Denim Chicken
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I haven't read them yet, but heard good things about Martian Chronicles.
Rate the last book you read
- Thread starter ethiostar
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I haven't read them yet, but heard good things about Martian Chronicles.
Kristen82
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I'll try that one too then.
FiveRings
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Just finished the Lizard King, biography about Jim Morrison, by Jerry Hopkins, the author of No One Gets Out Of Here Alive, and it basically went back over that book, as well as added more stuff about Morrison's life. I was actually unaware of that one, so I'll add it to my list, but apparently it was a main source of Oliver Stone's The Doors (movie) and a very well known novel.
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Heart Shaped Box - Joe Hill
Really enjoyed this book. Nice ghost story.
Really enjoyed this book. Nice ghost story.
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"Descent Into Darkness– Pearl Harbor, 1941 A Navy Diver's Memoir" by Cdr. Edward C. Raymer, USN (Ret).
While everyone knows about December 7th, most are not aware of what happened at Pearl Harbor thereafter, which in itself is an amazing story.
In a nutshell, virtually every ship that was damaged and/or sunk was patched, refloated and restored except the USS Arizona and the USS Utah. And there were intentions and attempts to recover those ships also. The Arizona was found to be too badly damaged and the Utah was determined to be not of enough military value to spend a lot of effort on.
All the other battleships that were sunk/damaged were recovered. Only the USS Oklahoma was not fully restored.
Keep in mind up until this point in history, no one had successfully refloated ships of this size. The engineering involved was as much experimental as it was anything else.
The Naval Officer that wrote this book participated in the salvage effort on many of the ships, and his story is both interesting and heart-breaking, when one reads about diving on various ships and encountering the remains of sailors and marines. Not too mention he covers the loss of several divers who lost their lives in the salvage effort.
For me the most difficult part to read was the story of 3 sailors who were trapped on the USS West Virginia and due to the proximity of another battleship, the USS Tennessee, leaning on the West Virginia, no one could reach the section of the ship where they were trapped. They survived from December 7th until December 23rd (they maintained a calendar) until they finally ran out of breathable air.
When they were found a couple months later, it devastated the entire base.
A great read for anyone interested in the whole Pearl Harbor saga.
While everyone knows about December 7th, most are not aware of what happened at Pearl Harbor thereafter, which in itself is an amazing story.
In a nutshell, virtually every ship that was damaged and/or sunk was patched, refloated and restored except the USS Arizona and the USS Utah. And there were intentions and attempts to recover those ships also. The Arizona was found to be too badly damaged and the Utah was determined to be not of enough military value to spend a lot of effort on.
All the other battleships that were sunk/damaged were recovered. Only the USS Oklahoma was not fully restored.
Keep in mind up until this point in history, no one had successfully refloated ships of this size. The engineering involved was as much experimental as it was anything else.
The Naval Officer that wrote this book participated in the salvage effort on many of the ships, and his story is both interesting and heart-breaking, when one reads about diving on various ships and encountering the remains of sailors and marines. Not too mention he covers the loss of several divers who lost their lives in the salvage effort.
For me the most difficult part to read was the story of 3 sailors who were trapped on the USS West Virginia and due to the proximity of another battleship, the USS Tennessee, leaning on the West Virginia, no one could reach the section of the ship where they were trapped. They survived from December 7th until December 23rd (they maintained a calendar) until they finally ran out of breathable air.
When they were found a couple months later, it devastated the entire base.
A great read for anyone interested in the whole Pearl Harbor saga.
ctrous25
Stay Classy Philly/Minny
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Allegiant- Veronica Roth.
This was the last book of a trilogy (Divergent series) The worst book of the three. I hate how it ended and just found myself disliking one of the main charectors towards the end. The first two books were great and Roth is a very young and talented writer but she missed with this last book IMO.. 5/10
This was the last book of a trilogy (Divergent series) The worst book of the three. I hate how it ended and just found myself disliking one of the main charectors towards the end. The first two books were great and Roth is a very young and talented writer but she missed with this last book IMO.. 5/10
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"Hawaii Under The Rising Sun".
Written in 1984 and covers the possibility of a Japanese invasion either in conjunction with the attack on December 7 or soon thereafter.
While it wasn't a foregone conclusion that Japan was going to invade Hawaii there was enough interest in the topic that there was some preliminary preparation for such an event some time in 1942. The navy was much more inclined to invade at the time of Pearl Harbor and soon after than what the army was due to being stretched all across the Asian continent.
However the Doolittle Raid spooked the Japanese homeland so much that the army was on board with removing Hawaii as a potential launching spot for attacks on Japan.
If the battle of Midway had turned into a Japanese victory then Hawaii could very well have been invaded.
But it wasn't and talk of an invasion of Hawaii soon evaporated.
Written in 1984 and covers the possibility of a Japanese invasion either in conjunction with the attack on December 7 or soon thereafter.
While it wasn't a foregone conclusion that Japan was going to invade Hawaii there was enough interest in the topic that there was some preliminary preparation for such an event some time in 1942. The navy was much more inclined to invade at the time of Pearl Harbor and soon after than what the army was due to being stretched all across the Asian continent.
