What Books are you Reading (2024)

[jaywalker2]

I'm on volume 2 of the Slow Horses series.  The TV series follows the books quite closely (which is why it' so good) but in my opinion the book are still worth reading if you enjoy spending time with these people.

 

I also just finished Rachel Cusk's Aftermath in which she discusses the repercussions of her divorce. I'm a big ambivalent about her because her books really aren't novels or memoirs but more like a series of short essays but this is the third book of hers I've read, so I guess I'd have to say I like her.

[newnative]

     Lately, I've been reading the novels of Christopher Reich, which I am enjoying, including a couple of series and a few standalones.  Also have been reading the excellent Virgil Flowers detective series by John Sandford, who is famous for the highly popular 'Prey' novels.   I've got the latest Daniel Silva downloaded and that's next on my reading list.  This novelist has an excellent suspense series going with Israeli spy/art restorer Gabriel Allon as the main character.  Happy reading.

[TimBKK]

FYI, big libgen problems recently but libgen.li still seems to work.  Be careful as there is talk on reddit about malicious files being uploaded to some of their sites.

[bluemoon58]

I'm into the thriller/suspense genre and am currently reading Thomas Perry's series of books. I got into him after being gripped by a drama on tv called "The Old Man". Highly recommend him if you are into that genre.

[Moonlover]

12 hours ago, Enoon said:

 

I know I've read and enjoyed "Imperium" but not sure if I have read either of the following two.

 

Perhaps you know enough of Egypt to want to read this, but it opened my eyes to enough things to have made it worthwhile for me:

 

 

 

 

The rest of the Cicero trilogy are well worth reading if you haven't already.

 

Robert Harris has a number of other very good books. Top of my list is 'Act of Oblivion', See review here

[sangtip2]

The Devil's Chessboard

[freeworld]

18 hours ago, newnative said:

     Lately, I've been reading the novels of Christopher Reich, which I am enjoying, including a couple of series and a few standalones.  Also have been reading the excellent Virgil Flowers detective series by John Sandford, who is famous for the highly popular 'Prey' novels.   I've got the latest Daniel Silva downloaded and that's next on my reading list.  This novelist has an excellent suspense series going with Israeli spy/art restorer Gabriel Allon as the main character.  Happy reading.

Never read a bad John Sanford novel.

 

Lucas Davenport and Virgil Flowers series are all great.

 

Have found Author Chris Carter books quite good, A detective after serial killers.

Stories are a little gory but keep one entertained.

http://chriscarterbooks.com/home.htm

[newnative]

3 hours ago, freeworld said:

Never read a bad John Sanford novel.

 

Lucas Davenport and Virgil Flowers series are all great.

 

Have found Author Chris Carter books quite good, A detective after serial killers.

Stories are a little gory but keep one entertained.

http://chriscarterbooks.com/home.htm

I've never read a bad one, either.  Thanks for the Chris Carter recommendation.

[gamb00ler]

Fortune's Formula

 

By William Poundstone, an intriguing book that delves into the world of mathematics, gambling, and Wall Street. It explores the concept of Kelly criterion, a formula for maximizing wealth, and its impact on the financial world.

 

The two co-inventors of the formula were engineers at Bell labs.

 

Readers with a STEM bent will enjoy this book.

[Fortean1]

The bawdy look at the British and French rulers was not found in my British literature classes in high school in America.  I read on my Kindle, "1,000 Years of Annoying the French".  Please see: https://www.amazon.com/Years-Annoying-French-Stephen-Clarke/dp/0552775746 .

 

Also, finishing up reading "UFOs and Government: A Historical Inquiry".  Please see:

https://www.amazon.com/UFOs-Government-Historical-Michael-Swords/dp/1933665580

This is coffee-table size.  It  extensive sources end each chapter, fully indexed, and with photos of major players.  I have extensive margin notes that follow my experiences in reviewing somewhat hidden data in the Project Blue Book archive.  The normal month and year format in alphanumeric order is punctuated by extensive dumps of pages that are just dumped.  The current one is 8,198 pages.  My point of view is that I am neither a hostile skeptic nor a true believer.  What I find at Project Blue Book I share with Robert Powell (radar reports), Vicente-Juan Ballester Olmos (photos and videos), and Michael Hudson at BUFORA, all the EMI reports.

[mikebell]

On 3/24/2024 at 4:15 PM, billd766 said:

Ebook by Sam Barone called 'Conflict of Empires'.

It's not on TPB.

 

[mikebell]

19 hours ago, freeworld said:

Never read a bad John Sanford novel.

 

Lucas Davenport and Virgil Flowers series are all great.

 

Have found Author Chris Carter books quite good, A detective after serial killers.

