Hello Everyone!
What are you all reading?
I am currently going through a re-read of Dresden Files by Jim Butcher. Currently on 2nd book, Fool Moon.
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Just read an erotic romance, Heart of the Mountain by Snek Guy. It is about a mercenary going up a mountain to slay a dragon and take her hoard of gold. Things don’t go quite as he planned. It was well written, but a bit too much smut for my taste. I wrote a bit more here.
Just started the My Best Friend is an Eldritch Horror series.
Is “My Best Friend is an Eldritch Horror” available as a web novel somewhere?
It was originally published on Royal Road, but has since been moved to Amazon.
Ah, okay. Thanks for the info!
I’ve read maybe 3 books all the way through in my entire life. My girlfriend has been trying to get me to read before bed and on the recommendation of some discord friends I purchased Infinite Jest and am a quarter of the way through it. It’s been a jarring book with the tonal shifts and the way it rapid fires between characters and settings, but I’ve absolutely loved some of the perspectives and dialog that DFW creates. If anyone else is a fan, I’d love more recommendations in the same vein, specifically the type of warped humor and how it stems from the human condition.
I haven’t read Infinite Jest, so can’t recommend anything like that, but keep visiting these posts, I am sure you’ll be able to find something you like.
Or you can create a separate post, asking for recommendations, it should get you more visibility.
I just started City of Refuge by Tom Piazza. It’s a fictional account of two families in New Orleans during hurricane Katrina. I’m only 12% in but so far I’m impressed by how real I feel like the pov characters are.
Also reading Lichtenbergianism by Dale Lyles. It’s about using procrastination as a creative strategy. 30% in, and juries out on whether I’ll find anything helpful in it.
procrastination as a creative strategy
I want this. I like procrastinating! Share your opinions about finishing it.
City of Refuge looks like an interesting book. Going to check it out.
I got more inspiration from the Lichtenbergian book than new information. Among other things, it made me start a kanban for my personal projects and now I have less anxiety over how much I need to do and in what order. If you’d like, I’m happy to mail you my copy, since I’m unlikely to read it again.
I just finished Project Hail Mary. A wonderful and fun read. Highly recommend if you like science fiction.
House of Leaves. It’s sick. Anyone got other books that go off the rails like that?
I consider those books light reading. Very good for listening to in the car. You should try his other book The Aeronaut’s Windlass. He said he was going to switch between the two series and honestly I haven’t checked if he’s added to them. I really should, it was a ton of fun.
Yeah, they are pretty light and quick. Like that about them, not every book need to be dense.
As for The Aeronaut’s Windlass, I try not to start unfinished series now (with some exceptions). He started Cinder Spire series about 8 years ago, and the second book is releasing in November of this year. I have read his Codex Alera series, and will read this when he finishes it.
He used to be a very consistent writer, releasing a book pretty much every year, let’s hope he gets back into the groove.
Trying to read Into Thin Air, but I am getting bored by the background stories.
I was thinking about reading it some day. What are the background stories about? And are there too many of them?
Stories about Everest itself, the first hikers, the first summit, a few background paragraphs about the hikers/acquaintances, what they do, what are their achievements, Krakauer’s magazine backstory and such, I left it on Chapter 5 few days ago and I think we are barely arriving to Base Camp.
It’s not bad per se, I mean it works as an introductory bit, but I was kind of expecting the book to start at Base Camp. If I am guessing right, the climb will start on Chapter 6 (which is a a quarter of the book according to KOreader), will still try to keep on reading it.
Metro 2033
Great book. I’ve started to read it after finishing the PC game:)
I started the games a while back and somehow screwed up and started on the second one lol. Once I found that out I dropped it… Just currently working through the audio books right now. I’ll replay them in the winter. In order this time :)
Is there any similar book but in Cyberpunk 2077 world?
I’m pretty capable of setting down a book for extended periods of time and remembering everything when I pick it back up, and have a habit of hopping between books; so the list that I’m “currently” reading is… large. That said, focusing on the most active ones:
I’m just gonna say Discworld, for reasons elsewhere expounded upon. Mostly working through the City Watch stuff at the moment, Jingo should be on my doorstep in the next couple days. Knocked out Mort while I was waiting for it, might do Reaper Man too if it takes much longer.
I’m also thumbing my way through The Selfish Gene; I’ve always been fascinated by the concept of memetics, and that’s its birthplace (while also being a pretty potent contextualization of evolutionary biology). Probably gonna pick up Extended Phenotype when I’m done.
Then there’s Tristram Shandy, which I’ve had for a while but only recently had a chance to start properly. It’s fun so far, takes a minute to get used to the writing style which is simultaneously archaic by modern standards and progressive for the time. I think “hobby-horsical” is gonna find a permanent home in my vocabulary.
Got about halfway through Gravity’s Rainbow on a cruise a few years back, I might pick that back up soon actually now that I think of it. That one’s pretty dense though, I might need to go back and skim what I read already to remember the character names.
Technically I’m listening to this one because he did read-throughs of a bunch of his books during COVID and I like the extra context he added, but Lon Milo DuQuette’s ‘Understanding Aleister Crowley’s Thoth Tarot’. If you’re into that sorta thing, I highly recommend DuQuette’s work, he’s both very knowledgeable and very accommodating to the casual reader.
