1- The Big Rock Candy Mountain - Wallace Stegner (8.5/10) 2- Their Eyes Were Watching God - Zora Neale Hurston (7.5/10)* 3- All the Little Live Things - Wallace Stegner (5/10) 4- The Corrections - Jonathan Franzen (9.5/10) 5- A Burning - Megha Majumdar (9/10) 6- Going After Caciatto - Tim O'Brien (7.5/10) 7- The Ballad of the Sad Cafe - Carson McCullers (7/10) 8- The Heart is a Lonely Hunter - Carson McCullers (10/10)* 9- The Field of Vision - Wright Morris (3/10)* 10- The Shipping News - Annie Proulx (9/10) 11- A Death in the Family - James Agee (8.5/10) 12- The Sea - John Banville (8/10) 13- The Sense of an Ending - Julian Barnes (9/10) 14- Ladder of Years - Anne Tyler (7.5/10) 15- Conversations with Friends - Sally Rooney (10/10) 16- Amsterdam - Ian McEwan (8/10) 17- That Night - Alice McDermott (5.5/10) 18- Salvage the Bones - Jesmyn Ward (10/10) 19- A Thousand Acres - Jane Smiley (9/10) 20- Light Years - James Salter (8/10) 21- The Hours - Michael Cunningham (9/10) 22- Being Dead - Jim Crace (7.5/10) 23- The Book of Evidence - John Banville (6.5/10) 24- A Long Long Way – Sebastian Barry (10/10) 25- Harvest – Jim Crace (5.5/10) 26- Foe – J.M. Coetzee (3/10) 27- A Visit from the Goon Squad – Jennifer Egan (10/10) 28- Waiting for the Barbarians – J.M. Coetzee (6/10) 29- Postcards – Annie Proulx (10/10) 30- Close Range: Wyoming Stories – Annie Proulx (9.5/10) 31- The New York Trilogy – Paul Auster (3.5/10) 32- Metroland – Julian Barnes (7/10) 33- The Sellout – Paul Beatty (7/10) 34- Run – Ann Patchett (5/10) 35- The Candy House – Jennifer Egan (9/10) 36- The Whereabouts of Eneas McNulty – Sebastian Barry (9.5/10) 37- Days Without End – Sebastian Barry (10/10) 38- A Summons to Memphis – Peter Taylor (5/10) 39- All That Is – James Salter (9/10) 40- Accordion Crimes – Annie Proulx (6.5/10) 41- Some Luck – Jane Smiley (7.5/10) 42- Beautiful World, Where Are You – Sally Rooney (10/10) 43- Look At Me – Jennifer Egan (9/10) 44- Bad Dirt: Wyoming Stories II – Annie Proulx (7.5/10) 45- Charming Billy – Alice McDermott (5.5/10) 46- Redhead By the Side of the Road – Anne Tyler (5/10) 47- Sing, Unburied, Sing – Jesmyn Ward (10/10) 48- The Gathering – Anne Enright (8.5/10) 49- Fates and Furies – Lauren Groff (7/10) 50- Gutshot – Amelia Gray (8/10) 51- Fine Just the Way It Is: Wyoming Stories III – Annie Proulx (8/10) 52- Let the Great World Spin – Colum McCann (9.5/10) 53- Disgrace - J.M. Coetzee (8/10) 54- The Reluctant Fundamentalist – Mohsin Hamid (8/10) 55- Brooklyn – Colm Tóibín (9.5/10) 56- The Secret Scripture – Sebastian Barry (8.5/10) A finalist for the 2008 Booker Prize, it delves into the tragic past of an elderly woman in one of Ireland’s last cruel mental asylums. It is very dark and sad yet manages to be immensely readable because the story is complex/compelling and the writing so fluid/lyrical. I LOVE Sebastian Barry 57- No Country for Old Men – Cormac McCarthy (10/10)* It is always as riveting as the first time through. Anton Chigurh might be the most intimidating presence in literary AND cinema history. Also really enjoy the scenes with Sherriff Bell: You care about people you try and lighten their load for em 58- In the Lake of the Woods – Tim O’Brien (5.5/10) A Vietnam vet carves out a career in MN state politics but sees his bid for the US Senate fall apart after being exposed as a war criminal. The focus is on his wife’s disappearance on Lake of the Woods following the election with a heavy dose of war scenes. It won an award for historical fiction. It is fine 59- Blood Meridian – Cormac McCarthy (10/10)* The most important work by arguably America’s greatest writer. You cannot understand evil, yet one must accept it is present everywhere in the world. This book, and McCarthy generally, put me on a path where I became infatuated with the American West and all its grandeur. The GOAT novel 60- Snow – John Banville (8/10) Published in 2020, it is a detective mystery by Ireland’s most revered living author. Set in 1950s Ireland, a Catholic priest is murdered in the home of a prominent Protestant family. Banville introduces a stream of characters with motives and with each page you suspect a different person might be the killer. His books normally do not have much dialogue and can