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whats on your to read pile?

valentinzukovskyvalentinzukovsky
edited January 2014 in General Discussion Posts: 503
Here's My To Read Pile . whats on yours?
Lee Child /The Affair/Never Go Back/ Tripwire/Persuader
Vince Flynn(RIP) The Last Man
John Gardner Death is forever, license to kill, icebreaker
John Williams - stoner
Robert Ludlum ,the Bourne Identity ,supremacy,ultimatum
James May- Car Fever
Richard Hammond - Or Is That Just Me?
U-Boat Hunter -Bryan Perret
Jeffery Deaver - Carte Blanche
William Boyd- Any Human Heart
Ian Fleming - gold finger, on her majesty's secret service, quantum of solace
Suzanne Collins-The Hunger Games
Robert Radcliffe-Dambuster
The World According To Clarkson - is It Really Too Much To Ask?
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Comments

  • LudovicoLudovico
    Posts: 15,125
    In my case the question should be what's not on it.
  • DragonpolDragonpol https://thebondologistblog.blogspot.com
    Posts: 18,281
    Ludovico wrote:
    In my case the question should be what's not on it.

    I know the feeling, bibliophile that I am.
  • Agent007391Agent007391 Up, Up, Down, Down, Left, Right, Left, Right, B, A, Start
    Posts: 7,854
    I have somewhere around 500 books that I've not yet read, so I'm well stocked for the coming EMPocalypse. At the moment, I'm finally delving into Stephen King's Dark Tower series, and I'm enjoying every second of it.
  • thelivingroyalethelivingroyale
    Posts: 12,837
    The Stand, Assassin's Creed Forsaken, Solo (the reviews put me off so I started reading the new Andy Mcnab book instead).
  • DragonpolDragonpol https://thebondologistblog.blogspot.com
    Posts: 18,281
    thelivingroyale wrote:
    The Stand, Assassin's Creed Forsaken, Solo (the reviews put me off so I started reading the new Andy Mcnab book instead).

    Interesting selection of books there and I'd imagine that you know a bit about the world Andy McNab writes about too, @thelivingroyale.
  • SaintMarkSaintMark
    Posts: 7,653
    A lot of David Baldacci, his Puller series, King and Maxwell series, the camel club series.
    Two Lisa Gardiner novels as advised to me since I do enjoy Tess Gerritsen books.
    One Richard Stark "Parker" novel
    And a batch of historybooks ranging from Egypt, Babylon, WOI, Venice, the British Isles, Willem van Oranje, Tutankhamen, Byzantium, Runcimans' Crusades, Jerusalem & Maureen O'Hara.
  • 4EverBonded4EverBonded the Ballrooms of Mars
    edited November 2013 Posts: 12,480
    I love Maureen O'Hara. :)
    I recently finished Baldacci's new one, The Hit. It was fine.

    But after reading I Am Pilgrim, I am now wanting a sequel to that impatiently.
    I am re-reading it, too. The writing is just so very good.
    Also re-reading Jac Weller's historical account (nonfiction) of Waterloo.
  • SaintMarkSaintMark
    Posts: 7,653
    I did find a place that had a large amount of Hardbacks that were cheap so I bought a load of them, a few 1st editions included as well.

    History books, especially hardcover, that tickle my fancy I always buy so I can read them later.
  • chrisisallchrisisall Brosnan Defender Of The Realm
    edited November 2013 Posts: 17,804
    The rest of Devil May Care, the Gardner Bonds, Timothy Zahn's first Star Wars trilogy, the Max McCoy Indy novels, Richard Matheson's Now You See It, some assorted Joe Haldeman sci-fi, the first three John Carter books.
    When SOLO & I Am Pilgrim come out in paperback, those too.
  • TheWizardOfIceTheWizardOfIce 'One of the Internet's more toxic individuals'
    edited November 2013 Posts: 9,117
    Going on a little jaunt for about 10 days to use up my spare holiday days (Mrs Wizard none to happy but what can I do if she will have a job with only a paltry 20 days holiday?) and will be taking in days Berlin, Helsinki, Tallinn and Vilnius.

    So as always when in Berlin I'll be taking TLD (you can't beat reading it at a bar or cafe near the Checkpoint Charlie museum followed by a midnight stroll along the reconstructed section of the death strip on Bernauer Street where you can indulge your 272 fantasies) and for Helsinki I guess I should give Icebreaker another crack as I recall the early chapters have quite a lot set in Helsinki.

