Books

I am on a Dungeon Crawler Call run at the moment. Listening to book 4.

Finished There Is No Antimemetics Division (audiobook), started Children of Memory by Adrian Tchaikovsky (Book 3 of the Children of Time series)

"The Kings of the Wyld" by Nicholas Eames. Only a few chapters in, but I love it.

The premise is: decades after a famous band of heroes has retired, one of them tries to get the band back together again to rescue his daughter. They're all old and grumpy, and it's just awesome. Very dry humor.

Service Model by Adrian Tchaikovsky. It's pretty much Hitchhiker's Guide To The Galaxy (that style of deadpan humor and comedy of manners) with dumb robots and not-so-sane people taking place on post-apocalyptic Earth.

I'm listening to the Dungeon Crawler Carl series, currently on book #3.
I didn't expect there to be so many books, I thought it'd finish on the 1st - not sure if it's "worth it".
I like the overarching idea but I'm a bit tired of hearing about skill points and mana costs and all that.

I’m halfway through The Crystal Star which is a Star Wars Legends book. It’s been better than the previous stand alone ones atleast.

After this, it’s Dungeon Crawler Carl book #5.

I'm rereading A Song of Ice and Fire for probably the 4th time. I just finished A Clash of Kings. Doing a mix of reading at home and audiobooks when I'm at work.

Eric Idle's biography 'Always Look On The Bright Side of Life'. Really interesting.

I'm reading the second book in the Wells of Sorcery series, City of Stone and Silence, by Django Wexler.

It's decent, but it is YA and has a lot of surface level romance. His other books are much better, unless you want YA romance.

I just finished Yesteryear about a tradwife influencer. It was pretty messed up. Not sure if I liked it or not.

I started I See You've Called in Dead, but I'm really struggling with the cringiness of the main character. I doubt I'm going to be able to finish it.

Machine Vendetta, book 3 of Alastair Reynold’s The Prefect series.

Platform Decay (Murderbot book 6) on deck

About 80% complete with We the People a review of the US constitution and efforts to amend it over the 250 years. Really well written and super interesting

about 40% done with King Sorrow by Joe Hill. What happens when you summon a dragon to help with a problem? Really fun and I don’t want to stop reading.

Last week I finished Market Forces by Richard K. Morgan, his third book after the first two books in the altered carbon series. I thought it was just okay, but I liked the absurdist world of late stage capitalism. Unabashed corporations sponsoring coups in emerging markets

Just finished Fool's Assassin. I'm not sure how I missed it a decade ago; I love Robin Hobb.

I loved and hated it at the same time. It's one of those books that feels like half the book is the intro. But...it's Robin Hobb. I love her writing! And I've read 6 of her books starring one of the main characters (and another 6 set in the same world), so there's a cozy sense of the familiar.

I also just finished Neal Asher's The Soldier. Based on that, I've started reading Gridlinked (which, hindsight, I should have picked up Gridlinked first! But I grabbed The Soldier off the shelf at the library, so c'est la vie...(ou livre?)

"Cibola Burn" by James S.A. Corey, so The Expanse #4. I like the TV series a lot (watched first, before reading the books), I really liked "Leviathan Wakes" and "The Butcher of Anderson Station", but the second and third volumes were meh. The second one is too similar to the first one and the third one, I don't know, just didn't click. "Cibola Burn" is good, finally the themes have changed, the setting has changed (Ilus) and there are new mysteries to uncover (well, I watched the TV series, so the story is kinda spoiled for me, but it's not like I remember everything).

Recently finished The Angel of the Crows, liked it a lot!🐦‍⬛

Now reading Project Hail Mary. Enjoying it well enough.

Next up is Mona Lisa Overdrive

Happy cake day dude!

I have done the first 4 books of The Dresden Files now. It is alright and the last book, the summer knight was better than those preceding it but generally not sure how I feel about it so far.

It isn't bad and I will continue on a few more books to see how it goes. I like the ideas and setting but I really don't like any of the characters to be honest, particularly Dresden and his excessively ethical approach to everything even to his own detriment is pretty fucking tiring to be honest. Also if I hear the word fuego one more time I might break things.......

So to have a break from Dresden I have been listening to He Who Fights Monsters. It is another litrpg book and so far it is like Solo Levelling and Dungeon Crawler Carl had a child with a bit of Beware of Chicken sprinkled in. It isn't bad so far but as it is right now all of the aforementioned books do what they do a lot better. I'll see how I feel at the end of this first book but I think it could go either way.

Damn Glad to Meet You by Tim Matheson

Audiobook God of the Woods by Liz Moore

I started a new job a while ago, so my reading progress has slowed considerably. I just recently made it halfway through Dungeon Crawler Carl’s: This Inevitable Ruin, but I only have 8 days left with the book 😫

Currently 3 hours from the end of The Blade Itself. Since the last time I posted here I finished up Malazan, Book of the Fallen, which I loved. I’d probably enjoy a relisten at some point. I’ll move on to more of the Malazan books later, but afterwards I went on to The Tainted Cup as my wife had just read it, and then we could talk about it. I usually would move on to the sequel, but she wasn’t ready to read A Drop of Corruption yet, so I’m waiting. I rather liked the biopunkish setting. Finished the Stardust Grail and the Deep Sky before my current listen, I liked them both but not as much as the others listed here.
I tossed the Ocean at the End of the Lane into the goodwill pile, it was a DNF. I had been reading it when traveling, got maybe halfway through, and then I read the vulture article on the allegations. It sat on the bookshelf for a while, but just getting rid of it now, what a disappointment of a man

The Path Of Daggers In mijn ogen draag ik wolken

I'm reading Horror Stories Shocking Tales of Unspeakable Terror, a collection of old gothic horror stories, they're compelling but there's a severe lack of diversity, I'm over halfway through and they've already spent the big hitters of Stoker, Poe and Shelley.

