re: How many books have you read this year? What are some new must reads?

Not going to get into all mine, but two recent reads that are great are The Stand and The Exorcist.

Lonesome Dove, Larry McMurtry
American Psycho, Bret Easton Ellis
The Goldfinch, Donna Tartt
The Gone-Away World, Nick Harkaway
The Moon Is a Harsh Mistress, Robert A. Heinlein
On the Beach, Nevil Shute
Child of God, Cormac McCarthy
The Long Walk, Richard Bachman
Boy's Life, Robert McCammon
The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao, Junot Díaz
Mr. Mercedes (Bill Hodges Trilogy, #1), Stephen King
The Fault in Our Stars, John Green
A Canticle for Leibowitz (St. Leibowitz, #1), Walter M. Miller Jr.
The Things They Carried, Tim O'Brien
His Dark Materials (His Dark Materials #1-3), Philip Pullman
Going Clear: Scientology, Hollywood, and the Prison of Belief, Lawrence Wright
Gone Girl, Gillian Flynn
In Cold Blood, Truman Capote
Shogun (Asian Saga, #3), James Clavell
The Road, Cormac McCarthy
The Ocean at the End of the Lane, Neil Gaiman
The Count of Monte Cristo, Alexandre Dumas

Top 3 - Monte Cristo, Lonesome Dove, Oscar Wao

I can't name all of them.

Roughly....100-125 ish this year. Maybe more, I don't work because I'm on workmans comp so I have a lot of time. Even when I did work I still read at least 75 books a year. I can finish a 500-600 page novel in roughly 5, maybe 6 hours. If I am really hooked, 4. Hell, my wife and I bought 40+ books this week. Have over 1500 in our library by now.

I definitely finished the entire Shannara series by Terry Brooks in about 3 weeks. Every book, all 17 or however many there are.


Must reads, hmm.....these are not all ones I've read recently, just reccomendations.

Walking Drum by Louis Lamour
Stephen R Lawhead's Pendragon Cycle and The Endless Knot series
Lion of Ireland by Morgan Llywelyn

The first is a fantasy epic(with no true magic, just small legends), but also almost like a western set in the middle ages, almost a perfect novel imo. It's not Louis' best work, that was the Lonesome Gods but for most people I think Walking Drum would be more fun to read.

The two series by Lawhead blend fiction, legend, and fantasy perfectly in my mind.

The third by Lywelyn is pure historical fiction, mostly based on legend similar to Arthur, except the man existed. It is about the life of Brian Ap Boru, first High King of Ireland.

I'm currently reading Patrick O'Briens Aubrey Maturin series, which Master and Commander is based on.

It has 20 completed novels and one unfinished and I've really enjoyed them.

Reading GoT. Currently on book 3. Pretty sure I read the latest Dan Brown book earlier in the year.

Maybe a hundred books this year. I'm not sure. None have really stood out as truly exceptional.

If you haven't read Stephen Kng's "11/22/63," it is the most I've enjoyed a book in years. It sat on my shelf for a while because it's long, but once I read it I was begging for more pages.
I don't think I've ever read a bad Crichton book. Probably my favorite author.
And Eric Flint's "1632" series is my favorite series (if you like alternate history with a touch of sci-fi).

Any suggestions on non-fiction books? I'm about to start shift work and I will need something to read.


I'm into Top secret, classified, military type stuff. CIA etc etc

Last book I read was 12 years a slave and before that, Escape from Camp 14

Memoirs of a service afloat by Raphael Semmes was my last book.