Still reading Whispers Underground by Ben Aaronovitch. Book 3 of Rivers of London series.
Though, technically I hadn’t read anything last two weeks to it’s more of “got back to reading”.
It’s still book 3, but I found it interesting how different it is from Dresden Files. There is no forces of nature with personal enmity with the protagonist (yet), it’s just (magic) crimes being solved by (magic) police. More of a police procedural then whatever genre Dresden Files is 😀
What about all of you? What have you been reading or listening to lately?
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I ended up tearing through Babel by RF Kuang and finished it today. It was a solid 4/5. I think at times it was very in your face with the anticolonialism and racism but was probably very in line with the time frame. I would have enjoyed some more delving into how the magic system worked/was created as well. But if you can make etemology engaging i feel like you did a pretty good job.
Maybe now i can focus on finishing Lady of the Lake.
Well, I was in a reading slump so I opened Overdrive on my Kobo and the Britney Spears memoir was right on the front page so I checked that out. It’s pretty bad, reads like the diary of a 5th grader, but maybe it’ll shock the system. I have trouble not finishing books once I start.
I am considering going back to the Otherland series by Tad Williams next. I have City of Golden Shadow (book 1) but I never made it through the other tomes. They are pretty dense and I don’t remember much. Might try to get that first one read and then visit the library for the others if it goes well.
Nearly done with Project Hail Mary, Andy Weir! It’s quite good, and I’m glad I’d read somewhere here to go in with zero context. Would highly recommend.
Continuing to listen my way through the Otherland series by Tad Williams. Currently in book two, River of Blue Fire. It seems to me that he wrote all four books as one book and was told that was ~3000 pages wouldn’t sell well. I’m very much enjoying it. Williams writes in a detailed pace, which can seem slow at times, but I love his use of 20th century literature as the basis of all the VR worlds. They’re never the same as their origin and are wonderfully permuted.
Just started From Volga To Ganga by Rahul Sankrityayan
I finished Grendel by John Gardner. There were some parts I really liked and some that were just ok. Overall a decent read.
I’ve started rereading the Lady Astronaut books by Mary Robinette Kowal. They are just as gripping and bingeable as I remember them being. I finished the first one (The Calculating Stars) and am currently on book 2 (The Fated Sky).
Lady Astronaut books
Is the series finished? Or atleast have non-cliffhanger ending?
So I’ve only read the first 3. The 4th just came out recently, hence my reread. Each of the books I’ve read had a non-cliffhangery ending and was self-contained enough that I’d be satisfied even if the series didn’t continue.
Gender Identify and Faith, by Mark A. Yarhouse and Julia A. Sadusky.
The Left Hand of Darkness - I read most of it a few years ago, never finished it. On my way to finish it in a few days!
just about finished my current library read The Divinity Student by Michael Cisco. really enjoying the prose and imagery of this gothic horror novella. definitely want to see if i can get a physical copy of this edition with art by Harry Morris.
About two thirds of the way through A Wizard of Earthsea.
I adore this book.
About 20% into Nietzsches Thus Spoke Zarathustra. Not an easy read but fascinating.
I just finished my first ever audio book. Always thought this was not for me because I like reading, you know. Then I gave a try, and that’s indeed better than I thought. With audio book I can enjoy literacy while doing activities that never would allowed me to do so, like working (for stuff which do not require 100% concentration) or driving (especially in traffic jams). And I really enjoyed having a story told to me, you know a bit like a madeleine de Proust, something bringing you back to childhood.
So for the first one I choose one in my native language, French. À retardement, by Franck Thilliez. This is a great thriller around topics on psychiatry, psychotic criminals and so on. I thought it was very well written and, knowing a bit of the topic through the stories of my psychologist partner, I think it’s very well documented about the illness and management of it in asylums (although there are parts that are pure fictional without any scientific veracity).
