# What are you nerds reading these days?



## rabbitislove (Apr 14, 2016)

Just curious about what ya'll are reading these days. Im working through the Harry Potter series because I didnt read it 10 years ago.


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## dwesterny (Apr 15, 2016)

Haruki Murakami for my last 3 books, excellent surreal fiction. Momo by Michael Ende (wrote The Neverending Story) was recommended to me so that might be next.


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## Crumbling (Apr 15, 2016)

I just started Hobb's most recent Farseer trilogy... 

I've been reading some Peter Clines, Kevin Hearn and Ransom Riggs too.
I'm a bit behind on my reading this year tbh.


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## LeoGibson (Apr 15, 2016)

Practical Programming for Strength Training by Rippetoe and Baker. 
The Primal Blueprint by Mark Sisson
The Lost Symbol by Dan Brown (my latest escapism fiction)
You Get So Alone At Times That It Just Makes Sense by Bukowski (usually one I thumb through and read when I don't have much time to read)


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## dwesterny (Apr 15, 2016)

LeoGibson said:


> You Get So Alone At Times That It Just Makes Sense by Bukowski (usually one I thumb through and read when I don't have much time to read)



This is my favorite Bukowski poem:

Charles Bukowski - How Is Your Heart?
during my worst times
on the park benches
in the jails
or living with
whores
I always had this certain
contentment-
I wouldn't call it
happiness-
_it was more of an inner
balance 
that settled for
whatever was occuring_
and it helped in the
factories
and when relationships 
went wrong
with the 
girls. 
it helped 
through the
wars and the
hangovers
the backalley fights
the 
hospitals. 
to awaken in a cheap room
in a strange city and
pull up the shade-
this was the craziest kind of
contentment

and to walk across the floor
to an old dresser with a 
cracked mirror- 
see myself, ugly,
grinning at it all. 
what matters most is
how well you 
walk through the
fire.


And see I didn't even make a Charles Bukake joke.


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## Crumbling (Apr 15, 2016)

dwesterny said:


> And see I didn't even make a Charles Bukake joke.



In Your FACE!


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## BigChaz (Apr 15, 2016)

I never learned to read thanks for bringing it up


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## dwesterny (Apr 15, 2016)

Crumbling said:


> In Your FACE!



 If we keep this bukake stuff up this whole thread will be covered in white text


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## rabbitislove (Apr 15, 2016)

BigChaz said:


> I never learned to read thanks for bringing it up



Then how to you read the Dims threads?


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## BigChaz (Apr 15, 2016)

rabbitislove said:


> Then how to you read the Dims threads?



Sorry, what? I can't read; please use spoken word.


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## lovelymars908 (Apr 21, 2016)

The Bluest Eye by Toni Morrison


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## ODFFA (Apr 23, 2016)

I've started two books recently -- a nonfiction about sensory defensiveness I've been wanting to get to for about 5 years now, called _Too Loud, Too Bright, Too__ Fast, Too Tight. _And also _The Book Thief._


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## RainbowRage (Apr 30, 2016)

Thinking of starting my third reread of The Name of the Wind and The Wise Man's Fear.

Love those books. Can't wait for Rothfuss to finally release the third one in the series.


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## Dr. Feelgood (Apr 30, 2016)

I'm about halfway through Brad Warner's _There Is No God And He Is Always With You_.


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## Durin (May 2, 2016)

Fall of Light- Steven Erickson


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## Xyantha Reborn (May 3, 2016)

Mercedes Lackey Valdemar stuff.

Although I enjoy it, i forgot how heavy handed some of the explanatory stuff is


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## Durin (May 3, 2016)

Another Valdemar reader. What series? I have not bought the new mags series yet.


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## Xyantha Reborn (May 3, 2016)

Mags series LOL.

It's good, just not as "heart string" as the last books i read. But there are companions, which is always fun 

Just finished book 4, starting book 5 tonight


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## dwesterny (Jul 19, 2016)

After rereading "Breakfast of Champions" by Kurt Vonnegut I started reading "The Laundry Files" series by Charles Stross based on the recommendation of some crazy overall wearing Scotsman. Awesome series outer gods and computer hacking mashed together.


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## Crumbling (Jul 19, 2016)

Currently reading 'The Nymphos of Rocky Flats' which is an urban fantasy novel about a vampire detective.

I recently finished 'the nightmare stacks' which is the most recent chapter in the laundry files.

Though right now. I am having to stave off a pooch trying to climb into my lap.
Because even though he's got no time for me if there are more interesting people around... We are apparently thunder buddies for life.

ETA.

