Topic: Books You're Currently Reading?

The Way of Kings by Brandon Sanderson

Loved the Red Rising series, big fan here. There's another trilogy coming, did you know that?

I've just finished reading 'The Tower Of The Swallow' in The Witcher series by Andrzej Sapkowski but the next book (Book 5) isn't available in english until next year so i've started reading the entire series again. They're such a good read and quite humorous too, i wish i'd read these before i played any of the games which were inspired from these books.

Just finished up Let Them Eat Dirt: Saving Your Child From an Oversanitized World (Non-Fiction) by B. Brett Finlay, PhD & Marie-Claire Arrieta, PhD.

I was requested to read it due to some of my germaphobic tendencies, and although it was interesting to read in parts (though overall a dry read), it didn't really address anything relevant to myself.

It was more about how oversanitized the general western lifestyle is, and how it's keeping us from developing a diverse range of beneficial bacteria (together referred to as the "microbiota") that do things for us that our own bodies either don't do much of on their own, if at all, as we've evolved alongside these bacteria, so our bodies just expect them to do those beneficial things for us.

It mentioned our overuse of Antibiotics (which they said are a good thing, as they've nearly eradicated all sorts of nasty diseases, but should only be used when absolutely necessary, and be removed from food sources, due to the effect they have on good bacteria too, and how their overuse has resulted in the appearance of superbugs, diseases that are resistant to them), how parents are too scared these days to let their kids play outside (where they'd naturally be introduced to plenty of beneficial microbes they'd naturally encounter), and how our diet doesn't enourage a beneficial diverse microbiota (due to a lot of prossessed foods).

It mentioned that the general microbiota one goes on to have through life is set up during the early stages of life, so they really focused on how to make sure kids can develop a normal, diverse microbiota from pregancy through the first few years of life. It also mentioned various studies that are shedding light on the fact that beings with a more diverse microbiota early in life have much less of a chance of developing chronic "western lifestyle" diseases like Asthma, Autism, Food Allergies, & Obesity, diseases which have skyrocketed in recent years, when we've been more sanitary than ever (and how kids raised on farms, & to a lesser extent kids raised with outdoor pets, are less likely to develop these diseases than petless city kids).

They of course pointed out that the microbiota isn't the only factor in these diseases, but it's much more important than traditionally thought.

Sorry for the double post, but I finally got around to finishing Okinawa: the Last Battle of World War II (Non-Fiction) by Robert Leckie. I had put it on the backburner after running into an exceptionally long chapter (I don't like stopping in the middle of a chapter, but this one was long enough that I'd have to), and even further back after having to read Let Them Eat Dirt, but I found my way back to it in the past few days.

It was an interesting read, though I feel you'd get into it more if you're someone already well versed in military history.

The author is a Pacific theater vet, so is very passionate about the topic, but I feel that's a double edged sword. He constantly veers off of the main topic at hand to explore the tale of some particularly valorous individual (sometimes about an event that happened elsewhere), and while these anecdotes give a bit of humanity/heart to the book, there's so many of them thrown around I don't remember the names of 95% of these soldiers. Also, Okinawa was an insanely complex battlefield in it's layout, and while he does an admirable job of detailing the events that led the Marines to capture every little hill, valley, nook, & cranny, I found it oftentimes too complex to visualize (this is compounded by the fact that he often refers to locations by the nicknames the Marines gave them, rather than their actual names), and I think it'd have helped had it had a map of the island for reference (I'm honestly suprised it didn't have one).

@RR529: Seems really strange that a military history book doesn't contain a map, they're practically essentially if your going to discuss a battle :/
I'm reading "American Caesers" by Nigel Hamilton at the minute. It details the life and presidency of the 12 presidents of America during the 20th century. It's very good so far, it doesn't go into too much detail about each president, just delves deep enough in my opinion, chapters aren't too long that you get fed up reading about any one president. I'd recommend it to any interested in American presidents

Have never read too much myself, other than blasting through The Lord of the Rings trilogy and The Hobbit. For years since though I've mainly just read comics (namely One Piece, Fullmetal Alchemist, One-Punch Man), but I have a soft spot for Hitchhiker's Guide and read a lot of Artemis Fowl in detentions. Interested in The Humans and Grasshopper Jungle going forward.

Finished up Tom Clancy's Endwar (Fiction) by David Michaels.

A Military thriller (based on the PS360 game of the same name), set in a near future scenario that sees the US & Russia go at it in Canada (sorry, Canada) after Russia invades to take control of the nation's oil reserves. It's not masterclass, but if you enjoy the genre or the game, you'll probably find it to your liking. It covers the war through the eyes of several different people (a submarine captain, fighter pilot, Marine infantryman, special forces operative, and even the president & a few others), so you a get a bit of every kind of action.

The main conflict is resolved by book's end, but there are a few loose ends left to be tied, and after a quick look on Amazon it does appear to have a sequel, so I'll look into it eventually.

