5mo ago

What are some good books you've been reading lately?

I'll start first: (bear in mind I usually listen to audiobooks)

Project Hail Mary by Andy Weir |A guy finds himself stranded in space aboard an international space vessel where he has to remember who he is.
The 57 Bus by Dashka Slater |A true story about how hanging with the wrong crowd can have life-altering consequences
The Animorphs series by KJ Applegate |Young adult series in which a group of kids find an alien, get the powers to morph shape into animals, as well as uncover an alien takeover conspiracy (Plus, detailed depictions of how grotesque those transformations are!)
Saga by Brian K. Vaughn & Fiona Staples (Comic, ongoing) |Following the story of Hazel, a baby born from an ex-soldier and an enemy combatant, Saga shows how gowing up and raising a kid in a wartorn universe can have highs and lows.

Edit: added pipes for better separation

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The Dispossessed by Ursula K. Le Guin
- She is a master of language. I love her style.
- Ayyy, I was given this as a gift about a year ago:))
  Cool book I'd say. Also, nice to see an approach to an anarchist society, even if it's fictional.
- One of my favorites! She is just so incredible with making you think about concepts.

Project Hail Mary was much more of an emotional ride than I was expecting.
- 🎶 _Jazzhands 🎶
- It was such a a fantastic read. I don’t like Sci-fi at all, but somehow Andy Weir makes it all so believable.

The Odyssey by Homer, translated by Robert Fagles. My first time reading an ancient classic, and it's much less scary than I thought. In fact I'm quite enjoying it, and might read The Iliad (Homer's other epic poem) next. The humanness of the characters (well, the human ones!) is very relatable, even though it's 2700 years old. I don't know why I expected it to be crusty and boring. Maybe I assumed it'd be like the Bible.
The intro explains a lot of stuff about the original Greek poem and how it was written in dactylic hexameterwhich bards back then used to be able to improvise in, which is amazing to me. Reminds me of 8 Mile or something. 😅
- If you read a modern bible translation from the perspective of christian mythology just as we treat Greek mythology a lot of the stories are actually fantastic reads
  
  interesting.. it's been a while since I've tried (as a kid in the 80s probably). Can you recommend a translation (and book/story)?

Mistborn: The Final Empire, by Brandon Sanderson. An epic fantasy.
I loved it and just started the second book.
- Oh you are in for a treat. I love that trilogy. Such good books.
  
  Thanks for the encouragement!
  
  I love that trilogy.
  i mean...technically it's like 15+ Books...but who's counting? ;)
  sidenote: Stormlight Archives Book 5 is coming in December, i think?

I read the Martian. It was at least as good as the very good movie.
- You will most likely love Project Hail Mary, then, if you haven't already read it.
  
  I haven't, so thank you for the recommendation. Both were available at the library as a reward for finishing the summer reading challenge, so I almost got it.

Watership Down. Way better than I thought 🙂.
- I'll take "Books that made me sob like a baby" for $500, Alex.

Algorithms To Live By, applying computer science and mathematic principles to real life. Helping make better decisions that are provably more efficient. Really interesting and anyone who has any interest in computing can get a lot from the book.

Learned on Lemmy a couple of weeks ago that Neal Stephenson has a new book out, and I'm still a sucker for them. Polostan is (so far) historical fiction and very readable. The Stephenson-esque infodumps seem to mostly concern the game of Polo and interwar Communism, with healthy dashes of 1930s physics and ranching.
- Fellow sucker here. Will be sure to check it out.

The Sapling Cage by Margaret Killjoy
- How is it? I preordered but haven't had a chance to read it yet.
  I love their book club and wanted to support them and picked up a few of their books

The Mercy of Gods: The first book in a new trilogy from the guys behind The Expanse.
How to ADHD: Because I wasn't diagnosed until 40 and now I have to rethink everything about me.
My War Gone By, I Miss It So: The memoir of a British war zone journalist who covered the Bosnian War and other Balkans conflicts. I originally read it decades ago but was reminded of it after watching Civil War earlier this year. I heard lots of criticism about the main characters in that movie not being relatable or very likable so I picked this back up to confirm that yes, that's accurate, and I think part of the point of the movie...
- How is the ADHD book? Actually helpful?
  
  Yeah, I would recommend it. My biggest takeaways from it so far have been understanding how many of my habits and personality quirks are actually coping strategies that I just didn't realize. Like, I always thought I just happened to like chewing gum all the time because I enjoyed the minty flavor. Turns out the repetitive chewing motion can actually stimulate the dopamine I crave. I thought everyone has a collection of rhyming phrases or little songs that they only say in private and we all collectively pretend like we don't because it's embarrassing. Turns out that's verbal or auditory stimming. It's been great in that regard, helping me understand why I am the way I am.
  Can't really speak to how effective any of the ADHD management techniques in the book are since I'm still working through it and trying to take things onboard, but the author also has a very popular and successful Youtube channel where you can probably find all the same information and more if you're interested.

