What's Lemmy reading?
There's a thread about how people find new books, and one of my favorite ways to find things to read was browsing comments from the weekly 'What are you reading' threads in r/truelit and r/books. So what is Lemmy reading?
I'm finishing The Passenger, and about to jump into John Williams' Stoner. Excited to see what is next!
The Three-Body Problem by Liu Cixin. I love reading science fiction from people with engineering and science backgrounds. Another good book I finished recently was Project Hail Mary by Andy Weir.
Project Hail Mary was such a fun read for me! I loved how concrete the engineering problems were throughout the book. It kept me tied to the stakes of the story.
Haven’t been able to finish Three Body Problem, unfortunately, it kind of lost me within the first 100 pages. May have to give it another shot! I hear a lot of good things about it.
This book seems to have an equal measure of haters to fans but I loved the entire series. As it goes on it gets weird but imo was soo worth the read. Enjoy!
If that's your vibe, try Blindsight by Peter Watts. It's a very technical examination of the phenomenon of consciousness which isn't afraid to get into the weeds, but never quite gets lost in them.
Blindsight was great, I need to read it a second time.
Right? It just slaps so hard.
Do we perhaps know each other IRL? Blindsight was great, but I still have the nagging sense that I missed a big portion of it. Definitely mind expanding.
That book (three-body) was weeeeird. Really thought it was going to go in a very different direction during the introductory chapters.
I don't know if I liked it but it sure made me think about stuff!
I still haven't finished it so I am still forming an overall opinion, but its certainly interesting so far.
Man - 3 body problem (and the whole series) were a great read. What kind blowing shifts in perspective.
Greg Egan is another great author like that. Diaspora is a posthumanist acid trip with a ton of esoteric math thrown in. Absolute blast.
Awesome, adding that one to my reading list!
Noted
I just picked up a copy of house of leaves. Saw it referenced a few times in some other media I liked and figured I may as well check out the book itself.
One of my favourite books of all time. Do you have the full colour edition?
Yes! I splurged for the hardcover because I thought it would be a book I'd want to go back to a few times later on, and I'm really happy with how high quality it is.
Just finished Annihilation by Jeff VanderMeer (loved it, just discovered the "new weird" genre and it's totally my vibe). Now started reading The Name of the Rose by Umberto Eco, the structure of the book and the setting seems cool and intriguing.
Both great reads. I'd also recommend the second and third books following Annihilation, just know they are quite different. Good, but different.
If you liked Anniliation and the rest of the trilogy (well worth it!), Check out Our Wives Under The Sea by Julia Armfeild.
Man, I read the book maybe two years ago and it just... sort of left no impression. The world was neat and weird but fuck it was weird. Maybe I need to consider a re-read at some point.
I also just finished it
You're a few ahead of me on the re-read; Lords and Ladies is my next one. I'm taking my time though, I started in 2019.
GNU Terry Pratchett.
That's great! Whenever I'm feeling down, his books are mental comfort food that help me re-center. GNU sir Pterry!
Just got a few books from my local library that I'm excited to start. I'm starting off with "Focused Forward: Navigating the Storms of Adult ADHD" by James M. Ochoa which I picked out because it was the smallest book in the ADHD category, ha.
I also got a book on Linux/Unix, Diabetes, a workbook for Bipolar, a healthy snack book, and an organization book. Not too too sure if I'll be able to finish it all by the time they're due, but its a nice varied selection.
That second paragraph is peak ADHD lol.
I mean you aren't wrong! Hahaa.
The Expanse, the whole book trilogy!
It's a bit more than a trilogy lol. It's a nonology!
Amazing series, be sure to check out the novellas as well! There are some guides online that will tell you where they happen chronologicaly
Just started book 8 of The Expance series
I just finished up reading The Return of the King for the first time since childhood. I like it a lot more than I remember. I think two things stuck out at me most: how dense it was compared to modern fantasy and how great the hobbits were portrayed. Fantasy tends to portray great heroes that came from nothing (ex. the chosen one/orphan trope). However, the hobbits were solely because they were common that they were able to do things the great heroes of their age couldn't.
Since then I've started reading Vineland by Thomas Pynchon. I kept hearing Pynchon's name come up for about a month at random and figured I should pick up one of his books. He has a very frenetic style that can be a bit difficult to parse but I'm loving his sense of humor.
