# What do you read?



## Delbert Ealy (Dec 30, 2013)

I listen to audiobooks while I work. It keeps my mind busy while my hands do all the work. Sometimes I will listen to some music, but it's mostly books. I like sci-fi and fantasy, sometimes a thriller or mystery. I tend to collect books by the same author, but i don't collect everything. Except for Terry prachett, I have every book he's written. 
I have this issue with trying new books/authors though. It's like going on a blind date for me, maybe worse. Audible has over 10000 books in the sci-fi and fantasy category, and I have maybe 600 of them. 
There's the background, so what I'm asking is what authors do you like? Or what books?
I'm looking for some new stuff to listen to. If you have a favorite, I'm looking to go on a blind date. :viking:

These are some of the authors I like. 
Prachett
King
Poul Anderson
Piers Anthony
Orson Scott Card
Lawrence Block
Lincoln Child
Douglas Preston
Larry Niven
Jerry Pournelle
Kelly Armstrong
Issac Asimov 
Greg Bear
Fred Saberhagen
Dean Koontz
David Brin
Dan Simmons
Ben Bova
Charles Sheffield




One of the authors I have been looking at is Fritz Lieber, if you have read some of his stuff let me know how you liked it.

Thanks,
Del


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## The Edge (Dec 30, 2013)

John Scalzi
Vernor Vinge
Patrick Rothfuss

These are just a couple of names that I can remember off the top of my head.


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## RGNY (Dec 30, 2013)

right there with you. long time Pratchett fan. 

also like "real life adventure", the most famous being "Kon Tiki". 

and for fun, Jim Butcher's "Harry Dresden" series.


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## greasedbullet (Dec 30, 2013)

One of my favorite series is The Wheel of Time. by Robert Jordan. http://www.amazon.com/dp/0812511816/?tag=skimlinks_replacement-20 It is pretty darn good and they just finished the series. 

I have heard that this series is right up there with Lord of the Rings and Game of Thrones, but I have only read LOTR.


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## JHunter (Dec 30, 2013)

I'm right there with greasedbullet on Robert Jordan one of my all time Favs have read them a few times As well as The Sword of Truth series by Terry Goodkind and R.A. Salvatore Drizzt series of books. Could go on and on with the dozens of books on the shelves but those hit the top of the list.


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## Delbert Ealy (Dec 30, 2013)

Oh yeah, can't forget the hobbit and Lotr, I read them when I was ten. I still love them. I loved the Ents.
Del


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## tkern (Dec 30, 2013)

Steve Erickson
Haruki Murakami
John Connolly
Hermann Hesse
Henry Miller
Jesse Ball
Raymond Chandler
Dashiell Hammett
David Mitchell
Charlie Huston
Dwayne Swierzinski
Mikhail Bulgakov
Dostoevsky


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## bahamaroot (Dec 30, 2013)

KKF


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## Mrmnms (Dec 30, 2013)

Do you ever book swap Del, or is it not worth the trouble. Just digital downloads?


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## Delbert Ealy (Dec 30, 2013)

Mrmnms said:


> Do you ever book swap Del, or is it not worth the trouble. Just digital downloads?



I use audible, swapping there isn't allowed. As far as books in text, I have been slowly giving away most of my library. I still have 500 or so, mostly ones I can't part with, or ones not yet in audio. I still wind up giving up a few books every year. 
Del


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## Eric (Dec 30, 2013)

Dan silva novels are fun, Nelson demille, riddle master series, sparrow and children of god, the historian, cutting for stone, ken follet pillars of the earth and world without end, pat conroy, lonesome dove and sequels...... so many. Great thread though, always looking for good reads

I agree about Robert Jordan series , but honestly got tired of them after the seventh or eighth one.


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## greasedbullet (Dec 30, 2013)

Yeah. It was meant to be 6 books long and then the book company told him to make it longer, so 5-like 9 or so are supposed to be slow but I heard it picks up and ends amazingly. I am rereading from the beginning to the end. I'm on 6 right now, I never got past 8 before.


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## marc4pt0 (Dec 30, 2013)

Love me some Ken Follet. Read pillars of the earth about 15 Year's ago and think it's high time to read it again. Got my wife to read it a couple years back after telling her about it for some time. She loved it and is now a Follet fan herself.


