A community for all things related to Books.
Just read an erotic romance, Heart of the Mountain by Snek Guy. It is about a mercenary going up a mountain to slay a dragon and take her hoard of gold. Things don't go quite as he planned. It was well written, but a bit too much smut for my taste. I wrote a bit more here.
Just started the My Best Friend is an Eldritch Horror series.
Ward by wildbow. Not technically a book but it's wonderful if you are into that genre and honestly probably still good if you aren't. Finished worm and while back and would definitely recommend that as well
To give a brief idea it's "what if super powers came from incredible trauma and were designed to be the worst possible power for them specifically" there's a lot more to it like A LOT but that is a general idea.
Worm follows Taylor and her journey after gaining power. It's essentially her struggle to be in control of everything that goes on around her
Ward follows Victoria dallon and her struggle to manage a bunch of traumatized young adults as a hero team while dealing with a severely fucked up family
Trying to read Into Thin Air, but I am getting bored by the background stories.
I’m about half way through The Obelisk Gate which is the second book of the broken earth series by N.K. Jemisin. I’m really enjoying it.
I have a couple of overdue library books I should probably finish and return, but instead I'm reading a couple volumes of Combatants will be Dispatched because laughing is better than being a decent human being.
I just started City of Refuge by Tom Piazza. It's a fictional account of two families in New Orleans during hurricane Katrina. I'm only 12% in but so far I'm impressed by how real I feel like the pov characters are.
Also reading Lichtenbergianism by Dale Lyles. It's about using procrastination as a creative strategy. 30% in, and juries out on whether I'll find anything helpful in it.
I just finished Project Hail Mary. A wonderful and fun read. Highly recommend if you like science fiction.
I found it to be one of the most engrossing and wholesome books that I’ve read in years!
The Sword Defiant by Gareth Hanrahan. It's enjoyable.
I really wish he'd describe scenes visually, but it's character driven and he does a good job with their internal lives.
I used to skip all the visual descriptions, didn't care much about them (also, didn't understood half of the words used to explain the appearance of things or people). I have started to pay attention to them now, but I would probably still like a book that doesn't worry about these too much.
Is it a series? Or a single book?
There's definitely a balance to be struck with descriptions. Too little beats too much, IMO, but I appreciate a little food for my imagination.
It's the first book in a series (I think). It's epic fantasy, but it's set in the Happily Ever After. The protagonist is part of the motley crew that defeated the big bad twenty years earlier.
His previous series (Black Iron Legacy) was a lot of fun. Of recommend them both.
re-reading the Malazan, Book of the Fallen. Currently on Toll the Hounds. I'm enjoying the re-read.
One of these days, I need to finally start reading Malazan series. Maybe time to start collecting the whole series.
Have you also read all the novellas, prequels, sequels, and malazan empire series?
Bit late to the party, but I just started reading the Final Empire, Mistborn series #1. Only a few chapters in, but I’m enjoying it so far!
Ah, great series. Have you read any other of Brandon Sanderson's work? Or is this your first?
The Lion: Son of the Forest by Mike Brooks. I'm on a Warhammer 40K kick lately, so started this after I finished the Eisenhorn trilogy
What would you say is a good place to start for someone who doesn't know anything about Warhammer 40K, other than some video games?
Whoa, sorry this is a late reply. I don't get notified if I get responses to my comments. Anyway, I can't find it, but there's a good resource on a subreddit I found before about book recommendations and reading order. In lieu of that, I can tell you what I remember: the setting, timeline, characters and lore are too many and varied to jump into, so focus on something smaller and more localized. A standalone series, or even a single novel, that's more relatable and more focused can introduce you to the setting and themes of warhammer 40k (or 30k, if it's related to the timeline around the Horus Heresy) better than some of the ones focusing on the bigger conflicts. All that to say, start with the Eisenhorn series of books.
Also, read up a bit on some articles about the lore for 40k available online, there's a few wikis dedicated to Warhammer 40k/30k. There's going to be spoilers, of course, but maybe focus on something you'd like to particularly know about the world of warhammer 40k, e.g spacemarines, the imperium, the other alien species, something more related to the tabletop game itself, etc. Then see if it's to your liking, and you can branch off from there and read books about topics that interest you. Hope that helps a bit!
No problem. Better late than never. 😀
Thanks for the detailed response. I will take a look at Eisenhorn series, and then continue from there. I have played couple of Warhammer 40K games, like the Space Marine one, but the only thing I know is that they are fighting orcs for some reason. Maybe the books will give some idea.
📖 Les Furtifs by Alain Damasio
and
📖 Mathematica by David Bessis
Les Furtifs looks interesting, from what I could glean. Is it available in English?
And Mathematica is just a Mathematics book, right?
I do not think that Les Furtifs is available in English yet...
As for Mathematica, yes it is about the Mathematic however at a personal development level. David Bessis tries to explain that people's brain is compatible with the mathenathic. Some people wrongly think that they are bad at this because nobody taught them how to do. For him abstraction is something that need to be trained. An example is that each one of us can easily imagine (to watch in our head) a perfect circle even if it does not exist in our reality. The author explains that to do Math is to learn to fail, to make mistakes, to correct our intuition.
Iron Gold by Pierce Brown.
