Life cannot be all work. We are all on here learning and gaining knowledge but we all need downtime. I am a reader and read fiction for fun and relaxation. I don't know if this is appropriate to put on this site but I figure: if SHTF and I survive, I will need a bit of down time after all my day to day survival work/chores. I was going to ask people their top 5 authors but five maybe too much. So here are a few of mine, these are authors I could read over and over: CJ Box Vince Flynn Nelson DeMille Janet Evanovich- light-hearted senseless laughter
W.E.B. Griffin Stephen Lawhead Phillip Yancey is right up there too, but not so much fiction as Christian guidance. And of course our very own Half Fast
I have always enjoyed Tom Clancy....... and guys like W.E.B. I also like history and bibliographies of many different era's, but usually from days gone by. Right now I am reading Chris Kyle's- American Sniper and Two Seconds After.
Oh, forgot to mention my all time favorite, though not so much a writer perhaps as illustrator. Bill Watterson of Calvin and Hobbes fame And a quick purview of my reading shelf reveals Laurence Gonzales, and his book , Deep Survival, Who lives, Who dies, and Why.
@cdnboy66 speaking of Half Fast, is he ever going to write another book? I own LO and really enjoyed the 2nd book. I know many disliked Collision course because of the twist but I liked it. I think many were upset but just because someone is a ______ doesn't mean they are a ________. (blanks to avoid spoilers) Thanks for mentioning Laurence Gonzales. I googled and some of his books look interesting.
Newt Gingrich and William Forschen (two excellent historians) have written several scenarios of history that take into account one change. Gettysburgh ponders what would have happened if Lee had been talked into pulling back to more defensible grounds instead of fighting on poor terrain.. Pearl Harbor looks at what would have happened had Admiral Yamamoto (a proponent of carrier warfare) had been in charge in lieu of Admiral Nagomo (a battleship tactician). Very good reads
I mourned his loss so much, I couldn't talk about his loss without tearing up for months.. I felt like someone close to me had died. I followed his career and listened to his radio interviews. He was a true solid American.
My fiction books are mostly sci-fi/fantasy. Anne McCaffrey would be my favorite. I loved how in her Botany/Freedom series, humans dumped on another planet get access to higher technology, but the main character had a thought in the last book(Freedom's Ransom) about how much the settlers still wanted duct tape.
My youth was all about Sci-Fi. Read Huxley, Asimov, Herbert so much. The original I, Robot; Stranger in a Strange World; other greats.
GROK FAULT. Grokking; Stranger in a Strange... <LAND>. We are on the same level, your youth and my youth, was misspent a long time ago... Ha ha, thanks, its been a long time since I've thought of that word. I would add; Arthur C. Clarke, the original 'sci fi' as prophecy of sci fact. He who 'invented' satellites... also of '2001; A space odyssy' fame.
DAMN, can't believe I forgot that. Nice catch. Duh, loved that book too. And Aldous Huxley. Arthur C Clark did one of the most exciting books to transition to the big screen, 2001 A Space Odessy. And back in the late 60's, it was an incredible future to see. Pan Am clipper docking with a spinning space station, lunar landers and colonies, and the great space ship itself.
Yes, one of my most favorite movies of all time... back then, it was awesome... Children today, I don't think they would 'grok' the significance of the Star Child.
Robert Jordan, loved it when he took over the Conan books but the recently concluded Wheel of Time series I have been following for over a decade. Awesome read. Also Stephen Donaldson's Chronicles of Thomas Covenant. And of course Tolkien. Fantasy and sci-fi are my favorite fiction reading.
Cruising the garage sales i pick up as many paperbacks as i can if the price is right. They are a part of my shtf supplies. I will get novels, classics, history whatever as long as i think i might be readable. The nice thing about paperbacks is that if you loan them out and do not get them back, no loss. I really like benard cornwell, he wrote a collection called the sharp series. It was about a british soldier that fought during the war between france and england in the early 1800's. Also puzzle books are great ways to kill time, if you think they are too hard, cheat like i do. I find the more i cheat at puzzle games the faster i learn the game so i don't have to cheat later.
"Day of Wrath" by William R. Forstchen. @Motomom34 told me about this book (novella 144 pages). Get your hands on it and read it. If you have children in public school, you really should read this book. . The plot is realistic and possible.
George R.R. Martin...Game of Thrones. The only other serious fiction contender to GOTs, with nearly as much gratuitous sex, magic, fantasy, dragons, deception, lust, murder, incest, regicide, fratricide, sorcery, slavery, torture, genocide, conquest, adultery, prostitution, fornication, old gods and new, is the bible. This is the Israelite version of the LOAC. via: The Brick Testament
Just finished the Jakarta Pandemic recommended by @CATO. Well worth the read. I have just started Resistance by Daniel Kalla- it is about an illness that spreads quick and shows no mercy.