I'm working my way through reading all the Poirot books, I've really liked the ones I've picked up so far and currently I'm reading The Murder on the Links.
The best book I've read this year (out of two contenders) is Every Heart a Doorway by Seanan McGuire. I liked the setting and premise more than the plot - but I really liked the aspect of all these children coming from really stereotypical YA/Childrensbook fantasy worlds where you get a small synopsis of their adventures and can just imagine what a whole book featuring that would be like.
My string trimmer ran out of string, so I read the accompanying paper instruction manual, and it had a physically printed YouTube link you'd need to enter into a browser that demonstrated how to re-wind the spool. It was a good book, first in a while. help
Books Finishing up Dune by Frank Herbert. A Promised Land by former POTUS Obama is next. Hit the jackpot at Goodwill, so Decision Points by G.W. Bush is in the queue alongside Bill Gates’ The Road Ahead and I Am America (So Can You!) by Stephen Colbert. All for under $15.😎 Poemz (to be read between books) Snagged 5 or so 70-ish page poem collections by Woodsworth, Dickenson, Whitman, and a couple other well-known artists. Comic Bookz (read between book chapters) From the same store, I’ve completed my collection of Alan Moore’s run of Swamp Thing. That and J.M. DeMatteis & Jon J Muth’s Moonshadow are my in-between books readings. Picked up Moonshadow’s first issue in the 99 cent section... got hooked and ordered the hardback definitive edition. Soooo, it goes without saying, still zooming through comics. Just finished Neil Gaiman and Dave McKean’s origin story of Black Orchid, Lemire/Smallwood/Bellaire’s 5-issue “Death and Birth” arc of Moon Knight, aaaannnd following the current run of Shang-Chi by Gene Luen Yang & co. in anticipation of Marvel’s release of said Supe on the silver screen. It will star a friend of the Wong Fu YT channel (Simu Liu) I’ve followed for 5+ years which is excitiiiiing. Also, Simu’s in Kim’s Convenience on Netflix if anyone’s into a light hearted comedy.
Worm by WildBow - https://parahumans.wordpress.com/ It's pretty massive and im only 20% or so into what is essentially 16 normal sized novels! It started off ok but has gradually gotten darker and better. Oh and its the first book I've read (instead of listening to audiobook) for years apart from textbooks. A promised land - Barack Obama Now that I am working from home full time I hoped I would find more time for reading but instead I've slowed down. My backlog of audible titles to get through has gone from impressive-bookshelf to insurmountable-library.
I'm about a quarter of the way into Stranger In A Strange Land. I've read it before and didn't remember much about it other than the basic details. I'm not really enjoying it much. Bravey by Alexi Pappas comes out tomorrow, and I've ordered it. I'm looking forward to reading it and hope I can learn some things from her.
I was reading the biography of Malcolm X. But put it down to move. Now I am picking it back up. It’s very good.
It's a very good book thus far. I am about half way through it. I started reading it a while back but got side tracked by Steve Martin's autobiography, "Born Standing Up." Which was a very fun read. Malcolm X paints such a rich and vivid picture of a world that I otherwise would never see. A time and place that is gone, though the cultural paradigms it exposes still exists. So far, it's amazing. I'll try and finish it this weekend. Onward, katakowsj!
Three, actually! I'm slowly going through A Random Walk Down Wall Street by Burton Malkiel. Yesterday I almost finished reading Ezra Klein's book Why We're Polarized. Which didn't do much for me; I'm not sure if it's because I am still not quite ready for more dense pay-attention-nonfiction (I haven't been reading any since last March) or because I'm just not quite the target audience. He makes a few good points, but mostly jumps from topic to topic seeming more eager to string other people's interesting work together than to help people follow it all. Or maybe I am just too easily distracted listening to him, as I am used to listening to his podcast where I can half-hear things and still follow along. My light fiction read right now is Hank Green's A Beautifully Follish Endeavor, because I finished the first book yesterday. It's alright, it's basically YA scifi and he tries a bit too hard at times. I'm hooked on the mystery though so I want to read on.
I liked Hank's books - they're an easy light read, and it's refreshing to read something about young people written by someone with an understanding of social media and the internet. The whole mysterious obelisks recently reminded me of this series.
I'm now about halfway through the second book. It's not only much better because it does not suffer from April as the LOLuWuZOMG narrator voice, but it also feels super relevant now, partly because the characters tell things I really need to hear, but partly because it helps me understand/cope with what's happening right now. He wrote it just before the pandemic, but he intended the Carl event to be reminiscent of any large global event, so it's hard not to read it as trying to predict online discourse around Covid. Reading the second book play out a year after the Big Event whilst us living a year after 'our' Big Event resonates much more than I'd expected.
Been reading The Windup Girl by Paolo Bacigalupi, after reading his short story set in the same universe. I really love that it challenges the general assumptions of dystopian sci-fi that 1) the future will involve lots of concrete, steel, and plastic and 2) the world is only going to continue getting more electronic and more "connected". Both of those are pretty big assumptions, and it's fascinating to see sci-fi set in a world that doesn't take those as axiomatic.
