What are you Reading? (August 2023)

Currently reading 11-22-63. Pretty bloody grim and depressing in places, but good enough to hold my attention.

Finished Locked In by John Scalzi not long prior. Great thought experiment considering it was written long before covid too.

I'm 6 books into expanse series, and I've kind of lost steam with it. Might need a break. Read bobiverse in full just before it. First children of time book was good but didn't know if I wanted to read book 2.

Also loved project hail Mary and the dark Forest/three body trilogy.

Any other suggestions?

Im halfway through The color of magic by Terry Pratchett, I've read a few other discworld books but I thought it was time to start the first book an try to read them all in the "right" order.

Project Hail Mary. Paid more than I liked for a single book but quickly found it is one of my favourite books of all time!

Just finished Leviathan Wakes today. Can't wait for my Amazon delivery of Caliban's War.

Frank Herbert's Dune

I'm about half way through The Fall of Hyperion. It's great

Wool by hugh howey

Wife and I watched silo and enjoyed it so I thought I'd read the books.

You can buy the books DRM free off his website https://hughhowey.com/books/wool/

Make sure you get all 3. Wool shift and dust.

The Bobiverse books were great. Can't wait for more. I've been reading Expeditionary Force which is where the Skippy's come from. Also Rythm of War by Brandon Sanderson.

I'm currently in the middle of Revelation Space by Alastair Reynolds. I'm only about 15% of the way through so I don't have a great picture of what is going on or what it is about yet. It seems like the main premise is about an archeologist who has been working on an excavation of an ancient species on a distant planet for an extremely long period of time that likely has far reaching implications about the universe. I've definitely never read anything similar to this in the past.

The other book I plan on reading (listening to) is The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet by Becky Chambers of which I know basically nothing about. I tend to listen to a book whenever I can't read such as when I'm driving or bathing and then read at times that I can like before sleeping. I find it is a good system to get through 2 books at once.

Neuromancer, count zero, blade runner (do androids dream…), burning chrome. Lots of cyberpunk stuff lately

Just finished the first three books for Red Rising. Really loved it. Not sure if I want to start the next part of the series. I just want the main character to be happy. Can't take more of his torture.

Currently listening to The Dark Tower 7 and about to start The Fall of Hyperion. I’m new to The Hyperion Cantos, but the first book hooked me so I’m looking forward to diving back into it.

Children of Time - It's fantastic. Easily digestable space fair about giant intelligent spiders in their war with ants. Humans are involved but I care little for them. Not going to lie, I'm mainly there for the chapters narrated by the spiders and they are expectional.

Just started Ancillary Justice by Anne Leckie and seems great so far. I have no idea what is going on with how people are gendered in the various languages but I'm looking forward to puzzling it out.

Currently reading The Ghost Brigades by John Scalzi.

I was re-reading The Moon is a Harsh Mistress by Heinlein, which I read about 15 years ago and really enjoyed (even bought it for a friend as a gift). On the second read through... I found it much less entertaining (though the connection between the computer and the current LLM/AI hype is interesting), got about half-way through and basically stopped. I probably won't finish it, which is kind of sad. Oh well, tastes change I guess.

"Roadside Picnic" is incredible. The Sttugatskys were prolific Soviet SF writers, and well worth a look; "The Doomed City" is another banger.

Children of Memory by Adrian Tchaikovsky. It's been a while since I read anything of his and I'm loving it.

I just finished Project Hail Mary and just started The Passage.

Currently on book 4 of the Horus Heresy. I read a lot of sci-fi and somehow missed out on the 40k universe so I'm trying to make up for it.

I'm on the second book of Hugh Howey 's Silo Trilogy. Loved the show, loving the books even more

Just about to start Memories of Ice, book 3 of the Malazan Book of the Fallen.

I'm stuck in the third trisolaris book. Can't get into it really.

Wayfarers series by Becky Chambers.

Such amazing, lovely sci-fi that touches on so many topics.

