Pennsylvanians Don’t Love Reading Books
Apparently Pennsylvanians don’t love reading books. According to Pennstakes.com, Pennsylvania ranks 38th out of the 50 states when it comes to their love of reading. I understand the idea that books are boring, what about the movie they made where I don’t have to read? Sure, but using your imagination is nice sometimes too. Especially if you can then see a movie and compare how they envisioned it with how you originally envisioned it.
It’s also a matter of finding a genre that you like or find compelling. I’m into the historical fiction genre, think National Treasure movies. Something that has pieces of history in it and the author makes it into something that could possibly happen. It’s got action and history. Outside of that genre, I haven’t found another that I enjoy. I even tried to read the Game of Thrones books after seeing the show. Couldn’t do it. Since Pennsylvanians aren’t book readers I thought maybe I could help push them towards a couple series that I find very entertaining. They’re the same historical fiction style I mentioned above. National Treasure-esque.
The Cotton Malone Series by Steve Berry
This series follows a retired government agent who now runs a bookshop in Denmark, but gets pulled back into the life of an agent. There are 18 books currently in the series, so if you decide to pick this one up, you don’t need to wait for the next one to come out. Start with The Templar Legacy and go from there. They’re all ready and waiting for you! Grab a library card (don’t cost nothin’) and get to reading! Here they are in order
2 The Alexandria Link (2007)
3 The Venetian Betrayal (2007)
4 The Charlemagne Pursuit (2008)
5 The Paris Vendetta (2009)
5.5 The Balkan Escape (2011)
6 The Emperor’s Tomb (2010)
6.5 The Devil’s Gold (2011)
7 The Jefferson Key (2011)
7.5 The Tudor Plot (2013)
8 The King’s Deception (2013)
9 The Lincoln Myth (2013)
10 The Patriot Threat (2015)
11 The 14th Colony (2016)
12 The Lost Order (2017)
12.5 The Devils’ Due (2017)
13 The Bishop’s Pawn (2018)
14 The Malta Exchange (2019)
15 The Warsaw Protocol (2020)
16 The Kaiser’s Web (2021)
17 The Last Kingdom (2023)
18 The Atlas Maneuver (2024)
Sigma Force Series by James Rollins
Sigma Force is a secret arm of the Department of Defense. It is full of former military members who specialize is different sciences and military fields. This is an 18 book series (and counting). It’s got a lot of action and suspense and just like the Cotton Malone series you’ll find yourself looking for information on the real life locations or groups in each book.
Here is the Sigma novels in order:
2 Map of Bones (2005)
2.5 Kowalski’s in Love (2006)
3 Black Order (2006)
4 The Judas Strain (2007)
5 The Last Oracle (2008)
6 The Doomsday Key (2009)
6.5 The Skeleton Key (2011)
7 The Devil Colony (2011)
7.5 Tracker (2012)
8 Bloodline (2012)
9 The Eye of God (2013)
10 The 6th Extinction (2014)
10.5 The Midnight Watch (2015)
11 The Bone Labyrinth (2015)
11.5 Crash and Burn (2016)
12 The Seventh Plague (2016)
12.5 Ghost Ship (2017)
13 The Demon Crown (2017)
14 Crucible (2019)
15 The Last Odyssey (2020)
16 Kingdom of Bones (2022)
17 Tides of Fire (2023)
18 Arkangel (2024)
You’ll see each of these book series have .5s in their list. They are shorter bridge books from the last novel to the next. Not necessary to read, but sometimes things from them are mentioned in the main books. Set some time aside, and pick up a book. These two series are a great way to start.
