Thread: Reading Recommendations

So, for us folks in the Northern Hemi, winter is upon us.

Any recommedations for a good read while sitting beside the fire with a pipe and a nice pint of porter or good coffee?

Anything you are reading now that you'd recommend?

Hello, Mixmaster:

For winter reading by the fireplace nothing beats the works of Jane Austen.

Regards,

Obie

I am currently reading "Three Day Road" by Joseph Boyden. It is the story of two Canadian Cree Indian snipers in the Canadian military during WWI. So far, it is very well written and seems to be a good "winter read." It is dark, but enlightening.

I also recommend very highly "The Thousand Autumns of Jacob De Zoet" by David Mitchell. This is my favorite author at the moment and author of one of the most amazing books I have ever read, "Cloud Atlas."

Enjoy!

I should preface this with I read books only for enjoyment at home...

The "Mitch Rapp" series by Vince Flynn is a good visceral read

I like the John Sanford "Prey" series for crime thrillers

The Jean Aual "Children of the Earth" series will have you wanting to hunt Mammoth during the cold winter months

Also the Stephen Hunter "Bob Lee Swagger" books have some good twists if you like sniper books

Originally Posted by gssixgun

I should preface this with I read books only for enjoyment at home...

The "Mitch Rapp" series by Vince Flynn is a good visceral read

I like the John Sanford "Prey" series for crime thrillers

The Jean Aual "Children of the Earth" series will have you wanting to hunt Mammoth during the cold winter months

Also the Stephen Hunter "Bob Lee Swagger" books have some good twists if you like sniper books

+1 on John Sandford. Gritty, suspenseful police thrillers. The author was a journalist for 20 years, won a Pulitzer, decided to make up the stories instead of reporting on them.

Also has a related string of novels on another detective named Virgil Flowers but the titles don't all have the same theme through them.

Side note: John Sandford (aka John Camp) supports the archaeological excavation in Israel where I dig with students every few years. He doesn't support our students, but pays almost in full the capital expenses of the excavation, which is amazing.

My favorite reading for the winter is The River Runs Through It from Norman Maclean. Besides the book being far better then the movie, it also has a few other great stories in it as well. Plus, my g.f. bought me a new book recently that has old catalog clippings of old sporting goods catalogs from the late 1800's to the mid 60's. Oh, and can't forget the great posts to read here in the winter as well...

Good question here,

Nothing (well almost nothing) beats the great feeling of sitting by the fireplace with a good book, pipe and the drink of your choice.

IMHO you can't go wrong with Jerome K. Jeromes 'Three men in a boat'.
Quickly comes to my mind some great authors like de Saint-Exupery, Steinbeck, Melville, Saramago. The list of good books is endless.

I'm a fan of big, sprawling, science fiction epics. That being said, I highly recommend the writing of Dan Simmons. The Hyperion series (Hyperion, The Fall Of Hyperion, The Rise Of Endymion, Endymion) as well as the two books Illium and Olympos (2 books, 1 story) are fantastic, if you're into that type of thing.

I read "The 1000 Autumns of Jacob de Zoet" and it's great, although it's only available in hardbound right now.

I would also suggest Jean Auel's first novel, "Clan of the Cave Bear" (forget the movie). There is just nothing like it and it's full of some cool thoughts about prehistoric man. It's a great lead-in to the Earth's Children series.

A good paperback, that's better than the movie - though I liked the movie too - is "Snow Falling on Cedars".

Originally Posted by Obelisk

I would also suggest Jean Auel's first novel, "Clan of the Cave Bear" (forget the movie). There is just nothing like it and it's full of some cool thoughts about prehistoric man. It's a great lead-in to the Earth's Children series.

"Clan of the Cave Bear" is next up on my reading list when I finish "Three Day Road." We must have the same taste in books. I'm looking forward to it!