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?
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.
Many years ago I bought the book adaptations of ‘Yes Minister’ and ‘Yes Prime Minister’, which I then forgot to take with me in the divorce around '08. I recently spent far too much money getting new copies from Booktopia.com.au. My god they’re still hilarious.
These shows are on my watchlist, but I have never gotten around to watching them. Maybe I should just get the book adaptations…
I highly recommend both. The show is great. The books are done as mostly diary entries by Jim Hacker, interspersed with notes from Sir Humphrey, TV transcriptions and interviews Bernad Woolley had with the ‘editors’ in the far flung future of 2019. They’re really quite well done by the writers of the actual show. It really adds to it when you can read it in the voices of the characters, though.
Cool, will try to get my hands on the show.
Yarr!
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.
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
I’m starting House of Leaves today.
I don’t think I’m ready for this wild ride but only one way to find out.
Remember to share your review when done!
I am waiting for a copy to come into my life by chance as I think that will add to the story. Cant wait for that day
You’re only allowed to wait that way if you add notes in the margins. Keep it going
I caved and stopped by Barnes and Noble after work so I’m about to get started lol
Neuromancer by William Gibson. Slowly realising how many cyberpunk books cribbed his homework.
It’s crazy to me how much this book is the root of the cyberpunk tree. So much of the terminology is identical across the genre. Great book!
Working on the new T. Kingfisher, Hemlock & Silver.
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Read since last time:
The Lamb Will Slaughter the Lion by Margaret Killjoy (fantasy horror, novella) | bingo: creature, minority author, short, LGBTQIA+ lead, alliterative, cover
A wanderer visits an anarchist commune that’s protected by a preternatural being.
I think I’d put this in the “fine” category; not sure if I’m interested in the sequels.
The Tea Master and the Detective by Aliette de Bodard (space opera-ish mystery, novella) | bingo: creature, different continent, minority author, orange, short, award
A prickly detective and a sentient ship discover and investigate an unusual corpse.
Intentional Holmes and Watson vibes. Cute enough, but the mystery felt a bit secondary.
I love Kingfisher’s stuff.
I’d agree with Tea Master. I definitely enjoyed it, but it was more a book about their dynamic than an actual mystery.
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.
I’m starting V. by Thomas Pynchon. I’m going in pretty much blind, don’t know the author or the book at all. I just saw his name in the news and realized I’d seen this book at the library, so here we are.
I also recently read Solaris by Stanisław Lem. I first read it in my early teens and I liked it then, but I feel these decades have allowed me to appreciate it more deeply. What a wonderful book! I love the idea that alien intelligence is truly alien - not just humans from another planet - to the point of making communication practically impossible. Any recommendations for books like Solaris and Roadside Picnic, which explore this theme, are welcome.
Solaris sounds interesting, will take a look.
Thanks for the Solaris recco! It’s been on my To-Read for a while.
Solaris has been on my list for a long time but ive yet to find it anywhere
Anathem by Neal Stephenson. Starting slow but it’s kind of intriguing.
I loved that book so much. I definitely wanted more math-centric stories after that.
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!
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.
I’m on The Shadow Rising (WoT #4).
The Dragon Reborn was my favorite entry so far I think. I loved Perrin and Mat’s chapters the most. Mat’s choice at the end really made me appreciate the character.
I’m very excited to see where the story goes from here!
I’m already looking forward to rereading the Eye of the World haha.
Edit: removed broken spoiler tag and content.
As someone only on WOT book 2. You’re spoiler tags are broken 😞
I am so so sorry. They are showing up just fine on my end, so I figured it was fine.
I am envious! I wish I could read them all again for the first time
Reading “this inevitable ruin” by Matt Dinniman. I don’t have much time to read at the moment, so about 1/3rd through after two weeks.
This was a really good one. Recency bias I suppose, but it was my favorite of the books.
I like this one so far, I took a hiatus from the series after “The Butcher’s Masquerade” because it felt convoluted and a chore to read. “Eye of the Bedlam Bride” I listened to as an audiobook over the summer, but it took me over two months on my commute.
Ah. I read through the whole series (so far) earlier this year. Started in early May and had finished by mid-July.
I struggled getting into Feral Gods (4) and Anarchist’s Cookbook (3).
I may have hyper focused solely on this book series for about two months.
Dungeon Crawler Carl. It’s fun so far, but I’m starting to suspect it’s going to be a bit repetitive.
I’m on book 5 right now. It’s kept my interest so far. The repetitive bits are usually comforting. It’s encouraging to know that the series does end.
How many books are there total?
7 total.
Ahan, thanks for the info!
I finished The First Three Minutes: A Modern View of the Origin of the Universe by Steven Weinberg and enjoyed it. It’s actually remarkable that we as a species can tell such a specific story about the beginning of the universe using science.
I’m currently reading A Century of Fiction in the New Yorker: 1925-2025 by Deborah Treisman, which is an 1100-page long short story collection. So far, I enjoyed “The Weeds” by Mary McCarthy, and “Symbols and Signs” by Vladimir Nabokov.
Weinberg was such an intellectual giant, I’ve been too intimidated to try his pop-sci type stuff. I think it’s time though.
I thought his writing was very accessible. In the first few chapters, he lays out the story of the first three minutes after the Big Bang in a very understandable way, and the rest of the book talks about how modern science figured it out (which is probably a more interesting story). Equations and more technical explanations are pushed to the appendix.
Just finished Kropotkins “The Conquest of Bread”. Might be time for some fiction again.
I’m currently reading Men at Arms (Terry Pratchett), and it’s delightful!
I’m roughly 1/3 of the way through all of the Discworld books.
