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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 just finished Princess Ben by Catherine Gilbert Murdock. I've loved this book so much, and it still held up. I first read it sometime in early high-school, I think. But the style is delightful and it's an easy read.
I've been re-reading to get back into reading, if that makes sense lol. I'm borrowing a few more books from my sister for this. We've shared books so much of our life, she has a LOT of books I've read. I picked up The Two Princesses of Bamarre by Gail Carson Levine. It's still such a fun, good book.
Gail Carson Levine is by FAR one of my favorite writers. She's just flat out good at fucking writing. Her most well known work is Ella Enchanted, but like all of her books are almost guaranteed to be good. I have yet to read one of her books I don't like. Even her book about writing is super good! And helpful! I will die on this hill, she's an excellent author, definitely check her out if her work seems interesting.
It's for the class I'm taking accompanying my internship, but How to Win Friends and Influence People by Dale Carnegie. I went into the book thinking "This is going to teach me about how to trick people into doing what I want, sounds creepy," but that's not Carnagie's intent at all. As far as there is a connection between being nice to people and benefitting from it, it's more explaining that if you are more agreeable, there'll be less friction, and even some happiness in everybody's life, so here's how to be more agreeable.
(If you think this would belong more in the Anime/Manga weekly thread I can move it. I'm kinda torn since this seems to be a more western style of comic. Not sure if something like a Batman comic would be better there or here.)
I came across a new series on Webtoons called "Lore Olympus". There's 161 chapters at this point and I think the average pages per chapter is somewhere around 100? Anyway, I caught up to the most recent chapter within 24 hours. I actually couldn't sleep last night until I finished everything that I possible could, which meant I finally got to bed at 4am.
I'm a sucker for romance in general and when that's combined with a setting of Olympus and all of the gods (major, minor, and demi) I really couldn't say no. The art is (in my opinion) gorgeous - the artist is quite good at drawing attractive characters! While the story is not the "golden standard" of contemporary romance, it's good enough for me. It certainly does follow some well-worn tropes of "stupid misunderstanding leads to fight", "stubborn character stubbornly doesn't listen to advice of others", "WHY WOULD YOU NOT TELL THEM??", and so on but it's always in service of moving the plot along.
Speaking of which, this is one of the faster moving romance plots that I've read, uh, ever. There's been a lot of developments in the story leading towards what I believe to be the final climax, which haven't been reversed by "stupid character decisions". It really does feel like the characters are growing and learning as you read, which is much less frustrating than the norm.
If you're a sucker for romance, well drawn characters with interesting personalities, a plot that move faster than a glacier's pace, or some combination of those I'd recommend it!
Side note here;
This quite literally felt like an addiction while I was reading it. While reading, I only thought about reading more of the story and finding out what happens. While I wasn't reading it, I kept thinking about it. I was preoccupied with it the whole day, including when I went out with my partner and her friends for drinks and some games that night. I (hopefully) hid it alright, but I didn't really want to be out there, just wanted to get back and continue reading again. And now that I've caught up, I don't really know what to do with myself. Kinda feel a little empty, and drifting through the morning. (Might also have a little to do with my lack of sleeping last night :D) It doesn't always happen this way, but I have experienced this before with a couple other different comics. Does this happen to anyone else? Do you get too into what you're reading and have trouble coming "back"?
I just finished The Martian by Andy Weir. I totally missed this book when it came out and really enjoyed it. It made me think a lot about backup systems and planning for success.
I'm currently reading Klara and the Sun by Kazuo Ishiguro. I'm about 75% of the way through and boy is it a little strange. Last night I sat down and read about 25% of it without even really meaning to. It just sort of slides by nice and smooth.
I'm also reading Killers of the Flower Moon by David Grann. I loved The Lost City of Z and so far this one is pretty good too. I'm only about 10% of the way into it, and picked it up mainly because I wanted to read it before the Scorsese movie comes out. I saw that two of my favorite songwriters, Jason Isbell and Sturgill Simpson are going to be in it, which is a double bonus for me.
I read The Martian when it first came out, and really enjoyed it. I saw that he has a new book called “Project Hail Mary”, which I’ve heard has a similar writing style (apparently in contrast to another that he wrote in-between). I have a copy read to read next on my Kobo and look forward to starting it soon.
Well, still ~300 pages away from finishing Anniversaries (which is quite amazing, by the way (think One Hundred Years of Solitude, but less grand in generational scope (and sans magical realism) but more... human?)).
Also, received my pre-order of the 2-volume hardcover set of Women and Men by Joseph McElroy, which I'm excited to let sit on my bookshelf for a couple of years collecting dust before I decide to give it a read.
Life has been busy, so I’ve not been reading as much as I would like, but have been working through Dan Simmons’ Hyperion. I’m on the first book of the series, and so far have been enjoying it.
When looking through my books I was drawn by the comparison to Asimov, the Hugo award, and the effusive praise that it seemed to receive.
One thing that is interesting is that something in the writing style keeps giving me the feeling that many of the characters are female, but that has repeatedly been not true, until there was one female character where I started to doubt that I was correct based on a phrase in the book, so I looked it up and then saw some unfortunate spoilers.
While I am enjoying the book overall, it is lacking one element that I find important in SciFi, and that is an exploration of morality and ethics. A lot of SciFi uses the technology as an opportunity to explore moral quandaries, which this has touched on, but seems to miss out on an opportunity to explore those topics in more depth. That said, there is an increasing amount of attention being paid to AIs, so that might change further into the book or series — I’m hopeful.
On a completely different vein, I recently read the book Educated by Tara Westover and found that it really resonated with me as I grew up in a similar, though less-extreme environment — where I think that the biggest difference was a matter of opportunity rather than beliefs. Something really drew me to that book, going so far as to look at satellite maps, read company reviews, watch her mom’s YouTube videos, etc.
I just finished reading it "A Path with Heart: A Guide Through the Perils and Promises of Spiritual Life" by Jack Kornfield.
Perhaps the most important book yet written on meditation, the process of inner transformation, and the integration of spiritual practice.
From compassion, addiction, and psychological and emotional healing, to dealing with problems involving relationships and sexuality, to the creation of a Zen-like simplicity and balance in all facets of life.
A good, simple book.