I have been a bit busy, and with not too much motivation to do much, so am still at the same place as last week.
Still reading Shadows of Self by Brandon Sanderson. Book 2 of second era of Mistborn.
I did read a bit more of it though, and it was interesting to see the antagonist and some of the other characters who appeared.
What about all of you? What have you been reading or listening to lately?
There’s a Midyear Bingo check-in post, do take a look. Even if you haven’t started this year’s Book Bingo, you can still join, as there are still 6 months remaining only 5 4 months to go!
For details, you can checkout the initial Book Bingo, and it’s Recommendation Post . Links are also present in our community sidebar.
Reading Redwall to the kids at night.
Rereading Slaughterhouse 5 by Kurt Vonnegut Jr.
My wife is reading Murder on the Orient Express.
I need to start on Agatha Christie too, haven’t read any of her books.
Still working my way through Harry Potter. On goblet of fire at the moment, he said, calmly.
Just remember, there are only 7 Harry Potter books, no matter what anyone else might say.
but… there are only 7?
Exactly!
“Together: The Healing Power of Human Connection in a Sometimes Lonely World” by Vivek H. Murthy
Been looking for something to read after “Bowling Alone”. “Together” is not as dry-sciency as the book by Putnam though it jumps to “evolutionary psychology” conclusions too quickly at times. The anecdotes are so overly positive that sometimes they’re hard to believe.
My personality for the longer while has been “guy who read Bowling Alone recently”. I started to drink cofee at the bar rather than go sit down. I’ve watched Quadrophenia (set in 1964) recently and the scene with the big ballroom dance party (i.e. people socializing) gave me “look what they took from you” vibes.
Bowling Alone sounds interesting, should give it a look.
Change your Diet, Change your Mind. by Georgia Ede, MD. How ultra processed foods damage your brain. and 50 Reasons People give for Believing in God. by Guy P. Harrison. After years of interviews, the top 50 reasons people give for religious beliefs.
Have you read Ultra-Processed People by Chris Van Tulleken? Have been meaning to get it.
How’s Change your Diet, Change your Mind?
I have not read it but it looks interesting. So far Change your Diet is pretty informative. The author did an interview with Dr. Ken Berry on youtube where she goes into what made her write it and the research she did. The interview is worth watching. Getting rid of ultra-processed food has done wonders for my physical and mental health.
Thanks, I’ll look into it.
Just finished Breakfast of Champions by Kurt Vonnegut. Weird ride.
Re-reading through Slaughterhouse 5 rn, would love to read others by him.
I read like 4 Vonnegut books (Galapagos, Sirens of Titan, Cats cradle, slaughterhouse nr 5), and honestly all if them were pretty weird.
Ancillary Sword by Ann Leckie.
I appreciate sci-fi that’s more sociological and cultural commentary instead of just pew pew space battle. Leckie feels like the modern Ursula K La Guin, blending imperialism, racism and sexism into a centuries long narrative from the perspective of AI immortality. The world building is delightful yet shocking at the same time. Highly recommend.
I’ve been going through Asimov’s Foundation novels. Would you say Ancillary Sword is on a similar scope? I think I’ll check it out once I’m done with Asimov.
I very nearly mentioned Asmiov in my original comment! The Foundation books are some of my absolute favorites and the Ancillary series is reminiscent in a lot of ways. Although, I would say the Three Body Problem books are the closest spiritual successor to Foundation. I’m resisting the urge to write a wall of text comparing the three, but to keep it succinct, if you enjoy Asmiov your likely to enjoy Leckie.
I really wish she included a pronunciation guide to her books. Some of the species names have me stuttering every time I come across them.
My goodness that would be nice. I’m strategically only going to discuss it in text so I’ll never have to say aloud what I read them as.
About 150 pages into The Starless Sea by Erin Morgenstern. I heard it’s divisive and I can see why. On the one hand, I tend to like when an author experiments and has fun with their craft. But I can also see when the writing becomes a bit self-indulgent without progressing the plot much. I’ll have to see where I stand at the end of it.
I finished it and understand the appeal, but I don’t trust the people who recommended it so heavily anymore.
I started Victor LaValle’s The Devil in Silver for the “Institutional” square of Book Bingo (and it seems well-written so far, don’t get me wrong), but I’m taking a break in the middle to read some lighter fare.
I’m just trying to get through one row for Book Bingo instead of scattershot reading throughout the card, but my focus is all over the place.
Which row are you closest to completing?
C! I know it’s a gimme, with the free square in the middle, but I just started my last book in that row (the free square), The Scarlet Pimpernel (hard mode from the “Older Than You Are” square). I’m about halfway done now.
