Blood Meridian by Cormac McCarthy. Hard to read and very violent book but more i think about it after reading it - more i like it.
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Siddhartha, strong 7/10
Granted it was ages ago but I still remember the feeling it gave me reading his spiritual journey.
Fascinating little novel! Good short read, also love Herman Hesse's works :)
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Siddartha was a great read, didn't expect to find this title here, I remember the part about how our path in life isn't just a circle, but a spiral moving us upwards as giving me a lot of strength in a time when I needed it.
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HAHAHAH completely forgot about that! Understandable rating seeing as I wanted to rate it an 8/10 now as well but felt like I'm too lenient with my ratings sometimes so I decreased a point.. Or maybe it's time to reread it again! :P
Hope you enjoyed it as much as I did :)
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The last I finished? The Master & Margarita. Absolute slog of a book, very densely written, but I am glad I finished it.
Currently working on Dune, which hopefully won't take quite as long.
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I'm not big on Dune. I think it's overrated. I thought the book was alright but there's a huge, glaring, elephant-in-the-room, omission about something very important which makes me wonder if Frank Herbert even knew what he was writing about. I don't wanna spoil it for you but you'll likely start wondering when you get halfway through and almost certainly by the end.
Oh ya, my book had a glossary of the Dune language at the back which it never indicated when I started reading. I only found out after finishing the book. It might have been labeled in the Table of Contents but who's going to notice that? So everytime some special word came up I was usually left confused. That was annoying. Hope you didn't run into that problem.
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Recently-ish I finished the Inkheart "trilogy" by Cornelia Funke, which was amazing. It transported me right back to my childhood when I couldn't go a week without reading some fanatasy novel; it felt like a well-needed break from the stress of being a grown-up.
I also plan on reading the fourth entry that the author wrote 16 years later, but after reading the first three books back to back, I needed something else, so I'm saving the last one for later.
Since then, I've read a few short stories by Taku Mayumura. They are mostly fine, but often lack depth in my eyes.
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^^^ amazing book. one of the 1st chapter books i read
god awful movie
didnt know about a 4th book.
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I recently finished Just After Sunset which is a collection of short stories by Stephen King. I'd give it a 7.5/10. Some stories were very good, some were ok, some were meh, one of them was like 2 pages and pointless. Overall it was pretty good. King definitely excels when he's telling horror, violent, gory, suspense, thriller type stories.
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never been a fan of any of his work. he takes everything i hate and puts it into 1 thing. dont need that in my brain forever.
writing books about under age kids running a train on an under aged girl
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Understandable. I've never read anything by him that was amazing or epic.
What book was about an underaged girl?
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https://screenrant.com/stephen-king-it-beverly-sewer-scene-meaning-explained/
they are 11/12 years old at the time
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oh wow. I was planning on watching IT movie also. I never seen it before. I hope it's not too gruesome.
edit: it's not in the movie so thankfully I won't have to think about that. Still it's disturbing, which I guess is the point with King stories, but I hope it's not just for shock value.
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'Surface detail' by Iain M. Banks - awesome sci-fi, one of the best in his Culture series.
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I love The Culture series, I need to get back into them.
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Sadly i haven't finished any books for a super long time now. I did start a lot of books, but, at most i finished like half of them.
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no shame in trying and later saying fuck it, this is an awful book. keep at it., it could take some time. once you find the right authors its well worth it and the nerddum will consume your very soul
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I have absolutely had a run of just 3-4 books that didn't catch me. Sometimes you need the right book for your mindset and concentration.
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Didn't know there was a book discussion.
I have been reading a lot more in the last 2, started with A Song of Ice and Fire (Game of Thrones) which took me a while to finish, a few other books in between the 5 long ASoIaF books and with my book collection being now already way too big I have read these books so far in 2024:
- Brave New World
- Mistborn 1,2,3
- Project Hail Mary
- Red Rising 1,2,3
- The First Law Series 1,2,3
- Murderbot 2,3,4, 5
- Poppy War 1,2,3
- Warbreaker
- Our Wives Under The Sea
- Mistborn The Alloy of Law
And now I am reading the next Mistborn Era 2 book Shadows of Self with the next books being the rest of the Mistborn books (The Bands of Mourning, Secret History, The Lost Metal), after that if the year is not over I plan on starting The Dandelion Dynasty book 1.
