Still reading Cold Days by Jim Butcher, the 14th book in Dresden Files series.
Had a busy week so couldn’t get much reading done, about halfway through though.
What about all of you? What have you been reading or listening to lately?
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Just finished:
Midnight Rooms by Donyae Coles. A Gothic fairy tale with promising vibes of Crimson Peak, Beauty and the Beast, and Rebecca. I found it ultimately disappointing as there was never any explanation or lore provided and I thought the MC wasn’t well fleshed out. But if you like Gothic vibes and romance, you might appreciate this one.
The Electric Kingdom by David Arnold. A post-apocalyptic time travel story with likable characters. Thoroughly enjoyed this one.
Currently reading American Sirens: The Incredible Story of the Black Men who Became America’s First Paramedics by Kevin Hazzard. I never knew about them until they were mentioned on The Pitt. Some heartbreaking stories in the first chapter.
I had Midnight Rooms on my TBR list for a while at one point (I really liked the cover, and it sounded interesting), but your impression lines up with the reviews I read. Idk if you read Gothic often, but if you have any recommendations for good Gothic novels, I’d love to hear them!
DuMaurier’s Rebecca is a classic.
Model Home by Rivers Soloman
The God of Endings by Jacqueline Holland
Mexican Gothic by Sylvia Moreno-Garcia
Where They Wait by Scott Carson
A lot of stuff by T Kingfisher:
What Moves the Dead
A Sorceress Comes to Call
A House with Good Bones
Awesome, thanks!
Just finished The Vanished Birds by Simon Jimenez.
Not too far into Half a King by Joe Abercrombie and also about to start Best Served Cold by the same author as my commute audio book.
Reading Germinal by Emile Zola right now. From time to time it gets a bit too dry and reads more like political theory than fiction, but overall I’m enjoying it a lot. Got about 100 pages left and it seems like it’ll end in tragedy, but that was to be expected from the start.
I love the way Zola describes things. The darkness, the cold, the mines that are more like man-eating beasts than mere workplaces, make you really feel the tragic plight of the workers there.
It is also quite depressing to me how many lines I can draw from what I’m reading to what I’m hearing in my own life. The fight hasn’t really changed and the arguments that I hear also haven’t.
Probably gonna finish it this week and not sure what’s next, but I can definitely recommend this to anyone interested in politics and social justice. It feels very realistic (who would have thought, it’s realist/naturalist literature after all) and makes for a great fictional adaptation of the often pretty dry political theory on communism and socialism at the time.
Working my way through Aurora Blazing by Jessie Mihalik. I have less than 100 pages left and I love it. I’m excited to see what happens, but sad to be finishing it, but also excited that there is another book after this. It’s a great scifi romance series that I recommend checking out.
I started reading A Little Tea Book by Sebastian Beckworth on the side. It’s cute and has quite a bit of information about tea. I’m not sure if I’ll read the whole thing, but I’m reading sections that interest me and skimming the others. This is a library book and I recently decided to check out any book that I spend flipping through pages for more than 30 seconds. I’ve been happy with this decision so far.
I started The Count of Monte Cristo, which has been on my to read list forever!
How are you liking it so far?
Almost halfway through, and it’s a bit of a rambling mess. You can really tell that it was originally published in serial form a few chapters at a time; and the sheer volume of extra characters & their subplots is ridiculous.
I am enjoying it, but The Count has too much plot armour, he knows everything all the time practically supernaturally.
Ah, didn’t know it was published in serialized form. Such books benefit greatly from a good edit before getting published in a book form. Too late for The Count of Monte Cristo now though.
The Dungeon Anarchist Cookbook, from the Dungeon Crawler Carl series.
Mostly audiobook, I really like the actor. He plays every character differently. There’s a guest actor that almost made me stop the audiobook, but it was worth enduring it for the end of his arch. If you know, you know.
Picked up the series recently and tore through it fast because it’s so good.
Finished all the Fred, the vampire accountant books. They had a good ending that fit the story well. Lots of room for alternate stories in the future as not all dropped threads were picked up, but that doesn’t bother me necessarily.
These look interesting, I might pick them up some time.
They are pretty fun and read quickly.
Just started Johannas Cabal the Necromancer by Jonathan L. Howard. I’m loving it. If you like Adams, Pratchett, or the guy who co-wrote Good Omens early work, I just about guarantee you’ll dig this.
I think this was recommended to me before, when I was looking for some books about Necromancers. Now that you are hopefully further in, still enjoying it?
Oh yeah. I loved every second of it. Like I say, if you dig any of those authors, I about guarantee you’ll dig this. I did the audiobook and the narrator was about perfect. I moved to the second in the series but the narrator was a different guy. That was a bit jarring so I dropped back to do Flybot by D. E. Taylor to “cleanse my pallet” but I’m deff gonna devour all the Cabal books. Then look into Howards other work.
Cool. Adding it to my list.
Finished Rebecca by Daphne Du Maurier yesterday. It was a good gothic novel about how a person can still haunt the lives of others, even strangers, after they pass.
Last night I started Cory Doctorow’s book Enshittification. I didn’t get far, but after reading his blog a lot a year ago it mostly feels like a summary of stuff he normally writes about so far. That’s about what I hoped for. I’m interested to see what more he has to add later.
Rebecca was a great read. Recently read a good essay about Du Maurier and her concise turn of phrase and it just made me want to read more of her books.
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Die Tyrannei des Schmetterlings (the tyranny of the butterfly) by German author Frank Schätzing. A sci-fi thriller in the same vein as John Chrichton about AI and quantum physics. A great page turner, although the flowery language sometimes comes across as a bit forced.
For Whom the Belle Tolls by Jaysea Lynn.
I love these threads. I always find new titles to add to my “to be read” pile.
Thanks! Same here, except now I have a list of books longer than what I can read in one lifetime. Time to research immortality!
Project Hail Mary Left hand of darkness
Who is reading these books? Not me.
😀
How are you liking them so far?
I finished reading Project Hail Mary in a week and was pleasantly surprised by the story and plot twist involving the friendship with the alien. I’m looking forward to the film release in March 2026. The Left Hand of Darkness was recommended to me online, but I haven’t been able to form an opinion about it yet
Yeah, Project Hail Mary has a wholesome feel to it.
Currently partway through Masquerade by O.O. Sangoyomi.
__
Finished Shutter by Ramona Emerson (supernatural crime thriller) | bingo: minority author, orange, steppin’ up
A Navajo crime scene photographer that can see ghosts is haunted by a victim seeking justice.
This ended up being more about how the MC’s ghost-seeing and interest in photography impacted her childhood, rather than the thriller plot or other characters. Not terrible for a debut novel, but I don’t think I’d recommend it. (Also, skip if you don’t handle gore well: the crime scenes are described in vivid detail.)
