SPQR by Mary Beard
this post was submitted on 06 Jan 2026
63 points (98.5% liked)
Books
7093 readers
85 users here now
A community for all things related to Books.
Rules
- Be Nice. No personal attacks or hate speech.
- No spam. All posts should be related to books.
- No self promotion.
Official Bingo Posts:
Related Communities
Community icon by IconsBox (from freepik.com)
founded 2 years ago
MODERATORS
I started reading Project Hail Mary by Andy Weir. I wanted to read the book before the adaptation comes out.
Other than that I’ve also been reading The Murderbot Diaries. (Read 4 of the 7 books published so far).
I just finished the Book of Dust trilogy by Phillip Pullman, and just started Three Body Problem by Liu Cixin, which I've been wanting to read for like 10 years.
The Deep Sky by Yume Kitasei. Main part of the story takes place on a generation ship that has been sabotaged, but there are multiple flashbacks to MC's childhood, astronaut training, politics and climate of the time. Pretty interesting so far.
Empire of AI by Karen Hao
A deep dive into AI history and current events. Very interesting and somewhat terrifying.
As a caveat, I'm not an AI advocate, and in fact, the more I read (listen) the more horrifying what is happening and has happened already I find it.
A Christmas road trip helped me wrap up A Memory Called Empire. Absolutely loved it, fantastic book if you're into scifi. Went straight on to the sequel, A Desolation Called Peace.
Structural Sin and the Death of Institutions, by Susannah Cornwall.
Currently rereading The Exiled Queen, the second in Cinda Williams Chima's Seven Realms series (one of my favorites). I read the first just before Christmas, then took a detour to read one of my Christmas presents - Symphony of the Sojourn by Rowan Alexandria Bennett, which I positively adored. It's been a really good few weeks of reading, and I'm looking forward to continuing the Seven Realms, and then the follow up series - The Shattered Realms - after that.
My reading goal for the year is to actually track the books I read, so I can look back at the end of the year and actually remember what I read. I've downloaded the StoryGraph app to that end, now I just have to remember to use it...
I'm about 95% done Alchemised by SenLinYu. I know some people really didn't like it, but I fall on the completely opposite end. I would havd finished it yesterday, but I forced myself to slow down and enjoy the last 50 pages.
Also in the middle of reading Boulevard Wren and Other Stories by Blindboy Boatclub. My partner has gifted me Blindboy's latest book for Christmas, so I'll be on to that this year, too.
I'm going to have an Alchemised hangover, so I might take a short break before I pick up my next.
If you are enjoying your current book about ultra processed food, I'd recommend That Sugar Book (and documentary "That Sugar Film") by Damon Gameau.
I'm reading Stranger in a Strange Land and How to do Nothing.
I'm really liking stranger in a strange land. What he imagined as sci-fi is interesting especially if you remember it's written in the 60s. Lots of dialog, which I enjoy.
I'm not loving how to be perfect. I'm about 25% through, and it feels like most of it could have just been a blog post. Very verbose for the content provided.
I'm about half way through Slaughterhouse-Five by Kurt Vonnegut. And I just started The Witches by Roald Dahl. Trying to read as many banned books as possible this year. So far, I don't get why any of them have been banned.
If you're reading banned books, try Henry Miller. I love his work.
Tropic of Cancer is on my list! I don't know much about him but I will add him to my list of authors to look into.
Just finished:
- How to Be Both by Ali Smith. Interesting concept (two stories, read them in any order, each story recontextualizes the other) that I think I’ll need to read again in the other order.
- Perfection by Vincenzo Latronico. Great satire, really enjoyed it
Haven’t picked my next one yet, but probably from this list:
- Spread Me by Sarah Gailey. Looks like a fun take on The Thing
- Sunward by William Alexander. Don’t know much about it, other than it was well reviewed
- The True True Story of Raja the Gullible (and His Mother) by Rabih Alameddine. Was well reviewed
Oh I loved How to Be Both. I've read most of Ali Smith's novels and I'll continue until I've read them all. How to Be Both might be my favorite so far.
Just finished listening to:
- Every Tool's a Hammer, by Adam Savage (self narrated)
- Moby Dick, by That One Guy (Anthony Heald narrating)
- Immune, by Philipp Dettmer (Steve Taylor narrating)
- Everything is Tuberculosis, by John Green (self narrated)
Just borrowed to listen, but haven't started:
- Animal Farm, by George Orwell (Ralph Cosham narrating)
- Fahrenheit 451, by Ray Bradbury (Tim Robbins narrating)
Earlier in the year I listened to Kafka's Metamorphosis in Persian, that was wild.
Libby is awesome
- The Buffalo Hunter Hunter by Stephen Graham Jones
- Glorious Exploits by Ferdia Lennon
- Notes from Underground by Dostoevsky
The Buffalo Hunter Hunter is bloody fantastic. I love Stephen Graham Jones' work.
