Oh, I forgot about today’s weekly thread. So without further ado,
What have you all been reading or listening to lately?
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Just finished this little book - sir Pratchetts “shaking hands with death” a speech he gave
I’m partway through Red Rising per a recommendation from a friend. Taking a break from my charge through all of Brandon Sanderson’s works to appreciate some different writing styles.
Seems like a small thing, but I really like Pierce Brown’s use of the true first person perspective. It gives the book an almost poetic feel and its not something I’ve seen used very often in fiction.
Currently I am reading The Monk by Matthew Lewis, which is a gothic horror book. I guess the biggest themes are temptation, love and the concept of sin, but I have read only the first book out of three. Still light on the horror side of things, but all the elements are in their places for plot to start to unravel quite menacingly.
Other book is Mirabilis by Anni Kytömäki. I am struggling through, because it was loaned to my by a friend to discuss about.
I just started reading Killing in War by Jeff McMahan, and while it’s a really difficult read, his views on liability to be attacked in a war are really interesting. I’d recommend if you’re interested in ethics and morality to check it out!
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I’m about half way through To Kill a Mockingbird. I went in blind and I haven’t enjoyed a book this much in a long while.
That’s how I read it the first time. Amazing book.
I did the same a couple years ago. We had tickets to see it in play form. I had no idea what it was about and wanted to read the book first. It’s really good!
I’m nearly done with Guards! Guards! by Terry Pratchett. It’s delightful, and I do love seeing more of the Librarian, but I’m a little confused about how much hype it gets. Don’t get me wrong, I still think it’s pretty great! I’m just not finding it better/more accessible/etc than the other Discworld I’ve read so far.
Still kinda in a reading slump, so probably grabbing something fast-paced next.
I also didn’t get the hype of Guards! Guards! And I too enjoyed it. I think it’s the nature and one of the great things about Discworld, that the different stories resonate with different people.
Absolutely, I loved it and thought it was one of the best Discworlds, I guess it takes all sorts
On chapter 50/77 of DCC book #5, The Butcher’s Masquerade.
Had a few months break from DCC to re-listen (3rd time) to Project Hail Mary before the movie came out and a few others. Back at it and loving it again.
This one is my favorite of the series so far! Enjoy!
I just binged the entire Hitchhikers Guide series, so I took a couple of weeks off after finishing “And Another Thing” to digest everything.
This week I started listening to New York 2140 by Kim Stanley Robinson.
This is the first audio book I’ve listened to with a cast of people each doing characters, and it’s a bit different, so I’ll see how I feel about it in the long run.
My desk book (for when I take small breaks and want a short story) is still The Martians by KSR, although I realized I never finished Asimov’s The Complete Stories Vol 1 that used to be on my desk, so I think I may pull it back out next.
I’m a fan of Asimov and would also read his short stories on lunch.
I also have read The Illustrated Man by Ray Bradbury several times, it is a fun collection that I highly recommend.
I’ve been enjoying DCC too much lately, I usually alternate my books between Star Wars and another one. Asimov is one of the main ones, but I also don’t want to be done them!
This is my read Asimov shelf, doesn’t include his editor only ones.
And my used, to be read section of his.
Thanks! I’ll add it to the list.
Currently reading Want Submitted by anonymous. Collected by Gillian Anderson.
I don’t read a lot of nonfiction but this one has been fantastic so far. The section On Fantasies was very interesting, I enjoyed seeing different women’s perspectives on what they fantasize about. I’m on the section Rough and Ready and it’s helped me feel like my thoughts are more normal than I realized. A line written by Gillian Anderson in the intro of the section made me feel like my perimenopausal brain is definitely normal “I’ve read that someone going through menopause, for instance - when their minds and bodies are sometimes experiencing terrifying upheaval - is more likely to fantasize about BDSM than pretty much anything else”. Some of the letters are like they took thoughts directly from my brain, which is incredibly refreshing.
I recommend this to any woman out there who was taught women should be ashamed of being sexual or sometimes feels her thoughts are abnormal, because they definitely are not. Or honestly, just any woman should read this book!
I just finished Remarkably Bright Creatures by Shelby Van Pelt. It was not what I was expecting and I didn’t really enjoy it. I thought the Octopus would have been more than just a plot device, the book was very boring and predictable.
Currently re-reading the Hunger Games trilogy. I read it when it first came out and it was the first real post apocalyptic dystopian fiction I was introduced to and really enjoyed it but I couldn’t make it through the movies.
I’m about a quarter of the way through Tom’s Crossing by Mark Z. Danielewski. He’s the guy who did House of Leaves
It’s an updated take on the western genre (I love McMurty, McCarthy and Michener…) set in the 80s. Fantastic writing.
Last week I finished:
- Biological War by Annie Jacobsen. Not quite as thrilling a start as her Nuclear War but ended in a much more concerning place
- When You Reach Me by Rebecca Stand. I liked the constrained storytelling conceit. I wish it were longer…
- Unsouled by Will Wight. I did not really like it… I thought Lindon was a weasel
I loved House of Leaves, but never read anything else from him. Is Tom’s Crossing similar in anyway e.g. atmosphere?
It’s a sprawling western. More about the characters and the journey than anything else.
New kid Kalin March “steals” two horses and takes them on a journey through the Utah valley to release them. The owners of the horses are an affluent family who are more interested in power and its trappings than in the actual value of the horses. Kalin’s friend’s sister Landry is from the rival affluent family (they’d been feuding for over a hundred years) and she joins Kalin on the journey.
it’s not the weird meta fictional style novel like House of Leaves, which admittedly I have not read, but it is sprawling with a lot of characters and overlapping perspectives and retrospective comments on the events from years in the future.
Well it does sound intriguing, so maybe I will give it a shot at some point. Thanks for the answer.
Just started book six in the Dresden files. It’s funny because a cell phone is both expensive and very small.
It’s funny to see evolution of a cell phone and internet when you read books in last couple of decades.
Didn’t notice the user name until right now, heheh.
Yes, it’s Harry Blackstone Copperfield Dresden!
Got a lot of reading in this week actually! Finished up DCC 6 and am already halfway through (Star Wars legends) book 2 of the black fleet crisis, Shield of Lies.
It’s an interesting difference in story telling from the first book, the first book was your “standard” change between the 3 storylines wherever, maybe every chapter as a good average. But this book, parts 1/2/3 and maybe 4. First part of the book was all Landos storyline, while Part two so far is Luke.
After this, I’m diving into DCC #7 (edit) and that’s just south of 900 pages, so it’ll take the week+ likely.
Hikikomori by Saitō Tamaki
The english translation foreword has an interesting point about them staying at home in Japan vs youth homeless in the west.
1/4 of the way through
