Finished The Passage by Justin Cronin. First book in The Passage trilogy. Overall, liked the book. The start was slow, giving me Stephen King vibes, but it picked up the pace as it went along. It was too long though, and can’t get myself to start next one right away.
Read couple of son’s books to change pace. The Ghoul in the School by Marcus Rashford and Alex Falase-Koya, the second book in The Breakfast Club Adventures. And Unexpected Super Spy by Zanib Mian, second book in Planet Omar series.
Also read, and just finished 5 mins before this post, Yumi and the Nightmare Painter by Brandon Sanderson, book 3 of his secret projects, and part of Cosmere, but a standalone book, which can be read without any knowledge of his other work. I loved this book. Like most of his “secret projects” books, couldn’t put it down once I picked it up.
Currently Reading… nothing. Just finished the previous book and haven’t decided what to start next… leaning towards next Dresden Files novel though… let’s see.
What about all of you? What have you been reading or listening to lately?
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Because ADHD I usually have at least 4 books underway at the same time.
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I’m just about to finish Years of Rice and Salt by Kim Stanley Robinson.
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I just started Piranesi by Susanna Clarke.
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I’m also reading A City on Mars, a nonfiction book by Kelly and Zach Weinersmith.
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I started re-reading the Area X trilogy by Jeff Vandermeer, I think I’m still in Annihilation.
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I also started re-reading Dune by Frank Herbert, but honestly it’s such a slog that I think I got halfway through before getting frustrated. The worldbuilding may be interesting but holy shit is Herbert’s writing turgid.
Upvote for the use of the word turgid.
But yes it is. I found that to be the case with the Foundation series as well. I read them when I was younger - perhaps I skimmed them, or I’m just getting picky as I get older.
I’m definitely getting pickier as I get older. Back in my 20’s I went through all the Dune books, including the ones written by Frank’s son which are… well, even worse. Doubt I could do it now. Probably the same with Foundation too if I tried reading them again.
Glad it’s not just me ;-)
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Listening to The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy audiobook. I read it once ages ago, and am enjoying getting to all the good parts I only vaguely remember. It holds up pretty well, there’s a reason people are still quoting it. I use the term “excitingly chunky” to describe the “developer chic” style of buildings that are getting slung up around me.
The biggest issue so far is that Trillian is the most fleshed-out woman in the series, and she’s basically a cardboard cutout that has “girlfriend” hastily written on it. It might get better later on (I’m almost done with the 3rd book), but I don’t recall it happening. I know it’s not really the point of the series, but as someone that doesn’t tend to notice this sort of thing, it was very noticeable.
Found all the Animorphs books online and I’m reading them for the nostalgia. I forgot how weird they are lol.
I am also reading a DnD campaign book because I’m DMing on Sunday
How is the Animorphs series? My kid is still at level of “Diary of Wimpy Kid” books, but these look like interesting next step. Maybe, not right now, but in an year or two. Also, any other recommendations for a kid around 10?
Animorphs is really weird. I’ve heard they get really dark at some point.
As for other kids books, it depends on the reading level. I’ve always been super good at it, so I’m not a good judge. I enjoyed the Boxcar Children books, Captain Underpants, the Percy Jackson books, Eggs, Jeremy Fink and the Meaning of Life, some book about sapient squirrels where one had a sword, The View from Saturday, Love that Dog, and a bunch of other books I’m forgetting.
I read a TON as a kid. Like an obscene amount of reading.
Thanks! I think it’s a bit early for Percy Jackson books, will lookup the others.
Tried to get my kid into Harry Potter, but he only read 3-4 pages and didn’t like it. Maybe it was a bit early, or maybe just not his taste.
I am constantly looking for more books for him, so if you think of, or find anything else, let me know.
No problem!
‘The dark half’ by Stephen King, almost finished the book. The last books I read also were Stephen King’s, I like how the stories go, it’s unexpected every time. Loved ‘Cujo’ and ‘The Institute’ particularly (Running man was good too) !
I love most of Kings books but Kujo is one I just didn’t really get into / enjoy that much for what ever reason. The Dark Half and The Institute are great though!
Just finished reading it. I agree with you, it’s a great book, and the ending was, indeed, unexpected!
I just finished Consider Phlebas by Iain M. Banks. It was very good
I read Consider Phlebas long time ago, and didn’t like it enough to continue the series. It has been long enough that maybe I should give the series another try.
IMO it’s the weakest of the series. The next two books, The Player of Games or Use of Weapons are much better, at least to me. Use of Weapons is great, but has a somewhat challenging narrative structure of two intermixed timelines, so if that’s not your thing The Player of Games would probably be a good one to try.
Thanks for the recommendation. Will re-read the first book (it has been so long I don’t really remember anything from it) and then read the next one to see if the series if for me or not.
Have you read the other Culture books, or is this your first one? I just found out now that there’s !theculture@lemm.ee that could use some posts if you have anything you want to share about it. If you haven’t read it yet (or if anybody else is curious for a quick taste of the series), here’s the author writing a few notes on it:
http://www.vavatch.co.uk/books/banks/cultnote.htm
I thought this was also a good read, though it does have a few spoilers across the first few books:
Nope, this was my first one. I read a lot of SF/hard SF but it took me a while to get on to this series even though it is pretty famous. It was really well written in my opinion which is not always common in the genre. I have now started the second book.
As an aside, I will always take an opportunity to recommend my favorite SF author, Alastair Reynolds. His stuff is 🤌
Nice! It’s been a while since I’ve read any of his stuff. I should be done with my current book soon, what are a few of your favorites from him?
