literally reading my first book, ironically Fahrenheit 451 :)

I might have responded to one of these threads recently with the exact same books (I don’t read books all that fast), but I can’t find it now, so I’ll just risk being unoriginal.

• Paul of Dune by Brian Herbert and Kevin J. Anderson. My 15th Dune series read.
• The Myth of Normal: Trauma, Illness, and Healing in a Toxic Culture by Gabor Mate.

I’ve had a week of leave this week, so have read quite a bit - as well as got a few hikes in and some meals out etc.

• Death and Diplomacy by Dave Stone - one of the Doctor Who Virgin New Adventures. I have been going through these for quite some time and am determined to finish the run, but paused for a while before this one. Overall, there were some nice character beats for the Doctor, but in both style and content this was merely OK otherwise. The plot did was was required, but there were no really big or interesting ideas to take away.

• The First Signs by Genevieve von Petzinger - a study of the non-figurative signs and symbols to be found in palaeolithic cave art in Europe and Africa. There was a slight mismatch between the actual focus of the book and what I was expecting based on the description. The book covers a great deal of context around cultural development across the palaeolithic as well as the geographic spread of the symbols and quite a number of other aspects before it finally - as I had expected to pretty much from the start - actually looking at the surprisingly limited and in some cases very specific range of symbols that actually occur as cave art of this type and era. Ultimately, the book raises more questions than it could possibly answer, and explains why some interpretations of what these symbols may be are at best only partial without offering any kind of complete interpretation of them - which is fair enough. We simply don’t and probably can’t ever know what the intention of the artists was. I do think that there was scope for the book to look at the individual symbols in more detail though. Whilst there is only so much that can be said about dots or parallel lines, there is more that I wanted to know about Spanish tectiforms etc.

• Television by Jean-Philippe Toussaint. Leaving aside a few quirk choices of vocabulary and odd turns of phrase that I imagine are due to the translator, this was an easy and compelling novel to read - at least to start with. I did find it losing direction and becoming increasingly episodic in the last third though. The driving force is the protagonist’s decision to give up television after projecting his procrastination, lack of direction and other negative traits on to that activity, and seeking virtue in avoiding it - or at least in being seen to avoid it. This was written in the '90s and was - at least according to the critique at the rear of the novel -a condemnation of the creeping ubiquity of TV in modern culture. To be honest, I read it more as virtue signalling by a snobbish bourgeoisie. The protagonist is an art historian and the contrast between his appreciation of the minutia of his chosen field of visual arts and the outright dismissal of any potential value in this other field seemed blatantly hypocritical - and I remained uncertain whether this was intended by the author even at the conclusion of the book. His bovine stye of consumption of TV - channel hopping equivalent to today’s doomscrolling - is one that although I understand does/did seem to be common with at least part of the viewership, but is not one to which I could relate. I certainly did not consume TV in that way myself. However, the novel did the work of literature and prompted me to examine my own reactions to the characters and situations in the novel, so in that sense at least, I enjoyed it.

• The Long Way to a Small Angry Planet by Becky Chambers. I had read that not a lot happens for much of the book. Even with that in mind, however, I did find this overlong. Its message is one of acceptance of diversity and of the value of friendship - both of which I am wholeheartedly in favour of. However, I would really have liked some m ore ideas or more worldbuilding going on here to justify this length. Worldbuilding of a type is indeed to be found, but it is pretty much all in the form of very thinly disguised metaphor for millennial western life today. It is not a bad book in any way, but does not inspire me to pick up the sequel.

I am on the last few pages of The Brothers Karamazov by Fyodor Dostoevsky. Thinking of starting Fathers and Sons by Turganev next. Also sometimes listening to The Colour of Magic by Terry Pratchett (a reread).

I’ve just finished the Incryptid series except for about another dozen short stories. The main character of books 1, 2 & 5 definitely had the weakest books, but I’m glad I stuck with it because I really enjoyed almost everything from 6-12.

Now I’m about halfway through Alex Verus book 3. I read the first one a couple of years ago and liked it, but only got around to book 2 last week after seeing that post about the interview with the author. Good stuff.

Next week I’ll probably get back to Incryptid, there’s another trilogy set in the same universe but not part of the main series, I think it’s about one of the side characters’ origins or something. I don’t remember what it’s called.

I’ve just moved and my new local bookstore sells comics too, so I was planning to pick up Something is Killing the Children and The Nice House on the Lake by James Tynion as soon as I get a chance.

Also, halfway through Dead Beat. Still prefer the post-Changes books, still don’t like Butters.

Babel by Kuang at the suggestion of a different thread here.

I’m liking it, which is a pleasant surprise since historical fiction settings usually aren’t my bag (I still try reading it now and then for this type of eventuality).

Just started Papillon by Henri Charrière, the 1973 translation. It’s great so far, although I’m only about 50 pages in.

Have just started Absalom, Absalom!.

I finished Max Gladstone’s Two Serpents and it’s a solid entry in that series.

I’m finally getting around to reading Jim Butchers Cinder Spires books with the 2nd coming out shortly.

Finishing up the last book in The Divine Cities trilogy by Robert Jackson Bennett.

I have on deck:

No Plan B by Lee Child A Darker Shade of Magic by V. E. Schwab The Peripheral by William Gibson Armor by John Steakley

Just picked up Among Thieves by Douglas Hulick and it’s pretty good. Some months back I read the entire Thievesworld anthology series and this scratches the same itch. The usual “we’re on a quest to save the world!” style high fantasy doesn’t do it for me, I like my characters a bit morally ambiguous and my worlds a bit less black and white so this one’s been fun.

I’m deep into wheel of time #10 right now. Thankfully it’s more exciting than 8 or 9 so far

Arc Light by Eric Harry. I’m a big fan of cold war/WW3 novels and this one fits the bill. Most books in the genre kind of dance around nukes but Arc Light doesn’t hold back. The sense of dread i’ve gotten from this book has been awesome.

I’m reading The Terraformers by Annalee Newitz and listening to A Desolation Called Peace by Arkady Martine.

I’m enjoying both. This is the second book by Newitz that I’ve read and I find their writing very engaging. Desolation is the second in a space opera series that’s pretty standard space opera, but well written enough that I’m enjoying it.