    In addition I have the kindle loaded up with:

    'The God Delusion' - Dawkins (always fun)
    'The Man Without A Face: The Unlikely Rise of Vladimir Putin' - Masha Gessen (alas written before he made a fool of Obama in the Washington Post and was voted most powerful man in the world by Forbes)
    'Inverting The Pyramid: The History of Football Tactics' - Jonathon Wilson (supposed to be a pretty seminal work which I really should've read by now).
    'Operation Eichmann' - Zvi Aharoni (probably keep this one in my bag till I leave Germany as they're a bit funny about anything to do with Nazis).


    If Solo is down to a fiver or so at the airport then I might consider getting it. Emphasis on might though.
  • 00130013
    Posts: 1,817
    About 40 books of political science, international affairs, and history but I will not bore you with that.
    On the fiction pile, I have The Honorable Schoolboy, Smiley's People, Conversation in the Cathedral and The Lord of the Rings (I've read it in Spanish but I have always wanted to read it on the original language.)
    I also have a very interesting book on cryptography which I'm saving for the holidays.
  • Agent007391Agent007391 Up, Up, Down, Down, Left, Right, Left, Right, B, A, Start
    Posts: 7,854
    chrisisall wrote:
    The rest of Devil May Care,

    That book was depressingly bad.
    chrisisall wrote:
    the Gardner Bonds,

    Good set of them at the beginning, then degrading after that, though GoldenEye and COLD are both good.
    chrisisall wrote:
    Timothy Zahn's first Star Wars trilogy

    Then you should continue on with the rest of his Star Wars novels. He's the only EU author with any sort of quality consistency.
  • chrisisallchrisisall Brosnan Defender Of The Realm
    Posts: 17,804
    Agent007391 wrote:
    Then you should continue on with the rest of his Star Wars novels. He's the only EU author with any sort of quality consistency.

    Thanks for the tip!
  • Agent007391Agent007391 Up, Up, Down, Down, Left, Right, Left, Right, B, A, Start
    Posts: 7,854
    chrisisall wrote:
    Agent007391 wrote:
    Then you should continue on with the rest of his Star Wars novels. He's the only EU author with any sort of quality consistency.

    Thanks for the tip!

    Some people consider Allegiance to be disappointing, but I actually liked it. It had some good moments, despite the fact that Grand Admiral Thrawn wasn't in it. I still need to purchase and read Choices of One and Scoundrels.
  • brinkeguthriebrinkeguthrie Piz Gloria
    Posts: 1,400
    "Eminent Hipsters" by Donald Fagen, and the new Linda Ronstadt.
  • DragonpolDragonpol https://thebondologistblog.blogspot.com
    edited November 2013 Posts: 18,281
    TheWizardOfIce wrote:
    Going on a little jaunt for about 10 days to use up my spare holiday days (Mrs Wizard none to happy but what can I do if she will have a job with only a paltry 20 days holiday?) and will be taking in days Berlin, Helsinki, Tallinn and Vilnius.

    So as always when in Berlin I'll be taking TLD (you can't beat reading it at a bar or cafe near the Checkpoint Charlie museum followed by a midnight stroll along the reconstructed section of the death strip on Bernauer Street where you can indulge your 272 fantasies) and for Helsinki I guess I should give Icebreaker another crack as I recall the early chapters have quite a lot set in Helsinki.

    In addition I have the kindle loaded up with:

    'The God Delusion' - Dawkins (always fun)
    'The Man Without A Face: The Unlikely Rise of Vladimir Putin' - Masha Gessen (alas written before he made a fool of Obama in the Washington Post and was voted most powerful man in the world by Forbes)
    'Inverting The Pyramid: The History of Football Tactics' - Jonathon Wilson (supposed to be a pretty seminal work which I really should've read by now).
    'Operation Eichmann' - Zvi Aharoni (probably keep this one in my bag till I leave Germany as they're a bit funny about anything to do with Nazis).


    If Solo is down to a fiver or so at the airport then I might consider getting it. Emphasis on might though.

    What, you reading a John Gardner Bond novel, Ice. Did I read that right?! You really need to re-read his Never Send Flowers again before you write it off so damningly!
  • TheWizardOfIceTheWizardOfIce 'One of the Internet's more toxic individuals'
    edited November 2013 Posts: 9,117
    Dragonpol wrote:
    TheWizardOfIce wrote:
    Going on a little jaunt for about 10 days to use up my spare holiday days (Mrs Wizard none to happy but what can I do if she will have a job with only a paltry 20 days holiday?) and will be taking in days Berlin, Helsinki, Tallinn and Vilnius.

    So as always when in Berlin I'll be taking TLD (you can't beat reading it at a bar or cafe near the Checkpoint Charlie museum followed by a midnight stroll along the reconstructed section of the death strip on Bernauer Street where you can indulge your 272 fantasies) and for Helsinki I guess I should give Icebreaker another crack as I recall the early chapters have quite a lot set in Helsinki.

