I can tell you about the really great 1st chapters of a big pile of books...

I have very much enjoyed The Overstory by Richard Powers. Grand and moving and a huge cast of characters. It's dragging a little here at the end, as we wrap everybody's separate storylines up after they all converged for the big action--but only a little.

The name of the wind ~Patrick Rothfus.

Pissed that the 3rd book isn't out yet.

I am 3 books into the Dresden Files (audio book)  and absolutely loving them

I have had the first book for years. Always appealed to me, but could never get into it. So, as I was at a loose end a week or so ago, I figured I'd give it another go. 

Now am totally addicted

Wasn't me;  I may have recommended his Mars trilogy, though.  If not, consider this that recommendation.

I'll throw in Iain M. Banks's Culture books as well (TV show currently in development).

And Steel Beach by John Varley.

Good Morning Miss Wolf.

wolf wrote:

Still coasting along on the wonderfulness that is A Gentleman in Moscow by Amor Towles. Nearly all of the action takes place in a grand hotel in Moscow starting in the 1920s. Given the constricted setting you wouldn't expect much of it, but the storytelling is amazingly rich.

Interesting scene...

My most recent download from Audible is Ready, Player Two, by Ernest Cline.


Narrated by Wil Wheaton.

NOM.

They're not about gaming, really. It's mostly just 1980s fan service, tossing in as many pop culture references as humanly possible. The first one was okay, for a kids' book, but I saw a few excerpts of the second one online and had a hard time figuring out if they were satire.

I just finished an amazing audiobook - not exactly light listening though not nearly as heavy to get through as I thought it might be:

The Only Plane in the Sky: An Oral History of 9/11, by Garrett M Graff

A few 9/11 things have been popping into my youtube feed recently, and I watched a report from the day - it was  took me right back to that day. Left me reflecting on how everyone who watched the events unfold on TV across the world was a little scarred by it - not nearly as affected as Americans, but still affected by the horror of it - I know it left a lasting impression on me. And then I was thinking about how the world changed in that one day - and how even now we are seeing its legacy play out in Afghanistan

Then saw this book on Audible and thought ok, that might help me sort out how I feel about this. 

Anyway - I highly recommend this audiobook - it is compelling and well put together - in partiucular it was fascinating to hear what was going on behind the scenes at the White House and on Air Force One and what the news reporters were experiencing  - gave me a different insight into people like Cheney, Rumsfeld and Bush. 

 

Last edited by DanaC (8/15/2021 7:21 am)

I think I might be in the minority in that I didn't like Ready Player One very much.

One of the first books I started recommending to people was A Man Called Ove by Fredrik Backman.  I like a lot of his books, but not all. 

I loved The Rook by Daniel O'Malley (the STARZ series really didn't do it justice).

Seven Blades in Black by Sam Sykes was really good.  I have the sequel here that I've been meaning to start :|

The Glass Books of the Dream Eaters was one of the first books I finished that I considered "difficult, but worth it"

This Body's Not Big Enough for Both of Us by Edgar Cantero I love this one.  It's such a unique story that I haven't read before and it's told really well.

There's many many more I would recommend, but I figured I'd start with these

Flint wrote:

I can tell you about the really great 1st chapters of a big pile of books...

Omg, this!

I have been in a really unsettled mood of late and have struggled to connect with stuff. I have like 7 -8 books I'm a few chapters into and intend at some point to go back to..

I have just started a new audiobook that so far has me gripped, but its non-fiction another 9/11 account. 

Other than that its podcasts all the way at the moment