What books are you reading?

I have three books open right now: All the Light We Cannot See , by Anthony Doerr, Happy Go-Lucky by David Sedaris and Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe. I usually fall asleep within ten minutes of going to bed, so I haven't been making much progress lately.






(this is the cover of a Roots album)

Inspired after the Obi-Wan series I read my first Star Wars novel this week.

I'd watched a YT vid where the guy said that the way Obi learns about Darth Vader in the novels was a lot better than in the series so I took the recommend and got the book Dark Lord: The Rise of Darth Vader.

The writing was solid even if it didn't have much zing to it. But overall the book was pretty good. It's set shortly after the third prequel so there's a big focus on Anakin adjusting to his new life as Vader, which I enjoyed and is why I wanted to read it, and the story about a few Jedi attempting to outrun Order 66 kept me engaged.

Having got the background info on Vader I was after I'm not sure whether I'll read any more though. There's so many SW books and I don't want to deep dive into the whole lot. Id' rather just read a few of the hits, so to speak. Any recommends?

And yes, Obi learning about Vader was a lot better here than on the show

There's a whole slew of books that came out a long time ago that were awesome....only to be removed from canon by Disney. If you care about that, make sure you're only reading canon.

I would recommend the SW books written by Timothy Zahn regardless of canon.

I’ll second Zahn’s work and add a recommendation for Stackpole and Allston’s work on the X-Wing series. Like Zahn it leans more on on the military side of things and almost entirely eschews Skywalkers, Solos and Jedi for hotshot fighter pilots.

It’s no longer canon, but like The Mandalorian, the series demonstrated the variety of stories that could be told in the Star Wars universe.

Thank you! I forgot about how good that entire X-Wing series was.

stormseeker75 wrote: Thank you! I forgot about how good that entire X-Wing series was.

I read a ton of those X-Wing Rogue Squadron books when I was a kid. I remember absolutely nothing about them except how the pilots were constantly "leaning on the etheric rudder." That phrase has stuck in my head for decades. Apparently it was stuck in the author's head too, as he used it a LOT.

Supposedly Patti Jenkins is making a Rogue Squadron movie. I don't know if it's still happening, but I hope so.

I am halfway through The Honours, by Tim Clare. It is the story of a plucky tween girl living at a peculiar country estate near Norfolk, England in 1935. The overall picture is not yet clear, because everything is from the viewpoint of a 13 year-old, but there seems to be a shadowy society of intellectuals living at the estate, and they may be conspiring with enemies of England. There also seems to be a creeping Cthulhu mythos sort of threat that may even involve an interdimensional portal. There are definitely secret passages and a network of subterranean tunnels beneath the estate, and the whole book starts with an ominous flashforward.

Before that, I read King Bullet, the latest and maybe the last of the Sandman Slim books. Always hard to say if this series is over, because Sandman Slim has been to both Heaven and Hell before this, and managed to make his way back to Earth. This latest installment was likely written in 2020, during the early months of the Covid pandemic, as everybody is masked up and there is a very localized outbreak of disease in this book. There is the usual mixture of graphic violence, dark humor, and wry observations about human nature. The Honours might be a more original story, but I always enjoy a Sandman Slim book.

I finished 'Christine' two weeks ago. It was one King title that I avoided because I just don't care for cars. Though oddly, I did read 'From a Buick 8' when it was first published.

Anyway, 'Christine' is RIDICULOUS.' In plot and in length. John Carpenter's film got right to the point, and that's all I have to say. Okay okay. The book is dedicated to the Romeros, and it takes place in NW PA (the film takes place in CA). King got the Pennsylvania winters spot on.

I'm currently reading 'Under the Banner of Heaven.' I started watching the show on Hulu, and stopped after episode 1 realizing that it was based on a Johnny K book. So back to the primary source I went. So far, so good. And by good, I really mean FUNDAMENTALISTS OF ANY STRIPE ARE BAD.

IMO, 'From a Buick 8' was better than 'Christine.' They're both ridiculous, but Buick is a leaner experience.

It's been a long time since I read Christine, so the only thing that I remember clearly is that someone took a dump on the bad guy's dashboard.

With very few exceptions, Stephen King is a better short story author than novelist.

the_jake_1973 wrote: With very few exceptions, Stephen King is a better short story author than novelist.

Even in his long titles you’ll hit a page or even a paragraph where he just lands a punch, often not even associated with the story. You’ll get to the end and say, “whoa, what just happened?”

Cocaine is a hell of a drug.

the_jake_1973 wrote: With very few exceptions, Stephen King is a better short story author than novelist.

This. Totally this. On every novel he's ever written, even the brilliant ones like Salem's Lot, the man simply screams for an editor with a backbone. When he's confined by page or word limit, he's fucking brilliant. When he can wander off into any field available, everything suffers. Even limiting him to novellas is good. The four stories of Different Seasons are excellent. The best part about the film, Shawshank Redemption, was that it retained so much of the dialogue and pacing of the story, Rita Hayworth and Shawshank Redemption. It's the one work of his that I've read multiple times because it's so good. But give the man space to write a novel and... ugh.