What are You Reading Right now?

It's Cline so the unoriginality is matched only by the corniness. Unlike "Ready Player One" he didn't even try to hide the fact that he's just listing off a bunch of movies/shows in hopes that we'll confuse our nostalgia for them as actual enjoyment of his work.

 

I'm a fan of Peter Harmsen's books on the Second Sino-Japanese War, and so far this has been no different. It's well written and easy to digest and covers the complicated history leading up to and during the war between Japan & China that would later become part of WW2. If this is a topic that interests anyone I highly recommend it.

 

I'm about to start the Thrawn Trilogy, but right now I'm rereading Batman: The Long Halloween. It's a great mystery that dives into different themes, recommended.

 

When to the comicbook store for the first time in months yesterday. Bought a new thing, and overdue thing, and an old friend I hadn't seen in years.
First on the list is the old friend:



Superman: Godfall is easily one of my top favorite Superman comics of all time. I let a friend borrow it once in high school and I hadn't seen it since. But my comicbook store had multiple copies, so I had to pick one up. It's not a good comic, but I like the world it's set in the re-telling of Superman it does. Trashy fun, but fun nonetheless.



Yes, yes it is. Young Justice Vol. 1: Gemworlds is the reboot/return of the titular heroes. They're back in a lighter version than what we've seen in quite a while, especially compared to the animated show and the aspects seen in Titans. It's really refreshing, and the series is solid so far. It's mindless fun with a nice throwback and some fun new characters. Bendis is doing a good job here, and I hope to pick up Naomi tomorrow.

The reason I picked it up was because of the return of Connor Kent. The reason I enjoyed it so much is because the friend who got ME into comics ADORED Young Justice growing up. That and Firestorm were his favorites, and he had Kingdom Come and the Amalgam comics too...we had a blast reading those. So when this came out, with Connor and Tim and Cass and Bart, I knew I had to pick it up. And I can't wait for Volume 2.

Lastly:



I meant to pick this up when Sanderson's Starsight came out, but I forgot until this past week. So I finally picked it up, and it did not disappoint. This is a nice fantasy-friendly Hero's Journey wrapped in a hard sci-fi world. It's a great blend of action and world-building, anchored by the emotions of Willa and the weightlessness of the world. It's FUN. And I look forward to the third (and potentially final) volume. Easily the best of the three.

 

I read this about 20 years ago, not long before the LOTR movies came out. In fact it was when I was in the middle of reading this that I heard some guy named Peter Jackson (though I had seen The Frighteners I had no idea who directed it) was shooting a LOTR trilogy. I remember thinking "I won't have to read those LOTR books now". I'm more into sci-fi than sword & sorcery so I never got around to actually reading them, especially after I mistakenly tried to read the Simarillion because I thought it was a stand-alone book only to wind up thoroughly confused. I liked the movies OK though and after years on my to-read list (and some prodding from my gf who is a HUGE Tolkien nerd) I finally decided to read the series. Since it had been so long I decided I needed to re-read The Hobbit to kick things off. I'm enjoying it much more at 39 than 19, I think the old-school writing style made it kind of a difficult and slightly boring read back then. I'm more well-read now, what little personal reading I had done mostly consisted of Star Wars EU and Stephen King novels. Plus I have the benefit of understanding the Tolkien canon much better, thanks to the films I have some context. When I first read it I didn't really understand what Middle Earth was like or where/when it was.

 

In addition to The Hobbit I'm also reading this book I got as a Christmas gift...



The blurb from Tom Hanks was almost reason enough to make me want to read it but also I'm a big fan of a the film (the sequel was watchable) and I've read the book series as well as the 2 Clarke short stories used as a jumping off point for the film/novel. However I didn't know much about the making of the movie (what few bits I knew were very interesting) or Kubrick/Clarke in general even though I love their stuff, so I was pretty excited to get it. It started off a little slow as Clarke/Kubrick arranged a meeting, developed an idea, negotiated and all that. Now that it's getting into the actual filming and explaining how they did all the effects I'm really enjoying it.

