What are you reading? What was the last book you enjoyed?

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Mitch Rapp is the man!

I read Flynn's 'Act Of Treason' and thought it was just so-so for a political thriller. His ability to develop depth in his characters is lacking, if you ask me.

Anyhow, I just got done re-reading two Bradbury books (Fahrenheit 451 and The Martian Chronicles) and I'm back to Orson Scott Card:

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An heir to the Burroughs adding machine fortune, Burroughs the novelist hated the despots of Squaresville and the whole world where money makes its fist. This is his greatest book and the template for all the ones that followed. With its fractured account of junkies and assorted urban desperadoes, its fang-baring humor and its sudden excursions into sheer hallucination, it instantly made him the depraved scoutmaster for generations of would-be hipsters. He once said, "My purpose in writing has always been to express human potentials and purposes relevant to the Space Age"—by which he meant addiction and willful extremity, both of which of course have turned out to be virtues in the modern market economy. Like Jean Genet, Burroughs trafficks in the utmost degradations, but he doesn't go to them looking for unsuspected sources of radiance. He likes them for what they are. His conversations in hell with the Marquis de Sade must be very entertaining.—R.L.

From the TIME Archive:
Burroughs fancies himself a satirist and occasionally resembles one when the diary's heroin fog clears a little
—TIME Magazine, Nov. 30, 1962 (Read This Review)
 
I read Flynn's 'Act Of Treason' and thought it was just so-so for a political thriller. His ability to develop depth in his characters is lacking, if you ask me.


That's probably because you read the 7th book in the Mitch Rapp series. Read the first one, Transfer of Power, and see if that changes your opinion.
 
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A very good read. I think the high tech stuff detracts from the story, but the premise and characters are top notch.
 
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I thoroughly enjoyed Empire (did I suggest that to you, RockPile? I don't remember...I've recommended that book to many people). Glad you liked it, anyhow. Card is one of my favorite sci-fi writers.

The high tech stuff was a little bit outside the realm of modern capability, but I thought it was interesting, nonetheless.

I just finished re-reading Arthur C. Clarke's "Rendezvous With Rama" last week. What a freakin' awesome book that was. I'd forgotten how good.

After my checkride this week (that I'm studying for...really), I'm starting:

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I thoroughly enjoyed Empire (did I suggest that to you, RockPile? I don't remember...I've recommended that book to many people). Glad you liked it, anyhow.

The high tech stuff was a little bit outside the realm of modern capability, but I thought it was interesting, nonetheless.

I just finished re-reading Arthur C. Clarke's "Rendezvous With Rama" last week. What a freakin' awesome book that was. I'd forgotten how good.

After my checkride this week (that I'm studying for...really), I'm starting:

time%20enough%20for%20love.rh.jpg

I recall you writing about how much you like the author and the book and thats the reason I picked it up. The book was truly engrossing. And the plot twist you mentioned was a total blindside.

I ended up buying a whole bunch of his books because I liked Empire so much. Right now, I'm on the Worthing Saga and really enjoying it. I haven't read any science fiction in a while, because it tends to bore me. This author's characters are so interesting that I don't thik it matters what genre he writes in.
 
And the plot twist you mentioned was a total blindside.

HAH!! I was so freaking MAD that I had to put the book down...

...for a whole minute.


Card's science fiction blends socio-politics into the mix. It's great stuff.

Here's a little primer for those of you who might be interested in reading some of Orson Scott Card's stuff. I'd suggest you start with Ender's Game, then perhaps pick up the three following books in that series (Speaker For The Dead, Xenocide, and Children Of The Mind).

Also, check out the standalone novel Pastwatch: The Redemption of Christopher Columbus.

You won't be sorry.
 
I am getting caught on a years plus worth of magazines. Wow a lot of **** happened over the last 18 months
 
Just finished The Terror by Dan Simmons. Excellent historical fiction about the doomed Franklin Expedition of 1845... with just a touch of horror thrown in.
 
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