this post was submitted on 05 Aug 2025
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Had a pretty busy work week, hardly got time to read anything. So still on The Sunlit Man by Brandon Sanderson.

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


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[–] TabbsTheBat@pawb.social 13 points 3 weeks ago (2 children)

Fahrenheit 451 :3.. there was a sale on books at my grocery store yesterday, and that one seemed to be topical to current events

[–] Vupware@lemmy.zip 6 points 3 weeks ago (1 children)

Get it before it’s gone!

Have you read any of the other dystopian classics, like 1984 & Brave New World?

[–] TabbsTheBat@pawb.social 5 points 3 weeks ago

I've read a decent chunk of them :3.. don't think I did brave new world tho

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[–] jordanlund@lemmy.world 11 points 3 weeks ago (1 children)
[–] dkppunk@lemmy.world 6 points 3 weeks ago (2 children)

I am incredibly jealous you are reading this for the first time. It was my first Scalzi read and I loved it.

[–] jordanlund@lemmy.world 5 points 3 weeks ago (2 children)

Scalzi was hired to reboot a classic sci-fi series. His book was "Fuzzy Nation", but the OG book "Little Fuzzy" should be read by everyone!

https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/18137

[–] dkppunk@lemmy.world 6 points 3 weeks ago (1 children)

I’ve read Fuzzy Nation and it was great too. I’ve enjoyed all of Scalzi’s books. I have a copy of The Complete Fuzzy by H. Beam Piper that I found at a thrift store after I read Fuzzy Nation. I haven’t read it yet, but it is on the ever expanding TBR

[–] jordanlund@lemmy.world 5 points 3 weeks ago

Little Fuzzy is totally worth it and you can probably blow through it in 2 hours.

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[–] IcedRaktajino@startrek.website 10 points 3 weeks ago (4 children)

"The Andromeda Strain" on my phone to pass time and "The Bear and the Dragon" on my Kobo.

Is it weird to read two books at the same time lol?

[–] sanguinepar@lemmy.world 8 points 3 weeks ago* (last edited 3 weeks ago)

Loooooove The Andromeda Strain!

Such a great book, both the story and the fragmentary structure of it. Got a paper copy somewhere, must read that again soon.

EDIT - found it 😁

[–] IWW4@lemmy.zip 6 points 3 weeks ago (1 children)

It depends on the setting your are listening to and reading the books. I listen to audio books on my daily commute.

So if you are listening to one book for the soul sucking drive and another to relax at the end of the day..

[–] IcedRaktajino@startrek.website 6 points 3 weeks ago

That's kind of what I'm doing now that you made me think about it. One book is usually a light read that is easy to hop in and out of and the other is usually more intensive. The light reads are for killing time and the heavier ones I read before bed.

[–] Lazhward@lemmy.world 5 points 3 weeks ago

Just two? Those are rookie numbers.

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[–] TheFunkyMonk@lemmy.world 9 points 3 weeks ago (3 children)

Radical: The Science, Culture, and History of Breast Cancer in America.

My best friend was recently diagnosed with breast cancer (very treatable and likely curable), and we both have the type of personality where it helps to deep dive/learn a lot about scary stuff. I picked out a few books for us to nerd out together on, and this is the first one. It’s super good so far, as frustrating as some of the aspects of the US healthcare system are.

[–] sanguinepar@lemmy.world 7 points 3 weeks ago

Good luck to your friend, hope things work out well 🤞

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[–] whyrat@lemmy.world 9 points 3 weeks ago (2 children)

Just got James by Percival Everett. Been looking forward to it for a while, plan to start reading it this weekend.

[–] atomic@programming.dev 6 points 3 weeks ago

this will be my next fiction read, but I don't know if I'll enjoy it because I never read Huck Finn.

[–] Elextra@literature.cafe 6 points 3 weeks ago

I did the audiobook and really enjoyed it

[–] banazir@lemmy.ml 9 points 3 weeks ago* (last edited 3 weeks ago) (1 children)

I haven't posted in some time and while I did read some books in the interim, right now I'm back to reading The Wheel of Time by Robert Jordan. I'm now on the seventh book, A Crown of Swords. People say this is where the series becomes a "slog" for some books. We'll see. I was already frustrated with the last book, since Jordan seems to be a bit too enamored with his own writing and progress is glacial.

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[–] Vupware@lemmy.zip 9 points 3 weeks ago (1 children)

Why did I have to see this post now?