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Nice, we have a lot of books in common.
Really liked Red Rising 1 and just got books 2 and 3 to read.
I read Murderbot 1 and can't find book 2 that I bought. :(
Loved Sanderson's Stormlight Archive, but halfway thru Mistborn 1 and it's not clicking for me. I don't love all his stuff though. He has some superhero YA books that are interesting if you like his stuff and want a change of scenery.
Just finished the First Book of Swords and found books 2 and 3 at the library to see if I should keep it.
I also need to reread Wheel of Time and partial reread-new read of Game of Thrones, but I need clear headspace for those.
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Red Rising 2 and 3 are quite different from the first one but I loved them.
I read the first Murderbot and listened to 2-5 on Audible but I didn't like it as much, they were basically the same thing over and over again so I should probably not listened to them back to back, 5 was the better one though which probably had something to do with it being a novel and not a short novella.
Mistborn 1-3 is great but I can see how people can't get into it coming from Stormlight Archive (though I haven't gotten to that series yet myself)
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I adore The First Law trilogy, and Abercrombie's stuff in general. Highly recommend The Black Company by Glen Cook for a similar feel if you've not read those.
Happy reading!
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Never made it past Dune:Messiah, though I dabbled in the prequel work by his son. What do you think thus far?
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Some of the plot aspects have aged poorly because a lot of the technology we have today was not developed back then. For example, networking. In the novels they rely on more old school methods of communication . But from a thematic aspect, its quite timeless so far as I can tell.
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Yeah, I find that true with a lot of Classic Age SF, although some books are problematic for obvious reasons. I try to look past it when I can; DUNE definitely has "white savior" issues as well as levels of misogyny (at least fortunately tied in with female empowerment)but there's so much worth reading and discussing that I forgive those flaws especially when they're a part of the discussion.
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Maskerade - Terry Pratchett 7.5/10
Feet of Clay -Terry Pratchett 9/10
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Good ole Sir Terry. What has been your favourite series-within-a-series so far?
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Nice, have you seen the adaptation? I actually like it quite a lot.
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7/10 on the movie. they changed a few things, cutting them some slack cause how long ago it was made.
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Yeah, I think it's still a wonderful adaptation and definitely a cozy holiday season watch for me, along with Hogfather.
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Almost done with Startide Rising by David Brin and enjoyed it better than the first book of the trilogy. It's very definitely rooted in the space opera genre, with all attendant tropes cranked to 11. Not for everybody, perhaps, but I'm pleased to have finally gotten around to them and look forward to the third book in this first trilogy.
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The Atlas Six, by Olivie Blake.
Presently reading The Atlas Paradox, and then I will finish it off with The Atlas Complex. The Atlas Series.
So far I've thoroughly enjoyed it.
It's a competition of sorts, set in a world where some magic exists. But usually magical stories are somewhat cute and cuddly, this is not. It's set in the hands of people that are corruptible, and to a large part not very nice - Like powerful people in real life.
Synopsis from book 1:
Secrets. Betrayal. Seduction.
Welcome to the Alexandrian Society.
When the world’s best magicians are offered an extraordinary opportunity, saying yes is easy. Each could join the secretive Alexandrian Society, whose custodians guard lost knowledge from ancient civilizations. Their members enjoy a lifetime of power and prestige. Yet each decade, only six practitioners are invited – to fill five places.
Contenders Libby Rhodes and Nico de Varona are inseparable enemies, cosmologists who can control matter with their minds. Parisa Kamali is a telepath, who sees the mind’s deepest secrets. Reina Mori is a naturalist who can perceive and understand the flow of life itself. And Callum Nova is an empath, who can manipulate the desires of others. Finally there’s Tristan Caine, whose powers mystify even himself.
