What are you reading now?

[Catseye3]

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B009KY5OFI?

Bought this on Kindle sale to read when I've gotten through the other must-reads that are languishing in the queue.

Amazon: "Historian Dee Brown uncovers an exciting episode in American history: During the Civil War, a group of Confederate soldiers opted to assist the Union Army rather than endure the grim conditions of POW camps. Regiments containing former Confederates were not trusted to go into battle against their former comrades, and instead were sent to the West as “outpost guardians,” where they performed frontier duties, including escorting supply trains, rebuilding telegraph lines, and quelling uprisings from regional American Indian tribes, which were sweeping across the Plains. This is an account of an extraordinary, though often overlooked, group of men who served in unexpected ways at a pivotal moment in the nation’s history.

"From the bestselling author of Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee, The Galvanized Yankees is “an accurate, interesting, and sometimes thrilling account of an unusual group of men [and] a fresh and informative study of the Old West in transition from frontier to stable society.”

[brenda]

Listening to this while working in the yard. It's quite enjoyable to listen to this version, if you like detail. I'm almost half done with it, and there's much left to do in the yard.

[George K]

@brenda I enjoyed it. Isaacson’s books are an easy read.

[bachophile]

[jon-nyc]

Brenda - definitely give us a review when you’re done.

[jon-nyc]

[brenda]

@Jolly said in What are you reading now?:

Loved this one. Hope you do, too.

[Aqua Letifer]

[George K]

So as to not derail the "James Webb Space Telescope" thread, I'm replying to the question about the Fermi Paradox in that thread with reference to the Revelation Space books.

@Horace the first published novel in the "Revelation Space" universe is (duh) "Revelation Space." It just dumps you into the tech that Reynolds has invented, and makes things very difficult to understand.

What the hell is the "Glitter Band?" Who are the "Conjoiners?"

So many questions.

If you want a good order you need to understand the backstory, and I read the books/novellas in this order. These stories make the entire universe make sense.

• “Great Wall of Mars
• “Glacial”
• “A Spy in Europa”
• The Prefect
• Aurora Rising
• “Dilation Sleep”
• Chasm City
• Revelation Space
• “Diamond Dogs”
• “Nightingale”
• “Grafenwalder’s Bestiary”
• Redemption Ark
• “Turquoise Days”
• “Weather”
• Absolution Gap
• “Galactic North”
• Inhibitor Phase

Now, having posted this list, there's a few stories that are not essential to understanding what's going on.

Here's what I'd eliminate as unnecessary to understand what's going on. The rest, I consider essential.

• “Glacial”
• “A Spy in Europa" - fun, but not essential.
• “Dilation Sleep”
• “Diamond Dogs”
• “Nightingale”
• “Grafenwalder’s Bestiary
• “Turquoise Days”
• “Weather”- also fun, but not essential.

You really need "Great Wall of Mars," because it sets the whole universe in motion. The whole concept of humans vs conjoiners is set up there. Characters introduced her appear many, many years later.

Read them in this order...they're difficult, dense, but SO fascinating.

[Horace]

Thanks George. I’ll let you know how I get on with them, if I crack them.

[George K]

@Horace said in What are you reading now?:

Thanks George. I’ll let you know how I get on with them, if I crack them.

It's a huge undertaking. I've absolutely loved it. It's as "dense" as Dune - and has none of the mysticism and "weird" shit.

[George K]

You can never have enough Bosch...

Harry's back-walked his retirement, and is back on the force. He and his partner, Kizmin Rider, are investigating a murder from 20 years ago.

Yeah Kizmen Rider, not James Edgar.

Seems like a simple thing to investigate, until it looks like there's major involvement from "up there."

It's popcorn and a very easy read. But Connelly never disappoints. This is, I think, #10 in the "Bosch" series. I have about 15 to go.

[Doctor Phibes]

@George-K said in What are you reading now?:

What the hell is the "Glitter Band?"

Presumably not the 1970's British glam-rock combo that used to provide back-up for a well known pedophile.

[George K]

“The Glitter Band.”

Is tha that an Alastair Reynolds reference?

[Doctor Phibes]

@George-K said in What are you reading now?:

“The Glitter Band.”

Is tha that an Alastair Reynolds reference?

I'm thinking he was having a laugh with that particular invention - he's just the right age to remember the horrors of British glam-rock

[George K]

Started this yesterday, because I'm still in a Bosch-ey mood.

Finished this afternoon.

Typical Bosch - but fun.

[George K]

That last Bosch book was made into one of the episodes of the Amazon series - the one where the cesium is stolen from a hospital.

Nice, short, book. Easy mystery, with a believable twist at the end. The Amazon telling dragged it out a bit, and the read was a lot "tighter."

Fun.

On to the next. Nine Dragons.

[Copper]

Retired people need lots of hobbies.

This might be some fun.

[taiwan_girl]

I have been reading (actually listening to) the books about Jack Reacher. I think @jolly mentioned the TV show, but these are the books I am talking about.

I think they are turning into my "guilty pleasure". 5555

I am really enjoying them.

[George K]

@taiwan_girl said in What are you reading now?:

I have been reading (actually listening to) the books about Jack Reacher. I think @jolly mentioned the TV show, but these are the books I am talking about.

I think they are turning into my "guilty pleasure". 5555

I am really enjoying them.

Yeah guilty pleasures are fun. That’s why they’re called guilty pleasures, LOL.

I found the Amazon version of the story so-so. Are the books better? Because Bosch.