What book(s) are you currently reading or listening? December 10 (discuss.online)

submitted 1 week ago by dresden@discuss.online to c/books@lemmy.world

67 comments fedilink hide all child comments

Still reading The Well of Ascension by Brandon Sanderson. Book 2 in the series. I am more than halfway through, so should be able to finish it this week.

What about all of you? What have you been reading or listening to lately?

There's a Midyear Bingo check-in post, do take a look. Even if you haven't started this year's Book Bingo, you can still join, as there are still 6 months remaining!

For details, you can checkout the initial Book Bingo, and it's Recommendation Post . Links are also present in our community sidebar.

top 50 comments

sorted by: hot top controversial new old

[-] conciselyverbose@sh.itjust.works 14 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago)

Wind and Truth baby. Approaching the halfway point. It's paced excellently. It's impressive how he makes every scene have gravity without weighing the story down.

Still reading Altered Traits physically. It's more biographical than I prefer, but it did inspire me to make an effort at meditating. All the (valid) short term/small sample stuff aside, it's impressive how much a minute of simple breathing exercises at the beginning and on break of my workday changed how I felt at the end of the day yesterday. I was thinking of exploring meditation through yoga, but with more consideration I think finding the right kata from a martial art would suit me better.

Audible had some deals, so I went a little overboard

I'm up to H is for Homicide in Kinsey Milhone. I'll finish those from the library first.

I bought:

28 books in Jana DeLeon's Miss Fortune series.

7 books in her Shaye Archer.

4 main books of Skyward by Sanderson.

A little overboard, but at about $2.50 a book I couldn't resist. I have a nice little backlog going for now.

[-] frigidaphelion@lemmy.world 2 points 3 days ago

I finished yesterday! So good.

[-] conciselyverbose@sh.itjust.works 2 points 3 days ago* (last edited 3 days ago)

Tap for spoiler

There were a couple points where I was wondering how he'd clean it up, because I was expecting the two halves to be more separated like Mistborn.

But what he did was better. It doesn't just open up the second half of Stormlight. It opens the whole Cosmere and makes basically everything that's already happened feel like pre-history.

He'll have to navigate all the time games he played at the end, but I have little doubt he has a plan.

[-] conciselyverbose@sh.itjust.works 3 points 6 days ago* (last edited 6 days ago)

I finished Wind and Truth.

Spoilers

So despite the spoiler tag, I'm not going to mention actual details. But I think my impressions themselves could change how someone reads the book, so I'm tagging it anyways.

Wow. Just fucking wow. It's not at all how I expected shit to go, but holy shit was it a hell of a ride, and the story it set up? Damn.

I need the next 5 books. I hope the timeline of the next setting is sooner than I had been expecting. It feels like a lot of threads that were winding up ripped wide open instead. The end result make the whole 5 book arc feel like a new beginning to something truly absurdly scaled. "There's always another secret."

All I'll say without tags is that as high as my expectations were, he blew them away.

[-] dresden@discuss.online 2 points 4 days ago

Not going to read the spoilers. May come back in an year or so to look at them though.

Glad to hear that it's great!

[-] conciselyverbose@sh.itjust.works 2 points 4 days ago* (last edited 4 days ago)

I was probably liberal with the tag, but I'd rather lean towards not impacting the experience at all.

My head was spinning that night with all the possibilities for the second half though. (I definitely didn't start War of Kings as a physical book immediately after to see what extra details I pick up. That would make me a crazy person.)

[-] dresden@discuss.online 2 points 1 day ago

Haha, I don't think it would make you a crazy person, just shows the impact of the final book.

And thanks for being liberal with it, I want to know nothing about it, no matter how small.

[-] conciselyverbose@sh.itjust.works 2 points 1 day ago

lol I was joking because I did exactly that.

The context of knowing the whole series lets you pick up a lot of detail all the way back to the opening scene of Way of Kings.

[-] dresden@discuss.online 2 points 20 hours ago* (last edited 20 hours ago)

Heh, I took it as you really wanted to, but didn't. I stand corrected.

[-] Cyth@lemmy.world 7 points 1 week ago

One of my favorite things about the long Sanderson books is that even though they are SO LONG, they are paced so well that I never felt like it was too long. All the building up in the middle is important and enjoyable (at least to me), and it all wraps up so quickly and nicely at the end of every book.

