What are you currently reading, and general thoughts so far?
Hey there, I am curious what everyone is reading and how you are feeling with it. I started demon copperhead yesterday, made it about 70 pages in and decided to read the first book in the chthulu CaseBooks. It's a kinda retelling of Sherlock Holmes but with a Lovecraft quist.
I am digging it so far, about 50% through and it's a fun ride.
So what are you all reading?
Currently reading Heretics of Dune. It's...very different from the first three but only as different as God Emperor of Dune was.
Oh man, I'm so jealous at you getting to read the Dune books for the first time. I'm about to start Children on my third reread, and every time I read the series I'm just as enthralled as the first time. Dune + Children is probably my second favorite novel ever written, though God Emperor is close behind them.
I'm reading Children of Dune for the first time now. I'm still near the start, but I'm enjoying it so far.
Am I the only one who loved Dune Messiah?
Messiah to me feels like a stepping stone but I don't have anything bad to say about it. It was essential for Paul's character because he ::: spoiler spoiler gives up instead of following what we later learn is the Golden Path
:::
It feels like he's at the height of his prescient powers in Messiah which is important for the above spoiler.
Project Hail Mary by Andy Weir, a fun Sci-Fi story from the author of The Martian. A little heavier on the Fi than its predecessor but still quite scientific. Next on the list is the Bobiverse.
Just started this as well.
I love this book. One of the few books that I wanted to read again immediately after finishing.
I just finished blazing through Life of Pi in a single day today. I thought it would be obnoxious and tryhard, but it turned out to be a surprisingly interesting read and a hell of a page-turner. Gets a bit... weird... toward the end, but definitely a book I'd recommend, and one which I'll probably be thinking about for the next few weeks.
Onward to rereading Children of Dune!
I LOVE Life of Pi! It's one of my favorite books.
I'm reading Thinner by Stephen King. It's my first King novel and I'm really enjoying it.
I'll be finishing the last 3 Expanse books once I get my new library card after I moved over a year ago. I made the decision to read the forward and first chapter of my copy of LOTR *eta today. Damn, does it feel like it reads differently than when I read through any of them 8+ years ago. Had a touch-and-go with reading for enjoyment for a while from having to learn different organization/local SOPs for a couple years (during which I read the middle 1/3 of the Expanse). Great to get back into it, though! For Sci-Fi folks, LeVar Burton posted an article on LinkedIn this past week of top modern SciFi. He does say it's also celebrating him being included on that list. https://theportalist-com.cdn.ampproject.org/c/s/theportalist.com/adult-sci-fi-books?amp=1 Some mild webpage ad alert
Hell yeah! The expanse is such a long series, congratulations
Thanks! Fortunately, I find them to be a pretty easy read. The Sci-Fi explanations and concepts aren't overly technical, and just enough to really get a good feel for the setting and tech IMO. The first 2/3 were great. I'm really interested in what'll be going on in the time jump.
Would you recommend reading the expanse books even if someone’s seen the show??
100% even for people who would consider themselves more of a casual or infrequent reader. Anecdotally, I've found it harder to sell the show to some people after they watched the first two or three episodes compared to the books for any acquaintance I know who's into Sci-Fi/reading. The descriptions of the social/society explanations are just as well written as the series' tech, and the co-authors do a great job. At least one of them was one of GRRM's editors, so the style structure is somewhat similar, but the writing is an easier read. It is written in character chapters, so as long as that isn't a total turnoff I'd recommend them.
There are some slight differences that are typical between the show/book. I believe the first 2 seasons are mostly from book 1 and then it picks up from there. I believe it's the second book, where there is a bit more of the geopolitical storyline compared to the others. Like with most reading, you get better insight to characters' thought processes and motivations. Books 7-9 aren't touched on at all in the show, and take place after the show's end. That's all I really know about the final 1/3 of the series.
wow thanks for the in depth reply!!! I may just need to go pick up the first one at my local library and start reading haha. Thanks!!!
Finally reading Dune for the first time. Enjoying it so far, about a third of the way through. I’ve been dying to watch the movie, but I’m the book-before-movie type.
I did the same right before the movie came out. Im in the minority in my friend group but i thought the movie was great. It gave me everything i was expecting to see while reading. I can't wait for part 2 to come out!
I'm reading Essex Dogs by Dan Jones. It's a historical fiction novel about a group of mercenaries who join England's invasion of France in the 1300s. It's violent, vulgar and does an excellent job highlighting the mundane parts of war: endless marching, heat, shitty food, illness, dirt/grime/stink, insects biting you endlessly. I've stayed up until 2 AM on work nights 3 times this week because I can't put it down. I was expecting to like it, and only intended for it to be a palate cleanser between Stormlight Archives books 3-4, but I absolutely love it.
