Reading The Novice by Trudi Canavan. The second book in The Black Magician trilogy.
What about all of you? What have you all been reading or listening to lately?
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Finished A Murder of Quality by John le Carré. Not terrible, but I agree with it being rated/reviewed more poorly than the rest of the Smiley series. Smiley spends most of the book interviewing people that avoid telling him key pieces of information because his cover story is wrong for that kind of confidence, and the rest is PoV switches, some of which withhold other information from the reader (and are thus fairly pointless). He figures it out anyway, of course, but in terms of being a) a good whodunit, and b) a good Smiley book… eh. I still found it very readable, though.
Currently reading Welcome to the Hyunam-dong Bookshop by Hwang Bo-Reum. This is very slice-of-life, told in little snippets. Quick to get through, but very meandering. Not sold on the translation in places.
That was a solid trilogy. They handled some aspects of magic a bit different, which gave the story a fresh touch.
I wonder why that books were never made into a movie or complete movie franchise.
There is also a sequel trilogy:
The Traitor Spy TrilogyYeah, already got the books. Will probably take a break after the first trilogy though.
I’m enjoying The Death of the Necromancer by Martha Wells. About a third of the way through it, and enjoying it!
I didn’t finish Hidden Empire by Kevin J. Anderson, but I might get back to it eventually. The prose just isn’t catching me. Anyone read this one, or his whole “Saga of the Seven Suns”? Is it worth going on?
I read one of his books a while back. The plot setup was interesting, but I sort of felt like I was reading the outline of the book. Every chapter felt like there was just enough material to carry the plot forward, not a single word more. It left me wishing he’d elaborated more.
Deep Work by Cal Newport. I’m trying to add blocks of distraction free time to each day and it’s a big challenge, hopefully this book will give me some fresh ideas regarding the implementation.
I’m currently reading The Annual Migration of Clouds. So far it’s pretty interesting.
Aberration in the Heartland of the Real: The Secret Lives of Timothy McVeigh by Wendy S. Painting.
I’ve had this on my list for years and finally got around to it by choosing it for my bookclub, as revenge for being forced to read Dungeon Crawler Carl (I did warn them there would be repercussions).
It’s a masterpiece; incredibly detailed and insightful, it also sprawls into an exploration of the American malaise and the cultures that create people like McVeigh. Incredibly dense and heavy, but utterly compelling.
Vagabond by Tim Curry and Babel by R.F. Kuang
I enjoyed Vagabond, even though Tim Curry explicitly kept the reader at a distance. While no one has to define their sexuality, I would have been interested in learning about those who he chose to love.
Walking With Weight by Michael Easter. Expecting it to be light and breezy.
Finished Mortedant’s Peril by R.J. Barker and enjoyed it. A super easy read, fun little mystery, and an interesting world to explore. It seems like it’s the first of a series, so I’ll be keeping an eye out for the next one.
Lord Foul’s Bane - Stephen Donaldson
Heard of the Covenant series for a long time, never got around to it before now. Seems OK, doubt I’ll read all 10 but we’ll see.
I’m almost halfway through In the Distance by Hernan Diaz. It’s the first book of his I’ve read, and it’s really good. I’ll read his more recent book, Trust, next. My wife highly recommended that one.
I liked Trust—I’ll have to check out Distance.
Just finished This I Know, by Eldonna Edwards.
If I hadn’t read Clover Blue first, I probably would not have picked up this, her first book, based on the description. But, I trusted the author, so I tried it. I’m glad I did. It’s a good mix of supernatural woo-woo, and coming of age. Recommended.
Currently reading There Is No Antimemetics Division, by British author qntm.
This is more of my usual sci-fi fare, and I’m enjoying it. I feel like I’ve come across this trope before, but not explored in such detail. Recommended.
I tried reading The First Fifteen Lives of Harry August, by Claire North, a pseudonym of British author Catherine Webb.
I didn’t care for the prose, only made it a couple of pages, and knew it wasn’t for me. There might be a movie, eventually. I’d probably watch the movie, I like the premise.
I just ordered the book yesterday, after seeing it recommended in last week’s thread 😀
I’m slowly reading Martyr! by Kaveh Akbar for a book club. I’m definitely nervous about where it’s going to go. I also have Stephen Fry’s Mythos on hoopla and I just started listening to Patrick Stewart’s autobiography from libro.fm.
Last book in Ursula leguins Hamish cycle, the telling. left hand and dispossessed were the high lights. I don’t think theres much point in reading these books as a unit.
