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What are you reading these days?
What are you reading currently? Fiction or non-fiction or poetry, any genre, any language! Tell us what you're reading, and talk about it a bit.
What are you reading currently? Fiction or non-fiction or poetry, any genre, any language! Tell us what you're reading, and talk about it a bit.
Just finished Neverwhere by Neil Gaiman. Pretty good book, but got a bit boring in the middle.
Currently reading Jingo by Terry Pratchett, excellent book just like everything else by him, excited to see where it goes!
if you haven't read it already, check out Good Omens by Gaiman and Pratchett. Really fun read.
I've been meaning to read that for ages. Hopefully i'll get around to it soon.
I'm trying to read a horror novel every week this year and am currently in the middle of From Below by Darcy Coates. It's about a small dive team exploring an old and mysterious deep sea wreck in an attempt to film a documentary about what happened to the ship. VERY creepy so far (I'm almost to the halfway point) and the mystery aspect is compelling, although there have been some sections that drag (I'm not that invested in the characters, and the prose is a touch awkward on rare occasions).
It's making me want to read more of this brand of horror, though. You know, the "small, specialized, isolated crew" trope that's pretty easy to find in movies. I'd very very much appreciate recs.
Sphere by Michael Chrichton, though I think it could definitely have been spookier. Scientists explore spooky shit in the ocean - weird stuff happens.
Dead Silence by S.A. Barnes was also pretty good. Space crew finds lost luxury ship, goes for salvage and creepy things abound.
A Darkling Sea by James L Cambias was very enjoyable, but it's not horror. Explorers on an ice planet explore the sea below all the ice and meet aliens in the deep.
The Haunting of Hill House by Shirley Jackson. Doesn't really have the specialized crew, but they are isolated. I also loved the prose in this book, the relationships between the people, and how the spook factor develops.
If you like the specialized and isolated and are afraid of spiders, you may also enjoy Children of Time by Adrian Tchaikovsky. Humans fleeing Earth go to a terraformed planet expecting to find a new Eden, find spiders instead. The book isn't horror, but it is nightmare fuel for sure.
If you don't mind some paranormal in your story, have you looked up Mira Grant's Into the Drowning Deep?
She also wrote FEED (Newsflesh trilogy) which is not horror per-se but it is zombie adjacent and I really enjoyed it. I will have to check out Drowning Deep next
I love her stuff so much.
It sounds like Ghost Ship?
Currently reading Revelation Space by Alastair Reynolds.
I'm a space opera junkie and 100 pages in I have a good feeling about this. I have had some issues with the cadence of the story but the world building has been fantastic and I'm certainly a sucker for well flushed out fiction worlds.
I fully plan to finish the series however this first one turns out.
The book I just finished reading before this was "What do we owe the future?". It is nonfiction and I could not recommend it enough. It helped to further shape my perspective on current events and the path to the future.
World building has always been my favourite part. Even if the characters are kinda meh, a well crafted universe for the story to take place in really engages me. My first real space opera read was the Hyperion books by Dan Simmons (which to clarify did not have meh characters) when I was like 14. I would sneak them into class so I could skip reading Shakespeare, which bored me to tears. I'd love to live in the WorldWeb, taking a farcaster to Lusus so I can work out in 1.3G, then go fishing on Mare Infinitus, shopping on Renaissance Vector and then home to Tau Ceti Centre in time for work on Monday.
I suppose you wouldn't mind contributing your brain's processing power to the techno core then!!!! Shame! Haha.
I love the hyperion series. Love it. Thanks for your comment. 100% agree.
I dunno man, for unlimited resurrection? Use some of my brain power! I ain't using it much anyways ;)
Do you have any favorites in the Space Opera genre you can recommend?
Yeah I'd love some recommendations as well!
They Met in a Tavern by Elijah Menchaca.
It's a very D&D ish book but I enjoyed it. The pacing is good and the characters are enjoyable.
They characters are also middle aged. I think. So it kind of fits where I'm a now in life.
It's basically a party of adventurers split up many years ago because they failed. And have never spoken to each other for 7 years since then and they're all people with lives and families now. But they've got a bounty on their heads for some reason now so they have to work together again.
I think the writing is good, but I can't really be sure. I was going through a though time medically when I read the book and it helped me get through it. So I might just be biased.
Last Father's Day, I was given a kindle. I'm loving it! Currently I'm reading through all of The Witcher books. I enjoyed the first two the most. They were a book of short stories with different takes of the Disney/Grimm stories.
I grabbed a Paperwhite a couple years ago because I restarted my reading habits (mostly sci-fi lol) and very quickly ran out of shelf space for new books. Now I'll still buy a physical copy if I really really like it after reading it on the Kindle, and then the author gets a little extra money for it.
That's a good way to do it! Any good sci-fi series's I should check out? Planning on starting Leviathan Wakes once I finish Witcher.
Yes you should absolutely read The Expanse, it is one of, if not the, best sci-fi series out there.
Not op but I'm currently reading the first book in the Bobiverse series (Dennis E. Taylor) and it's great. The expanse books are also on my list because I loved the series and I think if you wanted to read Leviathan Wakes because you liked the show you'll like the Bobiverse too.
