Had a busy week, so couldn't get much reading done. So still at pretty much the same place in Rosemary and Rue by Seanan McGuire (first book in her October Daye urban fantasy series).
What about all of you? What have you been reading or listening to lately?
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I just finished DCC 8 for the second time today. I like to speed through a new book, then go back and read/listen to it at a more leisurely pace to make sure I catch details and highlight themes, foreshadowing, favorite bits, etc. Also to see how I did with my first round of highlighting foreshadowing. 😁
Can’t wait for the next two!
Almost 1/2 way through project Hail Mary. I liked the Martian so I expected to like PHM, but I didn't realize to what degree I would like. As a Molecular Biologist myself, I feel quite connected to Ryland.
There's a lot of stream of consciousness in both books, and within that, a lot math, which definitely does not click with everyone. If you can get PHM as an audiobook, it is way worth it!
I also loved project hail mary. Just saw the film adaption recently, and while it is certainly impressive in some sense and has some strengths of its own, it generally skips most of what i enjoyed about the book which was a shame and i honestly think it must be superconfusing to watch if you have never read the book. The way it is is written it was always going to be tricky to turn into a movie but i was still disappointed
I am interested in the movie, but I have to finish the book (audible) so my wife can read it, and then we will go see the movie. One of my coworker's who has read the book and seen the movie said there were instances where an entire chapter was summarized in a sentence. This just reaffirms my long held belief that books should not be movies. Limited Series are a much better platform for screen adaptations of books. you have 6-10 hours to tell the story. With streaming services you are not constrained to a 44-minute episode so you can make each episode the right length to capture the rising and falling action and end on the right beat. You can set the release schedule to generate more hype and it'll sit in the public conscious for longer. And yes I realize that it costs more to make 10 hours of video than 2 hours of video, but I kinda don't care because Hollywood already has such absurd margins.
I know this thread odd a bit old, but I just finished this book and it was fantastic!
I'm just about to finish Yumi and the Nightmare Painter by Brandon Sanderson. I've enjoyed it very much.
I'm also reading two others for my book clubs, but can't remember the titles. Have to look at my ereader.
Leviathan Wakes by James S. A. Corey, the first book in The Expanse series. I'm roughly half way in, and it's enjoyable so far.
stick with the series. it's great. I think I was on book 4 or 5, right around where the novels start to surpass the tv series, when a buddy said, "oh, you're just about to the part where they start getting good!"
and boy was he right.
Hopefully they are good before that point and increase in quality? I went in totally blind; haven't watched the show or read anything about them prior. My free time is pretty limited, so I am picky in selecting what I spend my time on.
oh, very much so! they just get even better after Cibola Burn
I have to be honest, it almost lost me for a little when it started focusing on the broader politics of the solar systme, but things picked right back up and are very well interesting again. I'm going to be sticking with it!
I loved this series so much it got me back into reading as an adult.
I watches the TV series in full first before I got into the books and really enjoyed the comparison
I'm looking forward to checking out his new series soon.
That's a solid endorsement! I'm glad you're back into reading!
Finished reading Dennis E Taylor's Bobiverse series for the second time, waiting on the new book to be published. For now it's audiobook only, and I like reading it myself. Just started reading Martha Wells' "Platform Decay", Murderbot being one of the other series I found last year that I really liked.
If you haven’t already, check out Dungeon Crawler Carl. There is a lot of overlap in fandoms. 🙂
I'm also reading Murder Bot, on book 3, and Audible recommended We Are Bob. I suppose you're enjoying it?
I just started reading The Gathering Storm by Brandon Sanderson, book twelve of Robert Jordan's The Wheel of Time series. I've never read any Sanderson before, so it'll be interesting to see the tonal differences in writing.
Same as OP, that’s where I was introduced to Sanderson. I went on to read pretty much everything he’s written. 😅
Very nice, I just started 10 and I'm excited to see how the books change when Sanderson picks up the reins. I have loved the series so far though, but I read almost all of Sanderson before even starting The Wheel of Time.
My 10 year old daughter is reading Percy Jackson: The Lightning Thief.
And asked me to read it with her. So that's what I'm reading now. And I have to say... I'm really enjoying it so far. Plus doing a mini book club with my daughter is pretty much the best.
My brother has been encouraging me to read The Blade Itself by Joe Abercrombie for a long time, and I’ve started it a few times and always got distracted.
