October 3Oct 3 31 minutes ago, atomheartbevo said: The answer is always Discworld or Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy. Awesome. Didn't even think of Hitchhikers and was only vaguely familiar with Discworld 8 hours ago, Js1 said: What about the Golden Compass books? Also a good one, thanks
October 3Oct 3 23 hours ago, Foosters said: Awesome. Didn't even think of Hitchhikers and was only vaguely familiar with Discworld Also a good one, thanks My 12 year-old (he was 11 at the time) loved Hitchhiker's, which really surprised me, and he's read them a couple of times. Discworld - Pratchett actually wrote 5-6 Discworld books, the Tiffany Aching books, about a young witch (obviously Tiffany) that was clearly meant for young audiences (and arguably girls). If she likes these, she will absolutely jump into the Discworld books (and start her off with Colour of Magic after the Tiffany Aching books). And the Tiffany Aching books starts out when she's 9 years old - definitely let your daughter know that. Tiffany Aching - Wikipedia And there's even a guide book that came out a few years ago to celebrate 20 years of the character: Book:Tiffany Aching’s Guide to Being a Witch - Discworld & Terry Pratchett Wiki Discworld for Young Adults (6 books) Quote "Another world is colliding with this one," said the toad. "All the monsters are coming back." "Why?" said Tiffany. "There's no one to stop them." There was silence for a moment. Then Tiffany said, "There's me." Armed only with a frying pan and her common sense, Tiffany Aching, a young witch-to-be, is all that stands between the monsters of Fairyland and the warm, green Chalk country that is her home. Forced into Fairyland to seek her kidnapped brother, Tiffany allies herself with the Chalk's local Nac Mac Feegle - aka the Wee Free Men - a clan of sheep-stealing, sword-wielding, six-inch-high blue men who are as fierce as they are funny. Together they battle through an eerie and ever-shifting landscape, fighting brutal flying fairies, dream-spinning dromes, and grimhounds - black dogs with eyes of fire and teeth of razors - before ultimately confronting the Queen of the Elves, absolute ruler of a world in which reality intertwines with nightmare. And in the final showdown, Tiffany must face her cruel power alone.. Edited October 4Oct 4 by atomheartbevo
October 8Oct 8 On 10/2/2025 at 2:29 PM, Foosters said: Anyone have some recs for my 9 year old daughter who is powering through books above her level? She has read all of the Percy Jackson books and their spinoffs, and this summer she read all of the Harry Potter books, and is now re-reading them. She also just read Tales of Despereaux and Ms. Frisby and the Rats of Nihm - both of which she enjoyed. I've got the Narnia books lined up. Lord of the Rings too advanced? She did tell me the other day that she really prefers fantasy, magic, etc. We tried the Redwall series about a year ago, but I think that may have been too soon, so she's not that interested in trying again. Just seems like she's in a weird period where she's probably not mature enough for some of teen content, but is advanced enough that she' may find books targeted at her age not much of a challenge? My 8 year old (about to be 9) is obsessed with the Wings of Fire books. They're about dragons, so in the fantasy realm. There's a lot going on in those and I'm always amazed how she keeps everything straight. I picked up my first Raymond Chandler/Philip Marlowe book about a month ago and have torn through 3 of them since. Put them in the "still relevant 75+ years later for a reason" category. Extremely well written and quick reads.
October 9Oct 9 5 hours ago, Stringer said: My 8 year old (about to be 9) is obsessed with the Wings of Fire books. They're about dragons, so in the fantasy realm. There's a lot going on in those and I'm always amazed how she keeps everything straight. I always forget this one, and my middle-schooler loved it, as did his friends. Never read them, but from conversations and glancing through, it does a good job of bridging from the younger chapter books up to the Harry Potter/Percy Jackson level.
October 12Oct 12 Quick read this week. Nothing award winning, and not as good as some of his earlier ones, but a typical fun Langdon book.
October 13Oct 13 22 hours ago, Mo Horn said: Quick read this week. Nothing award winning, and not as good as some of his earlier ones, but a typical fun Langdon book. That series has a wild as hell release timeline Gaps of 3, 6, 4, 3 and 8 years between books? 8 years between books and you are reaching GRRM territory, which ain't good. Liked that book fine, it is what it is, but it was way too long. Publisher needed to get him an actual editor (or a new one)
October 14Oct 14 Absolutely love reading the annotations. At Baylor we had to read this version to better understand the historical context, but of course being an 18-year-old, I blew it off. I do remember it knocking the socks off of many a freshman in the first few weeks of the mandatory Christian Scriptures class. 'Tis the season Edited October 14Oct 14 by SimonBolivar
October 15Oct 15 On 10/1/2025 at 8:34 PM, TonyTexas said: Pretty weak effort from Follett Agree. Very simplistic and a little gratuitous at times. I guess it was simplistic to match the time period but damn it got boring and repetitive at times. Talk about a Mary Sue character too
October 15Oct 15 On 6/1/2025 at 12:08 PM, boilerhorn said: Finished this one today. Appreciate the way Larson handles non-fiction. Thanks for the reminder on this. Love things with a nautical bent. An observation on this that sort of encapsulates Larson. In recounting contemporary headlines, he threw in that a Grape Nuts ad referenced its ability to fortify youngsters for schoolyard fights, complete with an illustration of such a fight. Great shit. Maybe this one: Edited October 15Oct 15 by TwiceHorn
October 25Oct 25 Getting into Churchill's WW2 memoirs. I like his style for the most part. His references and implied defense of imperialism are tone deaf. But still very interesting to see his view of the war as one of the key figures.
