Sorry missed last week’s post, just busy with life.
The silver lining is, I don’t have to stay “still reading” for yet another week, as I finally finished Whispers Underground by Ben Aaronovitch. Book 3 of Rivers of London series.
Yet another case involving magic in London and the Police solving it.
What about all of you? What have you been reading or listening to lately?
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Anathem by Neal Stephenson. Starting slow but it’s kind of intriguing.
That is one of my favorite books of all time. I love almost all of Neal Stephenson and just finally finished Cryptonomicon this week.
That’s one of my favorites.
Anathem was such a wild fucking ride. Stick with it and I promise you won’t be disappointed.
Thank you I will, I have become skeptical but I’ll keep going!
I loved that book so much. I definitely wanted more math-centric stories after that.
Just finished Kropotkins “The Conquest of Bread”. Might be time for some fiction again.
I finished Master and Margarita a couple of weeks back - it was great! Surreal and funny, plus a brilliant satire of Russian society at the time. Knowing how certain elements of the plot reflect the author’s own experiences make it particularly poignant.
Yesterday I finished reading Old Man’s War. Really enjoyed it! An interesting premise, fascinating technology & alien races coupled with some genuinely moving moments. The exploration of the implications of war and life extension were surprisingly well thought out for what I expected to be a comedic/light-hearted novel. I look forward to reading more in the series.
I have just started To Kill a Mockingbird - somehow I’ve got this far in life without reading it. Will see how it goes!
Finished the first book in Old Man’s War series or the whole series?
It’ll probably be the next book I start, unless I feel like something else at the time…
Just the first book in the series - it definitely gets my vote if you’re thinking about reading it!
Cool, will start it soon.
How Far the Light Reaches: A Life in Ten Sea Creatures by Sabrina Imbler is pretty good at the 45% mark.
I’m reading Lady Eve’s Last Con by Rebecca Fraimow and listening to Roll for Love by M.K. England during commutes. They are both pretty fluffy, but fun so far
Started the first book of the Culture series, Consider Phlebas, only through the first three chapters, however I’m enjoying it so far – especially compared to the writing of Red Rising (which was my last sci-fi read, at DNF atm).
I’m sorry you didnt like red rising but I also totally get it. I had a lot of fun with them as I usually read more austere sf like Greg Egan, Alastair Reynolds, and Banks. So on that note; enjoy! The culture series is amazing and unique, and some of the best literature I’ve ever read. The Player of Games and Use of Weapons are at the top of my all-time favorites list.
Glad to hear that, I heard lots of great things about the series that led me to coming across it, so far I’m pretty hooked! I’ve come those authors too, still need to check out their works, any recommendations for where to start with Egan and Reynolds?
I’ll probably attempt Red Rising, as I often do finish books tbh, however I found I just gradually lost interest with it, to the point the non-fiction I was reading in parallel was more engrossing. Thinking about why, after starting Culture novel… I found the main character a bit annoying, the technology being almost over-explained (more tell than show) --especially compared to Consider Phlebas so far, and something about the pacing being a bit off. I’ll definitely try to get back to it, though I’ll give it some space first.
Happy to recommend!
For Reynolds, if you want to try a standalone novel I would say House of Suns is a great place to start. Very fun read. If you want to get in to the meat and potatoes of his writing instead, I’d say just go ahead and jump right in with Revelation Space, which is the first full installment of the series by the same name.
As for Greg Egan, I started with Diaspora and after reading four or five others I think that was a lucky start. He’s basically the farthest point on the hard side of the soft-hard sf spectrum, and if you find Diaspora to be not quite to your liking, you almost certainly won’t like his other works as they are even more whacky. The other startinf point that could be good is Permutation City which is SLIGHTLY more grounded in the modern day and not as far-reaching in some ways. Still, it’s a crazy book because he doesn’t know how to not write crazy books. He always has resources on his website to help parse some of the more mathematical concepts so perusing that can help, or make things worse lol.
