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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 recently finished Jo Walton’s Thessaly trilogy, which is a fantasy where the Greek gods are real and can travel through time. Athena decides to do an experiment to see if Plato’s Republic would actually work with the help of various philosophers from different times in history.
If that seems like a terrible idea, well, you’re right, but it’s interesting how it falls apart and how they modify it. There are some unexpected twists. It’s quite fun.
I haven't read much in the way of fiction in the past few years, but I just started Dungeon Crawler Carl, because it's been popular at the office lately, and am on the second book now.
It's a lot of fun, and a fast read. Though I do have to point out it's basically an isekai light novel from a western author. I've heard one too many comments praising its originality, like it's this visionary groundbreaking new thing, when it's basically the template of one of the most saturated anime genres in recent years. I'm a fan of several major isekai animes, so I'm not disparaging it on that level...but credit where it's due.
Princess Donut is an extremely realistic cat character.
For most people, myself included, this is their first introduction to the isekai sub-genre. More specifically, this is being branded as LitRPG rather than isekai because of the leveling systems involved rather than just surviving in a different world. The differentiation may be small, but it seems to be considered an adjacent sub-genre. I do not have any experience with isekai, so my understanding of this may be off.
Isekais often prominently feature experience and levelling motifs. Some shows, like Overlord, Log Horizon, Sword Art Online, are straight up "I got trapped in an MMORPG," with all that entails.
Others lack that specific angle, but the world they're in still prominently displays video game inspired features. (Konosuba, for example, is often riffing on Monster Hunter or Final Fantasy, and prominently features characters risking about levelling and choosing classes and skills, but it's just a parallel world with magic.)
I'd say it's one of the defining traits of the genre, with some elements still being there even on shows that stray further from that base. Re:Zero dances on that line, though it's more the character applying his video game logic to the world.
They also tend to start out as light novels or web novels, gaining popularity before being picked up for animation.
Thanks for the clarification on that! It sounds like the Venn diagram of each genre overlaps nearly entirely.
Im enjoying this series. I think it works better than most versions of this idea as its not afraid to acknowledge how ridiculous the concept is. Its always weird when someone shows up in experience point world but they also dont know what video games are.
I'd also really recommend Operation Bounce House, a stand alone book by the same author. It definitely follows some similar themes (capitalism commodifing violence as entertainment) but without most of the really bizarre elements that DCC has.
Love dungeon crawler Carl. Its originality comes from the video game/RPG veneer, which rapidly broke out as its own whole genre
So I will say that the LitRPG genre predated Dungeon Crawler Carl by quite a while, so I wouldn't say it's a source of originality for the concept. There's some great stories (and a whole lot more mediocre ones) using that same veneer released years or decades earlier.
Having said all of that, it's clear that Dungeon Crawler Carl has been a really great introduction into the genre for tons of people who were unaware of it, which is a big achievement in its own right.
I've only recently started reading the series so I've only read the first book so far, it's covering ground I've seen covered in plenty of other series but it is still a lot of fun. Every chance it establishes more of its own unique identity outside of the premise as I read more, I suppose.
I'm not familiar with most LitRPG books. However, some of the things I most enjoyed about the Dungeon Crawler Carl series are the politics, intrigue and worldbuilding about the universe beyond the dungeon. I'm also a huge fan of some of the character interactions and the parody/satire/social critique that's embedded in the narrative. Book one is just an introduction and the setting and context are kind of bland. It gets wilder and wierder. But again, I'm in no position to know how common these aspects are in other LitRPG novels.
I'm going to have the unpopular opinion -- I read the first book and found it boring. I've played my fair share of these kinds of games, complete with smartass dialogue, so none of the fighting aspects seemed particularly new or interesting. I did like the mashup with reality TV/likes/followers/postgame interviews, and Carl's keeping his humanity. The fighting stuff could have been cut down to a half or a third its length IMO.
Not even 15 minutes ago I finished Armada by Ernest Cline. I found this book in the "comedy" section of Libby but I don't think that's correct. I'd simply call it science fiction with a staggering amount of pop-culture references. I maybe chuckled a few times early on but certainly not enough to call it a comedy.
