What are you reading??
I've just started reading The Wager. I'm a sucker for ship based media, and I'm hoping this'll be no exception.
It's my third book of the year after previously reading both A Clash of Kings and How to get rid of a president
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RISC-V Instruction Set Manual
No spoilers please I've not got round to picking this one up yet
I'm re-reading the Lord of the Rings for the first time since I was about 14. Loving it!
I have that same kobo, do you not flip it when you're holding it in your left hand? I find it so much more comfortable!
I'm laaaaazy as sin when I've finally got the kids to bed so I usually hold it in my right hand and then operate the thing by pressing the buttons with the same hand. If I have to move my left for anything other than moving my drink to my mouth I consider this a loss.
Maximum efficiency
By chance, I'm doing more or less the same as you. I initially read lotr when I was ~15 yo (I'm nearly 40 now). I also read it in French those years ago but I'm rereading now the real thing in English. Loving it too.
I remember when I read it the first time I was struggling with some of the dense description but it doesn't bother me now (or I haven't got to that bit yet)!
It makes me wonder if I'd enjoy Brave New World more as an adult, we were made to read it at school by our RE teacher (when we were about 15/16) and I found it so dreary :D
Brave new world is definitely a book you get different things from as an adult. It's also a pretty quick read. I'd definitely recommend taking another look.
The Wheel of Time (the whole saga). Going for the second book right now.
Nice. I finished the final book a couple of weeks ago. It's one of the best series I've ever read!
Yeah. BTW, maybe I'm wrong but I can perceive a lot of LOTR influences in the first two books.
There are definitely similarities, I agree. The setting out on a quest, multiple important characters but one that has the most important task, Rand shows some similarity to Frodo in their background, and a dark lord that's wants to wreath the world in shadow. But then, it must be hard for a fantasy writer to not be influenced by Tolkien.
Have either of you tried the Sword of Truth series by Terry Goodkind? It was written after Wheel of Time and I feel like Terry borrowed/stole some ideas from Rober Jordan but personally I think the Sword of Truth was better written.
I have not, but it's going on my reading list. Thanks for the tip. I like longer series, especially fantasy series that you can really delve into. So the Sword of Truth fits perfectly
I hope you like it :)
I liked the sword of truth series (and read the lot) but I think it was written for a younger audience than WoT - or maybe it just came out that way. What do you think? Zed is a great character, his exclamations like "bags" made me laugh when reading it.
I gave up on WoT when I got near the end of the series and had to wait for new books, then Robert Jordan died and I just never finished them. Is it worth picking them back up? I always had a doubt that Sanderson could finish them off in a fully satisfying way, even if he did have notes from Jordan.
I would say that it's worth picking them up. Brandon Sanderson does a pretty good job. It's not the same as Robert Jordan, but it doesn't have to be. He does a goes job of capturing the feel of the series. And it reads differently from his own books, which isn't easy to do. And I love how the story unfolds in the last book. There were definitely some story points I did not see coming.
I've also heard he did a great job.
@AlpacaChariot @ramenshaman
IMO Sanderson did a good job of finishing the series.
I think WoT is more for a younger audience than SoT. Some parts of SoT are much more gruesome than anything I've encountered in WoT.
I haven't finished WoT, I stopped on book 6. There are parts of the books I have a tough time getting through. There are many scenes where there are female characters talking about clothes and men and they just keep dragging on and on... That's not why I read fantasy novels, most of those scenes could have been trimmed imo. SoT doesn't really have that. Anyways, I heard Sanderson did a great job, once I finish SoT I plan to get back into WoT and finish the series.
Interesting, I'll have to read them again and see what I think, I read them all over 10 years ago now.
I'm on book 5 right now and it's quite the ride. Hope you enjoy it as much as I have been.
Getting deeper into The Expanse, now on #3 (Abaddon's Gate). Finished the two prequels "Drive" and "The Butcher of Anderson Station", the two original books of the series, and the "Gods of Risk" interlude.
Really loved Abaddon's Gate, probably one of my favorites in the series (though they've all been very good!). I hope you enjoy it
Consider Phlebas. Wanted to start the Culture series for a long time. Have Roadside Picnic on the table too as another fun read.
