What Are You Reading? |OT| One Thread to Rule Them All

[luca]

Okay, as soon as I am done with Chapter House Dune, I think I'm gonna dedicate this year to the First Law series.

How's the First Law World trilogy (The Heroes, Red Country, Sharp Ends) in general though? Don't think I've ever heard much about them.

Also, I thought Best Served Cold was part of its own trilogy, but to me it seems to be a standalone between the First Law and First Law World trilogies? Isn't the order The Blade Itself > Before They Are Hanged > Last Argument of Kings > Best Served Cold > The Heroes > Red Country > Sharp Ends > A Little Hatred ?

 

[Ortix]

Best Served Cold, The Heroes and Red Country are the 3 standalones, also called The Great Leveller Trilogy. Sharp Ends is just a collection of short stories.

 

[Deleted member 8861]

The Player of Games got vastly better once Azad actually started to be talked about. Now this novel is interesting, but patently for not being about the Culture. I suppose that the point the book also makes- about how a complete utopia tends to be boring- is well stated.

 

[DassoBrother]

Forgot to mention that I also read Starless Sea and Convenience Store Woman this month. I enjoyed both. A friend recommended Starless Sea and maybe oversold it slightly, focusing too much on the meta aspect when I think it's strength is just a well realized, strange world. It reminded me of Dark Souls or What Dreams May Come. Convenience Store Woman is a novella so a quick read. Not sure there's much to say, the main character was definitely not what I was expecting.

 

[Tornak]

Finished The Ninth House by Leigh Bardugo a couple of days ago:

I had only read the Six of Crows duology from this author and quite enjoyed it (I mean, it's your usual YA fantasy stuff, but that doesn't really mean it can't be fun or good). This one (not connected to the Grishaverse) is a bit more adult-oriented and I'd say more, I don't know, polished?

Really enjoyed it. The setting is Yale as having a few secret societies that practice different kinds of magic, the main character coming from California after some shit goes down and all of that. It's a bit slow at times, especially at the beginning, but as soon as some things ramp up, it gets quite fun and the ending stretch is pretty exciting and entertaining.

Spoiler

The Daisy stuff was surprising. As in, I thought that professor was most likely hiding something, but I definitely wasn't expecting that. Pretty cool. I wonder where the character of North will go from now on.

Also, obviously Darlington isn't dead and I was suspecting that he had become the demon when it appeared, but it's cool to have confirmation and the prospect of actually going to hell to save him is quite exciting.

One thing I hope for is that the core cast is made bigger or at least is made more prominent. I guess Dawes, Turner and Michelle will get more to do in the sequel, as well as Darlington if he's saved in there, his POV chapters I enjoyed, but I feel like the story (intentionally) picked up as soon as they were done with.

It seems like Amazon Studios is going to adapt the book (the Grishaverse is receiving a Netflix show, too).

 

[Jonnykong]

Finished The Ninth House by Leigh Bardugo a couple of days ago:

I had only read the Six of Crows duology from this author and quite enjoyed it (I mean, it's your usual YA fantasy stuff, but that doesn't really mean it can't be fun or good). This one (not connected to the Grishaverse) is a bit more adult-oriented and I'd say more, I don't know, polished?

Really enjoyed it. The setting is Yale as having a few secret societies that practice different kinds of magic, the main character coming from California after some shit goes down and all of that. It's a bit slow at times, especially at the beginning, but as soon as some things ramp up, it gets quite fun and the ending stretch is pretty exciting and entertaining.

Spoiler

The Daisy stuff was surprising. As in, I thought that professor was most likely hiding something, but I definitely wasn't expecting that. Pretty cool. I wonder where the character of North will go from now on.

Also, obviously Darlington isn't dead and I was suspecting that he had become the demon when it appeared, but it's cool to have confirmation and the prospect of actually going to hell to save him is quite exciting.

One thing I hope for is that the core cast is made bigger or at least is made more prominent. I guess Dawes, Turner and Michelle will get more to do in the sequel, as well as Darlington if he's saved in there, his POV chapters I enjoyed, but I feel like the story (intentionally) picked up as soon as they were done with.

