25 votes

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.

49 comments

  1. [3]
    MartinXYZ
    Link
    I recently finished the final book in The Expanse, so I needed a new space opera to read... I chose the Culture by Iain M. Banks, and I'm currently reading Consider Phlebas, the first book in the...

    I recently finished the final book in The Expanse, so I needed a new space opera to read... I chose the Culture by Iain M. Banks, and I'm currently reading Consider Phlebas, the first book in the series, chronologically.

    10 votes
    1. [2]
      cutmetal
      Link Parent
      Enjoy! I thought Player of Games was truly excellent.

      Enjoy! I thought Player of Games was truly excellent.

      3 votes
      1. MartinXYZ
        Link Parent
        I have just started reading Player of Games. I've heard many others say similar things, so I'm looking forward to getting further into it 🙂

        I have just started reading Player of Games. I've heard many others say similar things, so I'm looking forward to getting further into it 🙂

        1 vote
  2. [6]
    bushbear
    Link
    I just started on the Martian by Andy weir. Not fat into it but so far it's a fun read with short chapters which is nice. I'm also gonna start on 1491 by Charles c Mann as my intellectual read. Iv...

    I just started on the Martian by Andy weir. Not fat into it but so far it's a fun read with short chapters which is nice.

    I'm also gonna start on 1491 by Charles c Mann as my intellectual read. Iv heard it is fairly accurate as well as entertaining so I'm excited for this.

    9 votes
    1. [3]
      scroll_lock
      Link Parent
      I read The Martian on an airplane eight or nine years ago. It had me hooked the whole flight. I remember there being praise for its relative scientific accuracy, though I am neither an...

      I read The Martian on an airplane eight or nine years ago. It had me hooked the whole flight. I remember there being praise for its relative scientific accuracy, though I am neither an astrophysicist nor a chemist and could not comment on that either way. I thought it was funny, engaging, and interesting.

      3 votes
      1. CrazyProfessor02
        Link Parent
        To be fair though the main character wasn't any of those either. He was a botanist. But yeah the book was a great read and engaging.

        though I am neither an astrophysicist nor a chemist

        To be fair though the main character wasn't any of those either. He was a botanist. But yeah the book was a great read and engaging.

        1 vote
      2. bushbear
        Link Parent
        I did that with one if the expanse books. The Martian definitely has that 1 more chapter feel so I'm sure I will finish it quick. I also got project hail mary so I might go into that after...

        I did that with one if the expanse books. The Martian definitely has that 1 more chapter feel so I'm sure I will finish it quick. I also got project hail mary so I might go into that after depending on how I'm feeling.

        1 vote
    2. Nemoder
      Link Parent
      His newer book Hail Mary is just as fun! Will be interesting to see if the movie for it gets made as well.

      His newer book Hail Mary is just as fun! Will be interesting to see if the movie for it gets made as well.

      2 votes
    3. imperator
      Link Parent
      I read that book in like 2-3 days. It's a fun read. I normally don't read that quickly.

      I read that book in like 2-3 days. It's a fun read. I normally don't read that quickly.

      1 vote
  3. trefulo
    Link
    Right now I'm reading Green Prosperity: Quit Your Job, Live your Dreams by Thomas J. Elpel. The book is interesting. A bit repetitive at times. The basic premise of the book is that we live in a...

    Right now I'm reading Green Prosperity: Quit Your Job, Live your Dreams by Thomas J. Elpel.

    The book is interesting. A bit repetitive at times. The basic premise of the book is that we live in a world of great abundance and yet the world conspires in various ways to ensure that we generally don't benefit from that abundance. The author maintains that we should be able to provide for our basic needs and live a good life with only about two months of work a year and makes the case and encourages people to sort of check out of the daily grind and consider an alternative path.

    7 votes
  4. [2]
    RheingoldRiver
    Link
    Still reading Wheel of Time. I started doing something that I'd never considered before in my entire life, which is listening to audiobooks. Always, I've found it impossible to concentrate on...

    Still reading Wheel of Time. I started doing something that I'd never considered before in my entire life, which is listening to audiobooks. Always, I've found it impossible to concentrate on spoken words like that but after really enjoying Brandon Sanderson's Dark One: Forgotten I decided to give it a shot. Well, I still find it really hard to concentrate on them under normal circumstances, but if I'm doing something at the same time that doesn't involve thinking about words, I don't have that problem. And jigsaw puzzles fit that bill! So, I've been doing jigsaw puzzles & listening to Wheel of Time.

