The Book Rack - Read Anything Good Lately?

I figured this would be a great place to share some of the books we've all read and to learn about what hidden gems might be out there.

Currently I'm reading the Dresdan Files by Jim Butcher and they are pretty amazing. I'm on book #10 right now (Small Favor) and simply can't stop reading. I'm going to be so disappointed when I catch up. I think there are only 15 in the series.

It's not exactly WoD-esque, but it does have vampires, supernatural creatures, and a lot of supernatural and magic things all rolled into a smart ass Sherlock Holmes type. Definitely great reads.

Some of the past stuff I loved:

1. Dan Brown books - except for the Lost Symbol... that was so horrible..
2. Brian Keene books - Dark Hallow is amazing! Probably my overall favorite book. Keene has been billed as the next coming of Stephen King, although I don't find him nearly as dry or boring as King.
3. Sword of Truth series by Terry Goodkind. Another LONG series, I think it's also around 15 books. They are very well written although I still haven't finished them. I need to circle back around one day and do that.

Have you had a chance to pick up the A Song of Ice and Fire series by George R. R. Martin? It's not of the supernatural genre, but it is so bloody good.

Some of my favorite adventure books are actually teen books too; Deltora Quest, Rowan of Rin, The Demonata.

Also a big fan of the Ancient Future series and Armageddon's Children.

If you want a really good read that's not usually fantasy - pick up a Dean Koontz book, he is one of my absolute favorite writers.

Oh I forgot to mention RR Martin's books. Love them, and the series!

Funny that you mention Koontz too. I have a bunch of his books that are on my shelf to read. I have a bookcase with about 300 books and I've only read like 100, so I have plenty of reading to do.

If you like Koontz check our Brian Keene. I really like his stuff

I read a lot, especially with my new job where there is a  lot of sitting around, waiting for people to get back to you.

I am currently reading the Emberverse series by S. M. Stirling. The basic premise is that all the high density energy sources stop working one day in 1998. That means no more electricity, guns, explosives, combustion engines, steam engines, jet engines, nuclear or solar power. The vast majority of humanity dies off in the first year, and people scramble to survive and form new societies.

Its very well written and you can see Stirling did a ton of research  when writing the books. My favorite  aspect is that there is nothing else magical once everything stops working.  Nothing gets 'hand waved' away, and it gets pretty brutal at stages.

Other than than I just finished reading the servants of Mars series, which is a series set in w40k.

Most recently I've finished the Blood Angels Omnibus -set in the Warhammer 40k setting. 40k is probably my single favorite setting of any kind. The Lore of 40k is just so deep and rich and fantastically brutal. It's full of pride in the achievements of men and despair at their lack of progress. It's just beautiful, really.

I read like 4 books simultaneously because I'm weird. So I'm also reading:

I, Jedi -again. One of my favorite stand alones in the EU

Ender's Game -somehow I've gone this long and never read it before.

H.P.Lovecraft Anthology -I'm about 3/4 through a decent sized anthology of Lovecraft. It's so good. Some of it is a re-read but totally worth it.

I, Jedi was good...but tell me you've read the Thrawn Trilogy? Those are hands down the best SW books i'Ve reads without a doubt!

Well, obviously the Thrawn Trilogy and the Hand of Thrawn duology are the most well written of the EU, hands down. Timothy Zahn blew it out of the water with those.

I think Disney is fucking up so bad by disbanding the existing EU and making their own. There's another 4 movies in just Thrawn, and then they had the New Jedi Order series that would make for some AWESOME action/space opera. And then the Legacy of the Force series where we could watch the inevitable fall of some of our favorite hero's and I'm mean, who doesn't want to see the end all be all fight between Jacen and Jaina Solo?

I could keep blathering about this for PAGES...so I'll stop while you might still be reading.

I'm mixed on Disney taking over actually.

There's zero doubt the Thrawn Trilogy alone would have been epic and made tons of money. Absolutely.

But then there was Lucas who had all his money and, despite all the fans begging for more, he swore he wouldn't make any more movies. He was done, had his money, screw the fans.

If Disney hadn't have stepped in and snapped it up there wouldn't be any more movies.

