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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.
I have finally decided to make the commitment to reading the Wheel of Time books. I had been putting it off but the TV show got me to finally start it. I'm almost done with the third book, The Dragon Reborn. As expected, it's fantastic. I guess I'm probably the last person to read the series but glad I finally got around to it.
You are not alone - I just started The Eye of the World about two weeks ago! We just welcomed our first kid at the end of last month, so I’ve felt separated from real life for about a month now. The chapters of the first book are just short enough that it’s been really easy to pick up between feedings, diapers, naps, etc. and I’ve really been enjoying it as well.
Congrats on the kids! Seems like a great way to spend time between tasks.
Congrats!
I did the same when my little one was born, found I didn't really have the time to sink my teeth into a video game like I used to but I had the time to pick up and put down a book.
So, I read the Ian Fleming and continuation James Bond novels which tend to be quite short and ended up blasting through about 25 of them in eight months!
Enjoy the read through! I had a friend recommend it to me ~15 years ago but I'm glad when I got into it and finished the series.
Took me 2 years to read with other books scattered in between so I wouldn't feel burnt out on the books.
There's an app called Wheel of Time Compendium (not sure if it's on iOS but it is on Android) that is fantastic. Let's you look up someone based on where you're at in the books and gives a spoiler free description of that character. Was very helpful when characters started showing back up after long absences.
Yeah I'm also doing things between books to avoid burnout. I'm on android and just downloaded that app. Great recommendation!
It is a wild commitment. I'm listening to the audio books because I have a long daily commute.
Not sure if it’s the same one, but there are two apps on iOS that may fill a similar niche for anyone looking. One paid, one $3.99. The free one just looks to be a list of characters with spoiler-free descriptions of them sorted by book. Better than nothing, for sure. Thanks for the post; I wouldn’t haven’t thought to look otherwise!
There's probably other ones of these but here's a a WoT read-along blog that's been ongoing for several years. She's not quite done the series yet, but at least for the first 10 books or so there are chapter-by-chapter impressions from a first time reader. It's probably hard to find any spoiler free discussion of WoT, but if you're trying to find some this is a decent source.
Note: The comments ARE NOT spoiler free, do not read them.
I decided I'm going to do WoT next year after I finish book 5 of the Stormlight Archive (comes out in December).
It's such a commitment when you see the size of the books/audiobooks...but it needs to be done.
Yeah I own all the books and have the audiobooks and you know once you start it you have to finish it. Good luck with it next year!
Me too! I just started reading Eye of The World and I'm about 3/4 through it. One thing that's on my mind is that I like it, but I'm kinda asking myself "Do I like this enough to commit to all 15 (or whatever) books?"
Give it a couple more if you can. I'm really enjoying it but the first book was the slowest.
I read through the Ministry For The Future recently. It's an interesting book, mostly about how eco-terrorism and the blockchain will save us from global warming. Each chapter has the book swapping between different areas of focus/subplots with some about the actions of the titular ministry, some short stories about things done by small groups, others about the aid worker who is the second protagonist, and the occasional bit of poetic prose about an abstract. It's a bit hard to follow along until you get into the pacing of things as a result but it's at least fairly quick to read relative to the length.
I also read through How To Talk to Your Cat about Gun Safety -- it's a super short collection of "pamphlets" satirizing how conservative evangelical christian groups would advocate talking to your kids about each topic. And it has a bunch of photoshopped cat pictures and puns. Not super funny or witty but amusing enough for a couple hours.
Next up is probably going to be They All Died Screaming given halloween is coming up. Was recommended it by someone who likes horror a lot more than me so I'm not totally sure what I'm getting into.
I got through the first chapter of Le Lion, La Sorciére Blanche et l'Armoire Magique (I'm typing it from scratch every time so errors are my own.
I'm really proud of myself! I did get an ebook copy so looking up words has been easier, and the first chapter ended with
I pulled up a previously read copy of Kindred for reading before bookclub
And I just listened to Tsumiko and the Enslaved Fox by Forthright. A very slow burn romance/intimacy story about a girl who inherits an estate and a fox person, the latter part of which she's very unhappy about (so is the fox person.)
