There’s a thread about how people find new books, and one of my favorite ways to find things to read was browsing comments from the weekly ‘What are you reading’ threads in r/truelit and r/books. So what is Lemmy reading?
I’m finishing The Passenger, and about to jump into John Williams’ Stoner. Excited to see what is next!
I just finished up reading The Return of the King for the first time since childhood. I like it a lot more than I remember. I think two things stuck out at me most: how dense it was compared to modern fantasy and how great the hobbits were portrayed. Fantasy tends to portray great heroes that came from nothing (ex. the chosen one/orphan trope). However, the hobbits were solely because they were common that they were able to do things the great heroes of their age couldn’t.
Since then I’ve started reading Vineland by Thomas Pynchon. I kept hearing Pynchon’s name come up for about a month at random and figured I should pick up one of his books. He has a very frenetic style that can be a bit difficult to parse but I’m loving his sense of humor.
Children of Memory by Adrian Tchaikovsky. It’s the third in a really awesome, incredibly well thought-out sci-fi series.
I read the Elder Race by him a few weeks back and it was great. Perhaps I need to look into his other works.
I didn’t find that particular book very good compared to the rest I’ve read by the author.
This is going to hurt by Adam Kay, a funny biography from a UK first-year doctor
Currently listening to Dust by Hugh Howey (book 3 of the Wool/Silo books)
Ive also been slowly reading MaddAddam by Margeret Atwood (book 3 of the MaddAddam series)
I just started Klara and the Sun. Also listening to The Amazing Adventures of Kavilier and Clay (Soo good).
Book Club is reading Accelerando (3rd time for me). Just finished Singularity Sky and Iron Sunrise.
Next up: the new Cormac McCarthy, Consider Phlebas.
I’m reading through Le Guin’s Earthsea cycle for the first time, and I’m currently on Tales from Earthsea. Fantastic, unique books.
Currently listening to Dust by Hugh Howey (book 3 of the Wool/Silo books)
Ive also been slowly reading MaddAddam by Margeret Atwood (book 3 of the MaddAddam series)
I just did a re-read (or relisten) of Dust because of the Apple adaptation!
Also I read the Maddaddam series last year and found it to be enjoyable and very well written.
Honestly having a rough time with the last MaddAddam book. Im too invested in what’s currently happening to really want to go over Zebs past. Other than that tho ive really enjoyed the series
Wool (all of it) is awesome.
How is the narration? I’ve noticed that even my favorite books are so boring if the narrator is bad.
Personally ive been enjoying it a lot. But i also listen to a lot of audio books. There arent a lot of times ive had to stop listening to books. I think a lot of modern audio narration has gotten really good
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The Case for Space by Robert Zubrin. It’s really good so far, it goes into such detail you can really tell the guy has spent his career and lifetime seriously thinking about how humans might live outside of Earth whether that be the Moon, Mars or the Asteroid Belt.
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That’s great! Whenever I’m feeling down, his books are mental comfort food that help me re-center. GNU sir Pterry!
You’re a few ahead of me on the re-read; Lords and Ladies is my next one. I’m taking my time though, I started in 2019.
GNU Terry Pratchett.
I’m reading The Anglo-Saxons by Marc Morris. It’s non-fiction. Morris’ books have a good narrative, but they are scholarly works. I haven’t gotten very far into The Anglo-Saxons yet, but one bit I greatly enjoyed was the author drawing parallels between Beowulf and Tolkien’s Rohirrim, all while discussing the archaeological evidence for feasting halls and the zeitgeist of the people who’d built those halls.
Currently reading/listening to the Dresden series, on White Night right now, listening while I travel for work and the books are great fun
Twig by Wildbow. A long web-series about a group of experiments in the dystopic biopunk 20s Crown States of America
Just got a few books from my local library that I’m excited to start. I’m starting off with “Focused Forward: Navigating the Storms of Adult ADHD” by James M. Ochoa which I picked out because it was the smallest book in the ADHD category, ha.
I also got a book on Linux/Unix, Diabetes, a workbook for Bipolar, a healthy snack book, and an organization book. Not too too sure if I’ll be able to finish it all by the time they’re due, but its a nice varied selection.
That second paragraph is peak ADHD lol.
I mean you aren’t wrong! Hahaa.
Now I’m reading Wheel Of Time, stuck on the 4th book.
Loved Wheel of Time, but damn does it slow down a lot after the first three books. There are some really awesome moments in the next ones but there are so many threads to follow that the overall story sometimes barely moves in the course of a book. It speeds back up again a little after Sanderson takes over for the last three.
Yeah, that’s why I’ve stopped reading it. But its so good to learn English, I sometimes return to it over and over again.
I’ve also liked The Black Company series, that was a good read for like 3 first books.
@derek
One of us
One of us
The Three-Body Problem by Liu Cixin. I love reading science fiction from people with engineering and science backgrounds. Another good book I finished recently was Project Hail Mary by Andy Weir.
Project Hail Mary was such a fun read for me! I loved how concrete the engineering problems were throughout the book. It kept me tied to the stakes of the story.
Haven’t been able to finish Three Body Problem, unfortunately, it kind of lost me within the first 100 pages. May have to give it another shot! I hear a lot of good things about it.
I personally think the author wrote The Three Body Problem as a prequel to set up for the sequel book, The Dark Forest. Maybe I was just more invested in the world they built at that point?
If that’s your vibe, try Blindsight by Peter Watts. It’s a very technical examination of the phenomenon of consciousness which isn’t afraid to get into the weeds, but never quite gets lost in them.
Do we perhaps know each other IRL? Blindsight was great, but I still have the nagging sense that I missed a big portion of it. Definitely mind expanding.
Blindsight was great, I need to read it a second time.
This book seems to have an equal measure of haters to fans but I loved the entire series. As it goes on it gets weird but imo was soo worth the read. Enjoy!
That book (three-body) was weeeeird. Really thought it was going to go in a very different direction during the introductory chapters.
I don’t know if I liked it but it sure made me think about stuff!
I still haven’t finished it so I am still forming an overall opinion, but its certainly interesting so far.
Yeah - the opening section really sets you up for something entirely different. I’m glad I stuck with it. 3 Body & the sequels kept me thinking new things during the pandemic
Greg Egan is another great author like that. Diaspora is a posthumanist acid trip with a ton of esoteric math thrown in. Absolute blast.
Noted
Man - 3 body problem (and the whole series) were a great read. What kind blowing shifts in perspective.
