4d ago

What book(s) are you currently reading or listening to? September 09

Still reading Whispers Underground by Ben Aaronovitch. Book 3 of Rivers of London series.

Didn't really get much to read this week, so at same place as last week.

What about all of you? What have you been reading or listening to lately?

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53 comments

Finished The Theif last week. Currently reading The New Jim Crow because it was between a few books on the shelf. Not sure I'm ready for heavy political commentary so if it gets too gnarly, I'll just go back to my trashy Battletech novels.
Stephen kings Dead Zone. Awesome book.
Just finished the clockwork angels trilogy and brave new world.
Finished listening to Fury of the Gods by John Gwynne over the weekend. Loved the whole trilogy, would recommend.
Started listening to Babel by RF Kuang. I am not sure where I was recommended this from but its.. interesting is i guess the best word i can use to describe it.
Still physically working through Lady of the Lake the last book in Witcher series. It just feels disconnected so far so it feels hard to get into
I started reading The Path of Daggers by Robert Jordan, the eight book in the Wheel of Time series. And wouldn't you know it, it opens with a brand new group of characters with ambiguous goals. Jordan desperately needed someone to tell him "No."
I just finished reading the series The Green Bone Saga by Fonda Lee. Overall I liked the series - it was more of a business drama / political family drama with a sprinkling of fantasy. I thought the final book was more of an extended epilogue, with frequent time jumps. I found it a bit difficult to reconcile the rapid aging of characters I still felt were young.
I am now reading Blood over Bright Haven by M. L. Wang at the recommendation of my wife. I have really loved this one - it’s been very interesting even though it has been a tiny bit predictable.
After that, I’m debating rereading The Expanse as I really loved it.
- The Expanse is soooo good! I’ve been rereading that via audiobook.
Orbital by Samantha Harvey
Book club book from last month that I didn't get around to finishing. It's beautiful even in small doses.
I read It's Lonely at the Center of the Earth yesterday and loved it. I'd like to read more GNs, I mostly read manga, but there doesn't seem to be many realistic fiction GNs? I'm not that interested in fantasy/supernatural stuff usually. So if anyone knows any good realistic GNs I'm open to suggestions 😋
I'm also reading Creation and Anarchy by Agamben, but I've been a bit distracted by Silksong so it's taking a while, whoopsie~
- For graphic novels: Have you read Persepolis? Also recommend Fun Home.
  
  Thank you! Persepolis was on my to-read already, but those are great recommendations :)
- Never heard of It's Lonely at the Center of the Earth, going to check it out!
  
  Cool, I hope you'll love it at least half as much as I did!
Started reading again after a massive slump of a few months. Anyway, I’m reading Star Wars aftermath by chuck wendig
Just loaded my kobo up with a shitload if Star Wars books, so guess what I’m doing a binge of
- Any recommendations?
  
  I am in a SW binge at the moment, so I'd recommend those. I'm gonna read Phasma next after this Aftermath series.
Just finished The Roman Imperial Succession. It raises some interesting points, but has some really out-there conclusions (and assertions) on individual Emperors and imperial politics.
- Hmm...
  What are you starting next?
  
  Either Roman Sexualities or Thomas Sankara: A Revolutionary in Cold War Africa.
I'm still reading East of Eden by John Steinbeck.
Slowly reading The Deep History of Ourselves by Joseph LeDoux.
And lastly Epictetus: The Complete Works by Robin Waterfield.
- East of Eden is a masterpiece, hope you're enjoying it!
  Cheers for Epictetus.
I finally finished Contemporary Theological Approaches to Sexuality. It was a good read, but exhausting. Going to take a reading break for a week or so, I think.
Halfway through Kaiju preservation society. A real page turner.
Fire and blood, the origin of the iron throne. But in french because I need to practice that skill.
- I always scoff at how cheesy Scalzi's book synopses sound but then I burn through them in a day or two. Starter Villain especially.
- Kaiju Preservation Society was my first Scalzi and it is so good. I’ll probably buy some fancy collectors edition one day to have in my bookshelves.
I finished James by Percival Everett and I really enjoyed his sense of humor and use of irony, and I found it to be a fast-paced read.
Up next will be The First Three Minutes: A Modern View of the Origin of the Universe by Steven Weinberg, which was recommended by Neil DeGrasse Tyson on his StarTalk podcast.
Currently, I’m reading Annie Bot by Sierra Greer. This one is so good and I am really enjoying it. There is so much about autonomy, self realization, and how to recognize abuse. Fantastic book so far.
I just finished The Two Lies of Faven Scythe by Megan O’Keefe and I really enjoyed it. Then Star Trek, Vol 1: Godshock, loved it but I’m trying to find vol 2 at the library, I might have to request it from a different library system.
I finished The Laat Lifeboat by Hazel Gaynor. It's a fictionalized retelling about a British ship carrying evacuated children to Canada that was hit by a torpedo from a Nazi U boat. One lifeboat was not rescued for many days. I usually don't enjoy fictionalized retellings like this, but I actually really enjoyed this one. The author took the facts surrounding the lifeboat and populated it with entirely fictional characters, giving her more leeway to properly plot the story out and give depth without having to make up things about real people.
I just started Grendel by John Gardner, a retelling of Beowulf from the monster's point of view. Too early to say how I feel.
I just finished The Man in the Rubber Mask by Robert Llewelyn. Nothing I would recommend to non-fans of Red Dwarf, but it's pleasantly readable
Now I'm reading Small Gods by Terry Pratchett. It's amusing, has decent world building, but it reads like it was written by or for someone with ADHD - scenes are so short and jump around, it's kind of frustrating.
- Of all the Discworld books, Small Gods was one of few which I didn't finish.
Just finished Eversion by Alistair Reynolds and started Century Rain by him. I love his work but haven't read these.
I went into both relatively blind and don't regret it.
Just finished Team of Teams by General Stanley McChrystal (and others), it's excellent!
The Escape Artist: The Man Who Broke Out of Auschwitz to Warn the World by Jonathan Freedland was fantastic!
Also finished The Years of Rice and Salt by Kim Stanley Robinson. It's just okay. I keep trying to get into historical fiction and it's just not my thing so maybe don't take my word on it.
Just started The Revenge of Power: How Autocrats Are Reinventing Politics for the 21st Century by Moisés Naím and The Culture Code by Daniel Coyle. So far both look to be excellent.
I finished, I Who Have Never Known Men, Jacqueline Harpman, last night. What a very surreal experience that I'm struggling to articulate. It left me very contemplative. It was clearly well written, but I'm not sure whether I enjoyed it. Intentionally too many unanswered questions.
A week or so back I knocked out The Gate of the Feral Gods, Matt Dinniman, which was, as usual, a good romp. I'm interested to see if this LitRPG gets boring at some point.
- I think I'll add Never Known Men to my TBR, it sounds interesting.
  