[-] conciselyverbose@sh.itjust.works 7 points 1 week ago

There was an introduction to the version of Elantris I listened to where an early member of a writing group (or a teacher or something) was really confused about all his premises for stories just being characters in a setting. They had to "make him" get to the point where the world is at stake, because he was so focused just on the interactions between people. Then, in his notes at the end (of the later edition, with knowledge of its success), he wrote about how much he valued that it worked so well in a world of magic where most of the book minimally interacts with it. You can see that in every scene he writes. They're all just so natural, independent of the stakes of the story.

But Stormlight feels like his real masterpiece. There are so many characters that matter, and on top of that he blends in elements of his other works so seamlessly

[-] dresden@discuss.online 4 points 1 week ago

Wow, and I thought i bought too much when I bought 11 books.

I didn't buy Wind and Truth though, still have to re-read the whole series, so will be a while before I get around to it. Will get it soon-ish though.w

How are the Kinsey Milhone books? I have A, B and F. Wanted to read A and B to see if I like it before getting more.

load more comments (4 replies)

[-] pancake@sopuli.xyz 7 points 1 week ago

How are you liking The Well of Ascension on reread?

I finished Demon Copperhead by Barbara Kingsolver. Overall a solid book with some good commentary on modern poverty, foster care, and the opioid crisis. The first half stuck too close to the plot points of David Copperfield, but thankfully it stood more on its own in the second half. The ending felt a bit rushed.

Now I've started Hex Education by Maureen Kilmer. If it wasn't such a short read, I would not be finishing this book. Almost every character is unlikeable. I was hoping for a campy witchy book where I want to hang out with the characters, but instead I got a suburban mom who married rich and can't stop humblebragging about it.

[-] dresden@discuss.online 4 points 1 week ago

I am really enjoying it. I am about 2/3rd done, and as I mentioned last week, I had forgotten most of the stuff. So, really enjoying everything going on. And while I remember the ending of the book, I don't recall how exactly they get there.

I haven't even read David Copperfield, how is it?

lol at suburban mom's humblebragging. Good luck!

load more comments (2 replies)

[-] SHOW_ME_YOUR_ASSHOLE@lemm.ee 7 points 1 week ago

I just finished The Mercy of God's by the same dudes who wrote The Expanse series. I can't wait for the rest of the series. I also read the in-universe novella called Livesuit which was also very good.

[-] Breezy@lemmy.world 2 points 6 days ago

About to finish Babylons ashes, ive really enjoyed the whole series so im gonna had mercy of god to my to read list.

load more comments (5 replies)

[-] Voroxpete@sh.itjust.works 6 points 1 week ago

I'm in between fiction right now. Contemplating what to read next. Maybe going to give Earthsea another try.

I'm also working through Guns, Germs and Steel, which is a fascinating read.

[-] JaymesRS@literature.cafe 4 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago)

Wizard of Earthsea is part of the 3 books that showed me I loved Fantasy.

[-] dresden@discuss.online 2 points 1 week ago

What are the other two?

[-] JaymesRS@literature.cafe 5 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago)

Magician by Raymond E Feist (later broken into Magician: Apprentice and Magician: Master and the split works even better)

Pawn of Prophecy by David Eddings.

Both are pretty cliché by modern views, but both are pretty well written otherwise. Good world building.

But ooo-boy, if one is the type of person that has trouble mentally separating the very problematic writer from their works (like JK Rowling or Marion Zimmerman Bradley), Eddings probably isn’t the best to read.

[-] dresden@discuss.online 1 points 1 day ago

I have seen Eddings get recommended a lot, but I have never gotten around to reading any of his book. Belgariad has been on my wish list for more than a decade now. I really should check it out sometimes.

[-] brenticus@lemmy.world 6 points 1 week ago

I had to put down Fellowship of the Ring for a while due to a cascade of library books, but I'm finally back to it. God I just love how that book flows.

When I want something simpler to read I've been going to the Hardy Boys books lately. Read a bunch of them as a kid, they're still quite enjoyable now. Normally if I reread something 20 years later it's pretty clearly no longer my taste, but I'm on book 3 and still enjoying them quite a bit.

[-] JaymesRS@literature.cafe 3 points 1 week ago

I’ve been tempted to give a few a go again. They were my jam in middle school.

