this post was submitted on 16 Sep 2025
56 points (100.0% liked)

Books

6600 readers
97 users here now

A community for all things related to Books.

Rules

  1. Be Nice. No personal attacks or hate speech.
  2. No spam. All posts should be related to books.

Official Bingo Posts:

Related Communities

Community icon by IconsBox (from freepik.com)

founded 2 years ago
MODERATORS
 

Still reading Whispers Underground by Ben Aaronovitch. Book 3 of Rivers of London series.

Though, technically I hadn't read anything last two weeks to it's more of "got back to reading".

It's still book 3, but I found it interesting how different it is from Dresden Files. There is no forces of nature with personal enmity with the protagonist (yet), it's just (magic) crimes being solved by (magic) police. More of a police procedural then whatever genre Dresden Files is πŸ˜€

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


For details on the c/Books bingo challenge that just restarted for the year, you can checkout the initial Book Bingo, and its Recommendation Post. Links are also present in our community sidebar.

top 50 comments
sorted by: hot top controversial new old
[–] Grimm@lemmy.zip 2 points 4 days ago

I am currently reading Legends of Localization Book 1: The Legend of Zelda by Clyde Mandelin as part of a readalong with a friend. It focuses on the first entry in the TLOZ series and I've found it really interesting so far. I hesitate on reading fanmade gaming history books cause I don't trust the information will be accurate or well-written but so far, so good.

I've just started another book (haven't even finished the prologue yet) with another friend called Secrecy World: Inside the Panama Papers Investigation of Illicit Money Networks and the Global Elite by Jake Bernstein. This book got on my radar after I found out the Laundromat film is based on it. I suspect to get mad at rich people's audacity by the end of it.

[–] NerdyKeith@lemmy.world 2 points 4 days ago

I'm currently almost completely through The Capital / Das Kapital by Karl Marx.

[–] afb@lemmy.world 3 points 5 days ago (1 children)

It's a horror week for me. Currently reading Shoot Me in the Face on A Beautiful Day by Emma E. Murray and also beta reading a horror novel by someone I know. Quite enjoying them both.

Recently read Albert Camus' The Stranger. That was pretty decent. Think I'll go for one of his nonfictional works soonish, been intending to for a while.

[–] PugJesus@piefed.social 3 points 5 days ago

The Stranger is such a strange (ha) book, but what a sense of serenity at the end.

[–] PugJesus@piefed.social 3 points 5 days ago

Finished Thomas Sankara: A Revolutionary In Cold War Africa. A very nuanced look at the man. A real idealist bursting with energy, a brilliant man and a visionary, yet inexperienced in politics and governance and prone to misjudging people by assuming (and demanding) the best of them. By nature an improviser, trying to improvise an entire government, and often with a mindset too military for civilian tastes, but too 'revolutionary' for military tastes. It's made me hungry to read more about the situation 'on the ground' during Sankara's administration.

[–] aeternum@lemmy.blahaj.zone 2 points 6 days ago

I'm 80% of the way through my star wars: aftermath book by chuck wendig. I plan to pivot to Billion Dollar Ransom by James Patterson after this, instead of reading the rest of the series. I will likely come back to the series after i read that Patterson book.

[–] tp2020@lemmy.ca 3 points 6 days ago

Just started From Volga To Ganga by Rahul Sankrityayan

[–] hobbsc@lemmy.sdf.org 3 points 6 days ago

Well, I was in a reading slump so I opened Overdrive on my Kobo and the Britney Spears memoir was right on the front page so I checked that out. It's pretty bad, reads like the diary of a 5th grader, but maybe it'll shock the system. I have trouble not finishing books once I start.

I am considering going back to the Otherland series by Tad Williams next. I have City of Golden Shadow (book 1) but I never made it through the other tomes. They are pretty dense and I don't remember much. Might try to get that first one read and then visit the library for the others if it goes well.

[–] Catma@lemmy.world 2 points 6 days ago (1 children)

I ended up tearing through Babel by RF Kuang and finished it today. It was a solid 4/5. I think at times it was very in your face with the anticolonialism and racism but was probably very in line with the time frame. I would have enjoyed some more delving into how the magic system worked/was created as well. But if you can make etemology engaging i feel like you did a pretty good job.

Maybe now i can focus on finishing Lady of the Lake.

[–] Grimm@lemmy.zip 1 points 5 days ago

I really loved Babel. There is one character that does a quick 180 that I could see being too abrupt but sometimes people are just like that. The book spoke to me most on the level of despair and apathy and hopelessness in the face of a society that is keen on subjugation.

[–] Voroxpete@sh.itjust.works 14 points 1 week ago (1 children)

About two thirds of the way through A Wizard of Earthsea.

[–] ieGod@lemmy.zip 4 points 6 days ago

I adore this book.