A fun standalone one is Hous of Suns, not part of any of his larger collections. In the Revelation Space series, Chasm City is a good one which can also be done by itself, or The Prefect (formerly Aurora Rising, not sure what the details of the name situation are) which is the first of a trilogy set within the Rev Space series and is tangentially related to Chasm City.
Caliban’s War (book two of the Expanse). I think this is only my first reread? apparently it’s the only book I’m reading at the moment which is pretty unusual
Finally cracking into the He Who Fights with Monsters series. Enjoying the first book so far. The voice actor has a good voice.
Wanted to comment about He Who Fights with Monsters, I’m currently listening to Book 11 and am a little bit in awe how the protagonist is somehow extremely powerful but at the same time the writer still manages to keep him out of the “overpowered protagonist”-trap.
He’s still the same old likeable Aussie we met in book 1 but has gone through some powerful character arcs.
Definitely my favourite LitRPG/Isekai book series.
I’ve had a hard time getting into books for a number of years, but I recently read Lovecraft Country, and just dove into the sequel “The Destroyer of Worlds.”
A friend introduced me to Matt Ruff’s writing back in '95 wit Fool on the Hill, and I’ve been a fan ever since.
Never heard of it, but it looks interesting, will check it out.
The wisdom of crowds and Hyperion
Typically I have multiple books going on at the same time for varietys sake, usually fiction and some-non fiction.
Right now I have besides me as my non-fiction choice; “Baltic Cities - Perspectives on urban and regional change in the Baltic sea area”, ed. Martin Åberg & Martin Peterson.
As my fiction book I’m nearing the end of “Termination Shock” by Neal Stephenson.
“Hitch-22, A Memoir” -Christopher Hitchens
I re-listen to it once a year. R.I.P. Hitch.
Currently reading:
Next up:
I’ve currently got three on the go, because I’m like that. For my non-fiction, read-with-my-eyes selections, there’s two.
First, The Rebellious Life Of Mrs. Rosa Parks by Jeanne Theoharis has been really interesting. I’m not American, and so didn’t learn about her more than “she helped kick start the civil rights movement in the US by refusing to give up her seat on the bus”. It’s weird how much her story has been written over and forgotten, and I’ve enjoyed learning about her and all of her efforts, not just the single one she’s known for.
Next up, The Little Book Of Satanism by La Carmina has been fascinating. I’ve always been intrigued by the idea of religion, but am an avid atheist. I am however quite familiar with the history of how Christianity grew and took over the western world before morphing into the unrecognizable behemoth it is today, and with it, some incredibly toxic ideas have grown as well. The history of the idea of satan lives in this same ideology, and this book explores the history of where the idea of a devil comes from, and explains how the thing that Christians fear most sprang up from their own ideas. Fascinating stuff.
And lastly, I’m listening to Witch King by Martha Wells while I’m at work, and I’m going to be honest here, but I really don’t have a clue what’s going on in this story. I’m going to have to return to this book again one day, and probably read it with my eyes instead of my ears. The story is interesting, though, despite my struggle to follow along
I should look up The Rebellious Life Of Mrs. Rosa Parks, it sounds pretty interesting
It is! Turns out she had spent a lifetime fighting back. It wasn’t just some isolated incident, and she was far from the first person to refuse to give up her seat. The book sets all this straight.
Cool. Already added it to my wishlist. Will get it soon.
I’m still finishing up with Good Omens by Neil Gaiman, but I got a Kobo ereader recently and have started to read The Stand by Stephen King. I have 36hrs to go apparently!
Edit: The Stand and not The Strand.
36 hours! That’s long. Though, that’s mostly how King’s books are.
Apparently, King went back and re-edited/revised The Stand to add things he liked and remove stuff he thought was pointless narrative, which made the book even longer.
I may also be reading a little slower to fully take in the words I’m reading. I think I have a habit of reading too fast and so I’m not really taking in a fuller picture of what I’m reading. So, not sure if that also factors in?
I didn’t like The Stand much. I read it a long time ago, and was pretty young back then, but I always though the book would’ve been great if he had just cut out half of the stuff.
Funny story, for a long time I kept confusing it with The Shining, and whenever people would mention Shining as his best work, I would always reply that well, it was just okay, and too long. It was only somewhat recently when I figured out that The Stand is a different book and I have never actually read The Shining 😀
Apparently, in 1990, it “was reprinted as The Complete & Uncut Edition. King restored over 400 pages of text that had been removed from his original manuscript, revised the order of the chapters, shifted the novel’s setting 10 years forward from 1980 to 1990, and accordingly corrected a number of cultural references.” according to Wikipedia.
I haven’t been able to put the book down but, I think I can see where young you was coming from. I’ve just got up to where a lot of stuff kicks off and that’s at least 600 pages in with 2200 odd left. The Shining is 447…
But, I absolutely loved The Shining and would recomend going to read the actual version of it, and not it’s strange much longer cousin, lol. It’s one of my favourites, along with Neverwhere by Neil Gaiman and Dissolution by C.J. Samson
Making it even longer? I just checked my copy, it’s the 80s version, with only 800 or so pages.
I’ll check out The Shining, and the other favourites you have mentioned.
Apologies, it’s 1153 pages. It’s 2830 on the reader though. But, yes, he restored 400 pages that had originally been removed from the original.
I would like to read The Shining again. Maybe later this year, or next.
Enjoy :)
I’ve started reading Uprooted by Naomi Novik and Sea of Tranquility by Emily St. John Mandel. Uprooted is going more pleasantly than I was expecting. I’ve heard a lot of mixed opinions about it but so far I’m enjoying it. It’s too early to form an opinion on Sea of Tranquility but it’s been a good read so far as well.
