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What Are You Reading? (November 2019) Be Thankful for Books

Make "What Are You Reading" a permanent, single OT?

  • Yes

    Votes: 35 71.4%

  • No

    Votes: 14 28.6%
  • Total voters
    49
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Jag

Jag

Member
Oct 26, 2017
11,669
EDIT:
Added a poll about making the thread a single OT rather than monthly. I think a single OT is better since people can view prior recommendations and it is easier to bookmark a single thread. It made more sense when it was a combined book club thread.

Please vote.


"October extinguished itself in a rush of howling winds and driving rain and November arrived, cold as frozen iron, with hard frosts every morning and icy drafts that bit at exposed hands and faces."
―
J.K. Rowling
Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix

-----
Join the ResetEra Goodreads Book Club to see what other ERA members are reading.

Explore

Support ERA authors:

Happy reading!
 
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ara

ara

Member
Oct 26, 2017
13,000
Didn't realize the month changed lol.

Like I said in the October thread, I started this

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I think I kind of hate these books, but they're very addictive.
 
Alastor3

Alastor3

Attempted to circumvent ban with alt account
Banned
Oct 28, 2017
8,297
some tips to get back to reading after falling out of it for 6-7 years?? I feel my attention span is very weak but i have like 20 books i bought but never got arround to starting them
 
Masoyama

Masoyama

Attempted to circumvent a ban with an alt account
Banned
Oct 27, 2017
5,648
This one is interesting. I read this comic, written by an economist and a cartoonist on border policy. It is a quick read, and gets surprisingly deep on most topics. More than anything, it cites a lot of other material that is now on my list of stuff to read.

The book makes the argument that most immigration policy is the new apartheid. Closed borders and immigration requirements lead to the death and starvation of hundreds of millions and is an embarrassment on humanity.

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Futureman

Futureman

Member
Oct 26, 2017
9,400
About to start "Beloved" by Toni Morrison.

also just got the book of poetry "Actual Air" by the late, great David Berman.
 
ara

ara

Member
Oct 26, 2017
13,000
Alastor3 said:
some tips to get back to reading after falling out of it for 6-7 years?? I feel my attention span is very weak but i have like 20 books i bought but never got arround to starting them
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If you're reading e-books, don't read on a smartphone or other similar device where you can effortlessly switch between the book and social media/games/browser/etc.

Read in bed before going to sleep. Take it slow, read a chapter or maybe two every night (depending on chapter lengths, obviously).

You could try starting with shorter books to get back in the groove, or ones that have very short chapters and/or are generally easy to read. You could even start with short story collections.

And most of all, read what you actually feel like reading. Don't force yourself to read one of the 20 books you own just because you happen to own them, and if a book doesn't seem interessting to you in the first let's say couple of dozen pages, just drop it, don't force yourself to continue no matter how much people online love it or whatever. You can always come back it later.

In general I'd suggest against hoarding books. When your "backlog" is massive, it can be pretty goddamn hard to actually start reading something. Don't immediately buy every book that seems interesting to you, add them to a wishlist on Goodreads or Amazon or wherever and only buy them when you're planning on actually reading them.

As someone who regularly drops reading entirely for months at a time, these tend to help me.

e: oh, and definitely try audio books. They're not for me (my mind starts to wander a lot when I'm just trying to listen to something), but I often see people recommend them.
 
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luca

luca

Member
Oct 25, 2017
16,504
I wouldn't say short books is all that important. It's much more important that you find something that hooks you, makes you interested and makes you wanna come back to it. I hadn't read/finished a book in 15 years, then I picked up Dune in January of this year (which is 500 pages) and now I'm five books into the series just cause it really grabbed me.

Some great advice above as well. Don't hoard, read one book at a time.

I got 150 pages left of Heretics of Dune, and it has been so good. I hope to finish it this weekend, so I'll have time to finish Chapter House: Dune in November/December as well.
 
ara

ara

Member
Oct 26, 2017
13,000
Pachimari said:
I wouldn't say short books is all that important. It's much more important that you find something that hooks you, makes you interested and makes you wanna come back to it. I hadn't read/finished a book in 15 years, then I picked up Dune in January of this year (which is 500 pages) and now I'm five books into the series just cause it really grabbed me.
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Oh yeah, reworded it to hopefully reflect what I meant a bit better.
 

BlackPizzaCrocodile

Member
Sep 28, 2019
240
I'm 130 pages into the Guns of August, and I'm having a hard time enjoying it. I have been trying to get into reading about history, but I just don't think I enjoy history books all that much.
 
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Jag

Jag

Member
Oct 26, 2017
11,669
Coyote Zamora said:
Try reading historical fiction set in eras or conflicts that you like and then read books about the background of what you just read.
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I love historical fiction. It's not pure history by any stretch, but you will learn much more than not reading anything.

