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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.
Started This is How You Lose the Time War, a series of time traveling missions mixed with flirtatious letters from a time travelling agent on the opposing side.
Started They Said They Wanted Revolution by Neda Tolui-Semnani, a biography of the author's Iranian liberal parents.
Continued the Wizard Knight by Gene Wolfe. This is well written and mysterious and long.
Continued Take My Hand by Dolen Perkins-Valdez. Sad story of an African American nurse who takes a job with a birth control clinic involved with eugenics. There is now toward the end a developing love story that breaks social boundaries.
How to lose the time war is a delight
Yes. I enjoy time travel. I enjoy well written epistolary novels. I enjoy well written romantic subplots. This book is obviously well crafted and it is fun.
I've recently started reading books again after being unable to read for more than a couple of minutes at a time, since I had a stroke in early 2022. The first book I read was the last book in The Expanse series, Leviathan Falls, and now I've started Iain M. Banks' The Culture novels. I've finished Consider Phlebas and have just started A Player of Games. It's good so far. Not as engaging as Leviathan Falls, but still very good.
Player of Games is one of my favourite books of all time. It is a wonderful exploration of The Culture itself... And it's interfering ways.
The Expanse novels were great. But the last three really paled in comparison to the first six. The characters seem to just have emotional breaks and become boring versions of themselves... Except Bonnie and Amos, who remain rad as hell the entire time.
About The Expanse: I personally really liked the last three books, especially Leviathan Falls. It was such a good ending to the series.
I'm glad others did! I just felt it suffered from Game of Thrones syndrome. It felt like Ty & Dan (?) got really bored of the series and hamfisted the ending because they'd made $$$$ from the show.
<SPOILERS AHEAD>Tanaka bored the shit out of me in the last book. She literally is Kharn the Betrayer... but in the Expanse.
There's the lass who on one page is "WE WILL NEVER GIVE IN!" then literally gives in a chapter later. I just sat there like 'what am I even reading?' - There was none of the character building or continuity that I'd come to expect from the series.
Holden became this sniviling little wimp and Naomi was a cold-hearted bitch by the end of it all. I got 'why', but it just felt like they ramped up those problems to the n'th degree. At least Amos retained his wonderfully sociopathic attitude, but that final ending just felt absolutely ridiculous. The last battle didn't feel like it had any stakes despite what was actually on offer, you knew they weren't going to lose and that really bothered me and I just powered through the last pages to say I had.
I think the time skip was too much in my eyes. If they'd have gone with 5 or 10 and not 30 it would have worked. Instead it felt like old people fighting a war long settled... and that feels painfully close to real life.
I’ve recommended The Expanse to everyone I know that likes Sci-Fi
The worldbuilding just feels so well thought out!
One of my kids is a big Charles Dickens fan and she asked me to read some so she would have someone to talk with about his work. I read Hard Times a few weeks ago and just finished reading Oliver Twist today. I am planning on reading Great Expectations next. I have really enjoyed what I’ve read so far; the descriptions of 19th century England, the vocabulary and sentence structures, and (especially in Hard Times) the satirical portrayal of contemptible people. I loved the story in Oliver Twist and couldn’t put it down. In both Oliver Twist and Hard Times there were a few plot elements that were a little too convenient, but they didn’t detract from how much I liked the books. I’m looking forward to reading more Dickens.
Accountable: The True Story of a Racist Social Media Account and the Teenagers Whose Lives It Changed
by Dashka Slater
Slater writes narrative nonfiction for young adult audiences. I thought her previous book, The 57 Bus, was excellent. Accountable somehow being a step up from that is high praise.
Despite writing for younger audiences, Slater doesn’t water anything down or simplify things for easy effect. This is a complicated, complex story, and she captures that at every turn. She gives multiple perspectives, often conflicting, diving deep into each to show where it’s coming from — and why.