be difficult to read because of the dense/intellectual writing. But this was a true page-turner and I could hardly put it down. The social context is equally as enjoyable as the mystery behind the murder 61- Falconer – John Cheever (8/10) Published in 1977, it is about a veteran who comes home with a heroin addiction and ends up in prison, losing his family and freedom. It is extremely gritty, yet elegant. Cheever goes stretches inside the protagonist’s head where you might have five paragraphs over six pages so that was tough, but it is a really good book 62- The Road – Cormac McCarthy (10/10)* A devastating yet accessible novel. The father and son might have the most moving relationship in any story I have read. In the face of unimaginably dark circumstances, they sustain one another via their love and tenderness. Looking to get into McCarthy ahead of his two book releases this fall? This or NCFOM would be good places to start *denotes a re-read
1. A Memory of Light (Wheel of Time #14) - Robert Jordan/Brandon Sanderson (10/10) 2. Reaper (Cradle #10) - Will Wight (8.5/10) 3. The Last Wish (The Witcher #1) - Andrzej Sapkowski (8.5/10) 4. Sword of Destiny (The Witcher #2) - Andrzej Sapkowski (8/10) 5. Blood of Elves (The Witcher #3) - Andrzej Sapkowski (8/10) 6. Time of Contempt (The Witcher #4) - Andrzej Sapkowski (7.5/10) 7. Baptism of Fire (The Witcher #5) - Andrzej Sapkowski (7.5/10) 8. The Tower of the Swallow (The Witcher #6) - Andrzej Sapkowski (8.5/10) 9. Caddisflies - Gary LaFontaine (not really a grading type of book) 10. The Lady of the Lake (The Witcher #7) - Andrzej Sapkowski (9/10) 11. Season of Storms (The Witcher #8) - Andrzej Sapkowski (7/10) 12. Leviathan Wakes (The Expanse #1) - James S. A. Corey (9.5/10) 13. Caliban's War (The Expanse #2) - James S. A. Corey (9/10) 14. Abaddon's Gate (The Expanse #3) - James S. A. Corey (9/10) 15. Cibola Burn (The Expanse #4) - James S. A. Corey (8/10) 16. Nemesis Games (The Expanse #5) - James S. A. Corey (9/10) 17. Babylon's Ashes (The Expanse #6) - James S. A. Corey (9/10) 18. Persepolis Rising (The Expanse #7) - James S. A. Corey (9/10) 19. Tiamat's Wrath (The Expanse #8) - James S. A. Corey (9/10) 20. Leviathan Falls (The Expanse #9) - James S. A. Corey (9/10) 21. Upgrade - Blake Crouch (7/10) 22. The Measure - Nikki Erlick (9.5/10) 23. All You Need is Kill - Hiroshi Sakurazaka (8/10)
1. The Guest List by Lucy Foley - 7/10 2. Razorblade Tears by SA Cosby - 7/10 3. The Crossing by Cormac McCarthy - 9/10 4. Our Country Friends by Gary Shytengart - 7.5/10 5. Blacktop Wasteland by SA Cosby - 6.5/10 6. Forget the Alamo by Bryan Burrough/Chris Tomlinson - 8/10 7. The Order of Time by Carlo Rovelli - 6.5/10 8. A Legacy of Spies by John le Carre - 7/10 9. The anomaly by Herve de Tellier - 9.5/10 10. How to Be Perfect by Mike Schur - 8/10 11. Taste by Stanley Tucci - 6/10 12. Shutdown by Adam Tooze - 8/10 13. The Dawn of Everything by David Graeber & David Wengrow - 7.5/10 14. Paddle your own Canoe by Nick Offerman - 7/10 15. The Four Winds by Kristin Hannah - 8/10 16. Fates and Furies by Lauren Groff - 7/10 17. The Lost City of Z by David Grann - 8/10 18. Cities of the Plain by Cormac McCarthy - 9.5/10 19. The Last Whalers by Doug Bock Clark - 8/10 20. Evil Geniuses by Kurt Andersen - 5/10 21. The Hunting Party by Lucy Foley - 7/10 22. How High We Go In The Dark by Sequoia Nagamatsu 8/10 23. River of the Gods by Candice Millard - 7/10 24. Four Thousand Weeks by Oliver Burkeman - 7.5/10 25. Where the Crawdads Sing by Delia Owens - 8/10 26. Upgrade by Black Crouch. 8.5/10 27. The New Map: Energy, Climate, and the Clash of Nations by Daniel Yergin. 8/10 28. City on Fire by Don Winslow - 6.5/10. Wanted a quick easy read for a flight and this fit the bill. First in a trilogy and will finish. 29. The Return by Hisham Matar - 10/10. Pulitzer Prize winner about a son who’s father was in the resistance to Qaddafi and was disappeared when he was a child and placed in an infamous Libyan prison for dissidents. Follows his search for his father along with a sort of Libyan history and personal memoir. Outstanding book one of my favorites this year.
Downloaded, thanks for the rec. Almost done with The Upgrade, about finished the whole thing in one day.
