Currently reading Hitch hikers guide to the galaxy really fun reads though it got weird in some places
My current read is Abarat by Clive Barker.
I'd not heard of it until last week, when folks on r/books were singing its praises in a thread, so figured I'd give it a shot. Yeah, it's enjoyable. Definitely aimed squarely at the middle of the YA crowd, but it's an easy read at a time when my brain isn't letting me really get into any books.
Barker has a fascinating imagination. I finished Coldheart canyon recently. I almost walked away repulsed many times but there was good story under all his signature flair. After Imajica I will try to read anything he writes.
Currently reading "Brave New World", Aldous Huxley. Next up Isaac Asimov's Foundation.
Foundation books are great! Go for it!
The Murderbot Diaries.
I've been enjoying it, it has a surprising amount of heart for a series about an emotionally damaged not-robot.
I was put off by the pricing on these. Full price for novella length. I really enjoyed the first one, I'll grab the rest if they go on sale
Pattern Recognition, William Gibson.
Gibson is tough to get into, personally, but his stories are very cool!
The eyes of the dragon by Stephen King
I read this so many times that my hardback copy started breaking. You know how the edges of the outer cover about 2/3 of the way down start getting fuzzy from being held when you've taken off the dust jacket? Almost fuzzy enough to make into a rope for escaping from a tower.
The Two Towers. I’ve been needing to read more slowly in the past few years for health reasons, and I am finding lotr just so perfect for that. The nature descriptions are absolutely to die for.
"After all, why shouldn't I write about trees for three pages? It's my own book, my precious." - JRR Tolkien
PRECISELY.
Just started Howl's Moving Castle. Liking it so far!
Not exactly like the movie, but it's pretty close.
Expeditionary Force: Match Game
My 'big read' this year is Finnegans Wake - which I am (or have been) reading week by week along with the TrueLit sub on reddit. It would be a profoundly different experience to read it without the analysis and discussion going on there, so that is something...
Otherwise, I am reading The Twisted Ones by T. Kingfisher, which is engaging and entertaining, as was her The Hollow Places which I read immediately before. I am also dipping into a collection of the Para Handy tales by Neil Munro, which are a cosy - if stereotypical and patronising - glimpse into another time and pace of life.
I have just returned from a couple of weeks away during which I finished an anthology of Clarke Ashton Smith short fantasy tales (all about the atmosphere: story and worldbuilding are very much secondary and character scarcely features); Haldor Laxness's The Atom Station (a sparse look at the clash of modern - written in 1948 - and traditional Icelandic values); and Blackwood's The Willows (an extrapolation of the original idea of "panic" - as several of this other tales are).
I usually have a print/ebook and an audio book (for the car) going at the same time.
For print book, currently reading Crooked Kingdom, one of the books in the Grishaverse series/world. I, uh, got a little obsessed after watching the first season of Shadow and Bone a year or two ago.
For audiobook, currently listening to Children of Ruin. Not too far into it yet, but I loved loved loved Children of Time (also listened to the audiobook version), so I'm excited to see where this one goes.
I really want to read Children of Time. I actually did start it and got half way through, but I have such an intense arachnophobia that I had to give up because I kept dreaming of spiders and waking up terrified. I enjoyed his writing style, though, and am curious about his new trilogy coming out.
I just started reading the Rivers of London series by Ben Aaronovitch. I am loving the dry humour and the perfect snapshot of London. It took me entirely too long to get to these due to going through an urban fantasy burnout, so I'm pleased I have so much to look forward to.
Finally finished with Pattern Recognition, William Gibson. It was... nice, it definitely felt like Gibson was uncomfortable writing in the present tense.
Next up is a Brazillian book, As águas-vivas não sabem de si by Aline Valek
Currently working my way through the Three Body Problem series. They are very good but I'm not sure how much I'm enjoying them, they are pretty bleak in places.
Fantastic novels. Skip the redemption of time though. It's terrible
I finally managed to read through Gardens of the Moon recently which I really liked, so now I'm on to Deadhouse Gates.
@Kamirose I am currently reading the hobbit
do comic books count? i just started reading DCeased. otherwise i've finally cracked open Lolita, it's an interesting but disgusting read.
Black House, by Stephen King and Peter Straub
I'm currently reading through Snow Crash by Neal Stephenson. I'm a fan of SciFi, and cyberpunk especially. This book was on my reading list, and I decided to pick it up while in the bookstore the other day.
