I downloaded a bunch of classics from Project Gutenberg. I'm reading Frankenstein finally.
Nice! It's a classic for a reason. Very different from many of it's adaptations though
That's one of the reasons I wanted to read it. I never got to it when I was in school and figured that there is no time like the present. I've just started but so far it is a really interesting window into the views of the world in the early 1800s. The magnetic North pole was considered a scientific mystery, and the Northern Passage from Europe to the Americas was considered a foregone conclusion that would be solved in a few years by plucky explorers!
The final book of the Dark Tower series! Been slowly working my way through them, and just started the seventh volume.
"One more turn of the path, and then we reach the clearing."
You should write and let me know what you think of the end!
Trying to finish all of Hyperion again. Love Dan Simmons, and he's masterful at writing from different points of view, but I got bored around book 2 or 3. On 3 now!
Speaking of Simmons, Song of Kali is straight unnerving.
I'm at the end of Hyperion right now, and it's pretty fun. He really does a good job with different styles and voices.
I might get Song of Kali based on this recommendation, thanks!
This year I have been catching up with some SF: broadly alternating Banks' Culture series with others. A few weeks back, after finishing Use of Weapons, I read McCarthy's The Road - which kinda counts as SF - and that spoiled other books for me for a while. His excellent, sparse use of language topped off a brilliantly understated and impactful tale.
Life got in the way for a bit following that, and rather than going into the next Culture novel, I happened to have Niven and Pournelle's The Mote in God's Eye to hand and so started that, but not only was the writing extremely mundane compared to McCarthey, but the setting of "Nelson's navy in space" left me comparing it to O'Brien's Aubrey and Maturin tales - and it didn't do well on that front either.
So I will not continue with that one and will be starting Excession - which I believe many find to be the best of the Culture books - shortly.
I finished One Hundred Years of Solitude recently and really loved it. The blend of real life events and magical elements was beautifully done. It felt like an elderly relative was recalling their memories whilst embellishing them with little touches of magic. SO MANY family members, but each of them was unique. In terms of the Bingo, I've added it to 'Set in War' (though it would have also fit in several other categories).
I've just started The Wager by David Grann. It seems really fascinating so far and has already given me quite an insight into maritime life. I didn't realise until now that it recounts a true event!
I read Gabriel's Love in the time of Cholera, and while I don't remember much about it now, I loved his writing. It was one of the major reason I started learning Spanish (but never got around to properly study and reach a level where I could read a book), cause I wanted to experience his writing as he has written them.
Should just read it now. Even if I learn Spanish, to be able to reach a level where I can read a book of this caliber and fully enjoy the writing, it would take a long time.
I'm reading Stalin: New Biography of a Dictator by Oleg Khlevniuk. Dictators feel timely, but also I felt like I didn't know Stalin's life well enough, despite how important he is in the story of the 20th century.
I also just finished Henry David Thoreau's essay Civil Disobedience. My local library had put it on display and it felt like a bit of a cheeky gesture. Unfortunately, I didn't like the essay all that much, as I find Thoreau's writing disagreeable - even when I agree with him. Perhaps he's just not my cup of tea.
Did you finish One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich? Or still reading it?
Yes, I finished it. It's not a long story, given that it's just a typical day from one prisoner's perspective. It was a good book, but also didn't have a lot to sink your teeth into. In this sense, even if it was written a 100 years earlier, The Dead House gives a more in-depth look into Russian/Soviet prison camps. Anyway, turns out prison camps are miserable places, where you have to scheme to get enough (and still too little) food and clothes and pretty much everything else you need. Russian winters are cold, and prison personnel cruel and prone to make arbitrary decisions. Yeah. Though I have to say, how this got published in Soviet Russia is a bit of a mystery to me, since it's pretty critical of the state.
I do intend to read more on Gulags, but I'll save that for another time.
Though I have to say, how this got published in Soviet Russia is a bit of a mystery to me, since it’s pretty critical of the state.
It was during a brief thaw of destalinization. After Kruschechev's removal, the writer was persecuted and eventually expelled from the Soviet Union.
Goodbye to all that by Robert Graves
A personal British view of WW1 from the trenches. It is interesting because of its personal account of things which I only know about via histories. Have read Graves' I Claudius previously, which is also a great read. The writing is different but the voice is familiar.
I have finally committed. I've started Sir Terry Pratchett's Disc World, starting with the Color of Magic, and I intend to proceed by publication order. We'll see how long this one takes to finish. 😛
Hope you enjoy them.
I started in mostly the same order last year and I'm already nine books down. I wanted to carry on with the Rincewind arc more than start new ones, but I actually ended up delaying some of my favourites so far.
I started reading that series recently as well, and I'm quite enjoying it, and I'm taking the same approach to reading them in publication order. I've got Witches Abroad on my to-read list for the bingo, for the "Cozy" square. I didn't enjoy Pyramids or Eric, though, those gave me weird vibes; I found Eric pretty dismissive of women, and Pyramids was weirdly insulting towards middle eastern contributions to science and math, but to be honest there were still parts of those books that were creative and worth reading, even if they didn't meet Pratchett's usual standards.
I fell down the journaling rabbit hole and got into Digital Minimalism, by Cal Newport.
I've been working my way through the chronicles of the Black Company, currently on Silver Spike. I do love grounded, grim high fantasy with a mouthy but self-deprecating protagonist, might be my most pumpkin spice opinion ever
Recently finished Stephen Fry's Mythos audiobook, which is incredibly lovable. I listened through it twice in a row.
Made it to the 4th book of the Temeraire series before needing a break (the 3rd book felt a little slow/less engaging than the first 2, and it probably isn't, I just need to read something else for a bit), and my new library holds arrived, so I read Murder at Haven's Rock by Kelley Armstrong last night. It's a spin-off or sequel series to Rockton, and revisiting the characters was a treat.