I do love The Expanse! I've probably read the first few books three times each now. I haven't been able to bring myself to read the last one though, stupid brain not wanting it to be over.
The Culture books by Iain M Banks are incredibly good although the character names are impossible to remember - Juboal-Rabaroansa Perosteck Alseyn Balveda dam T'seif doesn't exactly roll off the tongue lol. The ship/mind names are great though, they name themselves: GCU Very Little Gravitas Indeed, GSV Sanctioned Parts List, MSV Don't Try This At Home, GCU Transient Atmospheric Phenomenon, GCU I'm A Stranger Here Myself - etc etc. Each book is a self contained story at different times and places in the universe of The Culture, so you can essentially read them in any order.
The Polity books by Neil Asher have been a blast too. There are quite a few independent-ish series in the universe and I've been enjoying them all.
Children of Time, Children of Ruin, Children of Memory by Adrian Tchaikovsky. I have yet to read the third but the first two were absolutely fantastic. Accidentally genetically enhanced intelligent overgrown spiders in space, octopuses with ships full of water, a quasi-sentient virus, what's not to love?
All added to my list! Thank you!
It's funny because I haven't finished the last season of The Expanse for the exact same reason. One day we'll finish it!
Hah, same. I do have a few days off this week...
Tort law books!
I’ve finished my 1st year at law school and I’m just going through my books re reading them since I find them so interesting. Why? I’m not sure if there is a word for ‘something we find interesting but can’t explain why’ I suppose in some way it surrounds us in our day to day lives and the thought process about how these laws came to be. Also there is something great about reading them and ‘seeing errors’ in the law only for the book to later bring this up as academic criticism of a given area.
High five, I just finished 1L too, although I don't know if I could make myself read law stuff outside my summer job right now.
But if I were to do it, torts is definitely the best one to re-read for fun. Every case is its own little slapstick comedy sketch. A lot of scope of liability negligence cases are borderline final destination scenes. All I know is I am not going to be re-reading contracts anytime soon.
My dad was an attorney, and growing up we had a dog named tort. Not an inaccurate name since he was somewhat of a pitiful looking mix of labrador and possibly a possum, and had all of the intelligence of a cane toad.
But he was nice and friendly and we were all a bit broken up when he passed away, especially us kids since he had been our dog for our entire lives.
Lonesome Dove really was an experience, I read it in just a few days in January and took almost half a year break from reading because I just felt like mo other book could hold up to it.
Really liked Shogun as well, though it took me quite long to read.
I'm about a quarter of the way through Lonesome Dove right now and loving it.
I'd highly recommend checking out East of Eden by John Steinbeck if you've never read it. Very similar vibes from what I've read so far of Lonesome Dove, and one of the most genuinely beautiful books I've ever read.
I just finished East of Eden last month. God, what an amazing book. First book I've read in a long time that I wanted to re-start as soon as I finished.
Lonesome Dove has been on my list for a while. I need to read it soon as I just recently started reading a few more Westerns.
Fall of Hyperion was definitely different from the 1st book since it's a little more action-oriented and there are a lot of moving parts. It ties up some of the various tales from the first book and has a somewhat shocking ending, which sets the stage for the later sequels. While I love Hyperion for the specific tales (especially Priest and Scholar), I end up thinking about the overall ending in Fall of Hyperion a lot so I definitely think it's worth finishing.
I just finished reading Leviathan Falls the first book of The Expanse and while I wait for the next book from the library I've been rereading Andy Weir's books. I finished The Martian and am starting Artemis now.
Cannot say enough good things about The Expanse series. I read through them at the library as well and waiting for the next one was the hardest thing. I ended up reading a lot of the novellas while waiting and then just bought the entire series in paperback because I wanted to read through them again.
The Martian and Project: Hail Mary - I couldn't put them down. Andy Weir does such a great job of telling stories with very few characters. Artemis was a completely different feel, but I enjoyed it as well.
Artemis copped a lot of undeserved flack in my opinion. Weir has a real knack for writing truly likeable characters.
I would agree. Even the clerk at the book store told me that people didn't like it. I'm glad I didn't let her deter me. It may not be the page turner Weir's other books have been, but it was still compelling in its own right.
I am currently reading through the books in Neil Asher's Polity universe. Excellent sci-fi action stuff, very engaging if you're into that. Afterwards I plan to read the new-ish sequel to Adrian Tchaikovsky's Children of Time / Children of Ruin, which are two of the best sci-fi books I've ever read.
Can you guess what genre I favour? ;)
I’m excited for you to read Children of Memory. It’s not as good as Ruin or Time (which I consider to be one of the best sci-fi books I’ve ever read as well) but still very much worth the read as a fan of the first two in my humble opinion. Not everyone on the internet agrees but I enjoyed it a lot.
Self-help books specifically from the 90s and early 00s.
People told me Ruin was bad and I almost loved it more than Time! I'm very sure I'll enjoy Memory too, he's a great writer.
Ah those people possibly thought the first book was about smart spiders fighting humans, when all of the books are on the nature of sentience and what makes a "person" a "person".
Memory is another curve ball like ruin, but it's still very much in line with the theme of the series. At first I didn't have a clue what was going on, but as it all comes together and wraps up it's fantastic.
