What are you reading these days?

Team Human by Douglas Rushkoff. (https://www.npr.org/2019/01/28/689215618/team-human-stresses-that-the-future-lies-in-connection-and-cooperation)

I've been feeling more and more negative about the world, I think largely due to corporate greed destroying creativity and community in the mindless pursuit of profit. 2023 has felt relentless. I'm only 1/3 into the book, but I think I'll post a longer review once I've finished and try to organize my thoughts on the matter.

For context, I did not grow up reading at all. Read my first book at age 22 and so I absolutely struggle and am super slow at reading not to mention it's difficult for me to pay attention and finish a book.

Long story short I decided to read my first novel (mainly stuck with history/science books), I bought the Alan Lee illustrated edition of the hobbit and lord of the rings (being a massive lotr movie fan) and in comparison have absolutely blitz it, almost 2 books in in just a few weeks and can't stop, am absolutely loving it and stopped watching TV in favour of reading. Can't believe I didn't do this earlier!

Currently reading the Lost Metal, in the Mistborn series. And I am really enjoying this one because of the world building that Sanderson had done through our the series. And the characters are really just enjoyable to read about.

I am finally reading Braiding Sweetgrass by Robin Wall Kimmerer after it's been recommended to me for years. Almost halfway through - great book so far!

Accidental Superpower by Peter Zeihan. The basic premise is that the world is going to deglobalize into more regional trade zones over the coming years. Also, Russia and China will cease to be cohesive countries due to inescapable demographics. I don't know if I believe everything claimed by the author, but he definitely has a vast knowledge of geopolitics, and a few things he predicted at the time he wrote the book (2014) have already come to pass. Good read.

Currently reading The Shepherd's Crown by Terry Pratchett and The Moon's a Balloon by David Niven.

Recently finished the first Murderbot Diary book All Systems Red which was fun and thoughtful. Also recently finished A Slip of the Keyboard, a collection of Terry Pratchett's nonfiction.

I'm currently reading The Churn a novella in The Expanse series. I've seen the TV show, and after getting an e reader I ended up reading the books as well. It's been nice getting to know the characters a bit more, and seeing how it unfolds in the books Vs show. Will probably rewatch it when I'm done with the books!

I started reading The Hello Girls: America's First Women Soldiers by Elizabeth Cobbs. I'm only about 30 pages in so far, and it's giving general context for whag was happening in the US socially for both the women's suffrage movement and during WWI and before the US joined the war. There was an interesting point I learned in trying to get women the vote that because the prevailing thought was that women couldn't serve in time of war, they couldn't vote... Which is ironic(?) because who says women can't go to war besides the social boundaries in place? It was an interesting tid bit I hadn't know why people were SO against giving (white) women the vote.

I was hoping it's get to the meat of it first but it's been a hot minute since I've read a historical, non-fiction book and remembered "oh yeah, they usually give context". Silly, but that's just how it is lol.

I'm finally reading Dune after many, many recommendations over the years. I'm only about a third of the way through Part 1 of Book 1 but I will definitely continue. I'm loving the pure sci-fi aspects of it, and it really feels like it could have been written in 2023. It's a very descriptive book, but it feels modern and sharp as well. I can see inspiration all over the place for films like Star Wars.

I'm starting The Consuming Fire by John Scalzi. Lock In initially got me into Scalzi and I've slowly been going through his catalog. The Collapsing Empire was really good and I look forward to finishing this series

Just finished Stephen King's IT, which I really enjoyed. This is the third of his novels that I've read, and probably my favorite so far. I read Salem's Lot immediately before it, which I liked, but in a lot of ways IT seems to be a more realized version of what he was trying to do with Salem's Lot. Would recommend.

After that I just began reading Stone of Farewell, the second book in Tad Williams' Memory, Sorrow and Thorn Trilogy. I started reading these on recommendation from my SO, who says they're his favorite fantasy series. Apparently they were also GRRM's biggest inspiration for ASOIAF, so I was excited to get into them. Really enjoyed the first one, and excited to continue on with this one.