    Currently partway through book 9. I enjoyed Book 7 quite a bit so I thought I wouldn't mind the slog, but then I hated book 8. But book 9 has been better than 8 so far.

    spoiler I miss Mat's chapters though, imo he's by far the most interesting out of the 5. I could do without Perrin or Faile ever showing up again.
    6 votes
    1. norb
      Link Parent
      As someone who started reading the Wheel of Time back in 1994 or so, and had to wait literally years between books, the time between 7 - 8 - 9 really hurt since Jordan decided to split the...

      As someone who started reading the Wheel of Time back in 1994 or so, and had to wait literally years between books, the time between 7 - 8 - 9 really hurt since Jordan decided to split the narrative in ways that left certain characters out of them for long stretches.

      That said, on a re-read after all the books are out, this problem completely went away for me. I did not find those middle 3 books to be so much of a slog, and honestly the pacing of them kind of works (especially due to the way Sanderson wrote the last 3).

      My next comment here isn't really a plot spoiler, but I'm going to hide it behind the tags just in case you aren't interested in a comment around the future of the books.

      Sanderson (non-plot based) spoiler

      I think Sanderson really put a breath of fresh air into the series, and his "relatively" breakneck pacing actually may have brought the landing home better than Jordan could have (I know, probably almost heresy for the hardcore fans).

      Sanderson is most definitely a different style of writer than Jordan, and it shows in a few ways. The pacing is one, but that isn't wholly on Sanderson as I think he was asked to finish the story as quickly as possible. An interesting note about that that maybe mega-fans don't know, but Jordan's idea was to finish the story in one last book, but once Sanderson got his hands on the notes and the plot threads that needed to be closed he said three would be the fewest he could do it in.

      It was interesting to me to see Sanderson's growth through the three books. He definitely gives some characters a noticeably different "tone" in the first book he wrote. By the end it was less jarring, but I'm not sure if that's due to him getting back more to Jordan's style, or if as a reader I just got used to Sanderson's way.

      Finally, I think the new ideas that Sanderson brought to the world were great! He does what he does with magic systems and kinds of turns a few things upside down, but in the end they really pay off.

      All in all he stuck the landing, and IMHO, added way more to the series than he took away. It made me a fan of his, that's for sure.

      Anyways, hope you enjoy the rest of the journey! I've read some of the first books 3 or 4 times over the years, and the entire thing at least two times through.

      4 votes
  5. [2]
    sandaltree
    Link
    Reading: Shift Second omnibus in the Silo series. Acts as a prequel to the first one. Interesting to see the story unfold from a different direction. 1Q84 Reading in Japanese. Haven't had much...

    Reading:

    • Shift Second omnibus in the Silo series. Acts as a prequel to the first one. Interesting to see the story unfold from a different direction.
    • 1Q84 Reading in Japanese. Haven't had much motivation lately to push through. Really thirsting for some Sci-Fi.

    Finished:

    • The Expanse - Nemesis Games 5th novel in the series. Previous book was a drag, this one was much better. Still felt a bit incoherent at times, because it jumps between the four different protagonists pretty much in order. Not sure if I'm going to read the next one.
    • Dune - Children of Dune That got weird. Need to take a break before reading the next one, which I hear gets even more weird.
    6 votes
    1. Grasso
      Link Parent
      Funny, I’m listening to the Nemesis Game myself and am just about done. This book is a fantastic step up. I enjoyed the fourth book but definitely felt it dragged a tiny bit as well. I enjoyed...

      Funny, I’m listening to the Nemesis Game myself and am just about done. This book is a fantastic step up. I enjoyed the fourth book but definitely felt it dragged a tiny bit as well. I enjoyed what the premise was, it was an extremely interesting setup that I felt was a bit let down by how the plot lines came together.

      fourth book spoilers I really enjoyed the survival plot on the alien planet. The strange ecology, the competing factions of the belters who set up shop first and the chartered corporation. Waking up a dead alien mining operation. A planet sized fusion reactor exploding and devastating the planet. The disabled ships in orbit dealing with that fallout. It was so cool! It was made cooler by Avasarella’s game of hoping Holden would blow it all up to convince people migrating through the gates was bad.

      I liked ghost Miller, everything about him was just cool. I liked how he would show up and use Holden as a pair of eyes to investigate things he couldn’t. I liked him tracking down and solving his mystery.

      What I didn’t like was how obvious it was that Holden should just run off with Miller on his investigation. It made the things I mentioned above feel like filler because I couldn’t help but think (really just know) that everything would be resolved at the end of Miller’s puzzle…

      The pieces worked, I just didn’t like how it fit together…

      Nemesis Games steps it up by removing the obvious solution, and upping the stakes. Not a big fan of Naomi’s plot, or her newly discovered backstory, but still fun.

      2 votes
  6. Apocalypto
    Link
    I have Altered Carbon by Richard Morgan and Dark Intelligence by Neal Asher within arm's reach, but my ADHD is making things difficult. I absolutely devoured Black Man by Richard Morgan and every...