I really liked The Plantagenets by him, and he was a good guest on The Tides of History podcast. He really knows his stuff about the Hundred Years War so I expect it's very realistic and accurate.
I ended up staying up late again last night and finished the book. The sequel comes out in October and I don't want to wait that long.
Currently I am reading two books. The first is; This is your brain on music by Daniel Levitins and the second is; The subtle art of not giving a fuck by MArk Manson.
The first is really nice, but requires a lot of attention of me as termnology I am unfamiliar with is used. Yet it is able to convey tons of information on every page and the subject fascinates me.
The second is really good, very easily digest able and I like the nuance it provides on how to (amongst other things) prioritize your life.
I read years ago the Organized Mind also by Daniel Levitin. It was too broad and became kind of meh after a while. It has many interesting ideas but you need to dig for them.
I read Cell a long time ago and remember it being really good, but it almost felt like a Dean Cain book or something. Perfect airplane kind of book.
City of Beasts by Isabel Allende. Didn't realize it was for young adults until after I bought it, but it's pretty good so far!
i keep meaning to pick up Demon Copperhead. It's set in my home county. I wonder how much the author embellished and how real she kept it.
I'm currently picking my way through No Plan B. For a Reacher installment, it seems like it was slow to get rolling, and struggling to keep my attention.
How high we go on the dark is Soo good. But that roller coaster chapter gutted me.
I'm about 90% through Lonesome Dove, and the prose is just fantastic. I like how the character perspective follows the narrator's stream of consciousness. It really brings the book alive to see different perspectives on the same scene.
If you like westerns, it stands with Blood Meridian as the pinnacles of the genre for me.
Code 2nd Edition - it's a huge slog even compared to Nand2Tetris, with so many chapters focussed on Electronic Engineering.
I want to get to the end though as he added new chapters for machine learning and AI, etc. (although just before the release of ChatGPT lol)
Is it "Code: The Hidden Language of Computer Hardware and Software"? I've heard only good things about that book. Do you do any coding or related engineering? Do you think it's more or less fun the more related knowledge you have?
I work in software and was wondering if it's worth it.
Yeah, I work as a software engineer and have completed the Nand2Tetris course which is similar.
But a solid third of the book is pure electronic engineering - flip-flops, tri-state buffers, etc. with lots and lots of circuit diagrams. it almost feels like a reference guide, but as a paperback isn't useful like that. It's even less approachable than Designing Data-Intensive Applications for example.
Nand2Tetris is awesome though, that is 1000% recommended.
The Adventures of Amina Al-Sirafi. Bloody amazing.
That was the last book I finished, and it was solid. The "getting the gang back together" part was fun, and the latter half just picked up from there. Without getting too spoilery I think the last character from her past showing up, and the more fantastical shift from there on, really added a lot to the enjoyment factor.
Just finished the people's republic of Walmart quite interesting book covering some arguments for planned economy.
Reading Pachinko by Min Jin Lee. I am really enjoying it. So much that when something sad unexpectedly happen I physically closed the book and said out loud 'Noooooooo'. Took a day break from it, even.
Had a long pause for a while, but back to making my way thru all of Discworld in publishing order. I'm on Monstrous Regiment at the moment and enjoying Terry Pratchett's delightful writing as always.
Chthulu Casebooks sounds fun, I've never heard of it but I enjoy Holmes and mysteries in general, will make a note to check it out!
I'm currently reading Crossroads of Twilight by Robert Jordan. It's a pretty rough experience so far; I've basically been reading it extremely slowly since it's boring af about 50% of the way so far. This is definitely the peak of the "slog" so far that other people who have read Wheel of Time mention.
Sanderson ties the ending up masterfully.
Crossroads is the last book in the slog. If you can power through that book, the rest of the series is one great ride to the conclusion.
The next book, Knife of Dreams, is my favorite in the series! It's the last one fully penned by Jordan and he went out with a banger.
Keep going the end is worth it.
Linda Elder, Richard Paul - Critical Thinking...
I knew before I started it it's gonna be one of the most important books I will ever read in my life. After the first 12% it hasn't disappointed a bit.
I’m reading the Passage trilogy!!! Just finished book 2
I couldn't get past the time shift in the first book. It felt like it really should have been two separate novels.
Similar to Seveneves by Neal Stephenson. I couldn't even finish that one because the first 4/5 is a masterful self-contained story and the last fifth is just a completely different setting/tone/story.
I typically don’t like time jumps but I was able to get into a good bit once I kinda understood the time line.
How is book 2? No spoilers please! I read book 1 and quite liked it. The first chapter of book 1 was so well written and evocative of emotion..
It’s really good. It’s very jumpy around for about half then gets really focused on the second half. It’s so thrilling. I was trying to find time to read as much as I could.
