What are you reading this summer?

[WinnipegFan]

So I am looking for some recommendations for good reads!

I highly recommend:

The Sellout
Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maitenance
The Course of Love
A Death in the Family
The Power of Why
What the Dog Saw
David vs Goliath
Anything by Ondaatje
Anything by Cormac McCarthy

Thoughts?

[Itse]

I was thinking of going through the two William Gibson novels I haven't read yet, 'Zero History' and 'Spook Country'.

[scotty2hotty]

I'm about half way through American Gods. Picked it up after I saw the TV show thread. I knew nothing about it before hand. Definitely enjoying it.

All The Light We Cannot See is another good one. Just finished it last week.

[TheIronMaiden]

I am just finishing the Rings of Saturn by W.B Sebald. Next is the Hitch Hikers Guide to the Galaxy. Which I am beyond exited to finally start for the first time. I am also working my way through the new 52 run of the Green Lantern which is also super good.

[Puppet Guy]

Presently on Empire of Blue Water by Stephan Talty. It's about Henry Morgan's pirates. If I can't get to the ocean this year, I might as well read about it.

[photon]

Al Franken, Giant of the Senate and Lies and the Lying Liars Who Tell Them both by Al Franken.

Keep trying to start American War.

[CliffFletcher]

Just finishing A Bright Shining Lie by Neal Sheehan. It's regarded as the best single book on the Vietnam War, a subject I didn't know a whole lot about. I can see why it won the Pulitzer and National Book Award.

Have some beach reads cued up for summer.

11/22/63 by Stephen King - Continuing with the America in the 60s theme. Have't read any King in a long time, so I'm hoping it holds up. He can be pretty mawkish.

The Power of the Dog by Don Winslow - Lot of buzz about this author's books on the Mexican drug cartels. Figured I'd start with this one.

The Letter of Marque by Patrick O'Brian - Slowly working my way through the Aubrey/Maturin series. This is #12. It's nice to have a series where you know going in to every book that it's going to be excellent.

[Matata]

Elon Musk (biography) by Ashlee Vance - Always interesting to find out how mutants like Elon get made. All about how some middle class kid from South Africa became the king of silicon valley, possibly the greatest living engineer (even though he only did 2 years of Engineering school),and created some of the most groundbreaking businesses in the world (Paypal, Tesla motors, SpaceX, Solar City, etc.).

Reading about how he used to sleep a few hours per night curled up like a dog on a bean bag chair next to his desk, is particularly humbling.

[troutman]

Originally Posted by CliffFletcher

Just finishing A Bright Shining Lie by Neal Sheehan. It's regarded as the best single book on the Vietnam War, a subject I didn't know a whole lot about. I can see why it won the Pulitzer and National Book Award.

The Power of the Dog by Don Winslow - Lot of buzz about this author's books on the Mexican drug cartels. Figured I'd start with this one.

You might also enjoy The Sympathizer - another book about Vietnam that won the Pulitzer prize in 2016.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Sympathizer

The Power Of The Dog sounds interesting. Met people from Durango last week that are afraid to go back there.

[Wastedyouth]

Read "IT".

And "IT" is terrible.

I mean, the first half is thrilling and scary.

The second half I had to force myself through. I started to feel embarrassed for King.

[Sliver]

Originally Posted by CliffFletcher

Just finishing A Bright Shining Lie by Neal Sheehan. It's regarded as the best single book on the Vietnam War, a subject I didn't know a whole lot about. I can see why it won the Pulitzer and National Book Award.

Have some beach reads cued up for summer.

11/22/63 by Stephen King - Continuing with the America in the 60s theme. Have't read any King in a long time, so I'm hoping it holds up. He can be pretty mawkish.

The Power of the Dog by Don Winslow - Lot of buzz about this author's books on the Mexican drug cartels. Figured I'd start with this one.

The Letter of Marque by Patrick O'Brian - Slowly working my way through the Aubrey/Maturin series. This is #12. It's nice to have a series where you know going in to every book that it's going to be excellent.

Read 11/22/63 last summer and loved it. I just finished The Dark Tower today and it felt like a job to read every single page. Whatever people are seeing in that series I completely missed because I thought it was boring and unengaging.

[#22]

If you liked 11/23/63, have a go at Time and Again by Jack Finney. I read that and liked it so much I started looking for similar type stories, which is how I ended up reading 11/23/63.

PS - nice to read a decent Stephen King book again. Stopped reading his stuff a long time ago. He has some good stuff (The Shining is a mainstay on the bookshelf and gets reread every few years), but there is a lot of crap as well.

[Bootsy]

Just started Paris 1919: Six Months That Changed the World by Margaret MacMillan
I also picked up The War That Ended Peace: The Road to 1914 for when i'm done.
I'm enjoying it so far, pretty interesting looking back on how the consequences from decisions made at that time played out.

[DownInFlames]

Originally Posted by photon

Al Franken, Giant of the Senate

I just finished the audio book. He does a great job. I gained even more respect for him, and loved how he was able to admit the mistakes he's made as a Senator. Lying Liars is a good read too.

I'm about to start Seveneves by Neil Stephenson

Originally Posted by Sliver

I just finished The Dark Tower today and it felt like a job to read every single page. Whatever people are seeing in that series I completely missed because I thought it was boring and unengaging.

I tried reading it as a kid and couldn't finish, and I love Stephen King so that's saying something. I've been trying the audio book and it's still tough to get through.

[photon]

Yeah, I mean I understand I have a bias but Franken seems like the kind of guy if there were more of in government things would be better.

I couldn't finish Seveneves.

And I too am trying to listen to The Dark Tower audiobooks, but I keep jumping to something else, they haven't got my attention yet.

[dissentowner]

Originally Posted by photon

Yeah, I mean I understand I have a bias but Franken seems like the kind of guy if there were more of in government things would be better.

I couldn't finish Seveneves.

And I too am trying to listen to The Dark Tower audiobooks, but I keep jumping to something else, they haven't got my attention yet.

I found book 1 of the Dark Tower beyond boring. After that though it gets really good.

[Coys1882]

Ok - I've recommended him before in the other book threads but if you're even remotely a historical fiction fan I can't speak highly enough about Conn Iggulden. He has series on Caesar, one on Genghis Khan and now one on the War of the Roses. Check them out.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Conn_I...n#Bibliography

[Agamemnon]

Recent reads,

Girl with the Dragon Tattoo - Pretty decent mystery.
Girl on the Train - Another decent mystery, page-turner.
Before the Fall - Interesting plane crash concept
Embers of War (French in Vietnam) - Brilliant
The Book Thief - Great, a downer
We Were Soldiers - Insane recount of a wild battle, non fiction
In Cold Blood - A great ride

[Hessen]

Picked up these four books at Chapters on sale:

American Gods
Dark Tower I - The Gunslinger
Dark Tower II - The Drawing of the Three
Dark Tower III - The Wastelands

[zuluking]

last few top reads for me:

The Passage trilogy by Justin Cronin
A Constellation of Vital Phenomena by Anthony Marra
Dark Matter by Blake Crouch
The Unseen World by Liz Moore

I'm all over the road...