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## XooMG (Dec 30, 2013)

Christopher Moore
Neil Gaiman
Jim Butcher
Brandon Sanderson
Isaac Asimov
Douglas Adams


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## Crothcipt (Dec 31, 2013)

Jim Butcher both series. Love the Dresdian files. 
Robert Jordan, got to about bk 9. It makes sense about it getting stretched out, it really starts dragging way to much.
C.J. Box Game warden in Wyoming is not boring at all. Makes good mystery reads.
Sue Grafton easy quick read.
Frank Herbert loved the Dune series
Lee Child Movie got me reading his Jack Reacher series. Of coarse the books are better than the movie.
Michael Connelly, read The Poet almost 20 years ago and still one of my favorite books
Raymond E. Fiest Magician is a must read for anyone that loves to read.
Fred Saberhagen love his Berserker series
Ugh, how could I forget Elmore Leonard. Haven't read any of his westerns, but then again his view on mob/cops is quite entertaining.


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## sachem allison (Dec 31, 2013)

just read the whole dune series,all of the wheel of time series, all of the Malazan empire series, All of Tolkiens books, All of Mark Twain?s stuff and Ullysses, The Illiad and The Aeneid, The complete Sherlock Holmes and am now reading the complete works of Dickens. just finished Oliver Twist an hour ago. Not to mention a bunch of William Johnstones Mountain man series and a bunch of Louis La'mour. Read Aesop's fables, Andersen's fairy tales and Grimm's fairy tales. the complete tales of Robin Hood. I think I've read about 60,000-70,000 pages this year.


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## theo59 (Dec 31, 2013)

anything by Robert Silverberg I love, and of course the whole A Song of Ice and Fire thing


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## scotchef38 (Dec 31, 2013)

Everything from Nabokov to Stephen King,Neil Gaiman to Dickens. Being Scottish I do like Scottish authors such as Iain Banks ,Ian Rankin and Irvine Welsh.I like Pratchett but thats about it as far as fantasy goes.Never got into Scifi /fantasy with the exception of Neuromancer or Tolkein.Ian Banks is very well regarded as a Sci-fi writer under the name of Iain M Banks.


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## icanhaschzbrgr (Dec 31, 2013)

I usually prefer other genres then fantasy/fiction, but besides what others has already mentioned, I really enjoyed Robert Lynn Asprin's Myth series. Read it about 10 years ago and it was brilliant. Probably more suitable for children, but still pretty good.

There are few really nice Russian authors who writes fiction. I can recommend Sergey Lukyanenko with his series of Night Watch/Day Watch/The Twilight Watch/Last Watch. Awesome books. They are available on Amazon translated to English. Those are the most twisted and interesting fiction books I've read so far. There are also movies based on those books, but skip those.


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## apathetic (Dec 31, 2013)

I read Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser series from Fritz Leiber a long time ago. As far as I remember it was a solid sword & sorceries series with a lot of small stories. Some of them were really good, others more average.

The wheel of time series slows down after the 5th book if I remember well with too many characters and separate events, but it actually focuses back on the action in the 3 last ones which I read recently. So for those already far in, it's definitely worth reading.

Edit: a few corrections


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## scotchef38 (Dec 31, 2013)

icanhaschzbrgr said:


> I usually prefer other genres then fantasy/fiction, but besides what others has already mentioned, I really enjoyed Robert Lynn Asprin's Myth series. Read it about 10 years ago and it was brilliant. Probably more suitable for children, but still pretty good.
> 
> There are few really nice Russian authors who writes fiction. I can recommend Sergey Lukyanenko with his series of Night Watch/Day Watch/The Twilight Watch/Last Watch. Awesome books. They are available on Amazon translated to English. Those are the most twisted and interesting fiction books I've read so far. There are also movies based on those books, but skip those.



I have seen Night Watch and really enjoyed it.Didnt now it was a series of novels.I will need to hunt them down now.


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## ecchef (Dec 31, 2013)

I can't read fiction. The last work I read was Murakami's _1Q84_. All 1318 pages. I'll regret the time I spent slogging through that when I'm on my deathbed. 
Lately I've been reading mostly late 19th early 20th century world history & political satire. Fascinating stuff.


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## icanhaschzbrgr (Dec 31, 2013)

scotchef38 said:


> I have seen Night Watch and really enjoyed it.Didnt now it was a series of novels.I will need to hunt them down now.


Trust me, books are 10 times better. One good thing about this series  all the books are great, not only first 1 or 2 and they all continue one single story.


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## Chuckles (Dec 31, 2013)

Neil Stephenson's 'The Baroque Cycle' is my favorite ever. 