1. The Mismeasure Of Progress: Economic Growth And Its Critics / Stephen J. Macekura (6.5/10) 2. Guitars: A Celebration Of Pure Mojo / David Schiller (9/10) 3. Mountain Men: The Remarkable Climbers And Determined Eccentrics Who First Scaled The World's Most Famous Peaks / Mick Conefrey and Tim Jordan (9.5/10) 4. The Lost City Of Z: A Tale Of Deadly Obsession In The Amazon / David Grann (10/10) 5. Salt: A World History / Mark Kurlansky (8.5/10) 6. Invisible No More: The African American Experience At The University Of South Carolina (8/10) 7. Roots: The Saga Of An American Family / Alex Haley (10/10) 8. Come As You Are: The Story Of Nirvana / Michael Azerrad (7.5/10) 9. A Brief History Of Indonesia (Sultans, Spices And Tsunamis: The Incredible Story Of Southeast Asia's Largest Island Nation) / Tim Hannigan (7/10) 10. The Pity Of War: Explaining World War I / Niall Ferguson (DNF) 11. Biased: Uncovering The Hidden Prejudice That Shapes What We See, Think And Do / Jennifer Eberhardt (6.5/10) 12. The Road / Cormac McCarthy (7.5/10) 13. Land: How The Hunger For Ownership Shaped The Modern World / Simon Winchester (9.5/10) 14. Louis Armstrong's New Orleans / Thomas Brothers (7.5/10) 15. One Hundred Years Of Solitude / Gabriel Garcia Marquez (5/10) 16. The Rise Of Cotton Mills In The South / Broadus Mitchell (5/10) 17. The Island At The Center Of The World: The Epic Story Of Dutch Manhattan And The Forgotten Colony That Shaped America / Russell Shorto (10/10) 18. The Cadillac: The Life Story Of University Of South Carolina Football Legend Steve Wadiak / Mike Chibbaro (7/10) 19. The Great Influenza: The Story Of The Deadliest Pandemic In History / John M. Barry (7/10) It's a history of medicine/history of science thing more than a history of the time period, which is what I was looking for. It definitely changed my understanding of WWI and the COVID pandemic however. People acted crazy in 2020 over masks etc. when the exact same thing happened 100 years ago. This book was published in 2004 right after SARS and they all but predict the coming of something like COVID. Up Next:
1. Liberty or Death: The French Revolution by Peter McPhee - 8/10 2. The Good Thief by Hannah Tinti - 4/10 3. Henry VIII and the Men Who Made Him - 8/10 4. The 1619 Project created by Nikole Hannah-Jones (with contributions from ~30 others) - 9.5/10 5. Behold the Dreamers by Imbolo Mbue - 8.5/10 6. The Love Songs of W.E.B. Du Bois by Honorée Fanonne Jeffers - 9/10 7. Henry V: The Warrior King of 1415 by Ian Mortimer - 8/10 8. Medieval Europe by Chris Wickham - 6/10 9. Master Builders of the Middle Ages by David Jacobs - 7/10 10. The Evening and the Morning by Ken Follett - 8/10 11. On Juneteenth by Annette Gordon- Reed - 8.5/10 12. The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald - 8.5/10 13. Sing, Unburied, Sing by Jesmyn Ward - 8/10 14. Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe - 8/10 15. Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen - 9/10 16. Circe by Madeline Miller - 8/10 17. Salvage the Bones by Jesmyn Ward - 8.5/10 18. Where the Line Bleeds by Jesmyn Ward - 7.5/10 19. Invisible Child: Poverty, Survival and Hope in New York City by Andrea Wilson - 9.5/10 20. The Maid, a Novel of Joan of Arc by Kimberly Cutter - 8/10
Female history professor used to have a sign outside her office that made me chuckle: “Ready to feel like a failure? Joan of Arc was only 16 when she was burned at the stake.”
1. The Guest List by Lucy Foley - 7/10 2. Razorblade Tears by SA Cosby - 7/10 3. The Crossing by Cormac McCarthy - 9/10 4. Our Country Friends by Gary Shytengart - 7.5/10 5. Blacktop Wasteland by SA Cosby - 6.5/10 6. Forget the Alamo by Bryan Burrough/Chris Tomlinson - 8/10 7. The Order of Time by Carlo Rovelli - 6.5/10 8. A Legacy of Spies by John le Carre - 7/10 9. The anomaly by Herve de Tellier - 9.5/10 10. How to Be Perfect by Mike Schur - 8/10 11. Taste by Stanley Tucci - 6/10 12. Shutdown by Adam Tooze - 8/10 13. The Dawn of Everything by David Graeber & David Wengrow - 7.5/10 14. Paddle your own Canoe by Nick Offerman - 7/10 15. The Four Winds by Kristin Hannah - 8/10 16. Fates and Furies by Lauren Groff - 7/10 17. The Lost City of Z by David Grann - 8/10 18. Cities of the Plain by Cormac McCarthy - 9.5/10 19. The Last Whalers by Doug Bock Clark - 8/10 20. Evil Geniuses by Kurt Andersen - 5/10 21. The Hunting Party by Lucy Foley - 7/10 22. How High We Go In The Dark by Sequoia Nagamatsu 8/10 23. River of the Gods by Candice Millard - 7/10 24. Four Thousand Weeks by Oliver Burkeman - 7.5/10 25. Where the Crawdads Sing by Delia Owens - 8/10 26. Upgrade by Black Crouch. 8.5/10 27. The New Map: Energy, Climate, and the Clash of Nations by Daniel Yergin. 8/10 28. City on Fire by Don Winslow - 6.5/10 29. The Return by Hisham Matar - 10/10 30. Trust by Hernan Diaz - 9.5/10. #blessed to read two outstanding books back to back. Follows early 1900s financier and his wife through 4 separate but related sections throughout the book. Unique and exciting to read, I loved it.