    I have Altered Carbon by Richard Morgan and Dark Intelligence by Neal Asher within arm's reach, but my ADHD is making things difficult.

    I absolutely devoured Black Man by Richard Morgan and every one of Neal Asher's Polity novels, so I know if I just get started I'll make it through easily.

    Started Altered Carbon before, but then we moved. So far, compared to the series, Takeshi isn't exactly more sympathetic, but has a wider range of thoughts and emotions that sometimes includes sympathy. All the characters actually feel just a little bit more fleshed out, probably because books make it easier to include details that can't easily portrayed audio visually

    5 votes
  7. [2]
    kru
    Link
    I finished Nettle & Bone the other night. I read it because it won the Hugo award (which I found about from another post on here a few days ago). It's fine. I didn't dislike reading it, but it...

    I finished Nettle & Bone the other night. I read it because it won the Hugo award (which I found about from another post on here a few days ago). It's fine. I didn't dislike reading it, but it isn't going to be a memorable tale for me.

    Prior to that I had read Sapolsky's Determined. This book is worthy of its own post. Sapolsky is a professor of neurobiology and behavior at a prestigious university. He also has a series of (quite enjoyable) lectures online about how the brain works. He uses a great deal of findings from various studies over the years, many of which are very recent findings, to make a compelling argument that the classical concept of free will isn't something that applies to us humans. Regardless of my feelings about his argument, I learned a ton about how the brain works at all levels, macro to micro, and learned about various studies that suggest various ways our behavior is influenced very strongly by factors completely external to our control. It's a fantastic book and was very enjoyable to read. I was disappointed when I finished it because there was no more to read and learn, and was left with a desire to learn more. I wish I had the time available to return to university to enroll in courses on biology and behavioral science.

    4 votes
    1. Bearsnbirds
      Link Parent
      I read Nettle and Bone recently too and had the same feeling - I was surprised it won the Hugo with the other contenders it was up against.

      I read Nettle and Bone recently too and had the same feeling - I was surprised it won the Hugo with the other contenders it was up against.

      1 vote
  8. [4]
    boxer_dogs_dance
    Link
    Gene Wolfe The Wizard Knight This is portal fantasy. I'm enjoying it. Dolen Perkins-Valdez Take My Hand A novel based on African American history, featuring a main character who is a nurse. It's...

    Gene Wolfe The Wizard Knight
    This is portal fantasy. I'm enjoying it.

    Dolen Perkins-Valdez Take My Hand
    A novel based on African American history, featuring a main character who is a nurse. It's well written.

    4 votes
    1. [3]
      Protected
      Link Parent
      The Wizard Knight is one of my favorite Gene Wolfe books. How familiar are you with the rest of this works? Which one do you like best?

      The Wizard Knight is one of my favorite Gene Wolfe books. How familiar are you with the rest of this works? Which one do you like best?

      1. [2]
        boxer_dogs_dance
        Link Parent
        I tried and failed to read the Urth of New Sun a long time ago. I have seen Wolfe praised in speculative fiction discussions, so I tried this one hoping it would be more accessible without having...

        I tried and failed to read the Urth of New Sun a long time ago. I have seen Wolfe praised in speculative fiction discussions, so I tried this one hoping it would be more accessible without having to work to hard. I like the way he incorporates the spookiness and mystery of the experiences he describes into the setting and plot. I'm enjoying it. But re Wolfe's other books, I don't enjoy challenge for the sake of challenge. I expect I will look to read more of his less difficult books and I hope to enjoy them.

        1. Protected
          Link Parent
          I didn't enjoy Solder of Mist and am lukewarm on the New Sun series (unlike everyone else). But I like his other stuff, including short stories. He actually wrote a whole bunch.

          I didn't enjoy Solder of Mist and am lukewarm on the New Sun series (unlike everyone else). But I like his other stuff, including short stories. He actually wrote a whole bunch.

  9. [2]
    doors_cannot_stop_me
    Link
    I just read The Sunlit Man, Brandon Sanderson's recent novel. I put it off all month, but as soon as I cracked it I was hooked. Day before yesterday I spent 3 straight hours motionless,...

    I just read The Sunlit Man, Brandon Sanderson's recent novel. I put it off all month, but as soon as I cracked it I was hooked. Day before yesterday I spent 3 straight hours motionless, enraptured, reading it. If you've read the other Cosmere works, it's (for lore-feinds like myself) amazing.

    4 votes
    1. Protected
      Link Parent
      After (in my opinion) hitting a low point (in regard to the quality of his writing) with The Lost Metal, Brandon really bounced back with the pandemic projects. They were very engaging and...