There are a few other books living on my coffee table, but those are the most active right now.
Wow, that’s lots of books. I am terrible at multi-tasking, and if I start more than one book, I have trouble ending either of them.
Tristam Randy, is that Tristam Shandy? “The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy, Gentleman” or am I confusing it with something else?
I am thinking about doing these threads every week, or bi-weekly at most, so just sharing your active books is good enough. You can share the rest in next post.
Tristam Randy, is that Tristam Shandy?
Good catch, autocorrect. It’s an interesting one.
I’m currently reading the new Michael Moorcock, Woods of Arkady, with new Justin Cronin novel The Ferryman on deck.
I feel I have heard of “The Ferryman” before, but this book has just released, so maybe it was in some other context.
Michael Moorcock seems to be a very prolific writer, but never heard of him for some reason. How are you liking the series?
Adult Children of Emotionally Immature Parents. It’s really good.
How is it, if read as a parenting-guide?
I think it could be extremely helpful in learning how to be mindful of your child’s emotions
I recently finished the Discworld series by Terry Pratchett. Wonderful books. I read it in order of subseries which is a good way to get into the books, but it does make it a bitt jarring when going back to the first books, before Pterry really found his stride. Once I get around to a reread I think I’ll do it chronologically.
As a change of pace i continued with Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas. Something of a whiplash change from Discworld and a it got me a bit too amped when reading right before bed. Still a very fun and interesting read.
Now onto SAS: Rogue Heroes, which i started earlier but have yet to finish.
I have read about a quarter of Discworld novels, wanted to read them all in released order, but couldn’t find many books. I plan to start the re-read again once I have found some of the remaining books.
The books are very much worth rereading. The layers of jokes and references are so deep that you likely won’t catch all on the first or second reads.
I can recommend The Annotated Pratchett File, https://www.lspace.org/books/apf/, for an in depth review of a lot of jokes and references. It explains a lot of things that are hard to catch if you haven’t grown up in England. Many things i thought Pterry had made up for the Disc is just references to real world things and events.
Wow, just took a quick peek at the that, and it’s really detailed. Bookmarked the page and downloaded a copy. Will check it after reading each book.
Sadly i’ve just discovered that from Going Postal and onwards there are no annotations. Seems the project never finished with all the books :/
Ward by wildbow. Not technically a book but it’s wonderful if you are into that genre and honestly probably still good if you aren’t. Finished worm and while back and would definitely recommend that as well
To give a brief idea it’s “what if super powers came from incredible trauma and were designed to be the worst possible power for them specifically” there’s a lot more to it like A LOT but that is a general idea.
Worm follows Taylor and her journey after gaining power. It’s essentially her struggle to be in control of everything that goes on around her
Ward follows Victoria dallon and her struggle to manage a bunch of traumatized young adults as a hero team while dealing with a severely fucked up family
The Lion: Son of the Forest by Mike Brooks. I’m on a Warhammer 40K kick lately, so started this after I finished the Eisenhorn trilogy
What would you say is a good place to start for someone who doesn’t know anything about Warhammer 40K, other than some video games?
Whoa, sorry this is a late reply. I don’t get notified if I get responses to my comments. Anyway, I can’t find it, but there’s a good resource on a subreddit I found before about book recommendations and reading order. In lieu of that, I can tell you what I remember: the setting, timeline, characters and lore are too many and varied to jump into, so focus on something smaller and more localized. A standalone series, or even a single novel, that’s more relatable and more focused can introduce you to the setting and themes of warhammer 40k (or 30k, if it’s related to the timeline around the Horus Heresy) better than some of the ones focusing on the bigger conflicts. All that to say, start with the Eisenhorn series of books.
Also, read up a bit on some articles about the lore for 40k available online, there’s a few wikis dedicated to Warhammer 40k/30k. There’s going to be spoilers, of course, but maybe focus on something you’d like to particularly know about the world of warhammer 40k, e.g spacemarines, the imperium, the other alien species, something more related to the tabletop game itself, etc. Then see if it’s to your liking, and you can branch off from there and read books about topics that interest you. Hope that helps a bit!
No problem. Better late than never. 😀
Thanks for the detailed response. I will take a look at Eisenhorn series, and then continue from there. I have played couple of Warhammer 40K games, like the Space Marine one, but the only thing I know is that they are fighting orcs for some reason. Maybe the books will give some idea.
Roadkill, by Dennis E. Taylor. I think it’s probably his weakest book, but it’s entertaining enough that I’ll finish it. It is certainly not We are Legion.
The name made me think of Wile E. Coyote.
BTW I looked it up, and the author’s name is Dennis E. Taylor, Dennis E. Miller is a VP Fraud Analytics of some big firm.
How is his Bobiverse series?
Ah yes, it is Taylor! Thanks for the correction. The Bobiverse series is amazing! It presents many technological and philosophical questions, while still being an easy read. It is entertaining and thought provoking. I love that series! The 4th book isn’t as strong as the first 3, but the first 3 are amazing and the 4th is good. You should check it out if you like sci-fi and tech.
Edit: btw, I finished Roadkill last night and it is good. It’s fun. It’s more like YA than his other books, but still entertaining.
No problem. And thanks for the recommendation, going to add it to my list.