She also walks a very narrow, very challenging line with both skill and grace. This is a book about difficult topics and difficult situations — a veritable minefield that could go wrong at any misstep. I’m only halfway through so far, but I’m impressed at how she’s been able to navigate everything. Her lodestar is an unwavering focus on the complex humanity and social landscape of everyone involved, and it guides her well.
The book is on the longer side, but it’s written with young adult pacing. It goes by quick; its chapters are short. Some of it is written with the standard air of nonfiction writing — a journalistic bent. She regularly steps out of that, however, into the texture of thoughts and feelings pulled from her many interviews with many stakeholders. Through this, she conveys the rich and arresting emotional truths and experiences of all of the people involved.
It actually makes me wish more adult nonfiction did more of this. I read a lot of it, and sometimes the dry, “just the facts” reporting can feel like it’s committing a lie of omission on account of its lack of emotional valence. Slater’s straying from strictly factual reporting ends up better conveying the actual lived experiences of the people she’s detailing. I think the book is far better for it.
Even though this book is written primarily for teens, I think it’s a solid read for adults — especially parents and teachers. I can’t give my final thoughts on it yet as I’m not done, but it has already made quite an impression on me and given me lots to think about.
As a teacher it’s impossible for me to listen to the story and not consider how things might have happened had the events occurred at my school, with my students. I think parents would have the same thoughts only along a different axis: what if that were my kid?
Blood Music, by Greg Bear
Blood Music kinda fucked me up. I spent several days thinking about it and was unable to start another book. It was at the same time intellectually stimulating, exhilarating, scary, disgusting, sweet, and comforting. A yarn ball of tangled emotions. This book exceeded its promises by a long margin.
After reading the short story, I kept wondering "How's he going to expand this story without losing the mystery?". Greg Bear accomplished it not by making every part of the short story bigger, but rather by telling the short story almost in its entirety in the first third of the book and by delaying and modifying the ending. Other complete stories were added, each advancing the narrative from a different perspective. It works very well. Blood Music represents everything I wish to do as an aspiring writer: a hard sci-fi premise with deeply personal, emotional, (trans)human implications. This book caused me emotions similar to the ones I experienced after watching Close Encounters of the Third Kind: a longing to transcend my mind, my bodily form, embracing the cosmos and surpassing the boundaries ordinary human experience.
spoilers
Every once in a while, I still think about Blood Music. The idea that there was something in your cells waiting to be activated, something that will impel us towards the cosmos, is so interesting... like a form of mystical ecstasy. The cell clusters are eminently virtuous, love is their dominant sentiment. As if we are destined for goodness, and our moral evolution is just as inexorable as the evolution of our minds and bodies. In the end, after all the body horror, Blood Music is profoundly optimistic and sublime.Starfish, by Peter Watts
As suggested by @patience_limited, I am currently reading Starfish, by Peter Watts. I've read 40% of the book. A small group of characters are tasked with the maintenance of a sea station 3000 kilometers deep. They're all kinda crazy, and their bodies are engineered to adapt to the deep sea environment, so they spend a lot of time outside. I like how each character has their own traumatic story, and the interactions between them are interesting. The deep sea world is full of crazy creatures (which are real creatures the author researched!), and there were hints of something mysterious going on.
I'm sure this book will get pretty crazy at some point. But most other sci-fi books I've read recently have already revealed way more at this point, so I get why @patience_limited called it a "slow burn". The mainstream doctrine for any kind of story is that the first and third acts should be significantly smaller than the second act (the one with most actual confrontation). Not every creator must follow that structure, but I have to admit that I am growing a little impatient. I'll judge the book once it ends, but right now there are way too many scenes without a "hook" or anything immediately consequential.
Even though I was warned about the complexity of the science in Starfish, that was not an issue for me. My main problem with the prose is that the author favors style over clarity in many of his descriptions. For example, the descriptions of the underwater habitat "Beebe" are scattered along many far-apart pages, making it difficult for my ADHD brain to make a complete picture of the place. I ended up asking GPT to summarize how the station is structured and looks like -- describe its "floor plan", so to speak.
