Official Reading/Book Thread

[Aimee 1,119]

I've been a busy little reader the last few weeks and have gotten back into the habit of listening to audiobooks on 2x speed during my drives to and from work. Just this month alone I have read/listened to:

 

An Elderly Lady is Up to No Good - Helene Tursten (hardcover) 4 stars

Dune - Frank Herbert (Audible) 3.5 stars

Percy Jackson: Sea of Monsters - Rick Riordan (Audible) 3.75 stars

An Elderly Lady Must Not Be Crossed - Helene Tursten (hardcover) 3.75 stars

The Vampire Diaries: The Awakening - L J Smith (Audible) 2.5 stars

She Drives Me Crazy - Kelly Quindlen (paperback) 4.25 stars

 

Currently I am listening to Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets by she who shall not be named, and up next will be Dungeon Calamity (Dramatized Adaptation) by Dakota Krout.

[VattghernCZ 972]

 

Something a bit different. I've bought myself a book about twelve Czech (and by extension, Western Slavic) folklore monsters. I've bought it as an inspiration for 12 DnD oneshots in a style of The Witcher contracts. Genuinely one of the coolest books I've ever bought.

 

Speaking of The Witcher, 8 of these monsters were featured in the books or the videogames either straight up, or as an inspiration. That's why I love The Witcher so much lol.

Edited July 26 by VattghernCZ

[frescoelmo 1,276]

On 6/6/2024 at 1:33 PM, frescoelmo said:

Finished "Beyond The Pale" a few weeks ago, great book and different vibe for me.  Looking forward to getting the 2nd book in the trilogy later this year.

 

I am about a quarter through this gem which talks about the America being better than every other country

 

 

 

Summer update, finished this book from Scott Galloway, it was probably one of my favorite books I have ever read.  Finished it over two flights in the same week last month.

 

 

Currently reading Kara Swisher's Burn Book, which is pretty hilarious, and also really insightful history of the internet, media and big tech

 

[jacobcarson877 2,527]

Been a while since I updated everyone on what little I've been reading, but finished a book today after a LONG time, so here's what I missed. I read A Canticle for Leibowitz, which was very interestingly paced, you can tell it was once 3 separate stories collated into one cohesive piece, but once you get over 3 times the characters, it's really fascinating.

I read Daughter of the Empire, which is probably my favourite book I read this year. Something about the setups and payoffs just felt really good, and I was rooting for the main character the whole way through. Can't wait to pick up the next one!

I read Perdido Street Station which was just a wild book start to finish. Felt like something between Planescape and Batman, and I spent 2/3 of the book not understanding any of the setup and then THE PAYOFF man. It came together so smoothly, and really set up a sequel well, which I am excited to pick up as well!

 

Those three were primarily read while on a camping trip a few weeks ago, but I just finished The Dispossessed, which took me a long time to get through. It alternates back and forth between the time before the start of the book, and then the time proceeding the start of the book, so it ends at the beginning. It's very cool, lots of commentary on feminism and anarchy, and the pitfalls of idealism in a well-packed science fiction novel. The setting is the conflict and I think that's always something really enjoyable. Be ready for pretty much exclusively political dialogue though. If you want action this is not for you.

Now it's time to get on to some sequels! Starting with The Well Of Ascension, I find it so easy to read Sanderson, so it'll be a nice gateway back into me reading more.

[Garsh 1,189]

I finished Cyberpunk 2077: No Coincidence by Rafal Kosik and I liked it but think its a bit flawed in some aspects. 

 

I've started Burning Chrome which is a collection of short stories by Williams Gibson.  The stories I've gotten through so far:

Johnny Mnemonic - I enjoyed this one

The Gernsback Continuum - not a fan

Fragments of a Hologram Rose - also not a fan

 

I'm thinking of only reading the remaining stories that directly tie into the Sprawl trilogy I want to read. 

 

Edit: Thought i would mention what I didn't like about the two short stories, and its that there is to me there was no what I guess you would call "the middle" of the story.  By that I mean the rising action, climax, falling action.  They both just describe some events a person experiences and then that is it.  I don't really read short stories, so I'm not used to this type of writing.   I don't think this is really something you could do in a full novel.  Maybe to some they would be thought provoking?  I'm not sure but I'm personally not a fan of this style.

Edited July 27 by Garsh
additional info

[scoop 3,426]

On 2/13/2024 at 8:35 PM, UghSike said:

Currently rereading "Blood Meridian" by Cormac McCarthy.

If you don't know about this book, check it out. Even by today's standards, It's still pretty rough/raw.