Stories are a little gory but keep one entertained.

http://chriscarterbooks.com/home.htm

I am downloading 4 Chris Carter books from TPB.  I tried your other suggested authors above but they are only in Epub format & my kindle doesn't accept them.  Is there a way of turning them into a Mobi format?

[billd766]

1 hour ago, mikebell said:

It's not on TPB.

 

I am a little confused Mike. What is TPB?

 

I have a collection of about 1.6TB of Ebooks on my hard drive and I am slowly whittling  them down to only a .mobi format. As of 31 December 2023 I have at least 6.406 authors with the number of books varying from 1 book to over 40 books per author.

 

Some authors I like and some I don't like. Some subjects like fiction and fantasy I like and others such as horror and sci-fi I don't like, However they are all jumbled up usually under author names but the latest 900 odd I am sorting are under book titles, mostly with the authors names, so I need to check each author to see if I have that author, then the book name. If I have them both I simply delete the book.

 

I can manage about 50 books a day before my eyes get tired and my brain begins to scramble.

[mikebell]

6 minutes ago, billd766 said:

I am a little confused Mike. What is TPB?

 

I have a collection of about 1.6TB of Ebooks on my hard drive and I am slowly whittling  them down to only a .mobi format. As of 31 December 2023 I have at least 6.406 authors with the number of books varying from 1 book to over 40 books per author.

 

Some authors I like and some I don't like. Some subjects like fiction and fantasy I like and others such as horror and sci-fi I don't like, However they are all jumbled up usually under author names but the latest 900 odd I am sorting are under book titles, mostly with the authors names, so I need to check each author to see if I have that author, then the book name. If I have them both I simply delete the book.

 

I can manage about 50 books a day before my eyes get tired and my brain begins to scramble.

TPB = The Pirate Bay.  I find lots of ebook downloads on there BUT my (old) Kindle doesn't accept Epub format, only Mobi. Are you changing Epub files to Mobi.  If so I'd like to learn how.

[billd766]

4 minutes ago, mikebell said:

TPB = The Pirate Bay.  I find lots of ebook downloads on there BUT my (old) Kindle doesn't accept Epub format, only Mobi. Are you changing Epub files to Mobi.  If so I'd like to learn how.

I use an app on my pc called Calibre and that converts any format that you have to a format that you chose. That is the easy part. I think that the hard part will be getting the files to load into your Kindle device.

 

I used to read my books an a tablet which had unrestricted use of any Ebook reading program and I used FBreader Pro which while it was not free was very cheap. Sadly my tablet died but I can still read Ebooks on my pc with calibre.

 

 

[jaywalker2]

I'm in the process of reading the Raylan Givens series by Elmore Leonard:: Pronto, Riding the Rap, Raylan, Fire in the Hole.

 

The first two were written before the TV series Justified, based on the Raylan Givens character, was made. Leonard wrote the other  two in response to the series.

 

I have never been a big Elmore Leonard fan but I'm on the third book in this series, though normally I have a hard time finishing thrillers these days. But I'm drawn to the character of Raylan, so much so that I started watching Justified again. And, yep, it's just as good as I remembered.

[n00dle]

On 8/15/2024 at 4:27 PM, freeworld said:

Never read a bad John Sanford novel.

 

Lucas Davenport and Virgil Flowers series are all great.

 

 

 

Sanford is entertaining but hasn't necessarily aged in alignment with modern sensibilities.

it actually irks me that I am aware of that.

[JamesPhuket10]

On 12/31/2023 at 7:57 PM, CharlieH said:

What is a book, remind me?

 

I seem to remember them from my childhood and when I was at university in the 1970's, I think they had pages, heavy, and were out of data just  after they had been printed. 

 

 

 

[WDSmart]

Here are some suggestions for ten books, all I wrote over the past 20 years after I retired and moved to Thailand. Most of them are sci-fi, but there is one historical novel and one non-fiction. 
 

W. D. Smart (books2read.com)

[BritManToo]

On 8/16/2024 at 1:11 PM, billd766 said:

I use an app on my pc called Calibre and that converts any format that you have to a format that you chose. That is the easy part. I think that the hard part will be getting the files to load into your Kindle device.

 

I used to read my books an a tablet which had unrestricted use of any Ebook reading program and I used FBreader Pro which while it was not free was very cheap. Sadly my tablet died but I can still read Ebooks on my pc with calibre.

 

 

Nope, easiest thing in the world .......

Plug kindle into pc usb port.

Open calibre, right click mouse on the book you want to transfer, choose "save to main memory"

Calibre will then convert to AZW format and load on kindle.

 

I'm currently reading  SF the Archimedes Engine by Peter F Hamilton, and the mystery series Alex McKnight omnibus by Steve Hamilton. Always use my Kindle as it's easy on my old eyes.

