What book did you just buy?

[Duppin]

Baseball: Between The Numbers

[Khorum]

Pride of Carthage By David Anthony Durham. It's not the most stirring historical fiction you'll read, but it IS very well researched and it does a pretty good job portraying Hannibal the brother and the leader. The novel is about the second punic war (and some snippets of Hamilcar and the first) and goes into great detail about the actors (Iberian, Carthaginian, Roman and Hellenic) in the era. It's got all the quirks and badasses from young Varro to Cato the Elder ("Carthago delenda Est!") If you're a Rome history geek, you WILL love it, that's pretty much a sure thing. If you're into Roman history enough to actually WANT to read about the high republican era, then you want to read this book. In fact, I'm not sure you'll find a novelization of the 2nd punic war quite like this one. Started slow though and sometimes Durham's afro-centricity pokes through (not in a bad way, in fact it's pretty refreshing reading the Republican Roman heroes portrayed as bad guys). George RR Martin recommended it too.

Other recent read was America's First Dynasty: The Adamses by Richard Brookhiser (yeah the gap-toothed asshole on TV) which I picked up after the HBO series ended. Pretty dry but competent. The story of the Adams dynasty is sad to begin with, and there's not much in the way of syphilitic black sheep boozing through europe or slutty daughters to spice up the story, just a string of self-determined men and women culminating in some of the most notorious imperialists of the 19th century.

[Ancalagon]

Anything else you'd recommend on the Rome historical fiction front, Khor? I've read Imperium and loved it, if that helps

[Khorum]

Originally Posted by Ancalagon

Anything else you'd recommend on the Rome historical fiction front, Khor? I've read Imperium and loved it, if that helps

Yeah I really liked Imperium too. I picked it up to read for a flight and ended up buying most of Harris' books afterwards (I'd read Fatherland before though). He's got another Roman history novel based too, Pompeii, which was also good, though not as good as Imperium imo.

As far as other Historical Fiction based on Roman history I can't really name any off the top of my head. There's Colleen McCullough's 7-volume Masters of Rome series, which is outstanding. But you've prolly read that already. If not, that's an awesome series and a MUST-READ, starts from 110 BCE with Gaius Marius and Sulla and goes all the way to 27BCE with Mark Antony and all points in between.

[kegkilla]

Amazon.com: Tick Tock, You're Dead! (Give Yourself Goosebumps): R. L. Stine: Books

[Brand]

Kegkilla, I thought you were reading Dianetics...

[Aphextwin]

The time travelers wife - Audrey Niffenegger
Long Way Down: An Epic Journey by Motorcycle from Scotland to South Africa by Ewan McGregor and Charley Boorman

[Lefazz]

Originally Posted by Sharmai

I'd love for some short stories A la world war Z style.

Speaking of which, I ordered World War Z today.

[WillzZz]

Originally Posted by Burf

The War of the Spider Queen series doesn't involve Drizzt, and it gives a bit of insight into Drow culture. The focus is on a group of Drow that "band together" (I use that term loosely) to find out what happened to Lloth, who mysteriously vanished.

It's a 6 book series, and it's pretty good...does fall apart a bit at the end, and I thought book 5 was written somewhat oddly (each book is by a different author), but it was entertaining nonetheless. All are available on paperback by now.

Second. Lots of cool Drow stuff going on in those books, and all written by different authors so you get a lot of variety (Including Paul S. Kemp, who I enjoy quite a lot)


Currently reading a ridiculous book called: Amazon.com: Physics of the Impossible: A Scientific Exploration into the World of Phasers, Force Fields, Teleportation, and Time Travel: Michio Kaku: Books

It's a fun read, enough science to get me interested, but not too much to make it dry and lifeless. Also a Clive Cussler book, Sacred Stone.

[Zodiac]

Picked up WWZ based on this forum/thread - Great read, fun book thanks guys.

[Leid]

I'm having a hard time getting through Blood Meridian. Some of the descriptions seem to go on for pages. By the time he's done talking about the desert and the sky and the horizon, I forgot what the fuck was going on.

[Opulis]

Love Poems--Anne Sexton
Transformations--Anne Sexton

[kegkilla]

Originally Posted by Brand

Kegkilla, I thought you were reading Dianetics...

*slaps knee*

[Khorum]

To be fair, anything by R.L. Stein is waaaay better than anything L.Ron Hubbard ever wrote.

[Goltana_R-Zek]

Yeah, I read World War Z right after I read "I am Legend".. right around the time the movie was announced to be in production. Great books. I was just recommended "The Diamond Throne" by David Eddings, any feedback on the author/series?