Ah, a sequel series to Red Rising. I have heard of that, but never got around to read it. How is the series?
I had a really hard time with Iron Gold. So much so that I couldn’t finish it. I keep meaning to go back to it and try again, but I haven’t yet.
Finally pushed through The Sound and the Fury. Definitely lived up to it's reputation for being difficult and inscrutable. Probably could have just stuck with the spark notes on this one, frankly.
I picked up Ovid's Metamorphoses on a whim and I'm finding it surprisingly fun and approachable. I've always had a healthy appreciation for western mythos, so this is a fun little dip back into that world for me, and I am also enjoying going back and reading some academic commentary once I finish a section. Makes me feel like I'm back in college in a good way.
I also started The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath and I'm really enjoying her prose so far. I am a little surprised, frankly, with how much I'm enjoying this one and how hard it is to put the book down. Maybe because I tend to select books I don't expect to like, but rather which I believe will be beneficial to read (which provides it's own form of enjoyment for me, rest assured).
Also trying to maintain momentum on my second read through of Infinite Jest. One of my favorites, even (especially?) the second time through.
Last year I read mostly nonfiction so I guess this year I've swung in the other direction as I've read almost exclusively fiction so far.
I consider those books light reading. Very good for listening to in the car. You should try his other book The Aeronaut's Windlass. He said he was going to switch between the two series and honestly I haven't checked if he's added to them. I really should, it was a ton of fun.
I'd also like to recommend the Magnus archives if you are interested in audio dramas
The Wheel of Time
Currently Reading:
The Iron Heel, by Jack London
Basically one of the first major political dystopias written in the modern sense. It's super cool too, basically the book is an old manuscript about an attempted socialist revolution, before the world was taken over by oligarchic tyrannical capitalists. There's basically two stories being told, one in the socialist narrative itself occurring in the past, and one in the footnotes, showing glimmers of some of the capitalist horrors in the "present time". Super neat way to tell a story, and I'm really enjoying it so far. It's super heavy handed, and I would maybe call it similar to a socialist version of an Ayn Rand dystopia, like Anthem, but you know... Actually good. And thematically opposite to any coherent thought Ayn Rand tried to impart onto her readers.
Paved Paradise, How Parking Explains the World, by Henry Grabar
Not too far into this one, but it's a non-fiction book about parking policy, and how parking has basically ruined American cities over the last 70 years. I've been really getting into city planning books lately, so we'll see how much I like this one. Some pretty eye opening statistics so far, and the writing style seems fine.
DNF'd recently:
Walden, by Henry David Thoreau
Jesus this dude is insufferable. I read a lot of dense stuff, and have read many authors that like the sound of their own voice, but Thoreau takes the cake. Preaches self-reliance and disparages philanthropy but squats on his buddies land and lives off of gifts from friends, while doing absolutely nothing and providing no value to society. The guy just exudes a "holier than thou" attitude throughout the whole book, with absolutely nothing to back it up. I quit after 100 pages of this absolute joke contradicting himself the entire time. He would occasionally stumble upon some brilliance that I found a bit insightful, but it was few and far between, and the 98% of the rest was pure, unadulterated garbage. I really haven't had this negative of a reaction to something I've read for quite some time, I generally like everything I read. Maybe I'm just too simple to understand his self proclaimed brilliance.
Interesting list of books. Not the kind of thing I usually read, but The Iron Heel looks to be an interesting book. I would also be interested in hearing what you thought about Paved Paradise once you are done with it.
As for Walden, if you didn't know anything about Thoreau and his life, would you still think the same about the book? I am just wondering if it's the contradiction between his life (which I know nothing about) and his work that turned you off.
Roadkill, by Dennis E. Miller. I think it's probably his weakest book, but it's entertaining enough that I'll finish it. It is certainly not We are Legion.
I'm a little over halfway through "Devils unto Dust" by Emma Berquist. It's a zombie story set in late 19th century Texas. It took me a while to decide to read it, as honestly I just wasn't that into another zombie story. But damn is it well written!
Stealing the book description:
Keep together. Keep your eyes open. Keep your wits about you.
A horrifying sickness has spread across the West Texas desert. Infected people—shakes—attack the living, and the surviving towns are only as safe as their perimeter walls are strong. The state is all but quarantined from the rest of the country. Glory, Texas, is a near ghost town. Still, seventeen-year-old Willie has managed to keep her siblings safe, even after the sickness took their mother. But then her good-for-nothing father steals a fortune from one of the most merciless shake hunters in town, and Willie is left on the hook for his debt. With two young hunters as guides, Willie sets out across the desert to find her father. And the desert holds more dangers than just shakes.
This riveting debut novel blends True Grit with 28 Days Later for an unforgettable journey.
This sounds interesting. Will check it out.
I am actually up for some Zombie novels, which ones do you think are some of the best?
I finished Devils unto Dust yesterday and can confirm that it was superbly written all the way through, and I very much reiterate my reccomendation.
As for other zombie novels, it's not really a genre I'm super into, hence the reluctance to get started on this one. That said, World War Z is a book that I hear is far better than the movie. Isn't that always the case?
Just about to finish Witch King by Martha Wells (dead tree edition), and just starting The Passage by Justin Cronin (audiobook edition)