Been binge reading since the pandemic started, read 23 books since march of last year to now.
It's been a lot of fun reading Stephen King, and I plan on eventually reading all of his books. Sanderson as well.
Fiction Books I've read last year
Posts
Total:
24
11 days later
-->
@Lunatic
I think the best steven king books are the ones his wife ghost writes for him like 1963.
-->
@Lunatic
I don't read fiction, because I'm always aware in the back of my mind that it's all made up.
-->
@zedvictor4
I write historic fiction for the fun of blending fact and fiction, with the challenge of making the reader decide, by research if they're motivated, of discovering the difference, if need be. Some advise me that they cannot tell, and have to look it up. So, for some, at least, I'm achieving the goal.
-->
@Trent0405
Thanks man haha, I get a lot of down time at work and it helps pass the time. Almost like being paid to read.
15 days later
-->
@Lunatic
Same.
Here's my list for 2020-2021 that I can easily recall (not related to work)
-->
@Lunatic
My list for the past year (fiction only)
Boat of a Million Years
Armor
Courtship Rite
Analog April 1978
Clan of the Cave Bear
Valley of Horses
Mammoth Hunters
Unfinished:
Outlander
Plains of Passage
Roma
Out of The Silent Planet
I think the best steven king books are the ones his wife ghost writes for him like 1963.
She helps him write virtually all of his books
-->
@zedvictor4
I don't read fiction, because I'm always aware in the back of my mind that it's all made up.
Dang, do you feel that way about fiction movies too? lol
-->
@coal
Same.Here's my list for 2020-2021 that I can easily recall (not related to work)
You need to set the link to "Anyone with the link can view", I cant see the document
-->
@janesix
Do you read multiple books at a time, or are those unfinished just books you got bored reading and couldn't finish?
-->
@Lunatic
Unfortunately yes.
I don't bother with movies much.
In fact, I can't remember the last movie I watched.
-->
@Lunatic
I usually read multiple non fiction books at one time, but I usually finish fiction pretty quickly. Outlander, silent planet and Roma I didn't really like, and plains of passage I just wasn't in the mood for(I've read all the clan of the cave bear books multiple times.)
-->
@coal
Holy crap you've read a lot this year lol. I'll have to check out the Brad Thor books since you rates them so highly
-->
@Lunatic
Yeah. I read a lot.
Holy crap you've read a lot this year lol. I'll have to check out the Brad Thor books since you rates them so highly
I'm working my way through the Mitch Rapp series now. I think they get better as time goes on. The first three weren't that great. The fourth one is better.
Mass-market action-thrillers and spy novels have been a guilty pleasure of mine for a while, but I put them down when I started law school. But now that things are what they are, I've kind of taken a break from "serious literature" now. I've also by this point read everything that Tolstoy, Dostoevsky, Gogol and Turgenev have ever written so I think I've earned it.
The thing about these Brad Thor novels is that you can get through them in a weekend, and once you open it you're not going to want to put it down. Some of them are better than others, but they're always fresh. Another thing to note is that you can pretty much start anywhere in the series you want. They build on each other, but they're also fully contained within themselves.
I think the last three are the best in the series.
Overall, Brad Thor's writing is better than Tom Clancy, more fast-paced than John Le Carre and less "angsty" than Vince Flynn.
Another writer to keep in mind is Jack Carr, who is as good as Brad Thor (even if he has some annoying tendencies to brand-plug in his novels). Those books I'd suggest you read in order.
Both Brad Thor and Jack Carr have novels coming out later this year, available for pre-order (which I have).
I think I was an edgy 14 year old the last time I picked up a Tom Clancy novel lol
Also for everyone else, if you're looking for an overall easy, simple but beautifully written book that evokes Harry Potter and the best of YA fiction (but is still mature enough for an adult), you should read The Goldfinch.
The movie was terrible. Do not watch it unless you want to reflect on how bad a movie can be. However, the book won a Pulitzer Prize. I don't often like Pulitzer Prize winners (now they seem mostly like cultural affirmative action), but this one was well-deserved.
And when they're not engaged in outright cultural affirmative action, I feel like the Pulitzer Prize is like the Grammys.
25 days later
I need to update my list, but I've almost finished the Mitch Rapp series. I have changed my mind. The origin story books weren't that great, but the ones from 1999-when Vince Flynn died; and after Kile Mills took over are exceptional. A bit different than Brad Thor, but equally as good.
Mitch Rapp is much edgier than Scot Harvath, and Brad Thor's writing style is more about action and adventure; whereas Rapp's series focuses a lot more of the nuances behind being in the CIA and in Washington.
Kyle Mills is a really talented writer. Mitch Rapp may even be my spirit animal. His contempt for bureaucracy and results-oriented focus channels my inner sympathies on many levels.
20 days later
-->
@coal
Overall, Brad Thor's writing is better than Tom Clancy...
jeese I have to try this out then.
9 days later
-->
@Greyparrot
I really recommend them. Brad Thor's writing style is more playful than, say, Vince Flynn or Tom Clancy, but it's very good. The characters are compelling. It's basically a fast-paced white-knuckle thrill ride from cover to cover.
That all being said, I have really done a complete 180 on Vince Flynn (and, by implication, Kyle Mills). The Mitch Rapp series may, in the final analysis, be better than Scot Harvath. I made the mistake of starting with American Assassin before Term Limits and Flynn's earlier novels, and frankly .... that poisoned me at first.
Now I've read every single book Vince Flynn ever published and all the ones Kyle Mills has continued. I really, really like Flynn.