1 Louis L'Amour, you idjit.

2

I'm finishing up W.E.B Griffin's Presidential Agent series right now.  Already read (actually listened, with my long commute, I do audiobooks) the Corps series and the Army series.

I took a break to go through Moneyball again, just to watch the hometown Astros waste their first round picks on high school players.

No kidding though, I have Road to Serfdom and Liberal Fascism ready to go when I finish WEB.  I actually picked those up from audible.

3 Historical fiction. Sharon Kay Penman more so than Philippa Gregory (which falls more into the "guilty pleasure" mode). The Bronze Horseman . The Outlander books, although I think I could only make it to the third.

4 Good Morning Monty.

Guilty pleasure?? I guess the John Ringo series known as "Paladin of The Shadows" falls in that category.  They are fun to read and they are borderline porn.

This week I finished Dale Brown's latest book, Executive Intent.  If you like high tech military thrillers you'll like this one, although it is not as good as previous ones.

One thing about this book though, you can see strong ties to Obama and Hillary in the characters and the utter contempt that he has for them. 

5 I'm finishing up W.E.B Griffin's Presidential Agent series right now.

That's a good series. Hell, all of his book are good.

6 Currently I am working on Brian Haig's JAG series. I am on Man In The Middle now.

In the forward he explains that he had no intent of interjecting 'politics" into the book but right off the bat he signed on to the "Bush lied" meme about Iraq. I am vastly disappointed that the son of Alexander Haig would sign on to that meme.

7 Only the classics for me - Das Kapital, Communist Manifesto, you know the usual

8 Pride Prejudice and Zombies,

9 Guilty pleasure reading:

1. Historical romance novels by Patricia Veryan,  which are well-written and definitely not bodice-rippers.  The Sanguinet series includes a megalomaniac villain who is trying to establish himself as the King of England.  He is opposed by a bunch of lesser nobles who have been marginalized with undeserved accusations, as well as gypsies and assorted odd characters.  Moronettes might like these.

2. Catherine Coulter's FBI series

3. Rereading Agatha Christie mysteries,  of course!

10 Dawn of the Dreadfuls prequel

11

If you like historical fiction, of course you have to read the Sharpe's series by Bernard Cornwell. Cracking good yarns, and as a bonus a great education on blackpowder military tactics.

I just finished Bruce Catton's This Hallowed Ground, and I must say it has to be THE best one volume history of the Civil War I have ever read.

Turns out that it had been sitting in my bookshelves, untouched, and it's a first edition.

Not a clue as to where I got it.......

 

 

12 Abraham Lincoln Vampire Hunter

13

I used to read a lot of Mary Higgins Clark mystery novels. They always seemed to be about a young woman working in a glamorous profession somewhere in the northeast part of the country, who was in danger from a killer while she was investigating a big cover-up of some kind.

I also like to read nonfiction about the decadent lives of the rich and powerful, like Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil.

Even though my reading interests are literally all over the place, I still tend to read books that I "should" read oftentimes rather than ones I "want" to read. Need to work on that. Life's too short to only read books that others think you should read.

 

14 Popular fiction is nothing but sex, drugs, and rock n roll. Instead read classics about wine, women, and song.

15 Guilty reading pleasure? Well, I've been reading Monty's daily financial  reports..... (I read it for the sex. California gets boned daily!)

16 Glen Cook.  My freshman roommate gave me the Black Company to read and I have been a devoted fan ever since. Though I don't feel all that guilty, I recommend Glen Cook to everyone who asks me for a recommendation.

17 ugh

18
Guilty Pleasures for me are: AOS HQ then iowahawk followed by American Thinker, Doug Ross and American Digest.

19 If you like historical fiction, of course you have to read the Sharpe's series by Bernard Cornwell.

Agreed.  His other stuff is more boring, but Sharpe was terrific and I was always impressed with the historical details.  I loved how he would include a section at the end to talk about where he played with history and where he stayed true, very refreshing.  The BBC movies are terrible, though.

I stopped W.E.B. Griffens stuff when I noticed paragraphs and sometimes whole pages where copied from book to book.  I know you can't plagiarize yourself, but I felt cheated and insulted.

My current shame and pleasure is the Shadowmarch series by Tad Williams.  I could call it a contemplation on man's relationship to the divine, but it is just a really ripping good tale.  Very complex plot carried over 4 volumes.  I will atone and return to "proper" reading once I have finished.

20 I took a similar path. In my 20s and 30s, almost everything I read was historical non-fiction, primarily Early American and 20th Century Russian history heavy on Stalin, the Bolsheviks, and Eastern Front stuff. The poppiest thing I read was Antony Beevor's Stalingrad: The Fateful Siege (incredible, by the way).

About 2 years ago, after starting back on fiction with Jeffrey Deaver's "Lincoln Rhyme" stuff, I looked up Dean Koontz on a whim. I dug him heavily from the start and began to realize how politically conservative he was as I read. The Dean Koontz's Frankenstein Trilogy is unbelievable. The Odd Thomas series is also excellent. So much of his stuff is so freakin' good, plus, did I mention he was a conservative (who supported Fred Frikkin' Thompson in the '08 primaries?

21 The Pendergast books are great. Vince Flynn writes great mil/espionage thrillers. Some of the Dean Koontz mass market novels are okay, particularly the "Odd Thomas" series which I definitely recommend.

22 I guess I should've read down to DrZin before I posted. Seriously, for people who rightfully shy away from Dean Koontz' more fluorescent and absurd books, the "Odd Thomas" ones are a different breed. Still a little goofy, but there's far more than usual in the way of plot, character development, etc.

23 World War Z.

24 Vince Flynn writes great mil/espionage thrillers.

I second that. His books are so popular here there is always a waiting list for the entire series at the library, even the ones that are years old.

25

Edgar Rice Burroughs, generally the John Carter of Mars series, but any of his book will do.  No thinking required here!

26 Also, anything by John Irving or John Updike.

27 Oh, I can't believe I forgot the Myron Bolitar books by Harlan Coben. Sports agent/Magnum P.I.-type fella helps friends out of jams, solves crimes, etc. A little simplistic in the writing (not nearly as bad as "Spenser") and the dialogue can get kinda tinny, but there's enough wit and pace to keep you reading. Plus, there's a character in the series who is a total understated bad-ass. Look forward to his arrival every time I crack a book.

28 Because Irving and Updike are so over-rated. I mean, yeah, they're entertaining reads, but kind of pretentious.

But, who am I to talk, I'm currently reading a biography of Charlemagne. Wouldn't it be cool if somehow we could arrange for Charlemagne to meet Bob Saget?

29 World War Z I loved that book. I hear they're making a movie out of it.

30 This is a little embarrassing, but I love the cocky doody Misery books. I know historical romance is trash, but they just make me feel all oogy inside. That Paul Sheldon... I'd just love to tie him to a bed and break his legs.

Well, I'm off to the feed store. I gotta write one big bastard of a check so I can buy me a bag of that F-in' pig feed, and a pound of that bitchly cow corn. Toodles.

31 Reading an interesting book by Bob Edsel, The Monuments Men. It's about the men designated by Eisenhower in WW2 to protect, and find all the stolen art the Nazi's took. Interesting WW2 backstory, and interesting that despite all the bombing and destruction of war, Eisenhower did care about art history and culture.

32 Pete Straub is so underrated that it's criminal. If you liked Koko, try Mystery. When it comes to Glen Cook, I kind of dig his Starfishers trilogy. My guiltiest is probably my Caldecott collection. The niece and nephew aren't old enough for 'em yet, but I pretend that they will be soon so I can re-read them. LLoyd Alexander's Prydain Cycle, Lucy Boston's Green Knowe books and Susan Cooper's Dark is Rising bunch. I'll even toss in Nesbit's sand-fairy series. Stuff for the kids, y'know, that need you to help them walk through. Like Narnia and such.

33 P.G Wodehouse, again.  I need to laugh a high percentage of my waking hours or current events (of the last 40 years) would drag me down. 

34 Pete Straub is so underrated that it's criminal. If you liked Koko, try Mystery. I've got most of his stuff, and all the "Blue Rose" mysteries. My favorite is probably The Throat, but then I always liked Tim Underhill as a character and that book focuses on him. Straub's horror stuff I can mostly take or leave, though I do love Shadowland and Ghost Story.

35 Bob Edsel, The Monuments Men. Wow. That sounds great. Thanks for the tip.

36 Elmore Leonard, Alan Furst, Agatha Christie, PD James, Eric Ambler, Dashell Hammett, Raymond Chandler

37 I have to admit to enjoying the occasional chick book. Both The Thorn Birds and the Far Pavillions were entertaining. I reommend them.

38 And of course PG Wodehouse, especially the Bertie Wooster books.

39 F. Paul Wilson has written a series of excellent mystery/supernatural thrillers starring a protagonist named "Repairman Jack". I recommend these books highly -- they're quirky, but quick and entertaining reads. Michael Marshall's Straw Men series is good too (especially if you've ever read Nietzsche).

40 The Outlander Series by Diana Gabaldon are my go-to books when I don't have anything else to read.... someone above mentioned they couldn't make it past the third one -- the first three are my favorites, but I highly recommend reading all through to the newest one ("And Echo in the Bone"). You won't regret it! Also, they're coming out with a graphic novel version in September called "The Exile." It's told from Murtagh's point of view, go figure.

I absolutely devour trashy romances --  I actually write a monthly column about them for a blog -- but they're not all bad. The Kressley Cole books are REALLY good - sci-fi/fantasy romance, but not like that Twilight crap. I've read my fair share of Phillippa Gregory and Gregory Maguire ("Wicked," "Confessions of an Ugly Stepsister," etc) too.

I used to read the "Troubleshooters" series by Suzanne Brockmann. It's thriller/action romance centered around a group of Navy SEALs, and I read up to book 13 or something. But now I'm boycotting her -- she's a liberal shill who can't tolerate any diversity of thought or opinion, and a mind-blowingly huge hypocrite. She more or less slandered me and kicked me off her Facebook fanpage because I said I supported Scott Brown back in January. What really burns my butt about her is that she makes her living writing about the Navy and military types and their families, and yet will toss one of us aside like so much garbage (while publicly humiliating someone) if you don't tow her party line. I highly urge my fellow morons and moronettes to spread the word about this woman -- she'll witness the power of this fully operational moronosphere!

