Winter is in the air-book suggestions?

I've been wondering why my eyes have been going to books lately as I really don't have extra time to read right now. Then it hits me I have to get books to read for winter /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif [the long post below is drawn out, basically I'm looking for suggestions for light winter reading]
So I started the Redwall thread before I realized this. I came across two new Ringworld books, I want to read, IIRC they were "Children" and "Throne" (OK not new but new to me). I reread LOTR last year. I enjoyed Thomas Covenant series years ago but not when I picked up one recently. Generally like James Hogan (though would prefer less or no evolution). Like Niven and Pournell(sp?), Asimov, Silverberg's Lord Valentine series (more the first couple), Clancy's books (I think I've only read a few, I'm going to try to read in chronological order). The Left Behind series was OK. I can still pick up a Hardy Boys or Tom Swift book and enjoy it, though I've lost some of my youthful enthusiasim (as well as suspension of disbelief /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif ) I also can pick up and enjoy one of my daughters "Elsie Dinsmore" or "Mildred Keith" books.
So to sum it up I generally prefer light(no pun intended) reading, series are nice so I can follow characters. Science fiction, fantasy are probably my first choices but Clancy and Grisham have been enjoyed also.
So what are your favorites and why.

How about non-fiction? I like books from the 338 section (No I'm not that anal, just noticed after a bit that almost every book I checked out from the library came from the 338 section.)

Some favorites that you might actually be able to find include:
The Critical Path by Brock Yates
CAR: A Drama of the American Workplace by Mary Walton


Strange, but unique and mind-stimulating.

Are there any great physics books anyone has read and recommends?

Try stuff from Friderick Forsyth... He is like Clancy but on lil bit different level.

Along the lines of Clancy, I really enjoyed "Flight of the Intruder" by, I think his name is, Dean Coonts. About Naval aviation during the Viet Nam war. There's a whole series that is good. You may also recall that this was a movie.

There is also an autobiography of Gen. Chuck Yeager called "Yeager" that is surprisingly good. Primarily about WWII aviation and later breaking the sound barrier.

Both of these were page turners for me.

BTW, Brock Yates lives in upstate NY (owns the Cannonball Pub in Wyoming, NY), and was/is the power behind the Cannonball rally (on which several really bad films were based) that had a simple concept -- start in NYC, end in LA, get there as fast as you can. The book he wrote on the Cannonball rallies makes for interesting reading.

Other interesting books/magazines:

for mysteries -- try anything by Tony Hillerman (Navajo tribal police mysteries), Kinky Friedman (with a name like that how can you go wrong? Plus, he's running for governor of Texas in 2006 under the slogan, "How hard can it be?" and is a friend of GWB), Dennis Lehane, Jeffery Deaver, or Walter Mosley.

Non-fiction -- can't remember the title. but there was a well done book on the sinking of the USS Indianapolis published a few years ago (and you thought Jaws would keep you up nights!). If you are into knives, Ed Fowler has two books comprised of articles he has written in Blade magazine. If you haven't read Seabiscuit, grab a copy.

If you like real and/or "alt" country music, get a copy of No Depression magazine. Like beer or whisk(e)y? Read a copy of All About Beer or Malt Advocate magazine.

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JOshooter said:
Are there any great physics books anyone has read and recommends?

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Man, you gotta try books by Henri Petroski.
Henri Petroski

He writes really great books on how things are built, the thought process and engineering behind them, and the human factors involved. Here at my office I keep these titles by him: Engineers of Dreams, Remaking the World, Invention by Design, and Design Paradigms. You don't have to be an engineer to understand everything he is talking about, and they really are interesting to read. I especially like Engineers of Dreams, which is all about great bridges in America. Amazon.com has lots of his stuff.

Another one to look for that you probably won't except for like a used book store is The Gentle Art of Mathematics by Dan Pedoe. If you enjoy numbers and figuring things out, it is a neat little book. Kinda makes you go "HUH!"

I love to read but rarely have time for it anymore aside from magazines. I mostly prefer either historical non-fiction, true crime, or mysteries. My favorite "modern" author is Michael Crichton and I love almost all of his books (except Prey). Agatha Christie is a great classic mystery writer (Ten Little Indians is my personal favorite).

Am about to start Band of Brothers by Stephen Ambrose and am waiting to check out Seabiscuit.