[-] brenticus@lemmy.world 3 points 1 week ago

The first few are available on standard ebooks and they're quick, easy reads, go for it! With the caveat that the standard ebook versions are the original 1920s versions so there's a bit of weird racial stuff now and then.

[-] dresden@discuss.online 2 points 1 week ago

Recently met the librarian at kid's school and he recommended me Hardy Boys as the next series to start (for the kid). Glad to see it still holds up well.

[-] JaymesRS@literature.cafe 5 points 1 week ago

I’m plowing through the Dungeon Crawler Carl books, I’m currently on book 4. Book 1 was for bingo, the rest are just to boost my numbers for my annual reading goal :).

LitRPG can wildly fluctuate in quality, but if LitRPG interests you at all, this is one of the top 3 series I’d recommend.

[-] limer@lemmy.dbzer0.com 2 points 1 week ago

I’ll try this later.

They can vary even by the same author: I felt burned by the “he who fights with monsters” series whose 1st book is simply awesome in my opinion, but by book 10 has devolved

load more comments (3 replies)

load more comments (1 replies)

[-] Cyth@lemmy.world 5 points 1 week ago

My re-read for Stormlight Archive has been taking longer than I figured it would, so I just started Rhythm of War this morning. I even got Wind and Truth delivered a day early, but didn't get to start it lol.

[-] dresden@discuss.online 2 points 1 week ago

My re-read hasn't even started yet. I was hoping to have read at least The Way of the Kings and Words of Radiance this year. Well, no hurries, it's not going anywhere.

[-] sockman@sh.itjust.works 4 points 1 week ago

Just finished The Skystone by Jack Whyte. Lovely little piece of historical fiction. I have the second in the series but everything has to wait until I finish Wind and Truth haha.

[-] dresden@discuss.online 3 points 1 week ago

Heh, I wonder how many Wind and Truth comments we will get this week.

[-] Lighttrails@sh.itjust.works 3 points 1 week ago

I’m almost finished listening to We Will be Jaguars by Nemonte Nenquimo. A fascinating memoir by an indigenous woman growing up in the Ecuadorian Amazon rainforest. Heart breaking tales of her family, neighboring tribes and home being exploited and swindled by missionaries and oil companies.

[-] Btop@lemmy.world 3 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago)

I'm listening to Extinction by Douglas Preston. Only heard about half of it, but I find it entertaining and the narration is done very well.

[-] ikidd@lemmy.world 3 points 1 week ago

Norstrilia by Cordwainer Smith, the only complete SF novel he ever published. Part of the Instrumentality of Mankind universe that included "The Ballad of Lost C'Mell".

[-] dotslashme@infosec.pub 3 points 1 week ago

Currently a couple of chapters into Deadhouse gates. I do enjoy it, but the malazan universe is so massive and filled with so many characters, that I need the malazan wiki around, just in case I need to check something.

[-] penquin@lemm.ee 3 points 1 week ago

Delay, deny, defend. lol

load more comments (2 replies)

[-] Mariemarion@lemm.ee 2 points 1 week ago

Reading everything by Victoria Goddard. I should stop, I'm close to ODing, but it's delicious.

[-] reddig33@lemmy.world 2 points 1 week ago

Currently reading “Artemis” by Andy Weir. I’m enjoying it a lot more than I did “Hail Mary” which I thought was awful.

[-] dresden@discuss.online 1 points 1 day ago

I liked Hail Mary more than Artemis, but I loved them both.

Why do you think Hail Mary was awful?

[-] reddig33@lemmy.world 2 points 1 day ago

Spoilers:

I have a difficult time believing that they didn’t have enough backup plans to the point that they had to send a school teacher to save the world. I also couldn’t believe that someone with a doctorate would be teaching junior high (we don’t pay teachers enough in the US). I also didn’t care for the story stopping every few pages so that the author could do a math proof to pretend that the protagonist was some kind of genius (who just so happens to have the skills to reprogram a rocket ship trajectory???). And the endless “something else went wrong only I can fix!” every fifty pages got really tired. Oh and whatever you do, don’t send any of the probes back to earth until the last minute. Because instead of keeping Earth informed and updated as you learn things that might save them, you’re going to need all those probes for a plot point later.

Artemis was fun, but had a lousy ending. It’ll make a good tv series some day if they change up that part of the story.