this post was submitted on 28 Jan 2025
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Finished The Alloy of Law by Brandon Sanderson. Book 1 of 2nd era of Mistborn. This was a very interesting book. Set about 300 years after the first era. The changes in the world, and to learn about some of the characters, it was all very interesting, and I am very glad that I re-read the first era before reading this.

Finished Five on a Treasure Island by Enid Blyton. The book was surprisingly good. I quite enjoyed it, and it didn't even feel old.

My kid is already on book 5. So, highly recommended your for your 9-12 year olds.

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


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[–] Asafum@feddit.nl 12 points 4 months ago (1 children)

I've been going through the nights watch series of discworld books, I need a funny distraction from all this bullshit in the real world.

Their commentary on the common person thinking a king will fix everything is too fitting though, especially now...

[–] agamemnonymous@sh.itjust.works 6 points 4 months ago (1 children)

Ho boy. It's a good read, but I wouldn't count on it being distracting. Be prepared to be confronted with potent reflections of the bullshit.

[–] madjo@feddit.nl 2 points 4 months ago (1 children)
[–] agamemnonymous@sh.itjust.works 4 points 4 months ago

Definitely, but also in a very real way. And those real problems seem bleaker when you don't see a Vimes in the real world to fix them.

[–] GreyShuck@feddit.uk 12 points 4 months ago (2 children)
  • Finished Hyperion - excellent tale all round and I am impressed with Simmons' breadth of styles within the each of the pilgrim's tales. To me, the open ending was perfect and since there seem to be some division around the later books and they way that they resolve the mystery, I will leave it there for now. I may return to the other ones at some time though.
  • Finished Project Hail Mary - which has a lot in common with Dennis E. Taylor's Bobiverse books in overall approach. I suppose that they could be termed 'procedural' SF, with the focus being on the resolution of successive problems. Intellectually rewarding, but with limited emotional engagement, I found. It was certainly entertaining, and I enjoyed the worldbuilding but, between this and the Bobiverse, I far preferred the latter.
  • (Re)Started Consider Phlebas - I had started this a few years back, but put it aside for some reason and never resumed. I can just about recall the overall scenes, but none of the detail. I have never read any of the other Culture tales and am eager to get to grips with these books. So far it is taking a while to develop, but I only started it a couple of evenings ago.
[–] theskyisfalling@lemmy.dbzer0.com 8 points 4 months ago (1 children)

I think the second Hyperion book rounds out the story nicely. I've never read about what is said online but I listened to both a couple of times, loved them, but never felt the need to read any further than that.

[–] AbouBenAdhem@lemmy.world 7 points 4 months ago* (last edited 4 months ago) (2 children)

Consider Phlebas isn’t really characteristic of the Culture series as a whole—don’t hesitate to start somewhere else if you tried Phlebas before and it didn’t hook you. (They all work as stand-alone novels, with just a few tangential recurring characters.)

[–] zout@fedia.io 5 points 4 months ago (1 children)

I agree with you, also The player of games is a lot more accesible as a first book in the series. I've never read the last three books though, at some point I decided I had enough SF for a while.

[–] GreyShuck@feddit.uk 5 points 4 months ago

Yes, I had read that they were all stand alone and I may do, but I will give CP a while longer before I do. I don't dislike it, but following PHM, it is a rather different pacing.

[–] movies@lemmy.world 10 points 4 months ago (1 children)

I’m about done with Character Limit, it’s about Musk’s takeover of Twitter. It’s super fascinating, an absolute page-turner. If that whole shitshow remotely piques your interest I’d recommend it.

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[–] zout@fedia.io 10 points 4 months ago (2 children)

Finished the Bobiverse series. It was a nice read, but I don't think the last one leaves room for another book in this series. I'm gonna start "all systems red" by Martha Wells next, see how that goes. I'm not to sure about the novella format though, I like doing a little longer with a story.

[–] shalafi@lemmy.world 5 points 4 months ago

I did Bobiverse and Murderbot straight through a few months ago. They pair nicely!

[–] radiantshackles@lemmy.dbzer0.com 5 points 4 months ago

I also caught up on the Bobiverse recently! According to his website, Taylor plans at least ten books, though I see what you mean with the most recent having few leftover threads to follow.

