I’ve put together a collage of some books from last months What are you Reading? post. It’s mostly random, but the more discussion something gets the more it stands out to me. Going forward I’m going to make a new post every month to talk about what people are reading.
Here is last months post. What are you Reading? (July 2023)
At any rate, what are you currently reading or plan to read in August?
Currently reading 11-22-63. Pretty bloody grim and depressing in places, but good enough to hold my attention.
Finished Locked In by John Scalzi not long prior. Great thought experiment considering it was written long before covid too.
I got about half way through 11-22-63 some years back. I think King is just too much bloat for me much of the time or I need to be in a different frame of mind to read him. I’ve always said I’d revisit it, but I haven’t.
I find the audiobooks good for long drives when I’ve got time to kill, but can understand you sentiment.
Read 11-22-63 recently while on a king kick. Love his ideas and was disappointed in the Hulu show, so I went to the source. Illustrates how difficult it would be as a present day man in the sixties. Modern, tolerant ideals clash with the racism, bigotry, ignorance of that era. With some time travel stuff every now and then to remind you this isn’t just a book about the sixties. Still a believable fantasy and compelling read . “The past is obdurate”
I’m 6 books into expanse series, and I’ve kind of lost steam with it. Might need a break. Read bobiverse in full just before it. First children of time book was good but didn’t know if I wanted to read book 2.
Also loved project hail Mary and the dark Forest/three body trilogy.
Any other suggestions?
I have Kim Stanley Robinson’s Mars Trilogy on my shelf waiting for me to finish The Expanse series. Maybe that?
Also, book 7 of The Expanse becomes a lot easier because you stop having the TV show to compare to. And let me tell you, you think you know what Duarte is doing on Laconia, but my friend you don’t. The prologue of book 7 has one of those “I’m sorry, WHAT” moments that really launches you into the next story arc
I’ve been debating starting the Expanse book series. I was a huge fan of the show but never read the books. Watched the whole series twice now. Is it recommended to star at book 1 or would it be advised to start at like book 7 so it follows the series?
I really think the books up to #4 Cibola Burn are worth the read. The TV series is kind of like a final edit of the books, and it’s really fascinating to see the changes the authors chose to make. But you get a lot more detail about the situations and the larger impact in the books.
That said, I reeeeally struggled with books 5 & 6 for only one reason: I hate Marco Inaros SO. MUCH. Which honestly just demonstrates how good these authors are. It was really hard for me to walk though the Inaros plot after having seen it through to completion in the show.
But now on book 7, I’m flying though the book again because I need to know where all of this is going and how our beloved characters are gonna get themselves out of this one
I’m currently half way through the third book of the Children of Time trilogy. I LOVED book one. I think having just read “Other Minds” (Peter Godfrey-Smith, great non fiction about the mental processes of [the animal starring in the second book]) a while back made me appreciate the second book even more than I would have otherwise.
The Messengers by Lindsay Joelle is a short story only available on audible (free for members). It kind of reminded me of Children of Time and I really liked it.
Different style, but I liked all the books you listed and also loved Sirens of Titan by Kurt Vonnegut- time/space travel as envisioned in the 1950s.
And I just went: “Children of time trilogy? That one only got 2 books!”
Seems like at some point in 2022 it has grown to a trilogy. Nice! Thanks for pointing that out, I now know what I’ll read next :D
Book 7 was a bit of a drag for me, more so than book 6. Books 8 and 9 are really fast paced and good. It’s all proto molecule stuff. I remember not caring about the free navy and just wanting to get on with the larger series plot during 6 and 7. You may have to trudge through those to get to the good stuff though.
Im halfway through The color of magic by Terry Pratchett, I’ve read a few other discworld books but I thought it was time to start the first book an try to read them all in the “right” order.
Listening to Making Money, read it a few years ago. Pretty good though I’m not a huge fan of the voice actor doing the reading. it’s tolerable though. Pratchett is what got me into sci-fi and fantasy, he’ll always be one of my favorites and always holds up when I go back to something of his.
It’s probably the weakest of the Discworld books (at least from what I read of them). You can tell that he’s still developing the world and it’s much more just a fantasy spoof as opposed to the social satire masquerading as fantasy spoof that those books then more and more turn into.
Project Hail Mary. Paid more than I liked for a single book but quickly found it is one of my favourite books of all time!