Last one is based in a really nice intergalactic truck stop. Or like an airport hotel maybe.

And I didn't realise it until my second read-through, but it's basically all about cross-species accessibility/accomodations.

Really beautiful stuff.

I’m finally starting House of Leaves with a book club from work. I have no idea what to expect other than weirdness, and I am very excited!

I recently read "A Memory Called Empire" by Arkady Martine. It's the first book I've read by her and her writing style got me good. Her background as an historian shines through in the Empire she crafted. She won a hugo or nebula for the book but I can't be bothered to look it up at the moment.

The Cuckoo's Egg: Tracking a Spy Through the Maze of Computer Espionage

It's a surprisingly engaging read, even though the events occurred in the 80s. Computer security was non-existent.

Currently on book 3 of the Bobiverse. Most fun, zany scifi I've read in a while.

Edit: Seveneves was fun too, currently also reading Termination Shock. We really need those "earth suits" I think ...

Just started player of games and I'm really enjoying it! My first Iain Banks book, but definitely not my last.

On vacation and just powered through The Kaiju Preservation Society by John Scalzi, Children of Memory - the latest in the Children of Time series - by Adrian Tchaikovsky and Terraformers by Annalee Newitz. All excellent

About halfway through Lords of Uncreation, the third book in the Final Architecture trilogy by Adrian Tchaikovsky.

They are to space opera what his children series is to hard science fiction. It has imaginative aliens that resist monoculture stereotypes and ominous, seemingly implacable foes. The technology never descends to Star Wars' (for better or worse), but standard tropes like FTL and gravitic control are all fundamental assumptions. However, once those assumptions are made, everything that follows is consistent and reasonable to the setting.

The cast is diverse, interesting and entertaining and the pacing is nothing short of breakneck.

Currently rereading City of Golden Shadow, the first book of the Otherland series by Tad Williams.

Listening to Becky Chambers' novellas right now. Finished "To be taught if fortunate" and "A Psalm for the wild-built", gonna do "A Prayer for the Crown-shy" soon.

Also started the Murderbot diaries by Marth Wells and finished the first book so far.

We are Bob is a great series, doesn't got something that fine in a time.

Finishing off Abbadons Gate. Managed to get back into it after many months long break.

I just finished The Terraformers by Annalee Newitz. Its so fucking good, amazing worldbuilding, story and message. It really explores all the potential interesting ways that you can envision different future worlds in ways that other SciFi often doesnt. I've never read anything like this before.

The laundry files, a series by Charles Stross. He's brilliant and so precise with the details that even if it's science fiction it feels SO real.

I'm on book 13 of wheel of time and am planning to do a re-read of the extinction cycle again after I finished wheel of time, I just love those books

About halfway through Children or Ruin, the follow up to Children of Time. Really enjoy the series so far. Very impressed with the creativity.

Also read Project Hail Mary while on vacation a few weeks ago. I’m not sure Weir can ever match The Martian, but PHM was very enjoyable.

Considering a re-read of Iain Banks suite about The Culture. There are some real unique and out there concepts explored in those books that aren't touch by many other sci-fi series.

Guards! Guards! by Terry Pratchett. It's my first time reading his work and I am absolutely loving his sense of humor.

I just finished reading "Fair Play", which is a book on the division of unpaid/unseen labor in households. Next up we have "Thriving with Adult ADHD", "The ADHD Effect on Marriage", and "Organizing Solutions for People With ADHD".

Can you guess the current issue in the Porcupine House? 😅

Recently finished The Interdependency Series by John Scalzi. Reading Upgrade by Blake Crouch at the moment. I'm a huge fan of Murder Bot Diaries and The Bobiverse as well.

Turns out I don't understand half of the sentences in 'Thus Spoke Zarathustra', so back to sci-fi, it's time to finish the last three books of Hitchiker's Guide to The Galaxy.

Must still highly recommend The three body problem books, some of my favourite sci fi ever.