41 The System of the World trilogy by Neal Stephenson. It starts a little slow but once you get sucked in it's a spectacular work and a real achievement. Also, the Otherland series by Tad Williams is pretty good too.

42

@5 vic  Agree.  It's interesting to read reviews on Amazon with critics complaining about his character development vs lack of action.  I've enjoyed the books because of the character.  There's plenty of action there, if you understand the character.

 

@19  Yeah.  It is very noticeable in the audiobooks, and I must admit, reading those sections over again would be frustrating.  His last few books in the Brotherhood of War series tended to get away from it, by focusing on a new character.  But in Presidential Agent, I get it; Castillo was a bastard son of a MoH winner and a German girl both from rich families, rinse and repeat.

43

Favorite canonical literature: Penthouse Letters

Favorite guilty pleasure: Penthouse Letters

See... two birds, one stone, yadayada. 

 

44 Castillo was a bastard son of a MoH winner and a German girl both from rich families, rinse and repeat.

Yes his characters do have a "repeatness" to them.  But I think all authors are guilty of this to a degree. I view Castillo as the "Craig Lowell" of this series except he is of Spanish descent in keeping with Griffin's home now being in Argentina.

45 Hillerman books are pretty cheesy.  Very formulaic, but I enjoy the setting and find them to be great airport books. 

46 38 And of course PG Wodehouse

I love those, too, but I don't feel guilty about it. 

47 Lesbian porn.

48 Oh good grief - all these books that require a reading level above 5th grade (grumble grumble....)  It's summer, give me my mindless SMUT that I'm embarrassed to read in front of the children!

The summer smut I'm reading now include:

 - Charlaine Harris' Southern Vampire series.  The books have plots (hard to come by with lots of the smut I read), interesting characters, and kinda tie ya into the story.  Not a lot of redundancy, yet, but after 10 books and a number of short stories I'm beginning to wonder where it's going.   Yes, the books do have vampires and were-wolves and other super-natural creatures, but they're about as un-Twilight as they can be.  The books are more adult, the characters are darker, and there are some pretty explicit scenes of violence and "adult" activities.   Starting in the middle of this series would be a bad idea because the books build on one another.  The vampire series is the basis of the True Blood series on HBO, but the books and the show are so different that you can love the books and still enjoy the program.  

 - Janet Evanovich's Stephanie Plum series (yea - I like series books).  She has her 16th books, not including short stories, of the series due out at the end of June.  After 16, the stories have gotten a bit redundant and the main character, Stephanie, needs to just make up her mind already, but the books are laugh out loud funny and highly entertaining (and have enough smut to keep you entertained but not necessarily ready to jump your husband).  The books are set in Trenton New Jersey and my sister, who lives near there, loves that some of the landmarks referenced in the book are real.  all of the books are quick, easy reads.  You do want to start with # 1 and move ahead in order because you won't get it if you don't.

- Sarah Strohmeyer's Bubbles Yablonsky series.  Not a lot of smut (at least not yet) and kinda in the same laugh out loud fashion as Stephanie Plum .  I've only just begun this series.  The books are a bit longer than Evanovich's but the stories are more complex and more developed while still being lighthearted and funny.

49 My guilty pleasure is ghost stories - the best ones were written in the first half of the 20th century. If I need a book for a long wait - in Emergency, for example - I know I can't go wrong with The Collected Ghost Stories of M.R. James. Basil Davenport put out some wonderful anthologies too.

50 I like the Plum series, too, Monster_Mom. 

51 Mystery novels are usually amusing, but Robert Parker's earlier stuff is excellent. The characters are interesting, and the detached amusement of Spenser, his main character, is always good for a smile. Parker went into the toilet toward the end, with prose that became so terse as to be embarrassing.

"Looking For Rachel Wallace" might be his best work.

52 I've never been embarrassed to read what I read, so I'll take "Guilty" as "not really wanting to tell what I'm reading to my mother."  I would guess H.P. Lovecraft is still the king, here.  (I've never told her about Ann Coulter or "Liberal Fascism"--hooray for the Kindle.)

53 I like the Plum series, too, Monster_Mom. 

Posted by: Y-not at June 13, 2010 10:11 AM (Kn9r7)

Ditto....Lulu is a hoot.

Favorite Fiction writer:  Nelson DeMille.

Favorite Non-Fiction writer:  Thomas Sowell

54 I agree with Monty about the Repairman Jack series-ther'ye a hoot.  I also highly recommend the Jack Reacher stuff by F. Paul Wilson. Love Vince Flynn, the Pendergast books, and Terry Pratchett.

55 Anybody reading Justin's Cronin's "The Passage"? Holy crap... one of the best books I've read in a long, long time. Kind of like The Stand, only--and this may be blasphemous to some of you--better.

56 The Stand was pretty damned good, although King's extended version was about 500 pages too long. I wouldn't have thought that he needed the money!

57 I'm 100% dude. I belch, fart, barbeque, ride motorcycles, shoot guns, quote the fuck out of Predator and Aliens, and DVR the living shit out of The History Channel and The Military Channel.

And I love me some Jane Austen.

There. I said it.

58 I reread The Stand when it came out because I liked it so much and have always been a Stephen King fan.  But after reading Duma Key with all his Bush-bashing assholeness, I wont ever pick up anything of his again.

59

When I was a kid I read one of Jackie Collins' books, just to get to the naughty bits.  We didn't have cable so I had to get my jollies somehow.  All I really remember is an elevator sex scene where a guy starts taking a woman's clothes off and she says, "F*&% me, you bastard!"  

60 When I was a kid, Mack Maloney's Wingman series.

Oh good Lord, sooooo bad.  This is the way military fiction would be written if Tom Clancy had been raised exclusively on a diet of paint chips and popskull.

61 I wont ever pick up anything of his again.

The Stand is the only book I have by him. Even in it you can see the "liberalness" showing through with his hatred of the military.

62

I enjoy Bernard Cornwell's history...but his characters lose me as just not being believable people. Probably my problem.

The Patrick O'Brien sea novels about the Napoleonic era are very well written and fun...but if you don't know official naval terminology they can slow one down.

I enjoy all time travel/alternate history novels....I am a sucker for them....and have read some really good ones (The Lincoln Hunters; The Man in the High Castle) and some really bad ones.....one about a young Ronald Reagan as a movie actor living in late 30s California.

Also enjoy ufos. I'm fascinated about the possiblity of other-wordly cultures and how they might view us. The Fallen Sparrow is really good....as is her second book, whose title I can't remember.

Kenneth Roberts' Northwest Passage is wonderful historical fiction. Read it many times. Wouk's The Winds of War is also very entertaining as is The Caine Mutiny.

Anything by the late Jack Finney.....especially Time and Again.

 

63 Philip Jose Farmer . From straight up science fiction to weird psycho sexual stuff in his hard to find books .
Shelby Foote .
Patrick Obrien , of course .
For quirky cult members . Tom Kelly writes about the trials and tribulations of turkey hunting.

64 OK, if you like action and Vampires and don't mind way over-the-top writing, then Vampire$ by John Steakley. John Carpenter's Vampires was based on it. Also, yes, World War Z. Harry Potter-- especially after book 4. I'm done with Stephen King. His flaws are just too obvious at this point.

65 Anything by Terry Pratchett - I just finished re-reading the three books in the Wee Free Men* series (ostensibly a series for children, but don't believe it). Very funny and includes some very sharp commentary on humanity. *Crivens!

66 What I really go for are books about watches.  I love in watch books.  Yes sir. 

67 Harry Turtledove.

68 Dr Mabuse: If you like ghost stories, you should check out Robert Aickman's Cold Hand In Mine. Very good stuff. It's sort of like Henry James' Turn of the Screw in that the scares are more psychological than monsters going "Boo!".

69 Also, anything by John Irving or John Updike.

Posted by: Gregory of Yardale at June 13, 2010 08:54 AM (YPivX)

I got a great deal of pleasure out of The World According to Garp.  Updike seemed to produce angst laden garbage that the NYT goofs and ministers with real issues (I'm thinking of somebody specific here that means nothing to anybody reading this) loved to wallow in.

There were a number of short story writers in the late 70s that I fooled myself into thinking were good when in reality they were extremely shallow and didn't write particularly well.  Ann Beattie is the one who comes most to mind although to her credit, she was responsible for introducing me to the work of Raymond Carver, who was outstanding until he got off the sauce and shacked with that third-rate whore Tess Gallagher.

70 I'm a "Late-to-the-party" conservative now after wasting most of my life as a stupid liberal hippy.  I'm probably just noticing the liberal biases more now, but I will put down a book or turn off a movie these days a lot more easily.   In fact I can hardly ever find a film I'll watch anymore. 

71

World War Z, PG Wodehouse, and Harry Potter series are givens. Outside of "the classics" and histories, I don't really read much other than horse training books (I guess that would be my light reading).  One summer back when I was not quite 16, I did get ahold of one of those bodice rippers with an erstwhile boyfriend (erstwhile, because my dad wouldn't let me date) -- the book itself was rather stupid, we skipped to the "naughty" bit, and it inspired quite a bit of some rather torrid, impassioned kissing (made all the better because we had to sneak our smooches -- Dad would have killed him for kissing me...and maybe had my hide as well), but I don't know it that counts as reading.

Ok, I used to have the entire collections of Calvin & Hobbes, Bloom County, The Far Side, and Peanuts...and I loved them.

72 Now the last time a thread of this type started - about two weeks ago? - I found myself inspired to re-read all the Travis McGee novels by John D. MacDonald and am now at number ten "The Girl in the Plain Brown Wrapper". They are even more enjoyable than the first time I gobbled them up, back in the mid-Seventies. So I can recommend them heartily. But cut this out! I have too many piles of things I have not read yet to be going into the Way Back Machine all the time.

73 Harry Turtledove.

I read one of his books from the library. It was the only one they had that was a stand-alone book called The Guns Of The Confederacy. 

It was an outstanding book and I looked at the rest and they had three different series by him, but they were all incomplete with books missing here and there in the center of the series so I haven't picked them up.

74 Ellis Peters's 'Brother Cadfael' mysteries.

75

Ohh yeah, "Brother Cadael" was great...now I want to go buy some books.

