What book(s) are you currently reading or listening? December 3
What book(s) are you currently reading or listening? December 3
Read Die Trying by Lee Child. Book 2 of Jack Reacher series. It was a fun book, though I wasn't fan of how passive Reacher was in most of the book, most of the action happens near the end. Was hoping for more action throughout the book. Still fun though, going to get more of these.
Now, continuing with my Mistborn re-read. Started The Well of Ascension by Brandon Sanderson. It's Book 2 in the series, and for some reason I don't recall much of what happens in this one. While I didn't recall the details of the first one either, I recalled most of the plot, for this one though, I only remember the ending, and maybe one other scene. Everything else I thought happened in 2, would happen in 3. So, looking forward to reading it and finding out!
What about all of you? What have you been reading or listening to lately?
(No bingo squares this week)
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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!
For details, you can checkout the initial Book Bingo, and it's Recommendation Post . Links are also present in our community sidebar.
All The Light We Cannot See
It's quite wonderful
I'm embarrassed to admit that I've been reading the Twilight books and I actually love them. Just started Book 2 last night.
We as a society put too much shame on certain book choices. A reader is better than a non-reader* and what you enjoy is valid.
I’m glad you found something you enjoy!
*-for various definitions of reader, including audiobooks
Took me longer to finish Lud-in-the-Mist than I hoped. I don’t know that I enjoyed it, but I appreciate having read it.
On to Dungeon Crawler Carl and I’m about halfway through it already.
Dungeon Crawler Carl gets many mentions, how are you finding it?
Dungeon Crawler Carl is a great series. It’s one of the best LitRPG style books I’ve read. Most of the humor can be actually laugh out loud funny at tjmes, but also the overall theme of the series is relevant and it can even get pretty deep. I think I even cried once.
If you’re mildly interested in it, jump in. I don’t think you will regret it.
Pretty enjoyable and a quick read. It’s pretty standard LitRPG fare so far. The humor doesn’t seem forced like it can with some others.
- The Kaiju Preservation Society by John Scalzi
- God, Human, Animal, Machine by Meghan O'Gieblyn
I started them over Thanksgiving break and am really enjoying them so far.
Currently reading Black Sun, a murder mystery set in a cold war secret soviet research city. Dripping with interdepartmental politics, but I was hoping for a bit more immersion in the world of a hidden science enclave.
I'm also listening to Well of Ascension, however this is my first time listening to the Mistborn series, as well as my first foray into Brandon Sanderson's writing. I love the series so far.
Without spoiling anything, I'm at the part where they've just introduced a very mentally ill character and I'm very curious to see how the author handles this subject matter later on. Interestingly enough, I have faith in him to be respectful with the character, which is a faith I wouldn't afford many writers without prior evidence that they'd do the subject justice.
Would recommend Mistborn to anyone who likes fantasy, complex magic systems (plural), in-depth worldbuilding, and engaging political drama.
Termination Shock by Neal Stephenson. It's about a near-future maverick geo-engineering operation that hopes to protect Netherlands and other low countries from flooding and rising sea levels. It might also affect global weather systems. The organizers aren't very concerned about that, but India and China might get upset if it screws up their monsoon seasons.
It probably won't even get me a bingo square, but I'll read and recommend it anyway.
Thanks for the recommendation, it sounds interesting. Will add it to my list.
As for Bingo squares, they are to help us expand our horizon, not limit them, so no book should be ignore because it doesn't meet Bingo criteria.
Morning Star by Pierce Brown Book 3 of the Red Rising series
This is a reread for me. I really like these books and I wanted to reread them before starting the move recently book in the series.
If you haven’t read them, I highly recommend it; especially, if you like Dystopian Sci-Fi.
Red Rising series has been recommended here many times, it's already on my wishlist, will get it once I clear some of my backlog, books I have already bought.
Read about a book and a half more of Red Rising. Something about it makes me want to take breaks, even though I do want to see the story play out. I'm not sure if it's his writing style or the narrator, but it seems I need to read it one book at a time, which isn't my norm.
Still reading Shaye Archer book 3 on ebook, started Altered Traits as a physical book after reorganizing my bookshelves (because of the buying spree I'm hopefully almost done with? Maybe I'll share a new picture of the silliness once all my outstanding orders get here), decided to go back and do some lighter reads as audiobooks and am up to C is for Corpse in Sue Grafton's Kinsey Milhone series. I've read some in the past, but will probably just bust them out until Wind and Truth comes.
I’m rereading Red Rising now. I had a hard time with it when I first read it too. I had to take breaks because it was too intense.
I also didn’t like the narrator at first, but after 5 books, I think I’d be upset if it wasn’t him.
No spoilers, but there are a lot of moments in the whole series that are hard to read. Not bad, I mean overwhelming. That said, it’s now one of my favorite set of book.