  Nice! It's quite quick, so it's a low investment if it doesn't float your boat.
- I'm two books ahead of you and it hasn't gotten boring yet. As the series goes on I think it has more frequent moments where it slows the action down to put pieces in place, but Dinniman never stops escalating the situation.
  
  Good to know - every time I think he's jumped the shark, there's a bigger shark! Have you read any other LitRPGs, and if so, how does this compare?
I finished Metro 2033 by Dmitry Glukhovsky, read book 1 of The Brothers Karamazov, and am almost done with The Fifth Wave by Rick Yancey.
- What do you think about 5th Wave? You reminded me that I have a copy on the bottom of a stack, still unread. I'm currently about halfway into Red Sparrow (I like it so far; the author seems to know his stuff), and I'll finish that first, but I could re-sort my piles to make it more visible if given a reason to.
  
  Its funny. I was excited about Metro 2033 and skeptical of 5th wave, and I was disappointed by metro 2033 and surprised by 5th wave.
  I really liked the story in 5th wave. It's got a little teenage angst/romance in it, but it's not too awful.
  What I'm worried about in the second book is what looks like a setup of a full on love triangle. I hope I'm wring about that (about to find out!)
- Would you recommend Metro 2033? I also know its a game?
  
  I wouldn't. It read like a video game. I was excited by the premise, but the story was a let down for me.
Just finished "Rogue agent" by Skyler Ramirez, which I liked a lot. I wasn't through with his "Dumb luck and dead heroes" series just yet, but I needed a change from the same two characters' first person thing. Also just finished the audiobook for "The eye of the Bedlam bride" by Matt Dinniman. Great book, but I will probably just read the next book. Listening on my commute takes too long, it took me over two months to finish it.
I just finished listening to this. I was a wild listen/read. There is a shit load of illegal activity that goes on in and around Fort Bragg.
Who know that if you put thousands of people who are basically trained assassins who are highly trained at surveillance and clandestine operations they would start doing heaps of illegal shit?
Answer EVERYONE
The book spent a lot of time illustrating the incredible number of murders, drug over doses and drug trafficking that goes on in and round Ft Bragg.
The book also spends about the same amount of time illustrating how the GWOT basically fuels the world’s supply of Herroin.
On a personal note: I was in the Army for 6 years and Fort Bragg is one of those posts that is just revered in the Army. All I ever heard was how great things were there. It was interesting to learn about another side of that place.
- Who know that if you put thousands of people who are basically trained assassins who are highly trained at surveillance and clandestine operations they would start doing heaps of illegal shit?
  Answer EVERYONE
  And the utter lack of accountability and blank checks given to spec ops after the GWOT started!
Asimov’s Nemesis. It’s one of his later works, where he seems to keep forgetting what he already wrote, so it’s quite repetitive, but still an interesting story.
- I've actually read this one twice, many years ago. Great book!
Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein's The Final Days, sequel to All the President's Men, about the Watergate scandal which brought down the Nixon presidency
if Beale st. could talk by Baldwin.
I didn't get much reading done this week either; still reading My Name is Nobody by Matthew Richardson.
__
Read DuMort by Michelle Tang (gaslamp horror, novella) | bingo: minority author, short, new, steppin' up
In a city where even speaking the names of the dead is a punishable blasphemy, an upper-class woman seeks out an occultist to help rid her of an angry ghost.
I wanted something compelling to get me back into my reading groove, and this helped, I think? It definitely had some cool ideas and the world-building was strong for the length, but it was also a little too yearn-y for my taste, and I would have liked more description of what went down at the end. Enjoyable, though.
- That sounds interesting. Will take a look.
The Safest Lies, by Megan Miranda

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Read DuMort by Michelle Tang (gaslamp horror, novella) | bingo: minority author, short, new, steppin' up