Still Reading The Sunlit Man by Brandon Sanderson. His fourth and final standalone Cosmere “secret project” novel.
About halfway through, not much more to add.
What about all of you? What have you been reading or listening to lately?
For details on the c/Books bingo challenge that just restarted for the year, you can checkout the initial Book Bingo, and its Recommendation Post. Links are also present in our community sidebar.
I put “furiously happy” by Jenny Lawson aside for a while. It is a good book, just not for a read in one go. It’s also short stories, so I’ll get back to it later. Started “Rama 2” by Gentry Lee (it says Arthur C Clarke, but my guess is he only lended his name). About 20% through so far. It’s okay, nothing special so far. Also still listening to “the eye of the Bedlam bride”, about 2/3 through. That one is still good!
Recently finished Saving Fish from Drowning by Amy Tan.
It starts off by confusingly introducing a large number of characters at the narrator’s funeral, but gets good once 12 of them arrive in China for the Burma Road trip she organized for them. She joins them in spirit, but can only observe cultural misunderstandings she would have saved them from had she been alive, culminating in 11 of them going missing without explanation when their lake excursion never returned.
It’s surprisingly funny given the subject matter involving oppressive regimes and human rights abuses. It’s also entertaining and informative and gets a positive recommendation.
I scored it under Minority Author for bingo as she is Chinese-American. However, I think Amy Tan’s more interesting affiliation is as vocalist with the Rock Bottom Remainders, who I learned about after reading a good book by their guitarist.
Heh, that sounds like an interesting book. Going to check it out.
I just finished The Golem and the Jinni, Helene Wecker, which was such a nice and interesting book. The story was slow and well paced without feeling slow, and was clever in the use of seemingly bit characters weaving their way back into the plot. It was refreshing to have most of the conflicts and plot points be solved by expanded knowledge, rather than violence.
Next I’m going to read The Buffalo Hunter Hunter, Stephen Graham Jones, which has good reviews.
Working on No One Will Come Back for Us by Premee Mohamed, since I started it in May.
__
Finished:
Gideon the Ninth by Tamsyn Muir (science fantasy mystery) | bingo: number, different continent, LGBTQIA+, award HM, game, steppin’ up HM, late to the party HM, jerk HM
Necromancer heirs (and their cavaliers) from each of nine houses are invited to take part in a challenge: those that succeed will become the Emperor’s new elite.
I liked this more than I thought I would when I started, and I’ll probably read the sequels at some point. With that said, although I found the plot reasonably solid, the setup is kinda YA, and what little is mentioned about the wider situation/world building goes almost entirely unexplained. (Also: if you ever see it described as “lesbian necromancers in space”, there’s only, like, 5 seconds of space.)
Liar Game, Volume 1 by Shinobu Kaitani (thriller-ish seinen manga) | bingo: different continent HM, minority author, adaptation, orange, game
An unrealistically naive college student is forced to participate a mysterious game, which threatens to leave her in massive debt if she loses. To avoid this, she decides to enlist the help of a conman.
I enjoyed the drama adaptation of this back in the day, and this was pretty much 1-to-1 with my memory of the first episode, just more manga-y.
A Night in the Lonesome October by Roger Zelazny (non-scary horror) | bingo: creature HM. game
Jack the Ripper’s dog companion describes each day of October, as they–along with a variety of other Victorian horror characters and their familiars–prepare for a Halloween ritual.
This was fine, but it never super grabbed me. Might be fun to read a chapter a day leading up to Halloween.
A Night in the Lonesome October is on my wishlist. The idea sounds interesting.
lesbian necromancers in space
I would like some Necromancers in space. Or just some well written book from Necromancers point of view. Something not in litRPG.
No One Will Come Back for Us
Hope someone comes back for us.
I would like some Necromancers in space. Or just some well written book from Necromancers point of view. Something not in litRPG.
The second book in the series, Harrow the Ninth, is from the PoV of a necromancer, although from my understanding it’s also written half in 2nd person and non-linearly for a large portion. (Very much a “don’t start here” situation. The first book has a decent amount of skeletons, bone constructs, stealing life essence, death, etc, though, just from an external PoV.)
There’s also the Johannes Cabal series by Jonathan L. Howard, which has been sitting on my list for a while. I haven’t read it yet, but I did enjoy the other book I read by that author, so it might be worth a look?
Johannes Cabal
Interesting, will check it out.
Don’t care about skeletons etc. Just think a story about Necromancer doing the Necromancing and stuff can be interesting.
finished Careless People by Sarah Wynn-Williams. currently reading Everyday Is For The Thief by Teju Cole.
I just started This Is How You Lose the Time War. It seems fun at the 4% mark.
I remember that fondly and a good read
Just started today, Player of Games by Iain M. Banks.
I’ve read the entire series, and decided to re-read. Just completed Consider Phlebus yesterday and it was as good as the first time I read it.
I just finished Hail Mary Project which I started last week - really enjoyed it. It scratched a perfect itch for some optimistic sci-fi.
My favorite book! I can’t wait for the movie.
Yeah, it was a nice read. Looking forward to what he writes next.
I’m on the last fifty pages of Ursala Le Guin’s The Dispossessed. Absolutely loving it. I’ve been on a scifi kick since reading Dune for the first time in January and this might be my favorite one yet.
Still reading If on a Winter’s Night a Traveller - still weird! 😁
day of the triffids, just started today so far so good.
Sounds interesting. Looking forward to your review of the full book.
I enjoyed Sunlit Man. It was cool how planetary dynamics played such an important role in the plot.
Last week I started The Blade Itself by Joe Abercrombie, but it was fucking terrible. I only made it maybe 50 or so pages in before I put it down. The writing was so bad. How many times can he write, " “Aaargh” said Logen," or " “Ooof” said Glotka?" I swear those are actual quotes from the book that are both used multiple times in a very short stretch of the book. Then I could absolutely predict exactly what would happen with the characters, which I confirmed by reading spoilers after I put the book down. The story might end up being very good, but the writing is so bad.
I then started The Farseer trilogy by Robin Hobb. It is the exact opposite of The Blade Itself, and I’m really enjoying it so far.
Currently reading Keverjongen (original title: Beetle Boy) by M.G. Leonard. I find it enjoyable so far and am curious how the story’ll end so that’s a good sign.
Read Dungeon Crawler Carl yesterday. It’s fun and silly. I’ll probably read more of the series.
Welcome to the Princess Posse.
Goddammit Princess…
I’m reading Wool by Hugh Howey, the first of the Silo series. I’m liking this book more than the show! It’s much faster-paced and makes the show feel needlessly full of fluff. Hoping the series stays this good but have heard it goes downhill.
can confirm it goes downhill. haven’t seen the show but the first book is pretty good. the second was way less interesting to me and made me not want to bother with the third. stopped caring about what happens to the characters.