Have fun, the Culture novels are amazing
Terry Pratchett's Guards! Guards!. This is my first Pratchett book and I'm kicking myself for not picking these up sooner, like decades sooner. Like my life would have been different sooner :)
I bought all his Discworld books a while ago on humble bundle but have been too busy to start reading any of them yet. What made you decide to start with that one?
They come in groups, in a way, but they also refer back any which way, anyway. I recommend just the order they were written, it's worked well so far. (about half way through, I think)
Guards! Guards! is a great one to start with. It follows Samuel Vimes, captain of the Night Watch (police force) of the city-state of Ankh-Morpork (loosely based on London) as he deals with a dragon the size of a house showing up in his city and demanding gold. It was summoned by a small group of people with dreams of becoming the shadow government, using a book stolen from the library of Ankh-Morpork's finest (and only) wizarding university. The spell allows them to summon a dragon, directly control all of its actions, and dismiss it at will. Their plan is a cinch: summon the dragon, have it eat a few people, terrorize the city a bit, then find some young upstart with something resembling royal blood and who knows how to flourish a sword and have have him volunteer to fight it. Put on a good show, dismiss the dragon at just the right moment to make it look like he killed it, and watch as the city celebrates and crowns him king. Then all that's left is to puppeteer him from the shadows to rule the city. Unfortunately for the Elucidated Brethren, as they call themselves, the only party less thrilled about this than Ankh-Morpork's existing shadow government is the dragon itself, who doesn't take kindly to being summoned and even less kindly to being controlled. It doesn't take it long to slip their shackles.
It's now up to Sam Vimes and his ragtag crew of "watchmen" who run the other way when they see trouble to solve the case and find a way to get the dragon back where it came from before the whole city goes up in smoke.
Going Postal is also good. It follows conman's-conman Moist von Lipvig as he wakes up in a very comfortable chair the morning after he was hanged, still rubbing his neck, sitting face-to-face with Lord Vetinari, Ankh-Morpork's despotic ruler. Vetinari explains that he sees potential in Moist, so he paid the hangman not to kill him all the way, and is now offering him a better use for his talents: that of being Postmaster of the city's derelict Post Office. Should he refuse he is more than welcome to reenact what a crowd full of people will swear they saw happen to him. After mulling it over, he takes the job, and arrives at the Post Office to find the place full top to bottom with undelivered letters. He can hardly walk through the hallways. Its only two occupants are Junior Postman Groat, who could be Moist's grandpa, and Stanley, who, while the word "autistic" doesn't appear anywhere in the book, absolutely is. He knows everything there is to know about pins ("Last year the combined workshops (or “pinneries”) of Ankh-Morpork turned out twenty-seven million, eight hundred and eighty thousand, nine hundred and seventy-eight pins,’ said Stanley, staring into a pin-filled private universe. ‘That includes wax-headed, steels, brassers, silver-headed (and full silver), extra large, machine- and hand-made, reflexed and novelty, but not lapel pins which should not be grouped with the true pins at all since they are technically known as “sports” or “blazons”, sir") and when he gets upset he has what the book calls "one of his Little Moments" (which are never actually described). As a person on the spectrum myself, I have to hand it to Pratchett -- the portrayal is exaggerated a bit, but all things considered not inaccurate (especially compared to some... ahem other portrayals of autism in the media that we've seen lately that I could mention. I will never forgive Sia for making the movie Music.) Sadly Stanley is very much a minor character. Anyway.
After the advent of the Clacks system (semaphore towers that claim to "send messages at the speed of light" -- think telegraphs, but in a universe without electricity), the post office didn't see much use, so it downsized. Mail just sort of piled up since there weren't enough people to deliver it and throwing it away was illegal. Sleeping in amongst the mail, Moist swears he can hear the letters whispering their contents to him. He has visions of the post office in its heyday. This place is old, and it wants to return to its former glory.
They're both very good books and Pratchett absolutely deserves his reputation as a British humorist who, as one newspaper put it, "wants us to feel and think as well as laugh." Both these books have a lot to say on the subject of government and they say it in the best way possible. Can't recommend enough.
Based on some random reddit thread. Its a good book to start i think. Just go for it
What s great introduction to the series! This was the first one i picked up as a kid, and I've read it (and the rest of the books) several times since! You're in for a treat!
