Summer Reading Thread

[Soups]

"The Dog Stars" by Peter Heller

Pretty decent post-apocalyptic page turner set on the Front Range and Western Slope.

[babybear]

ooh the Dog Stars- good to hear. I have that up next on my kindle but I've been reading the Path between the Seas by David McCullough .....all summer long. It's so hard to tell when a book is really long on the kindle until I had been reading it for a month and realized I was only like 40% through it
Good read about the building of the Panama canal over the 30 or so yr period
Looking fwd to a little fiction after my history overload this summer

[Soups]

ooh the Dog Stars- good to hear. I have that up next on my kindle but I've been reading the Path between the Seas by David McCullough .....all summer long.

Well I ended up finishing it in two evenings, so that will be a nice break for you.

The writing style starts out awful with fragmented sentences but seemed to get better after the first chapter. So stick with it.

[NoPostholio]

Dog stars is great read

[babybear]

Well I ended up finishing it in two evenings, so that will be a nice break for you.

The writing style starts out awful with fragmented sentences but seemed to get better after the first chapter. So stick with it.

cool thanks - I am a book quitter when they don't appeal to me right away so gracias for the heads up

[warthog]

Carl Hiaasen's books are great summer reading material. Super quick reading that involves a good mix of humor, violence, drugs and sex. The books plots are mostly centered around the ecological destruction of Florida and the rampant corruption that comes along with it. Haven't read one that I didn't like...

This might have already been mentioned, but there are several really good authors in this "genre" of Florida detective/environmentalist/humour.

Tim Dorsey is awesome.
http://timdorsey.com/books.html

Randy Wayne White is my favorite.
http://www.randywaynewhite.com/doc-ford-novels.php

If you start on Randy Wayne White, get his early Doc Ford stuff first. It gets darker and weirder later on.

[NoPostholio]

The Martian, by Andy Weir

Brit called it a year+ ago on a great book - well here we are two weeks out and the early word is that it is a great flick. Start a thread for the martian alone brit -

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/...b042295e3688e5

http://www.techinsider.io/the-martia...i-movie-2015-8

[hooked]

The Martian was a good read; looking forward to seeing the movie.

Just starting FlashForward now and have never watched any of the TV series. I can read before watching but not the other way around.

[Grange]

I read the book last week after repeated suggestions from my brother-in-law that it was a good book. He got it on Amazon, when it was $0.99. I've got to admit it was a great read and wish I would have listened to him earlier.

[snapt]

About half way through Top Dog which I snagged in the airport on a whim this weekend.
http://www.amazon.com/Top-Dog-Story-.../dp/0525954368

So far a great read about bond between men and their working dogs at war. Moments of humanity interjected with heartbreak.

[biggins]

Finally read 'Station Eleven' after staring at it on my nightstand for months. Achingly beautiful and pretty thrilling overall. Cannot recommend it highly enough. Also read 'Crazy Rich Asians' sometime ago- good fun if you like culturally rich chic-lit.

[Danno]

Because I read a lot for my job, I haven't read an actual book in god knows how long. And that's wrong. I want to get back into reading books, both because I know it's good to do and because I want to model that behavior for my daughter (4 1/2). Plus I have a long bus commute every day that could be better spent than fucking around on my phone. But it's daunting; I have tried on occasion and just can't keep it up. But I figure once I am back in the groove, it will be easier. So here's what I need:

I need first and foremost a novel that grabs you right from the very beginning. I mean RIGHT from the very beginning. I may only read 15 pages on the bus, and I need those 15 pages to make me want to read the next 15 to find out what happens. I need it to be interesting, but not super heavy, a lighter read. But not complete fluff, it has to at least make me think a little.

Any suggestions?

[Two06]

Kryon books by Lee Carroll

[babybear]

Hey Danno- you say novel so does it need to be fiction? bc I have read some excellent non-fictions lately

and fwiw I can't really read fiction anymore unless it's like the best book in the world. Just doesn't interest me anymore to read about made-up stuff- so maybe trying some non-fiction might help you get back into reading?

Here's a few of my summer favs- Currently reading "Natural born Heroes" by Chris McDougall which I am plowing through and loving. (This is the same author who wrote "born to run"- also really good)

Rust- The Longest war is way better than it sounds. About corrosion and wound around stories of the people that combat/ mitigate corrosion on the AK pipeline, in soda cans etc. Really engrossing
Also I have been on a Mark Kulansky kick - "Salt" was awesome. Also liked "Cod" (some overlap with salt though and I liked salt better) The Big Oyster about NYC history and also 1968 was so so good.