[ElwoodP]

Two troll posts removed.

Note to trolls: troll this thread and you will lose your posting ability.

[billd766]

1 hour ago, BritManToo said:

Nope, easiest thing in the world .......

Plug kindle into pc usb port.

Open calibre, right click mouse on the book you want to transfer, choose "save to main memory"

Calibre will then convert to AZW format and load on kindle.

 

I'm currently reading  SF the Archimedes Engine by Peter F Hamilton, and the mystery series Alex McKnight omnibus by Steve Hamilton. Always use my Kindle as it's easy on my old eyes.

Firstly, I would have to buy a Kindle reader which is fine IF I only want to read books, but it is of no use if I want to do anything else on it.

 

Secondly I would have to convert all of my existing Ebooks to the Kindle format. As I have over 6,xxx authors and some 20,xxx books in Mobi format in My Ebook library already, It would take me months of 8 hour days, 5 days a week to do.

 

My pc screen is 24 inches and I can adjust the print size easily.

 

Thank you fot your though but I think I will stay as I am.

 

I am clearing down my Ebook library and only keeping Mobi format as well as deleting all the other formats and deleting duplicate books and authors. I have been doing that for the last 5 years, on and off, and I can now see the light at the end of the tunnel.

[Smokin Joe]

26 minutes ago, billd766 said:

Firstly, I would have to buy a Kindle reader which is fine IF I only want to read books, but it is of no use if I want to do anything else on it.

 

Secondly I would have to convert all of my existing Ebooks to the Kindle format. As I have over 6,xxx authors and some 20,xxx books in Mobi format in My Ebook library already, It would take me months of 8 hour days, 5 days a week to do.

 

My pc screen is 24 inches and I can adjust the print size easily.

 

Thank you fot your though but I think I will stay as I am.

 

I am clearing down my Ebook library and only keeping Mobi format as well as deleting all the other formats and deleting duplicate books and authors. I have been doing that for the last 5 years, on and off, and I can now see the light at the end of the tunnel.

 

Mobi format works fine with a Kindle. They don't need to be converted.

 

And if you do need to convert ebooks the Calibri program for PC will do batch conversion of many books at once.

[Cameroni]

54 minutes ago, billd766 said:

Firstly, I would have to buy a Kindle reader which is fine IF I only want to read books, but it is of no use if I want to do anything else on it.

 

Secondly I would have to convert all of my existing Ebooks to the Kindle format. As I have over 6,xxx authors and some 20,xxx books in Mobi format in My Ebook library already, It would take me months of 8 hour days, 5 days a week to do.

 

My pc screen is 24 inches and I can adjust the print size easily.

 

Thank you fot your though but I think I will stay as I am.

 

I am clearing down my Ebook library and only keeping Mobi format as well as deleting all the other formats and deleting duplicate books and authors. I have been doing that for the last 5 years, on and off, and I can now see the light at the end of the tunnel.

That's an impressive number of books. But why are you only keeping Mobi format books? 

[billd766]

55 minutes ago, Smokin Joe said:

 

Mobi format works fine with a Kindle. They don't need to be converted.

 

And if you do need to convert ebooks the Calibri program for PC will do batch conversion of many books at once.

Thank you.

[siftasam]

Reading 'Dombey and Son' by Charles Dickens. I might be biased, but I think Dickens is the greatest novelist of all.

 

Also reading 'The Singapore Grip', a novel by J.G.Farrell (author of 'The Siege of Krishnapur'). Interesting tale of the Japanese invasion of Malaya and Singapore. A lot of history included.

 

On a similar tack, my brother has just strongly recommended a history book: 'The Running Dogs of War' by Noel Barber about the Malayan Emergency  (in which my brother served). It's received excellent reviews on www.goodreads.com

[nikmar]

bought Ham on Rye yesterday and looking forward to starting it tonight. My first Bukowski novel.

[connda]

Mistborn book 2.

[dddave]

Been enjoying novels by Harlan Coban & T. Jefferson Parker.  Both excellent writers with strong characters. 

"1177BC: The Year Civilization Collapsed" has been a fascinating read

Finally reading the Hillary Mantel "Wolf Hall" series.  Bit of a downer when you know the "endings."

[jaywalker2]

I've just started the new Inspector Rebus book by Ian Rankin, "Midnight and Blue." Rebus is in prison now for his alleged involvement in the death of Big Ger Cafferty and when a murder occurs in one of the locked jail cells, it's a given he's going to take upon himself to investigate. Meanwhile Siobhan Clarke and her new partner are investigating the disappearance of a missing teenage girl in the outside world.

 

Great stuff as usual. It's good to have John back. Rankin keep threatening to end the series but something keep drawing him back in.