Following recruitment by the mysterious Atlas Blakely, they travel to the Society’s London headquarters. Here, each must study and innovate within esoteric subject areas. And if they can prove themselves, over the course of a year, they’ll survive. Most of them.
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Rendezvous with Rama, by Arthur C. Clarke. I first read this decades ago, when I was in high school or college and the book was relatively recent. This time I'll move on to the newer books in the series, because the Ramans do everything in threes.
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I, too, read that back in high school in an amazing SF/Fantasy elective class. I'd be interested in knowing your thoughts on the rest of them once you start!
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I am mired in the middle of Gentry Lee's terrible storytelling and embarrassing sense of erotica. If only someone would take this book and cut all the Gentry Lee stuff and revert it back to a Rama book.
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Oh my, never read his stuff but have generally heard the sequels are not as good so it seems I shall still steer clear of them.
Happy holidays!
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Just finished "The Night Circus" by Erin Morgenstern and I loved it!
The characters themselves could've used a bit more depth, but the real star was the circus itself. It felt so incredibly magical! And the descriptions really transported you there. Really recommend giving it a try to anyone who's curious, the whole book reminded me a bit of a dark fairytale in the best way possible. 4/5 :)
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My old book club read that and the general consensus was that the circus was the main character and as a result everything else paled a bit but it was pleasantly diverting.
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Snatched by Mandasue Heller. My second book of hers and FAR better than the previous one - The Front - though that one was pretty good. Funnily enough, I enjoy British crime shows like Broadchurch, Luther, Stay Close etc but never thought I'd actually enjoy reading them. This book, particularly, changed my mind about that.
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The Tokyo Zodiac Murders (ja: 占星術殺人事件, vi: Tokyo hoàng đạo án) and Murder in the Crooked Mansion (ja: 斜め屋敷の犯罪, vi: Hokkaido mê trận án), both by Soji Shimada.
The former book revolves around Azoth, a Frankenstein being of some sort, also a symbolic thing in alchemy.
The latter one takes place in a leaning house (and tower). You know, when you're rich, you've got to build something crazy.
Both books feature the detective astrologer Kiyoshi Mitarai and his partner, Kazumi Ishioka.
The detective is a little weird; that reminds me of L from Death Note.
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Hogfather 9.5/10 normally hate holiday stuff
Jingo 9/10 that ending. i feel the book was pooly named
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Does manga count? I recently finished The Promised Neverland. I rate it a solid 9.5/10. If it weren't for the last two volumes it would be 10/10. I love the worldbuilding; I wish more science fiction was written like that.
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The Last Continent - by Terry Pratchett
7/10
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Finished three books since my last update:
Startide:Rising , which I wrote about in an earlier post and would recommend.
Some brain candy/fluff: Battletech: Patriots and Tyrants because some of my wargaming buddies have convinced me to get back into the tabletop game and I want to re-immerse myself in the lore a bit. It was a serviceable BTech novel.
Vatta's Peace#1: Cold Welcome: Military SF/Space opera that continues the saga of Kylara Vatta first started in the Vatta's War 5-book cycle. I've enjoyed Elizabeth Moon's books a lot over the years and especially her strong female protagonists and Ky is perhaps my favourite. I highly recommend the prior series and though I enjoyed Cold Welcome it felt like she had truncated two books into one but also lost the plot in the middle and dragged things out beyond need. I hope the sequel is better.
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Carpe Jugulum 1998 novel by Terry Pratchett 5/10 it drags on and hardly anything happens
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"The stone that never came down" by John brunner
It's some kind of christmas fairy tale... by the author of "Stand on Zanzibar".
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just a thread for the last book you finished and a quick review. can even just give it a 1/10 stars
could also toss in your favorite book - Star Wars The Old Republic - Revan
looking for new books to read. i mostly do audiobooks well working or playing videogames
last year finished all of Philip K. Dick's short works and have been getting into Terry Pratchetts stuff
https://www.steamgifts.com/giveaway/wuFPb/
https://www.steamgifts.com/giveaway/q3ud8/
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