Hope you find one you like!

[patxi]

Brit called it a year+ ago on a great book - well here we are two weeks out and the early word is that it is a great flick. Start a thread for the martian alone brit -

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/...b042295e3688e5

http://www.techinsider.io/the-martia...i-movie-2015-8

I have to say that "The Martian" was a shit book but a great screenplay. Looking forward to the movie.

[NoPostholio]

I need first and foremost a novel that grabs you right from the very beginning. I mean RIGHT from the very beginning.

If you like science fiction, although firmly based in understandable science, ala the Martian, hands down read seveneves. I am not giving much away as it happens in the first sentence of the book, but a catastrophic thing happens to the earth, and the book never let's you down for 1200 pages.

[babybear]

I have to say that "The Martian" was a shit book but a great screenplay. Looking forward to the movie.

the trailer with Jimi singing All along the watch Tower makes me want to see it

[patxi]

Also I have been on a Mark Kulansky kick - "Salt" was awesome. Also liked "Cod" (some overlap with salt though and I liked salt better) The Big Oyster about NYC history and also 1968 was so so good.

I finally finished Salt last night. Good read. Many years ago I also read "The Basque History of the World" that I think started him off on the "Cod"/"Salt" kick. I'll give 1968 a go next.

I'm not a climber but my mom gave me a copy of "The Tower" by Kelly Cordes about climbing controversy on Cerro Torre in Patagonia. The flow wasn't great but the story is definitely intriguing.

[babybear]

I wanted to read the basque book but it's not available on the kindle

Holy moly the martian is 1200 pages long?!

[NoPostholio]

Seveneves is 1200 pages as it seems most his books are

[Buster Highmen]

I need first and foremost a novel that grabs you right from the very beginning. I mean RIGHT from the very beginning.
Any suggestions?

Different people are grabbed by different things and I have no idea what you might find grabbing.

One option is to do a google or Amazon first pages read of the following and see if they grab you.
"The Metamorphosis" or "The Trial" by Kafka.
The Alexandria Quartet by L. Durrell
"Bitter Lemons" by Durrell
"The Defence" or "Invitation to a Beheading" by Nabokov
"Tlon Uqbar" in Short Stories by Borges
"Up the Walls of the World" by James Tiptree
"Foundation" by Asimov
"Another Roadside Attraction" by Tom Robbins
"Jurgen" by James Branch Cabell
"All The Pretty Horses" by McCarthy
"The 13 1/2 Lives of Captain Bluebear" by Walter Moers

[up an down]

Because I read a lot for my job, I haven't read an actual book in god knows how long. And that's wrong. I want to get back into reading books, both because I know it's good to do and because I want to model that behavior for my daughter (4 1/2). Plus I have a long bus commute every day that could be better spent than fucking around on my phone. But it's daunting; I have tried on occasion and just can't keep it up. But I figure once I am back in the groove, it will be easier. So here's what I need:

I need first and foremost a novel that grabs you right from the very beginning. I mean RIGHT from the very beginning. I may only read 15 pages on the bus, and I need those 15 pages to make me want to read the next 15 to find out what happens. I need it to be interesting, but not super heavy, a lighter read. But not complete fluff, it has to at least make me think a little.

Any suggestions?

" The Idiot" by Dostoevsky.. more than 1 translation in print but no suggestions about which stands out..... and don't bother reading the martian.. boring and predictable book... the author is a great engineer/scientist.. not a great writer.. should make a good film though, since it is easy to cut scenes from a dull book and make a decent movie

[zartagen]

Read about 6 great books in a row off this thread - along the lines of station eleven and the martian, I just finished wool and imo was as good as them both - as long as you dig the post apocalypse stuff.

http://www.amazon.com/Wool-Hugh-Howey/dp/1476733953

Just finished the part 1 of wool. It's an excellent short story on its own, looking forward to the rest. Thanks!

[Mikey]

Ready Player One is the best book i've read this year by quite some margin. Anyone else read it?

Wool - wasn't such a fan myself, i think i need to take a break from post-apocolyptic stuff.

@Dano - you want quick hooks, look at young adult fiction. Something happens every chapter and you tend to get really sucked in. The Divergent Trilogy are decent, and honestly Harry Potter is the fucking shit.

[PNWbrit]

Really, really good.