What book did you read last and what book are you currently reading? Would you recommend either of those books?
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Last book (reading with my kid): The Wild Robot Escapes. Definitely would recommend, nearly on par with the first.
Current book: The Wild Robot Protects. Would recommend if you’re a fan of the series; otherwise, it seems like a step down so far.
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Last book: Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro
Current book: Hyperion by Dan Simmons
Never Let Me Go was not my favorite book, but not a waste of time either. The story had some good highs and lows but it did not resonate with me personally.
Hyperion is excellent so far, I'm about halfway through and Simmons gives just enough information at the right time and pace to build the world out slowly and thoroughly, and each short story so far has left me contemplating for hours afterward. Definitely enjoying the journey so far but I have been warned not to expect definitive answers towards the end, so we'll see.
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Last book: Doctor Sleep by Stephen King
Current book: Absolution by Jeff Vandermeer
Doctor Sleep was good, it's been a long time since I read The Shining but this was a good follow-up. The movie is pretty decent too, but as always not as good as the book.
Absolution is the fourth book in Vandermeer's Southern Reach series. It's a challenging read, as are the other books but not bad so far. I don't think this is what I was expecting from a fourth book, but I'm not disappointed.
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Last book: Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro
Current book: Hyperion by Dan Simmons
Never Let Me Go was not my favorite book, but not a waste of time either. The story had some good highs and lows but it did not resonate with me personally.
Hyperion is excellent so far, I'm about halfway through and Simmons gives just enough information at the right time and pace to build the world out slowly and thoroughly, and each short story so far has left me contemplating for hours afterward. Definitely enjoying the journey so far but I have been warned not to expect definitive answers towards the end, so we'll see.
Hyperion is my standard for space operas. The following book is pretty good and answers some things, but the rest of the series lacks the same poetic grandeur
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Last finished: Deadhouse Gates (2nd Malazan novel), not sure what I think of the series yet, it has engaging parts, but too much violence for my mood atm (don't need dying refugees in my entertainment).
Now: The Last Continent, Discworld is always recommended.
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Last book: Musashi by Eiji Yoshikawa
Current book: not really reading anything right now but I should be, not sure what it will be, maybe this nice list will help
I definitely recommend Musashi.
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Last book I finished was Bullshit Jobs by David Graeber. Good read.
The books I'm currently reading -
Mainly 'The Three Body Problem' by Liu Cixin. Thoroughly engrossing.
Also a chapter or two a night of 'Unlock Your Comic Genius' by Adam Bloom, dipping in and out of 'Before and Laughter' by Jimmy Carr, because I'm interested in the art of stand up comedy, and 'The Lost Stories' by Terry Pratchett. Also working my way through my old Asterix comics that I dug out of storage recently.
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Last book I finished was Hail Mary by Andy Weir. Solid read, get it done before the movie comes out.
About to start the Kaiju Preservation Project by John Scalzi, no idea on that one yet, but Scalzi does good work in general.
Last one I can't reccomend is The Book of Elsewhere by China Miéville and Keanu Reeves. I'm a big fan of the BRZRKR comics so I jumped at the chance for a novel in that universe... aaand it's largely unreadable.
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Last finished was Just Like Home by Sarah Gailey. It's a haunted house story with a twist. I would recommend to people who like horror.
Currently reading a first aid manual, On Tyranny by Timothy Snyder, and The Woman in Black by Susan Hill. The first aid manual is handy, but reading it doesn't do much good without training and experience. OT is short and good, very on the nose for this Trump term. Woman in Black is another horror book; from 1983 and proving "elevated horror" isn't a new thing.
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Last book: The West Passage by Jared Pechaček. Delightfully surreal fantasy; highest recommendation. Almost purposefully confusing at times, it wants you to infer the bizarre structure of its world through the mysteries it presents rather than ever try to over-explain itself.
Current book: Everything Must Go, The Stories We Tell About the End of the World by Dorian Lynskey. Also strong recommend. I've been feeling rather apocalyptic lately due to the everything and some dramatic life changes I'm going through and this is having the intended effect. By taking an unflinching, academic (yet sometimes humrous) look at various eschatological stories they become demystified and help reduce the anxiety. Do we really believe we'll be the lucky generation to witness the closure of all things? Probably not. But also ... maybe?
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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.
