Hey, you know what makes you really cool? Cooler than cool? Reading books!
Why should I read books? Because books make you think, and thinking is awesome. They tell you amazing stories, bring you to fantastical worlds, and let you meet diverse and interesting characters. They also help you write better and help you increase your vocab.
Currently reading: Guards! Guards!
My 2020 books read:
Best book I read this year so far: Sirens of Titan.
Worst book I read this year so far: Red Son Superman or Neuromancer (really didn’t like either)
If you need tips on how to get into reading, just let me know, I love to get more people to read for fun!
EDITORS NOTE: I mostly read fiction but it’s ok to talk about nonfiction here too.
Questions: Do you read? If no how do you plan to change that in 2020. What are you reading? Favorite books?
I’ve been trying to get back into reading actual books, as in physical books. I’ve been on the Kindle train for the last 5-6 years and I started to miss having an actual book in my hands. I tend to read a mixture of Sc-Fi, Fantasy and Historical fiction. I also love reading non fiction books primarily about History.
I’m currently reading “America Before: The Key to Earth’s Lost Civilizations” by Graham Hancock. It’s basically alternative archeology. Most of his books are based on the premise that there are sophisticated civilizations that have been lost to history. Fascinating stuff, but a ton of conjecture.
Hi guys, I suggest you got to https://www.bookbub.com/ which i use to recommend me books which go free on kindle. I’ve built a pretty solid library with it.
I also suggest https://www.bookdepository.com/ which is pretty cheap for physical books. bought my Halo books from there as well. They have international shipping so basically the only book retailer shipping to me in Fiji
Thanks for the post, mate.
I’m trying to read and am currently simultaneously reading Halo Reach physically and Chromed: Upgrade on my kindle.
Favorite book is one called A Secret Kept by French author Tatiana De Rosnay. The book didn’t review well but I read it at a time in my life where it felt fit to read and I thoroughly enjoyed it.
I used to love reading Hardy Boys, Animorphs and Goosebumps when I was younger though.
I’m working my way through the Star Wars novels (the new canon) but in between I try to read something a bit more weighty. I just finished Shuggie Bain which won the 2020 Booker Prize. It was a pretty grim read but quite brilliant at the same time.
I am currently reading Power of the Sword by Wilbur Smith.
I love reading and read a lot of books in a year.
If you like Sci Fi I heartily recommend Altered Carbon by Richard Morgan as it pisses all over the Netflix series. The two sequels are also great.
I am reading (or trying to, since I have little spare time to enjoy a quiet read) Synners by Pat Cadigan, Cyberpunk with particular theme of the Human mind being an explorable place. Its pretty good so far.
Before that I was listening to the Ancilliary Justice by Ann Leckie, Adjoa Andoh is a fantastic narrator. I’ve been trying to fill my bookshelf since we have space nowadays, but I so rarely have time to read, and the kindle is so easy to read in bed while my better half sleeps.
I had a signed copy of “Small Gods” but I lost it during one of many house moves. Much sadness. I still have my signed 1st edition of Coraline that my daughter and I read last week though. (She doesnt like how much i enjoy reading the “Other mother” )
An author I really enjoy and highly recommend if you’re looking for a little humor based in “reality”: Fredrik Backman. He has written a number of books, I can’t think of any I didn’t enjoy - including the novella. My favorites are “A Man Called Ove”, “Britt-Marie Was Here”, and “Anxious People”. If you’re looking for a more serious read, his series “Beartown” is excellent but was tough to read due to some of the content. But both books in that series challenged my thinking and were well worth reading in the end.
I also like Michael J. Sullivan, who writes the Riyria Series (there’s quite a few books in the universe and they’re fun reads), and Douglas Preston/Lincoln Child for their Pendergast series about an FBI agent (easy summer reads, if that makes sense).
Also highly recommend Trevanian’s novel “Shibumi”…wow what a book! The sequel, “Satori” is written by a different author but is still solid reading.
Sad this thread is basically dead, but I wanted to recommend “Ask Iwata” if you have any interest in Nintendo’s former President. Heck of a guy, and a nice, brief read. RIP Iwata-San.
I forgot all about this thread. I just picked up new copies of Neuromancer, Count zero and Mona Lisa Overdrive. I was looking for them last month and figured they must have gone missing in a move… Or my Sister stole them.
Any fans of Robert Jordan’s The Wheel of Time or any of Brandon Sanderson’s various series? Don’t get as much time to read as I once did, but we’re listening to the WoT books on audio again while working from home. I’ve heard all of them at least 8 or 9 times each, aside from the last couple of books.
I’ve always enjoyed a good fantasy world, Redwall, Pern, Recluse, various others. I really like Pratchett’s Discworld books as well, we have a clock with Great A’Tuin and the elephants and disc in our basement. Love Good Omens (and the wonderful Prime adaptation) as well.
Also used to read all the Star Wars books, until the New Jedi Order (Yuuzhan Vong), some of the older Star Trek as well. Still love Timothy Zahn’s books, but wish the old ones were still canon. Xwing series was also mostly great.
I heard the new Thrawn books are good, I’d like to try his stuff sometime.
And I love fantasy too, Discworld is great, so many more of those for me to read.
As for me, I started my reading of the Chronicles of Narnia, I’d read the first book for school when I was a lad but never read the other books, so here we go!
Recently finished Go Tell it on the Mountain, great semi autobiographical book by James Baldwin.
I have had Wheel of time recommended many times, but I am just not that much into Fantasy (specifically High Fantasy) so I’ve never taken that step.
Pratchett though, Sir Terry, Pterry I adore. Terry was a poet, a spinner of yarns and the author of books I will read and listen to again and again. The Humour and British “understatedness” of everything is just lovely, as is use of Allusions, his “White Knowledge” which just made the world that much more relatable and “real” every paragraph seems to contain some “White knowledge”.
I have most of the book, if not all as audiobooks and Pratchett contributor Stephen Briggs brings discworld to life in such a perfect way.
It was so long ago I read the trilogy @anon98342452 that it too has merged into a kind of white knowledge I am looking forward to a fresh read.
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