I have been a bit busy, and with not too much motivation to do much, so am still at the same place as last week.
Still reading Shadows of Self by Brandon Sanderson. Book 2 of second era of Mistborn.
I did read a bit more of it though, and it was interesting to see the antagonist and some of the other characters who appeared.
What about all of you? What have you been reading or listening to lately?
There’s a Midyear Bingo check-in post, do take a look. Even if you haven’t started this year’s Book Bingo, you can still join, as there are still 6 months remaining only 5 4 months to go!
For details, you can checkout the initial Book Bingo, and it’s Recommendation Post . Links are also present in our community sidebar.
Becoming Earth by Ferris Jabr How life has impacted the formation of our planet.
Threads of Life by Clare Hunter History of needlework and embroidery.
Chokia Jazz by Francis Spufford Noir detective novel set in an alternate America in which the indigenous population wasn’t wiped out by plauges.
Ancillary Sword by Ann Leckie.
I appreciate sci-fi that’s more sociological and cultural commentary instead of just pew pew space battle. Leckie feels like the modern Ursula K La Guin, blending imperialism, racism and sexism into a centuries long narrative from the perspective of AI immortality. The world building is delightful yet shocking at the same time. Highly recommend.
I really wish she included a pronunciation guide to her books. Some of the species names have me stuttering every time I come across them.
Countdown to Zero Day. It’s about Suxtnet and how something like that was unprecedented during its time.
Finished The Truth of the Aleke by Moses Ose Utomi. Twistier and grimmer than the first book; hoping the third (when it comes out) will have a satisfying conclusion. One note: if you decide to read this one by itself, with the thought that you might read the rest of the series later, just be aware that it spoils the ending of the first book.
Started I’m Afraid You’ve Got Dragons by Peter S. Beagle. Light and fluffy fairy-tale-type story so far, without the melancholy undertones I remember The Last Unicorn (understandably) having. Reviews seem mixed about the second half, so we’ll see how I feel about it when I get to that point!
Just finished Breakfast of Champions by Kurt Vonnegut. Weird ride.
I read like 4 Vonnegut books (Galapagos, Sirens of Titan, Cats cradle, slaughterhouse nr 5), and honestly all if them were pretty weird.
I’ve been rereading a book I liked as a teen, called Metropolitan by Walter Jon Williams. It’s pretty good, a little more eyebrow raising now as a wiser man (he’s a white guy from New Mexico writing about two Black characters from made up future ethnicities which have some clear parallels to real world oppressed peoples, eh…)
What surprises me most is how much of the story is a romance, it’s very 50 shades, a working class woman and a billionaire fall in love. But the billionaire is kind of a leftist revolutionary and the woman is kind of a sorcerer but its future science magic. Anyway, neat stuff, but I’m amazed teen me put up with so much romance; the science magic is really rad though, i did remember that!
I’ve been reading the Disc World series for a while now, just finished with the Rincewind books and am starting on the Death books with Mort. This series has been a fun ride and I’m enjoying seeing what will come next with every page
Death is a great character. Hogfather is one of his best.
I finished the third and fourth book in John Scalzi’s “old man’s war” series. Currently on the fifth (out of six), so I expect to be looking for something else in the following week. I probably won’t be reading a lot this weekend due to carnival though.
The books in “old man’s war” are overall a good read, I liked the third book a little less (the fourth one made up for this), and I’m also not sold on the fifth one yet. Depending on my mood after reading the sixth book I’ll probably look into other works by Scalzi. I might also check out some SF books by Charles Stross, I did enjoy “the laundry files” a lot.
Book 5 of Discworld, Sourcery by Terry Pratchett. Pretty entertaining sillyness that I listen to @ work mostly.
How do the audio books handle all of the footnotes?
If This Book Exists, You’re in the Wrong Universe by Jason Pargin
Nice, I love Jason Pargin! If you haven’t read it yet, I really enjoyed I’m Starting To Worry About This Black Box of Doom
Im bummed that Im on the last book in the series (for now) so I’m definitely going to check that one out. Have you read the Zoe Ashe books?
Why are we in the wrong universe?
About 150 pages into The Starless Sea by Erin Morgenstern. I heard it’s divisive and I can see why. On the one hand, I tend to like when an author experiments and has fun with their craft. But I can also see when the writing becomes a bit self-indulgent without progressing the plot much. I’ll have to see where I stand at the end of it.
I finished it and understand the appeal, but I don’t trust the people who recommended it so heavily anymore.
I started Victor LaValle’s The Devil in Silver for the “Institutional” square of Book Bingo (and it seems well-written so far, don’t get me wrong), but I’m taking a break in the middle to read some lighter fare.
I’m just trying to get through one row for Book Bingo instead of scattershot reading throughout the card, but my focus is all over the place.
My book club book this time around is “Medusa’s Sisters” by Lauren Bear. It is awful. And boring. And graphic for the sake of being graphic. And I hate it. And book club is gonna get an earful from me.
Outside of that I just started “Well of Ascension” by Brandon Sanderson. I devoured “Mistborn” and can’t wait to get into this one.
Finished “The Hazards of Urban Life in Late Stalinist Russia: Health, Hygiene, and Living Standards, 1943–1953” and am currently working on “Soviet Workers and Late Stalinism: Labour and the Restoration of the Stalinist System after World War II”.
Fascinating stuff, very data-oriented.
The Gate to Women’s Country by Sheri S. Teper
around 85% of the way through; it’s homophobic, transphobic, arguably misandrist … yet I’m having a hard time not enjoying a fantasy world where misogyny is subverted and eliminated … call it a guilty pleasure.
Children of Time by Adrian Tchaikovsky
nobody expects sentient spiders
