Reading Sword of Destiny by Andrzej Sapkowski. Book 2 of The Witcher series.
What about all of you? What have you all been reading or listening to lately?
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Currently reading Isaac Asimov’s I, Robot. It’s a fun read, almost done.
One detail that surprised me is the amount of smoking in the book. It’s not a lot, but kinda weird that someone would light up a cigarette in a space station.
I’ve just recently finished a re-read of the entire main branches of the Robots and the Empire series. The eBooks include forewords by the author describing how the world was changing when he first started writing the characters, he was publishing before computers were invented.
Those books were also the first detective Scifi books as well.
That’s impressive, how many books is that combined?
It’s amazing what he foresaw in his writing. The lying robot reminded me of sycophantic A.I., and the robot laws and how they cause one robot to endlessly circle a pit reminded me of Optimality Theory, which is a linguistic theory from the 1990’s.
I just got the Foundation trilogy from the library, I think I will read that next.
It was this set, and in this order. Most of them aren’t very long though so it didn’t take too much time.Thanks! I saved the image as a reference.
He wasn’t thinking THAT far ahead. There’s quite a few continuity errors when he combined them 30 years later with the end foundation books.
There’s a few standalone books that are missed from the just the large 3 series.
Wyrd Sisters by Terry Pratchett. I’m making my way through the Discworld in release order, excepting Guards, Guards! since I read it first. So far, the reputation of the series that you can feasibly start anywhere rings pretty true!
Wyrd Sisters is a good one, but my only problem with Discworld is that almost ALL of them are really good ones. :) I’m glad you’re going in publication order, even if there’s no real wrong way to read them. :) IMHO, that is the best way, even if you bounce around the disc a bit, I think they are more logical to consume as he wrote them since he evolved things as he went along. :)
The Witches have been my favourite of the books so far. I’m also going through in release order.
I’ve been reading some of the Discworld books sporadically. Soul Music most recently.
I had read The Colour of Magic a while back and recall not liking it. More recently, a friend invited me to a Hogfather watching party. I enjoyed it enough that I went ahead and read the book. That prompted me to read the other related novels.
Plus, on the recommendation of said friend, Interesting Times. That one was kind of a miss for me. I don’t care for Rincewind. Also, too much of the book felt like missed references to elements of a previous book.
Guards, Guards! might be the next one I pick up. Or maybe Thief of Time or Hogfather again.
I’ll be reading Niezwyciężony by Stanisław Lem. It’s about a planet where abandoned robots have gone through an evolutionary process and become part of the ecosystem. It could happen to us!
I read this after playing the game. I think it was the book that coined the term necroevolution, and world-building was quite fascinating.
I had no idea there’s a video game. How is it?
It is a walking simulator with gorgeous environment and graphics. I liked the writing of the story as well, but I guess it is not everyones cup of tea.
This sounds interesting. Going to check it out.
Carl’s Doomsday Scenario by Matt Dinnaman
I’m taking my time because I know I would just blow through the series and be sad when it’s over. I understand why the Dungeon Crawler Carl series has gotten so popular.
I’ve been taking my time as well. I had a friend who started his listen while I was mid book two, and he’s long finished, but I’m trying to milk it and enjoy it. He’d listen while working, and I just can’t get my head around it. I’m about two-thirds through book six, and I’ve thoroughly enjoyed it.
Yeah, I’m about 2/3 through book 2 now. Two folks in my book club have read most of them already and recommend taking the time to really enjoy it. I’ll probably read something light and quick between books. I typically only use audiobooks for rereading because I tend to zone out and not pay attention. I could not listen to this during work, I’d lose my place constantly.
Glad you are enjoying it too! It’s such a good series!
I’m generally the same with with audiobooks. I run a lot, so I’m always listening to something, but I tend to keep my main books in text format. That being said, everyone raced about the narration for DCC, and it exceeded expectations. I think listening to it will be a whole new experience when you eventually get around to reliving the story.
Currently reading 2666 by Roberto Bolaño. It’s big but I’m committed to get through it, only 900 pages left!
