Just finished Empire in Black and Gold by Adrian Tchaikovsky, very much enjoyed that. I’ve just started Midnight and Blue by Ian Rankin. It’s off to a cracking start - Rebus is in prison, what the what now?
As ever though I’m reading dozens of books. Most disappointing is John & Paul, A Love Story in Songs, by Ian Leslie. I bought it after going to a talk by the author. I’m a Beatles fan since childhood, so I thought it would be interesting. Well I guess I’m not a REAL Beatles fan, because I’m finding it tedious. Chapter 7 and it’s still only 1962! I mean sure, it’s fascinating that as a child, George Martin’s family shared a communal lavatory with three other families, but please can we get back to the main subject?
Best of the rest is The Rise and Reign of the Mammals, by Steve Brusatte. Section 4 and we’re only up to the Cretaceous, lol. I love this book, not just for the critters, but for the paleontologists, some amazing characters with epic stories of working with teeny tiny bones.
Last book I read was Bee Speaker by Adrian Tchaikovsky. I normally love his stuff, and I loved both Dogs of War and Bear Head, but Bee Speaker was awful. Such a disappointment.
Currently I’m reading Old Man’s War by John Scalzi.
Oh no, I’m sad to hear Bee Speaker disappointed. It’s on my list - I also loved Bear Head. I’ve just finished Empire of Black and Gold, first book in his Shadows of the Apt series. It was pretty good, good enough for me to try the next Apt book.
Finished the fifth wheel of time book last week, about done with the sixth. They are awesome books. I cant wait till the main characters start fucking things up. Its coming… i can feel it in my bones with every page.
Jesus the rings of fire and death at the end. 5 outta 7 for that book right there. God i wish the show wasnt canceled.
Last was war and peace, would recommend.
Currently “reading” Wisconsin • Minnesota | Midwest Bouldering Guidebooks to plan for an upcoming trip to devils lake. If you plan to go climbing there the book is awesome if not it would still be cool to page through if you are interested in climbing.
I just finished Jonathan Maberry’s Kagen the Damned trilogy. If you’re into epic fantasy it’s a good read.l, even if feels a little rushed in places and the short chapters irked me slightly.
Now I’m starting How to Survive in Ancient Rome by Robert Garland.
Listened to the audiobook version of Cryptonomicon by Neal Stephenson. I’d read it long ago and was surprised how differently I experienced listening to it. Recommended.
Currently finishing a read of the (British) Rough Guide to Cult Pop (2004) … a book about pop/rock music and its makers from the 50s forward to to 20 years ago. Broken up into many sections, put together by a crew of Brit-wits, many interesting facts and stories about a half-century of chart hits. Strong recommend IF you’re into that sort of thing, appreciate a bit-o-snark, and know most of the names already (or want to).
Last: The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism
Current: A Short History of Nearly Everything
Lest you think I’m bragging, the one before that was Omegaverse fanfic.
If audiobooks count, I just finished listing to AlienIII by William Gibson.
It is a script for Alien III and it is voice acted by Michael Biehn and Lance Hendricksen and many more.
It was great.
The Puppet Masters by Robert A. Heinlein, and now onto Invasion of the Body Snatches by Jack Finney. After that I will then read Village of the Damned by John Wyndham.
Last read was Closing Time by Joseph Heller. It’s the sequel to Catch 22, and while not quite as dazzling as that book, I still really enjoyed it, and found some of the writing hilarious and/or deeply moving. It’s got a bit of a poor reputation, but it’s excellent IMO.
Have just started reading Colourless Tsukuru Tazaki and His Years of Pilgrimage by Haruki Murakami - only a few chapters in, but I’m enjoying it. I’ve read quite a lot of HM’s work, so the style is enjoyably familiar. Also, it came with some cool stickers inside for some reason 😁
Last book: The Dungeon Anarchist’s Cookbook. It’s book three in the Dungeon Crawler Carl series, which I’m enjoying a lot. Sometimes the game mechanic details get a little tiring, but they’re typically meaningful to the larger story, or at least the action scenes. The human drama of it is where it really shines, tons of righteous indignation and coming together against adversity. Lots of humor sprinkled in. It can be a little crude and definitely very violent, I’d recommend it as long as those aren’t deal breakers.
Current book: Citadel of the Autarch, fourth book in the New Sun series. It’s good so far, building on the story of the first three books, interested to see how it reaches the situation foreshadowed in the first book via the framing device of this being a memoir written by the main character. The meandering plot with occasional tangent story-within-a-story have made it a slower read for me, but the surreality of it keeps it intriguing during the slower moments. I’d definitely recommend it, it’s clear why this is a well regarded series, very different from my usual read.
The last book I read was Monstrous Regiment, a Discworld book that had somehow slipped past me.
It was pretty good. It’s more or less a stand alone book in the setting with some minor cameos by established characters. There is one conceit that the book runs on, which you’ll likely catch onto early, but it manages to mix up how it uses that conceit to keep it fresh enough. The ending big action set piece is contrived even for Discworld action, but the book really isn’t about the action anyway so it gets a pass. B+ book, one of the lesser Discworld books which still puts it way above most other books.
Such an awesome universe.
Last Book: Is Math Real? - Eugenia Chang
Reading: The Greeks, A Global history - Roderick Beaton
I would recommend both if either subject interests you.
“Is Math Real?” is a really fun book, and gives the brain a lot to chew on. It asks the “stupid questions” of math and explains why they aren’t so stupid.
“The Greeks” is incredibly well written and researched, and goes into many details that aren’t well known about Greek history. This is a subject that has always interested me because of my heritage, and I have learned a lot.
Would you care to share any examples of the math questions?
I can give you the first one!
The book opens up with “Why does 1 + 1 = 2?”, and goes on to explain an answer to the question, including ways where “1 + 1 != 2” and why.
Currently I’m not reading anything but listening to the Magnus protocol podcast (which I highly recommend, but you should start with the Magnus Archives). It’s a horror podcast, where each episode a character is reading a horror story that happened to someone, and in the long run stuff starts to happen with the characters who are reading.
Before starting that I read some of the Dexter books, honestly? The TV show is WAAAAY better, the first book is very similar to the first season, but then it goes off the rails, to the point where there are supernatural entities in the books, not to mention the absolutely horrible Spanish from the author, in one book he a character realizes someone knows he’s there because he gets a happy birthday card, except the card says “Feliz Navidad” (Merry Christmas).
I am reading Moon Zappa’s autobiography, I just finished 1000 Acres by Jane Smiley, which I REALLY recommend, and I’m also reading the collected Wendell Berry, Margaret Atwood’s latest short story collection Babes In The Woods, and the book about the Toronto Gay Village murders. All very good, I am decidedly not into true crime but it happened close to me and one of my friends was part of the Village and they told the cops several times that people were going missing. I feel awful for all the victims, but especially for the very closeted religious ones whose wives and children got to find out their fathers were queer because they found parts of them in a planter, and the whole world got to find out too. It’s not nice to posthumously out someone even under the circumstances when it will have such a profound effect on their families.