When you hear the sound of thunder,
don't you get too scared
Just grab your thunder buddy,

and say these magic words:
F**k you, Thunder! You can suck my d!!k
You can't get me,Thunder, 
because you're just God's farts
THRRRRRP


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## ODFFA (Jul 21, 2016)

Crumbling said:


> Currently reading 'The Nymphos of Rocky Flats' which is an urban fantasy novel about a vampire detective.
> 
> I recently finished 'the nightmare stacks' which is the most recent chapter in the laundry files.
> 
> ...



Google helped me remember where I'd heard that song before. &#8834;(&#12539;(&#12455&#12539&#8835;
It would've plagued me all day otherwise.


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## Crumbling (Jul 21, 2016)

ODFFA said:


> Google helped me remember where I'd heard that song before. &#8834;(&#12539;(&#12455&#12539&#8835;
> It would've plagued me all day otherwise.



He can take me or leave me most of the time. He's never quite forgiven me for leaving him with my mother for a month while I eloped. I'm definitely the boss... but he loves Mrs.C and my mother better... (they don't ever get stuck with jobs that upset him like brushing, dematting or pulling ticks)

But when he's afraid or upset, He likes to climb up into my lap and do simple maths on the numberpad... I think it calms him.


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## ODFFA (Jul 22, 2016)

Crumbling said:


> He can take me or leave me most of the time. He's never quite forgiven me for leaving him with my mother for a month while I eloped. I'm definitely the boss... but he loves Mrs.C and my mother better... (they don't ever get stuck with jobs that upset him like brushing, dematting or pulling ticks)
> 
> But when he's afraid or upset, He likes to climb up into my lap and do simple maths on the numberpad... I think it calms him.



Wise puppy. Keep that brain busy so it can't catastrophise.

I can very much relate to this scenario. My 2 little Jackschunds, who happen to have that same colouring, side-eye me like asshole cats when I try to pay them attention. Until either I have enticing human food, or it's the apocalypse ( = thunder/fireworks).

As for reading, I'm currently on The Six Pillars Of Self-Esteem by Nathaniel Branden. It's a very pleasant surprise so far. Neither trite & clichéd, nor too fanatically objectivist. I'm getting a lot from it :happy:


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## Tad (Jul 22, 2016)

I just finished The Library at Mount Char by Scott Hawkins. It was an unusual mix of (to me) good and bad. I guess you could call it somewhere between urban fantasy, a super-hero story, and a non-religious take on the book of Revelations. Some of the world building I found suspect, there were a few plot holes, a bit of deus ex machina near the end .... but on the other hand some great writing, laugh out loud moments, strongly etched characters who I quickly came to care about, a mystery that keeps most of the book moving along, and some quite original bits of both world building and scene building.

Ultimately the use of strong writing talents in service of some rather violent and gory scenes put me in the 'maybe I'd have preferred not to have read it' because a lot of scenes have been stuck in my head since, and overall I'd rather they weren't. But if you don't mind reading a bit in first person where someone is finding out just how a lion that wants revenge will kill your POV character, or having characters observe that the gore on the china cabinet appeared to mostly be bits of lung, the strengths of the book may outweigh the negatives for you -- there really is a lot of good in there.


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## FatAndProud (Jul 23, 2016)

View attachment 124923


........I'm a masochist.


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## kittymahlberg (Jul 30, 2016)

Talk nerdy to me! I'm currently reading _Cryptonomicon_ by Neal Stephenson. Though my only copy of a Harry Potter book is the first volume . . . in Latin.


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## landshark (Jul 30, 2016)

I was on a road trip the other day and stopped in a B&N to get a Starbuck's. On a whim I stopped by the new releases to see if there was anything new from Harlan Coben on the shelf. His latest, "Fool me Once" just happened to be there. I'll be getting started on it right away!


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## bigmac (Jul 31, 2016)

Just finished _*Beautiful Struggle*_ by Ta-Nehisi Coates. An excellent coming of age memoir.


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## Tad (Aug 1, 2016)

kittymahlberg said:


> Talk nerdy to me! I'm currently reading _Cryptonomicon_ by Neal Stephenson. Though my only copy of a Harry Potter book is the first volume . . . in Latin.



I found a lot of interesting bits in Cryptonomicon, but it was such a sprawl of a book I also got aggravated by it .... I hope you have more patience for the diversions and side stories than I did!


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## rabbitislove (Aug 1, 2016)

kittymahlberg said:


> Talk nerdy to me! I'm currently reading _Cryptonomicon_ by Neal Stephenson. Though my only copy of a Harry Potter book is the first volume . . . in Latin.



