Books

Just finished The Sunlit Man by Sanderson, and The Book of the Ice trilogy by Mark Lawrence before that. Trying to decide on what's next.

Currently on the second book, Shorefall, of the Foundryside trilogy by Robert Jackson Bennett.

If you like things like Storm light Archives and Mistborn from Sanderson then you'd probably enjoy this, I'm loving it so far :D

I imported the Spanish version of Artemis Fowl into LingQ (a language-learning app) and have been slowly burning through that for 15 minutes a day. Not much to say about the book, it was just something I loved as a kid so I thought it'd be a good one to start with.

I've also just started The Pillars of the Earth by Ken Follett. My girlfriend recommended it to me, though she says it contains some of the most badly-written and non-arousing sex scenes she's ever read. Can't wait.

I just finished rereading Stranger in a Strange Land by Heinlein, one of my all time favorites.

I'm reading Against the Fall of Night by Clarke now. I love how big Clarke books feel.

I’m currently plowing through the 9th of the Malazan books by Steven Erikson, and I don’t really want them to finish. One of the best bits of writing I’ve so far encountered.

I’ve got a foot-high stack of Sanderson to help me get over it though, so that’s ok.

The Malazan books are in some ways comparable to the Stormlight books, but they are a lot more dense and there’s almost no hand-holding whatsoever. The story is detailed, spread over several continents, and has tons of important characters. You’re expected to remember things from several thousand pages ago without there being any recap, and frankly I like it. When each book is already around 1300 pages, and there’s 10 of them, constant recaps would do my nut in. There’s a good dramatis personae, and a glossary in each book, which helps.

Just finished Cordwainer Smith's "Norstrilia", which was kind of a charming but innocuous mess.

Now started Alfred Bester's "The Demolished Man", which is decidedly not good, though it's old school fun

I’ve been working my way through the Remembrance of Earth’s Past series (Three Body Problem books). I’m on Death’s End now.

Overall, I love the ideas explored by the series. I think the writing style isn’t really my jam. It’s a bit boring/slow in parts, almost “matter-of-fact” in its prose. I tend to prefer more descriptive, flowery writing. Granted, maybe some of that is due to being translated / cultural differences in writing style.

Doing a reread of Equal Rites, Children of Hurin and listening to Jane Eyre.

Trying to read Stephen King again. I forced myself through The Stand a few years back, and it was a horrible experience from start to finish, so this time I'm trying Pet Sematery instead.

I'm about half way through The Saint of Bright Doors by Vajra Chandrasekera. It's an interesting blend of fantasy and sci-fi and a decent read so far.

I finished Ella Minnow Pea by Mark Dunn and really enjoyed it. If you struggle with dyslexia or are an adapted dyslexic reader like my wife, the last ¾ of the book gets pretty tough to read. I’m reading Swordheart by T. Kingfisher now. It’s the last book in her World of the White Rat collection I hadn’t read yet.

As to moving books around, absolutely! That’s in fact what I’ve had to do in the past Bingos when I had better options for some squares that left easier ones open as I went through the year.

@Dresden I haven't decided where I'm putting any of the books I've read for bingo yet, either.

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Finished Crazy Rich Asians over the weekend. I was expecting an Asian drama in book form, and that's pretty much exactly what it is, complete with a number of common tropes. The characters have a bit more depth than your standard drama fluff, however, and the amount of discussion on Singaporean high society and culture elevates it further. On the negative side (for me), the narration--like many of the characters--gets very caught up in luxury brands, which I found kind of dry and unnecessary; I guess it might enhance the experience if you're familiar with the names, but most of them went over my head. Additionally, the first third introduces a confusing number of characters. Thankfully, it gets easier later on, but at first, it's hard to tell who's important enough to keep track of (especially given the extensive family tree provided at the start).

Overall, this was a quick, fun read, and I liked it enough to add the next book in the series to my TBR.

(Bingo squares: Family Drama hard mode; Eazy, Breazy, Read-zie; maybe Stranger in a Strange Land hard mode; Debut Work; (alt) A Change in Perspective.)

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Still trying to decide what to read next.

Currently going through the Ender quintet, and the Expeditionary Force.

I'm on book four of the Ender series, the first two were as good as I remember. 3 an 4 have taken some work. Can't recommend buying them though as OSC is a... just the opposite of the message of the books.

Expeditionary Force is as samey as I remember. I read them as audiobooks at work so the pulp is quite welcome. Also, I'm on book 9 (not back to back reads), so while it's formulaic I guess I'm not too bored of jerking in the shower jokes. I'd recommend the first one, but not as a series.

My last "work read" was the murder bot series, I binged my way through those, pretty good

Just finished Nuclear war, a scenario by Annie Jacobsen. This nonfiction book about a fictional scenario about what a nuclear war would be really shaked me. I strongly recommend it. Read it in a few days because it was really gripping (ok this week have been a bit hard with the few sleep hours each night).

Not yet found what I'll start reading now but something lighter for sure (perhaps a crime/mystery/thriller, has been long since I read a good one). If you have some recommendations, they are welcome.