It seems like Amazon Studios is going to adapt the book (the Grishaverse is receiving a Netflix show, too).

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I keep meaning to get around to reading this, thanks for reminding me!

 

[Mifune]

Currently reading The Three Body Problem by Cixin Liu after my brother had been bugging me for like a year or two to read lol. It's a super popular book trilogy originally written in Chinese, translated to many different languages now. I suspect this is going to get a lot more popular. Even from when my brother first mentioned it to now, I've recently seen book displays for it in Indigo and other places.

I'm about 2/3 in, it's really fucking cool and it REALLY keeps you on the edge of your seat. Very sci-fi (heavy emphasis on both the sci and the fi) story about politics, government, conspiracy, science, etc. There's more there but I don't want to get into spoiler territory in case anyone reads it.

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I am currently 200 pages into Death's End (the third book in the series) and, oh man, the places these books go. At times it feels like he crams about twenty books' worth of plot into these three but the astonishing thing is that it totally works.

 

[luca]

Best Served Cold, The Heroes and Red Country are the 3 standalones, also called The Great Leveller Trilogy. Sharp Ends is just a collection of short stories.

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I see. Thanks for the correction. Can I skip them to go straight to A Little Hatred after the original trilogy, or are they worth reading through?

 

[Deleted member 13496]

I see. Thanks for the correction. Can I skip them to go straight to A Little Hatred after the original trilogy, or are they worth reading through?

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Definitely worth reading through. They're all different "genres" and very much important plot and character development.

The Heroes is also my favourite of the entire series.

 

[Strings]

The Player of Games got vastly better once Azad actually started to be talked about. Now this novel is interesting, but patently for not being about the Culture. I suppose that the point the book also makes- about how a complete utopia tends to be boring- is well stated.

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There's one particular chapter towards the end which is just

~200 pages into The Master and Margarita so far. Pretty fab.

 

[AcidCat]

Anne Leckie's The Raven Tower is the best thing I've read in months.

 

[FallenGrace]

Anne Leckie's The Raven Tower is the best thing I've read in months.

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I read her Ancillery trilogy and though I really liked parts of it found it a bit mediocre overall. How does this compare?

 

[Spectromixer]

Finished reading Once Upon a Time in the North by Phillip Pullman. I thought it was alright, not really necessary to read for fans of the His Dark Materials. Pretty short. I think I am going to read a few other things before I start the Book of Dust.

I started reading The Mastery of Love by Miguel Ruiz, which was gifted to me by a friend. So far I'm enjoying it. I loved The Four Agreements, and I also still have the 5th Agreement to read.

 

[Allice]

Finished House of Leaves and The Best of Robert Silverberg.

I've had my eyes on House of Leaves ever since hearing Poe's Hey Pretty single on The Wire and listening to the Drive By remix which featured her brother, Mark Danielewski reading the first encounter with Kyrie.
It's a fascinating book with unprecented depth but i don't want to analyze it before a second reading. This time i'll read it as two different stories after which i'll check the fan theories.

As for The Best of Robert Silverberg, i've got to say i've been impressed. First 3 stories show their teeth, but afterwards Silverberg starts to hit his strides and it shows. Nightwings and Sundance are great, but my favourite by far is the haunting and visceral Flies. Silverberg claims that the short story from Flies is the foundation of his novel Thorns, so i'll check that out asap.

 

[Necrovex]

I'd love to hear some folks' thoughts on the Broken Earth trilogy. Reading a New Yorker profile on the author, and I'm intrigued in giving this series a try.

Also finally finish Homo Deus. I much prefer Sapien, but I enjoyed the author's take on our future. Listening to Little Women right now for my book club.

 

[woo]

Necrovex I started reading the first book in the BE trilogy but bounced off it, I'm afraid. I tried but I found it too confusing to follow who was who and I didn't enjoy the writing style. It read to me like the writer was trying too hard to 'write like a writer writes'. However, I can be difficult to please where writing is concerned so ymmv. If it had not been a confusing read to me then I would probably have stuck with it as there was something there but there are too many good books to try to force oneself to continue with a book that hasn't clicked with one (especially given that I am not getting any younger!)