    In addition I have the kindle loaded up with:

    'The God Delusion' - Dawkins (always fun)
    'The Man Without A Face: The Unlikely Rise of Vladimir Putin' - Masha Gessen (alas written before he made a fool of Obama in the Washington Post and was voted most powerful man in the world by Forbes)
    'Inverting The Pyramid: The History of Football Tactics' - Jonathon Wilson (supposed to be a pretty seminal work which I really should've read by now).
    'Operation Eichmann' - Zvi Aharoni (probably keep this one in my bag till I leave Germany as they're a bit funny about anything to do with Nazis).


    If Solo is down to a fiver or so at the airport then I might consider getting it. Emphasis on might though.

    What, you reading a John Gardner Bond novel, Ice. Did I read that right?! You really need to re-read his Never Send Flowers again before you write it off so damningly!

    Easy old son. Just because I'm reading a bit of Gardner there's no need to think I'll be stopping to your own depraved base standards.

    I've always said early Gardner is decent - although Icebreaker is the weakest of the first half dozen - before they drop off a cliff after WLOD.

    So I guess that means NSF lies at the bottom of said cliff in a tangle of shattered bone. Where it belongs along with Cold and Seafire IMO.

    I've got NLF (argubably Gardner's best) which I may take with me on my jaunt instead as the more I think about it the more I remember Icebreaker as being a ploddingly dull series of scenes of people sitting around talking in hotel rooms and tedious double and triple crosses. I'd only really be reading it for the stuff in Helsinki seeing as I'm there but I don't think Gardner does the travelogue stuff anywhere near as well as Ian.
  • DragonpolDragonpol https://thebondologistblog.blogspot.com
    edited November 2013 Posts: 18,281
    TheWizardOfIce wrote:
    Dragonpol wrote:
    TheWizardOfIce wrote:
    Going on a little jaunt for about 10 days to use up my spare holiday days (Mrs Wizard none to happy but what can I do if she will have a job with only a paltry 20 days holiday?) and will be taking in days Berlin, Helsinki, Tallinn and Vilnius.

    So as always when in Berlin I'll be taking TLD (you can't beat reading it at a bar or cafe near the Checkpoint Charlie museum followed by a midnight stroll along the reconstructed section of the death strip on Bernauer Street where you can indulge your 272 fantasies) and for Helsinki I guess I should give Icebreaker another crack as I recall the early chapters have quite a lot set in Helsinki.

    In addition I have the kindle loaded up with:

    'The God Delusion' - Dawkins (always fun)
    'The Man Without A Face: The Unlikely Rise of Vladimir Putin' - Masha Gessen (alas written before he made a fool of Obama in the Washington Post and was voted most powerful man in the world by Forbes)
    'Inverting The Pyramid: The History of Football Tactics' - Jonathon Wilson (supposed to be a pretty seminal work which I really should've read by now).
    'Operation Eichmann' - Zvi Aharoni (probably keep this one in my bag till I leave Germany as they're a bit funny about anything to do with Nazis).


    If Solo is down to a fiver or so at the airport then I might consider getting it. Emphasis on might though.

    What, you reading a John Gardner Bond novel, Ice. Did I read that right?! You really need to re-read his Never Send Flowers again before you write it off so damningly!

    Easy old son. Just because I'm reading a bit of Gardner there's no need to think I'll be stopping to your own depraved base standards.

    I've always said early Gardner is decent - although Icebreaker is the weakest of the first half dozen - before they drop off a cliff after WLOD.

    So I guess that means NSF lies at the bottom of said cliff in a tangle of shattered bone. Where it belongs along with Cold and Seafire IMO.

    I've got NLF (argubably Gardner's best) which I may take with me on my jaunt instead as the more I think about it the more I remember Icebreaker as being a ploddingly dull series of scenes of people sitting around talking in hotel rooms and tedious double and triple crosses. I'd only really be reading it for the stuff in Helsinki seeing as I'm there but I don't think Gardner does the travelogue stuff anywhere near as well as Ian.

    To be fair, that's fairly accurate on IB (and TMFB). Even the villain von Gloda is very weak and doesn't do very much. Sort of the literary version of Karl Stromberg, in fact.
  • Creasy47Creasy47 In Cuba with Natalya.Moderator
    Posts: 40,978
    I always seem to have a problem where I'll start to read a book, I'll put it down, then I don't return to it, so before my memory fails me, I plan on returning to and finished Agatha Christie's 'Three Act Tragedy.' After that, I'm moving on to read the Fleming Bond novels in order, and then going to @Dragonpol for some continuation novel advice.
  • socaljon3socaljon3
    Posts: 27
    Finishing the present year (2013) with:
    The War of 1812 (J. Mahon)
    The Power of The Prophetic Blessing (J. Hagee)
    SilverFin - Yong James Bond book #1 (C. Higson)
    The Old Man and The Sea (E. Hemingway)