I LOVE Neil Stephenson. Snow Crash got me to fall in love with sci fi/fiction. :wubu:


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## kittymahlberg (Aug 3, 2016)

Tad said:


> I found a lot of interesting bits in Cryptonomicon, but it was such a sprawl of a book I also got aggravated by it .... I hope you have more patience for the diversions and side stories than I did!



Yeah, it's definitely a picaresque novel in the old style. You have to enjoy that sort of thing. But you're talking to the gal who zipped through _War and Peace_ and loved every minute! I guess for me, books like that are almost a cross between a novel and a short story collection, and therefore easy to dip in and out of. That said, the length alone is intimidating! But I enjoyed _Anathem_, which was a similar length, and also not super tightly structured.


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## Sasquatch! (Aug 6, 2016)

Trainee wizard police officer solving mysteries, f***ing rivers, seducing vamp-gina monster girls and fighting Old Boy Evil Wizard (tm) books.


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## Tad (Aug 9, 2016)

You tease, Sassy! What title(s)?


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## Crumbling (Aug 10, 2016)

Tad said:


> You tease, Sassy! What title(s)?



Ben Aaronovich's "PC Grant/Rivers of London" series. The first novel is called "Rivers of London" but was also sold with the title "Midnight Riot" in the US.


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## Sasquatch! (Aug 10, 2016)

Crumbling said:


> Ben Aaronovich's "PC Grant/Rivers of London" series. The first novel is called "Rivers of London" but was also sold with the title "Midnight Riot" in the US.



Ding ding ding!!


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## Tad (Aug 10, 2016)

Hold placed at the Library -- looking forward to it!


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## dwesterny (Sep 30, 2016)

I just finished the most recent novel in "The Laundry File" series and now need more suggestions. Halp!


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## djudex (Sep 30, 2016)

kittymahlberg said:


> Talk nerdy to me! I'm currently reading _Cryptonomicon_ by Neal Stephenson.





Tad said:


> I found a lot of interesting bits in Cryptonomicon, but it was such a sprawl of a book I also got aggravated by it .... I hope you have more patience for the diversions and side stories than I did!





rabbitislove said:


> I LOVE Neil Stephenson. Snow Crash got me to fall in love with sci fi/fiction. :wubu:



Right now I'm reading REAmDe, someone got me all up in its business 

I'd have to agree with you Tad, Neil Stephenson is a very wordy fella. He diverts into strangely detailed backstories and tangents that really don't have a lot to do with the plot and serve no purpose other than to pad things up. Still, it's been a good read so far!


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## rabbitislove (Oct 1, 2016)

djudex said:


> Right now I'm reading REAmDe, someone got me all up in its business



Some vile nerdy seductress, no doubt.


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## dwesterny (Oct 1, 2016)

Necronomicon by H.P. Lovecraft


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## Crumbling (Oct 2, 2016)

Recently...

Stilletto by Daniel O'Malley... Second in the series that started with 'The Rook'

The original was a strong premise/setting with a few weaknesses in the writing. Stilletto was a worthwhile followup, it built on the setting, developed the characters, despite giving them a back seat to new ones, and gave us a fresh take on everything we thought we knew... and I think the author has really found his voice.

The Purloined Poodle by Kevin Hearn. A novella from Hearn's Iron druid series.
Told from Oberon's Point of view, the novella see's him convince the Iron Druid, Atticus, to investigate the theft of a number of showdogs.
I've recently realised that while I love the setting and worldbuilding for Hearn's series... the protagonists are a shower of arseholes. Except for Oberon, who is an Irish Wolfhound. 

The Black Company, Glen Cook's classic military fantasy, following the exploits of a mercenary company in the employ of the bad guys...


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## dwesterny (Oct 2, 2016)

Crumbling said:


> Recently...
> 
> 
> The Black Company, Glen Cook's classic military fantasy, following the exploits of a mercenary company in the employ of the bad guys...



I really enjoyed the first five or six of them that I read. Admittedly my interest waned after that.


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## Cobra Verde (Oct 2, 2016)

Mark Z Danielewski's _The Fifty Year Sword_

It gives me the urge to text Burroughs in hell and apologize for ever complaining that _Naked Lunch_ was hard to follow.



Also, YOU'RE the nerd!!1


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## Still a Skye fan (Oct 3, 2016)

I'm currently working on Bradbury's FAHRENHEIT 451...yeah, it's decades old and still relevant as hell today!

Plus it's one of the reasons I chose librarianship as a profession.

