Dan Brown - Deception Point

It's a light techno thriller, you get the idea.

The Slow Regard of Silent Things. Did get it after all (hence the ping, since GR00T mentioned it in the 2015 thread). Yes, definitely doesn't do what a story should, and those who are or like to consider themselves in any way "normal" should stay away. This is for the... different, up here *points* For the strange and broken, shattered and alone, yet still aware and caring. And by someone who knows and understands.

Interesting. I just put that into my bag to read on the train about 20 minutes ago. Sounds like I'll like it.

Which brings me to the book its replacing. Finished Rivers of London by Ben Aaronovitch today. It's more or less Harry Potter for grown-ups, even though one of the characters outright states that he doesn't like being compared to him. It was better than I expected, I really liked the humor. I think I will actually be getting the other books in the series.

Keep in mind the foreword though. Don't start here if you didn't read the rest of the series (not that it's necessary, but without that context it's... less, in many ways). And yeah, it's... different.
But anyway, hope you'll enjoy :)

Indeed. The books are much better. Have you read the Dunk and Egg books as well?

If I can say this in this thread:

I am in the process of Reading George Orwell's 1984.

30 in pages in and I am intreagued.

Does this novel certainly lived up to its hype?

1984, and Animal Farm too, are true classics of literature. Orwell was a giant.

Animal Farm indeed is a classic. Orwell was a truly perceptive intellectual. Have had the 1984 book with me for quite some time but never got around to reading it though.

Do get it when the book/s - 3 until now - gets out in your area. Its well worth a read. Truth be told, I want to read more about the 2 lead characters from these books than about whats happening in the main series.

Had to stop with WG's Spook Country. It just wasn't going anywhere. Decent prose though. Aside from the writing about tech that felt like it was done by an outsider or a layman. Which for the man who coined the term "Cyberspace" and basically cradled the cyberpunk genre I found to be off putting.

Now I'm on Midshipman's Hope by Dave Feuntuch

The second book for this year is done since a few days: Dune! Why didn't I read this sooner? Even after 50 years, it still is a fantastic book, with many cool ideas about religion, science-fiction and sandworms.

Books finished in 2016:
#1: Winter's Heart, Robert Jordan
#2: Dune, Frank Herbert

I've been reading some RPG books recently:

Stonehell Dungeon: Down Night-Haunted Halls (MIchael Curtis) - megadungeon
d20 Past (James Wyatt and Gwendolyn F.M. Kestrel) - addition rules for the d20 Modern game
d20 Dark Matter (Wolfgang Baur and Monte Cook) - setting for a d20 Modern game
The Case of the Pacific Cliipper (Dave Arneson) - a choose-your-own-adventure type book, using the "Mercenaries, Spies, and Private Eyes" rules.

That is actually one of the books that got me into literature as a young teen. It is also one of the books that changed my life.

The others being:

1. God Bless You Mr. Rosewater by Kurt Vonnegut Jr.
2. 1984 by George Orwell
3. I Have No Mouth and I Must Scream by Harlan Ellison

I tried, oh how I tried.

Something Special by Iris Murdoch
A short story published as a standalone book after her death. The first Murdoch I have read. It was pretty good.

The Little Prince by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry
I was supposed to read this in French in high school. This is the 2nd time I have read it in English. Charming.

---

And that's it. I knew tax season was going to take my focus so I got out a stack of very short books for reading on the subway or streetcar to and from work. But that's long done.

Then it went to magazines.

Now it's just reruns of lowest common denominator tv shows when I get home.

Soon it will be just staring at the wall...

Lyonesse: Suldrun’s Garden (Jack Vance)

This is the first book in the Lyonesse Trilogy, a fantasy story of kings and peasants, magicians and fairies. Although it gets off to a very slow start (the first 5 chapters), once it gets moving it’s a very enjoyable story with interesting characters and plot.

Considering how many people today seem to be using 1984 as an instruction manual instead of seeing it as a warning, Orwell must have been doing something right...

I haven't finished anything lately because I had to quit reading John Fultz's Seven Princes about halfway through. It's a fantasy novel that really wants to be a throwback to pulpy sword-and-sorcery, back when purple prose was considered a good thing, but it's really just a bog-standard fantasy trilogy starter. Sluggish pace, dull characters, unimaginative prose...disappointing book all around. The prologue was kind of cool, I guess.