Started next book in the Dresden Files series, Ghost Story by Jim Butcher. This is book 13, and is pretty unique so far. The previous book “Changes” has changed quite a bit, and now we are living those changes.
Can’t put it down, want to see how it develops!
My previous book, Streams of Silver covers 2 bingo squares: Title: [X] of [Y] and Off your TBR pile (hard mode).
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 still working through Kushiel’s Avatar by Jacqueline Carey. I love the series, I just read her writing style pretty slowly.
Also working through Cibola Burn by James S.A. Corey audiobook. I’m rereading the whole Expanse series in publication order, including the short stories.
I’m also thinking of starting The Expanse: Dragon Tooth graphic novels since I have a really nice boxed set from the Kickstarter.
Howling Dark by Christopher Ruocchio. The second book in the Sun Eater Series. The first book was alright. The last third carried the whole book. Howling Dark is so much better. I’m about 350 pages in and everything about it is a vast improvement over the first book. Pacing, prose, the plot, everything is a big step up from the first book. Even Hadrian.
Still working on Lord of Chaos, but I popped in to my local library to pick up V for Vendetta by Alan Moore for rereading because of… You know… Reasons. It felt timely.
Verily, that’s a valiant choice, vibrant and visionary!
Faithbreaker - Hannah Kaner. The third of the Fallen Gods trilogy. 1st is a great read. 2nd doesn’t have the family of the first, the stakes of the third, and develops the characters/world not enough for the break imo. 3rd doesn’t recapture the magic of the first, I’m 70% through it. I think the author could have written a tighter pair and added the exposition through novellas for those that want it. I’ve heard that audiences are great at picking out problems but terrible at suggesting solutions though, so what do I know?
Shallowly the world building is pretty good, I like the universe. Being disabled myself, I kinda want to live there, the acceptance and accomodations are great. The social aspect of the world is bold, works well, and is something I’d like to see more of.
The “gods among us” (I don’t know the term for ‘gods and people from a symbiosis each empowering the other’) this has been done better in American Gods or Poppy War etc imo. That’s not to say it’s bad here, just a theme that’s been done well elsewhere, but it’s a shallow observation of the series.
My real joy of the first is the found family. Everyone is damaged in their own way and the characters, crunch and support each other quite well. But, they’re separated in the second entirely and not particularly together for the third. I knew this going in from reviews which is fine. Even the side characters gave me a sense of ‘trauma response to something’ vibes leading to interesting behaviours and conflicts for our protagonists to navigate. Everyone has been hurt, by events immediately before the books and we get to piece it all together as we go.
I think I plunged back in because the LGBT+ and disability acceptance, even celebration, is a welcome escape from today’s world. Faint praise I know, but praise none-the-less.
Book 1>3>2 I think. Book 1 I’d recommend if you’re socially progressive and like found families, or like gods among us stories. 2&3 make your own decision based on your feelings for book 1. Promising author, I look forward to their next book.
I’ve been on a Brandon Sanderson kick after starting and finishing all of the Mistborn books last year. Now I’m on The Stormlight Archive series and just finished The Way of Kings (book 1) a few days ago, so I’m onto the second!
Second book is my favourite on of the series!
Mine as well, just absolute cinema all the way through!
Last three weeks I finished John Scalzi’s “the consuming fire” and “the last emperox” and “the android’s dream”. Latter one was just up my ally, the other two were fine except for the villains of the story, they were too over the top for me. Somewhere along the line I also read Orson Scott Card’s “the last shadow”, I had read all the Ender and shadow books years ago, but somehow missed this one. It’s not the best book in the series, way too much people for way too little storyline. In the last month and a half or so I’ve read the Beastie Boys book by Adam Horovitz and Michael Diamond, which was a good book to read on and off between doing other stuff. Basically I forgot to mention it before because I wasn’t reading it during my normal reading time. Currently I’ve just started “the long earth” by Terry Pratchett and Stephen Baxter, it’s a bit too early for an opinion on that one.
Dungeon Crawler Carl series book #6 Eye of the Bedlam Bride by Matt Dinniman.
It’s not my first listen. I got a friend into them so we’re listening together. I really like these books and the narrator, Jeff Hays, is the best damn narrator I’ve ever heard.
Highly recommend if you haven’t heard these yet.
Started reading Entangled Life. Just a few pages in and I was dumbfounded by how almost ubiquitous and even supernatural fungi is, and how we barely even scratch the surface even with what we learn about them in school, and with our fascination with horror content about fungi like the cordyceps or something. Like for example, fungi served as roots before plants had them, they make microclimates, they have high metabolic ability, in which the book also described as something akin to alchemy… The ability to turn the raw environmental ingredients into a variety of substances, and structures with unique properties. And that’s just in the few pages of the first chapter!
