For me, the most reliable method of finding a great new book to read is through word of mouth recommendations. Or word of twitter, or word of comments on blogs, or word of FB, or … well, you get the idea.
This page has been up for more than a year, now. If you are looking for a great recommendation, or are enjoying your current read, check out the comments here.
I Can Read With My Eyes Shut!
Dr. Seuss
I can read in red. I can read in blue.
I can read in pickle color too.
I can read in bed, and in purple. and in brown.
I can read in a circle and upside down!
I can read with my left eye. I can read with my right.
I can read Mississippi with my eyes shut tight!
There are so many things you can learn about.
But…you'll miss the best things
If you keep your eyes shut.
The more that you read, the more things you will know
The more that you learn, the more places you'll go.
If you read with your eyes shut you're likely to find
That the place where you're going is far, far behind
SO…that's why I tell you to keep your eyes wide.
Keep them wide open…at least on one side.
all content copyright Elizabeth Campbell 2009-2012
Darkcargo does not accept payment, kickback, or freebies of any kind. We write about the bookish things that interest us out of genuine interest. Thus the Darkcargo feed reflects what we're willing to pay for (or not) according to what catches our attention and is within our income capacity.
Darkcargo is committed to literacy and the promotion of science fiction and fantasy as a genre and literature.
We see a lot of folks arriving here with the search terms to find illegal pirated free downloads. If you are here for that reason, piss off.
Everything you always wanted to know about sex but were afraid to ask – David Reuben
Imago – Octavia Butler
The Kingdom of Gods – NK Jemisin
Blue Dragon – Kylie Chan
Thanks for stopping by! The Kylie Chan books look great!
The Poisoner’s Handbook – Deborah Blum (audio)
The Maltese Falcon – Dashiell Hammett (audio)
Did you find an unabridged audio edition of The Maltese Falcon?
Yep. Just finished Disc 2. 6 discs total. Voice actor is mimicking the actors’ voices from Bogart’s Falcon.
The Desert of Souls, Howard Andrew Jones
Who Fears Death, Nnedi Okorafor
i was blown away by Who Fears Death. i wish i could remember who recommended it to me, because i don’t think i could thank them enough. the book has *tremendous* power; i’ll be interested to hear what you think of it!
Riddle in the Sands – Erskine Childers (audio)
One was a Soldier – Julie Spencer-Fleming
The New Frugality – Chris Farrell (audio)
Owl Dance – DL Summers
The Periodic Table, Primo Levi
Beta-read, novel-length, private, for a friend.
Directive 51 by John Barnes
Trying to decide what next – a Kurt Vonnegut bio or….don’t know yet.
I’m looking at The Map of Time by Felix Palma
The Naked Sun by Issac Asimov (book 2 of the robot series, Explorer Challenge)
On The Edge: My Story by Richard Hammond
Dracula:The Undead by Ian Holt & Dacre Stoker
Have recently read non-stop through books 1 through 7 of Jim Butcher’s Dresden Files series. Now waiting for book 8 (and others) to arrive from Amazon. Meanwhile reading a historical novel, March by Geraldine Brooks. In Louisa May Alcott’s Little Women, the girls’ father, a minister, is absent from home because he has gone to serve as a chaplain in the Civil War. This is his story, a fascinating — and Pulitzer Prize winning — account of soldiers’ lives during that terrible war, and of the differences that war can make in a man, and in his relationship with his wife and with all the rest of his normal life. A touching and often difficult read, due to the nature and consequences of war in any century.
Finished Dracula!
Changing Vision, Julie Czerneda
Watership Down, Richard Adams (switched to audio)
White Tiger, Kylie Chan
Harmony, C. F. Bentley
A Shadow in Summer, Daniel Abraham
Finished Watership Down. Glory be to the Fairy Queen of the East, Queen Dripslobber! Halleluja!
Biofab War by Stephen Ames Berry
Clockwork Phoenix 1, edited by Mike Allen, re-read.
The Naked Sun by Asimov
Under the Red Hood – a Batman graphic novel (huzzah!!)
finished On The Edge! altogether funny, terrifying, and inspiring. and funny.
Suicide Run by Michael Connelly on the Nook. It is a collection of three short stories, and I bet myself I could read the whole thing this weekend. I read two stories today, even with a birthday party, shopping, cleaning, and typical Saturday stuff.
I really want to start a new one, but I know that a fool’s errand.
Currently reading the first Witch World book by Andre Norton. Writing is beautiful, but I’m not really getting into the story yet.
Oh good, it’s not just me. I felt the same way when
I tried to read it. Something about a guy and he’s got a pistol and he hid behind some rocks… I hope you get through it and then your awesome review will help me out!
i did get through it, but no guarantees the review will be “awesome”. I think it’s more likely to be a cranky review.
Interestingly, I just found out that this was THE first novel published by DAW, 1971. That puts a different perspective on it. It’s still difficult to read, though.
btw, the review is up. and it was only a little cranky.
Aurora in Four Voices – Catherine Asaro
Are Men Necessary? – Maureen Dowd (audio)
The Passion of Artemesia – Susan Vreeland (audio)
Ashes, by Ilsa J. Bick
The Giver, by Lois Lowry
Under the Dome, by Stephen King
I also just read for the first time A Wrinkle in Time. Such a great book, and I’m sad I missed out on it when I was a kid.
Mmmm, A Wrinkle in Time… That book was one of my self-defining books as a kid.
Right now, I’m reading That Which Should Not Be by Brett J. Talley from Journalstone books. It takes place in the 1800s, with some of my favorite horror tropes. No spoilers here, but let’s just say that there’s a centuries-old book involved and characters teetering on madness when they face the Old Ones.
