Books

Currently reading Albert Camus' The Stranger. Enjoying it so far, about a fifth of the way in.

Recently finished Abducted – Patrick Barb. Fun fast-paced sci-fi horror. I'd recommend it.

started reading Blade Runner / Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep. I read like 80% of it in febuary but then took a long break so i forgot most of the plot

I have been reading Fahrenheit 451 and at the moment halfway. It’s an interesting read.

Still a bit confused whether;

Going through the "dumb luck and dead heroes" series by Skyler Ramirez. Currently at book number 5. They're a nice read, even if the characters are a bit cliche. Also still listening to "Eye of the Bedlam Bride" by Matt Dinniman on my commute, two more days and I'll be through. It was a nice change from listening to the radio, but I won't be starting a next audiobook soon. It takes too long, and it can at times be distracting too much. The book is great.

I've been reading the blade itself personally but it has made my reading a bit weird.

I'll binge it for hours only to put it down and stop reading for like a week. Great book so no idea why.

This is to continue my phase of reading popular books which was something I was, stupidly, quite reluctant to do.

Re-reading The Left Hand of Darkness for the podcast interspersed with the odd short story from Songs of a Dead Dreamer.

The Evidence of Things not Seen by Baldwin ('85)

Barely read this week, but I started My Name Is Nobody by Matthew Richardson.

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Finished A Wizard's Guide to Defensive Baking by T. Kingfisher (YA/middle grade fantasy, somewhat cozy) | bingo: indie HM, award HM, steppin' up HM, cozy

When a teenage baker with magical influence over dough finds a dead body in her bakery, she is pulled into sinister plots that threaten the whole city.

This was cute. My only complaint is that all the palace stuff was very thin; having the answer to "how was this allowed to happen?" boil down to "whoops, our bad" was kinda disappointing.

Just finished Deep Black by Miles Cameron. It's the second and final in his Arcana Imperii series.

It's military sci-fi space opera that does a lot of things right. The main character isn't an unlikable bastard, she grows and changes throughout the series, it's not super hard science but it's also not hand-wavy fantasy, they deal with acceleration and relativistic effects, etc. . But it also bothered me - she's a bit of a Mary Sue (although this gets addressed); there are huge swathes of actions described that probably weren't necessary like pilots going through all of the check steps, launching, doing actions, landing; some of the antagonists were a bit mustache-twirly evil. Overall though, it's still got me thinking about it and turning it over in my mind, so I'd still recommend it.

"For a New Novel: Essays on Fiction" by Alain Robbe-Grillet.

I probably won't read the entire thing. I'm just reading a handful of the essays.

I just read the graphic novel Morrison Hotel written by Leah Moore, about The Doors album with the same name.

Next up is Hard to Be a God by Arkady and Boris Strugatsky. This one has been on my reading list for some time now, and I just stumbled upon it at the library, so that's cool.

At Home: A short history of home life by Bill Bryson. A history of houses, and just history relating to houses.

Most back cover reviews exaggerate, but it really has made me laugh out loud, at least most chapters.

Even better, it gives me a constant stream of interesting facts to throw at my partner. Did you know they had locks on doors and underfloor heating back in the neolithic?

Reading Some Desperate Glory by Emily Tesh. I've been really captivated by this novel, enjoy the characters, the world they built, and story so far. We will see how it ends.

I finished The Company Man by Robert Jackson Bennett. This was one of his early works and it shows in the character work and the romance. The atmosphere, worldbuilding and plot were on point though.

Now I've just started The Last Lifeboat by Hazel Gaynor. This is based on the true story of an evacuation boat during WWII that was sunk by the Nazis. It's still early to really judge it, but so far I love how one of the main characters is written, so hoping it lands for me.

Terra nova. Good enough to keep me entertained, but not to keep me up at night...

I finished off A Sunlit Man and honestly it was probably the worst Sanderson book I've listened to. Not to say it is bad per se but it was a bit of a slog to get through. I enjoyed the link with Stormlight and tie ins with the cosmere but by the end of it it sort of ruined my enthusiasm for books in general for a bit and I've been listening to more music this past week consequently. I can't even really put my finger on what I found so boring about it but there you go.

I'll go back to some Deathlands this week I think but mostly I think music will be on heavy rotation instead.

Strange pictures and Strange houses by Uketsu

I am currently reading The Psychology of Money by Morgan Housel and Stella Maris by Cormac McCarthy.

Stella Maris isn't bad, but I am not so hooked as I was when I read The Road or when I struggled mentally to read the Blood Meridian (all that violence did go under my skin, but it was a valuable learning experience).

Morgan Housel's book seems a like a light read and it is giving me that excellent a confirmation bias on what I believe is the nature of money.

The Memory Police - Yōko Ogawa

It's interesting, I still don't know what to think of it. I put it down a few months ago and picked it up again, planning to finish it. Any readers around? What did you think?

Reading Star Wars “The Ruins of Dantooine” and have Isaac Asimovs “The Stars, Like Dust” on deck next.

I've been re-reading The Owner trilogy by Neal Asher. I couldn't pick out a new book last week, so I figured I'd re-read a series I know I liked and then pick out a new book in a week or so.

Finishing up Super Powereds: Year One. I’ll still keep with the series, but it’s ending up about like I expected. Solid B tier.

I've got 2 chapters left in Contemporary Theological Approaches to Sexuality.

I finished Empire of AI by Karen Hao. It was a really eye-opening (and very deeply researched) look at OpenAI, Sam Altman, and the entire AI industry and I was impressed by the fact that she interviewed AI workers in Kenya and Chile.

I'm currently reading James by Percival Everett and so far I like the author's voice and sense of humor.

Making my way through “Dungeon Crawler Carl” series. Perfect 1 hr each way commute audiobooks. Currently about to start book 3.