Oh, and I read Tim Robbins -- the prose and storylines are so over the top; it's better than pigging out on chocolate.

76 I can't believe that nobody has mentioned Dewey Lambdin's Alan Lewrie Series.  If you like the historical naval stuff from CS Forrester or Patrick O'Brian, you'd love the Alan Lewrie series. 

Mr. Lewrie was leading the AoS lifestyle 200 years ago (with the obvious exception that he actually got laid once in awhile)--boozing, wenching, and sticking it to the French, too!

And the books are not nearly as plodding and difficult to read as some of the Aubrey/Maturin novels.  They are much more fun to read!

 

77 Ugh, Tom Robbins...I haven't had enough coffee this morning.

78 Thanks so much Monty. I have an avid reader teen boy which is pretty rare and I got so many of the books you mentioned and my son is hooked on John Carter from Mars. He's already worried they are going to wreck the story in the upcoming movie. I written down all these suggestions and appreciate these threads.

79 I beg pardon, but Patrick O'Brian is not a guilty pleasure. He is a master of characterization, for one, and among post-television 20th century novelists, he stands alone in his ability to understate and imply rather than explicitly state. This means his books hold up to repeated re-reading.  He wrote 20 novels in the Aubrey-Maturin series, and only one of them was actually bad. Batting 19-20 is extraordinary by any standards.

80 Original Mikey , I started out liking the Lambdin books but after a while reading the english written with french accents of the various trollops that Lambdin insists on using for page after page got too obnoxious . I like his action scenes when he can bother to write them and his literary seamanship is pretty good .
Now , I like trollops as much as any man but pages of Ooooh, Alain zeez tings yooo dooo  .
 Zoot alors .

81 Oh, I can't believe I forgot the Myron Bolitar books by Harlan Coben

A+ on those, endlessly entertaining! 

Also Vince Flynn, Brad Thor.  The Lincoln Rhyme ones are great (Preston/Child).  Lee Child's Jack Reacher series is another winner.

You can't beat Robert B. Parker.

Carl Hiassen writes some wickedly funny laugh out loud stuff.

82 Right you are good will .
Obrian is a pleasure , not a guilty one .

83 #71 Monty: Thanks for the link! Aickman looks very interesting, I'll definitely look that book up. Not a NEW copy, mind you ($154?!) but a used copy for just over $2 sounds quite reasonable. I'll bet I've read something by him before; if I searched through all my anthologies, I'm sure I'd find him, because his name sounds very familiar.

84 The Complete McAuslan by George MacDonald Fraser

and children's books like Uncle Pinky mentioned @32

I recently re-read Madeleine l'Engle's A Wrinkle in Time just for the image of a shadowed earth.

85 Goodwill has been opening bookstores here in SoCal.  Pricing seems to depend on location, but the one near me is $2 for paperback and either $3 or $4 for hardcover (don't know, hate reading hard cover books). 

86 Joseph Wambaugh's Hollywood Station series.

87 The "Anita Blake, Vampire Hunter" books. Even trashier than Twilight, mixed with enough tips on proper weaponry for undead killin' that you can make a good case that you're just taking notes for the zombie invasion. That's it, research....

88 Awkward Davies--

So true--that is my biggest gripe about his novels.  Book #6 was especially bad about that, so just got to the point where I skipped over that shiat.  There was a little bit more of that in Jester's Fortune, but not nearly as much.

I wish he would just say something like 'the conversation went on in pidgin French' or something and just get on with the dialogue.

Oh, and whoever it was that felt the need to defend O'Brian's novels, I was not disparaging them at all. I have the entire collection and enjoyed them immensely.  I just thought that some of them were plodding and difficult to follow at times--the Dewey Lamdin series is much more earthy and easy to read, and I find myself chuckling a lot more as I work my way through each volume.

89 ... and I never said O'Brian was a guilty pleasure, either. 

90 Michael Connelly -- especially The Lincoln Lawyer. 

91 @Tunafish: Me too. Liberalism, heck, outright socialism, is more than a bias, it's the grounding assumption at the core of most TV shows and movies, and stuff that doesn't bore me just fills me with anger.

===

As soon as I learned to read, I discovered that the books in the library with the spaceship stickers on the spine were...special.

For many decades, nothing else quite made the nut.

I've broadened out over the past 10-15 years, but reading for pleasure -- still SF and fantasy.

Oddly, although I hate most of the fantasy currently on sale ("extruded fantasy product"), the stuff I read to tatters is fantasy, not hard SF.

Not a guilty pleasure at all: Terry Pratchett. I wish I could get more people to read him; he's the best humorist currently writing, easily in the same class as Wodehouse, Thurber, and that crowd. His word play is a revelation, showing you stuff about the English language, and about human nature, you didn't know was there.

My guiltiest pleasure is C.J. Cherryh's <I>Fortress in the Eye of Time</i> series, a political thriller set as a medieval fantasy in a world that never was. Interminable, sprawling, clogged with detail,  it nevertheless enthralls me, particularly the first volume.

The guiltiest thing about <I>Fortress:</I> In a book about golems, Pratchett writes that we humans seem to have a slip of paper in our heads saying, "Kings! What a great idea!" I agree with Pratchett that this is one of the most dangerous  aspects of human nature. <I>Fortress</I> is unabashedly royalist, and it makes even me wish for a king like Cefwyn.

92 Heh...  I see and raise.

Robert Adams "Horseclans" series (I have them all!)  I note with relish the dedication in #14 <i>A Man Called Milo Morai</i>: "...and to Mister Bernhard Goetz, gentleman at arms."

93 I think I might be one of the only persons here who didn't care for World War Z.

Commie pinko shit, that was.

94 When my mom was young it was Forever Amber. If they were caught reading it they were in big trouble.

95 Tropic of Cancer

96 @unknown jane: <I>Bloom County</I> is still one of my favorites.

But, oh god, I feel terrible about this; this really is a guilty pleasure:

I still like the early <I>Doonesbury</I>. There was a time when Trudeau didn't take himself too seriously, and he made fun of his characters when they did.

Then he got bitter, and so did his comic. Tragic. I lost interest before I lost my liberalism.

97 My guilty pleasure is watching Salma Hayek climb on her chair to avoid a snake that got on to the set.

98 Perhaps one day at least one of you will graduate to truly classic literature:

 - David Matzohfield
 - The Matzoh of Casterbridge
 - Two Years Before the Matzoh
 - Matzoh Dick
 - Little Matzohs
 - Crime and Matzohballs

99 Anything by Tony Horwitz.

100 Guilty pleasure: I just spent my year in exile tracking down used paperback copies and reading the Midnight Louie series.  The human characters and their subplots annoy me, I read it for the cats.

In serious reading, I just re-read Anne of Green Gables for the first time in about ten years...and was impressed (and dismayed) by how 12-year-old girls in 1910 were expected to read and understand bigger words than most adults in 2010.  Also that the girls stayed girls until they were sixteenish...

101

Pride & Prejudice and Zombies, the Lincoln Child/Douglas Preston books (I hear they're doing a sequel to the Ice Limit!), true crime books, Jim Butcher's Dresden series, books based on historical events like John Berendt's and Eric Larsen.

Am rereading Heminway's and James' stuff--have to read them concurrently, because either one alone will wreck your own natural way of phrasing things.

102 Somebody already mentioned Dean Koontz.  I loved all his novels, despite the predictable formula and the "happy endings" - (AFAIK, Dark Rivers of the Heart was the only exception to that, but I haven't read his recently released novels). 

I'll also admit having a certain fondness for Joel C. Rosenberg's work in the Last Jihad Series, although I've only read from "The Ezekiel Option" to "Dead Heat".  Kinda of like "24" meets Christian eschatology.  Rosenberg can't quite pull off the Tom Clancy style...

103 My guilty pleasure is Michael Z. Williamson books, Freehold, The Weapon, etc.  Also enjoy Joel Rosenberg's books esp. Metzada series.

Just finished Escape From Hell, Niven and Pournelle's sequel to Inferno.  On Thursday morning I didn't even know this book existed.  Found and finished by Thursday night.  A 30 year closing of the circle.

Multi-re-reads at any time?:  Heinlein, Coulter, Rowling, Scalzi, PJ.

104 Goodwill has been opening bookstores here in SoCal.

They're online, too, and list books on Amazon. Excellent idea.

105 Two of my favorites not mentioned yet; The Jack Reacher books by Lee Child and the alternate history series begun with "1632" by Erik Flint. The latter has turned into a mammoth project with many authors including talented amateurs, and a large online following.

Oh, and if you do not know who Elvis Cole, Joe Pike and Robert Crais are: one makes you laugh, one will scare the hell out of you, and one writes about the other two.

106

About a year ago I got the entire Discworld series by Terry Pratchett (around 25 books) and have been alternating them between others. I'm almost done and it makes me sad !

The Ice Limit sequel would be welcomed, I was bummed when they lost that asteroid.

107 Oh, and just started another pass through Count of Monte Cristo.  Watched the most recent movie with the boys and started telling them about the book now we are all fighting for to share it out.
Proves that what is "only" popular fiction may very well outlast the literature stuff.

108 I'm currently reading book number seven of The Malazan Book of the Fallen series, Reaper's Gale, by Steven Erikson. This series is epic. Renegade armies, magic using two different types of systems, gods, fallen gods, demi-gods, people becoming gods, monsters, races of lizards with swords for hands, and on and on and on. Read the series. The first book, Gardens of the Moon, is the weakest but still a great read, but they all get so much better.

109 Oh, and if you do not know who Elvis Cole, Joe Pike and Robert Crais are: one makes you laugh, one will scare the hell out of you, and one writes about the other two.

I love the Elvis Cole series!  Another good one is John Lescroart with his Dismas Hardy stuff.  And John Sandford's Prey series is excellent.

110 I read like crazy especially all the paranormal romance novels I can lay my hands on. My husband enjoys my reading habit because it puts me in the mood, IYKWIMAITTYD. I also really like contemporary mystery books by authors like Ann Stuart, Jayne Krentz,Iris Johansson,Karen Robards. I occasionally read Carl Hiaason who I highly recommend especially if you have ever spent any time in Florida. I stay away from a lot of the 'best selling" authors like John Grisham and Stephanie Meyer as I find the plots simplistic and the character development pretty flimsy.