But enjoy the ride now! :) I am five books into the Night Watch-series, and will be picking up book six soon.
I love Vimes so much already!! Im listening to the audiobook of the witch series while gardening and love it too :)
I prefer reading to listening. But gotta make do when I can't use my hands to read
I'm in a phase where I am testing out audio books for the first time, where I will read the physical book in the evening, the audio book when I travel by car and read the ebook-version when traveling to avoid lugging the physical books around. So far I like switching around a bit.
Started with this one too, finished every book in the series just a few months ago and they're all pretty great.
Currently reading Green Mars by Kim Stanley Robinson.
I have a goal to work my way down the list of Hugo award winning novels
What a bizarre coincidence; that's exactly what I came on to post!
Finished Red Mars a few weeks ago, started Green Mars a couple of days ago. I'd never read any Kim Stanley Robinson before, and I'm enjoying it so far.
Any other recommendations from your award-winners reading list?
Not yet! This is the first one and since it was green mars that won the award, I decided I'd just read the whole trilogy.
Oh, I more or less just finished Blue Mars, but had to take my time getting through it all. But I've enjoyed it! Now I just started reading The Ministry for the Future :)
Some parts of the mars series are definitely a slog, I feel like that's almost inevitable with books that change to the perspective of different characters a lot. Some characters just aren't as interesting as others or they suck as a person and I don't really care about what they think. But so far in this series I've liked the ideas that have developed and I think the setting is really interesting.
Yeah, agreed. Blue Mars unfortunately had a little more of that the I remember from the other two. But the overall world building is impressive and interesting, and I don't regret reading any of it.
It is fitting that it has received a Hugo award, as Les Miserable by Victor Hugo definitely fits into the same category - he could waffle on about very uninteresting things for pages on end before returning to the interesting parts of the story.
Same, Blue Mars was a bit slow for me also.
Lol I haven't read any of Victor Hugo so I wouldn't know, but it's at least been good practice for speeding up my reading by looking at what's actually important. Kim Stanley Robinson does a phenomenal job of recounting geography (areography) and routes that I unfortunately have no point of reference for, but they honestly matter very little beyond "this is in the north, this is in the middle, this is in the south".
Ministry for the future looks good.
Great series. Red mars was my fav out of these.
I've just started the third book in The children of time trilogy, children of ruin
How do you like books 2 and 3? I really liked book 1, but was nervous that the other books wouldn't be able to compare/maintain the same tone so I haven't picked them up yet.
The second book is not as great as the first one but still really good imo, I literally started the third book this morning so I can't really say anything yet
Are you a bit further in now? I wasn't a huge fan of the second, so hopefully things have improved with the third!
I tried to read romeo and juliet today and they talk funny. 😂
Do you bite your thumb at me, sir?
No sir
But i bite my thumb
Jane Eyre - charlotte bronte
Sadly my first one this year. Do you habe BookWyrm?
I've been using a service called Hardcover after switching over from StoryGraph last year. I've been searching for a 'letterboxd for books' for years and I think this is the closest I've found so far.
Hardcover is my favorite as well (though I’m still tracking in StoryGraph and Goodreads mainly because Goodreads does it automatically from Calibre). My only issue with Hardcover is that it’s got the worst book database so far but that’s a relatively easier fix with services like openlibrary. My link is in my profile for both.
Why did you leave storygraph? I just got on it because I wanted an online log of some sort. I dont mind it so far. Although I literally just joined 3 weeks ago
Just finished reading The Wager, fantastic book.
Just finished Dune Messiah. It was good, but I liked the first one more. Feel like it could've been shorter, while at the same time I feel like I would've appreciated more info on how the jihad affected people outside Arrakeen.
I'll probably start on either Colour of Magic or Gardens of the Moon next.
Almost halfway the third book of the Three body problem series, deaths end by Cixin Liu. Excellent series
I read the first one pre-Covid and never picked it back up for second. Is it worth returning to the series??
I haven't read the third one yet but the second is incredible. Absolutely pick it back up.
Yes, its accessible sci fi. Second one has a slow start but really picks up in the second half. The third is a bit more balanced in that regard. Highly recommend.
