What are we reading?

egg_salad · January 13, 2017, 10:58:43 AM

Quote from: Staggerwing on January 12, 2017, 09:23:24 PM
The Destroyermen book 1. Good first book, way less pulpy than the promo blurb sounds.

I am on book 6 right now. They get somewhat cheesier as the series goes along, but it's not bad.

Staggerwing · January 13, 2017, 06:34:56 PM

Quote from: egg_salad on January 13, 2017, 10:58:43 AM
Quote from: Staggerwing on January 12, 2017, 09:23:24 PM
The Destroyermen book 1. Good first book, way less pulpy than the promo blurb sounds.

I am on book 6 right now. They get somewhat cheesier as the series goes along, but it's not bad.

Good to know. Thanks!

BanzaiCat · January 13, 2017, 09:15:39 PM

Isn't Destroyermen about the lizards ruling the Earth? Or am I mixing up my alternate history? (Different lizards from Turtledove's highly dull and silly Worldwar series.)

trailrunner · January 13, 2017, 09:32:58 PM

Quote from: Gusington on January 13, 2017, 10:50:54 AM

...also one of my favorite books ever was Paul Kennedy's Rise and Fall of the Great Powers - 25 years ago!!

Yeah, I remember reading that around 1990 or so.

egg_salad · January 14, 2017, 02:16:29 PM

Quote from: Banzai_Cat on January 13, 2017, 09:15:39 PM
Isn't Destroyermen about the lizards ruling the Earth? Or am I mixing up my alternate history? (Different lizards from Turtledove's highly dull and silly Worldwar series.)

Yes, a destroyer goes through a storm and ends up in an alternate timeline with dinosaurs and crap. Much of the cheesiness comes from this. Sometimes I like cheese, though.

JasonPratt · January 14, 2017, 10:54:17 PM

So, it's Martin Caidin's The Final Countdown + Brian Daley's Coramonde Duology + dinosaurs and lizardmen? (Plus, I guess, The Last Ship?)

Giggity! :D

WallysWorld · January 14, 2017, 11:08:47 PM

Quote from: Gusington on December 04, 2016, 12:10:45 PM
Wally I have been wanting a I read August 1914 for a long time. How is it?

I'm about 250 pages into the book and I like it. The first 65 pages was about describing some civilian characters and that was a bit of a chore to get through. But from page 66 or so on the book focuses on the Battle of Tannenberg exclusively from the Russian side of things with both fictional and historical characters (example: Samsanov) being included.

BanzaiCat · January 16, 2017, 08:45:31 PM

Amazon had a sale (might still be doing it) on the James Bond Extended Series by Ian Fleming. I got the first four...never read any of them but the first is Casino Royale, and from what I can tell it seems to just be a repub of the old books...maybe? Always wanted to read 'em anyway.

Besides Casino Royale, there's Diamonds Are Forever, Moonraker, and I can't remember the fourth one offhand.

Gusington · January 17, 2017, 09:18:59 AM

Just started The Hidden War - A Russian Journalist's Account of the Soviet Invasion of Afghanistan by Artyom Borovik.

Pinetree · January 17, 2017, 10:03:35 AM

I'm onto book 4 of the Expanse, Cibola Burn. This is a great series. Has that down to earth, working class in space feel.

Gusington · January 17, 2017, 08:29:48 PM

^I am going to guess you watched the show on SyFy?

Pinetree · January 18, 2017, 12:17:53 AM

Yep. I've followed the exact same pattern as GoT. Saw the first season, then got the books. I think there's more chance of the Expanse novels being finished though.

MetalDog · January 18, 2017, 07:02:37 AM

Yeah. Martin is a glacially slow writer. Plus, he looks like an old Sam Tarly. Not a winning combination.

Greybriar · January 18, 2017, 08:07:57 AM

Thanks for the hint, MetalDog.

You're right about George R. R. Martin. I doubt he will live long enough to finish the Ice and Fire series.

MetalDog · January 18, 2017, 07:03:51 PM

My pleasure, Greybriar. I hope the next book, Winds of Winter, isn't the hot mess the last book was. It's my understanding that he's pretty close to finishing this one up. If you want some inside information on Martin, he spends a fair amount of time on his LiveJournal blog, Not A Blog:

http://grrm.livejournal.com/