Not much change at my end. A bit further in the books, but still reading the same books:
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Ultra-processed Food by Chris van Tulleken
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The Bullet Journal Method by Ryder Caroll
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The Bands of Mourning by Brandon Sanderson, 3rd book in the 2nd era of Mistborn
What about all of you? What have you been reading or listening to lately?
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I just finished “Cannibals are Human: A District Officer’s Wife in New Guinea” by Helen McLeod.
It’s a very interesting book about the wife of an Australian district officer who was trying to curtail inter-tribal warfare between PNG highland tribes during the decades when PNG was an Australian mandate.
The woman herself is quite admirable hiking 100kms in the highlands mostly barefoot and covered in leeches. It also describes the state of tribal warfare as it stood, in objective terms, without being too derogatory or dismissive. It emphasizes the truly vast differences between regional tribes, their farming prowess, and the existential threat that looms over all of them from centuries of war. It also doesn’t wrap everything up in a neat bow at the end. The Australian governance wasn’t perfect, the influence of western technology and medicine was paradigm-shifting and both good and bad, independence was a shitshow, but the author considered it a painful necessity.
I’m listening to Pratchett’s Mort and noticing how neither Pratchett nor Serafinowicz had quite figured out the Death character yet.
I also DNF-ed The Great When (did Moore swallow a thesaurus?) and Setterfield’s The Thirteenth Tale.
This week I finished up Star Wars “The Shadows of Mindor”. Has some interesting lore with some potentially disastrous consequences.
I’m a little ways into book 3 of the Silo series “Dust”. The entire series has been a fantastic read so far. Just when you think you got a grasp on things, another layer is ripped apart to start unraveling again.
Up next I have Star Wars “X-Wing” series which consists of 10 books, so my alternate reading while doing this batch will probably be catching up on some my Short story collections. Like Nebula and Hugo yearly “Greats”.
I just finished:
Starship Troopers I still think it is satire. I don’t want to believe that there are people who actually believe that the described system is a good one. It is more military fantasy than sci fi. I was entertained but prefer the movie for once.
The Stepford wives is a very quick read and I was well entertained. From a contemporary point the position of the main character still feels very Hausfrau, even so she doesn’t feel this way. I would have loved to get a little more depth for the reason and how the Hausfrau thing works but maybe it is better to be a mystery.
Currently reading:
House of leaves. Damn I needed a break from this book. It is very tough to read but a cool concept. I think I might have to appreciate it from afar.
Jurassic Park never in my life did I read a book which is so close to my profession and I know it is bending the reality and science a bit, but damn do I feel good seeing a Fasta file actually printed on paper. Name dropping everywhere. Even in the introduction it already starts where you have to check when does reality end and fantasy starts (wanted to take a pen and add Franklin to the list). But I should not have googled the author.
I’m reading House of Leaves right now too. I just got up to chapter 9 and had to put it down. What an incredible book.
I just started Moby Dick. This Ishmael guy really doesn’t want to sleep with some random harpooner.
Just grabbed Among the burning Flowers from my local library. Really enjoyed the other roots of chaos books so I’m looking forward to this one.
I read most of the Bullet Journal Method and what I learned from that has been really useful. Also Mistborn is one of my favorite series, and the last 2 books of era 2 are great.
I recently finished listening to Watership Down by Richard Adams, read by Peter Capaldi. ~11 hours long, if Libro FM was right.
I’ve been listening to him at work, and Peter Capaldi making animal noises and accents just maaaaade my days :3
That sounds amazing. I love Capaldi and had no idea he did audio books. I’ve also been wanting to read Watership Down.
Empire of the Dawn, the third book in the Empire of the Vampire series that just recently dropped. Which I am quite digging, a big epic fantasy series about vampires that is really engaging and well written.
Finished The Strength of the Few by James Islington on Monday.
I need some time to digest. I don’t know if I’m gonna get anything else read this week as I need a palate cleanser from reading so many heavy and dark books lately, but I also can’t imagine anything but a direct sequel to be a satisfying follow-up after that book.
That one has been on my list for a bit. I read the Licanius trilogy by the same author and loved it.
If you liked Licanius, good chance you’ll love Hirarchy.
Just finished The Will of the Many on Monday and started Strength. There’s a lot going on in this second book and I’m only 10% in
The end of The Will of the Many really puts a spin on everything that happened prior, and The Strength of the Few runs with it and it’s insane. I don’t know how Islington does this, his books are amazingly paced and plotted.
I have to admit, I had to take periodic breaks while reading Strength, no spoilers, but it’s extremely involved with separate concurrent plots that are all in depth.
Yeah I listen to audiobooks and the interweaving plotlines with similarly named characters is confusing
Trying to remain spoiler free here, but how does the audio book handle the… context switching, shall we say, when there’s a perspective change? I’m curious since I recommended the series to my wife who also enjoys audio books.
On the written novel there was a icon below the chapter header to signify.
No helper audio to indicate the difference.
a different narrator, for example, would REALLY help
I’ve started Going Postal, I’ve never read anything by Pratchet before
Love that one! Going Postal, Mort, and Equal Rites are my favorites in the Discworld series so far (I haven’t read all of them)
The audiobook is very good, the voice for Mr Pipe is well done
The Moon is a Harsh Mistress by Robert A. Heinlein
This was a summer read of mine last year. Good stuff.
Re-reading house of leaves since it’s been so long and just started Dracula for a book club
How is the re-read going? Will you do anything different? Like completing a chapter or going back and forward?
Yeah it’s been like 5 years so far I remember some of it but I definitely missed some footnotes from last time. It’s basically brand new loving it so far
I just started The Secret Commonwealth by Philip Pullman today. I’m only a few pages in, but it picks up about 20 years after The Book of Dust and 8 years after The Amber Spyglass. I have no doubt I will love this book as much as the last one.
I also just finished My Lesbian Experience with Loneliness by Niagara Kabi. I have started grabbing short books randomly at the library and this was my last pick up. It’s a memoir manga and a pretty quick read.
Finished Winter Tide for next podcast episode (recording is on Saturday) and have just started Old Soul by Susan Barker. I’m only 30ish pages in but its a strong start - for fans of literary horror akin to Peter Straub’s work.
Started the Memory Police today and before I knew it I was 70% in. Easy read, and sad. Will likely wrap it up tomorrow.
I really enjoyed Memory Police!