 

Rereading, IMO, one of the Top 5 WWII military historical battle books ever written. Sheesh this needs to be a movie!

The USS Samuel B. Roberts was a US Destroyer Escort (yes a ship smaller than a destroyer) that went toe to toe with Japanese heavy cruisers and battleships at the Battle of Leyte Gulf in 1944.

 

In addition to my Middle Earth reading (I just finished Fellowship and started Two Towers) I'm wrapping this up...



This is one of the better Star Trek books I've read but it's worth pointing out that I've had bad luck with Trek books and usually stumble across the most notoriously awful. This one has been pretty entertaining although it doesn't really pull off feeling like it was written by Kirk or even that it's a bio of any sort. It reads more like a novel written in the first person than a mock-autobiography but it also makes for a strange novel since it jumps around so much and so often in an attempt to fit in all the events fans want to see from their favorite episodes. When they do stop to focus on something at length it is kind of odd what they choose, for instance the longest that "Kirk" dwelt on any event/subject so far has been the events surround Star Trek: The Motion Picture. Was anybody really clamoring for that? And in the end it didn't really add anything or provide any new insight into the movie (though when dealing with other events the books has been good about that actually) and just sort of summarized what happened. The one thing that really threw me for a loop was a footnote saying that one character (I forget who, some lady from one of the episodes and not a regular cast member) disappeared on the USS Vengeance. This is classic timeline though, not the Kelvin timeline, not only does that ship not exist but it wouldn't make sense for it to exist here. It would be weird for old-school Starfleet to even have a different ship with THAT name. I was like, "well I guess for some weird reason they went and made it canon in the original timeline" but according to Memory Alpha it's still just Kelvin-only. So far its the only reference to the new films and I can understand the author wanting to do something to tie them together but that was a pretty strange way to try.

 

That's bizarre. Are you sure it wasn't the ISS Vengeance? Maybe in the mirror universe?

I just finished listening to The Last Battle (Chronicles of Narnia) audiobook read by Patrick Stewart! Was very good. I'm about to start listening to the first Oz book by L. Frank Baum on my way home from work today. You can get them all for free through a service called Hoopla, as long as you have a library card. There are 14 books and it's over 70 hours. Will probably take me two, maybe three months to listen to them all.

 

No, because it's talking about a character in the regular universe/timeline in Kirk's mock autobiography. Here's what it says: "Janet Lebow became Janet Wallace after marrying Dr. Theodore Wallace, also an endocrinologist, several decades her senior. They were only married a few years before he passed away. She continued her distinguished career until 2283, when she was on a mission aboard the U.S.S. Vengeance , which disappeared with all hands."

 

Apparently, in books, Vengeance is a name for multiple Federation ships in the prime universe:

https://memory-beta.fandom.com/wiki/USS_Vengeance_(NCC-26229)

 

Well only 2 of those are Federation/Prime ships and they aren't from books but rather a video game from 20 years ago and the other from a 1985 RPG manual. I don't know but I'm guessing it's a reference to the more recent/popular films than either of those, it's possible the author was a fan of the video game but it's a reference that he would have to know would get confused with the Kelvin timeline. I dunno, kind of a weird move but it was such a throwaway line that it didn't matter much.

He does seem to use books for material quite a bit though, so I should probably have looked in Memory Beta too. For instance in the parts of the book that deal with ST II and III you can tell he was using the novelizations as a reference material. He mentions some events that were in the book and not in the movie.

 

The way this book handled Star Trek V was hilarious. The Enterprise returns to the planet from Bread And Circuses to find that in the years since they left they have become pop culture icons and the subject of books/films with Trekkies among the population wearing Starfleet uniforms and fake Vulcan ears. They go to the movies and watch The Final Frontier to see how bad the cultural contamination is but decide that the silly plot about going to meet God at the center of the galaxy makes it mostly harmless. So basically Star Trek V is fan fiction from planet 892-IV.

 

Whaaaaaaaaaaaaat?!?!?!?!?!? Seriously? I'm kinda ok with that....