[–] shalafi@lemmy.world 9 points 4 months ago* (last edited 4 months ago)

Finally read Animal Farm. My takeaway was that any form of government eventually devolves to corruption. Despite having read the last lines in the past, was surprised when it ended.

About to finish A Short, Sharp Shock by Kim Stanley Robinson. It's a bit surreal, not sure where it's going, but it's a quick novella.

Love his writing, but damn, the Mars trilogy burnt me out on geography. I have a fair vocabulary, but Robinson must have majored in the subject.

I have these on tap if anyone cares to comment. Guy on reddit shared his Gdrive ebooks with me years ago, these sounded interesting.

Read Eifelheim a couple of times, downloaded it because I don't have a good copy. It's a fascinating look at how crash-landed and ill aliens are treated in Medieval Germany. The author is sometimes a little heavy-handed with the, "did you know this was the origin of this belief\word\thing\whatever?!" But yeah, I did not know those things and it was a great learning experience.

[–] ieatpwns@lemmy.world 9 points 4 months ago* (last edited 4 months ago) (1 children)

Children of memory by Adrian Tchaikovsky about 75% of the way through. What if jumping spiders and octopodes and slime mold and ravens evolved Human level intellect 9/10 series would recommend again.

[–] khannie@lemmy.world 5 points 4 months ago (1 children)

The second in that series is one of my all time favourites.

We're going on an adventure.

[–] PugJesus@lemmy.world 8 points 4 months ago (1 children)

Just finished Grant and Sherman: The Friendship That Won The Civil War.

Puts into perspective the brilliance of both men, and how utterly prickly Sherman was.

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

Does it require any knowledge of the Civil War?

[–] PugJesus@lemmy.world 3 points 4 months ago (1 children)

Not particularly. If you don't know any of the background of the Civil War, you certainly won't learn it from the book, but as long as you have a rough idea where the major US states are, the narrative is easy enough to follow.

[–] dresden@discuss.online 3 points 4 months ago

Thanks for the info!

[–] mesamunefire@lemmy.world 8 points 4 months ago* (last edited 4 months ago) (1 children)

I'm about 600 hours in on https://wanderinginn.com/. Just started book 8. Really enjoying the series. I still have hundreds of hours left in the series. I started reading it years ago and went to the audiobook. Feels pretty good.

Now I know how people feel like with their soap operas 😆.

[–] dresden@discuss.online 2 points 4 months ago (1 children)

I have been thinking about starting a new webnovel, this looks like a good option, have heard it mentioned a few times.

There's no way to buy ebooks for anything other than kindle though, so if I get into it, would have to find some way around that.

[–] mesamunefire@lemmy.world 2 points 4 months ago (5 children)

I was able to get it on the kobo. I'm not sure what you mean by anything other than kindle?

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[–] AnIntenseMoist@lemmy.world 7 points 4 months ago (1 children)

Got a batch of W40k books. Finished "Brutal Kunning", working on "Da Big Dakka" right now. Orks are brutal, hilarious, and almost philosophical at times, and I'm enjoying the stories from their perspective because they're the only ones really enjoying their lives in 40k (besides the poor grots...)

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

Nice. Recently got Eisenhorn omnibus, my first foray into W40K books. Haven't started it yet though.

Assuming I like the series, any recommendations where to next after that?

[–] AnIntenseMoist@lemmy.world 3 points 4 months ago (1 children)

I'm new to the books myself, but the general consensus I've seen online is to read about the factions you'd like. That's why I picked Orks :) I got through a few chapters of Eisenhorn and it's, so far, not quite as action packed as the Ork books I've finished but IMO has much better world and character building.

[–] dresden@discuss.online 2 points 4 months ago

Heh. Okay, let's see how the world is, can take a look at overall book list after that.

[–] zipkag@lemmy.world 7 points 4 months ago (2 children)

I have been reading Anathema by Neal Stephenson. I'm about a fourth of the way through and it's been great. I've read two or three of his other books which I've really enjoyed. Cryptonomicon became one of my favorite books. But so far this has been up there as something that may top that, it's been pretty good so far. I hope it ends well.