      After (in my opinion) hitting a low point (in regard to the quality of his writing) with The Lost Metal, Brandon really bounced back with the pandemic projects. They were very engaging and creative. It was probably a good decision to slot The Sunlit Man, which was the one with the strongest ties to... other works, in last place.

      1 vote
  10. [5]
    ADwS
    Link
    I finished A Night in the Lonesome October this past month, as I was reading it in line with the month of October. It was a really fun way to build up my reading habit and make it a bit stronger....

    I finished A Night in the Lonesome October this past month, as I was reading it in line with the month of October. It was a really fun way to build up my reading habit and make it a bit stronger. I realized that I need to have some book with (typically) short chapters to read when I first wake up. To replace Lonsome October, I decided to grab Asmimov’s The Foundation on the first and have already been hooked. I read one to two chapters when I first wake up.

    The other books I jump between depending on how much time I have are:

    Fantasy: As Iron Falls - almost done with this one… it’s been rough forcing myself to finish it. I really have not enjoyed it, but since it was apart of the 4 book bundle I bought years ago, I felt the need to finish it for that reason alone. Goal is to finish it by the end of next week at the latest.

    Classical: The Grapes of Wrath - the long chapters has made reading this recently very tough. I don’t usually have a straight hour to read, and I don’t like reading only a portion of a chapter at a time, so I regularly pick up one of the other books for that reason. Having said that, I am loving the book. I really cannot say enough good about Steinbeck as an author.

    Non-fiction: On Writing - This is a physical book, and since I’m rarely at my house, it’s been a bit awkward to find time to read it between the others. Made some good progress on it though. Should have this one done in a week or two.

    4 votes
    1. [4]
      Protected
      Link Parent
      Steinbeck is great! I've read and enjoyed all the books you listed except "As Iron Falls". I'm curious now - what do you think is making it a chore? What do you dislike about it?

      Steinbeck is great! I've read and enjoyed all the books you listed except "As Iron Falls". I'm curious now - what do you think is making it a chore? What do you dislike about it?

      1 vote
      1. [3]
        ADwS
        Link Parent
        I hate that I keep calling it a chore, but there’s really no other emotion I feel towards it as a generic fantasy book. I’ll try to articulate it as best as I can without being too vague as I’m...

        I hate that I keep calling it a chore, but there’s really no other emotion I feel towards it as a generic fantasy book. I’ll try to articulate it as best as I can without being too vague as I’m really not a good analyst or reviewer of such things.

        As Iron Falls is the fourth book in the Wings of War series by Bryce O’Conner. My apologies if I misspelled his name, as I’m currently on my phone and double checking information is twice as difficult. There is a fifth book in this series that, at the moment, I don’t plan on getting.

        The first two books were honestly pretty enjoyable. The first was a very simple, but in my opinion, executed well enough revenge story. It made me think of the Punisher in a fantasy setting honestly. The second was also pretty fun despite the obvious increase in scope. The issues that crept in I was willing to ignore, purely because the emotional ties weren’t affected, and the overall character arcs stayed in tact.

        The issues arose in the third book. The prose ballooned into a strange “description for the sake of it”. The story arc was still pretty simple, but the emotional connections the characters were forming became more complex. That isn’t an issue, but the handling of it was. I can tell the author put thought into it, at least as far as making a female “love interest” that isn’t just two dimensional, but it overall felt like a lot of meandering to get a basic story (with an interesting twist) into a length that many more traditional Epic Fantasy novels are, without any of the deeper complexity.

        This book feels like more of the worst parts of Epic Fantasy while being no more complex or interesting as more straightforward fantasy novels. There are numerous PoVs that serve no purpose than to give a sneak peak into the next chapter. That is to say, it’s an extra chapter for the sake of it. Many chapters could be entirely omitted purely due to the fact that they are from a point of view which is literally killed off the chapter after being introduced.

        It’s not a bad “story”, but it feels like it was never beta read or edited by a professional. It’s better than anything I could ever write, but that’s me mostly admitting that I suck at writing. I think that the author could have had a really good series if he had someone tell him to just cut it down in length, and that is why it feels like a chore. For every interesting chapter there are 4 boring chapters of setup. For every insightful line or thought, there are 10 that just don’t land.

        I really just wish this book was 100-200 pages shorter.

        1. [2]
          Protected
          Link Parent
          I just glanced at a bunch of reviews and there seems to be a kind of consensus that the story is good, but the editing is bad/nonexistent. So I looked into the publisher and found that they were...

          I just glanced at a bunch of reviews and there seems to be a kind of consensus that the story is good, but the editing is bad/nonexistent. So I looked into the publisher and found that they were only founded in 2020 and this series is their very first released work (it's in the About page). They don't even have a wikipedia page!

