What book are you reading now?

[dimsum]

Just finished Armada by Ernest Cline, the author of Ready Player One (which Spielberg is apparently making into a movie).  It's a quick read and not bad with LOTS of shout-outs to various sci-fi, nostalgic and just plain geeky things, but I didn't think it was as good as RPO. 

As an aside, if you liked the movie The Last Starfighter, you'll like this book.

http://www.ew.com/article/2015/07/24/ernest-cline-deloreans-video-games

 

[FortYorkRifleman]

Just started re-reading Stephen King's "The Stand" which, too me, is his greatest novel. I first read it when I was 13 and wanted to revisit this given its been 15 years.

 

[Leeworthy]

I honestly wish I could get into a book. The last one I read was Time Fortress by Dan Brown. That was probably 6-7 years ago lol.

 

[PMedMoe]

I'm going to throw this right off the "I'm reading an historical/tactical/whatever Army/military book.

I'm reading "Written in My Own Heart's Blood" by Diana Gabaldon. And having a hell of a time with it.

Don't get me wrong; I love the series, but pages and pages (chapters even) about one day in a battle??

Get on with the story, woman!!!

Thankfully, I'm also reading Leaving Time by Jodi Picoult which is amazing.  :nod:

 

[mariomike]

Seeing as July 30 marked the 100th anniversary of his execution ( reportedly the most gruesome in the history of Sing Sing ), I re-read "Against The Evidence: The Becker-Rosenthal Affair".
The last time I read it was about 20 years ago. I recently read "Statan's Circus" which is also about the case, and read, "Sacrificed: The Story of Police Lieut. Charles Becker" many years ago.

All about how the most admired officer on the NYPD ( a Lieutenant ) was tried and convicted ( twice ) for "murder by proxy, twice removed".

To this day, Lt. Becker remains the only American police officer ever to be executed. Was he framed? Many believe he was.

 

[medicineman]

Reading "Ashley's War" - about the female Cultural Support Teams attached to US Spec Ops forces in Afghanistan.  An interesting read (when you leave out the fact that the person writing it is a lay person), especially in the context of the selection of these women, since they had to keep up with the direct action sub-units they were supporting and that fine line the US military has associated with women "being in combat".

MM

 

[cupper]

Reading "Ashley's War" - about the female Cultural Support Teams attached to US Spec Ops forces in Afghanistan.  An interesting read (when you leave out the fact that the person writing it is a lay person), especially in the context of the selection of these women, since they had to keep up with the direct action sub-units they were supporting and that fine line the US military has associated with women "being in combat".

MM

I've seen it the last couple of times I've been in the bookstore and considered picking it up at some point. Let me know your thoughts when you finish it up.

 

[Retired AF Guy]

With all the hoorah about poor Cecil getting killed I pulled out my old copies of Peter Hathaway Capstick's books, "Death in the Dark Continent" and "Last Horizons".

 

[blackberet17]

Back in the spring, I read Christie Blatchford's Fifteen Days. Hard read.

I'm still slogging through Margaret MacMillan's The War That Ended Peace. I can't remember the last time it took me months to read a book...

I managed to get my hands on hard cover copies of three books I've only ever read in electronic format, or in printed .pdf:

- Six Years of War - The Army in Canada, Britain and the Pacific
- The Canadians in Italy, 1943-1945
- The Victory Campaign - The Operations in North-West Europe, 1944-45

Volumes I, II, and III, respectively, of the Official History of the Canadian Army in the Second World War, from the Department of National Defence.

 

[FJAG]

Tom Clancy's Op-Center: Out of the Ashes.

This is a 2014 reboot of the old Op-Center series written by neither Clancy nor Steve Pieczenik.

Unless you are a die-hard Op-Center fan (or maybe especially if you are a die-hard Op-Center fan) you should give this one a miss: weak and implausible scenarios/plot; cardboard characters, weak writing.

On the other hand I've just reread Michael Connelly's Bosch series (police detective stories set in Los Angeles over the last few decades). Worth the time and many of the earlier books can be had on Kindle for as little as Cdn$5.99.

:cheers:

 

[dangerboy]

Just finished reading "The Girl in the Spider's Web" by David Lagercrantz.  It is a continuation of the Millennium Series (Girl With the Dragon Tattoo) by Stieg Larsson, who had passed away before the first book was published.  I was hesitant to read this as I was scared it was just going to be a cash grab and not very faithful to the series.  However I am glad I did, I enjoyed the book and thought it was true to the spirt of the first three books.  The only major complaint I had was that I did not think that the character Lisbeth Salander was in it enough, but that is just because I think she is a great kick-ass character.