Anyway it was decent. There's loads of video game references and long, drawn out descriptions of video game mechanics that I don't think your average reader would be into and was almost too much for me. But in the end it was good enough and I'm not upset that I read it or anything.
I'm about halfway through Adrian Tchaikovsky's Children of Ruin - I'm tearing through it, loving it at least as much as the first one. They're a lot like Brin's Uplift books but with some absolutely killer prose. I absolutely love the way these stories take place in depressed little bubbles, a handful of people deep in time and space, trying to find meaning in something when they may be the last of humanity, watching centuries go by as they skip through time with hibernation tech.
I've read lots of this "survival at a great remove from the rest of humanity" subgenre but I'm always open to new recommendations in the space.
I love the Children of Time series - but I have to make sure I'm in a positive head space because of all the spiders. I don't mind spiders... but giant ones make me a bit nervous!
Finished children of time myself, after seeing it recommended somewhere on tildes.
I've loved it.
The "twist" at the end was great!
Listened to Donald Goines' 'Never Die Alone' Published 1974. A gritty pulp gang-banger novel. I have this and Dopefiend on my bookshelves at home probably because they had to do with drugs. Didn't really know what to expect, didn't expect much, didn't get much. Really nothing special. I found the book too short, the main story of this book is one character looking at a diary that tells another characters back story, I think that lasted all of an hour in the audiobook. Tupac was a noted fan of Goines work, and I guess it works on some level, if you want a gritty pulp gang-banger book this would be a decent example.
Read Knut Hamsun's 'Growth of the Soil' Published 1917. Knut Hamsun is famous for being a Fascist, one doesn't get to read a novel by a Fascist everyday! This is an interesting book, I haven't really read much like it before. It follows a hard working, independent, strong willed man who settles on some land in the middle of nowhere and builds himself a farm and a community forms around him. I spent a long part of the book wondering when the hammer was going to drop, when was the big conflict coming but it's not that kind of book. There is a wife, there are other people who come and go but in the center of everything is this man who achieves happiness in life through hard work and dedication. In a way it is a very Conservative outlook on life, he who works hard wins and he who deviates loses. But the book is also about a lot more than that, each character reflecting a little piece of life, the forces of change, modernization, ect. the land itself acts like a major character. Through its slow meanderings it's hard not to feel a yearning for this simple way of life. 8/10, slow and rich.
Started listening to 'Arthur Golden's 'Memoirs Of A Geisha' Published 1997. When listening to audiobooks it is during my morning commute and I like to pick 'simpler' more plot based novels instead of some of the heavy tomes I prefer. I have heard this is a good story and so far it has been enjoyable enough about 40% complete. I thought the bit at the beginning with the fake translators note is lame but it doesn't have anything to do with the rest of the story so whatever.
Started reading Charlotte Bronte's 'Jane Eyre' Published 1847. I've never read this very famous book! I've never read any of Charlotte's novels, I have read Anne's 'The Tenant Of Wildfell Hall' and Emily's 'Wuthering Heights' which is a masterpiece. How do 3 sisters in the mid 1800's produce such extremely high quality novels? Beyond me, really an amazing accomplishment. They were voracious readers and consumers of poetry growing up, seems to have paid off. Just over 100 pages into Jane Eyre and it's one of those novels you can tell is a masterpiece from the first page. Very enjoyable and beautifully written. These are the kinds of books where you can really appreciate the art of writing.
I'm bouncing back and forth between two authors: Chuck Tingle and Matt Dinniman.
With Tingle, I finished Bury Your Gays, followed immediately by Camp Damascus, which are two that have "broader appeal" than some of his other work (seriously just go and read some titles). I thought both books were fun, quick reads that gave cishet me a better understanding of representation and social pressure. BYG addresses profit motive vs. representation in media, and how "representation" can feel as crappy as non-representation when handled poorly. CD is a horror book about conversion therapy.
I'm a science fiction and fantasy kid, and I'm only now realizing at 41 that I should have been delving into subsections of the horror genre my whole life. So while I'm also fitting in episodes from Tingle's podcast (Pounded In The Butt By My Own Podcast), I'm also listening to Kaiju: Battlefield Surgeon from Dinniman. I prefer to not give Audible money, so until they come to Libby, I'm not doing the DCC series.
