Read any good books this holiday?

[GrumpyOldGuy]

I just posted this list somewhere else, thought I'd share it here. Any of you who'd like to share your list of favourite/most memorable reads this year?

 

Graphic novels

 

I started this year by reading a lot of graphic novels and were most impressed by:

(They are all Must-Reads, imho.)

 

The Authority - Warren Ellis

Planetary - Warren Ellis

Sunstone, Ravine and Death Vigil - Stjepan Sejic

Lucifer - Mike Carey

Moon Knight (2016) - Jeff Lemire

 

LitRPG

2017 was also the year I discovered LitRPG! Not just the genre, but also the community. 

 

Two series that really stood out for me were:

 

Awaken Online - Travis Bagwell (The first LitRPG series I ever read. I will always remember Travis Bagwell fondly for that exciting introduction.)

The Weirdest Noob - Arthur Stone (despite the somewhat rushed and confused feel of the third book.)

 

Looking forward to reading many more, and The Divine Dungeon - Dakota Krout is next on my list to explore.

 

Fantasy

Two new authors I discovered this year to add to my list of Damn, They're Good 

 

Cradle and House of Blades series - Will Wight (who is now and forever part of my Top Ten list of greatest fantasy authors of all-time)

Faithful and the Fallen series - John Gwynne

 

A worthy mention also to the light novel Goblin Slayer series - Kumo Kagyu

 

Sci-Fi

Two great sci-fi discoveries:

 

Three Body Problem series - Liu Cixin

Ghosts of Tomorrow - Michael R Fletcher

 

And that's about it! Many more I read and enjoyed to a greater and lesser extent, but these were the books that really stood out for me and therefore defined my 2017 reading experience.

I don't read fiction but a few non fiction books that stood out for me were -

 

1.Where divers dare - the hunt for the last U-Boat by Randall Peffer - this was one of the best I have read. 

2. The Penguin Lessons - by Tom Mitchell - well worth a read.

3. Setting the Hook - A divers return to the Andrea Doria - by Peter. M.Hunt.

4. 81 days below Zero - by Brian Murphy - about a world war 2 pilot lost in Alaska.

 

If I had to pick a 5th it would be - Rescue of the Bounty - by Michael Tougias. 

 

I have just started Oil and Ice by Peter Nichols, seems to be good so far, about the whaling Dynasty. 

[SlowManiac]

Re-reading (for the nth time) Commando by Deneys Reitz. Incredible story. 

 

Finished 'The Son' by Jo Nesbo - good Scandi crime thriller - enjoyed.

 

Reading the Hobbit to my son. He's a bit young for it but it puts him to sleep like a boss.

[Readsalot]

I spoke about a series I really enjoyed a while ago: Will Wight's Cradle series. Then, a couple of weeks ago I read the Coiling Dragon series by I Eat Tomatoes. This was just as entertaining and I ended up sending a tweet to Will Wight to tell him about it - and he replied by saying he loved it just as much!

What I didn't know was that these series are actually part of a genre: Wuxia. Wuxia literally means "martial hero". Think Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon: People whose martial arts are so developed that they can do incredible things by harnessing their qi, like leap incredible distances and punch through walls.

Then, there's one step further: Xianxia. Xianxia means "immortal hero" so it's a fantasy-fied version of wuxia: Demons, dragons and other magic beasts, demigods and gods, etc. Basically wuxia is where a guy can punch so hard you can almost hear a sonic boom. Xianxia is where a guy can punch so hard he can literally punch a hole in space and time.

So, if you like fantasy but you'd also like the hero to deliver a kung fu kick to a dragon's face, check out these genres.

[Captain Fastbastard Mayhem]

I spoke about a series I really enjoyed a while ago: Will Wight's Cradle series. Then, a couple of weeks ago I read the Coiling Dragon series by I Eat Tomatoes. This was just as entertaining and I ended up sending a tweet to Will Wight to tell him about it - and he replied by saying he loved it just as much!

 

What I didn't know was that these series are actually part of a genre: Wuxia. Wuxia literally means "martial hero". Think Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon: People whose martial arts are so developed that they can do incredible things by harnessing their qi, like leap incredible distances and punch through walls.

 

Then, there's one step further: Xianxia. Xianxia means "immortal hero" so it's a fantasy-fied version of wuxia: Demons, dragons and other magic beasts, demigods and gods, etc. Basically wuxia is where a guy can punch so hard you can almost hear a sonic boom. Xianxia is where a guy can punch so hard he can literally punch a hole in space and time.

 

So, if you like fantasy but you'd also like the hero to deliver a kung fu kick to a dragon's face, check out these genres.

OOOOH!!!

[Slowbee]

Anyone have a copy of Raymond Suttner, Apartheids Prison ?

 

Just been pointed in that direction and I am keen to read it.

[Kalahari Vegmot]

Just finished this. If you are a male, you should read this. Absolutely excellent.

 

PM me if you want the audiobook.

[Fruity]

Not big into reading books as such, but can't decide which one of these 3 to start with. All from the local SPCA. There's a CNA and a bookstore nearby, but I like to support the SPCA.

