this post was submitted on 13 Jun 2023
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Literature

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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!

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[–] [email protected] 5 points 1 year ago (1 children)

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.

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[–] [email protected] 5 points 1 year ago (2 children)

I'm re-reading all the discworld novels from sir Terry Pratchett, currently at Soul Music.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 year ago

That's great! Whenever I'm feeling down, his books are mental comfort food that help me re-center. GNU sir Pterry!

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 year ago

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.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 1 year ago (4 children)

Just finished Children of time by Adrian Tchaikovsky. Absolutely amazing uplift-scifi, but you better stay away from it if you have arachnophobia

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago

I really enjoyed that series, particularly the first book. I'm nearly finished with The Final Architecture series as well and while I haven't seen as much praise for it I've been really enjoying it.

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[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 year ago

Terry Pratchett's Jingo, currently. After that, more discworld.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 year ago (1 children)

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.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago

Dude, Haruki Murakami is a FANTASTIC author. I borrowed Sputnik Sweetheart thru Libby and i loved it so much i bought a physical copy.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (6 children)

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

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[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 year ago (2 children)

The Expanse, the whole book trilogy!

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 year ago

Amazing series, be sure to check out the novellas as well! There are some guides online that will tell you where they happen chronologicaly

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago

It's a bit more than a trilogy lol. It's a nonology!

[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 year ago

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

[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 year ago

I really enjoyed the Expanse books, so just started one of the Author's other series, the Long Price Quartet

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 year ago

I'm finally reading The Expanse series, currently on book 2 and really loving it!

While I was waiting for book 2 to become available on Libby I read The Spare Man which I also enjoyed. It was a pretty goofy but fun light read (solving a murder on a cruise to Mars).

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 year ago

I usually keep a couple books going so I can switch between them. I'm currently reading The Escape Artist by Jonathan Freedland and Deep as the Sky, Red as the Sea by Rita Chang-Eppig.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 year ago

I am deciding between finishing the long way to a Small angry planet or starting howls moving castle

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 year ago (3 children)

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.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 year ago

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.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago (1 children)

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.

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[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 year ago (1 children)

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 :)

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[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 year ago

Well, I'm using Bookwyrm to keep track of that.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 year ago

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!

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (2 children)

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. It just feels very out of place after the overall tone and flow of all his other stories within the volume.

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[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 year ago

A historic description of the life of Finnish executioners. Pretty dope stuff!

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 year ago (1 children)

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.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago (1 children)

I need to give those a re-read soon (but i have such a list already lol). For your next book in english, I'd like to suggest The Eyes of the Dragon by Stephen King. It's a fantasy novel (yes, King doesn't just write horror, crazy i know) that draws from European fairy tales. I enjoyed it immensely, and according to my e-reader history, it was actually my very next book after The Witcher series!

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[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago

I'm reading The Anglo-Saxons by Marc Morris. It's non-fiction. Morris' books have a good narrative, but they are scholarly works. I haven't gotten very far into The Anglo-Saxons yet, but one bit I greatly enjoyed was the author drawing parallels between Beowulf and Tolkien's Rohirrim, all while discussing the archaeological evidence for feasting halls and the zeitgeist of the people who'd built those halls.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago

History of Western Philosophy by Bertrand Russell. Going for a cursory overview because of Philosophy club at my uni that has pretty cool people.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Almost done with Dragonlance: Dragons of Autumn Twilight. Had a few friends and family members talk about how great the Dragonlance books are, but I grew up reading The Legend of Drizzt books. So far I absolutely love it, and if you play DnD I suggest you get a copy.

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[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago (2 children)

Dune: Messiah, second one in the series. Way better than I thought, and honestly don't get the criticism

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[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago

Notes from a Dead House by Fyodor Dostoevsky. Very interesting so far. I'm about a third of the way through it.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago

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

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago (2 children)

Currently reading "Spies: The Epic Intelligence War Between East and West," by Calder Walton.

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[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago

I'm currently reading Oblomov by Goncharov, after it I might jump to "Ears of corn under your sickle" by Karatkievič

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago (1 children)

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.

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[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago

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.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago

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.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago

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.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago (1 children)

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.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago

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.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago

No Longer Human by Osamu Dazai. Great read so far.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

Finally almost finished with Neuromancer.

Then I'll be flipping to work mode and reading "The Grammar of Systems: From Order to Chaos & Back".

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