What are you reading these days?

Just finished The Road by Cormac McCarthy.

Working on Blood Meridian now.

Always meant to get around to McCarthy's work. Finally doing it. Really, really enjoying the experience. I'm hesitant to read a lot of "The Greats" because I find that critically acclaimed books are often pretentious and just...not enjoyable. Not the case here at all. Although, these novels are dark enough that "enjoyable" may not be an appropriate word for everyone.

Finished Brandon Sanderson's Mistborn trilogy (the first one at least, there are apparently 2), really liked it. The first book was really solid and I think it kept getting better from there. The second book dragged a bit during the big political game-playing sections because none of the politics taking place were, well, smart, but I liked what they were going for. The third book blew my socks off every chapter; I think a more observant reader than I could have spotted a lot of the twists long before they happened (and in my defense I definitely thought of a few and wrote them off too soon) but I was got by them all.

Currently taking a Discworld detour in between the "big reads" - Nearly finished Going Postal, it may be my favourite Discworld book thus far. It's a weird niche but I absolutely love books about the postal service and other big logistical operations. There's something I find just fascinating about that sort of thing. Recommend more postal service fantasy please. Writers, write more postal service fantasy please.

I keep trying to read from my ever-growing collection of classics, but I just... Don't want to, yknow? On one hand, I want to be able to say I've read The Iliad, but on the other hand, that means sitting down in the evening after a long day's work, and reading The Iliad. I keep bouncing off them. I got a good way through Moby Dick a few months back before the whaling facts broke me. Now it sits on the embarassingly large pile of Books I Will Definitely Pick Back Up Soon on my bedside table. I think that classics are good, but they're not really "read before bed" kinda books, which is unfortunate because that's when I get 90% of my reading done.

So I've finished Emily Henry's Funny Story book.

I'm a guy, I'm trying to get back into reading as a hobby, Kobo was offering this for less than £1 one day, I impulsively bought it without realising it was a chick lit book.

Man am I so glad I bought this book. It was so funny, so charming, so sweet. Just really absorbing and an easy read overall - absolutely perfect for someone who's been out of the book reading game for some time and needed a little something easy to get back into the swing of things.

I loved the romance and the relationship dynamics in the story. I think the humour was really the glue that kept it all together in one nice package though - without it, it had the risk of taking itself almost too seriously to the point of being sad/depressing, and the humour offered a little breath during the sad moments.

Also, I think folks may remember (also maybe not) that I was reading Delia Owens' Where The Crawdads Sing, citing how much I hated the pace of the book. Well I think I'm about halfway into the book, and the first initial chapters are slow and rough, but if you fight it, it becomes quite compelling as you see Kya grow up and navigate her life under pretty tough circumstances. I still intend to read more of it, especially now I've finished Funny Story.

Just finished All Systems Red (Murderbor Chronicles) and moved on to the second book.

Easy reads. Just what I need right now.

I just started The Nickel Boys by Colson Whitehead. It's a very compelling dark story based on an actual youth penitentiary in Florida.

I'm enjoying The Hands of the Emperor by Victoria Goddard So far it's a pleasant fantasy book with a mellow pace but I can see the conflict that the author is setting up for the main characters.

I'm nearly finished with A Fine Balance by Mistry. It's an excellent novel and I am learning a lot about India during and after partition. I love the characters but it is sad.

I'm about to start The Heaven and Earth Grocery Store by James McBride. This is for Tildes book club at the end of July.

I just finished reading Heroes by Stephen Fry. This was a pick for The StoryGraph's Genre Challenge. I enjoy the Greek adventures but sometimes find them difficult to follow. I really enjoyed this version with the main points and all the stories about a Hero told at once.

I just finished listening to the audio book for Jade City by Fonda Lee. This was a pick for The StoryGraph Reads the World Challenge. Finding books written by authors outside the US & UK, as well as taking place in that country is proving to be very difficult. It took a while for me to get into this story, but the magic/mystic elements kept my attention until the story hooked me. I've already queued up book 2 in the series for my next listen.

I just started Dark Places by Gillian Flynn for my IRL book club and am really enjoying it so far. It's definitely in one of my favorite genres and I was quickly hooked by the mystery of the story.

My hold for The Heaven & Earth Grocery Store by James McBride just became available, so I'll start reading that for Tildes Book Club soon!

I'm a prolific reader, but I go through phases where I can't psych myself up to start a new book. Not even one I've been excited to read for a while.

During these phases, I tend to listen to audiobooks of books I've already read (or indeed already listened to).

I am now going through a re-listen of The Reckoners series by Brandon Sanderson. It's YA, but it's one of my comfiest reads and I find the whole world and narrative super engaging. Right now I'm listening to the fourth book, which is a stand alone spin off story, but I'm fully intending to go through the other three again straight after.

If I were to pitch the series to someone in my own words I'd say it's a series about a world where "super heroes" exist, except none of them are heroes. Instead, they're sadistic feudal lords ruling over a near future dystopia.

The third book in the Riverworld series.

Currently reading: Shadow and Bone by Leigh Bardugo (first foray into the GrishaVerse), Brisingr by Christopher Paolini (listening with my partner), The Return of Ellie Black by Emiko Jean, and Queen of Shadows by Sarah J Maas.