I have been reading some one-offs since finishing the Throne of Glass series.

I read Circe by Madeline Miller which I thought was excellent and a great read overall. I just got back from watching The Odyssey and immediately thought about the different ways creatives the characters in this classic story are portrayed in the books and adaptations.

I also finished The Memory Collectors by Dete Meserve. This was a neat sci-fi/cozy/mystery that had was a fun read, a bit thrilling at times, and overall a bit comforting.

I’m now reading Theo of Golden which seems to so far be another cozy fiction.

I’d say none of those are quite my style but I’m having fun. I like to take a break between longer series to read friend recommendations.

I’m thinking of re-reading the Silo series next because I don’t know what I’m watching on the show. I don’t dislike the show but it all feels way off from what I remember so I figured it’d be a nice refresher.

Currently listening to book 20 in the Reacher series titled Make Me, and it’s so so. This one and the previous one are only ok at best, which is a serious change since the previous ones are very good.

I also just finished listening to the Harry Potter cast editions from audible… best audio book experience I’ve ever had. I’m seriously considering just starting them up again now.

Finished astral library by kate quinn. Decent. I liked it. 4/5

Finished. Home before dark by Riley sager. Most of it was decent. The ending sucked balls. Gave it a 3/5.

Started but dnf’d ring shout by p djèlì Clark. I could not read it. I got about 20-30 pages in and had nfi what was happening.

Stated the Mistborn series by Brandon Sanderson. Absolutely enjoying it. Such well written story.

Currently reading Morning Star by Pierce Brown. I’ve been devouring the series.

It’s a really easy read that I’ve been enjoying. I normally like some exposition to books but with this series I’ve appreciated the non stop action. Would recommend to people who want a quick sci fi series.

About to finish The Night Circus. I can see why a set of my friends are obsessed.

Started Why Zebras Don't Get Ulcers, about the effects of prolonged stress, a few chapters in pretty good so far

Struggling through the Adventures and Misdaventures of Maqroll - what a drag, feel like I'm reading the same episode over and over again.

I just finished Jane Austen's Northanger Abbey. It was a fun read, interesting to read something that old and I really liked Austen's sense of humor. I don't think I will read another one of her books though, at least not soon, because the whole "oh my goodness, when can I see him again, he asked me to dance with him" schtick was too much for me.

And right after that I started Helm by Sarah Hall. I'm not far in yet, but it's really interesting. It's about a wind (the meteorological phenomenon, not flatulence) whose name is Helm.

The only problem is I have a serious cold at the moment, so I can't read now. (This comment took me ten minutes to type in between sneezes.) I hope tomorrow's better.

Im reading the Burnout Society by Byung Chul Han. Its very short and very engrossing and demands to be read and re-read in its first reading.

The book I'm listening to is Read Dangerously by Azar Nafisi. Her perspective on Iran, the US, and the shape and reactions of totalitarian power are striking. Its also nice to have an author share her perspective on some books that I've read. These include:

• The Price of the Ticket by James Baldwin,

• the Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood,

• Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Thurston,

• Between the World and Me by Ta-Nehisi Coates, and

• the Satanic Verses by Salman Rushdie.

Reading some of the books she references helps in the reading of this book.

Someday I will sit down and read more than 2 pages at a time, and I will finish The Invincible by Stanislaw Lem. I don't find it gripping, but I am enjoying it. I'm just... not getting around to reading.

Currently reading The Sellout by Paul Beatty

Whilst I'm not a slow reader, I'm usually too fucked from work and just end up doomscrolling instead.

It's pretty funny, the book I mean

Finished the first trilogy of Red Rising, and enjoyed it. I’ll probably come back and read more of the books in the future, but I needed to break it up a little bit I’m on to T. Kingfisher’s Hemlock & Silver

I just paused Steel's Edge the 4. Part of illona Andrews edge series to start the Odyssey because we want to go to the cinema next week.

I'm currently binging Ich möchte zurückgehen in der Zeit by Judith Hermann. As it's been just released it's only available in German yet, but if you're able to read that I highly recommend. It's about Judith's own journey towards discovering the story of her grandfather and the traces this man, who was a convinced Nazi, has left in the family. The horrible shadow that drags way into the third generation, that no one seems to want to acknowledge.

Finished The Player of Games by Iain M Banks the other day. Loved it and can't wait to read more in the series!

I'm reading through You Exist Too Much by Zaina Arafat as part of the book club I'm in. To be honest I'm not enjoying it that much - the story is all over the place. But it's fairly short, so I'll push through and give some feedback during the next meeting.