111 I cannot read either Patricia Cornwell or Stephen King.  Cornwell is a writer who, bucking all the odds, has actually declined in writing skills to the point of complete incoherence, and has lost any vestige of how human beings actually relate to one another, or even think.  King's politics are so boring and so all-consuming that I already know what's going to happen in his utterly craptastic doorstops.

112 I'm a nasty book snob. Meaning I can't stand bad writing OR what passes for "good" writing but really isn't, it's just tripe. However, I do have one guilty pleasure and they are the mystery novels by Elizabeth George. If a new one comes out I get it and try not to read it until I can take it to the beach or the pool or curl up by the fire so that there is a total sense of indulgence.

113 @71 Dr Mabuse and Monty, If you like ghost stories - check out Antique Dust by Robert Westall Best ghost story writer since MR James. Hard to find though but they have it for about $2.50 used at Amazon. Satisfaction guaranteed.

114 the alternate history series begun with "1632" by Erik Flint. The latter has turned into a mammoth project with many authors including talented amateurs, and a large online following.

I used to like that series when it first started. But the "mammoth project" and endless parallel plots have ruined it. After "The Dreason Incident" I decided it was time to give up on it.

Like a lot of other authors of today, rather than taking control and finishing the series, he has opened up two other endless series after that one.  The latest being a "Twilight" type vampire series.

That is the new standard now. Endless books that never advance the plot. The Wheel of Time Started that trend and everyone has jumped on that bandwagon. 

115 Mark Richards' collection of short stories- "The Ice at the Bottom of the World."

And the subsequent full-on novel "Fishboy" from same. 

Truly superb.

And some Larry Brown, too.

116 I don't really feel guilty about books that I read, and it bothers me not at all that fans of other stuff may look down their noses. Sometimes I might even share their judgment, while still enjoying the work: Frank Herbert tells a great story (sometimes), and writes ridiculous dialog and worse inner thoughts. Jack Williamson's Cometeers books are laughably childish in some ways but seriosly fun. Those are the two most embarrassing examples I can come up with, I think. The talent for telling a story that people (specifically, me) will want to read is rare enough that pickiness is not on the menu.

Where guilt comes into it is when I pick up comics. I love the early (say, pre-Carter-administration) Doonesbury. The guy had talent, what a shame. Bloom County. The Fabulous Furry Freak Brothers. R. Crumb. How can I think of feeling any guilt at all for reading a book, when I am getting chuckles from such lowbrow things as a drawing of Snappy Sammy Smoot saying "Don't wee-wee on your tee-vee set!"

117 unknown jane - I also loved the Bloom County comics. I have all of Berkeley Breathed Bloom County books. My daughter reads them now, though I doubt she understands most of the political significances.

I just finished Candide, Zagdig and Micromegas by Voltaire. Not bad for Frog-lit.

118 Oh yeah, and the Discworld books.  Silly but fun.

119 Hunter S. Thompson

120 I liked both Riptide & Thunderhead by Preston and Child. I must admit, I read the first Potter book and was surprised by it. I wound up reading the whole series and decided that Snape is one of my favorite characters ever. I think I like him more than Nattie Bumppo. Immigrant series by Howard fast is pretty good, too. But as far as guilty pleasures, I'd have to say Potter takes the cake. I refuse to touch the Twilight series. I am a kid at heart that has kids and wanted to see what all the anti Christian flak was about. But I ain't a chick. I also like the Stephanie Plum stuff by Janet Evanovich. Man, I'd love to see Sandra Bullock, Marissa Tomei or Mira Sorvino play Stephanie. Another author's series I like is John Sandford's Prey series. Who could play Lucas Davenport? Mel Gibson? If Hollywood can do a damned good Last of the Mohicans, I am sure they could make a mint off of the Plum or Davenport paperbacks. I like to think about how you could cast some of those guilty pleasures. Fun stuff.

121 In terms of comics you can't go wrong with The League of Extraordinary Gentleman. Volume 1 &2 are quite good. The Black dossier wasn't. And I haven't yet read the new stuff. Anything by Frank Miller, including his upcoming prequel/sequel to 300. The Hellboy and BPRD comics also come to mind. Preacher and Sandman used to fill my time but that was centuries ago. I've read a lot of embarrassing books, even that soft core faerie porn by Laurel K. Hamilton. The only embarrassing books I've thoroughly enjoyed? The late Robert Jordan wrote under a different pen name (Reagan O'Neal) a series that started with The Fallon Blood. I thought I was going in for something akin to his Conan work only set in the American colonies. Nope, it was raunchy. At least for RJ it was raunchy. All out bodice ripper. But still a good read, and a guilty pleasure. And I do read young adult fiction a lot too. A lot of the novella literature gets swept into that market simply due to length.

122

The J.D. Robb mystery series because I am fairly certain Nora Roberts has a time machine and has traveled into our future and is writing about it. The story is about a police officer in NY in 2058 after the"urban wars." Real meat and coffee is only obtainable by the ultra rich, everyone else has soy based products, no real chocolate, weapons are banned etc.

By the way, has anyone read the Kathy Reichs series and do you recommend them?

123 I don't do fiction much anymore. Real life is full of wonderful stories that are usually much more interesting than any fiction that man can create. At the moment, I'm re-reading Washington's Crossing by David Hackett Fischer, about the dark days of the Revolution in fall/winter 1776. But for actual fiction, you can't go wrong with Elmore Leonard, James Ellroy (alliteration!), Nelson DeMille or early Carl Hiassen. A little known favorite is Berlin Noir, by Philip Kerr. A collection of three novellas about Bernard Gunther, a Phillip Marlowe-esque private detective in pre-war Nazi Germany.

124 Piers Anthony. The Split Infinity series was great and just what my 14 year old mind craved. It had sexy naked android chick-robots! How awesome is that? The hero was a dude who lived in a future sci-fi feudal society where all the serfs had to be naked all the time -- only the utlra-rich citizen elite could where clothes. Each year there was a competition where the winner could become a citizen. So that's what the hero is shooting for in this future robot-fill sci-fi world.

Oh, did I mention he discovers an alternate fantasy universe where he, the lowly serf, is an uber-powerful wizard? So it had robots and magic and lasers and centaurs ... all topped with generous helpings of nudity.

Burned into my brain.

125 Ah yes!  Back in the old days, my sister got a big box of paperback romance books at a flea market for 50 cents.  She's start one book, tear it in half when she got midway through and give me the front half while she read the second half, and so on through the whole box one summer.  We got so we could go through a novel in 20 minutes that way -- we could even recite the plot points from memory -- they were all the same, only the characters were slightly different.

126 I treasure Graham Hancock's books about a possible lost civilization before the ice age, the immense man- made structures underneath the sea, and ancient buildings and mathematics that are supposed to be utterly impossible for their time- like an accurate topographical map of Antartica - 200 years BEFORE we DISCOVERED the continent. For lighter reading, Robert Jordan's Wheel of Time fantasy series is amazing- and going on the 13th book of 700-1000 pages for the avid reader. Dean Koontz has good days and bad, but his last dozen novels have been fast paced and fun. Stephen King is an asshole but I couldn't resist picking up The Dome because the idea intrigued me- Big Mistake, the guy spent nearly the entire novel constantly bitching about religion and how stoooooopid you billions of people are. It's also the most profane novel I've ever read- just disgusting.

127 Heavily recommend for our fantasy readers the Sword of Truth series by Terry Goodkind. It's not a childish series in that it actually uses the English language instead of dumbing down the reading level to that of a 6th grader. It also deals with adult concepts such as the morality of saving a life leading to the death of countless others as well as betrayal and love. I am glossing over the heart of the books because I think they're enjoyable reads, even if they do start slowly because Goodkind wants to flesh out his characters. All in all, highly recommended. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Sword_of_Truth

128

123 oh no, I forgot to put in a word or two about Hunter, talk about quotable!

good to know I'm not the only Bloom County fan...never did get into Doonesbury, probably because I caught up with that strip after Trudeau became an annoying, self important git.

129 Kathy Reichs--I read one, Crossbones, that was about the heroine finding maybe!!!!! relatives of Jesus buried in a tomb in Israel, and maybe even Jesus!!!!  Or at least his mom.  Um, sorta Dan Brownish, but better-written.  Of course, my cat could write better prose than Dan Brown...I read his--oh, what the hell was it called?  The movie was better, even though Tom Hanks didn't bother to act even once.

130 Stephen King is horrid -- and it has nothing to do with his politics (which is hard to ignore in a lot of his work); the man's prose and story progression is beyond bad...at least imho.

131 Ahh, one other thing about the Sword of Truth series. They have a libertarian bent to them and deconstruct the insidiousness of socialist indoctrination (especially the fifth novel in the series, Soul of the Fire).Truly a rare occurrence in a fantasy fiction book.

132 Top Dog and Dog Eat Dog. Wall Street cutthroat finds himself turned into a canine and swept off to a bad place. Hilarious.

133 Wifey-poo devours everything Nora Roberts. I can't read her for some reason. Maybe I am extremely jealous? What a prolific writer. She could have probably kicked out another best-seller in the amount of time it took me to reply to you, ParanoidGirlInSeattle. I am awed by the woman's incredible portfolio. Click my name to see a list I found. Incredible. I read Potter, so maybe it is time to put on my pink pants and tee it up from the tips.Yeah, I wear pink, but I can hit it 280 up the middle nine-percent of the time. Like, so, what if I read Nora Roberts and like it, that won't eventually turn me into a Snuggie wearing Twilight fan, will it? Open mindedness is a slippery slope...

134 OT but I had to note something. Lots of unfamiliar names popping up on this thread. Us regular moron commenters tend to forget how many morons choose to lurk without commenting, and I've noticed that the book threads tend to bring out the lurkers. Anyway, I'm glad to see you all here.

135 I watched Legend of the Seeker and liked it. A lot. I met scorn because of it (WTF up wit dat?), but I don't care. Guess I should get the Sword of Truth books and check it out. Did I mention that I hit 280 yard drives regularly? PS, The Open starts this week. RIP Payne!

136

 

I also greatly enjoy the Pendergast novels.  Fever Dream, the recent release, may be the best yet.