I also listened to the Borders of Infinity novella collection as part of the Vorkosigan saga read I'm slowly getting through. This is the point at which I shifted from unjoying Miles Vorkosigan much in the same way I enjoyed The Great Brain books as a kid (Anyone else read these?) or Encyclopedia Brown. Oh look the kid's real smart and he accidentally on-purpose succeeds most of the time. But these novellas are where I understand why people love Miles. He has such a strong sense of personal loyalty and justice to those who he considers his people, even when they're not easily considered "people" or easily considered "his."
Next on my list is getting back into The Jinn-Bot of Shantiport which I'd enjoyed but didn't finish before my Libby loan was up, and "A Sorceress Comes to Call" by T Kingfisher.
I usually read books in their original language if I can. There's always something lost in translation. I assume you're reading it in French to improve your language skills? I'm sure we have some French users who can recommend some French books, but I can also see the learning value in reading familiar material in a new language.
Yeah I'm trying to improve my skills! I'm really familiar with Narnia to the point of reading the books to death as a kid (I'm actually running a D&D campaign in the world) and was looking for a younger read in French because it'd be easier.
And then I found out about passé simple an entire tense neither my high school nor college instructors nor Duolingo told me about so I'm learning new conjugations. It's fine 😅
After a week I'm about ten pages in to Män som Hatar Kvinnor, The original Swedish version of The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo. I borrowed it from the library thinking reading a book in Swedish would be a good way to practoce the language, but I think that I've bitten off more than I can chew in terms of reading level. I've read it in English and seen the Swedish movies so it's not tough to figure out what's going on, but I don't know how much that's actually doing for my reading comprehension.
It's definitely helping, just in ways that are difficult to quantify. We tend to think of second language learning as vocabulary lists and grammar rules, but any exposure to an L2 will help build up and strengthen those neural pathways (even, like, watching unfamiliar media without subtitles will do this). You're filling in gaps; quirks and nuances that aren't/can't be explicitly taught, but that will make you sound much more "native"/fluent than just filling in workbooks and rote memorization.
Reading Satanic Verse by Salman Rushdie. So far I read the first two chapters since I reread the first chapter in order to flesh out the character in my head. Otherwise, I am enjoying the book, even though a lot of the Indian context is going over my head.
I'm using the Washington State guide to manage a lot of words or context I'm unfamiliar with.
Is that the study guide that WSU has up on their website? It's super neat that they have that. I'm in WA, and the resources produced by the universities always surprises me!
https://brians.wsu.edu/2017/02/08/cover-satanic-verses/
It's through Professor Paul Brian site, but runs through a wsu handle. The guide is mainly for his students, but open to the public. I find it helpful with some jargon I am unfamilar with.
One of the best books I've ever read; you're in for a ride. I wish I could read it again for the first time.
I just wrapped up the first and second of the Von Lipwig Discworld books, on the recco of another Tilder as a good starting point on Prachett. And, I have to agree, they're fun, engaging books with interesting characters.
Currently listening to White Noise (Don Delillo). It's interesting, though I'm not sure how I feel about Delillos style. I'd wonder if it might be the audiobook narrator, but I've also listened to Zero K with a different narrator, and as much as their vibes were different, i get a similar sense of writing style.
I also have the city we became (Jemisin) on my shelf but haven't begun yet.
Moist is such a .... guy. He tries. I think I really like the characterization of Vetinari in his books. At least three steps ahead of the conman.
I enjoyed The City We Became a lot!
I just started Pillars of the Earth on audiobook. I do actually own two physical copies of this book - I bought one ten years ago, shortly into college, and I have no idea where the second one came from. I had started reading it when I bought it, and I don't remember why I stopped. I don't remember being bored or disinterested; maybe life just got in the way. I'm excited to finally listen to it so I can decide if I want to hang onto my physical copies or pass them along to better homes!
I have also been listening to Invisible Women with my partner. So far, we're about 20% in. It's a bit depressing to be faced with the reality of some of my fears via statistics, but I appreciate that they are apparently valid, are not just living entirely in my head, and are worth discussing. One point that was brought up so far, which I hadn't previously thought about, is that men often aren't aware of the harassment women can suffer on public transportation. The author noted that when men travel with women as companions, women experience less harassment, so men may never actually witness the harassment that women complain about and fear. Seeing is believing, so I connected this with some of the "just suck it up and go do it" reactions I've received when expressing anxiety about traveling somewhere new, where I haven't previously determined safe modes of travel, parking, etc. It's little wonder there's a lack of empathy: it's hard to understand something you've never seen.
