics and Mitt Romney's No Apology. Queuing up The Art of War by Sun Tzu now.

 

[Gonz]

I just started reading the Harry Potter series to my 7 year old. We're 3 chapters into the first book right now.

Which beats our usual rotation, classics such as this:

 

[vortex]

Queuing up The Art of War by Sun Tzu now.

I've always wanted to read that one. I'll have to hit the library. From what little I know, it may be a good reference book to own, for that matter.

 

[stevehawk]

Queuing up The Art of War by Sun Tzu now.

I've always wanted to read that one. I'll have to hit the library. From what little I know, it may be a good reference book to own, for that matter.

Yep, I've got that one stored on my Kindle. Because it is a classic, it was free of charge.

Gotta love the freebies. So far, I've read the following classics at no cost on the Kindle:

• Gulliver's Travels by Jonathan Swift
• The Art of War by Sun Tzu
• The Mysterious Island by Jules Verne
• Around the World in 80 Days by Jules Verne
• The Tragedy of Pudd'nhead Wilson by Mark Twain
• The Sleeper Awakes by H.G. Wells
• The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle

 

[PhatCat]

I just started reading the Harry Potter series to my 7 year old. We're 3 chapters into the first book right now.

Which beats our usual rotation, classics such as this:

Gonz, that's a great book! I read a few Little Critter books last night to the kids before bed.

Not sure my 7 year old is ready for Harry Potter yet. She's into the American Girl books now.

Good to see you, btw. I was just up in Osakis playing a street dance at the end of June. I thought of you and wondered how you were doing in Alexandria. I was only about 20 minutes away.