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What are you planning to read this year?
What do you want to read in 2019?
For me, I've not read nearly enough Terry Pratchett, so I think I'm going to devour a lot of his works. I've promised my daughter that we're going to read the Hobbit together when we finish her current bedtime story (so excited for this). There's a lot of non-fiction in my want to read list as well, Homo Deus, and Other Minds spring instantly to mind.
You just said the magic words! :) From another comment I made here a few months ago:
And as for what I plan on reading more of this year; non-fiction too, although in my case on Rome and Byzantium. I have been eying the collection from Adrian Goldsworthy for some time now and finally decided to take the plunge just last week by downloading Pax Romana to my Kindle. I am really looking forward to finding the time to read it, since I have heard nothing but good things.
p.s. If your daughter is old enough for The Hobbit, Discworld is probably reasonably acceptable to read to her as well (although some of the books have more mature/dark themes).
Great advice on Discworld! I've read Mort and Going Postal already, so I reckon I'll pick up the rest of the Death/Industrial Revolution books too. Everyone I know tells me to read the Guards series too, so I suspect I'll be hitting that one hard as well :D
Yeah, the Ankh-Morpork City Watch Arc (of which Guards! Guards! is the first book) is widely considered the fan favorite... and for good reason; It's fantastic!
p.s. I'm kind of jealous of you. I honestly wish I could "Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind" myself in order to go back and read Discworld again with completely fresh eyes. It's a magical experience. :)
I might do Guards! Guards! this year since it is usually mentioned among the best Discworld novels. I read Mort & The Reaper Man last year and really liked the humor, but I'm not really into fantasy so I was a bit turned off by the wizard & magic parts (except for them running around yelling "Yo!" as a battle cry had me dying laughing for some reason). I think I miss a lot of the jokes since he seems to be making fun of a lot of fantasy tropes I'm not aware of since I don't read the genre much. I'm more into sci fi although some novels that blur the lines have me questioning the real differences between the genres (like Rocannon's World & Lord of Light - both awesome btw).
Yeah, the humour in Discworld is rather heavily fantasy trope based meta at times, so that's not surprising.
But if you're more into scifi, I assume you have read The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, right? If not, stop what you're doing right now, pick up the Omnibus edition this very moment and get to work reading it!!! You will love it, I promise... It's basically the scifi version of Discworld, though Douglas Adams takes a far more intellectual and existential/absurdist approach than Pratchett, who is a bit more juvenile in his humour, IMO.
I only read the first one. Sounds like I should pick to the Omnibus and keep going with it :)
I also have the sample of Good Omens ready to go. Have you read that? If so what are your thoughts and what would you do first, Good Omens or Guards! Guards!.
Indeed I have. Gaiman is also one of my favorite writers (<3 The Sandman) and Good Omens is one of my all-time favorite collaborations! I can't wait for the upcoming TV show, too. Narrativia, Pratchett's production company is behind it, Gaiman is writing and showrunning it, and David Tennant is playing Crowley with Michael Sheen playing Aziraphale. It should be amazing!
As much as I love Guards! and Discworld, I would say go for Good Omens first, just so you can read it before the show comes out. :)
Yeah I saw some threads about a show coming out that sparked my interest. I may have to move that one up the list! Thanks I appreciate the advice đ
I recommend "Making Money" next, it's another book that follows Moist and it starts pretty much right after Going Postal ends. Those were my first two Discworld books and I absolutely loved them.
far, far too many that i will likely not actually get around to for awhile, but, in a sorta-order, i can divide (most of) them into three groups:
in the process of reading:
hoping to read:
might eventually get around to:
and this is just what i was easily able to get to easily. i have probably half of a bookshelf of stuff that is mostly unread that i'll probably have to get to next year, lol.
I also have at least a shelf of books that I have yet to read... or have only read a small section of. Mostly Anthropology, politics, ecology, physics, systems theory etc. I do read them, but it always takes a lot of effort and I only have so much brain space after a day of working!
Not quite the same, but I'm planning on reading a lot of sheet music, to improve my sightreading!
A few years ago I made a resolution to read more books by women, but it basically wound up being the year in which I just read a bunch of Ursula Le Guin and a bit of Zadie Smith.
