Anybody reading any good books?

[IndelibleDotInk]

Going by the books you mentioned, I'd highly recommend a trilogy where the first book is called The Golden Compass by Phillip Pullman. I think the trilogy is called His Dark Materials. It's really excellent. Lmk if you read it!

Ive heard of the movie, I think, if there is a movie, the name sounds familiar.

[boureka]

Yes it was a movie and a limited series but books much better..

[IndelibleDotInk]

I'm reading 'Jesus in Red, 365 Meditations on the words of Jesus.' Each day is a Bible verse that is something Jesus said, followed by a paragraph or two of commentary, and a paragraph of how the words relate to myself, and a short prayer phrase.

It's interesting, fast, and gives me a shot of awareness. So far each one resonates with me, and is instructive to being a better person.

(And it's called 'Jesus in Red' cause in the Bible, all Jesus' words, all that he spoke, are denoted in red.)

[ijustlivetruth]

The most recent book I read is called.. Find Your Hill, by Ian Smith

This guy is an absolute LEGEND!

He ended up in prison at a young age due to killing someone with his car while he was drunk. He talks about that experience briefly, and he grows a lot in prison. He ends up doing a bunch of talks at different schools about him in that car accident to other young kids before he ended up going away to prison.

When he got out, he succeeds as a personal trainer for a while, ends up opening a successful gym, and just after he did that, covid hits!

I can't remember which state he was in, but he refused to close his gym. The state doesn't like this and does everything in their power to shut it down, even gives him like $1 million dollars in tickets and boarding up the windows. He was on I think the Tucker Carlson show multiple times throughout this, and got huge support around the world that sent donations.

It's just an awesome story of a man who refused to be beaten by difficult times. I highly recommend it, especially if your a man or a young guy!

Here's the Amazon link

Find Your Hill: Worth Fighting For https://a.co/d/9Vi16bH

Another really cool book that I just started is called... The Body Electric but I'm just starting that. The guy talks about how certain things can regenerate limbs, and even claims that as young humans, people can regenerate fingers. Very interesting and has some pretty cool pictures too

The Body Electric: Electromagnetism And The Foundation Of Life https://a.co/d/4HRd1cT

[onespeedstop]

Read that "Life Of Chuck" or whatever Stephen King story they made a movie about last year. I guess it got sold, probably be on Netflix or Hulu in 2025. It wasn't that thrilling, barely supernatural....But I haven't read any SK in 10 years or so (Cell, 11-10-1963 or whatever it was) or maybe he has changed, or sells the movie rights to anyone for a couple mil. That said, he can still write, it's just, that early impact is gone it seems. It doesn't hit as hard, those snares don't clap etc.

[herbalhippie]

I had just gotten Demon Copperhead by Barbara Kingsolver from the library, read
one chapter and was enjoying it when The Observations by Jane Harris
came from the library the next day. I had to put down the first book because
the second one is an interlibrary loan and you can't renew them.

Besides these, I have a stack of unread books next to my bed that's
literally as tall as the platform frame for me bed, they just reach
the bottom of the mattress.

[IndelibleDotInk]

I fizzled reading the Bible snippets awhile ago, lol.

On my radar is 'Chaos,' nonfic about CIA's MK Ultra program and tons of related stuff.

[onespeedstop]

I finally grabbed that "World War Z" book. Read almost a quarter of it today while backing up files, and it's, well, it has it moments, but it's pretty dry. Almost no relation to the movie, which I knew, but man, hollyweird just buys names and ideas and phakes the rest I guess ha-ha. Hopefully it gets better, I can see the method in it, but it's pretty slow going so far, almost a quarter in.

[herbalhippie]

After seeing a thread in the books subreddit about an hour ago I just ordered The Indifferent Stars Above about the Donner Party,
The Remains of the Day and Requiem for a Dream from the library. Yes, the thread was about sad books.

Right now I'm going to make a second try at Hangsaman by Shirley Jackson. I loved The Lottery and
The Haunting of Hill House is one of my favorite books so I don't know why I was having so much
trouble with this one about a year ago, it's supposed to be as good as the other two.

