I have been a bit busy, and with not too much motivation to do much, so am still at the same place as last week.
Still reading Shadows of Self by Brandon Sanderson. Book 2 of second era of Mistborn.
I did read a bit more of it though, and it was interesting to see the antagonist and some of the other characters who appeared.
What about all of you? What have you been reading or listening to lately?
There’s a Midyear Bingo check-in post, do take a look. Even if you haven’t started this year’s Book Bingo, you can still join, as there are still 6 months remaining only 5 4 months to go!
For details, you can checkout the initial Book Bingo, and it’s Recommendation Post . Links are also present in our community sidebar.
Reading Redwall to the kids at night.
Rereading Slaughterhouse 5 by Kurt Vonnegut Jr.
My wife is reading Murder on the Orient Express.
I need to start on Agatha Christie too, haven’t read any of her books.
Book 5 of Discworld, Sourcery by Terry Pratchett. Pretty entertaining sillyness that I listen to @ work mostly.
How do the audio books handle all of the footnotes?
By adding plenty of reverb when they are read.
Do they add more reverb for the footnotes within the footnotes?
Yes lol, Death’s voice also has reverb.
Just finished Breakfast of Champions by Kurt Vonnegut. Weird ride.
Re-reading through Slaughterhouse 5 rn, would love to read others by him.
I read like 4 Vonnegut books (Galapagos, Sirens of Titan, Cats cradle, slaughterhouse nr 5), and honestly all if them were pretty weird.
If This Book Exists, You’re in the Wrong Universe by Jason Pargin
I’d love to try and read some Jason Pargin books!
Why are we in the wrong universe?
Nice, I love Jason Pargin! If you haven’t read it yet, I really enjoyed I’m Starting To Worry About This Black Box of Doom
Im bummed that Im on the last book in the series (for now) so I’m definitely going to check that one out. Have you read the Zoe Ashe books?
I have not! Do you recommend them?
Ancillary Sword by Ann Leckie.
I appreciate sci-fi that’s more sociological and cultural commentary instead of just pew pew space battle. Leckie feels like the modern Ursula K La Guin, blending imperialism, racism and sexism into a centuries long narrative from the perspective of AI immortality. The world building is delightful yet shocking at the same time. Highly recommend.
I really wish she included a pronunciation guide to her books. Some of the species names have me stuttering every time I come across them.
My goodness that would be nice. I’m strategically only going to discuss it in text so I’ll never have to say aloud what I read them as.
I’ve been going through Asimov’s Foundation novels. Would you say Ancillary Sword is on a similar scope? I think I’ll check it out once I’m done with Asimov.
I very nearly mentioned Asmiov in my original comment! The Foundation books are some of my absolute favorites and the Ancillary series is reminiscent in a lot of ways. Although, I would say the Three Body Problem books are the closest spiritual successor to Foundation. I’m resisting the urge to write a wall of text comparing the three, but to keep it succinct, if you enjoy Asmiov your likely to enjoy Leckie.
My book club book this time around is “Medusa’s Sisters” by Lauren Bear. It is awful. And boring. And graphic for the sake of being graphic. And I hate it. And book club is gonna get an earful from me.
Outside of that I just started “Well of Ascension” by Brandon Sanderson. I devoured “Mistborn” and can’t wait to get into this one.
I finished the third and fourth book in John Scalzi’s “old man’s war” series. Currently on the fifth (out of six), so I expect to be looking for something else in the following week. I probably won’t be reading a lot this weekend due to carnival though.
The books in “old man’s war” are overall a good read, I liked the third book a little less (the fourth one made up for this), and I’m also not sold on the fifth one yet. Depending on my mood after reading the sixth book I’ll probably look into other works by Scalzi. I might also check out some SF books by Charles Stross, I did enjoy “the laundry files” a lot.
I have yet to read Old Man’s War, but his standalone books are pretty good.
I just finished Yes You Are Trans Enough by Mia Violet, and now I’ve started both The Sapling Cage by Margaret Killjoy and Filterworld by Kyle Chayka
What did you think of Mia Violet’s book? I read that very early in my transition.
I liked it! I thought she did a really good job of making everything easily accessible. And finding a lot of her pre-transition feelings and experiences relatable was eye-opening and helped me accept a few things
that was my experience too! I had no idea that a trans person’s experience could be like that, and my life was so similar to hers in many ways (even spending time on the same internet forums, around the same times, lol) … I also like how wholesome Mia Violet is 💕
I am curently reading “The Way of Kings” by Brandon Sanderson. But I am not just reading it, I also do write an extensive summary. Yes, I know these probably do exist on the net, but my summary is something I write for myself to get a better grasp at this book.
Do share, if you don’t mind, would love to take a look.
Finished “The Hazards of Urban Life in Late Stalinist Russia: Health, Hygiene, and Living Standards, 1943–1953” and am currently working on “Soviet Workers and Late Stalinism: Labour and the Restoration of the Stalinist System after World War II”.
Fascinating stuff, very data-oriented.
About 150 pages into The Starless Sea by Erin Morgenstern. I heard it’s divisive and I can see why. On the one hand, I tend to like when an author experiments and has fun with their craft. But I can also see when the writing becomes a bit self-indulgent without progressing the plot much. I’ll have to see where I stand at the end of it.
I finished it and understand the appeal, but I don’t trust the people who recommended it so heavily anymore.
I’ve been reading the Disc World series for a while now, just finished with the Rincewind books and am starting on the Death books with Mort. This series has been a fun ride and I’m enjoying seeing what will come next with every page
Death is a great character. Hogfather is one of his best.
I just finished Mind Bullet by Jeremy Robinson, it is a continuation of the Infinite timeline books I have been listening to.
As with a lot of the other books there were links to the previous books but where as it has been mostly subtle before with this book it becomes more apparent and starts forming more links your weren’t aware of.
I believe from now the series will now merge a lot of separate threads that have been running through out and start making its way towards some kind of conclusion across the last 5 books I have. I’m looking forward to it!
I’ve also been hitting Deathlands of course, the one I am currently listening to however has changed the narrator. I do not like the new narrator much but I see this is going to be happening going forward where the cast is changed from time to time. Still enjoying the stories though so I won’t drop it :D
Well, some of those changes will hopefully be for better. So, good luck!
Thankfully it was just one book they seemed to change the narrator for so far and now it is back to the original guy :D
Yay! Congratulations!
I finished Cosmos by Carl Sagan a few weeks ago. It was a nice read. I’d recommend it anyone.
Due to recent events, I am currently reading 1984 by George Orwell for the first time in over a decade. I’ve reread about 2/3rds of the book and I would like to be finished within the next few days. It’s nice remembering certain details of the book that I’ve forgotten.
I have Cosmos in my to-read pile for over a decade, just haven’t gotten around to it. Should probably read it now.
I’m reading Outlive by Peter Attia, MD. It’s sort of scaring me into building healthier habits. It’s also provided a list of things I can talk to my doctor about such as additional screenings, some meds to try, etc. The question is, will my health insurance cooperate? Obligatory FREE LUIGI!
I am generally skeptical of books like this. But I would like to hear what your doctor says about it. In general of course. Is it just scaring needlessly, or is there something to it.
For the most part he refrains from telling you to do XYZ because as he states, we’re all unique, and your healthcare, and diet should be tailored so. He lays out all the strategies and the science behind them and tells you what he does and how he does it. He also tells you what he recommends to his patients. One of his main pillars is that we need to shift from this paradigm of reactionary healthcare and medicine (acting post-diagnosis) to one of active prevention and early (or earlier) screening and detection.
That actually makes sense.
Thanks for the info, will check it out.