[–] Libb@piefed.social 9 points 1 week ago (5 children)

Almost finished 'Les entretiens' de Confucius (in French, because, well, I'm French). Started today: 'Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, an American Slave'.

Work of fiction waiting to be started: Mary Shelley's 'Frankenstein', J.M. Barrie 'The complete Peter Pan'.

[–] dresden@discuss.online 4 points 1 week ago (3 children)

Lots of classics! Have fun!

load more comments (3 replies)
load more comments (4 replies)
[–] UncleArthur@lemmy.world 8 points 1 week ago (2 children)

The Rivers of London books are fantastic, and keep getting better.

I've literally just finished reading the latest one, Stone and Sky.

This series keeps popping up on my To-Read list! Might do it after Wind and Truth.

load more comments (1 replies)

The Left Hand of Darkness - I read most of it a few years ago, never finished it. On my way to finish it in a few days!

[–] thefluffiest@feddit.nl 6 points 1 week ago

About 20% into Nietzsches Thus Spoke Zarathustra. Not an easy read but fascinating.

Gender Identify and Faith, by Mark A. Yarhouse and Julia A. Sadusky.

[–] PugJesus@piefed.social 6 points 1 week ago (3 children)

About halfway through Roman Sexualities. I know the broad concepts, but the details elaborated on are fascinating.

[–] PugJesus@piefed.social 3 points 6 days ago

Finished Roman Sexualities, very good but typically dry and academic in prose; moving on to Thomas Sankara: A Revolutionary In Cold War Africa.

load more comments (2 replies)
[–] OmegaMouse@pawb.social 6 points 1 week ago (3 children)

I'm 90% of the way through The Master and the Margarita. It's a completely surreal plotline and I think it'll help if I do some reading into the background (both the setting and the author's writing process) once I've finished. It's made me laugh a couple of times though, in particular:

spoilerthe scene in which the theatre accountant is desperately trying to deposit some cash, only to witness a group of employees involuntarily bursting into a sea shanty.

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

The Master and the Margarita

"Many critics consider it to be one of the best novels of the 20th century, as well as the foremost of Soviet satires."

Looking forward to your review!

load more comments (2 replies)
[–] ModernRisk@lemmy.dbzer0.com 6 points 1 week ago (2 children)

I just finished Fahrenheit 451. It was pretty decent but the ending was kind of a letdown.

Now… I’m searching for a new book and don’t know what to read.

[–] Grimm@lemmy.zip 1 points 4 days ago* (last edited 4 days ago) (1 children)

I feel like Fahrenheit 451 and 1984 go hand-in-hand if you haven't read it already.

[–] ModernRisk@lemmy.dbzer0.com 2 points 4 days ago* (last edited 4 days ago) (1 children)

Yeah, I have read 1984 a while back ago. Was a really good book. I still think about Winston and o’Brain with the … scene.

I freaking dislike how Lemmy does the spoiler tag. So I will avoid what, I wrote previously.

[–] Grimm@lemmy.zip 2 points 4 days ago (1 children)

Yeah. The spoiler tool is a little janky.

I haven’t read that book in so long, I can’t clearly remember what happens but I do remember it left me feeling rather hopeless.

Oh yeah, the book does give that kind of feeling. Especially the ending. However, I have decided to pick up Before Your Memory Fades by Toshikazu Kawaguchi. It's the third book in the series of ''Before the Coffee Gets Cold'' and I do highly recommend the books.

[–] Libb@piefed.social 4 points 1 week ago

The ending is kinda not amazing but it's the rest of the book that's worth so much. He was so spot on on so many things.

Now… I’m searching for a new book and don’t know what to read.

Also from Bradbury, have you read his Martian Chronicles? My favorite between the two ;)

[–] pancake@sopuli.xyz 5 points 1 week ago (2 children)

I finished Grendel by John Gardner. There were some parts I really liked and some that were just ok. Overall a decent read.

I've started rereading the Lady Astronaut books by Mary Robinette Kowal. They are just as gripping and bingeable as I remember them being. I finished the first one (The Calculating Stars) and am currently on book 2 (The Fated Sky).

load more comments (2 replies)
[–] ImUsuallyMoreClever@lemmy.world 5 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago) (4 children)

I'm reading "This is How You Lose the Time War" and "His to Be Perfect" currently.

I recommend both of them!

load more comments (4 replies)
[–] calliope@retrolemmy.com 5 points 1 week ago (1 children)

I’m reading through The Long Walk for a second time, mostly because it seems like they insist on forcing every Stephen King story into a movie, regardless of how little it makes sense.

The Long Walk is bleak. Something tells me the Hunger Games guy can’t hope to deliver nearly the same level of bleakness that the book insists on.

[–] Grimm@lemmy.zip 2 points 4 days ago

I never finished the Long Walk (had to return a borrowed copy before I was finished). The concept is interesting and hits a personal note as I was forced to walk for long distances throughout my childhood, sometimes to a traumatizing extent.