Text-based stuff I'm working on includes struggling through Heart of the Sun Warrior (sequel to Daughter of the Moon Goddess). I think I determined that the first quarter or so is maybe over-edited, which made it seem a bit stilted. It feels like the sentences got taken apart and put back together again. I already listened to the audiobook, which I didn't love... I'm reading it in text to make sure my reaction was justified, I guess.
Up next is The Henna Artist and Blood of Elves!
I have been reading the Book of the New Sun series after playing a game called Caves of Qud. It is an interesting series taking place on Earth so far into the future the sun is dimming. It has a medieval setting, mixed with future technology, so things like swords exist but so do androids, flying machines, and laser guns. It is a very alien world, where sometimes you need to carefully read a description or look up a word (the author purposefully uses archaic old english words, along with greek and other languages), sometimes just to get a feeling about what something is exactly.
While I like the prose and feel of the world, I do have some things I don't like. These books do not particuarly follow the structure of most books - there isn't really a middle beginning and end. In fact the first book starts with him in the city and ends with him reaching the wall at the end of the city and just ends.
Second, while I understand that Severian (the main character) is not supposed to be a reliable narrator, I kind of just roll my eyes as every single woman he meets has sex with him two minutes after meeting him. And even if he 'loves' a woman he'll sleep with the next one that strolls by and not really care about how it affects the other. Dude is just knee-deep in pussy and after a while I just rolled my eyes when a woman appears in a page, because he will have sex with her within the next ten pages lol.
I had never heard of the author, Gene Wolf, before. I like his writing style and wish I had heard of him before reading these books.
Exactly why I stopped reading. He's the best, the most handsome, the best lover. It ends up reading like a self-insert power fantasy and just ends up being tedious.
You can't just do the thing you're supposedly parodying and then point to it later and say, "it's just a joke, bro."
I think I made it all the way through the first book and half the second before I realized it wasn't going to get any less stupid. And telling me that it totally flips the script ten books down the road doesn't endear me to it; I'm not going to spend dozens of hours with a thing in the hope that it gets better at the end.
Also, I keep meaning to try and penetrate Caves of Qud. Just reinstalled it, fired it up, but got to the character creator and noped out for the time being.
While I enjoy the books in a lot of ways, if you did not like the first book the rest are not dramatically different in how they are structured and written. I myself had this problem when reading The Wheel of Time novels. I did not care for the first one and gave up through the second one (My general understanding is the mid to mid-late portion of the series is generally poor before a stronger finish, which solidified my decision). So I totally get that feeling.
So uhh spoilers for the book
Also content warning
He's basically writing his own propaganda. Sorta like a book written by a North Korean Dictator. There's lots of hints that several of these encounters are basically rape.
I get it. None of that makes it any more engaging or less eye rolling to read leading up to that reveal.
The one and a half books I read completely soured me on the series and author.
I've been reading Play Nice: The Rise, Fall, and Future Of Blizzard Entertainment and I've struggled to put it down when I pick it up. Not sure what else to say, other than the fact that I loved Blizzard games since I first tried a demo of Warcraft 2 back in 96 and kept playing them up until Diablo 3/Overwatch when I felt they started to lose their magic.
It's interesting to get some behind the scenes knowledge about why that is. It's always been suspected the Activision was behind a lot of that and the book really goes into how and why that happened. It's an interesting read, as a former fan.
I'm also a big Blizzard fan and really want to read that book. Saving it as a potential Christmas gift. I'm glad to hear you're enjoying it. I thought Jason's first book, Blood, Sweat and Pixels was also a very good book about various video game projects if you haven't already read it.
I started War and Peace and I am quite enjoying it! More than I expected. Only about 12% in so far but that's a lot of pages haha
I'm reading Into the Narrowdark, the third volume of The Last King of Osten Ard, a story I've been going through slowly because it's beefy and due to my insatiable appetite for variety in all things I tend to insert lots of other books inbetween the volumes of these fantasy epics. But it was immediately captivating, as I'd known it would be. I deliberately read a lot of disappointing crap, but I always have a good time coming back to a good traditional fantasy writer.