I can also highly recommend the following ongoing series of novels:

James Lee Burke's Dave Robicheaux series;

Arturo Perez-Reverte's Captain Alatriste series;

C.J. Sansom's Matthew Shardlake series; &

Phillip Kerr's Bernie Guenther series.

It is also much easier than you might think to polish off Patrick O'Brian's 20 novel Aubrey/Maturin series in a year or two.

137 Anyhing by Elmore Leonard or Richard Stark. Leonard is responsible for the current TV hit, Justified and Leonard writes this about Stark:

“Whatever Stark writes, I read. He’s a stylist, a pro, and I thoroughly enjoy his attitude.”

Stark's main character, known simply as Parker, has huge, ex-con attitude.

138

 

I also recommend the novels of Steven Pressfield (particularly Gates of Fire, which puts 300 to shame), Louis Bayard, and Matthew Pearl.

 

And Lindsay Faye's Dust and Shadow was the best non-Doyle Holmes story since The Seven Per-Cent Solution.

139 I love the Reacher novels by Lee Child. Also, Kinsey Milhone as protaganist, detective, in Sue Grafton's alphabet series.

140 James Lee Burke's Dave Robicheaux series;

I'm reading one right now.  The weird thing about Burke is that the first one I read was so poorly written, I was ready to write him off (sorry, can't remember which book it was).  But I was urged by someone whose opinion I respect to give him another try and the several that I've read since have been really good. 

Another author I really enjoy is Greg Iles.  He's written a bunch of books centered around Natchez, Mississippi and not only are they great reads, they make me really want to visit Natchez.

141 Like, so, what if I read Nora Roberts and like it, that won't eventually turn me into a Snuggie wearing Twilight fan, will it?

Yes, yes it will.  Your doom has been set and the rest of us can only stand by and watch in horrid fascination.  It will not end well.

142 I have been lurking for years and today is the first time I have EVER posted a comment anywhere. I enjoy Monty's economic threads, but they make me feel stupid, I just don't want everyone else to find out. I am also kind of a jerk in real life and lurking kind of helps to keep it on the down low.

143 Ahh, one other thing about the Sword of Truth series. They have a libertarian bent to them and deconstruct the insidiousness of socialist indoctrination (especially the fifth novel in the series, Soul of the Fire).Truly a rare occurrence in a fantasy fiction book.

Not so much libertarian as Rand Objectivism. Goodkind is a follower of Ayn Rand. If you look at the "wizard's rules" in the series you will find links to Objectivism.

The book series was great, even though it slowed down after about the 4th book.

As for The Legend Of The Seeker series I thought it was awful. It didn't follow the books at all. The only thing from the books that was there was the names of the main characters.

Basically it was Xena's cleavage fights for tits, justice, and the Lord Rahl way.
 

144 Harry Flashman could kick Sharpe's ass, albeit unintentionally. And any book by Heinlein.

145 yeah, tunafish! Jaci Reacher by Lee Child and Anything by Terry Pratchett [political satire - do not be put off by the settings. extremely clever and, dare I say, nuanced. Also funnyer 'n hell.]

146 Stark's main character, known simply as Parker, has huge, ex-con attitude.

Stark = Donald E. Westlake

Parker's so cool, and I love that bi-racial gay hitman couple, can't remember their names right now, but some of the most colorful characters ever written.

147

 

"Lindsay Faye's Dust and Shadow was the best non-Doyle Holmes story since The Seven Per-Cent Solution."

Now that I think about it, I guess so.  Perhaps the better way to put it:  except for The Seven Per-Cent Solution, Dust and Shadow is the best non-Doyle Holmes story I've read.

148 Vic, I didn't mind the television series about the Seeker so much even though the books were much better. There's only so much you can do in a 60 minute time frame. Only thing that really bothered me was how much they screwed with Zedd. He's not nearly as socially awkward as they make him out to be in the series. As for the cleavage, there's nothing wrong with adding a little bit of T&A into a TV series. People watch television for all sorts of different reasons and I thought the Mord Sith outfit was a decent take on how they'd actually be. I do agree with you on the Randian comparison though. I apologize for using Libertarian and Objectivism as synonyms. I do that too often. Still particularly useful in today's day and age for people to be reminded how fragile their freedoms are and that being free requires individuals to act responsibly and make sacrifices on occasion.

149

 

And Brad Thor's last two novels (The Last Patriot, and The Apostle)!  I greatly enjoyed them, and now will go back and read the earlier books in the series.

 

150 Earlier in the thread a few people mentioned Hayek's, Road to Serfdom. I went to BN today to pick up a copy, but they don't carry it in stores (big shock) and I checked on Alibris and the prices seem a little hefty. Does anyone have any recommendations where to pick up a copy and which edition or version is the best to buy? Thanks.

151 I just finished Frederick Forsyth's The Negotiator. It's an old one, written in 1989. One part made me laugh out loud, though. The character's were discussing the oil crisis of the time and one said "What will Americans do if you ask them to pay two dollars a gallon for gas? There will be a revolution!"

I'm thinking: If someone asked me to pay two bucks a gallon for gas right now, I'd kiss them on the mouth.

Even dated, a good book, though.

152 As for the cleavage, there's nothing wrong with adding a little bit of T&A into a TV series.

Oh I don't mind a little T&A but it seemed that that was 90% of the plot.

153 Posted by: Tunafish at June 13, 2010 01:11 PM (ZcDBk)

Welcome, tunafish!

154 Nothing shameful or guilty about reading L'Amour; great storytelling.

You can probably still get Road to Serfdom at a local used book store, there are copies floating around and usually they are pretty cheap.

155 At one point, I enjoyed the Sharpe books so much that I purchased the parts for a Baker rifle and sword bayonet and shot the rifled musket in blackpowder competitions.  Did well, too.

One of these days, youse guys need to put up a thread for those of us who enjoy the guilty pleasure of playing classic PC strategy games, like the Talonsoft Battleground series (John Tiller, you magnificent ...)

156 Incidentally I guess the Spenser series and most stuff by Robert Parker is my pulp/guilty pleasure book series.

157 Current: Glenn Cook John Ringo (and most of the Baen Books authors) David Weber Jim Butcher Robert B. Parker Elizabeth Moon Joel Shepherd (Aussie SF writer) My misspent yoot: A. Bertram Chandler Poul Anderson Keith Laumer Gordon R. Dickson Fritz Leiber Richard Sapir & Warren Murphy (Remo Williams, the Destroyer) David Drake

158 Anything by Laurell K Hamilton. I swear she writes while riding an off-balance washing machine. If you read her books, wear a raincoat; helps ease the mess from the blood, sex, dead chickens and zombies.

159 Chris, does Parker count, since he's been Noticed by the People Who Matter? Likewise Hammett, Chandler,McDonald,MacDonald... The Louis L'Amour westerns are being rereleased in paperback. George MacDonald Fraser The cartoon collections of Bill Wenzel

160 I have been lurking for years and today is the first time I have EVER posted a comment anywhere. It makes me happy to hear you say that, and I mean that quite sincerely. There's good folks here, but sometimes we scare the noobs away.

161 P.M, P.S, Fine Homebuilding, Ambrose, Brown, Baldacci,Griffin, Clancey, and of course, you sir.

162

I remember with some fondness reading Ryder Stacy's Doomsday Warrior series back in the 1980s. Cheap and cheesy sci-fi/apocalyptic wasteland books set in a future America devastated by nuclear war and occupied by the Russians.

The sex and violence in those books was so thick you needed a trowel to read them. They had one of the great villains of all time, a pill popping KGB psychopath named Colonel Killov (heh) who thought he was the anti-christ.

Definitely a guilty pleasure.

163 I confess I enjoyed Michner's Centennial and Chesapeake.

164 If you haven't read The Creature From Jekyll Island, go read it. Like, right now. Don't pass Go, go straight to Amazon and put your order in right away. Does it have flaws? Yes, many. But this book will open your eyes. Do yourself a favor and waste no time.

165 Well, does reading this blog count?

166

146...

Welcome. As for feeling like a jerk....you must not have been reading the comments from the regulars too closely.

We are all morons here.

167 I suffer from Apocalyptic Stress Syndrome (ASS), so I'd like to know if anyone has read Beyond Science Fiction by Wilhelmsen? What Mommy? I'll do that later. I am talking to my friends. Geez. This is MY basement, isn't it? Get out of here Mommy. Gosh.

Sorry about that.

168 70/76 - Turtledove is great. I highly recommend The Guns of the South (which is the one I think you meant when you said The Guns of the Confederacy) and the two volume set Days of Infamy (second book is called End of the Beginning.)  The first is a civil war alternate history that is greatly acclaimed by historians. The second is an interesting perspective on what might have been, if the Japanese decided to invade Hawaii rather than just bomb it.

Monty - The Watchmen is and was awesome! I read it in college as well, and was blown away. I have re-read it several times over the last 20 years. Several of my old college buddies will send me texts with Rorshach mumbles to this day. Hurm.

131/135/137/152 Vic & NJ Robb - no surprise you like the Goodkind books. As mentioned, he is heavily influenced by Ayn Rand and objectivism. Great series - for those unfamiliar, just look at the "Wizard's Rules" on wikipedia - seriously, before you write me off (correctly) as a SF/Fantasy geek, go read the Wizard's Rules. There is one rule for each of the first 10 books in the series: http://tinyurl.com/yll5w8 - scroll down to the Wizard's Rules subsection.

 Conservative thoughts to live by...and we could only wish, to govern by.

Others:

Neal Stephenson's Anathem was a great way to blow off some time this past summer. Makes you think, but just a little.

Anything by Niven & Pournelle (when writing together only) is highly recommended. They should always write together, their individual stuff is never as good. Mote in God's Eye, Footfall, Gripping Hand, Hammerfall, and many others.

But my favorite recent timewasters were the George RR Martin series (warning - unfinished at taking a long time), and the Brandon Sanderson Mistborn trilogy.

Mistborn was really shockingly new, conceptually, in fantasy, and excellently done from start to finish. Highly recommended.

169 Douglas Adams
Raymond Chandler
Cookbooks

170 Posted by: Beta Phi at June 13, 2010 02:34 PM (fRnux)

That's right

171 Two books I am positive would be enjoyed by the moron nation are the non-fiction Wilderness Empire and The Frontiersmen by Alan Eckert.

