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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I’m also reading The Witcher: Sword of Destiny. I haven’t got much left to go though, so I’ll need to either get the next book soon, or take a break and read some other books I have waiting for me.
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.
I just wrapped up Replay by Ken Grimewood. I read it back in ‘89-‘90 when it first came out in paperback and I was a young’un and it really stuck in my head. When I saw my local library had it for check out as downloaded audio, I figured I had to give it a go again almost 30 years later.
It’s a fantastic story of a 43 year old man who has a hart attack in 1988 and wakes up in his 18 year old body in early 1963. You’d think it would be a bog standard fantasy about getting it right this time or something but instead it turns out to be a lovely stirring story about loneliness and finding someone, anyone to share your time with. Really great book that hits harder now that I’m older.That’s a good book. Interesting premise well executed. It’s been a long time since I read it though.
hart attack
Was he stag-ered by the experience?
lol I guess that’s why I’m not a writer to be trusted
I was amused by the typo…and by the mental image of a man poofed back in time in a hunting accident. It brings the Weeping Angels from Doctor Who to mind.
I began reading Darconville’s cat by Alexander Theroux. Another doorstopper for this year, wish me luck.
Finally finished Children of Time after 8 months (no time to read and feel guilty if I do). About to move on to a second book, but I am going to take a pit stop at a bad Noir detective novel that I got from a humble bundle “Quarry”.
Currently reading Perdido Street Station by China Mieville after enjoying The City and The City. I love how thickly he lays on the descriptions of the filth and dread, the opening introduction in PSS is pages without a single redeeming feature described.
I’m working my way through Neverwhere, Neil Gaiman, and it reminds me in hugely of Otherland, Tad Williams. I haven’t picked up a Gaiman book in a while, somewhat due to the controversy around him, and I’d forgotten that I do enjoy his prose. Overall, it’s only fine. I keep falling asleep reading if that’s any indication of interest ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
And finally finished Heretical Fishing, Haylock Jobson. Boy was that book not for me. I think I get the appeal of a permutation of the cultivator progression fantasy genre, but wow the writing really wasn’t for me. Sooo dramatic all the time about the littlest things, constantly talking about how the air felt in lungs, sun on face, etc. And the relationships, while “wholesome” did not feel grounded or real. I don’t the I’ll be continuing the series.
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 the internal reaction and habits of that person. 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.
Along Came a Spider by James Patterson. I’m new to book reading as a leisure and I just found out that random book I read when I was a kid (Double Cross by James Patterson) has a lot of books in its series. I will start from here and see if I end up being a bookworm too.
I hope you enjoy it!
Thanks, I’m enjoying it so far!
Damn, Along Came a Spider and Kiss the Girls are two movies I remember watching when I was younger and really like them. Did not realize they were Patterson books.
Ohh, they were movies? Didn’t know haha. And Kiss the Girls is next on my list.
I’ve just finished ‘Our Rights to Drugs’ by Thomas Szasz. It’s a controversial book but I think it’s worth reading. In my opinion, it has some interesting takes and some wrong ones but overall, I recommend it.
Elder Race by Adrian Tchaikovsky.
It’s pretty good as a light Sci Fi novel
I really enjoyed this one! The sequel, “Engines of Reason” just came out on Sept 1st, I’m looking forward to reading it!
Thanks, I’ll keep an eye out for it at the library!
I thought I’d give Zane Grey a try as I’ve never read a western. “Riders of the Purple Sage” is quite gripping.
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.
Currently reading Better Than Revenge by Bea Fitzgerald, The Lotus Empire by Tasha Suri, Why Women Have Better Sex Under Socialism by Kristen Ghodsee (about economic arguments rather than anything else) and We Will Not Be Silent by Russell Freedman.
Still reading Red Country by Joe Abercrombie, sixth in The First Law series. Absolutely loving it, though I feel I stepped out of Medieval Times and into the Olde West(e). It’s been gripping since the first page, really like it.
And DCC book 6, The Bedlam Bride. Not sure I need to say much about it. If you’re here in this thread in the Fediverse, you’re aware of it, generally, if not specifically.
