Books Read 2013 Edition

[ATB]

Previous threads:

Books read in 2009.
Books read in 2010.
Books read in 2011.
Books read in 2012.


My Stuff:

Completed:

Magician: Apprentice. Book One of the Riftwar Saga - 4/5
The Supernaturalists - 3/5
A Study in Scarlet - 5/5
Ghost Wars: The Secret History of the CIA, Afghanistan, and bin Laden from the Soviet Invasion to September 10, 2001  - 5/5
The Eternity Code: 5/5
Sherman's March: 4/5
Lost Rights the Misadventures of a stolen American Relic: 4/5
Catch 22: 3/5
Dungeon Crawlin Fools: 5/5
Start of Darkness: 5/5
On the origin of PCs: 4/5
War and XPs: 5/5
No Cure for the Paladin Blues: 5/5
Don't Split the Party: 5/5




Currently Reading:

John Dies at the End
The Meaning of Marriage: Facing the Complexities of Commitment with the Wisdom of God

[Canuck]

You're not allowed to make the new thread with still a couple of days left in 2012! Very poor form! :p

[ATB]

You're not allowed to make the new thread with still a couple of days left in 2012! Very poor form! :p

The books I'm reading now will not be finished in 2012. So there!

[Isgrimnur]

• Sports from Hell: My Search for the World's Dumbest Competition by Rick Reilly
• Star Trek: Countdown
• Why Air Forces Fail: The Anatomy of Defeat Edited by Robin Higham, Stephen J. Harris
• Daring Young Men: The Heroism and Triumph of The Berlin Airlift-June 1948-May 1949
• Military Intelligence: A Picture History by John Patrick Finnegan
• Babylon Confidential: A Memoir of Love, Sex, and Addiction by Claudia Christian
• American Sniper: The Autobiography of the Most Lethal Sniper in U.S. Military History by Chris Kyle
• The American Black Chamber by Herbert O. Yardley

• The Intelligence Wars: Lessons from Baghdad by Steven K. O'Hern
  
• The Lying Stones of Marrakech: Penultimate Reflections in Natural History by Stephen Jay Gould

[Caine]

Trying to finish up book 4 of ASoFaI, but it's slow going with all these games. 

[disarm]

My reading accomplishments for 2012...15 novels over 12 months, with hopes to expand the types of books I read and increase the number I complete in 2013


Finished

The Ghost in the Wires - Kevin Mitnick - January 14
The Zombie Wilson Diaries - Timothy Long (aka GT's own Crusis) - February 26
The Eye of the World (The Wheel of Time - Book One) - Robert Jordan - April 28


In Progress

American Gods - Neil Gaiman

[lildrgn]

1. Kicking & Dreaming: A Story of Heart, Soul, and Rock & Roll by Charles R. Cross (book)
2. Desert Places by Blake Crouch (Kindle)
3. Phantoms by Jo Nesbo (Kindle)
4. Ratlines by Stuart Neville (k)
5. Abandon by Blake Crouch (k)
6. The Last Child by John Hart (k)
7. The King of Lies by John Hart (k)
8. Down River by John Hart (k)
9. Iron House by John Hart (k)

Now reading:
Horns by Joe Hill (book)

[EddieA]

Books Finished
===========



Currently Reading
=============
The Courts of Chaos by Roger Zelazny
Sandstorm by James Rollins
The Dragon's Path by Daniel Abraham
The Way of Kings by Brandon Sanderson
Under The Dome by Stephen King
The Gathering Storm by Robert Jordan & Brandon Sanderson

[rshetts2]

You're not allowed to make the new thread with still a couple of days left in 2012! Very poor form! :p

The books I'm reading now will not be finished in 2012. So there!

If thats the criteria, I know a few people who could have started the thread back in August. 

[ATB]

You're not allowed to make the new thread with still a couple of days left in 2012! Very poor form! :p

The books I'm reading now will not be finished in 2012. So there!

If thats the criteria, I know a few people who could have started the thread back in August. 

 

[Caine]

Trying to finish up book 4 of ASoFaI, but it's slow going with all these games. 

