What are you reading these days?

I'm reading Becky Chambers' The Galaxy, and the Ground Within, her fourth full-length novel in the Wayfarers series. It's precisely as you'd expect if you've read any of her other stuff - very strong, well-developed and likeable characters, imaginative and interesting alien races and settings, moderately light on plot but gets away with it on the strength of the characters and world-building. Her books aren't exactly heavy going, but they're light without being shallow. They're so optimistic and life-affirming they never fail to make me smile. I recently finished a laboured and ultimately unsatisfying book by Adam Roberts, Gradisil, and The Galaxy, and the Ground Within is a really lovely change.

I'd definitely recommend the Wayfarers books to anyone who fancies a relaxing and pleasing reading experience, even if you're not particularly in to sci-fi.

I finished Cormac McCarthy's Blood Meridian a few days ago. It was good, but I just didn't get into it.

I then went through Lunar Park from Bret Easton Ellis and really liked it. Now I'm going through Glamorama, which is pretty good, but I don't like it as much.

Lunar Park starts off sounding like a memoir, but it slowly goes further and further from the truth, which was neat. Might be good for folks who are somewhat familiar with Ellis' work who also like Stephen King.

There are a lot of parallels between Glamorama and Zoolander -- enough that Ellis and the Zoolander folks settled out of court. I wasn't sure how many similarities there would be, but it's significant. A few key plot points from the movie are bang on to the book -- but each is still very much unique in their own right.

After this I'll be heading back into the Tom Ripley series (book 2, Ripley Underground).

I've been reading Brandon Sanderson's stormlight archive series. He does a lot of well executed world building and the more you read the more stuff makes sense. I've had a few aha-moments when reading the second and third installments where tidbits are revealed that explains things that are a bit weird in the previous books.

I also like that most characters motives kind of make sense. There's no true evil adversary. Lots of nuance.

The Truth Machine by James Halperin

This book was written in 1995, but has a number of technological predictions that hit surprisingly close to home.

• Personal Digital Communicators: Within a year or two [of 2002] PDCs would be voice-activated, watch-sized, and inexpensive enough so that thieves would have to look for something else to steal. Then a few years later, they would have remote digital video cameras inside, with signals automatically stored off-site. ...Yup. Mostly happened by 2015

• [2003] On average, the gasoline-powered automobiles clocked 96 miles per gallon on the highway, and 72 MPG in city traffic. ...Nope. Missed the electric car.

• [2003] Businesses and individuals conduct a growing percentage of worldwide audio-visual communications over the Internet, free of charge. ...Yup. Happened slower than anticipated, but it did happen.

• [2006] United Airlines initiates supersonic passenger service between Los Angeles and New York City. ...Nope.

• [2006] The FDA approves Merck’s new drug Exovir (generic name, retrocycline), a cure for AIDS. ...Nope, although we are getting closer it seems.

• [2006] Scientists in Berkeley, California, announce they have the technology to predict earthquakes anywhere in the world at least four hours before they occur... Nope.

• [2006] the General Services Administration announces it will seek a private buyer for the U.S. Postal Service. The agency is no longer considered necessary because of the availability of less expensive and more reliable transportation and communication services from private parcel and catalog delivery firms, the Internet, facsimile machines, and cellular digital data transfer. ...Nope, although it could happen soon.

• [2006] French scientists, using a patented technique, revive a mouse frozen two weeks ago. The first mammal ever successfully frozen and revived, the rodent sustains only minor brain damage and frostbite, and otherwise appears healthy ...Yup. Occurred on 2008

• [2006] Ability to electronically transmit a detailed memorandum from one private computer to another. ...Yup.

• [2011] Thumbprints will replace signatures on checks and credit card purchases, a boon for Minnesota Mining and Manufacturing (3M Corp.), the leader in inkless thumbprint technology. Coins and paper money are also officially eliminated as a means of exchange in the United States. All monetary transactions will now be conducted electronically, although previously issued cash will be redeemable indefinitely at banks and government offices. The Surgeon General and other health officials hail the measure as an effective tactic to fight the spread of disease. ...Nope. Although we are getting closer with things like Apple Pay.

• [2012]—Vice President Garrison Roswell is elected the first African-American U.S. President. ...Yup, 2008 baby! (not exactly a tech prediction, but I could not resist)

• [2012] Worldwide malnutrition has already been nearly expunged in recent years because of more efficient methods of transportation and storage. Even in constant dollars, foodstuffs are trading at their lowest levels since 1992, and commodity traders expect prices to fall lower. ...Nope

• [2015] Vladimir Borovski becomes the first human to set foot on Mars. ...Nope

• [2015] Everyone will be able to access television and radio broadcasts, electronic newspapers, and computer network media from any country, instantaneously translated into English or any language of their choosing ...Yup.

• [2022] A record $1.1 billion dollars has been spent on political advertising by both sides of tomorrow’s referendum to divide Texas into five states. ...Again, not a tech prediction, but kinda prescient.

• [2024] Voice controlled level four self driving

• [2030] Self-replicating tunneling machines

• [2047] Digital contact lenses

• [2050] True AI. Holographic screens. 3-D screens etc...

