Book Recommendations

[LittleLebowski]

I can't tell you how disappointed I've been that book three of the trilogy, "The Mirror and the Light" is still not yet available. Sigh.

Cromwell deserves to have his story completed.

I can’t wait.

[LittleLebowski]

If you find me on goodreads you’ll see I read and have a very broad range of stuff (what I have on there is by no means complete), but I do enjoy sci fi a great deal and read a lot of it, for its ability to take issues from today and cast them in interesting lights, to illustrate other ways of being and looking at things, etc.

I’ll gratefully entertain any suggestions you have. That’s what’s good about this thread, which I make an exception for in terms of the general forum. I’ve found some good books here, made some suggestions others have appreciated, even met an author through here.

Uno mas from my Top Five:

Use of Weapons

[Medusa]

Ok cool, thanks. I’ve suggested some of my faves earlier in the thread.

Doubtful I’ll read about intrigue in Henry VIII’s court until I’ve literally run out of other stuff to read. The sci fi suggestions I’ll take under advisement - I put Banks’ Consider Phlebas on hold and will see what I think of it. Library doesn’t have Cloak of Aesir but I may come across it sometime.

I grabbed Kloos’ Terms of Enlistment from kindle unlimited. Of note, it comes with audible narration. That’s my favorite way to read - switch between listening and reading during the day. Cover a lot ground that way.

[Lester Polfus]

Y'all ever read John Twelve Hawks Fourth Realm Trilogy?

[Cheap Shot]

I started reading The Terminal List by Jack Carr and so far am liking it. Similar to Vince Flynn, Brad Thor type thrillers but darker.

Read your post yesterday and reserved Terminal List at my local library. Coincidentally, later in the day I noticed the author is on Jocko's latest podcast. http://jockopodcast.com. (#183)

On a side note, I can't recommend Jocko's podcast highly enough. He'll review a book and in many cases interview the author every week.

[Drang]

So, a "blast from the past" post at Military History Now (Operation Downfall - The Campaign to Conquer Japan Would Have Dwarfed the D-Day Landings - MilitaryHistoryNow.com) reminded of two more out of print books I highly recommend:
Death Is Lighter than a Feather by David Westheimer and The Burning Mountain: A Novel of the Invasion of Japan by Alfred Coppel.
The first is a novelization, as it were, of Operation Olympic, the planned invasion of Kyushu, and the second carries the story into Operation Coronet, the planned invasion of Honshu.

[BehindBlueI's]

Cromwell deserves to have his story completed.

I guess that's one of the big reasons I just couldn't get into the book like many here have. I know how his story is completed, and as such just can't get invested in him. I had the same experience trying to watch Game of Thrones after reading the books.

[blues]

I guess that's one of the big reasons I just couldn't get into the book like many here have. I know how his story is completed, and as such just can't get invested in him. I had the same experience trying to watch Game of Thrones after reading the books.

Well, I know Cromwell's story and ending as well, but this is literature, and good literature compared to what passes for it these days, imho. (With rare but happy exceptions.)

[SeriousStudent]

So, a "blast from the past" post at Military History Now (Operation Downfall - The Campaign to Conquer Japan Would Have Dwarfed the D-Day Landings - MilitaryHistoryNow.com) reminded of two more out of print books I highly recommend:
Death Is Lighter than a Feather by David Westheimer and The Burning Mountain: A Novel of the Invasion of Japan by Alfred Coppel.
The first is a novelization, as it were, of Operation Olympic, the planned invasion of Kyushu, and the second carries the story into Operation Coronet, the planned invasion of Honshu.

I have read both of those, they are excellent.

[BehindBlueI's]

Well, I know Cromwell's story and ending as well, but this is literature, and good literature compared to what passes for it these days, imho. (With rare but happy exceptions.)

I know I'm apparently in the minority, I just didn't care for it. I couldn't get invested in the characters nor did I find any of them particularly sympathetic. The themes of the narrative don't resonate for me. Ruthless pursuit of ladder climbing, the Icarus rise/fall, they aren't the types of plots I am usually drawn to. If there's to be ruthless ladder climbing, I want a Count of Monte Cristo. I want some external motivation and some clear goal. I want the ladder climbing to be about more than ladder climbing. So, I could not rely on sympathy for characters or themes to draw me in.

Given that I'm reasonably familiar with the base non-fiction source I didn't have any sense of suspense or feel pulled through the narrative. There was no tension, nothing to make me turn the page because I just had to know what happened next.

I'm not saying it's a bad book or you're wrong to enjoy it. I'm just saying that I found it a slog due to those factors. The writing itself is good. It just wasn't enough to make reading it seem like diversion instead of work to me.