Apparently there was a screening of the film that required viewers to walk on treadmills at 3mph for the entire length of the movie and if they stopped, they were removed from the theater.

Nearly done with Project Hail Mary, Andy Weir! It's quite good, and I'm glad I'd read somewhere here to go in with zero context. Would highly recommend.

Continuing to listen my way through the Otherland series by Tad Williams. Currently in book two, River of Blue Fire. It seems to me that he wrote all four books as one book and was told that was ~3000 pages wouldn't sell well. I'm very much enjoying it. Williams writes in a detailed pace, which can seem slow at times, but I love his use of 20th century literature as the basis of all the VR worlds. They're never the same as their origin and are wonderfully permuted.

[–] IWW4@lemmy.zip 5 points 1 week ago (1 children)

I am in a book hole..

I started listening to

About a month ago but put it aside when The Fort Bragg Cartel was released. I finished that an I returned to IT.

I am really struggling with it. I have read a number of King books and after four or five you learn his conventions and tropes. I suspect I would like IT a lot more if I had read it when it was released

[–] Grimm@lemmy.zip 1 points 4 days ago (1 children)

It took me a long time to get through it as well. I feel like the book didn't need to be as lengthy as it was. I didn't find a whole lot really happens in the grand scheme of things and there is a notorious taboo scene that made no sense whatsoever plot wise but I guess he just really wanted to write that scene lmao.

[–] IWW4@lemmy.zip 2 points 4 days ago

All right, well feels good to know that I’m not the only one that struggled/Struggleswith it. It’s a very popular title of his.

[–] Underwaterbob@sh.itjust.works 5 points 1 week ago (2 children)

Iain M. Banks' Matter. It's the second-last Culture novel and I'm sad because I'll be done with them soon. It's also been a pleasant surprise because it seems like a lot of people suggest that the novels drop off in quality, but I've really enjoyed the last couple and this one so far.

load more comments (2 replies)
[–] fertile_floortile@lemmy.ca 5 points 1 week ago

Bradbury's, The October Country stories to get a jump on the season.

[–] West_of_West@piefed.social 5 points 1 week ago (2 children)

I finished The Black Tongue Thief a few days ago so I've bounced around a few books. But I seem to have settled on Swords & Deviltry by Fritz Leiber and The Mosaic Effect by McGregor and Mitchell

load more comments (2 replies)
[–] Almacca@aussie.zone 5 points 1 week ago (1 children)

I'm in the last quarter of Death's End by Liu Cixin, and not really enjoying it. It reads more like a documentary, and the plot seems to rely on people making the stupidest decisions possible. I'll finish it, but I'll be glad to move onto something else when I do.

load more comments (1 replies)
[–] fievel@lemmy.zip 5 points 1 week ago

I just finished my first ever audio book. Always thought this was not for me because I like reading, you know. Then I gave a try, and that's indeed better than I thought. With audio book I can enjoy literacy while doing activities that never would allowed me to do so, like working (for stuff which do not require 100% concentration) or driving (especially in traffic jams). And I really enjoyed having a story told to me, you know a bit like a madeleine de Proust, something bringing you back to childhood.

So for the first one I choose one in my native language, French. Γ€ retardement, by Franck Thilliez. This is a great thriller around topics on psychiatry, psychotic criminals and so on. I thought it was very well written and, knowing a bit of the topic through the stories of my psychologist partner, I think it's very well documented about the illness and management of it in asylums (although there are parts that are pure fictional without any scientific veracity).

I'm also reading to another French novel, Le signal, by Maxime Chattam. This is an horror story, maybe inspired by what Stephen King could have written (but as far as I'm in not as good as King - but ok it's very difficult to reach). One interesting suggestion, in the introduction of the novel, the author suggests some music to listen while reading (horror movies soundtracks), never done that before and this is a very good idea (I don't have the ability at each reading session but when I did it, indeed I enjoyed more the book).

[–] IcedRaktajino@startrek.website 5 points 1 week ago (3 children)

Still deeply down the TrekLit rabbit hole.

Finished the Star Trek: Destiny trilogy early last week (amazing, BTW) and am now through the first two books of the DS9: Millennium trilogy.

load more comments (3 replies)
[–] JaymesRS@piefed.world 5 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago) (4 children)

I’m still working through Drew Hayes Super Powereds series, I’ve finished book 3 and am reading a spin-off called Corpies that takes place during book 3.

The quality has definitely improved. Still could have benefited from a good editor but not quite as much as before. It’s moved into A tier.

load more comments (4 replies)
[–] iAmTheTot@sh.itjust.works 4 points 1 week ago (2 children)

About halfway through Mistborn: The Final Empire.

load more comments (2 replies)
load more comments
view more: next β€Ί