What are you reading this week? [6/18/23]
What are you reading this week? [6/18/23]
What book is currently on your nightstand? How do you like it? Would you recommend it to others?
For We Are Many: Bobiverse Book 2
Great series!
Just finished The Expanse books, and now reading The Wall by Adrian Goldsworthy. It’s absolutely beach-reading sword-&-sandal nonsense, but the author loves his (paper thin) characters and is an Oxford-educated professional historian who writes novels on the side, so it’s fun and the world building and research are impeccable.
Technically I am also still wading through In the Name of the Rose. Gotta get back to that one and wrap it up. I’m fond of ol’ William, but my bandwidth to understand and allegorize the intramural politics of late-medieval monastic orders is limited.
Oye Bosmang!
I read Leviathan's Wake last year and it was really good. They really undersold Fred Johnson in the TV show, he's a badass. I've only read about half of Calaban's War and then set it down for some reason or another, and never went back to it. I should really finish that while I'm waiting on my Libby holds to be released.
They're really good, but while I may be influenced by having seen the show first, I think it's one of the best adaptations I've ever seen, especially given the offscreen drama with budget, network, cancellation, and some unfortunate awfulness from one of the cast members.
Some characters are slightly better in the show, some in the books, but I've rarely seen a show nail the tone and spirit of the source material like The Expanse did, but that said, there's so much more space to live in the characters' heads and soak up their world in a book, that's it's absolutely worth it to go back and pick them up, and they're easy to start and stop, I'd say.
If you enjoy novels written by historians, try Essex Dogs by Dan Jones. I just finished it last week and absolutely loved it. I'm itching for the sequel to come out, it's a long wait until October for me now.
I just finished This is How You Lose the Time War today. It's a pretty short read, but I think it's as good as everyone says.
Just started Gene Wolfe's The Shadow of the Torturer after seeing some good reviews about his Book of the New Sun series, going in blind though and it's pretty slow so far. Let me know if you liked it and think I should keep going
It's definitely weird, but I did enjoy reading it. I feel like it would make more sense if I read it again, but at the same time, I'm not sure I really enjoyed it enough to read it all again.
I loved it, but it is definitely very weird and kinda slow sometimes. I'd say you should keep going!
I like to fancy myself an appreciator of good writing, but man, Gene Wolfe just didn't quite do it for me. Felt pretty ponderous and self-important, like a Ralph Bakshi animated film meets Frank Herbert meets J.D. Salinger meets the Old Testament, and it was all just too much. I think Wolfe had ambition and intention and was a stylist in a genre that doesn't often reward stylists, but it was all just just... off somehow, and left me feeling yucky. I finished The Shadow of the Torturer and had no desire to deal with Severian or his world ever again.
I definitely recommend reading the whole series. Agreed that some passages are slow or just obscure due to the style, but I found it quite enriching. I think this is one of these where the whole is greater than the sum of its parts, though.
Just a note for OP, June is the sixth month, and you wrote 7 in the title xD
As far as what I'm reading, I'm starting 'Noble Roots', by Drew Hayes, one of my favorite authors. The book is part of an RPG-lit series that it's really fun and interesting. I'm not quite sure of where it's going, but I'm enjoying the ride so far. The first book is called 'NPCs'.
I sure did, whoops! It was past my bed time when I started the thread. Fixed.
I'm still working my way through The Social Distance Between Us by Darren McGarvey. I mainly read at work, so maybe only 30 minutes a day, but I'm slowly getting through it.
I also just finished reading through George RR Martin's A World of Ice and Fire.
Dragon's Egg from Robert L. Forward. I heard about it on the fediverse, and I am really glad I did. It's a hard sci-fi book about the interactions between humanity and a highly intelligent alien species that lives on a neutron star with 67Billion Gees.
I loved it! Haven't seen many people talk about it outside of whatever initial recommendation list I had heard it from. I really enjoyed the mix of hard sci-fi and socio-political commentary. Really reminiscent of Heinlein's best in that aspect, from what I recall.