I really liked Trust. Echo your sentiments. I believe Trust was his 2nd book. I have his first one DL'd. Looking forward to getting to it eventually
1. Power and Thrones: A New History of the Middle Ages - Dan Jones (8/10) 2 Star Wars: The High Republic: The Fallen Star - Claudia Gray (9/10) 3. The Broken Heart of America: St. Louis and the Violent History of the United States - Walter Johnson (9.5/10) 4. Damnation Spring - Ash Davidson 8.5/10 5. Gangsters of Capitalism: Smedley Butler, the Marines, and the Making and Breaking of America's Empire - Johnathan M Katz (7.5/10) 6. How To Be Perfect: The Correct Moral Answer To Any Question - Michael Schur (7.5/10) 7. Mickey7 - Edward Ashton (8/10) 8.Light Years From Home - Mike Chen (7/10) 9. Endurance: Shackleton's Incredible Voyage - Albert Lansing (8/10) 10. The Sins of Our Fathers (The Expanse 9.5) - James S A Corey (8/10) 11. Pachinko - Min Jee Lee (9/10) 12. The Quiet Americans: Four CIA Spies at the Dawn of the Cold War - Scott Anderson (8/10) 13. Don't Know Tough - Eli Cranor (6/10) 14. Dawn of Everything: A New History of Humanity - David Graeber/David Wengrow (7.5/10) 15. Sea of Tranquility - Emily St. John Mandel (8.5/10) 16.Davos Man: How Billionaires Devoured the World - Peter S Goodman (9/10) 17. The Queen's Hope - EK Johnston (7/10) 18. Origin: A Genetic History of the Americas - Jennifer Raff (7.5/10) 19. X-Troop: The Secret Jewish Commandos of WW2 - Leah Garrett (8/10) 20. Black Sun (Between Earth and Sky #1) - Rebecca Roanhorse (9/10) 21. Fevered Star (Between Earth and Sky #2) - Rebecca Roanhorse (9/10) 22. City on Fire - Don Winslow (8.5/10) 23. Jade Setter of Janloon - Fonda Lee (8/10) 24. Star Wars: Brotherhood - Mike Chen (8/10) 25. We Own This City: A True Story of Crime Cops and Corruption - Justin Fenton (8.5/10) 26. The Island - Adrian McKinty (8.5/10) 27. Tokyo Vice: An American Reporter on the Police Beat in Japan - Jake Adlestien (6.5/10) 28. Normal People - Sally Rooney (8/10) 29. The Cartographers - Peng Shepard (7/10) 30. Dead Silence - SA Barnes (7/10) 31. Trust - Hernan Diaz (8.5/10) 32. Invisible Child: Poverty, Survival & Hope in an American City - Andrea Elliott (10/10) 33.Allow Me To Retort, A Black Guy's Guide to the Constitution - Ellie Mystal (9/10) 34. Box 88 (Box 88 #1) - Charles Cumming (8.5/10) 35. Judas 62 (Box 88 #2) - Charles Cumming (8/10) 36.Star Wars: Shadow of the Sith - Adam Christopher (7.5/10) 37. Conversations With Friends - Sally Rooney (7/10) 38.The Second: Race and Guns in a Fatally Unequal America - Carol Anderson (9/10) 39. Upgrade - Black Crouch (9/10) 40. The Measure - Nikki Erlick (9.5/10) 41. Rogues: True Stories of Grifters, Killers, Rebels, and Crooks - Patrick Radden Keefe (7/10) 42. Portrait of an Unknown Woman (Gabriel Allon #22) - Daniel Silva (6/10) 43. Beautiful World, Where Are You? - Sally Rooney - (6.5/10) 44. We Have Always Been Here by Lena Nguyen (5.5/10) 45. Star Wars: The Princess and the Scoundrel by Beth Revis (7/10) 46. Heat 2 by Michael Mann and Meg Gardiner (8.5/10) We Have Always Been Here - Horror/mystery in space. One of those books I wanted to quit reading, but there was just enough I wanted to see how it ended and the ending sucked. It's also relatively long. Just not a great reading experience. Star Wars - About Han and Leia's honeymoon where they get sucked into a mission/adventure. Fun star wars read Heat 2 - Sequel to the Movie. It was good. If you liked the movie, you'll like this.
I'm gonna do a couple fiction books coming up. Someone gave me "The Underground Railroad" by Colson Whitehead. And I'm wanting to do a Stephen King book I've never read before in October. Thinking "Christine" or "Cujo" because I own both
Walked over to the local indie shop and asked them to order Heat 2 for me. Should be able to get into it this weekend Heat was basically a perfect movie so I'm very excited about this book, which I had no idea about till just weeks ago
The writing style takes a little bit to get use to. Reads kind of like what I imagine a screenplay does. Makes sense I guess, but there was an adjustment period.
I try to read before I watch. If I know it's a book, I'll read it before I watch it. But to answer your question - either Jurassic Park or the Hannibal Lecter series
I have a super cool aunt who took me to Jurassic Park in theaters when I was like 6. So yeah that's a good one And I think I actually saw NCFOM in theater before reading it so that would be a winner
I started All The Pretty Horses yesterday. My first McCarthy so I’m sure those books will be included to the list.
That book used to be on y Amazon wishlist back in college. I took all the books off when people started buying them and I was surprised, like where’d this come from.