I'm reading the first book in Brandon Sanderson's Mistborn series, The Final Empire. I've been an almost exclusive sci-fi reader for years, avoiding fantasy as I always had a hard time sorting the good from the bad, but after hearing nothing but good things about Sanderson's work I tracked down a reading order guide for his Cosmere universe and dove in.
I was a bit hesitant at first but I'm really enjoying it so far. The setting is interesting, the characters likeable, and I'm really interested in the lore/worldbuilding.
The Mistborn series is fantastic. The setting is so interesting and it makes the world almost a character. The depth Sanderson puts into the various magic systems makes them seem not only realistic but scientific.
Sanderson has crafted a unique setting and magic system in his series The Stormlight Archive as well. He also puts interesting spins on class and caste systems in both series. And since it's all part of the cosmere, it's all interrelated.
Edit: Added Potential Spoilers for the last book by accident that would have ruin the tension of it.
Also don't know and if you are new to Sanderson, but he does have a Youtube channel where he hosts his podcasts with another author and post news about what is happening.
I am new to Sanderson but am loving his writing so far, I'm pretty keen to dive deeper into his worlds, if only I had more time to read!
I wasn't aware he had a podcast, thanks for the info :)
I’m quite similar to you, in that I’ve been traditionally a sci-fi reader but I’ve been on a fantasy kick. Most recently I’ve been reading (well listening to) the Wheel of Time which is quite good and Sanderson finished it after Jordan passed away (at his request and he left him extensive notes).
Before that, I went through most of the Saga of Recluce, which is a somewhat more obscure series and maybe not for everyone, but pretty good overall. It’s structured such that every two or three books follows a different main character at a different point in the world’s history. It’s neat because you see how events of the world become legends the farther away you get from them. The magic system is also basically an application of thermodynamics which appeals to the physicist in me. Unlike other books, magic is incredibly taxing for the user, so great feats are rare but they do happen, and there’s almost no unfamiliar beasts (and no non-human sentient beings). The books are paced a bit more like a slice of life and detail what life in this world is like around the battles and grand adventures. Whenever I thought the books were becoming formulaic, the next one found a new twist on the “young hero with magic powers” formula.
I like to have one non-fiction, one short story collection, one novel, and one writing craft book going at once. Probably not good for my brain? But too late now.
NF: The Dawn of Everything: A New History of Humanity by David Graeber and David Wengrow
SS: The Robert Silverberg Science Fiction MEGAPACK / ZZ Packer's Drinking Coffee Elsewhere
N: just finished The Extractionist by Kimberly Unger ... what's next?
WC: Into the Woods by John Yorke
I didn't read many books last year but this year I'm all about it!
What sort of writing do you focus on? Any books that you'd recommend?
Sff short stories right now! I'm a total amateur though. I just finished Into the Woods by John Yorke and it had a lot of broad insights into story structure that I found helpful.
E: just realised that was already mentioned. Bird by Bird and A Swim in a Pond in the Rain were others I've read recently that I liked.
Ringworld by Larry Niven, a common recommendation when talking about classic Sci Fi. Fantastic worldbuilding, fun characters, and a decent adventure story. I picked it up at a used book store a few weeks ago, and so far it's been a worthwhile read.
'Ringworld' is rightly considered a classic of science-fiction.
However, each successive sequel is only about half as good as its predecessor. ;)
I'm also reading Ringworld right now! Nearly finished with it right now. Have the next two installments lined up after it and have ordered the fourth.
Solid read, but certainly a tome of its time. I've heard they having a streaming tv adaptation in the works. They'll definitely need to update the characters' attitudes toward women, and Niven isn't exactly great at writing for the female main character.
The plot also will need some beefing up in order to make it more compelling, though a similar show would be the recent Netflix iteration of Lost in Space and that did fairly well at its man vs. environment plot devices. (I have a degree in film, so while I love reading everything invariably ends up with me thinking toward that end.)
Yeah, certainly a piece of its time in certain ways - but so far the sci-fi elements hold up well. I've been enjoying reading older sci-fi lately because it doesn't feel like a rehash of star wars, star trek, or doctor who. (all of which I love, I just wish we could branch out a bit more with other works.)
In many ways, I enjoy older sci-fi much more than newer sci-fi. As you note, it definitely feels less constrained by what has come before it. A large part of that has the publishing companies to blame for it. They only publish what they know will have an audience. Another missing element from current day sci-fi is the sense of wonder. The hope those authors have for the future shines brightly in their writing. The majority of the sci-fi we see today is dystopian, bleak, and with little hope for the future. There's certainly merit to showcasing dystopias, but it becomes mentally cumbersome.
Ringworld has some dystopian elements, but it's a lot more nebulous. There's a problem the inhabitants of the universe are facing and they are on a quest to solve it. It is so filled with hope that the problem really fades into the background as you journey through this mysterious alien structure just trying to make sense of what it is, who built it, and for what purpose.
The archaic social norms are literally my only issue with it, but even that is no where near as unseemly as say a Heinlein, whom I also love, book is. These were flawed humans writing within the context of their contemporary social standards. It's no huge surprise.