How are the Notes from the Underground? I am thinking or reading them or Karamazovs.
I’m mostly reading it in order to follow Bakhtin’s Problems in Dostoevsky’s Poetics, so I’m kind of viewing it through that lens... I wouldn’t say it’s a compelling read on its own, but it’s interesting to see how Dostoevsky can create a character that engages in its own autonomous dialog with the reader.
I read Notes about 25 years ago and don't remember anything about. I read it recently after Crime and Punishment (which I liked) and some short stories including White Nights (I loved it at the time but feel very differently about it later in my life). I still can't get through Karamazovs, though. I've tried multiple times, but it is so unbelievably boring for me.
As I recall, Notes is a pretty short read, and also pretty good. May I suggest reading it first, and then Karamazovs, which is a much longer book?
This week I'll mention John Grisham's The Brethren.
The Brethren are three ex-judges in a low security federal prison who should have been in a harsher one because they're using their time catfishing (though the book predates that term) and extorting closeted gay men who answer pen pal ads. In another thread, I think it was @misericordiae@literature.cafe who conjectured that the LGBTQ hard mode was easier than the easy mode. I'm therefore pleased to report that The Brethren contains mail fraud, wire fraud, bribery, tax evasion, embezzlement, legal malpractice, and even some light treason, but very little romance of any sort. Having seen the result of Grisham trying to write romantic scenes, this is probably for the best. He's much better at these sorts of characters.
Nice!
I'm listening to the Obelisk Gate by N.K Jemisin. Second in the series of post post apocalypse fantasy/ sci-fi. Really enjoying the series so far. Well narrated too.
Pretty depressing world, but loved the series.
The Fifth Season has been on my list for a while. I should pick this up!
I’m on the tail end of Lord of Chaos (Wheel of Time 6).
~~10~~ 8 more chapters to go. It feels like a lot has happened, but also not a lot has happened at all in the grand scheme of things.
I am quite enjoying Jordan’s phrases of smoothing skirts, tugging braids, scrubbing hair, and knuckling foreheads/mustaches still.
I’ve been alternating between audiobooks and my e-reader, and my only complaint is that I cannot figure out how to pronounce Aes Sedai and Aiel names relative to howKramer and Reading do. I’m always off.
Jordan slows the pace of the plot down considerably at around Lord of Chaos, perhaps earlier. It can get pretty frustrating when the books are so dense, yet it feels like nothing actually ever happens. Jordan just keeps pulling more named characters in to the mix. I personally do like the series, but I have serious gripes with how Jordan chose to write some of the books.
Yeah. I have heard that from this point on the series slows considerably until Sanderson picks it up, but he still writes it as if Jordan was the author.
I don’t think WoT is conducive to Brando Sando’s signature Sanderlanche — actually, maybe it does, because I definitely felt like a there has been a point in each book where I can’t put it down until I finish it. Usually that’s the last 4-5 chapters. Or there is a fakeout climax and then the real climax happens like in
Tap for spoiler
Fires of Heaven
Edit: No idea what happened in the second paragraph, but I went back and reformatted it. I must have been distracted while typing it it.
I received a lot of book for Christmas so I am going a bit overboard:
AFAQ - reading club here at Lemmy;
The Rebel by Camus - very good so far, kinda related to the afaq because he is talking about some political topics;
Shark Ends by Joe Abercrombie - this is the last one from the First Law series of his. The whole series is very good and is quickly catapulted to the near top of my favorites fantasy series; (I am listening this one)
The Trail by Kafka - I was depressed before the holidays and decided to read some Kafka. Also very good and also listening to this one.
I'm about halfway through Obscura by Joe Hart, the only book on my hundreds-of-books-long TBR list that seems to qualify for the regular mode center square for bingo. It's a fast read, as one would hope for a scifi thriller, but the badly done science keeps making me grumble and put it down.
I also started A Case of Mice and Murder by Sally Smith, which is fun so far.
__
Finished Call for the Dead by John le Carré (Cold War spy murder mystery) | bingo: different continent, war, motion picture, short, political
When a routine security interview results in suicide, a secret service agent investigates the death with the help of a retired inspector.
Le Carré's debut novel. I found it a little clunky and poorly aged in a couple of places, but thoroughly enjoyable overall. Smiley's just fun to read, I think.
I started The Book of Dust by Philip Pullman. I am loving it so far and I’m about halfway through. Baby Pantalaimon is soooo cute it makes me want to cry 😭
Pullman is an author I grew up loving. His Dark Materials was probably the most important and my favorite series I read as a kid, I was the same age as Lyra as the books were published. He’s an author that I will instantly purchase any book he has written and I’m so happy for the new trilogy!
Nice! I just finished the trilogy when the last book came out too!
Somehow this trilogy had fallen off my TBR list, but your excitement is making me move it to the top. It's a great sign that you loved His Dark Materials and are still enjoying the new stuff--I'll definitely check it out.