H.P. Lovecraft - Tales of Horror
I've been blown away by all of this, up until the one I'm currently powering my way through (*Dream Quest of Unknown Kadath). It isn't terrible, though. Just feels very out of place after the overall tone and flow of his other work within the volume.
I love his dream cycle stuff, it's so vivid, but it's definitely jarring read alongside the horror.
It certainly has its moments, when his description of something really stirs something inside of you and lights up your imagination. I loved this one:
"There is a great canal which goes under the whole city in a tunnel with granite gates and leads to the inland lake of Yath, on whose farther shore are the vast clay-brick ruins of a primal city whose name is not remembered. As the ship drew into the harbour at evening the twin beacons Thon and Thal gleamed a welcome, and in all the million windows of Baharna's terraces mellow lights peeped out quietly and gradually as the stars peep out overhead in the dusk, till that steep and climbing seaport became a glittering constellation hung between the stars of heaven and the reflections of those stars in the still harbour."
The Unbearable Lightness of Being by Milan Kundera, a
Taking me back!
A Clockwork Orange!
After quitting Reddit finally getting to my book backlog. The Expanse: The Sins of Our Fathers and then got to pick another old Star Trek book.
Currently reading "Spies: The Epic Intelligence War Between East and West," by Calder Walton.
Currently Reading The Blade Itself by Joe Abercrombie. Also trying to get a Lovecraft book club off the ground over at ![email protected]
I am deciding between finishing the long way to a Small angry planet or starting howls moving castle
I just started reading 'The Name of the Wind' by Patrick Rothfuss.
Picked a good time to start on that series.
Currently I'm finishing the fifth book of the Wheel Of Time by Robert Jordan. Next will be the sixth book of the Wheel Of Time by Robert Jordan :)
@Kebab
Heck yeah! Books 5 and 6 are among the fan favorites.
@literature
Terry Pratchett's Jingo, currently. After that, more discworld.
Making my way through Tigana by Guy Gabriel Kay. Really enjoying it so far.
What a fantastic book! It is a really great read!
Bumped, a feminist dystopia where only teenagers can reproduce. The book is very confusing to get into (it's narrated by two teenagers in 2036, so you need to learn alll the slangs) and the writing style rubbed me off as amateurish, but it's been very entertaining nevertheless. It gets even funny when you get what's going on because teens be teens.
Tress of the Emerald Sea by Brandon Sanderson
Got all three volumes of Capital on a whim, not very engaging lol.
I'm working my way through Thinking, Fast and Slow at a chapter a day. It took me a minute to get his point (well near the 30% mark, that is) but it's illuminating about how people think.
What a great book. Keep going - worth it
Want to learn more about the team who did this work? The Undoing Project by Michael Lewis is a great read about how Kahneman and Amos Tversky collaborated on it.
Oh that sounds good. Thanks for the rec!
Can You Forgive Her? by Anthony Trollope and The Count of Monte Cristo by Alenxandre Dumas.
I know everybody loves The Count. I didn't love it - it could be that the audiobook was trying to hard, but it felt just a little too perfect...
Though I'm not much of a reader anymore, my wife has been absolutely obsessed with Sarah J Maas' Throne of Glass series. I enjoy listening to her talk about it and sum up the stories, wouldn't be surprised if it ended up on Netflix soon.
Any recommendations for audiobooks to listen to at work? I'm big on science/science fiction and philosophy, anything that challenges my way of thinking really.
Well, I'm using Bookwyrm to keep track of that.
Now I'm reading Wheel Of Time, stuck on the 4th book.
Loved Wheel of Time, but damn does it slow down a lot after the first three books. There are some really awesome moments in the next ones but there are so many threads to follow that the overall story sometimes barely moves in the course of a book. It speeds back up again a little after Sanderson takes over for the last three.
Yeah, that's why I've stopped reading it. But its so good to learn English, I sometimes return to it over and over again.
I've also liked The Black Company series, that was a good read for like 3 first books.
@derek
One of us
One of us
I forced myself to finish book 10 which is said to be the most boring one. Lost motivation to finish the series and still stuck at book 11. Still hoping to pick it up and finish the series one day.
Something like that was with me and Dark Tower. I've tried to read it for 3 times, but I'm always stop at Susanna's song.