I'm reading Social Reproduction Theory and Perrido Street Station. I like the former a lot, but the latter is incredibly dense, not in the sense that the proses are impenetrable or the vocabulary needed to read is overwhelming, but I just can't power through the book's long winded passages to set up the world building. I hate that I have to consult the map very closely to even follow what the hell he's talking about. I read the book for a good hour or two and haven't seen anything notciable happening, because the author is taking his sweet time to meticulously describe everything, before the tension, I guess.
But eh, it's really just the matter of taste. Many people love his style of writing, and honestly I could see that, somehow. As for me, I will stick around with this book for a bit longer to see if my patience pays off.
Sorry because this turns out to be a rant.
recently read 'Homecoming' by Kate Morton. it's historical fiction set in austrailia in 2018 but a large part of the story centers around the deaths of a mother and her children in 1959. i went into it mostly interested in it for the mystery aspect trying to sleuth out the answers as to what happened to the family but by the end it really hit me with the emotional threads it weaved throughout.
a fun quirk of the book is large parts of it are written as another in-universe book written on the events in 1959. so there is a lens that informs the main muder mystery pillar of the story that adds a cool layer to the narrative.
disregarding the murder mystery the book had some great interwoven character narratives that all tied beautifully together. every character was very fleshed out and felt very singular, they didn't feel archetypal. the themes of family and how it gets tied into each characters development in the story was very satisfying. i would very much recommend.
I'm currently reading Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Seas (Jules Verne). It's a lovely print of the book with beautiful etchings. I'm really enjoying it so far - it feels like a proper adventure! There's a surprising amount of science, though I guess that's why it's considered an early sci-fi.
I unfortunately don't get to do a lot of leisure reading, which is why I love the whole idea behind Bookrastinating. The last book I read is Jillian Tamaki's Boundless, which I thoroughly enjoyed for the way its stories linger. Before that, I read William Gibson's Idoru, which I enjoyed. Currently, I'm hoping to have time to dive in to Jon Courtenay Grimwood's End of the World Blues, hoping to see how this Anglophone author writes a novel set in sci-fi Japan compares with Gibson.
All very interesting reads here, by the way! (I'll try to play around with tagging your handles...)
I read Cell when it first came out and quite enjoyed it. You're certainly right about the pace, @mizu6079.
@JustJack23, that looks interesting, too, as most Verso titles are. I especially like these titles that invite a rethinking of the State of Things. That approach reminds me of Peter Frase's Four Futures: Life After Capitalism. I haven't read my copy of that yet though.
@TheaoneAndOnly27, thanks for mentioning the Cthulhu Casebooks. Sounds fascinating. Have you read Shadows Over Baker Street? That seems like something that's up your alley. Good contributors, too, for the most part!
I've been reading City of Last Chances by Adrian Tchaikovsky. I read Children of Time a few months ago and it instantly became my new favorite book. Been blowing through his bibliography every since.
City of Last Chances is the first fantasy book of his I've read and I'm digging it so far. The prose is evocative of a stage play in places, and the world building is on point. It tells the story of an occupied city teetering on the edge of revolution.
I love books that take place over a short interval of time. The Heroes by Joe Abercrombie comes to mind. So far the entire book has taken place in a week or less and is starting to wrap up. You really get to sink your teeth into this particular moment of this particular city.
Highly recommend if it can stick the landing, but Tchaikovsky has yet to miss on that front so I'm not particularly worried.
I'm reading A Woman of no Significance. I'm not usually a biography person but so far it's really good. I'm only about 15% of the way in.
I'm currently working on Children of Ash and Elm by Neil Price, an indepth dive on Vikings covering history, archeology, mythology, and so on. It's decently well reviewed and at least seems really comprehensive but I have to admit I'm having trouble getting into it and I'm mostly just grinding out 10-20 page chunks at a time before I end up dropping it to do something else.
Robin Hobb's "Realm of the Elderlings", a high fantasy series consisting of 5 trilogies. (Currently reading the second trilogy "The Liveship Traders".) I love it.
Totally in a league of her own as an epic fantasy writer IMO!
Finishing up Malazan Book of the Fallen by Steven Erikson. I'm on book 10, The Crippled God. It's taken almost 2 years because I had a kid in the middle of it.
I can't even begin to describe how dense and fantastic it is. I feel like it's spoiled fantasy for me. I can't imagine anyone else ever coming close. Going to take a break for a while and read something else before trying another series in that world.
I just started Reapers Gale. Can’t begin to describe how crazy the world building is.
I’m working my way through some of the more “pop” books. Sarah j maas, “beach reads”.
Honestly they’re all super easy and I finish them in 1-2 days. But I’m shocked at how “THE BEST BOOKS EVER” of this day and age are so downright terrible compared to the best books of like pre-2000s.
Has anyone else noticed that shift?
