What are you reading this week? [6/25/23]
What are you reading this week? [6/25/23]
Real late in making this thread this week - but I got busy...
What book is currently on your nightstand? How do you like it? Would you recommend it to others?
I'm about to finish the second book in the mistborn series. Have you guys heard of fictionaries. They are supplemental dictionaries you can load on to your Kindle. So like I have one for Brandon Sanderson's cosamer series. Which is super helpful. I can like click a characters name and get a little synopsis, which with his love for character back stories is helpful. There are like different ones you can download so you don't get spoilers. It is made reading any of these books that have so much character, backstory and exposition way easier
Oh that's neat! I have trouble remembering smaller characters and their descriptions so that would help! Recently finished the first Mistborn book, myself.
Just got done re-reading Anansi Boys, and started a re-read of American Gods last night. (Yes, I know, I'm reading them out of order, shush.)
Anansi Boys is Neil Gaiman too, right? I read American Gods decades ago in high school and remember being sort of obsessed with it. Have you ever read any of his Sandman comics? They're fantastic.
Yeah, Neil Gaiman. It's supposedly a sequel, I guess, to AG, but there's not really much of a connection I'm aware of.
And yeah, Sandman was great.
I'm enjoying Empress of the Nile which really is a female version of Indiana Jones.
I've been reading the Lonesome Dove series, not in order of publication, but in internal chronological order.
Dead Man's Walk
Comanche Moon
Lonesome Dove
Streets of LaredoI would never have thought to read these books, but I was looking for something to read and my current favourite author, Joe Abercrombie, said Lonesome Dove was the best book he'd ever read so I thought I'd give 'em a whirl. I'm so glad I did. McMurty has such an excellent, calm, matter-of-fact way of telling these stories. I'm most of the way through Lonesome Dove at this point. I think that Comanche Moon is one of the oddest, but most authentic books about mid-19th century Western America I've ever read. The other thing that stands out to me is that each chapter could really be a short story that could stand on its own without any of the other context that the rest of the book provides. It's really a masterclass in storytelling. Can't recommend enough.
Currently been blasting through Martha Wells's Murderbot Diaries. I'm up to book 4 and they just get better and better each one.
@McBinary I am still reading Red Planet Blues by Robert J. Sawyer. It's not bad. Tries very hard to be noir on Mars. I am a little over half way through. I would say pick it up if Detective Scifi is your thing, but definitely do not cancel any plans over it.
I read a few reviews for it, and I'll be adding that one to my read list on StoryGraph. It sounds a little like The Worthing Saga by Orson Scott Card from the reviews I read.
Late in making this thread, but I just finished "Red Rising" by Pierce Brown.
It was a slow start, and veered way off course from where I thought it was going, but I really enjoyed it. I'd definitely recommend to anyone that is interested in 'Battle Royale' or 'Hunger Games' style stories. This one has a little more grown up context than those two however.
Edit: Trying to finish the last half of "Caliban's War" from the Expanse Series - I sat it down far too long ago and may need to start over. o.O
I have the board game, but have never read the book. I loved Battle Royale.
I really liked Red Rising, and the other two books in the original trilogy. I also read the first book in the follow-up series, but found it a bit too dark for me (and I usually like dark!) I won't be bothering with the rest of them, but I might re-read the trilogy at some point.
It really took a turn to another plot I wasn't expecting at all. The beginning of the book set it up to be a revolution, I was not expecting eugenic battle royale... Whats worse, they never even addressed the original plot started with Eo, it was just sort of used as a setup for book two.
I'm just about to finish Halo: The Flood and move onto either Halo: First Strike or The Last Wish (since the new Witcher season is coming up).
I personally couldnt get into The Flood and put it down but First Strike is great and could honestly be its own game if it wanted to lol
it got better toward the end. when the Flood finally arrive. coming off of Fall of Reach, the tone just felt different.. i get its the first game but, i don’t know it read very action movie-ish in some sections, lacking depth here and there. i’m more excited to get back to Eric Nylund’s books lol
I'm reading The New Huey P Newton Reader. Interesting view from the inside of the Black Panther Party's formation and downfall.
Just started Someone Like Me by M. R. Carey (known for The Girl With All The Gifts). Good so far but I really haven't gotten far.
Imperium: A Novel of Ancient Rome By Robert Harris
Just finished Hitler's Secret, a really well written WW2 spy novel. Pretty page turning, I needed something lighter after some of the other things I was reading the well before. A bit unbelievable in parts but I find you usually expect that with thrillers sand it's best just to go with the flow!
Just finished maze runner. I picked it up almost randomly from the library and really liked it.
Currently reading Jacob's room. So far underwhelming - perhaps it wasn't the best way to try Virginia Woolf.
Two books in progress:
- Deep Work by Cal Newport, and
- Tress of the Emerald Sea& by Brandon Sanderson
I'm going to try make some progress on them at least this weekend but there's a bunch of things going on with life stuff. Boy do I miss having nothing to do but read.
Just finished The Future of Another Timeline by Annalee Newitz. Probably going to read something by Vonnegut next…
Recently finished the first Mistborn book which was AMAZING. Everyone was on point about Sanderson's ability to create an amazing climax and keep you invested in those last few hundred pages! I have around 200 pages left of The Eye of the World which has been better than I thought. Feels like going from the Shire to Rivendell but in one book. The world building is great and I am totally here for this series!
Just finished Star Wars: Master & Apprentice by Claudia Gray earlier tonight. It was a good read, an interesting look at the bond between Qui-Gon Jinn and Obi-Wan Kenobi.
Also, I’m midway through Legendborn by Tracy Deonn and I’m hooked. It’s a modern day reimagining of Arthurian legend bundled in an urban fantasy/supernatural wrapper.
Currently, Leviathan Falls, the last book in The Expanse series. I'm a little over halfway through. Which is a little bittersweet, since I've loved this series for a long time now, and I want to know how it ends... but also kinda don't want it to end.
Not sure what'll be next up, but probably one of Babel, The Kaiju Preservation Society, or The House in the Cerulean Sea, depending on my mood.
How exciting! I'm currently reading Caliban's War. I got real busy with school when I was reading it last and ended up setting it down instead of finishing.
Question for you - did you see the TV show before reading the books like me? I'm having a really hard time reconciling my mental picture of both Amos and Fred Johnson from the show and how they're portrayed in the books. The TV show made Amos a certified badass, and he was my favorite character for it. In the books (so far) he's just a stubborn badass mechanic. And visa versa, Fred Johnson is badass war hero in the books, and just kind of 'meh' in the TV show...
I was already a fan of the book series before the show came out - I forget how many of the books were out at that point, but I'd definitely read the first three at least.
So I came at it the other way around, especially with Amos. I remember when Wes Chatham was first announced as Amos, and I thought he looked entirely wrong for the role. But he completely blew me away with his portrayal. He brought so much depth and nuance to Amos, and made me utterly fall in love with a character that I'd previously been kind of 'meh' about. Wes is now my definitive Amos, and I just kind of mentally gloss over the book descriptions that contradict that. He's my favourite character now, though Camina Drummer (the show version) comes a very close second.
I didn't have the same trouble with Fred Johnson though. Neither version was a favourite or 'meh' for me.