I've been getting into beekeeping so I'm soaking up as much info as I can. Just finished up Honey Bee Democracy by Tom Seeley. Fantastically interesting book regarding honey bee swarm preferences and decision making. Next up is an English translation of Beekeeping for All by Émile Warré, mostly because I want to read his thoughts on his hive style and management practices.
Roots by Alex Haley The Boat of a Million Years by Poul Anderson Ten Years of Madness: Oral Histories of China's Cultural Revolution by Feng Jicai
I'd highly recommend We are legion we are Bob and off to be the wizard to any fellow tech nerds
We are legion we are bob is about a guy whose brain is uploaded as an AI into a Von Neumann probe and sent into space to explore the universe.
Off to be the wizard is about a guy who finds out the world is some kind of simulation, and there's essentially one big file detailing absolutely everything that can be edited, uses it to go back in time and live as a wizard and make spells with his programming skills
Both of them have plenty of nerdy references and humour, would highly recommend
Finished up To Sleep in a Sea of Stars by Christopher Paolini last week. Was a great read, a loooong book though. Just noticed that there is a prequel to the book so perhaps I will read that at some point, though it was not available at my library (at least as e-book).
Currently got nothing to read. And actually due to me being here instead of reddit I am cutting down on internet-time anyway so it would be a good time to start a new book. I have some ideas like Neuromancer, Slaughterhouse five, Project Hail Mary, The Forever War and Arrival but perhaps I'll find something completely different. I also read the Elder Race by Tchaikovsky a few months back and it was great, perhaps I'll read another one of their books next.
nobody reads this junk here so i'll just shout at a cloud
a deadly education, naomi novik - this should finally unjam the block i've had on fiction; i don't do well with fiction when the world is burning. i've picked this up and set it down many times, but the novelty is that normally, a fiction book that stops after the halfway point to do world-building is one that will end up propping open a door. but in this one the late add increased my interest.
keep my heart in san francisco, amelia diane coombs - an adorable fluffy book set nearby that ended up on the to-be-finished pile during some political firestorm or other.
guide du routard, catalogne - americans don't want to see what i want to see and american guidebooks know it. i often drag in other people's guidebooks when i think about going other people's places.
I read this junk!
Started book #9 of Malazan this morning on a flight. It's been a long ride, and I'm looking forward to a climax. That's literature, right? ;)
Last night I started reading Children of Time out loud to my GF as we fell asleep. It triggered an excellent conversation about biological imperatives and evolution. Plus, Portia is cool ;)
I'm just now finishing Gardens of the Moon. I usually read sci fi instead of fantasy. Not sure how I feel about the book yet. I'll give the 2nd one a try for sure.
I hope you enjoy Children of Time. It's an excellent book IMO.
I really need to get back into reading, the last series I read was The Stormlight Archive and I really want to read some more Cosmere books
Tress of the Emerald Sea is a great light book to get back into the Cosmere.
So I've heard, its been on my mind as the next Cosmere book to read once I got back into reading
You will not regret that journey!
I really enjoyed the Expanse books, so just started one of the Author's other series, the Long Price Quartet
Currently listening to Dust by Hugh Howey (book 3 of the Wool/Silo books)
Ive also been slowly reading MaddAddam by Margeret Atwood (book 3 of the MaddAddam series)
How is the narration? I've noticed that even my favorite books are so boring if the narrator is bad.
Personally ive been enjoying it a lot. But i also listen to a lot of audio books. There arent a lot of times ive had to stop listening to books. I think a lot of modern audio narration has gotten really good
I just did a re-read (or relisten) of Dust because of the Apple adaptation!
Also I read the Maddaddam series last year and found it to be enjoyable and very well written.
Wool (all of it) is awesome.
I've been reading Manufacturing Consent lately after hearing so much about it. It's very interesting through the new introduction and the first part, where the propaganda model is explained, but it drags some as the authors try to apply it to certain historical events, like the 1984 Nicaraguan Election.
Still, it's interesting, and while the model still applies to mainstream media today, the advent of the internet, smartphones, and social media's resulting displacement of mass media has lessened its effectiveness.
I'm currently reading Oblomov by Goncharov, after it I might jump to "Ears of corn under your sickle" by Karatkievič
I’m reading through Le Guin’s Earthsea cycle for the first time, and I’m currently on Tales from Earthsea. Fantastic, unique books.
I just started Klara and the Sun. Also listening to The Amazing Adventures of Kavilier and Clay (Soo good).