Finished up book 4 and it's a bit of a drag until the last quarter or so.  really sets up some good conflicts for book 5.  taking a break to catch up on some others I have bought.

finished up John Dies at the End.  quirky book and I left with a highly disjointed impression of the story due to taking a break (Game of Thrones, hello!), but the story was pretty interesting.  I like the genre this falls into, like Neil Gaimans work, with a hint of Pratchett thrown in as well. 

I have to decide which to start on now.  Rise of the Governor is a good choice with the rest of The Walking Dead starting soon.  I also have Odd Thomas and Under the Dome.  and eventually Dance with Dragons

[Isgrimnur]

Trying to finish up book 4 of ASoFaI, but it's slow going with all these games. 

Finished up book 4 and it's a bit of a drag until the last quarter or so.  really sets up some good conflicts for book 5.  taking a break to catch up on some others I have bought.

The trick is that the first half of Book 5 is the same timeline as Book 4, just with all the cool kids that were missing from Book 4.  You don't start moving into undiscovered timelines until halfway through.

[ATB]

Trying to finish up book 4 of ASoFaI, but it's slow going with all these games. 

Finished up book 4 and it's a bit of a drag until the last quarter or so.  really sets up some good conflicts for book 5.  taking a break to catch up on some others I have bought.

The trick is that the first half of Book 5 is the same timeline as Book 4, just with all the cool kids that were missing from Book 4.  You don't start moving into undiscovered timelines until halfway through.

Which is precisely why the first 3/4 of the book is particularly dull.

[Isgrimnur]

Sports from Hell: My Search for the World's Dumbest Competition by Rick Reilly

Getting things off to a deep and thoughtful start this year.

The book covered a wide variety of stuff from beer pong to Jarts and chess boxing.  There were some truly entertaining parts that had me laughing out loud, which is no mean feat for a book. 

I managed to pick it up for $2 at the local Half Price Books, so I'd say I definitely got my money's worth out of it.  If you enjoy Reilly's writing, I recommend it.

[Isgrimnur]

Why Air Forces Fail: The Anatomy of Defeat Edited by Robin Higham, Stephen J. Harris

This is a collection of essays by historians about the failure of various air forces over the 20th century.  While the highlights that most people know about from the major players in WWII, it also covers some of the lesser known failures from the Second World War.  For modern times, it covers the Argentines in the Falklands and the Arab Air Forces. 

It was a much deeper treatise than most light histories, and a good addition to the library.  It has plenty of depth in terms of recommended reading and deeper investigations into the organizations listed.

[Isgrimnur]

Daring Young Men: The Heroism and Triumph of The Berlin Airlift-June 1948-May 1949

An excellent view of the Airlift, the powers behind it, and the people that flew it and benefited from it. 

One of the interesting things that I gleaned from it was that East Berlin was industrially dependent on West Berlin for materials to keep their factories running.  Stalin had been led to believe that East Germany and East Berlin were self sufficient, and would suffer no ill effects from their blockade.  While the impacts to West Berlin were far and away the worst, The Russians were in no position to keep East Berlin functioning during the counter blockade imposed by the Allies.

[Isgrimnur]

Military Intelligence: A Picture History by John Patrick Finnegan

This is published by the History Office of the US Army Intelligence and Security Command.  As such, it goes into a fair detail about the structure, organization, and location of the headquarters of the Army MI groups throughout the years.

I doubt many people that are non-military aficionados would care to read through it.  It's under 200 pages, and, of course, full of pictures, but can be kind of dry.  

[Caine]

ok.  time to catch up.

Finished Apocalypse Z: The Beginning of the End
Loureiro, Manel

in the same sub-genre of Day by Day Armageddon.  First-person journal style story telling.  Like all good apoc fiction, the characters you meet are what keep the story interesting.  He did a pretty good job with the main character and some of the side characters as well.  He's not a soldier but he's a good survivor.  I liked the early stages of the outbreak as I like seeing how different authors forecast the fall of civilization.  Sadly, this is a translation from Spanish, and the other 2 books are un translated at this point. 


