1mo ago

What book(s) are you currently reading or listening to? September 02

Still reading Whispers Underground by Ben Aaronovitch. Book 3 of Rivers of London series.

Nothing much to talk about it yet.

What about all of you? What have you been reading or listening to lately?

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37 comments

I have been reading Fahrenheit 451 and at the moment halfway. It’s an interesting read.
Still a bit confused whether; ::: spoiler Spoiler People themselves wanted the books gone and burned or that is forced by the government and that the government made people believe they wanted it. I also wonder whether McClellan is still alive or not. She suddenly vanished out of Montag’s life. :::
Going through the "dumb luck and dead heroes" series by Skyler Ramirez. Currently at book number 5. They're a nice read, even if the characters are a bit cliche. Also still listening to "Eye of the Bedlam Bride" by Matt Dinniman on my commute, two more days and I'll be through. It was a nice change from listening to the radio, but I won't be starting a next audiobook soon. It takes too long, and it can at times be distracting too much. The book is great.
Re-reading The Left Hand of Darkness for the podcast interspersed with the odd short story from Songs of a Dead Dreamer.
- Kinda offtopic, but how's your podcast going?
  
  Good! We have subscribers via the various distribution methods (website, rss, spotify, apple, youtube etc) in the low to mid hundreds (very difficult to be precise!) but to be honest, we'd all probably do it even if we just had 10. We don't place ads or have sponsors and we don't yell at everyone to subscribe, like etc. We do it because we love books and enjoy doing it - thats pretty much it :)
At Home: A short history of home life by Bill Bryson. A history of houses, and just history relating to houses.
Most back cover reviews exaggerate, but it really has made me laugh out loud, at least most chapters.
Even better, it gives me a constant stream of interesting facts to throw at my partner. Did you know they had locks on doors and underfloor heating back in the neolithic?
- Did you know they had locks on doors and underfloor heating back in the neolithic?
  They did?
I just read the graphic novel Morrison Hotel written by Leah Moore, about The Doors album with the same name.
Next up is Hard to Be a God by Arkady and Boris Strugatsky. This one has been on my reading list for some time now, and I just stumbled upon it at the library, so that's cool.
I finished The Company Man by Robert Jackson Bennett. This was one of his early works and it shows in the character work and the romance. The atmosphere, worldbuilding and plot were on point though.
Now I've just started The Last Lifeboat by Hazel Gaynor. This is based on the true story of an evacuation boat during WWII that was sunk by the Nazis. It's still early to really judge it, but so far I love how one of the main characters is written, so hoping it lands for me.
Just finished Deep Black by Miles Cameron. It's the second and final in his Arcana Imperii series.
It's military sci-fi space opera that does a lot of things right. The main character isn't an unlikable bastard, she grows and changes throughout the series, it's not super hard science but it's also not hand-wavy fantasy, they deal with acceleration and relativistic effects, etc. . But it also bothered me - she's a bit of a Mary Sue (although this gets addressed); there are huge swathes of actions described that probably weren't necessary like pilots going through all of the check steps, launching, doing actions, landing; some of the antagonists were a bit mustache-twirly evil. Overall though, it's still got me thinking about it and turning it over in my mind, so I'd still recommend it.
The Evidence of Things not Seen by Baldwin ('85)
I've been reading the blade itself personally but it has made my reading a bit weird.
I'll binge it for hours only to put it down and stop reading for like a week. Great book so no idea why.
This is to continue my phase of reading popular books which was something I was, stupidly, quite reluctant to do.
- There are certain books which I enjoy when I am reading them, but when I put them down I don't feel any urge to pick it up again. They are still fun when I pick them up again though. I think these are books that aren't actually bad but there is something in them that doesn't match our taste or interest.
Barely read this week, but I started My Name Is Nobody by Matthew Richardson.
__
Finished A Wizard's Guide to Defensive Baking by T. Kingfisher (YA/middle grade fantasy, somewhat cozy) | bingo: indie HM, award HM, steppin' up HM, cozy
When a teenage baker with magical influence over dough finds a dead body in her bakery, she is pulled into sinister plots that threaten the whole city.
This was cute. My only complaint is that all the palace stuff was very thin; having the answer to "how was this allowed to happen?" boil down to "whoops, our bad" was kinda disappointing.
- Now I want a book like that but with more focus on the running of magical bakery 😀 Kinda like inn parts of the Wandering Inn.
Finishing up Super Powereds: Year One. I’ll still keep with the series, but it’s ending up about like I expected. Solid B tier.
"For a New Novel: Essays on Fiction" by Alain Robbe-Grillet.
I probably won't read the entire thing. I'm just reading a handful of the essays.
The Memory Police - Yōko Ogawa
It's interesting, I still don't know what to think of it. I put it down a few months ago and picked it up again, planning to finish it. Any readers around? What did you think?
- Not gonna be a useful comment, but I never finished it. Nothing wrong with the book, I just had a kid and got sidetracked. I recall enjoying the part I read (first quarter-a third, maybe?). I should try again one of these days.
  
  I managed to finish it. It was interesting, especially the first half. The ending was kinda disappointing though...
Reading Some Desperate Glory by Emily Tesh. I've been really captivated by this novel, enjoy the characters, the world they built, and story so far. We will see how it ends.
Reading Star Wars “The Ruins of Dantooine” and have Isaac Asimovs “The Stars, Like Dust” on deck next.
I am currently reading The Psychology of Money by Morgan Housel and Stella Maris by Cormac McCarthy.
Stella Maris isn't bad, but I am not so hooked as I was when I read The Road or when I struggled mentally to read the Blood Meridian (all that violence did go under my skin, but it was a valuable learning experience).
Morgan Housel's book seems a like a light read and it is giving me that excellent a confirmation bias on what I believe is the nature of money.
I finished off A Sunlit Man and honestly it was probably the worst Sanderson book I've listened to. Not to say it is bad per se but it was a bit of a slog to get through. I enjoyed the link with Stormlight and tie ins with the cosmere but by the end of it it sort of ruined my enthusiasm for books in general for a bit and I've been listening to more music this past week consequently. I can't even really put my finger on what I found so boring about it but there you go.
I'll go back to some Deathlands this week I think but mostly I think music will be on heavy rotation instead.
- I agree that it's my least favourite of all 4 secret novel books.
Strange pictures and Strange houses by Uketsu
Terra nova. Good enough to keep me entertained, but not to keep me up at night...
started reading Blade Runner / Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep. I read like 80% of it in febuary but then took a long break so i forgot most of the plot
- I've been meaning to read that for ages. The film is one of my favourites.
I've got 2 chapters left in Contemporary Theological Approaches to Sexuality.
Making my way through “Dungeon Crawler Carl” series. Perfect 1 hr each way commute audiobooks. Currently about to start book 3.
I finished Empire of AI by Karen Hao. It was a really eye-opening (and very deeply researched) look at OpenAI, Sam Altman, and the entire AI industry and I was impressed by the fact that she interviewed AI workers in Kenya and Chile.
I'm currently reading James by Percival Everett and so far I like the author's voice and sense of humor.
- How does it portray OpenAI and Sam Altman?
  
  Basically as a modern-day East India Trading Company. The book frames their actions around a discussion of empires, and she shows Sam Altman as someone who is driven by a desire to accumulate power for himself.
Currently reading Albert Camus' The Stranger. Enjoying it so far, about a fifth of the way in.
Recently finished Abducted – Patrick Barb. Fun fast-paced sci-fi horror. I'd recommend it.