Finished Dungeon Crawler Carl book 2 (Carl’s Doomsday Scenario) last week. Started Roadside Picnic but found the translation unreadable. Might be an audiobook choice if at all.
Currently reading Woken Furies by Richard Morgan. It is book 3 of the Takeshi Kovacs trilogy (Altered Carbon). The cyberpunk techno laden prose is a bit difficult to follow, so I started to whisper sync it (read book and listen to audiobook simultaneously) once I hit chapter 5. As the previous two Kovacs books, it is an excellent stylistic example of the cyberpunk genre, although it tends to not get nearly as political and dystopic as the genre usually does. Maybe book 3 bucks the trend.
Once done I will either finish the Eisenhorn trilogy (Warhammer 40k) or continue reading Book 4 of Sanderson’s Stormlight Archive. Had to drop it after binging the first three in one go.
Did you watch Altered Carbon on Netflix? I liked the books and the series even though they diverge a lot (kinda like GOT). Some things were better in the books (they skipped the whole second book?), but a few things they did better in the series, like having the main baddie being Kovac’s sister and “ressurecting” Quell.
I did. The series diverged on some very fundamental elements, which bugged me, a lot. But, on its own, thw first season was pretty good. I never watched the second.
How are you liking the Eisenhorn trilogy? I got the omnibus and going to start it soon (once I am done with Sword of Destiny and the final The Black Magician’s book)
I am midway through Malleus and really like it so far. It has a cool noir detective vibe. As it is often the case, the best part are the side characters.
I Shall Wear Midnight, as I get closer to the end of this Discworld readthru.
Don’t sleep on Discworld, and don’t sleep on the Tiffany Aching “young adult” series. imho, “young adult” was probably thrust on Sir Terry for marketing or whatever, or he wanted to get more younger people to read the novels, but whatever the reason, apparently some people avoid the Aching novels, and that’s a loss for them. :)
Nae king! Nae quin! Nae laird! Nae master! We willna’ be fooled again!
I’ll always love the Nac Mac Feegles :)
Daft Wullie! Ye ken I said I’d tell ye when ye wuz guilty o’ stupid and inna-pro-pre-ate behavior?
:)
The Nicomachean Ethics by Aristotle, with supplementary watching of lectures. I like how thorough Aristotle discusses things, and how grounded they were. For example, I think he had said that a singular action does not make someone “virtuous” or “vicious”, but those label depend on whether an act was done consciouly or unconsciously, internal reactions and habits. Also, him discussing the difference between “particular knowledge” and “universal knowledge” felt like it made sense to me, but that’s probably because I’m neurodivergent, lol.
With the lectures (which I wouldn’t have watched without reading the book) my mind was sorta blown by a question whether “Intent”, “The Person”, and the “Consequences” was the most important, because a lot of the people interested in philosophy these days usually like to elevate only one aspect to importance. But as it stands, all of them are important.
Reading the book I also thought, since I am so interested in Philosophy and literally watch lectures for it, and Mathematics was valued and often used as a sort of illustrative point for their concepts, perhaps I should study Mathematics more thoroughly, starting from its philosophical roots? I literally suck at it. I think it would do me well to go beyond just using the mathematical formulas and try to understand it fundamentally.
Also earlier I had finished a book called “A Factory of Cunning” by Philippa Stockley. I don’t really have much to say about it, but it was a nice diversion, since I’ve read some heavy stuff before that. Also it’s kinda like a fanfiction of Les Liaisons dangereuses. Speaking of fanfiction, I had also read some time ago a book called “The Idylls of the Queen”, based on a small part of Le Morte d’Arthur, where a knight got poisoned. Though it calls itself a Tale of Queen Guinevere, it mostly focuses on Kay and Mordred’s investigation. I also would like to say, most of Arthuriana fiction is kinda like open source literature. Le Morte d’Arthur was more of a collection, for example, not the definitive canon, and in many adaptations some things are different, whether characterisation or parentage. Very interesting stuff.
Just finished A Natural History of Dragons by Marie Brennan and Soul Music by Terry Pratchett.