Currently readingA Separate Peace because I was convinced my high school self was just too immature when he labeled it as the worst book he has ever had to read... it's not the worst book I've ever had to read but it's not a good book either.
Next up will probably be either The Guns of August or Teddy Roosevelt's autobiography.
Hat an exciting question the day I start reading a book for the first time in YEARS after finishing off my schooling and life finally calming down a bit.
Started reading Animal Farm today. Never read it before and kind of jealous of the people who would have had it assigned in university and had discussions after each chapter. I think this book was made to be discuss3”Ed.
Also, oh boy oh boy. I remember reading 1984 which sticks with me to this day a decade later, I can already sense this book is going to have a similar impact. Orwell just has a way.
Animal Farm is one of my favourites. I'm really into Politics, and AF presents it in a fairly straightforward, yet utterly captivating way. It's also pretty short so I can get through it in like two or three sessions.
I read 1984 like 15 years ago, during a time when...well frankly I was an idiot teenager who knew nothing of the world. I should go back to that at some point.
Check out Endurance by Alfred Lansing. It's the story of Shackletons failed antarctic voyage and how he survived. Absolutely amazing story and really well written.
Have you read, Antarctica by Kim Stanley Robinson? The book is science fiction, but covers Shackleton's story as a motif.
Not entirely related but I've read some books on the Franklin expedition and found them fascinating so I'll definitely take a look.
Just gonna leave this here. I loved it.
The Worst Journey in the World Apsley Cherry-Garrard
I second this. Incredible story.
The Wager sounds interesting but I'm not too much into non-fiction. How is it written? Does it feel like a fiction book?
I'll be honest with you, up until this comment I thought it was fictional.
Wow haha I guess that says it all
I find nonfiction way too hard to focus on when I read it traditionally, but listening to the audio version instead has helped a lot. It becomes almost like a podcast that I can put on in the background while I do other stuff
Just finished War and Peace. Took me a good 6 months so I've been itching for my next book.
This week I started Comanches: The history of a People. I've read a few fiction books on the tribe but am excited to learn more about them.
started the wayfarers by becky chambers.
Soil Science Simplified by Neal Eash and others, and Landrace Gardening by Joseph Lofthouse.
Soil Science Simplified is a bit textbook-y but it's easy to understand, and it's about soil in the context of, well, anything that could be used on or in the soil, such as in agriculture and building infrastructure. I'm not that far into it but if you remember clay, sand, silt and loam soil from Elementary, then it goes into much more, such as how the soil made out of certain minerals can behave like.
Landrace Gardening is a lighter read for me, and I'm honestly just reading it to feel persuaded to grow healthy plants. It does feel like the author is hammering his points into you, but there are some useful information here and there. Then I'm proceeding to Principles of Cultivar Development by Walter Fehr.
Why am I reading these? I got interested in preserving Siling Labuyo, a local cultivar of hot chili in the Philippines, which is gradually being overshadowed by Thai Bird's Eye... Most people in my country don't know what Labuyo really looks like nowadays, despite being popular in the past... the bird gods have randomly given us labuyo some time ago, and since labuyo has usually been grown wild, it has quite a high genetic diversity. I'm thinking of cultivating it. Maybe make a super labuyo and make it get popular by attaining the title of hottest chili again. But that's obviously a pipe dream, lol. Anyway this is what ADHD does to you /shrug
Currently I'm reading (if audiobooks count) Bookshops and Bonedust by Travis Baltree
I'm enjoying it so far, I really enjoyed Legends and Lattes by Travis Baltree as well so when this one came out it was an instant buy
The DevOps Handbook: How to Create World-Class Agility, Reliability, and Security in Technology Organizations
I'm a huge fucking nerd and read mostly stuff like this. I've got a rousing book of user story mapping on deck next!
I would love to hear book recommendations from you. I can do software dev and I self host a few services personally, but I do guesswork at scaling services, security, automated deployments, CICD, etc. Do you have suggestions? (Agile books are also cool)
You and I are taking very different paths, so my recommendations may not be fully relevant. I'm working on guiding companies how to fix their already broken IT departments while you're down the technology side. For starters, I'd choose a cloud to focus on, because like it or not, companies use Google, Amazon, Azure or a combination of the three. From there, I'd read probably the most boring thing you can: The well architected framework documentation!
