Reading Fated by Benedict Jacka, first book in his urban fantasy series Alex Verus.
It is interesting to see how different Alex is from Dresden, both are very different kind of mages, though both have their own issues with their respective councils.
What about all of you? What have you all been reading or listening to lately?
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Just finished Paper Towns by John Green with very mixed feelings
I have been mildly irritated at the whole book right up to the last 30 pages where it kind if got better. I can’t really put a finger on what has annoyed me, but it just feels wrong and somewhat artificial
Working my way thru Dungeon Crawler Carl audiobook, on Chapter 34 now. Its a lot of fun. The voice actor for this book is very impressive. He has a huge range and really gives so much personality to the characters.
Jeff Hays sooo gooood! Glad your enjoying it. Fantastic series.
He really is, he is now up there with one of my other favorite voice actors, Phil Thron. He read the Space Team series which is also a super fun book series that I highly recommend if you have the chance
ohh some RinoZ on the list!
Ill have to check Phil out too.
Hays and Andria Parsnow (I love Wandering Inn) are my favorites.
Im currently reading this series, on book 6. I personally dont like the audiobook because I like the voices I’ve already imagined while reading. No hate on the voice actor, its my issue, I read the AI in a flat tone like I would read a video game tooltip. And donut is similar to the cat from life of pets in my head.
Keep going, it gets even better. Book 1 barely scratches the surface. Also, book 3 can be very confusing. Dont get hung up on the geography and enjoy the characters.
I get that, I had a really hard time sinking in to the Wheel of Time audiobooks at first because both the voices and the names where not what I read in my head. I got there eventually and finished the series, but it took several hours awkwardness to get there.
Also thx for the note on book three I’ll keep that in mind when I get there
I’m on book 3, and I am also loving the audiobooks!
I’m 90% of the way through Anna Karenina, but having to take a break to read a book for my book club. That book is Evenings and Weekends by Oisín McKenna. I’m enjoying it so far; a nice slice of life involving a group of friends/roommates/lovers living in London. It has some quite poetic commentary on queerness, communication across different generations and living in a city. And it has its funny moments :)
Oh Anna Karenina was one my favorite books when I was a teenager. I especially loved the descriptions of loneliness and dispair were something I could recognize myself in.
He does get to the depths of the human condition so well and describe it in such a relatable way. I’m sorry to hear you felt that way at the time though. Hope you’re doing alright now
Thanks for the good wishes. Yes I am better now having exited an abusive childhood. Being an independent adult has been a blessing to me♥️
Just finished cat’s cradle by kurt Vonnegut and um wow! Never read any of his work before. It was a wild ride
I loved that book. Might be my favorite of his.
Im going through “The Nature of Predators”
We are the aliens. Its a sorta space opera kinda deal. I like it so far.
Sounds good, good reviews on StoryGraph. I added it to my reading list.
coo. Here is is on bookwyrm too: https://bookwyrm.social/book/2372302/s/the-nature-of-predators
I enjoy it. Its a different vibe.
Looks good. Added to my list too!
Under the Dome. Stephen King
I really wanted to like it. DNF :(
I know that it is not regarded as some of his best work but I really love Under the Dome, it is great!
Going to revisit McCain’s Promise aka the expanded/standalone “Up, Simba!” nonfiction by David Foster Wallace, given the midterms here in the US. Very interesting examination of the traditional campaign trail, and how the ideological veil starts to fall apart in ways the rallygoers don’t see from only one night or from the front end (Wallace readily admits he’s seeing things from the side rather than from “behind the scenes”).
Cities of the Plain by Cormac McCarthy
I loved the first two books in the trilogy, but I’m not sure about this one yet. The characters don’t quite seem like themselves, but maybe there’s a good reason for that.
I haven’t been reading a ton, so I’m only a little over 1/3 of the way through Harrow the Ninth by Tamsyn Muir. It’s still enjoyable, but I am getting a little impatient for the story to just get on with it. It’s not slow, exactly, but the nonlinearity does kinda make it feel like it’s going backwards, or in circles, or sidestepping, rather than plunging into the meat of things.