The Walking Dead: Rise of the Governor
Robert Kirkman
You get a good perspective on the Governor's mental state and get a nice look at early outbreak days in the TWD lore.  Not the highest quality writing tbh, but it's adequate.  I think this would have made a better graphic novel as I think it's more Kirkman's strength.  Recommended for fans of the graphic novels or the show.  Not so much for general zombie fiction. 

Beyond the Barriers
Long, Timothy W.
While the main character is a bit overpowered at times, he's likable and well written.  I like the different spin on the zombies and the focus on group survival.  It has some shocking moments which keeps each setpiece from becoming predictable.  Recommend for fans of the genre. 

continuing with the post apoc fiction, I am reading this now:
Second Shift - Order
Howey, Hugh
Book 6 was something of a setback after the highlight of books 4 and 5, but it sets up the sequel in a way necessary for the scope of the book.  Haven't finished yet, but it's nice to see a few different takes on the world in the Silos and how certain characters live through it all.  The Wool series paints a picture of the apocalypse unlike any I have read. (although parallels can surely be found in other novels)

[Isgrimnur]

Babylon Confidential: A Memoir of Love, Sex, and Addiction by Claudia Christian

It's a quick hitter of an autobiography that chronicles her life, moving in circles with the big names of Hollywood, but also serves as a story of her alcoholism and redemption through the Sinclair method.

[Isgrimnur]

American Sniper: The Autobiography of the Most Lethal Sniper in U.S. Military History by Chris Kyle

[Isgrimnur]

The American Black Chamber by Herbert O. Yardley

This is a first-hand account of the codebreakers that were part of the government from 1919-1929  before its destruction at the hands of Secretary of State Henry L. Stimson ("Gentlemen do not read each other's mail."), and the setting up of the organization

It covers the gamut from secret ink, ciphers, and codes over the years covering wartime espionage and diplomatic cables.Parts of it can be rather dry, as he quotes extensively at times from these diplomatic cables, but it is still an excellent read into the history of codes and codebreaking, more in depth than the stuff most of us toyed with as children.

[Isgrimnur]

The Intelligence Wars: Lessons from Baghdad by Steven K. O'Hern

Serving in Iraq, O'Hern was the director of the Strategic Counterintelligence Directorate in Baghdad in 2005.

His book covers the specifics of what, to me, has become the same old story: political storytelling trumps facts on the ground, the armed forces prefer technology to actual human intelligence gathering, and information sharing between different groups is more the exception than the rule. 

I did learn a few things from the book such as details about the arms, equipment and training coming out of Iran to impact the war zone.  But for someone that's read a lot about military history in a post WWII environment, there's not much new here.  The conclusions, appear to be sound, but the environment isn't going to change without a strong shift in the leadership.

[Eco-Logic]

I just finished Wool by Hugh Howie. 

Wow, excellent book! 

Not sure what to read next.

[Isgrimnur]

http://www.whatshouldireadnext.com/

[Isgrimnur]

The Lying Stones of Marrakech: Penultimate Reflections in Natural History by Stephen Jay Gould

Saw it at the library on a walkthrough and picked it out.  Not being the strongest in the finer points of natural history, some of it was punching a bit above my weight in the subject, but I enjoyed stretching a little bit.  As you would expect, it's chock full of Darwin references, but also covers a wide variety of historical figures to boot,

One thing I find interesting that I probably need to explore more is the history of science.  How did we get to where we are now before all of the scientific discoveries required university or corporate labs to find?

For now, I've got a bunch more history books on deck.  On to learning about the rise of Germany as a world power.

[PeteRock]

I know there are a few Joe Ledger fans here, and I'm surprised to see no mention of Jonathan Maberry's newest addition to the series Extinction Machine.  It was released at the end of March and I have a copy sitting on the kitchen bar at home, but I first need to make it through finals before I take the full plunge.  My wife already tore through it and I can't wait to spend the first few days of my summer "vacation" relaxing by the pool with Ledger's next mission. 

[Eco-Logic]

]I recently finished Lions of Lucern by Brad Thor and thought it was excellent.

Now I'm reading "The Fifth Wave" Rick  Yancey.

Pete,
Thanks for the heads up on the new Ledger novel.  I had no idea.