Still reading Cold Days by Jim Butcher, the 14th book in Dresden Files series.
Yet another busy week but things have started to settle down, got back to reading properly yesterday and have reached the point where we get some interesting reveals. Very excited about where it goes from here.
What about all of you? What have you been reading or listening to lately?
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Just started The Hallmarked Man by Robert Galbraith (JK Rowling).
How are you liking these? I read the first 3, but then kinda forgot about them, and now I don’t remember much about them and whether I liked them or read them only because of JKR,
The books are very much all about the sexual tension between Robin and Cormoran; the plots are almost an afterthought! I struggled with The Inkblack Heart because of the text format (multiple chat room conversations happening at the same time) and I never really engaged with the plot. All the others have been enjoyable if overly long and they can take a while to get going (which is just JKR’s style). As a Blue Öyster Cult fan, I really liked Career of Evil! Obvs you have to read them in order to understand the wider character and story arcs.
Just finished the expanse. Starting isles of the emberdark.
For fiction I’m reading “Thud!” By Pratchett. For non-fiction I’m reading " The Traitor and the Spy"
Rhythm of War by Brandon Sanderson. Just about 3/4 of the wat through.
The last week or so has been busy for me too so it’s been sporadic, but I’ve been reading through Brigands and Breadknives by Travis Baldree. It’s the first true sequel to Legends and Lattes given that the second book in the series is a prequel. It reunites a main character from Legends and Lattes with a friend from the prequel. Im enjoying it so far but not quite as much as the prior 2 yet, but I’m still only about 40% in.
How is the series? I have heard it mentioned many times but have never gotten around to reading it myself.
The 1st one arguably was a big part of what got me back reading regularly. I read it during Covid and it was what I needed at the moment. The second was enjoyable. The third is good, but I’ve been busy and haven’t been able to keep at it. But all are very enjoyable.
Just finished the Inheritance Games by Jennifer Lynn Barnes. I was hoping for more puzzles and less teeny bopper romance, but it was still compelling. Still working on Galaxy Outlaws by J. S. Morin, and I’ll probably pick up another anthology of his on sale from Audible. Currently reading The Jolliest Bunch by Danny Pellegrino. Christmas is my favorite holiday, so I like to read something Christmasy this time of year, fiction or nonfiction.
- The Everlasting, by Alix Harrow
- Letters from an Imaginary Country, by Theodora Goss
- The Mathematical Structure of Syntactic Merge, by Marcolli, Berwick, and Chomsky (most likely Chomsky’s last linguistics book)
- Creating Democracy: Arendt and Bakhtin in Dialogue, by Charles Hersch
I’m listening to There Is No Antimemetics Division by qntm right now. It’s both fun and terrifying at the same time.
I just finished listening to Service Model by Adrian Tchaikovsky and really enjoyed it. It was a nice departure from the Dying Earth Breaking Down theme, even though it was definitely a Dying Earth Breaking Down story. It was like a wholesome, lighthearted Earth dying.
I’m also reading The Farthest Shore by Ursula K Le Guin to my boys right now. They go to sleep in minutes after starting it and have no idea what is going on when I ask them about it in the morning, but it’s a great book and I’m enjoying reading it even after they go to sleep.
I’m so happy that There is no Antimemetics Division is back in print. I found out about it right after the self published edition went out of print, so I made do with JVSCP’s reading on YouTube. I picked my copy of the new edition up this weekend and am excited to dig back in.
The Fifth Season by N. K. Jemisin.
Stuff is really stressful right now, so I’m just sorta retreating into the comforting hole of Discworld.
Hope things get better for you soon.
From the Fatherland, With Love. by Ryu Murakami
Warlock by Oakley Hall. A Western novel about the town of Warlock and it’s a very good example of revisionist western: where characters are shades of moral grey instead of classic old west good vs. Bad.
The writing though does a lot of effort to make dialogs appear old-timey (was written in 1958) and characters will often go around to beat some desert bush, making some conversations dreadful.
Regardless, a solid recommendation for anyone with a western itch.
Haven’t really read many westerns, might be something to try.
Blood Meridian is also recommended as a revisionist Western, and probably better than Warlock (though that’s a bit unfair as the earlier came out later).
All in all, both worth a read, if you have to choose:
- Blood Meridian if you are OK with some harsh violence and some “men are animals” narrative.
- Warlock if you want to read an honest effort in historic fiction for a town set in a period that is often aggrandized in our own mythology.
If somehow neither of these are interesting to you, there’s also Butcher’s Crossing, which is contemporary to Warlock, but a completely different novel (while still a big part of the revisionist western).
These three are called the greatest western novels (Iirc).
Thanks for the list, going to try check out all of them!
Edit: Just saw that Blood Meridian is by Cormac McCarthy, have heard of him a lot but haven’t read anything yet, so might be a good place to start.
Just finished Way of Kings, and I told my self I should continue with a palate cleanser, something a lot shorter. So I picked up The Stand. 🤦
I’ve been in the mother of all reading slumps (since I hit my very modest yearly goal of 12+ books), but I’m back and I’m currently reading Orientalism by Edward Said for non-fiction. I’m also reading two short-story collections: A Century of Fiction in The New Yorker edited by Deborah Treisman, and Africa Risen: A New Era of Speculative Fiction edited by Thomas, Ekpeki and Knight.
Congratulations on hitting your goal!
How are the short-story collections?
Pretty good so far. I’m only about 10% into The New Yorker, and the only story I did not like was “Perfect Day for Bananafish” by J.D. Salinger
spoiler
(there’s a weird pervy undertone and a constant air of child endangerment, and it ends in suicide)
The rest have a good mix of fun and suspense, and the writing feels lyrical.
I’m about 30% into Africa Risen, and the stories are a fun mix of sci-fi, magical realism and mythology. My favorite so far is “Rear Mirror” by Nuzo Onoh, which was hilarious.
Thanks for the info, will check them out.
Started Demon in White the third book in Sun Eater series. Its growing on me. Its not the best sci fi series but its fun at times.
Also picked up Tapestry of Dark Souls. Its next book in this Ravenloft series i have been reading. So far not liking this one as much as others but may just take a bit to get going.