Another book I recently read is The Book That Broke The World by Mark Lawrence (this one is science fiction). After this second book of this trilogy, I retain the opinion that it is his best work to date, and he was already pretty damn good before. Strongly recommended for the characters, the plot and the themes. I think (not going to look it up) it takes place in the Broken Empire world. Can't wait to read the final book next year.
But what I want to write about is Super Supportive, an ongoing web serial you can read for free on that link right there, and which I picked up after seeing it recommended in at least two different places. A web serial, Protected? I can almost hear you ask (possibly because sleep deprivation is making me hallucinate). It appears to be the story of a kid going off to superhero school! Just like My Hero Academia, right? Very shounen. Probably a power fantasy. Generic YA. Terrible.
Wrong. This is the story of a person who lives in an alternative version of our world in which, for reasons that are justified by a solid plot and great worldbuilding, some people have a kind of superpowers (and as a Brandon Sanderson guy I do have a weakness for a solid magic system). Things go wrong for the protagonist, Alden, more or less from page 1, and they keep going wrong at regular intervals. Alden struggles with persistent trauma and feelings of aimlessness and inadequacy. He makes decisions that make his life more difficult, and is not helped by the fact that as far as his society judges such things, he's the weakest or least useful among his peers.
Against this backdrop, and in spite of his struggles, his doubts and his circumstances, Alden remains a helper, empathetic, friendly, focused on the people around him, engaged with his goals and quietly optimistic. He doesn't see it himself, but he's basically a top tier human being, and I love him so much.
The pace of the story is ponderous. The author is willing to use as many words as they deem necessary to explore not only the characters' thoughts, but seemingly the most inconsequential scenes, as well as plenty of backstory. This is something they're very upfront about (and have to remind their readers of regularly). But the older I get, the more I find I like stories about Good People Who Enjoy Each Other's Company, rather than yet more variations of the better known formulas for tragedy and conflict (it got even worse since I began writing myself). This is a story about people, rather than one specific series of events. There is an immense cast of named characters, and several of them are interesting. Readers who like some of these characters will probably like this story.
Now, don't be too misled by my takes above. There is conflict. There is tragedy. There are several intriguing morally grey characters I'd like to read more about, and some outright assholes I don't care for - of course there are, in a story of this scale. Some readers might also find the writing too simple for their taste, or the odd misspelling jarring. But if you read long enough you'll find a story that's thoughtful, smart and has a sharp sense of humor. To me, it's comfort food for the soul, and not the kind that eventually makes you sick. I think I'm in it for the long haul.
I am also actively reading Super Supportive by which I mean I'm all caught up and need something else to read on Royal Road between updates (✿^‿^)
I'll cosign that the appeal is a decent caring person's POV.
Late to the party, but if you haven't read He Who Fights with Monsters on Royal Road I've got to give it a shout-out. Eleven (almost twelve) enormous books, and while the protagonist's a bit of a wanker at first he really grows into the multi-universal mess he gets dumped into. Isekai and heavy on gamerspeak if you are/aren't into that. The audiobook narrator (Heath Miller) does a fantastic job too if you prefer your fiction that way.
Wandering Inn's another good (and free) web serial, not on Royal Road. Also isekai and gamery (I have a type), female protagonist I sometimes want to shake, but I like her and the rest of the cast quite a bit.
I just started He Who Fights! (On Kindle, I'll check and see if the old books are on RR or stubbed now)
I've started Wandering Inn before, but maybe left off in Book 3? 100 hours in or so
Isekai and LitRPG is fine, I actually appreciate how HWFWM plays with the trope. I have also been reading I Ran Away to Evil, Heretical Fishing and ... Merchant Crab 🦀
I've heard of Merchant Crab, the other two are new to me. I'll have to give 'em a whirl. And yeah, HWFWM is one of my favorite takes on LitRPG.
I ran away to evil his a lit RPG style fantasy not focusing on an isekai about the crown princess being sent to kill the Evil Dark Lord who's actually like has some excellent policies for worker protection and rights and the dungeon is a little bit more like therapy. I believe it's written by the wife of the beards and brews series which is an iseksi dwarf brewing beer Cozy read.
