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I finally finished The Complete Lovecraft. Boy was that a tough 3 months! Don't get me wrong, when he's good he's really compelling and tense but my gid when he's bad it's such a slog to get through, I also had a problem with how hyped Lovecraft is; I was expecting existential dread of the highest order, but it felt kinda tame compared to other authors replicating his tone.
Colour out of Space was my favourite, my least favourite was the one where he named his cat a racist slur.
I completed book 8 of Dungeon Crawler Carl yesterday and now I’m on to the new Dresden novella OutLaw.
I just finished DCC 8 for the second time today. I like to speed through a new book, then go back and read/listen to it at a more leisurely pace to make sure I catch details and highlight themes, foreshadowing, favorite bits, etc. Also to see how I did with my first round of highlighting foreshadowing. 😁
Can’t wait for the next two!
Can't wait for Mirror Mirror, going to speed up on Dresden Files and catch up by the time it's released.
I'm just about to finish Yumi and the Nightmare Painter by Brandon Sanderson. I've enjoyed it very much.
I'm also reading two others for my book clubs, but can't remember the titles. Have to look at my ereader.
Almost 1/2 way through project Hail Mary. I liked the Martian so I expected to like PHM, but I didn't realize to what degree I would like. As a Molecular Biologist myself, I feel quite connected to Ryland.
Leviathan Wakes by James S. A. Corey, the first book in The Expanse series. I'm roughly half way in, and it's enjoyable so far.
Oohhh this series is a treat. I love so many of the characters.
stick with the series. it's great. I think I was on book 4 or 5, right around where the novels start to surpass the tv series, when a buddy said, "oh, you're just about to the part where they start getting good!"
and boy was he right.
Hopefully they are good before that point and increase in quality? I went in totally blind; haven't watched the show or read anything about them prior. My free time is pretty limited, so I am picky in selecting what I spend my time on.
oh, very much so! they just get even better after Cibola Burn
I’m so jealous you get to read that for the first time. It’s the only series I wish I could forget and read again.
I have to be honest, it almost lost me for a little when it started focusing on the broader politics of the solar systme, but things picked right back up and are very well interesting again. I'm going to be sticking with it!
Finished reading Dennis E Taylor's Bobiverse series for the second time, waiting on the new book to be published. For now it's audiobook only, and I like reading it myself. Just started reading Martha Wells' "Platform Decay", Murderbot being one of the other series I found last year that I really liked.
If you haven’t already, check out Dungeon Crawler Carl. There is a lot of overlap in fandoms. 🙂
Thanks, I have, the latest book is already on the to read list. Along with the latest book in "the laundry files", which I can also recommend.
I should be finishing up both The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebeca Skloot, and Small Gods by Terry Pratchett this week. Not sure what's next yet.
I just started reading The Gathering Storm by Brandon Sanderson, book twelve of Robert Jordan's The Wheel of Time series. I've never read any Sanderson before, so it'll be interesting to see the tonal differences in writing.
Oooh, interesting. That was my first introduction to Sanderson too. Would love to hear what you think about it.
Same as OP, that’s where I was introduced to Sanderson. I went on to read pretty much everything he’s written. 😅
The most major change will be how quickly everything moves when Sanderson writes, he has a tempo well suited for the general audience while Jordon can meander - poorly at times.
My brother has been encouraging me to read The Blade Itself by Joe Abercrombie for a long time, and I’ve started it a few times and always got distracted.
Something clicked this time though, and I’m totally absorbed.
It’s also the first fiction I’ve read in a while, and I forgot what an escape it can be. What a weird thing to forget.
About 2/3 through "Paladin of Souls" by Lois McMaster Bujold.
Having just jumped through the first 15x "Penric & Desdemona" stories, it's interesting to see how her magic system has evolved over time through this series ("The World of the Five Gods"), and how it's definitely improved. One more book left in the series, then on to other things!
My 10 year old daughter is reading Percy Jackson: The Lightning Thief.
And asked me to read it with her. So that's what I'm reading now. And I have to say... I'm really enjoying it so far. Plus doing a mini book club with my daughter is pretty much the best.
The spear cuts through water. I've never seen an author break so many literary conventions so masterfully before.
Free ride, what an adventure. She is incredible.
(Itchyboots / Noraly Schoenmaker)
I've been relistening to the Jumper series by Steven Gould, it is fun and interesting to see how something written not all that long ago is from a totally different world. The way technology worked in the 90s is so different to how it works now and many of the problems in a science fiction book with teleportation can be solved by a mobile phone.
Also, I just finished the Murderbot series given the release of the newest book, the Bobiverse series, and the Children of Time series with the latest installment Children of Strife.
I also have a massive fanfic called The Winter Of Widows which is based in Westeros from A Game Of Thrones. It is really fun and interesting and the writing is honestly fantastic. Definitely publishable level of writing skill. It is based on the idea of a modern person with some knowledge of things like four field crop rotation and coplanting going into that medieval world and making things work as much as possible. Very cool, very fun.
Kind of scattered these past few weeks, so I'm about halfway through Murakami's After the Quake, on story two of Three by Tey, and on the first fifth of Terry Pratchett's The Truth
I just started reading Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland and Through the Looking Glass yesterday. I realized a while ago I never actually read it, and only had seen the various adaptations. I have to say, it’s quite different than what I grew up on.
