Reading The Sunlit Man by Brandon Sanderson. His fourth and final standalone Cosmere “secret project” novel.
I am about 1/4th through, and it’s interesting to see how connected this is with Cosmere, unlike the first 3 books. I think this book should be read after you have read at least 1 book of The Stormlight Archive. Looking forward to seeing if we learn anything else in it.
What about all of you? What have you been reading or listening to lately?
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Just finished Tsukuru Tazaki and His Years of Pilgrimage by Haruki Murakami.
I really enjoyed it - it’s maybe not up with his very best stuff, but it still has that familiar slightly unreal tone, and some wonderful moments.
I’m now onto If On a Lonely Night a Traveller by Italo Calvino. Very weird so far, but enjoying it!
I have seen “Haruki Murakami” mentioned a few times, any recommendation for which one to start with?
Hard to say - I’ve read quite a few of his books, but not all of them (yet).
The one that got me started was a short story collection, Blind Willow, Sleeping Woman, and I just fell in love with his writing.
My favourite so far is The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle, but others are pretty great too, Norwegian Wood, 1Q84, Sputnik Sweetheart, and Men Without Women (another short story collection).
His work sometimes gets kind of weird and unreal and unsettling, but in a good way, kind of like David Lynch’s best work, at least in terms of the feelings of unease it can provoke. Or, if you’ve ever seen Meshes of the Afternoon, that’s got a similar eerie feel.
Hope you enjoy!
Thanks for the reply. Will check which ones are available at my local bookstore.
Not much reading last week. Read Joe Haldeman’s “a separate war”. I already commented on the forever war last week, nothing to add to that. Currently reading “furiously happy” by Jenny Lawson. And still listening to “the eye of the Bedlam bride” in my commute. This will take a while to listen to, since my weekly commute time is about six hours, and the audiobook is 20+ hours. It is a good listen though, I read the previous books in the series, but listening is more fun in my opinion.
“Harlem Shuffle” by Colson Whitehead.
It’s the 1960s and this dude is trying to make a go of a furniture store on 125th Street. He’s an honest businessman who wants to help people in the community get good products at a reasonable price, and provide for his wife and kids.
Of course, being an honest businessman in 1960s Harlem is a bit different from being an honest businessman in say Darrian, CT. So what if he’s doing a little fencing; hanging out with stickup men; aiding corrupt police, and suchlike?
Great depictions of the neighborhood with lots of action.
Sounds pretty interesting.
This kind of thread is really bad for my wallet.
So it’s working! Mwahahaha!
More than 900 pages into Infinite Jest but i m not sure i like it… Started The Confederacy of Dunces on the side, really funny so far !
Infinite Jest is a challenge for sure, but I love it.
A great resource for explanations, discussion and theories is the Infinite Summer forum. I’m not sure how active it still is (it was started in 2009) but there’s some great stuff there, especially the weekly read along threads, where people discuss about 30-40 pages at a time.
I recently got the book, bookmarking the link for whenever I get around to reading it.
Cool, hope it’s useful. Speaking of bookmarks - for IJ you’re probably going to need at least 2, and safer with 3. There’ll be some back and forth… 😁
Heh, will remember that.
20% through Schilds Ladder from Greg Egan now. It’s like Gregs other works, it’s good.
I just started Polostan (2024) by Neal Stephenson. I saw an interview where he said he’s been sitting on the idea for a new trilogy for years and finally sat down to start it with this book.
How is it? It is on my to buy eventually list but I haven’t even read Termination Shock yet.
I’m only 60 pages in now but good so far. If you like his writing, he’s still got it.
Next on my list!
Currently reading Gideon the Ninth by Tamsyn Muir.
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Read:
The Crows by C.M. Rosens (eldritch horror chick lit… yes, for real) | bingo squares: different continent, creature, LGBTQIA+ (arguably HM), jerk HM
A woman moves into an old house on the outskirts of an unfriendly coastal town, where everyone seems to want her gone. Turns out, the house is sentient, and many of the townsfolk aren’t entirely human, including her nearest neighbor, a human/eldritch horror-hybrid.
