I’ve put together a collage of some books from last months What are you Reading? post. It’s mostly random, but the more discussion something gets the more it stands out to me. Going forward I’m going to make a new post every month to talk about what people are reading.
Here is last months post. What are you Reading? (July 2023)
At any rate, what are you currently reading or plan to read in August?
Frank Herbert’s Dune
Gardens of the Moon by Steven Erikson. Great book, beautiful vocabulary
I’m on book 13 of wheel of time and am planning to do a re-read of the extinction cycle again after I finished wheel of time, I just love those books
I’m planning on reading The Expanse at some point, but currently I’m not reading any sci-fi, since I’m reading A Game of Thrones and Empire of Ivory.
I’m midway through the Inda quartet by Sherwood Smith – just started King’s Shield
Snowden’s book: Permanent Record has a lot of good context info for the governments shitty practices and overwhelming involvement in our personal lives
if u wanna use ur brain more efficiently read Donella Meadows: Thinking in Systems
I also wanna read steve jackson’s sci-fi book that got him sued by the secret service… its gotta be good right?
I just finished “Drop City” by T.C. Boyle and picked up “Blue Skies”. I’m only 2 chapters into “Blue Skies” so can’t really say much about it, though it feels a lot like “Tortilla Curtain”.
“Drop City” did not involve any characters who were writers, was not set in LA and established two sets of characters in highly disparate settings in the Sixties and of their eventual intersection. Well worth it.
Just finished Frugal Wizards Guide, by Sanderson.
It wasn’t what I was expecting, but found it weird and fun. As per most of Sanderson’s books, I fell down the sanderlanch, and read it in 2 days.
Death´s End - Third book of Three Body/Trisolaris series by Cixin Liu. I am positively surprised by the character Yun Tianming. After I really liked the character design of Ye Wenjie in the first book, I was pretty disappointed to find that other characters in the series seem as shallow as cardboard cutouts in comparison to her. However, with Yun Tianming there is a believable and relatable character in this outstanding sci-fi story again. I´m super curious how he and how the relations between humans and Trisolarians will develop. Being in the third book and knowing his style now, it is already clear that Cixin Liu still has some unexpected plot twists in his sleeve!
Currently working on book 5 of Gaunt’s Ghosts. It’s been a few months since I read a chapter though because of busy life has been.
After reading Necropolis, it’s gonna be hard for the rest of the series to match it.
I’m half way through leviathan falls. Super excited to get to the end, sad because I don’t know what to read after.
Im in the same boat. I just started the last book. ☹
I’m 75% finished with the book myself! Going to jump into the Wheel of Time series after I cleanse my palette w/ some non sci-fi books
I finished shortly after I posted. I’m satisfied with how they ended it; it was a strong finish. I’m reading the faded sun trilogy now; it’s pretty good so far.
Good luck on the wheel of time! I finished that a little less than a year ago. There are some GREAT books, but there are a couple that are stinkers. The fourth book, shadow rising, is so so so good. It’s slows down I think in books six and seven, or maybe seven and eight, then the last few pickup again. Have fun, it will be a journey!
I finished it tonight. I preferred an all or nothing finale and so wasn’t quite as enthused but c’est la vie.
I felt the same about some of the Expanse books slowing down in the middle as well fwiw (maybe slowing down isn’t the right word, but there were 2-3 books where it felt like you had to read 60% of the book before the real problem emerged that made the storyline more gripping and less misc en scene-esque)
Yes, for me the whole free navy plot line could have been way more concise; seemed like it dragged on for much too long. There is a similar show down, or whatever the right word is, in wheel of time.
Regarding the ending, I think I’ve been so upset with endings of other stories so many times that my standard is “satisfied” or “not satisfied”; I would say I’m satisfied with the expanse. I liked the ending, but it didn’t spark joy in me.
Just started Ancillary Justice by Anne Leckie and seems great so far. I have no idea what is going on with how people are gendered in the various languages but I’m looking forward to puzzling it out.
I loved all the ancillary books. IMO not knowing anyone’s gender for sure was part of the fun. It does rely on the reader to work at making connections tho. I can see why some folks don’t like that aspect, but I personally like some challenge.
The best way to describe those books is “subtle.”
I loved them, and translation state feels like the start of a new series in the same universe. The worst part is how often Anaander Mianaai is written and how that many 'a’s just fail to compute in my head.
I listened to the audiobook. The narrator did all that heavy lifting, and I’ve got to say she was great!
She was fantastic!
However her reading of translation state involved the most guttural pronunciation of grandmama I’ve ever heard
Haha, yes it did 🤣
I stopped in the middle of the first one. It was too much work to keep track of what was happening. Maybe I’ll try again.
I’ve finished them now, and I can safely say that it’s only really the first half of the first book or so where things are confusing. It does get quite good as well, so it might be worth your time.
Reading? No. But listing to The Witcher Season of Storm. Also starting on Quantum Earth series by Dennis Taylor.
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I’m not a big book reader, but a friend got me “The Autobiography of Nikola Tesla and Other Works”. It’s sitting on my nightstand when I can motivate to crack a boot. The book I finished before it was “Brief Answers to the Big Questions” by Stephen Hawking.
I like reading works from Scientists. I can’t understand their research papers because of the math, but I enjoy the works they do for the layman.