AWS
Azure
Google
These guides are going to make you ask yourself a ton more questions which will really guide your reading. They will cover most operational topics for that given cloud, but will also apply broadly across all operations platforms.
As mentioned, that Devops handbook is a real barn burner. It tells you what exactly you need to implement to create an environment where the technology, processes and people behind your IT are scalable.
As I said, I'm working on organizational change, and doing so requires that people will agree to work with you. All the technology in the world is worthless if you can't get people to work with it. So these books were good. I'd recommend reading them simply to help you advance in your career:
Gap Selling: Getting the Customer to Yes: How Problem-Centric Selling Increases Sales by Changing Everything You Know About Relationships, Overcoming Objections, Closing and Price
How to Win Friends and Influence People
The one I'm going to read next is User Story Mapping: Discover the Whole Story, Build the Right Product
Deciphering Aztec Hieroglyphics a Guide to Nahuatl Writing by Gordon Whittaker.
I am really liking this one.
Ooh Whatchya learning? Anything standing out to you?
I knew the story of John Lasseter, but I never knew Ed Catmull’s role in Pixar. He was the tech guy who turned into the pragmatic leader.
Lots of good info on the early days of tech, interactions with Steve Jobs and really insightful advice on how to nurture creativity.
I'm reading To Sleep in a Sea of Stars by Christopher Paolini. It is a lot of fun so far. The characters are deep and believable. The plot is complex and interesting. I love it!
I just finished Whalefall by Daniel Kraus if you are looking for a gripping, hard-science, scuba survival thriller. The ending is so metal. The writing is great and the tension makes it hard to read and hard to put down.
I read Sleep recently, it's really good!
I also recently finished The Wager and thought it was excellent. Can you recommend any other nautical novels I should check out?
Are you wanting fiction or nonfiction??
I would be fine with either!
20,000 Leagues Under The Sea is a classic if you haven't read it already
The Aubrey/Maturin series by Patrick O'Brian is one of the greatest series of novels I've ever read. The movie Master & Commander with Paul Bettany and Russel Crowe was an amalgamation of 2 or 3 of the books in that series. It's also the title of the first book in the series.
Thanks, I will add these to the list. That was a good movie.
The Worst Journey in the World Apsley Cherry-Garrard
a series of unfortunate events book 2 the reptile room by lemony snicket
My childhood was so thoroughly wrapped up in the release of those books. So good.
first book series i actually wanted to read. when i finally got the last book i read it in a day
I think what hooked me were his informal definitions.
i love when he explains that blanched means boiled after he just named off 3 other things as boiled before calling the last thing blanched
Ilium by Dan Simmons. Haven’t got to the end yet but already boggled my mind.
The MANIAC
Just started The daughter of Doctor Moreau yesterday.
Before that, Rana Joon and the one and only now was absolutely wonderful and I really recommend it.
Currently reading Brute Force: cracking the data encryption standard by matt curtin.
I’m struggling to get through the first of the Thieves’ World anthologies. I generally struggle with anthologies or short story collections because the character and the writing styles change so I can’t really be build up any momentum. The stories are generally enjoyable and it’s something that’s been on my reading list for a long time because one of the short story characters is one I really enjoy.
Great reader, by the way, kobo makes by far the superior device currently for a dedicated reader.
I'm reading The Wager as well!
How are you finding it?
idk I don't have any trouble finding it. It's just there when I open my kindle.
Boooo lol
Children of Ruin, by Adrian Tchaikovsky.
It's the sequel to Children of Time that won the Hugo award a few years ago.
Children of time may be the best science fiction book I've ever read (out of hundreds), and I've been devouring everything else by Tchaikovsky ever since.
The dude has range, and has been incredibly prolific over his career.
And the writing style is incredible. He makes incredibly complex concepts/plots very very easy to understand and follow.
The third book is excellent as well. Easilly one of my favorite scifi series.
Oh yeah I'm like 6x books into that too.
Great stuff.
Currently switching between Prequel by Rachel Maddow and Naked Empire (book 8 of the Sword of Truth series) by Terry Goodkind.
Finishing the Lightbringer Series by Brent Weeks.
Next up is I think Murtagh by Christopher Paolini.