    And lined up for 2014:
    American Lion: Andrew Jackson (J. Meacham)
    Lone Star Nation (H. Brands)
    Abraham Lincoln and Civil War America (W. Gienapp)
    Confederates In The Attic (T. Horwitz)
    Treasure Island (R.L. Stevenson)
    Colonel Sun (K. Amis)
    Ball Four (J. Bouton)
    The Spy Who Came In From The Cold (J. Le Carre)
    The Vampire Affair (D. McDaniel)
    The Fountainhead (A. Rand)


  • TheWizardOfIceTheWizardOfIce 'One of the Internet's more toxic individuals'
    Posts: 9,117
    Creasy47 wrote:
    then going to @Dragonpol for some continuation novel advice.

    Not sure that's the wisest course of action old man!!! :-)) Good luck with NSF.

    I think youre actually doing Stromberg a disservice Draggers - Von Gloda is an awful villain. Although I haven't read it for getting on for 20 years doesn't he only have about two scenes? And even then is really just a pantomime neo Nazi. I'd go as far to say David Dragonpol smashes him out of the park - which as you know is me going right out on a limb!
  • Creasy47Creasy47 In Cuba with Natalya.Moderator
    Posts: 40,978
    @TheWizardOfIce, haha, we shall see how it goes! I'm going to just buy whichever Fleming Bond novels I can find, regardless of if they match or not. I'm tired of waiting and searching.
  • DragonpolDragonpol https://thebondologistblog.blogspot.com
    edited November 2013 Posts: 18,281
    TheWizardOfIce wrote:
    Creasy47 wrote:
    then going to @Dragonpol for some continuation novel advice.

    Not sure that's the wisest course of action old man!!! :-)) Good luck with NSF.

    I think youre actually doing Stromberg a disservice Draggers - Von Gloda is an awful villain. Although I haven't read it for getting on for 20 years doesn't he only have about two scenes? And even then is really just a pantomime neo Nazi. I'd go as far to say David Dragonpol smashes him out of the park - which as you know is me going right out on a limb!

    I think that Von Gloda only has about three scenes from memory. And I'll be happy to give continuation novel advice to @Creasy47 when the time comes.
  • RC7RC7
    Posts: 10,512
    Creasy47 wrote:
    @TheWizardOfIce, haha, we shall see how it goes! I'm going to just buy whichever Fleming Bond novels I can find, regardless of if they match or not. I'm tired of waiting and searching.

    Just buy any book, I mean any book, any cover, any print. Just buy! The day you read Fleming your life will transform.

  • Creasy47Creasy47 In Cuba with Natalya.Moderator
    Posts: 40,978
    RC7 wrote:
    Creasy47 wrote:
    @TheWizardOfIce, haha, we shall see how it goes! I'm going to just buy whichever Fleming Bond novels I can find, regardless of if they match or not. I'm tired of waiting and searching.

    Just buy any book, I mean any book, any cover, any print. Just buy! The day you read Fleming your life will transform.

    I've read his first two and I own the third, I just get OCD with a pattern like that. It'll bug me. But, I think I have about four or five of the Bond films on blu-ray that aren't part of the 50th Anniversary, and their spines are different, and I deal with that, so maybe I'll dive in and get whatever I see. These black and white Fleming covers I see look so tacky and generic, though.
  • ThunderfingerThunderfinger Das Boot Hill
    Posts: 45,489
    Next up is FALSE MEMORY (1999) by Dean Koontz. Read this ages ago, and remember it as a good one.
  • Creasy47Creasy47 In Cuba with Natalya.Moderator
    Posts: 40,978
    Thunderfinger wrote:
    Next up is FALSE MEMORY (1999) by Dean Koontz. Read this ages ago, and remember it as a good one.

    I've read 'The Husband' and 'Life Expectancy' and loved them both. I don't believe I have either of them anymore, but I may have to re-read them if I get around to them. I also have his two 'Frankenstein' novels.
  • ThunderfingerThunderfinger Das Boot Hill
    Posts: 45,489
    Have not read those, but a dozen others. The man is hyper productive. Amazing that the standard of his writing is as good as it is.
  • Creasy47Creasy47 In Cuba with Natalya.Moderator
    Posts: 40,978
    His books seem to vary in genre, where a few I'll see are mystery thrillers of sorts, and then others get more mysterious in a psychological way. Still, everything I've read by him thus far is great.
  • SaintMarkSaintMark
    Posts: 7,653
    Creasy47 wrote:
    His books seem to vary in genre, where a few I'll see are mystery thrillers of sorts, and then others get more mysterious in a psychological way. Still, everything I've read by him thus far is great.

    He has some scifi too.

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