What are some of your other favorite old sci-fi novels/series? Always love to hear of something I may have missed. I've read most of what the Holy Trinity have to offer-- Asimov, Heinlein, and Clarke. There's plenty out there that I want to get to, though. For instance, Iain Banks' Culture Series. For now, I am excited to get into the second book of the Ringworld Series. Despite the buzz for it being much reduced, I still hold on to hope for more hope.
The LOTR series. Currently about 1/4 through the second. It's taken me like, 2-ish years just to get there lol. I would just read a few pages here and there when I remembered they existed.
I've been trying to spend more time reading them, but it was hard due to my hardcore Reddit and Twitter addictions. Now that I've kicked those I'm aiming to finish them soon. (then I can finally watch the films which I have been adamantly avoiding until I finish the books)
Just finished The Song of Achilles by Madeline Miller. It's really good. I finished it in 4-5 days.
Just started The Lies of Locke Lamora.
How to Read a Book by Adler and van Doren. It's a general guide on improving one's ability in critical reading, and it serves me well to consolidate what I knew with what I learn.
Greek - An Intensive Course by Hansen and Quinn. It's a grammar-heavy course in Classical (Attic) Greek. I tried learning from comprehensible input and graded readers, but the language a really odd beast. There's stuff I never encountered before (middle voice, optatives, presence of accent being an only difference between two verbs etc.), neither in Latin nor in any living language.
Equal Rites by Pratchett - One of Terry's shorter and more charming books. Discworld is one of those places I try to revisit at least once a year.
Guards! Guards! ~ Terry Pratchett
Some sci-fi mystery novel called Six Wakes I impulsively bought wherein six people in the distant future-- who extend their lives by cloning themselves and their mindmaps-- wake up and discover their previous selves were murdered by someone within the group in the middle of a sabotaged interstellar flight and they have to figure out who it was lest they fail their mission and die for good.
It's pretty good and explores some fun concepts and implications about what a society would look like wherein people could clone themselves and their mindmaps (i.e. no inheritance/it just stays with the person, more hoarding of wealth, death means nothing to the rich/people with access to cloning). The mystery is a little lightly delivered/not as much dread as you might think, but I'm enjoying it.
Perseopolis by Marjane Satrapi. It reminds me a lot of Maus, but it's on a topic I've never really known much about (the Islamic Revolution in Iran). I'm also a big fan of the art style, especially in some of the larger splash panels (like the semi-abstract one of the cars driving away from the city during the bombing).
I read both Persepolis and Maus in the last year. Two of the best books (slash graphic novels) I've ever read. I'd argue that both should be required reading in schools. Both wonderfully written and illustrated in their own ways, and each had me sobbing uncontrollably at various times.
I finally finished the second Uplift trilogy I talked about in the last thread. I was right: I didn't really like how the series ended. It got weird and yet somehow boring in the final stages. Strange. I'll still enjoy 'Startide Rising' and 'The Uplift War' from the first trilogy, but I won't be revisiting that second trilogy ever again.
To cleanse my palate, I read a short book: Tau Zero by Poul Anderson. It's an old favourite, and it's a relatively short read. I finished it literally this afternoon. The climax is mind-blowing. It builds up slowly, and seemingly inevitably - but that climax still comes out of left field.
I don't know what I'll read next. Something new? Something old? Series? Stand-alone novel? No idea. I've got a few candidates on the shortlist, and I'll see what happens over the next couple of days. But it will be more science-fiction; that's my current mood.
Meanwhile, my light bedtime reading is The White Mountains by John Christopher. This is a trip into nostalgia for me. I know I read this book as a child, but that was more than 40 years ago. So I'm trying it again, to see how it stands up after all this time. Not bad... not bad at all. (And I'm learning that children's literature is perfect for my before-bed reading, because the narratives are usually straightforward enough to follow even while I'm getting drowsy).
I just finished reading Mary: An Awakening of Terror and it was a wild ride. I really enjoyed the twists it took.
I started reading through the Culture series by Iain Banks, starting with Player of Games, which I really enjoyed, then going back to Consider Phlebas which I thought was ok. Starting Use of Weapons today
Overall I'm liking the series so far. It's scratching that star trek itch for me. The culture society is quite interesting and I'm looking forward to seeing how it gets developed
I just started A Psalm for the Wild-Built and I’m absolutely loving it.
It’s short, but the first in a series. Insightful with and interesting premise (robots, development of human society, human interactions with the rest of the biosphere, etc). It’s nice to read hopeful sci-fi. Plus it has a fair amount of comedy thrown in which is hard to make work in a book but it has legit made me laugh out loud a few times.
Just started reading The Road by Cormac Mcarthy a couple days ago, and then found out the author passed away the next day!
Weird timing aside, I really enjoyed the book! It was definitely bleak but there were enough moments where some light came through to keep it from feeling gratuitously dark.
This year, I am reading books that have banned or challenged. Right now I'm reading 'Things Fall Apart' (challenged in Texas). If anyone has other suggestions of banned books, please share!
I had to read Things Fall Apart my freshman year of college. I loved it and it was so different from the strictly white anglosaxon books that were assigned to me in high school.
I’m just about to start Oathbringer, the third book in the Stormlight Archives by Brandon Sanderson after Way of Kings and Words of Radiance.