Slugging through book 6 of A Practical Guide to Evil. Still have about 4000 pages to get to the end of the series
Slightly off topic but can anyone recommend a good android based ereader?
Edit: I mean a device, not an app.
FBReader has always worked well for me.
I use ReadEra free version
Any used kindle works, then use calibre to put epubs on it.
Any of the Onyx Boox devices. They all have Gooogle Play.
Peter Watts' Blindsight for the second time. It's pretty dense. I'm catching more this time around. It's a fantastic read with some of the most alien aliens ever put to page. It was a meme how often it used to get recommended back on r/printsf which I miss a lot since its replacement here is essentially dead.
This is an excellent story. I thoroughly enjoyed it. I think I saw another comment mention it but after you finish this, you must read (or listen to) "Endurance" by Alfred Lansing. The narration was excellent. I borrowed the audiobook from libby and it was such an amazing story!
Your pick reminds me I really should get into some naval fiction. I used to love it on the screen (Hornblower, Master and Commander, etc), I'm a big fan of it's sci-fi equivalents, I was into sailing as a kid and I am a total sucker for command drama stuff. Frankly, I'm shocked I've never read any naval fiction as far as I can remember.
I'm one of those people who reads several books at once, swapping between them depending on my mood and engagement. Currently the great mortality by John Kerry, the salted earth by Jeff Somers, woken furies by Richard Morgan, a journal of the plague year by Daniel Defoe, velocity weapon by Megan O'Keefe, and a couple of others that I may not finish.
Credit where it's due, I can't handle more than one book at a time.
Just finished The Breach. Poor Jacob
Half way through the fourth book in the Shopocalypse Series -
Buy Mort: 30,000 Leagues: How I Merged And Became New Earth Affiliated by Joseph Phelps and Damien Hanson
I was actually just reading about this series on Goodreads a few days ago; is it delightful, or simply Okay?
I'm really enjoying it and would say it is better than okay for me personally, I will be disappointed when this book is over and I have to wait for more to be recorded / released.
My Name is Red by Orhan Pamuk.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/My_Name_Is_Red
Trying to capture the nuances of writing in first person.
I loved this book when I read it years ago. I really loved the shifting perspectives and obviously the setting and mood
If you didn't already read it: O'Brien's Aubrey/Maturin Series. He greally goes deep into ships and sailing but the story is still compelling.
Just started reading Erich Maria Remarque - Three Comrades. I'm really liking it so far.
Gnomon. A massive disappointment.
Berserk
I just finished reading Leech, by Hiron Ennes. Very strange book, some described as Gothic horror science fiction. Thought provoking, but weird.
Sorting the Beef from the Bull: The Science of Food Fraud Forensics. I saw it mentioned in one of the threads about the recent apple sauce food poisoning, and it's very interesting (whoever that was, if you are reading it, thank you!).
Just finished Persepolis Rising and eagerly awaiting to get my hands on Tiamath's Wrath from my library. Fiction has always been my goto in such times and never once has it disappointed me.
Exile
Book 2 in the chronological order of The Legend of Drizzt series
Not sure what happened but I used to knock back 50-80 books a year, now I barely read anymore. I'm trying to get back into it with all the books being on every electronic device so I can read wherever, and I have two physical copies of the books from different releases. Yet I'm still dragging my feet getting through it.
The frustrating thing is once I get into the book I don't want to put it down, but once I stop reading it's hard to start again.
I miss reading.
Incidentally, I was looking at the Kobo readers recently and they look pretty neat!
I bought a cellphone sized e reader, called the moaan inkpalm. It being so small has really helped me get more reading in. There are better ones available now, but it's pretty cheap for what it is. I can pull it out whever i'm waiting for my family somewhere, and pick a book that i'm in the right mood/mental state for.
Sometimes a book just isn't for you, or you need something with more fun and less substance because of all the other demands on your time and attention. I used to plow through difficult books when I had the time. Now that I generally read in 15 minute stretches that's not nearly as easy. It's not a black and white thing.
Currently on the third book of J. D. Kirk's Bob Hoon series
I've never laughed so much at an audiobook in my life.
