Books

I love reading and writing. For anyone interested in my books, search Rhys Clark on Smashwords.

Anyway cheap plug over...

I will give anything Rowling has written, including under her pseudonym Robert Galbraith a recommendation. The Cormoran Strike novels are great detective stories. I'm reading the third in the series, Career of Evil, at the moment.

Deborah Dalton is a decent fantasy writer not well known with her fantasy series All Things Impossible.

If you've never read Nineteen Eighty Four by George Orwell or the Hobbit by Tolkien these are two of my favourites I'd also recommend.

I am trying to get through A Song of Fire and Ice, but am making slow progress and not even halfway through book one.

Man, if you liked Nineteen Eighty Four, you need to check out We. That's the book that it was based off, as well as other books like that. We is the original that spawned great stories like Nineteen Eighty Four. It was written in Russian, so the English book is a translated version, but it's still very good - written by Yevgeny Zamyatin. It was one of the first novels banned by the Soviet Union’s literary censorship bureau and didn't get an English version until the eighties. If you liked Nineteen Eighty Four, then you absolutely must check We out.

Dont read as much as I should. I read Dan Brown's novels (he wrote the Da Vinci Code), all except his new one. I read books from a historical fiction author names Jeff Shaara. Other than that, I try to force myself to read a few books a year. I just feel dumb if I go a long time without reading one.

I love a good book. Terry Pratchett i probably my all time favourite author, if I could only read the discworld series I'd be a happy man. I really enjoyed David Eddings Elenium Trilogy, although I know some who don't like his style of story telling.

I've really enjoyed reading The Lost Fleet series by Jack Campbell, a great (IMO anyway ;-) ) military science fiction series with some interesting political scenes and really well though out battle sequences. I might get round to reading the Beyond the Frontier sequals and other spin offs eventually too.

I'd also like to mention the Black Library publishing company out of Games Workshop. Although all their books are based either in Warhammer fantasy, Warhammer 40k, and presumably by now, Warhammer, Age of Sigmar (.....exasperated sigh) they are generally very well written stories. I've read a lot of them and can only think of one that I couldn't finish, but then as that was trying to carry on a series by William King (awesome author, I seriously recommend his stuff!) it's not all surprising that the first effort was a bit off. So, recommended books from the Black Library.... Anything by William King, especially the Troll Slayer series and the Space Wolf series; anything by Dan Abnett, especially the Gaunts Ghost series including the spin off stuff from the Sabbat crusade story arc, and the Inquisitor trilogies, Eisenhorn (though I am yet to read em, what I've heard about them tell me it's well worth it) and Ravenor. The Horus Heresy series is phenomenal, as is the Space Marine series, though this is more a collection of unrelated stories residing under one roof, so to speak. Really speaking, if you like Syfi or fantasy, the Black Library is well worth looking at.

As you might have guessed, I love my syfi and fantasy, so long as it's well written and thought out anyway ;-) I'm getting back into the old Star Wars EU books too at the moment, so that should be fun :-)

Love Terry Pratchett and is easily one of my favourites. When he died my girlfriend actually asked me if I was okay haha. He's brilliant though, especially given how good his writing was considering he'd been ill for years.

Black Library is also one of my favourites. They produce some quality books. Mainly go for the 40k stuff, but also been reading Horus Heresy books as well. Aaron Dembski-Bowden is probably my favourite author for them, he really manages to drag you into the characters and the story.

Just finished Ancillary Mercy, which was a great book. Was the final of a trilogy - the previous being Ancillary Justice & Ancillary Sword. I think this was actually my favourite of the three, but I liked all three books. A really cool sci-fi story and was quite unique.

History, current affairs and philosophy tend to take up most of my reading time.  I read the Times and the Financial Times every morning on the way to work, and the Economist now and again.  I read a lot of books about the late 18th and early 19th centuries, especially about the Napoleonic Wars and the British political scene at the time.

Fiction-wise, I've started to read "The Family Corleone".  It's set in the 1930s and is a prequel to the Godfather.  It's pretty cool so far!  After that I've got "Brideshead Revisited" and a book called "Grief is the Thing with Feathers" which a friend recommended to me.

J.R.R. Tolkien and Roald Dahl are my favourite authors, and I love the Harry Potter series.

Can't believe I didn't mention Roald Dahl. Best children's fiction writer there ever was. The Twits, Enormous Crocodile, BFG ... Loved them all.

I've been rereading a lot of my books again.
Can't go wrong with the Potter books however the Dresden Files have me sucked in again. I'm really picky on what I read so it takes forever for someone to convince me to try a new author. Some other ones I love are anything by Anne Rice. I stoked that she's writing a new Lestat book again. I've been eager for a new one since Prince Lestat. Also like the Spooks Aprentice series, the Dexter books, the Sookie Stakhouse Series, all of Gregory Maguire, Terry Pratchett, and of course wrestling (auto)biographies.

True, can't go wrong with Potter. I'm one and a half books behind on the Mercy Thompson series with a new one on the way. Yes, they look schlocky from the covers and when you hear it's got vampires bells go off in your head but sincerely, it's a great series - good story, strong characters, decent fantasy themes with action, humor, romance... folks should try it out. I've heard in the past that a movie was in the works (hasn't come to fruition) - ugh. This is a very easy series to screw up on film.

Oh, also, if you like steampunk then the Ministry of Peculiar Occurrences novels are highly entertaining and charming.