I'll probably try again, and broaden my scope to writers besides Le Guin (she was SO good though). I'm shortlisting N.K. Jemisen and Nnedi Okorafor since I've heard really good things about their Fantasy and Sci-Fi respectively. I'm also going to read a bit of the historical/philosophical contributions of writers like Mary Wollstonecraft (mother to Mary Shelley of "Frankenstein" fame) and Simone De Bouvier.
And, ever the optimist, I'm hoping for Rothfuss and GRRM to finish their stuff but I'm just going to assume not.
I've also been revisiting the Sandman series since Vertigo is releasing a 30th anniversary edition. I've read the first two volumes and they still hold up. I've also ordered the Planetary Omnibus, which I remember loving ~10ish years ago when I first read it.
Sounds like we have similar tastes. I just finished The Dispossessed and I'd like to read more Le Guin but I'm not sure what to read next, any favorites?
Margaret Atwood is really great, if you need another lady of sci-fi. I've been meaning to re-read Oryx and Crake, I read it so many years ago everything's kind of foggy other than the purring humanoids. And I think she wrote some sequels.
If you haven't read The Left Hand of Darkness that's definitely worth reading. I also read The Eye of the Heron and The Word for World is Forest and found them both engaging and enjoyable. Well, "enjoyable" is not the right word since they're kind of bittersweet, but they're very good. They're not as good as The Dispossessed or Left Hand of Darkness, though, which are "must reads" in my opinion.
I've had The Lathe of Heaven on my to-read list as well, which I'm told is one of her better ones, and quite short. "The Ones who Walk Away from Omelas" is also a nice short-story of her's, probably the best critique of utilitarian ethics I've ever seen. I've not gotten around to the EarthSea series, but that might be worth checking out too.
The Lathe of Heaven is great. It's a sort of tribute to PKD so it's a bit more tripped out than most of her stuff, but has a more satisfying ending (IMO) than a lot of PKD stuff that kinda just goes off the rails.
Am I right in assuming PKD = Philip K. Dick?
Yes. I should've wrote that out.
I recommend the whole Hainish cycle. They are all good in different ways, but one I really liked that's a pretty quick read is The Word for World is Forrest
Jemisen's Broken Earth trilogy is probably the best sci-fi I've read in years. It has a richly-imagined world that is totally alien to ours, yet the story functions as a spot-on allegory of current social ills as well. I kept expecting the story to slump somewhere in the second volume, like most trilogies, but it never really did. Each book expanded the world and deepened it without losing the main thread of the story. I could not recommend it enough.
If you haven't read The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet and it's sequels by Becky Chambers, you should check those out as well.
Other great female science fiction authors include:
So I've been redding the web novel Worm and Ward (Worm 2.0) by wildbow. It's an amazing read and Worm 1.0 is a journey I enjoyed taking. If you enjoy the super hero genre, it's a must read. Now, Ward started early 2018 and I'm struggling to obsess over it like the original so I guess I plan on trying to finish it before the end of the year. It doesn't follow the protagonist but a side character from the original series. Maybe I'm just not far enough into it! Anyways, if you are into week serializations and discussion on the chapters I highly recommend checking it out! Worm
As far as actual novels, I plan on doing either a re-read of Wheel of Time or start on Brandon Sanderson's Stormlight Archives. I finished the first book when it came out in 2010 but it's basically like I haven't read it. Other than that, I don't have any plans unless others have suggestions?
Woah, I'm actually doing a WOT re-read right now and it is so long but its definitely a rewarding re-read, a lot of foreshadows and irony. Between the two options I'd recommend the Stormlight Archives though. Even though the series isn't complete yet the books are so satisfying to read (and it wont take nearly as long as WOT).
Worm is awesome! Does it not count as a novel? It's longer than most books I read. Most definitely one of the better stories I've read. Somehow I never get around to finishing it though lol. Is ward a continuation type story?
We seem to have relatively similar taste. Have you tried reading The Emperors Blades, The Lies of Locke Lamora, or Assasin's Apprentice? They're all pretty fun reads, especially the Lies of Lock Lamora.
If you liked Worm, you should definitely finish it. Final arcs are glorious.
