3d ago

What book(s) are you currently reading or listening? April 22

Still reading Streams of Silver by R. A. Salvatore.

Also reading some web novels.

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

Book Bingo for this year has officially finished. If you participated in it, check out the Turn in post.

Our next book bingo will be starting soon. Both @JaymesRS@literature.cafe and @misericordiae@literature.cafe are hard at work making it the best Book Bingo yet! Stay tuned!

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Currently reading The king in yellow by Robert W. Chambers for the second time. It's a collection of unspoken horror fantasy stories from 1895 and it's influences can be seen in the works of Lovecraft. It still manages to draw me in on my Tram rides. I'd recommend it. Especially since it's no longer under copyright. Here's the free digital copy link.

Just finished Onyx Storm by Rebecca Yarros because of the cliffhanger of the last book, but this one just didn't grab me. It took me a lot longer to get through, and I had a break in the middle where I wandered off and read other books instead.
I started Whispering Wood by Sharon Shinn last night (as the 5th and last book in the Elemental Blessings series) and it's...all right, I guess. Definitely doesn't feel like the series will conclude with a bang, but that seems to be the case with her other series as well. Having said that, I really enjoyed her stand-alone book Summers at Castle Auburn and have re-read it a few times.

Careless People - Sarah Wynn-Williams. I would have never bothered with this book until I heard the Zuck tried to sue the author over it. Now I HAVE to read it. :)
- 2 people reading it in same week? Is it a recent release? or recently in news? or just a coincidence?

Book Lovers by Emily Henry
- A book about us?

The children of the sky by vernor vinge. It's the second book in an intriguing sci-fi series combining a high fantasy future with medieval society. Some things are uncomfortably close to today's news despite being written decades ago.

I am reading Gravity's Rainbow by Thomas Pynchon. Progress isn't as smooth as with M&D but there is enough time for me to get used to the style and prose.

Poirot Investigates, by Agatha Christie.

Re-listening to Harry Potter and the Methods of Rationality. It came up in conversation a week ago and since I've read it before I can do other things while it plays in the background. Ravenclaw Harry is just so much more compelling than the original.
- I am not into fanfic much, but this looks interesting.
  
  Me either. If you like the HP universe but were frustrated with some of the stupidity, it's quite cathartic.

I just recently finished Death’s End by Cixin Liu.
Thinking back I thought it was kind of funny that the protagonist spends most of her time asleep throughout the history of the universe. That aside, great science fiction and a great end to the trilogy.

I am reading Rhythm of War by Brandon Sanderson (Stormlight book 4). I'm really enjoying this one, it may be my favorite in the series so far!
- Reading them back to back?
  
  Not quite. I've been mostly alternating with books for my book club.

I’ve just finished The Rhine by Ben Coates, which was nice, made me really want to book a holiday and go do the same, traveling from Rotterdam to Basel.
I’ve also been playing a bunch of Assassins Creed Odyssey recently so thought I’d start reading Odyssey by Stephen Fry. Only just started so will see how it goes, but I’ve read the previous three and thought they were great.

Ian Fleming's Secret War:
https://www.casematepublishers.com/9781473853492/ian-flemings-secret-war/
Which I picked up as a sort of companion piece to "Churchill's Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare":
https://www.porchlightbooks.com/products/churchills-ministry-of-ungentlemanly-warfare-giles-milton-9781250119032
and "The Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare":
https://www.quercusbooks.co.uk/titles/damien-lewis-3/the-ministry-of-ungentlemanly-warfare/9781529432336/
The true stories of which were adapted into the really fun film of the same name:
https://youtu.be/zvwDen1Wrx8
Fleming was a bit player in the other books and the film, and I was interested to learn more about what he did during the war.
I'm about 1/2 way through the Fleming book and the answer seems to be "Well, not much, really."
He had a great idea to capture a German encryption device. The plan was to pilot a captured German airplane over the English channel, find a suitable German boat and crash the plane in the water nearby.
When "rescued", the soldiers, dressed as Germans, would capture the boat and the encryption device.
Unfortunately on the day of the mission, there were no suitable boats in the channel and the whole mission was scrubbed. :(
The other two books are captivating in their telling, the Fleming book? Eh, not so much. But I'm not done yet, it could get better!
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Ruthless
  
  Oh, yeah, I forgot he was also involved with Alan Turing, and Aleister Crowley of all people!

At the moment reading The Book Thief and Careless People. Currently more busy with The Book Thief (about ~100 pages in).
- I read The Book Thief quite a while ago, and don't remember a single thing from it now. Maybe it's time to revisit the book.

"On Blue's Waters" by Gene Wolfe.
If you haven't heard of the Solar Cycle, or looked into "The Book of the New Sun", I can't recommend it enough.
My brother was finally able to finish the fifth book recently after starting the series roughly 10 years ago, and the fact that he immediately started rereading from the beginning is a testament to how well this series sticks with you.

I'm reading
Managing Neuro Diverse Workplaces by Joe Biel and Elly Blue
The Old Man by Thomas Perry
Leaders Eat Last by Simon Sinek
I just finished
Starship Troopers by Robert A. Heinlein - great book
From Conflict to Community by Gwendolyn Olton - good book
The Levity Effect by Adrian Gostick and Scott Christopher - great book

Finished Wyrd Sisters by Terry Pratchett. Discworld books are always a delightful read.
Currently reading London Rules by Mick Herron, which I put down about halfway through, a long time ago, and never got back to. I'm trying to kill time til new bingo starts, and this is going to be the new season of Slow Horses, so I figured now was a good time to finish it. It's fun.
- How fo the Slow Horses books compare to the show? I've been curious to give them a try since I'm enjoying the show so much.
  
  The show's done the usual cutting, streamlining, or tweaking that adaptations do, like making Lamb less of an offensive jerk and River a little more competent than in the books. Otherwise, I think they're pretty similar, tbh; same story beats, very snarky, fairly quick-paced. There's something about the first 3 that I liked better than the next couple (which is why I put this one on pause), but I can't put my finger on it.

Just finished Dungeon Crawler Carl, on the lookout for a new series to get into.

Still reading "Neptune's Brood" by Charles Stross, didn't get to read a lot during the easter weekend. I'm about half way through, and will probably finish it somewhere in the coming week. After that I'll have several picks to choose from for the next read, I might return to the Dresden files or to Dungeon Crawler Carl, or I could go search for some writer I haven't read yet.

Taking Manhattan by Russell Shorto.
It is a sequel of sorts to The Cityat the Center of the World.
Really enjoying it. The author has some interesting ideas and is skilled at narrative nonfiction.

Whirlwind by James Clavell
I just finished Noble House, and this is the last book in the Asian Saga series (the first of which is Shogun).

Tilt by Emma Pattee
picks & shovels by Cory Doctorow
The Creatures of Philippine Lower Mythology by Dr. Maximo D. Ramos

I finished Brave New World by Aldous Huxley last week. It was okay. I'm sure if I had read it when it was first published, it would seem ground breaking.
I started The Deep History of Ourselves by Joseph LeDoux over the weekend. Reading Cosmos by Carl Sagan helped me understand the universe a bit more. Which made me want to understand humanity better. I suppose this is about how life evolved to give us the conscious brain that we currently possess.

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