What are you reading?

I completed a different kind of book, titled Give and Take, by Adam Grant. He posits that there are three different ways of interaction: Givers, Takers, and Matchers. Throughout the book, he cites many examples, most tied to real people with their successes and failures included. I suppose it will be up to the reader to decide how accurate his thoughts on the subject are, I for one found the book fascinating and compelling, I highly recommend it.
 
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I completed a different kind of book, titled Give and Take, by Adam Grant. He posits that there are three different ways of interaction: Givers, Takers, and Matchers. Throughout the book, he cites many examples, most tied to real people with their successes and failures included. I suppose it will be up to the reader to decide how accurate his thoughts on the subject are, I for one found the book fascinating and compelling, I highly recommend it.

Thanks @Carnifex; ! Looks interesting. (My book wish list and my game backlog are competing to see which’s needs some quantum storage first though!)
 
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Knocked off the second book of the Chronicles of the Unhewn Throne, Providence of Fire. I found this volume somewhat more compelling than the first, probably because there is much more actually going on now that the characters have been fully established. This left me totally fired up for the third book, which seems to have quite a line-up at the library, so it might be a bit before I get my greedy hands on it.
 
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Schild des Reiches ("Shield of the Realm") an older (around 190 years, to be exact) TDE sourcebook I got a bit cheaper on the RPC Germany Convention.
It's about the areas lying east of Gareth and the Middle Realm. Some info in that is already outdated (Haffax, for example, has been defeated), but it is still a book I like to read, because it describes the landscape, its peoples, mysteries ("Mysteria et Arcana"), and I just love to read books of this kind. It's like taking a journey throuch a land without leaving the house, the armchair, so to say. ;)

Before that i was reading the adventure around the defeat of Xeraan, the gold-greedy bearer of one of the demon splinters/shards from the infamous Demon Crwon, a member of the infamous Heptarchs living & ruling in the Black Lands. This book is also around ten years old, but I always wanted to know how exactly he was/got defeated.

Other books I bought on the RPC are still wanting to be read :

- The first part of the Phileasson Saga series (Phileasson, known from the Add-On of the second Drakensang game, TDE).
- A novel from the rival setting "Splittermond ("Splintermoon" or "Shardmoon").

By the way, TDE 5th Edition rule books are also available in English language now.
 
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I blew through the second novel in the Rivers of London series, and found it even better than the previous book. I'm usually quite good at predicting where a tale might go, but the end to this one I never saw coming, and made me jump right into the queue for the third book immediately. The author does an excellent job of exposing just the right of new material, while not neglecting incidents from prior adventures. Both books I highly recommend.
 
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I finished the third book in the Chronicles of the Unhewn Throne series, the Last Mortal Bond. While the first two books were really fantastic, this one felt a little less so. Maybe my expectations on final books in a series are set too high.....anyways, it is still worth reading, and I won't gripe about what really bothered me about this book so as to not spoil it for people. There is a stand-alone book based in this world that I'm going to read as well.

Next novel up will be back to the Rivers of London series, Whispers Underground.
 
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I want to read book 6 of games of throne and book 3 of "Name of the Wind" but alas it will be yet many more years before either of these books are available.
 
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Knocked off the third book in the Rivers of London series, another great tale in a fabulous city. The way the author puts you literally on the streets is breath-taking, you can smell the fried eels and falafel in the air. I heartily recommend them all, if you enjoy mysteries with a smidgen of the supernatural.

Next up for me, a book on the East Area Rapist as he was known when I first heard of him, now more widely called the Golden State Killer. I met some folks that had been touched by his activities some years ago, so I look to the stories with some fascination, and no small amount of dread at the same time.
 
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I just finished 'Roadside Picnic' by Arkady and Boris Strugatsky. For those who aren't familiar with it, it's a science fiction story that was written in the early 70's in the former Soviet Union, and it's probably the most well-known sci-fi work of Russian origin. The S.T.A.L.K.E.R. trilogy of games is loosely based on it.

It's a phenomenal book, and I'd call it a must-read for any fan of science-fiction.
 
