I was pretty busy last week, so couldn’t post the weekly thread. Sorry about that.
Since the last update, I finished Cytonic by Brandon Sanderson, book 3 of the sci-fi series Cytoverse. After that, I continued with the last novella Evershore by Brandon and Janci Patterson. Now reading Defiant, the fourth and the final book in the series.
Also reading Design Patterns, a classic book for software design. While I have read about these online and studied from other sources, I never actually read the actual book. So fixing that now.
What about all of you? What have you been listening and reading lately?
A regular reminder about our Book Bingo, and it’s Recommendation Post . Links are also present in our community sidebar.
I finally finished The Way of Kings which I’ve been reading since last July. I love a good slow burn and was enjoying reading a chapter a week or so, but I couldn’t put it down for the last dozen chapters, it got so damn good. I’m taking a couple of weeks off work soon, so I might wait until I get back before I start the next one.
For tonight I’m in a bad mood so I think I’ll stick with something quick and dumb like Kissing the Coronavirus to cheer myself up a bit. Or skim through an old comfort read like The Lies of Locke Lamora.
but I couldn’t put it down for the last dozen chapters.
Welcome to the Sanderlanche :)
A month more and you could’ve hit a “reading for more than an year” benchmark 😀
Good luck on cheering up!
Just finished Dark Matter by Blake Crouch. A sci-fi thriller with quite a few twists. I enjoyed it and will check out his other books because of it.
Dark Matter (and his Wayward Pines trilogy, even before that) have been on my wishlist for quite a while now. Maybe I should pick it up now.
I just finished the first trilogy which starts with “Red Rising”. It was really entertaining, and I highly recommend it. I’ll start the follow up series soon.
Right now I’m reading both Salem’s Lot by King and The Catcher in the Rye. I like to throw in classics that I missed in high school - I didn’t appreciate them then, but I’ve found a few as an adult that I’ve absolutely loved. Both books are pretty good so far - we’ll see how they end.
I’m about 15% of the way into Neuromancer, and it’s pretty good. It seems like it’s going to be a heist book, which is always fun.
I recently started The Bear and The Nightingale by Katherine Arden. Its the first book in a trilogy, and while I’ve read - and loved - this book, I haven’t read the rest of the trilogy yet. I’m quite excited - my wife blitzed them and said they were very good.
I just finished No Plan B by Lee Child. Number 20-something in the Jack Reacher series.
Fighting injustice (and kicking ass) throughout the country, one small corrupt town at a time.
I just bought first 3 books of Jack Reacher series, going to try them out soon.
Since last time, I finished Severance by Ling Ma. I thought it was a good read - sorta reminded me of Catcher in the Rye due to its bleak tone & main character’s… unwillingness to take responsibility / control of their life? Overall, I’d recommend it; it’s pretty short.
I’m now reading Stories of Your Life and Others by Ted Chiang. These are a collection of short stories that have been really fun!
Finished To Catch a Thief by David Dodge. Enjoyable suspense mystery, but definitely of its time (casual Roma racist stereotypes, side couple with an age gap we might side-eye today). Definitely a more methodical, serious story than the movie, which I watched after.
Bingo squares: Older than You (1952), What’s Yours Is Mine, Eazy Breazy Read-zie, Now a Major Motion Picture, (alt) A Change in Perspective
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I tried reading The Gathering by C.J. Tudor, a horror police procedural in a world where vampires publicly exist, because I like horror and police procedurals, but… all I did was remind myself that vampires just really aren’t my thing most of the time. The writing was compelling, so I might go back to it at some point, or try something else by that author.
Started The House on the Borderland by William Hope Hodgson.
Just started “A Curse of Krakens” by Kevin Hearne (the guy who wrote the Iron Druid series). This is the third in the Seven Kennings series. The series has been pretty fun so far, with an interesting magic system. The prose is only so-so, but the way the story is told is unique and fun.
Is the series finished, or is he planning more books?
Finished Into the water by Paula Hawkins. I would say that it’s not as gripping as I thought. What is as much a plus and a minus point is tge change of narrator every chapter. At first, I was pleased by this “not so usual” way of writing but at some point, I just got lost about who is who and I had to search a list of characters on the web. That’s perhaps because I had not a lot of time to read, so it took a while.
I started Behind her eyes by Sarah Pinborough. I know there is a Netflix show inspired by this but I prefer to read the novel first (or only we will see).
The Labyrinth Index from the Laundry Files Series
How are you liking it? It’s on my wishlist, but haven’t gotten around to it yet.
The first volumes are rock solid fun, syfy/spy/eldritch horror and lots of ghastly-fun moments. After vol 5 it have some up an down, but overall still good.
I would read them in this order
Ahan, thanks for the info. Will check it out.