Read on everyone


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## Crumbling (Oct 3, 2016)

Still a Skye fan said:


> I'm currently working on Bradbury's FAHRENHEIT 451...yeah, it's decades old and still relevant as hell today!
> 
> Plus it's one of the reasons I chose librarianship as a profession.
> 
> Read on everyone



It's one of the reasons I chose to be a Fireman.... 


... Boy was I disappointed.


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## Tad (Oct 3, 2016)

dwesterny said:


> I really enjoyed the first five or six of them that I read. Admittedly my interest waned after that.



It did hit a rough patch in the middle, but I thought the last couple were really good.

=======================

Wife and I have been reading the "Souless" series. As Wikipedia puts it: "Soulless is a steampunk paranormal romance novel by Gail Carriger" It is complete fluff, the sort of book you dash through quickly, frequently giggling and always eager to find out how things play out. A side bonus for me is that , the main character is apparently of somewhat more than stylish proportions and rather definite on the subject of getting fed regularly. Side bonus for some others may be that there are plenty of hunky werewolves who regularly find themselves without clothes after changing back to human, while others may enjoy the very dandyish vampire, while yet others may enjoy the charming dimples on the inventor lady who has a crush on the main character ....


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## Crumbling (Oct 3, 2016)

Tad said:


> It did hit a rough patch in the middle, but I thought the last couple were really good.
> 
> =======================
> 
> Wife and I have been reading the "Souless" series. As Wikipedia puts it: "Soulless is a steampunk paranormal romance novel by Gail Carriger" It is complete fluff, the sort of book you dash through quickly, frequently giggling and always eager to find out how things play out. A side bonus for me is that , the main character is apparently of somewhat more than stylish proportions and rather definite on the subject of getting fed regularly. Side bonus for some others may be that there are plenty of hunky werewolves who regularly find themselves without clothes after changing back to human, while others may enjoy the very dandyish vampire, while yet others may enjoy the charming dimples on the inventor lady who has a crush on the main character ....



I liked Carringer's Parasol Protectorate too... as you say, unapologetic fluff, the prequel and sequel series are fun too.


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## lille (Oct 4, 2016)

I recently started reading Odd Girl Out on my therapist's recommendation. It's about aggression and bulllying in girls.


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## freakyfred (Oct 13, 2016)

Just started From Hell by Alan Moore and Eddie Campbell. It's huuuge. But I'm digging it so far.


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## Sculptor (Oct 13, 2016)

I was gifted the Mr. Mercedes trilogy so I just started the third one, Stephen King's _End of Watch_. I haven't read fiction for approx 3 yrs, so it's been interesting for me to get away from my usual arena.


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## Sculptor (Oct 13, 2016)

Double post. Must be late for bed.


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## Crumbling (Oct 15, 2016)

freakyfred said:


> Just started From Hell by Alan Moore and Eddie Campbell. It's huuuge. But I'm digging it so far.



It's a great read and has so much research behind it... If you've not noted them yet... skip to the back for the (almost) panel by panel historical notes, they make for some interesting parallel reading.


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## Anjula (Oct 15, 2016)

Not sure if it really counts as a reading but since I can't fall asleep like a normal human being due to my anxiety and PA every night I listen to bridges jones audiobook and fall asleep with it. I have read this book so many times I can quote 50% of it. Other then that I'm reading Xyantha this days lol


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## dwesterny (Feb 8, 2017)

I am so excited for this book. Total nerdgasm.


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## Melian (Feb 9, 2017)

What am I reading, these days? Uh.......uh....

......


......All Quiet on the Western Front.

Just kidding. I'm illiterate.


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## dwesterny (Feb 9, 2017)

Melian said:


> What am I reading, these days? Uh.......uh....
> 
> ......
> 
> ...



I'm reading the labels on liquor bottles.


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## Cobra Verde (Feb 9, 2017)

Melian said:


> What am I reading, these days? Uh.......uh....
> 
> ......
> 
> ...


You have my vote.


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## agouderia (Feb 9, 2017)

Melian said:


> What am I reading, these days? Uh.......uh....
> 
> ......
> 
> ...



I strongly recommend Remarque's 2 much lesser known sequels to this classic :
The Black Obelisk (1920's economic crisis in Germany & rise of the Nazis)
Arch of Triumph (the anti-fascist exile community in 1930's Paris )


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## CleverBomb (Feb 14, 2017)

Currently going through my extensive yet incomplete collection of rulebooks and supplements for a nearly 40 year old SF RPG.

There's an astonishing amount of online materials for the game, and it's still being played. One of these days I'll get a campaign going.