But my library had this one, and the internet said I'd like it, and stylistically it's proving to not be very different from Tingle (Pargin, too, who I quite like): using absurdity to safely approach topics that require reflection, without coming across as so earnest that it causes the reader to roll their eyes.
It's a genre I like more and more: I call it Sincere Camp, but I think the label New Sincerity is winning out. The irony/cynicism combo is tiring, so I'm finding myself more and more drawn to authors/creators who use irony and absurdism to get super close to a topic rather than using the irony to maintain a detached distance.
Anyhow, really enjoying Dinniman, loving Tingle, and still strongly recommend Pargin. The internet says I should read Scalzi and T. Kingfisher next, so let me know if that tracks.
I think you'd like both Scalzi and Kingfisher - she varies her types of books more so if there's a vibe you're looking for I may be able to point you in a direction
I see she has a number of series. I just love spending a long time in a world. Do you have a favorite series from her? It doesn't need to be her longest series, just a universe you liked the most. I'm genre- and plot-neutral.
I'd say her World of the White Rat is the most developed and probably my favorite for that. There are several series in that world.
So as far as possible starting points
The Saint of Steel books are about the last remaining berserking paladins of a dead saint who have been taken in by the Church of the White Rat (whose clerics are more like holy lawyers and accountants working for the poor and vulnerable). They each, so far, have had some romance in them but are IMO mostly fantasy (in that they're not the more modern style of "romantasy" just have a romance plot.)
There's the Clocktaur War Duology which is more classically adventure - group of criminals sent on a suicide mission!
Then there's Swordheart, where your middle aged protagonist (most of Kingfisher's are) accidentally releases an ancient warrior from a sword.
Otherwise her standalones are great too, she's got some more YA-ish novellas and some fully adult fantasies, some fairy tale retellings and some straight out horror and some of those overlap.
Beautiful, thank you. I'm going to knock out Operation Bounce House, the only other Dinniman my library has, then dive into the Saint of Steel series. I always enjoy... institutionalized (?) magical worlds, like worlds in which the magic has been around long enough to be a mundane given of the society, so magical lawyers sounds right up my alley.
I enjoyed OBH, somehow it's very similar to DCC while also being a total shift from DCC and I can't explain that.
Finishing up The Tea Girl of Hummingbird Lane which is such a tonal shift back from my litrpg junk food that I've been having a bit of whiplash
Just finished Cryoburn so there's only one Vorkosigan novel to go and then I'm done.
Just finished Tonic Shop at the End of the World and book 4 of the Newt and Demon series, both litrpg alchemist stories
It's nice to see people here reading Tea Girl.
You're not obligated but I am curious what you think about it, after you have finished.
I just finished it tonight! I'm still mulling over (and we had storms and a power outage tonight) but I want to go back and post in the thread!
Im looking forward to your thoughts.
I finished How to Become the Dark Lord and Die Trying for Tildes Book Club.
I finished Breakfast with Seneca
I'm currently reading Circe by Miller
Thanks to that thread I am 1/3 of the way through How to Become a Dark Lord and Die Trying.
It's really good!
I was on vacation so had a little more reading time than usual.
I'm currently reading Hawkes & Minford's translation of Cao Xueqin's Dream of the Red Chamber. It's one of the so called four great works of classic Chinese literature. I'm enjoying it once I got the people mapped out, but there are a bazillion characters. I don't think I'll read the whole thing, but I'll try and get at least 500-1000 pages of it. The book traces the social life of a great Chinese family through their ups and downs. It's very much social melodrama at it's best.
I finished Shen Tao's The Poet Empress which was really good. I liked the classical Chinese influence, the palace drama, and the twists and turns in it. I would put a content warning on it for domestic violence and cruelty in general.
Finally, I'm half way through Ezra Klein and Derek Thompson's Abundance. I really like their framing and they make a strong vision of an America that creates growth and more equality through better policy approaches. I found it a good antidote to what today's populist movements are missing.
I went to a jazz concert with Lars Saabye Christensen, and enjoyed it so much I bought a (signed) copy of his latest book, Kitchen. First book of his I've ever read. It's pretty good, but I think I prefer him as a jazz vocalist rather than as a writer.
