by LoveUniHateExams 38 Replies latest social entertainment
Captains and the Kings by Taylor Caldwell is one of my favorite novels. I get something new out of it every time I read it. Very informative in what is going on in the world we live in even though it was published 44 years ago and now out of print. It used to be available in kindle addition but it isn't anymore for some reason. Well worth seeking out.
LRG
Love the "Safehold" and "Honor Harrington" books by David Weber.
Anything by Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child.
Anything by Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child.
This. As a team or their solo novels, I gobble them all up. Aloysius Pendergast is the man.
Not in the genre mentioned by LUHE mentioned, but I read any- and everything written by Robin Hobb. She writes high fantasy, not Dungeons and Dragons type stuff. Her characters are pretty amazing, all the more so because they're pretty simple.
I recommend starting with Assassin's Apprentice. You'll either love it or hate it because of the way she tortures her main character. If you love it, you'll want to explore the other 12 or so books in her universe.
If I could cure cancer or guarantee a happy ending for Fitz and the Fool, I might have to flip a coin.
I just remembered that Daniel Silva's new Gabriel Alon book is out. I haven't read any fiction in quite a while, but with this and Robing Hobb's new book just out, I'll get back into the fiction saddle.
Silva's books might be a little closer to what LUHE has been reading. I guess they're technically thrillers, but the main character is a 60-something year old art restorer who always gets dragged back into Mossad intrigue. Not a lot of action, maybe one shot fired per novel, but again, it's all about the characters.
Thomas Harris' four part series on Hannibal Lecter is very good.
Early John le Carre is good but not so much his recent stuff IMO
A Boy's Life by Robert Robert McCammon A Review
"McCammon has always been a competent writer, but neither before nor since has he approached the heights he attains here. God knows other writers have come close to capturing the simple magic of boyhood (King's "The Body" makes a fine case study), but McCammon leaves them all in his wake. There really is magic in this book, I swear it........"
SWAN SONG Also by McCammon: Review
"I figured it sounded a lot like the Stand, which at the time was my favorite novel. I read Swan Song every night for a week and a half. It was way better then the Stand, and wasn't anything like it aside from the 'end of the world' scenario and an evil rising to threaten the survivors, so I'm not even going to compare the two books. The characters in Swan Song are so richly developed that you begin to feel for them. It's almost like you want to protect Swan just as much as the characters do. The last hundred pages or so are simply outstanding. It was so suspenseful that I could hardly sit still, and when it was over, I wished there was more to it then its 956 pages. The ending is what got me the most. There couldn't have been a more fitting end to this amazing story. I enjoyed everything about this book. It never gets boring, it doesn't have seven hundred characters in it all doing different things (like another novel i already said i wouldn't compare it to), but instead three main groups. The symbolism is just amazing, and the underlying themes and story is incredible. I can't say enough about it.
The Old Man and the Wasteland by Nick Cole
Review: "The Old Man and The Wasteland is an exceptional read. Nick Cole’s writing found that sweet spot that caters to my picky tooth, a perfect blend of description and pace without an overuse of unnecessary words. Admittedly I’ve never read Hemingway (GASP), I’m sure I would have gotten much more from Old Man if I had, but from my experience it’s absence didn’t hinder my enjoyment. I felt like I was there alongside the old man scavenging for useful relics, his shadow following him on his gritty ride. I’m excited to have stumbled upon Nick’s work, he’s become my favorite after-the-shit-hit-the-fan writer."
A Ha - "Aloysius Pendergast is the man."
You might find this interesting:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aloysius_Pendergast#Television_adaptation
Another update: I bought The Demon Headmaster (Gillian Cross) and read it yesterday. I remember it being an enjoyable read when I was 9 years old. And it was still pretty good yesterday.
I think I'll take a break from buying novels for the immediate future, mostly because I've been disinherited by my dad and I have to live on a pittance whilst I Iook for a job.
But the next book I'll buy will be The Stand, hopefully ...
@littlerockguy - i was clicking in here to recommend the same book that you have, and to say the same about it.
@LoveUni - Very few books that I read when I was young still hold my affection now that I'm old. But Captains and the Kings certainly does!
Also i love James Michener's Centennial.
For lots of old books that are free of charge, look up http://gutenberg.net.au/
So far on that website I've read Titanic and Other Ships, the memoir by Charles Lightoller, the only ship's officer to survive the Titanic sinking.
If my recommendations have already been mentioned, forgive me. I have always been an avid reader and keep a list of the books I've read for the last ten years. There are well over a hundred and possibly around two hundred books on it. I do it alphabetically by author.
Out of this list, I must highly recommend the following books by Ken Follett.
"Pillars of The Earth" and "World Without End" that make a set. Then there is the Century Trilogy that is three very accurate historical fiction novels covering World War One through the fall of the Berlin wall. They are "Fall of Giants", "Winter of The World", and Edge of Eternity".
