Books

Have been pretty busy last couple of weeks, so still reading Shadows of Self by Brandon Sanderson. Book 2 of second era of Mistborn.

Also started Wandering Inn, have read a few chapters, and while interesting, I am not a big fan of the main character. Maybe I have read too many (web) novels that I can't understand when people don't act like typical isekai protagonist, but still...

The world building is interesting, want to know more about what's happening. Will probably try to read at least the first volume and then decide whether I want to continue or not.

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.

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.dbzer0.com/post/38033968

Apparently many libraries, including the ones in my country, are moving over to a system where you're not allowed to digitally download the epub file anymore. You're only allowed to borrow the book, and read it, in a closed ecosystem: an app. This per definition then excludes the majority of e-ink readers that don't run Android. This is due to Directive (EU) 2019/882 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 17 April 2019 on the accessibility requirements for products and services (Text with EEA relevance) (source) entering into force June 28 this year.

As the Adobe DRM solution hasn't been updated for years, it isn't capable of fulfilling all the requirements that this law lays out without endangering the DRM solution. Text-to-speech is one function that isn't fully supported by Adobe for example. This means that there are apparently two directions to go for full compliance, Readium DRM which is barely supported as well or a closed app ecosystem.

This is frustrating on so many levels, especially if I would like to borrow an ebook in my native language that isn't available elsewhere on the web, which is often the situation for books in my language (and I'm guessing most languages outside of English). The alternatives left is borrowing a physical copy, or buying it.

The enshittification of everything continues...

I have this intense craving for a novel about riding the train basically. My issue is I don’t want it to just be a setting amidst a larger plot. No train murder stories, no regular stories that just happen to take place on a train.

I need the novel to be wholly about the experience of riding the train, maybe across the US maybe just between two cities whatever. It just has to focus on the experience the train provides and the spirit of public transport.

Insane how hard this is for me to find maybe I’m not looking in the right places. Trains are so beautiful it’s a group of people who have never met and they’re all connected through experience, locked in to a direction literally bound by the railway. There is God in the railway. Infinite potential to be tapped in this hyper specific idea.

The Masquerades of Spring is the latest novella by Ben Aaronovitch. It takes place in the Rivers of London universe, but is set in Harlem, New York, in the 1920s. As with the longer RoL books it has a first person narrator, in this case Augustus "Gussie" Berrycloth-Young, a young Englishman living in New York. He was a contemporary of Thomas Nightingale at Casterbrook School, where young British gentlemen of the magical persuasion have been educated for generations, and was connected with the Folly (headquarters of the Society of the Wise) but is now a man of leisure, enjoying a life of jazz clubs, parties and gay hedonism.

The book is many things - an affectionate pastiche of Jeeves & Wooster by P.G. Wodehouse (Gussie is a nod to Gussie Fink-Nottle, Jeeves is represented by Berrycloth-Young's valet, Beauregard), a detective story, an LGBT love story, a paean to the roaring '20s and the jazz age, and a celebration of the resilience and creativity of the people of Harlem. There is some magic, after Thomas Nightingale turns up in search of an enchanted trumpet and a friend of the Folly's maid and housekeeper Molly, another Fae who needs to be rescued.

There is lots to be enjoyed here, so if you are a fan of Peter Grant and Thomas Nightingale in the full-length RoL books then this is going to be right up your alley. At the back of the book there is what appears to be a spoof of those publishers' advertisements for other books, with descriptions of more Gussie & Beauregard stories which seem not to exist, but perhaps they are a teaser for further volumes yet to come? That would be something to look forward to.

By the way, have you ever wondered why the headquarters of the Society of the Wise, the centre of British wizardry, is called the Folly? It's actually a reference to the poem Ode on a Distant Prospect of Eton College, by Thomas Gray.

I have tried a lot of plugins and sites but haven't found anything yet. does anyone have any information?

I've mostly watched anime for the past two years and got a craving for a book.

I'm mostly watching comedy and battle shounen, but I'm also enjoying Orb: On the Movements of the Earth this season. The last series I've been reading is Brandon Sanderson's Stormlight Archive (don't worry, I know about Mistborn, I'll get into it during holidays).

Horror bores me, and I dislike romance in general. I can tolerate it as a side plot, but will cringe anyway. And if I see a love triangle or the MC going on and on about the butterflies in their stomach...

It would be nice to see a hard system world mid or post-industrial revolution, but it's not a must. I also prefer a more masculine PoV, because I'm more used to it.