Just started Dragonsinger by Anne McCaffrey. I don’t remember yet whether I’ve read it before. I definitely read Dragonsong and Dragondrums years back, but I haven’t read all of the Pern books. Something made me think of them earlier this year, so I started requesting them from the library.
I’m about to start Assassin’s Fate by Robin Hobb. It’s the conclusion to a trilogy. I’m looking forward to it. Robin Hobb is one of my favorites.
Anytime I see the Realm of the Elderlings mentioned I get a little jealous. Not gonna say much, but unparalleled character in Fitz. Amazing story. The way Hobb wrote the two diverging storylines over the course of what, 17 books? Just a fantastic story. Wish I could read it again for the first time. I’m trying to talk a friend of mine into it. Got him to read (listen to) WoT, and I listened along with him, so I feel like this is doable.
Fitz is such a fascinating, frustrating, and somehow relatable character all at the same time. Kind of a tragic upbringing Unlucky in love for most of his life. Part of the royal family. Interesting job,.to say the least.
But he’s SO DAMN STUPID sometimes. I was practically ripping out my hair at how boneheaded he was in the opening chapters of the latest trilogy (Fool’s Assassin, I think).
But…if he’d been smarter, it would have been half a book. And his mistakes were VERY in keeping with his character from the previous books. Wonderful tales. Amazing author. Robin Hobb is one of my favorites.
Fed Up by Daniel E. Lieberman. It’s pretty depressing talking about corruption of the food industry, diet gurus fleecing people of their money, and how ineffective most diets are. It’s written by an anthropologist who discusses where our diets come from and compared historically to what different cultures ate at various times. Very informative, very interesting, but pretty depressing about how shitty people are profiting from vulnerable people just wanting hope and health.
Finished The Last Days of Jack Sparks by Jason Arnopp. Last week I complained it was overlong; turns out it was just a slump in the pacing, as I enjoyed the last 25-ish% much better. I have some minor quibbles with some of the explanations at the end, but overall, I liked it.
Read/finished Full Speed to a Crash Landing by Beth Revis. This was short and zipped along quickly. I didn’t love the MC’s personality, but the cat-and-mouse aspect was great, so I’ll probably end up putting the next one on my TBR.
Currently ambling my way through The Summer Book by Tove Jansson. Each chapter is a little story about an older woman and her granddaughter, who are living on a Finnish island. If you like the Moomin books, you’ll probably vibe with this as well.
Just finished Children of Strife by Adrian Tchaikovsky, book four of his Children of Time series. Magnificent, truly. Best one yet.
Now I’m finishing H.N. Turteltaub’s Over the Wine Dark Sea, that I put down to read CoS. It’s also magnificent so far. I really appreciate how Dan Carlin’s Hardcore History podcast gave me an ancient seafaring primer that this book is really living up to.
Ashes of Man by Christopher Ruocchio. It’s a good book so far. I like the series as a whole, but my pace of reading the books are getting slower as the years go on. It’s not that the stories are bad it’s that Ruocchio really shot himself in the foot by revealing the climax of the whole series on the first page of book 1 and fucking waiting 6+ more novels to get there.
I think I’m gonna switch to Neuromancer when I’m done this book. I need a short pallet cleanser.
Then I might tackle Infinite Jest or Gravity’s Rainbow out of curiosity.
I just wrapped up the Disaster Gays Detective Agency by Lev AC Rosen. Sadly, I was disappointed.
I just finished He Who Fights With Monsters 9 today and still enjoying it a lot.
Having a brief break with Radical Remission: Surviving Cancer Against All Odds which is a rare non fiction forray that has been dictated by life as it is currently.
I’m about halfway through the second book of ‘He Who Fights With Monsters’. I’m enjoying the series so far.
I looked for similar after reading ‘Dungeon Crawler Carl’ and stumbled on this.
I prefer it to Carl to be honest. If you want other similar stuff you should try out:
Solo Levelling
Buy Mort: The Shopocalypse Saga
Beware of Chicken