 

The Hobbit, which I puchased a while ago, is saying "read me". I'm not sure about The Lord of the Rings part 2 as I would like to start with part 1, which wasn't on the shelves when I last visited the SPCA. Then there's Star Wars: From the Adventures of Luke Skywalker - I think I'll start with that one.

[Albatross]

Well written and easy to follow

 

 

 

"Interesting and provocative… It gives you a sense of how briefly we’ve been on this Earth" (Barack Obama)

[Steven Knoetze (sk27)]

I am busy working my way through all of the Jack Noble novels by L.T Ryan.

Not as heavy as some may like but easy, suspenseful reading none the less.

[Gen]

I read the continuation of the Millenium series this past week.. really enjoyed "The girl in the Spider's web", the next one "The Girl who takes and eye for an eye" wasn't as good but still enjoyable.

 

The author did a okay job of continuing Larsson's work...think it is hard to pick up another authors work.

 

And I can finally say after searching high and low in our dorp for Jo Nesbo's "The Bat" there I walk into a curio shop in Lambert's bay and there is was..R40..yes thank you..didn't want to read any of the other Harry Hole books before I read the first one..so tomorrow I will start that book.[emoji4]

Edited December 27, 2018 by Gen

[IceCreamMan]

Just read Guy Martins Worms to catch. Great read an interesting guy.

 

Today bought Geraint Thomas The tour according to G. Half price sales. Looking forward to it.

[Imploder]

This was a very interesting book:

 

The Sixth Extinction

 

by Elizabeth Kolbert

 

ABOUT THE BOOK:

Over the last half a billion years, there have been five mass extinctions of life on earth. Scientists around the world are currently monitoring the sixth, predicted to be the most devastating extinction event since the asteroid impact that wiped out the dinosaurs. Elizabeth Kolbert combines brilliant field reporting, the history of ideas and the work of geologists, botanists and marine biologists to tell the gripping stories of a dozen species - including the Panamanian golden frog and the Sumatran rhino - some already gone, others at the point of vanishing. The sixth extinction is likely to be mankind's most lasting legacy and Elizabeth Kolbert's book urgently compels us to rethink the fundamental question of what it means to be human

 

https://www.amazon.com/Sixth-Extinction-Unnatural-History/dp/1250062187/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1545945323&sr=8-1&keywords=the+sixth+extinction+an+unnatural+history

[Gen]

This was a very interesting book:

 

The Sixth Extinction

 

by Elizabeth Kolbert

ABOUT THE BOOK:

Over the last half a billion years, there have been five mass extinctions of life on earth. Scientists around the world are currently monitoring the sixth, predicted to be the most devastating extinction event since the asteroid impact that wiped out the dinosaurs. Elizabeth Kolbert combines brilliant field reporting, the history of ideas and the work of geologists, botanists and marine biologists to tell the gripping stories of a dozen species - including the Panamanian golden frog and the Sumatran rhino - some already gone, others at the point of vanishing. The sixth extinction is likely to be mankind's most lasting legacy and Elizabeth Kolbert's book urgently compels us to rethink the fundamental question of what it means to be human

 

https://www.amazon.com/Sixth-Extinction-Unnatural-History/dp/1250062187/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1545945323&sr=8-1&keywords=the+sixth+extinction+an+unnatural+history

A book I should probably read.. but I read to escape reality[emoji39]

[Chris_]

This was a very interesting book:

 

The Sixth Extinction

 

by Elizabeth Kolbert

 

ABOUT THE BOOK:

Over the last half a billion years, there have been five mass extinctions of life on earth. Scientists around the world are currently monitoring the sixth, predicted to be the most devastating extinction event since the asteroid impact that wiped out the dinosaurs. Elizabeth Kolbert combines brilliant field reporting, the history of ideas and the work of geologists, botanists and marine biologists to tell the gripping stories of a dozen species - including the Panamanian golden frog and the Sumatran rhino - some already gone, others at the point of vanishing. The sixth extinction is likely to be mankind's most lasting legacy and Elizabeth Kolbert's book urgently compels us to rethink the fundamental question of what it means to be human

 

https://www.amazon.com/Sixth-Extinction-Unnatural-History/dp/1250062187/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1545945323&sr=8-1&keywords=the+sixth+extinction+an+unnatural+history

 

I've also just started Sapiens, its reading a bit like a textbook so it's pretty slowly and I'm trying to absorb as much as possible. 

 

I really like this genre that has taken the spotlight of late. Historic, factual, environmental, very animalistic, quite a removed view on humans, and I'm guessing a fair bit of futuristic fortune-telling to come.

 

I'll add this book to my (growing) list

[Imploder]

Hope you all pre-order yours !!

 

https://www.dailymaverick.co.za/article/2019-10-02-we-have-a-game-changer-a-decade-of-daily-maverick/

[greys]

The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo by Taylor Jenkins Reed. I gave this book 5 stars. Evelyn was a fantastically fleshed out character and I was sad to leave her when I finished the book.