So far I'm really enjoying it. It feels a bit more pulpy than some of the other cyberpunk classics such as Neuromancer and Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep, but that's not a bad thing. It certainly doesn't take away from the entertainment in my opinion. Not every book needs to have a grand philosophy behind it.
I guess I should finally read Snow Crash, but other books keep getting in the way. I just finished Neuromancer which surprised me with how well written it was. No idea why, but I expected the classics to be more … exhausting.
I’m halfway into “Guards! Guards!” by Pratchett. My first story of his, and I’m having so much fun!
ahhhh welcome to the discworld!!
Once you've read that, get a copy of Nightwatch. Much the same cast of characters, but it's widely considered to be Terry's magnum opus. That book is a damn work of art.
#GNUTerryPratchett
Yeah, I already have planned to read the whole night watch saga. Then I’ll see what other side of the Discworld to move on to
I've been reading through the Anne of Green Gables series (L.M. Montgomery). It's one of my comfort reads, and I've been needing it.
I also just finished the Phryne Fisher series by Kerry Greenwood. I would have read more of them, but she hasn't written any more yet.
I highly recommend the focus on the family Radio Theatre dramatization of Anne of Green Gables! Obviously focus on the family is highly problematic and this is no endorsement, but you can find the CD version used. The score and sound production is high quality, and Anne is played by Mae Whitman, who voices Katara in Avatar: The Last Airbender.
Currently reading "Blue Earth Remembered" by Alastair Reynolds. It's a bit of "hard" sci-fi about a near-future world where Africa is the dominating technological force. Loving it so far.
Just started House of Leaves! Been super interesting so far, I love when books, movies, or games break tradition and do something truly unique
I'm reading The Stranger, by Albert Camus. It's a short read and I'm already focusing on some of The Atlantic's recommendations in the Summer Reading Guide.
Killing Comendatore by Murakami. It's late here and I always like reading his stuff at night.
Demons of Good and Evil by Kim Harrison. I've been reading the series since 2004, and I do a little happy dance every time a new book comes out.
I just completed The Terror by Dan Simmons and I am currently reading the second book in the Malazan series by Erikson, Deadhouse Gates.
Malazan is amazing.
I found quite difficult to assess the Terror. It was quite a long read for the first 700 pages, then I really enjoyed the last 2 hundreds. But in retrospect I appreciate this slow pace so ... I am not sure about my judgement. In the end I am glad to have read it. I also learned a lot about people and cultures of the Artic circle.
After the Malazan novel I will probably follow upon the third one, but I could also switch back to (re) reading Iain M. Banks or reading Peake's Ghormenghast for the first time.
I am 3/4 with the books you mentioned so you appear to be a kindred spirit. Haven’t read Iain M Banks.
I’ll be interested to hear what you think on how Deadhouse Gates comes together. Have fun!
Hi! Nice to hear that :-) Malazan is capturing me so much that I am worried of rushing it! I deliberately take the time to enjoy it at as many levels as I am capable of (e.g. writing style, choice of words etc).
For Iain M. Banks, you can't go wrong. Use of weapons is an incredible book, but maybe I would think it's better to start from Consider Phlebas. UoW punches... And punches hard.
Tomorrow, the Killing by Daniel Polansky
I have 2 going right now:
Snow Crash is good, but IDK. It just isn't pulling me in the way I expected it to, so it's taking me too long to get through.
Then I have some Jack Reacher novel on my bedside table waiting to be started, and I was just eyeballing a collection of H.P. Lovecraft stories on my shelf.
Snow crash was great back in the days! I recall 14 years old-me being upset at the "wrong acronym* but I remember it as great fun. I was coming from the darker novels and short stories by Gibson and Sterling and the lighter touch by Neal Stephenson (and others, like ... Rudy Rucker if I am not mistaken) felt nice, while at the same time did not drop the expectations on being engaged on the same kind of reflections/analyses on the human nature like the previous cyberpunk novels.
Those were the times! Plus, I was playing a lot of Cyberpunk 2020 (the tabletop rpg)... :-)
Yeah, I'm not sure what isn't connecting with me. You know how when you try to get into an early, influential work - be it a book, movie, whatever - you see the origin of all kinds of tropes and you KNOW this thing came first, but you can't get over the tropiness of some things? I think that's kind of what it is.
I'm determined to finish it this week though, I need to move on to other things.
To sleep in a sea of stars.
A very interesting sci-fi book that was a little slow for the first 50 or so pages but then really took off after that. It's honestly caused meany sleepless nights as I stay up far too late reading because I just can't put it down.
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