What Follet book would you read first?


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## Bill13 (Jan 3, 2014)

David Weber The Dahak series (4 books) is really good.

Terry Brooks who is well know for his Shannara series, has a great series called Word and Void. I tried to re read the Shannara books but found them to not stand up. His writing has really approved!


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## Keith Sinclair (Jan 3, 2014)

Tend toward non-fiction.I like history.Years ago read( Inside The Third Reich) by Albert Speer.Just started reading (The Rise And Fall Of The Third Reich) by William Shirer


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## tripleq (Jan 3, 2014)

ecchef said:


> I can't read fiction. The last work I read was Murakami's _1Q84_. All 1318 pages. I'll regret the time I spent slogging through that when I'm on my deathbed.
> Lately I've been reading mostly late 19th early 20th century world history & political satire. Fascinating stuff.



Love Murakami!!! Just finished After Dark yesterday.


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## cnochef (Jan 3, 2014)

Apart from the cookbooks and wine books, I like to read WWII History and fiction by authors such as James Lee Burke, James Ellroy, W.E.B. Griffin, Stephen Hunter and Ian Rankin.


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## tkern (Jan 3, 2014)

tripleq said:


> Love Murakami!!! Just finished After Dark yesterday.




I finally found a copy of Pinball 1973 that wasn't overly expensive.


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## Chef Andy (Jan 3, 2014)

The Edge said:


> John Scalzi
> Vernor Vinge
> Patrick Rothfuss
> 
> These are just a couple of names that I can remember off the top of my head.



Kingkiller chronicles is awesome. Can't wait for the 3rd book. 

I read a lot of fantasy. George R R Martin, Patrick Rothfuss, Terry Brooks, Jim butcher, David eddings, China mieville and Robert Jordan are among my favorites.

I also read cookbooks when I can.


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## Lucretia (Jan 3, 2014)

A Terry Pratchett Fan! I knew there was something I liked about you, Del!

Joe R. Lansdale is a great storyteller, and would be really good as an audible book. He has some great short stories ("Incident on and off a Mountain Road" is one of my favorite scary short stories) and his Hap & Leonard series is also really good--not sure how you'd classify the series--buddy book/thriller?

Reading Donald Harstad right now, but he only has about 5 books--don't know if they're available as audio books. Police thrillers set in small town Iowa. 

Christopher Moore was excellent for his first several books, but starting with Fluke they really went downhill IMO. First 5 or so are great.

Another vote for Jim Butcher's Harry Dresden series. (And on a side note, if you own the first "Codex Alera" book in hard cover sitting around gathering dust, they've become collectable and you can sell them for $$.)

Tanya Huff is a great deal of fun, in spite of the fact that the Lifetime channel tried to destroy her "Blood" series (watched a few minutes of one episode, and stopped in disgust.) "Summon the Keeper" is good fantasy with a big dose of humor. "Stealing Magic" is a compilation of short stories, many of which feature Magdelene, the world's most powerful (and laziest) wizard, who likes sleeping, eating, drinking, and handsome men. Not necessarily in that order. 

Neil Gaiman. Carl Hiaasen, although he might not be as funny if you've never lived in Florida ("Lucky You" is a good one.) Bill Fitzhugh (try "Pest Control".) Asimov is fabulous. Anne Bishop's "Tir Alainn" trilogy. (Her "Black Jewels" trilogy is also good, but if you read it stop after the first 3--follow-ons are dreck.) Spider Robinson's "Callahan" series. Patricia Briggs, Faith Hunter for Urban Fantasy.

If you don't mind books targeting young adults and being fairly predictable, there's a new author--Marissa Meyer--doing a pretty good (so far) 4-part series loosely framed on fairy tales. The first one is "Cinder"--only Cinderella is a cyborg. 3rd book in the series is coming out soon.

And one chick-lit, just because it's good for you--try Jennifer Crusie/Bob Meyer's "Agnes and the Hit Man."


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## Lucretia (Jan 3, 2014)

Oh! I forgot to include Tom Sharpe's "Blott on the Landscape" as a good one to try. If you like Pratchett, Sharpe might make you laugh.


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## Chef Andy (Jan 3, 2014)

Yeah I love the Dresden files. Can't wait for the next book. Getting pretty impatient tho, this is the longest he's made us fans wait for a new book since I started reading the series. I'm sure that it'll be well worth the wait however.


