I'm starting House of Leaves today.

I don't think I'm ready for this wild ride but only one way to find out.

Neuromancer by William Gibson. Slowly realising how many cyberpunk books cribbed his homework.

Working on the new T. Kingfisher, Hemlock & Silver.

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Read since last time:

The Lamb Will Slaughter the Lion by Margaret Killjoy (fantasy horror, novella) | bingo: creature, minority author, short, LGBTQIA+ lead, alliterative, cover

A wanderer visits an anarchist commune that's protected by a preternatural being.

I think I'd put this in the "fine" category; not sure if I'm interested in the sequels.

The Tea Master and the Detective by Aliette de Bodard (space opera-ish mystery, novella) | bingo: creature, different continent, minority author, orange, short, award

A prickly detective and a sentient ship discover and investigate an unusual corpse.

Intentional Holmes and Watson vibes. Cute enough, but the mystery felt a bit secondary.

I’m on The Shadow Rising (WoT #4).

The Dragon Reborn was my favorite entry so far I think. I loved Perrin and Mat’s chapters the most. Mat’s choice at the end really made me appreciate the character.

I’m very excited to see where the story goes from here!

I’m already looking forward to rereading the Eye of the World haha.

Edit: removed broken spoiler tag and content.

I finished Cryptonomicon by Neal Stephenson this week. Great read! Stephenson is a very long-winded and meandering author but I love it every time.

I just got a copy of House of Leaves by Mark Z. Danielewski because I was inspired by mushroommonk (I don't know how to tag users) here in the comments. Super excited to finally crack this one open.

I am also about to start in on Ursula Le Guin but I dont know if I should start with The Left Hand of Darkness or The Word for World is Forest.

Anathem by Neal Stephenson. Starting slow but it’s kind of intriguing.

I'm starting V. by Thomas Pynchon. I'm going in pretty much blind, don't know the author or the book at all. I just saw his name in the news and realized I'd seen this book at the library, so here we are.

I also recently read Solaris by Stanisław Lem. I first read it in my early teens and I liked it then, but I feel these decades have allowed me to appreciate it more deeply. What a wonderful book! I love the idea that alien intelligence is truly alien - not just humans from another planet - to the point of making communication practically impossible. Any recommendations for books like Solaris and Roadside Picnic, which explore this theme, are welcome.

Dungeon Crawler Carl. It’s fun so far, but I’m starting to suspect it’s going to be a bit repetitive.

Reading "this inevitable ruin" by Matt Dinniman. I don't have much time to read at the moment, so about 1/3rd through after two weeks.

I finished The First Three Minutes: A Modern View of the Origin of the Universe by Steven Weinberg and enjoyed it. It's actually remarkable that we as a species can tell such a specific story about the beginning of the universe using science.

I'm currently reading A Century of Fiction in the New Yorker: 1925-2025 by Deborah Treisman, which is an 1100-page long short story collection. So far, I enjoyed "The Weeds" by Mary McCarthy, and "Symbols and Signs" by Vladimir Nabokov.

I'm currently reading Men at Arms (Terry Pratchett), and it's delightful!

I'm roughly 1/3 of the way through all of the Discworld books.

Just finished Kropotkins "The Conquest of Bread". Might be time for some fiction again.

Recently started the second book in the Bobiverse series. Really enjoyed the first one, but I did have to try a couple times to get into it. Once I did though, I couldn't put it down. The audiobook is narrated by Ray Porter who also does Project Hail Mary. Great narrarator.

Recently started We Were Eight Years in Power by Ta-Nehisi Coates. It feels quite apt in the current moment.

Prophet of Discontent by Douglas and Loggins.

It's about MLK and his place in the tradition of American black radical thought. It's pretty academic and dives straight into the race/class Marxist discourse. Which is catnip for weirdos like me.

Brandon Sanderson's Oathbringer

Martha Wells - Star Wars “Razors Edge”.

It’s a story with the the main cast; Leia, Luke, Han and Chewie.

I’m enjoying it, starts right off with action and hasn’t really let off the gas pedal yet.

I just finished The Long Walk and I really liked it. I read it a decade or more ago, but I appreciated it more this time.

I like books about death sports so it’s right up my alley. They finally released Battle Royale as a digital book so I would like to read it as well, but its length (800 pages!) is intimidating.

I also finished The Neverending Story, which I enjoyed but not as much as the much shorter first movie.

I started reading a few things.

The End of the World as We Know It is a short story collection that explores the world of Stephen King’s super-flu-ridden The Stand. I’m really liking it so far! The stories do a good job of further illustrating the world as it breaks down.

I also started a biography about one of my favorite people in vintage professional wrestling, Gorilla Monsoon. It just came out today and I’ve been looking forward to it. I’ve always been fascinated by him and no one else has written a book yet!

I am listening to Percy Jackson: Sea of Monsters with my daughter. We're loving this. Will definitely get the next one. We listen on the ride to/from school, and then at bedtime.

Listening to Spec Ops by R.C Bray on my own and it's alright but every single chapter is starting to feel identical/formulaic already and I'm only book 2. "Unexpected problem. Super intelligent AI solves 99% of the problem. The main character is somehow smarter than God-level AI and solves the last 1%. Robot screeches Filthy Monkeys." Rinse. Repeat.

May go back to Sandman Slim and Perdition Score is up next.

I've long adored Social Origins Of Dictatorship And Democracy, so I'm thinking of picking up some of Barrington Moore Jr's other work - ideally,

Injustice: The Social Bases of Obedience and Revolt

and/or

Authority and Inequality under Capitalism and Socialism: USA, USSR, and China.

Im rereading The Victorian Internet by Tom Standage. It’s about the history of the electric telegraph. It’s very interesting.