Radical fishing is about an Australian iseksi Who just wants to fish in a world where that is considered heresy. He's less genre savvy but ends up with several cute little animal friends.
I keep meaning to get around to Beards and Brews, it looks like fun. And I've already ripped through the Heretical Fishing stub available on RR, dangit. This stuff is worse than popcorn.
I got the first book cheap, not sure if it was a sale or not, I'm truly going to have to ask for a Kindle Unlimited subscription for my birthday to keep up with this. It's like comic books but ... Regular books. (It makes sense in my head)
Beards and Brews is fun! Meandering a bit but it's got solid world-building.
Other things I've read in the serial fiction or might as well be:
Dungeon Core is bad, like poorly written bad, but I'm finishing it. Would be interested in another dungeoncore genre book to compare it to.
Ice Planet Barbarians is the "started as a joke and oops it's actually decent despite/because of the smut" read I'm not quite proud of, but I'm too old to be embarrassed by ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
Hah, I hear that. I made a pretty good start on Everybody Loves Big Chests (protagonist is a mimic), which miiiight count as dungeoncore?, but lost interest and wandered off after a little too much succubus screen time. I'll probably get back to it - it's not badly written and I'm told the smut level tapers off and is mostly ignorable.
If it's good smut it might be ok, I'll take a look. IPB is some fated mate growl overprotective male stuff but it was decently written.
I'm halfway through On Midnight Tides, which is book 5 of Malazan Book of the Fallen. I'm still legitimately loving this series but I'm probably going to take a break or read a light story concurrently.
It feels like I'm really engaging in the book and want to connect the dots to the greater plotline of the series. It's also just something I'm wanting to read in longer sessions and it how I've been doing it which is in small bursts when I have a few minutes on my phone.
May I recommend some Caladan Brood to go with the reading. The music is based on the books and it’s one of the most amazing atmospheric black metal albums ever made.
I actually stumbled upon that recently! I've been on Dungeon Synth binge during work lately and found a few Malazan inspired albums if you're interested I could share some. I need to listen to Caladan Brood fully soon, there being a vocal element was a bit distracting while I was working so I shelved it for another day
Please share!
I've included the albums I've found so far below. I feel like there are more out there, and I plan to do additional looking later. I stumbled upon the first album and did some brief googling and recommended searching to find the others. Eventually I'll search for more Malazan albums and will be putting all these in a playlist for listening to when I finally have the chance to do a longer reading session!
Kurald Galain - The Palace of the Empty Throne (2024)
Dragnipur - The Pannion War (full album 2022)
Forsaken Keep - A Decrepit Tower in the Distance (full ep, 2023)
Forsaken Keep - This guy's bandcamp looks to be all Malazan inspired
The Crippled God - Deadhouse (full album, 2021)
Thanks. It takes some getting used too because I'm mostly listening to Synthwave in that department but it's cool chill working music.
I was on a Synthwave kick a few years ago. I rotate through genres and Dungeonsynth and all it's myriad sub genres have held my interest for awhile now.
I just finished Children of Time and I have say I’m disappointed. I was excited because this series is well-liked and has received all manner of praise.
I would classify it as soft sci-fi and normally I would be willing to overlook a lot of the hand-wavey science stuff but I couldn’t get past some of the other elements.
Essentially:
One element that really bothered me was the narrative style. It’s mostly third person but at times there is this weird omniscient narrator who would explain things like “and then this happened because of this reason but of course Character A could never know this”. It was just strange, frankly, and took me out of the story.
I recently finished The Terraformers by Annalee Newitz. It was a 2023 Nebula nomination. I enjoyed it well enough as an exploration of a super-technological future. The book takes place over fairly long timescales, but I found that the characters didn't seem to mature much for having lived for such a long time. I'd say it's one of the SF books that is better for its premise than for its writing or character development.
Now I'm reading Kindred by Octavia Butler for the book club. I'll save my comments for the discussion, but definitely recommend it.
Next up is New From Here by Kelly Yang, something my daughter asked me to read.
Time To Orbit: Unknown which can be read at the link for free. I loved it a completely reasonable amount, by which i mean i bought physical copies of the entire story and i have zero regrets. I'd describe it as far-future semi-hard sci-fi with a side of mystery novel and a small yet delicious helping of modern internet culture, but viewed through a funhouse mirror. Highly recommend if you like mystery novels, sci-fi, or both.