My gateway historical fiction book(s) are The Killer Angels by Michael Shara about Gettysburg. His son took over with subsequent books which are just as good. The movie Gettysburg was taken from the book I believe.

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Also check out Bernard Cornwell who writes mostly British historical fiction. Both his Sharpe and Saxon series (the Last Kingdom) have been made into TV shows.

Finally Ken Follet writes amazing page turners about history. His Century series and Pillars of the Earth (made into TV and games) are my favorites.
 

Coyote Zamora

alt account
Banned
Jul 19, 2019
766
Jag said:
I love historical fiction. It's not pure history by any stretch, but you will learn much more than not reading anything.

My gateway historical fiction book(s) are The Killer Angels by Michael Shara about Gettysburg. His son took over with subsequent books which are just as good. The movie Gettysburg was taken from the book I believe.

1058112.jpg


Also check out Bernard Cornwell who writes mostly British historical fiction. Both his Sharpe and Saxon series (the Last Kingdom) have been made into TV shows.

Finally Ken Follet writes amazing page turners about history. His Century series and Pillars of the Earth (made into TV and games) are my favorites.
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Check out Christian Cameron's I'll made Knight series about the crusades
 
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Jag

Jag

Member
Oct 26, 2017
11,669
Coyote Zamora said:
Check out Christian Cameron's I'll made Knight series about the crusades
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Added to my Goodreads list. Thanks.

Forgot I read this
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Pretty good. I'm a fan of Greek mythology and have been playing AC Odyssey, so this was right up my alley. It reads like historical fiction and makes you feel like the gods were real (kind of like Homer) It also fills in some of the backstory of Homer's epics. You don't need to have read Homer to read this, but a passing knowledge of the Trojan war and Odysseus is helpful.
 
Saphirax

Saphirax

Member
Oct 25, 2017
1,337
Colder season means I'll inadvertently end up with...a cold so my reading slowed down somewhat. I'm still going through:

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After that - it's scifi month!
 
Consequence

Consequence

Member
Oct 27, 2017
1,969
I'm about halfway through Brent Weeks' The Burning White. Has done an ok job of tying up the series so far, though it seems a little hornier than I remember the earlier stuff being?
 
Kill3r7

Kill3r7

Member
Oct 25, 2017
24,397
Anyone read(ing) The Institute by Stephen King? I am about a third of the way through but not really feeling it so far.

Jag said:
Two good choices. Curious how the Gladwell book is. Also didn't know Dan had a book out. Haven't started his latest HH yet.
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Talking to Strangers is better than David vs Goliath. The book is based around truth default theory. If you enjoy his revisionist history podcast you will enjoy this book. Fair warning, he spends a few chapters examining Nassar, Sandusky and Brock Turner. So that might turn a few people off.
 
Septimus Prime

Septimus Prime

EA
Verified
Oct 25, 2017
8,500
Jag said:
Two good choices. Curious how the Gladwell book is. Also didn't know Dan had a book out. Haven't started his latest HH yet.
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I enjoyed it (but I also really enjoy his podcast). If you're a fan of Revisionist History, you'll like it. The conclusions is draws are interesting and believable, too, and they explain a lot.
 

thomaser

Member
Nov 26, 2017
69
Stephen King's "IT". A third in. It's really captivating, and really corny, and sometimes really creepy. Good stuff so far! King is such a good storyteller - it's like a rollercoaster, constantly shifting in tone and pace, keeping you interested and curious at all times.
 
Zelenogorsk

Zelenogorsk

Banned
Mar 1, 2018
1,567
Almost done with Mr. Mercedes, really fun read.

Started NOS4A2, pretty good so far.

Also started Spinning Silver. Absolutely amazing first few chapters, hoping the rest of the book keeps it up.
 
Jintor

Jintor

Saw the truth behind the copied door
Member
Oct 25, 2017
32,392
This is a weird specific question but does anyone know of a fantasy novel that has the feeling of the first part of Raymond Feist's Magician (specifically Pug's early life in Crydee)? I'm speaking specifically about being, like, almost a young noble slice-of-life in a fantasy world where events are kind of happening around you and you're drawn into them, but you're not a prince or a protagonist as such just yet, you're kind of just living your life. It's my favourite part of the entire franchise and I'd love to read something similar.

Sci fi would also be fine for this.
 
BrokenFiction

BrokenFiction

Member
Oct 25, 2017
8,317
ATL
Jintor said:
This is a weird specific question but does anyone know of a fantasy novel that has the feeling of the first part of Raymond Feist's Magician (specifically Pug's early life in Crydee)? I'm speaking specifically about being, like, almost a young noble slice-of-life in a fantasy world where events are kind of happening around you and you're drawn into them, but you're not a prince or a protagonist as such just yet, you're kind of just living your life. It's my favourite part of the entire franchise and I'd love to read something similar.