Plus with the work they've done on the Marvel movies and the Pirates of the Carribean, I think they could do a good job. Couple that with the fact they promised one movie per year after the ball gets rolling and I'm excited to see where it goes.

Having said that...I do hope we get to see Thrawn some day

Don't get me wrong, I actually have a lot of faith in Disney/Abrams to knock out some good quality entertainment with the Star Wars franchise.

I just think it was asinine that they straight up abandoned all that source material in the EU that they had access and rights to, simply because they'd have to split the profit margin with the authors/publishers of the books they used.

There was so many pre-sold movie options in the EU. Thrawn obviously chief among them.

Even if they just used the first and last books of the New Jedi Order they'd still get all the fans out to watch it, just to see if they really killed Chewbacca and to watch the fall of Coruscant.

Not to mention to potential spin offs available with things like the Rogue Squadron and Wraith Squadron series. God, you could start a second entire franchise off the badasses of Rogue and Wraith Squadrons. I would pay damn good money to see those EPIC dogfights and space battles and watch Wedge Antilles show us all how you get shit done.

@Henry
Didn't mean to leave you out, Henry! I haven't heard of the Emberverse series before, but it sounds interesting and I'll definitely have to check it out.

Yet another few books to add to my pile of 'To Read'. Argh! I really wish I was a speed reader sometimes! Although then I wouldn't enjoy the good books for as long....


@Farris
That would be awesome! Rogue and Wraith Squadrons would be pretty interesting. So would some kind of focus on an Imperial group. Either TIE fighters or a ground garrison maybe. Or following the exploits of a single Star Destroyer in the wars. That could be a spinoff of its own as well.

http://www.goodreads.com/series/100214-pax-arcana

I've already raved about Charming on the chatango widget, but this thread looks totally appropriate to do so again. Finding it to provide a link showed me that there's even more books in the series, which is terribly exciting because of how promising the first book left future developments. It does a fantastic job balancing humor, action, romance, a touch of mystery, and supernatural lore. One of my favorite things about the writing is that the author tells the story from the main character's perspective, and so will provide all the details the character is noticing before finally coming out and stating the character's conclusion, which gives the reader to chance to piece the information together first. "Nordic name, stunning Northern-European woman, fights with a spear... speaks to the dead. Must be a Valkyrie!"

The Dresden files are awesome. I got really addicted and read 13 books in two months. Great stuff.

George R.R. Martin is just brilliant. So is the Star Wars stuff. The Revan books are great and if you haven't read the Bane Trilogy please pick it up. Best books from the Sith Point of View.

@ Henry
Emberverse series by S. M. Stirling sounds brilliant I'm going to have to give that a read. I love the end of the world survival stuff.

If you guys have read the the Deed of Paksenarrion by Elizabeth Moon. Really great series with a female protagonist.

How has no one mentioned Dune. You either read just the first book as a stand alone, which is awesome, or the who series which gets quite odd. It's one of what people point to wheno they say sci-fi and fantasy are the same genre. I Highly recommend it.

I second the recommendation already given for the Dresden files. Rather than giving more praise to the books though, I'll just add that in one of the short stories in Side Jobs, Harry totally stumbles into the middle of a Vampire LARP. You know, just in case people needed MORE of a reason to pick up the series.

I've recently started making my way through the Black Company series by Glen Cook after finishing the first omnibus. Its great military fantasy littered with gray and gray morality.

Black Company? Is it realistic or scifi/fantasy?

You made me remember another great book I enjoyed: Red Storm Rising by Tom Clancy. A lot of his books go too heavy into military detail and it turns people off, but this one doesn't do that too much in my opinion.

Black Company was legit. Dresden Files is pretty ok. Been rereading Wheel of Time and SoI&F. If you don't mind somewhat off the wall religious-y stuff, I recommend A Canticle for Leibowitz, and if you LOVE being heretical, check out Lamb.

@Tyler Bishop
I would describe Black Company to be both fantasy and realistic. It has several of the standard fantasy tropes (a prophesy about a chosen one, an evil overlord to overthrow, powerful wizards) but plays with them in a very realistic fashion.

^ That

Definitely going to put that on my list then! Thanks guys. THIS is exactly why I started this thread!

I just bought the first 3 Black Company books. Going to give them a read. Everyone is raving about them, sounds like something I would enjoy as well.