After that, I guess I’ll just read through as much of the card as I can before the end of April, while taking breaks for whatever catches my fancy. I just read a couple of fantasy novels by Margaret Owen that I very much enjoyed, and she has another book coming out in a few months.
Nice!
My book club book this time around is “Medusa’s Sisters” by Lauren Bear. It is awful. And boring. And graphic for the sake of being graphic. And I hate it. And book club is gonna get an earful from me.
Outside of that I just started “Well of Ascension” by Brandon Sanderson. I devoured “Mistborn” and can’t wait to get into this one.
I just finished Yes You Are Trans Enough by Mia Violet, and now I’ve started both The Sapling Cage by Margaret Killjoy and Filterworld by Kyle Chayka
What did you think of Mia Violet’s book? I read that very early in my transition.
If This Book Exists, You’re in the Wrong Universe by Jason Pargin
I’d love to try and read some Jason Pargin books!
I’m reading Outlive by Peter Attia, MD. It’s sort of scaring me into building healthier habits. It’s also provided a list of things I can talk to my doctor about such as additional screenings, some meds to try, etc. The question is, will my health insurance cooperate? Obligatory FREE LUIGI!
I am generally skeptical of books like this. But I would like to hear what your doctor says about it. In general of course. Is it just scaring needlessly, or is there something to it.
For the most part he refrains from telling you to do XYZ because as he states, we’re all unique, and your healthcare, and diet should be tailored so. He lays out all the strategies and the science behind them and tells you what he does and how he does it. He also tells you what he recommends to his patients. One of his main pillars is that we need to shift from this paradigm of reactionary healthcare and medicine (acting post-diagnosis) to one of active prevention and early (or earlier) screening and detection.
That actually makes sense.
Thanks for the info, will check it out.
I’ve been rereading a book I liked as a teen, called Metropolitan by Walter Jon Williams. It’s pretty good, a little more eyebrow raising now as a wiser man (he’s a white guy from New Mexico writing about two Black characters from made up future ethnicities which have some clear parallels to real world oppressed peoples, eh…)
What surprises me most is how much of the story is a romance, it’s very 50 shades, a working class woman and a billionaire fall in love. But the billionaire is kind of a leftist revolutionary and the woman is kind of a sorcerer but its future science magic. Anyway, neat stuff, but I’m amazed teen me put up with so much romance; the science magic is really rad though, i did remember that!
Metropolitan’s setting sounds nice. Still liking it?
Finished The Truth of the Aleke by Moses Ose Utomi. Twistier and grimmer than the first book; hoping the third (when it comes out) will have a satisfying conclusion. One note: if you decide to read this one by itself, with the thought that you might read the rest of the series later, just be aware that it spoils the ending of the first book.
Started I’m Afraid You’ve Got Dragons by Peter S. Beagle. Light and fluffy fairy-tale-type story so far, without the melancholy undertones I remember The Last Unicorn (understandably) having. Reviews seem mixed about the second half, so we’ll see how I feel about it when I get to that point!
Some very controversial shit. Lol
Details! We need details!
I have this habit of reading anything and everything (no matter how bad it is) just to educate myself on even the things I don’t agree with. My father told me once “be friends even with bad people, so you can learn their way of life, and make sure you don’t become like them, that way you know their tricks in the future and can protect yourself against people like them”. Sorry, English isn’t my first language and I’m translating what he told me to English. Lol. Anyway, I’m reading “the strange death of Europe” by Douglas Murray. Next I have RFK Jr’s book “the real Dr Fauci”. Please don’t judge me, I like to read everything. 😂. I’ve even read Mein Kamf.
Oh, I understand that and agree with that too. You should know the things you don’t agree with, to know why you don’t agree with them 😀
I think most people who read regularly will agree with this.
BTW I haven’t read Mein Kampf, but it’s on my list. One day.
Omg, thank you so much for reassuring me. Man, the internet is scary nowadays. You don’t know what’s next people are gonna get mad about and start berating you for it, so, I tend to be a bit cautious in that regard (some times I lose it and start talking shit anyway. Lol). Yeah, Mein Kampf was a very good read. Not that its content is good, but a good thing to read to know what was happening in that dude’s head (spoiler: he was insane). He had a good brain on him, but he used it in the wrong places 100% at a time. I read the book in my language, and I want to read it in English, too. I also have read some of the book “bullshit jobs” and got distracted by the new ones I’m reading now. I’ll get back to it after. I love reading nonfiction.