A Day of Fallen Night by Samantha Shannon

It takes place 500 years before the events in Priory of the Orange Tree. Getting through this one a lot faster as she seems to have fixed the issues with pacing. Can't wait for the third book in the series, but seeing as this one has just come out, it looks like it will be a few years of waiting. It will be worth it though, I'm sure! These books are super good and really scratch an itch of queer and feminist fantasy that I didn't know I had

1Q84. I don't recommend it. The story is fine, but it's very repetitive and very long (over 900 pages). I feel like my nights have been taken hostage. Here's hoping Stockholm syndrome kicks in soon.

I'm currently reading through and watching the lectures for Yale's open access The American Novel Since 1945 course since I've really missed the feeling of attending lectures and really working my brain in the two years since I graduated. My fiancée is the breadwinner so I have a whole lot of free time on my hands. I haven't decided if I'll revisit the books for this I've already read or not, I'm not much of a rereader of things that aren't my absolute favorites.

The lectures are interesting enough but you can definitely tell it's only a 200-level course. That's fine, at this point I treat it more as light entertainment where I get to hear people talk about the book I just read and let it sink in a little more. Black Boy was absolutely brilliant and to be honest Wise Blood was not my favorite O'Connor. I prefer her work when it's more pointed and directly addressing the utterly vile South that's her usual setting, rather than meandering tales about faith. Of course Catholicism is always at the center of her writing, but here it's a little too inside baseball for me.

I am reading In Search of Lost Time by Marcel Proust and Cosmos by Carl Sagan. The former is unbelievably cozy so far, and if the prose continues in quality over the next seven volumes then I anticipate this becoming my favorite novel of all time. I've neglected Proust for far too long. The latter is incredibly informative, especially since I haven't had any formalized scientific education since before I was an undergraduate -- and I'm in graduate school now, so it's been quite some time. In any case, I strongly recommend both, albeit for very different reasons. If you want a challenging, lengthy, and literary read, choose Proust. If you want an introductory survey on the history of science, choose Sagan.

Currently reading A Closed and Common Orbit by Becky Chambers. Really enjoying it so far, about 1/2 way through.

A quick thought on this book in particular; it really reminds me of Muderbot stories by Martha Wells. An AI gets a body and then has to learn to live in it. Seems like there is a lot of crossover of ideas between this book and those stories by Wells. Anyways, just wanted to put that out there for anyone that might have familiarity with Murderbot and not this book. NOTE, this book is the second in a series, but (so far) seems like a pretty standalone story that you can read without having read the first one (but do go read the first one!!)

I'm ~75% of the way through a collection of the original Sherlock Holmes stories (The Complete Sherlock Holmes, volumes I and II, compiled and annotated by Kyle Freeman) and have been loving them. Obviously Holmes mysteries are well regarded for the mysteries and for their eccentric protagonist, but I've found considerable joy in the simple fact that they are then-contemporary fiction from 150 years ago, complete with word choices and assumptions about what the audience would understand which would be largely lost on me without Freeman's helpful notations. There's also quite a bit of strikingly unapologetic casual racism, but that's to be expected for the time period. On some level, it highlights Conan Doyle's complete obliviousness to the perceptions of 21st century readers, and thus his willingness to include elements that modern writers of this time period would often shy away from.

I was drawn to Casablanca and The Twilight Zone for essentially the same reason: good stories, (mostly) set, written, and performed in a time closer to today, but still old enough that to me it seems foreign.

Can anyone recommend other examples of then-contemporary pop fiction from 100+ years ago, ideally not American, that are still compelling reads today? My knowledge of the classics is pretty limited, hence the question.

I’m currently reading King: A Life by Jonathan Eig. It’s really good. Doesn’t pull too many punches with the flaws of a great man.

I’m also reading The Time Has Come by Will Leitch. I’m about halfway through and loving it.

This just made me think, the last three books I’ve read now have strong Georgia ties. I read A Man In Full by Tom Wolfe just before these. It wasn’t intentional but interesting nonetheless.

I'm currently trying to finish the last book of NK Jemisen's Broken Earth series. I love fantasy and scifi, but this has been a slog. It's not bad, but the characters feel very two-dimensional, and it's very hard to feel invested in their story. Their behavior and choices are oddly inconsistent (e.g. someone takes offense to a slur one minute, then is using it themselves the next.) Book 2 was especially arduous. I don't understand how all three won Hugo awards.

