Books

I finished four ways to forgiveness, so now I’m on to the birthday of the world! Interesting stuff so far. Kind of a mindfuck though, to listen to all of these stories with themes on feminism, relationships, gender, society, and then for this current political farce to have happened.

I finished Golden Son, the second in the Red Rising saga and moved right onto the third. It's difficult to get into specifics without spoiling but I can see why people had better opinions of the second book. The pacing was nonstop from one thing to another which was a step-up from the first book that held you in the same setting for 2/3rds of the book. Nothing prepared me for the conclusion either, even though there are a dozen hints along the way. Now I'm wondering how the third is going to top it. I've read quite a bit into it so far but it's only got an 'okay' from me, though the second felt the same in the beginning.

I'm planning to wrap up Morning Star in the following week, then I plan to reread Way of Kings in preparation for Winds and Truth next month.

I finished the short stories in my copy of I Am Legend by Richard Matheson. Some of them haven't aged that well but overall I found most of them enjoyable.

I read Piranesi by Susanna Clarke. This book was absolutely amazing. If you want a short, atmospheric fantasy I highly recommend. I think this is a book I'll return to routinely.

Now I'm reading Educated by Tara Westover. It's a memoir about her growing up in a survivalist family in rural Idaho. She was not enrolled in school and didn't even have a birth certificate for many years. I'm not very far in yet but it is fascinating and very easy to read.

I failed at finishing Quicksilver by Neil Stephenson. I really like a lot of his other works (Cryptonomicon, Snow Crash, D.O.D.O., et al), but this one in particular I found too cumbersome to get through. It seems the main story/plot revolves around the fact that the author was learning about historical trivia and then tied all of these into the vicinity of a main character. To me, that's not really much of a foundation for a story unless it is combined with character arcs and developments, for example the way Forrest Gump does it is perfect - there's an actual story there that stands well on its own, it just happens to tie in with historical events.

So instead I picked up Dungeon Crawler Carl on audible after someone mentioned it here on Lemmy. Loving it so far.

Just finished 11/22/63 by Stephen King. Really interesting regarding the Kennedy assassination and time travel

Ooh, I liked Eyes of the Dragon. Enjoy!

I just finished Blood Meridian by Cormac McCarthy, and just started Fagles' translation of Homer's Odyssey. Chapter 1 was surprisingly engaging and follow-able.. I was prepared to feel lost, as I haven't done "classics" like this before. But then, I did do a fair bit of research on which translation to pick, and this one did stand out as readable, so maybe I shouldn't be too surprised.

I read as always several books at once.

One of them is Babel by R. F. Kuang. I was blown away at first, but after the first third of the book I’m not as as enthusiastic anymore. Everything to do with languages and translation is awesome, the characters are well defined but a bit one-dimensional so far, but I think the plot is nothing to write home about and has some „young adult“ vibes to me. It’s still good though, and I’m far from finished yet.

Another one is „the notebook a history of thinking on paper“ I just got it today, but it looks very promising.

Started City of Stairs by Robert Jackson Bennett. It's pretty good so far, although I'm not sure if the world building is quite my taste.

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Finished There Is No Antimemetics Division by qntm. I started it with only a very cursory knowledge of SCP, and I think you could absolutely read this with none at all, as a standalone.

Bingo squares: Independent Author; Easy, Breazy, Read-zie; Now a Major Motion Picture (youtube miniseries); It's About Time; Mashup; Institutional; (alt) Pseudonymous Work (hard); (alt) A Change in Perspective

Currently reading One Dark Window, the first book in the Shepherd King series by Rachel Gillig. It's fun and interesting, with a good magic system. The romance aspect is a little obvious and over-done at times, though.

I really liked Eyes of the Dragon when I read it 30 years ago. It was fun and different from his other works. It was maybe the second fantasy book I ever read, so the new type of world was eye opening to me at the time. Not sure how I'd like it now, but I really enjoyed it then.

Devolution by Max Brooks I loved his other works and I saw this one in a book store. I grabbed the audio book from Libby I’m enjoying it so far

Just finished the first mistborn arc. I can see why people had mixed feelings about it. The final empire is excellent, but it feels a little like it was intended to be standalone, then he got a little stuck in book 2. But he brings it back around and the full story works, and the slow part in the second book does pay off.

Started into Wax and Wayne, and it's cool to see how the utilization of the same powers evolved in the time between.

A few weeks back I decided to reread Lord of the Rings.

About 90% of the way finished with that, but stopped when I realized I wanted to do a reread of Stormlight Archives for a refresher (particularly on Way of Kings and Rhythm of War) since I have now read all sorts of fun Cosmere stuff like Sunlit Man, Warbreaker, Mistborn 2, and Elantris since I picked them up.

Just wrapped on Way of Kings and am progressing much slower into Words of Radiance.

I've been meaning to read Side Jobs - does it finally explain the sasquatch? Gotta do something while I'm waiting for the next book!

I'm currently doing a re-listen to Name of the Wind and catching a lot of references I missed on the first read and first listen.

The Eyes of the Dragon is my favorite King story. There is a brief moment at the end which implies a tangential connection to other works.

I’ve been struggling lately to get through books for a few months. This week was a breakthrough in that struggle, I needed some distraction and was able to get the focus I needed.

I finally finished We Have Always Lived in the Castle by Shirley Jackson and A Prayer For The Crown-Shy by Becky Chambers just as last week. I’m gonna start reading Lud-in-the-Mist by Hope Mirrlees which should be fairly quick and if I can; optimistically move onto Dungeon Crawler Carl by Matt Dinniman.

These all help progress my Bingo sheet.

I have so many damn books and I wish I were so fast that I could read a book a day. It's so frustrating. I have a bunch of nonfiction I want to read, but I love novels, too. I'm currently reading King's "Pet sematary"

I am at the end of The Amityville Horror by Jay Anson. It's an overflow from Halloween season reads. I kinda hate it but I'll finish it.

Currently on Book 7 of the Malazan series by Steven Erikson, "Reaper's Gale". Started book 1 back in June, still working my way through them. The whole series improved tremendously after Book 3 finished, it's been a heck of a ride so far.

The Dark Tower V: Wolves of the Calla

Probably my fifth go around with this book. First time listening to it on audiobook.

I finished off Mr Mercedes which was good but probably not high up there in terms of Kings books for me. I think Eyes of a Dragon was his attempted at writing a YA novel for his kids if I remember rightly. I enjoyed it but again not one of my favourite King books.

As always I've done a couple of Deathlands books this week and still enjoying it greatly.

I also read Flux by Jeremy Robinson which is the third book in the Infinite series. It was another really good book and another one that really reminded me of Koontz and the way he writes. The end of it ties in really nicely with The Others which was the second book and adds some further back story into the universe and that story that I wasn't expecting throughout the story which was a nice surprise.

I have the fourth book ready to go and may start on that after a couple more Deathlands books :D

On the side I have spent a few hours editing Underwood and Flinch (by Mike Bennett) podcast releases I have the files for into a cohesive audio book with none of the podcast preamble and shit talking. I've listened to it a couple of times already and editing it has tempted me back for another listen which I may so sometime soon. If you'd like a modern day vampire story I strongly recommend checking it out!