I like the intense parts. It's more the way it flows in between. It's kind of janky and abrupt.
I definitely have every intention of finishing. It will just be more spaced out than I'm used to. My habit is usually to read lengthy series from start to finish where possible. I read Stormlight in ~ 2 weeks on audiobooks, then mistborn 1-7 consecutively after that, read 20+ Karen Rose books back to back, however many Jack Reacher, 30 Stephanie Plum (and often follow it with Janet Evanovich's shorter series), etc. Spacing them out is just usually not how I read, especially audiobooks.
I could still see getting them on my bookshelf once I finish though.
This is off topic, but I mentioned getting the Warbreaker leatherbound in a previous post, and the pictures on the store are limited.
Still waiting on the Secret Projects I ordered a week before that though lol.
I'm reading Demon Copperhead by Barbara Kingsolver. It's essentially a modern retelling of David Copperfield and I think that actually hurts the book. So many times I've been enjoying the commentary on poverty cycles and foster care only to be brought completely out of it by the author trying to shoehorn the next David Copperfield plot point in. I think this book would really be shining if it was just told its own story instead.
Just finished The Croning by Laird Barron, because I saw it being recommended by multiple blogs as Lovecraftian horror. I am still angry at how bad this damn book is. It is Lovecraftian, but it's not horror. It's incredibly boring. So, so boring.
Heh, thanks for the info.
What are you starting next?
I'm taking a break from catching up with my son's reading of Wings of Fire. I'm about to start book eight, Escaping Peril
During this break from the grade school fantasy, I'm currently reading The Future of Another Timeline by Annalee Newitz. It was a random choice for me, served up by the algorithm and a few filters on Libby.
Not sure if I'm going to see this one through to the end as 10 more Wings of Fire Books beckon.
As for a recommendation, the last two "5 out of 5" books I read were, The Message and The Water Dancer by Ta-Nehisi Coates. The latter title, his first novel, is just as accessible as his articles and his latest reflection on America and her role in world affairs, the former title.
How's Wings of Fire? Son is getting interested in Dragons, has asked me for Songs of Magic series by S. A. Patrick, which apparently has dragons.
Both books by Ta-Nehisi Coates look interesting, will check them out.
It's pretty much what it says on the tin, "Harry Potter meets Hunger Games."... but with dragons as the main characters. The storytelling is good. The characters are tangible, well-developed, and relatable. There are three arcs, the first about wartime, the second is post-war, and the final arc — (which I've not started — appears to be about the Undiscovered Country. Reading it as an adult, it's easy to blitz through. There are fights, stabbings, broken necks, decapitations, and torture. None of it described in visceral gruesome detail, but more as a statement of fact. The stakes feel real. There is also magic, betrayal, surprise, and reconciliation. It's pretty good stuff.
Target audience, grades 3 to 8 says Scholastic. My little reader is a little younger than that, and he's obsessed. He still likes Captain Underpants, and he's starting to get into Pokémon. This feeds the need he has for dragons.
This week I did the fourth book in the Infinite series of books, Tribe by Jeremy Robinson. It was another good read in the series, no as obvious a tie in but I think I know how it relates having started with the 13th book which I believe it relates to. Either way it was a good book in its own right.
Continued with some Deathlands as well, the last fee books had felt a bit different, a bit off, so I decided to look up and apparently a few books ago the original author stopped writing (except for one more book in the future) and from now on it is a mixture of authors. The books so far have been good but more separate stories where as to begin with the books were pretty much all running into each other. I'll stick at it for a while as I'm still enjoying the characters and world but I'm not sure if I will lose some interest now, I just need to see how it is going forward I think.
I'm almost done The End and the Death part 2 by Dan Abnett from Warhammer's Horus Heresy.
Oooh, nice! How are you liking it? I am waiting for my copy of Eisenhorn by Dan Abnett, my first foray into Warhammer books.
Belgarath the Sorcerer by David Eddings
It is the equivalent of comfort food to me. When everything becomes too much... I pull this book out and read it. It's got just the right amount of sarcasm, wit, doesn't take itself too seriously, and isn't so dark and depressing as more recent high fantasy stories
I'm most of the way through Hold the Dark by Frank Tuttle. It's the third in a series of (mostly) lighthearted fantasy P.I. mysteries that I occasionally go back to.
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Finally finished City of Stairs. As I've said in previous weeks, this was kind of a "it's not the book, it's me" read; it was enjoyable enough to read. One other thing, though, this was billed as a fantasy spy novel, but if you're expecting Le Carré with magic, you'll be disappointed; the espionage aspects feel very superficial.
Bingo squares: What's Yours Is Mine, Family Drama, Mashup (HM), (alt) A Change in Perspective