I've started reading Creating True Peace by Thich Nhat Hanh after a conversation with my Dad. It outlines a beautiful philosophy of compassion and reducing suffering that I'm definitely going to try to bring into my life. What I thought was particularly interesting is how well many of the ideas from the book compliment some of the ideas from Aristotelian virtue ethics, especially the idea that we all have seeds of violence or peace, and when we take actions, we water certain seeds and they grow. It reminds me a lot of the idea that repeating actions, or building habits can reinforce character traits within us, such as generosity.

I'm looking forward to finishing the book.

I recently finished Interior Chinatown by Charles Yu. Recommended.

It's sort of about the stereotyped roles Asians have played in movies and TV series and restaurants, while also being about a family living in Chinatown (somewhere) and their history. It has some surreal and very funny interactions between them where it's not too clear what's going on. In the end it makes sense, mostly, in a screwball comedy sort of way.

This is the second book of his I've read, but the first one was so long ago that I forgot half of it, so I'm reading it again. How To Live Safely In a Science Fictional Universe is sort of about time travel and silly science fiction, and sort of about loneliness and a man's relationships with his mother and father. It's considerably more surreal and hard to keep track of, but can be funny at times. (There are diagrams. They don't help.) So, I would suggest reading Interior Chinatown first since it seems easier to understand.

Lately it's And The Band Played On by Randy Shilts, about the AIDS crisis. I'm only 1/4 of the way through and it's already getting kind of depressing / frustrating. The author does a great job of making you feel for these victims, then going on for a few chapters about how doctors are clamoring for funding or some new misinformation was released, then going back to the victim only to describe how he died horribly.

The Paper Menagerie and Other Stories, by Ken Liu. A collection of short stories.

The titular short story won both the Hugo and the Nebula awards. It is the touching tale of a Chinese American who at one point rejects his origins, his mother who couldn't speak proper English, and the magical origamis she used to make for him. If you're one of those people that cry easily with beautiful emotional stories, there's a good chance that you will shed a tear.

The Bookmarking Habits of Select Species is one of the most inventive stories I ever read. Liu describes how fictional species store and transfer knowledge, from mineral to microscopic organisms. Very enticing and interesting.

State Change is about a world in which everyone is born with an object that acts kinda like your soul. The main character is a woman that is born with a cube of ice that she must preserve in order to live.

The Perfect Match is kinda odd because it's science fiction. The themes are not that original, having to do with the influence of large corporations in our life and the loss of privacy and identity. The ending is kinda predictable. But the story is well told and the characters are interesting.

Good Hunting is about how the technological developments in China left no place for the magical creatures that used to habit the land. The ending takes a very interesting turn and is quite beautiful and surprising.

Up until now, that's a superb collection. I highly recommend it.

I just finished The Nature Fix. Really enjoyable and insightful science about how being in nature is beneficial, which I’ve always felt was true.

Now on to Braiding Sweetgrass, which has been on my list for ages.

I’d also love to follow folks on Readng if any of you have an account there. :)

I'm currently reading Rules of Civility by Amor Towles and The Waste Lands: Dark Tower III by Stephen King. I'm enjoying both of them. I've been reading Stephen King's books in chronological order since the pandemic started.

Finally forcing myself to try yet again to read Brave New World.

Deception Point (audiobook)

It really picks up in the second half or so, and overall I quite liked it. It's longer than it should be though, which leads to a lot of repetitions and pacing problems, especially in the first half. The premise and characters are interesting enough, so I think this could have been a very good book, if it was about half as long as it actually is. The romance subplot could have been dropped as well I think, since it felt forced and unnatural. Not every book needs a romance subplot.

The Dresden Files (paperback)

I've finished the first book (Storm Front), and am now about halfway through the second book (Fool Moon), and I'm loving it. The protagonist is a noir-style private investigator, who is also a wizard. (In fact, in the Yellow Pages you'll find him listed under "wizard", not "private investigator".) The Chicago PD occasionally hires him to help investigate supernatural crimes. The wizarding world here isn't actually secret (like in Harry Potter), it's just that few people believe in it. It's all very pulp, and very fun, but you can't really take it too seriously, because I suspect the whole world and premise would crumble under a close inspection.

Fables (comic)

This has been a multi-year project for me from I bought the first volume until I recently finished the 22nd and final volume. The premise is that every single fairy tale and folklore character is real, and live in New York. The quality varies wildly.

The first volume is a noir detective story (so I like it for many of the same reasons I like Dresden Files), with the Big Bad Wolf playing the role of the gritty detective. This is probably the best part of the entire comic, and the part that spawned a video game series which is probably better known than the source material. I think I can recommend the first volume to more or less everyone who likes comics.

From there the serious has its ups and downs. There's a long story-arc that explains why the fables are stranded in our "mundy" world and tells the story of how they form an army to fight the evil emperor who controls the homelands, before he has a chance to conquer our world as well. This whole arc I enjoyed a lot.

There's also a long-running side-plot based on The Wizard of Oz, which probably is a lot more enjoyable for people who grew up with that film as part of their childhood. I ended up skimming much of this story.

There's also a long list of spin-off comics, but I have zero interest in them. I feel like I'm done with Fables.

I was not reading anything lately. Every book i start, i drop after a week of not reading. Don´t know what is happening. I think i didn´t read anything this year.

Decided to get back with a smaller book and am reading "Intermitências da Morte" (Death With Interruptions) by José Saramago. Going well so far.