I haven't read any Poirot, but it is on my list. I watched a few episodes of the TV show and it piqued my interest. Just gotta work it into my rotation. Currently reading: Warlords of Karak Eight Peaks (Warhammer novel) Fire & Blood by G.R.R. Martin Planet of the Damned by Harry Harrison (part of The Harry Harrison Megapack) The Guns of August; The Outbreak of World War I by Barbara Tuchman The Long Ships by Frans Bengtsson Jerusalem: The Biography by Simon Sebag Montefiore I have a hard time sticking to one book at a time and using ereaders has allowed me to indulge that behavior. I try to balance reading for escape with reading to enrichment. I just wish that I had a better memory/recall. I really enjoy reading history books and trying to see how it impacts current events, but my brain doesn't retain anything. Then there are the audio books: Murder by Other Means by John Scalzi Nemesis (Warhammer 40K novel) Titan by Ron Chernow The Western Star by Craig Johnson Although I haven't listened to the audio books in a very long time. Not having two hours of commute time has killed that for me during the pandemic. Kind of looking forward to getting back to the office so that I can listen to audiobooks/podcasts again.
If you like A Song of Ice and Fire (I found myself dissatisfied after A Dance With Dragons), then Steven Erikson's Malazan Empire series is often highly recommended; I've mentioned them here before and I know a few others here like the series; but definitely ones to pace yourself with -- they're big books!
Thanks, I'll check it out. I mostly stick with the series at this point just because I want 'closure'. The first book drew me in. I was intrigued with how he killed off people that were important. F&B is kind of like reading Genesis at this point. It is just names and dates with little bits of story thrown in.
I don't remember how I ended up there but somehow I started listening to the Steppenwolf audiobook recently. It's some depressing middle aged incel bullshit so far. I seem to be really bad a picking books lately, I don't think I've finished one in a while. I think the last book I enjoyed was "Educated: a memoir" about this lady that grew up in a family of religious nutcases.
"Educated: a memoir" sounds really interesting, although maybe a bit sad/difficult/emotional.
It was exactly those things. There are also many gruesome and detailed descriptions of all kinds of injuries and how they treat them themselves without going to the doctors. But I found it a really goon insight of what goes on in the mind of someone trapped in an extremely bad family situation, and how even if you're really smart undoing that damage is not easy or straightforward.
swedishbadgergirl I read "Every Heart a Doorway" not too long ago either, I thought it was a fairly interesting read. Not a tremendous fan of the dialogue, but I agree that the concept is really engaging. Ended up listening to one of the follow-ups as well, which was about the same quality. I am in the middle of about half a dozen books, as always. NON-FICTION: I feel like I'm reading way too much nonfiction at the moment. I'm putting together resources for some possible future video-essays on music criticism and theory, so I'm knee-deep in academia at the moment. Segregating Sound by Karl Hagstrom Miller - A deep dive into the formation of folk/country/"race" music in the early 20th century. Unique amongst several other academic looks at "folk" music in that it views corporate "Pop" music as equally important, and not separate, in the formation of cultural canons. Kinda dry. Musicking by Christopher Small - I read this in college, and am revisiting it now. Very readable, it's mainly concerned with a radical broadening of how we define music as a process, rather than a text. Hand's End by David Rothenberg - A book I desperately want to enjoy. It looks at technology as not separate from our engagement with nature, but a vital part of our process of understanding nature. Techno-ecology. Pretty dry. Zeroes and Ones by Sadie Plant - a really enjoyable (for me at least) look at the history of women in computing. Brings in a lot of different disciplines. You can pretty easily find it for free online too... FICTION: Jerusalem by Alan Moore - Why do I torture myself? This book is awesome, but Christ, is it long and difficult to grok.
I've gotten "Every Heart a Doorway"s follow ups from the library and I'm looking forward to reading them and seeing what the author does with the setting. Hopefully something interesting. I'm trying to get more in to non-fiction, I basically never read it and I also basically only read for fun so it has to be about a subject that interests me and in a style that grabs me.
I finished The Name of the Rose by Umberto Eco around Christmas. As someone who's spent a lot of time staring at and reading about the plan of Saint Gall it was a great experience seeing it brought to life. Since then I've been reading The Books of Jacob by Olga Tokarczuk, which I'm loving so far. It also revives one of my favorite literary conventions, the ridiculously verbose subtitle: The tremendous journey across seven borders, five languages and three major religions, the little ones not to be forgotten: narrated by the dead by means of a method developed by the author for conjectures, enriched by a sumptuous selection of books, also supported by the imagination, which is nature's greatest gift to man: to wise for the support of memory, for patriots for reflection, laymen for study, melancholics for amusement
You should enjoy the last two as well, I certainly did. What was interesting is how Cromwell changes over time, but not in a way he Cromwell recognizes, but the reader will notice how he grows into the role and how it changes him. I need to find an analysis of the work somewhere and dig into it again.
Darkness in the Blood by Guy Haley. I take my non fiction is doses and need breaks. Warhammer novels are some of my favorite sci-fi pulp. I also re-read the latest two Dresden Files books and im going to take this opportunity to re-recommend the series to any fantasy fans who haven't read it. Jim Butcher does great.
Oh I guess I never posted. I’ve been rereading the Hobbit. Lord what a classic. So completely good end to end. My parents are making me slowly clear the last of my possessions out, and the box of books I took home with me last visit is a bona ride treasure trove - 50% Tolkien, 50% king. I haven’t decided if I will plugs into LOTR immediately after finishing the Hobbit, but it’s a good chance. I’ve also been intending to reread the Kahnemann. “Thinking, Fast and Slow.” I think about some of what I read there a fair bit still, and I probably finished it over a year ago I think.
I received Shuggie Baine by Douglas Stuart as a Christmas present. I've just started tucking into it.
Winnetou - Its old but it´s still fun reading how the Gary Stu character kills the bad guys.