          I wonder if they had a good editor at first who left for greener pastures? I feel sorry for everyone involved if they truly have an unpolished gem in there, but personally I really wouldn't want to read a series this long if the prose is as bad as it seems to be. Maybe one day they'll be able to fix it and release a different edition.

          1 vote
          1. ADwS
            Link Parent
            That would explain a lot of my issues. I really do feel bad tearing into the book as much as I have. I can tell the author cares about the story, it’s just that it is so bloated. I hope that they...

            That would explain a lot of my issues. I really do feel bad tearing into the book as much as I have. I can tell the author cares about the story, it’s just that it is so bloated. I hope that they can find a better editor, or maybe just have the required time to edit what they have to really make the rest of the series as good as it can be.

            The fact that the worst part of the series accounts for more than the good parts at this point makes me hesitant to even recommend it.

            1 vote
  11. Notcoffeetable
    Link
    I finished Hero of Ages, third book in the Brandon Sanderson's Mistborn trilogy. The first book The Final Empire and this third book are the stronger entries. This is my first foray into...

    I finished Hero of Ages, third book in the Brandon Sanderson's Mistborn trilogy. The first book The Final Empire and this third book are the stronger entries. This is my first foray into Sanderson's work after years of being recommended. I'm eager to learn more about his Cosmere universe and will definitely be reading more.

    Sanderson's strength is definitely in storytelling more than prose. That isn't to say it's bad but sometimes the prose gets a bit clunky. In this series he excels at writing into a trope, providing a payoff, then subverting the payoff. The final pages provide a satisfying ending which left me misty-eyed but happy with its resolution.

    Starting Shards of Earth by Adrian Tchaikovsky. Not in deep enough to have an opinion but after the prelude my interest is captured.

    4 votes
  12. devac
    Link
    Paradoxes by Southwell, Hayden, Picard. It's a neat collection of counter-intuitive results from maths, logic, philosophy and such. Perhaps not the most in-depth, but an option of having a handy...

    Paradoxes by Southwell, Hayden, Picard. It's a neat collection of counter-intuitive results from maths, logic, philosophy and such. Perhaps not the most in-depth, but an option of having a handy set like that on a bookshelf was enough to convince me to buy and read.

    Ring by Baxter. It's the fourth volume of Xeelee Sequence, and like other books by Baxter not something you pick for character writing but setting-centred story. I kinda have a love-hate relationships with his books, because it's some hard sci-fi (love) populated by bland people (hate) who can often be characterized in ten words with 3-8 to spare.

    Dunno if it counts, but I've been on a Girl Genius on-again off-again for the last decade, and now it's the 'on' time.

    4 votes
  13. sunshine_radio
    Link
    Ever since I read There Is No Antimemetics Division by qntm I've hardly read anything except SCP fiction. The top by year section of that site is an absolute gold mine, and I also have a lot of...

    Ever since I read There Is No Antimemetics Division by qntm I've hardly read anything except SCP fiction. The top by year section of that site is an absolute gold mine, and I also have a lot of .epubs on my kindle that have been scraped from the same wiki.

    Does anyone have a recommendation for me? I had just sat down to read "The Antarctic Exchange" series from that site and was excited for some "project hail mary" but in set on an lonely Antarctic research station and featuring horrible visitors from beyond the void and attempts to contain them. But that's not really what The Antarctic Exchange is like so far. Any suggestions?

    4 votes
  14. Lighthouse
    Link
    I pretty much exclusively read non-fiction, and I kind of jump all over the place when it comes to the things I like to read about, and typically don't stick to any particular sub-genres - I just...

    I pretty much exclusively read non-fiction, and I kind of jump all over the place when it comes to the things I like to read about, and typically don't stick to any particular sub-genres - I just pick up what I find interesting.

    I just finished up the new Mitt Romney biography, Romney: A Reckoning by McKay Coppins, which I thought was fantastic, and gave some insights into Romneys' thoughts on the political landscape as it has changed since he ran for President in 2012, and as he has become essentially a pariah within his own party. I felt it didn't hold back any punches, and it came off as sincere while acknowledging his faults, mistakes, and things that he has changed on.

    I'm currently about a third of the way through American Fascists: The Christian Right and the War on America by Chris Hedges, which at first has seemed a bit prophetic, but quickly remembered that this has always long strategy. I can't say I'm a huge fan of the writing style, but the content has been solid so far.

    The next books that I am reading are Nomad Century: How Climate Migration Will Reshape Our World by Gaia Vance and Walkable City: How Downtown Can Save America, One Step at a Time by Jeff Speck.