However the Doolittle Raid spooked the Japanese homeland so much that the army was on board with removing Hawaii as a potential launching spot for attacks on Japan.
If the battle of Midway had turned into a Japanese victory then Hawaii could very well have been invaded.
But it wasn't and talk of an invasion of Hawaii soon evaporated.
Khartun
AmarilloCowboyFan
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The Dragon's Path by Daniel Abraham - This guy is an assistant to GRRM. He is apparently a great SciFi writer (under the name James S. A. Corey) but I had a few issues with this book. His other fantasy series, The Long Price Quartet is supposed to be terrific. I have heard this series gets better so I'll probably try book 2 out at some point.
Best Served Cold by Joe Abercrombie - This is my favorite fantasy author at the moment. This is a stand alone story in the same world as his First Law Trilogy. Extremely good book. I highly recommend it. Lots of crossover to First Law. I'll be picking up his other two stand alone books in that world soon, The Heroes and Red Country. Rack, how did you like First Law?
I have NOS4A2 and a few other books downloaded. Not sure which I want to start next.
Best Served Cold by Joe Abercrombie - This is my favorite fantasy author at the moment. This is a stand alone story in the same world as his First Law Trilogy. Extremely good book. I highly recommend it. Lots of crossover to First Law. I'll be picking up his other two stand alone books in that world soon, The Heroes and Red Country. Rack, how did you like First Law?
I have NOS4A2 and a few other books downloaded. Not sure which I want to start next.
Nova
Ntegrase96
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American Pyscho-- 6/10
Backstory:
I recently re-watched the movie for the first time since the early 2000s when it came out, and realized that it's actually an open ending.
So I decided to read the book to see if there was something I was missing.
Review:
I appreciate the book, but really didn't enjoy it all that much. Probably because the book is incredibly more brutal than the film, to the point that I was tempted to stop reading a few times. But I was still curious about the ending so I pushed forward.
I think the ending in the book is a lot more concrete than in the movie, and seems to drive home the point of writing such a morbid story. In fact, I'm not sure the book even really presents the option for the other ending theory that arises in the movie-- it actually seems pretty clear.
Backstory:
I recently re-watched the movie for the first time since the early 2000s when it came out, and realized that it's actually an open ending.
So I decided to read the book to see if there was something I was missing.
Review:
I appreciate the book, but really didn't enjoy it all that much. Probably because the book is incredibly more brutal than the film, to the point that I was tempted to stop reading a few times. But I was still curious about the ending so I pushed forward.
I think the ending in the book is a lot more concrete than in the movie, and seems to drive home the point of writing such a morbid story. In fact, I'm not sure the book even really presents the option for the other ending theory that arises in the movie-- it actually seems pretty clear.
Denim Chicken
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Night Watch - Sergei Lukyanenko
Fantasy-type novel about the duality between good and evil and the Night & Day's respective 'watches' who regulate the terms of a truce between the two. Translated from Russian and the basis of two films (on Netflix, BTW) it was a fairly interesting read, though themes seem to offer nothing innovative or too engrossing.
Fantasy-type novel about the duality between good and evil and the Night & Day's respective 'watches' who regulate the terms of a truce between the two. Translated from Russian and the basis of two films (on Netflix, BTW) it was a fairly interesting read, though themes seem to offer nothing innovative or too engrossing.
Khartun
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Taking a break from the NPR list Denim or did you finish it?
Denim Chicken
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Taking a little break. Just had a kid and finding time to myself is at a premium
Khartun
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Taking a little break. Just had a kid and finding time to myself is at a premium
Congrats! Ya, that will eat up all your free time for sure.
landroverking
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"Love for our Afflictions"
Book about life love death and rebirth.
Great quick read.
Book about life love death and rebirth.
Great quick read.
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"Hitler on the Doorstep"
One historian's overview of "Operation Sea Lion" which was Germany's code name for a proposed invasion of Great Britain which was planned to occur during the summer of 1940. Ultimately the Luftwaffe couldn't gain air supremacy over the UK and "Sea Lion" was put on the back burner in favor of the proposed invasion of the Soviet Union.
The interesting thing is that there is some doubt on how serious Hitler was on invading the UK. He felt a "kinship" towards the English.
One historian's overview of "Operation Sea Lion" which was Germany's code name for a proposed invasion of Great Britain which was planned to occur during the summer of 1940. Ultimately the Luftwaffe couldn't gain air supremacy over the UK and "Sea Lion" was put on the back burner in favor of the proposed invasion of the Soviet Union.
The interesting thing is that there is some doubt on how serious Hitler was on invading the UK. He felt a "kinship" towards the English.
Denim Chicken
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Need a good fiction read, any suggestions?
I started 'Naked Lunch', but can't get through it.
I started 'Naked Lunch', but can't get through it.
Khartun
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I'm currently reading Malazan Book of the Fallen. It's easily the best series I've read. I'm on book six at the moment. There are 10 books in the original series plus a second author is writing books in the same world. It's fantastic.
The First Law Trilogy is another awesome series.
Denim Chicken
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Thanks, man. I'd really like a stand alone book, though. I'm not ready to commit to a series again.