What are we reading?

[Gusington]

ha

[GDS_Starfury]

going through House Of Steel, an Honorverse companion book.  pretty good so far.  the first half is a stand alone story which is interesting if your into the series.  the rest of the book is a history and tech guide of the story's universe.

[Martok]

I finished Tolkien's Book of Lost Tales Vol. 1 last night.  I'm going to call it a thumbs down.  I think, if you're into that kind of stuff, it would be best to just stick with the Silmirillion.  BoLT is basically just early drafts of the stories in Silm and a whole bunch of exposition by Tolkien's son. 

If you are super into Tolkien and really want to see the genesis of Silm then maybe it's worth it.

Overall I don't feel compelled to dive right into Vol. 2.

Thanks for the mini-review Toonces.  While I've had a lifelong fascination/love for the Tolkien-verse (well, for almost the last two decades, at any rate), I've never been certain whether or not I wanted to check out the Lost Tales.  From your description, I'm probably better off passing on it; while I enjoy certain aspects of world-building, this sounds like it would be too dry/dull for my tastes. 

going through House Of Steel, an Honorverse companion book.  pretty good so far.  the first half is a stand alone story which is interesting if your into the series.  the rest of the book is a history and tech guide of the story's universe.

I've had a couple other people say they've enjoyed this one as well.  It takes place earlier on in Manticore's history, yes? 

[GDS_Starfury]

it starts 50 years or so before the series story.

[bob48]

'Bitter Victory' is proving to be a most interesting read so far.

[GDS_Starfury]

the story of Mirth's sex life?

[bob48]

the story of Mirth's sex life?

...volume 16

[JasonPratt]

Not-incidentally, my Dad finished the WoT series a few days ago, and now is looking for something else, this time in epic science-fiction.

Being an old Navy guy, I thought he might like the Honor Harrington series -- which some fans happen to be discussing right now again in this thread! I SHALL TAKE THIS AS A SIGN!  :D

Recommendations on where he should start (to see if he likes it) and proceed (in case he does)?

Edited to add: they'll have to be Kindle, though. Or not heavy books -- he's decided to heck with large physical books anymore.  ::)

[GDS_Starfury]

the first 2 books in the HH series are free on kindle.  and he needs to state with Basilisk Station.

[GDS_Starfury]

http://www.amazon.com/Basilisk-Station-Honor-Harrington-Book-ebook/dp/B00ARPJBS0/ref=sr_1_1?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1402453529&sr=1-1&keywords=honor+harrington+in+order

[GDS_Starfury]

the whole series in order:

http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_ss_c_4_4?url=search-alias%3Ddigital-text&field-keywords=honor+harrington+in+order&sprefix=hono%2Cnull%2C200

[Greybriar]

I am about to start reading Stalin: The First In-Depth Biography Based on Explosive New Documents from Russia's Secret Archives by Ėdvard Radzinskiĭ.

[JasonPratt]

I am about to start reading Stalin: The First In-Depth Biography Based on Explosive New Documents from Russia's Secret Archives by Ėdvard Radzinskiĭ.

Sounds like the documentary Russia's War: Blood on the Snow.


Also, thanks Star!

[JasonPratt]

the first 2 books in the HH series are free on kindle.  and he needs to state with Basilisk Station.

I'm seeing only the first book for free, but that's okay.  :) He'll be able to tell from that whether he likes the concept and execution or not.

[JasonPratt]

Incidentally, I asked this in another thread as well, but if I wanted to start him on WH40K on Kindle (if that's even possible), what would fans recommend?