 

Last book I read was "Lullaby" by Chuck Palahniuk.

I would say Lullaby is my favorite book, honestly. I don't read much, but I do like several of Chuck Palahniuk's books.

 

I am trying to start reading more, though, particularly as something to do rather than looking at screens before sleeping. Right now, I'm reading Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro. I've read it before and I liked it a lot, so I figured I'd start with something I know that I will enjoy.

 

Also on my list of books to read are Rant by Chuck Palahniuk (another re-read), The Road by Cormac McCarthy, and A Thousand Splendid Suns but Khaled Hosseini.

[Phil 5,119]

I started Fire and Blood by George RR Martin- the book mostly based on House of the Dragon. First time I've read any of his books. Just 50 pages in (so like one chapter lol). I'll update once done.

[OblivionWalker 236]

Read "Project: Hail Mary" by Andy Weir (author of "The Martian" and "Artemis") recently and I really enjoyed it!

 

Right now, I'm reading "The Starless Sea" by Erin Morgenstern and I have no idea what to make of it, honestly. Like it's so unusual I'm not even sure if I like it or not. I'm almost done with it, so I'll give final thoughts in a bit.

[fishy 1,757]

On 8/2/2024 at 11:22 PM, OblivionWalker said:

Read "Project: Hail Mary" by Andy Weir (author of "The Martian" and "Artemis") recently and I really enjoyed it!

 

Right now, I'm reading "The Starless Sea" by Erin Morgenstern and I have no idea what to make of it, honestly. Like it's so unusual I'm not even sure if I like it or not. I'm almost done with it, so I'll give final thoughts in a bit.

I really enjoyed PHM, and I think it was actually @Enorama who recommended it? I may be misremembering

 

I'm interested to hear what you think of The Starless Sea - I started but didn't finish The Night Circus, and I've heard less about The Starless Sea than I had The Night Circus. I really didn't like the bit of TNC that I read, but I'd like to hear your impression of Morganstern's other work

[Enorama 2,038]

On 7/31/2024 at 8:42 AM, Phil said:

I started Fire and Blood by George RR Martin- the book mostly based on House of the Dragon. First time I've read any of his books. Just 50 pages in (so like one chapter lol). I'll update once done.

 

I actually just finished this last week - I was really surprised how little the scope of the show was compared to the timeline of the book!

 

 

7 minutes ago, fishy said:

I really enjoyed PHM, and I think it was actually @Enorama who recommended it? I may be misremembering

 

Pretty sure it was me, yeah. Nyko read it around the same time as well. Shout out to the movie that will supposedly come out in 2026!

[OblivionWalker 236]

12 minutes ago, fishy said:

I really enjoyed PHM, and I think it was actually @Enorama who recommended it? I may be misremembering

 

I'm interested to hear what you think of The Starless Sea - I started but didn't finish The Night Circus, and I've heard less about The Starless Sea than I had The Night Circus. I really didn't like the bit of TNC that I read, but I'd like to hear your impression of Morganstern's other work

I finished it, but I didn’t enjoy it. It was set up in an interesting way but the actual plot was very threadbare and the ending was unsatisfying, so I don’t think I’ll be trying more of hers honestly.

[Aimee 1,119]

I was recommended a book by a third party and I used Storygraph to see if it was something I might like. This is what the Personalized AI said about the book, among other things: "Like One Fish, Two Fish, Red Fish, Blue Fish, Glory Be's charm lies in its vivid characters and descriptive storytelling, which will transport you to the bayou and keep you guessing until the very end."

 

What the fuck lol. It is cause the Louisiana Bayou is known for the seafood? 

[der meister 3,183]

On 1/4/2024 at 6:16 PM, Scurvy said:

I have no experience with it either but it keeps showing up in my Amazon book recommendations.  Let me know what you think?  Maybe Ill give it a go

 

Sorry for the delayed response on this. So Xenos, the first book, is all I read (aside from the omnibus's opening short story). It took me a while to get into it just because of my sheer lack of 40k knowledge, but by the end, I was definitely enjoying it. There's some cool stuff mixed into the jargon, and I found looking up pictures/art of the different species or whatever very useful. "Chaos Marine", for example, just sounds like a dude who is siding with the Dark Side, but then seeing an image paints a very different picture.

 

That said, I stopped after the first book and picked up Icarus Effect, a Deus Ex novel. About a third of the way through that. It takes place before the Human Revolution game and not from Adam Jensen's perspective - in fact his name doesn't even get mentioned until page 115 - but it's cool to see some stuff fleshed out.