I’m just starting Brandon Sanderson’s The Frugal Wizard's Handbook for Surviving Medieval England. Not far enough in to speak on how I like this book specifically, but Sanderson is one of my favorite authors, so I anticipate that it will be a good time.
The hardcovers for the larger Secret Project kickstarter collection of which this book is a part have also been absolutely gorgeous so far, for those here who, like me, are as excited about the design of a book as they are about reading it. There are so many beautiful full-page illustration inserts and little flourishes. The attention to detail is just lovely.
Translation State by Ann Leckie, and I'm enjoying it quite a bit. It's a standalone novel set in the Imperial Radch universe, and I would absolutely recommend it.
I finished it a couple of days ago and I was very pleased. Ann Leckie expanded the universe in a really effective way. It also has a lot of heart, which I love.
Roadside Picnic
The original story that was the inspiration for the S.T.A.L.K.E.R series.
Red Planet Blues by Robert J. Sawyer
The Dragon Republic by R. F. Kuang. Progress has been a bit slow with it as the main character is going through a phase that drags on and on… Though, I do also get the impression that it is deliberate to hammer home how hard it is to detach from drugs.
Now I’m about half way through and it appears to be picking up the pace again. If it goes nowhere, I’m chucking the damn book out the window!
I am about half way through Dark Age by Pierce Brown. Despite some minor annoyances I have with Pierce's writing style the series is an absolute page-turner and I'm finding myself blazing through the books.
That’s a great series. And the series conclusion comes out in 6 days!
Alexander Munro: The Paper Trail
Francis Beeding: The Three Fishers
Lindsey Fitzharris: The FacemakerI'm almost finished with my re-read of Deaths End, the last book of the Rememberence of Earth's Past series. It's just as good as the first time I read through! The Three Body Problem, book one, got kind of popular a bit ago. It's great sci-fi, with a writing style I've never encountered before.
Death's End is on my reading list! I recently finished the Dark Forest, and the way it ended felt like a fitting end to the series. I'm curious how Death's End manages to extend the story. Did you also know that Netflix is making an adaptation of the Three Body Problem?
Yes! I had heard it was in the works. I don't really follow Netflix announcements though so I know next to nothing about it
I just added 'Three Body Problem' to my Libby hold waitlist. Thanks for this series, never heard of it before.
omg I loved 3BP, Death’s End left me in a trance for days afterward.
Guns, Germs and Steel. Still making my way through it as it can get a little dry but talks about how environment and subsequently food production capacity shaped different populations that spread across the planet and how that translates into the modern world.
Just be aware that actual historians have major objections to the accuracy and assumptions of it. It's a fun read, but it isn't really a scholarly work
Yeah, I don't take it to be more than one guy's musings and theories based on his own research.
My Introduction to Business professor recommended me this book to me a few years ago, but I haven't gotten around to reading it. I've also read some criticism about the ideas in the book. Do you think it's still worth reading?
I'm not at the halfway point yet but I think so if you're interested in the minute details. The book starts of by saying it is not a racist treatise and so far has stuck to that. It is over 2 decades old so I'm sure some of the conclusions accepted at the time may have changed drastically since. I've heard of some criticisms of it but nothing really damning from what I can tell.
Either way, I think it's worth the read if you are interested in pop anthropology/archeology in a fairly accessible book. Even if the overall explanation may seem reductive or misguided to some.
I started reading Planet X. Is a Star Trek x X-Men crossover novel.
The Primal Hunter 6 by Zogarth
So far (30% in) it's kind of dry with basically going over numerous item descriptions from an auction for the items gained in the last book. But if you've made it this far in the series that's kind of par for the course, a lot of time is spent describing things I would have skipped as an author. Hasn't been bad enough yet to make me want to drop it though.
I"m about 1/3 to 1/2 of the way through Translation State by Ann Leckie. Pretty good story set in the same universe as her other Imperial Radch novels.
