It has been a while. I have been pretty, and haven’t been around much.
As for the books, I am still in the same place, reading Book 2 of Confederation The Better Part of Valour by Tanya Huff. Though I did spend some time reading a web novel, Book Eater, author is 메켄로 and translator is RainbowTurtle.
What about all of you? Which books have you been reading or listening lately?
Friend recommended me Project Hail Mary which has been a lot of fun. It’s a sci-fi book by the same guy who wrote The Martian. I usually have trouble paying attention and doze off when reading but this one has surprisingly kept me engaged!
I just finished the first book of the Wheel of Time series. It was interesting. My friend who recommended it said they get better after the third book, after the author wrested more creative control from the publisher. I’m on the library waiting list for the next one.
I’ve been thinking about trying Foundation again. I have a feeling my mind will wander a lot while listening to it, which isn’t necessarily a bad thing because I also need to think out the next part of my homebrew module for a game I GM.
That’s interesting about the creative control. I did notice the books getting better but didn’t know about the impact of publisher interference. Do you have any more info on what sort of things the publisher was pushing for? I’m scared to search for it because of the abundance of spoilers (I’m only on book 5).
Just wrapped up chain-gang all-stars and loved it!
My daughter said Fourth Wing and Iron Flame were pretty frustrating with the betrayal/misunderstanding thing lasting like 500 pages. Do you feel like it was worth the read?
I have iron flame but definitely needed a break after fourth wing. The book was good but I agree that there was a lot of unnecessary drama.
Welcome back friend! I was actually thinking of you the other day - I haven’t seen a books thread in awhile (it probably has more to do with my sporadic Lemmy attendance)
Since Jan, I read some more of the expanse (just started book 4) and its been good.
I read book 1 of “The Bear and the Nightingale” and likely won’t read the rest. Immediately afterwards I read the book “Uprooted” and it was So good. It was everything I wanted the bear to be.
Finally got around to Legends and Lattes, and I listened to (and laughed my ass off) to Seth Rogan’s book.
I also read “Between the World and Me”. It took me awhile as I don’t generally like. Non-fiction (especially reading vs listening) but I wanted to give it a crack as I saw it was on the news for some book ban thing in the USA.
All in all, if anyone cares, check out Uprooted by Naomi Novik. It’s a standalone novel and only around 400 pages. Moves and progresses nicely and the characters are good.
Thanks! I was actually pretty regular, but then I disappeared for about 3 weeks, which is why there wasn’t any thread for a while. A bit sad to see that no one posted anything in 3 weeks I wasn’t around though. Anyways, It should be back to normal now.
That’s lots of books. I haven’t read much this year, have been super busy with other stuff, but that’s just life.
What didn’t you like about The Bear and the Nightingale? And how did you like Legends and Lattes? Same question about “Between the World and Me”.
Thanks for the recommendation. Uprooted is already on my wishlist, but will prioritise it now.
I found the Bear and the Nightingale slow and probably needed to pay better attention to the characters as sometimes they would use nicknames that were close to names. I’m sure its some people’s cup of tea but it wasn’t for me. I found Uprooted to be everything I wanted it to be. Bear is based on Russian folklore and Uprooted on Polish. So there were some similarities in styles but I found it just moved quicker and I found myself liking the characters more.
Lattes was fun. Nothing over the top but since it’s supposed to be a story that takes place AFTER the sword is hung up it makes sense. It was enjoyable and it helped me completely understand the “cozy fantasy” sub genre that spawned from it.
“Between the world and me” was one of my 3-6 non-fiction reads of the year. I try to grab some that push me outside my norm/comfort zone (Swords, wizards, space lasers, etc). As a white man, not from the USA, it was interesting to read his perspective. On the flip side, I’m not sure why a teacher was almost fired over it (or at least that’s why it was in the news)
I’m a dad for 3 littles so I have lots of down time to knock off books. Before them I had way less time for reading because I wasn’t home bound everyday by 7:30pm haha
I’m having a plague phase. Recently read the plague by Camus, then Daniel Defoe’s diary of a plague year. Now I’m reading the great mortality by John Kerry. I’m only about a third in but it feels like an approachable history of plague. I find something horribly fascinating about plague. It was maybe the worst shit we’ve ever had to deal with as a species, truly apocalyptic.
The Last Podcast on the Left did an incredible series on the Black Plague. I know this is a book thread but it reminded me because The Great Mortality is one of the primary sources on it.