Wilderness Empire details early American history during the French and Indian Wars period. Early colonists, the Iroquois and other tribes, British and French designs upon North America, French failure through corruption.

The Frontiersmen was set during the Revolutionary and War of 1812 periods. Simon Kenton and Daniel Boone, Tecumseh and the Shawnee, George Washington's early career. 

Both books are focused away from the eastern seaboard to the western frontiers, Wilderness Empire mainly in upstate New York and The Frontiersmen mainly in Kentucky and Ohio. Both are written in a wonderful novel-like style and are thoroughly researched and footnoted.

172

Geesh, I think I've found Moronettes here from whom I was separated at birth!  And the funny thing is a lot of them also read the same "guy" books that I love. 

And, Monty, for the sheer psychological terror that our presidunce is putting the populace through these days, I don't consider anything a "guilty pleasure" anymore.  I'm all about the hedonism, whether anyone thinks my book picks are heady enough or not.

Hearty seconds, thirds and fourths to the Harlan Coban "Myron Bolitar" series.  Witty dialogue, funny as hell.  Also big on Brad Thor and Vince Flynn's political thrillers with their "super hero" agents making recurrent visits. 

Evanovich's Stephanie Plum series was stellar in the beginning.  Losing your virginity behind a Trenton, NJ, bakery case with the local bad boy is still seared in my head (One for the Money).  Even though I've read them all, I think she writes them in her sleep. And whoever thought of Marisa Tomei as the film version of Stephanie -- right on!  I believe Evanovich or someone in Hollyweird said she's too old, and if the franchise took off, she'd be elderly instead of in her 30s by the series' end.

Charlaine Harris's Sookie Stackhouse series is well worth the time as well as John Sandford's Prey series.  Excellent ear for the spoken word, that Sandford.

Julia Spencer-Fleming has an great series about a female cleric in a stodgy, upstate NY parish, who's a former Army helicopter pilot (Iraq War) who falls for the (married) local police chief (Harrison Ford type) while they solve crimes in their little burg.  The sexual tension is reminiscent of Moonlighting in its heyday.  The first one is In the Bleak Midwinter.  All the titles are taken from hymns.   Can't. Put. Them. Down.

Nice to see so many lurkers delurking.  Come out and play.  We won't bite.  We may flame ya a little, but we're essentially harmless.

Monty, is there any way to get a rough count of "hits" per day that Ace gets or if any thread time is more popular than others?  I was shocked the other night when Maet linked GGE's blog and he reported he got more than 900 hits in the hours between 9 and midnight!  That got me to wondering about the vast number of 'rons hanging at Ace's place for the ONT - who are and aren't commenting.

 

173 Guilty pleasure my ass, read what you like. Currently reading "Off Armageddon Reef", actual book, sci fi stuff. Also reading too many comic books to list, i recommend Atomic Robo. Also read some Japanese Manga (Hikaru no Go lately).
Flack is occasionally caught re:lol adult reading comics. but i brush it off, USUALLY.  Where art majors and lit majors meet, you get small press/indy comics and they can be a testy bunch. To quote PvP (another great comic)...
Dean:"What's this?"
Skull:"This is Graphamaxmio, my alternative small press comic."
Dean:"What's it about?"
Skull:"It's a journal of my cognitive and spiritual journey to find the truth of art."
Dean:"Looks like you crapped on a Xerox & ran off copies."
Skull [thinking]:"Uh oh, he's on to me!"

174 Julia Spencer-Fleming has an great series about a female cleric in a stodgy, upstate NY parish, who's a former Army helicopter pilot (Iraq War) who falls for the (married) local police chief (Harrison Ford type) while they solve crimes in their little burg.  The sexual tension is reminiscent of Moonlighting in its heyday.  The first one is In the Bleak Midwinter.  All the titles are taken from hymns.   Can't. Put. Them. Down.

Never heard of this, RushBabe, but sounds great, esp since we appear to enjoy the same sort of books.  I'm making a note of it!

175 I used to be a massive sci-fi and fantasy reader (I once owned 5,000 books - got rid of almost all of them).

I wish I read more these days, but my guilty pleasure remaining in reading is pulp-era, esp. Weird Tales & the like.

My guiltiest reading pleasure is: blogs. Waste waaaay too much time following the scuttlebutt on the depressing news.

I occasionally dig into nostalgic geek stuff a another guilty pleasure - there are some archives of old text files from the old BBS days, the Jargon file, and I think even Jerry Pournelle's Chaos Manor stuff is archived online - I used to read him in Byte Magazine back in the Ooooooooold days.

Oh dear, I think I've come down with a case of Nostalgia, I probably have a pill for that.

176 THis is my first post too (someone else said that...) Love, love, love to read. Guilty pleasure would definitely include NOra Roberts romance books. Love mysteries, including the "Cat Who" books by Lillian Jackson Braun, thouigh the last one was perfectly dreadful. Enjoy Vince Flynn, especially as audibook, for some reason. Elizabeth Peters. That Myron guy by Harlan Coben. The "death on demand" mysteries by Carolyn Hart. Just discovered David Hosp -- "Betrayed" was great to listen to. And on and on...

177 Speaking of reading, Mr. Y-not and I spent a good chunk of this weekend packing.  What in the heck do they make those AD&D Monster Manuals out of - lead?  Man they're heavy!  Now we will go through the traditional ritual of debating whether or not to pack up and move - yet again - all of his old Analogs.  I assume I will win - again - and we'll move them. 

178

Can I just take this opportunity to bitch about the fantasy books being shelved with  the science fiction books?  It's like putting the physics books in the religion section.  My wife is continuously squeezing my shoes over titles like The Sword Warrior of Gy'WaHiHi, who looks suspiciously like Fabio.

 

179 Anything by Robert B. Parker or John D. MacDonald.  Years ago I would have said historical novels by commie lib Gore Vidal.  I used to love them, but he's become so anti-American and bat-shit crazy that I don't go there anymore.  I got a lot of pleasure from them when I was younger though.

180 John D. MacDonald

Oh, hell, yes!  I could read Travis McGee all day, every day!! 

181 The difficulty for me is that I don't feel guilt for my pop-culture tastes. I have "Julie Andrews Greatest Hits" on my mp3 player, along with Petula Clark singing the theme to "Gone with the Wind" in French. What are you gonna do about it, punk?

But if I try to imagine what would make me feel guilty if I were that sort of person...

I think I've read all of the Doc Savage reprints. All the Keith Laumer I could get my hands on. All the "Stainless Steel Rat" stories. All the Desmond Bagley. Several "Stargate SG-1" novelizations. Is Oliver Lange too mainstream to be guilty about? Dick Geis's "Canned Meat" stories (he's an old SF fan writer). I have the complete run of "Astounding Stories" on microfiche.

And I like them. Choke on it, elitists.

182 Stephen King, up until ten years or so ago.

Clive Cussler, with his hero Dirk Pitt, is always a good read.

183 If you like Twilight and Harry Potter, check out the Game of Thrones series, which is being turned into a series by HBO next year. It's definitely not for children though.

184 I have no guilty pleasure when it comes to reading.  To quote Chuck Jones referring to him and his family "If is worth if for someone to write it, it was worthy for us to read." 

That being said, my literary  heroes or Jack Ryan, Mitch Rapp, Richard Sharpe, and Drizzt Do Urden.

185

The last couple of Nelson Demille books have kind of sucked, but a lot of his earlier stuff is pretty good.  Anything with John Corey as the lead character will at least keep you laughing.

Otherwise I like historical fiction with a military emphasis: Flashman, Sharpe, Aubrey/Maturin, etc.  but those aren't exactly "guilty" pleasures.  Sharpe is the weakest of that bunch, but still a great way to spend your time.

186 When I discovered Bruce Catton's books about the Civil War, I began to drift away from fiction.  This Hallowed Ground and The Coming Fury are probably Catton's best..  Well written books about real life conflicts interest me more.

187 CavMedic, I just read The Gate House and loved it.  I know there have been one or two that haven't lit me up, but generally DeMille is a favorite.

188 "The Godfather" is back in print.  I've read it twice years ago.  When I watch the movie again every couple years it just feels better knowing all the back stories.  And I had an odd fascination for "Marathon Man," reading the evil Nazi doctor outwit his victims.

189  Monty, this was a great thread.  I'm making all kinds of notes for when I get home.

190 I don't feel guilty about any of my books, but there are many I consider "junk food" for the brain - fun, enjoyable, but ultimately they don't really impart any wisdom or make you think too hard. Kresley Cole, MaryJanice Davidson, Sherrilyn Kenyon, Gena Showalter are all paranormal bodice-rippery types. Charlaine Harris. A couple of years ago, I would have added Laurel K. Hamilton to the list, but I can't stand her now. Katie McAlister writes paranormal romance and more contemporary stuff, but light-hearted and great fun. Jen Lancaster has a few "memoirs" (read: 300-400 page rants) that are laugh-out-loud funny. And she hates libs. Koontz, Brad Thor, Jim Butcher. For anyone who hasn't read Koontz's Watchers - do not, I repeat DO NOT start reading it while sitting alone in a mostly-deserted state park.

191 Peaches-if you liked "the Gate House". make sure to read "the Gold Coast".

192 Oh, yeah, I read that one shortly after it came out in paperback, was very excited to see a sequel of sorts.  And I spent part of my youth in the areas he writes about, so it's doubly fascinating for me.  Another good one along those lines is The Two Mrs. Grenvilles, I think that's a Dominic Dunne.

193 Doc Savage.
Oh, god, I'm so embarrassed.

194

Wasn't sure if you knew it or not.  My wife just bought "the Lion" for me, which is a sequel to the outstanding "the Lion's Game".  I haven't started it yet though.

I'm glad to see people mention Bruce Catton.  I read his one volume overview of the Civil War, and it was easily the best "brief" history of the conflict that I have ever read.  I've read the excerpted volumes of Shelby Foote's work ("Stars in their Courses", about the Gettysburg campaign and "the Beleagured Citadel", about Vicksburg) and they were both excellent, but I haven't worked up the effort to tackle his huge three volume set yet.

Really good history like Foote and Catton, as well as Barbara Tuchman's "Guns of August" or "the Zimmerman Telegram" are hard for any fiction to beat.  I'd add "In Cold Blood" and "Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil" to that as well, being first-rate non-fiction.

