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Picked up Mysticism in the 21st Century (Monette, Shoup) after seeing the Insider video of an FBI undercover agent talking about his experience in an accelerationist (in the white supremacist sense) group with esoteric touches. Went down a rabbit hole and eventually came across this treasure.
Aside from the fascinating detail it adds to that topic, I also look forward to seeing the chapters on other spiritual-adjacent stuff.
I'm almost done with Assassin's Quest by Robin Hobb. I'm contemplating jumping over to The Magic of Recluce by LE Modesitt Jr or maybe The Scholomance series after this.
I’m listening to Babylon’s Ashes by James S.A. Corey. It’s the 5th book in The Expanse series.
I’ve read these books before, but I just really love them.
I LOVE The Expanse series. I was at a used bookstore over the weekend and a lady next to me was contemplating picking up the Leviathan Wakes. I told her she should grab it because it’s my favorite scifi book series of all time. She had watched the series and loved it, so I told her I think she would enjoy the books too.
There’s so much good stuff there!
I'm now on book 10 of He Who Fights with Monsters, and I expect to finish that this coming week.
I've really made less progress on my bingo card than I planned, but I still have time to turn that around before the end date.
Just consumed The Last Murder at the End of the World by Stuart Turton. You may recognize him as the author of the 7 Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle. This one is a post-apocalyptic murder mystery. It is jam-packed with questions and mysteries. While I had a few remaining questions about the apocalyptic event that happened prior to the story, every string related to the actual story was neatly plaited in a 1000-strand braid with a satisfying end. Love that author.
It's nice when author wraps up everything neatly. Will check it out!
I'm almost done the second section of Shroud by Adrian Tchaikovsky. I'm enjoying it so far. At first it seemed almost like Lovecraftian horror but in space, but it started showing more depth as it progresses.
Just finally finished, Mountain of Black Glass, Tad Williams, and while I enjoyed it, it took me over two months of listening to get it done. The protagonists continued their way through the Otherland, and boy did Williams expound on the details in this book. There was a significant slump in the last third that didn't pick up until the very end. I'm hoping Sea of Silver Light, is a little quicker.
Other books I've finished lately:
I'm currently reading Isabella Nagg and the Pot of Basil, Oliver Darkshire, which is very Pratchett-esc. Lots of witty footnotes, and fun village humor. Pretty light reading, but enjoyable!
Library at Mount Char is excellent, and a must-read for anyone into weird horror.
I think the
Spoiler
repeated murdering of one character's forced children
really got me. But I agree other than some pretty dark themes, it was very well written.
Your spoiler tag didn't quite work out, in case you want to edit.
Yeah, worried it might not even after looking the syntax up. That's no better, is it?
Enshittification as a book and the second book of murderbot as an audio book
Both highly recommended
The Road by Cormac McCarthy
Just finished Bone Yard by Jefferson Bass. Found a copy autographed by Bass at a Habitat For Humanity thrift store.
My other recent acquisition is Alice in Sunderland by Bryan Talbot. I don't usually seek out graphic novels, but got a good deal on this one because it was (mis-)classified as children's lit. It looks interesting, broad in scope, and a candidate for the 'beautiful cover' bingo square.
Someone in here recommended the Red Rising series and I’ve been enjoying it thoroughly. I’m on the third one now. The reader for the audiobooks is Tim Reynolds and he does a great job. Thanks for the recommendation, whoever you are!
Also physically reading Martyr! by Kaveh Akbar, but it’s too soon to comment on.
Great series! I’ve heard all but the most recent books multiple times.
Sevro is something else, isn’t he?
Apparently, there is a live action in the works, but it’s been passed around between networks so I’m not sure it’ll ever happen.
I just finished Dungeon Crawler Carl, by Matt Diniman and now I'm reading John Dies at the End, by Jason Pargin / "David Wong".
If you know these stories (crazy reality twisting, real world + fantasy, a touch of sci fi) and have others in a similar vein, I would appreciate any suggestions.
my local library doesn't have more than the first dungeon crawler carl, and Google play only has the second so I haven't finished the series but I love it. princess donut is the GOAT.
I read John dies at the end a few years ago and didn't much care for it
I warn you. do not attempt to watch the movie. it is hot garbage.
Suggestions for when your library doesn’t have something that you want to read: Check to see if your library offers it as an ebook. And if not, see if they can get a physical copy for you through inter-library loan.