[onespeedstop]

Finished the WWZ book. It had it's moments, like I said initially, pretty dry. Some of the 'interview' characters just had more personality than others. I'm assuming the author meant it that way, half technical, half emotional or whatever. Ultimately, I dunno if it was worth it, but it didn't suck at least, and if you read the blurb-description about it and think that sounds cool, then you'll probably like it enough. Oh, and it's easy to put down - because a LOT of the interviews are only a few or 10 pages long, so lots of chances to grab it for a short while and not be left on a cliffhanger or something if the phone rings, or it's time to get the laundry etc.

I'm in the middle of "Adjustment Day" now. Kind of a pseudo-futuristic societal-war kind of thing. It's by the Chuck Palahniuk guy who wrote 'Fight Club' and others. It's decent, kind of reminds me of Stephen King a bit, tries to have 'good people' do bad things and make it make sense etc. I'll try and remember to report back when I finish it in the next week or two.

Has anyone read all 3 of the '3 Body Problem' books, and if so, is it worth getting them before the rest of the teevee series concludes ? Ie - are the books different enough, or will I just be spoiling the show for myself by reading them now ? I quite enjoyed the first season of the show.

[herbalhippie]

Finished the WWZ book. It had it's moments, like I said initially, pretty dry. Some of the 'interview' characters just had more personality than others. I'm assuming the author meant it that way, half technical, half emotional or whatever. Ultimately, I dunno if it was worth it, but it didn't suck at least, and if you read the blurb-description about it and think that sounds cool, then you'll probably like it enough. Oh, and it's easy to put down - because a LOT of the interviews are only a few or 10 pages long, so lots of chances to grab it for a short while and not be left on a cliffhanger or something if the phone rings, or it's time to get the laundry etc.

I'm in the middle of "Adjustment Day" now. Kind of a pseudo-futuristic societal-war kind of thing. It's by the Chuck Palahniuk guy who wrote 'Fight Club' and others. It's decent, kind of reminds me of Stephen King a bit, tries to have 'good people' do bad things and make it make sense etc. I'll try and remember to report back when I finish it in the next week or two.

Has anyone read all 3 of the '3 Body Problem' books, and if so, is it worth getting them before the rest of the teevee series concludes ? Ie - are the books different enough, or will I just be spoiling the show for myself by reading them now ? I quite enjoyed the first season of the show.

I haven't seen the show but I do have the books. I started to read the first one and couldn't get into it so I'll have to try again later.

I started reading The Indifferent Stars Above, got about a third of the way through and had to stop. It was just too distressing
and I hadn't even gotten to the worst part yet (it's about the Donner Party). I've only had to put down one other book for this
same reason and that was The Devil of Nanking by Mo Hayder. I can read right up to a certain part and then....nope. Not
going any further. I have read it all the way through once, have tried again a number of times.

[boureka]

Educated by Tara Westover. It's a memoir that reads like a novel about a girl born into a survivalist family with radical ideas about lots of things. Just read it.

[onespeedstop]

I haven't seen the show but I do have the books. I started to read the first one and couldn't get into it so I'll have to try again later.

Maybe watch an episode or two of the show, it might inspire you to pick it back up, who knows.

I finished 'Adjustment Day'. Here's what I messaged my sister about it.

i finished that palanhiuk (sp?) book. if yer interested. it's kind of a variation on 'fight club' in a way. different, but i saw a LOT of similarities in the overall story/idea/narrative. and the ending sucks. like don't really expect an ending ha-ha. that said, the 'journey' of it was alright, C+, maybe B-.

couldn't help but compare him a bit to bret easton ellis. gay men who write fiction mostly for str8's. lots of sex and violence. like overly so, just to be edgy or whatever.

^ And I'm not trying to be edgy myself here with that last comment, I've read a lot of Ellis's stuff, and feel able to make that comparison. It's just interesting to me. If I wrote a book, I'd never try to make something that would sell to LGBTQ people. But here are these pretty talented gay writers doing exactly that in the other direction. Anyways, minus that part, the real review is - this is a larger scale variation a of 'Fight Club', with an even lesser ending (than the movie had, I have not read that book).