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## EdipisReks (Jan 3, 2014)

I mostly read non-fiction, these days, but I always zip through the newest Alastair Reynolds, Scalzi, Brin, etc.


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## Asteger (Jan 3, 2014)

Not too much of an exaggeration, I think, but about 99% of the authors listed above seemed to be male. Not meant as a criticism of course, just something that struck me. 

Lucretia was the only more balanced one, with a Tanya, Anne, Patricia, Marissa and Jennifer to counter her Terry, Joe, Donald, Christopher, Jim, Bill, Neil, Carl, Bob, Isaac and a 'Spider' who probably isn't female either. 1:2


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## Chef Andy (Jan 3, 2014)

Asteger said:


> Not too much of an exaggeration, I think, but about 99% of the authors listed above seemed to be male. Not meant as a criticism of course, just something that struck me.
> 
> Lucretia was the only more balanced one, with a Tanya, Anne, Patricia, Marissa and Jennifer to counter her Terry, Joe, Donald, Christopher, Jim, Bill, Neil, Carl, Bob, Isaac and a 'Spider' who probably isn't female either. 1:2



I've got nothing against female authors, I've just never been recommended a good fantasy one before. If anyone has any recommendations I'd be more than happy to give them a go.


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## tkern (Jan 4, 2014)

More authors are male. Its not a balance of the sexes, its just there are, by the numbers, more published male authors than female. More female authors are being published these days but there are a couple hundred years of men being published over women. There were women that published under male pen names but it was by no means the majority.


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## eshua (Jan 4, 2014)

Margret Atwood.


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## Lucretia (Jan 4, 2014)

Some popular female fantasy writers:

Ursula Le Guin
Andre Norton
P. N. Elrod
Mercedes Lackey
Margaret Weiss
Anne McCaffrey


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## tkern (Jan 4, 2014)

Anais Nin, Natsuo kirino, Mo Hayder


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## Crothcipt (Jan 4, 2014)

Laurell K Hamilton I really like with her Anita Blake vampire hunter series. I just have a problem with how much sex is taken with her books.


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## Lucretia (Jan 4, 2014)

The Anita Blake books are pretty good up through Obsidian Butterflies. Then they go downhill in a hurry.


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## Crothcipt (Jan 4, 2014)

Yep just relationship and sex.


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## RGNY (Jan 4, 2014)

Crothcipt said:


> Laurell K Hamilton I really like with her Anita Blake vampire hunter series. I just have a problem with how much sex is taken with her books.



gave up after "Blue Moon". 

had no regrets when i later heard my wife exclaim "ahh! they put down a tarp!" while reading one of the later books. *shudder*


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## scotchef38 (Jan 4, 2014)

icanhaschzbrgr said:


> Trust me, books are 10 times better. One good thing about this series  all the books are great, not only first 1 or 2 and they all continue one single story.



Just finished Night Watch-great read, thanks for the tip!


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## Delbert Ealy (Jan 7, 2014)

Lucretia said:


> Some popular female fantasy writers:
> 
> Ursula Le Guin
> Andre Norton
> ...




One of the things that's frustrating is that some of my favorites are not available in audio yet.
Sherri temper is an amazing author, and she is one of my favorites. I'm not biased at all, I just like great writing.
Del


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## Eric (Jan 7, 2014)

Ok anyone interested in the civil war needs to read killer angels, by m. Sahara, about the battle of Gettysburg. The other books by him and his son are good, but KA is an awesome read.


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## Lucretia (Jan 8, 2014)

Del, is that Sheri Tepper? I can't find Sherri Temper on Amazon. I'm always looking for a new (or old!) good author.

Michelle Sagara is another good one, although in the books I've read so far (her Elantra series), there seems to be a point about 2/3 of the way through the book where she gets kind of stuck and the pace slows down almost enough to put you to sleep before it picks back up again.

I confess I still read Laurell Hamilton. I check the book out from the library and skip the sex scenes, leaving about 100 pages per book to read. Then I go on Amazon and read the reviews and laugh myself silly.


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## Crothcipt (Jan 8, 2014)

lol some books less than 100. Still read her tho. Waiting for her to slow down with all that.


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## Lucretia (Jan 9, 2014)

Crothcipt said:


> lol some books less than 100. Still read her tho. Waiting for her to slow down with all that.



Well, you figure she has to fill up the extra pages with something since Anita Blake can't fight any more. With going from sneakers to stilettos and having her bra size go up astronomically, if she tried to swing a sword she'd just keep spinning and auger into the ground... 