Pushing myself to finish the third book so I can start Adrian Tchaikovsky's Children of Time.

Command and Control by Eric Schlosser. It is a recount of a number of incidents involving nuclear weapons in US history, ranging from fuel leaks at missile silos, to accidental deployments of nuclear weapons in US territory.

Not only that, the book also provides excellent technical and historical context, narrating many of the political battles that dictated the attitude around atomic weapons in the US during the Cold War. The writing is excellent, it tends to go back and forth between events, but this is a fairly minimal artifact of the writing style, and I can wholeheartedly recommend that book.

Every entry on Powell’s Books’ 25 Women to Read Before You Die list.

4 down so far, 21 to go.

Had my interest piqued by an article that mentioned The New Weird genre, a term I hadn't come across before, and ended up buying Going Bovine by Libba Bray. I think it might technically be YA fiction, but whatever -- hopefully that just means the sex and violence is dialed back, and not the storytelling.

I just finished the latest book in the Ascendance of a Bookworm series, and it was phenomenal. I've really got to hand it to the author for their incredible world building and ability to see how different goals, viewpoints, and flawed (or lack of) communication can result in unintended consequences. And the characters are hilarious.

I just finished "The Blade Itself" the first book in The First Law trilogy by Joe Abercrombie. Had a great time with it, the characters are fun (especially Glokta) and I'm liking the direction it's moving in for the second book.

I'm taking a little break though to catch up on James Bond, I've read almost all of the James Bond novels but there was one I missed previously and a couple that have come out since. So I started "Carte Blanche" by Jeffrey Deaver last night, seems fun so far and I'm liking literary Bond in the modern day.

Once "Carte Blanche" is done, I've got "Double or Nothing" by Kim Sherwood, which is a book in the Bond universe that involves different 00 agents, and then "On His Majesty's Secret Service" by Charlie Higson which was released for the coronation back in May.

I'm reading Slaughterhouse 5 by Kurt Vonnegut! It's my first Vonnegut and really different to what I expected in a great way. Going in I had some notion that it was sci-fi, but seeing it presented in such a creative way through the narrators war experiences and later extraterrestrial adventures is just very new and refreshing! I mean refreshing for me at least, the book came out in 1969 so I'm a little behind the game on this one lol. Only around 50 pages in, but definitely hooked and excited for the themes of the children's crusade to be further explored.

Have not started this one quite yet, but my local library also had a used book fair that I picked up some great finds at, one of which was the first book in Asimov's Foundation series. I've been enjoying the TV show adaptation a lot so far (flaws and all, Jared Harris carries that show on his back every time he's in a scene) but I've always got the feeling it's rushing through things very quick and I could get a lot more of what I like out of the books. Excited to get a start on that!

I'm currently reading The Witcher series and I'm nearing the end of the first book (The Last Wish). I love the universe and adore the games and the show, so I'm glad to be hopping into these to get even more.

After that, I've still got the first 3 Wheel of Time books on my shelf, but I'm gonna have to ramp up to those and then dedicate a while to read them.

For now, I'm happier with some shorter and easier reads like The Witcher and the last few Star Wars books I've read.

Finally finished The Big Four by Agatha Christie and plan on taking a Poirot break. The ending was weirdly anticlimactic considering the grand scope of the story. My local library has a 2023 reading challenge going on and it encouraged me to dig through my tbr pile. Finally read The Hogfather and enjoyed every minute of it. Pratchett is my favorite author and I love Death as a character, so it was a great pick-me-up. I also finished Arsenic and Adobo by Mia P. Manansala earlier this week. Definitely fits the cozy mystery category and I enjoyed the over-the-top food descriptions. However, the dialogue was often weak and the main character was frustrating at times, so I'm not sure if I'll continue the series just yet. Also finished At the Mountains of Madness. While it has plenty of Lovecraft's usual 'indescribable horrors,' it seems like he was more descriptive than usual. Because of this, it sort of plods along at points but I found myself engrossed in the details. It felt unusual for a Lovecraft character to acknowledge positive similarities between humans and literally anything else (even if it was intended to serve as a warning). I also got a chuckle from the juxtaposition of giant penguins and unspeakable horrors.