I really enjoy his work and keep going back to it. I think it was someone here that was reading it last year that really put it on my radar again. Then when the last of the trilogy came out last year, I picked it up so I can read all 3 quickly.
I’ve listened to the His Dark Material dramatized audiobook, which is narrated by Pullman. My head narrator is a mix of him and Attenborough. It’s great 😊
Just started Q-in-Law by Peter David. I'm not very far into it yet but it's got Lwaxana and Q so I'm guessing it's going to be "unstoppable force versus ~~immovable object~~ unstoppable force".
Heh, that sounds interesting.
Currently: O Pioneers! by Willa Cather. I picked it up somewhat randomly and feeling good about my luck. Sort of has a less depressing Thomas Hardy vibe, though still definitely about people trapped by society and circumstance.
I'm probably going to continue to read reach into the past for novels this year. Not sure what's next, though.
In the middle of two books right now.
The first is Dungeon Crawler Carl which was given to me by my best mate for Christmas.
The second is On The Triangle Run. Read it before, but I really enjoy it.
I love Dungeon Crawler Carl. I listened to all 7 audiobooks twice last year.
I'm finishing up The Last Graduate by Naomi Novik. I plan to finish the last book in the trilogy next before going over to Isles of the Emberdark by Brandon Sanderson.
Listening to The Black Swan
Reading Babylons Ashes (book 6(?) of the Expanse series)
I’m halfway through Star Wars “The Truce at Bakura”. Follows immediately after movie 6, and follows Han, Leia and Chewy.
But what I’m excited for is after I’m done, reading book 2 of Silo series next. The first book I read in 2.5 days…
As an aside, watching the show with the wife too, done episode 3. No spoilers, but it tells a slightly different story with the same major plot points so far. Big differences that could affect book story lines are, book has steel stairs and doors on every level, the show is concrete and open. They also pulling future stories, so if you want to read the books, episode 2 spoils the ending of book 1.
I still own and occasionally re-read some of the Star Wars Expanded Universe (EU) novels, which are relabeled to the non-canon "Star Wars Legends" now. IMO, they're so much better than the direction the Disney canon went. Since they're by so many different authors, the quality varies wildly, but I'd say my favorites are Timothy Zahn, Michael Stackpole, and maybe Kevin J. Anderson. But some other individual books or trilogies are great, too. The whole thing is huge, but frankly just fun serialized reads, so not too difficult to get into.
Truce at Bakura kind of kicks off the whole thing, but the best intro is the trilogy by Timothy Zahn, which starts with Heir to the Empire. There's a few books in-between Truce and Heir if you want, like The Courtship of Princess Leia and the excellent X-Wing series, but I think the Zahn trilogy really sets the bar high for everything. If you're interested in following up, that's where I'd go next, and then you can go back and fill in the others if you wish. One of the issues with the EU is that while you don't need to read every book/comic, they do form a continuity, so it can be mildly confusing if you read a reference to something you haven't read about yet.
Thrawn was the first trilogy I read, then I did the two horror ones. Now I’m reading them in chronological order, so I’ve read 90ish of the 150+ legends books.
I do enjoy seeing each of the “random” authors be able to tell a story about their profession, like med star, the author was a biologist. So lots of medical jargon.
The only things I haven’t read are the YA stories and the comics. My brothers collected all of the books, and he’s started on the comics slowly as well.
I’m excited to get to the X-wing 10 book series, it’s one of the few my brother has also read. He’s read most of the new Jedi order era.
Oh, I thought you were a newbie; you're an expert! I never really read much of the comics or YA novels either, except for Dark Empire, because I was tired of references to the revived Emperor that I didn't understand.
The X-Wing books are great, but take place in a few spots in-between the other books, so that'll be a fun revisit of older stories. The New Jedi Order is a re-envisioning that is over a massive number of books, but feels like every book goes so fast or has major consequences. Be prepared to be upset about characters you might love, but I think it's close to the peak. I believe the many authors got together and plotted out the whole thing before it started, which is nice. What comes after is okay, but I think they knew Disney was buying by that point, so there's not a great "ending," even if some novels are still delightful. Also, if you haven't read some of the Tales books, like Tales of the Bounty Hunters, those are fun (mostly) self-contained stories you can hit in-between the main novels.
Man, I wonder if I should start a full reread. I'm sure I've forgotten so much that I would still be surprised by plots.
Oms en série by Sefan Wul, weird french sci-fi book about aliens that keep humans as pets.
Last few weeks I've been reading "the hydrogen sonata" by Ian M Banks and I'm almost half way through. I really like this book, it's got some of my favorite elements from the culture series like the Minds, and it reads like a "proper" SF book and not half fantasy which isn't my thing. Now only to make time to read...
The 9.9 Percent: The New Aristocracy That Is Entrenching Inequality and Warping Our Culture by Matthew Stewart
It's great. Really captures so much of what is wrong with USA society and how a minority of well-intentioned greedy idiots have created this.
view more: next ›