[–] AbouBenAdhem@lemmy.world 2 points 4 months ago* (last edited 4 months ago) (1 children)

Anathem really benefits from having some background familiarity with western philosophy, and Plato’s theory of Forms/Ideas in particular. If you’re fuzzy on that, you might want to do a quick review before you get too far into the book.

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[–] Evotech@lemmy.world 7 points 4 months ago* (last edited 4 months ago) (1 children)

I'm listening to "the light of all that falls" which is the third book in this trilogy by James Islington.

It's an interesting fiction with a couple of good magic systems, there's a lot of world building to take in, tons of places, characters, the concept of watching each other's memories, seeing into the post and future. Can be a bit hard to follow at times but it's engaging enough

[–] Makoto009@lemmy.world 7 points 4 months ago (1 children)

Reading right now „Déjà Dead“ from Kathy Reichs. It‘s so good that i already dreamed of it last night … but it was a nightmare xD

[–] zout@fedia.io 3 points 4 months ago

I read (part of?) this a few years ago, but it wasn't for me. However, your comment reminded me that it might be something for my wife, so it helps out!

[–] Ioughttamow@fedia.io 6 points 4 months ago

Currently half way through Morningstar, third book of Red Rising by Pierce Brown. I think I'll have it finished roughly a week from now and then move on to the fourth book. Still enjoying the series, and it's nice to be able to talk to my wife about it as she's on Lightbringer. There's quite a bit of overlap with what we read, but she tends towards cozier books than I do, and I'll listen to stuff like the darkstar trilogy which I think she wouldn't enjoy at all

[–] pancake@sopuli.xyz 6 points 4 months ago

I am still reading Words of Radiance by Brandon Sanderson (Stormlight book 2). I'm about 3/4 of the way through and enjoying it immensely. However everything I've read so far feels like set up, which is a little frustrating because mistborn did not have this feel to it.

[–] agamemnonymous@sh.itjust.works 4 points 4 months ago

Finished Sandman and Joyce's Dubliners.

Restarting Beelzebub's Tales to His Grandson after setting it down over a decade ago. Usually I can just pick up a book I paused right where I left off, but I completely forgot what any of those made-up words meant.

[–] moleverine@lemmy.world 4 points 4 months ago (2 children)

A Feast For Crows, by GRRM. I recently finished up The Three Body Problem. It’s a decent book, and I enjoyed reading it, but I don’t feel the need to read it again.

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[–] adhocfungus@midwest.social 4 points 4 months ago (1 children)

I try to read books without knowing anything going in; just the title and author. I just finished Piranesi and The Sparrow, which were both good and benefitted from knowing nothing. I grabbed The Witches are Coming off my pile because some more fantasy sounded good. Definitely a bit of whiplash coming off some dark sci-fi, expecting some lighter Pratchett-esque witches, and getting a collection of non-fiction feminist humor essays. It's a good read, but I really set myself up for disappointment.

[–] dresden@discuss.online 3 points 4 months ago

While I don't like going in fully blind, but I do try to avoid reading back cover summary, they sometimes spoil some of the stuff that can be very interesting when you reach it in text naturally.

[–] misericordiae@literature.cafe 3 points 4 months ago

I'm 80% through Between Two Fires by Christopher Buehlman. My plan to set aside more reading time last week failed, but I'm nearing the finish line nonetheless!

[–] tiredofsametab@fedia.io 3 points 4 months ago (2 children)

時をかける少女. I suck at reading japanese and the only way to get better is to (try to) do it. Not the most interesting as a dude in his 40s who's not generally into this sort of genre (written in the 60s, it's about an elementary school girl with some sort of ability to experience other times), but the internet was correct in that it's about the right level of difficulty. I do kinda dislike some of the dated stuff (not useful, which is my primary concern) and there's a ton of jargon to learn. Overall, it's ok for it's purpose, though it's certainly not something I'm excited to pick up when time allows.

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[–] madjo@feddit.nl 2 points 4 months ago

I recently started reading Stolen Focus by Johann Hari. I want to see if I can somehow regain control over my focus

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