Something clicked this time though, and I’m totally absorbed.
It’s also the first fiction I’ve read in a while, and I forgot what an escape it can be. What a weird thing to forget.
About 2/3 through "Paladin of Souls" by Lois McMaster Bujold.
Having just jumped through the first 15x "Penric & Desdemona" stories, it's interesting to see how her magic system has evolved over time through this series ("The World of the Five Gods"), and how it's definitely improved. One more book left in the series, then on to other things!
Yeah, I'm reading them because someone in one of these threads said that a bit ago. Perhaps it was you?
Good recommendations, regardless of whom! :)
I've been relistening to the Jumper series by Steven Gould, it is fun and interesting to see how something written not all that long ago is from a totally different world. The way technology worked in the 90s is so different to how it works now and many of the problems in a science fiction book with teleportation can be solved by a mobile phone.
Also, I just finished the Murderbot series given the release of the newest book, the Bobiverse series, and the Children of Time series with the latest installment Children of Strife.
I also have a massive fanfic called The Winter Of Widows which is based in Westeros from A Game Of Thrones. It is really fun and interesting and the writing is honestly fantastic. Definitely publishable level of writing skill. It is based on the idea of a modern person with some knowledge of things like four field crop rotation and coplanting going into that medieval world and making things work as much as possible. Very cool, very fun.
I just started reading Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland and Through the Looking Glass yesterday. I realized a while ago I never actually read it, and only had seen the various adaptations. I have to say, it’s quite different than what I grew up on.
I’m also disturbed that Charles Dogson (Lewis Carroll) is basically described as being a pedophile for his “love” of a 10-yo little girl (Alice Liddell, the daughter of his boss, for whom the story is told) whom he wanted to marry while he was in his 30s.
Next up I plan to read Blue Are the Hills: The Final War for Humanity. I expect it to be completely different than Alice of course.
That’s just how I roll.
I read Alice in Wonderland as a kid when I was gifted The Annotated Alice. I loved the puzzles and the math tricks. And I only just now learned that was Martin Gardner, because of course. I discovered his puzzles many years later and only today put these two together. I don't know if I would have enjoyed it as much without the explainer text, but with it I felt like I had the secret keys.
I'm reading Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe.
I'm not sure how much I like it. It does a very good job of giving a look into African society around the time of slavery and missionaries, so I can see why it is touted as such an important novel. That said, I don't love the writing style or the characters.
Been reading Fiber Fueled during work breaks. Wanting to take extra steps to dial in my gut health.
I haven't listened to it in a while, but I'm pretty far into the Dungeon Crawler Carl series. Really great listen, kind of a dark comedy, numbers go up (it's a lit rpg), and there's a bit of moral complexity in the plot.
Should also note, Jeff Hays is now my favorite audiobook narrator.
I just finished Whalefall by Daniel Kraus.
Oof what a ride. I went in blind so all I knew was "diver trapped in a fight between a giant squid and a whale".
I was not prepared for the
::: spoiler Whalefall Spoilers
Abusive father/child relationship. I appreciated the complexity of their relationship and the messy nature of their coming to terms with each other. I think taken as a didactic piece of writing it could be unhelpful; I don't think Jay needed to prove their worth to their dad or the community, and it seemed like Jay kind of validated Mitt's abuse. But it still hit me really hard and I enjoyed it as a character study. (Especially because Jay is an egg in my head canon, and a lot of Jay's experience resonated with me. Someone get this kid some therapy and hrt 😭)
:::
I'm also halfway thru The Dispossessed by Ursula K Le Guin.
Le Guin's stories are like the opposite of page turners for me but in the best possible way. I just want to sit with each page, there's so much to chew on. (Even tho I have bounced off this and some of her other books because the begginings are rough for me for some reason. Too much to chew I guess haha)
Just read this for the first time a couple months ago, immediately followed by the sequel Year of the Flood. Haven't gotten round to finishing the trilogy yet. I'm interested in your thoughts once you finish!
This entire trilogy is such a mind fuck, but entirely worth reading, imo
I just finished up The Expanse with the final novella after restarting the series on book 7 last week and now I'm back into fantasy land with book 10 of The Wheel of Time, Crossroads of Twilight. Sadly this is the lowest rated of the series and supposedly the "final boss" of "the slog" between books 6 and 11. Robert Jordan is just so easy to read and/or listen to though so I'm still having a good time, even if not a lot happens. I'll probably plan on polishing off the remaining 4 books after this and then I need to decide what series I'll start next.