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Last book: The Apothecary Diaries 6 by Natsu Hyūga
Current book: The Magic Engineer by L.E. Modesitt Jr
The Apothecary Diaries series has been pretty good so far. Enough quirky characters and situations to not get to dark, but some definite darkness so it doesn't get to sweet.
The Magic Engineer is the third in The Saga of Recluse series. Overall I enjoy Modesitt, but it also is clearly a cheap paperback fantasy from the 90s. It's fun tracking down these second hand and they are fun reads. However, I enjoyed the first 3 books in his Imager series more.
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Last book: Doctor Sleep by Stephen King
Current book: Absolution by Jeff Vandermeer
Doctor Sleep was good, it's been a long time since I read The Shining but this was a good follow-up. The movie is pretty decent too, but as always not as good as the book.
Absolution is the fourth book in Vandermeer's Southern Reach series. It's a challenging read, as are the other books but not bad so far. I don't think this is what I was expecting from a fourth book, but I'm not disappointed.
I read the Southern Reach books a few years ago in the lead up to the movie coming out, and found them pretty confusing really, but still a good read. They probably bear another read-through.
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Last book: "Last Call" by Tim Powers. It's great. Poker and archetypes. Big inspiration for Unknown Armies, which I loved.
Current: Medusa's web, also by Powers. Not sure if I'm into it yet but it's got some of his signature weirdness
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Last book: Children of ruin. I didnt really like this one, while i was in awe of the brilliance of Children of time.
Currently reading a non-fiction book called The genius of birds.
I already knew from direct experience how smart birds are, including ones that people perceive as dumb, like pigeons.
But this book really gives a different perspective in how birds are complex creatures that adapt to their environments in intelligent ways, and how other birds will instantly copy these novel ways. -
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Last book: Perfume: The story of a murderer by Patrick Süskind. I ravaged through it quite fast and enjoyed the descriptive writing style immensely. It's supposedly a book with many intresting layers, but I loved as a novel about world of smell.
Currently: Though I tend to read several at the time depending on my mood, my main book is Breaking together: A freedom-loving response to collapse by Jem Bendell. I work with environmental stuff and I feel like we are past the point where ecological modernisation is a answer to all of our woes. It is well-written book and you can download it for free.
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Last book: This is How You Lose the Time War - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/This_Is_How_You_Lose_the_Time_War
It was good. I don't normally like love-stories, but this was poetically written. A lot of fun sci-fi and beautiful imagery.Current book: Little Brother - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Little_Brother_(Doctorow_novel)
Lots of fun hacking and rebellion against an increasingly authoritarian government, very much inspired by 9-11. It's a fun Young Adult Novel so far. -
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Last book : the wheel of time (#5) by R. Jordan. I don't really recommend. I mean the story's great but the way the characters are written is dull and sexist (men saying that women are mysteries, women complaining about how men are dumb and other ridiculous clichés), it feels like following people that are somewhat the worse of both teens and boomers, it takes me out of the book every single time. I prefer the king killer chronicles (P. Rothfuss) although we're still waiting for the last book.
Current book : Trapped (C. Lackberg and H Fexeus) it is a great polar, with nice twists, I recommend!
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Last book : the wheel of time (#5) by R. Jordan. I don't really recommend. I mean the story's great but the way the characters are written is dull and sexist (men saying that women are mysteries, women complaining about how men are dumb and other ridiculous clichés), it feels like following people that are somewhat the worse of both teens and boomers, it takes me out of the book every single time. I prefer the king killer chronicles (P. Rothfuss) although we're still waiting for the last book.
Current book : Trapped (C. Lackberg and H Fexeus) it is a great polar, with nice twists, I recommend!
I could only just get through Name of the Wind many years ago. As I was reading it something just felt off and was bothering me massively, I then came to the realisation that the main character (Kvothe) was just too perfect. His flaws were the world around him, not himself, and really the only fault that could be considered was that he was so good at everything he would do too much and get burnt out.
Is the second book better, and would you say it's worth reading given the third one is nowhere in sight?
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Last book: The Hero of Ages (Mistborn) by Brandon Sanderson
Current book: Wind and Truth (Stormlight Archive) by Brandon Sanderson
I would 1000% recommend these books and other Cosmere books to anyone that enjoys fantasy but with the caveat of being aware of the Sanderlanche. Pretty much every book this guy writes takes time building everything up so it can feel quite slow, but then towards the end you get your avalanche of action, quick story progression, and answers to questions you get throughout the books.
