Finished What If? by Randall Munroe.
Highly recommended for people who like science, and fun.
What about all of you? What have you been reading or listening to lately?
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I’m nearing the end of Changes by Jim Butcher, and since I didn’t really like the following book all that much I thought I’d take a break to finally read the Lord of the Rings series. I got a nice clothbound set of them to match The Hobbit I already had (though for some infuriating reason The Hobbit is half a centimetre taller) and I grabbed The Silmarillion this morning in the same style. I’ll probably never get around to reading that one but my gf is way into these and she’s wanted it for ages.
Edit, pic because they’re really nice
They are very nice. And now I am realising that I don’t actually have a copy of the Lord of the Rings series. Time to look these up!
They look great!!
The historian. The suspense is incredible.
For the upcoming episode of the podcast I have just finished Carrion Crow by Heather Parry. If you’re a fan of Jane Eyre or The Yellow Wallpaper the similarities are unmissable - its a very good book but you’ll need a fucking strong stomach. It’s like if David Cronenberg had decided to write a Jane Austen novel.
Whilst I wait for our next group read, I’m re-reading one of the ever fantastic Shardlake novels
Discovered that Philip Pullman finally published The Rose Field, the final part of the Book of Dust trilogy a week or so back, so have gone back in on La Belle Sauvage to remind myself where we are. I’m determined to be patient and also read The Secret Commonwealth too before going in on the new one.
I’m always reading one non-fiction book and one fiction book. It’s amazing how often I end up reading similar ones at the same time. Right now I’m reading Andy Weir’s The Martian, and Claire Nelson’s memoir Things I Learned from Falling. Both involve a person stuck alone, trying to survive by solving practical problems in an inhospitable desert environment.
I had previously talked about reading Charlotte McConaghy’s Wild Dark Shore, and can now report that it’s an excellent book, highly recommend.
I just finished All That We See Or Seem by Ken Liu. I really enjoyed it, I love anything that guy writes. I picked up What If by Randall Monroe because I saw it at the library bookstore for a dollar after seeing it mentioned here.
I’m kind of in a crappy funk and I don’t know what to read next, this hasn’t happened in a while. Trying to decide between scifi romance Aurora Blazing by Jessie Mihalik. Or some dark romance like Hooked by Emily McIntire. Or The Book Censor’s Library by Bothayna Al-Essa. Or something more cozy like a found family thing to get me out of this funk.
I have no idea.
From this list, I’ll go with What If? because you don’t have to commit to whole book, you can just read a chapter or two and switch to another book if it doesn’t suit your mood, or “scifi romance Aurora Blazing by Jessie Mihalik”, seems like a lighter read then others and I find lighter reads easier to get when in a funk like this.
Of course, that’s just me. Good luck with whatever you choose!
Thanks! I planned on starting soon What If for that exact reason.
I ended up going with The Illustrated Woman by Melissa Bobe. It’s a book of short stories I picked up recently at a book festival. I chatted with the author a bit and she signed it too. I’ll probably be starting What If and Aurora Blazing next 😁
Cool! As long as you were able to choose something! 😀
On a separate note, I don’t have any author signed books, should try to fix that some day.
The Marriage of Roman Soldiers (13 B.C.-A.D. 235): Law and Family in the Imperial Army
Very fascinating!
Ahan, interesting. Would to hear its summary / some interesting bits when you are done.
I actually had a whole long writeup but a power outage wiped it all out and now I’m sad 😭
Long story short, I found some conclusions in Chapter 11 questionable, but on the whole it was a great read. Much of the book was detail-oriented in terms of qualifying what distinguished soldiers’ unofficial marriages from official/sanctioned marriages. I had a good overview of marriage of Roman soldiery before going in, but I learned a lot of the nuances that I didn’t know before.
For example, I understood that bastardy was pretty low-priority for Romans - whether someone was born out of wedlock was not a huge deal. Finding out, though, that the only Roman legal disability from being a bastard was that if your dad died without a will, you wouldn’t automatically inherit from him, was interesting. That a Roman jurist specifically justifies the lack of legal disabilities with the argument that people shouldn’t be punished for qualities that are no fault of their own was doubly interesting.
On the other hand, Greek cities, including at the time, still regarded being a bastard as disqualifying even just for citizenship, much less higher participation in civil society.
Human beings are funny. Cultures, doubly so.
And I knew that Roman soldiers were allowed to make simplified wills that were harder to contest, but I didn’t realize just how often ordinary wills were invalidated in Roman law over fairly petty matters. Given that wills in the 18th, 19th, and early 20th centuries in the West were invalidated for extremely petty matters, though, perhaps I should have guessed that a legalistic peoples like the Romans would have similar problems, lmao.
On a darker note, I knew that slaves freed for the explicit purpose of marrying received normal (freedman) Roman citizenship, but I didn’t know it came with the legal disability of being unable to initiate a divorce with their husband/former master. 😬
That’s pretty interesting. Thanks for the writeup!
Any examples of petty matters that invalidated wills? My knowledge of law is mainly from some Police procedural books and TV shows.