Just finished Terry Pratchett's Discworld Book 1 "The Colour of Magic" which I freakin' loved, and now I'm about halfway through John Sandford's "The Investigator" which takes up the story of Letty Davenport, Lucas' adopted daughter. It's a good read and hard to put down.
I'm rereading the "swords" series, by Fred Saberhagen. Been about a decade since I've gone through, and it's almost like a first read because I don't remember all the details after so long
Definitely worth reading if you like scifi/fantasy at all.
Corporate Finance: Core Principles and Applications
kill me now pls
Been reading Roadside Picnic. I don't know if it's a translation issue but I find the dialogue kinda awkward. But I love the world, and the worlds that it has spawned.
I had just finished Essex Dogs the other day, and was about to start Rhythm of War (Stormlight Archives #4) when my library hold for Thrawn (#1) became available. I've never read a Star Wars novel so I decided to start that last night. I'm currently 200 pages in and I'm really enjoying it so far.
Blow-Up and Other Stories by Julio Cortázar
also reading this excellent collection of working class poetry, Hammers and Hearts of the Gods by Fred VossI'm currently reading a yet-to-be-published novel a friend wrote. It's a fantasy story written in a style and format similar to Chinese web novels. It's been a nice filler read while I wait to receive my library holds.
My partner and I finished the audiobook of Le Guin’s Tombs of Atuan over the weekend and started The Farthest Shore, both really enjoyable reads.
I personally am reading through Jane McAlevey’s A Collective Bargain, a nonfiction about the importance of unionization and collectivism as it pertains to both work and democracy. She tells the stories of four folks who managed to fight for and win the right to a union in their workplace. It’s accessible and a fairly short read (just a couple hundred pages), so I’m going to go ahead and recommend that one here too :)
Ursula LeGuin's 'Earthsea' books were some of my favorite Y.A. reads when I was young. I reread the first one a few years ago and it was so nostalgic that I had my son read it too. He blasted through all her books after that one.
If you and your partner like LeGuin, I would also recommend reading her 'The Left Hand of Darkness'.
i've started the Halo books. i finished Fall of Reach a couple of weeks ago and am onto The Flood. i've also dipped my toes into the Dune series and also the Witcher series, beginning with The Last Wish. in high school i read a book every other day and slowly tapered off as i went from reading for pleasure to reading for work as i became a Lit major in college. it skewed my love for books in a big way and i am trying to get back to reading for fun.
The Fall of Reach is such a surprisingly good book. Sadly the flood kind of drops in quality but then in the next book it gets good again.
i have noticed... different authors if i remember correctly off the top of my head. The Flood being based on Halo CE (or vice versa? not really sure) gives it more of an "action movie on the page" kind of feel to me.
I just started Harlan Coben's latest "I Will Find You" I'm about 20% into it and I'll probably finish it by Wednesday, or Thursday at the latest. Then I'll have to find another similar-sized book to finish out my week.
I'm a fan of most of Harlan Coben's stuff, some of his Myron books were slower than I cared for and I didn't care at all for the Myron spinoff about his nephew, let's just say a lot of his newer work isn't as good to me. This one is better than his series-type books about Win or Wilde that he's made lately. I mostly find his books to be fun and quick thrillers.
Edit: Wait, it's July? Did I miss June? /s
I've read a bunch of Coben's stuff over the years but I gave up on "I Will Find You". It was so predictable, at least in the first 20-30% or so, and I couldn't get into the protagonist what's his name that was in prison. Whatever, maybe I'll try it again later this summer.
Paladin's Grace - by T Kingfisher
I'm about 80% finished with it, but I'm pretty sure my wife pulled a fast-one on me by recommending it. The characters are unique, and the author is fairly insightful and funny - but I'm pretty sure this is a really soft-core romance just building to a sex scene at some point followed by a 'happily ever after'.
I'll report back when I finish it.
Okay, yep. It had a pretty strong romance overtone. :(
Decent book overall, but... man.