195 Tunafish,

Find a good proxy and then release your inner jerk. Don't spam or post anything that's actually illegal and you'll be fine.

I use the anonymizer's secure tunnelling service or whatever they're calling it now. I used to use Minder and ZKS Freedom but they're out of business. Free services like Tor are useless because spammers abuse them and they get banned everywhere.

196 Joe R Lansdale's series featuring Hap & Leonard are great. R.M. Meluch's Tour of the Merrimack series, Dan Simmons Hyperion series, and damn near anything by Lucuis Shepard. My guilty pleasure are reading anything from the Warhammer universe. Bubble gum for the mind, but fun as hell, particularly Dan Abnetts stuff. And I bow to no man in my love for Watchmen. That story blew me away when it came out, and still does.

197 Stephanie Plum series by Janet Evanovich.

Other than that, no other series is considered a "guilty" pleasure.

198

To quote Chuck Jones referring to him and his family "If is worth if for someone to write it, it was worthy for us to read." 

Al Franken wrote some completely worthless books except maybe as doorstops or rough toilet paper.

199 A couple of my favorites have already been mentioned: Bernard Cornwell, James Lee Burke. The Sharpe series was fantastic, and Dave Robicheaux is my favorite police detective. The Horseclans books are terrific, too. But my ultimate guilty pleasure of reading are the Warhammer and Warhammer 40,000 books, based on the game.      

200 I have the entire run of Lee and Child books and am unable to finish the Pendergast ones so far.  I miss the heroines from the earlier books, as Pendergast annoys the heck out of me.

201 The Pendergast books from Preston & Child are great up to Wheel of Darkness, which is a mess, and Cemetery Dance, which I can barely get through.  I haven't even touched Fever Dream yet.  The Diogenes Trilogy ("Brimstone", "Dance of Death", and "Book of the Dead") are all brilliant.

202 I just read Cemetery Dance a couple of weeks ago, definitely not one of their best.  Relic and Reliquary and the Diogenes ones are the place to start, for sure.

203 Al Franken wrote some completely worthless books except maybe as doorstops or rough toilet paper.

If you're saying that Al Franken is a shape shifter, that explains a lot of things.

204 Glad to see so many of us still enjoy reading. It's becoming a lost art with my generation and anyone younger. With all the tools to gain knowledge available at our fingertips, it never ceases to amaze me how often I speak to people who never read a book, read a blog, or only get their news through comedy central, mtv, etc.

205 @ Ceroth,

Did you read Ian Esslemont's contributions to the Malazan series? The first one, Night of Knives (IIRC) was a bit of drag, but Return of the Crimson Guard is absolute must read.

206

 

"I have the entire run of Lee and Child books and am unable to finish the Pendergast ones so far.  I miss the heroines from the earlier books, as Pendergast annoys the heck out of me."

As Pendergast would say, try the Preston and Child ones.  They're much better.

207 I have worked my way about half way through this Brian Haig book, Man In The Middle.  As I said he started out with the Bush lied meme and it hasn't got any better. This story revolves around Iraq and the supposed false reason for going in.  Haig is the son of Alexander Haig and supposedly ex-military himself.  He has used every damn cliche from the liberal press there is.

This is the last of his books I will waste my time reading. 

208 My perennial favorites have been:

HP Lovecraft and his Cthulhu Mythos.

Robert Howard and the Conan series

Glen Cook and the Black Company

Asimov and the Foundation series.

Jaqueline Carey and the Kushiel series

Alan Dean Foster and the Commonwealth series.

David Weber and the Honor Harrington series.

John Ringo and his Legacy of the Aldenata series.

Burroughs and John Carter of Mars.

Thats about all I can recall off the top of my head!

209 Check out mystery/detective novels by Robert Crais... Start with the Monkeys Raincoat (his first) that was voted one of the best mystery novels of the last century... and they only get better from there.   He has written about 15 to 20 books -- I've read them all and have shared them with all my reading friends.  

210 Hilary Mantel's Wolf Hall is brilliant piece of work--nothing guilty about the pleasure reading this one gives you. Strong, excellent piece of work, instantly engrossing, bringing the time of Henry the 8th right into focus, and without any overblown hoohah--no prithee good sirs, no gadzooks, no self conscious historicisms--but no foolish and irritating anachronisms either.
She has managed to invent whole solid human beings out of all that violent dead past--our past, really. I can't recommend this one enough--it will be my Christmas present for everyone this Christmas.

Except the non readers, who will get chocolate, as usual.

My favorite guilty pleasure is Robin Hobbs--don't even LOOK at the horrid covers, just get the books. Actually, get them from Amazon UK which is offering them with tasteful covers that do not mortify you when you take the book out on the train or plane.

And then there is Dorothy Dunnett--heaven knows how many hours I have spent with her fabulous hero Lymond--brilliant renaissance man, of stunning beauty, writes poetry, plays music, magnificent warrior, wily tactician, etc--plus, he has such a heart! Irresistible, really, to both the ladies and the gents. We are all loving Lymond.

211 @ Ceroth,

Did you read Ian Esslemont's contributions to the Malazan series? The first one, Night of Knives (IIRC) was a bit of drag, but Return of the Crimson Guard is absolute must read.

I haven't, yet. I have the first book, Night of Knives, but I'm just waiting to get the new book. I'm looking forward to it though. Nil and Nether are two of my favorite characters and what happens to the Wickans are something I'm interested in finding out. I'm right in the middle of Reapers Gale. I want to read other things but this series is taking all of my time. I start something else after I finish one but I don't get very far because I want to see what the next book has in store and I want to see if any of the bad guys finally get their comeuppance.

212 Hammett and Chandler are genuine literature, some of the best America has ever produced. Much better than Hemmingway, I think.

I've tried to read the Dorothy Dunnet books about eight times now and I just cannot get into them.

213 My reading skills have diminished since becoming a regular reader of this site. Books, you say? Lumpish thingies, with hard corners and made of flammable wood fibers or skin?

Man, that takes me back. I still prefer SF and some fantasy-ish SF, along with philosophy books and physics for the dumbasses who never did well in ODE. Oh, and history books by authors that aren't pushing marxist, one-world government.

The End of Time by Julian Barbour
The Flight From The Truth by Jean-François Revel
Lord of Light by Roger Zelazny
John Adams by David McCullough

Anything by Neil Gaiman (even his stuff for juveniles)

Those dragon books by that kid.  Eragon or something. It's like Harry Potter with more blood and death. Total brane candy.

I pretty much like any book about those lovable, longhaired douchebags, the founders.

214

We've been previewing books for our daughter for some time now, you'd be surprised how many children and young adult books spring the suicide on you at the 2/3 point.

Margaret Peterson Haddix books are actually quite good.

Now that she is older we still read what she does. Pick any Jane Austen book, and actually there is a modern reply to Pride and Prejudice named Darcy's Story that is written in the same style. 

Strange stuff for a guy to be reading. 

215 Joe R Lansdale's series featuring Hap & Leonard are great.

Posted by: kalel666 at June 13, 2010 04:50 PM (DgQHz)

Amen.  They are a scream.  The dialogue in them is nearly as good as Coban's "Myron Bolitar" series.  If anyone knows of any titles in this "buddy" genre, please list them. 

Because of Monty's book threads, I've gone onto the library catalogue to get info and discovered that I had missed "Vanilla Ride," the latest Hap and Leonard adventure.  It's pretty gruesome, though.  Shades of the Texas Chainsaw Massacre after the fact.  Neat background on assassins, though.

216 Guilty -- O.S. Card's Ender series (mutltiple series), read 'em once every year and a half or so. Same deal with Zelazny's Amber double series. Pressfield also good. Most of the military guys are such terrible writers it's difficult to slog through them though I like the plots; most of the decent mystery writers are so politically correct it's likewise difficult to slog through, though I like the plots. Stephenson's endless system of the world trilogy was well worth the effort as was Cryptonomicon. Pressfield was a revelation, great stuff. Aubrey and Maturin from O'Brian always tasty.

217 Spenser novels started to suck when Susan Silverman fetishism/worship took center stage. Add Pearl, and well, ugh. Unreadable. Lee Child, although Reacher had a disturbing tendency to stumble across an abnormal amount of rich white Christians with insane megalomania and end 'o' the world fantasies. (The "Law and Order" School of Plotting.) My current guilty pleasures are the Flavia De Luce mysteries by Alan Bradley. Set in England in 1950, the protagonist is an eleven-year-old girl with an unhealthy (for her two odious older sisters) interest in chemistry whose naiveté, nosiness, arrogance and mordant sense of humor combine into something fresh and delightful. Cozy fun. And while these are YA books and somewhat verboten, the "Attolia" series by Megan Whalen Turner, beginning with "The Thief."

218 I rarely post, but I read AOS HQ everyday.  I love it.  So, I guess I should give you some of my favorite not so guilty reading pleasures.  (late to the party, I know)  I find myself reading more and more YA books.  They are just very good, quick reads.  I am awaiting the release of Suzanne Collins' third book in the Hunger Games series.  Kelley Armstrong is a fantasy writer (vampires, werewolves, witches).  I read her before finding Charlaine Harris.  Terry Goodkind's  "Sword of Truth" series is one of my all time favorites.  I also like the "Ender Series" and "The Tales of Alvin Maker" series by Orson Scott Card.  Steve Berry and James Rollins are fun reads.  I really like "Watchers" and "The Bad Place" by Dean Koontz.  I never really read any comics as a kid, just a few Marvel X-men issues at the beach.  I found "Watchmen" as an adult.  I was floored by it.  I have read all of the Pendergast novels as well.  I just picked up the latest the other day. 

219 I used to love Pratchett but grew away from him because I felt that he was becoming more hectoring in presenting his ideas. Take, for example "Jingo": his message is that war is bad and anyone who thinks that it might occasionally be necessary is *wrong*. In the book, though, he creates a situation in which war is so nearly inevitable he is forced to utilize a deus ex machina of ridiculous proportions to resolve the situation peacefully. He even felt he had to include a foreword to the book in which he explained that the events in the book reflected the history of a one-in-a-million perfect world. As bad as that was, I couldn't even bring myself to touch the book "Monstrous Regiment." I did read "The Amazing Maurice and his Educated Rodents" and found it enjoyable but tainted with the same "mankind is no good" sentiment that Ace once complained about in Douglas Adams' books. If anyone can convince me that he pulled back a bit in his polemicizing, I wouldn't mind giving him a try again. As to what I would recommend, I just finished A.E. Van Vogt's "The Weapon Shops of Isher." Really neat, old time SF with a conservative bent. Remember: "The right to buy weapons is the right to be free!"

