Another week where I didn’t get to read anything.
What about all of you? What have you been reading or listening to lately?
For details on the c/Books Bingo, check the Midpoint check-in post.
I just picked up a nice edition of Robin Hood by Henry Gilbert, which I’m somewhat ashamed to admit that I did not realize had been adapted from all the old ballads into an actual novel (in 1912!)
Weird Gutennberg has his King Arthur book but not this…
I’m reading The Wax Child by Olga Ravn for next episode of the podcast. We found out after choosing it that it was longlisted for this years Booker Prize and to be honest, I can see why, it is utterly brilliant and, as athesitic Satanists, right up our street as its a re-telling of a 17th century Danish witch-burning - based, as they all were, on bullshit, lies and the male religious zealots hatred of women. Not a happy story but it is wonderfully written.
I’m also reading Kit Whitfield’s In The Heart of Hidden Things which is the second in her Gyrford Series - if you like fantasy novels set in a rural, agricultural alternative England in which the Fae are an everyday thing (not tinkerbell type faries, I mean proper morally ambiguous Gaelic/Celtic type faeries) then this series is for you.
I’m currently reading Portrait in Sepia by Isabel Allende. I read some books by her years ago, which I loved, so when I saw this one in a tiny library, I had to take it. I’m not far in yet, but it’s a great read so far.
I finished both Murder on the Orient Express and Murder on the River Nile by Agatha Christie. They were both fun and well-written, but I don’t think detectives are my cup of tea. I may read some more of her work if it’s snowing and I’m in front of a fireplace or something. They’re cozy to read, even with all the murders taking place.
Now reading “Newton’s wake” by Ken MacLeod. Haven’t read too much of it yet, but so far so good. I was previously reading “an inside job” by Daniel Silva, but I put it away. Like I mentioned last week, this series has always been very Israel-centered, but the last two books Silva is clearly ignoring the elephant in the room. He does so by pointing at several European countries. Once I noticed it while reading it, I also noticed the story was severely lacking in depth because of it, characters are very one dimensional and sometimes do very weird things just to get a plot twist going.
If there is another book that’s more aligned with fediverse values, I’m not sure what that is.
Yeah, it’s a fediverse favourite.
The Faith of Beasts!! Just showed up on my doorstep.
It’s book 2 of The Captives War from James S.A. Corey, same author(s) as The Expanse. One is George R.R Martins understudy.
It’ll help keep my mind off my mothers death.
My guy, I’m sorry for your loss.
Thank you, it’s just life though.
Loved the first book, but the short story that came out after it made me mad. I really hope it didn’t spoil the identity of the great enemy.
They show them on the cover art from the polish edition of the first book, it jives with the short story.
Tap for spoiler
Aren’t the main characters of the short story
Spoiler
just humans?
It seemed to me that they were the enemy the conquerers are scared of. The huge mystery that the first book ended with appeared to be resolved right there.
Reading: The Frugal Wizard’s Handbook for Surviving Medieval England
Listening to: The Eye of the Bedlam Bride
“People have bones for a reason, Carl”
Enjoy the book!
I just started book 6 too!
I enjoyed the Wizard’s Handbook. I kinda want more stories written in that world.
Bit of a slow year for me, but currently reading Eric by Terry Pratchett.
I’m reading Dungeon Crawler Carl and listening to the complete Sherlock Holmes (I have no idea what’s going on in the latter, I keep falling asleep).
I hope you find the time to read soon, OP.
I’m reading Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury. I think I read this for school a long time ago. Good book.
Thanks! Things have started to settle a bit, hopefully everything will be sorted out soon.
Sure is. Read it for the first time about 2 years ago. Feel like I can taste that world. Really enjoyed it.
Oh awesome! I own this book and have not read it, it’s on my list to read this year.
I’m reading The House in the Cerulean Sea by TJ Klune. This covers my last bingo square: Cozy. I’m still early on but I’m really enjoying it so far. It’s fun, not too serious, and exactly what I need right now.
I finished There Is No Antimemetics Division by qntm last night. While the science fiction was cool, I had some difficulty because the timelines appeared to be jumping around. I guess it was thematic in the sense that our memories are/were incomplete similar to how a character might experience them in-story. I don’t read a whole lot of cosmic horror stuff, so the grandness of some of the descriptions felt different as though I were watching someone else play Shadow of the Colossus.
I’ve had 1Q84, Book 3 sitting on my desk begging and taunting me to finish it, so I might just get to that once and for all.