I'm currently thinking about getting The Powder Mage trilogy or Discworld, but I've been out of the loop for so long (if you consider regular visits at the library as being in the loop) that I want to see if I'm missing something more up my alley.

Originally I wanted to get Dungeon Crawler Carl, but it's not translated, so I'll wait. I've tried reading a book in English, forgot the title, but I had to drop it because it was too mentally demanding for me.

As the title says I need break. With all the news and everthing going on I want to focus more on reading. But before I do that here is all the books I have read and listen to for the year 2024.

PHYSICAL AND EBOOKS 2024

1. Breakfast at Tiffany's by Truman Capote
2. Parasite by Mira Grant
3. Symbiont by Mira Grant
4. Chimera by Mira Grant
5. How Civil Wars Start and How to Stop Them by Barbara P Walter.
6. Animal Farm by George Orwell
7. Just After Sunset by Stephen King
8. The Murder At The Vicarage by Agatha Christie
9. Feed by Mira Grant
10. It Ends With Us by Colleen Hoover
11. In The Company of Witches by Auralee Wallace
12. Deadline by Mira Grant
13. Countdown by Mira Grant
14. The Maze Runner by James Dashner
15. The Book Thief by Markus Zusak
16. Blackout by Mira Grant
17. Elevation by Stephen King
18. The Woman In Me by Britney Spears
19. It's Ok To Be Angry About Capitalism by Bernie Sanders
20. Murder On The Orient Express by Agatha Christie
21. The Firm by John Grisham
22. Sitting Pretty The View From My Ordinary Resilient Disabled Body by Rebekah Taussig
23. It Starts With Us by Colleen Hoover
24. The Last Stand Of The California Browncoats by Mira Grant
25. In the Lives of Puppets by TJ Klune
26. My French Whore by Gene Wilder
27. The Climate Book by Greta Thunberg
28. The Scorch Trials by James Dashner
29. The Grownup by Gillian Flynn
30. Nightmares & Dreamscapes by Stephen King
31. The Mysterious Affair At Styles by Agatha Christie
32. Full Dark, No Stars by Stephen King
33. Verity by Colleen Hoover
34. The World Without Us by Alan Weisman
35. The Exchange by John Grisham
36. Double Homicide: Santa Fe, Boston by Jonathan & Faye Kellerman
37. The Pelican Brief by John Grisham
38. No Time Like The Future by Michale J. Fox
39. The Death Cure by James Dashner
40. The Kill Order by James Dashner
41. The Fever Code by James Dashner
42. Dolly Parton Songteller by Dolly Parton with Robert K. Dermann
43. Mean Baby by Selma Blair
44. 1984 by George Orwell
45. The Autobiography of Malcolm X as told by Alex Haley
46. A Funny Thing Happened on The Way to The Future by Michael J. Fox
47. Wildflower by Drew Barrymore
48. The Book of Hope by Jane Goodall and Douglas Abrams
49. Dead Silence by S.A. Barnes
50. Throttle by Joe Hill and Stephen King
51. The Fold by Peter Clines
52. Full Throttle by Joe Hill
53. Black Like Me by John Howard Griffin
54. The Hollow Places by T. KingFisher
55. Something Wicked This Way Come by Ray Bradbury
56. Her Little Flowers by Shannon Morgan
57. The Fireman by Joe Hill
58. The Nightmare Man by J.H. Markert
59. Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury
60. Theodore Boone Kid Lawyer by John Grisham
61. Theodore Boone The Abduction by John Grisham
62. Yes Man by Danny Wallace
63. Theodore Boone The Accused by John Grisham
64. Theodore Boone The Activist by John Grisham
65. The Soul Thief by Charles Baxter
66. Theodore Boone The Fugitive by John Grisham
67. Theodore Boone The Scandal by John Grisham
68. The Assault On Reason by Al Gore
69. Theodore Boone:The Accomplice
70. Gerald's Game by Stephen King
71. Sooley by John Grisham
72. Her Daughter's Eyes by Jessica Barksdale Inclan
73. Mr. Was by Pete Hautman
74. Witch Upon A Star by Angela M. Sanders
75. Christine by Stephen King
76. She's Not Sorry by Mary Kubica
77. How Green This Land, How Blue This Sea by Mira Grant
78. When the Crow's Away by Auralee Wallace
79. Neil Patrick Harris Choose Your Own Autobiography
80. Bait and Witch by Angela M. Sanders
81. Seven-Year Witch by Angela M. Sanders
82. Fifth Avenue 5AM by Sam Wasson
83. Calico Joe by John Grisham
84. Ford County by John Grisham
85. Witch and Famous by Angela M. Sanders
86. Gone With the Witch by Angela M. Sanders
87. The King of Torts by John Grisham
88. The Art of Asking by Amanda Palmer
89. Alice's Adventures in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll
90. The Ghost Orchid by Jonathan Kellerman
91. How To Win Friends and Influnce People by Dale Carnegie
92. Strange Weather by Joe Hill
93. Heart Shaped Box by Joe Hill
94. You Like It Darker by Stephen King
95. Zoey is too Drunk for this Dystopia by Jason Pargin
96. Mondy Mourning by Kathy Reichs
97. Envy by Gregg Olsen
98. The Green Man Tales from the Mythic Forest Edited by Ellen Datlow & Terri Windling
99. Tuesdays with Morrie by Mitch Albom
100. The Outsiders by S.E. Hinton
101. Wizard's First Rule by Terry Goodkind
102. Everything Must Go by Jenny Fran Davis
103. Killers of the Flower Moon by David Grann
104. Raptor Red by Robert T. Bakker
105. Where the Red Fern Grows by Wilson Rawls
106. Deja Dead by Kathy Reichs
107. The Dead House by Linda Fairstein
108. In Pieces by Sally Field
109. The Witch Is Back by Angela M. Sanders
110. Once Upon A Workday by Elizabeth Fitch and Jonathan Kunz

