Welcome to year’s first weekly thread! How are you all doing? And what are you book / reading related resolutions for this year?
I started Ultra-processed Food by Chris van Tulleken
Just started it, but looks like an interesting read. It’s about the ultra-processed food we eat these days.
Also skimming through Ryder Caroll’s The Bullet Journal Method. Read this last year (or was that year before that?) and wanted to check something but decided to skim through most of it.
Still reading The Bands of Mourning by Brandon Sanderson, 3rd book in the 2nd era of Mistborn. It was going great but didn’t get to read much last week or so, should be getting back to it now.
What about all of you? What have you been reading or listening to lately?
For details on the c/Books bingo challenge that just restarted for the year, you can checkout the initial Book Bingo, and its Recommendation Post. Links are also present in our community sidebar.
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I’m about half way through Slaughterhouse-Five by Kurt Vonnegut. And I just started The Witches by Roald Dahl. Trying to read as many banned books as possible this year. So far, I don’t get why any of them have been banned.
If you’re reading banned books, try Henry Miller. I love his work.
Tropic of Cancer is on my list! I don’t know much about him but I will add him to my list of authors to look into.
I’m listening to the Obelisk Gate by N.K Jemisin. Second in the series of post post apocalypse fantasy/ sci-fi. Really enjoying the series so far. Well narrated too.
Pretty depressing world, but loved the series.
The Fifth Season has been on my list for a while. I should pick this up!
Just started Q-in-Law by Peter David. I’m not very far into it yet but it’s got Lwaxana and Q so I’m guessing it’s going to be “unstoppable force versus
immovable objectunstoppable force”.Heh, that sounds interesting.
I just started the third book in the magic of the lost series titled the sovereign
https://app.thestorygraph.com/books/e6dd9b82-a943-40ef-9c2d-de669dbfe998
Oms en série by Sefan Wul, weird french sci-fi book about aliens that keep humans as pets.
Just finished:
- it How to Be Both by Ali Smith. Interesting concept (two stories, read them in any order, each story recontextualizes the other) that I think I’ll need to read again in the other order.
- Perfection by Vincenzo Latronico. Great satire, really enjoyed it
Haven’t picked my next one yet, but probably from this list:
- Spread Me by Sarah Gailey. Looks like a fun take on The Thing
- Sunward by William Alexander. Don’t know much about it, other than it was well reviewed
- The True True Story of Raja the Gullible (and His Mother) by Rabih Alameddine. Was well reviewed
Oh I loved How to Be Both. I’ve read most of Ali Smith’s novels and I’ll continue until I’ve read them all. How to Be Both might be my favorite so far.
I’m reading The Trials of Empire by Richard Swan (Empire of the Wolf book 3). This book is my favorite in the trilogy. I feel like I got to see his writing style improve over the course of the series and now it’s at a point where I can really enjoy it.
I finished “The Mass Strike, the Political Party and the Trade Unions” by Rosa Luxemburg a few days ago. I want to continue with another book by this author, but I’m undecided.
- The Buffalo Hunter Hunter by Stephen Graham Jones
- Glorious Exploits by Ferdia Lennon
- Notes from Underground by Dostoevsky
How are the Notes from the Underground? I am thinking or reading them or Karamazovs.
I read Notes about 25 years ago and don’t remember anything about. I read it recently after Crime and Punishment (which I liked) and some short stories including White Nights (I loved it at the time but feel very differently about it later in my life). I still can’t get through Karamazovs, though. I’ve tried multiple times, but it is so unbelievably boring for me.
I’m mostly reading it in order to follow Bakhtin’s Problems in Dostoevsky’s Poetics, so I’m kind of viewing it through that lens… I wouldn’t say it’s a compelling read on its own, but it’s interesting to see how Dostoevsky can create a character that engages in its own autonomous dialog with the reader.
As I recall, Notes is a pretty short read, and also pretty good. May I suggest reading it first, and then Karamazovs, which is a much longer book?
The Buffalo Hunter Hunter is bloody fantastic. I love Stephen Graham Jones’ work.
The 9.9 Percent: The New Aristocracy That Is Entrenching Inequality and Warping Our Culture by Matthew Stewart
It’s great. Really captures so much of what is wrong with USA society and how a minority of well-intentioned greedy idiots have created this.
Currently: O Pioneers! by Willa Cather. I picked it up somewhat randomly and feeling good about my luck. Sort of has a less depressing Thomas Hardy vibe, though still definitely about people trapped by society and circumstance.
I’m probably going to continue to read reach into the past for novels this year. Not sure what’s next, though.
I just finished Nova by Samuel Delaney. I did NOT like it. Would have abandoned it if it wasn’t our book club book
Also listening to Off Armageddon Reed by David Weber (Safehold book 01), and reading The Player of Gamer by Iain Banks (Culture book 02), and quite enjoying both.
I started The Book of Dust by Philip Pullman. I am loving it so far and I’m about halfway through. Baby Pantalaimon is soooo cute it makes me want to cry 😭
Pullman is an author I grew up loving. His Dark Materials was probably the most important and my favorite series I read as a kid, I was the same age as Lyra as the books were published. He’s an author that I will instantly purchase any book he has written and I’m so happy for the new trilogy!
Somehow this trilogy had fallen off my TBR list, but your excitement is making me move it to the top. It’s a great sign that you loved His Dark Materials and are still enjoying the new stuff–I’ll definitely check it out.
I really enjoy his work and keep going back to it. I think it was someone here that was reading it last year that really put it on my radar again. Then when the last of the trilogy came out last year, I picked it up so I can read all 3 quickly.
I’ve listened to the His Dark Material dramatized audiobook, which is narrated by Pullman. My head narrator is a mix of him and Attenborough. It’s great 😊
Nice! I just finished the trilogy when the last book came out too!
I received a lot of book for Christmas so I am going a bit overboard:
AFAQ - reading club here at Lemmy;
The Rebel by Camus - very good so far, kinda related to the afaq because he is talking about some political topics;
Shark Ends by Joe Abercrombie - this is the last one from the First Law series of his. The whole series is very good and is quickly catapulted to the near top of my favorites fantasy series; (I am listening this one)
The Trail by Kafka - I was depressed before the holidays and decided to read some Kafka. Also very good and also listening to this one.
I’m around one third into Crossroads of Twilight, book 10 of the Wheel of Time -series by Robert Jordan. The consensus seems to be that this book is a sort of low point in the series, but so far it’s been ok. Still full of Jordan’s typical bullshit, but ok. Got to take the bad with the good. I do hope the next book, the last one before he died, picks up the pace at last.
