“Come closer” by Sara Gran. I’m half way through it. I loooove spooky books and this fits the bill. ETA: Finished it yesterday and the ending kinda fell flat.

The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo,

The Spell Shop

Demon Copperhead

Two Twisted Crowns

I particularly loved the first two, as I couldn’t put them down.

Demon Copperhead was a difficult read, emotionally, and I recommend reading it before or after “The Empire of Pain”.

The last one is the second (and final) book of The Shepherd King series, which features a very interesting magic system along with great characters

“Burn Book” by Kara Swisher A book about Big Tech and Tech Giants by the one journalist, who followed the development in Silicon Valley from the beginning. So far I like it very much. Swisher is still convinced, that tech (companies) can make this place a better world, if it wasn’t for the irresponsibility of its owners. It’s comforting to see her love for tech, her frustration with company leaders, and her firm belief, that it might still work out somehow. I’m curious, how it will go on and what she thinks might help getting tech back on track.

Lemmy.

I just finished ‘the year of the locust’.
It’s 85% good spy thriller and the last bit gets a bit weird.
Normally I love weird books but I felt like this one didn’t stay on its ‘track’. Still definetly recommend the previous book by the author ‘I am pilgrim’ it’s great.

Long way to a small angry planet

Recently completed HFM Prescott’s The Man on a Donkey, a wonderful piece of historic fiction about the main actors (and a few fictional ones) of the 1536 Pilgrimage of Grace—a rebellion against the religious changes of Henry VIII. Despite being a scholar of 16th century England I’m not at all interested in historical fiction, but this was quite a beautiful work set as a chronicle and tracing half a dozen characters from their youth until the final suppression of the Pilgrimage in summer 1537. Prescott does get straight to business so I can imagine it would be a bit difficult to place oneself without preexisting knowledge of late medieval/early modern England, but that thrown-in-the-deep-end attitude worked for me.

Edit: word is that Hilary Mantel was deeply influenced by Prescott, as was the playwright of A Man for All Seasons.

I’m currently slogging through the Illuminatas trilogy, things finally feel like they’re starting to make sense. Let’s hope it stays like that

Currently reading A Desolation Called Peace by Arkady Martine. Liking it so far.

Last finished A Closed and Common Orbit by Becky Chambers. Didn’t enjoy it as much as The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet.

My library loan for the Expanse second book expired because I was lazy. Also I had a 5h car trip the other day and decided for the first time to start listening to an audio book! It will take me 20ish hours of listening to finish the first book of Lord of the rings but I am kinda exited about it!

How are you liking F is for Fugitive?

I’m reading Discworld series after some Lemmings suggested it. They’re great! Read Sourcerer and Guards! Guards! And just starting Men at Arms

I laughed so much at the Brotherhood scenes in Guards! When the brothers are bickering, and when the guy has to recite the whole long password but the last line is incorrect.

Reading “suck it in and smile” in French to try to get some vocab back after letting my French rust in a ditch for a few years. Enjoying reading French and seeing the spellings of words I used regularly.

That said the story is quite underwhelming with some key points that aren’t much of Anything new. Its very short though and easy enough to read despite the language so I’ll finish it up soon and move on to a more interesting story

Picked up The Book of Elsewhere by China Miéville and Keanu Reeves. It’s part of the BRZRKR universe from comic books.

I gotta be honest though, the BRZRKR story is so incredibly visual, it doesn’t translate well to a novel.

I’m currently reading The Idiot by Dostoevsky. It’s a lot more readable than I was expecting, though keeping track of all the character’s names is tricky at times (especially when they have multiple nicknames and alternate between referring to their first and middle names, and surname). I’m about a third of the way through; it feels like I’m yet to get to the ‘meat’ of the story. So far it has involved a naïve Prince getting to know various people in Russia, and invariably getting muddled up in their affairs. I’m fascinated to see where things go though!