I have finally committed. I've started Sir Terry Pratchett's Disc World, starting with the Color of Magic, and I intend to proceed by publication order. We'll see how long this one takes to finish. π
this post was submitted on 24 Jun 2025
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Hope you enjoy them.
I started in mostly the same order last year and I'm already nine books down. I wanted to carry on with the Rincewind arc more than start new ones, but I actually ended up delaying some of my favourites so far.
I'm halfway through listening to The Handmaid's Tale. I went in blind and there have been some moments which are shockingly similar to recent events in the USA. I'm loving the way the world is slowly revealed to the reader.
I've been working my way through the chronicles of the Black Company, currently on Silver Spike. I do love grounded, grim high fantasy with a mouthy but self-deprecating protagonist, might be my most pumpkin spice opinion ever
Recently finished Stephen Fry's Mythos audiobook, which is incredibly lovable. I listened through it twice in a row.
Dragons of Autumn Twilight, the first book in an excellent series that I haven't read for 15+ years. Catching up with my old friends has been fantastic.
"Consider Phlebas", by Iain M. Banks.
A lemmy thread about favourite fictional society to live in introduced me to The Culture, I'm extremely intrigued by this post-scarcity anarchist space hippy commune and want to find out more.
It's british space opera, which I incredibly enjoy and it allegedly deconstructs the "lone protagonist has wide raging influence"-trope which I'm also going to enjoy.
Wind and Truth - Latest entry in Brian Sanderson's flagship Stormlight Archives fantasy series. I wanted to like it but if I'm being honest with myself, it's been going downhill since everyone became a Jedi in the second book.
Ok I canβt stand it anymore.
Love the thread, but can you please put the word βtoβ after βlisteningβ?
Again, with loveβ¦
I'm reading Stalin: New Biography of a Dictator by Oleg Khlevniuk. Dictators feel timely, but also I felt like I didn't know Stalin's life well enough, despite how important he is in the story of the 20th century.
I also just finished Henry David Thoreau's essay Civil Disobedience. My local library had put it on display and it felt like a bit of a cheeky gesture. Unfortunately, I didn't like the essay all that much, as I find Thoreau's writing disagreeable - even when I agree with him. Perhaps he's just not my cup of tea.
Did you finish One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich? Or still reading it?
Yes, I finished it. It's not a long story, given that it's just a typical day from one prisoner's perspective. It was a good book, but also didn't have a lot to sink your teeth into. In this sense, even if it was written a 100 years earlier, The Dead House gives a more in-depth look into Russian/Soviet prison camps. Anyway, turns out prison camps are miserable places, where you have to scheme to get enough (and still too little) food and clothes and pretty much everything else you need. Russian winters are cold, and prison personnel cruel and prone to make arbitrary decisions. Yeah. Though I have to say, how this got published in Soviet Russia is a bit of a mystery to me, since it's pretty critical of the state.
I do intend to read more on Gulags, but I'll save that for another time.
Though I have to say, how this got published in Soviet Russia is a bit of a mystery to me, since itβs pretty critical of the state.
It was during a brief thaw of destalinization. After Kruschechev's removal, the writer was persecuted and eventually expelled from the Soviet Union.
Malazan Empire... Please don't ask me again for a year π
Trying to finish all of Hyperion again. Love Dan Simmons, and he's masterful at writing from different points of view, but I got bored around book 2 or 3. On 3 now!
Speaking of Simmons, Song of Kali is straight unnerving.
I definitely bounced off book 2 at first because they're so different. Once I'd accepted the choice it was a great read though
I'm at the end of Hyperion right now, and it's pretty fun. He really does a good job with different styles and voices.
I might get Song of Kali based on this recommendation, thanks!
The final book of the Dark Tower series! Been slowly working my way through them, and just started the seventh volume.
"One more turn of the path, and then we reach the clearing."
You should write and let me know what you think of the end!
I downloaded a bunch of classics from Project Gutenberg. I'm reading Frankenstein finally.
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Currently reading The Midnight Library by Matt Haig and really enjoying it.
I finished One Hundred Years of Solitude recently and really loved it. The blend of real life events and magical elements was beautifully done. It felt like an elderly relative was recalling their memories whilst embellishing them with little touches of magic. SO MANY family members, but each of them was unique. In terms of the Bingo, I've added it to 'Set in War' (though it would have also fit in several other categories).
I've just started The Wager by David Grann. It seems really fascinating so far and has already given me quite an insight into maritime life. I didn't realise until now that it recounts a true event!
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Audiobook: The Wandering Inn, book 13 by Pirateaba ... Kind of a standard "got sent to another world" litRPG, but it's quite fun with a well developed world and Andrea Parsneau brings life to every character
eBook: The Immortal Choir Holds Every Voice by Margaret Killjoy (book 3 of Danielle Caine) ... Not far in yet, but the series has been weird and good so far. A punk, queer, perpetual hitchhiker got introduced to magic by seeing a dead deer stomp a man to death and eat his heart. If that doesn't make you interested, the series probably isn't for you.
