One of the rare weeks where I got to read quite a bit.
Read Dark Matter by Blake Crouch. A contemporary sci-fi thriller. It’s my first Blake Crouch book and I knew nothing while going on. A quick and very enjoyable read. Recommended for thriller fans, if they don’t mind sci-fi.
After that, read The Magician’s Guild by Trudi Canavan. It’s a first book in The Black Magician trilogy, though it does have a prequel book and a sequel trilogy after that, but I don’t know if they the follows same characters or if they are different stories, just in the same universe.
The whole book takes place in one city, and stakes are very personal instead of some world saving quest. It was also a quick and very easy to read book.
Finally, started the most read / mentioned book of these weekly threads, Dungeon Crawler Carl. The book is hilarious, it gave me some of that Hitchiker’s Guide to the Galaxy feel in the start, but it’s a very different book.
It is very much a litRPG (have we finalised on litRPG now? what happened to Progression Fantasy? It was at least a better name than litRPG, or is there some difference between the two?), and one issue with the genre is there is rarely any feel of real danger (with some exceptions). This seems to be going the same way, but again, I am still in the start of the first book of eight book series, so anything can change. This isn’t a negative though, this is kind of why I like these books, sometimes you just want to read about good guy getting the win, without worrying about if they will win, but it is something to note if you are new to the genre.
Enjoying it enough that I have already ordered the next books, not sure if I’ll actually read them back to back, but I am definitely going to continue with the series.
What about all of you, what have you been reading or listening to lately?
Check Official Bingo Challenge Post and the accompanying Recommendations Post for our Bingo for 2026!
I started Guards! Guards! by Terry Pratchett. It’s fun so far; can’t really go wrong with Discworld.
My well thumbed 1990 print edition with the original Kirby cover is one of my most prized possessions. I don’t know how many times I’ve read it. You’re in for a ride, and the Vimes series only gets better as it goes along.
I’m almost finished Wintersmith, but I’ve been stopping to read other things in between books now, as I’m nearing the end of my first readthrough and don’t want to see it be over. Someone on one of these recent posts recommended The Songs of Distant Earth, and that was enjoyable and interesting. That was my last Discworld break.
Guards! Guards! was my first book I read in the series and I’ve been hooked ever since.
I love the mirror he created for our society, it’s such a great send up of all the strange things we take for granted
I didn’t expect to like the City Watch books as much as I did.
There’s another book called Dark Matter that’s by Michelle Paver and creepy as heck.
I’m listening to Christie’s Labours of Hercule Poirot (which is surprisingly dark) and reading Sam Neill’s autobiography.
I found out there was an Old Man’s War book 7, so I devoured that book. Kinda thought the series would end on book 6 since it was titled “The End of All Things” but book 7 was a happy surprise.
Then since I was reading John Scalzi I looked up some of his other books and settled on The Dispatcher series. I loved the premise to the series right away and enjoyed the mystery. The premise is
Spoiler
suddenly the world changed, when someone is murdered (suicide and accidental deaths don’t count) there is a very large chance (999/1000) that the person will reappear safe and sound in their home and I love the idea of a brand new profession that exploits the change in the world.
Already onto book 3 since they’re fairly short and fast paced books.
Scalzi will forever have a special place in my heart. His books brought me back to reading and made me realise that I love sci-fi books.
I have only read about 3 of his books, but Scalzi has become one of those authors whose book I pickup without checking anything else. Have book 2 and 3 of Old Man’s War already in my TBR pile, and plan to get Starter Villain soon.
Starter Villain was surprisingly great! I didn’t think I’d like it based on the title but it was very fun to read.
Just finished ‘The Talisman" and am currently into "Black House’. Getting ready for the third King/Straub novel on October 6, 2026!
Network Effect in the Murderbot series - it’s so good! Way better than I expected. https://hardcover.app/books/network-effect
Finished Children of Time last week, now I’m on Children of Ruin.
Love all of these books, I will say there is a moment in children of ruin that is my single favorite of the entire series, enough that I would say that children of ruin is probably my favorite of all of them so far.
Enjoying Adrian Tchaikovsky’s Children of Time. About halfway through.
Probably will start Crooked Kingdom, the following book to Six of Crows.
I enjoy the alternating viewpoints/storytelling in the chapters of both series.
I read Susanna Kaysen’s Girl, Interrupted and now I’m reading Ken Kesey’s One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, both old favourites. Reading them together feels right somehow, probably because they have a thematic connection. Next up I’ll be reading Blindsight by Peter Watts. I don’t know much about it, but someone mentioned it on here and I found it at my local library, so I’ll give it a go.
i picked up Blindsight recently as well, we must have seen the same post :)
I just finished book 5 of DCC! It does feel like the danger is reserved for everyone around them. Still, it’s interesting to see how they react to their circumstances and the shenanigans they’ll pull.
I’m also doing a Michael J Fox memoir for a book club and a silly fiction book about yarn for a fiber arts book club.
Still waiting on Libby for my sequel to The House on the Cerulean Sea.
If the memoir is Future Boy, then it is very good. Crazy what that kid managed to do in that year of filming
How to Invent Everything: A Survival Guide for the Stranded Time Traveler by Ryan North.
Interesting and funny, but a bit light as a main read. Ideal for a quickie though, as it’s arranged by topic.
OMG BLAKE CROUCH MENTIONED
I really enjoyed Recursion by him.
His mystery/thriller (im not good at genres) books are also fun!I have liked everything I’ve read by him. He wrote one called Famous that was very much unlike the rest of his books. And he had one called Run, which is the one that got me into him to begin with. It was phenomenal, got my heart racing.
Nice. I’ll see if my local bookstore has a copy.
What are you reading currently?
I’m currently in the middle of one of the Discworld novels. Tbh, I’m having a little trouble—they just don’t grab me in the way a good space opera or hard scifi does. I do like them, though.
David Graeber’s ‘Debt: The First 5000 Years’.
This bit stuck out from what I’ve read so far:
… the words of an actual hunter-gatherer — an Inuit from Greenland made famous in the Danish writer Peter Freuchen’s Book of the Eskimo. Freuchen tells how one day, after coming home hungry from an unsuccessful walrus - hunting expedition, he found one of the successful hunters dropping off several hundred pounds of meat. He thanked him. The man objected indignantly:
“Up in our country we are human!” said the hunter. “And since we are human we help each other. We don’t like to hear anybody say thanks for that. What I get today you may get tomorrow. Up here we say that by gifts one makes slaves and by whips one makes dogs.”
The God Delusion by Richard Dawkins, and The Well of Ascension by Brandon Sanderson.
Just started “Steelheart” by Sanderson. I screwed up and read the short story sequel last month, not knowing it was a sequel. Massive spoilers there.
Just finished Django Wexler’s “Wells of Sorcery” trilogy. I started it not knowing it was YA, but it was still a decent read.
I just finished Serj Tankian’s Down with the System. It’s a wonderful autobiography that delves into the history of the Armenian genocide and how his activism shaped his art and vice versa.
A wonderful read if you were ever a Serj or System of a Down fan.
Tnx for the tip. Added to my TBR pile. I really enjoy(ed) his/their music.
