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Listening to Project Hail Mary. I've been utterly absorbed by the story and the scientific concepts being pushed around.
I never took physics and didn't take much math for my job but am jealous of people who have a natural, stronger affinity for those subjects
Shout out to my boy Rocky
I recently started The Brothers Karamazov by Fyodor Dostoevsky. I'm a 100 or so pages in, and slowly getting a feel for the characters. It's a large book, but I've got some long flights coming up so hopefully I'll make a good dent in it :)
How's the book? I have thought about starting it a few times, but I am afraid it might be too dry or complex.
Careless People - Satah Wynn-Williams
Not only it is a fascinating look into Facebook, it touches me personally because I'm a Canadian female tech worker in a US based company and her perspective on a lot of thing is very relatable to me.
We Are Legion (We Are Bob)
It is part of the "Bobiverse" so with a name like that I honestly couldn't help but have low expectations but so far it is a really fun read.
Many people here generally start the series with low expectations but end up liking it. Let us know how it goes for you.
It's a truly excellent series!
That's good to know. I'm a third of the way through now and I love the premise and how straight to the point it is.
Children of Dune, Frank Herbert.
I just finished reading The Mercy of Gods by James S. A. Corey (authors of the Expanse series). Overall I really liked it and am excited for this series! I feel like the characters haven’t hooked me as much as the characters from the Expanse series, but I’m going to give them more time to develop.
I am now reading The Tainted Cup by Robert Jackson Bennett. This one has surprised me how much I’ve enjoyed it so far. I have read his Founders trilogy and Divine Cities books and found them hit or miss.
Felt exactly the same about the Mercy of Gods.
Speaking Bones - Book 4 of the Dandelion Dynasty by Ken Liu. This is probably one of the best fantasy I've read. The setting is based off of ancient China. It's similar to Game of Thrones in the sense that there's a lot of world building, there's no main character, no one is safe from death and the fantasy is lightly applied.
It introduces interesting ideas like storing electricity in objects made with glass, intestines and gold, then utilizing it in warfare. Also logic gates implemented with just basic materials like wood and ropes. Basic AI (non-ML). Etc.
I'm quite confident anyone who enjoys programming will enjoy this series.
Wow I'm going to go read this now. I've been in between bigger reads, doing shorter stories, and doom scrolling, but definitely looking for something to escape for a bit!
Yeah I'd definitely recommend it. Loved that when there's a fantasy-based beast, people investigate how it works from a basic science perspective, then derive a new weapon that play crucial role in combat.
Also loved that alliances shift and change. The story likes to lull you into complacency before pouring cold water over you.
I'm just continuing with Sanderson's Stormlight Archive. I finished Oathbringer and Dawnshard and will start Rhythm of War next.
Shout out to my boy Rock
He's great! I saw that Sanderson is planning to write a novella about him in a year or two.
I'm reading The Shadow Rising by Robert Jordan, the fourth book in The Wheel of Time series. I'm starting to get a bit sick of the characters, frankly. Petty, angry, dishonest liars most of them, looking to make the worst decisions for any given situation. I still like the book, oddly enough, but I wish the characters like, grow up sometime soon.
How Music Works by David Byrne. It was recommended to me by a colleague when asked about good resources on learning more about music.
I'm only in chapter 3, so far it's been interesting. About how music has adapted since the introduction of recordings, about the shifting perceptions, not only in music but also showmanship, size of venues, choice of instruments. The current chapter is about the different recording media and their impact on the music.
All very interesting, although I do hope it will soon delve deeper into the nitty gritty: notes and intervals, progressions, and all the things I'm still totally unaware of.
Just started Holly by Stephen King. I have no idea what’s happening. I got it as a gift for Christmas and left the book cover at home so no summary.
I have started reading 'The Master and Margarita'. I am only a couple of chapters in and its pretty wild already.
It's been a long time, but I once read a paperback copy I found. I remember enjoying it.
The Adventures of Amina al-Sirafi. About halfway through, really enjoying it. The audiobook narrator is great.
Reading the Patternmaster books by Octavia E. Butler. Weird but interesting. Definitely not hitting like the Xenogenesis books did but still seem good so far.
Also re-reading the Expanse books because I just read The Mercy of Gods by James SA Corey and it made my love of the expanse series resurface.
How are the Xenogenesis books? They look interesting.
They're really interesting. As with a lot of Butler's works, they're extremely human which is a bit surprising for science fiction books. She is able to juxtapose aliens against humanity and use it to highlight aspects of our selves and talk about them. I would say that if you're mostly looking for a good narrative with something that conforms to the standard story arc you may be disappointed, but otherwise they are a must-read imo.
I just finished Shades of grey by Jasper Fforde. What a weird fascist dystopian future. It took a long time to get interesting and only the last 15% got me to actually want to know more. I don’t think I will read the rest of the trilogy.
Currently I'm reading The Rebel by Albert Camus. I was reading it last month but got interrupted by a hold being available from the library. I'm determined to finish it in the next week or so.
Finished the fifth book in the "dungeon crawler Carl" series, and decide to step away from that for a while. The fifth book was a lot longer than the previous four, and this doesn't work out for me (I know, just weeks ago I complained about the novella format of most murderbot books:)). After that read through "midnight black" by Mark Greaney, which was nice, but not the best in the gray man series imo. Now about a third through John Scalzi's "the collapsing empire". So far a nice book, but I liked most books in the "old man's war" series better.
Hehe, it happens. Some books are too short and some books are too long. It's nice to have the book that's just the right size.
I've barely read or listened to anything for over a year, now suddenly I have 9 books/audiobooks on the go. Most are things that everyone has read or heard about anyway, and almost all are part of a series Ive talked about too much over the years so I don't have too much to say 🤷♂️
Audio:
The Wise Man's Fear by Pat Rothfuss when I'm jogging
Words of Radiance by Sanderson at work
Daughter of the Dragon by Michael G Manning at home
Books on rotation chapter by chapter:
White Night by Jim Butcher
River Marked by Patricia Briggs
The Blade Itself by Joe Abercrombie
The Hungry Isle by Emily Rodda
The Pillars of the Earth by Ken Follett
Manga: Uzumaki by Junji Ito
Currently in the middle of house of chains by Steven Erikson.
Adrian Tchaikovsky's latest: Shroud. So far, it hasn't grabbed me in the same way that Children of Time did, but I'm enjoying it and am interested to see how the worldbuilding goes.
Almost done with The Tommyknockers on audiobook. Still reading Worm (by Wildbow), about 60% done
I just finished reading Dilla Time by Dan Charnas- it’s a must read if you’re a disciple of J Dilla.
I’m currently listening to War and Peace by Tolstoy
Just finished The Will of the Many by James Islington. Fantastic book. Gonna be champing at the bit until the next one releases in November.
Next up will be The Fifth Age, but I haven't cracked it open yet. I will later tonight.