***OFFICIAL Misc 2024 52 books in 52 weeks thread***

**Woody-5** · 03-27-2024, 06:05 AM

Year was off to a slow start, but I just knocked out a 650 page book in a week, Black House by Stephen King and Peter Straub.
This was a sequel to The Talisman that I read last summer. Great book, I enjoyed it at least as much as The Talisman. There was some crossover to the Dark Tower series (which I still want to re-read), which was cool, but it almost seemed like too much at a few points. It didn't take away from the overall book though.

I've finally given in to peer pressure and bought myself a Kindle after resisting it for years. I love having a book in my hands, I love having all my books on the shelf so I resisted for years.

So far I'm loving it. It's going to be great when I travel, especially if I need to bring more than one book. I always try to carryon rather than check bags, and if I have to bring two large books, it takes up too much real estate in my backpack. I also love how I don't need a reading light, and books are far cheaper: the trilogy I just started would have cost my nearly $90 at the bookstore, and I got all 3 for $24 on the Kindle.

Spoiler!

**cheerupemokid** · 03-29-2024, 02:10 PM

Spoiler!

13. The Wisdom of Father Brown by G.K. Chesterton

The second book in the series. More of the same in that it’s a collection of short stories of mysteries that Father Brown solves. They were a little less interconnected in this one and I didn’t think it was quite as good as the first. I really liked the story involving the new invention of a lie detector test and how he pointed out the problems with it way back when.

**Legz422** · 04-14-2024, 10:44 AM

Spoiler!

16. NYPD Red 7: The Murder Sorority (#7 NYPD Red) by Marshall Karp- This series was James Patterson and Marshall Karp co-writing until this book. Now it's taken over by Karp.
17. 12 Months to Live (first in Jane Smith series) by James Patterson
18. The Black Book (first in series) by James Patterson
19. The Red Book (2nd in series) by James Patterson
20. Escape (3rd in series) by James Patterson
21. Dirty Thirty (30th Stephanie Plum series) by Janet Evanovich
22. Never Never (1st in Harriet Blue series) by James Patterson
23. Fifty Fifty (2nd Harriet Blue) by James Patterson
24. Liar Liar (3rd Harriet Blue) by James Patterson
25. Hush Hush (4th and last so far of Harriet Blue series) by James Patterson

**TappingTheZen** · 04-15-2024, 03:05 AM

Been a while with the misc outage, so i'll just update with a score but without reviewing each book

Since i last posted
Finished:
Vincent B Davis II - The Man With Two Names (The Sertorius Scrolls 1) - 4/5
Aristotle - Poetics - 3/5
Vincent B Davis II - The Noise Of War (The Sertorius Scrolls 2) - 5/5
Gareth C. Sampson - The Collapse of Rome: Marius, Sulla and the First Civil War - 4/5
Vincent B Davis II - Bodies in the Tiber (The Sertorius Scrolls 3) - 4/5
Vincent B Davis II - Whom Gods Destroy (The Sertorius Scrolls 4) - 5/5
Vincent B Davis II - Sulla's Fist (The Sertorius Scrolls 5) - 5/5
Vincent B Davis II - Son of Mars (The Marius Scrolls 1) - 4/5
Appian - The Civil wars - 5/5

Currently reading
Mike Duncan - The Storm Before the Storm: The Beginning of the End of the Roman Republic
Steven Pressfield - The Afghan Campaign

Spoiler!

**MrQuint** · 04-15-2024, 08:35 AM

Update

Spoiler!

**Woody-5** · 04-15-2024, 12:16 PM

SMH... resisted the Kindle for years, and now that I finally tried it, I love it. been demolishing books while the Misc was down

Read all of the Mistborn Era 2 books by Brandon Sanderson (4 main books plus Mistborn Secret history in between 3 and 4).
Great series, had the same cool magic system as the first trilogy, however throw in guns and wild west stuff. It's hard to compare with the original trilogy as it's so much different.

