Finished Cold Days by Jim Butcher! (The 14th book in Dresden Files series.)
It was a wild ride! We are back to world shattering problems and trying to stop them. Just finished the book so haven’t finalised which one to start next, but thinking about reading the next Mistborn book, 3rd one in Wax and Wayne era. Let’s see.
Bingo Squares: None.
What about all of you? What have you been reading or listening to lately?
For details on the c/Books bingo challenge that just restarted for the year, you can checkout the initial Book Bingo, and its Recommendation Post. Links are also present in our community sidebar.
Picked up Mysticism in the 21st Century (Monette, Shoup) after seeing the Insider video of an FBI undercover agent talking about his experience in an accelerationist (in the white supremacist sense) group with esoteric touches. Went down a rabbit hole and eventually came across this treasure.
Aside from the fascinating detail it adds to that topic, I also look forward to seeing the chapters on other spiritual-adjacent stuff.
I’m almost done with Assassin’s Quest by Robin Hobb. I’m contemplating jumping over to The Magic of Recluce by LE Modesitt Jr or maybe The Scholomance series after this.
I’m now on book 10 of He Who Fights with Monsters, and I expect to finish that this coming week.
I’ve really made less progress on my bingo card than I planned, but I still have time to turn that around before the end date.
Just consumed The Last Murder at the End of the World by Stuart Turton. You may recognize him as the author of the 7 Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle. This one is a post-apocalyptic murder mystery. It is jam-packed with questions and mysteries. While I had a few remaining questions about the apocalyptic event that happened prior to the story, every string related to the actual story was neatly plaited in a 1000-strand braid with a satisfying end. Love that author.
I’m listening to Babylon’s Ashes by James S.A. Corey. It’s the 5th book in The Expanse series.
I’ve read these books before, but I just really love them.
I LOVE The Expanse series. I was at a used bookstore over the weekend and a lady next to me was contemplating picking up the Leviathan Wakes. I told her she should grab it because it’s my favorite scifi book series of all time. She had watched the series and loved it, so I told her I think she would enjoy the books too.
There’s so much good stuff there!
I’m almost done the second section of Shroud by Adrian Tchaikovsky. I’m enjoying it so far. At first it seemed almost like Lovecraftian horror but in space, but it started showing more depth as it progresses.
Enshittification as a book and the second book of murderbot as an audio book
Both highly recommended
Just finally finished, Mountain of Black Glass, Tad Williams, and while I enjoyed it, it took me over two months of listening to get it done. The protagonists continued their way through the Otherland, and boy did Williams expound on the details in this book. There was a significant slump in the last third that didn’t pick up until the very end. I’m hoping Sea of Silver Light, is a little quicker.
Other books I’ve finished lately:
- The Library at Mount Char, Scott Hawkins - wild, weird, and one of the darker books I’ve read as of like. Enjoyable, but hard to recommend.
- Audition For the Fox, Martin Cahill - somewhat unimpressed with this novella. The combination of very flowery language, and no stakes meant for a somewhat slow read for a very short book.
I’m currently reading Isabella Nagg and the Pot of Basil, Oliver Darkshire, which is very Pratchett-esc. Lots of witty footnotes, and fun village humor. Pretty light reading, but enjoyable!
Library at Mount Char is excellent, and a must-read for anyone into weird horror.
I think the
Spoiler
repeated murdering of one character’s forced children
really got me. But I agree other than some pretty dark themes, it was very well written.
Your spoiler tag didn’t quite work out, in case you want to edit.
Yeah, worried it might not even after looking the syntax up. That’s no better, is it?
Someone in here recommended the Red Rising series and I’ve been enjoying it thoroughly. I’m on the third one now. The reader for the audiobooks is Tim Reynolds and he does a great job. Thanks for the recommendation, whoever you are!
Also physically reading Martyr! by Kaveh Akbar, but it’s too soon to comment on.
Great series! I’ve heard all but the most recent books multiple times.
Sevro is something else, isn’t he?
Apparently, there is a live action in the works, but it’s been passed around between networks so I’m not sure it’ll ever happen.
The Road by Cormac McCarthy
I’m currently reading We Were Eight Years In Power by Ta-Nahisi Coates. I’m not going to finish it. I’ve read most of his Atlantic articles and I buy the thesis he’s weaving, but I feel like we’re past the point where awareness matters (or that I am insufficiently aware). People know the bad they’re doing and want it. We’re in the activist moment.
I’m next going to start Shift by Hugh Howey because I need some entertainment out of my reading.
Shift was great! It was probably my favorite of the series.
I just finished Dungeon Crawler Carl, by Matt Diniman and now I’m reading John Dies at the End, by Jason Pargin / “David Wong”.
If you know these stories (crazy reality twisting, real world + fantasy, a touch of sci fi) and have others in a similar vein, I would appreciate any suggestions.
my local library doesn’t have more than the first dungeon crawler carl, and Google play only has the second so I haven’t finished the series but I love it. princess donut is the GOAT.
I read John dies at the end a few years ago and didn’t much care for it
I warn you. do not attempt to watch the movie. it is hot garbage.