Ok I can’t stand it anymore.
Love the thread, but can you please put the word “to” after “listening”?
Again, with love…
I'm halfway through listening to The Handmaid's Tale. I went in blind and there have been some moments which are shockingly similar to recent events in the USA. I'm loving the way the world is slowly revealed to the reader.
Dragons of Autumn Twilight, the first book in an excellent series that I haven't read for 15+ years. Catching up with my old friends has been fantastic.
Man, those books were my jam back in grade school. I gotta pick them up again sometime.
The art of batting. Just started it. Big fan of the writer (Jarrod Kimber) and the sport (cricket).
Red Rabbit by Alex Grecian.
A motley crew of misfits follow a witch hunter through the old West to collect on a bounty. Supernatural shenanigans ensues.
I have been reading The Way of Kings for what seems like the past ten thousand years. Why are these books so long?????
... you do know that every subsequent book in the series longer than the previous one, right? ._.
I do. Thankfully I've really enjoyed it so far, but I have to put it down for extended periods from time to time because of fatigue. I started it in late April and I have about a fifth of the book left.
Slow and steady wins the race! 😀
Audiobook: The Wandering Inn, book 13 by Pirateaba ... Kind of a standard "got sent to another world" litRPG, but it's quite fun with a well developed world and Andrea Parsneau brings life to every character
eBook: The Immortal Choir Holds Every Voice by Margaret Killjoy (book 3 of Danielle Caine) ... Not far in yet, but the series has been weird and good so far. A punk, queer, perpetual hitchhiker got introduced to magic by seeing a dead deer stomp a man to death and eat his heart. If that doesn't make you interested, the series probably isn't for you.
Currently reading The Midnight Library by Matt Haig and really enjoying it.
Wind and Truth - Latest entry in Brian Sanderson's flagship Stormlight Archives fantasy series. I wanted to like it but if I'm being honest with myself, it's been going downhill since everyone became a Jedi in the second book.
"Consider Phlebas", by Iain M. Banks.
A lemmy thread about favourite fictional society to live in introduced me to The Culture, I'm extremely intrigued by this post-scarcity anarchist space hippy commune and want to find out more.
It's british space opera, which I incredibly enjoy and it allegedly deconstructs the "lone protagonist has wide raging influence"-trope which I'm also going to enjoy.
Currently partway through The Dry by Jane Harper.
__
Finished:
A Métis woman, whose husband has been missing for nearly a year, stumbles onto him acting as a preacher for a traveling Christian ministry. The problem is, not only is he like a different person, with no apparent memory of his past life, but there's also a rogarou hanging around him.
I thought the characters were really well done, but otherwise, I'd put this in the 'fine' category. I did enjoy the look into Métis culture and folklore, though; I'd always assumed that rogarou were just a twist on werewolves, but they're much more their own thing.
Bingo squares: minority author, folklore (HM), x of y
Last book in the Cemeteries of Amalo trilogy, spin-off of The Goblin Emperor. Thara Celehar tries to adapt to the change in circumstance from the last book, and gets in the way of powerful people as he tries to follow his duty and calling (as is tradition).
This was a really satisfying conclusion to the trilogy, imo, wrapping up strands from the previous books and leaving the door open for more with the MC. I think this one upped the fantasy word quota a bit, though ("revethvezvaishor'avar", anyone?).
Bingo squares: orange, x of y, LGBTQIA+, new release, steppin' up (HM), political (HM), cozy (in the 'cozy mystery' sense: not graphic, overall fairly gentle tone, lots of interludes drinking tea or sharing a meal with friends)
Malazan Empire... Please don't ask me again for a year 😂
Gathering Moss: A Natural and Cultural History of Mosses by Robin Wall Kimmerer
Recently finished Gladiator, 24 Hours In Ancient Rome, and A Year In The Life Of Ancient Greece. All very light pieces by the same author, very fun reading.
Just cracking open Warrior of God: Jan Zizka and the Hussite Revolution right now.
Slow Horses by Mick Herron. I watched the series and now I've started the book series. Very British and very sarcastic, so it's been really good so far.
I just finished reading Foreigner, by CJ Cherryh, which I thought was a fantastic book about first contact and understanding vs communication between alien races, though the main character can sound more than a little petulant as he gets jerked around, then because he can't relax he whines (a lot) about not having his human-goods catalogues so he can at least see a human face once in a while. Dude had a lot on his mind, so you know, I get it. For the book bingo I went with one book per square, and to be honest that was my free square because I bought almost all the books in the series and wanted to get reading them. Glad I did.
Before that I read By the Sword, by Mercedes Lackey; I'm lukewarm on it. Interesting world, great action-adventure stuff, and the main character is a likable, emotionally-mature woman leading a mercenary life in a rough world - it has its good points, but the overall tone of the story itself felt flat for me. I didn't know it's one of a bajillion books in the same world that Lackey wrote in, so IDK, might try another book from that pile sometime. For the bingo it satisfied the "Orange Cover Art" square due to lots of yellow leaves and hair in the art. Kind of a stretch, but I really couldn't find something more orange-y in my collection.
I'm currently reading Nine Princes in Amber, by Roger Zelazny. It's a really creative take on modern faerie-realm stuff that feels more like it pulls "modern day" back into European mythology rather than the way urban fantasy feels like it pulls fantasy into a more modern realism. The plot is fairly simple so far, but it's the first in a series of relatively short novels, so I might just read a few more of them in a row and see where it goes. For the bingo, this was the "Title with a Number in It" square.
This has been such a fun way to cut into my oversized library of books I haven't actually read yet.
Currently reading "The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle" by Haruki Murakami. I'm about a third of the way through it, great book so far, highly recommend.
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