Last edited by Pilgrim Paige (Fri-11-Mar-2016 19:15:00)

I've been listening to Harry Potter audio books, read by Stephen Fry. Very entertaining, he's great at distinguishing all the characters with unique voices. Midway through Chamber of Secrets now.

Stephen Fry kicks ass, sounds like a good time.

Reading a cool book at the moment called Make Room! Make Room! by Harry Harrison. Was written in 1966, set in 1999 New York where the planets population has exploded and there's too many people per resource. Water is rationed, they run TV's off pedal power, and unless you're super rich, your life is practically living in the gutters.  Temperatures are rising due to the amount of people on Earth and pollution so it's all going to shit really.

The description - "When a ganster is murdered during a blistering heat wave, city cop Andy Rusch is under pressure to solve the crime, but also captivated by the victim's beautiful girlfriend. It is going to be difficult to catch a killer, let alone get the girl, in the crazy streets crammed full of people, and a world going into meltdown."

It's very different from what I usually read, but I figured why not spread my sci-fi needs out to a different kind of sci-fi. And I was lucky that my girlfriend wanted to buy me a book so decided to go with something different. It's interesting and good so far.

Dostoevsky "Crime and punishment"

Continuing my reading of old books, this time from the 50s. The Death of Grass.  An interesting apocalypse story where a virus that attacks grass really screws over the world - wheat, oats, etc are all grown on forms of grass. Not far in, but you'd assume that that would mean certain animals would die off since their food source is vanishing, and it's been made clear that the human population is going to be severely thinned by it.

I'm reading The Chronicles of Vladimir Tod, a darkyl comedic teen vampire novel. Soon, I'll begin my annual reading of Tangerine by Edward Bloor,  my all-time favorite novel. Got it when it came out in the '90s and still revisit it.

Just finished Wizards First Rule by Terry Goodkind. Probably the longest book I've read at around 800 pages. Brilliant book, if you're into fantasy and haven't read it then I would 100% recommend it. Had a load of surprises in it. You think you've got them all worked out as you go along and you get the whole "ha, I knew it"... but then there's also ones you get completely blindsided by in a proper "holy shit" kind of way.

I have the second book already, as I picked them both up for £2 each in a charity shop and can't wait to get started on the second.  I will read another book first though I think... I have so much that I want to read right now that I'm trying to get some order to it.

I'm currently working my way through War And Peace because… well I never had before. I'm also getting through the Safehold series by David Weber. The pacing is inconsistent at times, but without giving too much away, it is pretty neat to watch a society basically go from the Dark Ages to the Industrial Revolution in a couple books.

Just finished Wizards First Rule by Terry Goodkind. Probably the longest book I've read at around 800 pages. Brilliant book, if you're into fantasy and haven't read it then I would 100% recommend it. Had a load of surprises in it. You think you've got them all worked out as you go along and you get the whole "ha, I knew it"... but then there's also ones you get completely blindsided by in a proper "holy shit" kind of way.

I have the second book already, as I picked them both up for £2 each in a charity shop and can't wait to get started on the second.  I will read another book first though I think... I have so much that I want to read right now that I'm trying to get some order to it.

I just started this yesterday! 🙂

Just finished Wizards First Rule by Terry Goodkind. Probably the longest book I've read at around 800 pages. Brilliant book, if you're into fantasy and haven't read it then I would 100% recommend it. Had a load of surprises in it. You think you've got them all worked out as you go along and you get the whole "ha, I knew it"... but then there's also ones you get completely blindsided by in a proper "holy shit" kind of way.

I have the second book already, as I picked them both up for £2 each in a charity shop and can't wait to get started on the second.  I will read another book first though I think... I have so much that I want to read right now that I'm trying to get some order to it.

I just started this yesterday! 🙂

Awesome. Hope you enjoy it. I really did think it was a brilliant book.

Been reading two books. One more so than the other.

The one I have been addicted to is Memoirs of A Geisha. I didn't expect to like this book at all or even get to the point where I couldn't put it down. Now I can't put it down. Its turning out to be one of the best books I've ever read.

The other one is Mr. Buchanan's Administration on the Eve of the Rebellion. This is basically James Buchanan, who was the president before Abraham Lincoln, defending his presidency. Its really dry and I can only read so much at a time. But its interesting never the less. The way they talk about slavery is crazy now days.

I finished Memoirs of a Geisha, must say it is one of the best books I've ever read. Now I have started a new book called The Book Thief by Markus Zusak, so far it is pretty interesting.  Here is a description of the book.

The Book Thief centers on the life of Liesel Meminger, a ten to fourteen-year-old in Germany during World War II. Liesel's experiences are narrated by Death, who describes both the beauty and destruction of life in this era.

I finished Memoirs of a Geisha, must say it is one of the best books I've ever read. Now I have started a new book called The Book Thief by Markus Zusak, so far it is pretty interesting.  Here is a description of the book.

The Book Thief centers on the life of Liesel Meminger, a ten to fourteen-year-old in Germany during World War II. Liesel's experiences are narrated by Death, who describes both the beauty and destruction of life in this era.

Lemme know how that is. I've been curious about it for a while, but haven't gotten around to giving it a shot.

Just finished The Medusa Chronicles which is a sequel to an Arthur C Clarke short story called A Meeting With Medusa. Basically, the Medusa are really cool sounding aliens that swim in the atmosphere of Jupiter. Follows on from the short story, using the main character and takes the story a lot further including robots that gain sentience and decide that the solar system is theirs for the way humanity treated them before hand. The parts with the Medusa are usually the best parts of the book tho.

Now moving onto the Hobbit because for some reason I've never read the book, despite owning it most of my life.