Suggestions for when your library doesn’t have something that you want to read: Check to see if your library offers it as an ebook. And if not, see if they can get a physical copy for you through inter-library loan.
I always do e-books, using the Libby app to checkout and the Kindle app as a reader for its features. There are loads of good books out there for me to read, so if what I want isn’t available that’s fine I’ll just find something else. Thank you for the suggestion :)
Dungeon Crawler Carl is an Amazon/Audible exclusive. If the book is listed anywhere else, it’s a stolen copy.
Now, that a new publisher is putting out new editions of the books, I’m hoping more libraries get rights to the text.
The audiobook, which I HIGHLY recommend, will always be an Audible exclusive. The narrator is re-recording a full immersion version with a full cast and sound effects, but they release those in episodic format, rather than whole books.
Oh no, I watched the John Dies movie first, last week. I didn’t think it was all that bad but yah, I get you.
The Library at Mount Char by Scott Hawkins. Don’t read anything about it before hand, just strap in and enjoy the ride.
Fantastic recommendation.
On it - thank you!
I just started A Wrinkle In Time.
I may be 40+ years too late but I am doing it anyway.
Aw, it’s been a while, but I read it as a kid and then later as an adult and I felt it held up pretty well.
I’m almost done a short story compilation called men and machines, one of the forwards has a very interesting remark that could be written yesterday. It’s from 1968.
I finally got in touch with my brother, and got my next batch of Star Wars books, it includes a large X-Wing series so looking forward towards it. Sounds like it’s Top Gun in space.
Image of the forward
According to him, we would have at this point now made an intelligent being.
Heh, that does seem so relevant to today’s world. We are still worried about the same things, but the problem with this kind of prediction is, one day we might actually be right 😀
I read so many of the 90s era Star Wars books so good. Really enjoyed Stackpole’s Rogue Squadron.
Nice, not sure if you’ve seen my other comments, but I’ve read in chronological order from the start. So I’ve done 90 or so legends books. They are obviously all over the place being different authors, but can’t say I hated any, some weren’t “enjoyable” as covered topics that weren’t particular interesting to me. But saying that, it’s interesting to see the different perspectives of how people write about their profession, like biology for example. Med-star was still interesting although dry as an example.
My brothers been ranting and raving waiting for me to get to it, it’s one of the ones he’s read himself.
That’s fun! I hadn’t remembered seeing your other posts.
I remember a lot of them fondly, and when I was updating my reading profile on a bunch of the tracking sites, it was fun remembering as many of the ones I had read that I could so that I could put them on there. There were a few that I had forgotten about reading until I was looking at a big list of them and they came right back.
Ah, I haven’t made posts about them, just comments in these sticky posts.
I’ve really enjoyed most of them, I’m particular to short stories it seems. I really enjoyed the “Tales of”. I think there was 4 of them? Basically 5 short stories from different authors with some overlap.
Tales of Mos Eisley had the epicenter of the scene that Obi cut the guys hand off (one of the stories is that guy), the other Tales of the Bounty Hunters followed the bounty hunters tasked with finding Solo. The epicenter being Vader having them together in that scene.
In a single week what would be the style for multiple comments, respond to your own or make a new one?
Anyways. I finished the compilation and looked at my SW list a little closer I still have 5 stories to finish of the Era, the Rebellion, and after that is, the New Republic. There is a trilogy called “The Bounty Hunter Wars” to lead off the former with.
The XWing books make up the start of the New Republic era with Rouge Squadron being the lead.
Personally, I keep all the updates for next week’s post, but nothing wrong with making another top level post, or if it’s related to your previous post, replying to it.
For instance, if your first comment is you finished a book, and then want to make a new comment about what you are starting, you can just make a new top-level comment. On the other hand, if you second comment is an update on the book mentioned in the first comment, then just reply to your post.
Just my suggestions, there is no rule for this, so do as you like :-)
Totally fair. Maybe there was a semi established structure I’ve missed. I’ve gotten yelled at for posting too often in other places -.- where no one else posts.
Out of curiosity, how would you describe the Dresden Files or whatever it is, always looking for some newer stories as well to break stuff up.
I started reading the Bobiverse trilogy (Dennis E. Taylor), just getting into the 2nd book.
The premise and arch is nothing short of stunning but I’m not sure about the development, or the storytelling. E.g.:
spoiler
Where is the author going to fall on Bob increasingly interfering in the development of a less-developed alien species? I sense more and more such dilemmas coming up, as a result of the whole thing branching out more and more, and I’m not sure how the author is going to gather it all again.
Definitely nice to read though, since I read the first book in just a few days.
I loved the Bobiverse books, but I think there are more books than a trilogy. I don’t want to give spoilers though, so you’ll have to see yourself how it plays out with these aliens.
TIL there’s more books in the series. I had only seen it referred to as a trilogy and assumed I was done after book 3.
Looks like 4 and 5 are out, 6 has a completed first draft and a 7th is planned after that.
To the TBR list they go.
Looks like 4 and 5 are out, 6 has a completed first draft and a 7th is planned after that.
Sounds like the defining element of the books themselves.