I finished Authority, the second book in Jeff VanderMeer's Southern Reach trilogy. I really liked it, it wasn't as good as Annihilation but I loved the spy thriller atmosphere of code names, conspiracies, and hypnosis inducing phrases mixed with the horror of Area X and the mundane banality of office politics.
About 2/3's of the way through Acceptance at the moment and I'm also enjoying it, going back to Area X has been really cool.
Absolution, the 4th book arrived in the post the other day but it's a Christmas present so no reading it until the big, jolly, bearded man has visited.
Although, I will get to take it through to Glasgow next month to get it signed by the man himself. I noticed he's doing a UK book tour promoting Absolution so I've grabbed a ticket to go along and listen to him chat and get my book signed!
Has anyone read Melusine by Katherine Addison? I'm a huge fan of The Goblin Emperor and enjoyed but didn't love the sort of sequels. Wasn't sure if this was worth picking up.
Just finished Eyes of the Void by Adrian Tchaikovsky. It's a fun read, with a grand, gang-of-friends-saves-the-universe plot and written like an action movie.
Previous to this I read Service Model by the same author. I think I will remember that one more as it's a unique story that's not quite like anything I've read before. Humorous, but also making commentary on the unintentional (or otherwise) patterns of society.
I really enjoyed Service Model as a real nod to Wodehouse
I liked Children in Time, but have dragged and stalled out on the first of the Tyrant Philosopher's. I loved Elder Race. So he's a real mixed bag for me, but he's prolific enough I can keep trying different stuff.
Gonna check out eyes of the voidI see it's book 2 of a trilogy, which I already own book 1 of so I'm gonna read Shards of Earth
I''ve been reading Open by Andre Agassi and its awesome. I don't really know or care a lot about him, his sport, or anything... but I am absolutely captivated by his life and story. He's an excellent writer and the structure of the book really draws you in and doesn't let go.
Last week I finished James by Percival Everett. Excellent retelling of Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain but from Jim's perspective and breaking off to his own 'adventures'. Excellent read. The word around is to not read this first if its your first Everett novel, and I agree. Its what he tried to do with Dr. No but didn't quite pin down.
Sandworms of Dune, the eight novel (the second of the two sequels by Herbert Jr and Anderson).
I finally started reading Dune. About a quarter through the first book now, and really enjoying it so far. I got very bored watching the 2021 film in the theatre, but I will give it another chance after finishing the first book.
I have to admit that I actually first watched the 2021 movie, became interested in the world and then found myself deep in the second book when the second movie came out.
Did you feel it wrapped up series?
Well, I'm still reading it, so not sure yet.
But I feel like the seventh definitely continued the plotline of the sixth and now the eight does feel like it will (attempt to) reach an overall conclusion.
My apologies, in my head I jumped to you having already finished it instead of currently reading it.
I'd be curious to see what your opinion on the final two books are once you finish them.
No worries.
What I can currently say on the seventh and first third or so of the eighth is that if you didn't enjoy Heretics/Chapterhouse I'd probably not read on (unless you have some strict completionist urge), but if you enjoyed them then it would be worth continuing.
I'd say yes.
Obviously interpretation and it relies to an extent on how you feel about Frank's last two, two which Brian's two are linked.
When I read through the Dunes series (years ago now) I felt like it concluded the series but left me wanting to see what Frank's version of the ending would have been. I'd also love to one day see any notes that he left behind that Brian used in his work. I personally had disassociated the ending in my mind as a sort of "possible ending" to the series, but I want to see if my opinion holds when I do finally revisit this series.
The movies coming out got me to reread Dune, and I feel like I'd appreciate it more reading the series as an adult compared to when I read it in high school.
I have to definitely second the thoughts re the notes themselves and how the original may have looked (among other things, according to the foreword of either Hunters of Sandworms Frank's original plan was for those to be a single book, which Brian and Anderson struggled with; Could Frank have done it, in some form, or would he just have had to expand it as well).
As for the context of the movies:
I have to admit I started reading the entire series for the first time after I watched the first of the Villeneuve movies and then got pulled into reading the first and the entire series.