Have any of you fantasy fans read the series Malazzan: Book of the Fallen? 10 books of over 1000 pages, supposed to be epic but incredibly confusing at times. I'm not quite halfway through the first book, Gardens of the Moon, but I'm loving it so far.

Spoiler!

**FarmersSon** · 04-15-2024, 12:53 PM

[QUOTE=Woody-5;1699968563]Have any of you fantasy fans read the series Malazzan: Book of the Fallen? 10 books of over 1000 pages, supposed to be epic but incredibly confusing at times. I'm not quite halfway through the first book, Gardens of the Moon, but I'm loving it so far.

I used to read a lot but got busy with life and fell out of the habit. My wife got me started on the Ranger's Apprentice books earlier this year. They're young adult (or whatever) so super easy reads and gave me a chance to pad my states a little. I read Gardens of the Moon on a recommendation and enjoyed it. It certainly took more effort to follow along than the Ranger's Apprentice books. I enjoy Sanderson and need to go back and read the Era 2 Mistborn stuff. I read the first trilogy (and maybe another 1 or 2) years ago. I just started into the stormlight archives and it's a good thing I had a chance to pad my stats at the beginning of the year because those books are killing my average. Also snuck in a couple books on tape. I'd read the chronicles of Prydain as a teenager. We drove across the country with the family for the eclipse last week and listened to a few on the drive.

Spoiler!

**cheerupemokid** · 04-15-2024, 02:33 PM

Spoiler!

14. The Incredulity of Father Brown
15. The Didache
16. The Shepherd of Hermas by Hermas

The Incredulity of Father Brown was more of the same except the focus of the stories was more about America and South America. I’d never read any apocrypha before, so these two were interesting and short. Hermas’ visions/dreams were interesting but nothing shocking.

**Payton1221** · 04-22-2024, 07:31 AM

Just finished Stephen King's 11/22/63 book about a "doorway" that takes the person back to September 1958 and returns you to 2 minutes after you left regardless of how long you stay in the past. The person who discovers the door tried to stay five years to stop the assassination of JFK, but he has to return prematurely due to an illness so he convinces a friend to attempt thwarting the assassination. 10/10 but it's a nearly 1100 page tome.

**MrQuint** · 04-22-2024, 08:23 AM

Update

Spoiler!

It was pretty humbling to read about the distances traveled in such rough conditions in True North. The Sumerians read was interesting to learn they split a circle into 360 degrees, years into 12 "months" and hours into 60 minutes among other things. When they talked about trade with other city states, it was pretty fascinating to imagine these caravans traveling with the first wheeled carts or sailboats so long ago. Some days I wish I had a time machine, the future interests me far less than the past.

**Woody-5** · 04-22-2024, 08:24 AM

Finished Gardens of the Moon (Malazan Book 1) by Steve Erickson

Excellent book. Definitely a lot going on, but I didn't find it as confusing or hard to follow as so many of the reviews have stated. Very dark fantasy, way more gritty than Sanderson's stuff. Anxious to dive into the rest of the series now.

Spoiler!

Originally Posted by Payton1221

Just finished Stephen King's 11/22/63 book about a "doorway" that takes the person back to September 1958 and returns you to 2 minutes after you left regardless of how long you stay in the past. The person who discovers the door tried to stay five years to stop the assassination of JFK, but he has to return prematurely due to an illness so he convinces a friend to attempt thwarting the assassination. 10/10 but it's a nearly 1100 page tome.

One of the best books that I read last year, it was so good

**TappingTheZen** · 04-22-2024, 08:41 AM

Originally Posted by MrQuint

It was pretty humbling to read about the distances traveled in such rough conditions in True North. The Sumerians read was interesting to learn they split a circle into 360 degrees, years into 12 "months" and hours into 60 minutes among other things. When they talked about trade with other city states, it was pretty fascinating to imagine these caravans traveling with the first wheeled carts or sailboats so long ago. Some days I wish I had a time machine, the future interests me far less than the past.

I feel this way all the time when reading about the classical world. The world was so different, and big then, and i feel technology is only making it smaller.