[onespeedstop]

I finished the 'If It Bleeds' Stephen King 4-story book today. I wasn't really thrilled with any of them, but the writing was decent enough that they made for a pretty ez read at least. Decided to watch 'Mr. Harrigan's Phone' tonight, low expectations, but ya never know. Kind of funny that 2 of the 4 stories have been made into movies now, and neither of them was the longest story and title of the collection.

[herbalhippie]

I haven't seen the show but I do have the books. I started to read the first one and couldn't get into it so I'll have to try again later.

Maybe watch an episode or two of the show, it might inspire you to pick it back up, who knows.

That's a good idea, thank you for suggesting it!

[herbalhippie]

I finished the 'If It Bleeds' Stephen King 4-story book today. I wasn't really thrilled with any of them, but the writing was decent enough that they made for a pretty ez read at least. Decided to watch 'Mr. Harrigan's Phone' tonight, low expectations, but ya never know. Kind of funny that 2 of the 4 stories have been made into movies now, and neither of them was the longest story and title of the collection.

I used to be a big Stephen King fan and then I discovered the Preston-Child 'Pendergast" books and kind of lost interest in King. I still have a few
of his books in my library like The Stand and The Green Mile. Also Needful Things which has always been a favorite. I do have a few of his older books
in my 'to read' file on my computer, books I haven't read in years. For some reason I'm not much interested in his newer stuff.

[onespeedstop]

That's a good idea, thank you for suggesting it!

You're welcome, though be warned - it might have the opposite effect ha-ha.

[onespeedstop]

I used to be a big Stephen King fan and then I discovered the Preston-Child 'Pendergast" books and kind of lost interest in King. I still have a few
of his books in my library like The Stand and The Green Mile. Also Needful Things which has always been a favorite. I do have a few of his older books
in my 'to read' file on my computer, books I haven't read in years. For some reason I'm not much interested in his newer stuff.

Mr. King definitely has some duds and some so-so stuff. But I find it pretty easy to read and/or follow the story, and when he gets it right, he really gets it right. I just decided to get back into reading a bit in 2025, I'd been away from reading books for, sheesh, since my last night job, about 2016-2019. So I ordered 8-10 used books online and grabbed some S. King shorter story collections.

The movie (Mr. Harrigan's Phone) was eh, it was fine I guess, it just didn't really vary from the book/story. I had hoped they'd at least add a few little bits, mix it up a hair. Plus it was a soft [PG-13] so I shoulda known better I guess. Good to see Donald Sutherland in a decent sized role so late in his career, it suited him pretty well.

[onespeedstop]

I'm working my way through (S. King) 'The Bazaar Of Bad Dreams'. It has about 20 or so short stories, some very short, some 40-50 pages long. So far it's pretty solid, I've liked about 1/2 of them quite a bit. Almost wish those ones had been a whole book actually. But with only 3 or 4 stories left, I can recommend this one, if you like his stuff with more of a twist, and more creepy than straight horror.

[StringThing]

currently reading Borne by Jeff Vandermeer and it is fantastic.

He has very descriptive imagery.

[herbalhippie]

I'm reading The Secret History of Twin Peaks and still adding to my very large stack of unread books. lol

[IndelibleDotInk]

Chaos is a nonfic chronicling the CIA's mindcontrol experiments labeled MK-ultra. I hope I have time to read it or at least listen to it if there's an audiobook!

I may have mentioned it before. Candace Owens cites it as a spark that shaped her ideas of the deep state, modern governments,etc. If you don't know who she is, well, she's a young lady who was a strong leftist who has big pitbull jaws for a news story and it helped her evolve into a more right-wing journalist with interesting views.

I've heard about MK ultra from back in highschool, from books and internet crumbs; basically everyone has heard of the CIA experimenting, especially with LSD, on innocent people and even its own agents, one of whom killed himself because of the confusing state the drug put him in...think he jumped out a window?? This avenue of the experiment was aimed at developing a truth serum.