My one suggestion is don't do what I did, I was so excited to read it that I started right away.  I should of in retrospect re-read the first three books and then read this one as it had been close to 5 years since I had read the original books and I had forgotten some of the minor points.   

 

[dimsum]

Finished Aurora, the latest novel by Kim Stanley Robinson (of the Mars Trilogy, 2312, etc fame).  It's good, non-space-opera sci-fi that has minor references to 2312 (and probably the Mars Trilogy as well - I don't remember those books well enough). 

Premise is that a Generation Ship is finally arriving at its destination about 200 years after it was launched. 

http://www.npr.org/2015/07/07/418597442/aurora-journeys-in-a-new-direction

 

[The Bread Guy]

Just finished "Outlaw Platoon: Heroes, Renegades, Infidels, and the Brotherhood of War in Afghanistan", the story of a U.S. platoon's deployment near the Pakistan border.  Decent read, spending a lot of time covering the emotional links between the soldiers as well as the details of the fight.  And some Pakistani Frontier Corps troops show up - and not fighting WITH the Americans.

Working my way through "Kill Yourself and Count to Ten," a book about how this guy and others in the South African military tried to take care of drug addicts, homosexuals and conscientious objectors between 1971 & 1989, written from the perspective of those who were "taken care of".

And lovin' my Kindle.  Although a big fan of hard-copy books, I'm finding loads of cheap (between free and $3) and quite good books on Amazon, plus handy to carry a "library" around with me.  While I rotate some books, "must haves" that remain as go-to's include "Starship Troopers" and "The Complete McAuslan"  ;D

 

[dangerboy]

And lovin' my Kindle.  Although a big fan of hard-copy books, I'm finding loads of cheap (between free and $3) and quite good books on Amazon, plus handy to carry a "library" around with me.  While I rotate some books, "must haves" that remain as go-to's include "Starship Troopers" and "The Complete McAuslan"  ;D

EBook readers are very handy especially when travelling.  I used to carry 5 or 6 books with me, now this device that is the size of one book has I think around 80 on mine currently.  Only thing I miss is with history books it is harder to look at the maps and diagrams.

 

[FJAG]

And lovin' my Kindle.

Loving mine less than I used to now that their book pricing policy is being dictated in large part by the publishers to the point where all too often the Kindle version costs more than the paperback.

Another problem with Kindle is that it will not work with the ePub format as used exclusively by the OverDrive network which powers all the eBooks that you can download from your local libraries. I've been using the Adobe Digital Editions for that especially when I'm off in the winter down south. (There are ePub to Kindle converters but not useable with library loan eBooks)

:cheers:

 

[PMedMoe]

Into Thin Air: A Personal Account of the Mt. Everest Disaster by Jon Krakauer.  Just started...good so far.

 

[The Bread Guy]

Only thing I miss is with history books it is harder to look at the maps and diagrams.

Yeah, there IS that.  That's when I still tend to go for the hard copy.

Loving mine less than I used to now that their book pricing policy is being dictated in large part by the publishers to the point where all too often the Kindle version costs more than the paperback.

That's true, but being a bit of a cheap "basket", I only buy a new release very rarely.  Still lots of good reading to be done on free to $2.

 

[FJAG]

Jeff Shaara's "A Blaze of Glory" a novel of the Civil War's Battle of Shiloh.

This is the first part of a four-volume series of the western campaign and is followed by "Chain of Thunder" (Vicksburg) and "The Smoke of War" (Chattanooga) and "The Fateful Lightning" (Sherman's march to the sea)

While deemed "historical novels" they are deeply researched and faithful portrayals of the key historical figures actions during these events and are in the same style as the eastern campaign trilogy: "Gods and Generals" (early war to Fredericksburg and Chancellorsville), "Killer Angels" (Gettysburg and written by Jeff's father Michael Shaara) and "The Last Full Measure" (post Gettysburg to end of the war).

:cheers:

 

[vonGarvin]

Just finished "How the Catholic Church built Western Civilization" by Thomas E Woods Jr.  Now I'm reading "Summa Theologicae" by Saint Thomas Aquinas.  Next up?  Paradise Lost by Milton.

 

[Oldgateboatdriver]

I am assuming you are reading the Summa in its original latin version. If you don't have it in that original version, I'll be glad to loan you mine, which I haven't opened since my Seminary days (They were my dad's originally, but I inherited them).


PS: I am not kidding.