1. The Mismeasure Of Progress: Economic Growth And Its Critics / Stephen J. Macekura (6.5/10) 2. Guitars: A Celebration Of Pure Mojo / David Schiller (9/10) 3. Mountain Men: The Remarkable Climbers And Determined Eccentrics Who First Scaled The World's Most Famous Peaks / Mick Conefrey and Tim Jordan (9.5/10) 4. The Lost City Of Z: A Tale Of Deadly Obsession In The Amazon / David Grann (10/10) 5. Salt: A World History / Mark Kurlansky (8.5/10) 6. Invisible No More: The African American Experience At The University Of South Carolina (8/10) 7. Roots: The Saga Of An American Family / Alex Haley (10/10) 8. Come As You Are: The Story Of Nirvana / Michael Azerrad (7.5/10) 9. A Brief History Of Indonesia (Sultans, Spices And Tsunamis: The Incredible Story Of Southeast Asia's Largest Island Nation) / Tim Hannigan (7/10) 10. The Pity Of War: Explaining World War I / Niall Ferguson (DNF) 11. Biased: Uncovering The Hidden Prejudice That Shapes What We See, Think And Do / Jennifer Eberhardt (6.5/10) 12. The Road / Cormac McCarthy (7.5/10) 13. Land: How The Hunger For Ownership Shaped The Modern World / Simon Winchester (9.5/10) 14. Louis Armstrong's New Orleans / Thomas Brothers (7.5/10) 15. One Hundred Years Of Solitude / Gabriel Garcia Marquez (5/10) 16. The Rise Of Cotton Mills In The South / Broadus Mitchell (5/10) 17. The Island At The Center Of The World: The Epic Story Of Dutch Manhattan And The Forgotten Colony That Shaped America / Russell Shorto (10/10) 18. The Cadillac: The Life Story Of University Of South Carolina Football Legend Steve Wadiak / Mike Chibbaro (7/10) 19. The Great Influenza: The Story Of The Deadliest Pandemic In History / John M. Barry (7/10) 20. Some We Love, Some We Hate, Some We Eat: Why It’s So Hard To Think Straight About Animals / Hal Herzog (7/10) Solid primer on the field of “anthrozoology.” Up Next:
1. A Memory of Light (Wheel of Time #14) - Robert Jordan/Brandon Sanderson (10/10) 2. Reaper (Cradle #10) - Will Wight (8.5/10) 3. The Last Wish (The Witcher #1) - Andrzej Sapkowski (8.5/10) 4. Sword of Destiny (The Witcher #2) - Andrzej Sapkowski (8/10) 5. Blood of Elves (The Witcher #3) - Andrzej Sapkowski (8/10) 6. Time of Contempt (The Witcher #4) - Andrzej Sapkowski (7.5/10) 7. Baptism of Fire (The Witcher #5) - Andrzej Sapkowski (7.5/10) 8. The Tower of the Swallow (The Witcher #6) - Andrzej Sapkowski (8.5/10) 9. Caddisflies - Gary LaFontaine (not really a grading type of book) 10. The Lady of the Lake (The Witcher #7) - Andrzej Sapkowski (9/10) 11. Season of Storms (The Witcher #8) - Andrzej Sapkowski (7/10) 12. Leviathan Wakes (The Expanse #1) - James S. A. Corey (9.5/10) 13. Caliban's War (The Expanse #2) - James S. A. Corey (9/10) 14. Abaddon's Gate (The Expanse #3) - James S. A. Corey (9/10) 15. Cibola Burn (The Expanse #4) - James S. A. Corey (8/10) 16. Nemesis Games (The Expanse #5) - James S. A. Corey (9/10) 17. Babylon's Ashes (The Expanse #6) - James S. A. Corey (9/10) 18. Persepolis Rising (The Expanse #7) - James S. A. Corey (9/10) 19. Tiamat's Wrath (The Expanse #8) - James S. A. Corey (9/10) 20. Leviathan Falls (The Expanse #9) - James S. A. Corey (9/10) 21. Upgrade - Blake Crouch (7/10) 22. The Measure - Nikki Erlick (9.5/10) 23. All You Need is Kill - Hiroshi Sakurazaka (8/10) 24. Revelation Space (Revelation Space #1) - Alastair Reynolds (9/10)
It's set 500 years in the future and is around exploring an extinct alien race. Was recommended on Reddit as a similar premise to the Expanse. Much more futuristic than the Expanse and more technical, but was interesting. Hints of Mass Effect in it.
I’ll definitely check that out. The Divide series by JS Dewes has scratched the Expanse itch pretty well for me. The only downside is there have only been 2 books published so far. But I like them and eagerly await the 3rd
I'm reading The Crossing now and I feel like 5% of the book is in Spanish which I can't read. Definitely missing out some some context at various parts of this story.
I also am reading it. I’m in the middle of a long boring biblical story. Can’t wait to get through all of it. Hope the rest is better. Not enjoying as much as Pretty horses.
Can't even remember what book it was but when the MC met the man in the abandoned village...that was something. Definitely the longest tangent from any McCarthy book. And that's saying something.
I got to that part last week. I'm glad I'm not alone....i think i skimmed to whenever I could tell the story was over and he was leaving the blind mans house. I'm sure there is some symbolism that was lost on me but didn't seem to do much to move the story forward.
I powered through and felt like a better person when I was done even though I have no idea what it meant.
1. The Mismeasure Of Progress: Economic Growth And Its Critics / Stephen J. Macekura (6.5/10) 2. Guitars: A Celebration Of Pure Mojo / David Schiller (9/10) 3. Mountain Men: The Remarkable Climbers And Determined Eccentrics Who First Scaled The World's Most Famous Peaks / Mick Conefrey and Tim Jordan (9.5/10) 4. The Lost City Of Z: A Tale Of Deadly Obsession In The Amazon / David Grann (10/10) 5. Salt: A World History / Mark Kurlansky (8.5/10) 6. Invisible No More: The African American Experience At The University Of South Carolina (8/10) 7. Roots: The Saga Of An American Family / Alex Haley (10/10) 8. Come As You Are: The Story Of Nirvana / Michael Azerrad (7.5/10) 9. A Brief History Of Indonesia (Sultans, Spices And Tsunamis: The Incredible Story Of Southeast Asia's Largest Island Nation) / Tim Hannigan (7/10) 10. The Pity Of War: Explaining World War I / Niall Ferguson (DNF) 11. Biased: Uncovering The Hidden Prejudice That Shapes What We See, Think And Do / Jennifer Eberhardt (6.5/10) 12. The Road / Cormac McCarthy (7.5/10) 13. Land: How The Hunger For Ownership Shaped The Modern World / Simon Winchester (9.5/10) 14. Louis Armstrong's New Orleans / Thomas Brothers (7.5/10) 15. One Hundred Years Of Solitude / Gabriel Garcia Marquez (5/10) 16. The Rise Of Cotton Mills In The South / Broadus Mitchell (5/10) 17. The Island At The Center Of The World: The Epic Story Of Dutch Manhattan And The Forgotten Colony That Shaped America / Russell Shorto (10/10) 18. The Cadillac: The Life Story Of University Of South Carolina Football Legend Steve Wadiak / Mike Chibbaro (7/10) 19. The Great Influenza: The Story Of The Deadliest Pandemic In History / John M. Barry (7/10) 20. Some We Love, Some We Hate, Some We Eat: Why It’s So Hard To Think Straight About Animals / Hal Herzog (7/10) 21. How Soccer Explains The World: An Unlikely Theory Of Globalization / Franklin Foer (10/10) This was great. Anyone got more soccer book recs?