Children of time by Adrian Tchaikovsky

I'm reading Way of Kings right now, as well as back through the Harry Potter Series (just finished POA). Way of Kings is amazing.

The Bobiverse books are so damn good, read them last year

I'm still pretending to read Frankenstein, the OG sci fi novel, at least in modern fiction anyway. I say pretending though because it's been sitting on my bed stand for weeks untouched. It's beautifully well written, just haven't had time or attention span lately idk.

I’ve been on an Ursula le guin kick. Finished Left Side of Darkness, started Earthsea series (just book one) and am finishing up Dispossessed (since it’s due back to inter library loan soon). But sure what’s next. I have the expanse books on hand, but the semesters about to start and things get busy.

I consume most of my books via audiobooks.

I'm just about to finish the final Expeditionary Force book, overall I really enjoyed the series, yes there were a few low points (we won't talk about the the audio drama one!) but I thought it held up well.

This is my list of upcoming books:

Not exactly a science fiction book, but just finished Mother Night by Vonnegut, incredible book.

Back to science fiction: I just started A Deepness In The Sky by Vernon Vinge, book 2 of his Zones Of Thought trilogy. I liked the first book a lot so looking forward to this.

I'm about 75% through Morning Star by Pierce Brown. It's book 3 of the Red Rising series. I wasn't really into the first book but it turned out ok. I'm not sure I'll buy the remaining books though.

I'm half way through leviathan falls. Super excited to get to the end, sad because I don't know what to read after.

I'm reading Deaths End the 3rd book in the "Three Body Problem" series.

Some of the best sci-fi I've ever read, super unique ideas, I was blown away with some of the concepts in this series.

Finally picked up The Gunslinger by Stephen King after wanting to get into the series for a while. It's engrossing (and more brutal than I expected) so far, can't wait to find out what all the hubbub is about the ending.

Happy to talk about Wheel of Time. Did you make it all the way to the end?

I’ve read the whole series twice, once when the last book was finally released and again during the pandemic.

If you’re still on Reddit, there was a great sub for WoT memes

Not sure if Riot Baby counts, but I just finished that and The Dreaming Void.

I’m tracking my progress through the Hugo award winners, so I’m now reading Rendezvous with Rama and have the Broken Earth trilogy on hand for when I’m done that.

The Stormlight archive- Brandon Sanderson

I finally decided to start reading the Warhammer books and ordered Horus Rising, so I should get started on that next week. All the cyberpunk and SF stuff I've seen on Lemmy lately has me itching to re-read Necromancer. I haven't read Count Zero yet, for some reason I only have Neuromancer and Mona Lisa Overdrive, so I think I'll order that soon too

Neal Stephenson - REAMDE

I recently finished Fall; or Dodge in Hell and didn’t know it was the same universe! So now I’m reading the prequel lol. Still quite enjoyable.

Just about to start “The Three Body Problem”. It’s been on my list for a while now, so looking forward to it!

Just finished an interesting and totally original read, “The Psychology Of Time Travel” which is basically a time-travelling murder mystery.

Im on my last book of the wheel of time audiobook! Took me about two years to arrive here, maybe even more. It's superb! I hope to finish it before our child is born in August, so I can start with the next, rading it on my Kindle. Really can't wait to get to the end of it. The whole last three book reads like waiting on the next episode of a series. Constant cliffhangers. The next book will be the second and later books of the sounds of hyperion.

Parable of the Sower

Cryptonomicon

Edit: I just realized this was the scifi community. Whoops

William Gibson - The difference engine

More of steam punk era with mechanical machines, enjoying it as Audiobook on the morning walks.

I just finished a book by Carlton Mellick the third called, Every time we meet at the dairy queen your whole fucking face explodes. Its probably even weirder than you are thinking, but very fun and enjoyable.

Empire of Man.

Just listened to the full cast audiobook of Alien: Out of the shadows. Nothing amazing but was a fun listen. Before that was Artemis, not as good as Project Hail Mary imo but still quite enjoyable. I think Recursion is going to be my next read, but I'm open to suggestions.

