Books

Six Wakes by Mur Lafferty. Super interesting so far!

Currently working my way through book 3 of "The Sun Eater" series by Christopher Ruocchio. Enjoying the books so far!

I'm having a Mistborn summer, already coming towards the end of #2 of 7! Sandon Branderson sure does write long books, but these are like popcorn, lots of action and easy reads

Reading The Martian after reading and watching Project Hail Mary

It's time. I've started my annual trek through Middle-earth. I'm reading the first book of The Lord of the Rings by J.R.R. Tolkien. I've been looking forward to this all year long. Now if you'll excuse me, I'm going to lose myself in Eriador.

The Idiot on audio and some Christian books on physical.

Brandon Sanderson's Stormlight Archive book 4, Rhythm of War. I opened Way of Kings for the first time 5 weeks ago and 3600ish pages later I'm still engrossed. I'd planned on waiting for the series to finish but I missed chewing through epic fantasy on this scale.

Once I'm caught up through book #5 I'm thinking its time for another go at Malazan.

Other than Martin, Rothfuss and Jordan are there any other works with similar scale/complexity/depth as Stormlight and Malazan?

Just finished Blindsight by Peter Watts (fucking excellent, possibly a new favourite)

Gonna try tackling House of Leaves again now that I'm all done school!

I've been having a great time reading Musashi by Eiji Yoshikawa. Highly recommend this book.

This week I started The Dresden Files and have made it to the end of the second book in three days. So enjoying it so far!

Thanks for the rec ;p

I'm about to finish "Sheepfarmer's Daughter" by Elizabeth Moon. I started the book because after watching Superman last year I wanted something paladin related. I have to say it's been pretty good! The bits and pieces that are shown of the lore make the world very interesting, and the characters are good as well.

I'll probably take a break between the first book and the next one, but I'll try to finish The Deed of Paksenarrion before the year ends.

Continuing on with my summer reading, I've picked up I, Robot (Asimov) and Professor and the Madman (Winchester) from the library.

I also checked out Hatchet (Paulsen). My niece is reading it, figured it'd be fun and quick to join in.

On the listening side, I've been going through Disrupting the Game by Reggie Fils-Aime since he reads the audiobook himself. It's very directed towards the business advice angle, but there's good biographical and Nintendo history info in there.

I just finished Pachinko. I don’t get the hype. Interesting historical perspective regarding Koreans in Japan that I didn’t have. Decent story premise, but really flat writing. I cared enough to finish the book, but overall it was a big “meh” for me.

I recently picked up I Will Kill Your Imaginary Friend for $200 by Robert Brockway and thought it was pretty good. So I looked for some more stuff by him and found Carrier Wave. It's a mixed bag. The first parts are great, but then it kind of loses its way and meanders for a while, then the ending is just meh. It's strongly influenced by The Stand (especially the ending) and World War Z so if you like either of those it might be worth a look.

After Carrier Wave I started There Is No Antimemetics Division and I'm about halfway through. It's really good.

Dragonsinger. I've been on a bit of a Pern kick lately.

I had read this book ages ago, but I only recognized maybe 2 chapters of it when I read it again.

About 1/3 through Still Life With Crows by Preston and Child. In a deviation from my usual pattern, I'm reading the AXL Pendergast novels in order, at least through the first four ( I don't have #5 and might skip to #13 next.)

Doing a reread of Book of the Long Sun by Gene Wolfe with chapter by chapter with alzabo soup along side!

I'm rereading Children of Time by Adrian Tchaikovsky. It's just as good as I remember it. I'm excited to continue with the series!

I started reading The Enemy by Lee Child. Not my first choice, but a friend gave me all her old books last Christmas so I feel somewhat obligated to read it. It's easy to read, and it's thrilling enough to compel me onwards, but the dialogue is vapid and there's a lot of Clancyisms where the story will focus on over romanticising the army, kplus I think one chapter only existed so the author could use as many homophobic slurs as he knew, which was off-putting.

Just started my reread of The Restoration of Rome: Barbarian Popes and Imperial Pretenders after about 20 years. I remember enjoying it the first time. It’s a look at three separate attempts to restore the greatness of Rome (Theodoric in c475, Justinian c572 and Charlemagne c800)

Just finished:

• Lázár: a fascinating novel about an aristocratic Hungarian family from ~1880s through the 1950s. Man, they were awful people
• The Undiscovered Country: Triumph, Tragedy and the Shaping of the American West: I wanted this to be better than it was. A look at the eras of The West through men who epitomized the era… starting in the mid 1700s with George Washington and Daniel Boone, then moving forward to Sitting Bull and Wild Bill Hickok. Unfortunately the book falls prey to the “let me just give you a series of events with varying levels of detail” form of history instead of successfully weaving a coherent narrative across 180 years of history
• The Witch by Marie NDiaye: short listed for the 2026 international Booker prize after not much critical acclaim during the original printing in 1996. It was fine. An interesting story and a unique one at that, but didn’t say much. The translation from French to English was good, I think it could have been fleshed out more and been a better read

I've just finished The Sign of the Unicorn by Roger Zelazny. It's book three of the Amber Chronicles. I've read it many, many times before, but not for about twenty years.

Suicide by Émile Durkheim though I have read only the first actual chapter. Other one is Dark Domain by Stefan Grabiński, which I plan to finish today or tomorrow.

Working through the Red Rising series by Pierce Brown I’m on the third book Morning Star at the moment.

Currently working my way through This Inevitable Ruin the 7th book in the DCC series. Really enjoying this series and glad I picked it up.

Also listening to Queens at War the last book in Aliison Weir's series on English Medieval Queens. Thr series has been a bit hit and miss. Feels at times the Queen being documented isnt always at the forefront, but its a lot of information I never knew.

Struggling my way through Star Wars Planet of Twilight. Kids are out of school so harder to find dedicated time to read, but I also didn’t enjoy her last book either. After his is Dungeon Crawler Carl book 4.

This author (Barbara Hambley) just seems to want to describe everything as much as possible, yet there’s nothing to base it on. Yeah sure you’re talking some trees, but what are they? The lore just seems so empty.

Finished "BuyMort: Smart shopper" and started the third book "BuyMort: Rise of the Windowpuncher". They're a nice read, reminds me of the first books in the DCC series. On that note, also reading "a parade of horribles", the latest DCC book. That one is going to take a long time since I usually only read one chapter of it before going to sleep.

The Hunger of the Gods by John Gwynne, which is the second book in the Bloodsworn Trilogy. Very cool take on Norse mythology, culture, and Viking warbands. Highly recommend the first book The Shadow of the Gods.

The Sixth Nik by Daniel Kraus.

I'm currently reading The Mysterious Affair at Styles by Agatha Christie. It's my third Poirot novel after Murder on the Orient Express and Murder on the River Nile. I think it will be my last.

They're fun books and well-written, but also very much alike. And that Poirot guy is getting on my nerves...

After this I have Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier waiting for me. I read it when I was a teenager when I found a copy from the forties lying around and even though it was a little too hard for me, I remember liking it. I'm curious to see how I'll like it now.