Read Rosemary's Baby for the next podcast episode. Honestly, if you've ever watched the (original) movie you almost don't need to read the book, its the most faithful adaptation I've ever seen. Almost word-for-word in a lot of places.

Having finished that, I'm now reading Lake of Darkness by Adam Roberts which, for those unfamiliar, is sci-fi with a speculative edge. I'm about 25% in and it has me hooked.

How Far the Light Reaches: A Life in Ten Sea Creatures by Sabrina Imbler is pretty good at the 45% mark.

Finished Project Hail Mary, Andy Weir, a little over a week ago, and finally dove into Wind and Truth, Brandon Sanderson. I'd been putting this off since I have a problem with finishing a series, or chunk of one in this case.

While I still love The Stormlight Archive, I think I've come to realize that Sanderson doesn't write believable enough dialogue for me. It comes across as flat and somewhat childish. ¯⁠\⁠_⁠(⁠ツ⁠)⁠_⁠/⁠¯

Only just finished River of Blue Fire, Tad Williams, and will likely finish book three and four of the quartet for my active audiobook.

Started the first book of the Culture series, Consider Phlebas, only through the first three chapters, however I'm enjoying it so far -- especially compared to the writing of Red Rising (which was my last sci-fi read, at DNF atm).

Getting back into reading with laundry files

Playground by Richard Powers. Really enjoyed the ride. Probably give The Overstory a try soon.

Just finished my 2nd listen of Handmaids Tale. I'm rinsing myself off with some Discworld.

Next up will be A Night in the Lonesome October by Roger Zelazny. I got turned onto it last year and it became an annual tradition instantly. It's 31 chapters (short ones) and you do one a day starting on the 1st.

I reread the first three books in the Lady Astronaut series by Mary Robinette Kowal and have started on book 4 (The Martian Contingency), which just came out. The original books held up very well on reread but I find myself feeling more annoyed by the main protagonist than I did my previous read-through. Regardless, I am super excited to see where book 4 takes the story.

Started the second Mistborn book by Sanderson. The first one was good and the second is still holding my interest. I think the plot and lore he's created is top notch but his prose and overall writing style is rather meh. I'm about to start taking a shot of Bourbon for everytime a character rolls their eyes or signs in conversation.

I’ve finished Takaoka’s Travels and Feminist point of view (not sure of the title in English, which were on deconstructing the male gaze in the cinema)

Starting the tirs book of the Nexus trilogy

I just finished Perchance to Dream by Howard Weinstein. It’s the first Star Trek novel I’ve ever read and I went with TNG because it’s my favorite series. I really enjoyed the book and loved how I could hear the voices of Picard, Geordie, Worf, Tori, Riker, all of them in my head. I have mild aphantasia so books based on characters from shows and movies I have watched are a lot easier for me to picture.

I’m currently going through the September/October 2024 Asimov’s Science Fiction periodical that I paused last year. Nice scifi short stories, poems, and novelettes to read until my next book.

On that note, my next book is my vacation book. I had 2 I was thinking of reading, but decided on Polaris Rising by Jessie Mihalik. I really enjoyed her Starlight’s Shadow series, so when I saw space princess and outlaw soldier romance, I said YES PLEASE!! Please give me more science fiction/space opera romance!

Still plugging away at The Wandering Inn webserial...now on book 8.

Halfway done with The Last Emperox. It's the last book in a space opera trilogy. Mankind is spread across the galaxy in an imperial system that forces all settlements to not be fully self sufficient in order to incentive peaceful coexistence. FTL travel doesn't exist and thus trade can only be done with space ships via a complex network of wormholes.

The whole premise is that network is collapsing, which would leave billions of people stranded with a bleak future of them slowly burning through their last supplies. It follows the actions of the emperor's actions taken to save as many lives as possible while trying to fend off assassination attempts from ambitious short-sighted nobles trying to gain the upper hand during the empire's collapse.

Finished The Dead Zone, now reading project hail Mary by Andy weir. Excellent book!

Just finished Daily Life Of Women In Ancient Rome. Uncertain what I'll move on to next.

Unzipping Gender: Sex, Cross-Dressing and Culture, by Charlotte Suthrell.

I finished Master and Margarita a couple of weeks back - it was great! Surreal and funny, plus a brilliant satire of Russian society at the time. Knowing how certain elements of the plot reflect the author's own experiences make it particularly poignant.

Yesterday I finished reading Old Man's War. Really enjoyed it! An interesting premise, fascinating technology & alien races coupled with some genuinely moving moments. The exploration of the implications of war and life extension were surprisingly well thought out for what I expected to be a comedic/light-hearted novel. I look forward to reading more in the series.

I have just started To Kill a Mockingbird - somehow I've got this far in life without reading it. Will see how it goes!

I finished all the Super Powereds related stuff that’s out. The main series and one spin off that may get a sequel in the future. There’s also a potential follow up that happens 20-ish years later.

Fun books in general with a little patience needed for areas where it really could have been tightened up. But I would feel comfortable recommending it to someone. Overall probably high B or low A tier.

Now I’m on to Someone You Can Build a Nest In by John Wiswell. It’s had pretty good reviews and is quite cozy.

Heretical Fishing 4

The Jewish pirates of the Caribbean by Edward Kritzler

I just finished Alchemised. Amazing love story set during a civil war, but also a story about the way we see ourselves and the way we're remembered.

The Empyrean series by Rebecca Yarros, I'm not ashamed to admit.

Many years ago I bought the book adaptations of 'Yes Minister' and 'Yes Prime Minister', which I then forgot to take with me in the divorce around '08. I recently spent far too much money getting new copies from Booktopia.com.au. My god they're still hilarious.