Imagine if you took something like The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo and made it really Scottish, extra violent and incredibly sweary. That's Bob Hoon
Female villain - "I'd ask you to join our operation, Mr Hoon, but I know exactly what you'd say"
Hoon - "I'd tell you to shove it up your fish-hole, you badly-aimed batch of ejaculate"
Female villain - "Well ok, I didn't know exactly what you'd say..."
Damn, this sounds exactly like my next book, thanks for recommending it.
Might be easier to read if you're not used to the accent, but the narrator of the audiobook absolutely fuckin nails Hoon's voice
I have never tried to listen to an audiobook. I am just afraid I will get distracted and miss part of it.
That's what the back button's for. But if you're interested in audiobooks at all, I'd suggest starting with a book you've already read that's pretty low stakes. Stephen Fry's narration of Harry Potter is excelent.
I'm doing a beta-read. Well written, great ideas, etc. Unfortunately, the book is turning out to be much darker than I'm comfortable with. I'll probably try to get to the halfway point before deciding to give up.
Sorry, but what's a beta-read?
Like alpha, beta, gamma readers. Used by authors to get feedback at various stages of their book before it is published. Alpha stage is very rough, like first draft. Not sure where the line lies between beta and gamma stage, but they are close to finished works - only typos and minor changes would be made based on reader feedback.
For indie authors, beta readers often help to get a few reviews out close to book publication.
How do you become a beta reader?
I'm a bit active on book-related forums. I post reviews of books I've read, give book recommendations, etc. In this case, the author contacted me based on my reviews.
Just starting "The Time Regulation Institute," by Ahmet Hamdi Tanpinar (translated).
I'm most of the way through Project Hail Mary by Andy Weir. Same guy that wrote The Martian (the book that got very faithfully adapted into a movie with Matt Damon) and this book is jam-packed with just as much real-world science.
If you've never read (or seen) The Martian, here's the basic premise: the year is 2040-something and NASA has started manned missions to Mars. Our hero Mark Watney is one of six crew aboard Ares 5, which is planned to spend 30 sols (Martian days -- 37 minutes longer than an Earth day) on the planet and do research. On Sol 6 of those 30, there's a massive dust storm with winds strong enough that they threaten to make the rocket for the return journey tip over, leaving them stranded on Mars, if they don't abort now. Just one problem: Mark is nowhere to be seen. The dust storm is too thick to see through, and the last thing his team saw just before his radio went dead was all his vital signs drop to zero. The captain searches for him for as long as she can, but eventually she's forced to call it off and return home with only five of the six crew.
Eight hours later, Mark wakes up, says "ow, my everything", figures out that the main communications antenna that the storm ripped off the HAB (astronaut house), punctured his suit, and grazed his side poked a hole straight through his suit's bio monitor as it did so (hence why his team saw his vitals drop), looks over at the empty launch pad, and realizes he is now the only human on Mars and the first one to be stranded there. The rest of the book is him using every scientific trick in the book to keep himself alive until he can reach the Ares 6 landing site where there's another rocket set up. As a not-too-spoilery example, Thanksgiving was going to happen while the team was there, so NASA sent them with whole, uncooked potatoes among other things with which to prepare a Thanksgiving feast. He combines Martian dirt with some natural fertilizer (read: his own poop) to make fertile soil, and gets water by recombining hydrazine (leftover rocket fuel the return rocket didn't need) with oxygen in a rather terrifying method that involves small amounts of fire, then covers the floor of the HAB in soil and plants the potatoes. It's a very cool book. My one gripe with it is that the protagonist is a bit of a jerk. He's very full of himself and he swears a lot.
The protagonist of Andy Weir's next book, Project Hail Mary, is neither of those things. He wakes up, amnesiac, on board a spacecraft, and quicklu discovers that its other two crewmembers did not survive the medically induced coma they were placed in for the journey. He has a flashback and remembers why he is here: some extraterrestrial bacterium-esque life form dubbed "astrophage" that feeds off of stars has started feeding off the Sun, and at the rate it's getting dimmer, within 20 years the Earth will get cold enough that humans are looking at extinction. Additional astronomy revealed all the stars in our stellar neighborhood were infected with astrophage, and all but one were getting dimmer. Project Hail Mary, the spacecraft he's on, is (as the name implies) humanity's last-ditch effort to save themselves: take three of their best astronauts, yeet them at that star, and pray they find out why it's not getting dimmer and report back to Earth in time to save the human race. I don't want to spoil this book too much, because it's super good, but they go super in depth about the alien life form (which it turns out is DNA-based and uses truly staggering amounts of infrared light to propel itself between the Earth and Venus, whose carbon dioxide filled atmosphere is necessary for it to breed, and stores the solar energy it collects by directly converting it to mass (E=mc²) in the form of neutrinos).