[QUOTE="TC, post: 18221588, member: 2797" This was great. Anyone got more soccer book recs?[/QUOTE] The Club: How The Premier League Became The Richest, Most Disruptive Business in Sport Both Sides by Nicklas Bendtner The Italian Job by Gianluca Vialli Zonal Marking by Michael Cox Money and Soccer: A Soccernomics Guide by Stefan Szymanski Brilliant Orange: The Neurotic Genius of Dutch Soccer by David Winner
I’m sure you know this but the “soccer explains the world” author is a Barca guy. He devotes space to why they’re better than all the other clubs
1. Born to Run - Christopher McDougall (9/10) 2. How the Word is Passed - Clint Smith (9/10) 3. Being Heumann: An Unrepentent Memoir of a Disability Rights Activist - Judith Heumann (6/10) 4. Finding Ultra - Rich Roll (7.5/10) 5. Buddhism for Beginners - Thubten Chodra (6/10) 6. How to be Perfect: The Correct Moral Answer to Every Question - Michael Schur (9/10) 7. The Sanatorium - Sarah Pearse (4/10) 8. Why Buddhism is True - Robert Wright (8/10) 9. The Library at Mount Char - Scott Hawkins (9/10) 10. The Dark Hours (Ballard/Bosch #4) - Michael Connelly (8/10) 11. The Nidderdale Murders (Yorkshire Murder Mystery #5) - J.R. Ellis (5/10) 12. The Whitby Murders (Yorkshire Murder Mystery #6) - J.R. Ellis (5/10) 13. Murder at St. Anne’s (Yorkshire Murder Mystery #7) - J.R. Ellis (5/10) 14. Soberevolution - Matt Salis (6/10) 15. Dry: A Memoir - Augusten Burroughs (7/10) 16. Klara and the Sun - Kazuo Ishiguro (8/10) 17. The Remains of the Day - Kazuo Ishiguro (9.5/10) 18. Mythos - Stephen Fry (8/10) 19. The Anomaly - Herve Le Tellier (7/10) 20. The Judge's List - John Grisham (6/10) 21. Lincoln in the Bardo - George Saunders (9/10) 22. The Lincoln Highway - Amor Towles 23. Heroes (Mythos Vol. II) - Stephen Fry (9/10) 24. Never Let Me Go - Kazuo Ishiguro (7/10) 25. Troy (Mythos Vol. III) - Stephen Fry (9.5/10) 26. All The Light We Cannot See - Anthony Doerr (9/10) 27. Slow Horses (Slough House #1) - Mick Herron (7/10) 28. Nasty, Brutish, and Short: Adventures in Philosophy with my Kids - Scott Hershovitz (7/10) 29. River of the Gods: Genius, Courage, and Betrayal in the Search for the Source of the Nile - Candice Millard (9/10) 30. Empire of the Summer Moon - S.C. Gwynne (9/10) 31. Dead Lions (Slough House #2) - Mick Herron (7/10) 32. Real Tigers (Slough House #3) - Mick Herron (8/10) 33. Spook Street (Slough House #4) - Mick Herron (8/10) 34. London Rules (Slough House #5) - Mick Herron (8/10) 35. Joe Country (Slough House #6) - Mick Herron (9/10) 36. Slough House (Slough House #7) - Mick Herron (9/10) Loving this series. Jackson Lamb has become one of my favorite literary characters - an uncouth, cantankerous, and hilariously witty bastard who, despite all appearances, manages to be one step ahead of everyone. The author's writing gets noticeably better as the series progresses. The show on Apple+ is good too. Gary Oldman plays Jackson Lamb. 37. Lamb: The Gospel According to Biff, Christ's Childhood Pal - Christopher Moore (7/10) Enjoyed this one overall, but it dragged a bit for me. Josh (Jesus) and Biff (Levi), best friends, journey together to find the three Wise Men so that Josh can learn how to be the Messiah before starting his ministry.
I enjoyed Lamb as well. Pretty funny. Always wanted to come back to another one of his books but never have
Yeah it's quite funny and pretty clever how he puts a twist on what happens in the New Testament gospels. I've never read anything else by him either.