On a positive note, just got an email from the library that "Nightwatch" is ready to pick up.


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## tkern (Jan 9, 2014)

Just read David Benioff's "City of Thieves." A good, fairly quickly read. Also read John Connolly's "The Wanderer of Unknown Realms." Also a good, quick read. Sort of a mix of a John Dunning book mystery and HP Lovecraft.

My girlfriend has decided to dive into War and Peace. I started reading it years ago but didn't make it past the 400th page.


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## Delbert Ealy (Jan 13, 2014)

Lucretia said:


> Del, is that Sheri Tepper? I can't find Sherri Temper on Amazon. I'm always looking for a new (or old!) good author.
> 
> Michelle Sagara is another good one, although in the books I've read so far (her Elantra series), there seems to be a point about 2/3 of the way through the book where she gets kind of stuck and the pace slows down almost enough to put you to sleep before it picks back up again.
> 
> I confess I still read Laurell Hamilton. I check the book out from the library and skip the sex scenes, leaving about 100 pages per book to read. Then I go on Amazon and read the reviews and laugh myself silly.




Yes that was supposed to be Sheri Tepper. I use my iPad a lot here and it has the autocorrect, which is mostly helpful, but sometimes a pain in the rear. 
Grass is my favorite novel by Sherri, humans on an alien world. There are few authors that write interesting aliens, I found hers very intriguing. This novel is not for the faint of heart, it's big.
If you want something lighter, read Family tree, my other favorite from her. It's smaller, sometimes hilarious, but well written. 
My wife likes Hamilton, but I really don't, but I have read all the otherworld series by Kelley Armstrong. 
Del


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## Lucretia (Jan 14, 2014)

I have the first Kelley Armstrong Otherworld novel, and really liked it. For some reason I haven't gotten back to that series. Need to pull Bitten out and read it again, then check out the rest of the series. Right now I'm working on Andre Norton's Witchworld. The first chapter was great, the rest of it seems like it could have used some heavy duty editing. We've been purging our bookshelves--this one might be another one that gets donated to the library. I'll have to look into Sheri Tepper. I have a couple series that I'm reading coming out with new books over the next couple of months (Marissa Meyer's Lunar Chronicles and Anne Bishop's Others series) and need something to fill in the wait. Just picked up Nightwatch today, and I'm 4th in the queue for the new Terry Pratchett book at the library. And the next Harry Dresden book is showing up on Amazon with a publication date of May 27!


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## Erilyn75 (Jan 14, 2014)

I read cheesy bodice ripping historical romance novels :fanning:


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## theo59 (Jan 14, 2014)

Forgot to mention my current fave Peter F Hamilton. Try starting with The Reality Dysfunction, sweeping space opera with a bit of a twist


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## knyfeknerd (Jan 14, 2014)

Prep lists
Ticket machine
compelling stuff especially when there's a bunch of mods. Some of the "authors" are way more creative and/or stupid than others.


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## Chef Andy (Jan 14, 2014)

knyfeknerd said:


> Prep lists
> Ticket machine
> compelling stuff especially when there's a bunch of mods. Some of the "authors" are way more creative and/or stupid than others.



Hah yes this, also sales reports, inventories and order forms.


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## XooMG (Jan 14, 2014)

Chef Andy said:


> Hah yes this, also sales reports, inventories and order forms.


Back of shampoo bottles...


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## boomchakabowwow (Jan 14, 2014)

i like reading fun stuff.
 
right now it is the Jack Reacher series of books written by Lee Child. cop stories.

helps me construct decent sentences at work. heheh..(not on forum post, unfortunately)


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## Lucretia (Jan 14, 2014)

Erilyn75 said:


> I read cheesy bodice ripping historical romance novels :fanning:



Since you were brave enough to admit it, I do too.

Robert Crais has a fun Private Eye series (Elvis Cole & Joe Pike).

I also read the fine print.


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## Erilyn75 (Jan 15, 2014)

Lucretia said:


> Since you were brave enough to admit it, I do too.
> 
> Robert Crais has a fun Private Eye series (Elvis Cole & Joe Pike).
> 
> I also read the fine print.




It's a guilty pleasure. I just revisited some of my favorites and read some that will go on the list of favorites. I like crime novels too. I used to read a lot of political books but I'm getting too old and my blood pressure can't handle it anymore lol.


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