Still reading Cold Days by Jim Butcher, the 14th book in Dresden Files series.
Yet another busy week but things have started to settle down, got back to reading properly yesterday and have reached the point where we get some interesting reveals. Very excited about where it goes from here.
What about all of you? What have you been reading or listening to lately?
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Just finished the Inheritance Games by Jennifer Lynn Barnes. I was hoping for more puzzles and less teeny bopper romance, but it was still compelling. Still working on Galaxy Outlaws by J. S. Morin, and I’ll probably pick up another anthology of his on sale from Audible. Currently reading The Jolliest Bunch by Danny Pellegrino. Christmas is my favorite holiday, so I like to read something Christmasy this time of year, fiction or nonfiction.
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Demon In White - Book 3 of the Sun Eater Series. I have mixed feelings on this book so far. The first book didn’t really click until the last third for me. The second book was great. This one has a big slog in the middle.
I think Demon In White is suffering from an identity crisis. Like it’s a space opera with weird aliens and bio-robots. Why are we having feudal Game of Thrones style bullshit interjected in my space wars? Go back to the alien gods possessing people. I’m on the last 3rd of the book and it’s just starting to pick up again with the stuff that interests me the most. I still got almost 250 pages to go and the story is already probably 250 pages too much.
The highs are really high in this series. Like some of the most thought provoking passages lit my mind up like a Christmas tree. The lows are also really low. That ebb and flow really ebbed for chunks of this book. The main structure of the series, which is this is a memoir written by the MC after the fact, is really starting to hurt the story in this one. Like we know where he is, he’s still alive, and he’s in “exile.” That was laid out from the start of book one. The foreshadowing isn’t subtle or interesting at this point. Which is a shame because it was and can be. It just fell flat in parts of this book.
Just finished Project Hail Mary, I really enjoyed it overall but hated the cutesy humor of the main character.
I don’t have high hopes for the movie. If you haven’t read it, avoid the movie trailer if you don’t want spoilers.
Oh yeah, trailer kind of spoils some interesting parts.
Im currently working on book 2 of the Dungeon Crawler Carl series. Its a fantastic listen so far. Unfortunately it seems it was only available on Audible so I had to sail the high seas to get it.
The Dungeon Crawler Carl audiobooks are some the best l I’ve listened to!
I’m sure you’re aware of this, but they do have the first book available as an audio drama from:
https://soundbooththeater.com/series/dungeon-crawler-carl/
They call it an “audio immersion tunnel.” Season 1 = Book 1, and more are in production. Episode 1 is free, the whole “Season” is $21 USD.
It’s much better than the Graphic Audio productions, at least in my opinion.
Edit: Cold reads/bts streams are also on their YouTube channel. Interesting to see behind the curtain a little bit.
Holy shit I had no idea! I will happily pay for something like this. I remember hearing something about it at the end of the first audiobook, but didn’t know it’d be a separate company selling it themselves.
Thank you kind stranger!
Glad I mentioned it then!
If it wasn’t clear, the narrator is the same person (Jeff Hays) from the Audiobooks, and he still does a fantastic job with most of the voices.
Rhythm of War by Brandon Sanderson. Just about 3/4 of the way through.
I’m listening to There Is No Antimemetics Division by qntm right now. It’s both fun and terrifying at the same time.
I just finished listening to Service Model by Adrian Tchaikovsky and really enjoyed it. It was a nice departure from the Dying Earth Breaking Down theme, even though it was definitely a Dying Earth Breaking Down story. It was like a wholesome, lighthearted Earth dying.
I’m also reading The Farthest Shore by Ursula K Le Guin to my boys right now. They go to sleep in minutes after starting it and have no idea what is going on when I ask them about it in the morning, but it’s a great book and I’m enjoying reading it even after they go to sleep.
I’m so happy that There is no Antimemetics Division is back in print. I found out about it right after the self published edition went out of print, so I made do with JVSCP’s reading on YouTube. I picked my copy of the new edition up this weekend and am excited to dig back in.
