just about finished my current library read The Divinity Student by Michael Cisco. really enjoying the prose and imagery of this gothic horror novella. definitely want to see if i can get a physical copy of this edition with art by Harry Morris.
this post was submitted on 16 Sep 2025
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The Left Hand of Darkness - I read most of it a few years ago, never finished it. On my way to finish it in a few days!
About 20% into Nietzsches Thus Spoke Zarathustra. Not an easy read but fascinating.
I'm in the middle of the 6th book of The Wandering Inn webserial. I hear it's so long that I may be reading it for the rest of my life.
I just finished my first ever audio book. Always thought this was not for me because I like reading, you know. Then I gave a try, and that's indeed better than I thought. With audio book I can enjoy literacy while doing activities that never would allowed me to do so, like working (for stuff which do not require 100% concentration) or driving (especially in traffic jams). And I really enjoyed having a story told to me, you know a bit like a madeleine de Proust, something bringing you back to childhood.
So for the first one I choose one in my native language, French. À retardement, by Franck Thilliez. This is a great thriller around topics on psychiatry, psychotic criminals and so on. I thought it was very well written and, knowing a bit of the topic through the stories of my psychologist partner, I think it's very well documented about the illness and management of it in asylums (although there are parts that are pure fictional without any scientific veracity).
I'm also reading to another French novel, Le signal, by Maxime Chattam. This is an horror story, maybe inspired by what Stephen King could have written (but as far as I'm in not as good as King - but ok it's very difficult to reach). One interesting suggestion, in the introduction of the novel, the author suggests some music to listen while reading (horror movies soundtracks), never done that before and this is a very good idea (I don't have the ability at each reading session but when I did it, indeed I enjoyed more the book).
I'm in the last quarter of Death's End by Liu Cixin, and not really enjoying it. It reads more like a documentary, and the plot seems to rely on people making the stupidest decisions possible. I'll finish it, but I'll be glad to move onto something else when I do.
About two thirds of the way through A Wizard of Earthsea.
Almost finished 'Les entretiens' de Confucius (in French, because, well, I'm French). Started today: 'Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, an American Slave'.
Work of fiction waiting to be started: Mary Shelley's 'Frankenstein', J.M. Barrie 'The complete Peter Pan'.
Lots of classics! Have fun!
Thx.
Yep, a lot of classics indeed. Moving back to print from ebooks a little over a year ago was also an opportunity to (re)read a lot of them as they can be found for dirt cheap, on the used market.
The Douglass one was annotated by the previous owner (I don't mind that, provided that doesn't make the page unreadable) and the funny thing is that their notes so far are really not focusing on what I'm getting out of this very unsettling text. In its own way, next to the text itself, this person's notes are another enriching encounter.
My French is very limited - probably straddling the border of upper beginner or lower intermediate - but I read through Barjavel's La Nuit Des Temps and it was fuckin awesome.
I don't know whether it's because it made me spend more time on each word, or whether translating it made me put my own spin on the story and made it more personal to me. Who knows. Banger of a book.
My French is very limited - probably straddling the border of upper beginner or lower intermediate - but I read through Barjavel's La Nuit Des Temps and it was fuckin awesome.
Nice! It is a great book and, if one excepts Jules Verne, it also was the very first French science fiction author I ever read. The book made a huge impression on me too. So much so that I then read all of what Barjavel wrote, SF or otherwise.
BTW, I would not consider anyone capable of reading a novel in a foreign language a beginner, even a 'upper' one. That too is awesome, if I dare say so ;)
Cheers friend. I follow a lot of Olly Richards' stuff - a British polyglot - and got the idea from him after he recommended some books for learners of the language. I'm still not great - the lack of opportunity means I can't really sharpen my skills - but I'm getting there. I read the French version of Twenty Thousand Leagues to my young son at bedtimes - and told him the story in English. I'm not sure whether it was the fantastic story that sent him to sleep or the frequent "ummmm" and "errrr" while I thought of the same expressions in English!
I'm rather hoping to pick up Le Grand Secret soon, I'm not really a SF person but his writing is very good!
I'm 90% of the way through The Master and the Margarita. It's a completely surreal plotline and I think it'll help if I do some reading into the background (both the setting and the author's writing process) once I've finished. It's made me laugh a couple of times though, in particular:
spoiler
the scene in which the theatre accountant is desperately trying to deposit some cash, only to witness a group of employees involuntarily bursting into a sea shanty.
one of my faves!
Great book. I hope to read it again, one day.
The Master and the Margarita
"Many critics consider it to be one of the best novels of the 20th century, as well as the foremost of Soviet satires."
Looking forward to your review!
I am in a book hole..
I started listening to
About a month ago but put it aside when The Fort Bragg Cartel was released. I finished that an I returned to IT.
I am really struggling with it. I have read a number of King books and after four or five you learn his conventions and tropes. I suspect I would like IT a lot more if I had read it when it was released
The Rivers of London books are fantastic, and keep getting better.
I've literally just finished reading the latest one, Stone and Sky.
Nice. It's good to know that it keeps getting better.
I’m still working through Drew Hayes Super Powereds series, I’ve finished book 3 and am reading a spin-off called Corpies that takes place during book 3.