About Ward, it is a continuation, but also very different type of story than Worm. It's more focused on the characters and their dynamics. Some people find it hard to get into, though. That's because they expect Worm 2.0. Even though Ward does take place in the same universe and continues where Worm left off, it's not Worm. So if you ever plan to read it, please don't expect Worm.
I do have some recommendations for people who liked Worm, though: The Metropolitan Man.
Like imp said, finish Worm! The ending arcs are crazy fun and wrap up to story nicely. I also agree with imp on Ward. It's a very different story which I believe to be the right move but at the same time disappoints me...
I'll have to check those books out! I've been jonesing for a new series to read! Knowing the Stormlight Archives are not close to being finished is what is really putting me off on not reading them... Thanks!
Worm is one of my favorite stories! It has an attention to likely consequences that makes it feel like a realistic outcome of a world where certain events happen. It's clear the author has put a lot of thought into how their world works. I love the gradual world-building and the focus on the characters' planning and the consequences of it. It's what I really love in fiction. I still need to read Ward.
I don't plan my reading that far ahead.
I've found a cheap book store locally that sells remaindered books. I wander in there every couple of weeks and see what's on the shelves. Also, I'll probably pick up some old favourites from my own bookshelves.
And that's the entirety of my "plan" for this year's reading. :)
That said... I want to read 'Astounding', about John W Campbell's days running the Astounding Science Fiction magazine.
That's my kind of plan. Actually I make a list, but it's mainly so I can pick one when I finish another. Of course, sometimes I pick 3. Or 4.
I am going to focus more on the classics I haven't had the time to read. After them, I have plans to pick up a few non-fiction books.
The Prince, Fear and Trembling, Atlas Shrugged and a few more European authors for the classics.
For non-fiction books, it will be Syntactic Structures, The Great Tradition, The Varieties of Religious Experience.
With how much valuable content is in online articles, it can be hard to push yourself to read the classics.
Good luck with that one... it's a slog and not the ultimately rewarding experience kind either, IMO. I suppose it's valuable to read just so you can understand the rationale behind Libertarian/Objectivist ideology, but it's honestly insane to me that anyone would base their real-world political beliefs on such a novel full of exaggerated caricatures and unrealistic scenarios intentionally stripped of all nuance (social welfare/socialists = evil!, selfishness/ultra-capitalists = good!).
It will be interesting to hear the comments on Atlas Shrugged here on Tildes. Rand isn't well liked on Reddit. For a young person who grew up on relativism and murky values, it's a breath of fresh air, and very funny. However it's always had haters, mostly older people who see it as threatening, with wooden characters, and just poorly written.
Funny, but I can see that there's a very East European feel, similar to the revered Russian authors (Rand was from Russia, so it's not surprising.) Your mileage may vary.
I honestly couldn't finish it. It was too hard to read and I couldn't sympathize with any of the characters: they all just knew they were better than everyone else, and the real problem is that they were. The book didn't question Dagny or what's-his-name at all; it was all about everyone else who just didn't get them. It made me think of the old, "If everyone is going the wrong way, maybe you are" thing. I have a full write-up of my experience on my personal blog, if a plug is okay here (I'm still figuring out Tildes).
It is. I'm paraphrasing, but Deimos has basically said "A user with a personal project they submit when/where relevant is fine, but a business with an account dedicated solely to promoting it on the site is not."
Thank you for the clarification!
Ayn Rand fancied herself a philosopher, and her writing had direct applications to society, and philosophers across the board have strongly negative things to say about her thoughts and ideas.
I myself adored the book when I first read it, and still find it a valuable read, but its Randian philosophy is gross and amateurish.
Reading Atlas Shrugged, for me, was not much of a rewarding experience. It hit that "this book supports an ideology I understand" button a lot, but that's about it. The plot/story had a few fun moments, and more than a few slogs (John Galt's spech being one of the biggest), but after the first few chapters I found myself only reading it to finish the thing.
Rand is rightly derided for having an ankle deep philosophy that doesnât really hold up to any real scrutiny once you look past the pleasing aesthetic and larger than life characters.