I was (still am) a huge LOTR fan and loved the GoT books and I’ve been missing epic fantasy like this! The series takes a good few chapters to get into, as Sanderson isn’t forgiving of his readers and thrusts you into a world that’s very different to ours, but once it clicks it’s like magic.
I've finished Catch-22, which I ended up having mixed feelings about. The aspects I enjoyed, I enjoyed very much; the aspects that irritated me irritated me very much. Neither cancels the other out, both just sit there in tension. I'm not sure if I can really come to a settled conclusion on it yet.
I will at least say that my favourite thing about it was its structure and pacing, I thought it was really effective. For me this culminates in my favourite passage of the book, where something that is alluded to throughout the entire work is finally made explicit near the end:
spoilers from 1961
Yossarian was cold, too, and shivering uncontrollably. He felt goose pimples clacking all over him as he gazed down despondently at the grim secret Snowden had spilled all over the messy floor. It was easy to read the message in his entrails. Man was matter, that was Snowden’s secret. Drop him out a window and he’ll fall. Set fire to him and he’ll burn. Bury him and he’ll rot, like other kinds of garbage. That was Snowden’s secret. Ripeness was all.Up next on my list I'll be looking for something a bit lighter, maybe some genre fiction, but haven't decided yet.
Just replying to myself here - I decided I'd grab the YA fantasy novel Sabriel by Garth Nix. I'm enjoying it so far! I find the world pretty intriguing in some ways, and a bit typical in others, but that's just how it goes with fantasy sometimes. I'm also kind of a sucker for a female fantasy lead overall.
(FWIW, my favourite fantasy book with a female lead is The Tombs of Atuan, which is the 2nd Earthsea book by Ursula K. LeGuin.)
I've grabbed a couple others as well. I generally try to balance my reading with three different types of books:
For my category two right now I've got a hold on Chip War: The Fight for the World's Most Critical Technology by Chris Miller, which was highly recommended to me by a coworker. I am extremely keen to start on it; I work in programming and my initial specialization in school was in low-level programming, so I'm interested in "how the sausage gets made". It's been a while since I've dug into one of those books that explores an industry; I believe the last one I checked out was Salt Sugar Fat: How the Food Giants Hooked Us by Michael Moss and I enjoyed the read a lot. I love learning about complex, cutthroat machinations of big industries.
Finally, having finished Atomic Habits (which I thought was really good and will probably talk about again later), I'm starting on Presence by Amy Cuddy. I vaguely remembered her TED talks from ages ago which is what drew my attention. I recently have been making my most successful attempt ever at mindfulness, so this book comes at a very good time for me, although I find the pace a bit slower than Atomic Habits.
I just finished reading Project: Hail Mary and Artemis by Andy Weir. Both were really good hard scifi stories and were for completely different reasons.
I'm currently reading 2 books, a non-ficition and a fiction. Non-fiction is The Rival Queens about Catherine and Marguerite di Medici. Fiction is Demon Copperhead by Barbara Kingsolver - a kind of modern day David Copperfield.
The Three Body Problem. It has some mind bending an d terrifyying ideas regarding the future of humanity.
The Confessions of St. Augustine. A lot better than I'd thought it be! An essential work for understanding medieval Christian theology and iirc the first, or at least one of the first "proper" written autobiographies.
The Light Fantastic - Terry Pratchett's Discworld series has been in my mind's periphery for as long as I can remember. I don't read half as much as I would like but I'm slowly changing that.
Normally at this time of year I like to read The Lord of the Rings while sitting in the sun; it's like comfort food to me. I've been thoroughly enjoying the adventures of Twoflower with Rincewind apprehensively in tow, all through the lens of Terry Pratchett's insane writing.
I'm working on getting back into my re-read of Wheel of Time- I LOVE the series, but it IS time-consuming, and time is not something I have a ton of these days.
Which is funny, because I'm actually going to start reading another series this weekend: some of the most recent Cradle series. yeah, my weekend is going to vanish in the blink of an eye.
i just started In the Blood by Jack Carr.
I started the book series because of the amazon show. Honestly? I quite like it -- the action is great, there's a TON of info on guns and other military things and, if you treat as fiction, it's just that. Fiction. As someone that always enjoyed Jack Reacher, it's basically more of the same which is a 10/10.
I'm finishing the robot series from Asimov (a few pages left!). I'm really enjoying it!
I already read the Foundation series and I am gonna start on the Galactic Empire series. It just satisfying when we link knowledge of one series to the others. Really a fascinating alternate future to imagine!
I tried to watch the Foundation show on AppleTV+ and it sucked so bad I was angry on what they did to the story.
I tried watching the Apple series and ended up giving up after episode 6 or 7, I had heard such great things about the novels but the show seemed to be leaning towards generic episodic sci-fi dreck. The show actually put me off reading the novels for a long time, which I still haven't done, but I now have the novels downloaded on my tablet and am keen to start!
I wasn't aware the Foundation series was linked to his Robot series. Is it just these two, or are more of his works set in a shared universe? Which of his series within this shared universe would you recommend stating with as someone largely unfamiliar with his work?
I have read over 100 of Asimov's books. Even one on his take on the Bible.