Reading Mission Economy by Mariana Mazzucato and I find it quite interesting as there is an argument for a higher involvement of public sector in innovation which I personally find refreshing.

The section focused on Apollo Mission and highlighting the “Mission” approach is really involving with the positive side effect it had both on technological advancement and the economy via the partnership between public and private (it does run a bit long but personally enjoyed it).

Although I do find a bit the structure at times not easy, I am enjoying the positive outlook and suggestion how to face the global challenges.

I started reading a book that was on someones reading list over here. I don't remember the user but the book is called The Luminaries. This is the most heavy book I've read in a while, even a couple of pages takes it out of me. The author really goes into almost an unnecessary level of in-depth explanation for the surroundings of the characters environment and their own personality, or at least it feels like it for me.

I am still enjoying it and plan to finish it, but I can only do a couple of pages at a time.

Just started Theft of Swords by Michael J Sullivan. Enjoying it so far.

But my TBR shelf keeps getting fuller…

Currently reading the Super Powereds series (on the third year). The first couple books in the series kept me hooked, but definitely felt slapped together a bit. The third book in the series is really fleshed out and has been a great read. The book follows a class of kids with super powers trying to become super heros.

The whole series has the whole coming of age feeling, so if you don't like that type of story this may not be for you. However, I have really enjoyed it so far, despite it being a genre I don't normally enjoy. Highly recommended, if you think you can make it through a less refined series.

The other day I made a comment referencing a story by Roger Williams aka localroger, and in creating the hyperlink for the comment I happened upon his personal site and realized that he had published a whole new series of stories for the r/hfy subreddit. I used to read several of the stories in that place, and I've read most of the author's other works, so I gave The Curators a try. Holy cow, what a ride! The serial nature of writing stories on r/hfy makes for an addictive experience I'd been without for quite a while. My sleep schedule is wrecked and the past week has gone by in a blur. Very fun speculative fiction story, kinda reminiscent of works by Stross and Doctorow, but with the scale and scope I've come to expect from localroger. Definitely recommend, even though you have to read it on Reddit.

I'm reading a few right now (not including a trial advocacy textbook for a pre-semester class starting in just over a week):

• Beren and Lúthien by J.R.R. Tolkien (edited by Christopher Tolkien) - It's been a while sine I've read any Tolkien (have read the Silmarillion and a bunch of his other ancillary works in the past), and this is a neat packaging of writings about this mortal/immortal power couple, showing clearly the way the story progressed in Tolkien's various projects and revisions.
• Bicycle Diaries by David Byrne (2009) - Byrne, of "Talking Heads" fame, has used a bicycle for most of his transportation needs in NYC where he lives, and uses a folding bike in many cities around the world when he visits for concerts and other research purposes. This book is a memoir of sorts, giving a perspective on various cities (including Istanbul, Buenos Aires, Manila, London, and many American cities) and the sights, sounds and people that can be experienced from a two-wheeled perspective. As one who's lived car-free for 12 years now, and almost exclusively bikes everywhere, this book has been a fun read.
• Timewalkers: The Prehistory of Global Colonization by Clive Gamble (1993) - This book synthesizes much of the [then-current] stage of research into prehistoric hominids and early humanity, which has been a really interesting, if slightly dense, read since I grew up in an evangelical household that taught young-earth creationism. I haven't looked to see what's changed in the 30 years since publication, but the reviews in academic journals at the time of publication were strong.

I'm listening to old Inspector Morse books. More because I like Sam West's voice than because I like Colin Dexter, who is too pretentious for his own good.

I just finished reading Times Arrow by Martin Amis after hearing a recommendation from Adam Savage on one of his videos. The concept is, to me, very unique and a challenging read. Towards the end I felt it dried up and was rushed. Didn't give me a book hangover at all.

Now I'm reading Magician by Raymond E. Feist after being recommended by a colleague. Within the first chapter I was hooked. I always read at night and have conditioned myself to fall asleep reading... and now have to break the habit so I can actually get some quality reading time in for this novel.