Had a busy week, so couldn’t get much reading done. So still at pretty much the same place in Rosemary and Rue by Seanan McGuire (first book in her October Daye urban fantasy series).
What about all of you? What have you been reading or listening to lately?
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I think I’m going to reread ‘Thinking, Fast and Slow’ by Kahneman.
I completed book 8 of Dungeon Crawler Carl yesterday and now I’m on to the new Dresden novella OutLaw.
Can’t wait for Mirror Mirror, going to speed up on Dresden Files and catch up by the time it’s released.
Yeah, following it regularly.
I just finished DCC 8 for the second time today. I like to speed through a new book, then go back and read/listen to it at a more leisurely pace to make sure I catch details and highlight themes, foreshadowing, favorite bits, etc. Also to see how I did with my first round of highlighting foreshadowing. 😁
Can’t wait for the next two!
How do you like October Days so far? I know my wife enjoyed those.
Well, urban fantasy for me is a comfort food, so I wasn’t ready for some of the stuff she went through. Haven’t made my mind about it yet.
I just started reading The Gathering Storm by Brandon Sanderson, book twelve of Robert Jordan’s The Wheel of Time series. I’ve never read any Sanderson before, so it’ll be interesting to see the tonal differences in writing.
This was me year before last, and then last year was basically a Sanderson deep dive. I love both Jordan and Sanderson. Wheel of Time is my comfort food.
The most major change will be how quickly everything moves when Sanderson writes, he has a tempo well suited for the general audience while Jordon can meander - poorly at times.
Very nice, I just started 10 and I’m excited to see how the books change when Sanderson picks up the reins. I have loved the series so far though, but I read almost all of Sanderson before even starting The Wheel of Time.
Same as OP, that’s where I was introduced to Sanderson. I went on to read pretty much everything he’s written. 😅
Oooh, interesting. That was my first introduction to Sanderson too. Would love to hear what you think about it.
I should be finishing up both The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebeca Skloot, and Small Gods by Terry Pratchett this week. Not sure what’s next yet.
I’m just about to finish Yumi and the Nightmare Painter by Brandon Sanderson. I’ve enjoyed it very much.
I’m also reading two others for my book clubs, but can’t remember the titles. Have to look at my ereader.
About 2/3 through “Paladin of Souls” by Lois McMaster Bujold.
Having just jumped through the first 15x “Penric & Desdemona” stories, it’s interesting to see how her magic system has evolved over time through this series (“The World of the Five Gods”), and how it’s definitely improved. One more book left in the series, then on to other things!
The Chalion novels are among my favourite Fantasy reads.
Yeah, I’m reading them because someone in one of these threads said that a bit ago. Perhaps it was you?
Good recommendations, regardless of whom! :)
Could’ve been yeah. Glad you’re enjoying them either way :)
The Dog Stars
I just started listening to this I am about an hour in and so far it is really great. The story is starting nicely and really pulled me in. I have never heard the narrator before but he is really good. His voice really works for the content.
Kind of scattered these past few weeks, so I’m about halfway through Murakami’s After the Quake, on story two of Three by Tey, and on the first fifth of Terry Pratchett’s The Truth
I just started reading Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland and Through the Looking Glass yesterday. I realized a while ago I never actually read it, and only had seen the various adaptations. I have to say, it’s quite different than what I grew up on.
I’m also disturbed that Charles Dogson (Lewis Carroll) is basically described as being a pedophile for his “love” of a 10-yo little girl (Alice Liddell, the daughter of his boss, for whom the story is told) whom he wanted to marry while he was in his 30s.
Next up I plan to read Blue Are the Hills: The Final War for Humanity. I expect it to be completely different than Alice of course.
That’s just how I roll.
I read Alice in Wonderland as a kid when I was gifted The Annotated Alice. I loved the puzzles and the math tricks. And I only just now learned that was Martin Gardner, because of course. I discovered his puzzles many years later and only today put these two together. I don’t know if I would have enjoyed it as much without the explainer text, but with it I felt like I had the secret keys.