Only got about a fifth through the book before I accidentally left it at the gate in Schiphol. :-(
Schiphol, by the way, is the only airport where I've seen a cheese shop next to a tulip shop. The Netherlands is clearly not a real place, and I'm pretty sure I hallucinated the whole thing.
In any case, at the next airport I bought a copy of Stephen King's 2018 book The Outsider, which I'm currently reading. First book of his I've ever read. Really enjoying it so far! More of a mystery thriller than horror, though I suspect we'll find out there's something supernatural at play. I'll try to remember to make a post when I get further into it.
Having finished the Bobiverse series just this week, I moved on to "The Singularity Trap" because I really like Dennis Taylor's writing style.
Just starting it, a few days in, so not much to say really, other than the author knows how to draw you in. Looking forward to it. Been ages since I read something that wasn't part of a massive series.
I'm reading the second book in the Adventures of Amina al-Sirafi series, Tapestry of Fate, which just came out. I really enjoyed the first one so I jumped on this one immediately. Highly recommend, especially if you're into pirate fiction.
It just showed up for me in Libby. I really enjoyed the first one!
On audiobook, the expanse series. I bounced off the first time, but that was right after watching the show, and comparison is the thief of joy.
For years I didn't read anything physical. I got myself a kobo a few months ago. I have been trying to read more consistently. Right now it's Uprooted, with The Paradox Paradox on back burner.
Another good couple of weeks of reading on my end.
Finished:
Imperial Smuggler by Andrew Moriarty which is book 2 in the Decline and Fall of the Galactic Empire series. The book is overall enjoyable, with two main plots. Plot A, following the crew of a stolen ship that is falling apart attempting to make some money and not get caught. Plot B, following an imperial tribune on the outskirts of a galactic empire in the style of the Roman Empire prior to the fall of the Western Empire. I enjoy Plot A, but I would much rather have more of Plot B. The hijinks that Plot A gets involved in do tie in to Plot B, but at times I find myself wanting to get through to the parts I'm more interested in.
New Madrid by Andrew Moriarty is a prequel short story in the Decline and Fall of the Galactic Empire series. New Madrid is referenced as place where a critical event that happens in one of the character's backstories. Instead, we got some bantering between different characters that was enjoyable and with it being a short story didn't over stay its welcome.
After finishing the novel and the short story I'm planning to put this series on hold for a while. I enjoy the books, but I'll enjoy them more with a decent break.
Progress made
The Silmarillion by J. R. R. Tolkien - I'm ~1/4 of the way through and I remember thinking this was somewhat confusing and hard to follow the last time I read it as a young teen. So far I'm finding this to be very straightforward and easy to follow. I'm probably missing some nuance and will appreciate it more on further rereads or after listening to one of those read along podcasts. I'm really enjoying this and would love for a day where I could just sit and read this cover to cover.
I have a copy of the Children of Hurin and reading this is making me want to pick up copies of The Fall of Gondolin and Beren and Lúthien. I also should finally give the History of Middle Earth a read through. I have the first 9 volumes iirc and have planned to get others eventually. The only "nice" editions of books I've told my wife I want to get as gifts to myself later in life are Tolkien books, a nice Hobbit, LotR, Silmarillion, and Histories of Middle Earth.
[Night of Knives by Ian C. Esslemont] book 1 in the Novels of the Malazan Empire series. I've got the Malazan itch again and I'm diving back in to the setting with the series that happens concurrently with Malazan Book of the Fallen series. Though in this novel's case it is set before the events of the first book of the Malazan Book of the Fallen series. So far I'm enjoying Esslemont's writing. It isn't as rich as Erikson's and that is fine with me. This is his first novel and I've heard he only get's better from here.
I've seen people describe the world of Malazan being the main character of the series and I do find myself thoroughly interested in learning more about the setting and reading more of the books. I'm probably going to be reading Malazan books for the next few years as I don't want to binge through all the books in the setting and I still have 15 more books and 6 novellas to read at the time of this comment with more being written.
The Brothers War - read another chapter as my friend and I both had time to talk about it for our book club. I'm curious to see where this goes as I have no grounding in Magic The Gathering lore and my friend is enjoying me sharing my thoughts and ideas.