[IndelibleDotInk]

I love the Stand and the green mile, a lot of stuff that's more about life than horror, found mostly in his short story collections, like The Body/Stand by Me, the Shawshank Redemption, etc. The Bachman books are very very good, a must read.

But I think King jumped the shark when he wrote himself into the Dark Tower series about his getting hit by a car, and also devoting a ton of story to Harry Potter Quiddich (?). He ended the Dark Tower as it had to be, props for that, but man, I went from a fan to a critic as the story moved on... how can Jake die, and come back as himself from an other world/reality? Easy out.

Then he announced retirement, and a few months later, I see a book by him in the grocery store, a short story which I bought and it never sucked me in, so I think I donated it to the library. And as you can see, he has written a ton of stuff from then.

And the Plant...his experiement of releaseing a chapter at a time online, seeing if a significant portion of people who accessed it paid a few bucks to continue it, and of course everyone just downloaded it and didn't pay him anything, including me at first. Who knows what it could have been, how great or how much of a stinker. Very interesting idea, though.

I also think he's a masssive perv. The end of book 1 of It has the prepubescent/children heroes defeating the evil by 'becoming closer' through all the male leads having sex with the female lead. It's explicit and would never have made it if it came out today. If you haven't seen the newest movie adaptation, which was divided into parts one and two like the book, they had the brilliant (seriously) idea to turn the sex magic into blood magic and the kids make a blood pact. The first movie was quite good, but I did not see the second movie. I saw a young man in real life who had a tattoo of the plaster cast a kid from the first movie had, where someone wrote 'Loser' on it and he wrote a red V over the s to spell "Lover," the tat was near perfect.

[onespeedstop]

I finished up those 3 or 4 volumes of Stephen King short stories. They were (overall) more normal than I expected. And I guess more [PG]. It's cool that he's expanded his style over the years, but it's almost not the same SK from the 1980's at all.

I'm halfway through a book of (Charles) Bukowksi short stories this month. He's just as vulgar as I remember (from first reading one of his books in the mid 1990's) but his writing often has a certain brand of humorously-doomed-momentum that I like. Hard to recommend them as there's not much to them, not a lot of big life lessons or even interesting plot twists, but he sure is different.

[herbalhippie]

I read a bunch of Twin Peaks books and then decided to re-read the first Expanse book while I was
waiting for Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier to come from the library but the Expanse is just
so damn good I'm going to read through book 4 before doing anything else.

I was also tasked to read Les Miserables for the first time so I got that too. It's
and awfully BIG book. lol

[WhiteAngelica]

I a re-reading 1984 and similarly themed classics. Ibsen's 'Enemy of the People's is a play I am re-reading as well. In case anyone is interested, though I prefer the tactical experience of holding my books/underlining/penciling in margins/drooling, I have needed to resort to getting some PDFs of classic and newer titles. If anyone would like any of my titles, I can send you the PDF, free. In return you can recommend a bookcase that will not collapse under the weight of my collection. My top, and lightest shelf in an IKEA bookshelf snapped in half, dumping my skinny poetry books in a heap. Shelf two is now cracking. Le sigh.

[IndelibleDotInk]

Did I mention 'The Catcher in the Rye?' in a past post? It's has a young person's tone, but is brilliant and knows how to play all the right notes. The world is way worse with Salinger's otherwise silence.

[piranha45]

Pimp: The Story of My Life
Shamelessly details how Petty Criminals operated in the 1930s thru 1950s.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0043 ... =3&depth=1
give that page 20 seconds to load. THE WHOLE BOOK is that engaging.

If it doesnt work,
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0043RSK9E?
Underneath the Title Page Picture on that site there's READ SAMPLE

I dropped everything in my life for 3 days to LIVE on that book. I used vacation days off work. I read till I was sleepy, slept, woke up, sometimes ate intermittently. Always reading (or cross-referencing text to gain more details) Never left my apartment.

As you read through the book you'll realize this was NOT ghost-written. This guy was an exceptional brain who simply preferred social criminal life to academics.

