Book Recommendations

[Coyotesfan97]

I may have already mentioned this but the "Iron Druid" series is a fun bit of light reading. It's another take on mythology meets modern world, and while not as well done as Neil Gaiman (IMO) it's in good enough territory for the cost of admittance. The real short version is the main character is the last remaining druid on the planet, and he's largely survived because he figured out a way to bind his aura to cold iron in a way that lets him still use his druid magic but makes other magic not touch him...and by lots of hiding. The old Irish pantheon plays in heavily, of course, but all the major pantheons and religions get some cameos. Pretty standard tropes for the genre, but the occasionally insightful look into the human condition, interesting characters with decent character development, and a lot of fast paced action make them worth the read.

That’s a series I need to reread.

[Gun Mutt]

...and while not as well done as Neil Gaiman...

I've really liked the handful of books I've read by NG. In a cruel twist of fate, Showtime is one of the few channels we don't receive one way or another; has anyone watched American Gods? Does it live up to the books?

[BehindBlueI's]

I've really liked the handful of books I've read by NG. In a cruel twist of fate, Showtime is one of the few channels we don't receive one way or another; has anyone watched American Gods? Does it live up to the books?

I've not watched it, but several of my friends have and they've had good things to say about it regardless of if they read the book or not.

I know I've mentioned it way up thread, but "Ocean at the End of the Lane" is excellent if that's not one you've picked up yet.

[Medusa]

To me, Gaiman, like Murakami, is very uneven. My spouse and I listened to American Gods on a 7,000 mile coast to coast road trip in an old car, and it was pretty perfect. I’ve listened to a few others that at times bordered on weak. She’s really wanting to see the tv adaptation of American Gods, I just hate having to pay for a “channel” we don’t otherwise want on prime.

I've really liked the handful of books I've read by NG. In a cruel twist of fate, Showtime is one of the few channels we don't receive one way or another; has anyone watched American Gods? Does it live up to the books?

[Wondering Beard]

To me, Gaiman, like Murakami, is very uneven. My spouse and I listened to American Gods on a 7,000 mile coast to coast road trip in an old car, and it was pretty perfect. I’ve listened to a few others that at times bordered on weak. She’s really wanting to see the tv adaptation of American Gods, I just hate having to pay for a “channel” we don’t otherwise want on prime.

I read the book a long time ago and frankly don't remember much about it other than it was really good. The show is excellent and make me feel like I don't even need to reread the book.

[Coyotesfan97]

American Gods is another book that needs to be reread.

[Gun Mutt]

Ironic timing; just got a link today from Tim Ferriss titled, Neil Gaiman -The Interview I've Waited 20 Years to Do

[Bigguy]

A Basque story. Stay away.I'm 31% into it. If I wasn't obligated to finish for a review, I drop it. We have an FBI agent who constantly pats his .45 MM pistol for comfort. The author obviously has a bug up his bum about some "Basque" racism. I'm just trying to get through it.

[Medusa]

I’m about halfway through “The Things They Carried,” a novel about the Vietnam war by Tim O’Brien. Certainly a worthy read.

I also finished Books 4 and 5 of the Hap and Leonard books by JR Lansdale. Solid reads with some laugh out loud moments.

Abandoned The Devil’s Guard by Elford. Neo nazi apologist garbage that also doesn’t seem very plausible from a military science standpoint. Maybe it gets better after the first 37 or 40 percent, but I cried uncle. Too many other good books to read.

[Coyotesfan97]

Close Quarters by Larry Heinemann. It’s fiction about a soldier named Phillip Dozier in a mechanized platoon with M113 ACAVs. It’s one of my favorite Vietnam novels. I still have the battered copy I bought at the ASU bookstore back in the late 80s and I have it on Kindle. I read it once a year. Here is the first paragraph:

Ugly Deadly Music.

I stood stiffly with my feet well apart, parade-rest fashion, at the break in the barbed-wire fence between the officers’ country tents and the battalion motor pool. My feet and legs itched with sweat. My shirt clung to my back. My shaving cuts burned. I watched, astonished, as the battalion Reconnaissance Platoon, thirty-some men and ten boxy squat-looking armored personnel carriers—tracks, we called them—cranked in from two months in the field, trailing a rank stink and stirring a cloud of dust that left a tingle in the air. One man slowly dismounted from each track and led it up the sloped path from the perimeter road, ground-guiding it, walking with a stumbling hangdog gait. Each man wore a sleeveless flak jacket hung with grenades, and baggy jungle trousers, the ones with large thigh pockets and drawstrings at the cuffs. The tracks followed behind like stupid, obedient draft horses, creaking and clacking along, and scraping over rocks hidden in the dust. There were sharp squeaks and irritating scratching noises, slow slack grindings, and the throttled rap of straight-pipe mufflers, all at once. And the talk, what there was, came shouted and snappy—easy obscenities and shit laughs. It was an ugly deadly music, the jerky bitter echoes of machines out of sync. A shudder went through me, as if someone were scratching his nails on a blackboard.