Good books to check out

I went to the grocery store today and there was a giant cardboard bin full of books. Must be, they came from the Borders liquidation. It was full of a mix of Clive Cussler and a bunch of children's books. For the last few days I have been re-reading "Liberty and Tyranny" just before I fall asleep. It's a very short, easy read, written by one of the most intelligent, articulate, and compassionate men that I know of. Highly recommended. For those that just want to forget about life for a little while, pick up "Nothing but the Truth" or "The Hearing" by John Lescroart ("less-kwah") or "The Summons" or "The King of Torts" by John Grisham.
 
Just finished reading (listening to) "A Room with a View" by E. M. Forster. I like listening to audiobooks when I'm on a plane or a car or on the tram. Right now, I'm basically trying to go through a few lists of the 100 greatest English language novels of all time (there's a lot of such lists from many different sources like magazines and college lit department websites, etc.) and seeing which novels have consensus among many different critics. Then, I'll read those books (or listen to them). "A Room with a View" was on most of the lists, so I downloaded it and gave it a read (listen). Not bad, a very good treatise on honesty and love.

As for real, paper books, I've got a few more chapters to go on "The Most Important Thing" by Howard Marks, CEO of OakTree Capital. He describes his theories on active management of investments. Very interesting, although I think I'm going to stick with the John Boggle approach, given that I'm just a little guy and certainly no millionaire.
 
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Just finished "Cherry Bomb" By J.A. Konrath and "Sea Hunters 2" By Clive Cussler. I'm in the middle of "Give Me Back My Legions" By Harry Turtledove, and I've got "Medusa" By Clive Cussler next in the stack.
 
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cgmblade said:
+1 on Atlas Shrugged. It's her best work. A truly great book.

To the OP: I'd recommend anything by John Sandford or Jonathan Kellerman. I've read everything they've written and am looking for a new author now.
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:thumbup: to John Sandford, his "Prey" series is really enjoyable crime/drama/comedy all wrapped up into one.

I'm currently reading
A Prayer for Owen Meany by John Irving - absolutely fantastic
A Dance With Dragons by George R.R. Martin - if you haven't read the first four books in the series I highly recommend picking up the first book. Martin is often held up as an equal to Tolkien and Robert Jordan, but Martin's books have much more of a real world feel than the others previously mentioned. Intrigue, violence, politics, sex, these books really have them all. I absolutely cannot reccomend this series, "A Song of Ice and Fire" enough. Pick up the first book A Game of Thrones which was recently turned into a fantastic HBO series, you will not be disappointed.
 
Just finished this ...again.
Ben Hall was Ned Kelly's boyhood hero.
"Bushrangers" is the Australian equivalent to the American "Outlaws"
in the 1800s.
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Check out The Book of Evidence by John Banville.

Look at any review of it, excellent!

It's a bit ghetto but "so what?"
 
I have a "Who is John Galt bumper sticker on my car, so it's no great surprise that I would recommend Atlas Shrugged. I'm also reading Abraham Lincoln, Vampire Killer but I'm not far enough into it to give an opinion.

If you've never read Tom Clancy's first few books they are just fantastic even though they deal with a world that doesn't really exist (or does it?) anymore. His latest works are too bloated for me to read, but everything up to The Sum of All Fears is worth reading.
 
ndeezl said:
:thumbup: to John Sandford, his "Prey" series is really enjoyable crime/drama/comedy all wrapped up into one.

I'm currently reading
A Prayer for Owen Meany by John Irving - absolutely fantastic
A Dance With Dragons by George R.R. Martin - if you haven't read the first four books in the series I highly recommend picking up the first book. Martin is often held up as an equal to Tolkien and Robert Jordan, but Martin's books have much more of a real world feel than the others previously mentioned. Intrigue, violence, politics, sex, these books really have them all. I absolutely cannot reccomend this series, "A Song of Ice and Fire" enough. Pick up the first book A Game of Thrones which was recently turned into a fantastic HBO series, you will not be disappointed.
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I've been waiting for A Dance With Dragons for so long that I've decided to re-read the first 4 books before getting started; the book is years overdue and I've forgotten a lot
of what happened since I first read them in around 2007. They are amazing on every level and I hope Martin actually gets around to finishing the last two books. Kind of
reminds me of what happened to King and the Dark Tower series.
 
I just got The Horse Whisperer which I plan to read while I am on a road trip in a couple weeks.

I loved the movie so I hope the book is just as good.
 
I have been reading the "Malazan Book of the Fallen" series by Steven Erikson. I am in Dust of Dreams now. Technically that is book 9 of 10, but the 9th and 10th are supposed to be one giant book split up. It's a fantastic series.
 
Just re-read for the 3rd time, where the Banderas' film "The 13th Warrior" was based. You'll like it too guaranteed!

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CARRERA50 said:
I've been waiting for A Dance With Dragons for so long that I've decided to re-read the first 4 books before getting started; the book is years overdue and I've forgotten a lot
of what happened since I first read them in around 2007. They are amazing on every level and I hope Martin actually gets around to finishing the last two books. Kind of
reminds me of what happened to King and the Dark Tower series.
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I've read them so many times over the past few years I didn't need to go back and catch up fortunately. I just finished Dance it was as good as all the others...and that's all I'll say so as not to spoil anything!

As to the bolded part above I believe that you're speaking of Robert Jordan and his Wheel of Time series which is another fantastic set of books. AND anyone who hasn't read the Dark Tower series by Stephen King should pick up the first book "The Gunslinger". It isn't like anything else King has written (aside from the fact that the Dark Tower world pops up in almost every other one of his books) but it is an amazing story with amazing characters, couldn't put the books down when I first read them.

Nathan
 
I've been reading a lot of H.P. Lovecraft stuff lately... If you want a very creepy short story to read, I recommend "Pickman's Model", incredibly creepy stuff. I also just finished "The Lost World" by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, definitely recommended.
 
ndeezl said:
AND anyone who hasn't read the Dark Tower series by Stephen King should pick up the first book "The Gunslinger". It isn't like anything else King has written (aside from the fact that the Dark Tower world pops up in almost every other one of his books) but it is an amazing story with amazing characters, couldn't put the books down when I first read them.

Nathan
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The first three were great, especially Drawing of the Three and Wastelands. Gunslinger solidified my love of the post apocalyptic wasteland genre. Wizard and Glass wasn't bad. The last few, Wolves of the Calla, Song of Susanah and Dark Tower, I just wanted them to end. I didn't like the ending, but I understand it. All of his books tied into the Dark Tower mythos. I was hoping to hear Anthony Hopkins character reference the gunslinger in the movie Hearts of Atlantis, as he did in the book.

untamed said:
Just re-read for the 3rd time, where the Banderas' film "The 13th Warrior" was based. You'll like it too guaranteed!

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My favorite Crichton story, and one of my favorite books. Great take on the Beowulf/Grendel myth.
 
I just finished reading this
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Buying the 3rd in the series next. Excellent series. :)

Tostig
 
Last few I read and really dug:
Tim Powers - Declare
Lawrence James - Rise and Fall of the British Empire
Simon Murry - Legionaire
Jack Campbell - The lost fleet dauntless
Simon Green - Paths not taken a novel of the nightside
Simon Green - From hell with love a secret histories novel
 
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