All of his fiction is set in the same universe, and right from the beginning when he was writing as a teenager for pulp sci-fi rags in the 1930s. The Early Asimov is a collection published much later of many of these stories, many of which went unpublished prior to that book. Each story is bookended by Asimov explaining what he went through to get his stories published and his interactions with the legendary sci-fi editor John W. Campbell.
The thing about writing sci-fi in those days was they published short form writings in magazines. As a result, much of Asimov's early works were only later compiled and published into what we know as the Robot Series and the Foundation series. The Robot Series works were certainly first, and a great starting point would be I, Robot. That's where I started.
Of course, if you want to just get a little taste of Asimov you can always just start with what I believe is the greatest short story ever written-- The Last Question.
If you get through those and want more then I'd read The Caves of Steel, The Naked Sun, The Robots of Dawn, and Robots of Empire next. Then start in on the Foundation Series, starting with Foundation. There are some differences of opinion on how it's best to approach reading the Foundation Series, but I find the order in which they were published is superior to chronological. It's not necessary to know what happened in Prelude to Foundation in order to read Foundation, particularly if you've read the Robot Series books. You'll understand Isaac Asimov, the man and the writer, if you read it like that. And I will say, he has been the most influential mind I have ever encountered.
Good luck on your Asimov adventures, my literary friend.
The Trees by Percival Everett. It started out well, but I'm halfway through now and it doesn't seem to be holding together. I suspect its meant more for an American audience as well; as a foreigner I think I am missing a lot of the cultural references the book is supposed to be satirising. At this point I don't have much hope for a satisfying ending but maybe it'll surprise me.
I finished Swann's Way recently. I didn't enjoy it, which is somewhat hard to admit since it is supposed to be a classic of western fiction. As a piece of art I could admire it, but as a story I found it desperately hard to read.
I had just gotten through Three Body Problem and am maybe 1/4 of the way through The Dark Forest by Cixin Liu, but I just can't stand his writing style and I'm probably going to just put the book down permanently and read a summary. The first book has a sort of central mystery that keeps the book interesting and propelled me through it, but the 2nd book lacks anything like that. It has all of the first books problems, with none of the "charm" or reason to keep me going. Maybe it's the translation or the author's background as an engineer, but it's just incredibly painful to read and some of the suspension of disbelief required is so astronomical that I just can't get past it.
And I don't even want to bother with the upcoming Netflix show because it's being created by the showrunners from Game of Thrones and I'm not doing that again, I'm not touching anything from them again.
I otherwise enjoyed the series and his writing, but also found book 2 to be a total slog. On audiobook, at 1.5x speed.
Book 2 does set up book 3 (if you're thinking of giving it a chance), but yea, I can understand wanting to read a summary.
In non-fic, I am currently reading a lot of Brene Brown as I’m looking at shame in my emotional and spiritual personal work. It’s exceptional, and very accessible, but not light or for the faint of heart. In fiction, I’m actually listening to Dorothy Gilman’s Pollifax series. They are from the 70s. The protagonist is an elderly, accidental US spy. Very light, very charming. Probably the literary equivalent of marshmallow fluff. I love it!
Fiction:
Spook Country, by William Gibson. I've read it before; I like re-reading authors and seeing how their style develops and matures over time. Gibson's work became increasingly nearer in the immediate future and his character development and ability to manage several parallel story arcs gelled. I feel that his female characters and principal protagonists became much more realistic, though I'd be open to the opinions of women readers on this.
Non-fiction:
Slouching Towards Utopia, by Brad DeLong. I appreciate him as an economic historian but I am finding his longform writing style is a bit florid and repetitive.
Horrorstör by Grady Hendrix. Goofy horror that takes place in a haunted Ikea-knockoff furniture store. Fun and dumb. Book even looks like a catalog. I needed something light after finishing The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue by V.E. Schwab, which was weird and depressing.
Just started "Red Rising" - scifi series about a class uprising set in a future where humanity has populated the solar system. Really good so far.
That is an awesome series, the fourth book feels different to the first three and some people are put off by that but it's worth reading.
I read through the trilogy once but went too fast because I was enjoying it so much. Would like to read through once more so that once book six is out, I can read the second set of 3.
I'm glad I searched through the comments before making my own top-level post for Red Rising ;)
I just finished the first book yesterday. Really enjoyed it. It's actually the first book I've completed in many years which is a huge compliment to the book. I used to read so much when I was younger but in the last few years have found it difficult to find the time/focus.
I have the 2nd book queued up on my kindle and will likely start it tonight.
I'm currently halfway through Trust by Hernan Diaz. It's such an interesting concept for a book. Also, about a third of the way through A Man in Full by Tom Wolfe. It has been on my list for a long, long time. In fact I think I've started it a few times but not finished. But I've been spending more time in Buckhead lately and I thought it was an appropriate book to read when I'm there. It's interesting to read as a pseudo history of some of the areas of Atlanta.
I'm working my way through the entire "Journey of Black and Red (about 4k pages figure 7-10 books) because the author on his patreon did say that it was finished on patreon (I sub for his other story). Started out on kindle, moved to Royalroad, will finish on patreon.
It's a great vampire book based in the post revolution US that still has vampires as monsters, like sympathetic monster, but monsters all the same.