 

[luca]

Definitely worth reading through. They're all different "genres" and very much important plot and character development.

The Heroes is also my favourite of the entire series.

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I'll go through all of them then, thanks. I generally don't like to skip things anyway, and it seems like there's some good and varied reading in there if The Heroes is your fave.

 

[DassoBrother]

I'd love to hear some folks' thoughts on the Broken Earth trilogy. Reading a New Yorker profile on the author, and I'm intrigued in giving this series a try.

Also finally finish Homo Deus. I much prefer Sapien, but I enjoyed the author's take on our future. Listening to Little Women right now for my book club.

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I loved the series. Actually got me back into fantasy.

 

[mere_immortal]

Finished this week. Extremely good, unique, poetic and hugely personal despite the literal endless scale. Highly recommended. Now moving on to:

Only a few (short) chapters in, really intriguing. As with most stuff Gibson writes you're thrown in at the deep end with the language, so was left a little confused early on but getting there!

 

[Strings]

As for The Best of Robert Silverberg, i've got to say i've been impressed. First 3 stories show their teeth, but afterwards Silverberg starts to hit his strides and it shows. Nightwings and Sundance are great, but my favourite by far is the haunting and visceral Flies. Silverberg claims that the short story from Flies is the foundation of his novel Thorns, so i'll check that out asap.

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The only Silverberg I've read is actually Flies (in a sci-fi short collection (Dangerous Visions I think? Didn't hold up for me at all outside of like three stories)), which I loved, and I've been meaning to get around to more for ages.

 

[djinn]

As for The Best of Robert Silverberg, i've got to say i've been impressed. First 3 stories show their teeth, but afterwards Silverberg starts to hit his strides and it shows. Nightwings and Sundance are great, but my favourite by far is the haunting and visceral Flies. Silverberg claims that the short story from Flies is the foundation of his novel Thorns, so i'll check that out asap.

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The only Silverberg I've read is Nightwings and I loved it. Sounds like I need to check out the rest of his work.

 

[TestMonkey]

I'm eight books into my 50/50 challenge for the year. Dropped, something I rarely do, The Cartel by Don Winslow because of the jingoism and the inaccuracies of the setting. Note: You cannot see Mexico from everywhere in San Diego. Almost done with Off Armageddon Reef by David Weber. Started Minecraft: The Island by Max Brooks. I don't care about Minecraft but I'll do a quick read of this for the author.

I'd love to hear some folks' thoughts on the Broken Earth trilogy. Reading a New Yorker profile on the author, and I'm intrigued in giving this series a try.

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To me, The Fifth Season was a boring book about the end of the world and that's what made it interesting. Cataclysms happen so often in the world that every society, except one kinda, is built in preparation for the next, what is basically, nuclear winter. The world is very stoic and things like gender, sexuality, ethnicity and ethics, while mentioned, are overlooked for more pragmatic issues like selective breeding, food rationing and general survival. The series is worth a read but I didn't like it so much as I didn't side with the protagonists.

Note that while there are a few trappings of science fiction early on, the series is fantasy.

 

[Jag]

To me, The Fifth Season was a boring book about the end of the world and that's what made it interesting. Cataclysms happen so often in the world that every society, except one kinda, is built in preparation for the next, what is basically, nuclear winter. The world is very stoic and things like gender, sexuality, ethnicity and ethics, while mentioned, are overlooked for more pragmatic issues like selective breeding, food rationing and general survival. The series is worth a read but I didn't like it so much as I didn't side with the protagonists.

Note that while there are a few trappings of science fiction early on, the series is fantasy.

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Didn't love Fifth Season either. Read the entire series. It was good, not great.

 

[Gernau Morat Gurgeh]

Fascinating history of the rise of a private company which became probably the greatest kleptocracy the world has ever known. Startlingly relevant today as a warning of what unregulated corporate power can lead to.

