Reading: The Sunlit Man by Brandon Sanderson.
Nothing new at my end. Had another busy work week, didn’t get time to read anything. It is over now though, so should be able to finish it this week.
What about all of you? What have you been reading or listening to lately?
For details on the c/Books bingo challenge that just restarted for the year, you can checkout the initial Book Bingo, and its Recommendation Post. Links are also present in our community sidebar.
Always Coming Home by Ursula K. Le Guin, together with other folks of the Hopepunk (german) book club over at !hopepunk_buchclub@feddit.org
Have been enjoying it so far.
Wolf Hall by Hilary Mantel. Not sure where it’s going yet, reviews are raving but I’m having a bit of trouble getting into it. Just finished Pride and prejudice by Jane Austen which I thoroughly enjoyed, and before that the murderbot diaries, also enjoyed immensely. We’ll see.
Back to classics: I’m listening to “The moon is a harsh mistress” by Heinlein. After that I’ll go back to the Terry Pratchett saga, which definitely scratches the Douglas Adams itch
- ‘Medieval occultism’ by Xavier Musquera
- ‘Catharism: The Spirituality of the Good Men’ by Association for the Study of Cathar Culture & Juan de San Grial
Cathar Culture
This is the first I’ve heard of the Cathars. The wiki article on Catharism is a wild read!
I am working my way through the Silo series by Hugh Howey. Currently halfway through Dust, which is book 3. I had heard less good things about books 2 and 3, but I’m finding that I’m really enjoying them. I think most people expect the story in Wool to continue immediately and are disappointed that Shift first focuses on backstories and giving the reader behind the scenes information before continuing the main thread. I had the luxury of being warned about the change in perspective so I feel like I was able to go in with the right mindset to enjoy the story for what it was.
I liked all books in the series, but found the ending a bit disappointing…
Currently reading Clockwork angel (book 1 of Infernal devices series) by Cassandra clare which I started on 31st of July, I’m a slow reader but I’m up to chapter 4
This week I read Burnout by Emily and Amelia Nagoski, hoping the nonfiction would be a good change of pace. I finished it, so I might look up some more nonfiction over the next little while.
I also read Alchemy and a Cup of Tea by Rebecca Thorne, since my hold came in at the library. I thought it was just fine as a way to end the series, and I don’t wish I had the time back. A very fast/easy read.
MEG by Steve Alten
The titular megalodon qualifies it for the 1C bingo square. Unfortunately, the human characters were all disappointing, and some of them survive long enough to appear in sequels which I won’t bother with.
After finishing the second Thursday Next book went right back to deathlands.
I’m halfway through 105 at the moment but may start the third Thursday Next book tomorrow at work.
How’s The Sunlit Man?
Nice. Back to proper speed.
The Sunlit Man is pretty good. If it weren’t for the two week gap would probably have finished it by now. There are certain things I am not a big fan of, but that’s my personal preference, not an issue with the book or story.
I think I have it somewhere but have no got around to it yet. I’ll see if I can find it (the sunlit man) tomorrow and try and get around to listening at the end of this week.
Struggling with Tristram Shandy.
I started off quite well and was getting the hang of the old fashioned language, etc, but then I went a day or two without reading it… and now I realise I have absolutely no idea what’s going on!
Will have another go, but I suspect this is going to be another abandoned attempt.
The Lies of Locke Lamora. Just started this, but the atmosphere and storytelling are fantastic.
I loved that book so much… and hated the next two books so much.
What did you dislike about them out of curiosity? I thoroughly enjoyed all 3 books.
In the second book, it was just a bunch of pirate sailing stuff for kinda no reason that he is suddenly a master of even though he grew up homeless in a city with no access to boats/water. It meandered and didn’t tell a very good story, at least not one I cared at all about.
The third book I can’t even remember. I didn’t finish it because I disliked the writing and story so much. That was close to 15 years ago, so I don’t remember any details. If I remember correctly, at the time of the writing of that third book the author was going through a bitter divorce or his wife was dying of cancer or something extremely traumatic for him and his family, so the writing suffered. I do know that whatever the cause was, he opened up about his severe depression at the time.
About halfway through The Buffalo Hunter Hunter, Stephen Graham Jones. I’m enjoying it in a somewhat depressed way. It’s absolutely well written, but I keep having to look things up to go, “ugh, yet another awful thing that was done to these peoples.”
“If the Dead Not Rise,” by Philip Kerr. Pretty decent so far.
Neal Stephenson’s Polostan, and so far thoroughly enjoying it.
still on Empire of AI by Karen Hao. these tech bros are insufferable🙄