That was some story! Quite different, but also quite similar (to the rest of the series). Also, part of the ending was expected, but was surprised by the rest. Looking forward to where the story goes from here.

Also read The Last Wish by Andrzej Sapkowski. The first Witcher book.

I read it quite a while ago, but hadn't finished the series, so got a boxed set and reading it now. I had forgotten how Fairy Tales heavy this book is.

Bingo squares (for both boooks): Author from a Different Continent (hard mode), Now a Major Motion Picture, Short and Sweet, Based on Folklore, Off your TBR Pile, also possibly Jerk with a Heart of Gold.

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

For details on the c/Books bingo challenge that just restarted for the year, you can checkout the initial Book Bingo, and its Recommendation Post. Links are also present in our community sidebar.

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[–] misericordiae@literature.cafe 2 points 1 day ago

Currently reading Empire of Wild by Cherie Dimaline.

Finished:

Old Man's War by John Scalzi (military sci-fi)

Old people enlist in the galactic military in exchange for new, younger bodies. Follows one particular old man through basic training and a series of battles during his first two years of service.

So I ended up going back through some reviews of this, because it's well-liked/often recommended, and I wasn't a big fan: apparently the context I'm missing is that it's meant to be a subversion/snark of classic pulp like Heinlein. Lacking that connection, I stand by my opinion from last week, which is that while it's certainly not bad, I personally wanted a lot more from either the plot, characters, or commentary.

Bingo squares: war (HM), late to the party (HM)

The Haunting of Hill House by Shirley Jackson (supernatural gothic horror)

An academic invites a small group of people to spend the summer at a reputedly haunted mansion, in order to gather research on the supernatural. Surely, nothing will go wrong.

Aside from a few bits and pieces, this is an entirely different story from the Flanagan show (haven't seen the movie). There's a lot of things left out in the interactions between characters, which I found kind of frustrating in the first half, but as the narrative gets more and more dreamlike, it becomes apparent that that's intentional. I ended up quite liking this, and I can see why it's a classic.

Bingo squares: adaptation, orange, x of y, alliterative (HM)