Three books:

Righteous Victims by Benny Morris, the detestable Zionist who laughs about starving children. It’s very weird reading about Israel’s historical atrocities throughout this book given the author’s recent behavior.

Blood Meridian by Cormac McCarthy. About a quarter of the way in, and this book is strange. It has not proven its legacy to me yet, despite the descriptive writing and impressively gritty plot.

Where the Sidewalk Ends by Shel Silverstein. Some of these poems make me cry. That is remarkable.

Just wrapped up Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas by Hunter S. Thompson. The book is better than the movie, and I enjoyed the commentary.

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[–] zout@fedia.io 9 points 3 weeks ago (3 children)

Still on "Rama II", it's also been busy. Not much progress since last week.

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[–] Gsus4@mander.xyz 9 points 3 weeks ago

44% through War and Peace...stuck in the wolf hunt, going very slowly...

[–] sharkfucker420@lemmy.ml 8 points 3 weeks ago

The Conquest of Mexico & The Conquest of Peru by William H. Prescott. I am only 200 pages in so I have a lot more to go but its good so far. For someone from the 1840s he does a remarkably good job at countering colonial propaganda and supremacist thought. There is still some of course but better than I expected

[–] Contrariwise@lemmy.blahaj.zone 8 points 3 weeks ago (2 children)

I'm stalled in the middle of like 6 different books and I'm not feeling any of them at the moment.

I just DNFed Assassin of Reality as the second in the Vita Nostra series (I really liked the first book, but...), so I ended up rereading The Scholomance series by Naomi Novik instead.

I started the Four Quarters series by Tanya Huff last night, and I just aggressively don't care about any of the characters. I don't know what I'm looking for in books right now, and I'm getting a little cranky about it.

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[–] theorychapter@sh.itjust.works 8 points 3 weeks ago (1 children)

Just finished Sphere by Michael Crichton this morning on my commute. And started State of Fear by Michael Crichton on my evening commute 😅. Kinda binging through his books currently and saving Jurassic park for last.

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[–] atomic@programming.dev 8 points 3 weeks ago

I finished two short novels and I did not like both: Everyday Is For The Thief by Teju Cole and You Dreamed Of Empires by Alvaro Enrigue.

So it's back to non-fiction and my next book will be Empire of A.I. by Karen Hao.

[–] HakunaHafada@lemmy.dbzer0.com 8 points 3 weeks ago

I'm still reading Controversies in Queer Theology by Susannah Cornwall. It's been a great read so far, and I'm currently reading a section about queer art in Christianity where she talks about the Ecce Homo art series of Elisabeth Ohlson, which contains such images as this:

spoiler

Nattvarden

[–] tomkatt@lemmy.world 8 points 3 weeks ago (1 children)

Reading the “Ender’s Shadow” series after finishing Ender’s Game.

Card is… something else. I’m on Shadow Puppets now, and while the previous books were good, his Mormonism is seriously showing in this one, with Petra being all baby crazy despite the fact they’re literally young teenagers.

It was weird to me finding out about Card’s anti-gay and Mormon views considering there were some rather homoerotic undertones to portions of Ender’s Game (or maybe I’m reading too much into it). Plus all the IVF and genetic manipulation stuff in the Shadow series. Though admittedly, the later Ender books (Children of the Mind, Xenocide) are utterly batshit, like he was having a mental wank.

I grew up in a boarding school and Ender’s Game really resonated with me when I was younger. Shame the author is an asshole. “Never meet your heroes” and all that.

[–] dogslayeggs@lemmy.world 6 points 3 weeks ago (1 children)

Yeah, I can't read Card's stuff anymore. The 3rd and 4th Game books got real weird, and I only finished them because I didn't have much else to read. The first Shadow book about Bean was pretty decent, but it was mostly a retelling of Game from another perspective instead of a new story.

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[–] supersquirrel@sopuli.xyz 8 points 3 weeks ago* (last edited 3 weeks ago) (1 children)

The Southern Reach series and a bit of Clarice Lispector and Lydia Davis short stories added in for the psychedelic spice.

edit it is WAY easier to read these comments if you bold book, author, and series names!

Reminder surround text with one pair of asterisks to make italic text and two pairs of asterisks to make bold text.

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[–] sanguinepar@lemmy.world 8 points 3 weeks ago

Fought my way through to the end of If on a Winter's Night a Traveller yesterday - it's a remarkable book, but I'm not sure if I actually enjoyed it exactly. Appreciated it as a challenging piece of post-modern fiction, sure... enjoyed... Kind of.