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Aye, that would be Thomas Covenant, Ur-Lord and Unbeliever. Lots of books, many wild and varied theories about what actually is going on/happened, and you will never ever see a television or movie made about these novels, because of something quite stark that happens in the first book. Yes, unless they were to remove that incident, that's a guarantee.

Excellent series. The first two trilogies are some of my favorite fantasy fiction books. I still haven't read the quadrilogy he wrote later on. Is that as good as the earlier books?
 
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Insomuch as the entire world has changed, it is hard to say whether the final series lives up to the two earlier trilogies. My opinion being, of course it does, because we get to visit the Land again, and whatever the iteration is, it isn't ever a bad place to return to. There are some dire consequences for this world based on some of Covenant's early journeys, and some of the people he traveled with. Honestly, if you've read the first two series, how you've not read the final four books is simply beyond me. I vividly recall skipping meals when I first read The Runes of the Earth, considering the last book in the series had been released over twenty years earlier.

And people bitch at George Martin for a delay =p
 
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Ok, "I'll Be Gone In the Dark", done. It is the stuff of nightmares, and totally non-fiction, which makes it all the more frightening. I met two people that were impacted by this utter piece of filth, and they are two friends that I'll know and love until the die I pass from this world. I thought of them constantly as I gritted my teeth and compelled myself to finish.

At first, I didn't really care for how the author laced a tale of her own in the narrative, but later it made more sense. Her encounter with a corpse at the age of fourteen made me vividly recall almost becoming one myself at the same age, the interviews with detectives, the loss of a friend, and above all, hiding all of this from my mother for years. I'll give her huge credit, though, for making this....thing known outside of the small circles in which it dwelt for decades. In doing that alone, she earns respect.

I'd call it almost a must-read, but the content truly might not be for all. You've been warned.
 
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Finished the fourth book in the Rivers of London series, "Broken Homes" yesterday between football games. Another fine entry into the series, with an ending that I never saw coming, and has me yearning for the next book big time. The way Peter's duo career path is covered totally keeps you immersed, and his companions that come and go throughout the series always keep each nuance interesting. A gripping tale, with death, betrayal, and.....well, no more spoiling from me.
 
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After 25 odd years I'm re-reading Earthsea. Besides remembering the main character being a wizard in a boat I have only the vaguest recollection of what happens so it's kind of like reading it new. Well worth it if you like fantasy novels.
 
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So, I've been working on the Grant biography, by Ron Chernow, since about March. I got it as a holiday gift, but had a lot to read during those months, so this one sat idle for a bit. Grant's story, to me, is utterly fascinating, not in the fact of where his career path led him, but the many hurdles he had to overcome to get to the Presidency, both work related and personal. This author also penned the excellent biography on Alexander Hamilton, so the style is quite similar, as is the stellar result.

One area of his life is vastly over-harped on (his drinking problem), and many others get neglected because of that. When discussions about the Civil War crop up, most folks remember what he accomplished in the Eastern Theatre, but few care to explore his earlier feats in the Western, and before even that, Mexico. If you've even a small desire to learn more about the man, the people he interacted with (both positively and otherwise), I give this book a huge recommendation. Make sure you have some time, as it clocks in just under a thousand pages.
 
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I'm reading an older book series about Alexander the Great by Mary Renault. If you haven't read her books I suggest you do. They are old but quite enjoyable.
 
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Couch, is that the historical novel that Stone's movie was based on? If so, I've read it and I quite agree, an excellent novel. She's written more than a few that I've enjoyed and reread over the years.
 
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Couch, is that the historical novel that Stone's movie was based on? If so, I've read it and I quite agree, an excellent novel. She's written more than a few that I've enjoyed and reread over the years.
Yes but it was rewritten by another author for the movie version.

The original tale told the story in there arcs.

Fire from Heaven — Alexander the Great from age of four up to his father's death
The Persian Boy — Alexander the Great after the conquest of Persia
Funeral Games — Alexander's successors

I was thinking of of reading some more Roman historical novels next.

Maybe Eagles of the Empire series by Simon Scarrow.
 
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Let us not speak of the Stone movie version.
 
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