Using phrases slightly wrong was a common one - Roman wills had to be extremely formulaic, or they were invalid. Not mentioning someone who might inherit. Not giving relatives enough of a share of the inheritance. Mistaking someone’s legal status, even if their legal status did not directly impact the inheritance.
Ah, like finding any loopholes or minor mistakes. Seen that enough times in movies!
I finished The Tainted Cup by Robert Jackson Bennett. It was fantastic from start to finish. I can’t wait to read the next book.
While I wait to get my hands on the next book, I picked up Provenance by Ann Leckie. It’s in the same universe as her Imperial Radch trilogy and now I’m feeling like it’s been too long since I read those books and I don’t remember enough to fully enjoy this one. Debating setting it down and doing a reread first.
Currently reading Cathedral of the Drowned by Nathan Ballingrud, sequel to last year’s Crypt of the Moon Spider that I liked so much.
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Finished The Works of Vermin by Hiron Ennes (weird fantasy with body horror elements) | bingo: different continent, minority author, orange, x of y, LGBTQIA+, new
In a glamorously tattered city, a debt-ridden exterminator hunting a dangerous bug and an ailing perfumer in upper-class society each navigate a season of political and cultural revolution.
The setting of this reminded me vaguely of the Cemeteries of Amalo series: steampunk-ish but not (and plant- and bug-based in Vermin), low magic, large class divides, lavish fashion, and a focus on opera. Vermin is, however, much less soft and gentle: violent regime changes are practically expected every generation; character deaths on stage are real, not simulated; and poor people being exploited is par for the course. Even the perfume is laced with a reality-warping toxin that, in strong enough potencies, can remodel entire buildings or cause terrible mutations.
The blurb for this made me expect the bug extermination would be the main plot (with much more emphasis on horror), but that’s actually just a small piece of a grand epic with two alternating story lines. I wish I had known better what I was diving into, and that it was less slow-paced, but I liked it.
The last book in the Fred, the Vampire Accountant series by Drew Hayes came out on Halloween. I started to read it and while I remembered quite a bit, it was clear I didn’t remember enough. So I went back and started the series from the beginning. It’s a super fast read. I’m already on the third book since Halloween.
If you like amusing and cozy fantasy, this is definitely up that alley
I have seen you mention it a few times. Is the series complete now? Can give it a try.
Yep. The final book in the series was the one just published, 9 books total, and they go pretty quickly. I’m nearly done with book 4 already and I’ve had a bunch of distractions this week.
Cool, will add it to my list!
I just finished an audio book version of The Hollow Places by T. Kingfisher.
I’m in the middle of reading The Vanished Birds by Simon Jimenez.
How did you like The Hollow Places?
Loved it. It was actually a re-read for me, but felt like a good choice for the season.
Still reading “Service model” by Adrian Tchaikovsky. A little over 80% through, it’s a great book, but I still don’t have the time to read a lot. I’ll probably finish it before the weekend. Next are some books by David Hewson, I’ve read some of his books about 20 years ago, so there’s som catching up to do. If that doesn’t work out I’ll probably go for some of Charles Stross’ SF works, I liked his laundry files books. So I guess I’ve got a to do pile right now, with little time.
Don’t try to rush through, enjoy your time with what you are reading. We will never be able to read everything we want in our lives, so better to pace ourselves and enjoy what we do read.
Oh I definitely won’t rush it, it’s a problem of luxury.
Just finished The Lies of Locke Lamora. Enjoyed it! On to the Expanse book 5.
My friends and I all loved Lies of LL. The second book is a lot worse, and the third book was a dud from page 1.
Yeah, I was looking stuff up about it last night. Seems like people were really divided on the pirate stuff, and there’s a sense that the third book might be okay in context when the next book comes out but by itself is “fluff.” I’m fairly content to let it be until he has more stuff out. I don’t waste time anymore on authors who stop writing series after cliffhangers. I’m glad Lies works as a standalone, at least.
I am reading The Last Argument of Kings by Joe Abercrombie, booked 3 in The First Law series. I’m maybe 40% through. Definitely liked the first two better, and book two was fantastic, but it’s 3 of 3 here, so I need to see how it concludes.
Before this series was The Passenger by Cormac McCarthy, and after I’m thinking about The Expanse. I’m mainly fantasy, then sci-fi, then some Blake Crouch for when I need a book to fly by.
The Expanse won’t disappoint. It’s a massive space opera but it’s written so tightly that it reads more like a fast paced adventure. You’ll hardly notice going through all nine of the main books in the series.
Heh, that’s a good combo, I am similar, but with some Crime/Mystery in place of Blake Crouch.
I finished Three Bags Full and How to be Perfect.
Three Bags Full wasn’t my favorite, but the last third was quite good. I was really surprised that I missed all the signs for who the killer was in the end, and that made me reflect a bit.
How to be Perfect started out strong, but became a bit of a drag. It felt like it went from exploring ethics to the author trying to find ways to feel better about the things he’s done. I also felt like he misrepresented some philosophers, but not egregiously. I still think it’s a good intro to ethics read for anyone interested.
Currently made it through the first two Bobiverse books and just started the third. The first chapter of the first book almost made me put it down because he’s a cringey, basic, rich guy, but that changes quickly. Easy reads, but a fun concept. I’ll definitely read all five books.