If you DO read it, you'll need this as a reference (he has a Glossary in the back of the book too, but I found it easier to just use a separate reference) because 1930s slang is a forgotten art.
https://greensdictofslang.com/

As a period-written piece, it's also amazing to my millennial eyes how N-bombs were used like water (I'm thinking Nigga wasnt even invented yet), but there's not 1 F-bomb in the whole book.

[Blergs]

"the secret teachings of all ages" by Manly P Hall. *READERS EDITION* !! THERE'S ALOT OF REALLY BAD VERSIONS OUT THERE! and original is very rare and probably over $200? Or was it 700$? I forget. But yeah, careful on what edition/ version.
Get reader's edition, approved by the official "Philosophical Research Society" founded by Manly P Hall many years ago.(Is an old book)

I do rec one (or in audio book read by author) "the power of now" by Eckhart Tolle .
I still give a listen going to sleep 10yrs later, or recording ls of his talksmeetings/ QA haha.
I know all the stuffs n same ol' over and over, but it's nice subconscious refresh/remiñd and nice to zzz to

[IndelibleDotInk]

Hollywood Babylon

[Sanbutsushin]

I've been trying to read more this year for sure. Right now I'm between a few different books. A collection of creative nonfiction / essays, translations of Japanese novels and some grief stuff (lost my father unexpectedly in October). JoAnn Beard has some very impactful writing out there... her piece The Fourth State Of Matter is up online at The New Yorker and oof, what a doozy. Highly recommend checking it out, though fair warning that it's not exactly lighthearted material.

I have a storygraph account here where I'm trying to track my reading. Dunno if anyone here has an account but feel free to add me if you do!

[herbalhippie]

I finished The Expanse series, am currently reading The Little Prince (for the first time!) and
Howl's Moving Castle (depending on my mood which one I pick up to read myself to sleep).

After this I've got a few Stephen King books on order and after those, I may order a few more. I
haven't read any King for many years and have been craving it.

[Pixiedust]

The last one I read was The Big Fix by Tracey Helton Mitchell. It's about hope over heroin and her story on overcoming it and what she does today. I have an audio book I'm listening to called The Greatest You by Trent Shelton. The next one I'm going to start will be Sing Backwards and weep by Mark Lanegan. My friend gave to to me a few weeks ago but I haven't started it yet.

[IndelibleDotInk]

I finished The Expanse series, am currently reading The Little Prince (for the first time!) and
Howl's Moving Castle (depending on my mood which one I pick up to read myself to sleep).

After this I've got a few Stephen King books on order and after those, I may order a few more. I
haven't read any King for many years and have been craving it.

I think the Little Prince is overrated; I tried to read it through a child's eyes, and it was all just a muddle. I confess I was all about it, thinking it was a total classic until I bought it for a friend and read it before giving it to her... The Velveteen Rabbit was simpler, more moving, and way more joyful (though I had to have it explained to me, I was a weird kid, happy endings were hard to understand for me).

King used to be must-read for me, but he totally jumped the shark in his Dark Tower series (Jake falls to his death, saying 'There are other worlds than these!' and they later meet him again as himself and he rejoins them. Schizo black lady with no legs (Shoshanna and her alternate personality who must say 'grey meat' (aka white people, and why Roland should be white, not as in the movie) hundreds of times spanning the series... the have adventures in our real life world where King vents about being hit by a car in the book... some Harry Potter Quidditch games go on and on... but the end is as it should be...

It (the book named 'It') has a pedophiliac gang bang ending to the first part... it was genius to change it to a blood pact in the most recent movie... that scene would never get made today. I do recommend movie part 1, didn't see part 2, it got widely panned by critics, the exact opposite of part 1. A previous movie had Tim Curry as Pennywise.

All his short story books are great, esp the Bachman books. The Green Mile (published in episodic books or as a novel). Don't miss his short story which inspired 'The Shawshank Redemption.' Misery is great, as is the movie. The Stand was one of my favorite books, but it kinda lost its sheen over the years, too much weird sexual stuff.