The quality has definitely improved. Still could have benefited from a good editor but not quite as much as before. It’s moved into A tier.
I thought you might give up after the last one. Glad it improved.
Oh, I have finished plenty worse series 😂. I read the first two books of a trilogy that was cancelled because it was so bad once.
Audio book : First Lie Wins. Just an easy listen.
EBook: My Friends by Fredrik Backman. I already cried and I just started lol
Still deeply down the TrekLit rabbit hole.
Finished the Star Trek: Destiny trilogy early last week (amazing, BTW) and am now through the first two books of the DS9: Millennium trilogy.
Do let me know for all the "must reads" that you come across. I'll probably never read all the Star Trek books but I can read some of the best ones.
I actually did a post a while back asking for recommendations since, yeah, there's a lot of them and I really only have time for the "must reads".
https://startrek.website/post/28030285
So far, I've read two and 2/3 (one single, one trilogy, and 2/3 of another trilogy). I can recommend them all as "must reads" (unless Millennium falls apart in the 3rd book; just started it last night).
- A Stitch in Time
- ST: Destiny
- DS9: Millennium
Probably next up is the first in the "Titan" series (as recommended by someone in that post). I only bought the first one in that series. If it's good, I'll buy the rest of them.
I’m reading through The Long Walk for a second time, mostly because it seems like they insist on forcing every Stephen King story into a movie, regardless of how little it makes sense.
The Long Walk is bleak. Something tells me the Hunger Games guy can’t hope to deliver nearly the same level of bleakness that the book insists on.
I just finished Fahrenheit 451. It was pretty decent but the ending was kind of a letdown.
Now… I’m searching for a new book and don’t know what to read.
The ending is kinda not amazing but it's the rest of the book that's worth so much. He was so spot on on so many things.
Now… I’m searching for a new book and don’t know what to read.
Also from Bradbury, have you read his Martian Chronicles? My favorite between the two ;)
About halfway through Roman Sexualities. I know the broad concepts, but the details elaborated on are fascinating.
I'm reading "This is How You Lose the Time War" and "His to Be Perfect" currently.
I recommend both of them!
This is How You Lose the Time War is pretty divisive from what I've seen. Unfortunately I fell on the side that didn't care for it.
Oh, I had no idea it was divisive. It won a Hugo, a Nebula, and was Amazon's top seller in sci-fi for a time.
Is it because it's an epistolary novel?
Divisive in the sense that I've found people either love it or hate it. I think people have different reasons. Personally I found the prose way, way too purple to the point of being pretentious. I also found the two characters' voices were practically identical which is extra surprising because they were even written by different people.
I dunno, it was like a 4.5/5 idea to me with a 1.5/5 execution. Just my opinion.
Oh gotcha. I totally agree the two characters voices are so close! I had to go back a couple times in the beginning to recheck who's part I was currently reading.
I've put the spy thriller I was trying to read on hold for now, since I just haven't been in the mood for it.
Instead, I read:
The Formidable Miss Cassidy by Meihan Boey (cozy-ish historical urban-ish fantasy) | bingo: another continent, award (hard), minority author
A Scottish governess helps out two families with their mundane and supernatural issues in 1890s Singapore.
This was cute, and I'll be putting the sequels on my list of things to read when I need some light fluff. Recommended, but don't go into it expecting the kind of thing that features modern inserts flouting society left and right: the characters generally do what's expected of them, even when they're frustrated by the limitations and injustices of their world.
Omensetter’s Luck by William H. Gass. It was described as a tie for the “all-time best U.S. book about human loneliness” with Markson’s Wittgenstein’s Mistress by David Foster Wallace, so I look forward to it on that endorsement.
Right now I'm reading the biography of a Finnish conservationist Pentti Linkola. He was controversial but interesting a character.
I also have City of Darkness on the table, it's about Kowloon Walled City. Both books are great!
Iain M. Banks' Matter. It's the second-last Culture novel and I'm sad because I'll be done with them soon. It's also been a pleasant surprise because it seems like a lot of people suggest that the novels drop off in quality, but I've really enjoyed the last couple and this one so far.
I actually read all Culture novels until Matter, but stopped reading that one after a few chapters. I couldn't get into the story, it was too complex for me.
I finished The Black Tongue Thief a few days ago so I've bounced around a few books. But I seem to have settled on Swords & Deviltry by Fritz Leiber and The Mosaic Effect by McGregor and Mitchell
Bradbury's, The October Country stories to get a jump on the season.
About halfway through Mistborn: The Final Empire.
I just finished this a few days ago. The ending is well worth the bit of sluggish-ness that happens midway through. Enjoy!
Glad to hear I'm not the only one finding it sluggish. Seems it's been so much of telling and not a ton of showing so far.
I need to start a new book, just finished the last one. It was a Sklyler Ramirez book, and I shared in a post this weekend that I strongly suspect him using AI to write. That said, the books are fine if you're in the market for some light scifi reading, I've read most of it in bed before sleeping.
Next will be "This inevitable ruin" by Matt Dinniman. I've read the first five DCC books early this year, and listened to "the eye of the Bedlam bride" this summer, so I'll just complete the series so far.