The Thoughts of a Frumpy Professor

............................................ ............................................ A blog devoted to the ramblings of a small town, middle aged college professor as he experiences life and all its strange variances.

Thursday, August 03, 2017

Recommendations?

As a professor, reading is, of course a big part of my life.  As a biologist, scientific reading is the lion's share of my reading matter.  I do also read a lot of news items (physical newspapers and on-line), but for me, one of the best forms of reading have to still be fiction.  I have read a lot of "classics" like Hemingway, Faulkner, and many other "high brow" literature through my life, but what I am seeking help with is in terms of general fiction.  I find it very pleasant and useful to read general fiction for a while before going to sleep.  It helps me relax and helps me to prepare for good rest (unlike heavy literature or scientific writings which keep my mind whirring so that I often have difficulty sleeping).  I tend to enjoy psychological or medical/scientific fiction for before bed reading.  And I like serials as well, because I become invested in characters and enjoy seeing the through several books.  A couple of years ago I started reading Jonathan Kellerman's "Alex Deleware" series of psychological detective fiction.  But now I have perhaps only two or three books in the series left (out of around 30), so I need to figure out a new series that I will like.  I have previous to Kellerman, read the series by Robin Cook, so he is off the table, unfortunately.   I am hoping you may have recommendations.  

PipeTobacco

6 Comments:

Blogger Jono said...

Arnaldur IndriĆ°ason, but they are a bit dark. Perhaps Henning Mankell's Kurt Wallander series which are even better for long term character development.

Thursday, 03 August, 2017  
Blogger Gorilla Bananas said...

What is 'scientific fiction', Professor? Is it different from science fiction?

Thursday, 03 August, 2017  
Blogger PipeTobacco said...

Hehe! Yes, I guess that was a bit obtuse of me. For me, science fiction is often more "fantasy" oriented, and involves time travel, aliens, or similar things. I like science fiction generally, but I prefer what I have coined "scientific" fiction, which I'm definition means that the story is typically modern day, involving regular folks (be they police, detectives, teachers, professors (gasp!), or some other normal type of job), and it may be about science that is reasonably "real" so the story is typically more a philosophical real-world situation.

Thursday, 03 August, 2017  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

I think you should read "how to be free in an unfree world" by Harry Browne. It is available as a PDF on the net for free. Sometimes you run across an old paperback.

Thursday, 03 August, 2017  
Blogger Annabel said...

I recommend the Jack Reacher series by Lee Child. I also enjoy the Sue Grafton alphabet series.
I bet you would like the Amos Decker series by David Baldacci as well.
As a stand alone book, I recommend A Man Called Ove.
I usually don't like science fiction, but really enjoyed The Martian.
As a librarian, I could keep recommending titles. Hopefully you find some of these interesting.

Thursday, 03 August, 2017  
Blogger yellowdoggranny said...

anything...and I mean anything by James Lee Burke...especially the Dave and Clete series..best author out there.
John Sanford second..especially the Virgil Fucking Flowers series.

Friday, 04 August, 2017  

Post a Comment

Subscribe to Post Comments [Atom]

<< Home