Recently finished The Expanse series and Three Body Problem series, those were both great adventures. I'm getting started on All Tomorrows now

Just started The Passage by Justin Cronin (audiobook) and I’m loving it, and I’m about to finish Witch King (dead tree) by Martha Wells, which has also been fantastic.

Up next in dead tree edition is gonna be something off my bookshelf at home. Not sure what I’m in the mood for yet but I’m leaning towards Shards of Earth by Adrian Tchaikovsky. I want to re-read that and Eyes of the Void to prep for Lords of Uncreation.

I don't normally plan my reading much ahead of time but August is an exception on a few counts.

Firstly, Whalefall by Daniel Kraus comes out on August 8th. It's such a goofy idea for a story (think Jonah and the Whale meets The Martian) and I have been so pumped, I've been talking people's ear off about it for months. It's like scientifically accurate Pinocchio.

Secondly, one of the bookclub picks for the Discord server affiliated with !bookclub@lemmy.world is The Left Hand of Darkness by Ursula K LeGuin

And then it's Tropeical Readathon (a semiannual reading challenge thing) again so I have a couple dozen books picked out to cover that, but the only other sci-fi one apart from the above is Under This Forgetful Sky by Lauren Yero.

In July, I finished The Lords of Uncreation (and therefore the Final Architect trilogy) by Adrian Tchaikovsky, read the newest Lee and Miller Liaden novel Salvage Right when it arrived, then zoomed through Wool, the first of the Silo books.

Currently, I’m reading a Star Trek novel Agents of Influence by Dayton Ward. It’s a sequel to the excellent Vanguard and Seeker series set in Star Trek’s 23rd century. Not sure what’s next.

I am just starting the Fitz and the Fool trilogy. I have enjoyed the other trilogies in this series.

Looking forward to rereading mistborn so I remember wax and Wayne before jumping into the lost metal.

Gardens of the Moon by Steven Erikson. Great book, beautiful vocabulary

Just started reading "To Sleep in a Sea of Stars". (Christopher Paolini)

It's huge, but so far the pacing moves quickly enough to keep from getting bogged down.

I'm reading the Silo series after watching the show, it is pretty good so far.

Love to see Leviathan Wakes in the graphic as well

Just beginning The Mountain of Mars, book 8 of Glynn Stewart’s Starship’s Mage series.

The Bobiverse books were great. Can't wait for more. I've been reading Expeditionary Force which is where the Skippy's come from. Also Rythm of War by Brandon Sanderson.

Finished Tiamat's Wrath last week and have started Foundation's Edge. The Expanse has been excellent, but i am starting to find The Foundation to be a bit tedious. Second Foundation started to just feel silly with all the psychic abilities just thrown in all of a sudden and all the characters are starting to blend into each other as non-descript 1950's Americans. That being said i am enjoying Foundation's Edge a lot more than Second Foundation but am lookin forward to finishing it so i can move on to Dune Messiah.

My recent reads:

• Three Body Problem series
• Dark Matter (read it in a weekend)
• The Piece War

I’m not reading par se but I’m an audiobook fan and also a fan of the Star Wars Expanded Universe (Legends). I’m enjoying listening to the new recordings of the first Thrawn trilogy.

These re-recordings will probably be the last of its kind, given Disney’s declaration of non-canon.

Picked up 2 different series by Will Wight cause they were free on amazon for a while, and very impressed

Halfway through Cradle, on book 6 and it's actually really good; a naruto-eque world with well thought out power progression, great world building and characters, with plenty of peril and few dull moments

Start WoT now, and you might finish by Christmas

Just fulinished A Deepness in the Sky by Vernor Vinge. Didn't enjoy as much as A Fire Upon the Deep, but it was still a good space opera. Some uncomfortable sex scenes though.

I'm reading the Red Pyramid by Rick Riordan, which is the first book of the Kane's Chronicles. I'm also reading Queen of Shadows by Sarah j. Maas.