I’m Starting To Worry About This Black Box of Doom by Jason Pargin. It’s an excellent thriller, with a great exploration of how Internet rumors can spill over into the real world

Just finished World War Z again. It hits so much different post-pandemic.
For those that see "zombie book" or worse, just saw the movie, the book is written as an 'after the infestation' chronicle interviewing people from across the world and society, exploring the beginning moments, the panics, long term survival, and the cleanup. I view it as a modern "War of the Worlds" in that book shows what society react view from the "all-threat", which at that era was worried about a larger more powerful enemy coming in vs in 2006 the societal fear of an "all-threat" was infestation whether societal to plague and the reactions of the people in it.
- The author took inspiration from a WW2 book using actual accounts before, during, and after the war.
  It (WWZ) really is fantastic. And the audiobook version with an all star cast is as well.

Just finished The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath. Her imagery is beautiful and you can feel her talent. It's a an autobiographical roman à clef of her struggling with bipolar disorder/depression. And the only book she wore before taking her life when the love of her life left her for another woman.

"Children of God" by Mary Doria Russell: Second and final part of a sci-fi series about a Jesuit mission to an alien culture that goes wrong. Like the first part, it's an emotional rollercoaster with a great cast of characters that you really grow attached to (and who often meet tragic ends). The author also created a really interesting alien society made up of two separate species. Oh, and the title might sound like it's a preachy religious book, but it's very much not. Would never have expected it, but this is now one of my favorite sci-fi series.
"Memories of Ice" by Steven Erikson: Third book of the "Malazan Book of the Fallen" fantasy series. All three books I've read so far were enjoyable stories, but also very complex and not easy to read for sure. I love how the author creates a fantasy world where stone-age cultures play a pretty big role and where pre-history in many ways shapes the current world of the book. Also, quite a good cast of characters, which I didn't necessarily expect given that it's "epic fantasy".
- I'm just finishing the Crippled God now! Definitely a difficult series but so infinitely rewarding (and heart breaking.)

Orbital, by Samantha Harvey. It's just won the Booker prize so I thought I'd check it out. It's set on the space station, and is basically the astronauts on board thinking. I can't believe how beautiful it is, how gripping.

Shattered by Lisa Morgan.

"Parable of the Sower" by Octavia Butler. Published in 1993 but set in 2024. Definitely resonates with the state of things today.
- Just read that for the first time and couldn't put it down.

The "Semiosis" series. Just finished the second part, the third was published a few weeks ago.

Ignition!: An Informal History of Liquid Rocket Propellants by John D. Clark. It's a surprisingly fun read.

I finally started Infinite Jest, and it’s SLOOOOW going for me. I have three bookmarks.

Entangled Life by Merlin Sheldrake. So fascinating. https://www.merlinsheldrake.com/entangled-life

I'm currently listening to For We Are Many, the 2nd book in the Bobiverse series by Dennis E Taylor. I'd previously read them all, but the newest is currently only an audible exclusive, so I downloaded a copy and listened to it and loved it and am now listening to the rest of the series. Basic plot: a modern guy gets a service to freeze his brain upon death. He then does and is awoken and turned into a self replicating space probe and Earth goes into nuclear war and the probe tries to help where it can and explores. It's a really good and fun read.
I'm also re-working my way through the Anne Rice Vampire series. Haven't read them in a couple decades and wanted to get re-acquainted. currently on book 4. it's crazy what you retain and what gets dropped after many years.
I've found some of the random $1 for a 9 e-book set books that Amazon offers haven't been bad.
You mentioned Animorphs and thats one that I've got to give a re-read at some point. I get partway through another read through every couple of years. I'd love it if Katherine Applegate could re-work the series as an adult series. It's so good.
Starter Villain by John Scalzi was also a great read earlier this year. Absolutely love Scalzi. Basic Plot: Poor guy inherits his Uncles evil villain organization and tries to navigate his way through the shenanigans that ensue.
- Look up Theft of Fire by Devon Ericson.
- Oh hey,glad you posted. I was wondering whether I wanted to get the newest book in Bobiverse because the original trilogy felt a good "end" to the story, the fourth I was "eh" on, not terrible but not amazing imo.
  Also been eying Starter Villain.
  Audiobooks are how I survive at work.
  
