June 2018: Reading Thread

[biodroid]

Anthoney - is it required to have read the Bill Hodges trilogy before reading The Outsider?

 

[Anthoney]

Anthoney - is it required to have read the Bill Hodges trilogy before reading The Outsider?

No, I don't think so. Totally different characters. If you are listening it has the same narrator but that's all.

 

[Randy M.]

Finished James Ellroy's Hollywood Nocturnes, which was very enjoyable, though if you're allergic to non-PC language and actions, this could cause hives. Thing is, I think he gets the attitudes and behavior of certain sections of 1940s-'50s society right. The collection reads to me like Ellroy has a close knowledge of L.A. history, internalized every issue of the pulp, Black Mask then upped the testosterone level and installed a turbo-charger.

Right now I'm about half-way through Tobacco Road by Erskine Caldwell. I can see why it was considered racy at the time, but it's also funny in a sad way. Jeeter Lester had to sell his inherited land to pay his father's debts, the new owner let him stay on as a tenant farmer, but once the new owner realized he could no longer make a profit, he sold off equipment and mules and Jeeter, along with other tenant farmers, were left to fend for themselves. Now Jeeter and his family don't quite know what to do or how to get out from under the crushing poverty they've fallen into.


Randy M.

 

[ratsy]

Anthoney - is it required to have read the Bill Hodges trilogy before reading The Outsider?

I recently finished reading The Outsider. I was surprised to see one of the Bill Hodges characters emerge for the second half of the book. I think it would be fine to read if you haven't read the previous series, but it was an interesting direction for the book. I really enjoyed it. It sort of felt like 2 books to me though, but in the end, I was pleased with it.

I also recently read C Steven Manley's Master of Hounds Urban Fantasy book. It was a great read, and I really liked everything about it.

Right now I'm on a few things: My Sister's Grave by Robert Dugoni in Audio, King of Ashes, by Raymond E Feist in hardcover, and The House Next Door, by Darcy Coates on my kindle. The trifecta of literature.

 

[tobl]

Finished Brother Odd which was way better than the second in the series

yeah thought so too

 

[tobl]

Just finished John Birmingham's Axis of Time novels.

what did you thought of the series? did you read the six books? i'm not a great fan of alternate history lolo

 

[Anthoney]

what did you thought of the series? did you read the six books? i'm not a great fan of alternate history lolo

No, I've only finished the initial trilogy not the 3 Stalin's Hammer books after. I enjoy alternate history like the 1632 books. I liked the idea of the Axis of Time books more than I liked the books. The first was really good but I had small issue the the structure and pacing of the last 2.

 

[Connavar]

Im on a good reading flow right now finished the new fav of mine in SF Ann Leckie's Ancillary Sword, which was very good but still not as strong as i would have liked since the first book was almost brilliant. Breq/the heroine/hero was better a thinking to survive lone wolf than as a fleet captain in book 2.

Im reading right now Trinity by Conn Iggulden, book 2 in War of Roses series. Conn is the best at military history historical fiction but he has improved enough to write books about the political reality,the mentality of the people fighting for the throne before there was a war between Lancaster, York.
I have nothing against Henry VI, the weak, ill king but I'm looking foward in this book series to the rise of Edward IV, Richard III, the early Tudors, Warwick "the kingmaker" etc. Fascinating time period politically when this Cousin's War is starting. Its a bit funny to read these books when you know how the war ends, the historical irony of the minor Tudor cousin stealing the throne from Lancaster, York kings.

 

[Fedos]

I just finished Crossroads of Twilight, the tenth book in The Wheel of Time, and from what I have read from others generally seen as the last of the books with unnecessary filler and padding. What a relief! Now I am on to Knife of Dreams, book eleven, a purported return to form for Robert Jordan.

 

[Av Demeisen]

I am about to start Peter Watts' The Freeze-Frame Revolution which was just delivered. I am also in the middle of a reread of Echopraxia.

 

[Anthoney]

Anthoney - is it required to have read the Bill Hodges trilogy before reading The Outsider?

Just an update. There is some character crossover that I was not aware of. Still there's no need that I can see that you need to read the Bill Hodges books first.

 

[night_wrtr]

I just finished Crossroads of Twilight, the tenth book in The Wheel of Time, and from what I have read from others generally seen as the last of the books with unnecessary filler and padding. What a relief! Now I am on to Knife of Dreams, book eleven, a purported return to form for Robert Jordan.

Knife of Dreams has some of my favorite scenes in the whole series. Enjoy.

 

[nixie]

Frank Tayell, Future's Beginning

 

[Victoria Silverwolf]

I have started Confessions of a Dangerous Mind: An Unauthorized Autobiography(1984) by Chuck Barris, in which he claimed to be an assassin for the CIA. I have to presume that this is pure fiction. As such, it's entertaining enough. It's also got just about the most profanity in any book I've ever read. Not what you'd expect from the guy behind The Gong Show.

 

[Randy M.]

FYI, Victoria: George Clooney made a movie of that. I haven't seen it but with Sam Rockwell playing Barris it could be very entertaining.

More on topic: I should finish Tobacco Road today. It's a comedy with serious undercurrents, examining the root of poverty in the South of that time (not least lack of widespread public education), but also indicating some of the self-destructive nature of its protagonists.

Next up, either A Coffin for Dimitrios (a.k.a. The Mask of Dimitrios) by Eric Ambler or Black Helicopters by Caitlin Kiernan or Banquet for the Damned by Adam Nevill or Rogue Moon by Algis Budrys or ...



Randy M.

 

[dask]

Hope it's the Ambler.

 

[Anthoney]

Stephen King's The Outsider was decent. No I'm going to read some cheap EOTWAWKI / SHTF book.

 

[dask]

This reminds me of that sign hanging in bars where after asking the bartender what all the letters stand for you just bought the house a drink.☺

 

[Vertigo]

This reminds me of that sign hanging in bars where after asking the bartender what all the letters stand for you just bought the house a drink.☺

I guessed the first to be EndOfTheWorldAsWeKnowIt not sure about the second though.

 

[Anthoney]

Rather than a End of the World as we Know it, type book I went for a generic Mich Rapp book call The American.

@Vertigo It's like Crap hits the fan, so to speak. This is the language of the doomsday preppers.