When you look closely at her world view, you realize all sheâs doing is accepting all the Marxist criticisms of capitalism at face value, but then inverting the moral compass so that being a tyrannical, selfish, exploitative, and rapacious asshole is actually good now.
It can only really be appealing for people in the âteenage angstâ stage of emotional development because it really does nail and validate the sense of âNobody understands me! Why canât anyone recognize how special I am?â that we all go through. I think if you first encountered her at that age it will leave some impression on your consciousness that you might remember fondly. But if you first read it as an adult, especially after youâve actually learned how to be an active/critical reader itâs realy hard to get into.
That there are so many grown men, (and senators and captains of industry even!) continuing to nurse that sense of petty aggrievement is honestly kind of worrying though.
I read the Hobbit again last year for the first time in like 15 or more years, that was a wild trip down memory lane for sure. I just finished up the Fellowship of the Rings and have started on The Two Towers, and after that The Return of the King of course.
I've only ever made it about halfway through Two Towers before, because back when I last tried to read it my schools library wouldn't let me check it out anymore because I had reached the limit, which is pretty disappointing the limit was so low, how was I supposed to finish it in that time while doing school and homework too?
But now I have them all since they are super easy to find at thrift stores ever since the movies came out. I also have a few other Tolkien related books like The Adventures of Tom Bombadil, as well as a Tolkien Compendium and a movie companion book. I'm also just recently finding out there were a lot more books by Tolkien and his son that I want to try and read this year too if I can find them.
They should be very easy to find and theyâre all quite bland. Theyâre just embellishments in story details from the Silmarillion and the various appendices. Christopher Tolkien salvaged many of his fatherâs notes and unfinished stories and either wrote or hired some ghost writers to pull them together into a publicable volume, but they just donât have that same love for the material and magic of The Hobbit and LotR.
The Silmarillion is also pulled together from appendices and notes, but its a lot more new content that was more complete and fleshed out. Even then it seems contradictory in a lot of places and incomplete, largely because Tolkien hadnât had time to iron out the details. As a result, it kind of has the feel of reading a reconstruction of ancient mythology. Like youâre piecing together the stories of a lost civiliation based on the clues and snippets of story they left.
Ooooh, added to my own Goodreads list!
I've also added that book to my (ever-increasing!) reading list. May I suggest to you "Ending Aging" by Aubrey de Grey? I haven't finished it yet but I've heard good things about it..
I'm currently bedtime-reading my way through Tao Te Ching, and I'll probably have to read it again before the year is out because it is dense. Other than that, I'm really not sure! I don't plan that far ahead, though I have My Favorite Thing Is Monsters volume II on order from the library, so if they ever get it ordered I'll read that.
I've only read 14 of them, but so far I think the best (meaning the one I "get" the most) is 9. I've been perplexed by some of the ones that mention "the sage," since those seem against my moral background:
Seems pretty callous, given the footnote that "straw dogs" are treated with reverence until the ceremony is over, then trampled on. Maybe I'm reading it wrong, or the translation is weird? I'm reading the 1982 translation by D.C. Lau (Chinese University Press, Hong Kong), which features the Wang Pi text (which is what I'm reading, I guess it's more famous?) and the Ma Wang Tui text.
I want to finally read Gravity's Rainbow, I have the book on my desk for months, now. But I'm a little scared.
I have started reading Yuval Noah Harari's - Sapiens. It has been fantastic so far. He also wrote Homo Deus that I will take on. They are about human history, human nature and our place in this world, and where we are going.
The Log From The Sea of Cortez
I learned about the book while watching one of my favorite vlogs where a boat builder named Leo from the UK refurbishes a 100+ year old boat called Tally Ho.
On this episode he visits the man who is restoring the Western Flyer, the boat that Steinbeck and his friend Ed Ricketts took to the sea of Cortez in 1940.
This is a wish list for 2019. Like every year, I end up reading stuff that simply stumble upon my radar rather than sticking to the "master" list. I intentionally left out some Italian literature that I read occasionally, mostly to keep my finger on the pulse of the country.
Reading
Planned
Currently reading Altered Carbon and I'll probably read all three books in the series back to back.
The new upcoming installment in The Dresden Files. Same for the next book of The Expanse.
