What are you reading?

[Brock Beauchamp]

Other than BF, that is.

If any of you are into sci-fi, I highly recommend Joel Shepard’s Spiral Wars series. The eighth book, Ceephay Queen, just released yesterday and I’m starting it as soon as I put the kids to bed.

What are the rest of you reading?

[BrewersSuperCollector]

I don’t read books, but I will be researching the 1950 census when it comes out April 1st. I’m our families genealogist. 

[Joseph Zarr]

1 hour ago, Brock Beauchamp said:

Other than BF, that is.

If any of you are into sci-fi, I highly recommend Joel Shepard’s Spiral Wars series. The eighth book, Ceephay Queen, just released yesterday and I’m starting it as soon as I put the kids to bed.

What are the rest of you reading?

I started the Dune series of books just upon finishing the epic masterpiece that raked at the Oscars this season. So far, and it's early, it is wonderfully written and easy to read. I'm big into Sci-Fi/Fantasy - have been for a lonnnnnnng time - so it is mildly comical I still hadn't actually read Herbert. I continue to read TheThree-Body Problem  by Liu Cixin. It's engaging and really well done. Lastly, tho I am reading several other books (mainly about plants and farming or Naturalist related endeavors), I would share I am reading Sand Talk: How Indigenous Thinking Can Save the World by Tyson Yunkaporta. It's incredible. 

Edit to Add: Just read a snippet of Joel Shepard's first in that series...seems like a turn right up my Battlestar Gallactica fetish. I'll have to give it a look.

[Brock Beauchamp]

7 minutes ago, Julio Muchacho said:

I started the Dune series of books just upon finishing the epic masterpiece that raked at the Oscars this season. So far, and it's early, it is wonderfully written and easy to read. I'm big into Sci-Fi/Fantasy - have been for a lonnnnnnng time - so it is mildly comical I still hadn't actually read Herbert. I continue to read TheThree-Body Problem  by Liu Cixin. It's engaging and really well done. Lastly, tho I am reading several other books (mainly about plants and farming or Naturalist related endeavors), I would share I am reading Sand Talk: How Indigenous Thinking Can Save the World by Tyson Yunkaporta. It's incredible. 

Edit to Add: Just read a snippet of Joel Shepard's first in that series...seems like a turn right up my Battlestar Gallactica fetish. I'll have to give it a look.

I’ve read the first… three? Dune books. The first is stellar, for sure.

Shepard’s world building in Spiral Wars is Sanderson-esque in its depth and volume. Huge recommend to the series for those who like pretty hard sci-fi. 

[Joseph Zarr]

13 minutes ago, Brock Beauchamp said:

I’ve read the first… three? Dune books. The first is stellar, for sure.

Shepard’s world building in Spiral Wars is Sanderson-esque in its depth and volume. Huge recommend to the series for those who like pretty hard sci-fi. 

I like my Sci-Fi like I like my baguettes:

Hard but with body and texture. A bigger bonus if the series or book pairs well with butter.

[nate82]

The books I read are not allowed to be discussed here.  I read a lot of books from Thomas Sowell and others mostly.  

I have been reading the graphic novel BRZRKR which has been good so far.   This is written by Keanu Reeves well co-wrote by him and another Matt Kindt and illustrations done by Ron Garney

[GAME05]

Since we're on a baseball board, I definitely recommend "Nine Innings: Anatomy of a Baseball Game". It's about one single baseball game, everything leading up to it and during, between the Brewers and the Orioles in 1982.

Currently reading "Is God a Moral Monster?" and looking forward to the Andrew Klavan book coming out next week how classical literature mirrors the Bible.

[homer]

I've really gotten into Sci Fi the last few years:

Ready Player One was a lot of fun

Also enjoyed Ender's Game, Neuromancer, and Hyperion. Hyperion was a bit of a slow grind.

I finished up Dune right after Christmas and followed that up with Caves of Steel. I loved Dune but I don't think I want to continue reading the series, Last book I finished was Project Hail Mary which was very science heavy but entertaining.

