What's anyone reading these days

[Mr_Yan]

So I'm usually looking for the next book to read why not ask here.

I try to keep one fiction and one non-fiction going at a time. Right now I have
A Dance With Dragons by GRR Martin (fifth in the game of thrones series)
John Adams by David McCullough (taking a long time, this reading is dense and the writing style is much higher than I've been reading of late)

 

[w_r_ranch]

I'll have to compile you a list of authors... both my wife/I are voracious readers & have accumulated a sizable library. I'll work on it if you tell me what you like.

 

[ErnieCopp]

Far Pavilions and Pillars of the Earth have both been out for a while, but were good reading.
A Thousand Splendid Suns, The Kite Runner and The Mountains Echoed by Khalid Hussein were three other good ones.
Ernie

 

[Mr_Yan]

My wife eats through books but we tend to have very different tastes.

Fiction - I avoid romance and historical fiction. I tend toward si-fi, fantasy, thrillers. Some of the more recent things I've read or listened to are - lord of the rings, game of thrones series, Ender's Game and the assorted sequels, James Patterson's alex cross series (parts) and Zoo, and there's several more. I said listened to as I get audio books when I have to make a long drive.

Non-Fiction tends to be scattered. Last few include:
Monuments Men - this one was cool as it recounts the soldiers inbedded with the allies during WWII who were tasked with finding and preserving artwork and historic sites in Europe that the Nazis stole or were endangered during battles.
A dog training book by Cesar Millan
I was on a Malcome Gladwell kick for a while - Outliers and Tipping Point were good reads
Freakanomics - this author tried to be Gladwell and your better off just reading Gladwell's books

Over the last two Christmases my wife and I have bought two E-Readers and most of our reading is on them now. Our public library has a cool service where we can checkout a book to our Nooks and read it there. For reference books I still like the dead tree editions but if you're only going to read a novel once why buy it?

 

[ErnieCopp]

I used to be a voracious reader, from the fourth grade up, including most of the dictionary one summer, but never had time for several years. I tried Linda's Kindle, but just could not get comfortable holding it. Then i signed up for Kindle books delivered to my laptop, and have been reading much more lately. They have so many titles, all with reviews by readers, that it is easy to find something. I do like Historical Novels, if not too much time wasted on the romance. I rcceived a lot of my education reading Philosophy, and the earlier Poets.

 

[Mr_Yan]

The part I don't like about the historical fiction is I get lost as to what is fiction and what isn't in it.

The big thing we like about our e-readers is they're lighted. Now I can read in bed or when rocking a kid back to sleep without additional light. That and the last few books I've read have been in excess of 800 pages each and I can hold the e-reader with just one hand comfortably.

There's no dispute to the educational benefits you point to Ernie. I am also convinced that si-fi tends to be the way gEEks like me approach philosophy.

 

[ErnieCopp]

I used to like Sci Fi, but i think the last one i read was Dunes, with the big Sand Worms.

A lot of that fantasy that was unbelievable then has become true with time.

Ernie

 

[Slowngreen]

I dont care if their aimed at teen girls lol, Im a big fan of teen fiction.

Hunger Games trilogy
Maze Runner series
divergent and insergent, waiting for book 3.
Legend
mortal engine series
Unwind series

Recently finish Enders Game.

Im reading Under The Dome at the moment.

I read all of them on my Nook.

 

[Mr_Yan]

I read the hunger games series last summer or over the winter - if I just could remember which - my wife bought it so why not read this one. Other than that, Slowngreen, I haven't heard of the rest of that main list.

Dune has come up a few times in the last month so I may try my hand at that.

 

[Mr_Yan]

Since I posted this I realized there was a fifth book in the Game of Thrones series and read that (1000+ pages) then listened to Dune and Dune Messiah on audio book while knitting. I have just downloaded the audio of David Baldacci's The Hit to listen to while knitting.

I have also worked about half way through David McCullough's bio on John Adams. Initially I borrowed this from my paster but decided to buy it electronically. This has gotten a lot easier to read now that I am used to the writing style and not fighting with a large hard cover dead tree edition book.

 

[Slowngreen]

Im on Alegant, which is book 3 of Divergent.

 

[w_r_ranch]

Just finish Dan Brown's 'Inferno'.

 

[MB3]

Greg Bear, Ben Bova, and John Barnes are great sci-fi, each with a pretty good output. you could try more Orson Scott Card, like the Return to Earth and Alvin Maker cycles.

edit: and the mention of Dune makes me recall it was great. some of the sequels were good. The ones by his son were a lot less thrilling.

I also like Neil Stephenson a lot, each novel/series is very different from the last. I also like William Gibson, godfather of cyberpunk.

 

[Mr_Yan]

I'm currently listening to a Harry Bosh novel - third or fourth in the series and reading Mendel in the Kitchen by Fedoroff and Brown. I put down John Adams for something lighter as a break.

Mendel in the Kitchen is a really cool read on the evolution of our food crops over the last two or three hundred years.