    4 votes
  15. Perhaps
    Link
    Decided to finally dive into Cormac McCarthy. Started with All The Pretty Horses and reading The Crossing now. Just finished the first chapter and feeling a little dumbfounded. Like what is the...

    Decided to finally dive into Cormac McCarthy. Started with All The Pretty Horses and reading The Crossing now. Just finished the first chapter and feeling a little dumbfounded. Like what is the rest of this book even going to be about now?

    So far I’m loving it.

    4 votes
  16. Bearsnbirds
    Link
    I just finished The Book Eaters by Sunyi Dean and really enjoyed it. Very decent writing, engaging plot, solid pacing, and creative idea. Kind of surreal fantasy is maybe how I'd describe it.

    I just finished The Book Eaters by Sunyi Dean and really enjoyed it. Very decent writing, engaging plot, solid pacing, and creative idea. Kind of surreal fantasy is maybe how I'd describe it.

    3 votes
  17. [4]
    lou
    (edited )
    Link
    I finished 1955's Invasion of the Body Snatches by Jack Finney. It was a nice read, and I can see why it was adapted to film six times. It sustains a great paranoid mood and provides numerous...

    I finished 1955's Invasion of the Body Snatches by Jack Finney. It was a nice read, and I can see why it was adapted to film six times. It sustains a great paranoid mood and provides numerous electrifying scenes that translate well to images. Unfortunately, it spends too much on romance and the ending is pretty Deus ex machina.

    spoilers

    The aliens suddenly decide that Earth is too much trouble and go away on their own accord. The actions of the protagonist don't seem too relevant to the decision. The 1978 movie gets it right by making the aliens win in the end. They are simply too powerful for any other ending to make sense.

    All in all, It was a great read that kept me on my toes, and it's nice to learn more about the source of one of my favorite movies.


    I am now reading Robert Heinlein's The Puppet Masters, with a similar invasion and possession theme. Heinlein's writing is way more sophisticated, full of 1950s slang and particular phrasing. I have to use Kindle's dictionary way more often. Even though it is much longer, the book feels like an expedited narration because there's a lot more happening at any given point. At 30% of the book, it is less of a slow-burn thriller and more chaotic, vivid, and rich. The story takes place in future 2007, with flying cars and all. So this humanity seems more equipped to deal with body-possessing invaders, and the protagonist is part of a super-secret agency with resources to fight them. This story is not super mysterious, and that's fine. I'm enjoying it like a B movie late at night -- but a B movie written by Heinlein is something special.

    3 votes
    1. [3]
      boxer_dogs_dance
      Link Parent
      Hi Lou, Since you are pursuing this theme, I suggest Midworld by Allan Dean Foster.

      Hi Lou,

      Since you are pursuing this theme, I suggest Midworld by Allan Dean Foster.

      1 vote
      1. [2]
        lou
        Link Parent
        Awesome, thanks ;)

        Awesome, thanks ;)

        1. boxer_dogs_dance
          Link Parent
          I should warn you that it is a series about a youth and his galactic adventures. But this book with the plants is creepy.

          I should warn you that it is a series about a youth and his galactic adventures. But this book with the plants is creepy.

          1 vote
  18. PossiblyBipedal
    Link
    I'm in the middle of Station Eternity by Mur Lafferty. The premise of the book is that the main character constantly has people die around her and she ends up being the one to solve them. Very...

    I'm in the middle of Station Eternity by Mur Lafferty.

    The premise of the book is that the main character constantly has people die around her and she ends up being the one to solve them. Very Sherlock Holmes. But she thinks that she's the reason people murder each other and ran away to where no humans can follow.

    It has been an interesting read so far. I like the take of how humans only just learned that other outer planet civilisations exist. And one of the consequences of that Is that a lot of aliens keep coming over to Earth as a tourist destination and Earth has no way to control that as other species are more advanced technologically.

    3 votes
  19. chocobean
    Link
    We're reading The Wisdom Of Father Brown (full text) by G K Chesterton, after The Innocence Of Father Brown. From the wiki on the series: They're fun little mysteries for bed time stories, and...

    We're reading The Wisdom Of Father Brown (full text) by G K Chesterton, after The Innocence Of Father Brown.

    From the wiki on the series:

    P. D. James highlights the stories' "variety of pleasures, including their ingenuity, their wit and intelligence, […] the brilliance of the writing", and especially their insight into "the greatest of all problems, the vagaries of the human heart."[21]

    They're fun little mysteries for bed time stories, and lends itself to little discussions and guesses. I like that they are sincere little tales, even as it deals with murders and crimes and moral failings, compared to modern stories dripping with cynicism. Fr Brown still sees the crime doers as valuable human beings who are no better or worse than himself, who are capable of repentance and forgiveness so long as they come clean of their crimes instead of killing themselves.