Having recently finished book 10, yeah, it's sort of difficult. It's kind of the culmination of Jordan's navel gazing where the whole book has maybe two chapters that move the plot along, and not a lot at that. Practically nothing happens, and the progress could've been just quickly summarized in the next book. Note that I did like the book, and I'm not saying it's bad or anything, just sort of emblematic of what I find most annoying about Jordan's writing. Luckily, the next book picks up the pace considerably and develops a sense of urgency.
This week I finished James Herbert's Rats trilogy. I was getting pretty bored with the 3rd book so halfway through I skipped to the last chapter to see how it ended. Nothing about the ending was a surprise and I'm glad I did. The first two books are far better at half the length.
I also started Eisenhorn by Dan Abnett (WH40k). I did not get on with the writing style and dropped it quickly.
I'm now reading Careless People: A Cautionary Tale of Power, Greed, and Lost Idealism by Sarah Wynn-Williams which is an account of her years at Facebook. It's as awful as you might imagine and sometimes worse. I can't stop reading it though, like not being able to look away from a car crash.
Just finished "Death of the Author" by Nnedi Okorafor and enjoyed it immensely; I've been recommending it to everyone. It's a good blend of Afro-futurism, literary fiction, and sci-fi.
Now on "Helm" by Sarah Hall, and while I'm only partially through it, the writing is absolutely stellar.
For lighter fare, I particularly enjoyed "The Tainted Cup" and Drop of Corruption" by Robert Jackson Bennett.
I finished Dungeon Crawler Carl’s Gate of the Feral Gods over the weekend. While I enjoyed the first four books I’m looking forward to sinking my teeth into what other readers generally consider the more popular titles of the series.
In the meantime I’ve started reading Haruki Murakami’s The City and its Uncertain Walls while I wait for the remainder of the DCC books to become available at my library.
Shameless: A Sexual Reformation by Nadia Bolz-Weber.
Black House by Stephen King and Peter Straub
Audiobook
Echo of Worlds by M. R. Carey
Black House is up there with my favourites from King! Enjoy!
Talisman my favorite just finished for umpteenth time. Reading them now because a third book is coming out this October.
Sounds like we have similar taste as that is probably my favourite too. It is hard fought at the top though as he has so many good books!
Yes he does The Talisman was second adult book I ever read. He gotten better over the years and think created one of my favorite characters. Holly Gibney.
Re-reading The Wasp Factory for the first time in a long time for the next podcast episode. After that, it'll be The Red Winter by Cameron Sullivan.
The Dog Stars
I just started listening to this I am about an hour in and so far it is really great. The story is starting nicely and really pulled me in. I have never heard the narrator before but he is really good. His voice really works for the content.
I’m currently reading The Genesis of Misery by Neon Yang. It’s Joan of Arc meets Pacific Rim but done really well. I have about 130 pages left before I finish.
Finished Southern Man by Greg Iles. This is the final book in the Penn Cage series. I wouldn't recommend it for someone new to this author, and if you have read other Penn Cage novels, you already know what you're in for. It features the usual levels of racism, violence, and arson. The author had some things to say about politics, and did. It wasn't quite a hit piece on Republicans generally, but more about the political environment that made a candidate like Trump electable, and how that could be exploited by a smarter and more competent independent candidate.
Up next is The Eagle has Landed by Jack Higgins. Someone said I should read this even though I'd already seen the movie and lent me a copy. Since I mostly know what happens, it should go more quickly.
If you want WW2 spy thrills, skip 'The Eagle Has Landed' and read 'Night Soldiers' by Alan Furst.
After a Fascist mob kills his younger brother, a young Bulgarian fisherman is recruited by the KGB. He is trained and sent to Spain to fight in the Civil War.
Great atmosphere, chilling intrigue, wild battles.
I am just starting on book 4 of the Lee Harden series which follows on from The Remaining by DJ Molles.
I am really enjoying it so far and it makes the book "Abe" that I disliked before make a lot more sense. I don't know why the reading order I had suggested to do Abe at the end of the original remaining series of books as it makes absolutely no sense there and was part of the reason I disliked it at the time.