This issue also occurs in descriptions of the actions and scenes, I'm always catching up, trying to squeeze information from his writing. Watts likes being "cute" with his language, which I assume brings joy to him as a writer, but I feel like he should control that impulse to some extent. For many readers, the subject matter is foreign enough already. Additionally, the author often uses uncommon words and expressions to refer to simple things, which is made worse by his inclination to needlessly employ nautical terms (specific vocabulary used in submarines, submersibles, etc). All of that is greatly mitigated by my Kindle's dictionaries. Reading it in print would be a nightmare.
I'm reading Steppenwolf by Hesse.
The only other of his work I've read is Siddhartha and I absolutely loved it. I don't usually reread books but I've reread Siddhartha.
Steppenwolf on the other hand is... meh. Large parts of the book are quite boring. I somewhat relate to some aspects of the protagonist but mostly dislike him for his pessimistic outlook, though I guess that's the point of the book?
I'm about 75% through and till now only about ~25% was actively interesting.
The climax seems to have just begun, and it's by far the most interesting part till now. Perhaps I'll change my mind about the book when I reach the end since I've seen good reviews online and from a friend.
The next book in my queue is Shogun. My dad read it many years ago and it's one of his favorites. I'm looking forward to it!
Hesse is one of my favorites, but I think Strppenwolf is one of his worst books. If you ever want to pick him up again, try Narcissus and Goldmund.
Are they about similar topics like Siddhartha? And would you say they're better than it?
I finished "The End & The Death Volume 2" by Dan Abnett earlier this week.
It is a fucking tome. The guy turned the final days of The Siege of Terra (Warhammer 40K) into a Bollywood Drama in a bit way. Cuts away from the action to get reactions, people all repeating the same thing over and over... it got really tedious. Halfway through (375 pages) is where it actually starts to pick-up. You can tell Dan Abnett is desperate to enshrine himself as THE 40K writer, despite the fact that McNeil and Dembski-Bowden are infinitely better because they can describe a scene and let you fill in the rest. 750 pages later and birdboy is broken and The Big E is on his way to violate some psychic badness on the galaxy forever more.
I've now reading a lot of Betrand Russell in the philisophical sense. I've never quite felt so spectacularlly connected intellectually to someone whos work I have read. I read parts to my wife and she chuckled and goes "Betrand or you?" and it felt really nice to find a philosopher that my working-class brain twigged with. Doesn't mean I won't go out and cause mayhem with others now mind.
Just finished Devil in the White City about a serial killer active during the Chicago Columbian Exposition (world's fair) in the late 1800's. Super fascinating. The way they describe what the killer did and how he lived in those times, them turmoil around the country and the huge effort to pull if the world's fair.
Just started reading The Winter Over. Not sure what it's about yet other than a group of scientists and support in the south pole. Seems interesting so far.
Reading volume 3 of the Outlaw Chronicles by Angus Donald. Loving the series it's basically the adventures Robin Hood but told from the perspective of one of his younger companions and Robin is a psychopath. Really great historical fiction and oddly I've learned quite a few things after going on wikipedia rabbit-holes based on things from the book like the 1190 massacre at Cliffords Tower.
After that I'm probably going to start High Steaks by Rob Ulitski, I like the authors previous shorts and I can't not read a book about a mutated super cow killing people.
I found that upon a second read through the "weaker" wayfarers books landed better. But I liked 3 more and 2 less than you did. I think the crew of the Wayfarer herself is still my favorite. But Galaxy and the Ground Within is excellent.
I'd recommend her Monk and Robot duology as well. Sibling Dex and Mossflower are this peaceful sense of delight.
It's both awesome from the sense you describe and devastating for me as someone who just wants to be in that space. Wayfarers is actually what sent me down a fanfic rabbit hole.