Have now moved on to my second attempt at reading The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy (first published 1759).

First attempt was years ago, and I do think I'm getting more out of it now than I did then. It's quite challenging, with the old-fashioned language, and the many endnotes which I find useful in understanding but also distracting in maintaining a reading flow, but it's funny and I think I'm getting the overall gist. We'll see if I stick with it though!

[–] IWW4@lemmy.zip 8 points 3 weeks ago* (last edited 3 weeks ago) (2 children)

I started listening to Stephen King’s IT.

I have read and listened a number of his books, but never IT. I am only three chapters into to it and so far It is King at the top of his game.

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[–] TheMinions@lemmy.dbzer0.com 8 points 3 weeks ago

I just finished Eye of the World by Robert Jordan about two weeks back.

Been slowly working my way through Great Hunt (next in the Wheel of Time) but haven’t been able to dedicate as much time to it recently.

It’s good so far. It’s definitely hooked me more than the first book.

[–] theskyisfalling@lemmy.dbzer0.com 7 points 3 weeks ago* (last edited 3 weeks ago) (3 children)

In a dramatic departure from usual scheduling I have only listened to one Deathlands book, number 101.

Other than that I have listened to "The Eyre Affair" and I am halfway through "Lost in a Good Book" these are the first two books of the "Thursday Next" series of books by Jasper Fforde.

Thursday Next: "Set in the Nextian Universe, where the ChronoGuard monitors the time stream, the Crimean War never ended and literature and croquet are national obsessions, the series follows the adventures of Thursday Next, Literary Detective and Jurisfiction agent. "

The Eyre Affair: "Acheron Hades, Third Most Wanted Man in the World, steals the original manuscript of Mr Chuzzlewit and kills a minor character, causing him to disappear from the pages of every copy in existence. But this was just a warning, his real target is Jane Eyre, who is kidnapped from the pages of literature. With the help of her uncle Mycroft, a genius inventor, Thursday enters the pages of Jane Eyre, teaming up with Rochester to foil Hades and rescue his beloved Jane."

lost in a Good Book: "Thursday's husband Landen has been eradicated by the Goliath Corporation. They'll bring him back, but only if Thursday releases their top agent whom she trapped in the pages of The Raven. Unfortunately, the works of Poe are restricted, so newly minted Jurisfiction agent Thursday Next will need some help in the form of her new mentor, Miss Havisham."

The entire universe is an absurd alternate history with ridiculous shit happening constantly and I'm loving it!

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[–] dogslayeggs@lemmy.world 7 points 3 weeks ago (1 children)

Still on book 1 of the Farseer series and still really liking it. She creates a warm and comfortable world that I enjoy being in.

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[–] DrSleepless@lemmy.world 7 points 3 weeks ago (5 children)

Project Hail Mary by Andy Weir

Great space fiction, if you liked the Martian you'll dig this.

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[–] showmeyourkizinti@startrek.website 7 points 3 weeks ago (5 children)

I’ve finally gotten around to The Expanse series and I’m about a third of the way into Cibola Burn, the 3rd book.
I really enjoyed the first two and I’m liking this one but it’s starting a bit slower then the other and I find the tension ratcheting up different not worse but different.

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[–] Algleymir@lemmy.world 7 points 3 weeks ago

Picked up:

Being Human: How Our Biology Shaped World History

while traveling recently. Haven't gotten far yet but it seems like a good, fun science based read.

[–] rogue_moravec@sh.itjust.works 7 points 3 weeks ago (1 children)

I just finished Witches Abroad by Terry Pratchett. I really enjoyed it, and felt like it's a big improvement over the last few books in the chronological order of the series. Deals with problematic benevolence and imposing one's will on others, and really cemented the personalities of the Discworld's three primary witch characters Granny Weatherwax, Nanny Ogg, and Magrat Garlick. Laughed a little too hard at Magrat reading martial arts books about the Way of the Scorpion by Grand Master Lapsong Dibbler of Ankh-Morpork.

I also recently read The Last Unicorn, by Peter S Beagle, which I have mixed feelings about. Not unlike Witches Abroad, it deals with the concept of how people interact with the stories we well, and the written language is poetic and really lovely, but there is a discordant note about how people just kind of... become whatever a story demands of them. People gain maturity or magic powers when they fill the role that requires it in a story, and bad stuff happens with people resist stories. It means the only entity in this book with any real self-determination, or whose actions may actual matter, is the unicorn, who kinda doesn't usually do much anyway and is not affected by stories and roles like mortals are. I don't know, I appreciated the book and really enjoyed reading it, but something about the orderliness-of-existence that rubbed me personally the wrong way, though I felt touched by the characters' pathos.