I’m also disturbed that Charles Dogson (Lewis Carroll) is basically described as being a pedophile for his “love” of a 10-yo little girl (Alice Liddell, the daughter of his boss, for whom the story is told) whom he wanted to marry while he was in his 30s.
Next up I plan to read Blue Are the Hills: The Final War for Humanity. I expect it to be completely different than Alice of course.
That’s just how I roll.
I read Alice in Wonderland as a kid when I was gifted The Annotated Alice. I loved the puzzles and the math tricks. And I only just now learned that was Martin Gardner, because of course. I discovered his puzzles many years later and only today put these two together. I don't know if I would have enjoyed it as much without the explainer text, but with it I felt like I had the secret keys.
Reading the Age of Dread trilogy. I haven’t read anything in a while so I’m proud to be on the third book.
Been reading Fiber Fueled during work breaks. Wanting to take extra steps to dial in my gut health.
I haven't listened to it in a while, but I'm pretty far into the Dungeon Crawler Carl series. Really great listen, kind of a dark comedy, numbers go up (it's a lit rpg), and there's a bit of moral complexity in the plot.
Should also note, Jeff Hays is now my favorite audiobook narrator.
The Deluge by Stephen Markley. Didn't know what I was getting into. Would not have listened to it if I knew. Now can't stop listening.
I just finished Whalefall by Daniel Kraus.
Oof what a ride. I went in blind so all I knew was "diver trapped in a fight between a giant squid and a whale".
I was not prepared for the
Whalefall Spoilers
Abusive father/child relationship. I appreciated the complexity of their relationship and the messy nature of their coming to terms with each other. I think taken as a didactic piece of writing it could be unhelpful; I don't think Jay needed to prove their worth to their dad or the community, and it seemed like Jay kind of validated Mitt's abuse. But it still hit me really hard and I enjoyed it as a character study. (Especially because Jay is an egg in my head canon, and a lot of Jay's experience resonated with me. Someone get this kid some therapy and hrt 😭)
I'm also halfway thru The Dispossessed by Ursula K Le Guin.
Le Guin's stories are like the opposite of page turners for me but in the best possible way. I just want to sit with each page, there's so much to chew on. (Even tho I have bounced off this and some of her other books because the begginings are rough for me for some reason. Too much to chew I guess haha)
I'm finishing Count Zero on my jailbreak kindle and a starter bushcraft guide by Dave Canterbury on physical
I finished Dungeon Crawler Carl’s Gate of the Feral Gods over the weekend. While I enjoyed the first four books I’m looking forward to sinking my teeth into what other readers generally consider the more popular titles of the series.
In the meantime I’ve started reading Haruki Murakami’s The City and its Uncertain Walls while I wait for the remainder of the DCC books to become available at my library.
This week I finished James Herbert's Rats trilogy. I was getting pretty bored with the 3rd book so halfway through I skipped to the last chapter to see how it ended. Nothing about the ending was a surprise and I'm glad I did. The first two books are far better at half the length.
I also started Eisenhorn by Dan Abnett (WH40k). I did not get on with the writing style and dropped it quickly.
I'm now reading Careless People: A Cautionary Tale of Power, Greed, and Lost Idealism by Sarah Wynn-Williams which is an account of her years at Facebook. It's as awful as you might imagine and sometimes worse. I can't stop reading it though, like not being able to look away from a car crash.
I'm reading Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe.
I'm not sure how much I like it. It does a very good job of giving a look into African society around the time of slavery and missionaries, so I can see why it is touted as such an important novel. That said, I don't love the writing style or the characters.
Just finished "Death of the Author" by Nnedi Okorafor and enjoyed it immensely; I've been recommending it to everyone. It's a good blend of Afro-futurism, literary fiction, and sci-fi.
Now on "Helm" by Sarah Hall, and while I'm only partially through it, the writing is absolutely stellar.
For lighter fare, I particularly enjoyed "The Tainted Cup" and Drop of Corruption" by Robert Jackson Bennett.
Oryx and Crake, entertaining so far.
Just read this for the first time a couple months ago, immediately followed by the sequel Year of the Flood. Haven't gotten round to finishing the trilogy yet. I'm interested in your thoughts once you finish!
I grabbed "The Shadow Out Of Time" by H.P. Lovecraft in the new section of my local library and holy shit!!
Tried “The Housemaid”. Gave up. I don’t understand the hype around this book.
I just finished up The Expanse with the final novella after restarting the series on book 7 last week and now I'm back into fantasy land with book 10 of The Wheel of Time, Crossroads of Twilight. Sadly this is the lowest rated of the series and supposedly the "final boss" of "the slog" between books 6 and 11. Robert Jordan is just so easy to read and/or listen to though so I'm still having a good time, even if not a lot happens. I'll probably plan on polishing off the remaining 4 books after this and then I need to decide what series I'll start next.
I think I'm going to reread 'Thinking, Fast and Slow' by Kahneman.
The Dog Stars
I just started listening to this I am about an hour in and so far it is really great. The story is starting nicely and really pulled me in. I have never heard the narrator before but he is really good. His voice really works for the content.
