Books I've read in 2018 - part IV

So this is what I read previously:
Isaac Asimov           - I robot
Michael Chrichton          - Dragon Teeth
Svetlana Alexijevitsj  - Zinkjongens (Zinky boys)
Dan Abnett           - First and only

Alex Boogers           - Onder een hemel van sproeten
Ian F.W. Beckett
and John Pimlott          - Counter insturgendy. Lessons from history
Dan Abnett           - Ghostmaker
William R. Forstchen - One second after
William R. Forstchne - One year after

Black Library Celebration 2018
Neil Gaiman - Norse mythology
Dan Abnett - Necropolis
Dan Abnett - Honour guard
Jay Kristoff - Nevernight
Japke-D Bouma - Ga lekker zelf in je kracht staan
Jake Arnott - The fatal tree

And here is what I thought of them: Part I , Part II , Part III

R.W. Chambers - The king in yellowIf you are wondering where H.P. Lovecraft got his inspiration for the Necronomicon (the non-existent book that's referred to in many of his stories) from...well it's at least partly from R. W. Chambers' series of tales collected in The king in yellow. Chambers series of stories regularly refer to or are centered around the non-existent book of The king in yellow. If you like weird, dark tales centered around a mysterious book that drives its readers mad, this might be for your. I think I bought it for 5€.

Isaac Asimov - Foundation
Isaac Asimov - Foundation and Empire
I asked a friend which so-called classics written by Asimov I should read. He suggested I'd read the Foundation series. I've finished the first two. I was nót disappointed. Asimov delivered on his fame. He creates a very cool universe in the far future of mankind with enough science, space battles, cool technology and unique twists to keep any sci-fi fan entertained. ('ve got Second Foundation and Foundation's Edge lined up for next year).

Jules Verne - Around the world in 80 days.
I've watched the movie a bunch of times and knew the general story, but never actually read the book before. If you are in a similar position...don't think, oh I know the story, nevermind. Read it. It's a fast paced story worth your time. It surprised me on at least one turn where I thought...this wouldn't be written today in this way or the hero would lose his status as hero completely.

Philip K. Dick - Do androids dream of electric sheep
I probably watched Bladerunner a couple of times way back when (I always forget too fast..)...but I never read the book. I laughed out loud a bunch of times. A very entertaining and fastpaced book about the identity of being human and what it (might) actually mean.

I also read some other very short Black Library stories and I've at least finished a couple of H.P. Lovecraft's stories this year. I loved Lovecraft's way of creating dark terrible things without being as explicit in showing the 'enemy' in the stories. They stay veiled in darkness most of the times and that keeps you on your toes.

I won't finish any more books this year since it's obviously already the 23rd of December...and next to that I've managed to dive back into Tolstoj's War and Peace which I won't finish for another month or two at least. I'm really set on finishing the book this time around, but so far I love it.

Books I've read in 2018 - Part III

So this is what I read previously:
Isaac Asimov         - I robot
Michael Chrichton         - Dragon Teeth
Svetlana Alexijevitsj - Zinkjongens (Zinky boys)
Dan Abnett         - First and only

Alex Boogers         - Onder een hemel van sproeten
Ian F.W. Beckett
and John Pimlott         - Counter insturgendy. Lessons from history
Dan Abnett         - Ghostmaker
William R. Forstchen - One second after
William R. Forstchne - One year after

And here is what I thought of them Part I  and Part II
Since it's been a while, I've read a bunch more books.

Black Library Celebration 2018
This celebration book contains 6 short stories. Two warhammer 40k stories, two Age of Sigmar stories and two Horus Heresy stories by among others Josh Reynolds and Dembski-Bowden. Worth reading if you're into the whole warhammer universe and can get your hands on one of these books.
Love the background story of Lukas the trickster.

Neil Gaiman - Norse mythology (Noorse Goden, since I had the Dutch version)
I never read any of the classics...but Gaiman makes these gods come alive as some real pieces of work. Love, hate, loss, vengeance... oh and Thor is quite the bastard and Loki is just a dick. A very fast read, but I loved it and laughed out loud quite a lot.

Dan Abnett - Necropolis
Dan Abnett - Honour Guard
I'll finish these up together. If you're into sci-fi and haven't read Gaunt's Ghosts, what are you waiting for. I only remembered bits and pieces. I enjoyed them just as much as the first time around. Mental note to self, re-read this series in 10 years time and I'm pretty sure I'll still love them as much as the first time. Great story telling, great character building and indepth realistic (reading) fights.
Necropolis finished up The Founding-omnibus and Honour Guard started The Saint.

                

Jay Kristoff - Nevernight
A teenage girl gets educated to be an assassin. For a moment I feared it would be some sort of copy of JRR Martin's faceless assassins, but Kristoff really pulled it off to create a fast paced original assassin-school story. There's a part II and III...they'll have to be read in 2019 I guess.

Japke-D Bouma - Ga lekker zelf in je kracht staan
A Dutch book about office lingo in the Netherlands and why it is mostly bullshit. Very recognizable if you've worked in an office for at least a couple of months (or years, like me).