The Emperor's Gift - my friend finally got to a place in his school work to where he could read some more so our book club is starting to progress further. I still enjoy some Warhammer 40k and the Grey Knights are always a cool chapter, plus this novel looks at the First War of Armageddon from their perspetive.
Lots of fun suggestions here that I've added to my reading list.
Personally I finished the venerable Neuromancer recently and am now reading Shogun.
Future Days: Krautrock and the Birth of a Revolutionary New Music - David Stubbs . This is an in-depth account of the music that came out of West Germany in the 70s [it was dubbed as krautrock though some music fans disregard that term]. It deals with the associated culture and important bands like 'Kraftwerk', 'Neu', 'Can', 'Ammon Duu II' which rose from the ashes. If someone is a progressive rock fan and wishes to delve deep into music evolving from Germany [and they tried a path independent of the blues oriented tradition rooted in US and UK songwriting], then this is a decent book.
To Kill a MockingBird : I am currently in the process of reading it. I am sure it won't have as much of a cultural impact on me since I am not an American even though I recognize the major themes in the book. I think this is/was even taught in American schools [please correct me if I am wrong]. My first impressions are that the book takes it's own sweet time to get to the crux of the topic. For eg] Almost 60 pages in and nothing related to the main plot even happens. One is just relegated to side characters [I wonder if the book could have been compressed and presented in a more concise form as well; not that I dislike long books].
I saw the associated Gregory Peck film from 1962 as well and it seems to keep quite in pace with the novel.
Recently finished Ted Chiang's short story collection Story of your life and working through Exhalation. Thoroughly enjoying myself.. It's Sci-fi based but really makes you think philosophically at times. For example, story of your life - that short story is the inspiration for Arrival.
I try my best to read Fox News articles and the comments when I think there's no possible way that the "news" team could avoid a story or that commenters may, for once, see through the bullshit.
I'm convinced they're bots because man, I've only seen evidence of common sense like once or twice, and I've been looking for years.
Just finished The Gunslinger, the first book of the Dark Tower series. Enjoyed this one more than I thought I would so I am on to The Drawing of the Three. I'm not necessarily committed to the whole series, I will keep going as long as I enjoy it.
At first I was hesitant to start because I read somewhere that the books contain references to other Stephen King works that I am not very familiar with. But so far this doesn't seem to be a problem at all, at least the first book stands very well on its own.
This was one of the first books I finished on a very small, minimal e-reader. I used to think that bigger fancier screens and features lead to a better reading experience but an easily pocketable distraction free device that comes with me everywhere goes a long way. I find myself reading in many situations where I wouldn't have before.
I am also working my way through A New World Begins by Popkin about the French Revolution. It seemed like the best pick on the subject that my small local library had. So far it seems easy to digest, I am enjoying the writing style.
Enjoy Dark Tower! I just finished the 6th book recently, still one to go so can't say if he sticks the landing yet but so far it's been great. Re: tying to his other books, it does in ways that I won't mention for spoilers, but it's so far been a more "you'll have some cool noticing of the references" if you read the book, rather than needing to have read them. (Of two I've noticed at least, I've read one and not the other, but the one I haven't I didn't feel like I missed anything crucial).
I've been really into reading romantic sci-fi for a while now, I guess it's a really quite niche genre of books, but there are a lot of fun stuff there, and I enjoy the more character driven and focused stories a lot. I got into it when I figured almost all the books I read one year was by male authors, and I wanted to read more from a different perspective as well.
Currently I'm reading Spacer's Cinderella by Adria Rose, and it's quite a lot of fun, someone suggested it to me because I've been really enjoying Jessie Mihalik's books. It's kind of a very loose retelling of cinderella, where everything is turned into quite different ways than the original stories.
I'm going a bit back and forth, and also am reading the Sector series of books of Nicola Claire, which started out as romance books in the first sub series, and have been moving more and more over to being space opera as it has been going.
And as a third on going series I'm reading Black Ocean by J.S. Morin, this one is just a lot of kind of silly and fun stories, not really much of a deep thing, but I've quite enjoyed the 7 first books at least.