Finished reading Dennis E Taylor’s Bobiverse series for the second time, waiting on the new book to be published. For now it’s audiobook only, and I like reading it myself. Just started reading Martha Wells’ “Platform Decay”, Murderbot being one of the other series I found last year that I really liked.
I’m also reading Murder Bot, on book 3, and Audible recommended We Are Bob. I suppose you’re enjoying it?
Both are great series. We are Bob is less action packed though.
If you haven’t already, check out Dungeon Crawler Carl. There is a lot of overlap in fandoms. 🙂
Thanks, I have, the latest book is already on the to read list. Along with the latest book in “the laundry files”, which I can also recommend.
Almost 1/2 way through project Hail Mary. I liked the Martian so I expected to like PHM, but I didn’t realize to what degree I would like. As a Molecular Biologist myself, I feel quite connected to Ryland.
i haven’t read the book, but i saw the movie, and i was astounded at how good it was.
I tried The Martian a few years ago and it didn’t click and Project Hail Mary is never available at my library in English, but I’m thinking maybe one of these needs to be my next read.
There’s a lot of stream of consciousness in both books, and within that, a lot math, which definitely does not click with everyone. If you can get PHM as an audiobook, it is way worth it!
I also loved project hail mary. Just saw the film adaption recently, and while it is certainly impressive in some sense and has some strengths of its own, it generally skips most of what i enjoyed about the book which was a shame and i honestly think it must be superconfusing to watch if you have never read the book. The way it is is written it was always going to be tricky to turn into a movie but i was still disappointed
I am interested in the movie, but I have to finish the book (audible) so my wife can read it, and then we will go see the movie. One of my coworker’s who has read the book and seen the movie said there were instances where an entire chapter was summarized in a sentence. This just reaffirms my long held belief that books should not be movies. Limited Series are a much better platform for screen adaptations of books. you have 6-10 hours to tell the story. With streaming services you are not constrained to a 44-minute episode so you can make each episode the right length to capture the rising and falling action and end on the right beat. You can set the release schedule to generate more hype and it’ll sit in the public conscious for longer. And yes I realize that it costs more to make 10 hours of video than 2 hours of video, but I kinda don’t care because Hollywood already has such absurd margins.
Finished Southern Man by Greg Iles. This is the final book in the Penn Cage series. I wouldn’t recommend it for someone new to this author, and if you have read other Penn Cage novels, you already know what you’re in for. It features the usual levels of racism, violence, and arson. The author had some things to say about politics, and did. It wasn’t quite a hit piece on Republicans generally, but more about the political environment that made a candidate like Trump electable, and how that could be exploited by a smarter and more competent independent candidate.
Up next is The Eagle has Landed by Jack Higgins. Someone said I should read this even though I’d already seen the movie and lent me a copy. Since I mostly know what happens, it should go more quickly.
If you want WW2 spy thrills, skip ‘The Eagle Has Landed’ and read ‘Night Soldiers’ by Alan Furst.
After a Fascist mob kills his younger brother, a young Bulgarian fisherman is recruited by the KGB. He is trained and sent to Spain to fight in the Civil War.
Great atmosphere, chilling intrigue, wild battles.
My brother has been encouraging me to read The Blade Itself by Joe Abercrombie for a long time, and I’ve started it a few times and always got distracted.
Something clicked this time though, and I’m totally absorbed.
It’s also the first fiction I’ve read in a while, and I forgot what an escape it can be. What a weird thing to forget.
I’ve been slowly getting into this series amongst other books, up to the third in the series now.
I love how dark and mature it is, some excellent characters in it.
It’s better to do a thing than live with the fear if it.
Enjoy this journey, Joe Abercrombie is so good, I loved every book in this series.
Shameless: A Sexual Reformation by Nadia Bolz-Weber.