These books are less about the infected in general but follow all the characters that I got to know and like from The Remaining books so I am liking it and it bought tears to my eyes again because of that damn dog! I don't know how but well played Molles!
Not sure what I'm going to listen to once these are all wrapped up though. Haven't got anything specific lined up.
Fluent Forever (Rivised edition). I heard good things about the book and wanted to pick up some strategies in my own endeavours.
Currently reading gone girl. I have watched the movie but my friends said the book is worth it too. Started yesterday. Also I have been reading crime and punishment in irregular intervals. It has been 2 months since I started it and I am halfway through.
I read this before the movie was a thing, knew nothing about the story going in, and LOVED it!! Did not see it coming!
just finished the first two books in James S. A. Corey's The Captive's War series and I'm champing at the bit for the next one.
now I'm finally reading The Three Body Problem and so far so good!
I just finished reading all (as of current date) 8 books of Home for Horny Monsters by Annabelle Hawthorne, and the spinoffs. Very good lore and worldbuilding and character development and plot, and as the title implies good smut too.
can't wait for book 9.
I recently went to my local library and grabbed a book called Ocean: Earth's Last Wilderness written by David Attenborough and Colin Butfield.
I'm only 2 chapters in but it's about all the things Attenborough has learned about the oceans in his prolific lifetime.
And as usual he makes you feel like shit because of what humanity is doing to the environment while also making you hopeful that humans will change and learn how to live symbiotically with the world around us.
Got a big pile of shame (shame on me) but my current reading list (selected out of that pile) is 'Caesar' by Shakespeare, a collection of Albert Camus' dramas and a book by Alberto Angela about love and sexuality in ancient Rome (couldn't find the title in English so I think it hasn't been translated?).
I finally finished The Complete Lovecraft. Boy was that a tough 3 months! Don't get me wrong, when he's good he's really compelling and tense but my gid when he's bad it's such a slog to get through, I also had a problem with how hyped Lovecraft is; I was expecting existential dread of the highest order, but it felt kinda tame compared to other authors replicating his tone.
Colour out of Space was my favourite, my least favourite was the one where he named his cat a racist slur.
Just started listening to Lilith by Nikki Marmery, a novel about Adam’s first wife, and how she was demonized. So far I really like it, and the reader has the best accent, I haven’t looked up where she’s from, but she sounds Irish to me.
Just finished rereading the entire Murderbot series in time to read her newest book, Plarform Decay (which was good, I liked it, but I want to hear more about certain aspects of the story).
I’m listening to Andrew Sean Greer’s Less as a reread. I finished rereading Red White & Royal Blue to rebuild my heart after tearfully devouring TJ Klune’s apocalypse road trip short novel, We Burned So Bright.
"The 22 Murders of Madison May". A science fiction thriller about a serial killer traveling through parallel dimensions and killing the same young woman in every dimension.
This is my first time using Libby to borrow a book from my public library.
A Woman of No Importance by Sonia Purnell, and 3rd Murder Bot. Just finished listening to In the Devil's Snare which was quite enlightening.
Been busy with the yard and house. So I’m still only half way through I, Jedi still it’s a longer one at near 600 pages as well.
I am giving away my erotica audiobook Smart, Mean Girls for free on soundcloud:
I would appreciate feedback!
Just started Gentlemen and Players by Joanne Harris, a mystery/thriller set at a British boy's school. It's got (presumably) antagonist chapters at the beginning, so I'm curious to see how far into the book those go.
__
Finished The Pastel City by M. John Harrison (Dying Earth-style sci-fantasy): A retired warrior reunites with old compatriots to help thwart a usurper's army.
First bingo book done! This definitely has that vintage sword and sorcery vibe, and feels like much more of an epic adventure than you'd expect from its short page count. I liked it, but I might pick up something else from the author rather than read the sequels.
I’m currently reading Catalyst Gate by Megan E. O’Keefe, it’s the third book in The Protectorate series. It’s so good! I’m totally digging this series. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, it’s really scratching the itch that The Expanse series left me with a few years ago. Just so good.
I also just finished up Diary of a Wimpy Kid #17. They are cute books that are good for a quick break between heavier stuff.
Kind of… quit reading for a while since having a new job. But I have “Revenge Of Odessa” on on-hold.
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I completed book 8 of Dungeon Crawler Carl yesterday and now I’m on to the new Dresden novella OutLaw.
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