Finished Prelude to Foundation (fantastic!), now starting Children of Ruin (so far so good).

The inverted frontier series by Linda Nagata has been quite fun for me. Waiting for book four.

I'm not a big book reader, but a friend got me "The Autobiography of Nikola Tesla and Other Works". It's sitting on my nightstand when I can motivate to crack a boot. The book I finished before it was "Brief Answers to the Big Questions" by Stephen Hawking.

I like reading works from Scientists. I can't understand their research papers because of the math, but I enjoy the works they do for the layman.

I bought both Asimov collections, and after reading the I, Robot edition pictured above, I started Prelude to Foundation.

Just finished reading an older series: Nine Princes in Amber. Doesn't age as well as I'd like.

I've been reading a thrift store find as of late, "The Mammoth Book Of Best New SF 11", a short story collection first published in 1998, ed. Gardner Dozois by Robinson Publishing.

In general I've been reading different sci fi short story collections of as of late, while waiting for the next Final Architecture -book to drop.

a world without visa by ean Malaquais

https://libcom.org/article/world-without-visa

tough to get into but worth every page, but far from accessible if you are not known to french and russian names en masse

Currently reading Blindsight, I'm honestly surprised how many people get interested when I tell them I'm reading about space vampires.

Needed it to take a break from all the new to me ideas in three body problem. Learned lots about chinese history. Wasnt ready for the second one.

Blindsight feels like all the scifi trope bundled together.

I just finished Season of Skulls by Charles Stross. 3rd book of the New Management series... a sort of sequel series to the Laundry Files.

Just finished the three body problem. Started recursion and then probably will do the dark forest.

I'm re-reading the red rising series right now to be up to date for the new book that just released. Very excited to get to it

Reading through Book of the New Sun. Definitely an underrated sci fi series.

I'm starting Woken Furies by Richard Morgan. I watched the Netflix Altered Carbon series and figured the books would be worth a read, and so far they have been!

I enjoyed The Year's Best Science Fiction anthologies edited by Gardner Dozois until his passing. I just discovered its spiritual successor, The Best Science Fiction of the Year edited by Neil Clarke, and am catching up now.

Just finished Frugal Wizards Guide, by Sanderson.

It wasn't what I was expecting, but found it weird and fun. As per most of Sanderson's books, I fell down the sanderlanch, and read it in 2 days.

About to finish Snow Crash, and I was just thinking about reading Seveneves afterwards. Is it good? How does it compare to Cryptonomicon and Snow Crash (the only other Stephenson books I've read)?

Just about to finish the final book in the Remembrance of Earth's Past Trilogy (Deaths End). Have just picked up The City and the Stars for my August read as Cixin Lui was giving me Arthur C. Clarke vibes with his incredible hard sci-fi epic

Martha Wells Murder Bot series (All Systems Red is the title in the post picture) is fun as well as quick and easy to read.

I will say it's not my favorite type of scifi but her writing style paired with the fun stories sucked me in.

Currently listening to the audiobook of The City and the City by China Meiville (Maybe should have read this one instead of the audiobook)

Currently reading the current F&SF magazine issue

Pride and Prejudice. Finishing soon.. another classic down.

The three body problem series is absolutely the best sci fi book series I have ever read. Can’t recommend more. Just finished the last one the other day, and the third book is mind blowing. It was written by a Chinese author so it feels foreign to me as an American, and a lot of cultural differences are very apparent but the translation was masterfully done by the authors son so it stays very true to the original source.

Currently working on book 5 of Gaunt's Ghosts. It's been a few months since I read a chapter though because of busy life has been.

After reading Necropolis, it's gonna be hard for the rest of the series to match it.

tower by bae myung-hoon, early days yet.