Jake Arnott - The fatal tree
I never consciously heard about Arnott's The long firm, but supposedly I need to catch up. Anyways, I somehow held this book almost everytime I went into the bookshop untill I finally bought it. I didn't know what to expect. It's a brilliant look into the lives of thieves and prostitutes in London in the early 18th century with the awesome use of their 'Flash' talk (thieves language; transl. Dutch: 18th century Bargoens). I'll remember some of these words for sure.

Books I've read in 2018 - I robot ; Dragon teeth; Zinky boys; First and only

Isaac Asimov - I robot 
I've watched the movie ages ago, but hadn't read anything by Asimov until this year. After getting used to the way he writes (well, it's around 67 years old; from 1950!) I really enjoyed it. I felt there was one small hole in the plot when they're searching a certain robot, but it doesn't bother me too much.

Michael Chrichton - Dragon teeth
It's been years since I read the Jurassic Park novels, but I really enjoyed those back then. Dragon teeth was a gamble for me, but wow. A historical cowboy and indian paleontology story!

Svetlana Alexijevitsj - Zinkjongens (Zinky boys)
If ever there was a book that could convince people of the horrors of war, this is it. Emotional, in the face interviews with those Russians (military and civilian alike) who went to Afghanistan and with those who stayed behind either mourning the loss of a relative or telling about the traumatized relatives who came back.

Dan Abnett - First and only
Re-read it for the first time in ages. Still an awesome book. If you're looking for an introduction into warhammer 40k sci-fi books, this is one hell of a start. I'm planning to re-read all Gaunt's ghost novels since I've got The Warmaster waiting on the shelf.

Books I've read the past half year (june 2012)

I've been reading quite a lot of books this year (at least in my humble opinion)

Dan Abnett - Primeval
I've seen and utterly despised the tv-series Primeval and just to tease me Lee from Too short to be a stormtrooper sent me the book which was written áfter the the release of the tv-series. To my surprise it was written by Dan Abnett whom I know through the warhammer 40K sci-fi series of Gaunt's ghosts, Eisenhorn and Ravenor which are all awesome btw.
To be short: it's a bit different from the books I knew, but it was quite a fun read about wormholes which allow dinosaurs into our time and a specialist unit who tries to deal with it. Do I need to try and revisit the tv-series? I don't think so.

Dan Abnett - Bloodpact
This is if you don't take the short stories (Sabbat worlds anthology - which I've also read) into account, the 11th book of the Gaunt's ghosts series mentioned above. Abnett does it again, pure awesomeness. The Anthology must be read too since the story Iron Star falls into the Gaunt's ghosts series just before Bloodpact. The others are in the same campaign, but not about the Ghosts.

Horus Heresy books: 
Dan Abnett - Horus Rising
Graham McNeill - False Gods
Ben Counter - Galaxy in flames
James Swallow - The flight of the Eisenstein
:
I seem to be a fanboy of Abnett. I didn't get around to reading the Horus Heresy before, but... just wow. This really gives a grey perspective to the 40K universe. Your black and white idea (bad/evil) is gone for good after reading these books. And I've only started in this series since there are currently 19! books out excluding the audiobooks. It might actually be a good series for non-40k gamers to get a grip on the world behind the game.

Schatten uit de Schaduw (Treasures out of the shadows).
It's a book about archeological finds in and around the city of Groningen (where I live).
Every object is first described (what is it, where was it found, what was its significance) and after that a story follows which is a good mix of fiction and things that could've happened. If you're from Groningen and speak Dutch..this is really a must read!

I'm currently reading Michael Waltman and John Haas - The communication of hate
on the side in my study breaks.
This book focuses on hategroups in the USA. What is hate, who do they hate (mainly non-whites), why do they (at least from their pov/say they) hate and how do they communicate hate. It's really interesting to read the ways these hategroups use to appeal to people and try to convince them of why the Aryan race is superior. The WTF'ing about those views just keep coming. The authors analyze these ways pretty thoroughly. 

Another 'comic' and more books and some prankcalling on the side

Well, actually a Graphic Novell.
I bought Tolstoj's War & peace in Graphic Novell form. The text on the back has the best argument saying not everybody has the time to struggle through the entire 1500 pages of the original work. Maybe in time I will try and give that a go, but for now I'll give the graphic novell a go. Here's the Dutch version as I bought that one of course:

I've had my birthday little under 2 weeks ago and that's where I got some books and I went on a bookshopping spree with the bookvouchers I got. So I've got/bought the last 2 books from the Sookie Stackhouse series and also got (as asked):

which is the basis for the tv-series The Unit which I watched through (all 4 seasons) in about a month or less. That should leave me with plenty to read for the next couple of months.

In other news Dan & Lee have made it a habit of prankcalling me while recording their podcast. Under the cover of technical difficulties or just to talk about running fridges *silly people, I know*. Today Dan even tried to impersonate an Irish leprechaun promising me riches. I tried complaining at the English and Australian embassy, but they denied everything of course.
Anyways, the calls gave me a much needed laugh. Strange foreigners (that's what they are!).