He's a genius story teller with plenty of hits and some misses, an author who will be remembered for the ages, and I bet mostly because of his nonhorror stories.

[herbalhippie]

I finished The Expanse series, am currently reading The Little Prince (for the first time!) and
Howl's Moving Castle (depending on my mood which one I pick up to read myself to sleep).

After this I've got a few Stephen King books on order and after those, I may order a few more. I
haven't read any King for many years and have been craving it.

I think the Little Prince is overrated; I tried to read it through a child's eyes, and it was all just a muddle. I confess I was all about it, thinking it was a total classic until I bought it for a friend and read it before giving it to her... The Velveteen Rabbit was simpler, more moving, and way more joyful (though I had to have it explained to me, I was a weird kid, happy endings were hard to understand for me).

King used to be must-read for me, but he totally jumped the shark in his Dark Tower series (Jake falls to his death, saying 'There are other worlds than these!' and they later meet him again as himself and he rejoins them. Schizo black lady with no legs (Shoshanna and her alternate personality who must say 'grey meat' (aka white people, and why Roland should be white, not as in the movie) hundreds of times spanning the series... the have adventures in our real life world where King vents about being hit by a car in the book... some Harry Potter Quidditch games go on and on... but the end is as it should be...

It (the book named 'It') has a pedophiliac gang bang ending to the first part... it was genius to change it to a blood pact in the most recent movie... that scene would never get made today. I do recommend movie part 1, didn't see part 2, it got widely panned by critics, the exact opposite of part 1. A previous movie had Tim Curry as Pennywise.

All his short story books are great, esp the Bachman books. The Green Mile (published in episodic books or as a novel). Don't miss his short story which inspired 'The Shawshank Redemption.' Misery is great, as is the movie. The Stand was one of my favorite books, but it kinda lost its sheen over the years, too much weird sexual stuff.

He's a genius story teller with plenty of hits and some misses, an author who will be remembered for the ages, and I bet mostly because of his nonhorror stories.

The Green Mile is my favorite King book and the Stand was one of my favorites. I'm on Skeleton Crew now, have 3 more short story collections + Pet Semetery to read.

[Pixiedust]

Some books I've read recently are The Big Fix by Tracey Helton Mitchell and Go Ask Alice by anonymous. My friend gave me a book, Sing Backwards and Weep by Mark Lanegan, but I haven't started reading it yet. I'm on the middle of Go Ask Alice now, so the other book will be next.

[IndelibleDotInk]

I dunno if I posted this or not, but there's a Russian book, Night Watch, by Sergei Lukyanenko, that was pretty good if you like fantasty and the bleak Russian outlook. It became the most expensive Russian movie ever and spawned a boatload of sequels.

If you are familiar with, or aren't, you may find the books confusing. There's something about the existentialism that is so prevalent.

I love the ideas, the story behind the story. Give it a whirl, maybe.

[Babel-17]

Quillifer, by Walter Jon Williams, a fantasy novel set in what feels like the Renaissance era, and with a style fans of Roger Zelazny should appreciate. Given that those two writers constituted a mutual admiration society, that's no surprise.

An older (1992) SF novel by Williams called Aristoi had a protagonist that gave me vibes of the one from Zelazny's Isle of the Dead. That's a compliment to the writing, lol.

[IndelibleDotInk]

I caught a glance at some books on the table which my moms is currently reading, some Jules Verne. How I loved those as a youngling. Also reminds me of Back to the Future 3 (great books, great movie trilogy, recommend all. Gotta watch the movies relatively close together so you can get the nitty gritty details. The books are standalone, but make their appearance in the 3rd movie). The books were made into great, imaginative movies.

[herbalhippie]

I caught a glance at some books on the table which my moms is currently reading, some Jules Verne. How I loved those as a youngling.

I know someone who has this

https://www.abebooks.com/servlet/BookDe ... wFEALw_wcB

It's a very rare edition and in a rare color, I think dark blue. He mention his copy was worth like $15k or something.

I've never read Verne, but I loved the movie they made Journey to the Center of the Earth. Watched that a few times when I was young.