NOW READING

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SinisterMinisterX said:
Having accomplished this insanity, I'm not going to keep up this pace. But I've still set a challenging goal for next year's reading: all of Shakespeare.
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First of all, that's a heck of a lot of reading. Awesome stuff! You really got into the classics! Nabokov, War and Peace, Dickinson (Emily)...and a lot of non fiction. Heck of a list!

I did all of Shakespeare except the back half of the Sonnets and the plays not in the First Folio about...3 years ago, and it was a really interesting challenge. It's much slower reading, but really worth it. I was planning on seeing some plays live in 2020 but you know how that went.
 
Is War and Peace any good? I tried reading it a few years ago but gave up around 150 pages in. I want to get back into reading physical books, and it's either that or Dune (which I started reading back in March 2020 but never finished).
 
Midnight said:
Is War and Peace any good? I tried reading it a few years ago but gave up around 150 pages in. I want to get back into reading physical books, and it's either that or Dune (which I started reading back in March 2020 but never finished).
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Yes, it's very good, but also very long with a great many characters. If you're not accustomed to long books, it will be more difficult. If you plan to read both books anyway, start with Dune to get back in reading shape.

War & Peace assumes you know the history of Napoleon invading Russia. Brush up on that knowledge before starting.
 
Sudden Sea: The Great Hurricane of 1938 by [R. A. Scotti]

4.6 out of 5 stars 357 ratings


Living in coastal CT, we're constantly reminded of this storm. Thankfully in my lifetime I've never experienced a bad one and I hope I never do.


 
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I saw a recommendation for a local Ottawa author, Brenda Chapman, while I was on vacation. I've crushed out six of her seven adult whodunits so far. They vary in quality from serviceable to decent, with the last one being pretty engaging, but it's definitely made more fun by the many references to areas near where I live. However, she's had a lot of success in the UK. Anyway, it's making me think of spending 2022 mostly reading books by local authors.
 
@SinisterMinisterX
Wow, that's... hats off to you, sir! This is one of those things, when I see them - I immediately put them in my bucket list. Hopefully, one day I'll have the time and persistence to accomplish something like this. I can't really read the titles from the picture, but I can see there were some biographies, SF and probably some other genres which makes this ordeal more impressive.

As per War and Peace: when somebody drops that question (What is your favorite book?), War and Peace is the answer. There were probably others that I enjoyed more but this somehow always stuck. I've read it in high school so I don't remember did I already had the fresh history knowledge but I don't think I couldn't grasp what was going on in political (war) schemes. After all, Tolstoy did such a great job depicting some scenes (I remember founding out later he interviewed some of the Napoleon associates which makes some scenes incredibly vivid) so I don't think you need to brush up on your history. Even those aside - the characters and their plot-arcs are enough to make it one of the best books ever written.

I'm currently reading Dune, about 60% in. I am enjoying it, but I must confess it 'feels' a little weird. I haven't read SF for a while and after a several modern crime/thriller novels (I've finished Sharp Objects by Gillian Flynn 2 weeks ago), Herbert's style of writing didn't age well (in my opinion). Still, a good read so far. Has anybody read the sequels, Dune Messiah and Children of Dune? I've heard the quality drops drastically so I wonder should I even start on those?
 
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Bought this when it came out. This is the original cover. Amazing/scary/harrowing 1st hand account of war. Ernst Junger's Storm Of Steel is a close second. Would also recommend
Eastern Inferno: The Journals of a German Panzerjäger on the Eastern Front, 1941–43 by [Christine Alexander, Mason Kunze]

Btw, none of these books glorify war. They show it in all it's nastiness from those that experienced it first hand.
 
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Spambot said:
@SinisterMinisterX Still, a good read so far. Has anybody read the sequels, Dune Messiah and Children of Dune? I've heard the quality drops drastically so I wonder should I even start on those?
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I read the trilogy some years ago and yes the quality drops off massively. I remember some good stuff in the second and nothing good about the third. In all honesty I’d stick with the first book. The series has the same drop in quality as the Gormenghast trilogy. One great book, one ok book and one wtf.
 
Boroking said:
I read the trilogy some years ago and yes the quality drops off massively. I remember some good stuff in the second and nothing good about the third. In all honesty I’d stick with the first book. The series has the same drop in quality as the Gormenghast trilogy. One great book, one ok book and one wtf.
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I've borrowed some edition where all first three are together and I'm finishing first one soon. I've noticed the second one is really short so I might go at it. Definitely skipping third then.
 
Spambot said:
I've borrowed some edition where all first three are together and I'm finishing first one soon. I've noticed the second one is really short so I might go at it. Definitely skipping third then.
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If you're talking about Dune, the first book is divided into three parts. Are you sure you have all three books?
 
Midnight said:
If you're talking about Dune, the first book is divided into three parts. Are you sure you have all three books?
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It's some 2005 edition called "The Great Dune Trilogy" LINK which consists of Dune, Dune Messiah and Children of Dune.
Now that you mentioned it, I didn't even realizes Dune was divided into three parts. I quite liked that instead of chapters, scenes are divided with those sayings/intercepts or whatever.
 
Spambot said:
It's some 2005 edition called "The Great Dune Trilogy" LINK which consists of Dune, Dune Messiah and Children of Dune.
Now that you mentioned it, I didn't even realizes Dune was divided into three parts. I quite liked that instead of chapters, scenes are divided with those sayings/intercepts or whatever.
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That’s the version I’ve got. It’s a beast
 
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