[OT] What are you reading?

Posts on a strip club forum.

(Fiction/Fantasy) Children of Virtue and Vengeance by Tomi Adeyemi, a coming-of-age set in a fantasy version of Nigeria

(Non-Fiction) Unmasked by Andy Ngo, his expose of Antifa

Progress on both is glacial; I'm more focused on writing my book than reading these days though.

Title: Necessary Illusions: Thought Control in Democratic Societies

Author: Avram Noam Chomsky

It is an analysis of the function of "modern era" news media in the United States; in particular, "the ways in which thought and understanding are shaped in the interest of domestic privilege."

Describes political power using propaganda to distort and distract from major issues to maintain confusion and complicity, preventing real democracy from becoming effective..

Interlibrary Loan by Gene Wolfe. Wolfe, who passed away recently, was an excellent writer of fantasy and science fiction.

Been on a bit of a modern classics kick lately after my nephew started complaining about some of the books he had to read for his Modern Literature class last semester. I just started "In Cold Blood" by Truman Capote.

Last 5 books I've read
Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury
On the Road by Jack Kerouac
The Spy Who Came In From the Cold by John le Carre (highly recommend this one)
Slaughterhouse-Five by Kurt Vonnegut
The Crucible by Arthur Miller

Next few on the shelf waiting to be read:
Midnight's Children by Salman Rushdie
The Savage Detectives by Roberto Bolaño
Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck
Pilgrim at Tinker Creek by Annie Dillard
Anatomy of a Murder by Robert Traver

After those I plan to get into some lighter reads by a few popular authors like Scott Turrow, John Grisham, Stephen King, Dean Koontz and James Patterson as a change of pace.

Deadliest Enemies by Michael Osterholm. Yes, I’m as sick of the pandemic as everyone but the book predates it and is an interesting read.

I’ve also caught up on several months of Field and Stream.

One more. Thomas More’s Utopia. I’ve been re-reading some college classics, just to refresh my recollection of them. I had finished Orwell’s 1984 and Animal Farm recently. I wanted something a bit less depressing.

Leviathan Wakes, which is the novel The Expanse is based off of. Really good, pulpy scifi.

Before that it was homeland elegies by akbar and Kafka on the shore

Rereading Jim Butcher's Dresden Files, in order to read the latest two.

Weber's Safehold series before that.

"How to be a playa on a budget"

by Dr Juice Mane

For non-fiction I recommend Empire of the Summer Moon. It’s about the Commache tribe - its great.

I like Sci-Fi and have read all the classics and award winners, so now I’m reading new Sci-Fi. I read 3 on the beach so far this summer. Re-coil by JT Nichols and Ship of Fools by RP Russo we’re good. I didn’t like Blindsight Peter Watts.

American War by Omar El Akkad is also great. About a future Civil War, mainly over the banning of fossil fuels. Very topical themes.

On a related note (I’m a Sci-Fi geek), Tomorrow War with Chris Pratt on Amazon Prime sucked. I really wanted to like it but it was bad in so many ways.

I read whatever trash shows up in my media feeds if it looks interesting. And TUSCL.

Red Notice by Bill Browder
My Life with the Saints by James Martin

Both are interesting reads for very different reasons.

I'm not even remotely surprised that there are so many sci-fi readers here (including me).

And, yes, "Tomorrow War" is a very bad movie. I lasted a bit over 30 minutes before switching it off.

Breath by James Nestor

A Stillness at Appomattix Bruce Catton. Read it 50 years ago and wanted to re-read it before Winston Smith goes and changes it.

Buffy the vampire slayer fan fiction

Lots of history

Revolutionary writings

Buffy fan fiction or the media tie-in novels? I've never read the media tie-in novels, but the TV series was incredibly well written for its time and audience.

Just ordered AMERICAN DESPERADO which is about the very fascinating documentary COCAINE COWBOYS.

If you're a right wing conservative nutjob, like me, you'll like "A Desert Called Peace", and it's sequels, by Tom Kratman.

If you're a left wing liberal douche bag, like me, you'll probably like Eric Flint's 1632 series and its close relations, like "Time Spike".

I recently read the Tera Patrick book. Awful. Just GPS and fawning about her then husband now X

Nonfiction Ghost Wars by Steve coll.
It talks about the involvement of the United States in Afghanistan between the Soviet invasion and September 10th 2001

Non fiction the old man and the sea by Ernest Hemingway.

I haven't read anything for pleasure in awhile, but I have The Last Trial by Scott Turow lined up and ready to go.

I'm in the middle of a few books: The User Illusion, Eastern Mind/Western Body, and some fiction crap on my kindle I can't remember the name of.

Right now I’m reading the “lost fleet” series. It’s sort of older dated shit with Mary Sues all over but is entertaining enough and the narrator is quite good

I've been reading CJ Cherryh for decades now. Mainly hard sci-fi wth great character development and complex political plots. She's written a LOT of stuff, so if you like her, there's plenty to read!

William GIbson is another favorite. Also sci-fi. He has a real knack for seeing where computer tech is going to be in 10-20 years. Read Neuromancer, then understand it was written in the 80s(!). He's 2 books into his latest, the "Jackpot" trilogy. Wonderfully imaginitive books, but given his track record for prescience, very depressing.

"The Armada" by Garret Mattingly, 1959.

My wife thought that I would like this on and she was right. Mattingly was a professor of history and has written a take on the Spanish Armada that starts with the execution of Mary Queen of Scots and the forces that act made to seek revenge on Elizabeth 1. I find myself engrossed, yet having to stop periodically to let it settle. Recommended.

Another book I would recommend is one that I read years ago and have reread several times. It's titled, "The Naval War of 1812" and was authored by Theodore Roosevelt. It's written in a very modern prose compared to most of that era. It was written in such an evenhanded manner that when the Brits wrote their history of the British Navy, they asked TR to write the section on the War of 1812!

Life and Death in Shanghai by Nien Cheng. It is quite relevant to the current times in America with regard to the thought police and censorship. Highly recommended.

Just read “2034” about a future USA vs China war. It’s very sobering. Not quite as good as the way Clancy did the genre but I liked it. Quick read.