    3 votes
  20. [3]
    gmask1
    Link
    I'm trying to get into the Miskatonic Missives: The Letters of H.P. Lovecraft, Volume 1, Number 1. The book is beautiful to look at, even more so to hold, and what I've read so far has been of...

    I'm trying to get into the Miskatonic Missives: The Letters of H.P. Lovecraft, Volume 1, Number 1. The book is beautiful to look at, even more so to hold, and what I've read so far has been of great interest. It's a me problem - I can't often motivate myself to make time to read.

    Nevertheless, the book is one of a set of three published by the H.P. Lovecraft Historical Society and Helios Press; each book reproduce one key written correspondence from Lovecraft alongside relevant supplements, art, poems and stories from authors of the period and from more modern times.

    3 votes
    1. [2]
      UP8
      Link Parent
      My take is that H. P. Lovecraft is like that, that is, it is not so easy to get engaged with his work. Lovecraft is important not so much that his works are best selling but that the characters...

      My take is that H. P. Lovecraft is like that, that is, it is not so easy to get engaged with his work. Lovecraft is important not so much that his works are best selling but that the characters and settings and general situations have greatly impacted other authors. (e.g. many of the adversaries in Sailor Moon, for example, are the same kind of alien invaders with a supernatural bent that would appear in a Lovecraft story) He's to a particular aspect of horror that Tolkien is to high fantasy but not quite as easy to read as Tolkien.

      Myself, I think the rule book for the "Call of Cthulhu" game

      https://www.chaosium.com/call-of-cthulhu-rules/

      is outstanding in many respects, not least the way it brings you into the Mythos, but as a post-D&D RPG of the early 1980s it addresses everything wrong with D&D: one book is all you need to play, it comes with a campaign, the little scope for "advancement" in a world that will kill them or drive them insane so the keeper doesn't have high stakes fights with players over their character's future, in turn if somebody who doesn't know how to play gets in late you can give them a preroll, let them stumble into a trap, and sometimes give them a good enough time that they come on time next week.

      3 votes
      1. gmask1
        Link Parent
        I've struggled to engage with some of Lovecraft's published work - I've found it helps to disconnect them from the cthulhu mythos and treat each story as the standalone piece they were mostly...

        I've struggled to engage with some of Lovecraft's published work - I've found it helps to disconnect them from the cthulhu mythos and treat each story as the standalone piece they were mostly conceived as (if I understand history correctly, the mythos term was coined after the fact, by a different author). I've also found it helpful to read from the Baranger reissues of Call of Cthulhu and At the Mountain of Madness, which surround and spread out the stories with large art pieces that can help to interpret what's happening in the prose. I believe that a new Baranger volume was recently released for The Dunwich Horror.

        As a prolific letter writer, there's so many meaningful discussions between Lovecraft and other writers of the time. It's fascinating that so much material was created in between the published work, and better still, remains available to read and discuss. I find that these 'Missives' volumes are focused on the letters, the authors, the weird fiction publications, and a little Americana from the time.

        3 votes
  21. UP8
    Link
    Let's see... "Crossing the post-modern divide" by Alfred Borgmann https://mastodon.social/@UP8/111324224094119620 Bits and pieces of "Compilers: Principles, Techniques and Tools" by Aho, Sethi and...

    Let's see... "Crossing the post-modern divide" by Alfred Borgmann

    https://mastodon.social/@UP8/111324224094119620

    Bits and pieces of "Compilers: Principles, Techniques and Tools" by Aho, Sethi and Ullman to deal with a parsing problem at work

    https://mastodon.social/@UP8/111335584903675045

    And "The Magic of Shapeshifting" by Rosalyn Greene

    https://mastodon.social/@UP8/111341555776653347

    3 votes
  22. Captain_Wacky
    Link
    Finished up "A Treasury of Kahlil Gibran," which was absolutely nourishment for the soul. Now, I'm picking at Whitman's "Leaves of Grass" when I have a little free time, and/or "Don Quixote" when...

    Finished up "A Treasury of Kahlil Gibran," which was absolutely nourishment for the soul.

    Now, I'm picking at Whitman's "Leaves of Grass" when I have a little free time, and/or "Don Quixote" when I find myself with an hour or so free.

    3 votes
  23. lackofaname
    Link
    Recently started listening to Greenwood (Michael Christie). I'd never heard of it but it caught my eye in a popular list in Libby, the description piqued my interest, and there was a copy...

    Recently started listening to Greenwood (Michael Christie). I'd never heard of it but it caught my eye in a popular list in Libby, the description piqued my interest, and there was a copy available.

