Read My Roommate is a Vampire by Jenna Levine.
It’s a rom-com, which I don’t generally read, so I can’t judge if it was actually good or not. Personally, it felt too much like one of those K-Dramas, where a poor girl meets super rich guy, who is super handsome, and she keeps thinking about her all the time. Except this one has a Vampire. Not a big fan, but overall it was a fine time pass.
Bingo squares: Jude a book by its cover.
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.
I have finally committed. I’ve started Sir Terry Pratchett’s Disc World, starting with the Color of Magic, and I intend to proceed by publication order. We’ll see how long this one takes to finish. 😛
Hope you enjoy them.
I started in mostly the same order last year and I’m already nine books down. I wanted to carry on with the Rincewind arc more than start new ones, but I actually ended up delaying some of my favourites so far.
I’m halfway through listening to The Handmaid’s Tale. I went in blind and there have been some moments which are shockingly similar to recent events in the USA. I’m loving the way the world is slowly revealed to the reader.
I’ve been working my way through the chronicles of the Black Company, currently on Silver Spike. I do love grounded, grim high fantasy with a mouthy but self-deprecating protagonist, might be my most pumpkin spice opinion ever
Recently finished Stephen Fry’s Mythos audiobook, which is incredibly lovable. I listened through it twice in a row.
Dragons of Autumn Twilight, the first book in an excellent series that I haven’t read for 15+ years. Catching up with my old friends has been fantastic.
I’m reading Stalin: New Biography of a Dictator by Oleg Khlevniuk. Dictators feel timely, but also I felt like I didn’t know Stalin’s life well enough, despite how important he is in the story of the 20th century.
I also just finished Henry David Thoreau’s essay Civil Disobedience. My local library had put it on display and it felt like a bit of a cheeky gesture. Unfortunately, I didn’t like the essay all that much, as I find Thoreau’s writing disagreeable - even when I agree with him. Perhaps he’s just not my cup of tea.
Did you finish One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich? Or still reading it?
Yes, I finished it. It’s not a long story, given that it’s just a typical day from one prisoner’s perspective. It was a good book, but also didn’t have a lot to sink your teeth into. In this sense, even if it was written a 100 years earlier, The Dead House gives a more in-depth look into Russian/Soviet prison camps. Anyway, turns out prison camps are miserable places, where you have to scheme to get enough (and still too little) food and clothes and pretty much everything else you need. Russian winters are cold, and prison personnel cruel and prone to make arbitrary decisions. Yeah. Though I have to say, how this got published in Soviet Russia is a bit of a mystery to me, since it’s pretty critical of the state.
I do intend to read more on Gulags, but I’ll save that for another time.
Though I have to say, how this got published in Soviet Russia is a bit of a mystery to me, since it’s pretty critical of the state.
It was during a brief thaw of destalinization. After Kruschechev’s removal, the writer was persecuted and eventually expelled from the Soviet Union.
“Consider Phlebas”, by Iain M. Banks.
A lemmy thread about favourite fictional society to live in introduced me to The Culture, I’m extremely intrigued by this post-scarcity anarchist space hippy commune and want to find out more.
It’s british space opera, which I incredibly enjoy and it allegedly deconstructs the “lone protagonist has wide raging influence”-trope which I’m also going to enjoy.
Ok I can’t stand it anymore.
Love the thread, but can you please put the word “to” after “listening”?
Again, with love…
Wind and Truth - Latest entry in Brian Sanderson’s flagship Stormlight Archives fantasy series. I wanted to like it but if I’m being honest with myself, it’s been going downhill since everyone became a Jedi in the second book.
Malazan Empire… Please don’t ask me again for a year 😂
Trying to finish all of Hyperion again. Love Dan Simmons, and he’s masterful at writing from different points of view, but I got bored around book 2 or 3. On 3 now!
Speaking of Simmons, Song of Kali is straight unnerving.
I definitely bounced off book 2 at first because they’re so different. Once I’d accepted the choice it was a great read though
I’m at the end of Hyperion right now, and it’s pretty fun. He really does a good job with different styles and voices.
I might get Song of Kali based on this recommendation, thanks!
I downloaded a bunch of classics from Project Gutenberg. I’m reading Frankenstein finally.
Nice! It’s a classic for a reason. Very different from many of it’s adaptations though
That’s one of the reasons I wanted to read it. I never got to it when I was in school and figured that there is no time like the present. I’ve just started but so far it is a really interesting window into the views of the world in the early 1800s. The magnetic North pole was considered a scientific mystery, and the Northern Passage from Europe to the Americas was considered a foregone conclusion that would be solved in a few years by plucky explorers!
The final book of the Dark Tower series! Been slowly working my way through them, and just started the seventh volume.
“One more turn of the path, and then we reach the clearing.”
You should write and let me know what you think of the end!
I finished One Hundred Years of Solitude recently and really loved it. The blend of real life events and magical elements was beautifully done. It felt like an elderly relative was recalling their memories whilst embellishing them with little touches of magic. SO MANY family members, but each of them was unique. In terms of the Bingo, I’ve added it to ‘Set in War’ (though it would have also fit in several other categories).
I’ve just started The Wager by David Grann. It seems really fascinating so far and has already given me quite an insight into maritime life. I didn’t realise until now that it recounts a true event!
I read Gabriel’s Love in the time of Cholera, and while I don’t remember much about it now, I loved his writing. It was one of the major reason I started learning Spanish (but never got around to properly study and reach a level where I could read a book), cause I wanted to experience his writing as he has written them.
Should just read it now. Even if I learn Spanish, to be able to reach a level where I can read a book of this caliber and fully enjoy the writing, it would take a long time.
I’ll have to give it a go! He has a lovely way of writing, really capturing those little details of people and places.
Would love to hear what you think about it.
Unfortunately it won’t be any time soon, I have a huge backlog of ebooks to get through xD
Currently reading The Midnight Library by Matt Haig and really enjoying it.
Goodbye to all that by Robert Graves
A personal British view of WW1 from the trenches. It is interesting because of its personal account of things which I only know about via histories. Have read Graves’ I Claudius previously, which is also a great read. The writing is different but the voice is familiar.