Sorry for the double post, but earlier tonight I finished up Brain Lock: Free Yourself From Obsessive-Compulsive Behavior (Non-Fiction) by Jeffrey M. Schwartz, M.D.

Like Let Them Eat Dirt, it's one I was recommended to read due to my germaphobic tendencies, and I have to say I found it much more relatable than the former. My tendencies aren't anywhere near as bad as the cases in the book, but I do recognize many of the feelings & thoughts brought up (and I'm sure they showcased the most extreme cases to illustrate their points). Anyhow, I found it to be a pretty interesting read, and have started to try out some of the things it recommended.

Carrie by S.King and Shantaram by Gregory David Roberts

Finished 'American Caesars' by Nigel Hamilton. Very good read on the presidency of America from F.D.R to Bush Jr. I've started reading 'A Short History of War' by Jeremy Black. Black is one of the best academic military historians from what I've heard and this has been interesting so far. It's a pretty short book (170 pages) considering the topic it's covering but I wanted something short as I know I'll be getting some novels to read for Christmas

So what books did peeps get for Christmas? Throw in your lists here
I recieved three of the Witcher novels (and bought a fourth in the Book Depot sales), The Lies of Locke Lamora by Scott Lynch, Guns, Germs and Steel by Jared Desmond, The Shadow of Sherlock Holmes by someone, Great Battles and Armies in History book by someone and finally Great Cities in History by various authors. I also picked up Jellymans Thrown a Wobbler by Jeff Sterling from Gillette Soccer Saturday

I got a lot of books for Christmas, though most were novelty ones. Haha!

The main one I wanted is I Am Zlatan, which is the highly acclaimed autobiography. I can't wait to start reading that. I also got: The Ladybird Book of Zombie Apocalypses, Guinea Pig Oliver's Twist, and a Child's First Book of Trump.

Not really intellectual stuff this year, but I'm really pleased with my haul and can't wait to work through them all this Christmas.

@get2sammyb: I Am Zlatan is great, probably the best Auto-bio I've read of a footballer, some very funny stuff in there

Got a $50 Amazon gift card, so I ordered up the entire Inheritance Cycle (Eragon, Eldest, Brisingr, & Inheritance). Loved this series back in high school (I'd rent out the books from the school library, and read Eragon itself at least 6 times), but I was never able to finish it out because the last book didn't release until after I graduated. Can't wait to get back into it.

Just got a copy of 'Orphan X' by Gregg Hurwitz as an Xmas gift. I've only got a few chapters under my belt so far, but it seems pretty solid! His writing style is a bit different to what I'd usually read, but that's not to say I'm not enjoying it!

@Hego: The Lies of Locke Lamora, and the subsequent books in the series, are bloody brilliant.

Personally, I'm reading The Hanging Tree by Ben Aaronovitch, which is the latest entry in the excellent Rivers of London series.

the odyssey by homer
Look who's back by timur vermes ( Er ist wieder da)

Got Grasshopper Jungle for Christmas, apparently Edgar Wright's gonna do a film of it so it must be cool.

Anyhow, I finished up my latest read, Tom Clancy's Power Plays: ruthless.com a few days ago.

It was a corporate thriller with military implications, as a CEO of a tech firm had to do his part in making sure encryption tech didn't fall into the wrong hands. It was well written, but not terribly exciting (maybe the genré just isn't for me). Most of the "action" takes place in offices, boardrooms, & press conferences, with corporate rivals making bold & cunning business moves, and while the story carries it along, it's just not terribly exciting. To be fair, there's a side of it that covers the more thrilling aspect of corporate espionage & all the criminal aspects that go along with it, but while these sections can get gripping, they're all too often broken up by the slower paced storylines, keeping it from being as consistently gripping as let's say Jurassic Park (which I mention just because I read it earlier in the year). It also does a lot of groundwork to build up a larger military conflict, but it just sort of anti-climactically fizzles out in the last 1 or 2 chapters.

Interestingly, it appears to be based on an old PC strategy game of the same name, and it was kind of neat seeing it lay out the ancient required specs to run it, as well as a tie in advertisement for an old AT&T internet plan in the back of the book.

Next up I just have to wait for the Inheritance Cycle books to get here.

Finished a bunch of books since I last commented, read through Lies of Locke Lamora by Scott Lynch, great novel set in a really interesting world (I'd really like to see a film or game adaption) with a few good twists too.
Finished all the Witcher novels (by Andrejz Sapkowski) that are available in English, those being Time of Contempt, Blood of Elves, The Tower of Swallows, Baptism of Fire and Sword of Destiny. Good novels if your interested in that world as I am, loads of back story and lore explained if you've played the games and shows how Geralt meet some of the characters he meets in the games. The games are a seperate from the books and do not tie in directly with all these novels set before the games. The last book is out in an English translation in March so I'll definitely be picking it up.
My next book will be the the second Locke Lamora book, Red Seas under Red Skies