Also, when I started getting into reading this year I got interested in the classics, and had a good time with reading Don Quixote. Interestingly enough, the part with Marcella almost seemed like it criticized incel culture. Also to those who say that brainrot culture is a recent thing and that the past was better, read Don Quixote as it portrays a phenomenon of brainrot except with chivalric romances, which was the pop culture of the day. I also recently read Teleny: The Reverse of the Medal and Manon Lescaut. Damn Des Grieux, you were born for tragedy… Also, I’ve read the Picture of Dorian Gray, Carmilla, and Venus in Furs. You may see where I’ve been going if you’re familiar with these titles, and it’s all about love and passion and, well, a dash of homoerotism. Just in time for Pride Month. I honestly wanted to see how love and desire, such messy feelings, was felt by people who we were less likely to relate to, even idolized in our flawed perception of their orderliness, and whose lives were struck, smitten by it. The twitter post about Rennaissance teenagers comes to mind. What was their lives like, outside of cultural survivorship bias. I might even read On Love after reading Entangled Life if I have the time (unfortunately I have to deal with summer class, so I’m reading as much as I can before my time and energy gets sucked into it).
Fungi sounds interesting, which is so weird!
Interesting list of books. Have fun!
Finishing up Die, Respawn, Repeat.
Not sure if I will continue with the series I like the premise but the execution seems to not be there.
My Libby hold for the audiobook of Absolution by Jeff VanderMeer finally came in and I’m excited to start it.
Also started Piranesi by Susanna Clarke a couple days ago and it’s one of those that’s hard to put down.
Still reading East of Eden by John Steinbeck.
I in fact did not start those two other books I had mentioned previously. I think I’ll enjoy them more if I read them on my own time instead of feeling pressured by a book club.
Today, for some reason, I decided I wanted to learn about making a water well. So I’m about to read that section from Back to Basics: A Complete Guide to Traditional Skills by Abigail R. Gehring
East of Eden took me months to read a couple years back. It’s good and engaging, but it’s so dense and full of sidestories that have nothing to do with the matter at hand
Yeah, it’s definitely not a light read. Really good though.
I’m enjoying it quite a bit myself. This is the first Steinbeck that I’ve read and I’ll probably end up reading some of his other works.
I also enjoyed it. I was mainly saying don’t feel bad that it is taking awhile to read. It’s dense and challenging and takesoat people a long time to read. I’ll have to read Grapes of Wrath at some point, but i have sich a huge backlog as is
How are the dresden files? Had a friend recommend it years ago but I never really tried it
It’s one of my favorite series. If you’d like to read just one book to get a feel for it, Dead Beat was written as a soft introduction because the TV show was coming out on scifi at the time. If you’re willing to start from the beginning, the first 2½ books are enjoyable but pretty cliché. About midway through the third book is when it really starts to take off and hit its stride. There’s a reason it’s one of the most well-known urban fantasy series and it truly has some really fun moments.
I think the first two books are rather weak, I recommend to skip them. After them it gets really, really good.
Other than what Jaymes mentioned below (above?), it’s an urban fantasy, protagonist is a wizard in a chicago, working as a PI. Starts from there, but characters evolve as the series progresses.
Also, “dresden” isn’t my real name 😀
It is contentious because of how much of a change it is relative to the books before, but every time I work my way through the series I enjoy Ghost Story more.
I’m continuing to make my way through the Amra Thetys Series by Michael McClung. I’m On Book 3, The Thief Who Knocked On Sorrow’s Gate. It is a super cliché, but fun Chosen One who is a Super Thief has to save the world type series.
Yeah, but since I am reading them close to each other, with about a month or two gap, it seems like a nice change of pace. Like some TV shows would randomly have a musical episode in there, just for fun. This isn’t fun like that, but it’s still a different view into the world. Things we didn’t know much about.
Loving it for now. Not sure how I’ll feel by then end though.
Amra Thetys Series sounds fun. Clichés when executed well can be fun. Will take a look!
Amra Thetys Series sounds fun. Clichés when executed well can be fun. Will take a look!
It’s pure popcorn, don’t think about it too hard fun.
Just finished later by Stephen King, currently listening to Revenge of the Apocalypse by Benjamin Wallace and reading all quiet on the western front.
Fiction: The Wandering Inn series
Nonfiction: Homage to Catalonia by Orwell. Started yesterday and almost done. Highly highly recommend.
Homage To Catalonia is my favorite book. It should be mandatory reading before anyone touches 1984 or Animal Farm
Never read it, adding to my list.
It is so good. The opening little thing about the Italian militiaman just sucks you right in and then it just gets better.
I think about that scene everytime i have a great encounter with a stranger or look at an interesting map. I probably read (a heavily edited and censored verison) that book 20 times in high school. He has such an English take on the Spanish: eternally frustrated by their carefree attitude while simultaneously enamored with it. There is nothing else like it.
