Books and reading

[capncarp]

Since I work in IT all day long, I look at Kindle/Nook/e-books with a jaundiced eye, thinking of all the reasons it's going to fail/lose power/disappoint me when I'm most interested in the story. I don't have too many books: I need more bookshelves (and a library wing added to my house).

Fiction:

--Ditto on Janet Evanovich/Stephanie Plum stories (although they do start to feel a bit recycled after the first dozen or so.

--Jim Butcher's Dresden Files stories, blending private detective with supernatural aspects--vampires, faeries, holy knights with holy swords.

--C.S.Forrester/Horatio Hornblower series about an early 19th century Royal Navy officer tracing his career from midshipman to Admiral and all his adventures fighting pirates, smugglers, the navy of Napoleon Bonaparte, and the occasional delusional power-mad dictator in the New World. A fair view of the lives of the crew of the average wind-powered ship of the period.

--Patrick O'Brian's Jack Aubrey series about a Royal Navy officer and his best friend/ship's surgeon/genius/spy Stephen Maturin("Master and Commander/Far Side of the World" being a film made from two sequential stories)

--David Weber/Honor Harrington SF series about an exceptional female Space Navy officer whose career takes several epic turns; think Hornblower in space (and there are a few veiled shout-outs to Hornblower in the stories.

 

 

 

Non-fiction:

The Circus Fire, Stewart O'Nan & Dick Hill: a chronicle of the July 6, 1944 Hartford,CT Ringling Bros Circus big top fire that killed almost 200 attendees.

Nothing Like it in the World, Stephen Ambrose: the story of the building of the Transcontinental Railroad in the late 1860's, with lots of background about the several groups employed in its construction and the hardships they endured.

The Path Between the Seas, David McCullough: the story of the building of the Panama Canal. Especially recommended for those cruising through the Canal!

Jack-Knife Cookery, James Austin Wilder: a quirky-but-charming book written in a conversational style in the 20's by a Boy Scout/Scout Leader/Sea Scout/Merchant Marine/etc who had been around the world and noted the various ways cultures prepare food without a conventional kitchen. In fact, the book details methods of preparing foods with only a sturdy knife and what was presently available-- be it rocks, leaves, sand, sticks, or seaweed. The book is aimed at instilling self-sufficiency and innovative thinking in his audience--ostensibly Boy Scouts, but it serves as a guide to anyone how to keep one's mind on not panicking and on developing out-of-the-box thinking. I actually used some of these techniques while camping, and taught some of them to my godsons--baking bread on a stick over a campfire is lots of fun and a great bonding experience.

[ginamichelle]

Anything by Christopher Moore but do expect to get strange looks because they are laugh out loud. Also love Carl Hiaasen.

[OctoberKat]

Book lover and librarian here. Toward the end of every year I compile a list of the books I loved best -- here is the 2014 list. Happy reading!

 

Best Books Read in 2014

[that's READ, not published, in 2014]

 

FICTION

--All the Birds Singing by Evie Wyld

http://www.amazon.com/dp/0307907767/?tag=bookb03-20

--The Patrick Melrose Novels (every single one of them) by Edward St. Aubyn

http://www.amazon.com/dp/0312429967/?tag=bookb03-20

--Frances and Bernard by Carlin Bauer

http://www.amazon.com/dp/0544105176/?tag=bookb03-20

--The Big Both Ways by John Straley

http://www.amazon.com/dp/1616953179/?tag=bookb03-20

--Far As the Eye Can See by Robert Bausch

http://www.amazon.com/dp/1620402599/?tag=bookb03-20

--Longbourn by Jo Baker

http://www.amazon.com/dp/0385351232/?tag=bookb03-20

--Palladian by Elizabeth Taylor

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00GVFPE5E/?tag=bookb03-20

--St. Burl's Obituary by Daniel Akst

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B004YKU09S/?tag=bookb03-20

--The Last Banquet by Jonathan Grimwood [author is well-named, strong stomach required]

http://www.amazon.com/dp/1609451384/?tag=bookb03-20

--Last Friends by Jane Gardam (third of the Old Filth trilogy)

http://www.amazon.com/dp/1609450930/?tag=bookb03-20

--The Bees by Laline Paull

http://www.amazon.com/dp/0062331159/?tag=bookb03-20

--Evergreen by Rebecca Rasmussen

http://www.amazon.com/dp/0385350996/?tag=bookb03-20

--Neverhome by Laird Hunt

http://www.amazon.com/dp/0316370134/?tag=bookb03-20

--Falling from Horses by Molly Glass

http://www.amazon.com/dp/0544279298/?tag=bookb03-20

--No Great Mischief by Alistair McLeod

http://*******.com/oy92myb

--The Girl with all the Gifts by M.R. Carey (yes, really a zombie book)

http://www.amazon.com/dp/0316278157/?tag=bookb03-20

--The Distance by Helen Giltrow

http://*******.com/pzps8zc

--Fieldwork by Mischa Berlinsky

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B003JTHW2I/?tag=bookb03-20

--& Sons by David Gilbert

http://www.amazon.com/dp/0812993969/?tag=bookb03-20

 

NON-FICTION

--Hot House: The Art of Survival and the Survival of Art at America's Most Celebrated Publishing House, Farrar, Straus, and Giroux by Boris Kachka

http://www.amazon.com/dp/1451691890/?tag=bookb03-20

--Priscilla: The Hidden Life of an Englishwoman in Wartime France by Nicholas Shakespeare http://www.amazon.com/dp/0062297031/?tag=bookb03-20

--Tennessee Williams: Mad Pilgrim of the Flesh by John Lahr (for the Williams-besotted who know his plays well)

http://*******.com/mqwbe7m

[Raxter54]

--Jim Butcher's Dresden Files stories, blending private detective with supernatural aspects--vampires, faeries, holy knights with holy swords.

.

 

Ditto on the Dresden files. To go with that, add the Iron Druid series by Kevin Hearne (2000 year old Celtic druid, who has a werewolf and a vampire for his lawyers) and the Monster Hunter International series (an accountant kills his werewolf boss and is drawn into an organization that battles monsters for fun and profit) by Larry Correia.

 

For sci-fi, anything by John Scalzi, especially Old Man's War...