Switched it up and started reading some Raymond Chandler noir recently. 

[BillScottCanRake]

While the book I am reading is highly political, I will keep my own opinions about the politics in the book to myself so as not to violate forum rules.

Due to recent current events, I am re-reading The Third World War: August 1985 by Sir John W. Hackett, 1977.  It was written as a possible future history, and after the fall of the Soviet Union was considered an alternate history.  With recent events, some of the predictions made in the book are relevant again.

Not the most fun read out there... but I've never been considered a ball of fun.

[stoutdude04]

I read so many different books for my 3rd graders that I dont read anything on my own except for sports related articles. 

[DuWayne Steurer]

I think it's safe to say that almost ALL fiction has some political undertone (except maybe Thomas the Train Engine!) so I think let's just discuss what we like, what we're reading, be cool about it, and not derail the thread.  

That being said, the last couple two-tree years (damn you Sveumrules!)  I've dove head first back into graphic novels (or "comic books" if you will) as I often do.  I'll take a 3-4 year hiatus, and then see what's cool, relevant, or trending, and then grab a 6 - 12 month supply.

I just finished the last volume of "Low" by Rick Remender not too long ago.  If you're into Sci-Fi, the art is simply stunning.  It's got a really limited color palette that kind of forces your perspective, and at times, it's simply bizarre.  I've heard reviewers say the last volume felt rushed and incomplete, but I didn't get that feeling at all.  The story says what it has to say without feeling like it limps along and it's a really good 5 volume, complete story for Sci-Fi fans.

Also just finished up "East of West" by Johnathon Hickman.  Another excellent sci-fi/fantasy Series.  A little longer ( I think 10 volumes/60-ish issues) but the pacing is excellent, and it's got (again) a really excellent palette that brings the art to life and helps tell the story.  

I have 3 huge Omnibus volumes of Usagi Yojimbo (signed!) that I'm only about half way through.  Stan Sakai is such a great storyteller.  The art sometimes leaves a little to be desired.  He's going for a serious, sometimes violent morality tale, and the art is really 'kiddy', so it clashes, and it's hard to mesh the two sometimes (for me, at least) but it's such good storytelling that I keep going back.  

And I'm sure if you're reading this and you read graphic novels, you're reading "Saga", so you don't need me to tell you to get into it. 

[Brock Beauchamp]

On 3/31/2022 at 6:12 AM, homer said:

Also enjoyed Ender's Game, Neuromancer, and Hyperion. Hyperion was a bit of a slow grind.

I put down Hyperion because I found it really slow and not engaging. Does it improve later? I think I only read about 50 pages, maybe.

[homer]

1 hour ago, Brock Beauchamp said:

I put down Hyperion because I found it really slow and not engaging. Does it improve later? I think I only read about 50 pages, maybe.

It's really a compilation of something like 6 short stories. A couple of them are awesome and the rest are meh. It's book 1 of a whole series so unto itself it doesn't make a whole lot of sense but I'm guessing it acts as background for the rest of the series. I bought the 2nd one but never started it.

[RedStickBrew]

Love this topic, I am always looking for suggestions on what to read, just wish I had more time to do so.  Most recently I have read In Cold Blood- Truman Capote, The Road- Cormac McCarthy, A Brief History of Time- Stephen Hawking and Band of Brothers- Stephen Ambrose.  Nothing new but all good reads

[owbc]

I found Hyperion to be mind blowing. I thought the plot wrapped up to a decent stopping point after the second book and I didn't have any interest in reading beyond that. I would say the entire first book is basically background for the second one. 

The classic one that I couldn't get into was Blindsight, although the concept is fascinating. 

Now I'm reminded that I need to get back into reading sci-fi...more recommendations please!

 

[TURBO]

Just started Lisey's Story by Stephen King.  I've had it on the shelf for years, thought it was about time I get to it.

