What are you reading?

[Warhawk]

Just wrapped up The Secret of Secrets by Dan Brown (of The Da Vinci Code) and, while interesting, it seemed more like something that would be written by James Rollins. It lacked the heightened attention to code breaking, puzzle solving, etc., that made his previous books distinctive. The main theory the book was wrapped around was interesting, but it seemed more like an action-packed deep dive into that than anything else.

 

[Warhawk]

I breezed through The Woman in Cabin 10 as my wife had borrowed a copy of the book from someone and the movie just came out on Netflix (I think that's where it is showing). Kind of a Clue-type mystery thriller - nothing great, but not bad either. I didn't guess the first twist but did guess the second.

 

[Warhawk]

The second was The Riddle of the Sands by Erskine Childers (1903). Not as engaging to me as Rogue Male, and written in an even older style (long, run-on sentences, etc.), but the story just didn't grab me - likely in part due to the fact that the story really doesn't get underway until about halfway through the book. The last 10% is of greatest interest, but they held it close to the vest until then. Not really recommended.

The third was The Spy Who Came in from the Cold (John le Carre). I hadn’t read any of his stuff before so I had no idea what I was in for. Not much action; mostly dialogue and intrigue in a story about a double agent. A relatively easy read. Interesting, if dated.

 

[Warhawk]

I just finished reading The Will of the Many and it was pretty good (fantasy). It seemed to borrow at least some of the ideas from the works of Sanderson's Cosmere universe with maybe a touch or two of Harry Potter themes, but was entertaining and interesting. Unfortunately, it is the first in a series and the second doesn't come out for a few more months. Recommended if you like the genre.

The sequel, The Strength of the Few, took an interesting turn, again with some similar parallels to Sanderson’s Cosmere universe in some ways (“magic” expressing itself a bit differently on each planet, for starters). Not sure when the next book comes out but I’m going to watch for it.

 

[Warhawk]

The third was The Spy Who Came in from the Cold (John le Carre). I hadn’t read any of his stuff before so I had no idea what I was in for. Not much action; mostly dialogue and intrigue in a story about a double agent. A relatively easy read. Interesting, if dated.

The fourth was my first Agatha Christie novel: The Murder of Roger Ackroyd. Entertaining for what it is, but I’ve never really been one to try to guess the “who done it” as I’m reading for fun.

 

[Warhawk]

Reading this book off and on for a while, I just completed Route 66 Crossings, Historic Bridges of the Mother Road. I wasn't exactly sure what to expect going into it, but as an engineer that works on a lot of bridge projects this held special appeal as my wife and I anticipate driving Route 66 next summer (in reverse, from SoCal to Chicago).

I actually found the first chapter on current Route 66 bridges to be the least interesting, surprisingly, as a lot of the current bridges tend to be more boring / modern bridges. Once the book started getting into the older ones (abandoned, etc.) some of the more interesting history started to emerge.

Still, this is a somewhat dry book and unless you have a particular interest it is likely nothing more than a "coffee table photo book" with a little bit of discussion of bridge types thrown into the introduction (and, in the back, the GPS locations of the structures in the book). Not bad, but not something that would hold the interest of many.