  Currently listening to the new book and it's really good. Highly recommended. Less "stuck" in one place
  
  haha, I love that I could help!
  I'm typically listening to podcasts all day, myself to keep my sanity. I might add audiobooks to the rotation now though.
  For the Bobiverse, I didn't know it was originally a trilogy and book 4 was already out when I started, so I went in with a completely different lens. Overall I liked the 4th. For me though, once I get invested in a series, I'm generally happy to keep getting more unless it goes off the rails (Anita Blake Vampire Hunter being an example of one I really liked that went sideways). Overall though, I liked book 4 myself, it felt like a decent continuation of the story and felt like a bridge that was needed to continue the universe into the future.
  Starter Villain wasn't my favorite Scalzi, but I definitely liked it and it felt like a fresh concept and like most Scalzi, it's enjoyable from start to finish. IIRC I read it in no more than 2 settings.
  If you haven't Read Kaiju Preservation Society, I would wholeheartedly recommend it. It's not amazing literature, but, god damn was it a fun ride! It felt a bit like Redshirts, if you liked that one.

"The Terror" by Dan Simmons. I already watched the show and enjoyed it, so I picked up the book and am only a few chapters in, but I'm liking it a good bit. There seems to be a good bit of historical facts thrown in, which I personally enjoy.
For those unfamiliar, it is based on the real life Franklin Expedition that disappeared while searching for a way to traverse the Northwest Passage in the Canadian arctic. The story follows the known facts regarding the fates of the expedition crew members, but it tells a paranormal horror story to fill in the blanks.

'The first Fifteen Lives of Harry August' was pretty good.
Besides that, 'The Waiting' by Michael Connelly, but he's my favorite author, so I'll recommend almost each of his books.

The Impending Blindness of Billie Scott by Zoe Thorogood.
I'll just steal the description from Amazon "Billie Scott is an artist.
Her debut gallery exhibition opens in a few months.
Within a fortnight she'll be completely blind.
Zoe Thorogood's first graphic novel is a story about what it's like to get something you want, have it immediately taken away from you and then how you put it all back together again. Set in a world of people down on their luck from Middlesbrough to London, it's a graphic novel that speaks of post-austerity Britain and the problems facing those left behind."
The art is great, the characters feel real, and the issues with it are minor. I read it for a book club and loved reading this and discussing it

The First Law series.

Babel, by R. F. Kuang
By the way, there are also book communities here on Lemmy. Check out
!books@lemmy.world
- Just finished that about a month ago and it was excellent start to finish!

Sundown Towns, a book about the history of American racism, specifically the number of towns that had signs up warning black citizens not to be there after sundown. Spoiler: it was pretty much most of the towns. All over. It's a sobering read, not a pick-me-up.

Finally reading it to understand the memes and I'm thoroughly dune pilled
- First book?
  
  Yes chairman

Not recently but the Witcher audio books are really well produced.
Also the lord of the rings as read by Rob Inglis are, I think, the best way to experience that tale.

Conspiracy: Why the Rational Believe the Irrational by Michael Shermer

Recently finished Doomsday Book by Connie Willis. Much of the novel is a real slow burner, but the third act hit me right in the feels. I can't stop thinking about the author's wonderful misdirection, which caught me by surprise.
- That is an excellent book, and I agree with you about how hard the third act hits. If you're interested, she has a couple other novels in the same setting (time-traveling historians): To Say Nothing of the Dog, a much more light-hearted Victorian-era farce that overlaps with events from the real-life novel Three Men in a Boat which is itself a good and funny read, and the two-parter Blackout and All Clear, neither of which I have read but are on my list to get around to someday.

I have been reading Don Quijote de la Mancha in its native Spanish because I’m able to.

Pushing Ice by Alastair Reynolds

I've been liking Mr. Einstein's Secretary by Matthew Reilly so far. It's far from his usual high octane thrillers (my guilty pleasures) and is written very well.

I enjoyed the trilogy "Remembrance of Earth's Past", on which 3 Body Problem is based.
Also, The Power Broker has been quite nice.

I'm about 75% through The Ritual by Adam Nevill. It is also a movie. I really enjoy how he writes his characters, and the book is legitimately scary and creepy. I have to set it down sometimes.
On the scary/creepy note, another amazing book and movie is Birdbox by Josh Malerman. That book legitimately terrified me.

I've been going through the Messenger Series by J.N. Chaney. It's trash sci-fi, more than a little contrived in spots, and you really don't want to go digging into, well anything about it, too hard. That said, it's what I've been in the mood for, for the last little while and it's often quite funny. Basic plot of the series is that an idiot finds an ancient jaeger, left behind by a long dead race, and must now face off against that race's mortal enemy to save all life in the galaxy.

Anne Applebaum - Autocracy Inc.

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