I also just read There Is No Antimemetics Divison and absolutely loved it. I get what you mean about the timelines but as an avid SCP content consumer I was pretty comfortable with it. It’s worth noting that the book is pretty much a compilation of what was originally a more serial publication so that probably contributed to the breaks.
Hold up. There’s more SCP content? Is there prerequisite reading that would’ve helped the story make more sense for me?
Oh boy, you’re in for a ride if you choose to go down this road lol. So the SCP Foundation is a wiki style serial and collaborative writing project that has been going strong since 2008. It’s a sort of spinoff of the creepypasta genre of web serial work that has a semi-codified structure. There are tens of thousands of entries at this point and the range of topics and styles is immense. There are some authors that have done far more work than others and have a sort of established mini-lore canonization that sometimes conflicts with other authors and sometimes fits nicely within them. It’s a true grab-bag of content so it’s hard to say where to begin but memtics and anti-memetics play an ENORMOUS role in many many many of the stories and concepts. edit: when this book was published as a book, they kind of changed some things around so it isnt technically part of the foundation, hence why they say “the organization” instead
FURTHER EDIT (sorry not sorry): here is a link to an entry by qntm that serves as a basis for the beginning of what became the book, but in true SCP format meaning it is written as an entry in a government style database and follows the established format of first discussing the Special Containment Procedures of the Keter class entity. SCP-055
That’s so interesting that the lore is created by a community, but even moreso that someone can actually author a work based on their contribution! Pretty interesting to see how far apart the first and last entries of the story were published. This is a rabbit hole I think I am ok skipping for now lol
When the Moon Hits Your Eye - John Scalzi
Thr Fifth Elephant - Terry Pratchett
And re-listening through the Dungeon Crawler Carl series in anticipation of the new book releasing May 12
Oh no, more time without reading for you :(
I’m still working my way through “The Remaining” books. I finished book 4 yesterday and then did the two nouvellas today that sit in the middle, then straight away started book 5.
To begin with I enjoyed it but thought it was a bit mid, I didn’t really like the hooraaa, US of A patriots vibe that I thought was going to be a lot more prominent throughout to begin with. Thankfully as it has gone on it hasn’t been too heavy with that shit, a little bit of flag worship or how this country used to be so great bits here and there but I have found that it is easy to ignore and the story going on has been worthwhile to ignore that stuff.
I think I realised I was enjoying it more than I thought i was when I got a bit choked up at the scene where his dog was trapped up on the roof of a building and he was struggling through bouts of unconsciousness trying to get back to the dog and I really felt the emotion in that. And I’m a cat person!
So yeh, looking forward to continuing these books!
Ooh nice. May add it to my list.
And yeah, hopefully will get back to reading soon.
The Remaining is on of my favorite series! I’ve read the first 6 books at least 3 times each, and then reread the second set of 6, plus the 4 add on novels after that. I love me some post apoc fiction. Also, DJ Molles finds a nice way to make the characters a little more introspective than other series do, which I appreciate. Hope you stick with them!
Oh yeh, I love some post apocalyptic stuff too, I mean I’m nearly 200 books deep into the Deathlands series of books which says it all really xD
I will definitely stick with it for a while, my list only has 11 books on it though including the two novellas trust and faith. I know there is another series of books about Lee that I haven’t looked into yet, I was going to see how I felt at the end to see if I wanted to pick those up.
I haven’t heard of Deathlands before. 200 books might be a bit beyond my attention span haha. As for the Remaining, there are the 6 books, 2 novellas, the prequel (Project Hometown), then the follow on Lee Harden series that has 6 numbered books and 4 other novels interspersed in the timeline.
The official list is here. Enjoy!
Nice, thanks for the info and link, would you recommend the Lee Harden series as well?
And I don’t blame you on Deathlands, I think the mainline books are up to ~165 or so, I completed one spin off that only has 5 books and I’m on about book 10 of 50 of a different spin off and I love it, just been taking a break with some other things as it has Ben around 2 years of constant Deathlands for me to get to the point I’m at xD
It has a lull in the middle where it isn’t as good but it picks back up towards the end. All of the books are some what stand alone stories following the same characters with a pretty loose over arching narrative. The low in the middle are pretty much only connected by the characters and the books sit as standalone stories and I think that’s one reason I liked it less at that point.
Yes, reading the Lee Harden series will wrap up the overall storyline. The Remaining series doesn’t end on a cliffhanger or anything, but the next series evolves it further.
Ah OK, nice! Thanks :D
Reading “Mansfield Park” by Jane Austen ! I’m going through everything she’s written, I finished Pride & Prejudice a few weeks ago and I just got this one !