I always do e-books, using the Libby app to checkout and the Kindle app as a reader for its features. There are loads of good books out there for me to read, so if what I want isn't available that's fine I'll just find something else. Thank you for the suggestion :)
Dungeon Crawler Carl is an Amazon/Audible exclusive. If the book is listed anywhere else, it’s a stolen copy.
Now, that a new publisher is putting out new editions of the books, I’m hoping more libraries get rights to the text.
The audiobook, which I HIGHLY recommend, will always be an Audible exclusive. The narrator is re-recording a full immersion version with a full cast and sound effects, but they release those in episodic format, rather than whole books.
Oh no, I watched the John Dies movie first, last week. I didn't think it was all that bad but yah, I get you.
I'm currently reading We Were Eight Years In Power by Ta-Nahisi Coates. I'm not going to finish it. I've read most of his Atlantic articles and I buy the thesis he's weaving, but I feel like we're past the point where awareness matters (or that I am insufficiently aware). People know the bad they're doing and want it. We're in the activist moment.
I'm next going to start Shift by Hugh Howey because I need some entertainment out of my reading.
I just started A Wrinkle In Time.
I may be 40+ years too late but I am doing it anyway.
I started reading the Bobiverse trilogy (Dennis E. Taylor), just getting into the 2nd book.
The premise and arch is nothing short of stunning but I'm not sure about the development, or the storytelling. E.g.:
spoiler
Where is the author going to fall on Bob increasingly interfering in the development of a less-developed alien species? I sense more and more such dilemmas coming up, as a result of the whole thing branching out more and more, and I'm not sure how the author is going to gather it all again.
Definitely nice to read though, since I read the first book in just a few days.
I’m almost done a short story compilation called men and machines, one of the forwards has a very interesting remark that could be written yesterday. It’s from 1968.
I finally got in touch with my brother, and got my next batch of Star Wars books, it includes a large X-Wing series so looking forward towards it. Sounds like it’s Top Gun in space.
Image of the forward
According to him, we would have at this point now made an intelligent being.
Heh, that does seem so relevant to today's world. We are still worried about the same things, but the problem with this kind of prediction is, one day we might actually be right 😀
I read so many of the 90s era Star Wars books so good. Really enjoyed Stackpole’s Rogue Squadron.
Nice, not sure if you’ve seen my other comments, but I’ve read in chronological order from the start. So I’ve done 90 or so legends books. They are obviously all over the place being different authors, but can’t say I hated any, some weren’t “enjoyable” as covered topics that weren’t particular interesting to me. But saying that, it’s interesting to see the different perspectives of how people write about their profession, like biology for example. Med-star was still interesting although dry as an example.
My brothers been ranting and raving waiting for me to get to it, it’s one of the ones he’s read himself.
That’s fun! I hadn’t remembered seeing your other posts.
I remember a lot of them fondly, and when I was updating my reading profile on a bunch of the tracking sites, it was fun remembering as many of the ones I had read that I could so that I could put them on there. There were a few that I had forgotten about reading until I was looking at a big list of them and they came right back.
Ah, I haven’t made posts about them, just comments in these sticky posts.
I’ve really enjoyed most of them, I’m particular to short stories it seems. I really enjoyed the “Tales of”. I think there was 4 of them? Basically 5 short stories from different authors with some overlap.
Tales of Mos Eisley had the epicenter of the scene that Obi cut the guys hand off (one of the stories is that guy), the other Tales of the Bounty Hunters followed the bounty hunters tasked with finding Solo. The epicenter being Vader having them together in that scene.
Randomly picked The Will of the Many from a list of recommendations.
Still too early to judge but it has potential. Magic system seems interesting, and I'm very interested in the world building. The present tense is certainly a choice, but it works where it needs to.
On the other hand, I've never been terribly interested in fantasy Rome, the pyramid scheme magic system risks painfully on the nose allegory if not handled properly, and the prospect of this story moving to "the academy" has me wary due to my irrational hatred of stories set in schools.
I started reading The Darkness That Comes Before by R. Scott Bakker based on a recommendation from a friend and I've been enjoying it!
The pacing and world building are well done, the characters are nuanced, and there's a vagueness in his writing that lends itself well to the fantasy world. Makes it seem more mysterious and interesting.