I read more than half of the first book, but found the main characters pretty annoying. Both the Inn lady and the runner.
I can see that, honestly :-D
I don't know if this will change anything, but, there was apparently a re-release of book 1 where the author re-wrote parts of it to bring it into quality standards with the rest of the books ... not sure which one you read, but, maybe it would make a difference? I got interested in it after the re-record, so, I dunno how big the differences are.
With that said, these books are around the size of The Stand by Stephen King, each, so, if you read half of it, you definitely gave it a fair shot, lol
Goodbye to all that by Robert Graves
A personal British view of WW1 from the trenches. It is interesting because of its personal account of things which I only know about via histories. Have read Graves' I Claudius previously, which is also a great read. The writing is different but the voice is familiar.
Made it to the 4th book of the Temeraire series before needing a break (the 3rd book felt a little slow/less engaging than the first 2, and it probably isn't, I just need to read something else for a bit), and my new library holds arrived, so I read Murder at Haven's Rock by Kelley Armstrong last night. It's a spin-off or sequel series to Rockton, and revisiting the characters was a treat.
This year I have been catching up with some SF: broadly alternating Banks' Culture series with others. A few weeks back, after finishing Use of Weapons, I read McCarthy's The Road - which kinda counts as SF - and that spoiled other books for me for a while. His excellent, sparse use of language topped off a brilliantly understated and impactful tale.
Life got in the way for a bit following that, and rather than going into the next Culture novel, I happened to have Niven and Pournelle's The Mote in God's Eye to hand and so started that, but not only was the writing extremely mundane compared to McCarthey, but the setting of "Nelson's navy in space" left me comparing it to O'Brien's Aubrey and Maturin tales - and it didn't do well on that front either.
So I will not continue with that one and will be starting Excession - which I believe many find to be the best of the Culture books - shortly.
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Slow Horses by Mick Herron. I watched the series and now I've started the book series. Very British and very sarcastic, so it's been really good so far.
Gathering Moss: A Natural and Cultural History of Mosses by Robin Wall Kimmerer
There was someone here reading about Fungii recently, and now we have moss. Are you the same person?
Nope. Just a guy who had some moss volunteer in his garden last year and found a new passion.
I fell down the journaling rabbit hole and got into Digital Minimalism, by Cal Newport.
Recently finished Gladiator, 24 Hours In Ancient Rome, and A Year In The Life Of Ancient Greece. All very light pieces by the same author, very fun reading.
Just cracking open Warrior of God: Jan Zizka and the Hussite Revolution right now.
Warrior of God: Jan Zizka and the Hussite Revolution was extremely poorly organized and edited. Would not recommend. Still, I've gained a firmer base of knowledge for future reading on the Hussites.
I have been reading The Way of Kings for what seems like the past ten thousand years. Why are these books so long?????
... you do know that every subsequent book in the series longer than the previous one, right? ._.
I do. Thankfully I've really enjoyed it so far, but I have to put it down for extended periods from time to time because of fatigue. I started it in late April and I have about a fifth of the book left.
Slow and steady wins the race! π
Red Rabbit by Alex Grecian.
A motley crew of misfits follow a witch hunter through the old West to collect on a bounty. Supernatural shenanigans ensues.
The art of batting. Just started it. Big fan of the writer (Jarrod Kimber) and the sport (cricket).
Currently partway through The Dry by Jane Harper.
__
Finished:
Empire of Wild by Cherie Dimaline (horror-ish)
A MΓ©tis woman, whose husband has been missing for nearly a year, stumbles onto him acting as a preacher for a traveling Christian ministry. The problem is, not only is he like a different person, with no apparent memory of his past life, but there's also a rogarou hanging around him.
I thought the characters were really well done, but otherwise, I'd put this in the 'fine' category. I did enjoy the look into MΓ©tis culture and folklore, though; I'd always assumed that rogarou were just a twist on werewolves, but they're much more their own thing.
Bingo squares: minority author, folklore (HM), x of y
The Tomb of Dragons by Katherine Addison (cozy fantasy mystery)
Last book in the Cemeteries of Amalo trilogy, spin-off of The Goblin Emperor. Thara Celehar tries to adapt to the change in circumstance from the last book, and gets in the way of powerful people as he tries to follow his duty and calling (as is tradition).
This was a really satisfying conclusion to the trilogy, imo, wrapping up strands from the previous books and leaving the door open for more with the MC. I think this one upped the fantasy word quota a bit, though ("revethvezvaishor'avar", anyone?).
Bingo squares: orange, x of y, LGBTQIA+, new release, steppin' up (HM), political (HM), cozy (in the 'cozy mystery' sense: not graphic, overall fairly gentle tone, lots of interludes drinking tea or sharing a meal with friends)
Empire of Wild sounds interesting, how long is it? If it's not too long I can do with a "fine" book that is about something new and different.
It's about 300 pages, so not bad at all.
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