You're just comparing two different sets of books. I haven't read Sara J Maas but back in the 90s and auties we were getting crushed under an avalanche of Danielle Steele, Dean Koontz, and Dan Brown. If you want a contemporary fantasy author with a bit more gravitas read Catherynne Valente or Kazuo Ishiguro. Although they won't go down smooth as a beach read, maybe.
How is the SH and the Shadwell Shadows? I've had that series on my to-read list for a while but haven't touched them.
I went down a deep horror fantasy rabbit hole and I just came out of it. Now I am jumping back into discworld with Terry Pratchett for a while. I just finished The Fifth Elephant and I'm going to try to finish the watch series in the next couple weeks. I might sprinkle a few short stories in there for palette cleansers haha. Pratchett is always my favorite author to come back to after I do a deep dive on a different genre or author. It's like a warm blanket that makes me giggle.
I think of I was either a bigger Sherlock fan, or a bigger Lovecraft fan it would have been better. I feel like there were a lot of references I just didn't understand. I probably won't continue the series. But it was a fun quick read.
Well, I am neither a huge Sherlock or Lovecraft aficionado, so I'll put these books on the backburner. Thanks!
Guns, germs, and steel. I don't usually go for this sort of historical work, but it's pretty interesting. Some good stories in there.
If you're enjoying this, I might recommend The Dawn of Everything by Graeber and Wengrow. Guns, Germs, and Steel was one of the first books in that genre of "where do we come from" style books I (and a ton of people) read and loved, but it gets a fair bit of flack for skipping over stuff to support their theory.
Dawn of Everything is sort of the next step from that, it doesn't explicitly refute GGS outside of a time or two they were directly wrong so much as just be much more comprehensive and point out how insanely varied our history is and that there isn't really a one size fits all story. It's weirdly conversational, I've described it as sitting in on a lecture from a really ecentric professor, and I think it's a great fit for anyone who loved how GGS opened their eyes to common threads in our history and what that might say about the world now.
im currently in ch7 of Dawn of Everything and yea I think you described it right, i feel like im in the most interesting history class of my life with this cool interesting professor. My favorite quote so far, when talking about how valuable objects might have traveled long distances without a market economy, "But lack of imagination is not itself an argument"
If you like guns germs and steel, you may also really like the hot zone by Richard Preston. I devoured that like I’ve never devoured a nonfiction book before (I usually think they’re dry)
Oathbringer by Brandon Sanderson.
Third book in the series, bloody massive, and loving it. Damn that man can write… and write faster than I can read. 😂
I just finished Carrie by Stephen King for the first time!! It was amazing, I absolutely loved it. Cannot wait to watch the movie.
Currently almost finished of Jade City and it's just interesting enough to keep me going. Very interesting take on a magic system being like a drug, but this one is mostly about political intrigue.
If you wanted a story about an alternate history Japan with drug-magic powered Yakuza clans, then this book is for you!
I'm trying to claw my way out of a reading slump, so I went for a little stroll in the library. Went home with The Cat Who Saved Books by Sosuke Natsukawa and A Monster Calls by Patrick Ness. I needed something not too overwhelming.
I've started on The Cat Who Saved Books. It's about a high school kid who has inherited his grandfather's bookshop, which he is then planning to sell. A cat shows up and demands his help with saving some books that are trapped.
To be honest, I didn't know what the books were about when I picked them up, so I can't say much about A Monster Calls at this moment. I've heard good things about the author and I digged the illustrations.
I'm a few chapters into The Descent by Jeff Long and oh man, I'm freaked out. I've been a fan of horror for a long time but have never picked up this book, despite its praises being sung on most lit forums. If you haven't given a shot yet I highly recommend it! Don't put it off like I did! Lol
I’m about halfway through the Malazan series. Just finished getting current on mistborn and thoroughly enjoyed it.
The Case for Space by Robert Zubrin. It's really interesting and he clearly has thought a lot about how humans could live in space. The parts about the orbital mechanics of maneuvering about the Saturn system etc. can be pretty confusing though.
Just finished the novels... I found the ending very satisfying.
I'm missing a couple of short stories in that universe.
I just finished reading The Courage to be Disliked — found it quite freeing in my day to day life, a nice way of looking at the world.
Just started the first Fafhrd and the Grey Mouser books by Fritz Leiber. Can't say it's really grabbing me yet, but it's early days.
Just finished The Guns Above by Robyn Bennis which I quite liked, but I'm a huge Aubrey-Maturin fan and there is clearly some fan service done there
I've been chipping away at A Promised Land by Barack Obama, as well as listening to The 1619 Project on my commute (Audible). I'm really enjoying them but non-fiction always takes me so much longer to read than fiction. I can't wait really get in the right headspace most days, so it's more of a gradual chipping away
I'm also reading a technical book, Domain-Driven Design by Eric Evans for a work book club I help run, and we're taking that one week by week, and it's a really good book in terms of what you learn. Bit dry to read though