 

One of the finest books I have ever read. Haven't visited it for a while, While the subject itself (military tactics) may seem hardcore, most of the topics are easily projected in other walks of life.

 

I FINALLY GOT MY HANDS ON IT! And for fans of Superman, I don't think this will disappoint. Naomi Season One, written and co-created by Brian Michael Bendis (writer of Ultimate Spider-Man, creator of Miles Morales, Jessica Jones, and others) is an origin story we've heard before, but updated for a modern time with a fun twist.

Naomi is a black girl adopted by white parents; and when Superman stops a villain in her sleepy town, she discovers a fire within her that spurs her on to find the truth, about herself and the world around her. There are laughs, twists, and tears along the way. And some of the answers aren't satisfying to our young heroine. But fortunately Naomi has a loving family, a good girlfriend*, and more than a few allies on her side. I found it familiar yet fresh, like coke with lime (or TFA), and definitely an enjoyable read that I'm ready to follow.

My only real complaint - which is more of a nitpick - is that all of those DC characters on the cover NEVER show up. I understand that it's a "welcome to the family" sort of thing, but I would have liked to see another hero or two! That being said, Naomi is scheduled to cross over to Young Justice fairly soon, so it's not too big of a deal.

I really hope Naomi gains a following and praise and rises through the ranks of forgotten sidekicks of DC past - particularly black ones. She's got a bright future ahead of her.




*there were terms of affection/pet names and hints to romance, but I'm also an oblivious dude, so what do I know.

 

I have something of a soft spot for that movie, or parts of it anyway, but it IS a mess so I understand the bad reputation. I also understand the author poking fun at it, having the characters joking about how there's a black hole at the center of the Milky Way so the plot was kind of ridiculous and some other jokes they made.

Anyway I finished it and recommend it as a fun read now I've started this...



It was the year they released Revolver, retired from touring to focus on recording and began Sgt. Pepper, so it should be an interesting book.

 

I've just started Bloodline and find it surprisingly hard to get into... Is this book a slow burn?

 

It's more subdued than Lost Stars and Master & Apprentice. I'd rank it below those, but above her other Leia book. Things do pick up, but they're not all action-packed.





Finished Scythe last week and Thunderhead five minutes ago. I liked both for separate reasons, and I see why they're so popular right now. In this era, everyone is immortal with a nigh omniscient and benevolent superintelligence called Thunderhead ruling them. Everyone but a certain group called Scythes. They "glean" people, meaning they legally kill people; and they aren't under the authority of Thunderhead. It's a tight balance, but it's worked for decades. Two youths are chosen as apprentices and their journey unites and divides them in some pretty interesting ways.

For fans of Lost Stars and Mistborn I recommend this book.

I have the third book out and ready to read, and I do need to read it before I tackle my February books (heck it's a miracle I even finished these two this month!), but...right now isn't the time. It feels weird to read a book about mortality and the nature of it right now. Appropriate yet insensitive. Maybe next week I'll be in a better mindset. But not tonight.

 

I remember a while back there was somebody reading all the Dune novels, so if they or anybody else that has read them is around I'd love some input. I read the first book about 20 years ago in anticipation of the Sci-Fi Channel mini-series that I thought looked pretty cool. I liked the book at the time but I was young with a short attention span, not much free time for reading and it was one of the longest books I'd ever read... so I wasn't going to get into the long series. In fact at the time just the idea of reading such a long series seemed comparable to climbing Mt. Everest. Anyways reading these Middle Earth books brings back a lot of memories of Dune, which was my first experience with that type of intricate world building, and I figured once I finished Tolkien I would stop putting off reading this series. My question is, should I read them all? I mean I already plan to read all of the books Frank Herbert wrote but how are all the continuation novels by his son? Normally my first instinct would be just to read the originals and move on but a few of those continuation novels (though I am judging by the title/cover) look kind of neat. If anybody has read those books I'd be curious to hear what they thought of them. The reviews don't look terrible.