This literally reads like Bridget Jones’ Diary-era chick lit, just with liberal amounts of horror (Lovecraftian and otherwise) thrown in. It’s actually a solid mashup, though, and doesn’t dwell on awfulness the way the yard-long content warning list makes you think it would. It could use an edit for continuity (and don’t think too hard about the world building), but it got me out of out of my post-Fisherman reading slump, so I recommend it as a fluff read if it sounds like your jam. Sidenote: this is marketed on one of the covers as “cosmic horror romance”, but while there is a something in the story, it doesn’t drive the plot, and isn’t what you’d expect from the “romance” label (but nice to see!).
Heh, sounds fun. What does “HM” mean? 🫣
Oh, sorry, HM = hard mode.
Ah, makes sense. Thanks!
Currently reading Consider Phlebus. Read the entire series years ago but thought it was worth re-read. Just as good as my first time!
Excession and Player of Games are my two favourite Culture novels.
Seconding these, The Player of Games is my favorite book and I love to see it called out.
I liked these the best. They are also among the more accessible books in the series.
I am about 7 chapters in to The Brothers Karamazov. I had heard a lot of good things prior to reading it and knew it was a classic, but god damn is it good. Dostoevsky is an amazing author who can make you feel the essence of the scene he’s describing.
I am glad I started reading it when I did, any earlier and I don’t think I would have the same appreciation for it.
This book is so complete. An Amazing ride. Some great characters. Enjoy it ! “The more i love humanity, the more i dislike humans”. Loose translation, i ve read it in French.
That’s a pretty interesting quote.
I just finished Stephen Baxter’s World Engines: Destroyer and while it was OK, I have the uncomfortable feeling that I’m discovering unsavory things about Baxter. There are commonalities in his main characters that are… unattractive? One main character, fine. But when the main character is basically the same character in different settings and with different names; and when the story literally contains “and then, everyone clapped”… well, I don’t know. The writing is better than I could do, and I’m interested to see where it goes, but I don’t know if I can enjoy the libertarian fantasy overtones. I’m torn.
I’m a couple chapters into A. Tchaikovsky’s Shroud, and have great expectations. I know I like Tchaikovsky’s world building and writing, and this looks so far like another novel (innovative?) premise from a great author.
Yeah, Stephen Baxter is somewhat sus. I liked his collaboration with Arthur C. Clarke, and I really liked reading his books when I was a kid who couldn’t really understand the politics. He has some really interesting concepts (Manifold: Time fucking BLEW MY MIND when I was like 12), but yeah, he has some very libertarian politics that lead to some, uh, interesting plot points.
Whew, it’s not just me. I’m always cautious about assuming things about authors.
Having recently finished Stormlight, I am very curious to read the Sunlit Man now!
I just finished Assassin of Reality by Maryna and Serhiy Dyachenko (book 2 of Vita Nostra). It honestly kind of felt like an afterthought to capitalize on the popularity of the first book. I didn’t feel like it added much and preferred the open endedness of the first book.
Now I’ve started Wool by Hugh Howey, the first of the books the Silo show is based on. Too early to give my thoughts but the first few chapters were very closely followed in the show.
Hm, interesting. I wasn’t sure I’d like it at first, but I jammed through Vita Nostra, and didn’t realize there were already published sequels until a few days ago, when I immediately moved them to the top of my TBR pile. I’ll try to lower my expectations to be more in line with reality–thanks for the heads-up!
I finally made it to book 2 of Sanderson’s Stormlight Archives.
How are you liking it so far?
So far, good. Not great, but quite good. It feels like a lot of setup and teasing of things to come without actually getting there, which is fine for the first book but I am 2/3 through the second book. Still, the writing is enjoyable and the books, although long, are not boring.
I recently finished Isles of the Emberdark which is the latest novel by Brandon Sanderson 😁. Really loved it - tons of Cosmere crossover and some interesting setup for the future.
I also have recently read A Darker Shade of Magic by V. E. Schwab. Enjoyed this a lot and am now onto the second in the series, A Gathering of Shadows.
I am reading The God of the Woods by Liz Moore. I am about 2/3 through and so far I am not really getting it. I don’t dislike it and it is well written but I am not entirely sure what about it is making people rate it so high.