October 26Oct 26 On 10/2/2025 at 2:29 PM, Foosters said: Anyone have some recs for my 9 year old daughter who is powering through books above her level? She has read all of the Percy Jackson books and their spinoffs, and this summer she read all of the Harry Potter books, and is now re-reading them. She also just read Tales of Despereaux and Ms. Frisby and the Rats of Nihm - both of which she enjoyed. I've got the Narnia books lined up. Lord of the Rings too advanced? She did tell me the other day that she really prefers fantasy, magic, etc. We tried the Redwall series about a year ago, but I think that may have been too soon, so she's not that interested in trying again. Just seems like she's in a weird period where she's probably not mature enough for some of teen content, but is advanced enough that she' may find books targeted at her age not much of a challenge? Yeah that's a tough age for advanced readers. I'll check with my daughter about what she liked. Look up Jaclyn Moriarty's Kingdom's and Empires series. It'll be an easy read for her, but they're a really fun 5 book series that are loosely connected. Reading them in order makes for some wonderful reveals; I read them out loud to my kids and there were often shrieks of joy heard throughout the house at those parts.
November 6Nov 6 Picked this up on a rec. About a veteran of WW1 getting a job in a small church to uncover and restore a medieval painting. Not very long. Wish I liked it more. I think some people would call it charming. It just wasn't for me.
November 14Nov 14 Finished 2 more books from my pile:John Costello’s ‘The Pacific War’Ronald Spector’s ‘Eagle Against the Sun’Also read Christopher Golden’s ‘House of Last Resort’ over the weekend.Pulled this off the shelf and added it to my pile; it’s now next on the list:Have a lot more books on WW2 in the Pacific than I initially realized.
November 19Nov 19 Probably mentioned before, but I subscribe to Kindle Unlimited. That gives me access to a lot of what I'll call "pulp fiction," books published by Thomas & Mercer, Amazon's imprint and some other off brands. Some of those authors are more serious/better than others. I hog through them at a pretty high rate. But, I'll say this: in the realm of non-literary fiction, some of them are pretty, pretty good. This one, a fairly serious spy thriller, was one of the most engaging page-turners I've come across in a while. https://www.amazon.com/Honeytrap-Espionage-Thriller-Book-ebook/dp/B0D4614BLM It's part of a three book series with 2 and 3 as yet unreleased, so I was unable to verify if this was a one-off. Same guy also did a series with some spy hero named Lance Spector. Haven't dug into those. It's a pseudonym and there's no information on the author, really, but it seems he might know of what he speaks. Edited November 19Nov 19 by TwiceHorn
November 19Nov 19 I'm a Kindle Unlimited subscriber as well. If you read a lot, it is well worth the price, and I have found plenty of enjoyable reading on it. I just finished this self-published book, which I found to be one of the better hard sci-fi novels I've read in quite a while. It's supposed to be part of a series, so I'll be waiting for the sequels. https://www.amazon.com/Receiver-Sci-Fi-First-Contact-Techno-Thriller/dp/B0FDQN7VTS Edited November 19Nov 19 by Ghost of NMAS
November 28Nov 28 On 10/15/2025 at 11:09 AM, TwiceHorn said: Finished this one today. Appreciate the way Larson handles non-fiction. I just finished this. Really enjoyed it
December 1Dec 1 On 11/28/2025 at 11:12 AM, Mo Horn said: I just finished this. Really enjoyed it Read that for class this semester. I loved it. Highly recommend it. Larson wove a fantastic narrative out of the participants actual words and actions.
December 1Dec 1 Just finished this one on a rec, maybe from here. This is red meat for me. About 2 divers in NJ discovering a U-boat wreck 60 miles from the American Coast. The US Navy mapped the ocean but somehow doesn't know about it. Germany doesn't know about it. These guys dive for multiple years to try to discover the identity of the boat. Gripping. I loved every second of it.
December 4Dec 4 On 11/13/2025 at 6:51 PM, demos said: Finished 2 more books from my pile: John Costello’s ‘The Pacific War’ Ronald Spector’s ‘Eagle Against the Sun’ Also read Christopher Golden’s ‘House of Last Resort’ over the weekend. Pulled this off the shelf and added it to my pile; it’s now next on the list: Have a lot more books on WW2 in the Pacific than I initially realized. Costello’s book was really enjoyable to read. Spector’s book was a good read as well for broad knowledge on what transpired. I will read pretty much anything on The Pacific War since it’s the focus of what I study the most. I try to mix in plenty of reading from authors giving the Japanese perspective as well. It’s interesting and worth it to read about why Japan acted the way they did and how a good deal of their foreign policy came about because of the actions of other countries (Mostly the United States and Britain, but not entirely) towards them both well before and after the First World War. Edited December 4Dec 4 by UpperWestside
December 6Dec 6 saw this at the bookstore. couldn’t find the “what are you absofuckinglutely NOT reading” thread.
December 18Dec 18 This is the 4th Hammett book I've read. I'm a sucker for these 20s and 30s hard boiled crime books. Out of the 4 this was my least favorite. I liked The Thin Man, Glass Key and Maltese Falcon more. Still worth a read and glad I read it. Red Harvest is a 1929 hardboiled detective novel by Dashiell Hammett, featuring his nameless protagonist, the Continental Op, who is hired to clean up the corrupt, gang-ridden mining town of "Poisonville" (Personville). The plot follows the Op as he manipulates rival criminal factions into a bloody gang war, leading to their mutual destruction in a story known for its cynicism, violence, and exploration of corruption. It's considered a landmark of the genre, drawing from Hammett's own experiences as a Pinkerton detective.
Friday at 10:34 PM5 days Reading some fiction while making my way through Ian Toll’s “Pacific Crucible” (which is pretty good so far).And Crichton’s “Rising Sun”
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