For similar vibes I recommend the World of the White Rat books by T Kingfisher - (The Paladins aka Saint of Steel series, Swordheart, The Clocktaur wars) the genre is different but the ability to weave relatively lighthearted character interactions with really interesting worldbuilding and unique cultures (gnolls for example have caste based pronouns/genders. This is just subtly worked in and only explained when it becomes very relevant. ) Her horror and her fairy tales get darker but manage to still keep wit and humor present. I put her in a category alongside Pratchett.
Have you read any of the Sector General series? They feature Cross cultural conflict between diverse aliens in a medical setting in a galactic federation
(⌐■-■)
You have my attention. Who's the author?
James White. The first one is Hospital Station.
I only read a couple but they left a strong positive impression.
I just finished Dark Matter by Blake Crouch. It's a great thriller about a man who contemplates his life choices and what could have been and investigates it via the multiverse. It strikes a good balance between drama, science and existentialist wondering and the author makes some of the more difficult concepts easy to understand while not dumbing it too much down. I'm looking forward to listen to the follow up book Recursion soon.
I really liked that book. I still sometimes think about the ending, even though I read it years ago when it came out. Good stuff.
I can see where you're coming from and I feel the same. I was kinda anxious about the ending when I was getting close (having read a lot of Stephen King) but he really did pull it all together rather nicely.
I've been trying to plug through The Demon-Haunted World: Science as a Candle in the Dark by Carl Sagan. It's getting a bit up there in age, but his explanations of how psuedoscience grabs people and how education and societal systems fail those people are still relevant today.
I really enjoyed the first few chapters of this one but I still haven’t been able to finish it because after a while it kinda starts to feel like he’s just repeating himself
Finished up the Codex Alera and really enjoyed it, by and large. There were some obvious tropes, but I never felt they beat me over the head.
Started Homeland by R.A. Salvatore, but found out I missed the window to enjoy it enough to finish it by some decades, so I gave it up.
Now I'm halfway through Lonesome Dove for the first time and, man, I don't know why I put it off for so long.
The Life We Bury by Allen Eskens
I'm about 1/4 in and I really like the tone of it. I know there's some big mystery that's going to unfold...
Good little book that is supposedly a series, but the character the series is named for hasn't popped up yet.
Before this I finished off the latest Michael Connelly. Connelly returned to form with a Mickey Haller story (The Lincoln Lawyer). Nothing against Renee Ballard, but her character sucks and Connelly is still trash at writing women.
Some others:
Just finished:
Iron Flame - by Rebecca Yarros it's truly popcorn and I rather enjoyed it overall. If I think about it too hard I'll probably yeet it at a wall, decent audiobook
The Wandering Inn Vol 1 - by pirateaba litrpg, that's also an enjoyable distraction sort of book. Decent audiobook
In the middle of: Still Just a Geek by Wil Wheaton, slow going as it's a re-annotated annotation of his biography.
Just started: System Collapse by Martha Wells - murderbot.
Working my way through Imajica by Clive Barker. I thought it was recommended here, but search did not turn up the thread I remember, so maybe it was on Lemmy.
I am about halfway through it. The fantasy is ... super weird. I am enjoying that aspect of it because things don't go the obvious way or follow the obvious fantasy trope.
I find the portrayal of women (passive and weak, "looking for a man") and the attitude of men towards women (as sexual objects) to be pretty off-putting. It reminds me of Heinlein in that respect, but it was published much later, so I am less inclined to dismiss it as a product of its time. There are some hints that there are "in world" reasons for this, so I am hanging in hoping that it is a tool of the narrative and not just rank misogyny.
I just finished up Gods of Jade and Shadow. It was decently good. It's a fiction with Mayan gods as characters, trying to ascend to/reclaim a throne of power. It's well enough written but the story somehow both overstays and understays its welcome. I would have liked a little more exploration of the mythology or a more fleshed out ending.
I've just started The Glass Hotel by Emily St John Mandel. I am enjoying it enough so far. True to her writing form, so far I don't quite know what the turn will be. Also true to her writing, I have spent the first bit wondering if I find the book compelling only to find I've somehow read 30% of the book.