Neurodharma: New Science, Ancient Wisdom by Rick Hanson (a little dry, but interesting in small doses)
Can't Spell Treason Without Tea by Rebecca Thorne (cozy fantasy, low stakes)
Seasonal Fears by Seanan McGuire (2nd book in a duology, compelling characters)
Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind by Yuval Noah Harari (Also a little dry, but the audiobook format makes it easy to consume while doing other things)
I'm reading Moby Dick and i kind of hate it. The narrator switches at unusual points and the story is paused more often than not so that the author can go on long winded digressions about random things tangentially related to whaling. The only point in it's favor is that the prose is very pretty.
Some might suggest Moby Dick is, umm, not really about whaling.
It’s also 170 years old and was a commercial failure even then, so you’re not really alone.
Yes, the metaphor is impossible to miss and the story itself is actually enjoyable.
On the other hand, did we need a 60 page digression on the color white? What about on how whales are taxinomically classified? About how whales are cleaned/gutted? About how whaling is a noble profession fit for kings?
The list goes on.
As someone who has never read it, what exactly is it thought to really be about?
You gotta treat Melville as an experience rather than looking at his works as discrete stories. He was a master at conveying experiential prose.
Those tangents are where he really shines. The whaling parts are the fluff.
Just finished rereading Karen Rose's Romantic Suspense series for the hundredth (maybe not, more than 10.) time. Still have nothing new queued up so rereading CJ Archer's Glass and Steele for the first time.
Plato's Republic. Hated the Dialogues, and I'm still not a fan of the Socratic method (Yes, Socrates. That is quite so. I can think of no other way Socrates), but there's just so much to it, that I'm into it.
I'm reading Crossroads of Twilight by Robert Jordan.
Part of the Wheel of Time series
I'm trying Asimov's Foundation series again. I read Foundation and Empire as a teenager, and it took me a long time to get into it. I'm still not really liking it--not a huge fan of political intrigue, but I AM into the kind of longview approach that Marquez and Michener tend to take, where they can sum up long periods of time in a few sentences. I want to like it, but I'm just not into this. I'm waiting on some books though, so I'll keep trying in the meantime.
I'm in the middle of yet another reread of Glen Cook's Black Company series, just finished the 2nd one. Decided to take a break from the series with something I don't normally read - mysteries. Reading Agatha Christie's first Poirot novel and having a great time.
Have you read Cook's Garrett series? They're actually mysteries--think Nero Wolfe in a fantasy setting. Less dark than Black Company. First one is Sweet Silver Blues.
Haven’t tried them yet, so I gotta put ‘em on the list! Thanks for the recommendation.
I just finished Awaken Online: Armageddon by Travis Bagwell and I'm looking for something new. Armageddon was excellent, though now I gotta wait for the next one :(
My nonfiction/heavy book right now is Hitler’s Northern Utopia: Building the New Order in Occupied Norway by Despina Stratigakos. The evolution of fascism is terrifying.
I just finished the Powder Mage series by Brian McClellen. Entertaining books with an interesting setting and the outline of an interesting magic system, pretty quick read. Everyone does seem implausibly treacherous, however. You can definitely tell McClellen worked with Brian Sanderson, very similar style.
I also finished The Fifth Season, by N. K. Jemisin, which I enjoyed.
Sayonara Gangsters by Takahashi Genichiro - it is a weirdness fest of post modern Japanese literature. I love every chaotic page.
Just finished the Mayo Clinic Guide to Pregnancy . Pretty sound pregnancy book.
Also reading through The Cornish Coast Mystery by John Bude. It's part of the British Libraries Crime Classics which I'm hoping to work through. It's actually a little simple. It shows a piece of evidence and then walks you through all the possibilities and investigators thoughts. Its also telegraphs what happens heavily at the beginning and then red herrings in a very plodding way for the rest of the book. It's really a 1920s police procedural.
I'm also reading a book called The Dao of Montessori but it's a bit heavy for an entry into that teaching philosophy.