 

And on the audiobook side - @OrbitingDeath would be interested in this due to dungeon crawler carl talk - I'm currently listening to Shadeslinger, the first book of The Ripple System series. It was recommended to me by massage therapist I saw last week and I'm totally into it. 

[OrbitingDeath 3,181]

Im actually reading the dungeon crawler carl books never touched the audio books yet

[der meister 3,183]

8 hours ago, OrbitingDeath said:

Im actually reading the dungeon crawler carl books never touched the audio books yet

 

The reader for Shadeslinger is quite good, but it's a similar genre to DCC

[OrbitingDeath 3,181]

5 hours ago, der meister said:

 

The reader for Shadeslinger is quite good, but it's a similar genre to DCC

Gonna add it to my read list, wanted more books like it, but most reviews of other series in the same genre are usually not that great. Matt Dinniman also gets alot of complaints for ruining the genre by making the dcc books too good

[der meister 3,183]

1 hour ago, OrbitingDeath said:

Gonna add it to my read list, wanted more books like it, but most reviews of other series in the same genre are usually not that great. Matt Dinniman also gets alot of complaints for ruining the genre by making the dcc books too good

 

I really enjoyed the first book of The Cozy Abyss series, if you want something slower and more slice of life. 

[Victor 10,937]

On 8/2/2024 at 10:22 PM, OblivionWalker said:

Read "Project: Hail Mary" by Andy Weir (author of "The Martian" and "Artemis") recently and I really enjoyed it!

Oh yeah, picked this up at a hotel just over a month ago and agreed, very enjoyable. Makes the science very digestible and plot twists were all well set up.

[Aimee 1,119]

Stopped reading for a bit but I'm on a kick again so here's what I've read since my last update:

 

Harry Potter & the Chamber of Secrets ()

Dealing with Dragons - Patricia C Wrede (.5)

Dungeon Calamity (Dramatized Adaptation) - Dakota Krout (.5)

Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them - Newt Scamander ()

RBG's Brave & Brilliant Women: 33 Jewish Women to Inspire Everyone - Nadine Epstein ()

 

At the moment I am 71% of the way through Prisoner of Azkaban, have been reading Eldest by Christopher Paolini one chapter at a time, and have Discovery of Witches by Deborah Harkness on my Kindle for when I have no internet lol.

[Banackock 8,043]

@Aimee I don’t really read - just a book or two a year with my partner as it’s a cute way to support what she likes. We get matching books. 
 

How the heck do you read more than one at a time? I could never do that haha even with my tv shows I’d lose interest in one or whatever. 

[Aimee 1,119]

3 minutes ago, Banackock said:

@Aimee I don’t really read - just a book or two a year with my partner as it’s a cute way to support what she likes. We get matching books. 
 

How the heck do you read more than one at a time? I could never do that haha even with my tv shows I’d lose interest in one or whatever. 

Lol that's fair. I don't usually. HP is an audiobook so that's been my commute listen. The other 2 I pick up when I'm in the mood for them. I tend to pick up and put down physical books but audiobooks I can bang out pretty quick. 

[Banackock 8,043]

2 minutes ago, Aimee said:

Lol that's fair. I don't usually. HP is an audiobook so that's been my commute listen. The other 2 I pick up when I'm in the mood for them. I tend to pick up and put down physical books but audiobooks I can bang out pretty quick. 

I wonder if I’d like audiobooks - especially on the way to work.. hmm.. 

 

I have the whole collection of Game of Thrones books at home because it’s my favourite show. May read those one day! Also the HP ones (love the movies). I just like to collect things that I love like that. 

[Aimee 1,119]

7 minutes ago, Banackock said:

I wonder if I’d like audiobooks - especially on the way to work.. hmm.. 

 

I have the whole collection of Game of Thrones books at home because it’s my favourite show. May read those one day! Also the HP ones (love the movies). I just like to collect things that I love like that. 

I have a 30ish minute commute so I get an hour of listening done and I do it at 2x speed. So I can get through 2 hours of a book each day just while driving. I use Audible for the books I want to own and Libby for anything I'm not sure I'll like.

[Syth 3]

I recently read Genghis Khan and the Making of the Modern World. If you like history, you'll like it. 

 

Book it.

[animal74 1,806]

I'm slogging through a few books right now...

 

Fiction:

Malice by John Gwynne

The Way of Kings by Brandon Sanderson

 

Writing related non-fiction:

Dreams and Wishes by Susan Cooper

A Hobbit, a Wardrobe, and a Great War by Joseph Loconte

 

I do a combo of physical books, Audible and Libby. Very occasionally ebooks.