Just finished: Us Against You by Fredrik Backman, The God of the Woods by Liz Moore, The People of Sparks by Jeanne DuPrau, Mother of Death and Dawn by Carissa Broadbent. The previous week, A Touch of Malice by Scarlett St Clair, The Villa by Rachel Hawkins, Graceling by Kristin Cashore, and A Torch Against the Night by Sabaa Tahir, along with A House with Good Bones for tildes book club.

Up next: A Curse Carved in Bone by Danielle Jensen, Finale by Stephanie Garber... I picked up a few short large print books from the library, so I've got those to get through, as well, along with a few other recent purchases. I've also decided to try to clear out the series I've been working on (30 of them on audiobook alone...), which is slow going, but I'll make progress as my holds gradually show up. This thing where I can work and listen to audiobooks is really cool, but sometimes I wonder what I've gotten myself into LOL.

After having finished reading The Terror, and watching the accompanying 10 episode show, I'm now reading The Wager by David Grann because I just can't get enough old timey tales of sailing ships gone wrong.

I'm currently reading Star Wars The New Jedi Order Vector Prime. I've listened to a bunch of the Star Wars old canon books through audiobooks but about ran out aside from abridged versions. I'd heard about the enemy in the series before and was intrigued. Plus this book has some major events in it so I was curious to give it a shot. I'm liking it. I'm definitely of the opinion that Star Wars makes much better books than movies/shows, though this one isn't necessarily a shining example of why. It's interesting to see the Solo kids in action. Having the new enemy be so overwhelmingly stronger in a way that kinda defies all the established physics bugs me a little but it's a space fantasy series so I'm suspending that disbelief. And I of course understand that the new bad guys for an entire series will of course need to be set up with a high bar. One of my favorite EU characters is Mara Jade but it's frustrating how little she actually gets to be fully badass without being crippled.

I'm also reading Death In The Modern World. It's a non-fiction book that I think is meant more to be a text for use in uni courses, so it's plenty thick and slow going. It's what it says on the tin, it analyzes how modernity affects death across cultures e.g. mourning, end of life care, perception of it, impact of social media. I bought a few books on death as inspiration for a project and it's been successful in that regard. Though I underestimated how long it takes me to get through these sorts of books, I should have started reading them months ago to get done in time. But I can always go back if I find something really gold later.

Most recently finished Red Side Story, the sequel to Jasper Fforde's unfortunately named Shades of Grey. I'd rate it as decent, it continues a setting I found interestingly unusual in the first book and ended up giving a few answers to why the world works the way it does by the end.

Before that I went through the first three books of the Cenotaph Road series and started on the fourth but got distracted and bounced off mid way. I might come back to that later, if only to finish the series. It's a fairly classic style fantasy series with the more unusual bits of the sidekick being a giant spider and the multi-world traversal being enabled by the graves of important enough figures.

In progress and what I've spent most time on recently is working through a sci fi (primarily military sci fi) web serial called First Contact, I'm reading it through Royal Road but I believe it's one that was also posted on /r/HFY. That gives an indication as to what sort of story it is for those who've heard of that subreddit, for those who haven't think of the classic trope of aliens in sci fi being portrayed as more technologically advanced/stronger/etc than humanity and then reverse that. Currently about halfway though in the mid 500s of ~1000 chapters (moderate to short length), it started a bit slow with a mishmash of characters but after 5-10 chapters it was interesting enough to want to keep going.

I'm currently reading some magic-system-webnovel type low grade slop, as I do on occasion. I won't name it because I don't want to offend anyone or argue about it; it's fairly entertaining but devoid of any real substance.

Unfortunately, someone foisted a good heaping of covid on me last week, and in recent days the brain fog, exhaustion and body constantly wanting to shut down and fall asleep at random and non-random times have kept me from reading even that for more than a couple minutes at a time. Low grade slop 1, Protected 0.

On my shelf, The Book That Held Her Heart by Mark Lawrence and The Liar's Knot by M. A. Carrick are waiting for me, beckoning, teasing...

I'm still slowly making my way through Toll the Hounds - Book 8 in Malazan Book of the Fallen. I'm enjoying it immensely, and it feels great catching up with some characters after not having seen them for several books. Reading on my phone when I can makes me wish I had the time to sit down with a physical copy and read through the rest of the book over a weekend with some coffee and snacks.

I also read The Death of Grass by John Christopher while I was on holiday. This is an interesting ecological thriller that explores societal breakdown in Britain following a virus mutating and wiping out all grasses (this includes grains). I haven't read as many short standalone stories lately, and this was a fast and enjoyable read. I read almost the entire thing on my plane flights when I wasn't juggling my kids.

I also started Monster Hunter Legion while on my vacation as a a quick mindless read. The books are enjoyable quick reads and are a plus that I can read a few pages here and there without worrying that I am going to miss anything, unlike Malazan where I find myself getting engrossed and try to connect as many dots as I can while I read.

I have other books I'm ready, but most of them I haven't touched in months, and I probably won't pick them up again until the mood strikes me.

Les Pardaillan by Michel Zevaco.
It is a series of 10 books. I am on the 2nd book right now.

By far, it is the best story I have ever read. You are not reading the book but living in it - in France!

I am on the 2nd book but already cried and laughed many times!

Right now I am reading Martyr! by Kaveh Akbar I am about sixty pages from the end but it's probably my favorite book I have read so far this year. Addiction, grief, and spiritual longing are some of the major themes. It's about searching for meaning in life, and death, through art, faith, and human connection.