[nate82]

I haven’t been excited about a comic in awhile other than Berzerker but this looks and sounds amazing!

https://rippaverse.com

[GreatNWwi]

My wife and I tried the free trial of Kindle Unlimited sometime in 2020, I wonder why.  We then rolled that into a paid subscription.  I have never read so much in my life, I always struggled to keep it going.  I now have an incredible streak going.  I read on an iPad so it is always near me in my down time.

I just finished The Debt Collector series by John Mills, 13 books.  This was the second series about a bad dude doing bad stuff for good reasons helping those in need for one reason or another.  I seem to like the conflicting notion of cheering for a bad dude doing good even though his methods are less than humane. 

I have read a lot of first edition writers on Kindle Unlimited which gives struggling writers, as well as established writers, another forum to distribute their work.

[PlayerHader]

Finishing off Malcolm Gladwell’s book, Talking to Strangers. More interesting for all the tidbits and anecdotes he discussed than the ideas that he uses them as support for, imo.

[Ulice Payne]

Reading two books concurrently;

The Presocratics, edited by Philip Wheelwright

The First Philosophers; The Prosocratics and the Sophists, translated by Robin Waterfield

They both go through the Greek presocratic philosophers. I'm going back & forth between the two books one philosopher at a time.

Really I want to study Aristotle.  However, I didn't want to just jump immediately to Aristotle without getting the the academic basis he had to work from.  So I started with Homer, then Aesop, and now these guys.  Next will be Socrates / Plato, then finally to Aristotle himself.  Eventually I'll end up going through the Stoics, but I'll use some caution with them.  The Stoics have such a well thought out world view, it's tempting to join them.

I thought the Presocratics would just be a stop along the way, but I'm really appreciating them in their own right.  They come from a time when philosophy and science were still considered to be the same thing.  They ask questions that no one before them had thought to ask, at least among those whose work has survived in the written record.   They move forward from the anthropomorphic views espoused by Homer & his contemporaries.  They want to know what is the basis of the world / universe, what is a human, where is the earth located; metaphysical questions like that.  It's Socrates who will turn the philosophical questions towards how a person should live; these guys were still just figuring out what a human was. 

 

 

 

[GAME05]

Was on an Andrew Klavan book called Beauty and Truth about references to God in classical literature. But I listen to his podcast a bunch and his theology has gotten really bad to the point of it being non-Christian, and that's really thrown me off the book. Lee Strobel did something similar lately, though his books are great.

Just picked up "Christian Self-Mastery" and "Celebration of Discipline" as it's an area of need for me. I'd been attracted to the Stoics like Marcus Aurelius and Senica and there's a ton of great stuff to it, but ultimately I really hesitate and somewhat-similar stuff which aims in a different direction.

[CheezWizHed]

I'm reading The Beirut Protocol; the 4th book in Joel Rosenberg's Markus Ryker book series.  The series has a Tom Clancy-like feel and is heavily focused on international politics; especially in the complicated Middle East. 

I find the series interesting as he is able to capture a lot of real international politics and/or tensions while telling an interesting espionage action fictional story.  

For example (not a real spoiler here...), one of the books in the series dealt with Russia potentially invading Ukraine and the US's response to those actions.... all written years before Russia actually attacked Ukraine.  

[Samurai Bucky]

On 5/3/2025 at 10:54 AM, GAME05 said:

Just picked up ... "Celebration of Discipline"

IIRC, Foster's book bordered on some New Age applications to the daily Christian walk.  Some of it seemed good, but some didn't.

I know that some people don't like Warren's "The Purpose Driven Life."  That might be a good read, too.

[RedStickBrew]

I have vacationed in the UK the last two summers and became interested in reading about Scottish history. I am currently reading the second book in the Insurrection trilogy by Robyn Young which has been fantastic so far. Very well researched and written story of the Robert the Bruce era

[GAME05]

On 5/7/2025 at 6:22 PM, Samurai Bucky said:

IIRC, Foster's book bordered on some New Age applications to the daily Christian walk.  Some of it seemed good, but some didn't.

Thank you for that note. That's stuff I try to shy away from.