    I'm enjoying it quite a bit so far. Like many novels that flip between different perspectives, I do find myself needing time to warm up to each new character, but it's engaging nonetheless and i can see how each story is building toward connection.

    3 votes
  24. Aemilia
    Link
    Max and the Multiverse, got it for free from the Kobo app. I'm a quarter in and the fun writing style reminded me of Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy. It's a story about Max, a teenager that would...

    Max and the Multiverse, got it for free from the Kobo app. I'm a quarter in and the fun writing style reminded me of Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy.

    It's a story about Max, a teenager that would wake up in different parallel universes everyday. For example, religion didn't exist in one of them. As for how that happened, it could be traced back to 3 paleolithic era neanderthal brothers. One of them passed away in a hunting accident so the other two, Ookanook and Erkamek were burying him.

    Erkamek laid his late brother's broken spear and a few of his favourite tools to be buried with the body. The following conversation happened (copy pasted from the book).

    "Why did you put those there?" Ookanook said.

    "So he can use them in the afterlife," Erkamek said.

    "The what?"

    "The afterlife. The place you go after this life."

    Ookanook thought for a moment, then turned to Erkamek and slapped him across the cheek. "That is quite possibly the stupidest thing I have ever heard. Those are perfectly good tools down there and a corpse sure as stink doesn't need them. Now climb your dumbass back down there and retrieve them."

    With a single open-handed palm to the face, Ookanook had snuffed out religion on planet Earth and paved the way for a hyper-advanced global society.

    I thought that was amusing. Max and the Multiverse is a fun book for some light reading, for now. I'm still only a quarter in heh.

    3 votes
  25. lou
    (edited )
    Link
    Spoilers for The Puppet Masters (Robert Heinlein, 1951) The Puppet Masters is a brilliant science fiction book about slugs from outer space that wanna take over the Earth. One of the main features...

    Spoilers for The Puppet Masters (Robert Heinlein, 1951)

    The Puppet Masters is a brilliant science fiction book about slugs from outer space that wanna take over the Earth. One of the main features of the book, something Robert Heinlein spends a lot of time with, is the fact that the only way to know if someone is possessed by a slug (which attaches to human bodies) is to see under their clothes. This leads to a nationwide undressing code. It starts by making everyone walk around bareback, and, in the end, the entirety of the United States is naked 24/7.

    The author won't cease to remind us of the nakedness of everyone, knowing full well that the reader's minds will simply default to clothes otherwise. Heinlein, I am told, is a dirty old man, and I suspect that he wrote this entire book just to have the President of the United States going out and about with his balls hanging in the breeze.

    This highly competent thriller never fails to entertain, but has depth as well. My favorite part is when the main character (Sam, an officer of an ultra-secret US agency that is never fully explained) is possessed by one of the creatures, and his narration keeps going, detailing the psychological intricacies of sharing his body and mind with an invader. It's not as if the slug takes full control -- Sam remains semi-conscious, and acts and feels as if he actually wants to collaborate. That's a very interesting nuance, because later on he experiences all the guilt of a real collaborator, which is counterbalanced by his intense aggression towards the enemy. This makes me think about the difficulties of understanding the psyche of people who collaborated with enemies in human history, as we saw in WWII and, certainly, in most of our long-lasting conflicts.

    This is a book from 1951, and I just can't ignore its treatment of women. I'm not inclined to "cancel" a book released 72 years ago, but I'm a man of my time and some things warrant notice. Sam's love interest in the story is Mary, a beautiful young agent who soon realizes that slug-ridden men fail to react to her looks. This makes her invaluable because, apparently, all men are biologically primed to get horny in her presence. I wouldn't make a note of that if it stopped there. Mary was not only beautiful, she was also a hell of an agent. She is smart, cunning, great at combat, and dangerous with a gun. In short, Mary is totally awesome. That is, until she agrees to marry Sam. From that point onwards, she becomes the "yes, dear" lady. She only seems to talk to agree with Sam, and is protected at every confrontation. Sure, there is an in-universe explanation for that, but that explanation was also true before she married, so what gives? I didn't like that at all.

    I don't expect my fiction to agree with all of my sentiments and ideals, and, it bears repeating, that is a book from 72 years ago. But I would completely understand if someone didn't wanna read it because of that. That would be a shame, because, other than that, The Puppet Masters is a marvelous sci-fi romp.

    2 votes
  26. Pavouk106
    Link
    I just finished Clear and present danger by Tom Clancy. I lovehis books, especially the ones that were filmed. And also Rainbox Six that weren't. Great books thaz just hit my interest right.

    I just finished Clear and present danger by Tom Clancy. I lovehis books, especially the ones that were filmed. And also Rainbox Six that weren't. Great books thaz just hit my interest right.

    1 vote