I had the exact same issue when I read it (which was a while ago). The last 1/3 was the best part of the book, at least imo.
Glad it’s not just me! I’ll push through to that last third, thanks for the heads up.
Finishing **Wheel of Time 8: The Path of Daggers ** Maybe I’ll read something else before I begin WoT9
You are getting to the part that is kind of a slog, but I promise the pay off in the end is worth getting thru the series.
True, I find myself skipping some words/sentences/paragraphs and even pages. Jordan wrote a lot of words, but they’re not all necessary for the overall story.
Brandon Sanderson really brought it all back together and tied up the series well. 9, 10 and 11 are kind of drawn out and wandering; you might find yourself questioning what you are doing and how this all plays a part in the story, but I swear it gets reined back in and you get put on track again. The fully series is such a great story its super worth it.
If you need to pick something to skim, choose Perrin chapters. I skipped basically every Perrin chapter in book 9 on my fourth reread of the series and it turned a mid book into a pretty good one.
Thanks! I’ll keep that in mind.
Read “The Library at Mount Char” by Scott Hawkins. It was wild and I really enjoyed reading it, but I wouldn’t necessarily recommend it widely due to some of the content. Weirdly twisted and dark, brilliant but also somewhat conveniently plotted. Almost too convenient at points.
I felt exactly the same. Quite well written, but pretty tough to get through at times.
That book is a fucking rollercoaster that just keeps going every time you think it’s wrapped up a part of the plot.
Crime & Punishment
It’s kind of a slog to be honest but I’m determined to make it through, slowly.
Food Sense by Christopher Gardner
I finished Robert Jordan’s The Wheel of Time today, a bit shy of two years after I started it. Well, I actually started the series in the nineties, but this time I managed to finish it.
OP asked me for my opinion on the ending, but at this point I’m sort of unsure myself. It’s such a long series with so many concepts and characters that it’s hard to summarize my thoughts in writing. I don’t have that Talent. I do find myself satisfied with how the series ended, though. There’s some Christian philosophy woven in to the conclusion that I don’t really agree with, but it makes sense and works within the world the story takes place in. Brandon Sanderson was a great choice for writing the final books.
Yes, it is a good series, but one I can’t really recommend to most people, and it frustrated me at many points. Heck, I think half the books should have been slashed. Don’t have your spouse for an editor I suppose.
I’m glad it’s done.
I also read Guy Delisle’s comic book Hostage. It’s the true story of a kidnapped NGO administrator who was kidnapped in 1997 in the Caucasus. Very interesting read and a daring story to adapt to a comic book, since it’s mostly one man alone hand cuffed to a radiator. It must have been a harrowing experience for the hostage though.
Next up I think I’ll read Остров Сахалин by Eduard Verkin. It’s a sci-fi book I picked up from the library.
So,
Ending
I didn’t like the ending. The final fight, it felt very anti-climatic to me. I am not sure what I wanted the fight to be, so cant say I have any better suggestion.
I can see that. Despite the slow pacing of the books, the last fight felt rushed. But more than that, it’s possible such a metaphysical fight can never truly be expressed in words; we don’t have the language for it. It will by necessity feel underwhelming, since the writing has to be done from a human perspective for us to understand and relate to it. As writers and readers we are imprisoned by our humanity and very limited perspective. This is why tackling such huge cosmic issues is difficult to do in a truly satisfying manner. Everything always sounds too human and not grand enough, because that is what we have to anchor it to. Like, say, I like reading sci-fi books about truly alien intelligences, but those are always creations of human minds, playing with human tropes. In the end, writing something outside human experience is impossible for us, lest what is written becomes entirely unintelligible.
I may be missing the mark here, but sometimes I have thoughts and they take flight. I just wanted to say that I can understand expecting more, even if I personally enjoyed the ending well enough.
That’s actually a valid point. I guess I can stop blaming Sanderson for botching up the final fight 😀
Thank you for your comment on the Wheel of Time. Now I feel less guilty for skipping parts.
Re listening to Rainbow Six by Tom Clancy.
Does it have the same plot as the games?
No, its the org taking its first steps.