I'm reading The Stories of John Cheever for the umpteenth time. A book of sixty one stories that are generally set in mid-twentieth century, East Coast suburbia. That I like them so much, like some kind of literary comfort food, is a bit odd since I wasn't even alive in the mid-twentieth century, was born and raised in the south, and did not live in the suburbs!
I just finished up Unsouled by Will Wight.
It’s basically like reading a shonen anime. I don’t want to spoil it but, it was a very fast enjoyable read.
I believe I’ll read through the series as a palette cleanser in between the longer more involved speculative fiction novels I live for.
I've just started 'Bindle Punk Bruja' by Desideria Mesa. About a witch that runs a speakeasy. Bit different to what I would normally read but I am enjoying it so far.
I've currently been reading Indica : A Deep Natural History of the Indian Subcontinent by Pranay Lal. I've lived in India for most of my life and have been fascinated with nature, geography and biology since I could remember, so this book has been a wonderful experience. It is extremely well researched and full of helpful images, and makes me want to explore the many hidden away regions of the country. This book really makes you look closer and wonder more about even the most basic things, such as the rocks and trees that you pass by everyday. I highly recommend this book not just for people living in India, but for enthusiasts of the history of our planet!
I'm currently enjoying my snail's pace journey through Pema Chödrön's The Wisdom of No Escape, and recently picked up Tom Breihan's The Number Ones: Twenty Chart-Topping Hits That Reveal the History of Pop Music, which is related to the pieces Tom's been posting on Stereogum here, which are very worth reading. :)
I'm about 60% into Killers of the Flower Moon. It's been on my list for a while, but after seeing the trailer for the upcoming Scorsese film, I decided to bump it up the list.
I'm not big fan of non fiction based on early 20th century American history (the only other one I've read was "The Devil in the White City") , but I think that this one is good and makes me excited for the movie.
I have just started The Sleepwalkers: A History of Man's Changing Vision of the Universe by Arthur Koestler and it is pretty engaging so far. Definitely feels a little dated, just in terms of how it presents history, but good writing that reminds me a bit of Cosmos by Carl Sagan. Excited to keep reading.
A friend sent me a collection of essays by Umberto Eco, Travels in Hyperreality which I am curious to read as well. I don't know much about it and I haven't read Eco before.
This week, I restarted reading Chasing the scream by Johann Hari. I put it down a while back because it was making me incredibly depressed. It’s still kind of harrowing now, but more bearable having taken a step back, but in all honesty I’ve put it down a few times because some of the anecdotes are frankly shameful.
I don’t think I’ve ever audibly tutted or shook my head in disgust while reading a book so much.
As a brief summary, it is a thorough look on the war on drugs, starting in the prohibition era in America, leading up to the present day. A lot of the information you’ll may already be aware of in isolation; but the way that Hari stitches the narrative together is nothing short of disturbing. The ripples in time are laid bare and it has really left me perplexed quite a few times already.
It covers topics including racism and the prison industrial complex, but always pins it back to the main issue of human beings suffering.
I genuinely don’t think anyone could read this and be in favour of imprisonment of addicts.
I just finished The Wager by David Grann, a narrative nonfiction book about shipwreck and mutiny aboard a British warship in the 1700s. Nonfiction is usually not my bag, but this was outstanding. Grann is an excellent storyteller, and it has me looking for more.
I just finished Shield Maiden: Under the Howling Moon by Melanie Karsak. It’s the first book in a series about a Viking Shield Maiden. As good as it was — and it was very good — I decided to start Beauty and Beastly by the same author instead of continuing on to book two because I’m eagerly awaiting a new release at the beginning of next month and don’t like my chances of finishing the other 4 books in the series before then.
Beauty and Beastly is a Beauty and the Beast retelling set in steampunk universe. Instead of turning into an animal-like monster when cursed the Beast turned into a clockwork automaton, along with everything and everyone inside the castle grounds.
I’ve been getting back into reading through audiobooks lately and have been listening to the Mistborn series by Brandon Sanderson. As I wait for the next one to be available through the library I started listening to The Name of the Wind by Patrick Rothfuss which I’ve been enjoying. Growing up I was a huge reader but never really gravitated towards fantasy for some reason, but I’ve been enjoying finally reading some of the modern staples.
I'm currently halfway through the first book in the Mistborn series myself after not having read any fantasy since childhood. I don't think I could have picked a better book to reintroduce myself to the genre!
I'm just finishing up Larry McMurtry's Comanche Moon, after also having read the other 3 books in the Lonesome Dove series recently. If you have any interest in westerns, I highly recommend all of them. McMurtry's western frontier totally engrossed me.
I've been reading The body keeps the score recently. If you dont know, its about the mental and physical affects of trauma on peoople, generally with PTSD/CPTSD. Im in chapter 2 and its really good so far, would recommend to other people with trauma related illness.
I"m currently reading The Ferryman by Justin Cronin. It's been an interesing read so far though i'm only about 1/3 into it.
I tend to like, scifi, apocalyptic, suspense, horror topics so anything you think i should read shoot my way.