I’m also reading to another French novel, Le signal, by Maxime Chattam. This is an horror story, maybe inspired by what Stephen King could have written (but as far as I’m in not as good as King - but ok it’s very difficult to reach). One interesting suggestion, in the introduction of the novel, the author suggests some music to listen while reading (horror movies soundtracks), never done that before and this is a very good idea (I don’t have the ability at each reading session but when I did it, indeed I enjoyed more the book).
Almost finished ‘Les entretiens’ de Confucius (in French, because, well, I’m French). Started today: ‘Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, an American Slave’.
Work of fiction waiting to be started: Mary Shelley’s ‘Frankenstein’, J.M. Barrie ‘The complete Peter Pan’.
Lots of classics! Have fun!
Thx.
Yep, a lot of classics indeed. Moving back to print from ebooks a little over a year ago was also an opportunity to (re)read a lot of them as they can be found for dirt cheap, on the used market.
The Douglass one was annotated by the previous owner (I don’t mind that, provided that doesn’t make the page unreadable) and the funny thing is that their notes so far are really not focusing on what I’m getting out of this very unsettling text. In its own way, next to the text itself, this person’s notes are another enriching encounter.
That’s interesting. A luck find, I would say.
Depends the kind of book you read and the shop you’re visiting but it can be relatively frequent, and sometimes it’s more interesting than the others.
My French is very limited - probably straddling the border of upper beginner or lower intermediate - but I read through Barjavel’s La Nuit Des Temps and it was fuckin awesome.
I don’t know whether it’s because it made me spend more time on each word, or whether translating it made me put my own spin on the story and made it more personal to me. Who knows. Banger of a book.
My French is very limited - probably straddling the border of upper beginner or lower intermediate - but I read through Barjavel’s La Nuit Des Temps and it was fuckin awesome.
Nice! It is a great book and, if one excepts Jules Verne, it also was the very first French science fiction author I ever read. The book made a huge impression on me too. So much so that I then read all of what Barjavel wrote, SF or otherwise.
BTW, I would not consider anyone capable of reading a novel in a foreign language a beginner, even a ‘upper’ one. That too is awesome, if I dare say so ;)
Cheers friend. I follow a lot of Olly Richards’ stuff - a British polyglot - and got the idea from him after he recommended some books for learners of the language. I’m still not great - the lack of opportunity means I can’t really sharpen my skills - but I’m getting there. I read the French version of Twenty Thousand Leagues to my young son at bedtimes - and told him the story in English. I’m not sure whether it was the fantastic story that sent him to sleep or the frequent “ummmm” and “errrr” while I thought of the same expressions in English!
I’m rather hoping to pick up Le Grand Secret soon, I’m not really a SF person but his writing is very good!
I read the French version of Twenty Thousand Leagues to my young son at bedtimes - and told him the story in English. I’m not sure whether it was the fantastic story that sent him to sleep or the frequent “ummmm” and “errrr” while I thought of the same expressions in English!
That’s so great and nice :)
You put a (happy) smile on my face for the rest of the day and it’s 8AM here.
The Rivers of London books are fantastic, and keep getting better.
I’ve literally just finished reading the latest one, Stone and Sky.
This series keeps popping up on my To-Read list! Might do it after Wind and Truth.
Nice. It’s good to know that it keeps getting better.
I’m in the last quarter of Death’s End by Liu Cixin, and not really enjoying it. It reads more like a documentary, and the plot seems to rely on people making the stupidest decisions possible. I’ll finish it, but I’ll be glad to move onto something else when I do.
Just this book, or whole series?
I just finished Fahrenheit 451. It was pretty decent but the ending was kind of a letdown.
Now… I’m searching for a new book and don’t know what to read.
The ending is kinda not amazing but it’s the rest of the book that’s worth so much. He was so spot on on so many things.
Now… I’m searching for a new book and don’t know what to read.
Also from Bradbury, have you read his Martian Chronicles? My favorite between the two ;)