Last few I've read recently:

• Rendezvous with Rama by Arthur C. Clark
• Goliath by C. P. James which I liked, and I'm wondering if anyone else has read
• Infinity Gate by M R Carey

I'm currently resuming my read through of "John Carter of Mars", with "Warlords of Mars", and continuing through Glynn Stewart's Duchy of Terra series with "Shield of Terra".

I can't help compare Glynn Stewart with Edgar Rice Burroughs, in that they both write such reliably entertaining series.

Though I suppose Stewart is aiming for Asimov in the volume category. As a big reader, I sure appreciate that.

I’m currently reading Sword and Citadel, second half of The Book of the New Sun by Gene Wolfe.

Snowden's book: Permanent Record has a lot of good context info for the governments shitty practices and overwhelming involvement in our personal lives

if u wanna use ur brain more efficiently read Donella Meadows: Thinking in Systems

I also wanna read steve jackson's sci-fi book that got him sued by the secret service... its gotta be good right?

Just started Illuminae the other day and I am powering through it. It's a completely different style book and I am loving the way the story is presented. Can't wait to finish it.

My wife and I are on T.A. White's Phoenix Chronicles. We both really love the series and once we finish this it will be hard to find a replacement series for us to read.

I just finished The Deep Sky by Yume Kitasei. It was a decent page-turner that kept me wanting to read the next chapter.

Still haven't decided what to read next. Are there any good newish cyberpunk books?

I'm reading the Wool omnibus from the library before I start watching Silo.

Is this just for sci-fi or books in general? In July I didn't read any sci fi, just fantasy stuff.

I'm currently on the Liveship series, after just finishing the Farseer Trilogy. Prior to that was Mistborn 1-3, and I only mention the chronology because it all started May 2022 with the WoT series, and that's on the picture up there so I'm lumping the rest of these into science fiction I suppose, despite Mistborn potentially being the only one that you could really call science fiction.

Would mort count?

On my 2nd time thru Book of the New Sun. Hoping to understand at least 12% of it this time.

Not enough Heinlein!

Last book of the Expanse

I´m reading select texts about what is grassroots-community action. It has been quite nice. The book is in Portuguese though.

Trying to punch through Seasons of Skulls by Charles Stross.

Finally got to finish Death's End. Got really dark by the end ans current life events dont really support this kind of reading.

Does Silo counts as Sci-fi, I read the novels after binge watching the series with my wife. After the cliffhanger ending I just need to know the story and proceeded to binge read the whole series under a week.

Right now I'm listening to Damnation Alley by Roger Zelazny. It's probably an interesting story, but the narrator is awful. Sometimes he reads without any pauses so it feels like you are listening to a wall of text. There is also very little inflection in his voice as he reads so it is hard to stay engaged. I'm going to stick with it if I can, but I'm not holding much hope.

I'm currently reading The Stars, Like Dust. By Issac Asimov. Seems decent I haven't been completely invested in the main character like I was in The Currents of Space (I know I read book 2 before book 1). But I like Asimov so I'll finish it it'll be a quick read anyways. I plan to finish the Galactic Empire series and then start Foundation (Finally!).

Just finished Translation State by Ann Leckie. Loved it for a while, got tired of it by the end. Felt it descended into whimsy

Just started the Vorkosigan Saga. It's okay. It's growing on me, but I don't think it's anything to write home about. I'll stick it out through the first book and see how it goes.

I forgot the story of Time Out of Joint by Philip K. Dick so I decided to read it again.

I'm on book 5 of the Wheel of Time on Audible. I hope the TV series keeps going but it sounds like a lot of people think it's meh.

Just started Bloom by Wil Mccarthy.

Oh crap! Potty training by Jamie Glowacki

Why all the old stuff?

Currently working through Stephen King's dark tower series, on book 4 so getting through them quick. First time I've read any of his stuff but I'm hooked.

I've just finished all Daniel Suarez's books. I found his visions of a tech future interesting. Best ones for me were Daemon, then the sequel freedom™, Change Agent, Delta V and the sequel Critical Mass - all great reads imo. Only book I didn't like was kill Decision.