How do you like Altered Carbon? I really liked the Netflix adaption and can only imagine that the books are probably even better (as nearly always), so I'm thinking of checking them out as well..
Also really looking forward to the new Expanse book in march!
Can't remember if I'd finished it last year or this, but I'd finished Mark Manson's The Subtle Art of Not Giving a Fuck some time ago. A life-changer for me. Made me quit the university I slogged through â and start doing what I love: writing, design, and web dev. Both are a struggle, but at least I'm struggling for something I enjoy.
Reading Algorithms to Live By by Brian Christian and Tom Griffiths at the moment. The premise sounds good to me: I'm all for optimization. No opinion yet, since I've only started recently.
After that... Maybe I'll get to some classics. My sister left me a good collection of books when she moved out.
I'm gonna try and read The Wheel of Time from beginning to end - on book 2 now.
Good luck! And don't let some of the middle books dissuade you from continuing. The pay off of the last few RJ books and the Brandon Sanderson trilogy is well worth getting through some of the more boring RJ books in the middle. (Though, I still love the books that others find to be the more "boring" of the series.) It's by far my most favorite novel and has been for more than 20 years. Brandon Sanderson's stormlight archive is a close second.
I'm not gonna lie it's pretty tough going so far the constant insecurity of most of the male characters is grating. Then Nynaeve is the other end of the scale with the aggressive arrogance. It feels like he constantly is trying to reaffirm "yeah this guy is insecure don't forget"
My girlfriend got me the book south sea vagabond for my birthday last year or the year before. I still didn't get around to reading it. We both love to travel and actually met in Australia (I'm from Germany, she's from the Netherlands). The book is about a new Zealand man in the 1900s who built himself a boat and sailed around the south sea. We are thinking about maybe getting a boat in the future to sail around for a year or so. I gotta finish studying first tho lol
I want to finish Korea's Place in the Sun by Bruce Cummings. I picked it up last year and still haven't finished it, partly because it has so much information and partly because it's difficult to read about what Japan did to Korea.
ě˘ěíë ěźě íęł ěë¤ëŠ´ â If you are doing work that you like is a pure Korean book, about ~220 pages, that I hope to finish by the end of this year.
Aside from that, I'm not really planning ahead. I'll probably read a few programming textbooks as well, depending on what I want to learn about.
Winding through War and Peace. Trying out J.K. Rowling's pseudonymous Robert Galbraith novel, The Cuckoo's Calling . So far ok, but you can tell she's new at the genre. Good characters and good mystery though. Also reading The Constant Gardner by John LeCarre. Also reading Goldbug Variations another of Richard Powers' older books.
Last year I let my fantasy addiction get the best of me, especially after I discovered the LitRPG sub-genre. This year I want to try an balance it with some non-fiction. I'm on my library's wait list via Overdrive for Michelle Obama's recent book and a few other popular titles. Looking for some interesting biographies to throw on my list.
And I might even finish one of the three books I stared writing last year. Probably not, but maybe.
The art of war, The art of seduction, 47 laws of power and new world order. Thatâs my list so far.
47 Laws of Power is an enjoyable read. The stories he uses to reinforce his rules are consistently interesting. I'd say attempting to follow its advice would be fruitless and even sociopathic, but still worth the time it takes to read.
Yeah, iâve taken an interest in these books as more of a personal philosophical learning experience.
I highly recommend anyone whoâs looking for a good biography to check out Napoleon: A Life. In my opinion, the most extraordinary single individual who has ever lived, mere pages of this comprising events that could have entire books on them. The book is grand, informative, painful, and inspiring. My favorite read of 2018.
I finally plan on finishing "The Great War for Civilization" by Robert Fisk. He's a British journalist that spent 4 decades working in the Middle East. He even met Osama Bin Laden a few times and took some pictures of him.
I'm really looking forward to the next installment in the Red Rising series by Pierce Brown.
I'm also working my way through Brandon Sanderson's books. They are all so wonderful.
I've been reading Jonathan Franzen's Purity. Some of the American characters seem a bit too British, but aside from this small complaint it's a great book. I'd like to read more by the same author.
Also going back to the States this summer, and I'm sure I'll be reading tons of sci-fi then.