New year, new thread.

Didn't update my list all that well last year, but I'll give it a whirl again:

The Caloris Rim Project by Glenn P. MacDonald. The author is an acquaintance of my wife where she works and while talking to him one day he mentioned that he'd written a book (oddly, on the same day another acquaintance of hers mentioned that she'd written a book as well). It was only a few bucks on the e-reader, so I said "What the hell, I like sci-fi", so decided to toss him some support and read his book. It's a first novel and suffers from many of the things you'd expect of a first time author but there are some interesting ideas in there and overall I enjoyed it. A bit of a mix between Clive Cussler (the protagonist reminds me of Cussler's Dirk Pitt character) and some of the hard sci-fi I've read. Could have used some better editing though.

The Coming of Conan the Cimmerian - Robert E. Howard. A collection of all of Howard's Conan stories. I've always loved his stuff, so thought I'd give the whole shebang a re-read.

Chariots of the Gods - Erich von Daniken. Periodically (about every 5 years or so) I take this one out and read it again for yucks and grins.

The Ancient Alien Question - Philip Coppens. Never read this one before, so gave it a whirl after reading the above. Some interesting parts and some eye-roll inducing parts as well. Overall I enjoyed the read.

The Name of The Wind - Patrick Rothfuss. Great book and damned fine writer. Currently reading the sequel and am torn between using my free time to read or play Pillars of Eternity. So far juggling both...

Starship Troopers - Robert Heinlein. Surprisingly, I'd never gotten around to reading this one before. Better than the movie, and a decent enough read, but not one of my favorites from Heinlein's catalog. Still, worth the few hours I invested in it.

The Wise Man's Fear - Patrick Rothfuss. Just as good as the first book, IMO, and I'm eagerly anticipating the next.

The Slow Regard of Silent Things - Patrick Rothfuss. A novella that follows a peripheral character, Auri, from his other books. I have to admit it's an odd book (he even describes as such), but I ended up really loving Auri's character.I liked her well enough from the other books, but this really made me love her. Great read. Very different.

Ready Player One by Ernest Cline. I believe someone mentioned this title earlier in this thread, and it's a book I've hasd on my e-reader for a while. FInally decided to read it, and was very pleased. A great book for anyone that either grew up in the '80s or is a fan of the era. The references to music, games, television, and movies really took me back. I quite enjoyed it, although I think the ending could have been a bit stronger. Still, a great read, and recommended. The auther mentions a possible movie in the end blurb, and I tihnk it would make a really fun movie. Hope that happens.

The Historian - by Elizabeth Kostova. I believe this was a first novel and very impressive if so. She can certainly write and has a way of describing places that make it very easy to see them in your mind's eye. Basically, another telling of the Dracula story, but well done and worth the read.

11/22/63 - by Stephen King. I've been a King fan for decades and finally got around to reading this one (which has been on my shelf since it was released). A 'what if' tale that takes the main character back in time where he stops the Kennedy assassination via the use of a time portal discovered in a friend's diner. I liked this one, even though it has the predictable plot of 'Yeah, if you could change things, the outcome isn't what you think it will be'.

Quicksilver - by Neal Stephenson. I do love this guy's writing and this book is no exception. Reminds me though, that I have to get back and complete this trilogy, as this was only book 1.

Firestarter - by Stephen King. Read it before several times but had a hankering to read it again. So I did. For some reason I've always really liked this book even though it's really not that great.

Dead Mountain - by Donnie Eichar. An investigative look at - and possible explanation for - the mysterious events of the Dyatlov Pass incident in 1959. A very plausible explanation, actually and one I feel is likely what happened. I read this one after seeing it discussed here on the forums and am glad I did. Well written.

Dune - by Frank Herbert. I've read this many times and tend to re-reda it every couple years or so. Had the desire to do so again, so just finished this one. On to the next books in the series now.

I'll start it off then :)

I bought Joe Abercrombie's latest book - Half a King - with a voucher I got at Christmas and it arrived the other day. I finished it in two days, so you could say I liked it :)

A great book, as all of Joe's books have been. Less gory but just as grim and gripping. The writing is impeccable and evocative. The characters are flawed but likeable, they feel real. The world is a fantasy setting based on Norse culture and mythology and very well researched and described. A bit shorter than I might have expected, but absolutely gripping all the way through. Thoroughly recommend it to any fans of fantasy books.

Edit: Ninja'd

#1 Under the Eagle by Simon Scarrow
#2 Tuntematon sotilas (The Unknown Soldier) by Väinö Linna

2015 seems to have started off on a good note - 2 of the books on my reading list for this year ticked off already!

The first one is the one called This One Summer by Mariko Tamaki. The story goes like this: Every summer, Rose goes with her mom and dad to a lake house in Awago Beach. It's their getaway, their refuge. Rosie's friend Windy is always there too, like the little sister she never had. But this summer is different. Rose's mom and dad won't stop fighting, and when Rose and Windy seek a distraction from the drama, they find themselves with a whole new set of problems. Loved the story on the whole.

The second one - Orfeo - written by Richard Powers, tells the story of a 70 year old composer whose 'home experiments in biohacking musical patterns into a bacterial human pathogen attracts the attention of the authorities. This one is unlike anything I've ever read before.

The City & the City by China Miéville. 9/10

Just wanted to drop in and say thanks for opening a thread for this year since it is always interesting to see what books could be a great read.

So we talking any? i mean printed, audio,ebooks?

Finished The Name of the Wind and The Wise Man's Fear by Patrick Rothfuss. Picked them up during some December sale. I should have picked them up sooner. It took me just over 3 days to finish them both and that's saying a lot. Those are huge! I haven't read fantasy this good in a while and it get's me really excited for Torment: Tides of Numenera knowing that this guy wrote one of the companions and her (I think) side quest.

I believe it's mainly things that we read (print or ebook), but I guess if you want to list audiobooks too, you certain can. You might want to indicate it's an audiobook.

All books. And I would say audiobooks are fine too. And if a review of one is interesting even if one does not listen to audiobooks there is always the option to buy a printed version.

Phyllis Auty - Tito, soldier and partisan leader

Nothing yet, just want to start and read Python programming language books.

Finished The Traitor's Blade the other day. Not a great book. Try's too hard. Not awful by any means but I wasn't impressed, it's billed as the Three Musketeers meets Game of Thrones but other then there being three main(ish) characters it's nothing of the sort... It's just very formulaic, good guys are very good, bad guys are very bad, lots of completely ridiculously over the top evil doing, good guys win against the odds...

I wouldn't recommend it unless you get it cheap or are really desperate for something to read.