 

[AcidCat]

I read her Ancillery trilogy and though I really liked parts of it found it a bit mediocre overall. How does this compare?

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Well of course her new book is pure fantasy, not Sci Fi. I really liked Ancillary Justice but the second book left me so cold I never even read the third. The Raven Tower has definitely rekindled my interest in her work.

 

[AcidCat]

I'd love to hear some folks' thoughts on the Broken Earth trilogy.

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I thought it was easily the best fantasy series I've read in the past decade.

 

[Tornak]

I keep meaning to get around to reading this, thanks for reminding me!

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👌

I quite enjoyed it and I'm excited to read more of it. Hopefully the Amazon show is good, there's plenty of potential there.

 

[Brick]

Trying to get better at not wasting time (he said as he posts on ERA in the middle of a work day), so reading Deep Work right now.

Really interesting stuff so far. Contrasting how valuable incredibly focused work is with how difficult that value is to quantify in today's workplace is fascinating.

 

[Nerokis]

Started reading two books yesterday:

Digging this one a lot. Detailed, digestible, thoroughly researched, interested in wrestling with some of the historiography's blindspots (though not unwilling to entertain others). Also filled to the brim with maps, pictures of battle formations, and the like. Good stuff.

My formal introduction to Flannery O'Connor. I've read The Geranium, The Barber, and The Crop, and Wildcat so far. They've all been...interesting. Uncomfortable, though, the sense that O'Connor has at least touched on race relations in every single one, and in every single one, that has manifested in the form of having racist characters that constantly throw around the n-word.

If you're willing to trudge through that, though, this collection has made for some fascinating reading. Like, The Barber > The Crop was a strong one-two punch, the former an insightful, relevant, and human take on our frail relationship with the truth and the latter just beautifully meta and surreal. The stories are arranged chronologically, and I'm looking forward to seeing how O'Connor evolves over time.

 

[FallenGrace]

Well of course her new book is pure fantasy, not Sci Fi. I really liked Ancillary Justice but the second book left me so cold I never even read the third. The Raven Tower has definitely rekindled my interest in her work.

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Yeah i really liked the first book but the other two really didn't do much for me. Thanks.

 

[Deleted member 56069]

I've read through two books so far this month.
- Skyward by Brandon Sanderson
- A River in Darkness by Masaji Ishikawa

Skyward was a fantastic read and is one of my favourite Brandon Sanderson books. A River In Darkness is a fascinating memoir that takes you through the story of one man's life in North Korea. It's heartbreaking and sounds like a hellish nightmare, but I'd highly recommend it.

I'm now going through a backlog of my books and have started The Forever War by Joe Haldeman.

 

[woo]

I hope that you enjoy TFW Torizo. It's one of my favourites.

 

[luca]

I'm finally progressing on Chapter House Dune. It wasn't that compelling at the start to be honest, but it is finally growing into something more intriguing. 85 pages in.

 

[Hamchan]

I just started the last novel of the main Witcher saga, Lady of the Lake.

The series has had framing devices throughout but it amuses me that Sapkowski has seemingly doubled up on them now with both Ciri telling her story and scholars in the future trying to figure out her story.

 

[noctix]

30% in. It's great. The character and dialogues are very poor. The characters comes across as 1 dimensional. But the story is a real page turner. There is a constant mystery. I am quite enjoying it.

P.S. Oh and i finished Assassin's Apprentice. The last sentence left me in tears. God damn.

 

[TURBO1112]

Just finished the first book in the lightbringer series. Really enjoyed. Starting book 2 now.

The magic system using colors is really cool idea.

 

[Donthizz]

Sword of Kaigen is one of the best fantasy? books I've read in awhile. Highly recommend it.

 

[Deleted member 40953]

Finally finished this the other night and just wanted to curl up in a ball and cry.

I did struggle with the first half or so of the book, but the last quarter was non-stop greatness and I love how all the separate story lines you've been reading about for the first 5/6 books are finally coming together.

Now onto Toll the Hounds!