Book Club is reading Accelerando (3rd time for me). Just finished Singularity Sky and Iron Sunrise.
Next up: the new Cormac McCarthy, Consider Phlebas.
Kim Harrison’s Demons of Good and Evil that just came out yesterday :)
My partner is almost done with it already and is dying to talk about it but I’m taking my time xD
I'm trying to crawl out of a proper reading slump, so I'm starting out soft. The Cat Who Saved Books by Sosuke Natsukawa. I don't know much about the book, I just found it while taking a stroll in the library and it really caught my eye!
I just finished I, Robot. I actually didn't expect to find Asimov so compelling. In general, I've never been too into the classic sci-fi authors, instead preferring more modern lighter sci-fi. I'm now reading River of Gods by Candace Millard.
History of Western Philosophy by Bertrand Russell. Going for a cursory overview because of Philosophy club at my uni that has pretty cool people.
Finished up my reread of Dune and onto Dune Messiah. I also have House of Leaves and Beckett Molloy trilogy in the wings to start at some point.
Finished reading The Once and Future Witches by Alix E Harrow (4.5 stars), and now am juggling between Upgrade by Blake Crouch, and Emily Wilde's Encyclopaedia of Faeries by Heather Fawcett.
Just getting started on the last book of the Cradle series by Will Wight. Enjoyed the first 11, and hoping it's as good!
Reading through Attached by Amir Levine, recommended to me by my therapist. It talks about different types of people's ability to form attachments and relationships with others. I've definitely learned a lot about myself so far and I'm only halfway through.
Essex Dogs. It's a historical fiction novel about a band of mercenaries aiding England's invasion of France in the 1300s. It's my palate cleanser after finished the third Stormlight Archives novel.
After read the Stormlight Archives, one needs a "breather". Epic story. I think I read "Vagina" after. Needed something non-fiction.
Absolutely a breather is necessary. I only read fiction but of course I'm reading Essex Dogs too fast, and I've accidentally stayed up until 2 AM the last two nights reading it in bed. I might need to throw in another palate cleanser novel after it before I start Rhythm of War. I've had Us Against You sitting on my shelf, side-eyeing my for quite awhile now, so maybe that?
A historic description of the life of Finnish executioners. Pretty dope stuff!
Re-reading Kaiju Preservation Society because I needed something light and fun. It still delivers on that promise !
Nona the Ninth (third book in The Locked Tomb series, which starts with Gideon the Ninth)
I am absolutely loving this series, I had no idea what I was getting into. Solid plot, great style, fun, super clever. Highly recommend.
The Case for Space by Robert Zubrin. It's really good so far, it goes into such detail you can really tell the guy has spent his career and lifetime seriously thinking about how humans might live outside of Earth whether that be the Moon, Mars or the Asteroid Belt.
If you haven't read The Anthropocene Reviewed by John Green, you gotta.
Tell me more! Why?
Well, I'm something of a doomer, and it made me feel more hopeful, somehow? Uplifted? Plus, he's an amazing writer with the power to make you give a shit about the smallest things. It was a lovely experience.
I'm reading a book of short stories by John Sayles, called The Anarchists' Convention. There have been some absolute bangers so far.
Very interesting! Added to my list!
Sayles is great, especially his dialogue. He is a pretty compelling filmmaker as well.
Nabokov's Ada, or Ardor. As usual, I'm also slowly making my way through Joyce's Finnegans Wake in parallel to whatever else I'm reading.
A random question: is anybody aware of active modern writers with mastery of style comparable to Nabokov's?
Currently halfway through Mercury Pictures Presents, and almost finished with a reread of EVE: The Burning Life.
I've been working through Solenoid by Mircea Cartarescu for the past few months. It's a monster of a book, and some of the writing is really great (very Kafka-esque). There's unfortunately a bit of awkward sex writing, too, but it hasn't pulled from the good writing by any means.
This is going to hurt by Adam Kay, a funny biography from a UK first-year doctor
Currently listening to Dust by Hugh Howey (book 3 of the Wool/Silo books)
Ive also been slowly reading MaddAddam by Margeret Atwood (book 3 of the MaddAddam series)
just finishing The Indifferent Stars Above about the Donner party - really great. these folks were built of different stock than we are.