Also, I recently read "Stiff" by Mary Roach, which I thoroughly enjoyed. It's entirely about dead bodies - various uses for them, what happens to them, etc. Interesting but it might be a bit gory for someone with a weak stomach. Personally I didn't find it as gory as I was expecting, but then, I watch a lot of forensics shows. The Hot Zone by Richard Preston, about an outbreak of Ebola in a Virginia lab, was far more grisly and graphic. (Yes I'm also fascinated by biological warfare and diseases!)

Personally, I don't care for Dean Koontz, Grisham, or Stephen King (love his movies, but I find his books are difficult to wade through). The Left Behind series isn't really for me, either. I found the writing to be... lacking (to put it nicely).

I recommend Neal Stephenson. His book Cryptonomicon is probably in my top-5 all time favorite books (alongside classics like the LOTR & CS Lewis series, and Wolfe, Clancy etc). His previous books are terrific (Snow Crash, The Diamond Age) and I am currently reading his newer book (Quicksilver) and have his newest one (The Confusion) on deck. Check him out.

I also recommend Nelson DeMille. Everything I've read of his has been good. (The Gold Coast, The Charm School, Plum Island, By the Rivers of Babylon, Word of Honor).

Then again, reading the whole Bible cover-to-cover is always a worthy winter project.

Cheers,

Dave

Several good books on Mathmatics and Physics were written by Isac Asimov. The Physics are a couple of decades old but some of the core ideas are good.

Anyone into the Ringworld series that can tell me if the two later boos are any good?

have you read the silm yet?
if not, that's the book you should start reading tomorrow, drop whatever else you're doing and read it!
(i found it to be better than lotr itself /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/eek.gif)

i read a couple covenant books, but hated nearly every second of it. i just quit halfway into the third book.

other good authors are terry brooks, r.a. salvatore, and jk rowlings.

Anyone read "Faster than the Speed of Light" by Joao Magueijo?

I checked out "I, Fatty" last night. It's about Roscoe "Fatty" Arbuckle, the 20s film star who was accused of raping & essentially murdering Virginia Rappe. The book is faction, written by a modern author (Fatty died in the early 30s) from Fatty's supposed point of view. Should be interesting!

There is one really good choice if you need to suck up a lot of time: Patrick O'Brian's Master & Commander books. He's got 23 or 24 of them. The first two are a bit rough because the writing style is pretty archaic, and it takes a while to learn all the terminology needed to describe 18th century saling ships, but they are good reads.

Just prepare for some grief counseling when you finish the last one and realize there aren't any more.

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SteveD said:
There is one really good choice if you need to suck up a lot of time: Patrick O'Brian's Master & Commander books. He's got 23 or 24 of them. The first two are a bit rough because the writing style is pretty archaic, and it takes a while to learn all the terminology needed to describe 18th century saling ships, but they are good reads.

Just prepare for some grief counseling when you finish the last one and realize there aren't any more.

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I was going to recommend these also. You enter an extraordinary world that recreates the English navy in the era of the Napoleonic wars with incredible vividness and accuracy as seen through the lives and adventures of two of the most extraordinary fictional characters ever. One reviewer compared them to Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson. My only criticism is the sometimes painfully esoteric detail of Steven Maturin's naturalistic activities and the occasionally contrived situations.

Highly recommended

Brightnorm

PS, the recent movie "Master and Commander" hardly begins to suggest the richness of this series.

For fiction, I've enjoyed books by both Kyle Mills and David Baldacci. The latter's first book was "Absolute Power," made into movie by same name, starring Clint Eastwood and Gene Hackman. Thought all nine of his books were pretty decent.

I could get laughed at for this.

The Stephanie Plum adventures from 1-10 (so far) by Jant Evanovich.

They make me laugh, I can't put them down!

The things that happen to Steph are highly unlikely, and that's part of what makes it so fun!

I also like the Intruder series of books, as well as most military fiction and even non fiction. "The Ten Thousand Mile War" is the story of WWII as fought in the Aleution Islands.

A Short History of Nearly Everything by Bill Bryson

Cosmology, astronomy, paleontology, geology, chemistry, physics and so on in an enjoyable format. Who figured out what when and some how thrown in. Good general brush up on science an the universe/world we live in/on.

Anything by Neil Gaiman. American Gods is brilliant.

Catch-22 (Joseph Heller), One Flew Over the ****oo's Nest (Ken Kesey), and of course the Hitchhiker's Guide books by Douglas Adams.