I haven't read as much about the Sumerians as i'd like, but i've read about the Aryan (i.e Iranian) migrations to the Zagros region, which sounds very similar to what you're describing (albeit later, around 1000 BC or so). Truly just transports your mind to another world.

**Adam16121** · 04-22-2024, 08:54 AM

Received a recent recommendation. I’m going through it on work breaks.

**cheerupemokid** · 04-22-2024, 08:55 AM

Spoiler!

17. Eusebius History of the Christian Church by Eusebius of Caesarea

Interesting account of the Early church directly from the author and other Pagan historians works. The history of the martyrs was especially compelling. How brutal the Romans were in their torture before ultimately drowning people (even women) in the sea was crazy.

**MrQuint** · 04-22-2024, 09:30 AM

Originally Posted by TappingTheZen

I feel this way all the time when reading about the classical world. The world was so different, and big then, and i feel technology is only making it smaller.

I haven't read as much about the Sumerians as i'd like, but i've read about the Aryan (i.e Iranian) migrations to the Zagros region, which sounds very similar to what you're describing (albeit later, around 1000 BC or so). Truly just transports your mind to another world.

Right? I mean we all understand that trade existed but imagine a caravan traveling from Mesopotamia to Egypt, India, possibly the Caucasus? The book I read did not go into great depth by any means but did reference many others. Still imagine people in the 4000BCE range working with glass, "inventing" irrigation, magnifying glasses, studying lunar cycles. I need to look into a few of the other books that were referenced as my knowledge of that whole era is lacking.

**Payton1221** · 04-22-2024, 11:20 AM

Originally Posted by Adam16121

Received a recent recommendation. I’m going through it on work breaks.

Mere Christianity is a classic. I didn't care as much for The Screwtape Letters, but in it, the devil doesn't suggest that his young demon try to convince his "patient" (IIRC) that God doesn't exist. He simply suggests keeping the patient distracted so that he doesn't have time to think of eternally important matters. Gee, sounds like the world we live in with the distractions of FB, Instagram TikTok, etc. ;-)

**TappingTheZen** · 04-29-2024, 02:46 AM

Finished:
Mike Duncan - The Storm Before the Storm: The Beginning of the End of the Roman Republic - 4/5 - Very readable account of Rome from Tiberius Gracchus, all the way till Sullas death after the first civil war.
Steven Pressfield - The Afghan Campaign - 3/5 - This is a fictional account of a Macedonian recruit on Alexanders Afghan/Bactrian campaign. Not the best historical fiction i've read, but very readable.
Marios Christou - Greek Mythology Explained: A Deeper Look at Classical Greek Lore and Myth - 3/5 - An alright account of a few Greek myths, although i'd say the explanations are quite superifical and miss a lot of the depth. Still decent enough though.
Phillip Matyszak - Cataclysm - 4/5 - Another account of Rome from Tiberius to the end of the first civil war, although this has a special emphasis on the social war which is difficult to follow at the best of times due to the poor quality of the classical sources during this period. Pretty good read, probably top 3 of this period i've read so far after "The collapse of Rome" by Gareth C. Sampson

In Progress:
Paul Chrystal - Rome: Republic into Empire: The Civil Wars of the First Century BCE
Henry T Greely - CRISPR People: The Science and Ethics of Editing Humans

Spoiler!

**Woody-5** · 05-06-2024, 12:09 PM

#13 done, Deadhouse Gates by Steve Erickson (Malazzan Book of the Fallen #2)

Holy hell I am loving this series so far. It's very dark and savage, and the size of the world and story is incredible. The amount of different characters and story arcs going on is insane. So much fun though. I'm already partway into Book 3. At this rate, I might finish the entire 10 book series in about 6 months!

Spoiler!