 

[Cyanity]

Could someone help me with a book recommendation? I'm feeling nostalgic for some Terry Pratchett goodness (Have also read Good Omens recently, that was an absolute romp) - but I don't know where to begin to find something similar. Any ideas?

 

[djinn]

Could someone help me with a book recommendation? I'm feeling nostalgic for some Terry Pratchett goodness (Have also read Good Omens recently, that was an absolute romp) - but I don't know where to begin to find something similar. Any ideas?

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Try The Belgariad by David Eddings. Start with Pawn of Prophecy.

 

[Cyanity]

Try The Belgariad by David Eddings. Start with Pawn of Prophecy.

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Vol 1 collection bought :)

 

[Xagarath]

Could someone help me with a book recommendation? I'm feeling nostalgic for some Terry Pratchett goodness (Have also read Good Omens recently, that was an absolute romp) - but I don't know where to begin to find something similar. Any ideas?

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T Kingfisher (the adult pen name of Ursula Vernon) and Frances Hardinge (who writes for young adults,) are the closest authors I've found to Pratchett. Try Fly-By-Night and Swordheart.

 

[Jag]

Could someone help me with a book recommendation? I'm feeling nostalgic for some Terry Pratchett goodness (Have also read Good Omens recently, that was an absolute romp) - but I don't know where to begin to find something similar. Any ideas?

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For more whimsy type books try:
Douglas Adams Hitchikers Guide to the Galaxy
Spellsinger Alan Dean Foster

 

[Var]

Could someone help me with a book recommendation? I'm feeling nostalgic for some Terry Pratchett goodness (Have also read Good Omens recently, that was an absolute romp) - but I don't know where to begin to find something similar. Any ideas?

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Maybe something by Tom Holt?

 

[Karu]

Flights by Olga Tokarczuk.

[Finished] Woof... this is a hard one. I did not enjoy this book. Flights is a very loose collection of short stories, snippets and thoughts, interconnected by broad themes like travel and the human anatomy. While some parts were fairly interesting, others left me cold and bored. One thing though: The writing/translation is great. Not enough for me to care though.
1/5

Next up:
Days of Reading by Marcel Proust
on love by Alain de Botton

 

[meowdi gras]

The Way We Live Now, by Anthony Trollope
The Steinway Saga, by D.W. Fostle

 

[Sparky2112]

I'm eight books into my 50/50 challenge for the year. Dropped, something I rarely do, The Cartel by Don Winslow because of the jingoism and the inaccuracies of the setting. Note: You cannot see Mexico from everywhere in San Diego.

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Literally the worst literary take I've read.

 

[smisk]

Trying to get through at least a dozen books this year. Not that ambitious I know, but my reading has really fallen off.
Currently re-reading Ben Lerner's 10:04. Not sure how to describe it, but it's contemporary fiction with a really unique voice. He can come off a little pretentious, but it's also hilarious. I absolutely love this book, and his previous novel Leaving the Atotcha Station.

 

[TestMonkey]

Literally the worst literary take I've read.

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What do you take issue with? The jingoism in that the main character admits, multiple times, that America is the source of its own drug problem yet the majority of his actions, mostly illegal, are to "fix" Mexico and South America through actions that destroy the lives of thousands. And how those actions, which would put him in federal prison in the real world, are ultimately rewarded by the DEA. As for the setting, it was a minor annoyance that he took so many liberties with the geography (I've lived in San Diego most of my life) but it was the last straw when combined with everything else such as the antagonist going down almost the exact same path that lead to his downfall in the first book and the protagonist becoming Rambo at the beginning of the secoind.

 

[smisk]

I finished Tampa a day ago and I'm not sure how to feel about it. Nutting's prose is mesmerizing, and I actually read the book in one sitting, which rarely happens these days. The main character is despicable and the story is so incredibly tragic. I'll be thinking about this book for a while. It's brilliant, uncomfortable, and thoroughly disturbing.

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Oof, that sounds like a tough read, but I'm also really curious about it. Sadly (maybe unsurprisingly given the subject matter) my library doesn't have it.