Addendum: my friend is an avid reader like me and also didnt care for Red Rising, largely due to the pacing, so don’t feel bad if that isn’t your cuppa tea.
Thank you for the recommendations, sweetness, it’s much appreciated! More for the tbr 🥲.
Glad to know I’m not alone in my experience with Red Rising, as part of what drew me to it was all the hype from others.
Playground by Richard Powers. Really enjoyed the ride. Probably give The Overstory a try soon.
I just finished Alchemised. Amazing love story set during a civil war, but also a story about the way we see ourselves and the way we’re remembered.
By SenLinYu?
In this riveting dark fantasy debut, a woman with missing memories fights to survive a war-torn world of necromancy and alchemy—and the man tasked with unearthing the deepest secrets of her past.
^ This one?
That’s the one, apparently based off of a Dramione fan-fic from what I got told by my partner.
Quick Edit: check those content warnings.
Heh, had to look up what Dramione is 😀
These content warnings look brutal. Thanks for the heads up!
You’re welcome! Haha don’t worry I had too as well, my partner is all up in the booktok world where this book is all the rage right now.
Hmm, I wouldn’t have guessed that, but I can see it now.
Halfway done with The Last Emperox. It’s the last book in a space opera trilogy. Mankind is spread across the galaxy in an imperial system that forces all settlements to not be fully self sufficient in order to incentive peaceful coexistence. FTL travel doesn’t exist and thus trade can only be done with space ships via a complex network of wormholes.
The whole premise is that network is collapsing, which would leave billions of people stranded with a bleak future of them slowly burning through their last supplies. It follows the actions of the emperor’s actions taken to save as many lives as possible while trying to fend off assassination attempts from ambitious short-sighted nobles trying to gain the upper hand during the empire’s collapse.
That sound like a fun series. Will you recommend it?
Edit: Just looked it up, it’s by John Scalzi, I have most of his already in my wishlist, so will get it sooner or later.
I absolutely do. Glad you have it on a list somewhere, it’s a good read.
You are someone, lol. That’s a funny name 😀
I definitely recommend it.
The Empyrean series by Rebecca Yarros, I’m not ashamed to admit.
Read what you like, no need for feeling ashamed 😀
I finished Cryptonomicon by Neal Stephenson this week. Great read! Stephenson is a very long-winded and meandering author but I love it every time.
I just got a copy of House of Leaves by Mark Z. Danielewski because I was inspired by mushroommonk (I don’t know how to tag users) here in the comments. Super excited to finally crack this one open.
I am also about to start in on Ursula Le Guin but I dont know if I should start with The Left Hand of Darkness or The Word for World is Forest.
Started the second Mistborn book by Sanderson. The first one was good and the second is still holding my interest. I think the plot and lore he’s created is top notch but his prose and overall writing style is rather meh. I’m about to start taking a shot of Bourbon for everytime a character rolls their eyes or signs in conversation.
I am not someone who is a good judge of what is good or bad writing, but this is one of his earliest work and it’s said that his later books improve a lot. Though he is generally loved for his world-building and stories, rather than beauty of his prose.
Still plugging away at The Wandering Inn webserial…now on book 8.
Have fun!
I finished all the Super Powereds related stuff that’s out. The main series and one spin off that may get a sequel in the future. There’s also a potential follow up that happens 20-ish years later.
Fun books in general with a little patience needed for areas where it really could have been tightened up. But I would feel comfortable recommending it to someone. Overall probably high B or low A tier.
Now I’m on to Someone You Can Build a Nest In by John Wiswell. It’s had pretty good reviews and is quite cozy.
Interesting, will take a look. (I think I said that last time, but didn’t actually take a look 😀 )
Finished The Dead Zone, now reading project hail Mary by Andy weir. Excellent book!
Hail Mary is amazing.
I think its better than The Martian and im only 100 pages in!
