Back to reading Rosemary and Rue by Seanan McGuire (first book in her October Daye urban fantasy series). Only read couple of pages, but things are setting down so should be getting back to reading more.
What about all of you? What have you been reading or listening to lately?
Official Bingo Turn-in post is live!
I’ve recently finished Collapse by Carlos Taibo . In this book, the author mainly explores the definition and possible causes of a future collapse. The book revolves around the future scarcity of energy resources and climate change. Furthermore, he speculates about possible scenarios in a post-collapse society arising from an ecological crisis.
I enjoyed rereading it.
In the last “what are you reading” post I mentioned re-reading Piers Anthony’s Incarnations of Immortality series, also mentioning that the series is one of Anthony’s with the least amount of his weirdness in it. That was before I reached the last book in the series, And Eternity. That one goes full-on Piers Anthony weird. Like… oof.
Reading The Fall by Neal Stephenson. It’s a sequel to REAMDE, which I really enjoyed reading for the second time this year—the first time being eight years ago (I think?). So far, The Fall is exploring a lot of the same concepts as the animated series Pantheon: life after death, uploaded consciousness (or intelligence), physical reality vs perceived, immortality. The series started production in 2018, and the book was published in 2019; these ideas must have been in the zeitgeist I guess.
Considering the genre of the first book (MMORPG hacker spy international criminals thriller), I’m really surprised Stephenson was able to adapt and develop these characters into a story with this kind of theme. Digging it.
Just about to finish The Safekeep by Yael van der Wouden. It’s been good! Very beautifully written and such a unique setting (post war Netherlands). I’ve been reading it for my book club.
I’m thinking on starting The Lies of Locke Lamora next. It’s been on my TBR for a while!
Just got caught up with the Dungeon Crawler Carl series and desperately awaiting book 8. I’m not a fan of LitRPG but hot damn it hits different.
Meanwhile I’m working my way through the Sun Eater series. Super morose and way *too full of self-reflection but it’s definitely grabbed my attention. and kept me wanting more.
Finished The Cadaver Client by Frank Tuttle. Fantasy PI is hired by a ghost to find his (living) wife. Fun adventure, pretty light; good palate cleanser after 1984.
Currently reading Extremity by Nicholas Binge. I’m a little unsatisfied with it, but I think it’s a me-not-it kinda thing. Maybe the last 30% will change my mind.
I just finished The Philosophy of the catcher in the rye - super interesting, really enjoyed it.
Reading; Red Comment, Heather Clark - biography of Sylvia Plath. Thoroughly enjoying it, though “enjoying” feels like the wrong word due to the heavy topics it goes into.
Also reading Animorphs K.A Applegate. Nostalgic read and a nice, easy one to pick up when I need something less intense. Up to the 12th book!
And a couple of poetry books on the go; Beautiful Chaos - Robert Drake (eh, it’s okay), All Dogs Are Good - Courtney Peppernell (fantastic! Will definitely read more of her stuff!) and Ariel - Sylvia Plath (a re-read as I know most of them already but interesting to read with the extra insight of the biography).
I’ve been thinking of doing an Animorphs read again. I read them as a kid and I remember really enjoying them but I haven’t read them since. They were one of the books that made me fall in love with science fiction.
Yeah I remember reading and watching it as a kid but I don’t think I ever read or saw all of it so I’m excited to actually see how it develops beyond what I remember! I’m not particularly into sci fi but I did like the teenage alien invasion era back in the 90s/2000s haha.
I wish I still had the alien story I was writing in old exercise books during class, one of the longest handwritten stories I wrote as a kid and sadly disappeared 😭
I was already interested in scifi shows because my mom is a Star Trek and Star Wars fan, but Animorphs is what really got me more into it. The show was interesting, I remember it being a bit weird, however I am in the process of downloading it to rewatch. I see the books all the time in thrift stores and I’m tempted to start collecting them for a reread, but I’ve yet to find the first one.
I hope you are enjoying your other books too!
Just finished book 2 of the Star Wars Legends series “Jedi Academy”. It’s about Luke trying to start a new Jedi order after the Thrawn trilogy.
So I’ve got a short story collection to read this week. It’s called 50 short science fiction stories, and is actually specifically about “short shorts” they “define” them as stories that took up a full magazine page with a picture.
After, it’ll be book 3 of the Jedi Academy series.
Reading: Wandering witch Listening: Vampire Hunter D (dramatized)
I will probably drop the dramatized Vampire Hunter D. I don’t like the narrator’s voice, and it’s difficult to understand.
Still reading “Newtons wake” by Ken MacLeod. It’s okay, sometimes a bit messy to follow. Definitely not as bad as some of the goodreads reviews make it be. It’s my first book by this writer, so maybe I’ll read some more after this one.
Just finished: The Perks of Being a Wallflower. First time read for me, it was great! I really wish I’d read it as a teen.
Finishing up: 1984. I read it ~15 years ago, can’t believe how much I forgot.
Up next: Starship Troopers. It’s a book I own but haven’t read. I love the movie and typically hate reading a book I’ve already watched the movie version of, however I hear it’s worth the read and am curious how it’s written.
Starship Troopers ended up a very different experience in the book, so I think you won’t feel as though you’re retreading too much.
Thank you for the insight! I’m hoping different will be a good thing, as most others seem to have liked the movie more.
Good luck with Troopers. Verhoeven really spun some gold from the source material
Recently finished book 4 in Dungeon Crawler Carl series and yea. That was an ending I wasnt expecting and am excited to get to the next book.
Also got through Scream with Me: Horror Films and the Rise of American Feminism (1968-1980) by Eleanor Johnson. Had some interesting ideas on the horror genre and relations to what was going on at the time. Like the ERA and the Roe decisons. Was a really nice change of pace from all the scifi/fantasy i have been reading lately.
Just started Cult Following: The Extreme Sects That Capture Our Imaginations—and Take Over Our Lives by JW Ocker. Not far but feels like it will be interesting.
Started reading Ascendance of a Bookworm
Slogging away at the long non-fiction “The Plot to Kill King” -William Pepper. I say slogging because I only give myself about 15-30 min for reading time each night and it’s a hefty book, appendices and all.
Just finished:
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Children of Strife by Adrian Tchaikovsky
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The Spear Cuts Through Water by Simon Jimenez
Currently reading:
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The Works of Vermin by Hiron Ennes
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The Language of Liars by S.L. Huang
What’d you think of Strife compared to the other 3? I liked 1 and 2 quite a bit but 3 felt like a wrong direction to take for me
On the one hand, it covers a broader stretch of time—from slightly before to slightly after the rest of the series—but on the other hand it’s more human-centric, with less exploration of new non-human intelligences (although there’s still some). And like book 3, it focuses more on a single planet (but also more of Earth than we’ve seen in the rest of the series).
I’d put in on par with 3, but I liked 3 more than a lot of other readers did.
Interesting. It’s a couple down on my to read list. Hopefully I’ll get to it this summer
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