**xxAchillesxx** · 05-06-2024, 12:53 PM

Just wrapped up The Edge by Baldacci, a 6:20 Man novel. Pretty good, classic Baldacci. Not as "fantastic" as some of his other works, but decent enough. Also just finished 48 Hours by William R. Forstchen. This one was really good. Basically an end of the world style novel knowing you have 48 hours to live, and what would happen to society if they knew about it, along with all of the moral questions you'd ask, specifically "would you want to know if there was nothing you could do about it". Good scientific background regarding the sun and CME's and solar flares. Also up there with One Second After, but more of a 30,000 foot view of what's going on versus being completely in the dark as to what is actually happening.

About to switch it up a little and read In Harm's Way about the sinking of the USS Indianapolis and the sailors' fight to survive in shark infested waters.

**TappingTheZen** · 05-13-2024, 09:28 AM

Finished:
Paul Chrystal - Rome: Republic into Empire - 3.5/5 - decent enough history covering the period from grachi to augustus' regime. A little scant on some details though, but since it encompasses such a large period that's to be expected.
Henry T Greely - CRISPR People - 3.5/5 - Pretty engaging book on the current issues surrounding He Jiankui using CRISPR to genetically modify babies. A lot of it is exploring the ethics and discussions around ethics of germline editting
Robin Waterfield - Greek Myths - 4/5 - Account of the main greek myths which i found pretty good. Written by Robin Waterfield who is one of the most renowned translators of Classical greek these days and a translator for penguin, so given this he has a deep understanding of the classical greek language which definately helps inform his retelling of the myths.
Thomas R Martin - Ancient Greece: From Prehistoric to Hellenistic Times - 4.5/5 - This was a great account of greek history, although given its length it couldnt include all the details. Especially enjoyed the chapters on the archaic age which went into some depth.

Next:
Robert Harris - Conclave - movie coming out this year too, been on my shelf for ages so seems a good time to read it...
Phillip Freeman - Hannibal (Romes greatest enemy)

Spoiler!

**MrQuint** · 05-13-2024, 10:17 AM

Update

Spoiler!

**Payton1221** · 05-15-2024, 10:35 AM

My wife and I watched a 2017 Jackie Chan movie a few weeks ago entitled The Foreigner. We thought it was good, and I saw that it was the screen adaptation for Stephen Leather's The Chinaman. It's about a now British citizen who has serious military skills during his time fighting at times for both the North and South Vietnam armies. When his wife and last surviving daughter of their immigration to England are killed by a group claiming to be IRA, he initially waits for the police to bring the murderers to justice but he then realizes that if justice will be found, it'll have to be at his hands.

I think watching the movie helped me keep up with the characters but it's a solid 9-9.5 out of 10 for me!

**Legz422** · 05-15-2024, 03:03 PM

Spoiler!

21. Dirty Thirty (30th Stephanie Plum series) by Janet Evanovich
22. Never Never (1st in Harriet Blue series) by James Patterson
23. Fifty Fifty (2nd Harriet Blue) by James Patterson
24. Liar Liar (3rd Harriet Blue) by James Patterson
25. Hush Hush (4th and last so far of Harriet Blue series) by James Patterson
26. The Inn by James Patterson - Stand alone
27. Texas Ranger (1st in series) by James Patterson
28. Texas Outlaw (2nd in series, not sure if last) by James Patterson
29. Instinct (Previously Murder Games) (#1 in series) by James Patterson
30. Killer Instinct (#2 in series) by James Patterson
31. Steal (#3 and last out so far in series) by James Patterson

Been on a James Patterson kick.

**cheerupemokid** · 05-25-2024, 11:41 AM

Spoiler!

18. The City of God by Saint Augustine of Hippo

This had been on my reading list for a long time. It dealt a lot more with how the Romans belief in their gods were ridiculous and their criticisms of Christianity were hypocritical and irrational given their own beliefs. I especially enjoyed his critiques of the Greek philosophers, definitely the best part of the book, imo.

