10 votes

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.

5 comments

  1. acdw
    Link
    I started Work Clean: The Life-Changing Power of Mise-en-place by Dan Charnas. So far, it's alright --- I usually don't "take" to self-help books, but I love cooking, so maybe this'll help.

    I started Work Clean: The Life-Changing Power of Mise-en-place by Dan Charnas. So far, it's alright --- I usually don't "take" to self-help books, but I love cooking, so maybe this'll help.

    3 votes
  2. vord
    Link
    Started up Cory Doctorow's Walkaway. I've been a huge fan for a long time, but that one has been sitting on my shelf for some time for a variety of reasons. About ~150 pages in, I'm enjoying it...

    Started up Cory Doctorow's Walkaway. I've been a huge fan for a long time, but that one has been sitting on my shelf for some time for a variety of reasons. About ~150 pages in, I'm enjoying it quite immensely. This tagline speaks my thoughts the best:

    “Cory Doctorow is one of our most important science fiction writers, because he’s also a public intellectual in the old style: he brings the news and explains it, making clearer the confusions of our wild current moment. His fiction is always the heart of his work, and this is his best book yet, describing vividly the revolutionary beginnings of a new way of being. In a world full of easy dystopias, he writes the hard utopia, and what do you know, his utopia is both more thought-provoking and more fun.”
    -- Kim Stanley Robinson

    Minor spoiler

    So far it does appear to be a prequel to "Down and Out in the Magic Kingdom." A lot of the tech is shaping up to be about the same.

    3 votes
  3. [2]
    JoylessAubergine
    Link
    India in the Persianate Age, 1000–1765 Richard M. Eaton. This is a fantastic book about medieval/early modern India.. It goes into nearly 800 years of political, economic and social history...

    India in the Persianate Age, 1000–1765 Richard M. Eaton. This is a fantastic book about medieval/early modern India.. It goes into nearly 800 years of political, economic and social history without feeling like it is doing any topic a disservice and manages to be avoid overwhelming, even for someone like me who only has a vague knowledge about the region and era. It really busts some of the myths that are common when talking about the relationship between Hindu Indians and Muslim Indians. It is also well written. Highly recommend.

    Prador Moon by Neal Asher. Fun, dark, techy sci fi set ~300 years in the future when AI and Humans work together. Humanity is a multi-system species with FTL travel and has just discovered its first Aliens and they are not a nice bunch, they are massive really hungry Crabs! The characters are forgetable but the story and world is interesting. First book in a big universe, i believe there are around 20 books split into 3-4 series. I will probably read the first series soon.

    3 votes
    1. mat
      Link Parent
      The Agent Cormac books (first in the series) are relatively weak but they're worth sticking with because later ones are much better. Also one of Asher's non-Polity books, Cowl, is one of my all...

      The Agent Cormac books (first in the series) are relatively weak but they're worth sticking with because later ones are much better.

      Also one of Asher's non-Polity books, Cowl, is one of my all time favourite sci-fi novellas.

      2 votes
  4. mrbig
    Link
    Re-Read yesterday Batman: The Killing Joke, by Allan Moore, that I purchased in dead tree mode. A true classic. What a treat. It came with some extra stories: one about a wannabe serial killer...

    Re-Read yesterday Batman: The Killing Joke, by Allan Moore, that I purchased in dead tree mode. A true classic. What a treat. It came with some extra stories: one about a wannabe serial killer (excellent) and the very first Batman story (cool, but extremely dated).

    A great acquisition.

    2 votes