AUDIOBOOKS

1. Lords Of Uncreation by Adrian Tchaikovsky
2. Guns by Stephen King
3. Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen
4. Bird Box by Josh Malerman
5. The Cabin at the End of the World by Paul Tremblay
6. The Guardians by John Grisham
7. A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens
8. Thank you For Smoking by Christopher Bukley
9. Run Rose Run by Dolly Parton and James Patterson
10. I'll Be Gone in The Dark by Michelle McNamara
11. A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L'Engle
12. The Storyteller by Dave Grohl
13. Asylum by Madeleine Roux
14. The House by Raelyn Drake
15. The Longest Night by Lindsey Pogue
16. Sanctum by Madeleine Roux
17. Catacomb by Madeleine Roux
18. Magic 2.0 book 1: Off To Be the Wizard by Scott Meyer
19. Magic 2.0 book 2: Spell or High Water by Scott Meyer
20. Magic 2.0 book 3: An Unwelcomed Quest by Scott Meyer
21. Project Hail Mary by Andy Weir
22. The Hour I First Belived by Wally Lamb
23. She's Come Undone by Wally Lamb

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.zip/post/31096773

House of Leaves by Mark Z. Danielewski: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/24800.House_of_Leaves

Read Turn Coat, book 11 of the Dresden Files series by Jim Butcher.

Another bad people/creatures/whatever doing bad stuff with magic, while Dresden stops them, while getting completely beat up book. I don't mean that as a bad thing though. That's why I read the books!

This had some interesting world-building stuff, with some new stuff in over-arching story. Also read the short story that takes place after the book (in the anthology Side Jobs), an interesting look at the relationship between Harry and Murphy.

Currently reading Shadows of Self by Brandon Sanderson. Book 2 of second era of Mistborn. Just started it, so don't have much to say about it yet.

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.

Hosted by Project Gutenberg.

This is this month story.

Hi all. I'm looking to explore contemporary lit fic but I really don't know where to start.

Currently I mainly read horror (usually slower literary horror and weird or Gothic stuff more than gore/extreme/slashers), New Weird, a fair few literary classics, and some SSF and mystery now and then. Some of my favourite books are Mary Shelley's Frankenstein, Laird Barron's The Imago Sequence, and Vonnegut's Slaughterhouse Five.

So stuff with a dark edge and some speculative elements is welcome, but I'm staying open minded and I'll try basically anything as long as it's interesting.

Also, if anyone can recommend some magazines or other sorts of regular publications, I'd like to hear about those too. Both for short fiction and recommendations/reviews.

Cheers, A.

The local high school is considering redoing their selections for their 9th grade Sci Fi unit and I’m privileged enough to be able to provide suggestions. Currently they have a choice of Ender’s Game by Orson Scott Card, The Adoration of Jenna Fox by Mary E Pearson, Scythe by Neil Shusterman, and Unwound also by Shusterman.

It doesn’t have to be explicitly YA, but definitely YA accessible, and preferably something that will keep a 9th grader interested and isn’t just a fluffy book but challenges thinking/perceptions like good Sci Fi can. My goal is something near 300-ish pages but if it’s a faster read more is ok.

TiA