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## Durin (Feb 14, 2017)

At the sign of triump- David Webber
1632 The Ottoman uprising- Eric Flint

Currently I am reading book 5 in the sundering series.


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## Dr. Feelgood (Feb 14, 2017)

_Beyond Words: What Animals Think and Feel_, by Carl Safina.


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## ShakesSphere (Feb 20, 2017)

Hidden Figures. The nonfiction history the movie was based on. (Has nothing to do with my crush on Octavia Spencer!)


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## Colonial Warrior (Oct 27, 2021)

Wow I have found this old thread! Let's infuse new life to it!

I'm actually reading very different ebooks from Google Play Books.

This week, my choice is The New Gods. A compilation volume composed of issues #1 to #11 of the series of the same name originally published in 1971.

Written and drawn by comic books maestro, Jack Kirby!


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## mathfa (Oct 28, 2021)




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## Tad (Nov 9, 2021)

I'm currently on a huge Martha Wells kick. Working my way through her absolutely "Murderbot Diaries" (science fiction, with the most intensely human and relatable security android you'll ever meet), and while waiting my turn at them from the library reading through her Raksura series (fantasy, I guess? But on a very different axis from most fantasy, it has more of a science fiction vibe to it, more races of people than I can even remember, and again just wonderful characters). Very definitely 'feel good' reads.


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## Colonial Warrior (Feb 5, 2022)

*Spoiler Free Comic Book Review*



_Cover A. Art by Zach Howard and color by Leonard O'Grady._

Title: Star Trek: Alien Spotlight #1
(First in a series of one-shots)
Publisher: IDW Comics
Published: October 10, 2007
Writers: Scott Tipton and David Tipton
Artist: David Messina
Letters: Chris Mowry
Editor: Dan Taylor
Reviewed in: Google Play Books

Returning from a successful medical mission to a federation observation outpost on Te Awamutu VII, Captain Terrell and his first officer, Commander Pavel Chekov make their way back to the USS Reliant.

Terrell, Chekov, Dr. Wilder and Officers Bates and Skiles must face great danger after their shuttlecraft crash-landed on a M class planet occupied by the Gorn.

A race of cold-blooded reptilians, the Gorn still have hard feelings at the Federation fifteen years after their first encounter with Captain James T. Kirk in the TOS episode, "Arena."


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## carib (Feb 6, 2022)

I do need to step on my reading


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## TheShannan (Feb 6, 2022)

Radium Girls. It's based on all the women who worked with radium and got sick and nobody knew what it was at first. ❤


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## Colonial Warrior (Oct 23, 2022)

Spoiler Free Comic Book Review



Cover A art by Zach Howard



Cover B art by Elena Casagrande

Title: Star Trek: Alien Spotlight: Orions 

(Fourth in a series of one shots)

Note: My reviews for this series is not a chronological order. It's mostly based on my personal interest. And also, my focus will be on the Original Series and the Animated Series' era.

Publisher: IDW Comics
Published: December 2007
Writers: Scott and David Tipton 
Artist: Elena Casagrande and colors by Mirco Pierfederici
Letters: Chris Mowry
Editor: Andrew Steven Harris 
Reviewed in: Google Play Books

As one of his first missions as a recently promoted Starfleet Captain, Christopher Pike must attend a Federation Conference on Babel as a guest of honor.

In there, Captain Pike must have to interviene in an attempt to assassinate Muso, a high profile Tellarite business liaison with an obscure background from Leata, an Orion slave girl.

While serving as a bodyguard to Muso, he discovers the relationship between this two characters' past while facing a lot of danger.


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## Donna (Oct 23, 2022)

Colleen Hoover’s _It Ends With Us. _I do not get the hype surrounding Hoover’s books. She doesn’t just paint a picture using angst, she pours the bucket full over the canvas. I usually enjoy a good heavily emotional story, and yet, I still didn’t find myself being drawn in. This is the third Hoover book I’ve tried to read and ended up putting it in my DNF folder. 

I know some are saying Stephen King has lost his touch, but I disagree. Just finished _Fairy Tale_ by King and I strongly recommend this one. It wasn’t what I expected, but that’s a positive. Loved this book. 

Later today I hope to start _Appalachian Horror_, a shorty story compilation. It’s supposed to be extremely scary, so it’s definitely spooky season appropriate.


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## Tad (Nov 18, 2022)

I'm finally reading Neil Gaiman's door stopper of a book American Gods. So far I'm enjoying it, other than being tired from staying awake too late reading it in bed each night.


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## Tha66eus (Nov 20, 2022)

I would like to opt in.


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