The Hidden City, Michelle West
The Pirate Coast by Richard Zachs (audio)
Hand of Isis – Jo Graham
Fool Moon – Jim Butcher (Audio)
Burning Bright – Tracy Chevalier (audio)
Don Quixote, Cervantes
Redemption in Indigo, Karen Lord
Dune – Frank Herbert – Audio
The Shadow of the Wind – Carlos Ruiz Zafon – Audio (And it is awesome!)
Ghost Story – Jim Butcher
How’s the Dune audio? I’ve read it so many times, I can practically already hear it.
It is done really well, with a full cast, and some parts have music background. This is the Audible.com version.
Explorers of the Infinite: Shapers of Science Fiction, Sam Moskowitz
Seekers of Tomorrow, Sam Moskowitz
The Best of Jack Williamson, Jack Williamson
The Moon Pool, A . Meritt
Brave New World, Aldous Huxley
Liking the Williamson then?
finished The Moon Pool, had to return The Best of Jack Williamson to its owner, and the Moskowitz collections are really interesting.
Throne of the Crescent Moon – ARC – Saladin Ahmed
Watership Downs – Richard Adams (audio)
The Light Years Beneath My Feet, Alan Dean Foster
Twilight Forever Rising, Lena Meydan
The Child Garden – Geoff Ryman
Brave New World – Huxely (audio)
The Coming of Conan the Cimmerian – RE Howard
Dark Jenny – Alex Bledsoe
Command a King’s Ship – Alexander Kent (audio)
Endymion Springs – Matthew Skelton (audio)
Jean Auel’s Land of Painted Caves. Lesson learned? NEVER buy a book in the airport.
You don’t have to finish it, you know. There are over a million other books calling your name while you try to slog through a book that no longer interests you.
Sing it, girl. Bad books are a waste of time and space! At least you tried it, Rhi.
I know, but I can’t… besides, at this point I’m six hundred and some odd pages in…
Empress Orchid – Anchee Min
Found this one in a bargain section. I like historical fiction, particularly when the day (or the week) has left something to be desired, and so far this one is pretty good – and I like the introduction to a culture I know very little about.
I found a second of Min’s, said to be a companion to Empress Orchid, called The Last Empress – I think I’ll be reading it as well.
That sounds nice! “read fiction about a place you’ve never been”–> Explorer Challenge! I’d like to read this, too, thanks for the recommendation!
Robots of Dawn-Asimov (third in the robot series)
Wizard of Oz (kindle)
Call of Cthulu (kindle)
Thunderball-Ian Fleming (James Bond novel)
So far this Bond novel is like a big piece of chocolate cake. A little offensive, very enjoyable, and a totally guilty pleasure.
Awesome–new category! Chocolate cake books!
yum! They are so fun and don’t need much brain power to enjoy.
Still reading Don Quixote: dude this is a big book.
Still reading The Periodic Table by Primo Levi: this is lovely. Every chapter is like a full meal, satisfying. I read a chapter a week, or so.
Starting Moby Dick. Mom called to bitch me out because Don Quixote is too boring and why haven’t I started Moby Dick yet, hurry up. Evidently I’m two chapters behind. (holds nose, squeezes eyes shut and jumps in after that whale…)
I just requested Moby Dick audiobook from the library. Hopefully, i will have it next week. Same for Don Quixote audiobook. My eyeballs are for vintage scifi only this month.
Skeen’s Leap, Jo Clayton.
I think it’s time to collapse this page.
Dracula – Stoker
War of the Worlds – HG Wells (Audio)
Triplanetary – EE Doc Smith (audio)
Space Lords – Cordwainer Smith
City Chicks – Patricia L. Foreman
I forgot I am also reading Tarzan, here and there…..
Finally finished Jean Auel’s Land of Painted Caves. Now my poor husband is creeping through it.
Last night, I read “The Case of the Ritual Bath” by Faye Kellerman. Having been raised in an only nominally Jewish household, I learned more about the religion of my ancestors in one session with a formulaic, semi-cheezy murder mystery than I did in all the years of Hebrew School. The only thing I ever learned there was that being female was basically a terrible birth defect.
Okay Darkcargo… I see you started “Moby Dick”. I think I’ll start that one tonight…. Maybe we could have a topic set up to discuss it? Or comment on it? (I’m not sure quite how that works…).
Good idea! I’ll set up a page, I think. It involves turning on the PC so it’ll probably be Sun or Mon. You’ll see a picture of the cover that will take you to the discussion page.
Oh, and “Grapes of Wrath” is currently installed in my, um, “office”…
Around the World in 80 Days – Jules Verne (audio)
Mushroom – Nicholas Money
Packing for Mars – Mary Roach
Journey to the Center of the Earth – Jules Verne (audio)
Animal, Vegetable, Miracle – Barbara Kingsolver (audio)
This month I should have reviews on:
Among Thieves – Douglas Hulick
Theft of Swords – Michael J Sullivan
Assassin’s Apprentice – Robin Hobb
Royal Assassin – Robin Hobb
Assassin’s Quest – Robin Hobb
Rise of Empire – Michael J. Sullivan (hopefully I’ll get this far)
So I finished Wizard of Oz and Christmas Carol, and immediately wanted to start something new! Rather like crafting, especially knitting. But this time, I’m making myself finish more of these books. Hope it works…
Robots of Dawn (once I get past all the talking and philosophising these books always read super fast!)
Call of Cthulu
Thunderball
What? Only three books?