Sci fi would also be fine for this.
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Tad Williams "The Dragonbone Chair", first book in the Memory, Sorrow, and Thorn series feels like that to me. TDC is also a lot better imo.
 
Xagarath

Xagarath

Member
Oct 28, 2017
3,140
North-East England
Jintor said:
This is a weird specific question but does anyone know of a fantasy novel that has the feeling of the first part of Raymond Feist's Magician (specifically Pug's early life in Crydee)? I'm speaking specifically about being, like, almost a young noble slice-of-life in a fantasy world where events are kind of happening around you and you're drawn into them, but you're not a prince or a protagonist as such just yet, you're kind of just living your life. It's my favourite part of the entire franchise and I'd love to read something similar.

Sci fi would also be fine for this.
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Cecilia Dart-Thornton's The Ill-Made Mute has that from a somewhat lowlier perspective (a servant rather than a noble), although it develops into more conventional fantasy later on in the trilogy.
It's written in a fairly dense style, though, so it's not everyone's kind of thing.
 
Forerunner

Forerunner

Resetufologist
The Fallen
Oct 30, 2017
14,568
My reading has slowed down. I'm still working on The Dark Forest.

However, I did finish up an audiobook:

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It was an enjoyable listen. The topics that people write to him about run the gamut, so it has to do with more than just astronomy. There are some very interesting letters and good responses. I'd recommend just getting the audiobook version because it's read by Neil, so it's like listening to a StarTalk or watching the Cosmos.

The only issue I had was when a child wrote a letter, they had an adult voice actor for it. So, it sounds really off. lol
 
TissueBox

TissueBox

Member
Oct 25, 2017
9,988
Urinated States of America
Finishing up this imp:

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I'm Thinking of Ending Things by Iain Reid

In time for the coming Kaufman movie after starting on it MONTHS ago.

Anyone give this a gander? It's sleek, it ramps, so far, it feels like a hazy, potentially smug, probably rich skin crawler.
 
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ara

ara

Member
Oct 26, 2017
13,000
20% into Morning Star and I finally got sick enough of the simile-ridden, melodramatic writing to just drop it, so drop it I did, real hard. You could even say I threw it on the ground, cause fuck these books.

Next I started Mike Shel's Aching God since I already had it and hey that's a pretty cool title, right? The very first sentence had a way too goofy simile and I dropped it. I know that's unfair. I'll read the book some other time.

Moved on to T. Kingfisher's The Twisted Ones. I've barely started and I'm already smiling, so I think I'll stick with this one. The text is just so refreshingly... I don't want to say plain cause it sounds like such a backhanded compliment so I'll say free of the endless torrent of unnecessary flourishes.

I also started Carlo Rovelli's The Order of Time, which seems intriguing so far.

e: out of curiosity read a summary of Morning Star (and now I'm glad I didn't stick with it) and a bit about the sequel trilogy (didn't realize they were two separate trilogies) and seeing that the POV has moved from just Darrow to 4 switching ones has me cautiously interested again. In other words - I'm an idiot who clearly likes punishing himself, cause I might check out Iron Gold at some point. If the sequel trilogy turns out to be just more war stuff I'll drop it, though.

e2: it does seem like it might be just more endless war so fuck these books part 2
 
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dmann

Member
Oct 27, 2017
285
Currently reading Initial D manga; it's free if you have Amazon Prime. So far I'm at volume 17 out of 48. Watched the anime back in the day. Anime was good; but the manga is so much better. Lots of back story that the anime didn't touch on.
 
TheXbox

TheXbox

Prophet of Truth
Member
Oct 29, 2017
6,549
Paradiso - Dante

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This is a struggle compared to the first two canticles. Heaven, the cosmos, and the souls of the dead are all represented solely through light and metaphors about light. There is nothing tangible to cling to except Dante's increasingly obscure recollections of mythology and Italian history, as if he is finally beginning to exhaust his encyclopedic medieval learning. The poetry is still beautiful, but I'm getting lost in the sauce.

Use of Weapons - Iain Banks

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Another assault on my brain powers, though of a lesser degree. The sheer vastness of the Culture series is always a little confounding, and here Banks further disorients me by relating the narrative non-linearly (or non-chronologically? I can't tell which). I think I prefer the directness and clarity of Player of Games.
 
EverythingShiny

EverythingShiny

Member
Oct 25, 2017
1,086
220px-Ship_of_Fools%2C_Richard_Paul_Russo_%28book_cover%29.jpg


I'm re-reading Richard Paul Russo's Ship of Fools because it's amazing and there's just not that much space horror out there. It's even inspired me (along with The Expanse, Dead Space, and Event Horizon) to give writing my own space horror novel a shot because I can't get enough of it.

