Sorry missed last week’s post, just busy with life.
The silver lining is, I don’t have to stay “still reading” for yet another week, as I finally finished Whispers Underground by Ben Aaronovitch. Book 3 of Rivers of London series.
Yet another case involving magic in London and the Police solving it.
What about all of you? What have you been reading or listening to lately?
For details on the c/Books bingo challenge that just restarted for the year, you can checkout the initial Book Bingo, and its Recommendation Post. Links are also present in our community sidebar.
I finished Master and Margarita a couple of weeks back - it was great! Surreal and funny, plus a brilliant satire of Russian society at the time. Knowing how certain elements of the plot reflect the author’s own experiences make it particularly poignant.
Yesterday I finished reading Old Man’s War. Really enjoyed it! An interesting premise, fascinating technology & alien races coupled with some genuinely moving moments. The exploration of the implications of war and life extension were surprisingly well thought out for what I expected to be a comedic/light-hearted novel. I look forward to reading more in the series.
I have just started To Kill a Mockingbird - somehow I’ve got this far in life without reading it. Will see how it goes!
I’m reading Lady Eve’s Last Con by Rebecca Fraimow and listening to Roll for Love by M.K. England during commutes. They are both pretty fluffy, but fun so far
Halfway done with The Last Emperox. It’s the last book in a space opera trilogy. Mankind is spread across the galaxy in an imperial system that forces all settlements to not be fully self sufficient in order to incentive peaceful coexistence. FTL travel doesn’t exist and thus trade can only be done with space ships via a complex network of wormholes.
The whole premise is that network is collapsing, which would leave billions of people stranded with a bleak future of them slowly burning through their last supplies. It follows the actions of the emperor’s actions taken to save as many lives as possible while trying to fend off assassination attempts from ambitious short-sighted nobles trying to gain the upper hand during the empire’s collapse.
That sound like a fun series. Will you recommend it?
Edit: Just looked it up, it’s by John Scalzi, I have most of his already in my wishlist, so will get it sooner or later.
I definitely recommend it.
I absolutely do. Glad you have it on a list somewhere, it’s a good read.
The Empyrean series by Rebecca Yarros, I’m not ashamed to admit.
Read what you like, no need for feeling ashamed 😀
I just finished Alchemised. Amazing love story set during a civil war, but also a story about the way we see ourselves and the way we’re remembered.
By SenLinYu?
In this riveting dark fantasy debut, a woman with missing memories fights to survive a war-torn world of necromancy and alchemy—and the man tasked with unearthing the deepest secrets of her past.
^ This one?
That’s the one, apparently based off of a Dramione fan-fic from what I got told by my partner.
Quick Edit: check those content warnings.
Still plugging away at The Wandering Inn webserial…now on book 8.
Have fun!
Dungeon Crawler Carl. It’s fun so far, but I’m starting to suspect it’s going to be a bit repetitive.
I’m on book 5 right now. It’s kept my interest so far. The repetitive bits are usually comforting. It’s encouraging to know that the series does end.
How many books are there total?
Started the second Mistborn book by Sanderson. The first one was good and the second is still holding my interest. I think the plot and lore he’s created is top notch but his prose and overall writing style is rather meh. I’m about to start taking a shot of Bourbon for everytime a character rolls their eyes or signs in conversation.
I am not someone who is a good judge of what is good or bad writing, but this is one of his earliest work and it’s said that his later books improve a lot. Though he is generally loved for his world-building and stories, rather than beauty of his prose.
I’ve long adored Social Origins Of Dictatorship And Democracy, so I’m thinking of picking up some of Barrington Moore Jr’s other work - ideally,
Injustice: The Social Bases of Obedience and Revolt
and/or
Authority and Inequality under Capitalism and Socialism: USA, USSR, and China.
I vote for Authority and Inequality under Capitalism and Socialism: USA, USSR, and China!
I’m currently reading Men at Arms (Terry Pratchett), and it’s delightful!
I’m roughly 1/3 of the way through all of the Discworld books.
I finished all the Super Powereds related stuff that’s out. The main series and one spin off that may get a sequel in the future. There’s also a potential follow up that happens 20-ish years later.
Fun books in general with a little patience needed for areas where it really could have been tightened up. But I would feel comfortable recommending it to someone. Overall probably high B or low A tier.
Now I’m on to Someone You Can Build a Nest In by John Wiswell. It’s had pretty good reviews and is quite cozy.
Interesting, will take a look. (I think I said that last time, but didn’t actually take a look 😀 )
Neuromancer by William Gibson. Slowly realising how many cyberpunk books cribbed his homework.
It’s crazy to me how much this book is the root of the cyberpunk tree. So much of the terminology is identical across the genre. Great book!
Recently started the second book in the Bobiverse series. Really enjoyed the first one, but I did have to try a couple times to get into it. Once I did though, I couldn’t put it down. The audiobook is narrated by Ray Porter who also does Project Hail Mary. Great narrarator.
Finished Project Hail Mary, Andy Weir, a little over a week ago, and finally dove into Wind and Truth, Brandon Sanderson. I’d been putting this off since I have a problem with finishing a series, or chunk of one in this case.
While I still love The Stormlight Archive, I think I’ve come to realize that Sanderson doesn’t write believable enough dialogue for me. It comes across as flat and somewhat childish. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
Only just finished River of Blue Fire, Tad Williams, and will likely finish book three and four of the quartet for my active audiobook.
What are your thoughts on Project Hail Mary? My wife’s sister recommended it so my wife started it but she wasn’t vibing with it.
I really enjoyed Project Hail Mary, but I can see how it’s not for everyone. There’s a lot of math and science talk which I enjoyed, but could feel textbooky for some. It’s a fairly quick read so I’d recommend trying a few more chapters to see if it clicks, and moving on if not. Different strokes and whatnot!
Ah fair, my SIL is an engineer so I’m not surprised by that. My wife and I are both in the biology fields so we aren’t affraid of science talk. Maybe the math makes the audiobook harder to digest and a physical copy would be better to try.
I finished Cryptonomicon by Neal Stephenson this week. Great read! Stephenson is a very long-winded and meandering author but I love it every time.
I just got a copy of House of Leaves by Mark Z. Danielewski because I was inspired by mushroommonk (I don’t know how to tag users) here in the comments. Super excited to finally crack this one open.
I am also about to start in on Ursula Le Guin but I dont know if I should start with The Left Hand of Darkness or The Word for World is Forest.