I've just picked picked up The Girls by Emma Cline. Not far into it yet but the premise intrigues me with the combo of historical fiction + disaster girl vibes.
About 50% through Witch King by Martha Wells, and am so far highly enjoying whatever is going on with this worldbuilding.
i didn't realise that was out already! it's a different world to murderbot?
I confess this is my first book by Ms Wells (If the plot holds I'm totally going to pick up more). This one is very fantasy, no sci-fi, I think it's a standalone?
She also wrote City of Bones which is another fantastic read. It is a standalone fantasy-esque story as well, but definitely worth a read.
Finished the sequel to Becky Chamber’s A Psalm For The Wild-Built. Can’t recommend this series more highly for a glimpse into a calming and peaceful alternative future.
I was so gutted to hear there won't be a third book, the series is my favourite recent discovery.
What? I had no idea it wasn’t continuing. That’s so sad to hear.
How does it compare to A Long Way to a Small Angry Planet? I read that whole series, but the first book was my favorite out of all of them.
I've read that series as well. Both are amazing, but I prefer the Monk and Robot (Psalm of the Wild-Built) series a bit more. If you liked A Long Way To A Small Angry Planet, I don't think you'll be disappointed.
I'm reading (or rather listening to) The Royal Succession by Maurice Druon - it's a historical fiction series about the kings of France in the 14th century. I've really liked the series so far!
I'm reading The Bible for Dummies now lol. I wasn't raised religiously, but I do find it important to have knowledge about other people's beliefs. It analyses the bible, but before that it gives you a very good idea of the origin of Christianity and how it's linked to other Abrahamistic religions. Would recommend if you're interested in learning about religion.
That sounds really interesting! I'm currently reading a book in the same vein called Misquoting Jesus: The Story Behind Who Changed the Bible and Why by Bart D. Ehrman. As a formerly religious person it's giving me some really interesting insight into how the bible was written, and how changes occurred and what motivated them.
Just started a series called Slip Runner. Two guys and a ship pickup scrap from alien ships after the war ends.
I like going on Amazon and searching "scifi boxset". You find some interesting stuff.
I'm reading The Historian by Elizabeth Tova. It's been a difficult read because I have to actively fight the urge to skip ahead and see what happens—the story is so tense and stressful and I can't take it LOL.
@pptouchi
I'm reading Harrow the Ninth by Tamsyn Muir
Children of Memory by Adrian Tchaikovsky. It’s the third in a really awesome, incredibly well thought-out sci-fi series.
I read the Elder Race by him a few weeks back and it was great. Perhaps I need to look into his other works.
I'm reading count zero by Willson Gibson. Its the sequel to neuromancer and so far it's pretty different. A whole different vibe, I'm not sure if I like it yet.
I felt the same, like the Sprawl trilogy was really two close but different works (1 + 2&3) smashed into one. Personally, while I liked Count Zero, and despite the close ties, it's Mona Lisa Overdrive that I had the most difficult time to finish.
Currently trying to finish a book called Les protégés de Sainte Kinga (only available in French I'm afraid, it's recent and really obscure), the story mixes historical fiction with current-day crime fiction. The settings and scenario are interesting, but I'm not too fond of the writing style and the storytelling.
Since November I'm slowly working through the The Witcher books. Just finished the 5th book recently and currently looking for a book I can read before I continue with the 6th book. Normally I read mostly in german but I'm thinking about picking a english book as my next book.
Read Hard-Boiled Wonderland and the End of the World by Haruki Murakami, and liked the dreamy atmosphere. Currently reading Kafka on the Shore by same author. Many people recommended Norwegian Wood so that is also on the reading list.
I'm reading the savage detectives by Bolaño. I read it about 6 months ago and haven't stopped thinking about it. Re-reading it now in Spanish to help practice the language and it's great. He writes pretty simply and i can't put it down!
I'm currently working my way through The Infinite and The Divine by Robert Rath. I think it could be enjoyable without knowledge of Warhammer 40k, but it is set in that universe. One of the better extended universe type stories I have read so far.
I also want to start in on some of the programming books sitting on my shelf, and maybe finally start on American Psycho, but so far I've been busier reading comics and stuff on Lemmy.
Nothing right now but I have Foundryside coming tomorrow which I am looking forward to
I loved the Divine Cities, going to be starting Foundryside soon too.
It arrived an hour ago. Roll on the end of the day!