1- The Big Rock Candy Mountain - Wallace Stegner (8.5/10) 2- Their Eyes Were Watching God - Zora Neale Hurston (7.5/10)* 3- All the Little Live Things - Wallace Stegner (5/10) 4- The Corrections - Jonathan Franzen (9.5/10) 5- A Burning - Megha Majumdar (9/10) 6- Going After Caciatto - Tim O'Brien (7.5/10) 7- The Ballad of the Sad Cafe - Carson McCullers (7/10) 8- The Heart is a Lonely Hunter - Carson McCullers (10/10)* 9- The Field of Vision - Wright Morris (3/10)* 10- The Shipping News - Annie Proulx (9/10) 11- A Death in the Family - James Agee (8.5/10) 12- The Sea - John Banville (8/10) 13- The Sense of an Ending - Julian Barnes (9/10) 14- Ladder of Years - Anne Tyler (7.5/10) 15- Conversations with Friends - Sally Rooney (10/10) 16- Amsterdam - Ian McEwan (8/10) 17- That Night - Alice McDermott (5.5/10) 18- Salvage the Bones - Jesmyn Ward (10/10) 19- A Thousand Acres - Jane Smiley (9/10) 20- Light Years - James Salter (8/10) 21- The Hours - Michael Cunningham (9/10) 22- Being Dead - Jim Crace (7.5/10) 23- The Book of Evidence - John Banville (6.5/10) 24- A Long Long Way – Sebastian Barry (10/10) 25- Harvest – Jim Crace (5.5/10) 26- Foe – J.M. Coetzee (3/10) 27- A Visit from the Goon Squad – Jennifer Egan (10/10) 28- Waiting for the Barbarians – J.M. Coetzee (6/10) 29- Postcards – Annie Proulx (10/10) 30- Close Range: Wyoming Stories – Annie Proulx (9.5/10) 31- The New York Trilogy – Paul Auster (3.5/10) 32- Metroland – Julian Barnes (7/10) 33- The Sellout – Paul Beatty (7/10) 34- Run – Ann Patchett (5/10) 35- The Candy House – Jennifer Egan (9/10) 36- The Whereabouts of Eneas McNulty – Sebastian Barry (9.5/10) 37- Days Without End – Sebastian Barry (10/10) 38- A Summons to Memphis – Peter Taylor (5/10) 39- All That Is – James Salter (9/10) 40- Accordion Crimes – Annie Proulx (6.5/10) 41- Some Luck – Jane Smiley (7.5/10) 42- Beautiful World, Where Are You – Sally Rooney (10/10) 43- Look At Me – Jennifer Egan (9/10) 44- Bad Dirt: Wyoming Stories II – Annie Proulx (7.5/10) 45- Charming Billy – Alice McDermott (5.5/10) 46- Redhead By the Side of the Road – Anne Tyler (5/10) 47- Sing, Unburied, Sing – Jesmyn Ward (10/10) 48- The Gathering – Anne Enright (8.5/10) 49- Fates and Furies – Lauren Groff (7/10) 50- Gutshot – Amelia Gray (8/10) 51- Fine Just the Way It Is: Wyoming Stories III – Annie Proulx (8/10) 52- Let the Great World Spin – Colum McCann (9.5/10) 53- Disgrace - J.M. Coetzee (8/10) 54- The Reluctant Fundamentalist – Mohsin Hamid (8/10) 55- Brooklyn – Colm Tóibín (9.5/10) 56- The Secret Scripture – Sebastian Barry (8.5/10) 57- No Country for Old Men – Cormac McCarthy (10/10)* 58- In the Lake of the Woods – Tim O’Brien (5.5/10) 59- Blood Meridian – Cormac McCarthy (10/10)* 60- Snow – John Banville (8/10) 61- Falconer – John Cheever (8/10) 62- The Road – Cormac McCarthy (10/10)* 63- Suttree – Cormac McCarthy (10/10)* Perhaps McCarthy’s most challenging novel, it revolves around a man from a wealthy Knoxville family who forgoes a life of privilege to live along the Tennessee River. Suttree fosters relationships with people on the margins of society, which end up being hilarious and/or extremely sad 64- Last Orders – Graham Swift (5/10) Winner of the 1996 Booker Prize, it is about a group of veterans who set out from London to the coast to fulfill the last wishes of an old friend. It is heavy on old-timey notions of family, friendship, love, etc. and I was feeling a bit too disconnected from my own family/friends for it to resonate positively with me. It is very well written but it made me think about a line from It’s Always Sunny when Mac says something like “I want a little edge in my bartender, this is Philadelphia” 65- Child of God – Cormac McCarthy (10/10)* I can only think of one other character in literary history as deranged as Lester Ballard. Under 200 pages with super short chapters, it is as easy to read as anything McCarthy has written. A classic Southern gothic novel 66- Sheepshagger - Niall Griffiths (9/10)* Basically the UK version of Child of God. Ianto is the only character I have encountered as deranged as Lester Ballard. A beautifully written yet violent story about a young man from rural Wales who is abused and robbed of his ancestral home. He then terrorizes those he believes to be responsible for his suffering. Cut from the same cloth as early McCarthy. I really want to read Grits, the first novel by Griffiths 67- Wise Blood – Flannery O’Connor (10/10)* Another classic Southern gothic novel, O’Connor shows off her freakish imagination while telling the story of a veteran who embarks upon a nihilistic quest for salvation of some sort. It is comically grotesque and one of my all-time favorites 68- The Orchard Keeper – Cormac McCarthy (9.5/10)* McCarthy’s first novel, it was quite a debut. Set in the mountains of East TN during the prohibition days, it is heavy on descriptions of nature yet tells an engaging story about a young boy who lost his father, an old hermit with a deep connection to nature, and a bootlegger constantly hounded by the law 69- Outer Dark – Cormac McCarthy (10/10)* Maybe McCarthy’s most disturbing novel, it is set in Appalachia at an unknown time. It is about a brother and sister who come from nothing and bring a child into the world before going their separate ways, with each encountering their own hardships. Extreme evil lurks around every corner 70- Manhattan Beach – Jennifer Egan (8.5/10) Winner of the 2018 Andrew Carnegie Medal for Excellence in Fiction, it is set in NYC during WWII and focuses on a young woman who takes on war work as the first female diver at the Brooklyn Naval Yard. Her father goes missing after working for union and mob bosses and his disappearance looms over her life. It is a coming-of-age story with mob violence, naval battles and sailors lost at sea. A really fun read *denotes a re-read
1. Power and Thrones: A New History of the Middle Ages - Dan Jones (8/10) 2 Star Wars: The High Republic: The Fallen Star - Claudia Gray (9/10) 3. The Broken Heart of America: St. Louis and the Violent History of the United States - Walter Johnson (9.5/10) 4. Damnation Spring - Ash Davidson 8.5/10 5. Gangsters of Capitalism: Smedley Butler, the Marines, and the Making and Breaking of America's Empire - Johnathan M Katz (7.5/10) 6. How To Be Perfect: The Correct Moral Answer To Any Question - Michael Schur (7.5/10) 7. Mickey7 - Edward Ashton (8/10) 8.Light Years From Home - Mike Chen (7/10) 9. Endurance: Shackleton's Incredible Voyage - Albert Lansing (8/10) 10. The Sins of Our Fathers (The Expanse 9.5) - James S A Corey (8/10) 11. Pachinko - Min Jee Lee (9/10) 12. The Quiet Americans: Four CIA Spies at the Dawn of the Cold War - Scott Anderson (8/10) 13. Don't Know Tough - Eli Cranor (6/10) 14. Dawn of Everything: A New History of Humanity - David Graeber/David Wengrow (7.5/10) 15. Sea of Tranquility - Emily St. John Mandel (8.5/10) 16.Davos Man: How Billionaires Devoured the World - Peter S Goodman (9/10) 17. The Queen's Hope - EK Johnston (7/10) 18. Origin: A Genetic History of the Americas - Jennifer Raff (7.5/10) 19. X-Troop: The Secret Jewish Commandos of WW2 - Leah Garrett (8/10) 20. Black Sun (Between Earth and Sky #1) - Rebecca Roanhorse (9/10) 21. Fevered Star (Between Earth and Sky #2) - Rebecca Roanhorse (9/10) 22. City on Fire - Don Winslow (8.5/10) 23. Jade Setter of Janloon - Fonda Lee (8/10) 24. Star Wars: Brotherhood - Mike Chen (8/10) 25. We Own This City: A True Story of Crime Cops and Corruption - Justin Fenton (8.5/10) 26. The Island - Adrian McKinty (8.5/10) 27. Tokyo Vice: An American Reporter on the Police Beat in Japan - Jake Adlestien (6.5/10) 28. Normal People - Sally Rooney (8/10) 29. The Cartographers - Peng Shepard (7/10) 30. Dead Silence - SA Barnes (7/10) 31. Trust - Hernan Diaz (8.5/10) 32. Invisible Child: Poverty, Survival & Hope in an American City - Andrea Elliott (10/10) 33.Allow Me To Retort, A Black Guy's Guide to the Constitution - Ellie Mystal (9/10) 34. Box 88 (Box 88 #1) - Charles Cumming (8.5/10) 35. Judas 62 (Box 88 #2) - Charles Cumming (8/10) 36.Star Wars: Shadow of the Sith - Adam Christopher (7.5/10) 37. Conversations With Friends - Sally Rooney (7/10) 38.The Second: Race and Guns in a Fatally Unequal America - Carol Anderson (9/10) 39. Upgrade - Black Crouch (9/10) 40. The Measure - Nikki Erlick (9.5/10) 41. Rogues: True Stories of Grifters, Killers, Rebels, and Crooks - Patrick Radden Keefe (7/10) 42. Portrait of an Unknown Woman (Gabriel Allon #22) - Daniel Silva (6/10) 43. Beautiful World, Where Are You? - Sally Rooney - (6.5/10) 44. Star Wars: Padawan - Keirsten White (8.5/10) 45. The Rogue Prince - GRRM 46. The Princess and the Queen - GRRM 47. All The Pretty Horses (Border Trilogy #1) - Cormac McCarthy (8/10) 48. The Crossing (Border Trilogy #2) - Cormac McCarthy (6/10) 49. Cities of the Plain (Border Trilogy #3) - Cormac McCarthy 6.5/10) All the Pretty Horses - Great book. Took a bit to get use to the writing style, but enjoyed it. The characters were great. The Crossing - the first quarter of the book w the wolf was amazing. The rest was terrible. It feels like a half hearted Don Quixote retelling. America is getting to civilized and soft. Mexico is the place to embark on trials of manhood and perseverance. ect. There's a cool way to do that, but this wasnt it for me. On top of all that - the frustration of no characters from the first book. No John Grady Cole. Besides these stories happening on the border, im not sure what they have to do w each other. Cities - Im glad this tied things up. I was worried it would be basically another stand alone novel. But, i just didnt love it. It's quite slow. And especially the soliloquies by random strangers. Im sure they're commentary on something, but it was so dry it escaped me. Kind of disappointed for my first McCarthy reads, but it wont stop be from trying others.
- How the hell do they expect a man to ride a horse in this country? - They don't Started All the Pretty Horses on my lunch break and I'm gonna be blubbering like a baby this weekend as a result Was hoping to read Heat 2 a few weeks back but that Last Orders book really threw me off