I also read The Kite Runner, by Khaled Housseini, which gave us an incredible, painterly portrait of the intimate relationship between two children, and went on to give us a window into the Afghan expat community in America, but I felt like the strength of the story was in the childhood relationship, and the book tried to stretch that story into a three-act story involving world politics that I don't think worked. I like the overall feel of the book, but at times it felt like plot points were glued together in a way that didn't feel genuine.

Finally I also read Love, Death, and Robots, the anthology of short stories used for the Netflix animation feature. I felt like it was a good introductory collection of science fiction short stories for people who might not be used to reading them; a good gateway from adaptation to source material. I didn't care for all of them, and I liked most of them. I really loved:

  • Three Robots, by John Scalzi,
  • Beyond the Aquila Rift, by Alastair Reynolds
  • Good Hunting, by Ken Liu
  • Zima Blue, by Alastair Reynolds
  • The Secret War, by David W Amendola
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[–] Vathsade@lemmy.ca 7 points 3 weeks ago

"The Giza Power Plant" by Chris Dunn, nonfiction.

As a mechanical engineer it was absolutely fascinating and should be a must read for technical people.

Now starting the follow-up "Lost Technologies of Ancient Egypt" by the same author.

[–] AbouBenAdhem@lemmy.world 7 points 3 weeks ago* (last edited 3 weeks ago)

Currently reading (on different devices):

  • Babel by Rebecca Kuang
  • The Solitudes by John Crowley
  • The Best of Cordwainer Smith
  • Raven Scholar by Antonia Hodgson
[–] switcheroo@lemmy.world 7 points 3 weeks ago (1 children)

Gideon The Ninth by Tamsyn Muir

Not usually my type of book but every time I try and get a few pages in, I enjoy what I read.

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[–] EtnaAtsume@lemmy.world 7 points 3 weeks ago* (last edited 3 weeks ago) (1 children)

I went on a reading blitz in 2023 but haven't done much since then, which kind of sucks.

I did Jemisin's Broken Earth trilogy, loved it. Becky Chambers? Read everything she wrote. Love.

Some other things in there that were kind of dumb but enjoyable (Rysa Aoki's Light From Distant Stars) or just shallow (Legends & Lattes) or forgettable (Alice Oseman's Loveless) but I have tried several others and it isn't sticking.

Too bad; I really do enjoy reading but nothing's really taking hold.

[–] atomic@programming.dev 6 points 3 weeks ago

I really liked Broken Earth too, and I have Becky Chambers on the TBR.

You could try sci-fi magazines or short-story collections (like The New Yorker's Century Of Fiction which is over 1000 pages!) to find new authors you like and check out their work. Or you could double-down on Jemisin's other books.

[–] crank0271@lemmy.world 6 points 3 weeks ago

I just finished The Courage to Be Disliked by Ichiro Kishimi and Fumitake Koga. It introduces the reader to the philosophical and psychological concepts developed and popularized by Alfred Adler. I thoroughly enjoyed it and found it to be possibly transformative for my own life and outlook.

[–] Gnarish@lemmy.dbzer0.com 6 points 3 weeks ago (1 children)

I'm on Shakespeare for Squirrels by Christopher Moore. I recently worked through Lamb, A Dirty Job, and Secondhand Souls by him during a couple of long road trips.

I picked up reading You by Caroline Kepnes assuming I might be able to get back into print reading with material that I'm vaguely familiar with ( I watched a season of the show years ago), but I've stalled with it the same as I have every time when attempting reading over listening in recent years.

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[–] dkppunk@lemmy.world 6 points 3 weeks ago (1 children)

I’m currently reading Who’s Dead, Doc? by J. M. Griffin It’s the second book in a trilogy.

It’s a cozy murder mystery about a woman named Jules who runs a rabbit rescue. In the stories, she and her telepathic bunny named Bun solve murders that happen in her small rural town in New Hampshire. I absolutely love it 💚

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[–] Jimbel@lemmy.world 6 points 3 weeks ago (1 children)

Starsight from brandon sanderson and dune messiah

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[–] Fredselfish@lemmy.world 6 points 3 weeks ago

About start Horns by Joe Hill.

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