I’m going to start reading “Endnotes 1: Preliminary Materials for a Balance Sheet of the 20th Century”.
Today the first four volumes of the Endnotes collective arrived at my home and I’m eager to read them. To refresh my memory, I’m going to reread the first one.
The first volume, as its title suggests, reviews what happened in the twentieth century from the perspective of communization theory, which is understood as the expression of the communist movement in the current cycle of struggles. It contrasts two positions: that of Théorie Communiste, which is more determinist and argues that communism was impossible to achieve in that context, and that of Gilles Dauvé, who claims that communism was achievable but that mistakes were made by the people in that historical context.
The last week or so has been busy for me too so it’s been sporadic, but I’ve been reading through Brigands and Breadknives by Travis Baldree. It’s the first true sequel to Legends and Lattes given that the second book in the series is a prequel. It reunites a main character from Legends and Lattes with a friend from the prequel. I’m enjoying it so far but not quite as much as the prior 2 yet, but I’m still only about 40% in.
How is the series? I have heard it mentioned many times but have never gotten around to reading it myself.
The 1st one arguably was a big part of what got me back reading regularly. I read it during Covid and it was what I needed at the moment. The second was enjoyable. The third is good, but I’ve been busy and haven’t been able to keep at it. But all are very enjoyable.
Good to know, will see if I can pick a copy, thanks!
Love the Dresden books. I’m listening to Riftwar book 2
Riftwar has been on my wishlist for a very long time. How are you liking it?
Finished book 2 of the first trilogy this weekend, immediately started book 3. I’m really liking it!
That’s nice to know. Had completely forgotten about it, will try to see if I can find local copies.
I’ve been in the mother of all reading slumps (since I hit my very modest yearly goal of 12+ books), but I’m back and I’m currently reading Orientalism by Edward Said for non-fiction. I’m also reading two short-story collections: A Century of Fiction in The New Yorker edited by Deborah Treisman, and Africa Risen: A New Era of Speculative Fiction edited by Thomas, Ekpeki and Knight.
Congratulations on hitting your goal!
How are the short-story collections?
Pretty good so far. I’m only about 10% into The New Yorker, and the only story I did not like was “Perfect Day for Bananafish” by J.D. Salinger
spoiler
(there’s a weird pervy undertone and a constant air of child endangerment, and it ends in suicide)
The rest have a good mix of fun and suspense, and the writing feels lyrical.
I’m about 30% into Africa Risen, and the stories are a fun mix of sci-fi, magical realism and mythology. My favorite so far is “Rear Mirror” by Nuzo Onoh, which was hilarious.
Thanks for the info, will check them out.
Play Nice by Rachel Harrison. Finished last night, loved it. Haunted house story, great mental health/abusive family allegory. If you don’t like female characters who are very flawed, or gen-z style writing, give this one a miss.
What’s Gen-Z style writing?
I think kind of flippant and with current cultural references.
Maybe not a good descriptor. I saw another reviewer use it, so hoped it would convey the tone.
Heh. Flippant sounds about right.
I started reading Demons by Fyodor Dostoevsky. It’s about the spread of new ideas, namely nihilism, in the mid-1800s Russia. As such, the topic reminds me of Ivan Turgenev’s Fathers And Sons, which I remember liking. This is a hefty tome, so it’ll take me a while to get through it.
Just finished the 5th Bobiverse book “Not Till We Are Lost” by Dennis E. Taylor. It was a surprisingly fun series, especially if you don’t take it too seriously.
- The Everlasting, by Alix Harrow
- Letters from an Imaginary Country, by Theodora Goss
- The Mathematical Structure of Syntactic Merge, by Marcolli, Berwick, and Chomsky (most likely Chomsky’s last linguistics book)
- Creating Democracy: Arendt and Bakhtin in Dialogue, by Charles Hersch