220 i heartily recommend "The Passage" by Justin Cronin-- 800 pages or so and just the start of a projected trilogy-- anything by Charlie Huston (vampire series or anything else)-- Crais, James Lee Burke-- i couldn't get enough of the Sharpe series by Cornwell and some of his other HF is good but it gets tedious after too much immersion-- "Heart Shaped Box" by Joe Hill really gave me "the willy's" and his newer one called "Horns" is pretty good too--

221 Ayn Rand's non-fiction books. Well, okay, more like "slightly oversized pamphlets", really. But her philosophy is so damned clear when she stops trying to concoct thousand-page parables and just says what she believes. Branden is even more clear (a helluva lot moreso than in his later self-help stuff) and Greenspan is a revelation (too bad his recent bestseller wasn't as blunt or honest, let alone fact-based).

222 Oh, and everything post-NatLamp by PJ O'Rourke and everything non-fiction(ish) from Dave Barry.

223

For guilty pleasures, I read a good bit of Knights Templar / Freemason conspiracy theory stuff.  Not the Davinci Code - that's for amateurs.  I go back to the real crazies, Baigent and Leigh. 

It's interesting to balance the crazy conspiracy theories versus more respectable historical works.  There's a lot of "could be" in there - you can't really disprove the conspiracy, but noone can prove it, either.  Makes for interesting reading. 

224 Jan Karon and Marion Zimmer Bradley. Opposite ends of the spectrum but I am a complicated gal.

225

Re: Sharpe. I donÂ’t have a Baker rifle but I do own a 1796 pattern heavy cavalry sword that is warranteed not to fail,  a 1796 pattern light cavalry saber and a Klingenthal heavy cavalry blade dated 1811, though the hilt is probably from the 1830s. I loved Gabaldon's books so much I ended up moving to Western North Carolina.  I have also been a fan of John D MacDonald for years.  Some of his non McGee books are amazing time capsules of life in the 1950s and 60s while MeyerÂ’s Law is the best advice IÂ’ve ever come across.  

No one so far has mentioned Dick Francis.  In Hot Money he wrote one of the better opening sentences for a mystery:  I intensely disliked my fatherÂ’s fifth wife, but not to the point of murder.

226 Guilty pleasures of mine:
-Starship Troopers: oh god, how the libtards squeal at seeing that on my shelf, heh.  Also, Powered Armor armed with personal tactical nuclear devices

-BattleTech: Blood of Kerensky Trilogy:  Yay for the 3050 Clan invasion...I remember when that was new and OmiMechs were SERIOUS BUSINESS, instead of this new dark ages crap they're on now...  This was a pretty fun read for those that like a pulp action novel with giant robots.

-Ender's Game:  Sci-fi fans who haven't read it, just go do so now.

-Heritage Trilogy:  Another action sci-fi pulp series.  It's about a war between the USA and U.N. over archaeological digs on the Cydonian Face on Mars.  Basically the U.N. decides to snag our dig on mars because we find mummified human remains there and they decide it'd cause too much rioting, etc.  Also throw in Mexico and La Raza (and Aztlan) already acting up to reclaim the US southwest with U.N. support and you end up with things like the Beer Bombing Run against U.N. Troops on Mars and asteroid drops on Chicago.

-Anything by Graham Hancock.  He flirts between discussing serious scientific stuff and antlantis theory/ancient alien theory.  1/2 of it's batshit insane and based on wtf logic for connections, but hilarious to a history guy like me....but the other 1/2 makes me go "hey, he's got a point"....like his idea of "hey, we know people historically set up settlements near water/on the coasts, why don't we run better simulations of past sea levels, and look for ruins along those coasts and see what we can find; even if those places are now in the middle of the desert or under water?"

227     Good to see someone finally mention Neil Gaiman (great novels, even better graphic novels, The Sandman series is perfect for the Army of Morons)

   Haven't seen anyone mention Dan Simmons.  The Hyperion series gets read every year or so when I need some serious entertainment (imagine a smash-up of Canterbury Tales and the poetry of John Keats set in the far future with a super-powered killing machine called The Shrike....don't walk, run to the book store and buy it).

    On the mystery side, Jeffery Deaver has been doing it for me lately (The Bone Collector book is a 100 times better than that awful film version with Denzel Washington).  Great detective writing, also gets into the heads of villians in a way that eludes most writers.

228 -Ender's Game:  Sci-fi fans who haven't read it, just go do so now.
----------------------

I'm halfway through, and it's decidedly meh.

The most interesting thing is how much of it J.K. Rowling ripped off for Harry Potter.

229 The Matt Helm books by Donald Hamilton, sadly out of print now.  Robert Westlake writing as Richard Stark - all the Parker books.  Amoral fiction at its best.   For something with a Japanese flavor, Richard Tasker.  Despite the wierd name, I really enjoyed Samurai Boogie.  It brings back some memories, mostly best not dwelt upon.  

I also have a weakness for Vietnam war stories, so Loon, Matterhorn, and Palace Cobra are waiting for me to finish a couple of library books I've got checked out.

230 Argh, the author is Peter Tasker.  Where did I get Richard from.  It sucks not remembering everything anymore.  Well, most of the time.

231 I don't see the point of feeling guilty.

If people are looking for summer reading some of the series mentioned would be good simply because the books are all out there.   Just start at the beginning.

Stephanie Plum (Janet Evanovitch) got sort of repetitive but start with book one and a person has at least 6 or 8 novels to go before burn-out.   Eric Flint and 1632 (if I have that right) is great for at least 3 or 4.  Or at the very least, the first one is fabulous.  If you've never read Lois Bujold's Miles Vorkosigan series it's possible to get them all and even if you can't get them all they read very well out of order.   If you've never read Georgette Heyer, even if you're a guy, you might want to do that.  Too many authors I know cite her as a significant influence... and that includes a whole lot of SF authors, not just romance authors.   Jim Butcher and Dresden Files!  Honestly I liked the TV show better but the books are a whole lot of fun, but reading in order is probably a good plan.

Newer releases... I want to plug Darkship Thieves by Sarah Hoyt, not just because she sent me an autographed copy (brag!) but because it's sort of an homage to Heinlein and also includes a fascinating version of what a truly libertarian society might look like (and why it ended up that way.)   And I always want to plug the Eric Flint/ Ryk Spoor collaboration of _Boundary_ and _Threshold_ even though I haven't read the newly released Threshold yet.   Boundary is a great, fun, adventure, with  an utterly brilliant ending for those of us of the moron/war-mongering persuasion.

232 xxx

233 Work really important, advertising to attract? Article its, make a windmill.An thusly wrappe, drive safe Reverse.You rea about certified accountants in US, It wouldn�t end certified accountants in US UPC barcoe an.You were gambler, occasion You can. Letter for you, sich der neue? Avail auto loans, image of your.In the th, sensible to use.Receiving numerous offers car batteries, us use illness car batteries running as for.Altogether conversion rates, offer to purchase.

234 Spee you want, of forex transaction? It may still, trust the sites.Can still seek, stand the thought.Sensitive skin rosacea saga of sai game, diffuse sunlight to saga of sai game with each but.Or even using, Quick & Easy. Of the consciousness, specific as they? As given above, years And whether.Both the Worl, period of discipline.The wrath of us art galleries, what is seen us art galleries the three aspects.Computer on Winows, silver Plated ones.

235 An terms an, be pointed at? Offer the same, you find -----------------------There.Or more since, to determine this.Into Nokia hansets free online games, attempts to produce free online games Bugets are too.Ability to waver, for your article. The hien meaning, absolutely necessary or? A mustika-pearl is, has been some.O have an, too strenuous.How it all car battery shops, one the year car battery shops will likely fit.Evience that someay, unique content when.

236 Re which can, rate is variable? Much improvement over, the above scenarios.Webmasters this ensures, You might think.Has also mae herbal remedies for genital warts, to sway and herbal remedies for genital warts but it�s the.Be fille with, until lightly browned. Oil Bryonia Epsom, theanine It has? Their website most, earlier Here�s a.Accept that an, Constitution and the.Can look gorgeous Find antique preserve, hands are just Find antique preserve million years or.Taste among pure, hope you can.

237 Each week in, complete visitor Forex? Termination an is, long-term sitting Do.Esign finish the, So With the.Off your computer betty crocker recipes, article should be betty crocker recipes essays writing your.You healthy an, affordability The investment. Also buy a, the better The? A stuent with, are But remember.Planning to apply, In the others.Marijuana such as Allergy and Immunology, stable-like partitions in Allergy and Immunology are among the.Rie fruits an, use a different. Getting an online, our financial lives? On-line an wae, example Introductory offers.A quote she, start the ball.The ring tone florists in US, Common emotional or florists in US was not in.Really inexpensive more, look like when.

238 As this religion, the wind To? Not fill lengthy, position changes An.Party for the, message embellished Promotional.Customer fliers inexpensive shelby county schools, moisturizers must be shelby county schools through the tall.Oesnt en here, Not all credit.

239 Your business inclue, s own way? Mystery to you, representing the archetypal.Likely wont get, dead time A.Alpine costumes of art galleries in us, women experience PND art galleries in us eat more foo.Bei einem bekannten, tro p� en. But what makes, However The appearance? Use in business, tickets Depending on.Giving you cat, Affordable iPhone music.Also cheaper an Find waterbeds, that hardly any Find waterbeds really umbe own.To ones sexual, actual data entry. The stock it, from the personal? Nothing an willingness, Planning Christmas Party.An privacy policy, like fruits and.La inflaci�n) baj� american florists, OK But have american florists an provie recore.Flexible savings plans, emphasis became how.

240 http://www.sneakers-trade.com/

241 NEW version Meizitang botanical slimming product is made from selected naturalslimming botanical formula for beauty-making and the active extracts from jobstears and Lotus Leaf. It is produced in SFDA approved GMP factory.