There's also a huge surprise waiting for him at his destination star which I flatly refuse to spoil. You're just going to have to read it for yourself, although I can practically guarantee you'll be just as excited as I was.
Currently reading A Desolation Called Peace by Arkady Martine. There's also a first book called A Memory Called Empire and both are very good.
I finished A Memory of Light (the final book in the Wheel of Time Series) and The Last Metal by Brandon Sanderson. Now I'm rereading The Lord of the Rings.
I'm also reading The Recording Engineers Handbook and Complete Vocal Technique.
If you like fantasy you should definitely give the Name of the Wind a try. This is by far my favorite fantasy book.
I've read it and I loved it indeed. I hope The Doors of Stone comes out soon
Just finished "Tomorrow and tomorrow and tomorrow" by Gabrielle Devin and currently reading"The Code Book" by Simon Singh.
Currently about a third of the way through "Babel: Or, The Necessity of Violence: An Arcane History of the Translator's Rebellion" by R.F. Kuang.
It's pretty good so far, but also I'm really still waiting for the plot to kick into gear, lots of wonderful world building has been taking place so far.
Also, you and I have the same Kobo! I'm a fan of this device, and haven't read a physical book since last June.
What device is that?
A kobo Libra (maybe Libra 2?) I have one and it's pretty nice. My pool for comparison is small though (had an old Sony reader a billion years ago).
Yup Libra2. Just about does the job. Kinda tempted to go for a larger screen next time.
I just read "Eyes Guts Throat Bones", highly recommend at least reading the "Rath" story
Working my way through He Who Fights with Monsters by Shirtaloon (aka Travis Deverell), currently on Book 7.
It's fucking great!
Hey I have The Wager in my list, but right now I'm reading The Dawn of Everything by David Graeber, it's excellent. Going really slow because it contains so much information, I read a few pages and that sends me in a research spiral for an hour and a thoughts spirals for the day.
Dungeon Crawler Carl and Yumi and the Nightmare Painter by Sanderson
"My Heart Is A Chainsaw" by Steven Graham Jones
Just finished rewatching The Magicians, since it's my favorite darker adult magic TV Show. Now I am about to start The Magicians by Lev Grossman to see what it's like. Heard the books are more nihilistic.
I'm currently reading Fool's Fate, the third in the Tawny Man trilogy, which itself is the 3rd trilogy in the Realm of the Elderlings sequence by Robin Hobb. I've loved every book so far and this is no exception although ::: spoiler spoiler I'm still grieving Nighteyes :::
Poor Fitz has had a shit life so far. I'm hoping he gets some sort of happiness before the end of this one.
I'm on the 3rd Liveship Traders book by her right now. So 6 books deep into Elderlings with no plans on stopping. Robin Hobb is a complete genius at character writing.
Loved all of those books. So good! You make me want to read them all again!
I read The Wager a few months back. I enjoyed it. If you’re looking for something else in that vane you might try Batavia by Peter  FitzSimons.
I am currently rereading Blood Meridian by Cormac McCarthy. It’s a great read, but a little dark.
Just started raft by Stephen Baxter, little concerned when I found out there are a dozen more books, roughly.
Digging the first though, so...
I read through all of them a couple of years ago, he's one of my favourite writers and all the books are pretty good. They jump around a lot and try different things which keep it interesting, from what I remember.
Okay. I have the omnibus now, which I understand is the first four novels.
So are the final xeelee sequence titled novels the ending books of the entire series?
Is the series finally ended?
Working through Perdido Street Station on my new Kobo. I understand the critiques on pacing, and spending too much time on world building as now, 400 pages in, races, sections of the city, creatures, and cultures are still being introduced. But it has been an enjoyable ride so far, especially with one of the main PoVs being one of my favorite tropes of just "scientist doing science"