I haven't been reading books lately (it's more cyclical than I'd like), but these are the ones that I have started or have lined up next:
And then if I'm really ambitious:
I was a history buff in school. Loved taking AP World History, AP US History, etc. Definitely feel like some themes were glossed over or slanted (especially since I attended middle school and high school in Texas).
I just finished reading "End Times" by Peter Turchin. It's non-fiction. It gave me quite a few "ah ha" moments. He's published another book that went into the math and statistics he's done of the years to drawn his conclusions, but this latest book is written without those details.
Alternate Routes by Tim Powers.
I hate trying to explain Tim Powers' books because it feels like even describing the plot is kind of a spoiler. Powers writes amazing magical realism, and discovering the nature of it in each book is like an unexpected twist. It isn't some late-in-the-story reveal (and mainly occurs near the beginning), but the sensation of those weird concepts clicking into place is so satisfying.
Most of his books are general fiction, but there is another, Declare, that deals with real events in the Cold War. If you are a fan of magical realism and alternate history, I highly recommend it.
I just finished book two in the Stratification series by Julie E. Czerneda. This is the second series that I have read by here and I am really enjoying them. I had never heard of her before but have been enjoying her books.
I just finished Devolution by Max Brooks - it starts as a slow burn but then goes off the rails - I enjoyed it.
I've recently started Demon Copperhead by Barbara Kingsolver - a re-imagining of Dickens' David Copperfield in modern Appalachia.
Probably the most obscure book on the thread but An Unpopular War by JH Thompson.
I'm not one for rereading stuff although that seems to be changing as I get older. I've already read this and it's for personal reasons really, as I was one of those conscripts, and not to be too soppy but reading it makes me feel seen somehow.
Edit: Description of the book to save you searching.
"In the seventies, eighties and nineties, conscription had a profound effect on hundreds of thousands of young men, particularly those who had to serve in the Angolan war. This book is a collection of reflections and memories of that time, collected by JH Thompson, who interviewed men who did National Service in the Apartheid-era South African Defence Force. Contributors include ordinary soldiers, Special Forces members, helicopter pilots, chefs and religious objectors. The book is a fast, fascinating read that captures the spirit and atmosphere, the daily duties, the boredom, fear and other intense experiences of an SADF soldier. For everyone who did military service, as well as their loved ones, this book is a must."
Just read The Giver for the first time. Not perfect but it blew me away. It's such a dream. Short but vivid.
Now I've begun reading Siddhartha.
The Amazing Journey of Reason: from DNA to Artificial Intelligence
Bayes Theorem: Easy To Understand Visual Guide For Beginners
I've just started the second book of the Wheel of Time series. The first was thoroughly underwhelming, but the series was recommended by a friend who has similar tastes to me, and as far as I can tell lots of people didn't really like the first one, so I'll stick with it for another book or two and see if it gets better.
I'd also like to pick up the second Mistborn trilogy at some point, because the original was probably my favorite series ever. I found the second and third book of it at a bookstore recently, but they didn't have Alloy of Law and it felt weird to only buy the second and third books of a trilogy.
Rubicon by Tom Holland. It's a narrative, informal telling of the fall of the Roman republic. It's interesting, but the writing is not beautiful. If people know of historians who just have a way with words, I'd like to hear about them. I've read a few books of HW Brands, and enjoyed them a lot.
Fairy Tale by Stephen King. It's the first King book I have ever ready tbh.
Also I felt like a fun summer adventure and realized I never read Treasure Island. Enjoying that too.
I'm currently reading Five Families: The Rise, Decline, and Resurgence of America's Most Powerful Mafia Empires (2005). It's a really good primer on the mob, but goes into so much detail I can really only suggest it for true crime fans and people interested in the history of organized crime in the US.
One of these days I'm going to finish Anna Karenina. I love Tolstoy and have made the mistake of letting this one drag out while I read other things in between.
I'm also reading Ali and Nino (1937) by Kurbain Said, AKA Essad Bey, but whose true name is probably Lev Nussimbaum. I read a biography about him a while back, The Orientalist (which is poorly written, but interesting), and decided to read one of his works. This one is very accessible and despite being called a love story, is really a character drama with a fascinating cultural and historical backdrop.
Whoever he really was, he seems to have had a very interesting life. He left the Caucuses at a relatively young age to avoid the spread of early Soviet conflict, traveled through the graveyard of the Ottoman Empire, found himself in a destabilizing Germany soon run by the Nazis and where he purports to have converted to Islam (which had a different significance back then), fled to Italy after the Nazis took a negative interest in him (despite originally putting his books on their approved reading list), and then made his way to America where he became embroiled in the tabloid scandals of the social elite. Supposedly he died in Italy, where his body is known to have been buried but it hasn't been found. Supposedly he wrote a biography of Stalin in the 1930s as well as some works of fiction.
Into the Raging Sea: Thirty-Three Mariners, One Megastorm, and the Sinking of El Faro
Lightseekers by Femi Kayode, and it has been a pleasant surprise
I just finished Starship Troopers and boy, what weird pacing. Opens with some crazy action then goes through military boot camp, promotions, and that sort of thing until the end when a larger battle takes place very briefly and then just sort of sputters out.
I'm now onto The Soul of A New Machine by Tracy Kidder. Not far enough in to have an option yet though.