**TappingTheZen** · 05-27-2024, 06:51 AM

Updates since last time I posted:

Finished
Robert Harris - Conclave - 3.5/5 - This was really well written, but ultimately the ending was extremely disapointing and didn't deliver what the quality of the writing promised. I'm skeptical on how good the movie coming out will be.
Phillip Freeman - Hannibal - 4.5/5 - Great, to the point, detailed account of Hannibals war against Rome in Italy.
Vincent B. Davis II - Blood in the Forum: A Novella of Ancient Rome (The Marius Scrolls Book 2) - 4/5 - I loved this, but i have loved everything in the Marius & Sertorius scrolls series so far. It takes the form of a letter, written to Sertorius from Gaius Marius relaying an eye witness account of Tiberius Gracchus and the chaos that ensued following his tribunate in Rome.
Christof Koch - The Feeling of Life Itself: Why Consciousness Is Widespread but Can't Be Computed - 3.5/5 - This was decent, it gave an account of IIT (Integrated information theory) and it's application to the problem of consiousness. It was somewhat well explained, but ultimately i feel like Koch leaves many conceptual leaps he makes quiet without explaining them, which is the reason I gave it 3.5. The title is also slightly misleading, he doesn't contend that being can't be computed; rather he believes it can't be computed on Von Neumann Architecture.
The Crisis of Rome: The Jugurthine and Northern Wars and the Rise of Marius - Gareth C. Sampson - 4.5/5 - Gareth C Samspon is starting to take up a significant section of Roman history in my library, and this book was up to his usual standards. Direct & To the point account of the period from the onset of the Jugurthine war, to the resoution of the Cimbric wars by Marius, with a little blurb about Marius & Saturninus in the appendix.

Currently reading
H.H Scullard - From the Gracchi to Nero: A History of Rome from 133 BC to AD 68
A.C Grayling - The History of Philosophy

Both of these are quite long, so should keep me occupied for a week or two. The Scullard book covers a huge period of Roman history, that is by some distance the best documented.

Spoiler!

**MrQuint** · 05-28-2024, 06:58 AM

I picked up a cheap copy of Pirate Port by Robert F. Marx. I'd come across his name in another book and while the book is copyrighted in 1967 so far I'm very impressed with the details. I've noted a few times in just the first few pages where he mentions using old drawings from the 17th century to find the sunken sections of Port Royal after their huge earthquake/tsunami in 1692. I have high hopes for the rest of the book.

As for Half Fast, well I'm a sucker for reading about people who leave their daily lives behind and leisurely sail around the world. It's a dream/fantasy I would love to indulge in but no doubt never will.

Spoiler!

**MrQuint** · 06-07-2024, 03:42 AM

I borrowed The Will to Survive from a neighbor, it's about a soldier in the PTO that survived the Bataan Death March and was a POW for the remainder of the war and the life he led when he came home. To say his story is humbling is an understatement.

Spoiler!

**xxAchillesxx** · 06-07-2024, 05:42 AM

For the fellow audiobook miscers, I'm currently about 75% of the way through The Only Plane in The Sky - The Oral History of 9/11. Basically it's a whole bunch of interview tidbits and sound bites from 9/11. But instead of one person at a time telling their individual story, it's pieced together chronologically and on location by chapter. From air traffic controllers, to fighter pilots, to all kinds of workers in the buildings and around Manhattan/the Pentagon, to firefighters/PD, to Giuliani, Dick Cheney, and Bush. It's phenomenal... should be a required listen.

**sl_17b** · 06-08-2024, 03:45 AM

Christian Cameron – Poseidons Spear 4/5
17. Terry Mancour – Shadow Blade 3/5
18. Sebastien De Castell – Traitors Blade 4/5
19. Sebastien De Castell – Knights Shadow 4/5
20. Sebastien De Castell – Saints Blood 4/5
21. Sebastien De Castell – Tyrants Throne 4/5
22. Douglas Brunt – Mysterious Case of Rudolf Diesel 4.5/5
23. Miles Cameron – Storming Heaven 4/5
24. Miles Cameron – Against All Gods 4/5
25. Miles Cameron – Beyond the Fringe 4/5
26. Anspach & Cole – The Wanted 4/5
27.

**FrankCostanza** · 06-08-2024, 04:07 AM

Me when I was 10 'do Goosebump books count?'

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