I highly recommend this book if you dig some horror with your sci-fi.

TissueBox said:
Finishing up this imp:

I'm Thinking of Ending Things by Iain Reid

In time for the coming Kaufman movie after starting on it MONTHS ago.

Anyone give this a gander? It's sleek, it ramps, so far, it feels like a hazy, potentially smug, probably rich skin crawler.
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...

I read it last year and wasn't thrilled by the ending (you're right about it being smug imo). Really curious how it's going to translate to the big screen. I can't even really remember how the book ends, just that I wasn't a huge fan.
 
Morrigan

Morrigan

Spear of the Metal Church
Member
Oct 24, 2017
34,306
Almost done with A Little Hatred.

It's great so far, good ol' Abercrombie. I'm surprised by how overtly and unapologetically political (and feminist!) it is. And it's hornier than ever too lol. Orso and Savine's sex scenes manage to be both hilarious, raunchy and sweet all that once and so very, very, very wrong. That takes a gifted writer!
 
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Blue Skies

Blue Skies

Banned
Mar 27, 2019
9,224
Reading World War Z, had started it many years ago, but got distracted, so I just restarted it now and it's so good.

Looking for books like it and The Stand, Red Storm Rising, and the film Contagion, where the shot goes down and we get to see different perspectives on survival.
 
Stronginthearm

Stronginthearm

Member
Oct 27, 2017
1,565
Ireland
I've finished my goodreads challenge of 30 books in a year (not counting rereads). From the first to the last:

Winter Term at Malory Towers by Pamela Cox
The Third Form at St. Clare's by Pamela Cox
Skulduggery Pleasant: Last Stand of Dead Men by Derek Landy
The Long Way to a Small Angry Planet by Becky Chambers
Eric by Terry Pratchett
Skulduggery Pleasant: The Dying of the Light by Derek Landy
Skulduggery Pleasant: Armagedon Outta Here by Derek Landy
The Effigy Engine by Scott Lynch
In The Stacks by Scott Lynch
The Binding by Bridget Collins
The Burning Page by Genevieve Cogman
Uprooted by Naomi Novik
The Final Empire by Brandon Sanderson
Anne of Green Gables by L.M. Mongomery
Turtles All The Way Down by John Green
The Invisible Library by Genevieve Cogman
The Loneliest Girl in the Universe by Lauren James
The Masked City by Genevieve Cogman
Circe by Madeline Miller
Odd Thomas by Dean Koontz
World War Z by Max Brooks
The Secrets of Drearcliff Grange School by Kim Newman
Nevermoor by Jessica Townsend
The School for Good and Evil by Soman Chainani
A Stir of Echoes by Richard Matheson
Skulduggery Pleasant: Resurrection by Derek Landy
First Test by Tamora Pierce
The Superior Spider-Man: No Escape
Teen Titans GO! The Beast Boy Who Cried Wolf
Big Jim: Jim Larkin and the 1913 Lockout

My favourites were Circe, Nevermoor, Anne of Green Gables, and the Skulduggery books, while my least favourite were The Long Way to a Small Angry Planet and World War Z.

I accidentally read the third book in the Invisible Library series first, then went back to the library, got and then read the first two. I know there's a fourth and fifth one but I haven't got to them yet. Also I've ordered the second Nevermoor book through my library, and I've been waiting weeks for it. Must be popular.
 
ara

ara

Member
Oct 26, 2017
13,000
The Twisted Ones was losing me a bit with all the junk about junk and cutesy dog stuff, but chapter 5 was amazing and now I'm back in. The intrusive thoughts and face twisting parts were amazing.
 
FlowersisBritish

FlowersisBritish

Member
Oct 25, 2017
6,377
TissueBox said:
Finishing up this imp:

I'm Thinking of Ending Things by Iain Reid

In time for the coming Kaufman movie after starting on it MONTHS ago.

Anyone give this a gander? It's sleek, it ramps, so far, it feels like a hazy, potentially smug, probably rich skin crawler.
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...

I really liked the book up until its kinda weird and confusing ending. Like its not a "bad" ending and it all makes sense in the end, I just did not care for the direction it chose to go in. Everything else about the book is great though. Its one of the few books that had me legit scared in my seat.
 
Goldenroad

Goldenroad

Attempted to circumvent ban with alt account
Banned
Nov 2, 2017
9,475
Looking for suggestions post:

I'm going to Mexico for a week on Nov 16, and am mostly just going to be hanging on the beach, chilling with a drink and a book, between dips in the ocean and . I'm currently reading 'Night Shift' by Stephen King and 'The Way of Kings' by Brandon Sanderson, but I want something a little lighter and more...happy...for lack of a better term to read on the beach. I want it to be available on Kindle Paperwhite, and I'd probably give some amount of preference to something non-fiction since I've got two fiction books on the go.
 
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